International Indexed & Referred Research Journal, April, 2012. ISSN- 0974-2832, RNI-RAJBIL 2009/29954; VoL.

IV * ISSUE-39

Research Paper -Geography

Causes and Consequences of Poverty and Rural Unemployment: A Case of Tribal Dominated Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal
* Bipul Chandra Sarkar
* Assistant Professor in Geography, Ananda Chandra College, Jalpaiguri A B S T R A C T
Jalpaiguri district is a heterogeneous unit in respect of landform, climate, population etc. Maximum hilly and sub-hilly tracts of the district are tribal dominated. The rural economy is based on mainly agriculture and tea gardens in doors. But rapid growth of population has changed the rural landscape, the available agro lands are reducing day by day and immense pressure on land creates landless labourers in rural areas. There is no notable industry in the district. as well as at present there are no such real efforts to set up industries. In these circumstances unemployment and seasonal unemployment are increasing in rural society. An attempt has been made in this paper to portray the nature of poverty and rural unemployment, its causes and consequences in the district. Key Words: landless labourers, unemployment, seasonal unemployment,

April , 2012

Introduction: Poverty refers to the condition of not having the means to afford basic human needs such as clean water, nutrition, health care, clothing and shelter. The word unemployment means simply lack of works. Unemployment is defined as people who do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the past four weeks, and are currently available for work. It describes the state of a worker who is able and willing to take work but cannot find it. Study Area: The study area is Jalpaiguri district, lies in 2616' N to 2700' N and 8804'E to 8953' E. The district covers an area of 6227 sq km. There are various groups of tribes in the district occupy 1st position in the state as per their number. The long International border with the countries of Bhutan and Bangladesh has made Jalpaiguri a strategic location so far as the defense, development and economy of this region are concerned.

Database, Methodology And Objectives: The discussion and analysis is based on secondary data published by different govt. organizations, District census handbook, District gazetteers and other sources. Methodology applied is the discussion of the statistical information with qualitative attitude. The objectives is to find out the causes of poverty and rural unemployment in the district, assess the nature of unemployment and poverty in the rural areas in light of modernisation. Nature Of Poverty In Jalpaiguri District: Generally poverty is measured by BPL indices in rural areas. Below Poverty Line is an economic benchmark and poverty threshold used by the government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid. It is determined using various parameters which vary from state to state and within states. The nature of poverty in rural areas of Jalpaiguri district can be viewed from the following table: See Table 1

Table 1: Poverty Ratio In Jalpaiguri District (2006-2007) B l o c ks No. of the total household No. of BPL Families Poverty Ratio (%) Rajganj 97146 19087 19.64 Jalpaiguri 79650 28377 35.62 Maynaguri 58804 28336 48.18 Dhupguri 83120 39918 48.02 Mal 57451 27030 47.04 Matiali 21987 8536 38.82 Nagrakata 22791 8578 37.63 Madarihat-Birpara 36467 10207 27.98 Falakata 51010 20780 40.73 Alipurduar-I 53561 11167 20.84 Alipurduar-II 40245 19615 48.73 Kalchini 50231 26205 52.16 Kumargram 35676 17393 48.75 TO TA L 688139 265229 38.54 Source: Annual Employment Report- 2006 - 2007, Jalpaiguri. Sl no 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
SHODH, SAMIKSHA AUR MULYANKAN

International Indexed & Referred Research Journal, April, 2012. ISSN- 0974-2832, RNI-RAJBIL 2009/29954; VoL. IV * ISSUE-39

From the above table it is found that highest poverty is in Kalchini block; Maynaguri, Dhupguri, Mal, Matiali, Kumargram and Alipurduar-II are also affected by huge number below poverty line. District average is 38.54. This is the rural scenario. Urban scenario is not so bad. However, much poverty in the district is an indication of very poor living style in the district. Nature Of Rural Unemployment In Jalpaiguri District: Rural unemployment is increasing in the district mainly in agricultural sectors. Gradual reduction of land causes landless labourers in the district. It is found that population has changed by 21.45% in a decade (1991-2001) while cultivators only 4.20%. But dependency is not reduced on land rather number of agricultural labourers has increased by the rate of 53.91%. Seasonal unemployment has increased. If one seriously notes a rural village economy, it may be found that landless labourers migrated to the western provinces i.e. Keral, Gujarat, even Bihar when there is a problem to get job in land as well as for higher salaries. The time between Januarys to March is the jobless period when maximum out migration occurs i.e.33.35% of the year. In 2001 41.92% people of the district was overage (Above 60 years) and Underage (below 15 years) who are not employable but non-workers ratio was 60.41%. So deviation between this two was unemployed. Tea garden based employment is under threat as gardens are closed in doors areas. There are 183 tea plantations in Jalpaiguri district. 22 of these have been closed or abandoned or are sick. The crisis is ongoing and far from resurgence. The total number of permanent workers in these 22 gardens is 20847 and the total affected population is 94347. Besides this, there are a number of people who used to work as "bigha" or temporary labour in the plantations. They have also been thrown out of work, and their families are suffering. Causes of Poverty and Rural Unemployment: Following may be the causes of poverty and rural unemployment in Jalpaiguri district: 1. Rapid growth of population: After independence rapid growth of population has been observed. It was 48.27% in 1951-1961. From 1951 to 2001 within this 50 years population has increased by 4 times in the district. Unfortunately job opportunities are not increased. Agricultural land is likely fixed. 2. Immigration: Infiltration and illegal migration in rural areas in the district happened in pre and post independent period. From Assam during Bangal Kheda movement huge amount of Bengali speaking people migrated to Doors areas of Jalpaiguri district mainly in Alipurduar Subdivision. Similarly in hilly tracts like in Mal, Matiali, Nagrakata and Kalchini people are immigrated from

