Space and Culture, India
Not a member yet
558 research outputs found
Sort by
An Inter-District Efficiency Measurement of RCH Program Using Data Envelopment Analysis in Madhya Pradesh, India
Get PDFReproductive Child Health (RCH) programme is one of the most important programmes for reproductive women and child health development in India and Madhya Pradesh, the Empowered Action Group (EAG) is one of them. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, this study calculates and analyses the technical efficiency of RCH programme in Madhya Pradesh. The main objective was to assess the degree of efficiency of RCH programme in the districts of Madhya Pradesh and to recommend performance targets for those districts, which come under inefficient technical inefficiency.
The findings show that 64.45 per cent of the districts of the state are technically inefficient and scale inefficient; and used more resources that they actually did not need. The results broadly pointed out to grave inefficiency in the RCH at district level and that significant amounts of resources could be saved if measures were put to curb the wastage
Intra-District Disparities in Primary Education: A Case Study of Bankura District, West Bengal
Get PDFThe level of education and its response to different educational opportunities vary from one spatial unit to another depending on various factors like social, economic, cultural, and institutional. It is understood that certain regions acquire relative advancements over others in terms of human resource development and human capital formation. The key purpose of this research is to examine the intra-district disparities in primary education in Bankura District one of the districts of West Bengal. It ranks 11thamong the 19 districts of West Bengal (Human Development Report, 2007). Overall literacy rate of the district stands at 70.26% but the district scores low in terms of female literacy rates, which is 60.05%,whereas the male literacy rate is 80.05%, which is a huge gender literacy gap of 20%. There are also regional inequalities existing at block level. Kotulpur ranks first with a literacy rate of 78.01% while Saltora occupies the bottom position with literacy rate of just 61.45% (Census of India, 2011). The level of educational development is dependent on several factors—enrolment ratio, dropout and repetition rates, pupil-teacher ratio, habitations covered by educational institutions, space-student ratio, drinking water and sanitation facilities in school, etc. In this context, the present study aims at examining the issues of intra-district disparities in educational attainment with regard to various educational amenities of Bankura district, West Bengal. Ten attributes have been selected to examine the level of development in primary education. It is clear from the study that the level of development in eastern part of the district is relatively better in comparison to other regions. Economic backwardness and physical bottlenecks continue to be major issues in western blocks
Desert Dwellers’ Meaning and Existence of Spirituality: A Gendered Case Study of Cholistan, Pakistan
Get PDFCholistan is the second largest desert of Pakistan, which is locally known as, Rohi (Mughal, 1994). This paper is an ethnographic endeavour that sketches living in the desert and is about the traditional way in which they handle desolateness and powerlessness in that severely parched earth. Men and women seem to appear primordially linked to and in agreement with their environment. Their contentment is heartfelt, an aspect that seems to emerge from their belief that there is a spiritual solution for every problem. This indication forms the crux of this paper and as authors, we make a humble attempt to collate their narrative and how they make meaning of components of their living, and the importance they accord to spirituality in their lives. Deeply ingrained human and ecological values in life include contentment and presence of spirituality within their life surrounds which allow them to sing an ode of gratification to nature. This article presents evidence of adoption of spirituality as resilience and its effect on the emotional wellbeing of the desert dwellers. In our discussion, we present the evidence to suggest that spirituality has strengthened and enhanced resilience of the people for coping with the adversities of the lifecycle in a rather hostile environment of Cholistan
Contribution of Gandhian Thought to Corporate Responsibility
Get PDFMahatma Gandhiji transformed contemporary capitalists amidst the criticism from leftist quarters that he was working for a compromise in the interests of the Indian bourgeoisie. The purpose of this paper is to present a forerunner of today’s conversations in the world about corporate social responsibility (CSR). Gandhiji not only befriended a number of businesspersons but also advised them to consider their role as a steward of their wealth and businesses that they held. We intend to substantiate his pious intentions derived from his understanding of Bhagavad Gita, which suggested to him that one could enjoy one’s acquired wealth by renouncing it. Persuaded by such moral disposition, Gandhiji argued that it is the surest method to evolve a new order of life of universal benefit of all people in the society as opposed to the order in which most of us live for ourselves without regard to what happens to our neighbour. The paper is based on archival materials representing his conceptualisation and acceptance of trusteeship and the collaborations of the capitalists that lived in his times.Â
