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Social exclusions in India are not solely a result of marginalised, personal identities. They are equally about the failure of the state to recognise those identities. With an expansion of welfare programs, the turf of exclusions is now actively shaped by the state. Drawing upon fieldwork in the drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra (India), this paper outlines the pathways of how citizens fail to access government welfare schemes. The resulting typology of exclusions is a layered one, encompassing failures of state outreach, rejections of citizens’ claims, and inclusions in the schemes coinciding with exclusions from the benefits, fully or partially. Importantly, the exclusions are deeply gendered. During their lifetime, women end up going through multiple cycles of identity verification by the state; pre-marriage, post-marriage and once again, in widowhood or if the marriage were to fail. Ironically, even as the state extends its welfare resources to women through specific schemes, the underlying procedural requirements render women invisible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dharavi, situated in Mumbai, India, is one of the world's largest slums, with an estimated population of 1 million. Despite its economic potential, Dharavi remains inadequately explored. This paper presents a detailed survey of Dharavi residents, covering demographics, employment, financial conditions, and government policies. The survey comprised 52 questions and garnered responses from 504 households. Demographically, the study reveals that Dharavi hosts a diverse population with a significant migrant presence. Most respondents fall within the working age group (21-50), and household sizes vary, with 83.73% having six or fewer members. The survey illustrates a range of income sources, with only 7.34% unemployed. Nearly half of the respondents are self-employed in micro-industries, while 40.28% are engaged in various private jobs, often requiring minimal education and insufficient income. The majority earn below Rs. 30,000 monthly, reflected in meager savings, exacerbated by low awareness of savings schemes despite widespread bank account ownership. The financial burdens revolve around children's education, healthcare, and housing. Although government schemes exist, residents find them insufficient, citing a lack of awareness, enrollment knowledge, and faith in them. The paper offers a nuanced statistical summary, encompassing various factors that collectively portray the intricate economic dynamics of Dharavi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abject poverty and low level of social welfare of nearly 5 million inhabitants of the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, India, the westernmost part of the lower delta plain of the Ganges delta, is of serious concern towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In this paper, the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) along with its contributing factors like health, education, and living standard, has been estimated at the village level for 50 villages across the delta for the year 2021, using a primary survey. Comparing this with the village-level MPI derived from the Census data of 2011 indicates a noticeable improvement which may be attributed to government initiatives towards the attainment of sustainable development goals. Apart from this, a predicted MPI model has been represented in this paper using a random forest machine learning approach. A spatiotemporal variability of poverty in Sundarban has been represented with the help of GIS tools to locate the areas with continuing deprivation. Among the 50 surveyed villages, 32% have reduced levels of poverty (MPI) resulting from improvements in the living standard and health, particularly in terms of the availability of assets, electricity, and drinking water. The main contributing factors to higher level poverty MPI are observed to be the continuing use of fuel wood and the unavailability of adequate sanitation in households. The primary surveybased analysis of multidimensional poverty affirms that the sustainable development goal of no poverty (SDG 1) and no hunger (SDG 2) can be achieved at the village level within a decadal time frame, through the implementation of social welfare schemes launched by the national and state governments even in a delta severely impacted by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the awareness of young girls and women about menstruation and menstrual hygiene from rural, urban and slum areas of Gurugram and Nuh district of Haryana. Acomparative cross-sectional study. The study was conducted among 240 young women of Gurugram and Nuh districts in Haryana, India, which were chosen on the basis of the female literacy rate of districts in Haryana. A pre-designed semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the data. The data was analysed using MS-Excel. Chi-square test, correlation and paired t-test were used as statistical tools to analyse the data. It was noticed that awareness regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene was found low in Nuh (43.3%) and moderate in Gurugram (42.5%). Level of knowledge regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene was found poor among respondents (84.2% from Nuh & 49.2% from Gurugram). Women from Gurugram practiced good menstrual hygiene practices (40.0%) whereas women from Nuh practiced poor menstrual hygiene practices (45.8%). Level of restrictions and myths related to menstruation was high among respondents from Nuh as compared to women from Gurugram. Women still lack sufficient awareness about this important bodily phenomenon, which leads to a variety of unsanitary menstrual practises and misunderstandings regarding menstruation. Through education programmes, young women's knowledge of menstruation and its significance in their lives can be increased. It was recommended that awareness programmes about menstruation and menstrual hygiene should be held in rural and underdeveloped areas so that young girls and women from these areas may appropriately manage their periods and have better reproductive health. Myths and taboos regarding menstruation should be debunked by making people aware about the logical facts of these myths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general Women belonging to villages tend to spend the maximum of their time in household activities without any hesitation. In return, they don’t receive any merits or credits from the family and society. This paper aims in conducting detailed research work based on, the understanding found among women folk belonging to lower-middle-class women and poor income about the need for financial inclusion. The study was carried out in Ludhiana, Punjab among women from low-income and lower-middle-class households. Out of 1000 approaches, 757 respondents replied (75%). Later the data were organized and analyzed for the results. To make the work stronger a conceptual framework was framed. The tests like one-way ANOVA and Post-Hoc tests were also carried out. The outcomes showed that there are major differences seen when women are empowered and occupied they are reflecting positively on financial inclusion.

