Financial Exclusion
Financial Exclusion
Financial Exclusion
Financial Exclusion
Chapter: 2
FINANCIAL EXCLUSION:
CONCEPTS, THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS
AND THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Defining Financial Exclusion
2.3 Access v/s Use of Financial Services
2.4 Exclusion v/s Access
2.5 Active and Passive Exclusion
2.6 Unfair Exclusion and Unfair Inclusion
2.7 Individual Exclusion and Group Exclusion
2.8 Voluntary v/s Involuntary Exclusion
2.9 The Approach to Financial Access and Use
2.10 Theories of Financial Exclusion
2.11 Access Problem in Credit Markets: Supply and Demand Side Explanation
2.12 Historical Genesis of Financial Exclusion
2.13 Research Methodology: An Introduction
2.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the concepts and theoretical underpinnings of the problem
of financial exclusion besides elaborating on the research methodology adopted in the
present study. Apart from this, this chapter also intends to provide the historical
evolution of exchange economy and finance to illustrate the importance that has been
growingly attached to the tool of finance in the present exchange system. This chapter
also elaborates on how finance becomes imperative for a socially controlled and
culturally rigid people like the tribes.
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economists define it. The former form of definitions carries a very narrow but technical
meaning of financial exclusion that is the people having no bank account are considered
as financially excluded whereas the latter defines it from the perspective of an array of
financial services. Our study focuses on this latter form of definition. Nevertheless, a
detailed account of important definitions of financial exclusion is worthwhile as it helps
one to comprehend the broad meaning of this phenomenon.
If one attempts to trace out the origin of the term financial exclusion, it can be
seen that this term first came into the financial literature in 1993 to describe a situation
of limited physical access to banking services on account of bank closures (Sinclair,
McHardy, Dobbie, Lindsay, & Gillespie, 2009) . It means that in its original form
financial exclusion meant not the lack of access to financial products like banking and
insurance, which ameliorate the vulnerability of the people, but merely the lack of
geographical access to banks. Nevertheless, it was in 1999 the term financial exclusion
began to be used to designate the condition of not having access to mainstream financial
services (Kempson & Whyley, Kept out or Opted out?: Understanding and Combating
Financial Exclusion, 1999). Still, the concept of financial exclusion undergoes changes
as many writers both academicians and policy makers have been attempting to enrich
the literature on financial exclusion. According to the objective of their study, they
define financial exclusion in ways suitable to them. Nevertheless, it has been observed
that most of the writers have defined financial exclusion in narrow way, or in other
words, they have confined the scope of financial exclusion to not having bank accounts
as if are talking not about the larger and complex issue of financial exclusion rather the
very limited issue of banking exclusion. Notwithstanding this, it deserves to be
mentioned that having an account with the formal banking is the first step towards
financial inclusion although but it is not the last and the sole element of financial
inclusion.
Thus, it is obvious that the term financial exclusion has a broad range of
definitions. Research carried out and discussions held among experts lead us to propose
the following definition: Financial exclusion refers to a process whereby people
encounter difficulties accessing and/or using financial services and products in the
mainstream market that are appropriate to their needs and enable them to lead a normal
social life in society to which they belong. The above definition of financial exclusion
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system for all members of an economy. This definition emphasizes several dimensions
of financial exclusion, viz. accessibility, availability and usage of the financial services.
As highlighted by international commentators, financial exclusion is complex and
multidimensional and can come about because of a range of problems with access,
conditions, price, marketing or self-exclusion (Kempson, Whyley, Caskey, & Collard,
2000). These dimensions together build an inclusive financial system.
As banks are the gateway to most basic forms of financial services, financial
exclusion is often used as analogous to banking inclusion/exclusion. Those who are
excluded by the banks are often termed as unbanked (Russell, Maitre, & Donnelly,
2011). These are people without any form of transactional bank account. Associated
with this notion is the concept of under banked, i.e. those who have a bank account
but do not use it regularly or adequately to manage their money. These are also
sometimes referred to as marginally banked. The literature also points out that there
are gradations of financial exclusion. These range from those who are hyper-included
to those who are unbanked and have no access to mainstream financial services. In
between these extremes fall the under banked or the marginally banked (Kempson et al,
2000). Banking services have become progressively more important due to
financialization of social relationships i.e. social relations are increasingly expressed in
monetary terms (Gloukoviezoff, 2007). Consequently, the majority of consumers now
have a bank account. A proportion of the population, however, remains excluded from
banking and other financial services. In this way, financial exclusion is exclusion from
affordable and appropriate financial products, including bank accounts, current
accounts, credit, savings and insurance. Low-income consumers are at great risk of
financial exclusion and being financially excluded not only prevents people from
escaping from poverty, but can also result in people falling into poverty. Simply put,
financial exclusion is the inability to access necessary financial services in an
appropriate form. A number of aspects, or dimensions, of financial exclusion have been
identified which are described as follows (FSA, 2006).
