Guwahati: Only 44.1 per cent households in Assam avail banking services, 54 per cent have access to drinking water within house while firewood and kerosene remain the main source of cooking and lighting respectively for the people of the state, as per the 2011 Census.
According to the data sheet of ‘Housing, Household Amenities, Assets Census for India 2011’ , there has been improvements in many fields in Assam during 2001-11 period but the state still has a lot of ground to cover.
A ‘household’ is defined in the Census as a group of persons — related, unrelated or or a mix of both — who normally live together and take meals from a common kitchen.
The Census, conducted between April 1 to May 15, 2010, covered a population of 3.11 crore in over 26,000 villages and 214 towns of Assam. It covered 63.7 lakh households.
The Census found that 44.1 per cent of households in Assam avail banking services, as against 20.5 per cent as reported in the previous Census. In rural Assam, 38.3 per cent people avail banking services and figure in urban areas is over 75 per cent.
Over 66 per cent of households resided in homes having walls made of grass, thatch or bamboo.
But, 74.2 per cent houses had roofs made of GI, metal or asbestos sheets. For 37.1 per cent households electricity was the main source of lighting, up from 25 per cent in 2001 Census.
But kerosene remained the major source of light for 61.8 per cent households and 0.8 per cent were using solar power, as per latest figures.
The report said 54.8 per cent of households have drinking water facility available within their premises, up from 37.9 per cent as per the 2001 Census.
In rural areas of the state, 50.4 per cent of the households have drinking water available within the premises, while it is 78.8 per cent in urban areas.
The 2011 Census found that only 10.5 per cent of households in Assam use tap water as their main source for drinking, up marginally from 9.2 per cent in 2001. For as many as 59.4 per cent of households, handpump or tubewell was the main source and for 26.7 per cent it was the well, as per the latest data. While 25 per cent households have proper bathrooms and over 17 per cent have some sort of enclosures, 58 per cent lack any bathing facilities.
Nearly 80 per cent households have no drainage system, almost the same as in the previous Census.
Meanwhile, the 2011 census said that 35.1 per cent lack any latrine facilities, as against 35.4 per cent in 2001. Firewood remain the main source of cooking fuel used by households in Assam.
Over 72 per cent use firewood, 19 per cent use LPG while 0.6 per cent use kerosene. Of the total households in the state, 22 per cent have radio or transistor, down from 30 per cent in 2001.
However, households having TVs have gone up 28 per cent in the 2011 Census from 19 per cent in 2001. Over 9 per cent households possess computers or laptops and 1.6 per cent have Internet connections.
A marked improvement has been made in telecoms. The latest data found that 48 per cent households either landline or mobile, up from only four per cent in 2001 Census. While 55 per cent of households in Assam have bicycles, 10 per cent have some sort of two-wheelers and 4 per cent possess some 4-wheeler. (PTI)