Income inequalities in different regions of Rural Punjab

Regional disparities have been increasing over time in both rural as well as urban areas. In rural areas, inequality related to land ownership has also increased. The study is based upon the primary data, collected from four districts situated in three different regions (Malwa, Doaba and Majha) of the Punjab state. The main source of income in all the regions is farm business income, followed by income from nonfarm employment and casual agricultural labour. Malwa has recorded the highest share of farm business income. The second significant source of income in the case of an average rural household is non-farm wage employment. Doaba has recorded the highest income from nonfarm wage employment. The per capita income is also the highest in Malwa and the lowest in Doaba for an average rural household. A relatively better distribution of per household income is observed in the case of small farmers. When we compare household income of land owning households and landless households in different regions, inequality seems wider in land owning households than the landless households in three regions.