South Asian Journal of Socio-political Studies

VOL.XXII NO.2 January - June 2022

Para-Diplomacy and Constituent Diplomacy

Abhishek Jain, Recipient of the Daksha Fellowship for Technology, Law and Policy, New Delhi The paper is an attempt to ascertain the differences between two types of diplomacy at play and to trace through their features, the different attributes, rationale and implications of diplomacy that the governments and sub-state actors resort to, namely Para-diplomacy and Constituent-diplomacy. The paper will start with a basic introduction to the concept of diplomacy and its significance in foreign policy making. It will move towards the substantive questions in order to aim for greater clarity of the topic. The paper will lay out the reasoning and delve into controversial yet politically and economically significant issues. Thereafter, nuanced arguments will be offered for nations practicing the two types of diplomacies and the interpretations of such diplomacy along with the conditions necessitating constituent or para-diplomacy to be in practice. The paper will analyse through certain case studies and examples from the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, India and China to provide a comprehensive and comparative outlook of the two types of diplomacy opted by various countries and the results that have followed. The paper will also delve on the question as to whether the two types of diplomacies are relevant to countries beyond the western democracies and whether such types of diplomacy have a future.

India-West Asia Relations

Dr. Santhosh Mathew, Associate Professor, Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies & Social Sciences, Pondicherry Central University, Puducherry. This article tries to understand and evaluate the importance of West Asia for India. It looks deeply at the various multifaceted reasons that make West Asia connected and vital to India. The West Asian countries have the closest ties with India regarding economic, political and cultural linkages. The change of attitudes and policies is also closely evaluated, along with observing the impact on the Indo-Pak strained relation. India-West Asia relation has been upscale in recent years after the turbulent few years. India is trying to give more importance to the extended neighbour. It tries to frame policies and tripartite foreign policy to maintain an excellent healthy relationship with every West Asia member. Multiple reasons are from the sizeable Indian diaspore in the gulf region, large per cent remittances to the high dependency on the GCC countries for oil and energy resources to the rising trade relations to the defence partner. All these factors force India to maintain a cordial relationship with West Asia.

The Emerging Hegemony of China and its Impact on International Relations

Dr. Jacob John, Retd. Professor of Biochemistry and Ph.D Fellow in School of International Relations & Politics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. The quest for competition, domination, expansionism and conflicts or confrontation has been existing from prehistoric period and the present global community is forced to conclude that the emergence of unipolarity with globalisation may be the zenithal point of human intellectualism. The current state of international politics indicate that the bipolarity may not take man again to a state of multipolarity but to one of permanent bipolarity with one possessing technological supremacy and the other one competing to dethrone the existing technological hegemony of US. That US could close the second world war with nuclear devices and that this is the best way to win a war several developed countries and the developing countries speeded up the attempts to fabricate the nuclear weapons. Thus UK, erstwhile USSR, France, China, Israel and India could succeed in making nuclear arms and missile systems fitted with nuclear war head. However, immediately after the second world war the process of decolonisation was speeded up and with this the spirit of nationalism was hastened. As more and more nations acquired sophisticated defence equipment the world was transformed into one of tripolarity with the first world framed upon the principles of capitalism, the second world carved out of the values of socialism and the third world moulded on the principles of idealism with an antifirst world and prosecond world approach. On account of the tripolarity tensions between nations sprang up leading to conflicts and military confrontations. However, UN contributed substantially to bring peace to the warring nations.

Developmental Gap and Statehood Formation: Debatable Issues

Prof. K. Vidyasagar Reddy, Department of Political Science, Central University of Mizoram, Aizawl. Debates over developmental notions assume significance when regional disparities exist in various states in India. Different regions of states cannot look alike, geographically and development wise, so similar pattern of development is unanticipated. Nor is it feasible. Based on the local resources and needs that the developmental strategies have to be formulated and implemented. Whenever the state and governments assume the responsibility of balancing the interests of different regions, both advanced and backward, then there cannot be scope for regional inequality. But in the name of democratic governance, usually the numerically dominant regions would seek better development than the others and even at the cost of the latter. Obviously, the interests of both regions would become conflicting at times. In a way, it is about developmental gap that leads to the rise of statehood movements as it happened in more than a dozen states in India. While four such movements got materialised into the formation of new states in the last two decades, many more are anxious about their fate. Of all the factors that contributed for the rise of statehood movements, development gap as part of intra-state differences had become the main bone of contention and that paved the way for organising the mass movements in some states. This paper is aimed at debating the issues both developmental and otherwise that had precipitated the statehood movements in the country. And, this paper is also about debating the developmental strategies that would help the new states to achieve the promised development, as was assured when statehood movements were underway.

