ECONOMIC TRENDS

COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT INCOME GROUPS

The accommodation where the families in the first group stayed was decent and airy. Their quarters were quite spacious. In case of the second group, the only difference was that their accommodation was smaller in size than that in the first group but otherwise it was the same as in the first group, fn regard to the families in the third group, the tenements were not well ventilated and lacked elegance altogether. They were mainly located in the congested areas in towns and on the outskirts of villages.

About the houses, the Yeotmal District Census Handbook, 1961 has to say the following: —

"64.1 per cent of all the houses are used as dwellings, 23.7 per cent as cattlesheds, etc., 5.9 per cent were vacant at the time or the Census and the remaining are used as shops, workshops or factories, schools, etc.

"The density of residential houses per square mile in the district has increased along with the density of population per square mile from 38.7 per cent in 1951 to 44.9 per cent in 1961. The number of persons per residential house has also slightly increased from 4.62 in 1951 to 4.69 in 1961.

"Classified by owned and rented categories 83 per cent of the dwellings in the district are owned and only 17 per cent are rented. The proportion of owned in the rural areas is slightly higher (88 per cent) and very much lower (48 per cent) in the urban areas. Even this low proportion of 48 per cent for the urban areas in the district is somewhat higher than the average of 30 per cent for all urban areas of Maharashtra.

"Out of the various materials used for walls, mud appears to be predominant in the district with a proportion 48.0 per cent. The proportions in the talukas of Yeotmal and Kelapur are much lower and the difference is made up by grass, leaves, reeds or bamboos. Burnt bricks are used next to mud and grass, leaves, etc., as 6.3 per cent of the occupied dwellings are found to be of walls of this type. They are, however, more common in the urban (31.9 per cent) than in rural areas (2.8 per cent). Stone is not used much in the district as only 3.1 per cent of the dwellings have stone walls.

"Out of the material, of roof, corrugated iron and zinc sheets (C. I. sheets) are predominant in the district with a proportion of 39.0 per cent. C. I. sheets are, however, more common in urban areas. Their proportion in the urban, areas is 52.2 per cent against 37.1 per cent in rural areas. In the rural areas along with the C. I. sheets, roofs of grass, leaves, reeds, etc., are also common and have a proportion of 36.3 per cent. C. I. sheet roofs are very common in the western part comprising Darwha and Pusad talukas. The roofs of grass, leaves. reed, thatch, etc., are found mostly in the rural areas of Yeotmal and Kelapur talukas. The rainfall, increases towards the eastern part of the district and the roofs in Wani taluka are, therefore, sloping and are of tiles, slate, shingle, etc. Their proportions in both rural (26.2 per cent) and moan (29.2 per cent) areas are very close.

Classified by the number of rooms occupied, '65.3 per cent of households are occupying one-room dwellings and 23.1 per cent are occupying two-room dwellings. Households occupying larger number of rooms are more in urban areas than in rural areas. Average number of persons per room is 3.06 for total, 3.15 for rural and 2.57 for urban areas."

As regards clothing, the quality of clothing used by the first as also by the second group was almost the same. The position was different as far as the number of pairs of dress was concerned. However, the families in the third group mostly used clothes made from coarse cloth.

As regards food habits also a marked difference was noticed in respect of the first and the third group. The use of ghee and other milk products was confined to the first and to a certain extent to the second group. It was a luxury for the families in the third group. The use of more vegetables, eggs, mutton and other fresh food was on a larger scale in respect of the first group.

The percentage of literacy was very high in respect of the first and the second group while it was very low in respect of the third group.

The following table gives the percentage proportions of literacy out of the total; population for males and females for total, rural and urban areas of the district separately.

TABLE No. 1

STATISTICS OF LITERACY IN THE District IN 1961

In keeping with the Engels law of family expenditure, which states that the percentage expenditure on food items decreases with every increase in the income, the expenditure of a family in the first group on food items was 30 per cent of its income and 34 per cent of its expenditure as against 45 per cent of both in respect of the second group and 80 per cent of its income and 70 per cent of its expenditure in respect of the third group. The percentage expenditure on food items in relation to their income as also the expenditure clearly indicates a surplus budget of the families in the first group, a balanced budget of the families in the second group and an unbalanced budget of the families in the third group.

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