Dr. Ramesh Kumar, Associate Professor & Head, Department of Political Science, Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh.
The Indo-Pacific area is the place with the globe’s most powerful militaries, major economy, busiest commercial routes, and utmost numerous population. Following their successful coordination in coordinating tsunami relief in 2004, the Quad (short for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) met in 2007 to discuss security-related issues, and its warships conducted a military exercise. Despite the fact that the grouping’s operations came to an end prematurely in 2008, as China’s growing assertiveness in the zone, it has decided to keep participating in bilateral and trilateral security cooperation. Senior official meetings resumed in Manila in November 2017. The Quad navies staged a significant military exercise in November 2020. The first Quad summit took place in March 2021. The declared purpose of the alliance is to defend the liberal, rules-based worldwide command, which China is trying to destabilize through a revisionist challenge to the status quo. Rather than forming institutions or military alliances, its operations focus on developing progressive convergence of cooperation on a variety of themes, such as Covid-19, climate change, essential and developing technologies, counterterrorism, cyber security, and disaster recovery. The Indo-Pacific may become a collaborative area under the next US administration. France, Germany, and the Netherlands have all created Indo-Pacific strategies or guidelines, raising expectations for the EU’s overall policy in the region. The major goal of this study is to examine the role of QUAD in the Indo-Pacific and its significance for India, as well as to describe China’s impact in the province.
Dr. Prerana Bhaduli, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar.
Caucasus is shrouded with uncertainties and complexities in the wake of conflicts. Following independent statehood in 1991, intense and aggressive ethno-nationalism, ethno-territorial rivalries, geopolitical games and absolute human misery have been integral to Caucasian politics. Past several long years, the unresolved and ‘frozen’ nature of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been influencing the political map of South Caucasus. This particular conflict has been hailed by several analysts as one of the most intractable disputes in the world. The ethnic claims on Nagorno-Karabakh are contested based on projected national identities which remains to complicate the efforts to conflict resolution. This has indeed made the region’s future prospects for integration and development seem bleak. The research demonstrates that security and peace is overdue in the war-torn region as the important stakeholders involved is vying for their own national interest in a pretext to gain influence. The objective of the paper is to analyse present status in addition to studying key hurdles to a viable peace process. Study endorses an analysis of the conflict resolution mechanism to prevent full scale ‘unfreezing’ of the conflict.
Rini Rachel Abraham, Guest Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, Mar Thoma College (M.G University), Thiruvalla, Kerala
Sri Lankan economy has had many ups and downs since its colonial days. Currently, Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis. From historical economic imbalances to heavy dependence on external aid and support, domestic politics and economic mismanagement, all have contributed to Sri Lanka being in the present situation. The article mainly examines whether the present crisis is the result of an externally induced ‘debt–trap’ or the domestic mismanagement of the economy or a consequence of both. It also briefly discusses India’s development cooperation with Sri Lanka and its response to the present Sri Lankan crisis.
Dr. Dipankar Dey, Faculty, Department of Political Science, Central University of Andhra Pradesh, Ananthapur.
Maritime connectivity has increasingly grown across the Ocean, especially to make it easier to boost economic transit, strategic interdependency, and logistic support. In this context, the Bay of Bengal remained significant for connecting entire South Asia to Southeast Asian countries. In detail, the Bay of Bengal lies at the core of the Indo-Pacific, and its subsidiary, the Andaman Sea, acts as India’s Geo-strategic gateway pass in the region. India has referred to the Indo-Pacific as a free, open, inclusive and rule-based order to respect all nations’ sovereignty and territorial integrity. The strategic capability and capacity significantly influence to the maritime connectivity. Hence, this paper will argue the different dimensions of India’s maritime connectivity and security implication for regional integration. This paper will also critically analyse that how India’s maritime connectivity and security initiatives primarily benefited the Bay of Bengal to enhance India’s partnership towards both immediate and extended neighbours.
Dr. Santhosh Mathew, Associate Professor, Centre For South Asian Studies, Pondicherry Central University.
