Professor Madhav Gadgil.
India is today a cauldron of conflict between beast and man and man and man. In the heart of Delhi monkeys attack women and bite off their noses, but if you strike them back with a stick and the monkey is injured you are liable to be prosecuted as a criminal. Indian Institute of Science’s Ecology Centre has operated since 1987 1977 a field station in the village of Masinagudi on the outskirts of Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary without any problems. But now the numbers of tigers have growth to a level that they are getting into villages and attacking people. Several people have been killed and when there was a hue and cry from the locals the Chief Wildlife Warden ordered the man-eating tiger to be shot1. Many urban nature conservation activists have protested and gone to court arguing against such an order. In Kerala wild pigs have become a great menace destroying cultivated fields and even attacking people. Kerala High Court ordered that these must be brought under control. In response the Forest Department launched a drive of mass killing of wild pigs employing professional shooters and activists have gone to court arguing that this killing of pigs should be stopped.
Dr. Sujit Kumar Datta, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
The purposes of this paper are to search why and how Sino-Indian relations in South Asia will transform into the post COVID era. When two big neighbouring countries of comparable national power are vying for influence in South Asia and strategic space, competition is bound to occur. Geographically, India is supposed as a South Asian provincial supremacy, but a nearer appearance exposes that it is in an unfavourable location vis-à-vis China in that region. The most crucial factor is that the Indian government doesn’t have more of the political, financial, and martial capabilities to track the South Asian regional power determinations than their neighbour’s for the long run. So, all the South Asian small states could continuously show the China card to balance India’s effect in their countries. However, these disagreements have evolved from confrontation to the mixed elements of competition and cooperation in the current period. Sino-Indian relations in South Asia has undergone a transformation with momentum toward collaboration on several South Asian regional issues over the last two decades. With Chinese inspiration in the South Asian region is rising day by day, it is vital that India not to fall behindhand in the South Asian area, but preserve a stable dominance in that region. In brief, this paper will articulate the construction of a valuable analytical outline for the investigation of the transformation of Sino-Indian relationship in South Asia in the post COVID era, revealing the importance of external factors in influencing Sino-Indian bilateral and multilateral interactions throughout the adjustment of the order of their political and strategic preferences.
Dr. Bimalendu Ghosh, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Kanchrapara College, Kanchrapara, West Bengal.
India and Australia have various commonalities, which provide as a foundation for closer cooperation and multifaceted interaction. Before independence, Australia and India were both part of the British Empire. Both are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, founding members of the United Nations, and members of regional organisations including the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation and ASEAN Regional forum. Both are strong, vibrant, secular and multicultural democracies. Both have a free press and an independent judicial system. They also share political, economic, security, lingual and sporting ties. As a result of British colonisation, cricket has emerged as a strong cultural connection between the two nations, as well as the English language. Recently, military cooperation between Australia and India is growing that includes the regular joint naval exercise AUSINDEX, security dialogues as Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). The two countries now share many security concerns, including the growing impact of China on the strategic environment. Thus, in coming years, India is likely to become one of Australia’s most important partners in the region. The rise of India will make it one of Australia’s most important economic relationships and a key diplomatic collaborator. Australia has recognised India as an important new strategic partner. India too is beginning to see Australia as one of several new security partners in the Indo-Pacific region in specific and economics and politics in general. The Australian market is one of the partners of strategic importance to India as it provides immense avenues to establish a foothold in the emerging East-Asian markets. Therefore this has become an important component of India’s strategic economic priorities as a part of its Act East Policy. In this perspective my article provides an overview of developments in the relationship between India-Australia from Post Cold-War to Covid-19 Era. The article then explores in detail the many potential areas for enhanced cooperation between them and finally includes observations on prospects for the relationship.
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.
Dr. Arindam Roy, Associate Professor of Political Science, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal.
Unlike most of the literatures which primarily concentrate on what is governance, how better it can be conceptualized/managed, and what are the parameters of it; the present paper moots a rather unsettling existential question as to why governance came into being in the first place. In course of analysis the paper argues that the concept of governance, especially the way it is understood by the donee countries, is a neoliberal construction of furthering its dream of unification of global markets by downsizing state on the one hand, and establishing mechanism for ensuring the repayment of loan amounts from the regions suffering the ‘failed state syndrome’ on the other, without strengthening the structure or institution of state. The paper views that the origin, maturation, trepidation and ramifications of the concept of governance is inherently associated with neoliberalism. Hence, the time has come to demystify the concept of governance and interrogate the neoliberal motives before adopting it.
