Social impact of chronic poverty in rural areas of Sri Lanka; An experience from Ridimaliyadda

Abstract

This is an analytical study on the social impact of chronic poverty in the rural sector in Sri Lanka. According to the statistics of the Department of Census and Statistics, the Ridimaliyadda Divisional Secretariat (DSD) of Badulla District is one of the major chronic poverty-stricken areas of Sri Lanka. Though all the successive Government has implemented many poverty reduction programs, there is still chronic poverty at a different level in different areas of Sri Lanka. This study examines the social impact of chronic poverty in Rideemaliyadda DSD. It is randomly selected 25 families from 02 Grama Niladhari Divisions with the highest rate of poverty. The study is based on primary and secondary data under mixed methods. The secondary data were collected from the Department of Census & Statistics, Centre for Poverty Analyse, Badulla Divisional Secretariat Office, Ridimaliyadda DSD. MS Excel & Arc GIS were used to analyze the data charts, Maps and tables were produced to present data, Lower education, lack of permanent jobs, lack of lands for agriculture, caste, powerlessness are the major social impact of the chronic poverty.