Farmer producer organizations (FPOs) have been pivotal in empowering Indian agriculture in recent years. The Government of India has taken several steps to help in the growth of FPOs. For example, it has initiated the ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP) scheme. In each district of the states, major commodities are identified which can be promoted through FPOs. The present study focuses on the experiences in Bihar, where abundant production of cash crops like makhana (about 85% of the world’s production) has been achieved by the farmers (about 50,000 t of makhana). Despite the huge demand, makhana has been lagging in exports due to a lack of quality produce, skill, mechanization in harvesting and processing, and a near absence of value addition. In this context, integration of the ODOP scheme with FPOs can be a potential option to combat production constraints, facilitate marketing and export of the produce. This study proposes a strategy using a conceptual model, viz. technology–infrastructure–policy–export orientation (TIPE) model, that specifies the steps to be undertaken for better promotion of products through FPOs. A congenial ecosystem is necessary for the growth of producer organizations to provide a comprehensive solution with required policy backup and triggering factors that can contribute to the sustainable development of FPOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nation's all over development and growth can be attained when women is treated equivalent to men in the progress of an economy. Rural poverty is the main drawback for women empowerment in rural area. Empowering women by providing financial assistance, awareness about self-employment and independence in making decision can alleviate rural poverty. For attaining women empowerment in rural areas Government and NGO's have taken initiation by forming Self-help groups since, from last four decades. The paper discusses about the schemes available in Government under the SHG's for promoting women empowerment. Secondary source was used in the study to know the performance of SHG's in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to WHO (2020) media use and advocacy are crucial to messages disseminating health promotion. Governments launch welfare schemes regularly and often with a lot of pomp which are directed towards various sections of people. Asmita Yojana is a scheme launched statewide in Maharashtra in the year 2018 which provides subsidized sanitary napkins to girls and women in the state. Jernigan and Wright (1996) assert that it is crucial to know the media advocacy done to further the scheme and the media coverage as well. The study is two pronged as it is concerned with a content analysis of newspaper coverage of Asmita Yojana in Maharashtra. Wherein five newspapers were studied for this purpose which includes news reports, articles, editorials, cartoons and opinion pieces. In the second part a quantitative research was conducted to ascertain the role of mass media in the implementation of the said scheme. A survey was conducted among the sample beneficiaries of the scheme to determine the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is an attempt to assess the role of start-ups in entrepreneurial development in Kerala State. The Kerala start-up mission (ksum) is an agency of Infosys and Wipro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to examine the issues faced by micro women-owned businesses during the covid 19 pandemic in Malappuram District, Kerala, as well as to outline government initiatives that can help women business owners deal with an unanticipated emergency. This study uses a descriptive research design to pinpoint the main issues faced by women-owned microbusinesses during the Covid 19 pandemic. With the help of simple random selection, 60 business owners were chosen from the population of 1513 women-owned microbusinesses. Data collecting methods include direct interviews and a well-structured interview schedule. hence giving a current perspective on the main issues encountered by women microentrepreneurs during a time of significant social and economic upheaval. The findings offer insightful information regarding the main issues faced by female microentrepreneurs in the areas of finances, manufacturing, and marketing. The main issues facing businesses run by women pointed to the need to reevaluate innovation and digitalization for business survival. Additionally, the findings showed that the influence of the financial, manufacturing, and marketing issues faced by women microentrepreneurs underscores the necessity of taking government policies for COVID-19 into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asmita Yojana, an initiative by the government of Maharashtra was launched on International Women's Day, 8th March, 2018. Under the scheme, sanitary napkins to Zilla Parishad school girls across all divisions of the state would be provided at a subsidised rate through an Asmita card and app by the self-help groups. This study will explore the diffusion of innovation that is availing of subsidised sanitary napkins through the Asmita scheme. The beneficiaries of the scheme are the young girls and women of the ZP Schools with the eventual objective of empowering them. The author focuses on three factors-knowledge of the process to avail the napkins, effectiveness of the communication channel used and the responsiveness of the implementing agencies on the innovation. The scheme is targeted towards both the students and their parents and teachers. