Household Characteristics and Living Conditions

Based on the Odisha Migration Survey, this chapter presents household characteristics related to housing status and amenities, viz., lighting sources, cooking fuel, drinking water, and toilet facilities, disaggregated by social group, region, locality (rural/urban), and migration status. It examines access to government programs and schemes, with an emphasis on the Public Distribution System and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program. This is followed by an analysis of asset ownership, landownership, irrigation, and cropping patterns. The chapter then discusses changes in the income levels of households since the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the reasons and magnitude of the decline among households that experienced a fall in income levels. It emerges that relatively better-off upper-caste households were less adversely impacted by the pandemic and could bounce back more quickly than other social groups, particularly the Scheduled Tribes, who reported the worst income outcomes among all social groups. Overall, the chapter shows that development outcomes varied significantly by caste, region, and migration status.