Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

CHAPTER 2
ASSESSING DEVELOPMENT: SOME NON- INCOME DIMENSIONS
39
that about 300 grama panchayats in Kerala assigned prime
priority to sanitation and 50 of them achieved more than
95 per cent coverage of household sanitary latrines during
the Ninth Plan period. 12 Personal and home cleanliness
notwithstanding, environmental hygiene in terms of solid
and liquid waste disposal has become a serious problem,
since open waste provides an ideal breeding ground for
pathogens and germ carriers, resulting in the emergence
of diseases like leptospirosis, we mentioned earlier. Public
sanitation is an issue we discuss later.
4.4 Communication
evident in the fact that the State has the highest coverage
(84 per cent as per 2001 Census) of individual households
with latrines in India. In 2001, about 81 per cent of the
rural and 92 per cent of the urban households in Kerala had
toilets (Table 2.14); in 1991, these were 44 and 73 per cent,
respectively. It should be noted that the coverage has been
limited among poor households, who are even otherwise
more vulnerable to health hazards. The situation, however,
appears to have some potential for improvement with the
decentralisation process that has transferred sanitation to
the jurisdiction of the local Governments. It is reported
Communication facilities are critical across all aspects
of development, especially in an internationally
integrated economy. We highlight the rapid growth of
telecommunication in Kerala. Globalisation and the
emergence of a knowledge-based economy have ushered
in a telecommunication revolution and Kerala has been
quick to avail of this device that narrows down global
distances. The number of telephone connections in
Kerala rose to 3.02 million by 2002-03, an addition of
more than 2.8 million connections over 1989-90. Kerala’s
telephone density of 95 per 1,000 population (101 per
1,000 population, including BSNL cellular mobile
connections as in March 2003) is much above the national
Table 2.15: Area and Population Served by Communication Networks by Districts, 2002-03
State/Districts
Area (sq. km.)
Served per
Post Office
Population
Served per
Post Office
Telephone
Connections per
sq. km. (No.)
Telephones
per 1000
Population (No.)
Thiruvananthapuram 5.23 7,720 163.73 110.94
Kollam 6.82 7,079 96.40 92.93
Pathanamthitta 8.46 3,947 69.36 148.73
Alappuzha 4.77 7,112 140.28 94.23
Kottayam 5.36 4,751 110.48 124.69
Idukki 17.12 3,851 17.67 78.55
Ernakulam 6.12 7,883 165.78 128.80
Thrissur 6.20 6,084 107.99 110.06
Palakkad 9.82 5,739 36.08 61.77
Malappuram 8.10 8,286 65.02 63.59
Kozhikode 5.67 6,969 95.09 77.45
Wayanad 13.07 4,825 21.83 59.11
Kannur 7.80 6,348 70.81 87.07
Kasaragod 8.47 5,120 48.46 80.25
Kerala 7.67 6,288 77.65 94.62
Source: Government of Kerala (2004).
12 Government of Kerala (2004: 167).