Articles by Nikhilesh Bhattacharya

Changes in Level of Living in Rural West Bengal Variations Across Socio-Economic Groups Nikhilesh Bhattacharya Manabendu Chattopadyay Ashok Rudra This is the last in a series of six papers reporting on changes in the level of living in rural West Bengal as reflected in the results of a resurvey of households in villages of Bardhaman, Birbhum and Purulia districts. In this paper the authors report some results obtained on changes in housing conditions and the level of consumption for sample households classified by occupation groups and caste-tribe identities.

Consumer Durables, Clothing and Footwear Nikhilesh Bhattacharya Manabendu Chattopadhyay Ashok Rudra This is the fourth of a series of papers reporting on changes in the level of living in rural West Bengal as reflected in the results of a resurvey of villages and households in Bardhaman, Birbhum and Purulia districts. It reports on changes in the stocks of consumer durables, clothing and footwear.

In the first of a series of articles comparing the results of a resurvey in 1985-86 of villages and households in three districts of West Bengal which had been covered by the NSS in its 27th and 28th rounds, the authors had reported stagnation in food consumption of households and only a mild improvement in non-food consumption. In this article, the second in the series, the authors study social consumption and find that there has been considerable improvement in the level of social consumption, although the absolute level even after the improvement remains most dismal.