BENGALURU:Though Karnataka is one of the states which has seen rapid industrialisation and benefits of economic liberalisation, the income level in rural households is still far from satisfactory.
According to the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011, released by the Union Government, the monthly income of earning members of 69 per cent of rural households is Rs 5,000 or less.
Of the total 80.48 lakh rural households in the state, 44.65 per cent, that is 35.03 lakh households, are engaged in agriculture which is higher than the all-India average of 30.10 per cent. About 26.14 lakh families, which is around 32.49 per cent of the total, are engaged in causal labour for livelihood.
The state only has 9.47 per cent households depending on salaried jobs in which 3.86 per cent are government jobs, while 4.91 per cent families are getting income from working in private sector.
Of the total households, only 8.63 per cent (6.94 lakh) families have a person whose salary is Rs 10,000 and above per month.
As much as 17.55 per cent (16,31 lakh) house holds have two-wheelers, while only 6.07 per cent of families have a refrigerator. However 77. 38 per cent (62.28 lakh) households have mobile phones while 13 lakh families have no phones at all.
Around 19. 85 lakh families live in one-room houses while 3 lakh families live in huts and 47, 118 families live in houses made of plastic sheets. In the state, 15, 375 families are still engaged in manual scavenging while 9,650 families were begging for a living.