CHAPTER-VI

EMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY IN THE STATE

6.1 Introduction

Economic access to food depends on the purchasing power of the household,

which in turn depends on the regular employment. Hence employment security is

essential pre-requisite for gaining food security at the household level. Mere

availability of foodgrains will have little relevance, if people do not possess

purchasing power to buy them for their consumption. Given the predominance of the

agricultural sector in the State's economy both in terms of its contribution to the

State Domestic Product and more so in terms of employment, it will be necessary to

look in to the nexus between employment and food security. The structure of

employment in the State is largely unorganized basically rural and non-industrial in

nature. Female work participation rates are quite high, highest among the major

states and Andhra Pradesh has the highest incidence of child labour and state has

the highest proportion of agricultural labour households in the country next only to

Tamilnadu (Parthasarathy, 1995) in such situation changes in the economy will have

impact on the employment growth and wages, which in turn influences the food

security at household level. Poverty has been identified not merely with inequality

but also with unemployment (Raj Krishna, 1973). We shall raise the following issues:

Nature of the employment problem in the State? How far does economic growth lead

to a reduction in poverty and increase in employment? . This chapter tries to analyse

the changes in the employment and poverty over the years using the NSSO data.

6.2 Changing structure of employment

The estimates of employment and unemployment by NSSO are derived on

three concepts, usual status, current weekly status and current daily status. These

three concepts are based on the reference periods for ascertaining the activity status

of an individual and therefore manifest it in different form of economic significance.

Under the usual status concept the reference period is one year and the activity

status of a person as employed, unemployed or out of labour force is determined on

the basis of activity pursued by him for the major part of the year. It indicates a

sustained position of the persons involved. On the current weekly status criterion, a

person is considered as employed or unemployed if he has worked even for one hour

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during the week. Under the current daily status, the unit of classification is half day.

The work participation rates in urban and rural Andhra Pradesh increased in 1993-94

before declining significantly in 1999-2000 (Table-6.1).

Table-6.1: Work participation rates in Andhra Pradesh

Year Rural Urban

1983 53.5 34.8 1987-88 53.3 35.8 1993-94 57.6 37.6 1999-2000 54.2 34.8

Source: NSSO rounds on Employment and Unemployment.

Work participation rates (WPR) indicate the density of workers and higher WPRs are

taken as indicators of lower development states. We find that WPR in rural Andhra

Pradesh is higher and that was quite an expected result. But most intriguing aspect

is the marginal changes in WPR for over the period of almost two decades. One

naturally tends to question if there was any significant employment growth in the

state. As can be seen from table-6.2, employment growth in rural as well as urban

areas has declined. In rural Andhra Pradesh it declined from 2.4 percent per annum

during 1983 to 1993-94 to 0.29 percent during 1993-94 to 1999-2000.The

corresponding numbers for the urban sector are 4.3 percent and 0.01 percent. The

employment growth in the State during 1993-94 to 1999-00 was 0.35 percent per

annum (Rural and Urban together). It has declined sharply in the case of females

when compared with males and that is not in tune with the overall observation at

country level.

Table-6.2: Employment growth in Andhra Pradesh (Percent per annum)

Sector 1983 to 1993-94 to 1993-94 1999-2000

Rural 2.4 0.29 Male 1.7 1.30 Female 2.5 0.10 Urban 4.3 0.01 Male 3.5 2.40 Female 4.2 1.60

th ,m tn Source. Computed based on 38 ,50 and 55 NSSO data on Employment Situation in India.

The reasons for the decline in employment growth in the 1990's could be due

to (i) decline in the labour force growth itself (ii) preferred formal employment

inevitably declined with the cutback in public sector jobs. This meant a greater

growth in informal employment and this trend may probably continue (iii) a decline

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in the participation rates among the younger age groups (iv) a sharp deceleration in

the growth rate of agriculture in general and crop production in particular has led to

the decline in rural employment and capitalization of agriculture (Mahendra Dev,

2003). The changes in the employment could be observed through employment

elasticities. The employment elasticity in the 1990's reflects the fact that although

economic growth in terms of State Domestic Product (SOP) is taking place could not

influence employment growth. In other words the growth was not employment

oriented. Employment elasticity in agriculture is negative during 1993-94 to 1999-

2000 i.e., -0.13. A number of factors, contributed to this negative declining elasticity.

First, area under high yielding varieties has come to a saturation point and therefore,

possibly a technology optima is reached. Secondly, the rate of growth of irrigation

has also declined arresting in increase in demand for labour in these regions. Thirdly,

there has been a shift away from labour intensive crops like rice to social forestry

and fish culture that require not as many labour. Fourth, casualties of urban work

force also changed the composition of work force with more casual migration

workers not featuring in the surveys.

Employment in the organised sector generally provides higher levels of wages

and job security than in the unorganized sector. In the State, 20.7 lakh workers are

in the organised sector in 199-2000, but in the same year there are approximately

387.5 lakh total workers in the State, it clearly shows that a small fraction of the

work force is in the organised sector. Employment in the organized sector increased

from 14.46 lakhs in 1980-81 to 20.7 lakhs in 1999-2000 (Table-6.3) but the growth

rate of employment in the organised sector during 1995-95 and 1999-2000 is lower

compared to the earlier period. This may be due to slowdown in public sector

employment in the 1990's. Public sector accounts for the nearly 80 percent of the

organised employment in the state. Out of the total employment of 20.70 lakhs in

the organised sector Public sector accounted for 14.9 lakhs and the remaining 5.8

lakh were employed in Private sector.

Table-6.3: Employment in organized sector

Year Employment Year Growth rate (in lakhs)

1980-81 14.46 1980-81 to 1985-86 2.2 1985-86 16.11 1985-86 to 1990-91 1.8 1990-95 17.62 1990-91 to 1995-96 1.9 1995-96 19.40 1995-96 to 1999-2000 1.6

1999-2000 20.70 Source: Various Issues of Economic SUivey, government. Of Andhra Pradesh

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A high percentage of non-agricultural workers is a sign of economic growth

since non-agricultural work is normally more paying than agricultural work. Presently

agriculture in the state has to bear the burden of 65 to 70 percent workers, which

led to low labour productivity in agriculture. As a result, rural non-farm sector

becomes an important absorbent for agricultural workers. Tables note of these

trends and in order to increase wages in agriculture and to shift the workers to more

productive areas, rural diversification is advocated (Mahendra Dev, 2003). The

percentage of non-agricultural workers to total workers is 24.8 percent in Andhra

Pradesh. This indicates the diversification has been much slower in Andhra Pradesh.