Nepal and Bhutan also. These immigrated people are mainly forced to leave their earlier homeland and started to settle in the district without proper job facilities. A large section of them joined in agro lands as a labour. Rural unemployment and poverty increases. 3. Closing of tea gardens: In Jalpaiguri district nearly 19% of total geographical area is covered by tea gardens. The local people are only labourer of this tea gardens and factories owned by the people or merchants coming from outside North Bengal. 50,000 workers of 14 tea plantations are passing their days in distress having been denied food, electricity medicines and other amenities for months together. Above incident proves that closing tea gardens is the prominent cause of poverty in doors. 4. Lack of infrastructure: There is no such possibility to introduce any industry in the district though the area is very poor in industry. Irrigation facilities covers only 27.52% of the district's net cropped area, lower than the state average. The consumption of electricity during 2005-06 is only 0.82% for agriculture and irrigation purpose. Due to physiographic diversification the hilly tracts of Bauxa, Jainty, Matiali and Kalchini areas are not well connected with main roads throughout the year. 5. High amount of backward class population: Proportions of backward classes are highly concentrated (55.54) in the district. In 2001 census it was 36.68% for the scheduled castes and 18.86% for the scheduled tribes. Many unique tribal groups of the country live in the district. Maximum proportions of backward classes engage in traditional unproductive activities from which economic gain or profit is little. This is one of the reasons for poverty mainly in rural areas of Jalpaiguri district. 6. Traditional Agricultural Practices: Agriculture is the main economic activity in the district but modernization is yet to implement. The average size of holding is 1.24 hectare only. Traditional bullock and oxen farming prevails in the district. Cash crops cultivations are not introduced in much scale although local efforts are observed. Govt. is not fully cooperative to promote local resources. The lands are fertile but additional manure is required to promote it. In 2000-01 the consumption of chemical fertilizer was 160 kg. Hectare. Consequences of Poverty and Rural Unemployment: There are serious problems related to poverty and unemployment. The consequences are: 1. Rise of movement: Landless poor people creating different movements in rural areas. With the advent of immigrants, the son of soil of the rural areas loosing their jobs. Distress and unemployment force them to enlist in terrorist activities. Different terrorist activities

International Indexed & Referred Research Journal, April, 2012. ISSN- 0974-2832, RNI-RAJBIL 2009/29954; VoL. IV * ISSUE-39

are occurred in adjacent Bhutan hills. Tea garden labourer gets minimum wage in relation to labourers of other spheres .Recent demand for Kamtapur and tribal movements of landless persons are for unemployment and poverty. 2. Environmental hazards: increasing population and requirements of foods force to change the land use pattern, deforestation increases which lead to man made hazards. Deforestation of huge area causes ecological imbalances in this region and changing weather condition is the result of this.

However, people had not always informed the plantation hospital about deaths so actual figure will more than that. Malnutrition causes serious problems in tea belt areas. In the above Survey it is shown that in two plantation areas 62 per cent of girls are undernourished based on standard weight-for-age and 50 per cent are undernourished on the H-f-A height-for-age criterion. Suggestions: The following measures can be taken to eradicate the problems. 1. Tea gardens areas should bring under special scheme
Total 130 108 95 92 169 212 106 191 44

Table 2.deaths According To Tea Plantation Hospital Year Mu jn ai Raimatong Dheklapara Ramjhora 1998 29 53 24 24 1999 26 41 25 16 2000 11 30 32 22 2001 7 43 19 23 2002 51 63 24 41 2003 54 73 31 54 Average number of deaths per year (before the crisis) 18 42 25 21 Average number of deaths per year (after closure) 48 68 28 48 Percentage increase in deaths 6 2 39 9 55 Source: West Bengal Advisor to the Commissioners of the Supreme Court 2004.

3. Economic imbalance: Unemployment and poverty creates economic disbalance between rural and urban people as well as between haves and have nots in the society. As a result there creates conflict. A rural person, whose wages is much below than a govt. servant, thinks that they are deprived. 4.Starvation and Death: Starvation and deaths are recorded in these areas mainly in the tea belts. For four plantations, data were collected to get records of the deaths in the past 6 years. The year 2002 is taken as the year of the crisis as it was during the middle or end of this year that most plantations closed down, with wages and rations being irregular for most plantations even before closure. Following table will support the incident. See Table 3

to control poverty and unemployment. For simple reasons tea gardens should not be closed- this system should be monitored by the govt. 2. Small household industries can generate employment in these areas. So efforts can be taken to set up industries in these areas. 3. Further illegal migration should be stopped etc. 4. Tourism based economy can generate more employment for the local people hence tourism should be focused. Recent concept is Community Based Tourism (CBT). 5. Natural resource is the heart of the District. Resource base employment can be generated. 6. Under NREGS complete 100 days' employment opportunity can improve employment in rural areas which is not totally successful through panchayets.
4.Sarkar Bipul Chandra & Roy Tamal Basu (2011), 'Block Level Study ofSocio-Economic Disparities- A case Study of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India' Indo-Indian Journal of Social Science Researches,Varanasi, Vol no. 7. No. 1 April, 2011 pp 156-164.

R E F E R E N C E
1. Govt. of West Bengal (1985), 'West Bengal District Gazetteers, Jalpaiguri. Govt. of West Bengal (2007), 2.'Annual Employment Report- 2006 - 2007', Jalpaiguri. 3.Govt. of West Bengal (1991 & 2006), 'District Statistical Handbook, Jalpaiguri',Bureau of Applied Economics & Statistics.

SHODH, SAMIKSHA

AUR

MULYANKAN