Analysis of Development Disparity through Asset Index in Bodoland Territorial Area District of Assam: A Household Level Survey

There are different measures to assess economic development and welfare of a state or a nation. In this study, we attempt to assess the household economic status by assessing the ownership of assets in the households. There are thirty (30) assets that have been used in the study and they have been categorised into Durables and Housing characteristics: a) durable assets include agricultural land, television, mobile phones, bicycle, motor cars, etc. and b) housing characteristics are iron sheet roof, concrete floor/mud floor, own toilet, use gas/firewood for cooking, etc. How these variables of indices determine the position of households into different economic status groups is the focus of our study. It also attempts to investigate the disparity in the household's economic status and understands which types of assets are responsible for it.

We used the method of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to determine weights for the different items. The result shows that there exists a huge disparity between each quintile. The mean economic status score by quintile ranges from-1.24 units (Q1) through to 10.14 units (Q5). Through the survey of 400 households in both rural and urban areas of two Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) districts of Assam, namely Kokrajhar and Udalguri, we profile the households into different categories of economic status. The study gives us an understanding of the development in the study area and shows the disparity that exists in the level of development.