Consumption Profile of the Socially Excluded People

Maniklal Adhikary, Khokon Sarkar

Department of Economics, M.U.C Women’s College, Burdwan, India.
Department of Economics, University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India.

DOI: 10.4236/me.2012.36098                

Abstract

People are excluded when they are not a part of main stream of society in their daily life due to caste, creed, religion and economic condition. This indicates that the socially excluded people are customarily shunned in the zone of employment, community, friends and family. Nobody would deny that many old age people, homeless people, people with aids, people with mental and physical disability, ex-prisoners are said to be at the risk of exclusion. In this paper we have defined excludability in terms of castes, creed, religion, economic conditions and others. We would look into the food security status reflected in consumption profile among those particular categories of people, in terms of their monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) on both food and non-food items with the help of NSSO 61st round data. Based on goal post index the consumption pattern of the socially excluded people across different states of India has been made evident. We have also tested the Engels law, and it has been found empirically accepted. Contrasted with the situation of other caste people the food security status of the socially excluded people has been found to be placed at all-time low level.

Keywords

Social Exclusion; Food Security; Monthly per Capita Expenditure; Engels Law

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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