The Economic Survey 2020-21 has dedicated one chapter to the Bare Necessities Index (BNI).
- The BNI draws its name from Baloo the Bear’s song in the movie adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book.
- According to the survey, access to “the bare necessities” such as housing, water, sanitation, electricity and clean cooking fuel are a sine qua non to live a decent life.
- This Bare Necessities Index (BNI) examines the progress made in providing access to “the bare necessities” by constructing a Bare Necessities Index (BNI) at the rural, urban and all India level.
- The BNI summarises 26 indicators on five dimensions viz., water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment, and other facilities.
- The value of the index ranges between 0 and 1. Higher the value of index, better is the access to the bare necessities.
- The BNI has been created for all states for 2012 and 2018 using data from two NSO rounds viz., 69th and 76th on Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India.
- States such as Kerala, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat top the index, while eastern Indian States of Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura occupy the lowest rungs. States which showed significant improvement include Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
(Source: Economic Survey 2020-21)
