NAGPUR: Data on consumption trends on health and education collected in previous surveys by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has revealed that expenditure on these two counts have risen significantly in the last few years, but the quality is far from satisfactory.
Sharing details at a data processing conference, TK Basu, deputy director general and head of Nagpur centre of NSSO, Seminary Hills, said on Tuesday that it was a worrying sign that people have been spending substantial money on health and education. Despite this, people are found to be less healthier and children are not properly educated, he added.
Information being collected during the 75th round of annual survey 2017-18 will be submitted to the central government as part of social responsibility for formulating better policies, he added. The survey that began in July will be carried out as per the guidelines prescribed in NSSO's schedules 1.0, 25.0 and 25.2 for domestic expenditure, health and education respectively.
According to Basu, although medical facilities have improved, people are not benefited because of increase in population. He said, "More people are going to hospitals and clinics for treatment of various illnesses, but doctors are unable to manage the influx of crowd." Previous surveys have also shown that more people prefer treatment at private clinics over government hospitals, Basu said.
Expenditure on education has increased largely because children are opting for private tuitions, said Basu. "This is happening because children are not comfortable with what they have been taught and so they enrol for private coaching classes. Though children appear to be learning, all they are doing is to memorize some information and reproduce it in the exams. They are not being educated in real sense," he added.
Basu referred to previous surveys on education which showed girls in rural areas were dropping out of school after attaining a certain age. He said, "In the 71st round, we observed that there were numerous reasons why girls were dropping out."
Basu said that the survey on domestic expenditure will need to be compared with the data acquired in the 60th round in 2004, citing increase in family income. "People's spending habits and consumption patterns have changed drastically and schedule 1.0 will capture that," he said.
Sharing details at a data processing conference, TK Basu, deputy director general and head of Nagpur centre of NSSO, Seminary Hills, said on Tuesday that it was a worrying sign that people have been spending substantial money on health and education. Despite this, people are found to be less healthier and children are not properly educated, he added.
Information being collected during the 75th round of annual survey 2017-18 will be submitted to the central government as part of social responsibility for formulating better policies, he added. The survey that began in July will be carried out as per the guidelines prescribed in NSSO's schedules 1.0, 25.0 and 25.2 for domestic expenditure, health and education respectively.
According to Basu, although medical facilities have improved, people are not benefited because of increase in population. He said, "More people are going to hospitals and clinics for treatment of various illnesses, but doctors are unable to manage the influx of crowd." Previous surveys have also shown that more people prefer treatment at private clinics over government hospitals, Basu said.
Expenditure on education has increased largely because children are opting for private tuitions, said Basu. "This is happening because children are not comfortable with what they have been taught and so they enrol for private coaching classes. Though children appear to be learning, all they are doing is to memorize some information and reproduce it in the exams. They are not being educated in real sense," he added.
Basu referred to previous surveys on education which showed girls in rural areas were dropping out of school after attaining a certain age. He said, "In the 71st round, we observed that there were numerous reasons why girls were dropping out."
Basu said that the survey on domestic expenditure will need to be compared with the data acquired in the 60th round in 2004, citing increase in family income. "People's spending habits and consumption patterns have changed drastically and schedule 1.0 will capture that," he said.
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