Disability in India: measurement and some findings

Kunniseri E. Vaidyanathan, Independent Consultant

The aim of this paper is to assess current status of methods used in data collection to measure disability in India, particularly the population census of 2001 and the National Sample Survey (NSS) 58th round (July-December, 2002). Successive censuses and NSS did not follow identical concepts and procedures. The first part of this paper presents the measurement procedures adopted in the Census and the NSS and the possible sources of discrepancies between the two sources. The census provides information on the sex, rural-urban residence, literacy and work status of disabled persons. The NSS classified the disabled by sex, cause of disability, marital status, educational level, living arrangement, activity status etc. The second part of the paper presents some observations based on the two sets of data.. In the third part some recommendations are made to bring about improvements in the procedures adopted keeping in mind the needs of data users.