MAIN FINDINGS

The important findings of the survey conducted at Himachal Pradesh centre are given below:

SCOPE OF SURVEY

  1. The survey covered workers engaged in three organised sectors of employment viz. Registered Factories, Electricity Generating and Distributing Establishments and Public Motor Transport Undertakings.
  1. The total number of working class families covered during the survey was 432.

Economic Background of the centre

  1. The estimated total number of working class families as defined for the purpose of the survey was about 25.85 thousand.
  1. The estimated total number of employees in the working class families was about 29.44 thousand.
  1. The average monthly income per employee from paid employment worked out to Rs. 4280.65 at current prices. At constant prices of 1982 however, it was Rs. 1019.20 as against Rs. 539.93 in 1981-82 survey.
  1. ‘Spinning, Weaving and Finishing of Textiles’ industry dominated in terms of employment.
  1. About 92 per cent of the total employees were employed on a regular basis, about 5 per cent were on casual basis and the remaining about 3 per cent on contractual basis.

FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS

  1. The average size of a working class family worked out to 3.02 persons of which 1.09 were earners, 0.12 earning dependants and 1.81 non-earning dependants. The average family consisted of 1.33 men, 0.85 women and 0.84 children.
  1. The modal family size was with single member.
  1. The estimated total number of family members was 78.06 thousand, out of which, 58.99 per cent were males. Of the total family members, 50.39 per cent were married, 2.45 per cent were widowed or divorced and the remaining 47.16 per cent were un-married which included 27.81 per cent family members in the age group of below 15 years.
  1. The dependency ratio was 425/1000.
  1. Around 14 per cent of the family members (5 years of age and above) were illiterate and only 3.20 per cent were graduate and above. The survey results revealed that in comparison to previous survey there has been a distinct decline in the proportion of illiterate and semi illiterate family members.
  1. Around 40 per cent of the family members (5 years of age and above) were employees and about 51 per cent were not in labour force.
  1. Of all the families, 92.83 per cent of the families had one earner, 5.69 per cent had two earners while the remaining 1.48 per cent had three or more earners.

FAMILY INCOME AND RECEIPTS

  1. The average monthly income per family and per capita worked out to Rs. 5283.66 and Rs. 1750.15 respectively at current prices as compared to Rs. 738.29 and Rs. 166.28 respectively in 1981-82. At constant prices of 1982, however, the average monthly income per family and per capita worked out to Rs. 1258.01 and Rs. 416.70 respectively.
  1. As much as 92.30 per cent of the total average monthly income came from paid employment.
  1. Within the paid employment, basic wages and allowances contributed 88.88 per cent of the total income.

FAMILY EXPENDITURE AND DISBURSEMENTS

  1. The average expenditure per family worked out to Rs. 3903.25 at current prices, of which, Rs. 3429.04 was on consumption expenditure and Rs. 474.21 was on non-consumption expenditure. At constant prices of 1982, however, the average expenditure per family worked out Rs. 929.35, of which Rs. 816.44 was on consumption expenditure and Rs. 112.91 on non-consumption expenditure.
  1. Within consumption expenditure, the share of food items was 46.17 per cent.
  1. Around 91 per cent of the families had spent less than 45 per cent of their total expenditure on food.
  1. There was a significant decline in the percentage of families reporting expenditure on prepared meals, tobaccotobacco products household services and recreation & amusement as compared to 1981-82 survey.
  1. The percentage of families reporting expenditure on pan, supari, alcoholic beverages & intoxicants, furniture and furnishing,medical care, educationreading and transport & communication during 1999-2000 increased as compared to 1981-82 survey with the maximum jump for medical care.

FOOD CONSUMPTION

  1. The average monthly quantity of Cereals and Cereal Products consumed per family worked out to be 30.52 Kgs, of which major share was accounted for by wheat atta (13.61 Kgs) and rice (11.48 Kg). The per capita per month consumption of Cereals and Cereal Products was 10.11 Kgs.
  1. The average monthly consumption of milk per family has increased to 25.72 litres from 22.16 litres in 1981-82 survey.

BUDGETARY POSITION

  1. About 78 per cent of families recorded an average surplus income of Rs. 1380.41 over per family expenditure.

INDEBTEDNESS

  1. The average amount of outstanding debt per indebted family worked out to Rs. 10792.01 against the original loan of Rs. 20751.97.
  1. The incidence of indebtedness worked out to be 16.94 per cent during 1999-2000 as compared to 33.18 per cent in 1981-82 survey.
  1. Employer was the main source of loans.

HOUSING

  1. Of all the families, 70.83 per cent had made their own arrangements for accommodation, 27.38 per cent were provided dwellings by the employers and the remaining 1.79 per cent were residing in the dwellings provided by friends and relatives etc.
  1. The percentage of families having access to drinking water within dwelling was 42.26 per cent and the remaining 57.74 per cent of the families had to depend upon the source of drinking water outside the dwelling.
  2. The percentage of families enjoying basic amenities like kitchen, bathroom, latrine and electricity was 69.05 per cent, 73.81 per cent, 76.79 per cent and 93.45 per cent respectively.
  1. Majority of the families i.e. 60.10 per cent were reported to be residing in independent houses whereas 35.71 per cent were using Flats as their residence. The percentage of families residing in chawls-bustees was reported to be 2.99 per cent as against 7.19 per cent in 1981-82.

*****

1

Himachal Pradesh