Dearness Allowance: Centre to survey spending patters of working class to finalise CPI numbers.

In a bid to understand the spending patterns and living conditions of working class, the Centre has decided to conduct a survey of workers’ family income and expenditure.

The survey, which will be conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation, a Government of India body, will be used to finalise consumer price index (CPI) numbers for the working class. The CPI is the base for deciding dearness allowances (DA) of the working class.

“The Working Class Family Income and Exemption Survey-2015 will cover workers engaged in seven organised sectors of employment-registered factories, mines, plantations, ports & docks, public motor transport undertakings, electricity generating and distributing establishments, and railways,” an official from NSSO told Deccan Herald.

The survey will be conducted in 88 centres spreading across 28 states and union territories including Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The survey will be conducted in eight places in Karnataka — Bengaluru, Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru, Davangere-Harihar, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kodagu, Mysuru and Mangaluru.

With the last such survey conducted around 15 years back in 1999-2000, the fresh survey required following a lot of changes in spending patters and lifestyles of workers in the past one-and-half decade, said the official.

The results of the survey will be utilisd for the purpose of revising the consumer price index numbers compiled by the Labour Bureau, said the official, adding that it will also show the light of living conditions of the working class. The surveyor will ask questions to a working class family about its living conditions, including spending on food, clothes, entertainment, health and education.