The proportion of workers in primary sector in rural Andhra Pradesh was 79.7

percent in 1983 and that of 1999-2000 was 78.8 percent and that in the secondary

sector in rural Andhra Pradesh was 9.8 percent in 1983 and 8.6 percent in 1999-

2000. In 1983, the tertiary sector's share in work force was 11.9 and 12.6 in 1999-

2000 (NSS rounds). These trends indicate the possibility of increase in employment

only in service sector.

Non-farm employment in Andhra Pradesh increased from 17.6 percent in

1977-78 to 22.8 percent in 1983 but subsequently it declined during 1993-94 to

record a slight improvement in 1999-2000. Male employment increased almost

steadily but female employment has declined sharply after 1983.

Table-6.4: Non-farm employment in rural Andhra Pradesh (In percentaqe)

Year Male Female Total 1977-78 19.7 14.6 17.6 1983 25.6 18.7 22.8 1987-88 25.9 17.9 22.4 1993-94 24.4 16.3 20.7 1999-2000 . 25.6 15.7 21.2

Source: NSSO rounds on Employment and Unemployment.

These trends could be due to the poor backward and forward linkages of

agriculture with service and manufacturing sectors. High rates of agricultural growth

should lead to increase in per capita income for the mass of people in rural areas and

consequently through changes in consumption pattern which increases the share of

non-agricultural products, trade and service sector in rural areas. This is feasible, if

there is a shift in investment in backward areas in which current yields are low and

under employment rates are high. Slowing down of non-agricultural employment is

also confirmed by the census data (Table-6.5).

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Table-6.S: Non-agricultural workers in Andhra Pradesh .. . . -~ .

(In million) -- .. - -_.-...

Catego!L 1981 1991 Total workers 8.773 10.447 Main and marginal 24.505 29.963 workers Marginal workers 1.872 1.518 Other workers 5.832 7.974 Household industry 1.064 0.955 Non-agricultural 35.80 34.8 workers as percent of total workers Source: Statistical abstract of Andhra Pradesh 1990-91 and 2000-01

The percentage of main and marginal non-agricultural workers showed a

decline between 1981 and 1991 from 35.8 to 34.8 percent. The proportion of self­

employment has been declining over time in rural Andhra Pradesh. One of the

reasons could be fragmentation of land, which led to increase in casual labour

(Table-6.6). One of the important observation in the changing of employment

structure is the emergence and increase of casualisation of work force. The

proportion of employed under self-employment are declining and similar are the

trends about regular employment. But on the contrary casual labour have

conSistently posted an increase over the years. It must be noted here that

casualisation of work force has some special significance towards food security. The

consumption data of these casual employed labourers may show sufficient

consumption during the reference period (in terms of per capita) but there may not

be consistency in their capacity to buy food.

Table-6.6: Distribution of employment by category in Andhra Pradesh (Percent)

Year Self-employed Rqular em~o.yed Casual labourers 1983 47.3 8.9 43.8

1987-88 49.0 6.8 44.2 1993-94 47.5 5.2 47.3

1999-2000 45.8 5.9 48.3 Source: Various Issues of NSSO reports

...

The percentage of casual labour increased both for males and females over the

years.

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6.3 Trends in unemployment

NSS provides unemployment rates by usual status, current weekly status and

current daily status. Current daily status captures chronic unemployment, seasonal

unemployment and intermittent unemployment in one single measure

(Parthasarathy, 1995).

Table-6.7: Trends in daily status of unemployment

Year Rural Urban Male Female Male Female

1983 7.9 10.5 9.5 12.1 1987-88 4.9 9.4 10.1 13.2 1993-94 5.9 7.0 7.5 9.5 1999-2000 8.8 8.7 7.7 9.7

Source: Vanous rounds of NSSO reports

Rural rate of unemployment for males was 7.9 percent in 1983 and 8.8

percent in 1999-2000 (Table-6.7). In rural and urban sectors, unemployment rate

increased during 1990s. There is a sharp decline in rural unemployment in 1987-88,

despite it being a drought year, it may be due to outflow of labour from rural to

urban areas. The urban rate of unemployment for females was higher than the

males during all the years. The usual status unemployment rate by principal

occupation shows the different picture compared to daily status of unemployment.

The unemployment rates are relatively high in urban sector than rural Andhra

Pradesh. Unemployment rates among males are high compared to female (Table-

6.8). One clear observation emerges from these tables to suggest a spill over of rural

unemployed to urban areas.

Table-6.S: Usual status unemployment rates in Andhra Pradesh

Year Rural Urban Male Female Male Female

1983 1.4 0.9 5.4 5.1 1987-88 2.5 4.5 6.4 9.0 1993-94 1.0 0.5 3.5 4.3

1999-2000 1.2 0.7 4.3 4.4 Source: Vanous rounds of NSSO reports

A study on unemployment rates by CESS shows that irrigated zones record a

higher rate of unemployment both in poor and non-poor categories. Between 1983

and 1987-88 both in dry and irrigated zones, the rates of unemployment for the poor

have risen. Rural non-farm employment is crucial for poverty reduction, the Andhra

Pradesh experience in 1990s with regard to non-farm employment is declining and

the trend growth rate of real wages are declining for male and female, which in turn

effect the livelihood of the households. Our analysis clearly shows that at aggregate

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level there is a decline in employment growth rate and increase in unemployment

rate in the State. Now we will look in to the trends at regional level within the State,

because employment rates vary from region to region.

6.4 Regional dimensions of employment

Work participation rates at regional level are available from the population

census data. Across regions North Telangana has the highest participation rate of

45.7 percent followed by Rayalaseema and South coastal Andhra (Table-6.9).

Table-6.9: Work participation rates among regions in Andhra Pradesh

Region Rural Urban Combined

1971 1981 1991 1971 1981 1991 1971 1981 1991 NCA 44.0 44.3 46.5 29.8 28.4 29.7 41.6 40.8 41.7 SCA 41.7 41.7 45.5 31.6 31.9 32.3 39.7 41.4 42.0 RAY 43.4 43.4 46.8 31.8 31.0 31.0 41.5 42.6 43.1 STE 47.1 47.1 49.1 29.1 28.4 27.6 42.0 40.9 41.2 NTE 45.5 45.5 49.8 31.3 30.5 29.7 43.6 44.8 45.7

Source: Population census, Government of India Note: Data on 2001 census was not available at the time of analysis.

