South Asian Journal of Socio-political Studies

VOL.XX NO.2 January - June 2020

Constitution and Democracy: Seventy Years of India’s Experience

Prof. (Dr.) R.L.M. Patil, Formerly Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, University of Bangalore. The constitution of modern democracies like the U.S and France confirm that a constitution is not simply a legal document but also a political manifesto which contains compromises and contradictions. The textual theory and the practical necessities together determine the functioning of the constitution. To cite just one example: both U.S and French Constitutions contemplate a parliamentary/congressional system of government and yet gave way to a presidential model of government because of the historic fact that a great figure happened to be elected the President of the Country, Gen George Washington in the U.S and Gen Charles De Gaulle in France. In India if Pandit Nehru were to be the President and an ordinary politician the Prime Minister, our Constitution, too, would have worked out the Presidential way without a change of any provision in the Constitution! Generally speaking, the experiment of Constitutional democracy has faced odds all over the world except in a few countries. Constitutions have been scrapped or replaced almost all over Asia, Africa, Latin America and even Europe for reasons of unworkability and changing circumstances. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are some of the leading examples in our own neighbourhood. It is heartening to see that in India the Constitution, launched in 1950, is working well. Democracy and Constitution have helped each other well here. The performance of any institution or idea can never be perfect. The Indian laboratory for experimenting the joint working of democracy and Constitution has indeed been satisfactory although there is room for improvement.

India’s Policy options in Middle-East: Challenges and Opportunities

Dr. Debasish Nandy, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Kazi Nazrul University, West Bengal. India’s relations with Gulf countries and West Asia are very old. The Middle- East region plays a significant role in India’s economy, as it provides about two-thirds of India’s total oil imports. Bilateral trade, especially with the U.A.E., Iran and other Middle-Eastern countries in the Persian Gulf are growing in recent years. For long times, millions of Indian migrants have been moved to search jobs in the Middle-Eastern Countries and they are considered as a significant part of the total remittance received from out of the country. On the other hand, India always maintains a balancing political strategy with the Middle Eastern countries. As such, the relationship between Israel and Palestine is known as the born enemy. But, India played a separate tactical political strategy with those countries. In the viewpoint of political security, India has signed prisoner repatriation treaties with different Middle-Eastern Countries. India has also signed various agreements with Israel to purchase defense equipment. India has been able to achieve sympathy from Middle-East countries in the question of border terrorism. West Asia has been witnessed to unforeseen volatile political changes, which have necessitated re-sketching of India’s foreign policy in the face of new challenges and opportunities (Chakraborty 2013:43. The traditional relations aside, India adopted a specific Look West policy in 2005 for deepening her engagement with the West Asian neighbors. West Asian countries have been considered as ‘extended ‘and ‘proximate neighbors’. Stability and democracy are two key factors that India seeks to restore in the region to secure her vital interests that include the safety and security of her expatriates, energy supplies, food security, investments and projects in the region, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, combating maritime security piracy and the sensitiveness of her vast Muslim community.

Gender and Political Economy: Dimensions of Exploitation

Dr. Venkatanarayanan. S, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Christ University, Bangalore and Dr. Valentina Fusari, University of Pavia, Corso Str. Nuova, Pavia, Italy The correlation between gender and political economy is intricate and contentious, as the precise nature of its nexus is complex to be comprehended. Gender roles are very rigidly practiced widely, similar to caste and class hierarchies entrenched in the social fabric. Gender organizes social life and thus much of individual experiences. It also contributes to the gendered roles in neoliberal political economy - lack of security, opportunity, and empowerment, which ultimately lowers the quality of life. This article is an attempt to examine the relation between gender and neoliberalism to understand how women are socialized as a weaker gender within it. The nature of wage employment and its forms within neoliberalism reveals the gendered exploitation in this political economy. The article will elaborate the larger theoretical understanding of gender to understand the impact of neoliberal political economy in contemporary times.

