Less space than jail

M Shamsur Rabb Khan

New Delhi

Tue, 25 Nov 2008: 

Some revelation can surprise us more than we even think of. Living space in urban India is one such area. Forget about elevation feel after watching skyscrapers in metros like Delhi and Mumbai or reading about the real estate boom, but come to the ground and see the real living world where about 33 per cent urban Inans, i.

e. one out of three lives in homes with less space than the prison cell in the US.

The shocking data emerge from the recently released 63rd round survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), which shows that about 33 per cent of urban houses are 258 sq ft or less in area. Given the increasing number of houses in urban India, the average number of persons per household stands at 4.3 persons, this comes to each person possessing only 60 sq ft, which is the minimum space for US prison cells.

In the last 50 years, this living space in urban India has shown downturn trends as both the number and proportion of Indians living in homes with a per capita space of less than 100 square feet have gone up substantially. In fact, a majority of Indians have per capita space equivalent to or less than a 10 feet x 10 feet room for their living, sleeping, cooking, washing and toilet needs.

The picture in rural India is no better, as about 39 per cent of rural houses are 312 sq ft or less. If this area is divided among the average household strength of 4.8 persons, then it comes to about 65 sq ft per person, which little more spacious than a cramped US prison. However, there is a variation in states of rural India. While people of Arunachal Pradesh have the biggest houses averaging over 1,000 sq feet, those in Chhattisgarh and J&K have average house size bigger than 800 sq feet. Tripura, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have the smallest urban houses with less than 400 sq ft of average area, while in Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Rajasthan, the average house sizes range between 600-700 sq feet.

As per the NSSO, the average size of an Indian house is 494 sq ft in rural areas or 103 sq ft per person and 504 sq ft in urban areas, or 117 sq ft per person. According to the second Planning Commission report, about 46 per cent of urban and 38.5 per cent of rural households had less than 100 sq ft per head of floor space in 1953-54. In 2006-07, 55 percent of city dwellers and 56 per cent of villagers were living in homes with less than 100 square feet per person.