India - Slums Survey January - June 1993, NSS 49th Round

Sample Design : The first stage units in the rural sector and urban sector were census villages and urban frame survey (UFS) blocks respectively.However for newly declared towns of the 1991 census,for which UFS frames were not available, census EBs were used as first stage units.

Sampling frame for fsu's : In the rural sector, the sampling frame in most of the districts was the 1981 census list of villages.
However, in Assam and in 8 districts of Madhya Pradesh, 1971 Census lists of villages were used. For Nagaland, the villages situated within 5 kms of a bus route constituted the sampling frame. For the Andaman & Nicobar islands the list of accessible villages was used as sampling frame. In the urban sector, the lists of NSS urban frame survey (UFS) blocks were the sampling f rames used in
most cases. However, 1991 Census house - listing enumeration blocks were considered as the sampling units for some of the newly declared towns of the 1991 population census, for which UFS frames were not available.

Stratification : Each state/u.t. was divided into one or more agro-economic regions by grouping contiguous districts which are similar with respect to population density and crop pattern. In Gujarat, however, some districts were subdivided for the purpose of region formation on the basis of location of dry areas and the distribution of tribal population in the state. The total number of regions formed in the whole of India was 78.

In the rural sector, within each region, each district with a rural population of less than 1.8 million according to the 1981 Census formed a single basic stratum. Districts with larger population were divided into two or more strata, depending on population, by grouping contiguous tehsils, similar as far as possible in respect of rural population density & crop pattern. In Gujarat, however,
in the case of districts extending over more than one region, the portion of a district falling in each region constituted a separate stratum even if the rural population of the district as a whole was less than 1.8 million. Further, in Assam, the strata formed for the earlier NSS round on the basis of 1971 Census rural population exactly in the above manner, but with a cutoff point of 1.5 million population, were retained as the strata for rural sampling.

In the urban sector, strata were formed, within NSS regions, on the basis of 1981 (1991 in some of the new towns) Census population. Each city with a population of 10 lakhs or more formed a separate stratum itself. The remaining towns of each region were grouped to form three different strata on the basis of 1981 (1991 in a few cases) census population.

Sub stratification of urban strata : In order to be able to allocate a large proportion of the first stage sample to slum-dominated areas than would otherwise be possible, each stratum in the urban sector was divided into two "sub-strata" a s follows. Sub-stratum 1 was constituted of the UFS blocks in the stratum with a "slum area" indicated in the frame. Substratum 2 was constituted of the
remaining blocks of the stratum.

Allocation of sample : A total all-India sample of 8000 first stage units (5072 villages and 2928 urban blocks) determined on the basis of investigator strength in different state/u.t's and the expected workload per investigator was first allocated to the states/u.t's in proportion to Central Staff available. The sample thus obtained for each state/u.t. was then allocated to its rural & urban
sectors considering the relative sizes of the rural & urban population with double weightage for the urban sector. Within each sector of a state/u.t., the allotted sample size was reallocated to the different strata in proportion to stratum population. Stratum-level allocations were adjusted so that the sample size for a stratum (rural or urban) was at least a multiple of 4. This was done in order to have equal sized samples in each sub-sample and sub-round.

In the urban sector, stratum-level allocations were further allocated to the two sub-strata in proportion to the number of UFS blocks in the sub-strata, with double weightage to sub-stratum 1, with a minimum sample size of 4 blocks to sub-stratum 1 (2 if stratum allocation was only 4). Sub-stratum level allocations were made even in number.

Selection of fsu's : Sample villages except in Arunachal Pradesh were selected by pps systematic sampling with population as the size variable and sample blocks by simple random sampling without replacement. In both sectors the sample of fsu's was drawn in the form of two independent sub-samples. (In Arunachal Pradesh the sample of villages was drawn by a cluster sampling procedure. The field staff were supplied with a list of sample "nucleus" villages and were advised to select cluster of villages building up each cluster around a nucleus village according to prescribed guidelines. The nucleus villages were selected circular-systematically with equal probability in the form of two )
independent sub-samples.


There was no deviation from the original sample deviation.


1572 slums spread over 5072 villages and 2928 urban blocks in the sample have been surveyed


Sample weights were calculated and included in each of the data files
Variable 'Wgt_SS' refers to Multiplier for each Subsample.
Variable 'Wgt_Combined' refers to Combined Multiplier.