AssJ, Vol 1:1 March (2016) 29 32.

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ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL

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ACADEMY OF SOCIAL
SCIENCE JOURNAL
ISSN : APPLIED

ESTIMATING EXTENT AND CAUSES OF POVERTY AMONG SCHEDULE CASTES IN

RURAL AREAS OF PUNJAB
Narinder Deep Singh*, Jarnail Singh*

Faculty of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar-143002

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Corresponding Author:
Narinder Deep Singh
Faculty of Agriculture, Khalsa
College, Amritsar-143002
ndsingh241074@yahoo.com

The present paper highlights the extent and causes of poverty among Schedule
castes (SC) which constitute nearly 29 per cent of total population of Punjab state.
Multistage purposive cum random sampling technique was adopted for collecting
primary data from 150 SC families spread over two blocks of Jalandhar district
which has highest SC population of Punjab state. The results showed significant
inequalities in terms of income and consumption were observed as the bottom 50
per cent households accounted for 29.52 per cent of the total expenditure, whereas
only 20 per cent top households accounted for about 36.64 per cent of the total
expenditure made by all the SCs families. On the basis of per capita consumption
expenditure as much as 61.90 per cent of the SCs population were below the
poverty line. It was highlighted that income based poverty is higher than
consumption based poverty among SCs families. Lack of employment for the rural
poor, heavy population pressures, high illiteracy, over-reliance on agriculture, high
expenditure on social ceremonies or liquor etc. were major causes of poverty
among rural SC families in Punjab.
Key words: Poverty, per-capita income, cosumption expenditure, Gini coefficient,
inequality.

INTRODUCTION
The schedule caste (SC) population in India is
166.6 millions, constituting 16.23 per cent of the total
population and nearly 1/3rd of these communities are
deprived of the minimum level of living (Census, 2011).
The SC population has contributed a lot to the development
and growth of national economy. But even after six decades
of planning process of economic development and
modernization has not benefitted these weaker sections of
the society (Sundaram and Tendulkar 2003; Thorat, 2007;
Panda and Sahu, 2011) as more than 56 per cent of SCs
were not having access to electricity in their houses, only
27 per cent of SCs have drinking water source within the
premises and only 23.7 per cent of SCs households have
latrine facility within the premises as compared to 42.3 per
cent of general category households. However, majority of
the SCs and ST population do not have a permanent house
to live in (Anonymous, 2011). Similarly, the health
indicators revealed that infant mortality, neo-natal
mortality, child mortality, pri-natal mortality, post-natal
mortality and under five a matter of great concern that still
more than one-third population of SCs and STs are living
mortality was much higher among the SCs population in
comparison to general castes. it is BPL with minimum or no
access to economic sources, food, clothing, shelter,
education and housing, the main indicators of prosperity
(Singh, 2009).
Punjab state occupies first position in terms of
percentage of SCs to the State population (28.85%),
followed by Himachal Pradesh (24.72%) and West Bengal

(23.02%). Majority of the SC people in the Punjab state i.e.

nearly 75.7 per cent live in rural areas and out of 5.23 lakh
total BPL families of the state, nearly 61.38 per cent were
SCs families who were living under BPL (Census, 2011).
Therefore, the present study was undertaken to estimate
the level of poverty and to identify the causes and effects of
poverty among rural SCs community especially residing in
rural areas of Punjab.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data collections
For the present study, both primary as well as
secondary data was used. Multistage purposive cum
random sampling technique was adopted for collecting
primary data from 150 SC families spread over two blocks
of Jalandhar district (selected having majority of SCs
population) on a pre-tested specially structured
questionnaire through personal interview method.
The primary data pertained to demography, social features,
family size, family income, and consumption pattern,
causes of poverty and effect of poverty on SCs families. The
secondary data was collected from various government
offices like Deputy Commissioner Office, District Statistical
Officer and from other sources like Statistical Abstract of
Punjab, journals, reports, newspapers, books and internet
etc.
Analysis of data
Both simple as well as advance statistical
techniques were used to analyze the collected data. The
simple techniques used included averages, frequencies,

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Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License

Page 29

Narinder/Estimating Extent and Causes of Poverty Among Schedule Castes in Rural Areas of Punjab
percentages and advance statistical techniques included ttest and Gini ratio.
a) Students t-test:
To compare the mean values of income and
expenditure between two blocks, students t test was
applied by using the following formula:
X1 X2
=
SE ( X 1 X 2 )

