Human Development in India - NCAER

villages in a global world 183mean distance to the nearest town can be as little as 9 km,as it is in Kerala, it can be as much as 20–5 km, as it is inUttarakhand, Jharkhand, and the North-East.As Table 12.1 indicates, access to electricity varies byregion.While the states in the north (for example, HimachalPradesh, Punjab, and Haryana) and in the south (forexample, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka) can boast of nearcomplete penetration of electricity in rural areas, otherstates like Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, and Orissa have a longway to go. Furthermore, penetration rates mean little ifthe reliability of access is poor. States that have the highestrates of penetration do not necessarily provide the mostreliable services. For example, on an average, villages inPunjab and Haryana receive only 9–11 hours of electricityper day. On the other hand, states that have poor penetrationrates, like Bihar or Assam, also have the fewest hours ofaccess (four and eight hours, respectively) to the service.In comparison, the rural areas of Kerala and Tamil Nadunot only have relatively high rates of penetration in ruralareas but also enjoy more than 20 hours of electricity supplyper day.Comparison of household and village access to electricitypoints to an interesting lacuna of public policy interest.Although a large proportion of the villages in the IHDSsample boast of electricity connection, the same cannot besaid of the households. For example, while 88 per cent ofthe sample villages in Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, andDaman and Diu, have electric connections, only 29 per centof the households in the rural sample do. This suggests thatTable 12.1 Village Infrastructure by StateNumber of Mean Mean Per cent Distance Per cent Per cent MeanCompleted Distance Distance Villages from Villages Homes with Hours ofVillage from from with Road with Electricity ElectricitySchedules Nearest District Paved if No Electricity in Villages Per DayTown Town Road RoadAll India* 1,495 14.29 44.51 92 1.6 91 68 13.11Jammu and Kashmir 20 9.55 33.10 90 1.8 100 81 11Himachal Pradesh 52 19.90 47.42 85 2.4 100 98 14Punjab/Chandigarh 61 11.10 32.72 100 0.1 100 96 11Haryana 79 10.28 27.56 100 0.0 100 90 9Uttar Pradesh 138 12.69 34.36 92 0.9 89 42 8Uttarkhand 20 21.83 43.44 50 1.6 90 85 15Bihar 61 12.80 28.70 95 2.7 62 23 4Jharkhand 26 24.31 38.65 96 1.9 77 46 12Rajasthan 88 12.63 53.63 93 0.4 91 56 8Madhya Pradesh 129 17.45 47.34 90 3.6 95 78 6Chhatishgarh 49 12.09 53.98 94 5.3 92 63 17West Bengal 66 12.02 46.63 86 1.4 86 39 19Orissa 84 16.84 50.51 85 2.1 76 29 19Assam 38 13.53 42.67 87 5.9 58 27 8North-East 33 20.91 38.30 97 3.5 94 71 17Gujarat, Daman, Dadra 76 13.79 43.71 91 0.6 92 89 18Maharashtra/Goa 121 12.34 51.61 98 0.4 98 79 17Andhra Pradesh 94 17.62 65.41 89 1.5 100 85 16Karnataka 142 16.52 51.49 99 1.1 100 82 11Kerala 61 8.88 28.40 82 0.8 80 77 23Tamil Nadu/Pondicherry 65 10.12 40.44 89 2.0 91 90 22Note: *Tables present unweighted summary from village questionnaires. These data are from nationwide but not nationally representative.Source: IHDS 2004–5 data.