In bulk of rural India, Rs.5,000 is highest monthly wage

New Delhi For nearly 75 percent of the 179 crore nearly 180 million households in rural India the monthly income of a highestearning member is less than Rs5000 83 even as 40 percent are landless toiling as manual casual labourers as per latest official dataThis is the finding of the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 for Rural India released on Friday that also shows that nearly 25 percent of the rural households still do not own a phone despite India boasting a telecom subscriber base of around a billionThe survey for the first time since 1931 gives a glimpse into the livestyles in rural India in terms of how many households own a phone a refrigerator automobiles or land what percentage of such population pays direct taxes the kind of jobs they pursue and their literacy ratesAs per the Census among the the fortunate families that actually own land the dependence on rains for their crops is rather high with 25 percent having no access to irrigation as per the Census released by Finance Minister Arun JaitleyOnly 829 percent of the rural households reported a member who was drawing more than Rs10000 per month while for 1718 percent others the monthly earning was between Rs5000 and Rs10000 per month And 180657 people still do manual scavenging despite this being illegalThe latest Census covered all the 640 districts in the country in a paperless manner using some 640000 electronic handheld devices The government on Friday released only the provisional data of the socioeconomic Census for rural IndiaThe Census seeks to provide useful data on households on various aspects of their socioeconomic status housing landholding education women the differently able occupation possession of assets and members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled TribesIn a bid to target government schemes better and ensure they benefit the intended beneficiaries alone it also provides for automatic exclusion of families on the basis of 14 parameters as also automatic inclusion on the basis of five criteriaThe progress which households in India have made who are the ones who have qualitatively moved up in terms of quality of life a document of these will be an important input for all policy makers both at the centre and in the states Jaitley said while releasing the CensusI am sure that with the enormity of the schemes and their reaches that all governments have this document will form the basis of helping us to target groups to support in terms of policy planning he addedBased on 14 parameters for families which include criteria such owing a vehicle possessing a kisan credit card having a serving government member drawing an income of Rs10000 per month or owing a refrigerator only 705 crore families 3939 percent stand to be excludedSimilarly based on five parameters households without shelter those living on alms manual scavengers primitive tribals and legally released bonded labourers 1650 lakh families are eligible for automatic inclusionAt the same time 1069 crore over 100 million of rural families or 60 percent qualify for deprivation based on seven criteria which include those with one room kuccha walls no member in 1859 age group no literate adult above 25 years and landless householdsAmong them while 215 percent are Dalits or tribals 235 percent are without a literate adulty above 25 years of age This apart 30 percent are landless households deriving a major part of their income from manual labourIn terms of education the Census suggests that 3573 percent of the rural folk are illiterate with Rajasthan at the bottom with 47 percent and Lakshwadeep at the top with 93 percent Also 45 percent of the people still live in ldquokucchardquo houses made of thatch stones and mudNonetheless every 10th household owns a refigerator with such population constituting nearly 70 percent in Goa and Lakshwadeep and 66 percent in Punjab but only 26 percent in Bihar 33 percent in Chhattisgarh 41 percent in Madhya Pradesh and 44 percent in Meghalaya