Xavier School of Rural Management

Rural Production and Livelihood Systems

A Detailed Report on Analysis Of Rural Livelihood

Submitted To:

Dr. Shankar Dutta

Submitted By:

Apporva Srivastava (UR18007)

Asif Hussain (UR18009)

Rahul (UR18018)

Vishal Kumar (UR18030)

Pragyan Mohanty (UR18040)

ABSTRACT
The course of rural management is a management plus course. This course provides the knowledge
about management as well as the insights about the rural living and livelihood. India is an
agriculture based country so most of its population resides in the rural areas. These are the areas
which require the utmost attention for the upliftment of the nation. For understanding the
livelihood of rural India, having the knowledge of the ground level is very important. The visit to
the villages, interaction with the families and experiencing the positive transformation in their
attitude after a few visits and many more are what we get in return from the visits. Including such
an experience in the curriculum, gives the students an insight into the rural livelihood. The sense
of mitigating the risks prevailing on the vulnerable builds up inside the students before actually
starting the work on the field. The various lines which they say have great impact on the lives of
the students.

The scope of Study/Objective:

The objectives of the study are understated as follows:

1. To understand the livelihood strategies, livelihood capabilities & livelihood portfolios of

the rural household.
2. Understanding their choices of livelihood.
3. Factors affecting rural livelihood.
4. Understanding the natural, human, cultural, social capital produced capital of the village.
5. Identifying a sustainable rural livelihood.
FAMILY
The bhujabala family is the native of the village Niranjanpur. The house they live in is their
ancestral property. They earn their living with various hardships.

SUNDARI
BHUJABALA

BIMBADHARA
KUNI BHUJABALA
BHUJABALA

SIPUNA ELINA
BHUJABALA BHUJABALA

SUNDARI BHUJABALA
She is the eldest person in the family who is 70 years old. She helps Kuni Bhujabala and Elina
Bhujabala in the the household chores. She is suffering from high blood pressure and the family is
facing financial problem because of this. She has lost her husband a few years back.
BIMBADHARA BHUJABALA
He is the son of Sundari Bhujabala and is the only working member of the family. He is 58 years
old and works in the field as well as in a beer factory. He works on his ancestral field from where
they get their rice for the entire year. He was reluctant to reveal much as he thought that we were
some government officials who would be asking lots of questions, get to know their problems and
then go away without getting anything right.
KUNI BHUJABALA
She is the wife of Bimbadhara Bhujabala, who is 43 years old, who is a very jolly person and was
very eager to help. She is the person who works from the early morning till the end of the day. Her
morning starts from going to the village well to get water. Then she comes home, feeds the cattle
and then prepares the breakfast for the entire family so that her husband can head to the field and
her son to his college.
ELINA BHUJABALA
She is the daughter of Bimbadhara and Kuni. She is 23 years old. Since she could not pass in her
intermediate examination, so she is staying at home and helping out her mother. The family is in
search of a groom for her and will get her married as soon as they find an eligible groom.
SIPUNA BHUJABALA
He is the son of Bimbadhara and Kuni Bhujabala. He is currently pursuing his +3 in Khordha
College. He aspires of becoming a Government employee which is the dream of his mother. He is
the younger of the two children and is 21 years old. Since he belongs to the same generation as us
and understood and spoke Hindi well, so he was talking to us with much enthusiasm. He was very
open to all our questions and was answering with much ease.

CASTE ANALYSIS

The Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ), formerly known as Oriya, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the East
Indian state of Odisha and have the Odia language as their mother tongue. They constitute a
majority in the eastern coastal state of Odisha, with minority populations in Uttar
andhra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat and West Bengal.

The Odias are distinguished by their ethno cultural customs as well as the use of the Odia language.
Odisha's relative isolation and the lack of any discernible outside influence has contributed towards
preserving a social and religious structure that has disappeared from most of North India.

Odisha is one of the most religiously homogeneous states in India. More than 90% of the people
are followers of Hinduism. The practices of the Jaggannath sect are extremely popular in the state
and the annual Rath Yatra in Puri draws pilgrims from across India. Under the Hindu religion,
Odia people are believers of a wide range of sects with roots to historical times. The caste system
in Odisha are ‘The Brahmins’, ‘The Karanas’, ‘The Khandayats’ which are known as the upper
castes and there are other lower castes as well. a
The Bhujabala family belongs to the Khandayat caste. While our interaction with the family, they
said that there were demarcations where the lower caste people stay. They are not allowed to take
water from the save village well from where the upper caste people take their water. They referred
to every person in the village as per their caste. The problem of caste still persists in our society
like when we asked them about the village panchayat sarpanch, they said us that Brahmin is the
sarpanch and then they mentioned his name.