The Intersection of Identity and Politics:A Study of Refugees in India

Monika Tiwari, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Political Science, Dayalbagh Educational Institute , Agra, Uttar Pradesh and Dr. Vinod Khobragade, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Political Science, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The world is witnessing a wide range of wars, causing increase in displacements globally. Each year, the number of refugees is rising rapidly, making it a serious socio-political and humanitarian crisis. In this lieu of the events, India has been hosting refugees since independence. India, over the years, has faced more refugees than ever due to instability and socio- political persecutions in neighboring countries, such as; Bangladesh, Tibet, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Yet, India has not developed any national policy or law for dealing with the refugee influx. The absence of law has made stand of government more situational and political rather uniform and consistent, which has increased uncertainty over the refugee rights and refoulement under customary International law. The recent Citizenship Amendment Bill has also increased the fault lines in dealing with the refugee crisis. The paper is an attempt to assess the current situation of refugee influx in India and to analyze the stand of Indian government over the years towards the refugee crisis. It suggests for framing National Refugee policy to address the gravity of the matter. The world is sustained by humanity. At present, the world is going through humanistic catastrophe where governments and politics, are required to reassess their stands over the refugees’ plight. In recent years, the issue of refugees have been used as a nationalist agenda on podiums but not taken on forums to have substantive discussions. India, being a neighbor of the two major displaced countries i.e. Afghanistan and Myanmar, is affected by the regional disturbances. When India locates itself as major stakeholder in South Asian region and Asian politics at large, it is cardinal for India not to escape its responsibilities. Even if India does not sign the 1951 convention on Refugee safeguards, it is the need of India’s foreign as well as the domestic policy makers to manage the refugee influx in its territory. The urgency of India’s own refugee policy is underlined by the mounting refugee camps in India as temporary residence of refugees with uncertain future. Moreover, the refugee crises must not be dealt in accordance with the political taste of the state. It must be taken as an integral component of countries future and image in the world politics. It is an issue which requires much needed attention of the government, failing to which, it can put our national interest at stake.

Changing Complexion of Indian Bureaucracy – An Empirical Study

Dr. Ch. C. Prasad, Assistant Director (Retired), Dr.B.R.ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad, Telangana and T. Vijaya Gouri, Research Scholar, Department of English, Krishna University, Machilipatnam, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. Bureaucracy in spite of its so many shortcomings plays a vital role in the policy process of governance. It is being a professional and skilled body of officials has a major roles such as suggestive, analytical and informative to implement policies. In the present paper an attempt has been made to analyse the role of bureaucracy in policy process in perspective at below the district level and suggests required skills and capabilities to cope up with dynamic internal and external environment in which it exist. For the purpose of study a brief survey was undertaken among the District Collector’s of two Telugu speaking states viz. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It is observed that an emotionally indifferent or neutral bureaucracy will fail to deliver goods as policy process is a multi actor-centric. It is also noticed that partnerships between civil society organisations and government agencies have contributed to greater effectiveness in the implementation of welfare and development programmes at grass root level. It is highlighted that bureaucrats who possess technical, ethical and leadership competencies will be well served to citizens. Innovativeness and citizen-caring virtues must be needed to cope up with changing environment at the grass-root level. Further, it is highlighted that in the present scenario, bureaucrats and political representatives have to be played multifaceted roles to provide good governance at local level and to strengthen the grass-root democracy. In the present networking era of governance, bureaucrats approach must be shift from its conservative and stereotypical, traditional role to flexibility and openness approaches with accountability, responsiveness roles to service citizen better.

Glimpses of Pre-school Education in Delhi: Reflections and Responses.

