ECONOMIC TRENDS

STANDARD OF LIVING

In this section of the chapter an attempt is made to describe the standard of living of the various classes of people as reflected in their income and expenditure pattern.

A sample survey was conducted and investigations were made to assess the standard of living of the people in the district. Information about the economic condition of the people and their family budgets was collected by contacting representative households as well as official and non-official agencies in the district.

The account is primarily based on statistical and descriptive information collected by direct contacts with a number of persons during the course of the survey. While on-the-spot observations and general information bear sufficient testimony to the broad outlines presented, no statistical accuracy is contemplated or claimed for the findings of the survey.

Income of a family: The income of a family or a house-hold consists of its earnings from all sources. It includes earnings from landed or other types of property, business or occupation For the sake of analysis a family is taken to comprise three adult and two minors. [The recognition of a person of the age of 12 years or above as a full adult unit for cereal consumption and person below that age limit as half a unit has now widely been accepted. In this chapter, the unit of membership of a family is computed accordingly on the same basis, a person of the age 12 or above equal to one unit and one below 12 years, being equal to half a unit.]

Pattern of expenditure.—The pattern of expenditure is a sum total of several social, economic and environmental forces The social status of the house-hold, the nature of the work in which its members are engaged, their educational status, and most important of all, the income of the house-hold are some of the forces which affect the way in which the house-hold spends on different items of consumption. It will be interesting to study the consumption pattern in relation to these various characteristics.

The different consumers goods and services can be grouped into two broad categories, viz., food, group and non-food group. The food group can be broadly divided in about five sub-groups, viz., (i) cereals and pulses, (ii) milk and its products (iii) edible oils and related products, (iv) vegetables, and (v) others which include sugar, meat, fish, eggs, salt, spices, etc. Similarly the non-food group also can be divided into five sub-groups, viz., (i) clothing, (ii) fuel and light, (iii) education (iv) rent and medical expenses, and (v) others including expenses on religious rites, entertainment, transport, social obligations, travelling, etc.

For purposes of investigation, the house-hold has been taken to be a unit of sampling. Taking average annual income as the basis of classification, the families in both the sectors are grouped as under:—

Group I.—Families with an annual income of Rs. 3,000 and above.

Group II.—Families with an annual income ranging between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 3,000.

Group III.—Families with an annual income below Rs. 1,000.