Geography

Bimbadhara Bhujabala and his family stay in Niranjanpur, which is a small Village/hamlet in Jatni
Tehsil in Khordha District of Odisha State, India. The environment of the village is clean and
serene and their house is surrounded by local shops and Dakshin Kali temple. The environment of
the village is clean and serene

The village has sarpanch (Shri Bhagi Rathi Badajena) and the panchayat office is located in Kantia.
The Village also has one pond where nearby people come for bathing and washing purpose which
is shown in the image given below.

It is 3kms away from Xavier University.It is located 16 KM towards South from District
headquarters Khurda, 10 KM from Jatni, 16 KM from State capital Bhubaneswar. Its Pin code is
751007 and the postal head office is V S S Nagar. Nanput (4 KM), Railway Coaching Yard (5
KM), I-bhk, Kalyani Appts. (6 KM), Railway Staff Colony (6 KM), Raja Bazar (6 KM) are the
nearby Villages to Niranjanpur. Niranjanpur is surrounded by Pipili Tehsil towards South, Delanga
Tehsil towards South, Bhubaneswar Tehsil towards North, Balianta Tehsil towards East. Jatani,
Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Cuttack are the nearby Cities to Niranjanpur. This Place is in the border
of the Khordha District and Puri District. Puri District Delanga is South towards this
place.

DAILY ROUTINE:
 The whole family used to follow a Daily Routine like –
  They all wake up at 5 ‘O clock in the morning.
 Then the whole family sits and have breakfast together. When asked Bimbadhara
Bhujabala said that they usually do heavy breakfast consisting of Rice and water maximum
of times.
 Then Bimbadhara, along with his son Sipuna Bhujabala and his wife Kuni Bhujabala, they
all together goes to the farm at 7 – 7:30 AM and work in the fields for approximately 3 - 4
hrs.
 Kuni Bhujabala returns back early to help Sundari Bhujabala in preparing lunch.
 Bimbadhara and Sipuna return back from 11:30 – 12 PM in the afternoon.
 The whole family has lunch together.
 After taking rest for sometimes, Bimbadhara goes to beer factory and works there for
approx. 7 – 8 hrs.
 Bimbadhara returns back at 9 – 9:30 in the night.

Livelihood mapping
Mr. Bimbadhara Bhujibala is the sole earning person in the family of 5 people and has full-time
employment. He possesses 3 bigha of land, in which he cultivates paddy and practices farming on
a seasonal basis. He follows the model of sustenance farming. In his farming at times, he is assisted
by his son Sipuna Bhujibala who goes to the farmland once every week and is more involved when
cultivation has to been done of the sowed seeds. They eat non- vegetarian food 1-2 times a week.
They do not have any automobile for commutation and use public transport for travelling. They
have a colour TV and focused on watching news.

Upon intense interaction with Bimbadhara, we further came to know that it is not enough for him
to take care of the family by only being dependent on the farming. So he works in the beer factory
and earns his primary source of income from the employment in factory itself where he works for
7-8 hours per day. He is a salaried employee at the factory as a lower level worker in the process
of making beer from which he earns Rs. 8500/ month.

The family also possesses livestock assets which includes 2 cows, 4 hens and 1 goat for their
sustenance. Among the biological assets which they have includes Papaya, Guava and Pumpkin
trees in their own home backyard. None of the person in the family has a bank account hence, they
have no certain savings. These things make them insecure for their future vulnerabilities.

Asset Pentagon Analysis

Asset pentagon consists of five capitals, namely Social Capita, Human Capital, Physical Capital,
Financial capital & Natural capital. These capitals along with policies & institution and livelihood
strategies help poor people to combat their risk, shocks & vulnerability. The possible progressive
result of assets analysis & a proper livelihood intervention are
1) Reduction in risks, shocks & vulnerability.
2) Increased Capabilities
3) Enhances Resilience
4) Livelihood Adaptation
Possible shape of Asset Pentagon is shown below for different category of households as
1) Non-Poor Households
2) Poor Households
3) Poorest Households

Figure- 1 – Asset Pentagon for different Households

Asset Pentagon for The Bhujabala family:

The Asset Pentagon for the Bhujabala family is shown above. This asset pentagon of the said
family has been drawn by considering the following parameters.

1) Each axis of capitals has been divided into five parts, where score 1 represents a minimum of
corresponding capital & 5 represents a maximum of it.

2) After careful analysis of each capital, we have assigned the following numeric value to all the
capitals

 Natural Capital – 3 out of 5

 Social Capital- 4 out of 5
 Human Capital – 2 out of 5 Detailed value analysis is done in
 Physical Capital – 1.5 out 5 below Table’s
 Financial Capital – 1 out of 5

The asset pentagon scheme for Bhujabala family is skewed and fall under the category of a poor
household.