Dr. Savita Kaushal, Associate Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE), Faculty of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Preschool education is widely recognized as a crucial component of a child’s learning, leading to favorable outcomes in primary school. Children between the ages of three and six are in their formative years of development, learning to acclimatize to new environments away from home. Every early childhood education programme provides a loving, caring, and stimulating environment for children, allowing them to develop the required skills and competencies for studying the 3Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) in meaningful ways in formal institutions. Preschool education enhances school readiness by easing a child’s transition from a more unstructured home environment to a more formal and structured school one. Preschool education is important for increasing primary school enrollment and retention, as well as supporting girls’ education, particularly in terms of childcare, health, and nutrition. Various research studies have shown that the ECE programme has a good impact on children. These benefits have been observed in terms of enhanced health, personality development, learning new concepts, language acquisition, academic achievement, and a lowering of primary school dropout rate among children who have participated in an ECE programme. This article is based on field research conducted in selected government-run and private preschools in Delhi. According to the study, there is a strong necessity of major excellence on quality grounds in both the preschools belonging to private and public sectors.

State Politics: BJP’s Thumping Victory in Assam

Dr. Phulmoni Das, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Government Model College, Deithor, Karbi Anglong, Assam and Robin Hazarika, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Kamargaon College, Golaghat, Assam. Electoral Politics of Assam has been witnessing different dimensions since its independence. It was the Congress which dominated the electoral politics of late British and the early post-independence period. Till 1996 the party had suffered defeat only in 1978 and 1985 assembly elections. But the electoral politics of the state since 1985 became a turning point in Assam politics. It was the period which seen the debacle of congress and it also coincided with the emergence of community based smaller parties often called regional parties. The one party dominant system was giving way to a multi-party system in which political parties of various ethnic groups or smaller cultural communities began to play a significant role. This period also showed the emergence of Bharatiya Janata Party( BJP) and which has also gradually playing a significant electoral force in the politics of the state. It is in this context the rise of BJP in the politics of the state can be contextualised.Therefore the present paper is an attempt to understand the BJP’s return to power and the paper also tries to highlight the major grounds on which BJP’s success in the state election 2021 in Assam can be interpreted.

Determinants of Voting Behaviour in Indian Political System

K. V. Manjunatha, Assistant Professor & Principal, Department of Political Science, Government First Grade College, Srinivaspur, Karnataka. Abstract: In the democratic political system voting places a very important role. Voting is the life blood of democracy due to citizens elect their representatives through the elections for forming a better government. People uses voting as a mode of interacting their acceptance or rejection to governmental policies. Voting behaviour denotes to the responses of citizens related to participating in the elections that take place for electing members or their representatives of their local, regional, or national government. The study of determinants of voting behaviour of people in Indian political system comprises a very important area of study. An intensive literature review regarding study of the determinants which inspire and influence the voters to use his right to vote in favour or against a particular candidate. Voting behaviour is determined by different forces such as gender, race and pressure groups religious and communities, the influence of money or charismatic personality of a leader. The main purpose of the present study is to carry out literature review regarding voting behaviour in India and to accentuate the factors that decide the voting behaviour in India.

Finances of Southern States in India

Dr. Jerry Alwin, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Sree Narayana College, Varkala, Kerala, India. The objective of the study is to examine the finances of southern states in India such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana during the period 2009-10 to 2019-20. In southern states, there is considerable difference in the fiscal situation in terms of fiscal indicators, social sector expenditure and development expenditure. The factors influencing the growth rate of revenue receipts are issues related to implementation of GST, issues related to collection of non tax revenue and devolution of taxes and grants according to recommendations of the UFCs. Persistent high level of revenue deficit forces the states such as Andhra Pradesh Kerala and Tamil Nadu to rely on borrowings to meet revenue expenditure. This has weakened the fiscal capacity for spending on capital items, development and social sectors and has pushed these states to fiscal crisis. The above analysis may be concluded as follows. In southern states, there is considerable difference in the fiscal situation in terms of fiscal indicators, revenue receipts, revenue expenditure, social sector expenditure and development expenditure.The factors influencing the growth rate of revenue receipts are issues related to implementation of GST, issues related to collection of non tax revenue and devolution of taxes and grants according to recommendations of the UFCs. Persistent high level of revenue deficit forces the states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to rely on borrowings to meet revenue expenditure. This has weakened the fiscal capacity for spending on capital items, development and social sectors and has pushed these states to fiscal crisis. On the other hand revenue surplus states such as Karnataka and Telangana can be rated as having sound fiscal management.