1. Access Exclusion: sometimes access to financial services particularly banking
services may be restricted to some segments of population through the process
of risk assessment. Banks consider lending to these people as more risky, and
hence opening the door to such people is considered unwise for the banks.
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2. Condition Exclusion: Financial products come along with some conditions like
prescribing margin, which are discretionary for the financial official to decide.
Such conditions may turn out to be disastrous for the interest of the low income
and socially disadvantaged population. Because of these conditions attached
with financial products, people may find it futile to approach banks for getting
access to services.
3. Price Exclusion: The price of financial products mainly the interest rate that the
financial institutions charge may not be affordable to the people. Nevertheless,
this has been questioned by some works in India, which argue that most of the
needy borrowers are not sensitive to interest rate. If some have credit at interest
rates unaffordable to them due to compulsions, in future it is likely that they may
be drawn into abject debt trap, as they would find it difficult to make timely
repayment of the credit.
4. Marketing Exclusion: Today financial institutions adopt marketing strategies
aiming at credit worthy individuals. Financial products have been designed and
marketed in such a way they appeal most to the well-today segments of the
population. Thus, thanks to the marketing strategy of the profit-oriented
financial institutions, some people are effectively excluded.
5. Self-Exclusion: Most of the studies on financial exclusion have highlighted selfexclusion as an important driving force of financial exclusion. People decide
themselves that there is no use in applying for financial products as they think
that the financial services providers would mercilessly refuse their request for
such things. They arrive at these conclusions because of their experiences with
the financial system.
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bank account, credit, and insurance. In the following sections on the extent of financial
exclusion, a detailed account of the exclusion of tribes from the pension system is also
illustrated. However, as tribes hold pension largely not because of demand for it but due
to supply side reasons, from the measurement of the degree of financial exclusion
pension has been omitted. There are many related concepts pertaining to the broader
issue of financial exclusion/inclusion. Now, the study intends to provide a brief account
of such concepts, which are deemed important for understanding the issue of financial
exclusion among the tribes.
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of access in poor countries is about equal to the percentage rate of excluded in the
advanced industrial economies. Accepting this view we may argue that in Indian
context there is nothing wrong in using the word exclusion as we have initiated supply
side interventions like offering no-frill accounts aiming at cent percent financial
inclusion. In simple parlance, access is a supply side issue where as exclusion can be
taken to be a demand side issue.
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active and passive exclusion to the context of finance, one could see that passive
financial exclusion, which is the fallout of policy induced decisions and behavioral
issues of the clients of the financial sector, needs to be cogitated. Nevertheless,
geographical desertification, which often happens following the closure of a bank
branch in a specific geographical area, can be resolved overnight with a direction to
retain the bank in the same locality.
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benefit of financial inclusion have revealed that with the help of having an account,
transaction costs can be reduced. Reduction in transaction cost will add to the pocket of
the households. Transaction account, which comes via inclusion in the banking system,
is said to be primary owing to the fact that it is a key to accessing saving and credit
facilities. Lack of it in fact disturbs market access in all forms. It is often found that
lack of transaction account makes things difficult and expensive for people and it
enhances the risk of poverty. The type of transactions that can be connected bank
account are: Receiving regular payment (for instance in India, payments in the
MGNREP have been made statutorily through Bank Accounts); converting cheques into
cash; storing money safely until it is withdrawn; paying for goods and services other
than in cash as it is less time consuming and more comfortable; paying bills
electronically; making remittances.
Having access to a banking account generally qualifies a household or individual
to be designated as financially included. Nevertheless, there are degrees of financial
inclusion depending on the facilities that they enjoy via having a banking account.
These degrees or gradations of financial inclusion are:
Unbanked- people or household with a no bank account at all.
Marginally banked- people with bank account but have no cheque-book and
other modern electronic payment and withdrawal facilities like Debit/Credit Cards. In
terms of the use of the bank products, marginally banked can also be those who have
these banking amenities but make little or no use of such facilities.
