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MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS
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MEDICAL, LEGAL AND TEACHING PROFESSIONS
From the category of professions and liberal arts enumerated in the census,
doctors, lawyers and teachers are the three distinguished categories. An increase in the number of persons belonging to these professions is a definite indication of the educational achievement of the society, particularly so in a district where institutions providing facilities in higher education to achieve proficiency in the aforesaid professions are on borderline. During the last fifty years or so, the number of earners in this category has considerably gone up. An urban survey was conducted to assess the position of these classes in respect of their earnings and other problems connected with their professions. The areas selected were Mahad, Karjat, Pen, Panvel and Neral. The income of a teacher on an average was found to be between Rs. 200 and Rs. 300 inclusive of the earnings resulting from tuitions, etc. A majority of the teachers were science graduates and trained. In respect of both the earnings as well as educational qualifications, the class shows a definite improvement in that the incomes have gone up nearly thrice and educational qualifications of the present day cannot be compared with those in the past. There is also a variety in training secured by the teachers due to the fact that physical education, technical instruction, etc., have been introduced as compulsory subjects in many secondary schools.
The medical profession has gained much during the last fifty years. The number of general practitioners has gone up: so also, the number of consultants. A medical graduate is traceable even in a distant village. An ordinary dispensary is equipped with X-ray facilities and arrangements for minor operations. People have become more disease conscious with the result that a medical practitioner today earns much more than his predecessor. On an
average, the doctor's income varies between Rs. 300 and Rs. 800 per month and, if possession of a car is any indication of prosperity, then the professionals could be said to have scaled the heights.
On the rather reverse side are the lawyers. In a purely agricultural district, there are bound to be civil suits involving agricultural land. The passage of various acts relating to land by the Government has resulted in a diminution in the cases involving land which has adversely affected the practice of lawyers specialising on civil side. Naturally, most of the lawyers have taken to specialisation on the criminal side where no dearth of conflicts involving individuals is expected so long as the basic values of human existence do not undergo a radical change. There is definitely an increase in the number of law graduates but only a small percentage take to regular practice. The average income of a lawyer varies between Rs: 250 and Rs. 600 and the figure inflates much more in the case of those lawyers who have made a name for themselves.
In the list of earners belonging to these professions must be included the
following:−
The compounder, the nurse and the servant employed in a dispensary and similar staff but in greater number employed in hospitals and maternity homes.
The lawyer's clerk, typist, servant;
And finally the administrative establishment in a school including clerks, typists and peons.
All these categories of earners can be regarded as belonging to lower income groups with their monthly earnings ranging between Rs. 60 and Rs. 140.
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