Causes of Rural Poverty: (A case Study of Sandakpur Rural Municipality-4,Ilam District)

Abstract

Causes of rural poverty(A CaseStudyofSandakpurRural Municipality-4, Ilam District) is representative vision of the reality. Main thrust of thepresent study is to examine the state of poverty of Sandakpur RuralMunicipality-4, Ilam and to find out the causes of poverty in the studyarea. This study is based on fieldwork. The research design was descriptive andexploratory. 50 households was taken as a sample unit for the study.These wards are purposively selected to collect data. This study wasbased on primary as well as secondary data from the prospective of datacollection procedure. On other side, both qualitative and quantitative dataare used. Structured Questionnaire, Key-informant Interview Outline,Direct Observation, Note System are the tools and techniques to gatherdata. As in other rural areas, due to lack of industries and institutes theemployment opportunities are lacking beyond agricultural sector. Inreality a large number of rural people are incapable of meeting basicrequirement like food, cloths, shelter, health, education etc. i.e. ruralpeople have facing poverty problems. Poverty in rural areas is basically caused by low productivity ofagriculture. The limited base and inadequate growth rate of non-agricultural sector in the economy. Similarly the lack of exploitablemineral resources, poor agricultural policy and topographicaldisadvantages are also responsible for its economic backwardness andpoverty. As well as there is low level of per capita income in rural sectorthere is low rate of saving, which turn lead to low rate of investment andcapital formations. In connection with these realities, the reliance of farmers on traditional inputs and prevailing technology can also beassumed as the cause of poverty. development effort of the governmentare also very limited. The private sector is also not properly developed.All these factors are accountable for wide spread of poverty among thepeople living in the Sandakpur . Landless condition and limited access to land are the major factorsresponsible for poverty. There is positive relationship between productiveland holding and income while a negative relationship betweenunproductive land holding and poverty. Poverty is the main obstacle to the economicgrowth of the country. Theproblem of poverty arises due to various reasons such as small size ofland holding lack of market facilities lower literacy rate unemploymentproblem, large family size etc. The objective of this study was to explore overall situation of ruralpoverty of the village based upon the facts examined by scientific toolsand methodologies. Particularly, to identify the state of rural poverty ofSandakpur of Ilam and to suggest some effective measures for reducingpoverty in the study area were two objectives. 72 percentage of thepeople are facing food deprivation. They have land, more or less, givinginsufficient grain production for the twelve months. Neither professionalharvesting of vegetable or livestock nor any employment possibility inalternative sectors is seen. This means it has very less production ofgoods and commodities and almost no sells at all. Some of the poor are landless or those who have their own land in verysmall size are living in very small hut with very large family size so fartheir feeding is concerned they are ill-fed badly suffering from hungerand malnutrition they are frequently ill due badly suffering from hungerand malnutrition. They are frequently ill due to insufficient nutrition as are their clothing is concerned they are badly clothed most of them wearrags and torn clothes in regards to education most of the poor are illiteratein regards to ethnic group most of the poor are occupational caste as theybecome the age of 8 or 9, they have to work for earning The country has enormous potential for raising GDP through maximumutilization of opportunities available in the areas of agro-processingindustry, tourism, hydropower, high-value herbs processing industry,education and health. Mobilization of domestic and foreign investmentsbecomes very much necessary for enhancing the use of availableexclusive natural wealth. Amidst the current uneasy atmosphere to attractinvestments, attention of all concerned needs to be drawn towards thisreality. It is a challenging responsibility of creating interest of allconcerned towards the fact that investments in such industries can makesolid contribution towards reducing unemployment and alleviate poverty. The more number of people are involved in agriculture the less chance tobe any country economically strong. Although every house haseconomically active member and in total 180 people are from theeconomically active age group the condition of economic activity iscritical. Similarly, wage-labour is neither regularly available nor paidwell. In gist, there are very less objects for export purpose in comparisonto the objects to import. This is the root cause of the poverty prevailingaround the Sandakpur . A big question mark has emerged on our skill of overall economicmanagement in a situation where the Nepalese economy entangled in thevortex of economic sluggishness amidst the double-digit price risethereby adversely affecting the purchasing power and living standard ofNepalese people. Hence, there is the necessity of wider reform initiativeson development efforts, investments, and regulatory areas for expanding the economy. The nation is also being made to bear adverse supply shockdue to frequent Bandhs, chakka jams, strikes etc. For this, nationalimperative is making sufficient legal arrangements and ensuring effectiveenforcement of those provisions for completely banningBandhs,strikesespecially against transportation and movements of the people forallowing the country's economy move ahead in a smooth and natural way,and also providing relief to the people's livelihood.