A study of socio-economic problems: A case study of Ramanagara district

Ramanagara is one of the important districts in south Karnataka. It is separated from Bangalore Rural district. Ramanagara district has more rural population and its economy depends more on rural economy or development. In order to develop Ramanagara district severalplansorprogrammesareessential.Ramanagaradistrictislocatedinthesouthernpartof Karnataka.ItissituatedonthenorthbyBangalorerural&TumkurdistrictsofKarnatakastate; the main aim of the research is to study the socio economic problems in study area. To reach set goal primary & secondary data collected from different source. Primary data collected through interaction with people as well as discussion with govt. Officers. Secondary data collected from district at a glance, statistical report of the state. Without understanding problems development of any region is impossible. Hence, study of socio-economic problems are required.


Introduction
Ramanagara is one of the important districts in south Karnataka.It is separated from Bangalore Rural district.Ramanagara district has more rural population and its economy depends more on rural economy or development.In order to develop Ramanagara district several plans or programmes are essential.Because of this, central and state government & local bodies have been implementing several programmes for the development of Ramanagara district which we have already discussed in the previous section.
The district is endowed with the necessary infrastructure and resources for the development of an Auto Cluster and Auto Components Cluster in the future.
Ramanagara is the hub of Silk and Sericulture activities.Textiles and Apparels can find opportunities in Ramnagara.Ramanagara taluk includes the Bidadi industrial area, which houses the manufacturing units of Toyota and Coca-Cola, and a 1400 MW combined cycle gas, Asia's largest cocoon market.

Objective
To study the socio-economic problems in study area.

Study area
Ramanagara district is located in the southern part of Karnataka.

Methodology
To reach set goal primary & secondary data collected from different source.Primary data collected through interaction with people as well as discussion with govt.Officers.Secondary data collected from district at a glance, statistical report of the state.

Socio-economic problems in Ramanagara district
A socio-economic problem has been defined as a deviation from the socio ideal, remediable by group effort.Two elements are important in this definition: 1.A situation which is less than ideal, that is, which is undesirable or abnormal, and 2. One which is remediable by collective effort.Though it is not easy to determine which situation is ideal and which is not, and there is no definite standard which could be used to judge it, yet it is clear that a socio ideal is not something uninformed and the term social problem is applied only to that issue which social ethics and society with the promotion of the common good or the welfare of its members consider as unfavorable.But social problems change with the passage of time.What was not considered a social problem a few decades ago may become a crucial social problem today.
The significant characteristics of the rural areas in Ramanagara district which are associated with certain social problems are: • People are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture and a large number of landowners have small and medium-sized landholdings.• The upper caste people still hold large lands while people of the lower castes own either marginal land or work as landless labourers.• Rural people are scattered in comparison to the urban people.• Not only the norms and values but the practices of the rural people to continue to be traditional.• The price the farmers get for their produces is less in relation to the labor they put in.
Though the rural economic distress does not affect all farmers equally but the lower and middle-class farmers who are in a majority are forced to send their siblings to the urban areas to find new sources of livelihood.