SE(X1-X2) = S 1/n1+ 1/n2

SD12 (n1 1) + SD22 (n2 1)
n1 + n 2 2
Where,
SE = standard error of mean difference
X1 = mean value I
X2 = mean value -II
SD1 = standard deviation -I
SD2 = standard deviation -II
S = common standard deviation
n1 = number of observations-I
n2 = number of observation-II
b) Gini-Ratio
Gini ratio also referred to as Concentration ratio
and was calculated to see the concentration of income and
expenditure among SCs families. The calculation process
was as under:
Sum of Consecutive Totals
Gini-Ratio = 1 - 10
Consecutive Total 1 = (Decile Value 1/100) + (Decile Value
2/100)
Consecutive Total 2 = (Decile Value 2/100) + (Decile Value
3/100)
And so on.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
a) Income pattern of SCs
The source-wise pattern of income and its
magnitude from different sources among SCs families has
been presented in Table 1. On the overall, the total family
income was estimated to be Rs. 40234.43 per annum. Out
of this the major share i.e. Rs. 30283.83 (75.27%) was from
hiring out of labour. The other sources of income were
found to be salary and pension (3.51%), petty trade
(8.23%), dairy and poultry (5.04%) and miscellaneous
sources (7.96%).
Table 1: Per household income
different sources
Family income
Source of
Income
Amount
%age
Hiring out
Labour
30283.83
75.27
Salary &
Pension
1411.77
3.51
Petty Trade
3311.30
8.23
Dairy &
Poultry
2026.49
5.04
Misc.
3201.05
7.96
Total
Income
40234.43
100.00

(Rs./household/annum) from

tvalue

Per Capita income

Amount

t-value

1.14

5030.54

1.36

2.34*
2.41*

336.63
531.74

2.86**
3.18**

2.21*
1.57

1.64

234.51
550.05

6683.46

2.16*
3.78**

3.85**

The per capita income from different sources

among SCs families was worked out by dividing the
household income with the family size and the same is
presented in Table 1 In overall situation, total per capita
income from all the sources was estimated at Rs. 6683.46
per annum.
The concentration of family income among SCs
families was calculated in terms of Gini ratio through decile
group method. The bottom ten per cent households shared

only 2.93 per cent of the total income earned by all the SCs
families. On the other hand, the top 10 per cent of the SCs
households appropriated about 24.22 per cent of the
income of all the households. This is 8 times higher the
income shared by bottom households. The analysis further
revealed that the inequalities are obvious from the fact that
the bottom 50 per cent households accounted for 22.87 per
cent of the total income, whereas only 20 per cent top
households accounted for about 36.28 per cent of the total
income earned by all the SCs families. The Gini coefficient
came to be 0.330 which also pointed towards inequalities.
The table 2 clearly showed that the bottom 10 per cent
persons shared only 2.93 per cent of the total per capita
income earned by all the SCs population. On the other hand,
the top 10 per cent persons appropriated 25.74 per cent of
the total per capita income. This is about 9 times higher the
per capita income shared by the bottom persons. It can be
further seen that the bottom 50 per cent persons accounted
for 25.19 per cent, while top 20 per cent accounted for
39.78 per cent of the total per capita income earned by the
whole of the SCs population under study. The Gini
coefficient was estimated to be 0.335 which means
significant inequality regarding distribution of per capita
income among SC households.
Table 2: Distribution of household income among selected schedules
caste families
Decile Group Family income Per capita income
10
2.93
2.93
20
6.25
6.24
30
11.42
12.10
40
15.74
19.39
50
22.87
25.19
60
36.63
34.06
70
49.56
47.97
80
63.72
60.22
90
75.78
74.26
100
100.00
100.00
Gini Ratio
0.330
0.335

