New Delhi: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said on April 17 that the country had made considerable progress in several fields of development but an analysis was required to ascertain whether this was fast enough and uniform.

He said provision of food, clothing and shelter were no longer the real indicators of development as the country aspired to become a developed one by 2020.

"Much more facilities than mere provision of food, clothing and housing are required," Advani said after releasing the "CD-Censusinfo India-2001", a data of census information.

"We have made much progress in the last 55 years. But we need to consider how much distance still needs to be travelled to meet the basic needs of people," he said.

He pointed out that availability of provisions like clean drinking water, electricity and facilities within households were also among basic necessities of people.

Citing an example of electricity, he said although many parts of the country had been electrified but the actual number of houses having power connections and occurrence of breakdowns also need to be considered.

Deputy Chairperson of Planning Commission K C Pant, who favours water harvesting and watershed development, said government was paying attention to provision of clean drinking water and electricity.

PTI