RTI (Amendment) Act, 2019: A Threat to Participatory Democracy

Tanvi Yadav, Doctoral Fellow, Department of Public Policy, Law and Governance, Central University of Rajasthan and Prof. (Dr.) Nagendra Ambedkar Sole, Dean, Department of Public Policy, Law and Governance, Central University of Rajasthan. In Democracy, awareness of people is the only source of surviving. Right to information is considered as the fundamental human right under the preview of UDHR at International level. In India, Right to information was enacted to bring out transparency and accountability in governance. The Evolution of Right to information includes enormous debates, discussions and several battles in social as well as the legal field in the form of movements and petitions, respectively. After such a long struggle, when the time has come to make the Information Commission as a constitutional body, Government is cutting the powers and independence of Information Commissioners through the amendment in RTI Act. The 2019 amendment in the RTI act is a threat to participatory democracy and autonomy of the Information Commission. People can be free when they have the right to participate in democracy through their knowledge about their freedom. The paper explores the journey of RTI in India from evolution to judiciary commitment and examines how the current amendment is a threat to Right to Information.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019: Constitutional and Legal Dimensions

Prof. (Dr.) M.R.Biju, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Dean, School of Legal Studies and Head, Department of Public Administration and Policy Studies, Central University of Kerala, Kasargode-671320 and M.R.B. Anantha Padmanabha Deputy Editor, South Asian Journal of Socio – Political Studies (SAJOSPS) The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) is an Act passed by the Indian Parliament, amending the Citizenship Act of 1955. This new legislation gives an opportunity to illegal migrants who entered India on or before 31 December 2014 for Indian Citizenship. The Act also specified that illegal migrant category include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains, Parcis and Christians who came from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It also seeks to relax the requirement of residence in India for citizenship by naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years for these migrants. The Act excludes Muslims from such eligibility. The Union Cabinet cleared the Bill on 4th December 2019. It was passed by Lok Sabha 10 December 2019 and subsequently in the Rajya Sabha on 11 December 2019. Keeping this in background this paper attempts to examine the constitutional, legal and political implications of this legislation. The study has been classified under six broad heads- introduction, background of CAA provisions of granting citizenship, argument for and against CAA, its impact on north - east and finally views of various political parties on it. Further, it can be stated that the CAA aims to provide Citizenship to those who had been forced to seek shelter in India because of religious persecution or fear of persecution in their home countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is primerly meant Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parcis and Christians. This is a drastic shift from the professions of the Citizenship Act of 1955 that labels a person as an ‘illegal immigrant’ if he or she has entered India withour travel documents or has overstayed the date specified in the documents. It there for amends the 1955 Act to grand exemptions to illegal migrants from the above mentioned countries, who reached India on or before December 2014. Further, according this new Act, the Amendment will not be applicable to the tribal areas of Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the 6th schedule to the constitution and in the areas covered under the ‘inner line’ notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873. Finally, it also proposes to incorporate a subsection (D) to Section 7, providing for cancellation of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration where the OCI card holder has violated any profession of the Citizenship Act of any other law in force.

General Elections 2019 - Performance of Maharashtra: An Analytical Studye

Prof. (Dr.) Mrudul Nile, Dept. Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai Maharashtra has a legacy of progressive social movements which are deep rooted in its social and political history. The state of Maharashtra has been one of the leading states contributing immensely to the social policies of the nation. A state that boasts of Gokhale, Agarkar, Lokmanya Tilak who contributed to the freedom struggle in India, to Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Savatri Bai Phule and Dr. B.R Ambedkar, who are the founders of the social thought of not only Maharashtra but also of the entire country, left great impact on politics of today. Maharashtra as mentioned above replicates the voting pattern which affects the central government was seen in 2019 elections too. Earlier, the congress used to replicate the pattern but now since 2014, BJP too has been successful to replicate the pattern. BJP exploited every opportunity to win the election. Phulwama was a life saving incident for the BJP. Congress’s strategy to lure the people failed. Rahul Gandhi, the then Congress President, came with a slogan ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ and tried to expose the issue of Rafel deal. But with the Phulwama attack, BJP stressed the need for it. Congress could not actually muster the support of the public sector undertakings which were being considered for privatisation, the bank employees strike, the farmers march, the dalits and muslims. The vanchit Bahujan Aghadi was one of the most important factor which influenced the results in almost ten out of forty eight constitutencies. In many places, VBA occupied third position. The Shiv Sena completely bread on BJP’s campaign and more importantly derived the benefits of the Phulwama attack. Shiv Sena could not take up local issues effectively during the entire campaign of general elections 2019.

