Rural Housing Condition of India: A Saga of Spatial Deprivation.

Notwithstanding, even after 75 years of independence adequate housing for all is an elusive dream for India. In 2011 India had 18.16 million homeless residents and 37 per cent of households lived in semi-permanent and temporary houses (Census of India, 2011). The condition of rural housing is worse and a thing to worry about. In this paper, an attempt has been made to investigate the condition of rural housing in India. The study concerned State wise rural-urban variation in the level of housing deprivation and its relationship with the socio-economic disparity. The database of this study is secondary, procured and compiled from the house listing and housing datasets of the Census of India (2011). The methodology of this study is mainly categorized into two segments-firstly, the identification of relevant housing and socio-economic deprivation variables. Secondly, to get fruitful analysis authors apply appropriate statistical techniques. Analysis revealed that wide state-level variations exist in access to basic amenities, specifically, drinking water, toilet facilities and electricity. There are prevalent disproportions across states in terms of housing deprivation. This deprivation is an all-prevalent phenomenon in rural areas. The Social and economic background of the households namely poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, caste identity are the main factors of rural housing deprivation. The result of this study argues urban favouritism in the provision of amenities over rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]