Analysing Livelihood Strategies of Landless Manual Labour Households in Rural Bihar: A Study of a North Bihar Village

Mrityunjay Pandey () and R. Vijay
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Mrityunjay Pandey: University of Hyderabad
R. Vijay: University of Hyderabad

The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2024, vol. 67, issue 2, No 8, 443-463

Abstract: Abstract The paper studies the livelihood strategies of Landless Manual Labour (LML) households of a village named Katkuian, located in the West Champaran district of North Bihar. The Foundation of Agrarian Studies surveyed the village as part of the Project on Agrarian Relations in India. LML households, despite engaging in various occupations, predominantly hinged their sustenance through manual labour (in and around the village), seasonal work migration and tenant cultivation. The paper has designed a Livelihood Strategy Choice Model to understand the factors that drive certain households towards more income-generating livelihood strategies while limiting others. The insights from this model indicate that the indebtedness status of the household and male labour endowment substantially influenced the decisions pertaining to household migration. The decisions about household cultivation heavily relied on female labour endowment. The composition of male labourers in a household spanning across diverse age groups emerges as a key determinant in the choice between different livelihood strategies.

Keywords: Livelihood strategies of rural labour in Bihar; Seasonal labour migration from Bihar; Livelihood crisis of rural labour; Rural labour market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 J24 J43 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s41027-024-00494-5

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