Socioeconomic profile of the fishers of BeledangaBeel
- The age of the fishers of Beledanga beel ranges from 18 to 72 years.
- Fishing community of Beledanga beel (55.5%) has been dominated by the middle-aged (35-55 years of age) population.
- The majority (67%) of the wetland-dependent community belong to Jele Kaivartta caste.
- In Beledanga beel area, the population of Bangladeshi refugees or, Hindu migrants from Bangladesh is quite predominant.
- It was found that 33.3% have education up to higher secondary school. On the other hand, 29% have been found to ‘Can read-only’.
- The major sources of livelihood of the respondents in the study area have been identified in five major categories namely: fisheries (36%), agriculture (27%), agriculture or fishing labor(19%), business (11%) and others.
- Inter-district as well as inter-state migration was noticed in the search for jobs. The younger generation of the fishing community is leaving their traditional occupation and going to other places as ‘construction labour’ or other types of jobs.
- It was found that about, 18.51% of the respondents were in the low-income group, about 20.37% of the respondents came under the high-income group and the majority of the respondents were under the middle-income group i.e. 61%.
- The average annual savings of the respondent’s households was 4.5% and the majority of the respondents had personal loans from their relatives or others i.e. 1.8% of their family income.
- 58.3% of the respondents were having Kutcha house.
- 58% of the respondents were having cycles and 17% of them were owners of motorcycles.
- About 76.6% of the households have electricity connections and about 60% of the respondents have mobile phone facilities.