The Nature and Causes of Poverty in Dalit Community A Case Study of Dalit in Pallikot VDC, Gulmi

Abstract

The study is carried out for the analysis of the nature and causes of poverty in Dalit community in Pallikot VDC, Gulmi. This study is limited to ward no. 1, 2 and 3. The main objectives of this study is to find out the nature and causes of poverty in Dalit community and to examine the magnitude of social discrimination against dalit. The qualitative and quantitative data collected from the primary and secondary sources. Mainly this study is based on primary information from 57 respondents of 50 household which was selected purposively. The information has been collected from the respondents with the applications of structural and open ended interview schedule. Numbers and percent are the major statistical measures used for analyzing and interpreting the data. Data has been analyzed on the basis of physical factors such as demographic feature, population structure, age, sex structure and educational structure. The study identified that size of landholding were found to be very low in Dalit. About 99 percent household could not produce sufficient food for the whole years. Traditional occupation is also a major causes of poverty in Dalit people. It shows that their expenditure in education is very low in Dalit. The extent of social and cultural discrimination was huge. Discrimination and derogatory act of untouchability was fairly common in religious places, common water sources and public ceremonies etc. The situation of dalit and non dalit is very different in the same VDC. Non dalit are so far from the absolute poverty but Dalit are absolutely as well as relatively poor in this VDC.