Estimation of Rural Poverty Levels by Rqli (Rural Quality of Life Index) an Alternative Approach for Measuring Poverty

Abstract

An attempt was made to measure the rural poverty using the Rural Quality of Life Index (RQLI) in determining the rural poverty levels. The present study was undertaken in Thondamuthur block. Coimbatore district. The objectives of the study are to construct the RQLI for the ORP village and to relate the poverty index with the poverty line incomes at the household level in ORP village. For the construction of RQLI. the study converts the survey data on the 15 identified indicators into a scale of 1 to 7: so that the data can be easily compared and subjected to statistical analysis and each indicator received equal weight in the composite index and the resulting ROLI provided numerical ranking order for the 120 surveyed households. It is revealed by the poverty index method that there were about 74 per cent of the households who lived below the poverty line. In contrast, the percentage of households below the poverty line was 38 per cent while using the conventional method. Then the annual income alone is considered for measuring rural poverty, it ignores the other components of poverty which determine poverty level of the households. The index method is mainly intended to identify the rural poor and to evaluate the real impact of development programmes especially at a time when the government's thrust is the eradication of poverty. In this context, it is important to use some yardstick like RQLI for assessing growth and plan performance. Hence it is certain that the RQLI presents the possibility of constructing valid and reliable micro as well as macro models of rural development, which will shed more light on the developmental processes of the country.