European Union Development Co-operation Policy: A Critical Study

Dr. S. Jeeva, Guest Faculty, Department of Politics and International Studies, Pondicherry University The European Union (EU) is the largest multilateral donor/purveyor of development cooperation assistance and accounts for well over half of international aid transferred from the developed to the developing world. The major aims of the European Development Cooperation Policy (DCP) are said to be fighting underdevelopment, improving international distribution of wealth and enhancing global distributive justice and they have become core issues in the Union’s effort to build a more just, harmonious, peaceful and principled world order. The present paper aims to study and analyze the Major Issues in the framework of European DCP. The WTO argues that Aid for Trade has a supportive role to play in the realization of the MDGs. However, better infrastructure and capacity building alone would not be sufficient. The EU should also remove tariffs and quotas which discourage or exclude produce from developing countries. It needs to provide opportunity for the developing countries to have free and fair trade with the developed markets. To achieve this, policy coherence is indispensable. Policy incoherence leads to a situation in which the benefits that the EU gives through its development cooperation programme is taken away by its other policies. The best option left out for the EU to achieve its development goals and for the developing countries to achieve real development is policy coherence and Europeanisation of the development cooperation policy and programme.

China’s String of Pearls in Indian Ocean and its security Implication for India

Qurat ul ain, Doctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Kashmir China is emerging the great power of 21st century Ports and pipelines become veins and capillaries for the survival of great nations. China since 1990s has encapsulated an Idea under which it persuaded the South Asian Nations Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan to allow its ports used by China for military purposes or to allow construct naval bases. This process of persuasion is popularly known as Chinese strategy of String of Pearls. The String of Pearls is a network of installations the aim of which is to prove its power in Indian Ocean, the backyard of India and to reach Middle East the energy hub of the world. The String of Pearls extends from the coast of mainland China to the port of Sudan. It is said by Ms Cristina Lin who is an energy security consultant and former director for China affairs in policy planning at US department of defence said dragon will become a great sea power in 21st century, and that it may challenge the predominance of United States in the Indian ocean and could threaten India in their very own Bay of Bengal. India considers it as a security threat responding it by upgrading its naval power and is 12involving great powers like US and France by signing a strategic pact to thwart Beijing, s expansion into India’s traditional sphere of influence. The research paper will analyse the political strategies related to String of Pearls and objective of this Chinese Foreign policy. The paper will also explore the security concerns that it poses for the regional powers particularly India. It will also analyse the security implications that the India have Vis a Vis encirclement and its impact on Indian security. Both descriptive and analytical method will be used.

Role of Digital Technology in Governance for the Local Development: A Case study of Nagpur District

Prof. (Dr.) Neelima Deshmukh, Senior Fellow, ICSSR /MHRD, Dr. Babsaheb Ambedkar College of Law, RTM Nagpur University. Digital India is a latest flagship programme of Government of India to transform India into complete digitally empowered as well as IT enabled and knowledge economy of the world. The main aim of this brainchild of PM Narendra Modiji is to provide Indian citizen s electronic government services by reducing the paper work and reducing the corruption and red tapism saving the manpower and time. No doubt it is a very good technique of good governance which was launched on 1st July 2015 to ensure that the government services are made available to the citizens electronically by improving online infrastructure and internet connectivity. The digital India provides intensified impetus for further momentum and the progress for e governance and would promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices manufacturing and the job opportunities .The main aim is to reform governance through technology .This three dimensional vision of this programme is to provide digital utility to every citizen Governance and Services on demand and Digital empowerment of the citizens. Laying emphasis on universal digital literacy, and availability of the digital resources /services in Indian language, which would facilitate to meet the challenges of LPG era, upcoming Smart Cities, Metro cities, and other infrastructural development of the nation at world class level. It assumes greater relevance and importance in the context of Smart City where in every household and the individual will be digitally empowered having the thrust on IT the great enabler for empowerment, equity and efficiency. Its focuses on the broad banding villages, participative governance, digital learning , tele medicine, mobile health care , e learning tools, skills development , jobs creation, open source and open standards, E bhasha and others.