North Coastal Andhra (NCA) and South Telangana (STE) exhibit low

participation rates. In all the regions rural work participation rates are higher than

the urban. The urban work participation rate remained constant around 30 percent,

rural work participation rates increased from 41.7 percent in 1971 to 49.8 percent in

1991 among the regions. While urban participation rate is highest in the highly

developed south coastal Andhra, rural participation rate is the lowest in this region.

On the other hand Telangana regions have very high participation rates of more than

49 percent in rural areas, while the corresponding rates in the urban areas are low.

Among the regions, North Telangana has high participation rate among

females (15.6) in the secondary sector, while the female participation rates in the

other four regions are below 7.5 percent. Rayalaseema region has the highest female

participation in the primary sector during 1971 and 1991. The occupational structure

of females remained more or less the same. On the other hand, occupational

structure of males has undergone significant shifts (Table-6.10).

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Table-6.10: Sectoral distribution of workers among the regions (Percentage of total workers)

Region Primary sector Secondary sector Tertiary sector

Male Female Male Female Male Female

1971 1991 1971 1991 1971 1991 1971 1991 1971 1991 1971 1991 NCA 72.7 62.2 86.5 83.7 9.5 11.9 4.5 5.6 17.8 26.0 8.9 SCA 66.7 65.3 73.4 84.7 12.0 10.9 7.8 5.2 19.1 23.8 10.7 RAY 73.5 68.1 89.0 87.3 11.0 11.0 5.5 5.4 15.5 20.9 6.6 STE 62.7 55.6 82.7 83.1 14.4 15.4 7.5 7.6 22.8 29.0 9.8 NTE 70.6 66.1 81.1 78.9 15.2 15.3 11.8 15.6 14.1 18.4 7.1 Source: Population census, Government of India. Note: Data on 2001 census was not available at the time of analysis.

Male workers seem to be shifting away from primary sector to tertiary sector. The

shift in South Coastal Andhra is lower and highest in North Coastal Andhra and South

Telangana. The share of male workers in primary sector in North Coastal Andhra

declined from 72.6 percent to 62.2 percent and the share of tertiary sector increased

from 17.8 percent to 26.0 percent. Because of the high growth rate of female

workers and their absorption in agricultural sector, the share of non-farm activity in

total workers has not increased, though the occupational structure of males changed

significantly. While the share of non-farm workers in total male workers increased

from 31.1 percent to 34.7 in South Coastal Andhra (Table-6.11).

Table-6.11: Percentage of non-farm workers in total workers

Regions 1971 1981 1991

10,7 10.1 7.2 9.3 '5.5

Male Female Persons Male Female Persons Male Female Persons

NCA 27.3 13.5 15.7 33.6 16.4 17.9 37.9 16.3 SCA 31.1 18.5 18.2 33.2 16.4 17.1 34.7 15.3 RAY 26.5 12.1 14.3 29.4 12.6 14.4 31.9 12.6 STE 37.3 17.2 16.8 40.5 17.4 15.2 44.4 16.9 NTE 29.4 18.9 20.2 30.0 19.4 18.6 33.6 21.1

Source: Population census, Government of India.

One interesting observation from the table-6.11 is that percentage of male non-farm

workers increased in all the regions where as female non-farm workers declined in all

the regions except in North Telangana region during 1991 and in Rayalaseema it

remains to be same during 1981 and 1991. This result indicates that there is a shift

from agriculture to other allied activities like livestock, fishing etc., in this region. The

type of non-farm activities that have been growing in the state are either allied to

agriculture or related to tertiary sector rather than manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing employment in total workforce is highest in North Telangana region at

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16.9 17.0 14.7 15.8 20.2

19 percent followed by South Telangana at 10 percent. The agriculturally prosperous

South Coastal Andhra has a very low share of manufacturing employment to total

workforce.

6.5 Changes in Wages

Growth in labour force does not necessarily mean the growth in the quality of

employment or increased wage income per household. Income or wages is one such

variable that reflects quality of employment. Many persons are employed but if they

get low wage rates and consequently income, this would result in forming a gap

between unemployment and poverty. Changes in the real wages also serve as an

indicator of changes in food security at the household level. It is quite clear that

higher the real wages higher the economic access to food.

Growth rates in real wages were low during 1990s for both men and women.

The growth rate for males declined from 5.74 percent in the 1980s to 1.53 percent in

the 1990s. Similarly for women, the rate of growth in real wages declined from 4.76

percent in the 1980s to 1.94 percent in the 1990s (Table-6.12).

Table-6.12: Nominal and real wages of field labour in Agriculture.

Year Nominal wages Real wages (1980-1981=100J

Males Females Males Females

1981 5.9 4,4 5.9 4,4 1983 8.0 6.0 6.6 4.9 1985 10,4 7.7 7.8 5.8 1987 12.0 8.9 8.4 6.2 1989 14.6 10.6 8.1 5.9 1991 19.6 14.2 9.0 6.5 1993 25.1 17.8 9.0 6.4 1995 31.1 22.2 9.3 6.6 1997 37.9 28.5 9.7 7.3 1999 43.5 32.2 9.8 7.2

Growth rates (%) 1981-90 11.64 I 9.84 5.74 4.76 1990-99 10.70 I 10.23 1.53 1.94

Source: Mahendra Dev (2003).

The declining real wage growth rates have a direct impact on food security as well as

poverty at the household. During nineties, growth rates in real wages of females

were slightly higher than the male wage rate. Datt and Ravallion (1998) found a

strong interlink age between real wage rates and rural poverty (as it was obvious).

Across regions we noted that Rayalaseema, North Coastal Andhra and Telangana

could be termed as low wage pockets. And within coastal Andhra, Prakasam district

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is a low wage district. Whereas, all districts from Rayalaseema record low wage

rates. Within Rayalaseema region, Kurnool and Chittoor show lower wage rates than

Cuddapah and Ananthapur. Ranga Reddy district among Telangana region records

the lowest wage rate. Two observations clearly emerge from the above discussion.

First, employment growth rates in nineties are lower than those during eighties.

Second is decline in real wages for both males and females. Which invariably effect

the purchasing power of the households.

6.6 Incidence of poverty

The official poverty ratios, based on the expert group methodology, show very

low levels of rural poverty (Table-6.13) and high levels of urban poverty for Andhra

Pradesh for 1999-2000. Thus the official estimates of poverty ratio in urban areas of

Andhra Pradesh are more than double than those of rural areas. This is quite

contrary given rural-urban differences in per capita income and wages.

