Current Affairs

NSO's first National Household Travel Survey

06-10-2026 · English

NSO's first National Household Travel Survey

Topics: Indices & Reports · 6 October 2026 Current Affairs (UPSC / TNPSC / SSC / RRB)

News

The National Statistics Office (NSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the results of India's first National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), held from July 2025 to June 2026 (Oct 2026). It was run as part of the NSS 80th round at the request of the Railways Ministry.

Key facts

Sample4.92 lakh households, 20.34 lakh persons; 14,274 villages, 10,377 urban blocks
Mode to workTwo-wheeler 42.6% (urban 52.3%, rural 37.1%)
Monthly commute costAverage ₹785 (urban ₹1,044, rural ₹612); average time 25 minutes
Students66.4% travel over 1 km; walking 37%, bus 29.5%, bicycle 15.8%; average 23 minutes
Overnight tripsBus 55.8% + rail 17.7% = 73.5%; car 15.1%; purpose: social/religious 70.2%, leisure 7.4%

Background

  • Gender gap: 61.9% of male workers but only 41.9% of female workers travel over 1 km to work, showing transport as a barrier for women's jobs.
  • Use: data for planning public transport, railways, urban mobility and roads.
  • NSO: formed in 2019 by merging the Central Statistics Office (CSO, 1951) and the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO, 1950). It publishes GDP estimates, the PLFS (jobs) and the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES).
  • P.C. Mahalanobis: 'father of Indian statistics'; founded the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, in 1931; his birthday, 29 June, is National Statistics Day; author of the Second Five-Year Plan model.

Tamil Nadu link: Studies show free travel for women in town government buses (since 2021, 'Vidiyal Payanam') has increased women's travel to work in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu's State transport corporations run one of India's largest government bus networks, and Chennai Metro Phase II is under way.

Source: News On AIR (Oct 2026); Insights IAS (6 Oct 2026)

Join our UPSC classroom or online batch: UPSC coaching in Coimbatore · Fees · Call 99941 46662.

Share with friends & study groups
Link to this page from your website / blog (HTML code)

TET Achievers

  • SUMITHRA

    TNTET TNTET