Organized Vs Unorganized Manufacturing Industries in India: State wise Analysis Since 1980-An Assessment

Dr. D. Indrakumar, Deputy Director, National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development, Narela, Delhi There was drastic growth in the manufacturing industries in the country in recent years. As compared with the unorganized manufacturing the organized manufacturing industries has expanded at large scale. The adoption of new economic reforms in 1991 has helped the manufacturing sector to grow much faster. There is sharp rise in the large scale manufacturing industries in the country after this reform with the help of foreign direct investments. Country has become one of the most favoured industrial destinies of the world for certain manufacturing items like automobile industries. The present paper aims to assess the contribution from the organized and unorganized segment of manufacturing industries in the country since 1980. As India was basically agriculture based economy industrial sector was not given its due importance as a result of which virtually there were no major industries in pre-independence era in the country. However there were many clusters / localities which dominated for artisanal and handicraft work in the country. Mostly all those product specific clusters adopted the traditional methods to produce their products. Handloom textile products, crafts and artisanal items were the major products which were largely produced in the industrial clusters during the pre-independence era. However, the modern industrial base which was systematically phased in Europe and America was not developed in the country because of technical issues. Even during British Rule, country has not shown any industrial development. Instead the textile raw materials were taken to United Kingdom from the country and send back as finished textile products. The marginal development in the logistics and infrastructural developments in the country during coloniel period was not sufficient to promote industrial base in the country.

Reproduction of Marginality Through Developmentalism: The case of Tribal Population in Attappadi, Kerala

Nishamol. M, Doctoral Fellow, Department of Applied Economics, Cochin University of Science and Technology and Dr. K. Rajesh, Head, Social Science Division, Integrated Rural Technology Centre, Mundoor, Palakkad. The discourses on development is closely linked with the progress in the lives of human beings which lies in the attainment of socio-economic stability and quality of life through the effective usages of natural resources and human capabilities. Similarly, as the promotion of the socio-economic and cultural development of tribal population, the governments have been implementing lot of projects in the tribal areas. Attappady is one among the marginalised tribal belts in Kerala, so as the governments distribute lot of fund for the welfare of tribes in this area through various projects. Attappady is a good example of how the distorted development projects of government affect the way of life of tribal communities without considering the necessities of the end users of projects. Among these, the tribal economy was worse affected by the AWCEC project of AHADS. They attempted to implement the activities of eco-restoration project to the affected areas in the name of donor-recipient concept, especially among the tribal lands. This negatively affected the tribal population in Attappady in such a way of destruction in agriculture culture as well as agriculture land and also their traditional livelihood sources. The lack of proper exit policies and failure of proper planning for long-term livelihood assistance are the noted drawbacks of AHADS. Through the direct or indirect intervention of AHADS, the tribal communities unrooted from their traditional cultural capabilities.

Role of State Administration in accelerating Farmers’ income in Odisha

Soumya Sagarika Sahoo, Doctoral Fellow, P.G Dept. of Public Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Dr. Padmalaya Mahaptra, Associate Professor, P.G Dept. of Public Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha Agriculture and allied activities is an important sector of the economy of Odisha, providing livelihoods, reducing poverty, ensuring food security and giving a boost to industry and service sectors. As the economy progresses, countries have experienced the movement of labour and capital from extractive and commodity production sectors to value added activities – both in manufacturing and service sector. This has occurred in Odisha as well.However, this does not diminish the importance of the agricultural sector; rather, it allows scope to improve productivity as technology changes and facilitates growth in the economy.Agriculture sector in 2018-19 posted high growth after a sharp downturn in the preceding year.The agriculture sector is also the largest employer in the state. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2017-18, 48.8% of workers (aged 15 and above as per Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status (UPSS)) are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. This sector is a major source of employment, especially in rural areas; 56% of the total rural workers are employed in the agriculture sector.The target of doubling farmers’ income in a short period requires identification of sources of income growth and enabling conditions for harnessing their growth potential.The paper concludes with an observationeffective coordination between centre and states is important in mainstreaming and channelizing policies and investment to achieve the target of doubling farmers’ income.

An Innovative CSR Project for Health and Hygiene: Study from Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu

Dr. Shankar Chatterjee, Formerly Professor and Head, CPME, NIRD &PR (Govt. of India), Hyderabad According to the World Toilet Organisation, “A clean and safe toilet ensures health, dignity and well-being - yet 40 per cent of the world’s population does not have access to toilets.” By constructing and subsequently utilizing toilets many diseases can be prevented and thus health and hygiene can be decently maintained. Keeping in mind of the issue, the World Toilet Organization was established in 2001 with the aim to break the taboo around toilets and the sanitation crisis. Since 2001, World Toilet Organization lobbied governments, public and private sector stakeholders and the international community to prioritize sanitation in the development agenda. In India, in addition to Government of India and respective state Governments, one NGO viz., Gramalaya based on its office at Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu has been doing praiseworthy work as Gramalaya has been promoting SMART toilets (S - Safe and Sustainable, M – Maintainable, A – Affordable, R - Recyclable (waste), T - Technically perfect). Also Gramalaya has been producing sustainable sanitary pads (washable) for the menstrual girls and women. In this research article, activities of Gramalaya by constructing SMART toilets were studied by the author at Thiruppaiyur village of Budalur block of Thanjavur/ Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu in September 2019. These toilets were under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), funded by Lion Dates Impex Private limited. Lion Dates Company is India’s largest date processing and trading company.

