Search

This paper explores the motivations and actions of Indian Americans who actively oppose Hindutva, that is, a Hindu nationalist vision for India. Diaspora activists who advocate in favour of progressive values for India tend to be underreported in the media and underanalysed in scholarship. The following study addresses this gap. Based on public records, interviews with activist leaders, and participant‐observation, the paper demonstrates how anti‐Hindutva diaspora actors identify and leverage political opportunities in order to engage in moral signalling in local, national and global spaces. By shining a light on ongoing counternarratives to Hindutva, this study highlights contestations within Indian‐origin communities and challenges monolithic portrayals of diaspora politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory forms of policy-making have often been criticized for insufficiently theorizing the coproduction of publics and matters of concern. This paper seeks to investigate this relationship further by analyzing how the concept of civic epistemologies (CEs) can provide insights for understanding how political contexts shape both publics and contestable debates. Presenting fieldwork on cyclone governance in Odisha, India, based on the analysis of interviews with vulnerable fishing communities and state actors, the article shows how CEs influence the interdependent formation of vulnerable fisher and state subjectivities on one hand with representations of risk located in external biophysical atmospheric gases on the other, thereby sustaining reductive roles and futures. At the same time, the paper develops the concept of CEs by examining them as performative acts carried out by marginalized communities and state actors at the subnational level of a nonindustrialized country, thereby indicating sites at which epistemic agency can be increased and governed. Participatory knowledge production needs to understand how it is affected by CEs if it is to generate effective expertise for transformative futures in the face of increasing climatic risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is the concept that prioritises current demands without compromising the capacity of future generations The term sustainable development found importance after Bruntland Commission where it was used in 1987 in its report, our common future. Then the term Governance implied the structure for distributing the rights and responsibilities among different parties in the corporation and includes the rules and procedures for making decisions in corporate sector. This paper examines the modern concept of governance and sustainability in the context of cement industry in India. It is an attempt to understand and appreciate the importance of sustainability in the field of the cement corporations of India. This paper defines the key sustainability parameters and then reviews the various cement corporations in accordance to these parameters. This paper measures the sustainability against factors like economical, social and environmental. The findings of this paper conclude that cement industry in India has taken a major step in sustainable growth and development. The cement companies contribute to society, environment, communities, management of natural resources and building public properties in order to contribute to the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper is an inquiry into the inclination of the two principal characters in Shubhangi Swarup's debut novel Latitudes of Longing to relate their own lives with the components of their respective ecological environment(s) that they come into contact with in the narrative. The plight of immigrants from India and Burma in the colonial Andaman Islands that the novelist implicitly and explicitly touches upon has prompted this research to be carried out through the perspective of postcolonial ecocriticism. Given that the Karen1 are a relatively recent population to be recognized as a separate community, another aim of this paper is to bring to light the sort of representation found by the Karen in contemporary novels, with respect to their treatment and perception of nature through the years of resettlement, rebellion and seeking an identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role of portacabin schools of Bastar, Central India, in historically and politically constructing the gendered subjectivities of Indigenous girls. Hailed as a prime site of development for Indigenous (Adivasi) subjectivities, the newly built residential schools are the governmental response to the decades-long conflict between the state and local Adivasi populations that have struggled against the state oppressions and encroachments. Portacabin schools emerge as a critical site of intervention where multilateral agencies contest each other to 'empower' Indigenous girls. In this paper, I analyse constructions of Adivasi girlhoods that are in line with the larger exclusionary framework according to which Adivasi communities have historically been marginalized. However, I also show the ways in which girls subvert and contest the very constructions in their strategic use of voice and silence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community engagement is gaining prominence in global health research. But communities rarely have a say in the agendas or conduct of the very health research projects that aim to help them. This paper provides new evidence on how to share power in priority-setting in ways that seek to overcome structural constraints created by the funding environment. The five strategies were identified through case study research on the Participation for Local Action project in Karnataka, India. That project was carried out by researchers in partnership with the Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivrudhhi Sangha, an indigenous community development organisation representing the Solega people. The paper describes each identified strategy for sharing power in priority-setting, followed by a report of the pitfalls and challenges that arose when implementing it. Thus, the study also demonstrates that even where actions and strategies are used to address power imbalances, pitfalls will arise that need to be navigated. Given those challenges, considerations to reflect upon before employing the identified strategies are suggested. Ultimately, the paper aims to communicate strategies for sharing power during and after priority-setting and lessons on how to implement them effectively that can be used by global health researchers in the current funding environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Development Research is the property of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

