‘Just caste does not determine income’

This is what ‘Caste in Different Module’,a book authored by Rajesh Shukla,Sunil Jain and Preeti Kakkar,revealed.

“One central message of this book … is that caste alone is not enough of a determinant or differences in income. Levels of education,the kind of states various castes are located in,and so on are even more crucial determinants,” the authors said in a joint statement.

They said their book is the “first-ever attempt” to analyse the difference in incomes of various castes in India on the basis of their education,occupation and whether they live in small towns or large ones.

According to the findings based on NCAER-NSHIE survey of households across the country,the illiterate households earn the least (Rs 23,886 per annum on average across all caste groups).

So,any caste group that has a higher share of illiterates will have a lower income. But it is also a fact that the number of houses headed by illiterates among the scheduled tribes (STs) is much higher than those in the upper castes.

As many as 12.2 per cent of all ST households are headed by illiterates against 1.8 per cent among upper castes.

A point which goes to prove that education makes all the difference is: On an average households with graduates earn Rs 117,844 per annum each.

But then again,it is the upper castes which have most of the graduates – 34.4 per cent of all upper caste households have at least one graduate as compared to just 12.1 per cent in case of ST households.

The other big differentiator of the income is the place of work and resident – the usual comparison between urban and the rural areas and their incomes.