GST in the Indian E-Commerce Industry: Legal Configuration

Prof. (Dr.) M. Sarngadharan, Senior Fellow – ICSSR, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram E-commerce is a broad term that evinces the exchange of services and products online, inclusive of services of all kinds as well as affiliate, physical, and digital products that involve an exchange of funds online. The Goods and Services Tax has subsumed various indirect taxes in India, like Service Tax, VAT, and Excise Duty and so on, since its introduction in the commencement of July 2017. This has fortified the indirect tax mechanism of both central and state governments in simplifying the taxation system in India with the displacement of multiple taxes. This paper attempts to assess: a) the structure of e-commerce industry in India; b) the salient provisions of the GST Act 2017 pertaining to the e-commerce industry; and c) apparent after effect of the unraveled by GST rules on the e-commerce industry. Secondary data available in research reports and periodicals were collected and used for the work. The e-commerce sector has been still under preparation by focusing on provisions specific to this sector in the GST Act. The success of e-commerce sector is largely a dependent on the increasing number of retail entrepreneurs, who fall in the unorganized retail sector category. The government has included such players in the ambit of GST with an intention of broadening the tax base and has introduced specific provisions for the e-commerce companies.

Economic Status and Living Standards of Agricultural Women Workers: A Case Study of Visakhapatnam District

Prof. (Dr.) D. Pulla Rao, Senior Professor, Dept. of Economics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam In the lower socio-economic level of the society, women do more hazardous manual labour than men. Women do more than half of the agricultural works in India. Still men are considered to be the bread winners. This sense of women being inferior is passed on from one generation through psychological conditionings. The most widespread and de-humanizing discriminations and assault against women are on the psychological level. The female psyche is being crushed at the very childhood. The female psyche is brutalized long before bodily violence is inflicted on her. They are conditioned to accept inferior positions in society. Women from childhood undergo a slow unconscious process of destructive or denial of their self worth. Society, through a process of conditioning, creates in girls at home and in school certain thinking patterns, which ascribed to the female sex an inferior status. The analysis relating to decision making process of the selected agriculture women worker households reveal that the selected agriculture women worker households are taking advice from their husband, parents, village elder and other sources. Majority of the members of the sample agriculture women workers are taking advice from their husband while taking a decision on any household economic activity. Nearly, 13.33 per cent of sample agriculture women workers depending on their parents for taking a decision about the household economic activities. Others are taking advices from the village elders that possess rich experience in different fields. Thus, it is evident that majority of the sample households seeking help and encouragement from their family members.

Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Aspirations of Women Entrepreneurs in Odisha

Dr. Alok Kumar Sahai, Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Sri Sri University Cuttack Odisha and Dr. Namita Rath, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha Women entrepreneurs are guided by motivations for success, independence, locus of control and above all financial independence. Psychological factors such as attitudes, experiences and values play a large role in influencing intentions to become an entrepreneur. In this article we attempt to determine the factors affecting the entrepreneurial intentions of women by employing the Theory of Planned Behaviour. We have studied 413 women entrepreneurs supported by the various entrepreneurial schemes of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) of the Government of Odisha. The forced choice Likert type questions were analyzed using structural equation modeling approach. The results emphasize that the intent and planned behaviour control are the two key determinants of whether an individual will pursue an entrepreneurial career or not. The predictive power of the TPB in business startups is quite in line with the similar research methodology found in the other domains.