As opposed to the regarded Chinese hydro-hegemony in the South Asian and the Southeast Asian region, India is often questioned about its own hegemonic practices of conducting hydro-relations with the Himalayan nations which largely impedes cooperation. Focusing mainly on the India-Nepal hydropower diplomacy, numerous treaties like Kosi, Gandak or Mahakali treaty has been largely ineffective in cases of major disagreements ranging from hydropower generation, distribution, flood management or the building and maintenance of dams between the nations. Simultaneously, the rise and persistence of the China factor in terms of hydro diplomacy and socio-political factors in the region challenges India’s policies of hydro-poltik with the Himalayan nation. This paper analyses the factors determining the hydro-relations between India and Nepal encompassing domestic and geopolitical conditions in comparison with China’s existing and building inroads in the Himalayan hydropower ssector.
The paper talks about the impediments and the opportunities in the field of hydropower diplomacy and assesses the contemporary as well as previous socio-political factors that has been dictating the perceptions and hence determining the trajectory of the said cooperation
Dr. V D. Radhakrishnan, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Sree Narayana College (University of Kerala), Cherthala
For the United States of America, their failure in Afghanistan was a foregone conclusion. But the speed with which the Taliban surged in was beyond their expectations. American intelligence agencies seemed to have estimated that Kabul will fall within ninety days after the withdrawal of U.S. forces. The Washington Post reported this on August 10. But, without any resistance and even a fight, the city fell in a single day, on August 15. It is beyond any doubt that it was the Pakistan Army’s logistics and advice that helped and eased Taliban’s march to Kabul. Pakistan nurtured the Taliban and designed their effortless way to power in Afghanistan. Afghanistan holds a very important position in India’s network of trade and diplomatic relationships. But the strong ties between the two countries have been abruptly derailed by the establishment of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The failure of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and the simultaneous resurgence of the Taliban after twenty years is expected to bring a lot of consequences in the relation among nations in general and in the region in particular. The Taliban’s outreach to Pakistan, China, Russia, and to an extent even Iran, is likely to set in a series of developments that could alter the geopolitics of the region.
Dr. Joyati Bhattacharya, Professor & Dean, School of Social Sciences, Assam University, Assam.
Understanding the development of a society and examining the nature of student activism at a particular period in a given society require an understanding of the concept of student power. But student activism is a complex phenomenon, and there is no comprehensive theoretical model that can account for it. Nevertheless, the historical context may provide an appropriate framework for examining and understanding a student movement. Hence, this essay will posit some general perspectives on student activism and will try to comprehend the role ACKSHA in the first decade of its existence against the historical backdrop of the origin of the movement.
Dr. G. Palanithurai, Professor (Retd.), Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, The Gandhigram Rural Institute, Deemed to be University, Gandhigram.
Today the world is so integrated so closely due to the technological innovations and people are connected for local and global actions. The communication revolution that broke out in the world intensified human activities to reach material advancement beyond human imagination. The communication revolution has changed the development landscape in an unexpected direction which resulted in competition and conflict between and among individuals, groups, communities, societies, countries, companies, organizations, and institutions. When the technological revolution was on, it was predicted that these changes would bring people together to lead harmonious and happy civilized life by integrating themselves with other communities, groups, and societies, and thereby a new global social order would emerge.
Dr. Shabana Farheen, Department of Political Science, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Gachibowli, Hyderabad
Leadership is a social influence process which always involved a complex set of phenomena that require an interdisciplinary research. It is a classical topic for the scholars of management and administration. Leadership and management studies are coping with change and complexities simultaneously in the subject. Leadership is the ability to direct and guide a group of people in order to achieve a common goal along with management skills. Some people have the capacity to become good managers but not strong leaders, likewise others have great leadership but have difficulty in becoming strong managers. In this condition effective leaders are those who are able to inspire and motivate others to work together towards a shared vision. They possess a range of skills and qualities such as communication, decision-making and solving. Leadership can be exercised in a wide variety of settings, from business and government to sports and the arts. Ultimately, the most effective leaders are those who can able to foster a sense of teamwork and collaboration in the changing and complex situations.
Prof. Midatala Rani, Professor of Political Science (Retd.) and former Director, UGC, HRDC, University of Mysore, Karnataka.