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire from the parents and teachers of the girl students from 5 ZP schools in the Palghar district. It was then analysed and findings reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small scale industries have an important contribution in generating employment in our country. While lakhs of people are unemployed, a large number of the country's population is passing through poverty and unemployment during this unprecedented covid-19 pandemic times. In such a situation, this sector is able to solve both these problems by providing immediate large scale employment with low investment. The need of the hour is to develop small scale industries to accomplish impartial economic growth. The vigor of small scale enterprises lies in their extensive reach in rural, semiurban and urban areas, promoting entrepreneurial base, small gestation period and impartial division of revenue and wealth. Therefore, by promoting and encouraging this industry, further boost can be given to the development of the country. The current research based on secondary data is an attempt to identify various Government promoted schemes and flagship programmes for supporting and inhibiting start-up culture in the SSI sector for boosting up entrepreneurship spirits among youth and to become job creators and not job seekers. Entrepreneurship is not only a new business model; rather they are new job opportunities, new ideas and solutions to many existing problems. The paper also explores how the Government supported them during unprecedented times of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, retirement benefits, in one form or the other, are currently available to only about 11 % of the working population, including Government employees. This leaves 89 % of the working population in the unorganized sector uncovered by any formal pension provision. Unfunded pensions have been a major fiscal drag worldwide. The pressure of pensions on Central and State finances is becoming increasingly burdensome. The concern about low coverage rates by social protection is widely shared. The statutory schemes has often been successful in covering formal sector working on the community-based schemes, and on the other hand, have reached out the occupational groups, rural workers, and disabled member of the community who is outside the pale of state-sponsored welfare programs. Looking purely from the angle of fiscal sustainability of the States and the magnitude of the problem structural reforms are necessary for new employees, parametric changes are unavoidable for the existing employees as well as pensioners. Studies have shown that, on average, about 90 % of Government employees in India (mainly in Group 'D' and Group 'C' categories) earn more than their counterparts in the private sector. Such Government employees are in a better position to save for their future when compared to the average employees in a large number of private organizations, especially those working in informal/tiny sector, Small and Medium Enterprises/service sector organizations, etc. Hence, it would be quite fair and equitable to sanction Government employees an earnings-related pension, which is price indexed, but not wage indexed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astitva was founded as a not-for-profit organization by Anamika Yaduvanshi, in 2013. The objective of the non-governmental organization (NGO) was to make a visible difference in the lives of disadvantaged sections of the society. Within a short period since its inception, the NGO had positively impacted the lives of individuals and families living in the Wazirpur area. The case helps to understand that even after venturing into vast philanthropic activities, Anamika could not create sustainable livelihoods for the disadvantaged sections of Wazirpur. Is it because of lack of focus on surplus management? The case also helps in understanding the challenges faced by NGOs at ground level. Research questions/Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the nuances of social entrepreneurship. It explores that there should be a balanced approach between social activities that are mostly provided free and generation of surplus to sustain them. The research questions answered are: Has Astitva created a long-term sustainable impact on the lives of marginalized women and children at Wazirpur? Does the business model of Astitva places even stresses on the social activities to engage the participants and generation of financial surplus to sustain the operation? Links to theory: The study is based on the business model canvas of Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010). The model explains that social enterprises should maintain a balance between philanthropy and commercial sense to be productive or else their sustainability is at a risk. Phenomenon studied: Anamika started Astitva with an aim of social transformation. She wanted to make a concrete difference in the lives of disadvantaged sections of the society as well as contribute in their integration with the mainstream society. Case context: The case can be discussed from the angle of business model of a sustainable entrepreneurship and what may go wrong in making a social enterprise successful. Since Anamika had not prepared any blueprint of plan of action, she faced several challenges. Findings: An entrepreneur driven by community spirit should not start working without creating a road map of generation of funds to support the social activities. Working model of Astitva is laden with lack of planning and absence of long-term vision that failed to create a sustainable livelihood generation for the marginalized women and children. Discussions: The case provokes students to study the