Dr. Rajbir Singh Dalal, Professor and Head, Dept of Political Science, Central University of Harayana.
After the decline of Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), communism declined and democracy spread rapidly in the large part of the world as compared to the authoritarian regimes. Democracy is the government of the people, for the people and by the people. Now a day, democratic form of government plays the role of service provider and becoming more and more accountable and responsible to its citizens in which bureaucrats play a very important role. This new century is characterized by increased public awareness, expectations, intolerance and need a written commitment on part of government in deliverance of its services to the citizens. There is a need of such government/agency having high order of technical skills, flexible and adaptable structures and goal oriented procedures and above all such bureaucrats who are more concerned with problems of people by shedding their colonial mind-set; so that they will be able to provide a service of choice and of high quality. Citizen Charter is a deal or partnership between people and government. It is that part of democratic reforms which is people oriented and has a pro-active approach to good governance.
Dr. Phulmoni Das, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Dibrugarh University, Assam.
Subaltern resistance led by the subaltern groups is not new phenomenon to Indian history as it has been deeply marked in a long historical time. But the struggles of the subaltern groups have not been added to the mainstream discourses of history writing for quite some time. It was the initiative of the Subaltern Studies Group who first tried to make a serious attempt to trace the missing linkages of Subaltern struggle and to bring it to the mainstream discourses. Indian politics is marked by the influence of different subaltern movements lead by different subaltern groups such as dalits, adivasis, rural landless, tribals, minorities etc. This paper is an attempt to trace out the theoretical understanding of the subaltern resistances in India since colonial period. India also has been witnessing the proliferation of subaltern movements in post independent period. It is in this context this paper also tries to highlight the quest for identity movement of the tea garden community of Assam, as this community has been recognized as the one of the most marginal and depressed group of section. Based on their marginality and subalternity this community is referred as subaltern. Deprivation of this identity has lead to another phase of movement among the tea garden community of Assam. Ever since India became independent these people lost their Scheduled tribe status in Assam and thus they were deprived of their educational, economic and political privileges guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
Dr. G. Palanithurai, Professor (Retd.), Rejiv Gandhi Chair, The Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram.
India is basically a civic nation known for its civilizational values which has got the characteristics of unity internally and integration externally1. It’s richness lies in accommodating its extreme diversities. It has got a philosophical connotation popularly termed as “unity in Diversity”. Basically its greatness is in civilizational values and not in the material values. The cultural and civilizational values have kept the Indian society to practice tolerance, patience, endurance, benevolence, compassion and non violence which became the causes for its subjugation by the materialistic forces called western civilization. It is always a question, how a civilized society will exploit and subjugate others. Is exploitation a value of civilization? It is an irony that the British colonial administration gave a justification that their stay in the colonized societies was with an aim of transforming the traditional societies into modernized and civilized communities. There is no difference between the west and the east in terms of civilizational values, till west started using industrialization for material advancement through establishing colonies and subjugating colonized societies. Western civilization is basically an exploitative after it became an Industrial society2. It evolved strategies to exploit and subjugate people who live with nature. Indian society had been exploited for a long by various forces and it was deeply exploited and subjugated by the British. To free the society from subjugation and exploitation a civilizational value “non violence” rooted in Indian soil has been used as a powerful weapon by preparing the masses in the spiritual path and the external liberation has been achieved under the leadership of M.K.Gandhi. It is to be understood that liberation is complete only when people liberate themselves internally as envisioned by M.K.Gandhi. It is being explained by Vinoba Bhave in his “Swaraj Sastra”3. M.K.Gandhi dispelled the cloud over the path to be pursued and followed for literating India that violence never be the path and value for the society in India to achieve any progress and non violence is the base of India to human advancement. From 1915 to 1947, M.K.Gandhi played a decisive role in shaping the freedom movement by laying the path to be followed for liberation understandable to the common man and women in India. The whole process of liberation demonstrated to the world that without violence and weapons, society can be liberated by invoking the power of the people which is popularly called “soul force”4. M.K.Gandhi’s role lies in massification of the people’s movement to liberate in India and evolving ways and means to involve people in the liberation struggle. Further M.K.Gandhi enabled the people to evolve themselves by following the value framework created by M.K.Gandhi by using the values embedded in the cultural practices of the people. Thus M.K.Gandhi prepared the people internally by using the soul force. He created a new consciousness among the ordinary people of the Indian society to perform the task of liberating India by sacrifice.