Fully banked- this category enjoys all facilities being offered by the modern
banking system. They have access to all financial products and make the best use of
these facilities.
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mainly in the case of low-income households like the tribes. Lack of habit to save
money in bank because of the past negative experiences that they might have
encountered with the officials of the banks may compel the people to exclude
themselves from having saving accounts. Apart from this, it is seen that some people
may not have faith in the formal banking system, as they are illiterate or ignorant about
this.
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analysis of the extent of insurance exclusion of tribes, the study does not give much
attention to the mandatory insurance products.
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Pareto Optimum, is a condition, which does not envisage an economic agents position being
deteriorated following the enhancement of the gain of other persons (Leach, 2004).
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and deregulation. The shift that the banking institutions have made to valuable
customers in the pursuit of enhancing their value addition can rightly be called as a
strategic shift which has been underway in banking operations world over.
Table 2.1 Share Holding of Govt. in Public Sector Banks in 2009
Name of the PSB
80.20
Indian Bank
80.00
Bank of Maharashtra
76.77
Canara Bank
73.17
51.09
Andhra Bank
51.55
Dena Bank
51.19
IDBI
52.67
Bank of Baroda
53.81
Vijaya Bank
53.87
UCO Bank
63.59
Syndicate Bank
66.47
55.43
Allahabad Bank
55.23
Corporation Bank
57.17
57.80
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For a detailed analysis of the nature of financial market, see the Appendix 2.1
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such defaulters culminating into financial exclusion of the defaulters or the future
prospective borrowers howsoever they appear to be honest. Institutional mechanisms
have been put in place by the banks to mitigate or at least to minimize the impact of
asymmetric information.
Having thrown insight into the theoretical underpinnings of the problem of
financial exclusion with emphasis on the exclusion of the socially disadvantaged like
the tribes from the credit market, now we turn our attention to sketch the historical
evolution of the problem of financial exclusion.
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world following the overemphasis that the neo-liberal market driven policies have
gained in the policy space of democratic governments. Looking into the origin of the
social life of humanity, one can see the elements of exclusionary process in every walk
of life, underscoring the fact that exclusion is germane to the human community. From
the hunting man to the space man, one can easily peep into the structure and institutions
creating circumstances leading to the exclusion of some people who become the outliers
being denied of all fruits of development. Todays exclusion of all kinds can at best be
considered as the culmination of the hitherto occurred and persisting exclusionary
processes viz. social and economic exclusion. Hence, a solution to the problem of
financial exclusion must have a historical perspective of how human society has
experimented with varied forms of exclusionary process over the years. This section
attempts to sail through the historical evolution of the exclusionary process.
need based
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reluctant to put labour power to work, or those who could not toil on land on account of
physical inability might have been excluded from the exchange economy. As there was
no mechanism to take care of such individuals then it might lead to their exclusion from
the society. These kinds of exclusionary process, which often happens not because of
the deliberate inactivity of the person involved, may be encapsulated as involuntary
exclusion.
The transformation, which the hunting society underwent from that of a lawless
hunting-based functioning to that of a cultivation-based society, heralds the beginning
of a sea change in the social and economic exchange functions of people. Hunting
society is a top-down society where the hunter earns and distributes things to other
members. This one side exchange is prominent in every sense in such a system.
Nevertheless, when people started encamping along the buds of the rivers, it fuelled the
need for joint endeavors in cropping and harvesting agricultural goods. Thus, every
member of the community or camp happened to be the earner or producer or at least a
part of the producer groups. This naturally made people capable of exchanging things in
a society. Thus, there came in what can be encrypted as an exchange economy where
exchange becomes intertwined as everyone has something to offer against something.
Evidently, exclusion of an individual from the exchange process was uncommon in such
a society, unless some non-economic reasons tended to force somebody voluntarily
exclude himself or herself from the mainstream economic process.
The growth of the exchange economy in both size and value necessitated the
invention of a medium for facilitating the easy and speedy exchange of goods and
services. Unknown about the possibility of using a thing like money or coins as we use
it today, people naturally began to put in place precious stones and metals as medium of
exchange. Obviously the reason for choosing precious metals as the medium of
exchange was their shortage of supply in relation to demand. (The market based value
determination where the paucity of a thing in relation to demand determines the value).
