MAIN FINDINGS

The important findings of the survey conducted at Coonoor centre are given below:

SCOPE OF SURVEY

  1. The survey covered workers engaged in the three organised sectors of employment viz. Registered Factories, Plantations and Railways.
  1. The total number of working class families covered during the survey was 432.

ECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF THE CENTRE

  1. The estimated total number of working class families as defined for the purpose of the survey was 4196.
  1. The estimated total number of employees in these families was 7122.
  1. The average monthly income per employee from paid employment worked out to Rs. 3798.95 at current prices. At constant prices of 1982 however, it was Rs. 889.68 as against Rs. 342.37 in 1981-82 survey.
  1. ‘Growing of crops; market gardening; horticulture’ industry dominated in terms of employment.
  1. About 63 per cent of the total employees were employed on a regular basis, 36.47 per cent were on casual basis and the remaining 0.63 per cent on contractual basis.

FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS

  1. The average size of a working class family worked out to be 4.10 persons of which 1.64 were earners, 0.16 earning dependants and 2.30 non-earning dependants. The average family size consisted of 1.55 men, 1.69 women and 0.86 children.
  1. The modal family size was with four and five members.
  1. The estimated total number of family members was 17.20 thousand, of which, 47.40 per cent were males. Of the total family members, 46.36 per cent were married, 8.20 per cent were widowed, divorced or separated and the remaining 45.44 per cent were unmarried which included 20.87 per cent family members in the age group of below 15 years.
  1. The dependency ratio was 315/1000.
  1. The survey result revealed that in comparison to previous survey there has been distinct decline in the proportion of illiterate and semi-illiterate family members.
  1. Around 17 per cent of the family members (5 years of age and above) were illiterate and around 3 per cent were graduates and above.
  1. Around 45 per cent of the family members (5 years of age and above) were employees and about 48 per cent were not in labour force.
  1. Of all the families, 52.31 per cent of the families had one earner, 35.28 per cent had two earners while the remaining 12.41 per cent had three or more earners.

FAMILY INCOME AND RECEIPTS

  1. The average monthly income per family and per capita worked out to Rs. 6895.74 and Rs. 1685.18 respectively at current prices as compared to Rs. 693.32 and Rs. 139.80 respectively in 1981-82. At constant prices of 1982, however, the average monthly income per family and per capita worked out to Rs. 1436.61 and Rs. 351.08 respectively.
  1. As much as 93.51 per cent of the total average monthly income came from paid employment.
  1. Within the paid employment, basic wages and allowances contributed more than 81 per cent of the total income.

FAMILY EXPENDITURE AND DISBURSEMENTS

  1. The average expenditure per family worked out to Rs. 4826.94 at current prices, of which, Rs. 4056.57 was on consumption expenditure and Rs. 770.37 was on non-consumption expenditure. At constant prices of 1960, however, the average expenditure per family worked out to Rs. 235.46, of which Rs. 197.88 was on consumption expenditure and Rs. 37.58 was on non-consumption expenditure.
  1. Within consumption expenditure, the share of food items was 47.35 per cent.
  1. Around 85 per cent of the families had spent less than 45 per cent of their total expenditure on food.
  1. There was a significant decline in the percentage of families reporting expenditure on pan, supari, tobaccotobacco products,alcoholic beverages and recreation and amusement as compared to 1981-82 survey.
  1. The percentage of families reporting expenditure on furniture and furnishing, medical care, educationreading and transportcommunication during 1999-2000 increased as compared to 1981-82 survey with the maximum jump on furniture and furnishing.

FOOD CONSUMPTION

  1. The average monthly quantity of Cereals and Cereal Products consumed per family worked out to 41.68 Kgs. of which, the major share was accounted for by rice (34.74 Kgs.). The per capita per month consumption of Cereals and Cereal Products was 10.17 Kgs.
  1. The average monthly consumption of milk per family has increased to 18.41 litres from 12.28 litres in 1981-82 survey.

BUDGETARY POSITION

  1. About 84.46 per cent of families recorded average surplus income. The average surplus income over per family expenditure was recorded at Rs. 2068.80.

INDEBTEDNESS

  1. The average amount of outstanding debt per indebted family worked out to be Rs. 16602.42.
  1. The incidence of indebtedness worked out to be 79.31 per cent during 1999-2000 as compared to 75.52 per cent in 1981-82 survey.
  1. Employer was the most preferred source of loan with 78.86 per cent of the families availing loan from it.
  1. Despite a sharp increase in the interest rates charged by money lenders the proportion of families availing loans from them increased to 44.92 per cent from 30.92 per cent in 1981-82 survey

HOUSING

  1. Of all the families, 47.02 per cent had made their own arrangements for accommodation, 51.79 per cent were provided dwellings by the employers and the remaining 1.19 per cent were residing in the dwellings provided by friends and relatives etc.
  1. The percentage of families having access to drinking water within dwelling was about 30 per cent and the remaining 70 per cent of the families had to depend upon the source of water outside the dwelling.
  1. The percentage of families enjoying basic amenities like kitchen, bathroom, latrine and electricity was 92.26 per cent, 72.02 per cent, 69.05 per cent and 96.43 per cent respectively.
  1. About 94 per cent of the families had independent houses; around 4 per cent were using flats as their residence and around one per cent were residing in Chawl bustees.

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1 Coonoor