b) Consumption expenditure of SCs

The family consumption expenditure incurred on
different household items has been presented in Table 3.
Total consumption expenditure made on different items
came to be Rs. 40659.58 per family. Out of this, Rs.
21665.43 (53.28%) was incurred on food item and Rs.
4522.63 (11.12%) was incurred on non-durable non-food
items. An amount of Rs. 3695.42 (9.09%) was expended on
durables while Rs. 4177.33 (10.27%) on services. The
remaining amount of Rs. 6598.79 (16.23%) was incurred
on social and religious ceremonies. The highest
expenditure was made on milk & milk products (17.32%)
and cereals (16.92%), followed by social ceremonies
(10.51%) and religious ceremonies (5.72%). The lowest
amount was incurred on meat, fish and eggs (0.18%),
followed by scooter/motorcycle (0.19%). The other items
with less than one per cent of the total expenditure were
refreshments, pickle/jams/juices, footwear, washing
articles, TV/Radio/VCR, watches/clocks, electric fans &
coolers, sewing machine, utensils, bicycle, LPG connection,
conveyance and entertainment. Overall, the highest
expenditure was made on non-durable food items
(53.28%) while it was lowest on durables (9.09%).

Table 3: Consumption expenditure (in Rs./Annum) of selected

scheduled caste families.
Consumption
Per Family
tPer
tItem
consumption
value
capita
value
consum
Non-Durables:
Amount
%age
ption
Food
Cereals
6878.60
16.92
3.56**
1142.62
2.34*
Pulses
1056.71
2.60
4.21**
175.53
2.11*

30

Narinder/Estimating Extent and Causes of Poverty Among Schedule Castes in Rural Areas of Punjab
Condiments
&Spices
Fruits
Vegetables
Milk & Milk
Products
Edible Oils
Sugarcane
Products
Meat, fish &eggs
Tea Leaves
Refreshments
Pickles/Jam/
Juices
Intoxicants
Sub-Total
Fuel and Light
Clothing &
Bedding
Toiletries
Footwear
Washing
Articles
Misc.
Sub Total
Total NonDurables

516.00

1.27

85.71

1020.95
1101.17
7041.09

2.51
2.71
17.32

2.45*
1.59
2.62**

169.59
182.92
1169.62

72.35
764.80
234.00
268.51

0.18
1.88
0.58
0.66

1.18
2.16*
0.11
0.98

12.02
127.04
38.87
44.60

837.58
727.02

2.06
1.79

1.98*
0.78

139.13
120.77

1146.69
2.82
2.32*
21665.43
53.28
2.17*
Non-Durables:Non-Food
1871.18
4.60
1.13
1362.97
3.35
2.21*

190.48
3598.91

211.12
4522.63
26188.05

556.08
319.10
202.20

2.34*
1.74
1.23
0.04
0.87
2.51*

35.07
751.27
4350.17

0.56
1.67

200.78
34.70

1.11

39.29

0.52
11.12
64.41

1208.69
208.90

Durables
2.97
0.51

236.52

0.58

Marriage &
other social
functions
Religious
Function
Sub-Total
Total
Consumption

4274.41

224.47
276.39
418.80
340.71
77.83

244.63
214.66
243.83
3695.42
1832.87
1790.47
239.20
314.80
4177.33

2324.38
6598.79
40659.5
8

310.83
226.41

1.37
0.78
0.50

Housing
T.V/Radio/
V.C.R
Watches/
Clocks
Electric Fan &
Coolers
Sewing Machine
Furniture
Utensils
Scooter/ Motor
Cycle
Bicycle
LPG Connection
Misc.
Sub-Total
Education
Health Care
Conveyance
Entertainment
Sub-Total

1.38

0.55
0.68
1.03
0.84
0.19

0.99
0.62
0.23
0.91
1.22

0.60
0.02
0.53
0.34
0.60
0.76
9.09
1.33
Services
4.51
2.68**
4.40
2.81**
0.59
0.81
0.77
1.09
10.27
3.31**
Ceremonies
10.51
2.98**
5.72