India is a mosaic of complex multilingual, multireligious and multicultural societies with largely no boundaries demarcating languages, castes or religions. Indian federalism based on strong, central power allowed for the ‘co-operative’ re-organisation of India’s subdivision in states along linguistic criteria beginning in 1956 which aimed to create more linguistic and cultural homogeneity. The major regional languages had a big importance in building and working of sub-federal units. This restrained secessionism and fostered ‘national’ feeling in India. The Constitution prescribes linguistic secularism for India. National identity in India is not tied up with one language or religion. But if linguistic diversity is to be preserved and protected as an overriding political aim language policy and legislation must promote cohesion and integration at central and state level.
Shahbaz Ahmad IFS (Retd.), Former Principal Chief Conservator, Forests and Chief Wild Life Warden, Madhya Pradesh.
discussion on the issue of gender ultimately boils down to a demand for equality of men and women in all respects. The psycho-social realities and the findings in the field of neurology, psychology and sociology are ignored to a large extent. As a consequence, the corollaries of all deliberations on gender issue are often misleading. The male value system is propagated and the female value system is disregarded. It is found that most of the countries excelling in gender equality are also facing the problems of family breakdown, offences against women and neglect of children. It is so because the deliberations on gender often acquire an emotional tinge to avoid the real psycho-social issues. It is time to rethink and visit afresh the issue of gender in a pragmatic manner.
Ruksana P., Ph.D Scholar, Department of Economics, John Mathai Centre, University of Calicut and
Dr. Haseena V.A., Principal, MES Kallaldi College, Mnnarkkad
Trans-genders are one of the most marginalized and most discriminated people in the society. The term ‘transgender’ is an umbrella term consists of different meanings. Transgenders are the people who are born with male or female anatomies but they feel different from their body structure (Rafeek, 2006). According to Kerala Transgender policy,1 a Transgender person is someone whose gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at birth and includes Transmen and Transwomen (whether or not they have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy etc.), gender queers and number of other socio-cultural identities. Transgender people experienced an extreme case of social exclusion and finally this exclusion leads to more vulnerable standard of living, limited access to education and employment and limited opportunities for social and economic advancement. All kind of social exclusion undermines self esteem and sense of social responsibility. Exclusion from different field of life is the main cause of the lack of better livelihood option. A livelihood comprises the capabilities assets and activities required for strengthening means of living (Robert chambers and Conway). Livelihood vulnerability directly increases risk and vulnerability to HIV. National HIV prevalence is .31% where as HIV prevalence among Transgender community is limited to be 8.2%. Limited vulnerability options adversely affect their socio economic well being that in turn lead to poor access to education, housing and food insecurity. Census 2011 reveals that only 46% of the Transgender population, as compared to 76% of general population, as literate. All of these increase the vulnerability to poverty.
Dr. Bibhuti Bhusan Nayak, Former ICSSR Doctoral Fellow, P.G Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Prof. Padmalaya Mahapatra, Professor and Head, P.G Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
As an academic discipline, Public Administration is growing and developing gradually. Always it has tried to respond to the constantly emerging social needs. Some of the significant contemporary development in this discipline is the New Public Administration, New Public Management and theory and practice of public policy. Public Administration as a field of inquiry is comparatively of recent origin. Since inception, it has passed through various stages of evolution to reach in its present form. Broadly, five stages viz. the Politics/Administration Dichotomy, the Principles of Administration, Criticisms and Challenges, Crisis of Identity and Public Administration as an Independent discipline have been identified. An attempt has been made to understand the present status of discipline. The Emerging trends of Public Administration in post NPM Era: Current Strategies and Future Prospects represent a critical evaluation of the nature and impact of new public management, reflecting the latest thinking in the field. The article offers a comprehensive analysis of the emerging trends of public administration in post NPM era from both theoretical and practical view points.
Nazir Hussain, Doctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central University), Lucknow and Dr. Sartik Bagh, Professor, Department of Political Science, Babsaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.
India is known as the world’s largest democracy with a diverse range of languages, culture and faiths. The country’s constitution offers specific rights to minorities to protect their dignity. However, recent political developments and policies implemented by the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) have caused concern over India’s democratic heritage and the protection of religious rights. The BJP’s repeated election victories have resulted in the formation of new laws that are inconsistent with India’s secular system, and favoritism towards a single religion, hindering the rights of religious minorities. This paper discusses the current developments in India that are contributing to the emergence of an ethnic-nationalist ideology and a form of governance that is dominated by the majority community, leading to discriminatory practices against the largest religious minority group, Muslims, and the Dalit community.