Dr. Md. Ayub Mallick, Professor, Department of Political Science, Kazi Nazrul University, West Bengal.
Actually, public is a group or a programme of action intended to fulfil certain common goals with certain course within a certain environment, both intra-societal and extra-societal. Public policies are the purposive actions on the part of the government (Presthus 1975 and Anderson 1975). Public policies are formulated by authorities and these are authoritative allocation of values (Easton 1965). The policies provided by the political system produces new demands as inputs through feedback mechanism within particular environment. But, how decisions are made within the ‘black box’ that converts mass demands into policies? Elite theorists regard policies come from upward to downwards, masses are passive receivers. There is mass-elite gap. The elites try to share the basic values and norms of the society and try to maintain the social system - they influence and dominate masses producing mass culture through mass culture industry suitable for neo-market liberal society. In public policy process there are few steps - identification, formulation of policy, implementation of policy, necessary outcomes and evaluation of policy, necessary outcomes and evaluation of policy in pursuance of the present environment and situation. It is a continuous process - a ‘feedback’ linkage - ‘evaluations of current policy identify new problems and set in motion the policy-making process once again.’ (Dye 1992, p. 16-17). Planning-Programming-Budgeting System (PPBS) is to regularize and legitimize decision-making in bureaucracy by and through defining the programme objectives, measuring the project outcomes and the cost-benefit analysis. Demands made by the civil society are legitimized through ‘passive revolution of capital’.
Dr. S. Nagabhushana Rao, Associate Professor & Head, Centre for Equity and Social Development, NIRDPR, Hyderabad.
Global Goals, known as sustainable development goals (SDGs) are a new global development vision to create a better world by 2030. The global goals were adopted by the 193 countries and India is a visionary to the document. The global goals or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are universally set of goals to create a better and sustainable future for all by transforming our world. It is the agenda for 2030 for sustainable development. The countries are expected to frame their agenda and policies over the next 15 years. Already, 5 years have elapsed and remaining 10 years, the countries are expected to transform the world by framing and implement the policies, to end poverty, to fight inequality, to protect the plant, to enjoy peace and to ensure prosperity for all. This is to create equitable society and providing social and economic justice for all in the world. Aims of the global goals are ‘define the world we want in future and to ensure that no one is left behind’.
India is celebrating 75 years of Independence and putting every effort to develop the nook and corner of the county and to reach the last person in development process. The global goals (SDGs) will be implemented through grassroots institutions at local level. The ‘twin’ objectives of the local institutions (panchayati raj system) are envisaged in the Indian Constitution. These are 1) to ensure local economic development and 2) social justice. The government of India has adopted a ‘two’ pronged strategies to implement global goals in rural India. These are i) People’s planning campaign, and ii) Preparation of Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) / Village Development Plan (VDP).
The government has adopted multi-pronged approach to implement the SDGs in rural areas. i) Developing a wage employment policy, (MGNREGA) ii) Developing a technical skills to empower the youth (DDUGKY), iii) providing entrepreneur skills to the women by creating livelihood options, (NRLM) iv) by laying roads in every part of the county for better transport (PMGSY) v) saving every drop of water and providing water to the agriculture and to every rural households through water mission, vi) helping the age old people, single headed families and disabled people through social security measures like National Social Assistance Programmes etc,.
The present case study focuses on Jorandajharia, a village in remote part of Chhattisgarh state. The global goals (SDGs) were implemented in the village. The village has become a model village for implementation of global goals (SDGs). The village development process was facilitated by Mr. Deepak Soni, a young civil servant. The present study focuses on transformation of rural world through implementation of global goals (SDGs).
Dr. Cheruku Jeevan Kumar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Public Policy, Law & Governance, Central University of Rajasthan and Rahul Kumar, Research Scholar, Dept. of Public Policy and Public Administration, Central University of Jammu.
Sanitation is a widely discussed and debated topic of policy in India. The Government of India launched Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2 2014, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. SBM is a mission that exclusively focuses on sanitation and cleanliness. The task aims to make India clean by October 2 2019. SBM includes constructing toilets, solid and liquid waste disposal systems, and the safe and provision of adequate drinking water supply to every family from the countryside to metropolitan cities (MDW&S, 2015, p. 1). The driving features of SBM-Grameen are the elimination of open defecation (OD), providing subsidies for the construction of individual households latrines (IHHLs), changing the behaviour of individuals and triggering the community to adopt practice sanitation and personal hygiene.
