This study attempts to shed light on the impact of economic growth in India on rural villages by conducting two enumeration-based surveys in a rural village, carried out in 1996 and 2007, on the increase in the ownership of consumer durables and changes in the economic strata in rural villages. The main objective of the study was to grasp the impact of economic growth focusing on consumer durables ownership. In addition, it also looked at the state of farmland ownership which determines the economic strata in traditional villages, and the Jati socio-cultural stratum. The study also ranked each household by the amount of durable goods owned using Hayashi’s Quantification Method
Type III. The results revealed the following:
1) Between the first survey in 1996 and the second in 2007, durable goods ownership clearly increased, and in that sense the economic growth of India can be said to have affected rural villages.
2) No drastic changes could be seen in socioeconomic strata between the two surveys. In particular, there were many Khati households in the relatively upper end of the stratum owning consumer durables and farmland, and many Bagris, Bhils and Chamars in the lower end of the stratum; thereby indicating no significant change.
3) However, this does not mean that there has been no vertical mobility among the lower ranking households. A considerable degree of mobility between strata among peoples such as Khatis and Chamars in the Jati group was confirmed.
4) As for factors affecting the vertical mobility to the higher end of the stratum, a relationship between gaining employment in more stable non-agricultural work such as full-time factory jobs and having an education above a certain level that such work requires was strongly confirmed.
5) Likewise, as for factors keeping households in the lower end of the stratum, a strong relationship between continuing to work as agricultural laborers and a low level of education was confirmed.