Table-6.13: Estimates of poverty in Andhra Pradesh

Sector 1973-74 1977-78 1983-84 1987-88 1993-94 1999-2000

Rural Expert group 48.41 38.11 26.53 20.92 15.92 11.05 (1993) Datt (1997) 56.84 47.84 37.99 34.02 28.93 Deaton and -- -- -- 35.0 29.2 26.2 Dreze (2002) Datt et al -- -- -- -- 28.9 23.8 (2002) Urban Expert group 52.56 46.46 40.13 44.63 41.51 26.63 (1993) Datt (1997) 51.02 43.53 35.63 39.98 30.82 --Deaton and -- -- -- 23.4 17.8 10.8 Dreze (2002) Combined Expert group 49.25 39.96 29.88 27.2 23.08 15.77 (1993) & Planning Commission (2002) Source: Reddy (2003).

Alternative estimates by Deaton and Dreze show that the poverty ratios for

rural Andhra Pradesh were 26 percent and 10.8 percent for rural and urban areas.

The very low level of official rural poverty ratios in Andhra Pradesh were due to its

base-year poverty line in 1973-74 being the lowest among the major states in India.

165

This in turn was due to low level of consumer price index for agricultural labour for

Andhra Pradesh. The estimates of Deaton and Dreze (2002) have constructed

poverty line on the basis of the consumer prices computed from the national sample

survey data. Official estimates of poverty in Andhra Pradesh gives a different picture.

A micro-level study on poverty profile for Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts

conducted by the council for social development, Southern Regional office at

Hyderabad, covered 1,442 households in these two districts. It divided the poverty

households in to three categories: (a) lowest with income up to Rs.3000 per annum

and between Rs.3000 and Rs.SOOO per annum (b) middle-level with income of

Rs.S001 to Rs.7000 per annum and (c) higher level with income of Rs.7001 to

Rs.10000 per annum. The average annual requirement of foodgrains per household

should be 11.8 quintals. The average availability of foodgrains per household was

found to be 7.7 quintals. In the lower groups the average availability was 6 qUintals,

which meant that at the lower income group households were suffering from acute

hunger verging on starvation. Since the availability of foodgrains was not even

throughout the year, there were periods of severe starvation. Forty-seven percent

households did not posses any land. Around 27 percent had land less than an acre,

and most of the land is uncultivable with no source of irrigation. Thus 74 percent of

poor households did not have any land or had land but not cultivable. Survey

brought out an interesting fact that over 80 percent of landless household~. did not

receive any help from the government. The poverty studies in India were based on

nutritional adequacy, but what nutritional adequacy really means is a debatable

issue. There is a range of dietary intake that may be considered adequate among

adults depending on activity levels, climate, etc Sukhatme (1980). A question often

crops up can the nutritional adequacy method assure consistency in terms of real

expenditure? Because the relationship between food intake and income will shift

according to differences in tastes, activity levels, relative prices. These results call for

a close calculating poverty in India.

District wise incidence of rural poverty was highest in North Coastal Andhra

and the lowest in South Coastal Andhra during 1977-78 (Reddy, 1991) (Table-6.14).

Rayalaseema and Telangana recorded similar levels of poverty. All regions

show a decline in poverty, but the decrease is the lower in Rayalaseema and the

highest in South Coastal Andhra in 1987-88, the incidence of poverty was highest in

drought prone Rayalaseema during the drought year 1987-88.

166

Table-6.14: Regional distribution of incidence of rural poverty.

Region 1977-78 1987-88 Percentage Decline

North Coastal 73.81 48.73 -33.69 Andhra South Coastal 53.83 32.89 -38.86 Andhra Rayalaseema 67.59 49.37 -26.66 Telangana 66.88 44.65 -33.24

Source: Reddy (1991).

Among the districts North Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema districts show

higher level of rural poverty compared to other regions.

Table-6.15: Percentage of persons below poverty line among the three regions

Region Rural Urban

1993-94 1999- 0/0 1993-94 1999- 0/0

2000 Change 2000 Change

Coastal Andhra 17.08 7.06 -10.02 43.46 28.05 -15.41

Telangana 13.92 9.24 -4.68 30.60 22.39 -8.21

Rayalaseema 17.01 21.20 4.19 43.77 37.61 -6.16 :th Source. Computed from NSS 50 and 55 rounds household consumer expenditure

data.

There exits no Significant variation in the incidence of poverty in rural areas

between the three regions in 1993-94, but in 1999-2000 the estimated incidence of

poverty in Rayalaseema region is about more than two times to those in Telangana

and three times to those in Coastal Andhra region (Table-6.15). The increase in

poverty levels in rural areas of Rayalaseema region could be due to consistent

drought conditions. Urban poverty declined in all three regions, however, it is noticed

that the poverty levels in urban areas are uniformly higher compared to those in

rural areas. Poverty declined at faster rate during 1980s compared to 1990s.

Among the social groups Schedule Tribes and Schedule castes are more

vulnerable to poverty and the incidence of poverty in these groups of households is

more than twice the incidence among other caste groups during 1993-94 and 1999-

2000 (Table-6.16)

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Table-6.16: Poverty among social and occupational groups

(PercentaJle) Social Group Rural Urban

1993-94 1999-2000 1993-94 1999-2000

ST 26.87 24.45 45.61 47.12 SC 25.99 19.81 45.88 43.49 Others 11.89 7.8 38.10 25.66 Occupational Group Agricultural labour 22.79 15.12 NA NA Non-agricultural 19.21 10.30 67.61 57.41 labour/casual labour Self-employed in non- 11.19 7.10 24.10 14.51 agriculture Others 12.65 6.51 38.68 17.89 Source: Computed from NSSO.

Real wages act as a proxy for poverty. Real wage rates increased substantially during

1980s in Andhra Pradesh at 4.62 per cent per annum for males and 3.89 for females.

In the 1990s, there was a declining trend in the real wage rates at a growth rate of

1. 76 percent per annum for males and 2.34 percent. The slow growth in real wages

indicates that the decline in poverty is also slow during nineties. Which in turn affect

the food security at the household level.

6.7 Poverty alleviation programmes

Public intervention for poverty alleviation include programmes such as (i)

access to land (ii) asset development and access to institutional credit (iii)

employment and minimum wages (iv) basic needs covering food through PDS (v)

SOCial security. These programmes are expected to support the income of the poor to

equip them with adequate purchasing power required for food security.

6.7.1 Access to land

Poverty alleviation programmes have been designed from time to time to

enlarge income-earning opportunities for the poor. During 1950's and 60's access to

land through land reforms is the first public intervention, for poverty alleviation.

