A brief research note on the socio economic status of rural society.

1. Group 1.
II B.Sc. (Sericulture).
Socio-Economic Status
of a Rural Society.
AEX 201 Fundamentals of Rural Sociology and
Educational Psychology.
Course Mentor:
Dr Chintia Fernandez
Compendium:
 Introduction.
 Socio-Economic Status.
 Characteristics of socio-economic status in Indian
Rural Society.
¥ Excessive dependence on nature.
¥ Preponderance of small uneconomic land
and livestock holdings.
¥ Low capital- labour ratio.
¥ Low factor productivity.
¥ Long gestation and low rate of turnover.
¥ High incidence of poverty.
¥ Preponderance of illiterate and unskilled
workforce.
¥ Lack of basic infrastructure.
 Conclusion.

2. 1
AEX 201 Fundamentals of Rural Sociology and Educational Psychology.
Introduction:
Socioeconomic status of a rural society is a measure of an
individual’s or family’s economic and social position based on education,
income, and occupation. It is such a strong predictor of health that an
assessment of the health of Indian rural environment would be incomplete
without consideration of the socioeconomic status of its residents. It
includes measures of income (median family and median household
income, and poverty levels), and measures associated with income status
(educational level and employment levels).
Socio-economic status:
Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined
total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's
economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education,
and occupation. When analysing a family's SES, the household income, earners'
education, and occupation are examined, as well as combined income, versus
with an individual, when their own attributes are assessed.
Socioeconomic status is typically broken into three categories (high SES, middle
SES, and low SES) to describe the three areas a family or an individual may fall
into. When placing a family or individual into one of these categories, any or all
of the three variables (income, education, and occupation) can be assessed.
Additionally, low income and little education have shown to be strong
predictors of a range of physical and mental health problems, including
respiratory viruses, arthritis, coronary disease etc., in the villages. These
may be due to environmental conditions in their workplace, or, in the
case of mental illnesses, may be the entire cause of that person's social
predicament to begin with.
Education in higher socioeconomic families is typically stressed as a more
important in topic in the household and local community. In poorer areas,
mostly in the Indian rural society, where food and safety are priority,
education can take a backseat.

3. 2
AEX 201 Fundamentals of Rural Sociology and Educational Psychology.
Characteristics of socio-economic status in Indian Rural
Society:
Rural development, in a predominantly agrarian country like
India, is a sine qua non of overall development and agricultural
development is a prerequisite for rural development. Therefore, in such a
country, rural economy should form the foundation or national
development.
Excessive Dependence on Nature:
Agricultural production, being biological in nature, depends
more on weather and other climatic factors than non-agricultural
production. In a nutshell, Indian agriculture is vulnerable to natural
calamities, such as droughts, floods, hailstorms and cyclones. Sadly, the
coverage of crop insurance is very limited and, therefore, most farmers
have to bear the burden of risk and uncertainty themselves and become
broke in process.
Preponderance of Small Uneconomic Land and Livestock Holdings:
The land and livestock holdings are not only small in size but also
widely scattered all over the countryside. Landholdings are also
fragmented, particularly in those states where consolidation of
landholdings has not yet been done. The small and fragmented
landholdings are a great obstacle to economical use of farm labour and
machinery.
Low Capital-Labour Ratio:
India’s rural sector is starved of capital and overcrowded with
human labour. Consequently, the amount of capital available per worker,
that is, the capital-labour ratio is low and this is one of the main reasons for
low productivity in the sector. To improve this ratio, it is necessary to step
up both public and private investment in the sector.

4. 3
AEX 201 Fundamentals of Rural Sociology and Educational Psychology.
Low Factor Productivity:
Low yield crops have been the bane of India’s rural sector since long. As
mentioned in the preceding section, the low factor productivity is mainly
due to inadequate capital in the form of production inputs, raw materials,
and improved machinery and equipment available per worker/unit of
enterprise.
Long Gestation and Low Rate of Turnover:
It takes relatively longer period of time for investment in
agricultural enterprises to yield benefits than in many non-agricultural
enterprises. The annual flow of net returns from investment in most
agricultural enterprises is also very low. This results in a low rate of turnover
or, alternatively, it takes longer to recover the investment made.
High Incidence of Poverty:
The incidence of poverty is higher in rural sector than in the urban
sector. The employment scenario has recently improved in rural areas. The
unemployment rates are lower in rural areas than in urban areas for both
males and females.
Preponderance of Illiterate and Unskilled Workforce:
Although the averages literacy rate in the country as a whole is
low, in rural areas it is lower. The higher level of illiteracy and the lack of
skills among the majority of rural people are serious constraints on their
socio-economic development. It is a pity that while, at one extreme, we
have in India world-class scientists, engineers, managers and
academicians, at the other extreme, and we have hundreds of millions of
illiterates amongst us.
Lack of Basic Infrastructure:
Indian villages miserably lack in such basic infrastructure as
schools, health care centres (leave aside hospitals), all-weather roads,

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AEX 201 Fundamentals of Rural Sociology and Educational Psychology.
means of transport and communication, drinking water facilities, and
electricity for domestic and agricultural purposes. Basic infrastructure is an
important determinant of development. Although in many states, good
progress has been made recently under the Minimum Needs Programme
(MNP), Bharat Nirman Programme (BNP), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and other programmes to provide
the bare minimum infrastructure, there are crores of people living in
remote tribal and hilly areas where not much has been done.
Conclusion:
India’s economy is predominantly rural in character. This is evident
from the fact that nearly 72% of its population lived in its nearly 6.38 lakh
villages and about 52% of its workforce was engaged in agriculture and
allied activities in rural areas. Agriculture and allied activities support more
one billion people and contribute about 18% of India’s gross domestic
product (GDP).
Citation:
Ø http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socioeconomic_s
tatus&oldid=632813979
Ø “Rural Development- Principles, Policies, and
Management.” By Katar Singh. Pages 14 to 34.

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AEX 201 Fundamentals of Rural Sociology and Educational Psychology.