Dr. Shankar Chatterjee, Former Professor & Head (CPME), NIRD &PR, Hyderabad, Dr. Arjun Gope, Assistant Professor, Ramthakur College, Tripura and Dr. Gautam Purkayastha, Associate Professor, Margherita College, Assam
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy India’s labour market is under pressure mainly because of a fall in the employment rate in rural India and continued low employment rate in urban India. Employment generation is need of the hour in India both in rural and urban areas. In India, two major employment programmes for rural youths are – RSETI and DDUGKY. RSETIs mean Rural Self Employment Training Institutes, an initiative of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to have dedicated infrastructure in each district of the country to impart training and skill upgradation of rural youth geared towards entrepreneurship development. And the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) was launched on 25 September 2014 with the dual objectives of adding diversity to the incomes of rural poor families and caters to the career aspirations of rural youth with wage employment. DDU-GKY is exclusively focused on rural youth between the ages of 15 and 35 years from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. In this research article, a few lines about DDU-GKY with successful cases across India and Amritsar, Punjab (in Amritsar study was carried by Shankar Chatterjee in August 2017) are presented. Also the author feels that academicians, researchers and others can take up extensive research on DDU-GKY. And educated persons should inform rural youths about the Yojana so that rural youths can take the advantage.
Dr. Manas Behera, Head, Department of Political Science, R.D. Women’s University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
The basic objective of Inclusive development is to include the excluded in the process of development so that they will get the benefits of development. The rural areas suffer from multiple forms of inequalities like caste, class, gender etc. Without an effective, inclusive and democratic system of decentralised governance system, inclusive development is not possible. The present paper is an empirical study of the role and capacity of the Panchayati Raj System in two districts; Sundergarh and Jajpur from a comparative perspective in bringing inclusive development, particularly for the marginalised and the excluded. The study was conducted through a combination of methods, comparative method, survey method and behavioural method through questionnaires, personal interviews etc. The variables of job, food security, housing, drinking water, education, poverty reduction programmes, transparency etc. were taken as minimum for inclusive development in rural areas. The opinions of both the elected representatives as well as of the beneficiaries were taken and analysed to develop an objective analysis regarding the capacity and role of the PRIs in inclusive development. These institutions have huge capacities and spaces for inclusive development. But the functioning of these institutions, their capacities, their governance structures and processes, the power structure and equations in rural areas, the shadow of the state over them and many factors are hindrances in their role for inclusive development. The democratic structures at the grass root level need to be inclusive to achieve inclusive Development.
Dr. Biju Lekshmanan, Asso. Professor, School of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies, M.G University, Kottayam.
The outbreak of COVID-19 severely affected the already damaged the fiscal relations between the Centre and the states in India. Centre’s apathy to take proactive initiatives to address the challenges posed by the pandemic created a significant loss of trust towards the union government by the states. The Centre’s expressed unwillingness to face the financial consequences of its own strategic decisions damaged the political and moral foundations of the federalism. Demand for more fiscal autonomy to states by redefining India’s fiscal federalismand strengthening of local governments with sufficient fiscal capacity is highlighted as the solution to address the unique socio-economic challenges in the post-pandemic India.
Dr. Nisha Jain, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Panjab University Regional Centre, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab.
Social and political theory has addressed itself to the question of subjectivity, complex formation of self and the exercise of power through the process of internalization of dominant cultural values. The subjectivity of women cannot be explained with reference to oppression perpetuated by few or many misogynists in the modern societies. The subjectivity is not a function of an external disciplinary power. There is no individual formally empowered to wield disciplinary power charged with the production of a properly embodied femininity-it is much more dispersed and anonymous. Psychological oppression is institutionalized and systematic. It is invested in every one and no one in particular; women and men alike are ideologically mystified by the dominant pattern. It breaks the spirit of dominated and by rendering them incapable of understanding the nature of those agencies responsible for their subjugation and oppression. This way it serves to make the work of domination easier. In fact, the gendered relations are internalized and are incorporated into the structure of the self. Social structure, cultural norms, and value systems based on the concept of patriarchy influence social expectation regarding the behavior of both men and women and determine the women’s role and position in the society. It is maintained that the subject is a product of institutions, practices and value systems. The question of subjectivity has formed the focus of many social and cultural theorists. Gramsci, Allthusser, and Foucault specifically have contributed to the understanding of the concept. The focus of the paper is to probe how the construction of a women subject takes place who accepts her femininity as natural. That way she not only makes it possible to be dominated more easily but she actually becomes an agency of her own oppression.