Activities of Neo Gandhians for Rural Transformation

Prof. (Dr.) G. Palanithurai, Formerly Professor, Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies,The Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram The Kambur model of empower of the poor brings to light a new opportunity for the poor to use the panchayats through Gram Sabha for effective delivery of services. This model unequivocally demonstrates that fear of the poor over state and politicians can be removed if a few dedicated volunteers joined together for public activities. The youth in Kambur have demonstrated that they joined together with passion and commitment to serve the village and for that they have equipped themselves and evolved strategies to work with the people. They have followed the strategies of M.K.Gandhi. They worked with poor for two years and won their confidence and brought them to the Gram Sabha meeting. Though the members of youth group know the nature and character of the state, they strategically evolved a design to work with the state to get better delivery of public goods for the people more specifically the poor. Having got the success in getting better services from the bureaucrat, the poor have started evincing interest in listening to the youth and participating in Gram Sabha meeting. The member of youth group have raised the fact that the community in the villages has been divided on caste and party lines for exploitation by the political and bureaucratic class. The youth group has evolved a strategy to raise the consciousness of the people that “development of all in the villages could be possible in the present context by using the panchayat only through uniting all the segments of the village community beyond the caste divisons and political affiliations”. By supplying the needed information about the total expenditure of panchayats over a period of time, the community is sensitized that if the allocated amount is spent properly many of the demands of the people could be met very easily.

Gender Inequality and Women Empowerment through Various Indicators in India: An Explorative Study

Dr. Santhosh Mathew, Assistant Professor, Centre for South Asian Studies, Pondicherry University. Women make 49.6% of world population and 48.17% of Indian population. India is at 191st position out of 201 countries in terms of female to male ratio. Among Asian countries, India is at 43rd position out of 51 countries on the basis of UN (world population prospects) and Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI), India. There is no contradict of the truth, that is women in India after a long struggle they are achieved a considerable development in approximately seventy years of freedom, however they are still have to fight against many cultural barriers and social restrictions in the country. Every day we see that in the society from ancient to till date to the privileges, responsibilities and opportunities of women, it is depends on the cultural traditions and customs of the family and society. Women empowerment is the practice by which women gain power and control more than their own lives and attain the capabilities to form their choices. This is very important because throughout the world women are still facing biased in access to education, work and economic assets and participation in government. India has slightly improved in World Economic Forum (WEF)’s wage equality for similar work indicator, where it stood at 72nd place. The country has also closed its tertiary education enrolment gap for the first time in 2018 has managed to keep its primary and secondary gap closed for the third year running. Interestingly, India has the second largest Artificial Intelligence (AI) work force but one of the largest AI gender gaps, with only 22% of roles filled by women. So women empowerment is a one of the major achievement to Sustainable Development. In this paper we are trying to find out gender equality and women empowerment indices based on 8 population indicators of the 29 states and 7 union territories of India, from 4th National Family Health Survey (NFHS). In this study we are trying to cluster the groups based on urban and rural populations of the 36 States/UT’s of India using Cluster Analysis. It is useful to policy makers for taking decisions to women development activities and empowerment.

The State of Exit Interview: An Exploratory Study on the Opinion of the HR Managers in Bangalore and Mysore

Dr. Nilanjan Sengupta, Professor, SDM Institute for Management Development, Mysore and Dr. Mousumi Sengupta, Professor, SDM Institute for Management Development, Mysore. An exit interview essentially is a technique which is used to gather information about such employee, who is leaving an organization, voluntarily (employee off-boarding). The gathered information may be used by the organizations to investigate the areas of improvement in the organizational culture, its work process, leadership style and its position as a recruiter vis-à-vis its competitors. This in turn may lead to higher retention and enhanced productivity. Exit interviews serve as the means through which management understands the value of its brand as an employer and how employees perceive the organization. Therefore, organizations must treat the employee off-boarding process with equal importance as the onboarding process and develop a standardized procedure to collect and use the gathered information in the relevant context. Keeping the above in mind, it is important to investigate the state of the exit interview in the organizations, in India. The present paper makes an attempt to investigate the perception of the HR managers about the state of exit interview at their present companies, taking three major issues into consideration: ‘usage of information collected during exit interview’; departing employees’ behavior during exit interview’; and, ‘standardized procedure for exit interview’. A questionnaire, consisting of items representing the respective items, in the above-mentioned context, has been circulated among the HR Managers, working in Bangalore and Mysore, in the state of Karnataka, in the IT, Retail, and Manufacturing sectors. Based on their responses, data has been analyzed.