Thus in those times a thing like money derived its value not from utility but from
scarcity. The money had no features of being backed by legal sanctions, as there was
hardly any government in the formative stages of early civilizations.
The advent of currency and coins supported by established state governments
marked the beginning of an epoch in the history of exchange. The use of money
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underwent transformations and additions as the volume of trade and the complications
of exchange process enlarged. The role of money went beyond merely acting as a
medium of exchange to that of an instrument with which more wealth could be
amassed. The origin of money as finance capital brought with it an array of divergent
functions. While in an old monetized economy production of things could command
money, in the newly over monetized framework production no longer becomes a
necessity for a person to secure money. If one can have access to fianc capital or
money or credit he can trigger off operations by which more wealth in the form of
money could be harnessed. Here, a person having no access to finance capital or money
will be at a disadvantage and he or she will have to struggle with social and economic
hazardous unless access to finance is ensured. Hence, it is apparent that in a highly
monetized economy as we have today access to finance is a prerequisite to prosper as
far as economic agents are concerned.
The evolution of money should be analyzed based on the evolution of exchange
economy. It is apparent that the nature of money changes as it assumes different roles.
As the medium of exchange function was the primary role a thing like money is
expected to play in early stages, the price of money (interest) did not deserve much
attention. Later money began to be assigned more proactive roles other than exchange
functions. The prominence that the money came to occupy in an exchange economy
might have tempted individuals to go in search for ways to garner more monetary
resources. The enviable role of money had attracted some price for it. Thus, interest
rates came in. Many in the ancient period considered charging interest as a sin. In this
context to get a vivid picture of how finance has become important in the modern
economy, it is indispensable to have a look at the evolution of the exchange economy
and finance. Through this, we intend to explain the fact that since finance is a key factor
to be reckoned with, any exclusion from the system of finance is tantamount to an
exclusion from the society, and such financial exclusion will result in more deprivation
of economic agents. Let us now turn to the evolution of the exchange economy and
finance for a deeper understanding of how access to finance becomes inevitable even
for the tribes in todays economy.
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This is based on concepts referred by Prof.Oommen in a forward written for book Global Economic
Crisis: End of Growth Paradigms (Oommen, 2009).
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system, although very complex in its nature and functioning, can be encrypted in the
form M-C-M* exchange economy. As is evident, with this new money based exchange
economy, real sector has been relegated to a secondary importance, while money has
come to occupy a large position than ever before. The form of this economy clearly
reveals that only those having sufficient source of money or finance, or assets or skills,
can produce commodities to be a part of the exchange system. People in this system
borrow money by pledging their assets in the form of land, jewels, or house as security,
from different formal and informal sources. They put this money into the process of
production and sell the produced things in the market at profitable price. Thus they earn
more than from the market (M*) than what they usually spend as cost of producing the
commodity which is labeled as M in the above form of relation. What is interesting to
note here is that under normal conditions we expect the theoretical outcome that M <
M*. If M* happens to be greater than M, and as is the case elsewhere, people will begin
to consider money or finance as very important. It is here money or finance becomes
very crucial in the new variant of the exchange economic system. Thus in this system,
the main prerequisite to be a part of the exchange economy is that one should have
money or finance. Since money or finance appears to be as important as the system
itself, the question of finance arises and consequently the question of financial exclusion
as well. The coming up of M-C-M* system has brought about revolutionary changes in
the structure of the exchange economies. It actually heralded the beginning of the
establishment of a number of formal and informal financial institutions spawning
financial products tailored to the needs of mostly the greedy people who actually do not
toil and trouble to create anything in real terms. Since these financial institutions,
mostly in private sector, thrive upon profit in a competitive economy with unfettered
individual freedom and inadequate government intervention, it is apparent that many
such institutions move after the credit worthy persons unless otherwise strictly directed
by the apex regulatory bodies that credit should be allotted to priority areas. Causing
threat to the existence of the real economy and its fundamentals, M-C-M* system is said
to have grown to that level where, today, the money market decoupled from the real
world exponentially expands to create more money M-M*-M**-M*** and so on. All
these boil down to the fact that when we use money as an instrument of accumulation
and store of value rather than as a medium of exchange, all problems pertaining to
finance or money crop up.
