MEASUREMENT OF THE EXISTING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD OF THE TRIBAL AND NON-TRIBAL FARMERS

Widespread poverty is a stable crisis and poverty alleviation has been a key component in development plan. Poverty is a complex set of problems, and that poverty alleviation can only be accomplished by a portfolio of policies and programs customized to explicit aspects of the problem. It recognizes that poverty alleviation efforts must reflect the best practices in public management, including the specification of concrete goals, the assessment of the strategies and the ability to learn and improve. Formulation of programmes to mitigate poverty essentially requires knowledge of what are now recognised as enormously comp Agriculture and agro-based industries play an important role in the improvement of the rural economy in India. At present, about 70 per cent of Indians depend on agriculture for their livelihood. A large number of tribal community is bereft of stable livelihoods and thus they fall in the category of the vulnerable section of Indian society. Therefore, It is essential to provide the latest information regarding the agricultural modernizations lead to formalization of the sustainable livelihood approach. Sustainable Livelihood security to basic human needs, food security, sustainable agricultural practices and poverty and describes as an integrating concept. A Livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living; a livelihood is sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets. The present study was conducted in Sabarkantha district of North Gujarat region of Gujarat State, as the economy of the districts basically dependent on agriculture and the district ranks first with respect to tribal population amongst the districts of North Gujarat region. It is seen that only 14 villages out of 1.372 were having percentage range of scheduled tribes population of 41-50, covered in Khedbrahma, Vijaynagar, Bhiloda and Meghraj talukas of the district. Among these four talukas considering the numbers of villages Meghraj and Bhiloda talukas were selected purposively. All 11 villages of Bhiloda and Meghraj talukas, having scheduled tribes population of 41-50 range of percentage were selected purposively. Ten tribal farmers and ten non-tribal farmers from each village were selected randomly. Thus, total 220 farmers were selected. Sustainable livelihood was measured through three different indicators viz., social, economic and environmental indicator. To measure these indicators a teacher made test was developed, and total 12 sub indicators were determined. The score of sub indicators were given by organizing conference method of the teachers. All indicators score were summed up to get the Sustainable Livelihood Index (SLI) of individual respondent It was found that the average mean score of all the selected sub indicators of S.L.I. of non-tribal respondents were higher than tribal respondents. The indicators of sustainable livelihood in both groups of farmers were differentiate with some specific indicators viz., consumption pattern, cultural events, tradition, health services and financial system. Which were indicated the standard and the gap of sustainable livelihood between the tribal and non-tribal respondents. The majority (90.91%) of the tribal respondents were having low to medium extent of sustainable livelihood. In the case of non-tribal respondents 87.27 per cent were having medium to high extent of sustainable livelihood. The size of family, annual income, livestock possession and cosmopoliteness were associated positively and significantly with S.L.I. of tribal farmers. While in case of non-tribal respondents, all the independents variables, except livestock possession were important variables affecting the S.L.I. lex causes. Empirical identification of these causes is a formidable task because of the conceptual issues involved in defining the many dimensions of poverty, the data constraints in measuring its incidence and econometric problems in estimating the relationships between the casual factors and poverty levels. The development of the concept of Self Help Group was one of the most prominent poverty alleviation programmes. This paper focuses on the status of micro finance through SHG bank linkage programme in Assam.