How rural roads benefit the household’s asset position: A case study in West Bengal, India

An attempt has been made in this study to observe the linkages between rural roads on household assets including material, social and human capital. It has been found that places with better roads and railway systems lead to better asset position of the households and hence an increased livelihood opportunity. The households near main roads and rail stations have a more consistent asset position with lower coefficient of variation (CV) of asset score and having a statistically higher group mean value. Automatically inequality in asset position is more in remote villages. Percentage wise distribution of households according to possession of different household shows the same result. Households adjacent to main road and rail station have higher percentage of consumer durable assets than that of the households who reside away from main road and rail station except possession of different agricultural implements. Other assets position like physical capital consisting of house property status, human capital like educational status, access to health care facilities, sanitation facilities reflect the same picture which indirectly gives a way to a diverse livelihood.