Public Distribution System and other Sources of Household Consumption (NSS 66th Round)- Highlights

TRENDS IN SHARE OF PDS IN CONSUMPTION OF SPECIFIC ITEMS

·         The share of PDS purchase in rice consumption in 2009-10 was about 23.5% in the rural sector (1.41 kg out of 6.00 kg per person) and about 18% in the urban (0.81 kg out of 4.52 kg per person). In 2004-05, the PDS share in rice consumption had been about 13% in the rural sector and 11% in the urban.

·         The share of PDS in wheat/atta consumption in 2009-10 was about 14.6% (0.62 kg out of 4.25 kg per person) in the rural sector, double what it was in 2004-05 (7.3%), and about 9% in the urban sector, compared to only 3.8% in 2004-05. 

·         PDS purchase accounted for 14.7% of consumption of sugar in 2009-10 compared to 9.6% in 2004-05 in the rural sector. The corresponding percentages for the urban sector were 10.3 and 6.6, respectively.

·         For kerosene, the contribution of PDS purchase in 2009-10 was 86.3% in the rural and 63.6% in the urban sector, higher than the 2004-05 percentages by about 9 and 7 percentage points respectively.

RISE IN INCIDENCE OF PURCHASE FROM PDS BETWEEN 2004-05 AND 2009-10

·         The percentage of households reporting consumption of rice from PDS during a 30-day period rose sharply from 24.4% to 39% in rural India and from 13% to 20.5% in urban India between 2004-05 and 2009-10.

·         The increase in the percentage of households reporting consumption from PDS was even sharper for wheat/atta: from 11% to 27.6% in rural India and from 5.8% to 17.6% in urban India.

·         For sugar too, there was a sharp rise in the percentage of reporting households from under 16% to nearly 28% in rural India and from 11.5% to 18.7% in urban India.

·         For kerosene, whereas for rural India the percentage of households reporting consumption from PDS increased by 9 percentage points from 73% to 82% between 2004-05 and 2009-10, the corresponding percentage for urban Indiaremained unchanged at 33%. Only 18% of rural households and 15% of urban households reported consumption of kerosene from other sources.

RICE: UTILISATION OF PDS ACROSS STATES

·         The major States with relatively high incidence of  PDS purchase of rice in the rural sector were Tamil Nadu(91% households), Andhra Pradesh (84%), Karnataka (75%), and Chhattisgarh (67%), followed by Kerala and Odisha (51-54%), and Maharashtra (47%).

·         In the urban sector, Tamil Nadu (67% households) again had the highest proportion of households reporting purchase during a 30-day period, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Kerala (about 43%), Chhattisgarh (35%) and Karnataka (25%).

·         In quite a few States where rice is the main cereal item, very low proportions of households reported PDS purchase of rice. Examples are Bihar (rural: 12%, urban: 4%), West Bengal (rural: 26%, urban: 7%), and Jharkhand (rural: 26%, urban: 9%).

·         The contribution of PDS purchases to total rice consumption was highest in Tamil Nadu (rural: 53%, urban: 41%), followed by Karnataka (rural: 45%, urban: 18%), Chhattisgarh (rural: 41%, urban: 26%), Maharashtra (rural: 34%, urban: 7.5%), Andhra Pradesh (rural: 33%, urban: 21%), and Kerala (rural: 28%, urban: 24%).

·         Among States where rice is the main cereal item, the share of PDS purchases in consumption was low in Bihar (rural: 5%, urban: 2%), West Bengal (rural: 6%, urban: 3%), Assam (rural: 11%, urban: 5%), and Jharkhand (rural: 14%, urban: 7%).

·         In Tamil Nadu, the ratio of unit values (unit cost of rice from non-PDS sources to PDS unit cost) was 19.7 in the rural sector and 25.6 in the urban sector. In Kerala and rural Maharashtra, participation in PDS was high though the cost advantage of PDS was not very great. In West Bengal, on the other hand, the share of PDS in quantity of rice consumed was very low although the cost advantage of PDS was above average.

WHEAT/ATTA: UTILISATION OF PDS ACROSS STATES

·         For the rural sector, among the major States for which wheat is the major item of cereal consumption, Madhya Pradesh had the highest incidence of consumption of PDS wheat/atta (46% households), followed by Maharashtra(44%) and Gujarat (35%). For Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, for which rice is the major cereal item, the corresponding incidences of consumption of PDS wheat/atta were 69% and 57%, respectively. 

·         In the urban sector, Tamil Nadu had the highest incidence of consumption of PDS wheat/atta (51% households), followed by Kerala (29%), Chhattisgarh (25%), Madhya Pradesh (24%) and then Karnataka (23%).

·         The proportion of households reporting PDS purchase of wheat/atta was quite low for the urban sector ofHaryana (9%), Punjab (10%) and Rajasthan (12%), where wheat is the main item of cereal consumption. The proportion was also quite low for urban Bihar (5%), for which wheat forms a large part of total cereal consumption. The corresponding incidences for the rural sector of these States were also below the all-India average. 

·         The share of PDS purchases of wheat/atta in consumption was largest for Tamil Nadu (rural: 86%, urban: 65%). This share was also large for Karnataka, West Bengal, Kerala and Chhattisgarh, all States for which rice and not wheat is the main cereal item.

