environmental hygiene and domestic health management practices, so that children are less exposed to disease and its consequent toll on child growth.<sup>14</sup>

# **3. Data and Definitions**

This paper uses the data from the two rounds of the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) conducted in India during 1992/93 and 1998/99. The surveys cover all the states of India (with the exception of Sikkim in 1992/93, a total of 26 states at the time of survey), and the survey samples are designed to ensure that the data is representative at the state level.<sup>15</sup> Both surveys target about 90,000 households each, and approximately the same number of ever-married women was interviewed. NFHS-1 (92/93) and NFHS-2 (98/99) use three types of questionnaire: the Village, Household, and the Woman’s Questionnaire.

The Village Questionnaire collected information on the availability of various facilities in the village and amenities such as electricity and telephone connections, and type of the drainage system. Respondents to the Village Questionnaire were also asked about development and welfare programs operating in the village. In particular, the Village Questionnaire identifies the villages that received the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Program.

The Household Questionnaire includes information on age, sex, education, employment status, occupation, marital status, and relationship to the head of the household for each household member. It inquires about household dwelling conditions and the ownership of various assets. Information is also obtained on religion and caste/tribe of the household head. At the same time, the Household Questionnaire does not include any direct measures of household income or consumption expenditure.

The Woman’s Questionnaire gathers information from all ever-married women age 15-49 who were usual residents of the sample households or visitors who stayed in the sample households the night before the interview. The questionnaire collects information about woman’s education, age at marriage, reproductive behavior, child feeding practices and other background characteristics. In addition, measurements of height and weight were obtained for all young children in a household to assess their nutritional status.<sup>16</sup>

> 14 See, for example, Esrey et al.1990, Scrimshaw and SanGiovanni 1997, Allen and Gillespie 2001:26, Black et al. 1984, and the review of studies in Bhan et al 2001.

> 15 The 1998/1999 survey is also intended to provide estimates at the regional level for four states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajastan, and Uttar Pradesh) and estimates for three metro cities (Calcutta, Chennai, Mumbai), as well as slum areas in Mumbai.

> 16 While NFHS-1 collected measurements of weight and height for children born in the _four_ years preceding the survey, NFHS-2 did it for children born in the _three_ years preceding the survey. In NFHS-2 13 percent of eligible children were not measured, either because the child was not at home, or because the mother refused to allow the measurement. Also excluded from the analysis are respondents whose month and year of birth are not known, and those with grossly improbably height or weight measurement. NFHS2 also collected anthropometrical information on the mothers. NFHS-1 did not collect the _height_ measurement data in five states: Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

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