Public Policy Debates in Childcare: The case of Odisha

Dr. Swapna S. Prabhu, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The Government of Odisha has introduced various child-centric strategies and schemes since 1975 emphasising mainly on expectant and nursing mothers, maternal mortality rate, and women nutritional deficiency, however, ignoring the aspect of ‘assess to child care’ for women workers. This deprives the nursing mothers and their children of their basic right to good health and nutrition. By analysing the existing social security measures introduced by the State towards childcare, the paper argues that in order to promote the health and welfare of mothers and children, strong legislations are needed that treat maternity and child care services as one, besides generating awareness amongst the people about the rights of the child to family environment and maternal care.

Food Security among the Socially Excluded Communities: Public Options

Arun Kumar Nayak, Reserch Fellow, P.G Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Odisha and Prof. Padmalaya Mahapatra, HOD, P.G Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Odisha. The right to food and freedom from hunger reemerged during the 1990s. The historical World Food Summit was held in Rome in 1996, in which 185 countries participated and signed the ‘Rome Declaration on World Food Security which reaffirmed the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food. Consequently, the right to adequate food is recognized as a fundamental human right. It is reiterated by The UN’s one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), viz. “Eradicate poverty and hunger”, by 2015 and subsequently it is the foremost priority in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goals to achieve by 2030. Food security is an important means to realize the right to food. It means assured access to adequate food for all members of the household throughout the year. India has been witnessing the phenomenon of erratic monsoon consistently. It has serious implications on the food sufficiency and food security of the country. Poor monsoons also affect the welfare of people in terms of the availability of drinking water and employment opportunities. Food security addresses the inherent issues like nutrition, health, education, economic access to nutritious food and safe drinking water, and livelihood security of the marginalized communities. Food insecurity being the result of social, economic, and livelihood backwardness, the most affected are the socially and economically vulnerable sections of the communities SCs, STs, and Muslims. The insecurity will be more among the landless laborers, female-headed households and women, widows, the aged persons and households with more children (especially the girl children), and casual workers who formed the core of the vulnerable sections of the total population and consequently constitute the poorest communities.

Public Health Issues and Beyond:Snakebite Envenoming in India

Nafeesath Sabida S.M, PhD. Scholar, Dept. of Social Work, Pondicherry Central University, Puducherry and Dr. A. Shahin Sultana, Profaessor, Dept. of Social Work, Pondicherry Central University, Puducherry. WHO officially listed snakebite envenoming as a highest priority neglected tropical disease in June 2017. Nearly 5.4 million snakebites take place each year, resulting in 1.8 to 2.7 million cases of envenoming. Extensive community-level research on snakebite deaths in India was estimated at 45,900 deaths in 2005. Annual snakebite deaths were most significant in the state of Uttar Pradesh (8,700), Andhra Pradesh (5,200), and Bihar (4,500). The literature on snakebite in India indicates that snakebite envenoming has failed to draw requisite attention for public health policy inclusion and investment for dynamic, sustainable efforts to reduce the medical and societal burden. This paper draws on a narrative review of the economic, socio-cultural and ecological aspects of snakebite in India along with its public health importance. Suggestions for improving the mitigation and management of snakebite by actively engaging the members of society is put forward, focusing on WHO’s identified objective of empowering and engaging local communities in halving snakebite mortality and morbidity by 2030.

India’s Maritime Security: Issues and Challenges

Dr. Ramesh Kumar, Associate Professor & Head, Department of Political Science, Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh, Haryana. In India’s economy and energy security, maritime trade plays a significant role. The Indian Ocean Region handles the majority of India’s trade and energy supplies (IOR). The ocean is said to carry the majority of India’s trade. As a result, safeguarding the marine region is unavoidable. Apart from this, India’s location makes marine security a major worry for policymakers in the country. India has a 7,517-kilometer coastline. Within the continent, there are 5,422 kilometers. Andaman and Nicobar have a coastline of 1962 kilometers, whereas Lakshadweep has a shoreline of 132 kilometers. Piracy, illegal landing of guns and explosives, infiltration, use of the sea and off-shore islands for criminal activity, drug and human trafficking and smuggling are just some of the threats that this extensive coast line poses. The lack of physical barriers along the coast, as well as the presence of critical businesses such as ports and critical defense facilities like as RADARs and nuclear reactors, increases the danger and the necessity to secure its coastal territory. Furthermore, there is a need to safeguard the ocean’s resources in a long-term way. Traded products and services are delivered to land via ports located around the country and along the coastline. This paper’s goal is to address the many concerns and challenges that India’s maritime security faces. This article examines how these developments and difficulties have influenced India’s assessment of maritime security in the Indian Ocean section, as well as how India has developed its strategy to address them? The majority of the sources utilized in this study are secondary.