I approach this paper from a critical retro-reflective stance, which explores borders both physical and educational through my pedagogical experiences in a high school in India, home experiences in the geographical borderlands of Nepal and India, and my current work in Nepal and the United States. All of the anecdotes or data originate from my personal experiences that include my siblings, friends, neighbors, teachers, and students. Through these anecdotes, I attempt to show how multiple facets of border pedagogy influence what happens at the socio-psychological level and in science teaching and learning contexts. Critical retro-reflective pieces presented in this paper exemplify complex nature of complementarities and contradictories of identity, pedagogy, history, economics, culture, and experiences in classrooms, communities, and other cognitive spaces. Furthermore, what possibilities of border pedagogies and spaces exist that enhance science teaching and learning for equity and social justice. In the context of science education, there have always been struggles to find legitimate teaching and learning environments in which students are encouraged and supported to challenge dominant ways of knowing and understanding. Therefore, retro-reflective approach allows me to examine how geographical borders, in this case Nepal-India, and science classrooms as intellectual borders, present opportunities and struggles to deconstruct oppressive systems and reconstruct possibilities for socially just science learning spaces. The process of reflection aids in reexamining my own relationship to culture, language, history, and local economy with science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social science researchers as well as legal practitioners in India are yet to explore how imprisonment of a person affects his or her entire familial set-up. The existing literature suggests myriad problems associated with the imprisonment of a family member, categorized under social, economic and psychological arenas. Methodologically, the present paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from March 2012 to February 2013 in Central Jail, Srinagar, with prisoners and their families. This paper primarily attempts to explore how imprisonment affects the families of prisoners? It also attempts to explore how families respond to the imprisonment of their family member, their coping patterns, their encounter with the wings of criminal justice system and other collateral damages. The study yielded multiple results ranging from disturbances in socio-economic affairs to disputes in inter-familial and intra-familial relationships and weakening of community ties besides other socio-economic disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic culture involves diplomatic ties, geopolitical orientation and political ideology involving the military. India's strategic culture orientates pro-nationalist policies, emphasizing the business progression of a specific class, discriminating in exercising minority rights, and imbalancing diplomatic ties with neighbouring states for regional hegemony. Indian leadership, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, has kept regional dominance as a primary Indian strategic objective. More importantly, the Indian strategic community has carefully maintained narrative linking insurgencies with its neighbours, especially Pakistan. A cross-sectional analysis of Indian political doctrines explains how internal security challenges of India are shaping its strategic culture and stance towards Pakistan. It includes contextualizing the concept of strategic culture and modelling Indian strategic culture to the scope of research. The impact of Indian strategic culture on Pakistan is multi-dimensional, ranging from combat capabilities to international presence at international forums like the UN and FATF. The research proposes policy options and action points for Pakistan. The paper establishes three fundamental aspects. First, the Indian strategic thoughts are rooted in Kautilyian discourse. Second, linking Pakistan with insurgencies in India. Third, with the rise of Hindutva through the BJP with a conducive geostrategic environment, India has resorted to an offensive-defensive strategy towards Pakistan. With these interpretations, the research paves the way for identifying policy options for Pakistan while considering Pakistan's national interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the worldwide ergonomics community increases its sophistication in solving global problems, specific systemic challenges still plague Indians in urban mega-cities such as Mumbai. This paper aims to highlight the gaps using the knowns-unknowns framework, which exists in the Indian ergonomics community's capability to address such systemic challenges. Within this framework, the epistemological category of 'unknown-knowns' is explicated further using a case study of urban accidental deaths and injuries in Mumbai, India. These systemic casualties are essential to note because they are not only hidden from public awareness but can be avoided by proper ergonomics interventions. The article concludes with four main directions for the Indian ergonomics community in solving systemic problems in terms of, (a) capacity-building, (b) advocacy; (c) developing all realms of ergonomics with particular emphasis on complex systems; (d) developing India-centric pathways for ergonomics as a discipline. Practitioner's summary: This paper aims to highlight gaps in the academic Indian ergonomics community's capacity to solve public systemic problems. An India-centric way forward for awareness, engagement, and academic capacity building is suggested to develop a comprehensive national ergonomics mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dams are the biggest 'development' displacement agent. In this paper, we explore the gendered processes and structures of dam-induced displacement and resettlement on Indigenous communities and how displaced men conceptualise masculinities and gender relations within those communities. Drawing upon results of previous research undertaken in India and Malaysia, these