Sanjay Kumar Pattnaik, Research Fellow, Sri Sri University, Cuttack Odisha, Namita Rath, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha and Alok Kumar Sahai, Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha.
Mining and manufacturing industries are characterised by a dominance of males in the workforce. Women in executive and non-executive cadres fare less favoured due to the nature of work. This paper attempts to study Gender diversity, Equity and Inclusion in two mining companies in India, one each from public and private sectors. Responses were collected from the employees of the two companies and Likert type forced-choice questions were included for measuring the response against Gender Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The data was analysed graphically and a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) index was developed to measure the scores of the companies. DEI index takes a value between 1 and -1 with 1 representing the best DEI situation while -1 denotes the worst possible DEI scenario. We found that the DEI index for NALCO was -0.3240 while that of Vedanta was 0.1364. These scores were largely due to a favourable number of gender diversity. Both the companies fared poorly in terms of Equity and Inclusion.
Dr. Madhu Thawani, Department of Public Administration, South Gujarat University, Gujarat.
The Constitution of India under health care allocates various services to the Central or State Governments based on 3 lists viz. a) Central List includes research, establishment of tertiary level institutes etc. b) State List includes provision and regulation of basic preventive, promotion and curative services, establishment of public health and sanitation services, hospitals and dispensaries etc. c) Concurrent List includes programs like population control, family planning, medical education, registration of births and deaths etc. The Central Government provides guidelines and the respective State government implement them. On the whole, provision of majority of health services is States’ responsibility. Due to the limited capabilities of the Public health Sector in providing health care service to all and the public expenditure on health being less than 1% of GDP, the need of Public Private Partnership in healthcare system was emphasized. The private sector today provides nearly 80% of outpatient care and about 60% of inpatient care. To reap the benefits of private sector in health care industry private healthcare sector is recognized as an integral part of the Indian Healthcare by the National Health Policy 1983 and thereafter National Health Policy 2002, National Population Policy 2001 and National Rural Health. Private health care in its own way is complementing and supplementing efforts of public health care system. However the results are not encouraging as private sector is a profit making institution which is not ready to work with public sector unless they get profits. In this paper we will examine the reasons why the private sector is not ready to enroll itself in government programmes and what can be done to overcome this situation.
Dr. Deepa Awasthi, Assistant Professor, A.N.D. Teacher’s Training (P.G.) College, Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh.
Every child is a potential citizen of nation and development of child lies on whole society. Any nation cannot be expected to develop and compete with the rest of the world for long time without a mass of good progressive children and they become more important in the case of country like India having largest population of young and adolescents. They are the only ray of hope for country. Family, friends, school, society contributes to development of children; out of this family is most important. Family include mother, father, siblings, and grandparents. It is necessary that relations among them should be healthy for their all round development. Safety, unconditional love, mutual respect, acceptance and flexibility in relations are the few important factors for strong parent child relationship. Whole personality of child depends upon the parents child relations. Odd relations among both parents and parents-child relations have adverse impact on child development. Now days it is seen that relation between children and parent reaches to a state where their lies no communication between them. This research paper is based on a comparative study of students of secondary level (class 9th) of government and private schools of Lucknow city. The aim of the study was to compare the parent child relationship male and female students of government and private schools. Sample of the study was comprised of 120 students. Random and incidental sampling techniques have been used to select the sample. Data has been gathered through Personal data schedule and Parents Child Relationship Scale, constructed by Dr. Nalini Rao. Findings can be summarized as- 1. No significant difference in parent child relationship has been found between male and female students of government schools. Mean scores have shown that female students of government schools have better parent child relationship with their parents than male students.2. Significant difference in parent child relationship has been noticed between male and female students of private schools in favour of female students.3. Significant difference in parent child relationship has been found between students of government and private schools in favour of students of government schools.
Dr. Smita Nayak, Head, PG Department of Political Science, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.
