What’s your money worth? A new series from the front line of the cost of living crisis, where people who have been hit hard share their monthly expenses.
Name: Kailas Rathod
Age: 32
Occupation: Street hawker
Lives with: His wife Sunita (25), and two youngest children Rushika (4), and Vansh (2), in a two-bedroom apartment. His younger cousin Anpros Rathod (21), and his wife Sonu Rathod (19), live in the second room. His two older children, Aditi (10), and Anushka (8), attend a boarding school in a neighbouring state.
Lives in: Hyderabad, India’s fourth-largest city (population 6.9 million) in the southern state of Telangana. Kailas is from a village called Mandvi in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra, but first moved to Hyderabad in 2008. Since then, he has gone back and forth depending on the demands of work and family. In 2021, as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions eased and work opportunities dwindled in the village, he returned to Hyderabad. His family remained behind but his wife and two youngest children joined him in September 2022, halfway through the month during which Al Jazeera followed him.
Monthly household income: Ranges from 22,000 to 23,000 Indian rupees ($267 to $279). He is the only member of his nuclear family who earns an income. His brother also gives him a Rs 15,000 ($182) share every year from the income from their farm in Maharashtra. According to government estimates, the per capita monthly income in India in 2020 was Rs 11,254 ($150-$160 at the time).
Total expenses for the month: About Rs 19,000 to Rs 20,000 ($230 to $240).
