A measure of the extent of poverty in Rural India can be estimated as follows
.The above calculations show average land holding and average per capita income for people depending on agricultural income. But the holding size for people varies widely.The farm size distribution data was extracted from central statistical organization andcorresponding per capita income was calculated. This gives us an idea about the amountof poverty among the small and marginal farmers.The Farm size distribution for India as per the central statistical organization is tabulated below. The acreage per holding and the number of people who hold this size of land isshown here.
FarmsizeNo of ownersTotalholdingArea per holdingAcre per holdinghectaremilmil hectarehectareAcre<176.130.10.400.991 to 222.832.31.423.542 to 414.138.32.726.794 to 106.638.15.7714.43>101.221.117.5843.96
Assuming that there are four dependents depending on one farm holding, The totalnumber of people depending on a farm and their corresponding per capita income(assuming that a 1 acre farm has 8000/- income per year) is calculated and tabulated below.
No of personsper capitaincomemillionRs304.4197891.2708356.41358226.4288644.887917
This gives us an idea about the amount of poverty among the small and marginal farmers.It can be seen that about 304 million or 30 crore of cultivators in India who depend onfarm income have about 1978 rupees of per capita income. This calculates to about 165rupees per month. This amount is too meager to even support basic food requirement for an average person, leave alone other expenses for clothing, housing, educational, medical purposes.
What needs to be done? This is the challenge we have before us and neo-liberalpolicies or socialist policies, this economic question demands an answer. The peopleof India deserve better treatment and Specifically people of Orissa whosegovernment claims 6 lakh crore in investment in last 6 years would like to know,
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