Some of the important land legislations enforced in Andhra Pradesh are

briefly mentioned here:

(i). Andhra Pradesh (Andhra area) Estate's land (reduction of rent) act, 1947

- the major objective of this act was to provide for reduction of rents payable by

ryots in estates approximately to the level of assessment levied on lands in ryotwari

area in the neighbourhood.

168 .

(ii). The Madras Estates (abolition and conversion in to Ryotwari) Act, 1948 -

it provided for the repeal of the permanent settlement. The acquisition of the rights

of land-holders in permanently settled and certain other estates in the province of

Andhra and the introduction of ryotwari settlement in such estates. 'Estate' means a

Jamindari, or under-tenure or an Inam Estate. This Act extends to the whole of the

state of Andhra.

(iii). The Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Tenancy and Agricultural Lands

Act, 1950. The major objectives of this Act are (1). To regulate the relations of land

lords and tenants of agricultural lands (2) to regulate alienations of land (3) to

prevent excessive sub-division of agricultural holdings (4) to provide for the

legislation of co-operative farm and (5) to empower government to assume in certain

circumstances management of agricultural lands.

(iv). Andhra Inams (abolition and Conversion in to Ryotwari) Act, 1956 to

abolish and convert certain inam lands in to Ryotwari lands. It extends to the whole

of the state of Andhra but applies only to inam lands.

(v). Andhra Tenancy Act of 1956 provides for the payment of fair rent by

cultivating tenants and for fixing the minimum period of agricultural leases in the

state.

(vi). The Andhra Pradesh ceiling on agricultural holdings Act, 1961 provides

for the imposition of ceiling on agricultural holdings ranges from 27 acres to 324

acres depending upon the class of land.

(vii). The Andhra Pradesh Land reforms (ceiling on Agricultural holdings) Act,

1972 which provides for a ceiling area of one standard holding ranging from 4.05

hectares (10 hectares) to 10.93 hectares (about 27 acres) in the case of wet land

and from 14.16 hectares (35 acres) to 21.85 hectares (54 acres) in the case of day

land (Nancharaiah, 1985).

Abolition of intermediaries did not change the ownership structure of land

holdings directly. But, it had two indirect effects: (i). Growth through its percolation

effect on poverty (ii). It freed rural labour from the grip of the zamindar and his

control over common property resources (Parthasarathy, 1995). Under the land

ceiling legislation, only 3.03 percent of the total area owned was declared surplus. Of

this less than one-half was redistributed. The surplus distributed formed only 1.43

percent of the total owned area. Beneficiaries formed only 7.61 percent of the total

owners of below one hectare including, the landless. The total lack of r~ords of

169

rights of tenants and overall insecure tenancies rendered Tenancy legislation

ineffective.

A study conducted recently in Nalgonda district to assess the impact of

distribution of surplus land reveals that the land distributed per household for

agriculture, mining and free putta categories is 1.83 acres, 2.82 acres and 3.00 acres

respectively. Twenty-five percent of the beneficiaries have sold the agricultural land

to clear debts and to due to their inability to cultivate the land because of lack of

finance, and lack of access to inputs. Bu the indirect impact of land reforms

contributed to a shift from rentier to entrepreneurial agriculture, to growth and there

by to a reduction in poverty through percolation effects in the deltas of Coastal

Andhra (Parthasarathy, 1995).

Banjar land constitutes an important component of the land reforms

programme in Andhra Pradesh. By the end of 1992, about 37.29 lakh acres have

been assigned to the landless poor, careering to about 19.13 lakh beneficiaries, of

this, 11.24 lakh acres were allotted to members of Scheduled Castes and 6.06 lakh

acres to Scheduled Tribes (Sankaran, 1996).

The grains from tenancy legislation were considerable for the tenants in the

Telangana area, though the impact was very little in the Andhra area. Recent trends

in the districts of Andhra Pradesh suggest a rise in tenancy due to a number of

factors such as: (i) shift of large and middle class owners in to more lucrative non­

agricultural occupations, along with a shift from rural to urban locations, (ii). Entry of

the entrepreneurial agriculturist class in to trading ventures in rural areas and partial

leasing out by resident land owners (iii). Growing shortage of labour especially

during peak seasons, resulting in increased leasing out by large land owners

(Parthasarathy, 1995). Depriving Tribals of their land, which in turn may have

resulted in the growing Naxalite movement, Tribal deprivation took two major forms:

(i). Alienation of land and (ii). Declining access to forests, a source of tribal livelihood

(Reddy, 1988).

Due to demographic pressures, the number and share of marginal and small

farmers have been increasing. The distribution of land holdings show that the share

of marginal farmers and small farmers in area and number of holdings increased

significantly over time (Table-6.17).

170

Table-6.17: Distribution af land holdings in Andhra Pradesh

Size No. of huldings (million) i Area (million hectares) I Average size '-----1--------------------'------- " --yo

I I of holding (hectares)

! 1970- -198S--T 1990- 1995- I 1970- 1985- 1990-1 1995- 1985-86 1990

71 86 I 91 96 71 86 91 96

~l!!nal 2.46 I 'o46-r 5.20 6.30 1.09 2.05 2.36 2.90 0.46 0.45

Small 1.06 1.71 1.~7 r-2.26 \ 1.53 2.45 2.82 3.23 1.43 1.43

Semi-~r--

1.40 I 2.61 3.39 3.63 3.74 2.70 2.71 1.06 1.25 1.34

medium I_~tedium 0.94 0.65 0.64 'O:S6"i 4.79 3.86 3.77 3.23 5.88 5.86

Large 0.25 0.14 0.11 0.08 3.57 2.39 1.84 1.27 16.4 15.6

Total 5.42 \

8.23 9.28 10.60 13.59 14.15 14.4 14.37 1.72 1.56 I ---'----

Source: Statistical Abstract, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Note: Marginal (below 1 !lect), Small (1.0 to 2.0 hect), Semi-medium (2.0 to 4.0 hect), Medium (4.0 to 10.0 heet), Large (above 10.0 hect)

Around 81 percent of the land holdings belong to marginal and small farmers

with area share of 42.7 percent during 1995-96. Most of the small and marginal

farmers (80 percent) in the state are underemployed. The size of land holding of

these farmers is uneconomical and majority of them work as agricultural la~Qurers to

sustain their livelihood. In Andhra Pradesh the share of agricultural labour is

increasing and that of cultivators is declining. Among the districts the land holding

size was higher in backward regions compared to developed regions. Percentages of

small and marginal holdings were higher in Telangana area while percentage of area

under small and marginal holdings was higher in the developed districts. There is a

move towards smaller holdings because of the demographic pressure leading to land

fragmentation. Which is compounded by the limited occupational diversification.

