1. ICAR-NATIONAL DAIRY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
EASTERN REGIONAL STATION
A-12, Kalyani-Nadia-741235, West Bengal
Development of Livelihood Security Index to Measure
Livelihood Status of Different Social Groups Affected by
Adverse Weather Events
Dr. Asif Mohammad
Sr. Scientist
2. (Source: West Bengal Disaster Management Department
website:http://wbdmd.gov.in/Pages/Drought.aspx)
Drought is the most complex of all
natural hazards.
Drought has subsequent negative
impact on the economic, environment
and the society.
Globally, examining the effects of
the recent drought in many areas
demonstrates its wide reaching
impacts on society and the
environment.
3. HISTORY OF NATURAL DISASTERS
Year Incidences
1983 Tornado at Gaighata Development Block
1988 Very severe Cyclone at Hingalganj Development Block
1998 Flood in Bongaon Sub-Division due to incessant rains and over flow
of river Ichhamati
2000 Huge flood all over the state having highest intensity in about last
two centuries.
2001 Severe Thunder Storm on 20.05.2001 at Gaighata Block
2002 A severe cyclonic storm passed over Sandeshkhali-I, Sandeshkhali-
II, Hingalgunj and Minakhan blocks
2003 Breach of embankments and erosion were reported from
Hingalgunj, Sandeshkhali-I and Sandeshkhali-I blocks
2009 On 25 May, Cyclone AILA hit costal Bengal with a maximum wind
speed of 120 kmph affecting over 1.5 million people.
4. What is livelihood?
• A livelihood comprises the assets (natural,
physical, human, financial and social capital),
the activities and the access to these
(mediated by institutions and social
relations) that together determine the living
gained by the individual or household
(Chambers & Conway, 1992)
5. Livelihood Security
• Adequate and sustainable access to income
and other resources to enable households to
meet basic needs. This includes adequate
access to food, potable water, health
facilities, educational opportunities, housing,
time for community participation and social
integration. (Frankenberger, 1996).
6. One of the main reasons for most of the
farmers’ suicide cases was not having any other
option of livelihood generation besides doing
crop farming (Jadhav, 2008).
In a normal year, crop production can generate
employment for only 90 -120 days, while for
the remaining period, rural workforce remains
unemployed (Chauhan and Singh, 2007).
7. In integrated farming system 45.34 percent
respondents were having the food security
while 42.67 percent were having nutritional
security (Ponnusamy, 2006)
The mean values of SLPI were 0.39 out of
maximum 1.00 and it ranges from 0.229 to
0.550 (Premchand,2008)
8. • Timmerman (1981) defined resilience as a
system's capacity to absorb and recover from
the occurrence of a hazardous event;
reflective of a society's ability to cope and to
continue to cope in the future.
• The term “resilience” is often used to
describe the characteristic features of a
system that are related to sustainability
(Carpenter et al., 2001).
10. Sampling plan
West Bengal
Coastal saline
Soil zone
Block-I
20 tribal farmers
20 non-tribal
farmers
Block-II
20 non-tribal
farmers
20 tribal farmers
Red and lateritic
soil zone
Block-I
20 non-tribal
farmers
20 tribal farmers
Block-II
20 non tribal
farmers
20 Tribal
farmers
11. AGRO-CLIMATIC ZONES OF WEST BENGAL
Hill Zone (2.4 to 8 lakh ha)
Terai Zone (2.149 lakh ha)
Old Alluvial Zone (17.537 lakh ha)
New Alluvial Zone (15.304 lakh ha)
Red and Laterite Zone (24.842 lakh ha)
Coastal and Saline Zone (14.569 lakh ha)
14. Assessment of the level of
livelihood security of Different
Social Groups Affected by Adverse
Weather Events
15. Issues pertaining to Livelihood Security
• Introduction of MGNREGA reduced extreme
poverty
• Reducing scope of MGNREGA (Less than 50%)
• No work in the month of Bhadra, Ashvina and
Kartik (August, September, October)
• Scarcity of Drinking water in drought prone zone
affect agricultural activities
• Flood prone zone suffering from soil
degradation due to cyclones, flooding etc.
16. • Help from PDS
• Restriction in hunting (Though the festival in
Buddha Purnima is still going on)
• Benefits from bank account
• Functioning of SHG (Mid day meal scheme),
though implemented in much later stage
• Appointment of educated person as Majiharam
(Head of village)
• I/C , PS consults with Majiharam before action
• Working of several NGOs (National/
International)
18. ANOVA (Livelihood Security)
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between
Groups 34624.72 7 4946.3
9 558.37 .000
Within Groups 1346.52 152 8.86
Total 35971.23 159
19. Livelihood Security Index
Name
Subset
1 2 3 4 5
Tribal (Jhargram) 41.36
Tribal (Birbhum) 43.05 43.05
Tribal (S. 24 Pgs) Bl-1 44.48
Tribal (S. 24 Pgs) Bl-2 44.49
Non-Tribal (Jhargram) 44.74
Non- Tribal (Birbhum) 68.05
Non-Tribal (S. 24 Pgs) Bl-2 74.81
Non-Tribal (S. 24 Pgs) Bl-1 77.66
20. Zone Group Mean Std. Deviation N
Drought prone zone Tribal
42.20 2.40 40
Non-Tribal
56.39 12.15 40
Total
49.30 11.25 80
Flood prone zone Tribal
44.48 3.29 40
Non-Tribal
76.23 3.50 40
Total
60.35 16.33 80
Total Tribal
43.34 3.08 80
Non-Tribal
66.31 13.36 80
Total
54.82 15.04 160
Variations Zone
F-value-110.67 (p<.01)
Social Group
F-value-477.81(p<.01)
Zone*Social
Group
F-value-69.85 (p<.01)
Zone wise variation in livelihood security
21. Zone 1- Drought prone Group 1- Tribal
Zone 2- Flood prone Group 2- Non Tribal
22. Points to reckon with…..
• Livelihood security not only depends on the
social stratification (caste) but also on the total
agro-climatic situation of the zone.
• Infrastructural development of the zone
determines level of livelihood
• Drought prone zones are suffering more than the
flood prone zone
• Intervention should be given in the following
sequence:
Jhargram, Birbhum, S. 24 Parganas