·         Among States for which wheat is an important cereal item, PDS share in consumption was relatively high inMaharashtra (rural: 33%, urban: 9%) and Madhya Pradesh (rural: 22%, urban: 13%), but elsewhere, below the all-India average of 14.6% for the rural sector and 9% for the urban sector. It was noticeably low in Bihar (rural: 5%, urban: 2%), rural Uttar Pradesh (7%), urban Gujarat (5%), and urban Rajasthan (6%).

·         The ratio of unit cost of wheat/atta obtained from other sources to unit cost of wheat/atta obtained through PDS varied from 1.7 in Assam to 7 in urban Odisha. Tamil Nadu and rural Chhattisgarh, with a large share of PDS in wheat/atta consumption, showed a strong cost advantage for PDS. But there were a number of States where high or low incidence of PDS purchase was not in tune with the cost advantage of PDS.

SUGAR: UTILISATION OF PDS ACROSS STATES

·         The proportion of households reporting consumption of PDS sugar was highest in Tamil Nadu (rural: 86%, urban: 78%), followed by Andhra Pradesh (rural: 57%, urban: 32%), Chhattisgarh (rural: 54%, urban: 31%), Assam (rural: 53%, urban: 27%) and rural Karnataka (47%). 

·         The incidence of PDS purchase was very low in both rural and urban areas of Punjab, Bihar and Rajasthan, and in urban Jharkhand (0-2% households), and also in both rural and urban Haryana, rural Jharkhand and urban areas of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal (3-6%). 

·         Among the major States, by far the largest share of PDS purchases in consumption was seen in Tamil Nadu(rural: 73%, urban: 63%). This was followed by Assam (rural: 53%, urban: 31%), Chhattisgarh (rural: 29%, urban: 11%), and Andhra Pradesh (rural: 24.5%, urban: 12%). The share of PDS was as low as 0-2% in Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar,Haryana, and urban areas of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

KEROSENE: UTILISATION OF PDS ACROSS STATES

·         In all major States except Punjab and Haryana, the proportion of households reporting consumption of kerosene from PDS purchase ranged from 72% to 94% in the rural sector and from 18% to 62% in the urban sector.

·         In urban India, use of kerosene from PDS was most widespread in West Bengal (61.5% households), Kerala(59%), Bihar (53%), and Uttar Pradesh (49%).

·         In the rural sector, the contribution of PDS purchases to total kerosene consumption was 80% or more in all but two major States: Jharkhand and Assam. In the urban sector, the share of PDS purchases varied much more: from 23.5% in Punjab to 90% in Kerala.

CONSUMPTION FROM HOME-GROWN STOCK IN RURAL INDIA

·         About 30.4% of total cereal consumption and 10.6% of total pulse consumption in rural India in 2009-10 came from home-grown stock.

·         For rice, the share of home produce in quantity of consumption fell from 30% to 25%, and for wheat/atta, from 40% to 37% between 2004-05 and 2009-10.

·         The share of home produce in total consumption dropped quite sharply for most of the pulse varieties: by about 3-5 percentage points (from 13-18% in 2004-05) for arhar, split gram, moong and urd.

·         For milk, the share of home produce has dropped by  about 3 percentage points since 2004-05 to about 59%, though the percentage of households reporting home consumption of milk among those reporting any milk consumption is only a little more than 33%.

·         The contribution of home produce to quantity of rice consumed was highest (among the major States) in Assam(52%), followed by Uttar Pradesh (40%), while it was 34% in Odisha and 30-32% in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In case of wheat, the contribution of home produce was nearly 52% in Uttar Pradesh, 44% in Madhya Pradesh, and 43% inHaryana.

·         For all cereals taken together, the percentage coming from home produce was highest in Assam (49%), followed by Uttar Pradesh (47%), Madhya Pradesh (42%), Haryana (41%), and Rajasthan (39%). The percentage coming from home produce was extremely low in Kerala (1.6%), Tamil Nadu (5%), and Andhra Pradesh (9%). It may be recalled that in these three States, especially Kerala, a very large share of rice consumption came from PDS.

·         For milk, the share of home produce in consumption was 20% in Andhra Pradesh, 12-14% in Tamil Nadu andKerala, and over 34% in all other States, including States where per capita consumption is very low, such asChhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

·         Households reporting consumption of rice from home-grown stock alone – which formed 21% of all rural rice-consuming households in India as a whole – made up 46% of such households in Assam, 45% in Chhattisgarh, 38% inOdisha, 36% in Uttar Pradesh, and 31% in Jharkhand.

·         Households reporting consumption of wheat from home-grown stock alone – accounting for 26% of all rural wheat-consuming households in the country – formed nearly 49% of such households in Uttar Pradesh, 43% in Madhya Pradesh, 38% in Haryana, and about 34% in Rajasthan.

·         The percentage of rural households consuming milk from home produce alone (33% of all rural milk-consuming households at the all-India level) was 8-9% in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, 12% in Andhra Pradesh, and 19-46% in all other major States except Rajasthan (62%) and Assam (59%).