6.7.2 Asset Development

Public intervention to enable the rural poor to cross the poverty line through

development of assets and skills was started through the Fifth plan period and has

assumed importance since 1980.

(i). Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)

In Andhra Pradesh around 2.5 million rural families or 60 percent of the rural

poor were covered under IRDP between 1980 and 1990. This programme is funded

on 50:50 basis by central and state governments mainly oriented towards the

alleviation of poor families i.e., families below poverty line of Rs.ll, 000 per annum

by providing productive assets and inputs through a package of assistance consisting

subsidy and institutional finance to the small and marginal farmers, Agricultural

171

labourers, non agricultural labourers and rural artisans. The percentage of

beneficiaries under IRDP has been declining since 1992 in the state. Most of the

households covered under the programme are non-poor. The average net income

from IRDP asset is Rs.1898 per annum and is equivalent to less than two months of

prevailing wage earnings for the male agricultural field labour in the state (Sudhakar

Reddy, 2003). A rupee of investment in IRDP assets yielded an income of Rs.0.55.

there has been a reduction in the proportion of the very poor from 3 percent to 16

percent among the beneficiaries.

Studies on regional variation revealed that the more developed regions and

those families near the poverty line showed a better performance when compared to

others (Subba Rao, 1985). The entry of non-poor in to the programme is around 26

percent across the selected districts viz, Ananthapur, Nalgonda and Vizianagaram.

The expenditure incurred in obtaining the assets under the programme accounted for

7 percent of the subsidy provided to the poor. The average net income from IRDP

assets is Rs.1273 per annum. While 77 percent of the beneficiaries retained the

assets. The employment gain to the beneficiary households came to around 120

man-days in the selected districts. The income gains are more pronounced in the

developed districts and among the relatively better of among the poor.

(ii). Employment Focused Programmes:

The rural employment programmes such as the National Rural Employment

Programme (NREP), the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP),

the Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana (JGSY) and Employment Assurance Scheme

(EAS) have resulted in the creation of community assets as well as assets for the

poorer sections besides providing wage employment to them. The benefits derived

by the poor from the wage employment programmes are higher than those derived

from the self-employment programmes. However, these programmes have not

contributed to a rise in wages (Galab, 1997). The JRY programme covered 15

percent of the unemployed. However the programme needed improvements in four

vital components.

(iii). Development of women and children in rural areas:

This scheme was started as one of the sub-schemes if IRDP. It was initiated

in 1982-83 with an objective of focusing attention on women members of rural

families below the poverty line with a view to provide opportunities for self

employment on sustained basis. This distinguishing feature of the scheme is a group

strategy as against family as a unit under other poverty alleviation programmes. The

172

women members of DWCRA form groups of 10 to 15 women taken up economic

activities suited to their skills, aptitude and the local conditions. The programme has

benefited the members of the groups in terms of diversifying their activities away

from their traditional economic activities and increasing their income levels which

ultimately resulted in increased intake of nutritious food (Kanchanya, 1998). On the

other hand, there are some DWCRA groups in the drought-prone and the backward

district like Ananthapur which are not undertaking any economic activity either

individually or collectively but utilizing the financial assistance as an interest free loan

among themselves (Galab,1997).

Regional level study conducted in three districts of Andhra Pradesh viz,

Adilabad, Kurnool and Visakhapatnam show that DWCRA groups are homogeneous

and cohesive, 22 percent belong to SCs, 11 percent to STs, 67 percent to BCs and

the remaining 4 percent to others. The average age of members is 35. For 60

percent of the groups, saving is the main purpose of group formation. There is high

regularity in saving (Dev and Rao, 2002) arrangements for maintaining the group

activity and the support mechanism provided by the programme implementation

authority are the determinants of the success of the programme.

(iv). Self Help Groups:

Providing the poor with access to financial services will help to increase their

incomes and access to food. Credit is provided by using different mechanisms such

as group based lending to the poor and other clients including women, who lack

access to formal financial institutions. Andhra Pradesh has 60 percent of the

country's self help groups. 40.3 lakh SHGs comprising 54.23 lakh members are

functioning during 2000-2001. The groups are characterized by regular savings of

the members and total savings in all the SHGs is Rs.553.99 crores. There is a corpus

fund of Rs.1043.00 crores with these SHGs (Economic Survey GOAP, 2001-2002).

Dependency on moneylenders and landlords seems to be declining and particularly,

there is a gradual shift from consumption loans to productive loans. Future, security

is becoming a more important purpose for the women to be active within the group.

(v). Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana:

This is a centrally sponsored scheme funded by the government of India and

the state government in the ratio of 75:25. All the existing schemes up to 1998-99

namely IRDP, TRYSEM, TOOLKITS, DWCRA, GKY and MWS have been merged in the

new scheme called Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana since 01.04.1999. The

objective of the SGSY is to bring poor families above the poverty line by providing

173

them income-generating assets through a mix of bank credit and government

subsidy. The key elements in these programmes are the choice of activity based on

local resources and aptitude as well as the skills of Swarozgaries.

(vi). Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP / DDP):

This is a centrally sponsored scheme funded by central and station 75:25

basis aimed at developing the drought prone area with an objective of drought

proofing by taking up of soil land moisture conservation, Water harvesting structures,

a forestation and Horticulture programmes on a comprehensive micro watershed

basis. Watershed approaches have come to be the primary strategy under these

programmes. In Andhra Pradesh over the years the utilization of resources had seen

a steady decline indicating that the delivery mechanism did not get strengthened in

correspondence with the increase in resource flow.

Area development on watershed basis is also an important programme for

employment generation and poverty reduction. The government of Andhra Pradesh

has recently embarked on a programme in five districts with the financial support

from Department for International Development (DFID). This programme aims to

address some of the shortcomings of the existing watershed programmes and to

provide support for strengthening particularly processes and providing sustained

capacity building for the community-based organizations involved in w.atershed

management.

(vii). Integrated Waste Land Development (IWDP):

Rapid depletion of green cover and vast stretches of marginal lands lying

fallow, found to be causing enormous ecological imbalance. Productivity is also

negligent on account of soil erosion and marginalisation of lands. To arrest this,

massive integrated wasteland development project was undertaken during 1991.

