ECONOMIC TRENDS

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE THREE GROUPS

In keeping with the Engel's law of family expenditure, the higher income group spent about 26 per cent of their income and 35 per cent of their expenditure on food items as against 46 per cent of both income as well as expenditure in respect of the second group and 76 per cent of the income and 65 per cent of the expenditure in respect of the third group.

In case of the first group the expenditure on food items was 35 per cent of the total monthly expenditure though the same was only 26 per cent of their total monthly income. That speaks in very clear terms of the surplus of income over expenditure in regards to this group. As regards the second group it was 46 per cent of both, the income as well as the expenditure, thus showing no surplus. Exactly opposite was the position in respect of the third group as compared to the first group. It was 76 per cent of the income and 65 per cent of the expenditure showing clearly their unbalanced budget.

A marked difference was noticed in respect of the accommodation where the tenements of the families in the first group were well ventilated and spacious and situated in decent locality as against those of the third group in whose case the tenements if at all they could be called so were located in the congested locality of the town. Those in the second group stayed in well ventilated but small tenements.

The families in the first and the second group were able to provide their children with milk while it was a luxury for the third group which they could not afford.

In case of clothing, the families in the first as well as the second group could afford to have clothes stitched to their tastes and of superior cloth. The difference of degree existed in respect of pairs of clothes they had. In case of the third group, the clothing was scanty and was not properly stitched also.

In the sphere of education also percentage of literacy in the first and the second group was higher than that in the third group and that can mainly be attributed to their economic backwardness. Instead of encouraging education of their children, they were forced to seek some avenue of employment with a view to augmenting their scanty income.

The following statement [District Census Hand book, Wardha, 1961, p. 22.] gives the tahsilwise literacy percentages in Wardha district as compared to the State of Maharashtra.

“Within the district, Wardha tahsil has the highest literacy rates for total, rural and urban areas. In Hinganghat tahsil the literacy percentages are the lowest in respect of persons, males and females in rural areas as well as for females in urban areas. Arvi tahsil, however, has the lowest rates for total and for males. It is so for persons and males in urban areas.”

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