Consumption Profile of the Socially Excluded People

Abstract

People are excluded when they are not a part of main stream of society in their daily life due to caste, creed, religion, and economic condition. This indicates that the socially excluded people are customarily shunned in the zone of employment, community, friends, and family. Nobody would deny that many old age people, homeless people, people with aids, people with mental and physical disability, and ex-prisoners are said to be at the risk of exclusion. In this paper, we have defined excludability in terms of castes, creed, religion, economic conditions, and others. We would look into the food security status reflected in consumption profile among those particular categories of people, in terms of their monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) on both food and non-food items with the help of NSSO 61st round data. Based on goal post index the consumption pattern of the socially excluded people across different states of India has been made evident. We have also tested the Engels law, and it has been found empirically accepted. Contrasted with the situation of other caste people, the food security status of the socially excluded people has been found to be placed at all-time low level.