Living Standard and economic condition among Baiga of Mandla District, Madhya Pradesh

Present study investigates the Living standard economic condition of Baiga on the basis of primary information collected from 300 households of 14 villages of District Mandla (MP). The findings indicate that even after six decades of independence and expense of billion of rupees for the purpose of tribal development, the condition of the Baiga (PVTG) is still poor. It was found that 95.3 percent of their families live in thatched and muddy houses, 92.7 percent of them defecate in open. Use of fuel like liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is still not in their dictionary. They hardly reached to the stage of use of kerosene (2.7 percent), only 15 percent of Baiga household were found electrified. Majority (97 percent) of Baiga use clay made burnt utensil (pottery), 7.7 percent of them have only pottery utensil as kitchenware. Contrary to that only 2.3 percent have exclusively metal utensil, 73.7 percent of them fetch water from well. None of the Baiga found in good living condition. The index of standard of living was devised to assess the overall situation which also indicates that the economic condition of Baiga is poor and extremely poor.