This project i!5 implemented in 17 districts with 38 projects covering an area of

362985 hectares with an outlay of Rs.17784.28 lakh.

(viii). Joint Forest Management (JFM):

At present JFM is implemented in a total of 6575 villages covering an area of

16.32 lakh hectares. About 5.28 lakh hectares of degraded forests have been treated

through JFM. Around 13 lakh people, including 6 lakh women are participating in the

activity for bringing back greenery to the forests. Widespread implementation of JFM

is leading to an increased flow of minor forest products to communities and an

174

increase in environmental benefits resulting from improved forest condition

particularly with respect to soil and water regimes.

6.7.3 Nutrition Programmes

The government has introduced several programmes to improve the access

to food (Table-6.18). We have already disused about the PDS in earlier chapter.

Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Annapurna schemes are the programmes associated

with PDS.

Antyodaya Anna Yojana (MY) was launched on 25th December 2000 to provide food

security to the poorest of the poor. It is estimated that 5 percent of our population

(i.e. 5 crore persons or 1 crore families are unable to get two square meals a day on

sustained basis through out the year). Their purchasing power is so low that they are

not in a position to buy ration from PDS even at BPL rates. MY is intended to ensure

food security to such families. Under MY scheme, the Central Government issues

wheat at Rs.2/- per Kg. And rice at Rs.3/- per Kg. In view of the adjunct poverty of

the target group, the State Governments as per to the suggestion of Central

Government have maintained the end retail price at the rates supplied by the Central

Government. Initially, beneficiary family was entitled 25 Kgs. Of rice per month and

later on, it was enhanced to 35 Kgs.

The success of such Scheme, no doubt, depends on the correct identification of

the beneficiary household. It is estimated that there were 6.52 crore families below

poverty line in the country as on 1-3-2000. These families are being provided ration

at BPL rates. One crore families i.e. (15.33 percent families) constitute the target

group for MY. Based on state-level poverty estimates, the number of beneficiaries of

MY at State level was derived. In Andhra Pradesh 6,22,800, MY families were

identified. The scheme in Andhra Pradesh was implemented from February 2001.

The white cards of identified beneficiaries were to be replaced by blue cards.

Initially, there was an apprehension among MY beneficiaries that only rice will be

supplied to blue cardholders and therefore were reluctant to surrender their white

cards. In order to ensure that there is no diversion of supplies meant for MY

beneficiaries to open market there is a need to issue rice coupons to blue

cardholders too.

175

Table-6.18: Programmes to improve accessibility and adequacy of food and nutrition. Programme I Scheme Food Made Availability Programme

Interventions A. Targeted Public Distribution BPL/APL: 25Kg rice and wheat/ Price subsidies on rice, wheat, System family/ month sugar, edible oils. A higher price

1. Antyodaya Anna Yojna 25 Kg of rice and wheat per subsidy on rice and wheat than family classified as poorest of BPL rates.

2. Anupama Scheme the poor Free grain to indigent senior 10 Kg/ month! indigent senior citizens citizen

B. Food for work Employment in lean agricultural 1. Jawahar Gram 1 Kg of rice or wheat/ workday season for rural workers below

Samriddhi Yojana poverty line. 2. Employment Assurance 1 Kg of rice or wheat/workday 100 days employment during

Scheme lean agricultural season up to 2 members/family

3. Swarnjayanti Gram Up to 5 kg grains per person per Employment at minimum wage, Swarozgar Yojana day partly paid in kind

4. Food-for-Work Food grains up to 5 kg per man- Employment in natural calamity day areas

C. Mid-day Meals Scheme 3 Kg rice or wheat/child/month Cooked meal or distribution of for 10 mos. Or cooked meal foodgrains to primary schools (100 gm/day) for 200 days

D. Nutrition Schemes with food o to 6 years: 300 calories (ready Supplementary feeding, growth Supplementation to eat food) + 8-10 gm protein monitoring and promotion,

for 300 days nutrition and health education to adult women and adolescent

1. Integrated Child Malnourished children: girls, pre-school education to 3-6 Development Services 600 calories + 20 gm protein for years old, immunization,health Scheme / Tamilnadu 300 days check-ups and referrals, income Integrated Nutrition Adolescent girls: 500 calories + generating programs. Program 20-25 gm protein for 300 days

Pregnant & nursing mothers: 500 calories + 20-25 gm protein for 300 days.

2. Pradhan Mantri 300 calories and 8-10 gms of Supplementary feeding Gramodaya Yojana protein for Grade I & II children,

double the amount for Grade III and N children.

3. Balwadi Nutrition 300 calories + 12-15 gm protein Supplementary feeding to Program for 270 days children 3-5 years, promote

child's social and emotional development.

4. Day Care Centers 300 calories + 12-15 gm protein Day care services to children for 270 days below 5 years to low income

families, supplementary nutrition, health care, medical check up and immuni~~ti9n.

Source: World Bank (2001).

176

Table-6.19: District-wise Distribution of Beneficiaries of Antyodaya Anna

Yojana in Andhra Pradesh

District Number of families Srikakulam 21298 Viziana~aram 20824 Visakhapatnam 29292 East Godavari 30941 West Godavari 27246 Krishna 28015 Guntur 30941 Prakasam 28194 Nellore 23468 Kurnool 27088 Anantapur 26099 Cudda~ah 20687 Chittoor 28963 Rangareddy 29979 Nizamabad 22589 Medak 27308 Mahaboobnagar 32005 Nalgonda 30453 Warangal 32006 Khammam 30178 Karimnagar 29856 Adilabad 32005 Hyderabad 13365 Total 622800

Source: Indrakant (2003)

Consequent to the introduction of MY, there are some changes in the cost of PDS

rice to the State Government and sales realisation from it. Earlier, the Government

was purchasing 21.6 lakhs tonnes to distribute to 113 lakh white cardholders. The

rice for 40.628 lakh families was purchased at half the central issue price. After the

introduction of MY, the rice for 6.228 lakh families was made available at much

lower rate and the State Government had no additional burden. The quantity

distributed in 2001-02 is estimated to be 20.8 lakh tonnes. Out of this, a quantity of

1.87 lakh tonnes are estimated to have been distributed to 6.228 lakh MY families

at the rate of 25 Kgs per month per family. Out of remaining 18.93 lakh tonnes, it is

assumed that 1.84 lakhs tonnes is distributed to social welfare hostels. Thus, the

quantity distributed to the white cardholders is estimated to be 17.09 lakh tonnes.

