ECONOMIC TRENDS

GROUP I

The families in this group with an income of over Rs. 4,200 per annum could be regarded as well-to-do. This affluence was reflected in their living standards. They preferred to stay in decent localities, in houses and bungalows owned by them or in flats with three or four rooms, well ventilated and provided with all modern amenities. Their drawing rooms were generally well furnished with sofa sets, mirrored steel cupboards, etc., with a ceiling fan cooling the air and soft tunes from the radios vibrating it. People in this group were generally well dressed and of polished manners and sophisticated.

The survey covered fifteen families from this group. On an average the family was composed of four adults and two minors making a total of five units. There were twenty two earning members in fifteen families, ten families of which had only one earning member and the remaining twelve earning members were distributed in five families.

Of these, ten families owned houses valued at Rs. 2,40,500 in aggregate giving an average of Rs. 24,050; eight families owned landed property valued at Rs. 3,33,000 in aggregate with an average of Rs. 41,500 and five families owned other property valued at Rs. 9,000 in aggregate, giving an average of Rs. 1,800.

Of the families which owned houses only four were getting rental income of Rs. 1,100 per annum on an average. Income from land accrued to only six families and was placed at Rs. 24,500 in aggregate giving an average of about Rs. 4,100 annually. The aggregate occupational income of fifteen families was Rs. 1,20,000 giving an annual average income of Rs. 8,000 per family. The average annual income of a family from all sources was put at more than Rs. 8,000.

As the families in this group were well-to-do, only five families had contracted debts to the extent of Rs. 13,500. Cash savings of five families were to the tune Rs. 15,000 and eleven families had savings in other forms valued at Rs. 1,28,200 in aggregate.

The average monthly expenditure of a family in this group was placed at Rs. 350 of which an amount of Rs. 175 was spent on food items com-prising-cereals and pulses, Rs. 95; oils, clarified butter, Rs. 25; vegetables, mutton, eggs, etc., Rs. 20 and milk, Rs. 35. Each family spent about Rs. 10 on lighting. A few families were found to be using gas stoves and cookers.

Every family in this group employed domestic servants and paid on an average Rs. 45 per month. Many a time they were provided with accommodation and were also served food and tea. Generally these were the servants not employed for any specific jobs but were the full time servants of a family.

Nearly 87 per cent of the families spent an average of Rs. 60 per month on educating their children. Every family spent about Rs. 15 per month on entertainment. The people in the urban areas preferred dramas and cinema shows as against lokanatyas and circus shows preferred to by the ruralites. A village fair also provided them with entertainment. Of the fifteen families, six were staying in their own houses and remaining were staying in rented premises paying about Rs. 45 per month towards the same. However in rural areas almost all the families were staying in the premises owned by them.

The following account of the houses in the district is taken from the Wardha District Census Hand Book, 1961.

"Classified by "owned" and "rented" categories, 79.12 per cent of the dwellings in the district are owned and only 20.88 per cent are rented. The proportion of owned is higher (86.12 per cent) in rural areas but lower (54.38 per cent) in urban areas. Even this low proportion, 54.38 per cent for the urban areas in the district, is higher than the average of 30.28 per cent for all urban areas of Maharashtra.

"Out of various materials used for walls, mud appears to be predominant with 68.44 per cent. Grass, leaves, reeds or bamboo, etc., are used next in predominance to mud in the tahsils of Arvi and Hinganghat while burnt bricks are next to mud in Wardha tahsil. Mud is used for walls more in rural than in urban areas. Its proportion in the rural areas is 80.40 per cent against 26.14 per cent in urban areas. Burnt bricks appear to be used more in urban areas with a proportion of 41.15 per cent as against 2.94 per cent in rural areas. The use of grass, leaves, reeds or bamboo for walls is also more in urban areas (23.12 per cent) as against 13.67 per cent in rural areas. Unburnt bricks are used in 6.44 per cent of the dwellings in urban areas and 0.40 per cent in rural areas.

"Out of the materials of roof, tiles are predominant in the district with a proportion of 71.67 per cent. The use of these types of roofs is almost the same both in urban and rural areas. Its proportions in the urban and rural areas are 73.79 per cent and 71.07 per cent, respectively. Roofs of grass, leaves, reeds, thatch, wood or bamboo which have proportions of 20.61 per cent in rural areas and 5.13 per cent in urban areas are next to tiles. Corrugated iron, zinc or other metal sheets for roofs are more in use in urban areas with a proportion of 13.82 per cent than in rural areas having proportion of 7.65 per cent.

"Classified by the number of rooms occupied 58.61 per cent households are occupying one-room dwellings and 26.53 per cent are occupying two room dwellings. The households occupying largest number of rooms are more in the urban than in the rural areas. Average number of persons per room is 2.27 for total, 3.04 for rural and 2.20 for urban areas."

The people in this group were generally well dressed with clothes stitched to suit modern designs and they possessed many pairs of dress including ceremonial wear. The average annual expenditure of a family on this item was placed at Rs. 720.

All the families surveyed from this group spent some amount on religious and charitable purposes. The average expenditure of a family per year on this item was about Rs. 480, the amount varying from family to family. The people were generally health conscious and spent about Rs. 180 on medical treatment per annum. A family in this group spent about Rs. 360 on miscellaneous items such as travelling expenses, etc.

Almost every family in this group possessed gold in the form of ornaments which in rural areas were mostly made for intrinsic value of gold rather than the artistic elegance of the ornaments. It also possessed costly clothes to be worn on ceremonial occasions. Costly clothes comprised articles such as shalus, etc. They also possessed luxury articles like radio-sets, motor-cycles, motor cars and in a few cases refrigerators, air-coolers, geysers, etc. Their house-hold equipment consisted of stainless steel utensils, brass and copper utensils and fine crockery. They also possessed some decorative and artistic articles for furnishing the drawing room. Use of silver-ware was also not uncommon. Their bedding consisted of chaddars, carpets, mattresses and pillows. Literacy percentage was the highest in this group with many of them receiving primary and secondary education and quite a few receiving college education.

The total average expenditure of a family per month inclusive of both monthly and annual items of expenditure came to Rs. 500 of which an amount of Rs. 175 i.e. 35 per cent of the total expenditure and 26 per cent of the total income was incurred on food items.

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