Dr. Bishnu Prasad Mohapatra, Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Arts, Dr. Viswanath Karad MIT-World Peace University, Pune and Dr. Santosh Kumar, Professor and Dean, School of Liberal Arts, Dr. Viswanath Karad MIT-World Peace University, Pune.
How does participation of women in the decision making process at the local level supports them to access the basic services provided by the local governments effectively? What happens when participation of women not achieved the desired goals and local government failed to deliver basic services? What are the alternative perspectives to strengthen participation of women in the local level decision making processes? The Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) performance in the PRIs and ULBs is mixed story until now. This paper is designed to explore these issues through shedding light on participation of women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the tribal areas in Odisha, in particular participation in elections, voting, occupying political office or position in panchayats and in the process of implementation of development programmes of the Panchayats. It is attempted to explore the relationship between PRIs and Women’s participation with regard to access to schemes and programmes by women while focusing on political participation in the form of elections, offices, meetings and raising voices. Exploring the field level findings through a mixed-method research design, the findings of this study presents the case of participation of women in 16 villages in tribal areas in Odisha. Based on an exploratory field study which was conducted through using a mixed-method research design and employing quantitative and qualitative data, it has been observed that political participation of women, in particular the women from the tribal communities have emerged as a key issue in the context of working of Panchayats and their role in promoting socio-economic development in these areas. Access to schemes and programmes through participating in working of Panchayats have observed in various cases though there is insignificant correlation between participation and access to schemes and programmes. Efficacy of women’s participation in working of Panchayats and outcomes of such participation in accessing various services have been captured through qualitative data since quantitative data is not available to ascertain the efficacy of participation. It is not obvious that access to schemes and programmes can be achieved through effective participation in Panchayats. On this basis, this paper proposes some alternative ways to strengthen the participatory practices of the Panchayats and ensuring participation of women in the decision-making processes.
Pragya Yadav, Ph.D Candidate, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The role of information in a democracy is to keep the citizens well-informed about the society and political scenario which is essential to make important decisions like electing a government. This study seeks to understand whether the newspapers meet the normative requirements of being a Fourth Estate in a democracy and highlights the impact of framing theory of political communication on the policy-related newspaper coverage in the context of 2020 Delhi Assembly Election in the Indian Subcontinent. Being a descriptive content analysis of 1137 newspaper articles three months prior to the election, the study investigates the way stories were framed and adds to the testing of the political communication theory which has been so far mostly placed in the context of national elections. Since the election period is highly active period in the Indian politics, the major focus of the study is to contribute to the empirical approach in the political communication research to show how the newspaper coverage actually reflects the policy change in an election environment. It builds a strong relationship between the media and political actions in the Global South. The main assumption is that the policy-specific content increases as the election comes closer. The findings of the study show that there is a crisis of policy coverage despite policy facts being the most crucial form of knowledge in a democracy raising fundamental concerns and challenges to the functioning of an electoral democracy. The mainstream newspapers have shown neglect towards the dissemination of political and policy-oriented information.
Dr. Moushumi Pattnaik, Head, Department of Political Science, Shailabala Women’s College (Utkal University), Cuttack, Odisha.
Solemnization of marriage is an important socio-cultural practice of invariably all communities. Each community approves its specific norms and rituals relating to marriage. Marriage is often lauded as a ‘holy ordinance’, ‘holy sacrament’ and an important ‘sanskara’. Although the formal legal systems define and govern the age at marriage but customary rules associated with puberty and purity of the girl child sanction and readily allow marriage before the legal age. Though there are other socio cultural and structural factors underpinning this practice, whatsoever, child marriage unleashes menacing effects on the girl child in myriad ways - from mental health issues to a lack of access to education and career opportunities and also adverse health effects as a result of early pregnancy and childbirth. The study aims to explore the critical pathways and nuances relating to child marriage and its intersectionality with other manifestations of gender inequality and oppression through a perusal of significant literatures so as to open up broad avenues for research in this field The paper intends to scan through policy imperatives to curb this practice. It’s a work not only of diagnosing the problem but envisaging measures on how to respond.