16.23
100.00

1.71

3.16**
2.34*

92.37
53.01
33.59

37.29
45.91
69.57
56.60
12.93

40.64
35.66
40.50
613.86
304.46
297.42
39.73
52.29
693.91
710.03
386.11

1096.14
6754.08

1.56
1.37
1.44

2.26*
2.14*
0.18
0.38
1.87
0.24

0.11
2.16*
3.34**
1.34

2.09*
1.19
0.84

0.98
0.11
2.18*
3.38**
0.49
1.39
0.34
0.84
0.16
1.12
0.86

1.43
0.59
2.11*
1.18
1.71

3.16**
3.02**
1.18
0.57
2.89**
1.84
0.98
1.26

3.55**

The analysis revealed that there were inequalities

in the distribution of household consumption expenditure
among SCs families in the study area as the bottom ten per
cent households shared only 2.10 per cent of the total
consumption expenditure made by all the SC families. On
the other hand, the top 10 per cent of the SCs households
appropriated about 22.91 per cent of the expenditure of all
the households. This is 11 times higher the expenditure
made by bottom households. The analysis further revealed
that the inequalities are obvious from the fact that the
bottom 50 per cent households accounted for 29.52 per
cent of the total expenditure, whereas only 20 per cent top
households accounted for about 36.64 per cent of the total
expenditure made by all the SCs families. The Gini

coefficient came to be 0.307 which also pointed towards

inequalities (Table 4).

Table 4: Distribution of consumption expenditure among selected

schedules caste families
Decile
Family consumption
Per capita consumption
Group
expenditure
expenditure
10
2.10
2.33
20
7.12
5.52
30
11.13
10.56
40
18.75
16.4
50
29.52
24.44
60
39.06
32.47
70
48.25
46.27
80
63.36
62.13
90
77.09
77.51
100
100.00
100.00
Gini Ratio
0.307
0.343

Incidence of poverty in the study area

Incidence of poverty among selected SCs families
as well as SCs population was worked out in terms of per
capita income and per capita consumption expenditure.
The results are shown in Table 5. On the basis of per
household consumption the total families BPL were 57.33
per cent while on the basis of per capita income, 65.56 per
cent of the total SCs population was below the poverty line.
On the basis of per capita consumption expenditure as
much as 61.90 per cent of the SCs populations were below
the poverty line. It was highlighted that income based
poverty is higher than consumption based poverty among
SCs families. This showed that the SCs families might be
borrowing for their consumption needs, which may lead
them to indebtedness. There is one more finding of the
study that the proportion of population below the poverty
line is higher than the proportion of families BPL. This may
be due to the higher family size of BPL families as
compared to those families which are above the poverty
line.
The results are in accordance with several studies
regarding poverty status of SCs observed that although the
poverty ratio among SCs had declined during the last two
decades but the pace of decline among SCs had been slower
than the decline in the overall poverty. Still more than
1/3rd of the SC population, both in rural and urban areas,
were still living below the poverty line (Anonymous, 2008;
Gang, 2008).
Table 5: Incidence of poverty among selected scheduled caste
households
Measure of Poverty
Sample Households
No.
%age
Per Family Income
95
63.3
Per Family Consumption Expenditure
86
57.3
Per Capita Income
592
65.6
Per Capita Consumption
559
61.9

c)Causes of poverty
In the present study all major causes of poverty
among SCs/STs were ascertained on the basis of
information provided by the respondents. The
reasons/causes of poverty were assigned ranks in order of
respondent preference in decreasing order and are given in
table 6.
a) Lack of Employment for the Poor- Survey showed that out
of total sample 44.7 per cent respondents considered lack
of employment for the rural SCs to be most important
reason for poverty. There is high degree of underutilization
of human resources in India as the whole country suffers
from a high degree of unemployment, disguised
unemployment and seasonal unemployment. It is the main
cause of rural poverty in India.

31

Narinder/Estimating Extent and Causes of Poverty Among Schedule Castes in Rural Areas of Punjab
b) High Illiteracy/poor education- Out of total sample nearly
36.7 per cent respondents considered high illiteracy to be
the second most important reason for poverty. India has
about 35 per cent illiteracy among the adult population.
Nearly 58 per cent SC population was found to be illiterate
in the present study and which means significantly high
illiteracy level among SCs than the national average.
c) Lack of land resources- Some of SCs have their own land
holdings to work which is in significant as compared to
their size i.e. 37753 holdings which is only 3.78 per cent of
the total land holdings of Punjab state. The bulk i.e. 94.7 per
cent of these holdings is economically unviable as they are
less than 5 acres. They live by their personal labour of
family members, and constitute some of the poorest section
of the rural population. In a traditional society ownership
of land largely determines the economic opportunity
available to an individual.
d) Over-reliance on Agriculture- Nearly 24 per cent sample
respondents considered over-reliance on agriculture to be
the most important reason for poverty as most of the SCs
work as labourer whereas agriculture has fluctuating
income throughout the year. Moreover, agriculture sector
gives seasonal employment to SC workers and rest of the
year they remain free.
Table 6: Causes of poverty among SCs
Sr.
Reasons for Poverty
No.
1.
Lack of investment for the poor
2.
High illiteracy/poor education
3.
High unemployment
4.
Lack of land ownership
5.
Over reliance on agriculture
6.
Social/ religious ceremonies
7.
Lack of off farm employment
opportunities
8.
Large family size
9.
Social system in India
10.
Intoxication & drug addiction

