ECONOMIC TRENDS

HIGHER INCOME GROUP

Group I consists of families whose annual income is Rs. 3,000 and above. A total of 51 families were surveyed from this group. The average family in this group consisted of 5 units, 4 adults and 2 minors. On an average each family had 2 earners. Of the families in this group 15 in rural areas and 12 in urban areas owned houses valued at Rs. 2,93,600 giving an average value of a house owned at Rs. 10,875. Besides, 21 families owned landed property with an aggregate value of Rs. 5,00,000 giving an average of Rs. 23,000. Only 16 families had property other than house and landed property and that was valued in aggregate at Rs. 86.400 with an average of Rs. 5,400. Of the families in this group 20 were getting an aggregate income of Rs. 2.52.000 from land, the average income being Rs. 12,600. Six families were getting an aggregate earning of lis. 6,000 with an average of Rs. 1,000 from their houses. Forts' families were getting occupational income of Rs. 1,76,800 giving an average of Rs. 4,420. The average income of a family in this group from all sources was Rs. 9,000 excepting a few families whose annual income was over Rs. 12,000.

Many of the families in this group had cash savings besides insurance policies and other forms of paper Musings. Two of the families reported cash savings to the extent of Rs. 34,000 each. Only 18 families were found to be in debts giving an average of Rs. 1,600 only. Most of then) were found to have contracted debts for productive purposes.

The following statement shows the minimum and maximum monthly-expenditure incurred by a family on different items of consumption in rural and urban areas of the district.

Besides this a family spent some amount every sear on clothing, religious matters, medical relief, social obligations and travelling and other miscellaneous items. The statement below gives the minimum and maximum yearly expenditure incurred by a family in rural and urban areas of the district.

Average monthly expenditure of a family in this group came to about Rs. 400. Of this an amount of Rs. 70 was spent on the purchase of cereals and pulses. Many families, from this group, in the rural area, were consuming what they themselves produced and purchased in the market only allied essential commodities. Oil, ghee, etc., accounted for Rs. 23 while an equal amount was spent on vegetables, eggs, mutton etc. The family on an average spent Rs. 10 on lighting. They were inclining an expenditure of about Rs. 40 towards domestic services. Besides the cash payment, a few of the families provided facilities such as food, clothing, etc., to their domestic servants. Though the average expenditure on education was placed at Rs. 30. it was high in the urban areas and it was almost five times the expenditure on this item in the rural areas. The average sum of money spent on entertainment was Rs. 14. The average expenditure on milk in urban areas was almost double the expenditure on this item in rural areas. It was Rs. 46 in urban areas as against Rs. 22 in rural areas. A family had to spend much more by way of rent in urban areas as compared to rural areas. In rural areas the average expenditure of families in this group was about Rs. 15 while the same in urban areas was about Rs. 50 per month.

About 13 families out of 29 in rural areas and about 12 families out of 22 in urban areas lived in their owned premises. The District Census Hand-book of Dhulia district for 1961 has the following to say about houses in the district: -

Classified by "owned" and "rented" 78 per cent of the dwellings in the district are owned and 22 per cent are rented. The proportion of owned is higher (86 per cent) in the rural areas but lower (38 per cent) in the urban areas. Even this low pro-portion of 38 per cent for the urban areas in the district is some-what higher than the average of 30 per cent for urban areas of Maharashtra.'

Out of the various materials used for walls, mud appears to be predominant in the district with a proportion of 47 per cent of occupied houses. Mud walls are more common in rural areas as 53 per cent of the occupied dwellings are having such type of walls compared to 18 per cent in urban areas. Its proportions in the talukas of Taloda and Nawapur are a little lower and least in Akrani mahal. The difference is however made up by grass, leaves, reeds or bambooes in these talukas. Burnt bricks are not used as much in rural areas as in urban areas. Their proportion is only 7.7 per cent in the rural areas as against 64.6 per cent in urban areas. Unburnt bricks appear to be used comparatively more in the rural areas with a proportion of 5.5 per cent dwellings against 2.8 per cent dwellings in urban areas.

Out of the materials of roof tiles are predominant in the district with a proportion of 28.5 per cent of occupied dwellings. Tiled roofs are, however, a little less common in urban areas. Their pro-portion in urban areas is 22.7 per cent against 29.7 per cent in rural areas. In the rural areas tiled roofs have higher proportions specially in northern and western talukas, viz., Akkalkuva, Taloda,

Nandurbar and Nawapur and Akrani mahal. Towards the east they are gradually replaced by concrete or stone slabs. Flat roofs of earth on wooden beams and rafters are more common in Shahada and Sakri talukas. The distribution corresponds exactly to the pattern of annual rainfall in the district.

Corrugated iron or zinc sheets appear to be predominant in urban areas with 35.3 per cent. They are mostly noticed in the urban areas of Dhulia taluka. They are, however, less common in rural areas and make only 3 per cent. The proportions of roofs of tiles and grass leaves etc., in the rural areas, are almost equal.

Classified by number of rooms occupied, 72.1 per cent of house holds are occupying one-room dwellings and 20.9 per cent are occupying two-room dwellings. Households occupying more rooms are more in urban areas than in rural areas.

The families in this group spent about Rs. 500 per year on clothing. Their religious expenditure per annum was about Rs. 250. The people were generally health-conscious and they spent yearly about Rs. 225 towards the same. They spent about Rs. 200 towards meeting the social obligations every year. Their annual expenditure on travelling and miscellaneous items was about Rs. 150. In case of few families it was as high as Rs. 1,500.

Many of the families in this group possessed gold in the form of ornaments. Besides gold, a few families had ornaments wedded in precious stones and pearls. These families also had a radio, a fan and in a few cases a motor cycle or a motor car. The utensils that they used were of stainless steel, brass and copper. Use of fine crockery was not uncommon. The percentage of literacy was very high in this group. However, it was noticed that higher education was a marked feature of the urban areas than the rural ones.

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