Zotero for Managing Library Services

V. Sriram, Chief Librarian, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. For most researchers, the tedious aspects of their work are creating citations and managing references and bibliographies. Zotero easily and effortlessly solves this problem. It is a free and open source citation manager developed to help researchers to collect, manage, cite and share research resources. This software which allows researchers to easily create, communicate and collaborate with each other has caught the attention of library community too. In a bid to retain core library users and to attract new users, libraries have always adopted cutting edge tools. In this article the author explains in detail how to install, configure, and effectively use the Zotero software. The different purposes, for which it can be used in the library are also discussed. This article will serve as a ready reference for researchers and library community who are on the lookout for a free simple tool to manage resources.

Thematic Plan for Youth in the Rural Economy: A Study on Skill Development and Employment

Dr. Anthony Rodrigues, Professor & Director – Research Centre, Department of Commerce, Goa University, and Prof. Alok Kumar Chakrawalm, Vice Chancellor, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (Central University), Bilaspur, It is often said that you cannot do things the same way and expect different results. In order to see changes, one needs to do things differently. Industries shall not expect to see growth if they do not invest in Skill Development. Therefore, investing in Skill Development beneficial to the industries as much as to it is to employees. Skill Development always leads to competitive advantage. In order to be the best, an individual needs to have something that nobody else has. Hence, skill development helps in grooming and shaping an individual into a leader. Among the three Talukas, Mormugao has the majority of unemployed youth followed by Salcete since there is no exposure of other opportunities and facilities available for youth, very few training centres, and no awareness. As compared to female, male are the more unemployed since they are less educated, hence there is low employability. Various schemes are available but youth are not fully aware of all the schemes except for PMEGP, PMKVY, and PMRPY. Almost 80 percent of youth haven’t applied for the schemes because of the long procedural issues, tedious paper work, etc. Youth wants to take up self-employment jobs but are somehow not able to because of lack of education, fear if failure, low self-confidence, fears of criticism, low personal morale, lack of finance, etc. Most of the youth feel that if they are given assistance for self-employment, they can take up self-employment schemes. Very few made an attempt to make use of self-employment schemes. More preference is given to formal education rather than Skilling; hence educated unemployed youth are not ready to avail for the schemes. Youth feel that in the near future the level of educated unemployed will increase since the level of competition in job market is increased.

Political Empowerment of Women through SHGs. The case of Kodagu district in Karnataka

Kavya C.T, Research fellow Department of Studies in Political Science and Dr. Midatala Rani, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Mysore. The concept of women development sought to include women at deeper of levels of inclusions in terms of political and Social and economic empowerment, which needs to be implemented at the basement of the Social pyramid. Even today women development seems to have different connotations. The women development model is pondering upon either to seek collaborations or contradictions among the various stakeholders of the society. It may include women & development, women development and child welfare, gender studies or main streaming of women activism and movement. According to the UN declaration on women development noted that, the interlink ages between women development and its social, economic and political elements have been neglected with a serious discord and same needs to be re-established and monitored . Amartya Sen states that “State Policies Have No Meaning Unless They Consider the Weakest Person of the Society”. According to Amartya Sen the process of development can be witnessed as a “process of expanding the capabilities of people.” Capabilities refer to the alternative combinations of functioning the person can achieve, and from which a person can choose the choice of alternatives to lead his /her life with social dignity and economic freedom and free- fair will to participate in political movements. .The notion of freedom is embodied in the term ‘capabilities’ – the range of options a person has in deciding what kind of a life to lead . Dr. BR Ambedkar distinctly makes the point of increasing gender ratio and making women economically strong, through the revolutionary thoughts of political empowerment of women .Indian constitution upheld that Women empowerment is the ability in women to take decisions with regard to their life and work and giving equal rights to them in all spheres like: personal, social, economic, political, legal considerations .(Article 14 , Article 15, Article 16, Article 19, Article 21, Article 39 A, Article 42, Article 51, Article 243 D, Article 243 T). The present study attempts to analyse the Political Empowerment of Women through Self-Help Groups in the region of Kodagu district of Karnataka state through empirical support of primary data collected by using survey method of research. The study is dedicated to the sample size of 150 members of Self-Help Groups functioning in Kodagu district. The statistical techniques like percentage analysis, T test /ANOVA- Analysis of Variance are used to assess Political Empowerment.

