Joint family dying out in Delhi, survey reveals-Only 10 per cent of houses in the Capital have extended families living together.-3/2/11

Joint family dying out in Delhi, survey reveals


The ‘big, happy family’ — complete with grandparents, uncles and cousins sharing the same roof, finances and kitchen — is a concept now almost extinct in Delhi. Only 10 per cent of houses in the Capital have extended families living together.

This was revealed in the 65th National Sample Survey Round — between July 2008 and June 2009 — on ‘Housing Conditions in Delhi’. The report was released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics of the Delhi government.

On an average, a household in the Capital has 4-5 persons, the survey reveals. In urban areas, a little over 76 per cent of households have only one married couple, while 8.39 per cent of houses have two married couples and 1.73 per cent have three or more married couples.

The study, however, does not merely reflect the sociological shift the Capital is going through. It also reveals areas where the government’s effort is yet to match the ground reality.

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Only 60 per cent houses in the Capital have a motorable approach road. There are still about 6 per cent houses that do no have streetlighting facility in their vicinity. In the survey conducted in 2002, at least 69.08 per cent of the Capital’s households had streetlights on their approach road; this time round, the figure has come down to 59.88 per cent, indicating that the provision of streetlighting facilities has not increased at the same pace as the population.

The government also has not done enough to facilitate proper garbage collection and disposal. The civic agencies collect garbage from merely 40 per cent households in the city. In rural areas of Delhi, the figure is as low as 26.38 per cent.

The government can, however, boast of one achievement — making sure that the maximum number of houses receive piped water supply. Almost 84 per cent of the houses draw drinking water from taps. Same holds true for electricity — 99.10 per cent of households have supply of electricity. There are, however, still about 8 per cent houses where electricity is provided through temporary wiring.

Another interesting fact thrown up by the survey is that only 32.51 per cent of Delhi lives in rented accommodation. The concept of flats may be gaining popularity, but a majority of Delhi — 72.65 per cent — resides in independent houses. A majority of Delhi also lives in 40-50 sq m space per person.

The survey has also pointed out that around 90 per cent households have toilet facilities — 63 per cent have this facility exclusively to themselves, 20 per cent use shared facilities, whereas 9 per cent use public toilets.