INDIA - Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), July 2017-June 2018

1. The first stage unit (FSU) is the 2011 census village in the rural sector. In the case of Kerala, Panchayat Wards will be FSUs in rural sector. FSU in the urban sector is the Urban Frame Survey (UFS) block. Latest list of UFS blocks, as available, will be used for selection of urban samples. The investigator, on arrival at a sample FSU, will ascertain the exact boundaries of it. This may be done with the help of the village officials like patwari, panchayat authorities etc. for rural areas and with the help of UFS maps/ ward maps/ town maps in the urban areas. With a view to control the workload mainly at the stage of listing of households, hamlet-group formation will be resorted to in the large villages. A large village will be divided into a certain number (D) of sub divisions called hamlet-groups (hgs). The number of hgs to be formed (i.e. the value of D) will depend on the approximate present population of the sample village. The criterion for deciding the number of hgs tobe formed in a large village has been discussed in details in Chapter one. For large sample village, two hgs will be selected. Out of all hgs formed in the village, the one with the highest percentage share of population will be selected with probability 1. In case there is more than one hg with same highest percentage share of population, the one among them which is listed first in Block 4.2will be selected with probability 1. The hg selected with certainty will be designated as hg '1'. Another hg will be selected randomly (Simple Random Sampling) from the rest of hg's of the village and designated as hg '2'. Listing and selection of households will be done separately for each selected hamlet-group. For the sample village without hg formation, entire village will be treated as hamlet-group.

2. In a large village, there exist usually a few localities or pockets where the houses of the village tend to cluster together. These are called 'hamlets'. In case there are no such recognised hamlets in the village, the census sub-divisions of the village (e.g. enumeration blocks or groups of census house numbers or geographically distinct blocks of houses) may be treated as 'hamlets'. Large hamlets may be divided artificially to achieve more or less equal population content for the purpose of hamlet-group formation. The procedure for formation of hamlet-groups is best described, perhaps, by listing sequentially the steps involved:

(i) Identify the hamlets as described above.
(ii) Ascertain approximate present population of each hamlet.
(iii) Draw a notional map in block 3 showing the location of the hamlets and number them in a
serpentine order starting from the northwest corner and proceeding southwards. While drawing
this map, uninhabited area (non-abadi area) of the village will be included as part of nearby
hamlet, so that no area of the village is left out. The boundaries of the hamlets may be defined
with the help of some landmarks like canals, footpaths, railway lines, roads, cadastral survey
plot numbers etc., so that it would be possible to identify and locate the geographical
boundaries of the hamlet-groups to be formed in the village.
(iv) List the hamlets in Block 4.1 in the order of their numbering. Indicate the present population
content in terms of percentages.
(v) Group the hamlets into D hamlet-groups. The criteria to be adopted for hamlet-group
formation are equality of population content and geographical contiguity (numbering of
hamlets is not to be adopted as a guideline for grouping). In case there is a conflict between the
two aspects, geographical contiguity is to be given priority. However, there should not be
substantial difference between the population of the smallest and the largest hamlet-group
formed. Indicate the grouping in the map.
(vi) Number the hamlet-groups serially in column (1) of Block 4.2. The hamlet-group containing
hamlet number 1 will be numbered as 1, the hamlet-group with next higher hamlet number not
included in hg 1 will be numbered as 2 and so on. Indicate the numbers also in the notional
map. It is quite possible that a hamlet-group may not be constituted of hamlets with consecutive
serial numbers.


1. State/UT level sample size will be allocated between two sectors in proportion to population as per Census 2011 with double weightage to urban sector in general. Within each sector of a State/UT, the respective sample size will be allocated to the different strata (in the case of urban areas) and strata/ sub-strata (in the case of rural areas) in proportion to the population as per Census 2011. Urban allocations at stratum level will be adjusted to multiples of 8 with a minimum sample size of 8 (for 4 panels, each of size at least 2). Rural allocation for each stratum will also be multiple of 8 with minimum sample size of 8 (for 4 quarters, each of size 2). For special stratum formed in rural areas of Nagaland as discussed in para 1.4.8, 16 FSUs will be allocated.

2. It may be noted that quarterly allocation of FSUs will be same for an NSS state-region although 25% of the urban FSUs will rotate over the quarters according to the rotational scheme. However, quarterly allocation of urban FSUs for FOD regions and FOD sub-regions may vary over the quarters since new FSUs entering the sample according to the rotational scheme may or
may not belong to the same FOD region or FOD sub-region.