Character Strengths and Academic Achievements of Undergraduate College Students of Guwahati, Assam
Get PDFCharacter strengths, as conceptualised by the Values-In-Action (VIA) strengths classification system, are core characteristics of individuals that allow people to be virtuous (Seligman 2002). They are moral, intrinsically valuable, and ubiquitous traits that can be developed and enhanced. Social psychologists and sociologists consider achievements in college or university level, because of recognition and proper utilisation of the character strengths possessed by the individual students. The current study was conducted amongst 240 undergraduate college students of arts stream (60 males and 60 females) and science stream (60 males and 60 females) falling within the age group of 18-21 years, with the aim of finding out if the character strengths of the male and female undergraduate students are associated with their college academic achievements. It was found that significant correlation existed between appreciation of beauty and excellence, fairness, forgiveness, honesty, humour, kindness, love of learning and humility with the academic achievement of the students
Home Environment as Strong Determinant in Academic Involvement of Female Students in Dhekia Gram Panchayat of Saltora C.D. Block, Bankura District
Get PDFEducation is a learnt behaviour, which shapes and moulds the nature of a human being by transforming him/her into a human resource and helps in social progress. Children start learning in the lap of their parents. They are bought up by accumulating the knowledge gained from the interaction with the family members. This interaction varies from one family to another. Even when they start going to an institution for the formal education, home environment leaves an influence on his/her attitude towards education. In addition to institutional influence, proper understanding of the impact of home environment is essential for taking due care in development of human resource. Backwardness of the female students in different hierarchies of the educational sector is a major concern in India as well as in West Bengal since a very long period. In spite of ample efforts to increase the rate of enrolment and to develop the quality of education in both national and state level, the progress in terms of actual involvement in educational activities is not up to the mark in many cases.
In the light of this background, a grass-root level study has been conducted to understand the role of home environment on determining the academic involvement of the female students belonging to different hierarchies of tribe-caste continuum in a rural context of Bankura District, West Bengal. It aims to identify the major components of home environment, which determine the level of cohort specific academic involvement in the type of families from different social background. In order to retrieve various perspectives on their home environment, we surveyed female students reading in VIII —XII and belonging to the age group 13 to 18 years. From the micro level analysis, it has been found that caste and tribal identity based disparity as well as family type wise differences in level of academic involvement (LAI) is profound in the study area. Home environment is having a significant positive influence over LAI of female students. Factors like economic status of the family, parents’ educational level, fathers’ occupation, parents’ support for education of their daughters have shown a positive impact over LAI. On the other hand, mothers’ engagement in different works outside the home, time invested by the cohort in household works/day and exposure to domestic violence is hindering LAI significantly in the study area. However, this study fails to find any significant influence of the number of siblings, parents’ support for economic independence as well as mobility of their daughters on actual involvement in academic involvement of adolescent girl students in the concerned area.
 
Park, People and Biodiversity Conservation in Kaziranga National Park, India
Get PDFKaziranga National Park (henceforth, KNP) is a protected area situated in the North Eastern part of India. The park is a World Heritage Site and has a very rich ecosystem. KNP is an attractive tourist destination and occupies a significant place in the life and culture of the people living in this part of the country. Conservation of the park started more than a century ago, and local people have often contested such efforts. This is mainly because indigenous people have been facing displacement and deprivation from resources, which they have been using for centuries. Besides deprivation, wild animals often damage their properties and paddy fields. This leads to resentment among local people and become potential cause of grudge in the form of encroachment, poaching, biodiversity loss, and excessive collection of forest products. As a result, conservation measures may fail to deliver desired outcome. This paper tries to examine the gains and losses for living around KNP and assess the park-people relation. We conduct a case study in some periphery villages of the park and find that people have been suffering from difficulty in rearing livestock and loss caused by wild animal. However, people gain from tourism business. Based on the findings we recommend extension of tourism/allied activities and community welfare measures. The findings may be used to derive policy implication for sustainable management of the park
Publication Watch
Get PDFDear Readers, We are back again presenting before you some of the free/open access online resources