Dr. Arjun Singh, Assistant Professor of History, Arjan Dass College (Panjab University), Dharamkot-Moga. Punjab.
For the first time after the fall of the Mauryas there was a Kushana empire which not only embraced nearly the whole of north-India but also considerable territories outside it as far as Central Asia. India was brought into close contact with the outside world. The period also witnessed important development in religion, literature and sculpture, and the appearance of the Buddha figure. The Kushana dynasty opened the way for Indian civilization to Central and Eastern Asia. The Kushana became the ambassadors of Indian culture and civilization to the outer world. The Geo-political situation of the Kushana empire made the north –western region of the country, the meeting place of the three civilization i.e. India, Chinese and western.
Prof. D. PullaRao, Senior Professor of Economics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.
The position of women in the society is an index of its civilization. Women as human resource in India constitute about 50 per cent of the total population and about 77 per cent of them live in rural areas. The contribution of female labour force participation will reduce rural poverty. In fact the rural poor have no choice except to raise their work participation either through the use of child labour or the employment of female for earning additional income to meet the household requirements.
The percentage of female workforce in agriculture is declining. While that of manufacturing and services sectors is increasing. The share of non-farm female workers was 13.05 per cent in 1961 and it has declined to 10.88 per cent in 1991 then it increased and stood at 25.25 per cent in 2011. Between 1991 and 2011, the increase in share of females has been 9.3 percentage points.
The work participation rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. The work participation rate for rural females was only 30.98 per cent against 52.36 per cent of rural male work participation in 2011. A considerable variation has been found across the states and activities. A large number of female workers seem to take up jobs in rural non-farm sector in the occupational diversification process. The employment opportunities of females are growing in manufacturing, followed by services and construction, where as they are declining in trade in recent years. In terms of Clark-Kuznets thesis that India is on the path of economic development because the increase in the proportion of occupational structure of workforce from the primary sector to secondary and tertiary sectors had started moving steadily since the 1990s.
Dr. K.T. Jyothish, Freelance Writer and Researcher on Marginalized Sections based Kochi.
Based on the potential of the inland fishery, Kerala has not tapped the resources for obtaining the livelihood of the traditional fishers. Hence, the socio-demographic and living standards of the fishermen are in the dismal state. The article tries to unravel with the aid of primary data the situation of these basic parameters in the traditional fishing of three places of two panchayaths Aroor and Arookkutty and one place in Andhakaranazhy of the Alappuzha district. From each panchayaths the study uses 250 samples totalling to 750. The article examines the basic inferences of the socio-economics and standard of living by using the basic statistical analysis. The results of the household attributes of the traditional fishermen show the dismal picture and sorry state of affairs when it comes to their living conditions and standard. The perception of the fishermen, in spite of everything, is to continue fishing with the hope that the fishing sector alone is the sole entity for their livelihood. Most of the fishermen are unaware of the institutional set up in the fishing sector for their livelihood and welfare. To improve the living condition and livelihood of the fishing community, it is necessary to implement several policy measures targeting the traditional fishing community of the inland sector as it has got lot of potential considering the unsustainable implications of the marine sector.
Dr. D. Divya Prabha, Associate professor, Department of International Business, PSG College of Arts & Science (Bharathiar University) , Coimbatore and Siddarth Sajeev, Student, BA (Hons), University of Hull, UK
The relevance and contributions of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) in developing economies like India cannot be undermined as these informal enterprises serve as a source of livelihood for the base of the pyramid population. According to the Department of Economic and Social affairs, it is estimated that more than 70 percent of the workforce in developing countries are employed in MSME’s. With the wake of Industry 5.0, there is a radical change in the expectations of these MSME’s relating human resources in the form of transformed skill sets and experience to build a productive workforce. The requirements of the industry have also created an impact in the design of the teaching learning pedagogies with a gradual shift towards skill development and realistic learning modules making the students employment ready. But the Achieve’s 2014 survey, indicate that 62% of the employers think that the students are not fully prepared for the expectations they will face in the working world. This gives a clear indication that there is a gap between the skill sets imparted at educational institutions and the expected skill set of the industry. This study is undertaken to analyze the expected skill set from the perspective of the MSME Sector in Coimbatore which will help the students to prepare in advance to take the real world challenges head on, as they join the corporate sector.