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Thus, it is obvious that unlike C-C and C-M-C exchange economies, the M-CM* exchange economy is much more prone to the phenomenon of financial exclusion,
which becomes acute unless addressed properly by the directive measures of the
government. As the M-C-M* exchange economy becomes more and more complex as
we see today, the problem of financial exclusion assumes varying dimensions. For
instance, the nature of financial exclusion in the pre and immediate post-independence
days, mostly geographical and institutional exclusion, seems to have disappeared now
and instead much more sophisticated ways have been put in place, which ultimately
pursue some socially, and economically disadvantaged social groups viz. STs to keep
themselves outside the reach of the mainstream financial system. In addition,
transformation from the Brick-Mortar Financial Intermediation to the ATM, Mobile,
and
from accessing the services of financial institutions. Now, the researcher attempts to
provide a theoretical and historical explanation for the marginalization and
pauperization of tribes, which would be helpful for further analysis.
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which their skills were most fit once. They have been rendered hopeless, homeless,
landless, and footless by the changing paradigm of development strategy, which
ultimately fail to accommodate them constructively and fruitfully, culminating into their
deprivation. The story of tribes most fits to this reality as well. Hence, any attempt to
include them virtually into the edifice of the modern exchange economy and finance
through the seemingly easy way of financial inclusion has to be built on this
understanding.
In the very primitive form of society when men were leading a nomadic life,
owning nothing individually as everything was perceived to be common to all
(Common Property Resources (CPRs) as it is used today) the need of money, and
therefore the question of greed did not come up. As no one had anything explicitly
specific to him or her except the raw or unskilled labour power that was of course
embodied by birth, the perplexing question of exclusion was altogether absent.
Nevertheless, this seemingly idealistic social and economic equilibrium that had existed
in those days gradually started evading with the advent of State (or a ruling class) giving
deed power to certain segments of population in return of tax proceeds, often belonging
to the upper caste in the social ladder. This made land a private property of somebody
who could rub their shoulders with the emerging ruling class. Thus, the hitherto
commonly held land assets were converted into exclusive private assets of those who
could grab it from the rulers, compelling others, the real cultivators, to bid adieu to their
common assets only to become hired or bonded workers. This, in course of time, led to
the emergence of a landless class leading to their dispossession of land assets, making
them the mere sellers of labor power in exchange of a part of yield that they would
create on others land. Once the land more particularly the fertile land, the prime assets,
the traditional indispensable factor of production after labour, become a thing to be
possessed, those who had to remain devoid of land to cultivate on, freely and fearlessly,
became economically excluded from the whole structure of production system and
relations thereof, and thus began the saga of exclusionary tendencies.
In the very crudest and simplest form of production function land, labour and
capital are the main factors of production. The advent of private ownership of property
had made the lower segments of society dispossessed of land, and thus as said earlier,
they had to continue as the landless labour class. Once the bonded system of labour or
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un-free labour got started, the labour class had to be dispossessed of their naturally
embodied labour power in the sense that they themselves got rid of their control over
their labour. Thus, a segment of population like the tribes devoid of any factors of
production, like land and control over labour naturally became marginalized and weaker
in all aspect of life viz. social, political, and economical. Faced with the lack of land,
and other assets they had to confine themselves within their own moorings, some might
have been inhabited in settlement colonies very close to forests and hills whereas some
started leading nomadic life. Using the un free labour, the landowners embarked on a
production process for market, thus creating a surplus, which allowed them to
accumulate more and more capital whereas the marginalized particularly the tribes were
producing for self consumption, not for market. The surplus which they (the
advantageous) would create was actually the labour surplus, which could be fetched
using the cheap labour made available though the system labour bondage.
The land owning class with abundance capital cornered chiefly through the
exploitation of labour and other social space they had by virtue of their elite social and
economic position, started acquiring additional labour skills, which would meet the
requirements of the labour market. On the other hand, the disadvantaged sections had to
contend themselves with the traditional skills as they had no choice for better education
and skill up gradation. Consequently, they found their innate skills unsuitable to the
changing labour market, forcing them to remain in the traditional sectors of employment
offering low wages. Moreover, the method of production and the natural resources,
which made such production possible, began to be replaced by the modern production
methods requiring sophisticated skills. Thus, this marginalized segment of population
started facing these kinds of labour market impediments, putting their life at stake. The
growing deforestation coupled with draconian forest laws thwarted their traditional
source of livelihood making them impoverished in all aspects. The privatization of the
common property resources following the liberalization policies in fact added fuel to
this problem.