need to start a sustainable social enterprise driven by community spirit to uplift the lives of a marginalized section of women and children. Further, the case challenges students to identify the streams of revenue generation and deployment in a business model of a social enterprise to make it sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women empowerment is the buzz word around the world, when it comes to ensuring women get equal opportunities as compared to men. This excitement around the topic is because of the potential women possess to contribute immensely to the development of society. This is because if a woman is empowered, then it is linked to the sustainable development in the entire world. Therefore, women empowerment has become important topic in the development of the nation. In order to make the nation developed, it is always necessary to develop both the halves of the population equally, i.e., the nation must ensure that both men and women are provided equal access to resources and opportunities to reach the ultimate goal of development. Empowering women means giving power to woman to take decisions at her own level in economic, political and all other dimensions of life. In order to empower women it is necessary to understand the ill practices followed by the society against women in male dominated Indian society. By and large they are discriminated against, suffer neglect, denied rights and violated in every possible way including getting killed even before they are born. The successive governments have been paying special attention to achieve the objectives of women empowerment. The government of India and Punjab has started so many programmes for the upliftment of the women. Ministry of women and child development has also started many schemes/programmes for the welfare of women. The governments have to be careful about not letting these schemes use women as only posters for the schemes. The women must be actual beneficiaries and for this the women themselves need to come forward and start coming out of the shadows of their family members. The schemes discussed in this paper clearly showed that govt. is providing all the help to women in order to achieve community, organizational, economic, political and psychological empowerment. Along with the governments it is our responsibility to be open-minded and change the mindset of the society by providing equal opportunities to women so that she performs well in all spheres of life. Keeping above points in mind, this paper made an attempt to analyze the need for women empowerment and various schemes launched by the state government for the benefit of women using secondary data sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MSME sector in its vision had undergone a healthy growth by setting up the new enterprises and developing the existing ones.Theoretical discussions and information related to various government schemes are visible in research studies but analysis related to various schemes and their contribution to GDP with reference to GVA is not properly researched. This study is an attempt to bring forth the correlation of various schemes with Gross Value Added by MSME to GDP of economy. Analysis has been conducted to understand whether government schemes and initiatives are really strengthening MSME performance for the last few years or not. Main objective is to investigate the key performance of MSMEs in present scenario and progress of PMEGP during XI(2008-09 to 2011-12) & XII Plan (2012-13 to 2015-16) and performance of 'Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises' from 2012 to 2017. The data are collected mostly from secondary sources by way of access to various Government policies/ programs including published Annual Reports, Journals, Books and available official websites. There is a correlation between the subsidy released and subsidy utilized in MSME Sector i.e. the whole subsidy which is allocated by the Government of India is fully utilized in different projects which will lead to Gross Value Added of MSME sector. This GVA of MSME sector is directly connected with GDP of the country which will lead to growth and economic development. The goal herein, is to help practitioners achieve better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the awareness on newly initiated government schemes, to find the utilization of those, to find the association between awareness on newly initiated government schemes and selected variables and also the association between utilization of newly initiated government schemes and selected variables. Method: A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and 300 people residing in the villages of Udupi Taluk were selected by convenience sampling technique. The data were collected by administering semi-structured and structured knowledge questionnaire on newly initiated government schemes and about its utilization. Results and Conclusion: The study results revealed that about 66.7% participants had average knowledge, 27% had good knowledge and 6.3% had poor knowledge. Only 27% of the participants were utilizing these services. There was significant association between awareness on newly initiated government schemes and selected variables such as monthly family income, educational qualification and occupation and there was significant association between utilization and the selected variables such as occupation. The study concluded that even though people are aware about newly initiated government schemes, they may not utilize the services. So there is a need to motivate the people to utilize these government services by creating awareness among people.

