India - Land and Livestock Holdings Survey Visit 2: NSS 59th Round : January - December 2003, NSS 59th Round

A stratified multi-stage design was adopted for the 59th round survey. The first-stage units (FSU) were the census villages (panchayat wards in Kerala) in the rural sector and UFS blocks in the urban sector. In both sectors, the ultimate stage units were households. In
large villages/ blocks, an intermediate stage unit called hamlet-group/ sub-block was also involved.

Sampling frame for first-stage units: The list of villages (panchayat wards for Kerala) as per Population Census 1991 was used as sampling frame in rural areas; for urban areas, the latest UFS frame was used.

Allocation and selection of sample households: Eight sample households were allocated to each sample FSU. In case of no hamlet-group formation, two households were selected from each of the four second-stage strata. In case of hamlet-group formation, one household was
selected from each SSS of each hamlet-group. Sample households were selected by SRSWOR in each SSS of each hamlet-group.

The procedure for selection of fsus given in detail in Appendix B of the report no.493 attached as external resources.


There was no deviation from the original sample deviation.



6760 villages and 3824 urban blocks were allocated at all-India level for the Central sample.cjvInformation was collected from a sample of 52,265 rural households and 29,893 urban households spread over 6553 villages and 3757 urban blocks through personal interviews.


For generating any estimate, one has to extract relevant portion of the data, and aggregate after applying the weights.

Weights (or multipliers) VARIABLES are given at the end of record of each dataset. The weights (multipliers) are
WGT_SS for Sub-sample-wise estimation and WGT_Combined for combined subsample estimates.

All records of a household will have same weight figure. In case of those Blocks/Levels, where Item/Person Sl.No. is not applicable the field is filled up with 00000.

Use of subsample-wise weights (multipliers)

For generating subsample-wise estimates based on data of all subrounds taken together, either Subsample-1 households or Subsample-2 households are to be considered at one time. Subsample code is available in the dataset For generating subsample-combined estimates based on data of all subrounds taken together all households are to be considered.