The first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru termed the Panchayats as little republics. PRIs since independence played a decisive role in shaping the course of Indian democracy. Three-tier Panchayati Raj structure also strengthened the process of decentralized governance in India and 73rd Constitutional Amendment brought radical changes towards paving path for women’s empowerment through perpetuating the spell of reservation for women in all key positions of PRIs. The women Panchayat leaders were specially empowered in Odisha as the state took pioneering steps in spearheading women’s empowerment. Odisha is also reckoned as an exemplary state for rapid growth of SHG movement augmenting women’s empowerment. In this article, the researcher delves deep in to the issues of changing Gender perspectives in view of management of COVID-19 revamped through convergence of women Panchayat representatives and leaders of Women Self Help Groups in sample districts selected specifically for the study.
Dr. Nithya N.R, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Kerala.
This paper attempts to investigate the experiences and accomplishments of Kerala in its battle against Covid 19. The State of Kerala is known all over the world as an educationally advanced part of the country which has many outstanding achievements in the field of education, health, habitat, land reforms etc, generally constitutes what is widely known as ‘Kerala Model of Development’. Social equality is one of the hallmarks of the Kerala Model. Today we are passing through a most turbulent crisis in the form of the Corona virus, which originated from Wuhan, China. As the great global crisis of this century, it affected almost all countries of the world in one way or the other. All of the governments of the world are striving hard to contain the spread of Covid 19 viral infections. Kerala state in the south part of India has become a model state in the fight against Covid-19. The state government’s prompt response to COVID-19 can be attributed to its experience and investment made in emergency preparedness and outbreak response in the past during Kerala floods in 2018 and especially, the NIPAH outbreak in 2019. Many developed nations are in awe of the achievements of Kerala in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. What is really the Kerala model of Health? How Kerala is responding to Coovid 19? What can the rest of the world learn from Kerala’s experience? Is Kerala’s strategy is successful in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic? These are some of the questions that I would like to answer through this paper. The paper concludes by emphasising the prominence of Kerala’s public health care system, the role of local self-government institutions and community participation in the management and control of Covid-19 pandemic.
Anitha. R, Assistat Professor, Sree Narayana Arts and Science College, Kumarakom and Dr. Ambeeshmon. S, Institute of Management in Kerala, University of Kerala.
The implementation of the Responsible tourism classification criteria in the accommodation units of Kumarakom has been a landmark today. Based on the Global Sustainable tourism criteria; these criteria are developed for ensuring the sustainability of the tourist destinations, and to contribute significantly to the indigenous populations of the destinations. The triple bottom approaches of responsible tourism are the environmental sustainability approach, socio-cultural approach, and economic responsibility approach and they form the basis of the classification criteria. Among these, the criteria of both the economic sustainability criteria and socio-cultural criteria have been effectively adhered to by the hospitality industry in Kumarakom. Here, the researcher analyses the fourth section of the open-ended criteria which are subjected to the binomial test, and its adherence to the hospitality sector of Kumarakom tourist destination in detail. The responses are collected from the tourists who stayed in the RT classified resorts at Kumarakom. It has been observed that the majority of the criteria have successfully adhered to. But the global pandemic is drastically hit by the entire tourism segment. Almost all resorts are forced to reduce their workforce by fifty percent or to reduce the salary by fifty percent. No foreign tourist arrivals are recorded for the last eight months.
Dr. Bhuwan Chandra Melkani, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, M.B.Govt.P.G.College, Haldwani, Nainital and Anil Kumar, Research Fellow, Department of Commerce, M.B.Govt.P.G.College, Haldwani, Nainital.
In modern world tourism is emerged as one of the largest service-sector industry and generates national income as well as job opportunities especially for local population and become an avenue of economic and social development and cultural exchange. Tourism is not merely an activity for leisure and entertainment but it also an enriching and energizing activity. Uttarakhand known as Devbhoomi or ‘Abode of Gods’ is a site of temples and pilgrimage, endowed with salubrious climate, exotic greenery, rich flora besides its rich culture. The Kumaon region of the state of Uttarakhand is attracting tourist in large numbers and is becoming one of the preferred choice of visit. Beside all this the tourism industry in the region is facing some problems which need to be considered to capitalize the potential of tourism in the Kumaun region. The present paper tries to analyze the problem as well as prospects of tourism development in the Kumaun region of the Uttarakhand state, the nature of the research is Descriptive and based on the secondary sources of data. The study results reveals that no doubt there are many challenges and problems for tourism development, but with certain improvements and proper planning the prospects for tourism development can be capitalized.