Some of the major problems are given below
Poverty: As pointed out by Tendulkar committee, the concept of poverty is associated with socially perceived deprivation with respect to basic human needs.For the year 2009-10, the planning commission has defined the poverty line to Rs.1532.4 per capita per month.In 2010-11 the 40.83% of people living below poverty line in the Ramanagara district where 23.6% in Karnataka.In 2010-11 India has 21.6% of poverty and it reduced compare to 1993-1994 i.e., 45.3%A large section of the rural class of Ramanagara district live in abject poverty.Poverty is a phenomenon which is both objective and subjective.Objectively poverty implies a dehumanizing condition in which people are unable to look after the basic needs.Subjectively, poverty stands for perceived dispossession.As such it is relative and anybody can feel poor by comparing himself or herself with a rich person.Poor people lack the necessary resources and capacity to satisfy basic needs like food, shelter, health and education.They live under difficult conditions which are not conducive for development of their human potential.
Gender discrimination: In the Ramanagara district Channapatana taluk has 1004, Magadi taluk has 987 sex ratio per 1000 males.These two taluk have higher sex ratio than state average i.e., 973 due to the migration of male workers to Bangalore city.But Ramanagara and Kanakapura taluks differ from this.Ramanagara taluk has 963 sex ratio where Kanakapura taluk has 956 females per 1000 males.
Ramanagara district has 69.65 literacy rate where female literacy rate is 61.88 which is less than state female literacy rate (68.13).
The total workers of Ramanagara district is 496323 but where 183572 (36.9%) female workers are identified.The above mentioned points are helps us to conclude Ramanagara district has gender discrimination.
Women and men are equally important for the growth and development of individual and social lives.Women play an important role as mothers which is a unique factor.However, careful analysis of Ramanagara rural society indicates that the situation is not good for women folk.The sex ratio of male and female in the Ramanagara district population has been changing and becoming unfavorable towards women.In the district rural women are considered major contributors to family and society.We have gods and goddesses who are found in lord shiva has Ardhanareeshwar embodying half male and half female.Unfortunately this equality and prominence tells an incomplete fact.The women are also subjected to discrimination in learning, dowry deaths and exploitations of various kinds which are very common.In fact the women are becoming targets of atrocities of many types.The same is manifested in discrimination against them from very early period.The incident of infanticide, early marriage, emphasis on domestic activities and less emphasis on education and career have made women's lives full of sufferings.They are discriminated since their childhood.
Illiteracy: The total literacy of Ramanagara district in 2011 was 69.65%.The lowest literacy rate was reported in the Kanakapura taluk with 64.80 and highest recorded in Ramanagara taluk i.e., 73.20.Channapatana and Magadi taluks have 70.30literacy rate.However, one can observe that the Ramanagara distirct has less literacy rate than the state average where 75.60 literacy rate in Karnataka state.
Illiteracy is another major problem facing the rural Ramanagara.It is a sad state of affairs that a country which had higher level of literacy (than British) at a time when British came two centuries ago is now facing the challenge of a huge number of people who are illiterate and cannot read or write.The ruralites lack skills of reading and writing and are being deprived of the opportunities for upward social mobility.They have to depend on others for various things and are constantly exploited in many ways.For example affixes in thumb impression on legal documents where in they are subjected to exploitations and decit.
Occupation: Ramanagara has 496323 total workers where 293230 workers are engaged in agricultural activities (60%) in 2011.76408 persons (26%) are identified as agricultural labourers.186690 (63%) are marginal land holders who have below 1 hectare land.Remaining 11% people have better income in the agriculture activities.
Agriculture unemployment is common in the Ramanagara rural society.It is caused because of a number of factors, First, the land is of the small family, it is so small that even the members of that family cannot engage themselves in agricultural activities although they have potential to work.Second, the nature of work is seasonal.A cultivator in Ramanagara district remains unemployed for about four to six months in a year.Unemployment affects the individual, family as well as the society, or it may be said that unemployment causes personal disorganization, family disorganization and social disorganization.
Health: As defined by World Health Organization (WHO), it is a "State of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Health is a dynamic condition resulting from a body's constant adjustment and adaptation.The World Health Statistics say that India ranks among the lowest in this regard globally, with 0.9 beds per 1,000 populations -far below the global average of 2.9 beds.Where Ramanagara district has 1.3 beds for every 1000 population.
Sanitation: Wherever humans gather, their waste also accumulates.Progress in sanitation and improved hygiene has greatly improved health, but many people still have no adequate means of disposing of their waste.This is a growing nuisance for Ramanagara district, carrying the risk of infectious disease, particularly to vulnerable groups such as the very young, the elderly and people suffering from diseases that lower their resistance.Poorly controlled waste also means daily exposure to an unpleasant environment.Ramanagara district have 260533 households (2011) where 11253 individual household toilets.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.Location Map South east Tamil Nadu state; on the south Chamarajanagara district; on the southwest Mandya district of the Karnataka state.It has a geographical area 3576 sq k.m., which accounts 1.85% of the geographical area of the state, and has 27 th place in the state.Its average elevation is 800 meters above the mean sea level.
It is situated on the north by Bangalore rural & Tumkur districts of Karnataka state; on the East Bangalore Urban district; on the