After the introduction of MY, only 34.40 lakh BPL families are eligible to get rice at

half the central price at 20 Kg per family as remaining 6.228 lakh BPL families are

covered under MY scheme. Thus, the State Government could purchase 8.256 lakh

177

tonnes at half the central issue price i.e. at Rs.5650 per tonne. The remaining

quantity of rice required for white cardholders i.e. 8.834 lakh tonne (17.09 - 8.2.56)

had to be purchased at full economic cost of FC! (Rs. 950 per qUintal). The total cost

of rice for MY cardholders, BPL families and non-BPL white cardholders is estimated

to be Rs.13.62 crores. The sales realisation from sale of 1.87 lakh tonnes to MY at

Rs. 3 per Kg and 17.09 lakhs tonnes to white cardholders at Rs. 5.25 per Kg is

estimated to be Rs.953 crores. Thus, the subsidy incurred by the State Government

to distribute 18.96 lakh tonnes through FPS is estimated to be Rs. 409 crores. The

subsidy per tonne works out Rs. 2157.

Annapurna Scheme was started to provide food security to those senior

citizens who, though eligible have remained uncovered under the National Old Age

Pension Scheme. At national level, it was envisaged to cover 20 percent of 68.81

lakh persons (i.e. 13.76 lakh persons) under Annapurna Scheme. In Andhra Pradesh,

the beneficiary target was fixed at 93,200. Under the scheme 10 Kgs. Of foodgrains

per month are being provided free of cost to the beneficiary. However, the supply is

not regular. There are instances, where 2 or 3 months quota is given at one time.

Some beneficiaries find it difficult to carry the ration (20 or 30 Kgs.) from FPS to

their house. The district-wise break-up was mostly on the basis of population (Table-

6.20). As identification of beneficiaries is left to the local authorities and Gram Sabha

with certain guidelines, which include (i) the beneficiary must be above 65 years of

age. (ii). The beneficiary should have little or no regular source of income or financial

assistance from family members. (iii). The beneficiary should not be in receipt of old

age pension or any other pension.

With multiple programmes launched by Central and State Government,

the structure of existing PDS has become very complex. According to the central

Government estimates about 40 lakh families live below poverty line. Among these 6

lakh families belong to poorest of the poor. They have been given blue cards. The

Central Government releases 35 Kgs of rice per month per family at Rs. 3 per Kg. For

the remaining BPL families (34 lakhs) 20 Kgs rice per family at half the central issue

price to these families at Rs. 5.25 per Kg (below the price recommended by the

Central Government) at the rate of 4 Kgs per head subject to a ceiling of 20 Kgs per

family. Besides these 341akh families, the State Government has issued additional 73

lakh white cards.

178

Table- 6.20: District-wise distribution of beneficiaries of Annapurna

scheme in Andhra Pradesh

District Number of families Srikakulam 3101 Vizianagaram 3032 Visakhapatnam 4265 East Godavari 3967 West Godavari 4505 Krishna 4079 Guntur 4505 Prakasam 4105 Nellore 3417 Kurnool 3944 Anantapur 3800 Cuddapah 3810 Chittoor 4217 Rangareddy 4365 Nizamabad 3389 Medak 3976 Mahaboobnagar 4660 Najgonda 4434 Warangal 4660 Khammam 4394 KarimnCigar 4347 Adilabad 4460 Hyderabad 4467 Total 93,200

Source: Economic Survey (2001-2002)

The non-BPL white cardholders get the rice at the same rate as BPL households.

With introduction of coupon scheme, about 8 lakh white cards have gone out of

circulation and thereby reducing subsidy burden of the State Government. With an

introduction of MY beneficiaries have been receiving larger quantities of rice at

~ch lower rate. In addition to these household beneficiaries there are 93,000 senior

citizens in the state receiving 10 Kgs of rice free of cost under Annapurna Anna

Yojana.

Malnutrition among children and women is severe in Andhra Pradesh.

Integrated child development services (rCDS) are one of the main programmes for

providing nutrition. At present rCDS covers 220 blocks in the state. The total

beneficiaries covered in ICDS are: (i). 27 lakh children under 6 years (ii). 7 lakh

adolescent girls and (iii). 6.35 lakh expectant and nursing mothers during 1999-2000.

Overall impact of all these schemes on food security seems to be marginal as most of

the beneficiaries are non-poor households.

179

6.8 Conclusions

Employment security is essential pre-requisite for gaining food security at the

household level. Mere availability of foodgrains will have little relevance, if people do

not possess purchasing power to buy them for their consumption. Employment is

largely unorganised, rural and the incidence of child labour is the highest in the

State. Employment growth rate declined during 1993-94 to 1999-2000 as compared

to 1983-84 to 1993-94. Although State Domestic Product increased during 1990s it

could not increase the employment opportunities during 1990s. The urban work

participation rate remained constant around 30 percent, rural work participation

rates increased from 41.7 percent in 1971 to 49.8 percent in 1991 among the.

regions. While urban participation rate is highest in the highly developed south

coastal Andhra, rural participation rate is the lowest in this region. On the other hand

Telangana regions have very high participation rates of more than 49 percent in rural

areas, while the corresponding rates in the urban areas are low among the regions,

North Telangana has high participation rate among females (15.6) in the secondary

sector, while the female participation rates in the other four regions are below 7.5

percent. Rayalaseema region has the highest female participation in the_primary

sector during 1971 and 1991.Growth rates in real wages were low during 1990s for

both men and women. The growth rate for males declined from 5.74 percent in the

1980s to 1.53 percent in the 1990s. Similarly for women, the rate of growth in real

wages declined from 4.76 percent in the 1980s to 1.94 percent in the 1990s.

The official poverty ratios, based on the expert group methodology, show

very low levels of rural poverty and high levels of urban poverty for Andhra Pradesh

for 1999-2000. But other estimates show different picture. There exits no significant

variation in the incidence of poverty in rural areas between the three regions in

1993-94, but in 1999-2000 the estimated incidence of poverty in Rayalaseema region

is about more than two times to those in Telangana and three times to those in

Coastal Andhra region. Urban poverty declined in all three regions, however, it is

noticed that the poverty levels in urban areas are uniformly higher compared to

those in rural areas. Poverty declined at faster rate during 19805 compared to 19905.

180

With the decline in real wages economic access to food declined which intern effect

the intra-household food distribution (which we will be dealing in the next chapter).

Most of the anti-poverty interventions such as food subsidies and rural public works

are miss targeted as most of the beneficiaries are non-poor households. The

development of human capital through education and health has been neglected in

poverty alleviation programmes.

181