Raj Kishor Pradhan, Senior Statistical Office, NSO (FOD), Ministry of Statistics & Program Implimentation, Govt. of India, Sambalpur, Odisha.
Indian economy is going through a challenging time. The dream period from 1991 to 2013 is now over. In between it has faced a lot of challenges like Global financial market crisis in 2008 and persistent slow down from 2017, which is aided by present COVID-19 pandemic. Its impact on world economy in general and Indian Economy in particular is very severe. It has created havoc in our economy which has witnessed record negative growth of our GDP and also loss of employment. Various sector of economy like manufacturing sector, service sector barring agriculture sector has hard hit. If we dissects into various subsector like MSME, tourism, education, transport, handicraft, entertainment industry etc, than we found that impact of covid-19 was very severer. It has resulted in closures of various MSMEs and loss of employment. Frequent shot down and various pandemic resulted restrictions have severely curtailed the growth of the economy. But it has prompt the government to announce slew of government action to revive the economy .Although, its impact will be felt on longer run. But in hindsight it has created huge opportunity for record growth as we have discussed earlier. The objective of the paper is to study and analyze the impact of Covid-19 in MSME sector of Indian economy and highlight, how it will become huge boon for our economy. This paper is explorative by nature and secondary sources have been used as the source of information.
Dr. Arindam Gupta, Professor of Commerce, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal
On 12th May 2020, the prime minister raised a clarion call in the name of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (Self-reliant India campaign) announcing the special economic and comprehensive package of `20 lakh crore, which according to some estimate is equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP. Just before this monthly transfers of `500 were announced to women’s Jan Dhan accounts on 26th March, 2020 for the next three months under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). Atmanirbhar is no new term if introspected but it matters when and how a term is getting used. Moreover, in the backdrop of a gloomy environment particularly encompassing the economy and health during the peak of the Covid-19 wave the main objective of the prime minister must have been to deliver a vision for turning around the gloominess. It imbibes to a great extent the country’s urgent need of self-reliance based on its own unused capacity and a little support from the fellow citizens who are capable of providing so. Later, in course of time, it turns into a concept which is extended to education with the announcement of National Education Policy, 2020 in July 2020 and also with announcements in the banking sector adding features to the existing schemes with attempts to make the people financially more stable. A country’s self-reliance cannot be achieved if internally the people of the country suffer from poverty and if the common people remain financially excluded. The following sections of the article deal with two distinguished government schemes, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) as announced on 15thAugust, 2014 and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) as announced on 8th April, 2015, to
examine to what extent those schemes help the people of the country to become financially “self-reliant”. Also digital financial inclusion in the country and issue of entrepreneurship to promote self-employment is discussed.
Dr. Imtiyaz Ahmad Wani, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Government Degree College Khansahib (University of Kashmir), Budgam Kashmir and Dr. Akumarthi Nageswara Rao, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has rapidly affected our day to day life. Presently the impacts of COVID-19 in daily life are extensive and have far reaching consequences. COVID-19 pandemic is shaking fundamental assumptions about the human life course in societies around the world. COVID-19 has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health and the world of work. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating millions of people into extreme poverty and millions of enterprises face an existential threat. Significant economic impact has already occurred across the globe due to reductions in income, reduced productivity, loss of life, business closures, trade disruption and decimation of the tourism industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every aspect of our lives. Even before the onset of the crisis, the social and economic integration of young people was an ongoing challenge. People cannot carry on with their usual jobs or occupations. The existing situation of unemployment worsens. Incomes fall or cease. Economically better-off people manage with varying degrees of difficulty, but people from the lower economic sections become almost destitute. With very less or no money-in-hand people are on the verge of starving. Their weakened physical condition increases their susceptibility to disease. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the social, economic and psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Indian society and investigate the global preventive measures taken to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
Anjali A, Assistant Professor, SCMS Cochin School of Business, Cochin, Kerala and Dr. Bijith George Abraham, Associate Professor and In-charge Research & IQAC, Marian Institution of Management, Marian College (Autonomous), Idukki, Kerala.