two disparate cases allow us to examine how displacement affected men and changed their lives, and subsequently how they (re)constructed and (re)negotiated masculinities and gender-social relations in post-resettlement lives. We highlight two critical issues, namely, household and community land/resources, and compensation and rehabilitation processes to illustrate how gender roles, and in particular masculinities and men's roles, were transformed in dam displacement in both the countries, and analyse the consequences for women, family life and gender relations. We argue that the outcomes of gender and social asymmetries have largely depended on the realities of power, allowing men to reconstruct their masculinities to retain stereotyped notions of male superiority and female subordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advocates a concept, "Multilingual Intelligence" (MI), for understanding human mind in economically challenging multilingual societies of developing nations. It examines the social, cognitive and intersubjective resources a multilingual society generates, and how these contribute to the development of human intellect. The attempt here is not to replace ontologically bounded imaginaries of old concepts and theories of intelligence with a new one, but to look at human intelligence from another lens of human capacity to trans-/multilanguage. This paper discusses two paradigmatic cases - a "Multilingual Urban Poor (MUP)" and a "Multilingual Tribal Child (MTC)"- to conceptualise Multilingual Intelligence. The logic for MI is derived from the observation that because multilinguality and orality are commonplace in most societies in India, a speaker constantly trans/multi-languages and transknowledges. She reads the minds and linguistic behaviour of the interlocutors before speaking, switches between languages to enhance mutual intelligibility and, perennially lives in the realm of translation. These social-cognitive activities generate an enormous amount of cognitive flexibility, working memory, and higher inferential and metacognitive skills, making it more possible for the children to be intersubjectively attuned. Multilingual children develop a worldview that is founded primarily on connections and not on separation. Extending the two paradigmatic cases to children from other multilingual communities, this paper reflexively engages with how linguistic diversity and constraints impact human intelligence and creativity, and, if so, what should be our politics of human psychology, education and liberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ideal citizen centric society wedded to the democratic governance always keeps its laws in motion to build an egalitarian and just order. Aesthetic virtue of law lies in the realisation of justice and the creation of an egalitarian order. Against this backdrop, the present paper aims to examine the approach of the Supreme Court of India (SCI) towards COVID-19 Pandemic through suo motu proceedings from various perspectives of jurisprudence and constitutionalism. The government claimed to have strived intensively with full vigour but the response due tolack of preparedness and intense gravity of the catastrophe, the efforts of the government appeared negligible. It warranted prompt revisit of priorities which compelled the SCI to intervene and evaluate the legitimacy of the executive action. Furthermore, it impelled to examine the role of the SCI in responding to the community's sense of justice and humanising justice. The paper presents the solution to the paradox generated out of the inherent friction between constitutional authority of judicial review and resistance of judicial review of executive actions by a populist government. The scope of the discussion has primarily been confined to Orders of the SCI in suo motu hearings and examined accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language plays a vital role in the communication of ideas, thoughts, and information to others. Hearing-impaired people also understand our thoughts using a language known as sign language. Every country has a different sign language which is based on their native language. In our research paper, our major focus is on Indian Sign Language, which is mostly used by hearing- and speaking-impaired communities in India. While communicating our thoughts and views with others, one of the most essential factors is listening. What if the other party is not able to hear or grasp what you are talking about? This situation is faced by nearly every hearing-impaired person in our society. This led to the idea of introducing an audio to Indian Sign Language translation system which can erase this gap in communication between hearing-impaired people and society. The system accepts audio and text as input and matches it with the videos present in the database created by the authors. If matched, it shows corresponding sign movements based on the grammar rules of Indian Sign Language as output; if not, it then goes through the processes of tokenization and lemmatization. The heart of the system is natural language processing which equips the system with tokenization, parsing, lemmatization, and part-of-speech tagging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social adjustment, and feeling isolated, is one of the critical issues faced by the Hijra's from our society, due to sexual prejudices and stigmas. However, no one bothers how they actually feel, how they see themselves? The idea behind the paper is to identify the impact of looking‐glass self (self‐concept) on happiness, self‐esteem, and satisfaction with life, among transgender from Hijra community, to accentuate the reality of how they feel, what is their self‐concept, and its relationship with the mentioned constructs. The current study was conducted in India; snowball sampling is used to contact the respondents of the mentioned category, and variance‐based structural equation modeling techniques on second‐order construct, using two‐stage approach, were used to study the relationships between the constructs used for the current study. The outcome of the study depicts that there is a presence of significant relationships between the mentioned variables, which show that the respondents are strongly maintaining their self‐concept but that does not mean anyway that they are also happy and enjoying the social treatment given to them. This study is for the social workers, government as