Mukherjee, N.

This is a study of PRA methods of mapping and ranking that have been used in two Indian villages to study the villagers' perception of rural poverty. The maps were used to help the villagers identify the poor households in the village, rank them, and understand the basis of the ranking process. The ranking procedure takes into account not only living conditions and assets of the household but also their accessibility to food, employment, public services and common property resources.

From a position of disenchantment with traditional approaches to poverty measurement and alleviation, it presents an analysis of rural communities' perceptions of rural poverty as revealed through the use of PRA. The study covers three Indian villages where PRA techniques of mapping village households and land use, were used to arrive at a wealth ranking. The paper also suggests policy measures based on the rural community's perceptions.