Economic Status of Scheduled Castes in Andhra Pradesh

Scheduled Castes (Dalits) are a diverse group, yet easily identifiable through their name, place of origin and residence, occupation, father's occupation, educational institution, clot/zing and accent. We have examined the economic status of 400 SC households from Visakhapatnam and West Godavari Districts. The own house sample households are high in West Godavari district and in Visakhapatnam district sample households living in rented houses are high. With regard to total sample respondents, 48.25 per cent are agriculture labourers, 43 per cent of them are cultivators and 8.75 per cent are non-agriculture labourers. MajorihJ of the sample households are earning income in the range of Rs. 10001-20000 and the sample households are equal in both districts who are earning in this range. Regarding credit sources of the sample households, DWCRA is the most important source for credit for the sample households in the study area. Institutional credit source which is taken from generally banks are high in West Godavari district for the sample households in the study area.