Survey ID Number
IND_2011_NSS68-SCH1.0-T1_v01_M
Title
National Sample Survey 2011-2012 (68th round) - Schedule 1.0 (Type 1) - Consumer Expenditure
Abstract
Objective of the consumer expenditure survey (CES): Firstly, as an indicator of level of living, monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) is both simple and universally applicable. Average MPCE of any sub-population of the country (any region or population group) is a single number that summarises the level of living of that population. It is supplemented by the distribution of MPCE, which highlights the differences in level of living of the different parts of the population. More detailed analysis of the distribution of MPCE reveals the proportion and absolute numbers of the poor with respect to a given poverty line. A welfare state has to take note of these numbers in allocating its resources among sectors, regions, and socio-economic groups. The distribution of MPCE can also be used to measure the level of inequality, or the degree to which consumer expenditure is concentrated in a small proportion of households or persons, and this can be done without any predetermined poverty line or welfare norms.
If socialism was the ideal of the 1950's, the ideal of policy-makers during the last decade was "inclusive growth". Increasingly, inclusive growth is seen as the all-important target that we should aim at, at least for the immediate future. Not surprisingly, the NSS CES is being used by scholars as a searchlight focused on the country's development process that shows up just how inclusive the country's growth has been.
Since the data is collected not only on consumption level but also on the pattern of consumption, the CES has another important use. To work out consumer price indices (CPIs) which measure the general rise in consumer prices, one needs to know not only the price rise for each commodity group but also the budget shares of different commodity groups (used as weights). The budget shares as revealed by the NSS CES are being used for a long time to prepare what is called the weighing diagram for official compilation of CPIs. More extensive use of NSS CES data is planned to have a weighing diagram that uses a finer commodity classification, to prepare rural and urban CPIs separately for each State.
Apart from these major uses of the CES, the food (quantity) consumption data are used to study the level of nutrition of different regions, and disparities therein. Further, the budget shares of a commodity at different MPCE levels are used by economists and market researchers to determine the elasticity (responsiveness) of demand to income increases.
Two types of Schedule 1.0 viz. Schedule Type 1 and Schedule Type 2 was canvassed in this round. Schedule Type 1 and Type 2 are similar to those of NSS 66th round.
Reference period and schedule type:
The reference period is the period of time to which the information collected relates. In NSS surveys, the reference period often varies from item to item. Data collected with different reference periods are known to exhibit certain systematic differences. Strictly speaking, therefore, comparisons should be made only among estimates based on data collected with identical reference period systems. In the 68th round - as in the 66th round -two schedule types have been drawn up. The two schedule types differonly in respect of reference period. Sample households were divided into two sets: Schedule Type 1 was canvassed in one set and Schedule Type 2 in the other.
Schedule Type 1 uses the same reference period system as Schedule Type 1 of NSS 66th round. Schedule Type 1 requires that for certain items (Clothing, bedding, footwear, education, medical (institutional), durable goods), the same household should report data for two reference periods - 'Last 30 days' and 'Last 365 days'.
Schedule Type 2 has the same reference periods as Schedule Type 2 of NSS 66th round. For Group I items (Clothing, bedding, footwear, education, medical (institutional), durable goods), the reference period used in Schedule Type 2 is 'Last 365 days'.
As in the 66th round, items of food, pan, tobacco and intoxicants (Food-plus category) are split into 2 blocks - 5.1 and 5.2 - instead of being placed in a single block.
• Block 5.1 consists of the item groups cereals, pulses, milk and milk products, sugar and salt. This block has a reference period of 30 days in both Schedule Type 1 and Schedule Type 2.
• Block 5.2 consists of the other items of food, along with pan, tobacco and intoxicants. This block is assigned a reference period of 'Last 30 days' in Schedule Type 1 and a reference period of 'Last 7 days' in Schedule Type 2.
Thus Schedule Type 1, like Schedule 1.0 of NSS 66th round, uses the 'Last 30 days' reference period for all items of food, and for pan, tobacco and intoxicants.
Sampling Procedure
Sample design
Outline of sample design:
A stratified multi-stage design has been adopted for the 68th round survey. The first stage units (FSU) are the 2001 census villages (Panchayat wards in case of Kerala) in the rural sector and Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks in the urban sector. The ultimate stage units (USU) are households in both the sectors. In case of large FSUs, one intermediate stage of sampling is the selection of two hamlet-groups (hgs)/ sub-blocks (sbs) from each rural/ urban FSU.
Sampling Frame for First Stage Units: For the rural sector, the list of 2001 census villages (henceforth the term 'village' would include also Panchayat wards for Kerala) constitutes the sampling frame. For the urban sector, the list of UFS blocks (2007-12) is considered as the sampling frame.
Stratification:
Within each district of a State/ UT, generally speaking, two basic strata have been formed: i) rural stratum comprising of all rural areas of the district and (ii) urban stratum comprising of all the urban areas of the district. However, within the urban areas of a district, if there are one or more towns with population 10 lakhs or more as per population census 2001 in a district, each of them forms a separate basic stratum and the remaining urban areas of the district are considered as another basic stratum.
