Dalit’s livelihoods in Nepal: income sources and determinants

Kishor Atreya (), Narayan Sharma Rimal, Prabina Makai, Manish Baidya, Jiban Karki, Gerda Pohl and Sunita Bhattarai
Additional contact information
Kishor Atreya: Tribhuvan University
Narayan Sharma Rimal: PHASE Nepal
Prabina Makai: PHASE Nepal
Manish Baidya: PHASE Nepal
Jiban Karki: PHASE Nepal
Gerda Pohl: PHASE Nepal
Sunita Bhattarai: PHASE Nepal

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2023, vol. 25, issue 11, No 21, 12629-12657

Abstract: Abstract This paper focuses on the lack of income opportunities for Dalits in Nepal, as they are the most affected group in any disaster. The presence of vulnerable family members in Dalit households may further increase their income deprivation. We therefore studied Dalit households’ income sources and identified income determinants in Gandaki Rural Municipality in Gorkha District—the epicentre of the 2015 earthquake. We observed a higher dependency of Dalit households on daily wages, livestock sales, social security allowances, and vegetables sales; however, remittance and seasonal job earnings represented the largest share of household incomes. We observed a significant difference in per capita income between farm (US$46) and non-farm (US$273) income sources, with the difference smallest in the lowest income quantile and the largest in the highest quantile. When the household head was a single woman, we observed a reduction in non-farm (by 29%) and total incomes (by 23%). Likewise, when the household head had a chronic health problem, or the household included an elderly family member, there was a reduction in the household’s income. We suggest economic interventions for Dalit households to prevent increased social exclusion in the development process, specifically focusing on vulnerable individuals and households in the lowest income quantile.

Keywords: Dalit; Gorkha earthquake; Income; Purnima; Nepal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-022-02582-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:25:y:2023:i:11:d:10.1007_s10668-022-02582-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02582-2

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().