An Inquiry into Households’ Confidence Levels in Various Institutions in India: A Temporal Assessment from the IHDS

Abstract

This study attempts to assess the variations in households’ confidence levels in various sociopolitical institutions with varying socioeconomic and cultural characteristics across major Indian states based on two rounds of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS-I, 2004–2005; IHDS-II, 2011–2012). It traces the presence of a lower confidence level of households in governance institutions compared with other institutions, implying a deficit of households’ confidence in this component against the overall confidence score, which marginally improves over time. The states of Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram have a lower level of confidence score in governance and justice compared to other states. On analysing the socioeconomic determinants of households’ confidence in two rounds of the IHDS separately, this study observes that regional and economic factors are more significant in shaping the confidence levels of households than any other socioeconomic attributes.