The doctrine of handloom cooperatives is very absolute in its concept but in its practice there are certain deficiencies. As it is the cooperative sector the loop holes are many and if the mechanism to correct them is effective, the economic activities of the nation will go high and the sector will flourish. To attain this, the identification of the real problem is the first job of the policy makers and the continuous and effective follow up and equally the remedial measures on time are essential in implementation of various development and welfare schemes of the PHWCS. The officers of the PHWCS witness and experience the introduction, implementation and impact of the different schemes. It is essential to discuss the view of officers for the purpose of making all the schemes more effective. Initially, the profiles of the officers were discussed in order to provide the background of the officers. The Factor Analysis is used to make an in-depth analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the status of rural women empowerment in India. Women empowerment is prerequisite for the development of nation. The empowerment, equality and autonomy of women are globally recognized as key factors of all round development and growth of a society. The Five-Year plans in India are adopted as a model of development. 'Empowerment of Women' was the key theme of the Ninth Five Year Plan. Similarly, Tenth Five Year Plan also stressed on Economic Empowerment as one of the sector-specific 3-fold strategy for empowering women with the view of making all potential women economically independent and self-reliant. Empowerment of women means the improvement in eco-socio and political status of women in general and the conventionally disadvantaged ones in backward and rural society. This study is based on primary data collected from a cluster of villages under Mahapura Gram panchayat, Sanganer tehsil, Jaipur district. The study reveals that rural women fall under middle empowerment level and there is a lack of awareness of the government empowerment schemes. The study concludes by an observation that the status of rural women empowerment is not satisfactory. It leads to low level of awareness about government schemes and these women fail to avail the extended benefits from these schemes. So, it is imperative to address the endogenous factors in line with exogenous factors through government schemes to empower women. Women are empowered at different dimensions, in the present study we have different levels of empowerment of women but Empowerment is something an individual or a group of individuals evolves over time. The focus should be on removing various socio- cultural barriers and developing an endogenous development strategy. Few suggestions based on the study are: Skills acquisition and capacity-building, Conducting Camps and workshops at regular intervals to demystify various myths, conducting Family development initiatives to change discriminatory traditional and cultural norms, collecting information about the complaints regarding the schemes to improve the quality of the services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to explore the status of rural women empowerment in India. Women empowerment is prerequisite for the development of nation. The empowerment, equality and autonomy of women are globally recognized as key factors of all round development and growth of a society. The Five-Year plans in India are adopted as a model of development. 'Empowerment of Women' was the key theme of the Ninth Five Year Plan. Similarly, Tenth Five Year Plan also stressed on Economic Empowerment as one of the sector-specific 3-fold strategy for empowering women with the view of making all potential women economically independent and self-reliant. Empowerment of women means the improvement in economic, social and political status of women in general and the traditionally underprivileged ones in backward and rural society. This study is based on primary data collected from a cluster of villages under Mahapura Gram Panchayat, Sanganer tehsil, Jaipur district. The study reveals that rural women fall under middle empowerment level and there is a lack of awareness of the government empowerment schemes. The study concludes by an observation that the status of rural women empowerment is not satisfactory. It leads to low level of awareness about government schemes and these women fail to avail the extended benefits from these schemes. So, it is imperative to address the endogenous factors in line with exogenous factors through government schemes to empower women. Women are empowered at different dimensions, in the present study we have different levels of empowerment of women but Empowerment is something an individual or a group of individuals evolves over time. The focus should be on removing various sociocultural barriers and developing an endogenous development strategy. Few suggestions based on the study are: Skills Acquisition and Capacity-Building, Conducting Camps and workshops at regular intervals to demystify various myths, conducting Family development initiatives to change discriminatory traditional and cultural norms, collecting information about the complaints regarding the schemes to improve the quality of the services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the awareness on newly initiated government schemes, to find the utilization of those, to find the association between awareness on newly initiated government schemes and selected variables, and also the association between utilization of newly initiated government schemes and selected variables. Method: A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and 300 people residing in the villages of Udupi Taluk were selected by convenience sampling technique. The data were collected by administering semi-structured and structured knowledge questionnaire on newly initiated government schemes and about its utilization. Results and Conclusion: The study results revealed that about 66.7% participants had average knowledge, 27% had good knowledge and 6.3% had poor knowledge. Only 27% of the participants were utilizing these services. There was significant association between awareness on newly initiated government schemes and selected variables such as monthly family income, educational qualification and occupation and there was significant association between utilization and the selected variables such as occupation. The study concluded that even though people are aware about newly initiated government schemes, they may not utilize the services. So, there is a need to motivate the people to utilize these government services by creating awareness among people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After two decades of gaining statehood, Arunachal Pradesh a state in north eastern India has still a long way to go as far as development is concerned. Since approximately 80 per cent of the people of Arunachal Pradesh are residing in rural areas, this study was carried out to explore the factors responsible for the lack of development in Arunachal Pradesh by knowing people's perception in this regard, so that the discrepancies in the development process are brought into light. This study is a descriptive research based on both primary and secondary data. Some of the important findings that the respondents perceived about lack of development in Arunachal Pradesh were corruption, lack of awareness of the various government schemes and problems related to their implementation. Thus this study could be helpful in understanding the discrepancies in the development process in Arunachal Pradesh, so that some viable socio-economic steps may be carried out to minimize the identified gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]