A Comparative Assessment of Household Quality of Living of Overall and Scheduled Caste Population of West Bengal, India

Housing is one of the main indices of a society's socio-economic growth. It is a difficult challenge to quantify living conditions and their impact on the well-being of residents because there are very few comparative metrics. The Household Quality of Living Index (HQLI) applies to three general aspects, including the state of accommodation, facilities and land. Based on 2011 Census results, the research is an attempt to investigate regional variation of the Districts of West Bengal in terms of HQLI. The primary aim of this research is to explain the pattern of space the standard of life of households with regard to the position of West Bengal among the district and the difference between overall and scheduled caste population. Composite index and Z -score is constructed based on seventeen selective variables categorized under three distinctive indices to calculate HQIL. Four major high zones are found in and around the surrounding areas of Kolkata, Darjeeling, Howrah and North 24 Pargana for overall households and Kolkata, Darjeeling, North 24 Pargana for Scheduled Caste households. Three districts namely Bankura, Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur (15.79%) are under the very low HQLI category for overall households, while only two districts i.e., Birbhum and Bankura are under the very low HQLI category for SC households. Rests 21.05% of all districts are under moderate HQLI for both households. Therefore, it can be expressed that urban areas impair the standard of life of households in peripheral rural areas. The government should promote urbanization in those areas where the HQLI values are low to very low like Cooch Behar, Uttar & Dakshin Dinajpur, Maldah, Murshidabad, Bankura, Birbhum, and Purba Medinipur respectively. The paper introduces the idea of housing dimension evaluation in the Index of quality of life and the key metrics related to this quality of life dimension.