Consumption Pattern of Tribes in Kondhamal District of Odisha

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to analyse the consumption pattern of the tribals in Kandhamal district of Odisha which is one of the tribal dominated districts of the state. Kandhas are the principal inhabitants of the district. They are suffering from multidimensional backwardness. Their economy is primitive, less than self-sustained and stagnant. In the analysis of consumption pattern of tribals, among food items rice dominates and among non-food items pan, tobacco and intoxicant which includes country liquor dominates. They spend a small share of their non-food expenditure on clothing and education. The tribes spend 62.25 percent on food items and 37.75 percent on non food items. It is interesting to note that tribes spend 10.58 percent on beverages. The tribes spend 10.02 percent on beverages. The quadratic and cubic forms of regression for consumption function are found to be most suitable. The marginal propensity to consume in all forms are significant at 1 percent level. In linear model the regression coefficient (Marginal propensity to consume) is 0.858. It implies that tribes spend 85 percent of their income on consumption.