The extent of market dependence and expenditure pattern of casual labor in Udaipur district of Rajasthan

Casual labor households live in the vicious circle of inefficiency - low wage rates - low consumption - inefficiency. For this study, casual labor has been divided into two categories viz., category I and category II, which are working in rural and urban areas, respectively. The comparison between both the category of casual labor showed that PDS played an important role in food security of labor households by way of providing food grains at cheaper prices and contributed in the consumption of cereals, pulses, edible oils and sugar. The consumption of food groups was higher in urban casual labor except cereals and vegetables. Rural casual found to produce higher farm produce for consumption compares to urban casual labor. Electricity expenses were the major contributor to the consumption of the non-food item followed by education, intoxicants (Pan, tobacco and alcohol), clothing and footwear and travel expenses in rural casual labor households. In urban casual labor households, major expenses were on electricity, travel, education, intoxicants and clothing and footwear.