No. of
Respondents
67
55
48
42
36
25
19
16
13
28

%age
44.7
36.7
32.00
29.7
24.00
16.3
12.5
10.6
8.7
21.1

e) Social/ religious ceremonies - The consumption

expenditure of SC families far exceeded their income levels
as these people have large family size and moreover
indulge in unproductive expenditure on social/religious
ceremonies like marriage ceremonies, birth and death
ceremonies etc. Majority of the respondent families have
borrowed money and were indebted for these ceremonies.
f) Lack of Off Farm Opportunities- Survey showed that out of
total sample i.e. 150 respondents, 19 respondents
considered lack of off farm opportunities to be the most
important reason for poverty which becomes 12.5 per cent
of total percentage. The industrial base of India has
remained very slender and the whole industrial sector
suffers from capital deficiency and lack of industries.
Majority of SCs population (i.e. nearly 70%) reside in rural
areas and there are no industries established in rural areas
especially in private sector so that SCs have very few job
opportunities for their development.
g) Large family size- Out of total sample i.e. 150
respondents, 16 respondents considered large family size
to be most important reason for poverty which is 10.6 per
cent of total percentage. Whereas, on the basis of sample
households it could be analyzed that SCs have large size
families in their household as average size of SC families is
5-8 members and 36 per cent SC families have more than 8
members in their family.
h) Social System in India- Nearly 8.7 per cent respondents
considered social system in India to be an important reason

for poverty as SCs are engaged for only some specific

works and not for all types of works. The discrimination on
caste basis leaves very little scope of employment for SCs.
The level of discrimination can be judged from the fact that
even SCs have separate religious places of worship in rural
areas.
i) Intoxication and drug addiction- Although only 21 per
cent respondents considered intoxication and drug
addiction an important reason for poverty but it was one of
the major reason for poverty as wasteful expenditure on
these unnecessarily increase their gap in income and
consumption level for which they also take credit and
remain indebted.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the SC population has contributed a lot to
the development and growth of national economy but even
after six decades of planning process of economic
development and modernization has not benefitted these
weaker sections of the society. The present study
highlighted the economic backwardness of these sections
of the society as majority of SC sample families were living
below poverty line in the study area and large scale
unemployment
(under
employment,
disguised
unemployment etc.) prevailed among SC families.
Moreover, the consumption expenditure of SC families far
exceeded their income levels and there were high income
inequalities among them. One of the major reasons for
economic condition of SCs was high illiteracy among these
sections of the society due to which they remained
employed in unskilled jobs mostly in agriculture sector
which provided irregular income due to seasonal nature of
work. These people also have large family sizes resulting in
high poverty incidence on per family and per capita basis.
Furthermore,
unproductive
expenditures
on
social/religious ceremonies and intoxication and drug
addiction, lack of off farm employment opportunities in
rural areas due to limited industrial development in rural
areas also had severely affected the economic condition of
SCs in rural areas of Punjab state.

REFERENCES
1. Anonymous. 2008. Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment. Annual Report. Govt. of India.
2. Anonymous. 2010. Schedule Castes Sub Plan Report.
Directorate of Schedule Castes Sub Plan, Department of
Welfare, Punjab.
3. Anonymous. 2011. India Country Report, 2010. MidTerm Statistical Appraisal. Central Statistics Office
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Govt. of India Sardar Patel Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New
Delhi.
4. Census. 2011. website: www.census2011.co.in.
5. Gang, I.N. 2008. Poverty in rural India: caste and tribe.
Review of Income and Wealth. Tulane University. 54(1).
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of Rural Poverty in Orissa. Orissa Review. 101.
7. Sundram, K.S. and Tendulkar, D. 2003. Poverty among
Social and Economic Groups in India in the Nineteen
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8. Throat, S. 2007. 2020: Focus Brief on the Worlds Poor
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