The pandemic COVID 19 has come as life changer for everyone worldwide. One such change is that of people’s outlook on life and living, especially consumer behaviour towards shopping preferences. With the restrictions, the choice of most modern shopping centers was seen last on consumers list. This paper attempts to expose the rebirth tactics adopted by traditional Kirana Stores from the demand-based perspective of consumers during the pandemic phase. Altogether300 responses were gathered from different regions of Kerala to capture the change in consumer perception towards shopping preferences and understand the re-emergence of the Kirana stores. Factor analysis and logistic regression model was used to identify the pertinent factors favouring the shopping preference. The service offered by the Kirana stores as part of revival strategy is reflected in their adaptability, quality, safety, digitalization, quick delivery, personalized services, and tie-up with online delivery partners helped them regain the customers’ faith.
Dr. Anitha R, Assistant Professor, Sree Narayana Arts and Science College (Mahatma Gandhi University), Kumarakom, Dr. Ambeeshmon S, Assistant. Professor, IMK, University of Kerala and Dr. Smitha S, Assistant Professor, School of Pedagogical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala.
The early stages of tourism in India showcase the country’s ancient art, architecture, crafts, food, drinks, music, dance, religion, traditions, customs, heritages, museums, and more. Those elements contribute to the cultural identity of each destination and create opportunities for cultural exchange with visitors. However, changes over time can pose challenges to the sustainability of Indigenous culture. In Kerala, where hospitality and the resultant industry is a major component of tourism, there is an emerging trend of representing indigenous culture through Performing Arts. Linking hospitality with cultural performances can improve responsible tourism practices as seen in Kumarakom, where fifteen Responsible Tourism (RT) hotels under Study benefit around thirty performers of indigenous performing art forms. The study aims to analyze the implications of these cultural and community linkages in the hospitality sector, given the emergence of RT as a global tourism movement through an exploratory survey method using a Questionnaire.
Dr. Parvathy Mohan, Assistant Professor, Baselius College (Mahatma Gandhi University), Kottayam, Kerala and Dr. Gireesh Kumar G.S, Principal, Henry Baker College (Mahatma Gandhi University), Melukavu, Kerala
The philosophy of Responsible Tourism revolves around the background of localism and host communities. Local communities play a pivotal role in Responsible Tourism discourses (participation and equal access) as places where actions of empowerment happen (Williams,2005). The Cape Town Declaration highlights the relevance of involving the host communities in decision making that affect their lives. Responsible Tourism basically aims to benefit the host communities in their socio- economic and socio-cultural spheres along with reducing the negative effects by conserving the bio- physical environment. The varied perspectives around which Responsible Tourism revolves round are its production- consumption relations, tourism sector- host population relations, worker- employer relations, collective moral responsibility and responses of individuals towards Responsible Tourism and the so-called political assumptions behind the implementation of Responsible Tourism in selected destinations. (Bramwell, Lane, McCabe et.al, 2008). The local population is the ultimate beneficiaries of Responsible Tourism as it creates better tourism destinations and enjoyable ambience to the tourists as well as creates utmost respect to the local culture, customs and traditions, thereby creating better quality of life among host population (Karimi Mina, Astane Alireza, 2021).
Dr. Thansiya N, Assistant Professor, CHMM College for Advanced Studies (University of Kerala), Chavarcode, Varkala, Kerala.
Tourism, one of the most emerging economic contributors to every nation, has immense capabilities for overall development. It is a sum of many supporting services like accommodation, attractions and amenities, activities, accessibility, and the like. One of the most influencing elements among these is the accommodation sector. In the modern era of technological upliftment, digital marketing has a storm-like revolution in all industries. As tourism is a globally connected activity, it has a severe impact on the digital world. Digital Marketing platforms generally adopted by the accommodation sector of Kerala include websites, social media marketing, content marketing, blogs, chatbots, VRN, MTA, etc. On this background, the present study focuses on the impact of Digital Marketing Methods on the perception level of accommodation managers and the satisfaction level of tourists and how this affects the promotion of tourism in the accommodation sector. The study analyses the digital marketing methods adopted by the classified hotels to promote tourism and its impact on business performance considering the accommodation managers and tourists. The findings of the study reveal that there exists a difference in the opinion of accommodation managers regarding the adoption of DMMs for the promotion of the tourism business and no significant difference in the perception of accommodation managers considering the satisfaction level of tourists concerning the application of these digital platforms.