Sub-stratification:
Rural sector r: If 'r' be the sample size allocated for a rural stratum, the number of sub-strata formed would be 'r/4'. The villages within a district as per frame were first arranged in ascending order of population. Then sub-strata 1 to 'r/4' have been demarcated in such a way that each sub-stratum comprised a group of villages of the arranged frame and have more or less equal population.
Urban sector: If 'u' be the sample size for an urban stratum, 'u/4' number of sub-strata have been formed. In case u/4 is more than 1, implying formation of 2 or more sub-strata, this is done by first arranging the towns in ascending order of total number of households in the town as per UFS phase 2007-12 and then arranging the IV units of each town and blocks within each IV unit in ascending order of their numbers. From this arranged frame of UFS blocks of all the towns/million plus city of a stratum, 'u/4' number of sub- strata formed in such a way that each sub-stratum has more or less equal number of households as per UFS 2007-12.
Total sample size (FSUs):
12784 FSUs have been allocated for the central sample at all-India level and 14772 FSUs have been allocated for state sample.
Allocation of total sample to States and UTs: The total number of sample FSUs has allocated to the States and UTs in proportion to population as per census 2001 subject to a minimum sample allocation to each State/ UT. While doing so, the resource availability in terms of number of field investigators has been kept in view.
Allocation of State/ UT level sample to rural and urban sectors: State/ UT level sample size has been allocated between two sectors in proportion to population as per census 2001 with double weightage to urban sector. However, if such weighted allocation resulted in too high sample size for the urban sector, the allocation for bigger states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, etc. was restricted to that of the rural sector. A minimum of 16 FSUs (minimum 8 each for rural and urban sector separately) is allocated to each state/ UT.
Allocation to strata/ sub-strata: Within each sector of a State/ UT, the respective sample size has been allocated to the different strata/ sub-strata in proportion to the population as per census 2001. Allocations at stratum level are adjusted to multiples of 4 with a minimum sample size of 4. Allocation for each sub-stratum is 4. Equal number of samples has been allocated among the four sub-rounds.
Selection of FSUs:
For the rural sector, from each stratum/ sub-stratum, required number of sample villages has been selected by probability proportional to size with replacement (PPSWR), size being the population of the village as per Census 2001.
For the urban sector, UFS 2007-12 phase has been used for all towns and cities and FSUs have been selected from each stratum/sub-stratum by using Simple Random Sampling Without Replacement (SRSWOR).
Both rural and urban samples are to be drawn in the form of two independent sub-samples and equal number of samples have been allocated among the four sub rounds.
Selection of hamlet-groups/ sub-blocks - important steps
Criterion for hamlet-group/ sub-block formation: After identification of the boundaries of the FSU, it is first determined whether listing is to be done in the whole sample FSU or not. In case the population of the selected FSU is found to be 1200 or more, it has to be divided into a suitable number (say, D) of 'hamlet-groups' in the rural sector and 'sub-blocks' in the urban sector by more or less equalising the population as stated below.
less than 1200 -> 1
1200 to 1799 -> 3
1800 to 2399 -> 4
2400 to 2999 -> 5
3000 to 3599 -> 6
..and so on
For rural areas of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand (except four districts Dehradun (P), Nainital (P), Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar), Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur, Doda, Leh (Ladakh), Kargil districts of Jammu and Kashmir and Idukki district of Kerala, the number of hamlet-groups are formed as follows:
less than 600 -> 1
600 to 899 -> 3
900 to 1199 -> 4
1200 to 1499 -> 5
..and so on
Formation and selection of hamlet-groups/ sub-blocks: In case hamlet-groups/ sub-blocks are formed in the sample FSU, the same is done by more or less equalizing population.
Two hamlet-groups (hg)/ sub-blocks (sb) are selected from a large FSU wherever hamlet-groups/ sub-blocks have been formed in the following manner - one hg/ sb with maximum percentage share of population is always selected and termed as hg/ sb 1; one more hg/ sb is selected from the remaining hg's/ sb's by simple random sampling (SRS) and termed as hg/ sb 2. Listing and selection of the households is done independently in the two selected hamlet-groups/ sub-blocks. The FSUs without hg/ sb formation are treated as sample hg/ sb number 1. It is to be noted that if more than one hg/ sb have same maximum percentage share of population, the one among them which is listed first in block 4.2 of schedule 0.0 is treated as hg/ sb 1.
Formation of second stage strata and allocation of households
Two cut-off points 'A' and 'B' (in Rs.) have been determined from NSS 66th round data for each NSS state-region for urban areas in such a way that top 10% of the population have MPCE more than 'B' and bottom 30% of the population have MPCE less than A.
For both Schedule 1.0 and Schedule 10, households listed in the selected FSU/ hamlet-group/ sub-block are stratified into three second stage strata (SSS).
Selection of households:
From each SSS the sample households for each of the schedules are selected by SRSWOR. If a household is selected for more than one schedule, only one schedule is canvassed in that household in the priority order of Schedule 1.0 (Type 1), Schedule 1.0 (Type 2) and Schedule 10 and in that case the household would be replaced for the other schedule. If a household is selected for Schedule 1.0 (Type 1) it is not selected for Schedule 1.0 (Type 2) or Schedule 10. Similarly, if a household is not selected for Schedule 1.0 (Type 1) but selected for Schedule 1.0 (Type 2) it is not selected for Schedule 10.