Livelihood Security of Agricultural Labour Households in Irrigated Regions of the Karnataka-An Economic Analysis^#

This study measures livelihood security of selected agricultural labour households in irrigated region of Mandya district in Karnataka. Five security domains such as economic, food, education, health, habitat, and social network were chosen and indices were computed based on number of its associated indicators. To design the programme, different parameters like availability, accessibility in terms of distance, time and cost has been taken into consideration for the study. Economic security is the dominating component in the overall livelihoods followed by food. Irrespective of migration or non-migration, there are differences in opportunities but peoples are appearing equally insecure. Migrant labour households are faintly more secured in terms of economic, education, habitat and social network compared to non-migrant labour households. Most of the respondents opined that, the lack of basic facilities was one of the important reasons for non-attainment of livelihood security, followed by low wage rate and increased food prices in the study area.