Now, coming to the realm of finance, or putting it broadly, the financial market,
we know that there are two groups of agents or participants: the Surplus group and the
Deficit group. The former has income left after consumption to save whereas the latter
finds expenditure exceeding income and reason to borrow. Nevertheless, those coming
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under the deficit group have skills, or putting it rightly, may have entrepreneurial
aptitude to invest, and hence they seek credit for productive purposes. In addition to
that, they have creditworthiness to demand credit from the financial market. Thus, in the
financial market one segment of society, the advantageous group, thanks to their
resourcefulness (backed mainly by land ownership) and skillfulness, enter as both
surplus group and deficit group. They act as surplus group as they have more wealth to
be parted with the banks and other financial institutions to fetch interest income, and to
gain out of ups and downs in the economic activities (Capital market operations). They
act as deficit group as they have demand for credit to invest in productive proposes, and
their credit demand is worthy of being met by the financial entities as it is backed by
creditworthiness in the eyes of such entities.
On the other hand, as far as the disadvantages segments like the tribes are
concerned, generally, they never act as the surplus group as they have no surplus since
they struggle to survive, and they produce, if they do so, only for domestic
consumption, and not for market. Nor do they demand credit, as they have no skills to
invest or produce, and if they demand credit, it is unlikely that the demand is met by the
above said financial entities, as they (the disadvantageous group) are credit unworthy in
the eyes of such entities. Moreover, financial sector constitutes a part of tertiary sector.
Since the disadvantaged marginalized people like the tribes, due to their poor
resourcefulness (lack of land and other assets) and skillfulness, still confines themselves
mostly to the primary sector activities, it can hardly be expected that they involve
constructively in the financial sector. All these substantiate the fact that for the
disadvantageous marginalized people like the tribes their inclusion into the realm of
finance is not something which stem from their urge to be included into the system,
rather their inclusion is something which the external force desires to accomplish
seemingly for their vested interests. Because of this credit unworthiness from the point
of view of formal credit suppliers, the low-income marginalized people find informal
sources as the last resort to meet their credit demands.
Thus, it is obvious that the root cause of the problem of financial exclusion that
the disadvantageous marginalized people like tribes confront with lies in their social and
economic exclusion, which they have been experiencing ever since the system of the
ownership of private property (especially land) came into being. The ownership of land
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coupled with the capability to acquire and sharpen skills through education made a
segment of people advantageous in every sense whereas the landless adorned with poor
and unfit skills became the disadvantageous group, and this backwardness has got
reflected in their exclusion from the financial system as well (Figures 2.1 and 2.2).
AcquisitionofSkill
andAccessto
LabourMarket
Capabilityto
generatesurplus,
productionfor
market
Betterprospectsof
FinancialInclusion
Actassuppliersof
creditanddemand
creditofhigh
volumebackedby
creditworthiness
Accumulationof
Capitalandcapacity
tosave,engage
moreintertairy
sector
Badprospectsof
financial
inclusion/engulfsin
financialexclusion
TraditionalSkills,
unfittochanging
labourmarket
Doestnotgenerate
surplus,production
isforself
consumption
demandssmall
informalcreditfor
unproductivethings.
Neveraccumulate,
notingtosave,
confinedtopriamry
sectoractivities
Having said this, it does not mean that the marginalized groups as tribes do not
want to use money, the primary form of finance. In an evolving exchange economy,
which uses cash in every sphere of transaction, the tribes as a society can no keep itself
away from the monetized exchange system since tribes are not self sufficient in every
respect. They need to transact with the outer world for many things, and hence the use
of money or cash is quite indispensable for them. Looking in that way, the marginalized
as the tribes have also become a part of the monetized economy, although they have not
been experiencing the process of financialization as it happens in the case of the general
population.
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Establishment of
financial institutions
Providing financial
products and
financial inclusion
Development of the
economy and the
economic
empowerment of
people.
Reinforcing financial
development more
financial
innovations.
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the need forces the people to go in for credit at any price from whatever sources
available to them. The entire argument contained in this approach can be illustrated with
the help of the following figure.
Economic
Development and
the empowerment of
people
Generating demand
for financial
products
Establishment of
Financial Institutions
and Financial
Inclusion
Reinforcing
economic
development
:
2.11.8.3 The Theory of Intertwining Financial Development
This theory argues that it is wrong to say that either financial development or
economic development precedes each other. The theory articulates that sometimesfinancial development may lead to economic development and vice versa. Hence, it is
difficult to point out where the process ends or starts. It can happen in both ways. The
following figure captures the entire argument of this approach without any ambiguity.
