Lok Sabha Question No. 4294 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Time Use Survey
Ministry: STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
Asked by: Shri P P Chaudhary, Ms Kangna Ranaut

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4294 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## TIME USE SURVEY

4294. SHRI P P CHAUDHARY: MS KANGNA RANAUT:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the manner in which the Time Use Survey (TUS) helps policymakers to design targeted educational programmes;
- (b) the  details  of  the  initiatives  being  taken  to  further  encourage learning activities, especially among women;
- (c) the manner in which the findings of TUS are likely to be used to enhance  extracurricular  and  skill-based  learning  opportunities; and
- (d) the  key  takeaways  from  the  TUS  for  bridging  the  urban-rural
- educational divide?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS  AND  PROGRAMME  IMPLEMENTATION;  MINISTER  OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE [RAO INDERJIT SINGH]

- (a) to (c): National  Statistics  Office  (NSO)  under  the  Ministry  of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) conducted the first all-India Time Use Survey (TUS) during January - December 2019. The latest  TUS  conducted  during  January  to  December  2024  for  which factsheet was released in the month of February,2025. TUS provides a framework  for  measuring  time  dispositions  by  the  population  on different activities. It is an important source of information about the activities that are performed by the population and the time duration for which such activities are performed. One distinguishing feature of

TUS  from  other  household  surveys  is  that  it  can  capture  time disposition on different aspects of human activities, be it paid, unpaid or other activities with such details which is otherwise not possible in other  surveys.  In  recent  years,  time  use  surveys  have  gained  much impetus among policy makers and other data users for their usefulness in  measuring  various  aspects  of  gender  statistics.  The  primary objective  of  the  Survey  is  to  measure  the  participation  of  men  and women in paid and unpaid activities. TUS  is an important source  of information on the time spent in unpaid caregiving activities, volunteer work, and unpaid domestic service-producing activities of the household  members.  It  also  provides  information  on  time  spent  on learning, socializing, leisure activities, self-care activities, etc., by the household members. TUS provides estimates of indicators of time use in both rural and urban areas with different levels of disaggregation like gender, age, etc. These can be used for planning, policy formulation, decision support and as input for further statistical exercises by various Departments  and  Ministries  of  the  Government,  other  organizations, academicians, researchers and scholars, etc.

The Government of India has implemented various initiatives aimed at promoting education and learning activities, particularly  among women. Education being in the Concurrent List, enhancing the quality of  education  is  the  responsibility  of  both  the  Central  and  State Governments.  Various  schemes/  projects/  programmes  run  by  the Government  have  been  aligned  with  the  National  Education  Policy (NEP) 2020. NEP 2020 aims to ensure that no child loses opportunity to learn and excel because of the circumstances of birth or background. This  policy  aims  at  bridging  the  social  category  gaps  in  access, participation,  and  learning  outcomes,  including  providing  greater access to women. The Central Government has taken various measures to  promote  higher  education  among  the  students  across  the  nation including  women,  such  as  fee  reductions,  establishment  of  more institutes, scholarships, priority access to national level scholarships to  aid  students  with  poor  financial  backgrounds  to  pursue  their education.

(d): TUS provides a framework for measuring time dispositions by the population on different activities including learning, socializing, leisure activities, self-care activities, etc., by the household members. It also provides estimates of indicators of time use in both rural and urban areas  with  different  levels  of  disaggregation  like  gender,  age,  etc. These can be used for planning, policy formulation, decision support and as input for further statistical exercises by various Departments and Ministries of the Government, other organizations, academicians, researchers and scholars, etc.

As  per  the  TUS  2024  factsheet  published  in  the  month  of  February, 2025, estimated percentage of persons and minutes spent in a day on an average per participant in Learning activities are given in Table-1 for different categories of persons.

| Table-1: Percentage of persons and minutes spent in a day on an average per participant of age 6 years and above in learning activities irrespective of whether the activity was a major activity or not during TUS, 2024   | Table-1: Percentage of persons and minutes spent in a day on an average per participant of age 6 years and above in learning activities irrespective of whether the activity was a major activity or not during TUS, 2024   | Table-1: Percentage of persons and minutes spent in a day on an average per participant of age 6 years and above in learning activities irrespective of whether the activity was a major activity or not during TUS, 2024   | Table-1: Percentage of persons and minutes spent in a day on an average per participant of age 6 years and above in learning activities irrespective of whether the activity was a major activity or not during TUS, 2024   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Category of person                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Category of person                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Indicators                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | Indicators                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |                                                                                                                                                                                                                             | percentage of persons doing the activity                                                                                                                                                                                    | minutes spent in a day on an average per participant                                                                                                                                                                        |
| (1)                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | (2)                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | (3)                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | (4)                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| sector                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | rural                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | 21.7                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 413                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| sector                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | urban                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | 20.7                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 419                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| sector                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | rural+urban                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 21.4                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 414                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| gender                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | male                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 22.6                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 415                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| gender                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | female                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 20.2                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 413                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| gender                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | person                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 21.4                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | 414                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| Source: Fact Sheet on Time Use Survey, 2024                                                                                                                                                                                 | Source: Fact Sheet on Time Use Survey, 2024                                                                                                                                                                                 | Source: Fact Sheet on Time Use Survey, 2024                                                                                                                                                                                 | Source: Fact Sheet on Time Use Survey, 2024                                                                                                                                                                                 |

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