Name Social Capital Human Natural Financia Physical

Capital Capital l Capital Capital
Sundari Bhujabala Spends most of her Educational Nil * Has some Nil
time in daily qualification: No of the
household work. education quantity of
Gold,
*Regular
medical
treatment
required,
the
Financial
 burden for
the family

Bimbadhar Not so friendly in Educational Contributes the No Bank Has 2 bicycles

Bhujabala the neighbourhood qualification: Till majority in total Account and has access to
Class 10th household basic facilities
income, Has his like water,
Patriarchal own electricity, T.V
behaviour- Want agricultural
son to get higher land of 1.87
education acres & a
pakka- house

Kuni Bhujabala Believes in Educational Nil Has some Has access to

Casteism qualification: No quantity of basic facilities
education Gold like water,
electricity.
Engage in
household family
feudal activities.

Sipuna Believes in Educational Nil Nil Has access to

Casteism qualification: basic facilities
Bhujabala Pursuing +3 like water,
Education electricity.

Help his family in

rice cultivation

Elina Socially active, Educational Nil - The Has access to

good rapport qualification: Up to family is basic facilities
Bhujabala neighbours 10th, Failed in planning like water,
intermediate exam her electricity.
marriage.
Help her mother in
daily household -The family
work will use
financial
assets &
borrowing
for all the
expenses in
her
marriage
 Overall Bhujabala Family Assets analysis/Performance
Capitals Descriptions Score out of 5

* Avg. social status

* Discrimination against women
Social Capital 4
* Strong links with family & friends
* Traditions of reciprocal exchange

* Poor water supply

Physical Capital 1.5
* Avg. housing
* low wages
Financial Capital * Low access to credit 1
* High on obligations
* labour capacity
Human Capital * Education 2
* limited skills
* land - 3 bigha
Natural Capital * Access to common property 3
resources

Human Capital
Human capital is the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or family,
viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country. In our survey, we were able
to find out that Bimbadhar Bhujabala has relatively low human capital, the entire family is
dependent on labour capacity Bimbadhar Bhujabala & Sipuna Bhujabala. Bhujabala family always
focused on their children’s education. The thing that we need to learn from this family was that
even if he was less educated, his aim was to make his son Sipuna Bhujabala pursue a career in
graduation so that he can get a government job and set for life. An easy life for the Sipuna
Bhujabala. The family lacks the diversification of skills for livelihood purpose. They mostly
involve in labour sort of work. Although his son Sipuna Bhujabala is pursuing +3 education, in
this free time he helps Bimbadhar Bhujabala in agriculture field to effectively complete their job.
The other three members of the family involved in daily household work & occasionally work in
the agriculture field.

Social capital
It’s a network of relationships between people who live and work in a particular society, enabling
that society to work properly. In our survey, we were able to find out that Bimbadhar Bhujabala
family has high social capital both in horizontal & vertical aspects of social capital. They use their
social capital to secure their vulnerability such as in natural calamities like flood, drought, to
counter inflation in the market etc

Physical capital
Physical capital is a tangible asset that is created by humans and somehow used in production. In
our survey, we found out that Bimbadhar Bhujabala house has a 4 room pakka house with
bathroom and toilet were situated at a common place a little distance away. After having a deep
conversation with them, they said that they had an ancestral property in their village. As we had
close look at its household element, we could see television of 2-D quality. They had two cycles
with them. One cycle was used by Bimbadhar Bhujabala and another cycle was used by his son
Sipuna Bhujabala.
They also have tools & small machinery like a pump for carrying out their agriculture activities.

Financial Capital
The Bimbadhar family is quite a week in the financial capital, as their obligation is considerably
on the higher side than their assets. They have low access to credit as their primary source of credit
is the wage which Bimbadhar Bhujabala earns which he gets by working as a labourer in the
factory. The also has some gold stock, whose valuation is not ascertained as they were unwilling
to open up about it. They are also an accumulation of wealth & chalk out the financial planning
for their daughter marriage.

Natural Capital
Natural capital in this context can be defined as the individual stocks of natural assets which
include geology, soil, air, water and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans
derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible.
The Bimbadhar Bhujabala family have 3 Bigha of land & also has access to common property
resources.

Analysis
From the above information, it clearly shows that Bimbadhar Bhujabala is only earning source for
their family. He is the backbone of the family. The total family income is around Rs. 8500. They
are planning to take a loan from money lenders for their daughter marriage. Money taken from the
money lenders can be a risky option which will increase their vulnerability. They are spending a
good amount on their Son’s education which will help in their asset building. They don’t have a
life insurance cover which increases their vulnerability.

Aspirations
Their future aspirations are:
 1. They want their son Sipuna Bhujabala to want to work as a government employee
2. The family wants their daughter to be well settled

3. They also want to secure their vulnerability of low financial capital by choosing the
alternate source of livelihood like owning & operating an auto rickshaw, opening a
vegetable shop nearby etc.

Current Challenges & Future possibilities

The biggest challenge they have is the non-availability of a bank account. Due to which, they are
not able fully to explore their potential & also they are not getting any benefit of direct transfer
scheme subsidy. As a result, they are not liable for crop & individual insurance scheme of
government of Odisha. We have clearly pointed out these prominent challenges to them & now
they are considering to open a bank account at the earliest.