Rum1 socio-economic chonge Is often inodequarely captuned by social science reseorch in the &Id. This happens
partly duc to perceptions of the nsearchers and partly due to inadequacies of research tools and approaches,
Tlrispoper illus~mtesth e situation by pmenting evidence on incidence of rum1 poverty in two villages of Rqiosthan
as examined through different approaches, during 1963-66 and 1982-84. Households that have become poonr
by conventional measurement oj income in fact appear better off when seen through dvferent qualitative indicators
oftheir economic well-being. The poper suggests the need for supplementing conventional measurements of income
by qualitative indicators of change to orrive at a realistic understanding of rural socio-economic change