Economic
Development and
the empowerment of
people
Generating demand
for financial
products
Establishment of
Financial Institutions
and Financial
Inclusion
Providing financial
products and
financial inclusion
Providing financial
products and
financial inclusion
Establishment of
Financial Institutions
and Financial
Inclusion
Generating demand
for financial
products
Economic
Development and
the empowerment of
people
Now we present two theories, which are predominant in the realm of sociology
in the analysis of the process of social exclusion. Since 1990s, the increasing popularity
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of the concept of social exclusion among the sociologist has led to attempts to identify
the multi-difficulties faced by the socially disadvantaged groups and to suggest
measures to help the socially disadvantaged to overcome difficulties (Abrahamson,
1997). Differences surfaced among the sociologists regarding the nature of solutions to
be adopted to attain social inclusion. These divergent views led to two widely quoted
discourse of social exclusion: The Social Integrationist Approach and the Redistributive
Approach (Levitas, 2006). These approaches bear relevance to the problem of financial
exclusion as well. Below, an attempt is made to relate these approaches to the problem
of financial exclusion.
2.11.8.4 The Integrationist Approach to Financial Inclusion
The crux of this approach hovers around the whole dynamics of the Labor
Market. This approach suggests that to wipe out the presence of financial exclusion we
must provide the people with the opportunities to participate in the paid work in the
labor market. Interestingly, this approach defines the concept of social exclusion in a
different fashion that exclusion is nothing but exclusion from the paid work in the job
market and hence it prescribes integration through paid work as the better panacea to
solve the problem of exclusion. For instance, this approach endeavors to address the
problem of the exclusion of the disabled from the labor market through the process of
equipping them with different skills, which are seemed suitable to enable them to enter
into the labor market. To clean the education system, this approach argues that the
system of education must be linked to the needs of the job market. In short, the social
integrationists discourse supports a well-integrated society through paid work and relies
heavily on the private market to find a lasting solution to the problem of financial
exclusion. It is known that workers do not produce all that they need. Instead, they
exchange their labor power in the labor market for other products, which they could buy
via the medium of money they are supposed to get from the labor market against the
labor power they sell. Here money in broader sense finance plays a vital role in
connecting the labour market with the product market, increasing the size of the product
market, and facilitating capital accumulation.
Integration with the labour market can be a best way to tackle the problem of
financial exclusion as well. This is because once people are engaged in paid jobs in the
labour market, the income generating from such paid works will definitely force them to
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demand various financial products and thereby leading to their effective financial
inclusion. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme
(MGNREGP), which has been successfully implemented in India, is a fitting example of
how integration with the labor market can be a weapon for financial inclusion. Under
this programme, every beneficiary that is the laborer will have to open an account with
any nationalized bank for getting his or her wages regularly. The wage is disbursed
through accounts. Here, so long as a person continues to work under the above said
programme, he will have to be in constant touch with the banks, which will cultivate
banking habit in that person. In this study, we will try to unearth the impact that has
been made by this programme to douse the flames of financial exclusion among the
tribal households.
Notwithstanding the bright side of this approach, critics argue that it has too
many drawbacks viz. obscuring the inequality between the paid workers, overlooking
the gender inequality in the labor market and ignoring the values of unpaid works such
as taking care of the children in the family (Levitas, 2006). Critics question the
suitability of the labor market in generating employment for the people with learning
difficulties.
2.11.8.5 The Redistributive Approach to Financial Inclusion
This approach argues that the product and labor market are prone to creating
inequality leading to the exclusion of those who cannot fall in line with the parameters
of market. This approach is built on the premise that lack of endowments to participate
in the customary life of society is the cause of exclusion. The creation of a just society
rerouting the movement of resources from the abundant hands to the scarce hands
appears to be the solution to tackle exclusion, and hence active interventionist policies
through the arms of tax reforms, expansion of benefit systems, reduction of earning
differentials, financial recognition of unpaid works, introduction of minimum wages and
minimum income for those who are unable to participate in the job market are called for
to address the problem of exclusion (Chau & Hu, 2002). This view associated with
equitable society challenges the problems of inequality created by the product and labor
market.
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Kerala has been hailed for its affirmative actions in building social infrastructure
like education and health resulting in the accomplishment of high standard of
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life that her people enjoy which is undeniably at par with what persists in some
of the most developed destinations in the world like Canada and America.