Effective Marketing Strategy for Non-Profit Organizations-Museum as a Special Case

Prof. (Dr.) Subrato Bhadury, Dean, Heritage Business School, Anandapur, Chowbaga Road,Kolkata. Non-profits like museums became part of our life because demand for art and cultural objects cannot be adequately met by marketing initiative undertaken by public or private sectors ( because either artifacts and exhibits do not lend them to market or economic transactions or tastes are too diverse to constitute large enough aggregate demand to interest commercial organizations & entrepreneurs). Reason is, once an artifact is displayed and opened to the viewers, then it is immaterial from the cost and supply side analysis, whether there are 1,000 or 1,00,000 visitors in a month. Moreover, objects and artifacts covered under culture & heritage have origin & chronology too discrete and uncertain that their optimum level of procurement & display can never be precisely predicted. Strategic marketing intent here is effective demand management in a network of keeping art and cultural objects in most meaningful way, keeping knowledgeable staff for value added service and keeping the visitor’s care and comfort level high which may generate positive word of mouth(WOM). Attention is also paid to improve augmented services such as welcoming behavior,mapping and displaying of galleries, cleanliness of the facilities, improving servicescape, shopping, dining and a relaxed learning environment for its visitors.The central focus is on how much more time is spent for museum and making the audience inquisitive as well as satisfied with the offerings.

Sustainable Tourism as a Tool to Mitigate Anthropocene: A Case of Mawlynnong Village in Meghalaya

Village in Meghalaya Prasanth Udayakumar, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management (Govt. of India), Bhubaneswar campus . The term anthropocentrism which signifies a new geological epoch is evoked to call for an immediate recognition of the global implications of the destructive operations of mankind. As per the concept, human beings are considered as “Anthropos” who are detrimental in pushing the earth-system into an ever-increasing uncertainty and unpredictability through their activities. Since tourism is firmly knotted in the earthly processes, tourists can be considered as a subspecies of Anthropos. Tourism is an industry which thrives upon natural and cultural resources. An unplanned way of tourism development can harm the earth through climatic changes, global warming, and biodiversity loss. Tourism has its impact on socio-cultural aspects too in the form of cultural degradation, displacement effect, commodification of culture and so on. At the same time considering the enormous economic potential of tourism, the development of tourism cannot be ignored. The destructive nature of tourism called the attention of researchers and planners to come up with precautionary measures to avoid a threat – “Tourism kills tourism”. Over the years, principles of sustainability, responsibility and environmental ethics have been incorporated in tourism planning to address the negative impacts concerned with tourism. Since it is a popular belief that tourism is a contributor of anthropocene, the concept of “Sustainable Tourism” can be effectively used to contemplate this popular belief. Sustainable tourism is the concept of visiting a place as a tourist and trying to make only a positive impact on the environment, society and economy. The present study is based on a case analysis on Mawlynnong village in the state of Meghalaya. In order to evaluate the contribution of sustainable tourism in environmental conservation, an in-depth analysis has been done, which covers the profile of tourists visiting the destination, eco-friendly tourism practices in the area, the functions of Eco-committee in the village and the sustainable tourism policy of the local self-government.

Doomsday Tourism and the Resurgence of the Dying Art Forms of Puducherry, India – An Empirical Study

Dr. Anu Chandran R.C., Assistant Professor, Department of Tourism Studies, Pondicherry University Vijayalakshmi R., Assistant Professor, Mount Carmel College, Autonomous, Bengaluru and Mary Jeniffer S., Doctoral Fellow, Department of Tourism Studies, School of Management, Pondicherry University. Tourism paves the way to lay accent and imbibe major initiatives undertaken to revitalize the unique art forms. In the present day, transition of heritage and traditional practices hampers the perpetuation of the art forms mainly due to lack of essential attention. In this context, doomsday tourism is a stimulant as well as a medium which triggers hordes of tourists to endangered destinations to relish the art forms before they disappear forever. Puducherry has enamoring indigenous art forms and are indeed treasures to preserve. This paper examines the prevailing practices, preservation efforts, rejuvenation measures, promotional trends and action plans to endure and sustain the art forms of the Union Territory (UT) of Puducherry. The scope of this research underpins the preservation of the dying art forms with the involvement of the stakeholders configuring the government machinery, NGO’s, tour operators, artisans, scholars and activists. The Participative Action Oriented Research has been adopted to collect data complemented by the Delphi Technique. Thematic analysis has been carried out for deriving apt inferences. The implications reveal that various art forms are in a vanishing state due to lack of interest by the exponents, lack of fiscal incentives for the artisans, lack of recognition and patronage, improper rewards, absence of traditional artists, tampering of the nuanced features of arts, and the conscious wreckage of artistic expressions.