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Executive Summary:

Poverty in India has been an age old saga. United Nations defines poverty as “The

inability of getting choices and opportunities and a violation of human dignity. It means lack of 

 basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe

a family, not having a school or clinic to go to; not having the land on which to grow one’s foodor a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and

exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it

often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or 

sanitation”. 

Poverty can be seen in various dimensions that include income, health, education,

security and empowerment. Right from 1954 central government has been coming in with lot of 

schemes like “Aam aadmi bima yojna” to the currently started Mahatma Gandhi Rural

employment guarantee act. But how far has these schemes reached. This case study is written

 based on the face to face interaction of the rural at Kinathiupatti and a complete analysis of thelivelihood prevailing there.

Introduction: 

Kinathupatti is a village 3 kms away from Dindigul. The village is surrounded by

Sirumalai and Palani hills providing beautiful view to the visitors. The village is known for the 8

Patti festival celebrated every year in the month of with employment and poverty as their major 

issues the village is struggling to feed themselves every day.

Case:

The case is about the livelihood activities of the lady named Vellaiammal from the

village Kinathupatti in Dindigul district. There are 60 families in this village (Kinatru patti).

Right from her birth the lady has been living in the same village. She was married to a person

 belonging to the same village. Hence she has been with the village during both rough and tough

times. They have three daughters and one of the daughters is married and settled in the same

village. The caste rules are very strict; if a girl marries a person belonging to another caste then

her belongings are kept idle from the village. They worship lord karupasamy. They eat rice for 

whole day they have gas connection. Monthly once they eat non veg (1/2 kg).

Livelihood:

They cultivate corns seasonally according to the range of rainfall. They buy the seeds for 

their cultivation at Rs.2000/kg, after cultivation they sell at Rs.1300/kg. All the areas around this

village do the same kind of cultivation, but it is highly rainfall dependent. Lack of rainfall has

 become major issue affecting their cultivation process. They don’t have any other job other than

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dairy. Every year, for 3 days they go to Kaariyappatti for working in a textile company as a daily

wage labor.

Their family is rearing cattle for the past 40 years and this is the primary source of 

income for the family. In 1990’s they had buffalos and the buffalos died due to various seasonal

changes, but now with the help of kalangium they bought two cows at Rs25000/cow and thelady has repaid all her loans. The feed for the cows are provided by kalangium (1 sack per 

month). Recently one kg of cattle feed costs Rs.14 but they use to get that for Rs.7 or Rs.8 and

one kg of thavudu will cost Rs.20. For a month the total food consumption cost will comes

around Rs.1000 to Rs.1500. They have 2 cows and 4 calves and the total cost for a month will

comes around Rs.2000 to Rs.2500.

They inject the sperms of hybrid cows by veterinary doctors and it takes 10 months for a

cow to give birth to a calf and now they have 4 female calves. After maintaining the calves for 

about 3 years the cow is ready for mating. If the cows give birth to a male calf, it will been

 brought up for few months and sold at Rs.1000-Rs.2000 in the market and if it is a female thenthe family continues to do the same rearing process with the calves. The family can earn about

Rs.4000  – Rs.5000 by milk at the first birth of calves and the milk yield varies accordingly by

the breeds, number of mates and ages of cows. The milk yield can be maintained at average level

 by proper feeding and maintenance. Now they take about 7 liters/ day /cow and they give about 8

liters/ day to the kalangium. The rest will be used for retail sale or own use. When the cow gives

 birth to more than 4 calves they’ll sell the cow. The buying cost of the cow is Rs25000 and they

are sold for Rs.5000 to Rs.7000.

Education: The family is an illiterate except for their second daughter who has completed her 

studies till 12th

standard. The village allows girl students to study whereas the boys are sent to dowork.

Spending pattern of the family:

Their family spends around 3000rs monthly (for their consumption alone). They spend

high amounts of money for festivals and functions. They present gold ring, chain and various

other house hold items. Earlier, bride came empty handed but nowadays it has become a custom

of bringing household items after marriage. The demand has gone up currently.

Methodology:

The case study is written by staying in the village and completely having the detailed study of 

the livelihood and interacting with the farmers.