The social movements that the State has witnessed over the years has led to a
significant improvement in the economic and social well being of many of the
marginalized and weaker section like tribes in Kerala.
The next pertinent question is, why has Wayanad been chosen for conducting the study?
The following explanations may well substantiate the rationale for taking Wayanad as
the study area.
The reason for taking Wayanad as the area of focus for collecting the primary
data is that among different districts in the State of Kerala, the concentration of
tribes is more in Wayanad. This is evident from the fact that the ratio of tribal
population to the total district population is high in the districts of Wayanad.
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population at a given time whereas the latter describes the data pertaining to a
population at different periods in time. The present study is a Cross Sectional
Descriptive research. Apart from this, the present work is explanatory as well in the
sense that it goes deep into the question of why is it going and tries to test hypothesis
on different aspects that influence the process of financial exclusion of the tribe
households like the level of educational attainment by the tribes, income and gender of
the tribes.
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for such associations. It is here the qualitative research comes for rescue, by using
which it is possible to unearth the factors leading to the relationship between economic
variables (Remenyi, 1998). Thus, qualitative research coupled with quantitative research
is imperative for studying the tribal issues. Because of these reasons, the present study
employs quantitative investigation involving mainly data collection, analysis, and Focus
Group Discussion (qualitative too) for the research work. This method of combining
two or more methods in research endeavors is known as triangulation (Creswell,
2003). In this study, both primary and secondary data have been employed. Primary
data is collected through the interview method and the secondary data have been
collected from various sources, which are elaborated in the succeeding sections.
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(only from selected tribe communities viz. Paniya, Adiya, Kuruma and Kurichya) that
come under each panchayt is prepared (see column A in the Appendix 2.2). Then we
calculate the cumulative frequency distribution for the panchayats (column B). The last
number in this column gives us the total number of these tribe households in the
Wayanad district (it is 29397). After this, we decide that 10 panchyats are to be selected
for choosing 500 sample households units. Then, we divide the total household by the
number of panchyats to be visited, that is 10. The result 2940 (round figure) is the
Sampling Interval (SI). Now, we choose a number between 1 and 2940 as the Random
Start (RS). In this procedure, we have chosen 1506 as the RS. The panchyat
corresponding to the cumulative frequency in which the RS is included is selected as the
first panchyat. Here, we take Noolppuzha Panchyat, as the first one since the RS, 1506,
is included in the cumulative frequency, which corresponds to this panchyat. Then we
add RS with SI to get the second panchayat that is here Pullpally. Then we add RS with
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2 x SI to get the third Panchyat. Continuing this process, we have selected the following
panchyats from which sample is to be collected.
Table 2.2 Panchayat Chosen for Collecting Sample
And the Distribution of Tribe Population
Panchyat
Paniya
Adiya
Kuruma
Kurichya
Total
Noolppuzha
1058
920
1979
748
174
341
1271
173
639
Pullppally
Padinjarethara
Mananthavady
Mooppainadu
Kaniyambatta
Nenmeni
Thornadu
Kottathara
Thirunelly
466
508
700
425
1635
174
32
216
674
293
270
1237
1020
664
1687
500
656
1156
554
624
1178
365
1946
382
1196
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Table 2.3 Sample Chosen for Collecting Data
Panchyat
Noolppuzha
Pullppally
Padinjarethara
Mananthavady
Mooppainadu
Kaniyambatta
Nenmeni
Thornadu
Kottathara
Thirunelly
Total
Percentage in the total
Sample
Paniya
Adiya
Kuruma
Kurichya
27
23
50
29
13
50
36
14
50
16
21
13
50
40
50
27
12
11
50
30
20
50
22
28
50
24
26
50
10
31
50
261
59
76
104
500
0.52
0.12
0.15
Total
0.21
1.00
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tribes even before the actual survey took off. The researcher took the help of tribal
promoters wherever necessary to communicate with the tribes.
2.12.4.4 The Period of Actual Survey
The actual survey was conducted between November 2011 to April 2012.
Continuous interaction with the tribes had made the data collection easy towards the end
of the survey period. The cooperation of the tribe officials and the promoters was of
immense help to the researcher. The researcher had the opportunity to taste the tribal
food on certain days of heavy schedule, as shops were not available in some interior
places. The researcher covered kilometers to reach settlement colonies.
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study, it is used to understand whether there is any difference among tribe communities
with regard to the mean income, expenditure and the like.
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