The
first mobile phone call in India was made in 1995; now, 23 years
later, 43,000-odd inhabited villages do not have mobiles services.
Up
to 23 million households (in over 292,000 villages) without
electricity; 7% (43,000) villages without mobile services; 17% rural
habitations without clean drinking water; 25% of 14- to 18-year-olds
(nearly 88 million) in rural areas cannot read basic text in own
language.
These
data reflect those left out of India’s
growth story in the country’s rural areas, home to 833 million or
69% of the population, according to various data sets analysed by
IndiaSpend.
As
India’s economy grew seven-fold over 25 years to Rs 121.9 lakh
crore ($1.8 trillion) in 2016-17, moving to the world’s fifth
largest over this period, per capita income increased more than four
times–from Rs 15,766 to Rs 82,269–during the same period.
Of
640,932 villages
in India (597,608 inhabited and 43,324 uninhabited), all
inhabited villages have been electrified–according to the
government, although this is unverified–but over 23 million
households in rural areas are without electricity.
Of
more than 219 million rural households, 195 million, or 89%, have
been electrified, official data show.
Of
23 million rural households to be electrified, Uttar Pradesh leads
the list with over 12 million households, followed by Assam (1.9
million) and Odisha (1.8 million), as on August 22, 2018.
As
many as 18,374 Indian villages got electricity over three years to
2018, but in no more than 8%, or 1,425 villages, do all households
have electricity, according to the government’s GARV dashboard.
The
first mobile phone call in India was made in 1995; now, 23 years
later, 43,000-odd inhabited villages do not have mobiles services as
on July 27, 2018, according to government data.
Odisha
has the most villages (9,940) without mobile services, followed by
Maharashtra (6,117) and Madhya Pradesh (5,558).
While
mobile phone ownership is increasing, many rural inhabitants still
struggle to access electricity for simple daily tasks–such as
charging a phone–IndiaSpend reported on May 17, 2018.
Of
1.7 million rural habitations, over 289,000 habitations, or nearly
17%, have only partial access to clean drinking water (getting at
least 40 litre per capita per day), according to an August 8, 2018
reply to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament): and 62,582
habitations have water that is “quality affected” or
contaminated.