well as for the society, who pretends as a flag bearer of quality and promotes diversity in India. It will be an eye‐opener for all those who really want to support such marginalized community as they have already achieved a place in the gender column under the gender category as other "Third Gender." The current study is original and contributes in understanding the truth behind the real journey of the mentioned community. How they feel, what they expect is still untapped; this paper will raise voice for them to contribute in respectful living in Indian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to introduce a Tangsa Naga language variety, Champang, in a detailed and descriptive manner. Champang is an undocumented, undescribed and unwritten language that belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. This language, therefore, doesn't have any written literature. There is no work found directly relating to its speakers' culture, history, or religion. Nevertheless, many linguists have mentioned Champang while giving detailed descriptions of the various Tangsa Naga varieties that are spoken along the South-East Asian belt, including Myanmar, Arunachal Pradesh, and some parts of Upper Assam. This paper is the outcome of my first field visit to Yopakan, a remote village at the top of the Patkai mountains, in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh in India. In India, besides Yopakan, there are around twelve more villages where the Champang people are found living peacefully with other tribes. However, the highest concentration of Champang population is found in Yopakan itself. The paper begins with some background information about the language and the community. Then it goes on to illustrate the methodology adopted, and the equipment and the metadata used. Further, the paper shows the initial findings of the research by providing a detailed overview of the consonant and vowel inventory of the language, as well as its morphological and syntactic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for protecting traditional knowledge (TK) has been long established, and as a result, international negotiations are being conducted to protect TK internationally. Many international authorities appreciate India's efforts to create unique ways to protect TK. For instance, India was the first nation to set up Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, which helps scrutinise Patent applications on TK. Recently, Dr Shashi Tharror MP brought a private bill titled 'Protection of TK'. Even though it's a bill, it still needs to be analysed because it serves as a reference point while formulating legislation by the union government or any state government. Hence, the paper aims to critically analyse the bill to point out its shortcomings of the bill. The bill gives TK holders hope since it asserts that it will protect TK from misappropriation. This bill can aid in commercialising TK. However, it is doubtful that the TK holders would gain from such commercialisation as specific provisions in the bill tend to favour outsiders more than the tribal or indigenous communities. It is identified that many crucial concepts about TK, such as 'dynamic or changing' or 'traditional context', which are necessary for stakeholders, authorities, and the judiciary to properly appreciate the nature of TK, have gone undefined. Also, it begs the question of why such a significant, essential component of TK is missing when the word 'community' is excluded from the definition of the term "knowledge society." In essence, it is possible to argue that the bill has been inadequately written without enough weight on the philosophy of TK and its jurisprudential comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farming communities have played a vital role in making plant genetic resources available to commercial plant breeders for development of new varieties of plants. They are instrumental in ensuring sustainability of agriculture, which is a must to meet the demands of an increasing world's population. Despite the above the contributions of farming communities are undervalued. Agriculture‐based economies cannot do justice with these communities by treating them as steward of biological resources only. Attempts have been made in different jurisdictions to protect commercial plant breeders as well as farmers using different options available under the TRIPs Agreement. But, in no jurisdiction, farming communities have affirmative rights equal to or better than commercial plant breeders due to the demands of privatization of seed industries and technological developments in agriculture sector. An attempt has been made by the Government of India under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 to recognize the enormous contributions of farming communities and give them protection at par with commercial plant breeders. In fact, the Act recognizes the long‐due customary claims of farming communities. The paper examines the rights of farmers as customary rights particularly in light of the UNDROP, 2018. It critically examines the recent decision of PPV&FR Authority in Kavitha Kuruganti case to understand PepsiCo's concerns and its contradictions with customary rights of farmers in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between farm size and productivity has been a topic of interest in agricultural research for decades due to the significance of agriculture in rural economies and its potential to reduce poverty and promote inclusive growth. The relationship between farm size and productivity is influenced by factors such as the type of crop being produced, costs of cultivation, farm management practices, access to inputs and markets and socio-economic conditions. