Review Of: Rural Poverty in Punjab: A Case Study of Village Shergarh

SOCIAL HAZARDS OF DEVELOPMENT CIA III
REVIEW OF: ‘RURAL POVERTY IN PUNJAB:

A CASE STUDY OF VILLAGE ‘SHERGARH
Abstract By: Bismah Rahman, Abu Saadat
Review of the case study
This is a case study by Dr Manjit Sharma, about poverty in a village named Shergarh in the
Bhatinda district of Punjab. Being a relatively better-performing state, all the 15 poorest
households that are selected as samples for the research had self-owned houses, almost 3 meals a
day etc. But poverty is visible in terms of health, education, family assets etc. The family size of
the sample households is also taken understudy to understand the dependency of the family on the
earner and the demography of the sample. Assets that are studied for the research are the quality
of the houses, that is, availability of kitchen, bathroom, proper drainage system, toilets, handpump,
electricity, animals, land owned and private transport (by-cycle). Education level in these
households was not very good either for 60% of the households, the family head was illiterate.
40% of children in the family were not going to schools. 53.33% of the households had members
addicted to alcohol, smoking or any other substance abuse. He also talks about the type of
consumption and uses the calorie method to understand poverty.
The author has used such measures to study poverty in the village of Shergarh. By looking at the
area of focus we can say that the author shares the school of thought of Amartya Sen while looking
at poverty. Addressing the absolute poverty in terms of education and health of the households
shows a better picture to analyse the poverty in a region. One of the things that I feel is a problem
in the study is that the sample is too small for a village and also the process of selecting the sample
is a little complicated if not absurd. He divided the village into 3 caste groups and then asked the
5 most knowledgeable people from each caste group to pick 5 poorest households. This is an
absurd way of sampling. Although none of the families were absolutely poor, they all had 3 meals
a day, their own house, a pair of shoes, had some kind of job and yet the most knowledgeable
people of their cast would label them poor.
Demographic Details
On the basis of that list, all households were divided into three broad caste/occupation groups: (1)
Jat Sikh (142 households) who were engaged in cultivation of land as self-employed farmers; (2)
SC (105 households) who mainly engaged in agriculture as agricultural labourers; (3) Other
caste/occupation groups (39 households) who are engaged in diverse occupations of various types.
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3648058

Out of these three groups, fifteen poorest households were identified. The poor households
belonging to each caste group in village
Shergarh were identified initially with the help of five knowledgeable persons of that particular
caste. The average number of family members per household is 4.33. So, there were 65 people in
the 15 selected households. The average number of male adults is 1.20 and for that of the females
is 0.86. Each family had an average of 2.07 children and 0.40 old members (age>65).
Analysis of the study
This is a case study of the poverty in the Shergarh village in the district of Bhatinda, Punjab.
Punjab, as we all know, is one of the well-doing states of the country and poverty level in Punjab
is very less. Most of the people in the rural areas of Punjab indulge in farming their fields, working
on other’s fields or some other kind of agrarian setup. In the sample of the 15 poorest households,
we saw that each one had a house of their own, a job, 3 meals a day, a small family of 4.33 members
per family etc. These attributes of the poorest in the village is a rather unique thing to come across
when we move east on the map of India and look into states like Jharkhand for example. The
poorest in those states will be a lot more deprived in terms of food, water, jobs, house etc. The
concept of poverty, hence, we see varies. For a better performing state like Punjab, poverty is
relative and yet evident. This also shows us a picture of how poverty is a social construct. Despite
their eating three meals in a day, having a house of their own and having at least one pair of shoes
per member and also sufficient clothes for each member, they were poor in the sense that other
members of their respective caste group regarded them at the bottom of the caste group. They also
themselves felt that they are poor and their living conditions are not good. They were not hopeful
of getting out of their hopeless position shortly. There are plenty of causes of poverty in a region
and as the author said that ignorance is one of the causes in the village of Shergarh. People have
money but do not feel the need to expend it on things like education, a concrete house etc. But,
this case study also shows the social construct and development as a cause of poverty. As it is a
developed area for farming in the country due to the green revolution, farming is a good source of
living in the region. People here are living standard lives altogether that even the poorest of them
all had a house of their own. Thus, we see that with the development of the whole society, the last
line of households doing the worst in that society yet living a decent life is regarded as the poor.
Here, the greatest finding is that Poverty is indeed a social evil. No matter how much a society
grows, the economically worst performers will be regarded as poor despite their decent life-style.
Understanding
Poverty is reflected in all aspects of the life of the poor. The majority of poor households do not
live in pucca houses and more than fifty percent of poor homes live in poor housing. Their access
to the toilets, kitchen, bathroom, own water and electric light is very low. Only fifth of the poor

had bicycles. They rarely take the meal with Dal / Sabji. Their consumption of cucumber, sugar,
milk and tiles is lower compared to those who are not poor. Most poor households also felt that
excessive spending on social activities kept them poor. Most of the poor households were not
optimistic about getting out of poverty shortly. In Shergarh village, like other villages in the state,
poverty is in the form of people being hungry without food. Among the fifteen relatively poorest
families surveyed by us, there is not even one home without their own homes. There is not even
one individual among these poorpeople who slept without a meal. Almost all of these poor people
take their meals three times a day. They take tea daily in the morning. Most of them had a
cranberry. They have enough clothes and shelter to protect them. There is not even one person
without a pair of shoes and clothes. Despite eating three meals in one day, owning their own house
and having at least one pair of shoes on a partner and also enough clothes for each partner, they
were poor in the sense that other members of their cast looked at them at the bottom of the throwing
crowd. They also considered themselves poor and their standard of living not good. They were not
hopeful of getting out of their hopeless position shortly. The latent problem is not poverty but of
the social construct or social evil which somehow suggests that poor will always remain and so
will poverty. This type of development is certainly not looked forward to. It is just the perception
of the society towards itself that states that poop will always remain.One of the ways to overcome
this problem as a society is recognised and address the problem accurately. I'm sure that none of
the knowledgeable caste leaders ever thought of the question as "are there any poor households?''
and all they heard was "who is the worst doing family here?". It all starts from there, the evil social
construct and that is the point where we have to stop for a second and understand the question
properly and think about it.
References
Ahluwalia, Montek (1978.). “Rural Poverty and Agricultural Performance in India.” Journal of
Development Studies,Vol. 14, No.3.
District Census Handbook (Village And Town Directory) for the Years 1961,1971, 1981& 1991.
Government of India Publication.
Minhas, B.S. et al (1991). “Declining Incidence of Poverty.In the 1980s Evidences versus
Artefacts.” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXVI, No. 27 and 28.
Rajaraman, Indira, (1975) “Poverty, Inequality and Economic Growth: Rural Punjab 1960, 61 to
1970 71.” Journal of Development Studies,Vol. 11, No.3. ,
Shergill H.S., Gurmel Singh, (1995), “Poverty in Rural Punjab, Trends over Green Revolution
Decade.” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXX No. 24 &25

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SOCIAL HAZARDS OF DEVELOPMENT CIA III

REVIEW OF: ‘RURAL POVERTY IN PUNJAB:

Abstract By: Bismah Rahman, Abu Saadat

Review of the case study

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3648058

Analysis of the study

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3648058

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3648058

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