Socio-economic conditions of rural labourers in Punjab: A case study of district Barnala

The present paper examines the socio-economic conditions of different social groups of rural labour households in district Barnala of Punjab. The study revealed that the majority of the sampled labour households are living in semi-pucca houses. Hiring out labour in non- agriculture sector is the most important component of household income followed by the income from hiring out labour in agriculture sector and income from remittances. Income of these households is very low and not sufficient to meet their family requirements. The consumption pattern of these households is subsistence in nature. A large share of the total consumption expenditure by these categories is allocated to non-durables items. The average propensity to consume comes to be more than one. The value of assets appears to be highly correlated with caste. The value of assets is higher for the general caste households than the backward and scheduled caste households. About 47 per cent of the total labour households are under debt. An average sampled labour household incurred about 58 per cent of the total loan from institutional agencies and the remaining 43 per cent of the total loan is taken from non-institutional agencies.