Financial Inclusion of Marginal Farmers and Landless Categories in Border Area of Punjab

Abstract

The prime objective of this study was to ascertain the financial inclusion of marginal farmers and landless categories in border area of Punjab. The study was conducted in one of districts the border areas of Punjab i.e. Amritsar district selected purposively during the year 2017-18.  A multistage stratified random sampling technique was employed to select blocks, villages & households from the study area. Out of 10 blocks of the district,   Chogawan & Attari  block were randomly selected. Further, one village from each selected block i.e. Kakkar and Bhakna Kalan was randomly selected.  For this investigation, from both the villages  40 marginal farmers and an equal matching sample of 40 landless farmers were selected, thus, comprising of a sample of 80 farmers to achieve the objectives of the study.  The results indicated poor financial inclusion among farmers. The basic components of financial inclusion like availing of insurance, forex transaction, and locker facility were completely lacking among the respondents. No respondent was reported to be having availed any of these services. Other components such as seeking financial advice investing FDRs also showed poor response. This can be attributed to low income of the respondent and the vicious circle of debt leave little income for saving and availing government sponsored scheme for financial inclusion of weaker section. Such government initiative in lifting the weaker section poverty line or debt trap becomes an obstacle causes financial exclusion