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Items 420: medicine (non-institutional): Unlike in the previous round, non-institutional expenditure on medicine will be recorded against item 420 regardless of type or school of medicine. It may be noted that in the rural areas, doctors often charge a consolidated amount for consultation plus the medicines which they give to the patient. In such cases, the total amount will be recorded against item 420.
Item 423: family planning appliances: This will include condoms, IUD (intra-uterine device), oral pills such as Mala-D, Mala-N, etc., diaphragm, spermicide (jelly, cream, foam tablet), etc.
Items 430-438: entertainment: This stands for entertainment and sports. Here consumption is represented by purchase of entertainment services or articles catering to entertainment. It is possible that on the occasion of attending sports or cinema/video show some expenditure is incurred on travelling and conveyance and/or on refreshment. Such expenditure will be excluded from this item group and will come under appropriate items reserved elsewhere in the schedule. Expenditure incurred on processing, developing, etc., of photographic film will be shown against item 435. Expenses incurred for hiring of VCD/DVD players and cassettes will be recorded against item 436. But the expenditure incurred for viewing a video show will be recorded against item 430 (cinema, theatre). For item 433 (club fees) the last payment made divided by the number of months for which the amount was paid will be noted. But in case of payment of fees for lifetime membership, the entire amount paid for such membership during the reference period of 30 days will be recorded against this item. Expenses incurred on subscription to dish antenna, cable TV facilities, etc. will be included in item 437.
Item 457: other toilet articles: This will include cooler perfume, body perfume, room perfume, etc.
Item 467: washing soap/soda: This will include washing soap in cake form, powdered form and also in liquid form (detergent powder is also to be reported) and washing soda.
Item 468: other washing requisites: This includes brushes, utensil cleaners, "Scotch Brite", steel wool, toilet cleaners, floor cleaning chemicals such as "Pheneol", etc.
Item 481: domestic servant/ cook: Wages paid to domestic servant/cook may be recorded against this item. It will include the value of both cash and kind payment. (This is a departure from instructions given in earlier rounds.) However, meals prepared in the household and consumed by a domestic servant will be accounted against the ingredients and will not be shown separately as payment to domestic servant/ cook against item 481. Entries against items used as means of payment (kind payment) to a domestic servant/ cook, such as clothing and miscellaneous goods, will be made in the household of the domestic servant/ cook and not in the employer household.
Item 482: attendant: This item is meant for recording the expenditure incurred on persons engaged by the household to look after an ailing member, or a child, or an aged person in the household. However, medical services rendered by a nurse, even if performed within the household, will be recorded against item 424 (other medical expenses). In case a person's duties include those usually performed by domestic servants as well as those of an attendant, the payment made to him/ her may be recorded against item 482.
Item 483: barber, beautician, etc.: The actual expenditure incurred for availing of the services of barber, beautician, etc. will be considered as the consumer expenditure of the household. Expenditure both in cash and in kind will be taken into account. In the villages the barber charges might be paid in kind annually. In such cases, if the payment in kind for the year is made during the reference month, the entire payment is to be evaluated at the local retail price and accounted for. On the other hand, if no payment was made during the reference month then no expenditure should be recorded.
Note: If a sample household runs a barber's shop and a member of the household has availed himself of the service, then the barber charges will be imputed at the prevailing rate and recorded against item 483.
Item 487: telephone charges: landline: For domestically installed landline phones, the telephone bill last cleared divided by the period in months for which it was charged (i.e., monthly average payable) will be considered as the expenditure to be recorded even if the expenditure was not incurred during the reference period of 30 days. Security deposit made for the installation of telephone connection is excluded. Cases of new telephone connections for which no bill has been paid till the date of survey may be ignored. However, installation charges paid to the telephone department like labour charges, cost of wire, etc. will be included under this item. In addition, expenditure incurred during the reference period of last 30 days for making telephone calls from STD/PCO booth or other shops on payment will be accounted against this item.
Item 488: telephone charges: mobile: For mobile phones, only the actual expenditure incurred during the month will be recorded, unlike the procedure for landline phones explained in the last paragraph. This procedure is being introduced in this round to simplify data collection. Expenditure incurred on the purchase of mobile phone (instrument) will not be included in this item. Instead, it will be included against item 623 of Block 11.
Item 491: miscellaneous expenses: This item will include expenses such as application fees for employment, etc., subscriptions to societies and similar organisations, and generally, expenditure on any other "miscellaneous" items relevant to the block and not provided in the list of items. If water is purchased through tanker, porter, etc., the expenditure incurred will also be recorded here. It will also include e-mail charges, fax charges, photocopying charges (other than for education), etc. Insurance premium payments will not be recorded.
Item 493: legal expenses: This will include charges like lawyer's fees, legal and court fees, etc.
Item 494: repair charges for non-durables: This will include service charges paid to artisans for repairing any item of miscellaneous goods not used for productive purposes but used as items of domestic consumption.
Item 495: pet animals (incl. birds, fish): This item will include expenditure incurred for purchase and maintenance of pet animals. Pet animals include cats, dogs, rabbits, monkeys, mongoose, birds, fish, etc., but not farm animals or poultry. Maintenance expenses will include cost of feed, treatment expenses, etc.
Item 496: other consumer services excluding conveyance: All other consumer services excluding conveyance will be reported here. Examples are: (i) the services of driver, coachman, cleaner, cobbler, blacksmith, unskilled labourers, etc., (ii) commission paid to the broker for purchase or sale of second-hand car/scooter etc., (iii) reconnection charge for electric/telephone line.
