Poverty among Scheduled Caste Households in Rural Punjab

In Punjab, the poor economic conditions of scheduled castes force them to survive with low standards of living. The social exclusion is viewed as the prominent reason for their poverty as a result of which these downtrodden people face certain obstacles to reap the benefits of sustainable development policies. The main objective of the present study is to analyze the levels of poverty and the factors affecting income and consumption based poverty among the scheduled caste households in the rural areas of Punjab. Multiple regression is used to explore the relationship between poverty and the different factors affecting it on the basis of their income and consumption patterns. The study is based on secondary data as well as primary data. The study explores that in Sri Muktsar Sahib district, the large portion of the scheduled caste households is living below poverty line with minimum necessities and facilities of life as compared to other two selected districts. The World Bank estimates of moderate poverty are quite high as compared to the Tendulkar Expert Group estimates and the incidence of poverty on the basis of per household's income and expenditure is more than poverty on the basis of per capita income and expenditure. The major factor influencing the income per capita of scheduled caste households is non-agricultural income whereas the major factor affecting consumption expenditure per capita is per person expenditure on education.