Income Inequality in Rural Economy of West Bengal, India

Income inequality is closely related with poverty and food security in developing as well as under developed economy. The present study has been conducted based on primary data collected from rural households in Birbhum district, West Bengal. Present status of income inequality and its decomposition by sources of income (agricultural income and non-agricultural income) and by different categories of farms has been analysed. It has been observed that the income inequality is more prominent in marginal farms than that of small and medium farms. The contribution of non-agricultural income to the overall income inequality is 94.12 per cent. So it is evident that the overall income inequality commonly occurs due to non-agricultural income rather than agricultural income. Similarly, the income inequality within sub-groups is little bit high as compared to BETWEEN sub-groups.