The 2001 Census provides a detailed look housing conditions and living standards. These estimates do not take into account different price levels in urban and rural areas, but they do provide a rough idea of the level of living. Housing costs for owner-occupied dwellings are excluded because so many people have constructed their own homes and, in a sense, live rent-free. About 52 percent of MPCE was spent on food in rural areas, while the same figure was 39 percent in urban areas. In urban areas, it was 1,312 rupees, or about US$27. In 2006-2007, the average MPCE in the rural areas, where most Indians live, was 695 rupees or about US$14.
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1 Actual money income is not asked in the census or in the NSS. MPCE consists of both cash household expenditures for different classes of goods and services and cash equivalents since barter is quite common in the rural areas. The NSS measures monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) for households each year. There are two principal official sources for information on such topics as household amenities and consumer expenditures, the decennial census and the National Sample Surveys (NSS) taken by India’s National Sample Survey Organization. Most of India’s population lives in smaller cities or rural areas in extremely simple housing and with few modern amenities. And this affluent city contains just over 1 percent of the country’s households. Even so, just 7 percent of households in Delhi owned private cars according to the 2001 Census. While poverty is always visible in the city, the number of new cars and SUVs, shopping malls, and tony restaurants would leave a lasting impression. Visitors to India who may have spent all of their time in New Delhi might well return home believing India had “arrived,” and that the middle class was thriving. In this article, we will not try to define the concept for India but we will take a look at how the average Indian household actually lives. Those in the West undoubtedly have a fairly clear idea of what they mean by it. Is India’s middle class surging? We first need to consider the term “middle class,” which can convey a variety of images. That, in fact, may not be much of an achievement given that India has 1.2 billion people and Germany 82 million! While it is certainly true that even small percentages give rather large numbers in India, a more realistic assessment of the true situation is needed. In two decades, India would pass Germany as the world’s fifth-largest consumer market, the article went on.
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Adaptive Learning and Knowledge Management.Social and Environmental Dimensions of Health.Family Planning, Maternal and Reproductive Health.