Water Poverty in Agricultural Sector: Role of Conjunctive Irrigation in West Bengal

Bishakha Ghosh, Jamshedji TATA RULNR Institutional Doctoral Fellow Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad. Access to an adequate amount of clean water is essential for maintaining good health and also that access to water is essential for food production. People can be water poor in terms of lack of accessing an adequate amount of water to meet their basic needs in the absence of sufficient water sources in the local ecosystem. Present paper is an attempt to analyse the link between poverty and access to irrigation at the farmer level. This paper is also an attempt to understand role of conjunctive irrigation for improved access to irrigation. Primary data at household level has been collected from two districts of the state. Results show that income poverty is directly related to water poverty in terms of its use for irrigation. It also explores the factors influencing access to irrigation water. Use of conjunctive irrigation for better access to irrigation has been discussed at country and state level.

Music Sampling and Blockchain Technology.

Dr. Annamma Samuel, DPIIT-IPR Chair Professor, Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Attalika Avenue, Knowledge Corridor, Koba, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Blockchain technology will help overcome the gap that exists gap between the two contradicting goals of music copyright law. A blockchain has the ability to store music files embedded with “smart contracts” that will automatically recognise when a musical work is being used and what it is being used for. Subsequently, based on this recognition, it can facilitate the transaction. This function will make the act of licensing sound recordings more efficient and simpler, which in turn will decrease the transaction costs. The unsigned or emerging artist will be incentivized for their collaboration and the original artist’s work can be protected from being appropriated without proper compensation if the licensing of sound recordings is available at a more economical cost. Therefore, the watertight approach of “if you want to sample, get a license” will a strong deterrent effect on artist creativity and collaboration123. Resultantly, this will open the door for courts to unanimously shift towards adopting the bright line approach, which will create certainty and clarity in a conventionally muddy doctrine without compromising an artist’s creativity. While blockchain technology’s application to the music industry, especially in the regulation of music sampling is exciting, there still exists policy and technological hurdles that must be catered to before we can realize this vision in a fully-fledged manner.

Marketing and Branding of Tourism in Kerala: An Analysis

Dr. Asha T. Rajan, Assistant Professor Govt College, Attappady, Palakkad and Dr. Ajitha S, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Public Administration, SDE, University of Kerala. Tourism development in national and international levels had attracted the ‘public policy makers’ attention. Tourism development and marketing process are closely tied together and can affect each other in different aspects. But tourism industry does not attain considerable progress, due to lack of attention to marketing of the tourism (WTO,1997). A country that has enough facilities and possess potential of tourism, but does not consider marketing techniques, will not be successful in growing and developing its tourism industry. Thus, in order to gain progress in tourism, giving attention to retrieval look is essential. Recently, in tourism industry, the concept of destination marketing and branding has attracted considerable attention and interest of researchers, Government and practicing marketers all over the world. The emerging concept of destination marketing and branding, even though is not widespread, carries important potential for tourism destinations. The process of developing an understanding of the destination branding process as well as the factors influencing its applicability is of great importance in the marketing of tourism. On this background the present study tries to analyze the significance of marketing and branding strategies adopted by Government of Kerala in the promotion of tourism. The study analyses the marketing strategies of the Kerala tourism sector, perception of the tourists about the promotional activities of Tourism in Kerala and the strategies adopted by the supporting organizations. The findings of the study reveal that the marketing and branding strategies in tourism industry leads to the overall development of tourism sector in Kerala.

Consumer Behaviour in Automobile Industry: Impact of Covid 19.

Lijo Mon L, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Mar Ivanios College (Autonomous), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Due to the emergence of globalization and liberalization there is a stiff competition among the automobile industries which are focusing attention in capturing the Indian markets during this pandemic situation of COVID-19. At present automobiles have become a common need and almost a necessity product. This sweeping change leads to increase in demand for different types of automobiles. Automobile financing is a common facility provided by banks and non-banking finance companies which include the people in the purchase of automobiles. Public in this situation is more conscious about health, giving it the first priority. Here the researcher tried to attempt a study on the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior in automobile industry. 200 samples were drawn for the purpose of study by using convenient sampling method. The study reveals that maximum of respondents made their self-decision before making a purchase. It was extracted from the responses that when a buyer enters a showroom to purchase a product, then most of the time he is with the frame of mind for the product he is going for, the buyer does his homework and comes down with a frame of mind to go for the product.