Socio-economic Baseline Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts - chtdf

HDRCSocio-economic Baseline Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts65CHAPTER VIIIHOUSING STATUS8.1 IntroductionAccording to the Article 15a in the Constitution ofBangladesh, one of the rights of a citizen ofBangladesh is - The provision of the basicnecessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter,education, and medical care 29 . In fact, thepossession of own house among the rural people inCHT irrespective of different indigenouscommunities or Bangalee is satisfactory. Almost allHHs possess own houses in rural CHT (see detailin Chapter VII). But, the quality of the structure ofthat house needs to be considered. This Chapter deals with this issue.8.2 Number of Dwelling RoomsIn the rural area of CHT, on average, theindigenous and Bangalee peoples possessalmost similar number of rooms fordwelling purpose at HH. They possessaround 2.4 rooms per HH for dwelling,irrespective of indigenous or Bangaleeidentity. Among the indigenous groupsthere is significant variation in number ofrooms for dwelling. Among the elevenindigenous communities of the CHT, HHof Bawm community possesses thehighest number of rooms for dwelling(2.6). Chakma, Chak and Marma HHpossess similar number of rooms fordwelling. Mro, Tripura, Pangkhua, andLushai HH also possess more than tworooms for dwelling. Among theindigenous communities, Khumi HHpossess the least number of rooms todwell (1.6), followed by Bawm (1.8).29 Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (as modifiedon 17 May, 2004).Box 8.1: Methodological note:Housing statusThe housing status in the rural area of CHTamong different communities has been assessedthrough number of rooms, living space,construction material (roof and wall of mainhouse), nature of the housing structure, andelectrification status. It is to note that only thenumber and space of the dwelling rooms havebeen considered here; other rooms (e.g., kitchen)have not been considered in the accompanyingsurvey.Table 8.1: Average number of dwelling room in ahouseholdAll CHT 2.37Indigenous 2.36Bangalee 2.38TanchangyaChakmaChakMarmaMroTripuraPangkhuaLushaiBawmKhumiFigure 8.1: Number of dwelling rooms in different indigenousgroups (in number)2.622.542.452.362.222.162.122.071.831.63Box 8.2: Importance of adequate room in a householdThe importance of a healthy housing status has been argued ina new lens in the study titled “Child Poverty in the DevelopingWorld’, where an ‘index of deprivation’ has been constructedto assess child-poverty. At the index seven indicators havebeen used of which deprivation from two or more meanssevere deprivation for children. The first indicator is –“Children living in a dwelling with five or more people perroom or with no floor material. This indeed, reflects theimportance of adequate room in a household.Source: Child poverty in the developing world. D.Gordon, S. Nandy,C.Pantazis, Simon A. Pemberton and P. Townsend. 2003.