Items 500-513: conveyance: Expenditure incurred on account of journeys undertaken and/or transportation of goods made by airways, railways, bus, tram, steamer, motor car (or taxi), motor-cycle, auto-rickshaw, bicycle, rickshaw (hand-drawn and cycle) horse carriage, bullock cart, hand-cart, porter or any other means of conveyance will be recorded against the respective items of conveyance. The expenditure will be the actual fare paid. Expenditure on journeys undertaken by household members as part of official tours will not be considered as consumer expenditure of the household. But journeys to commute to and from place of work are to be included here. The expenditure incurred on journeys undertaken under LTC, etc., even if reimbursed, is to be included. In case of owned conveyance, the cost of petrol and diesel are to be shown against items 508 and 510 respectively, and cost of all other fuels (including CNG) and lubricants against item 511. Expenses for animal feed for animal-drawn carriage used for domestic purposes will be recorded under item 513. For item 501 (railway fare), season tickets valid for more than a month will be treated differently from other railway fare expenditure. Value of season tickets valid for more than a month and held during the reference period by a household member, will be divided by the number of months covered by the ticket to get the amount to be recorded. For all other railway fare expenditure, the amount actually paid during the reference period will be recorded.
Item 502: bus/tram fare: This includes expenditure incurred by the members of the household during the reference period in a public/private/government bus/tram in the capacity of individual passenger. If a bus is hired by the sample household for transportation of guests, the hiring charges will not be included against this item; instead they will be accounted against item 513 (other conveyance expenses).
The expenditure incurred on any form of conveyance used during the reference period partly for household enterprise and partly for domestic purposes will be apportioned on the basis of the number of kilometres travelled for each type of use. In case the information on distance travelled is not available, the apportionment will be done on the basis of duration of use, say, number of hours or days used for enterprise and domestic purposes. In case information on actual number of days engaged in enterprise or in domestic use is also not available, it will be done on the basis of "normal use". The word "normal" refers to a period beyond the reference period.
Item 520: house rent, garage rent (actual): This item consists of rent for residential building and garage rent for private vehicle(s) of the household. Amount last paid divided by the number of months for which the payment was made will be recorded here. The rent for government quarters will be the amount of house rent allowance (HRA) per month not paid to (i.e., forfeited by) the employee plus the license fee deducted per month from the salary for the quarters. The same procedure will be followed for imputation of house rent if the employer is a private sector firm; here it will be necessary to rely on the judgement of the informant regarding the amount of salary he is forfeiting by staying in accommodation provided by the employer. If some amount of money was paid by the household as advance at the time of hiring the house, only that part of the advance which is being deducted every month plus the actual amount paid every month towards rent, will be the amount to be recorded as house rent. Salami/ pugree will not be considered anywhere in the schedule.
Money sent to a dependant forming a different household from the sender?s household is a remittance and should not be recorded in the sender?s household even if the details of how the money is spent are known fully by the sender. In addition, rent paid regularly for a dependant who is a non-household member is not to be recorded in the payer household even if paid directly to the landlord (or to the hostel authorities, in case of a student living in a hostel). Such expenditure is to be recorded in the household of the person using the accommodation (e.g., in case of a student in a hostel, charges for accommodation are to be recorded against item 520 in the student household). Suitable questions should be put to the sample household to ascertain if the rent expenditure reported by it includes any expenditure on rent for the dwelling of a non-household member, so that such expenditure can be excluded. This procedure, introduced in the 64th round, is a departure from the expenditure approach followed for miscellaneous goods and services generally. It follows that for a household living in a rented dwelling (code 2 in item 18, Block 3), the entry in Block 10, item 520, should be positive.
Item 521: hotel lodging charges: The lodging charges paid by any household member for staying in a hotel, etc. will be recorded under this item. Expenditure on hotel stay during official tours covered by travelling allowance paid by the employer is excluded.
Item 522: other consumer rent: Hiring charges for consumer goods like furniture, electric fans, crockery, utensils and charges for decoration on ceremonial occasions are to be recorded here. If any item is hired on monthly/quarterly/annual basis then the amount of last payment on such goods divided by the number of months for which the payment was made will be taken into account. Note that hiring of a vendor cart by the sample household to run an enterprise will be excluded. But monthly maintenance charges payable to co-operative societies, etc. will be included in this item.
Item 539: house rent, garage rent (imputed - urban only): This item will be filled in for urban households residing in a house which is either owned or otherwise occupied (excluding accommodation provided by the employer) by the household, without paying any rent. Otherwise a dash (-) may be recorded. Rent of the house/garage will be imputed on the basis of prevailing rate of rent for similar accommodation in the locality or surrounding areas. A household may occupy a dwelling unit which is neither owned, nor hired in. In such cases also the imputed rent will be recorded.
Item 540: water charges: Water charges last paid to the municipality or other local bodies divided by the number of months for which the amount was paid may be recorded against this item. If water is purchased through tanker, etc., the expenditure incurred will not be recorded here - even if the water is solely used for household consumption - but against item 492: miscellaneous expenses.
Item 541: other consumer taxes & cesses: This item is for recording the expenditure on taxes and cesses paid by the household as a domestic consumer. Road cess, chowkidari tax, municipal rates are some examples. Consumer licence fees are also included.
Examples are fees paid for possession of firearms, vehicles, etc. "House tax", though a direct tax based on ownership of property, is, by convention, recorded in the NSS consumer expenditure schedule against this item.
Sometimes, while purchasing a new vehicle, road tax for the whole life of the vehicle is paid. In such cases, the proportionate tax for the reference period is to be calculated by dividing the life tax last paid by the life of the vehicle in months. The life may be taken as per norm decided by the local transport authority, or, if this is not known, as 15 years (180 months). For taxes and cesses paid on monthly/quarterly/annual/quinquennial basis, the entry will be the amount last paid divided by the number of months for which it was paid.
Note: Professional tax and income tax are not part of consumer expenditure.