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between farm size and productivity in the context of farming households, their cost of cultivation and the types of crops they produce. Using the Cobb–Douglas production function, the present study estimates the regression function for principal crops such as cotton and paddy in the study area. The findings reveal strong evidence of an inverse relationship between farm size and productivity, indicating that small and marginal farmers are more productive in wetland cultivation (paddy). In contrast, medium and large farmers are more productive in dry land cultivation (cotton). The paper also investigates the availability and accessibility of credit facilities for different farm sizes. It concludes that small and marginal farmers depend mainly on non-institutional credit agencies compared to medium and large farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate variability induced increased frequency of disasters has affected the livelihood of the people especially in developing countries. Rural communities are more affected and vulnerable towards these events due to limited livelihood alternatives. The exponentially increasing population, unsustainable use of natural resources and increasing disparities in social structure have posed threats to rural livelihoods. Climate variability and change have adversely affected agriculture and allied activities but more so in mountainous regions where the agriculture is still primarily rain-fed and is practised by smallholder farmers. Thus, livelihood vulnerability assessment is essential for suggesting suitable adaptation strategies and making policy decisions. This paper makes an attempt to examine livelihood vulnerability using composite vulnerability index. Evidence is given from blocks (administrative divisions of the district) of Dimapur district of Nagaland in India. We constructed livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) by incorporating site-specific indicators for its three components (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity). The results revealed that all the blocks were greatly affected by climate variability and its induced drought. Niuland block was found the most vulnerable block followed by Kuhuboto, Dhansiripar and Medziphema blocks. Livelihood vulnerability in Niuland, Kuhuboto and Dhansiripar blocks is attributed to high sensitivity and low adaptive capacity. Sensitivity has predominantly increased livelihood vulnerability in Medziphema block. Thus, the study calls for policy implications to reduce the extent of livelihood vulnerability. LVI as a policy tool has proved to be effective in livelihood vulnerability assessment. Hence, it can successfully be utilised in other geographical regions for policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the effects of encouraging the selection of local politicians in India via community consensus, as opposed to a secret ballot election. Using village-level data on candidates, elected politicians, government budgets, and workfare employment, I show that incentives for consensus elections lead to politicians who are more educated but less likely to be drawn from historically marginalized castes and increase how regressively workfare employment is targeted. These results are supported by qualitative evidence that shows that consensus elections are prone to capture by the local elite, which may reduce the need for clientelistic transfers to the non-elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainwater harvesting is the method of collection, store and use of rainwater where ever it falls. Tropical climatic conditions will receive extreme precipitation, i.e. in form of rain. Water stress and scarcity is happening around the world especially in urban areas as the demand is more because of density of population. As the infrastructure of basic needs at urban areas are almost up to the level, the paved areas will be present in most of the areas. The gap between supply and demand is varying much essentially in urban areas. Thus, the rainwater harvesting at plot level as well as at community level is becoming very much essential so as to minimize the gap between demand and supply. The harvested water lead to supplement the main supply of water and lessens the pressure on main source of water for the existing urban settlement. The present paper deals with the frame work for sustainable rainwater harvesting at a town level. The paper deals with correlating the selected eight study pockets in Guntur town, Andhra Pradesh, India by making the grouping of plots based on the area of the plots with regard to dwelling units related to occupants. The correlation analysis directed to establish strong relation between different study pockets with respect to LPCDs to workout settlement level Sustainable harvestable rainwater frame work with due consideration to density of population, slope, topography and meteorological parameters etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2019, Ensaaf, a transnational, non-profit organization, launched the project of daily posts on their social media pages consisting of remains or traces of disappeared Sikhs (an ethnoreligious minority community in India and the diaspora), that is, their photographs and biographical details. In this paper, I reflect on the meanings implicit in Ensaaf's daily work of remembering and circulating remains of the disappearance on social media, specifically Facebook. By creating an archive that circulates regularly and frequently in and through social media, Ensaaf is performing what I call digital melancholia : continuous and ongoing grief work. The medium in which Ensaaf enacts its melancholic attachment with the disappeared leaves its imprint on the meaning of the performance itself. The daily work of melancholia performed in the constantly evolving space of Facebook is a form of "epistemic resistance" against the Indian state's "necropolitics." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service-learning as a pedagogy has been widely adopted by higher education institutions as it enables students to apply learning from the classroom to real-world experiences in the community. This pedagogy has especially become prominent in undergraduate engineering courses as students are provided opportunities to partner with community members and develop technological solutions aimed to solve the real-time challenges in the community. The number of service-learning experiences has been increasing in India in the last decade as the government of India has also launched Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, a national level program that encourages higher education institutions to partner with rural villages and become a part of socio-economic transformation. All of these efforts are also aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India, which emphasizes the need for the Indian education system to nurture the young generation into moral and civil citizens who later transform to become agents of change working towards the development of the country. The NEP also recommends changes in the pedagogy to make education more experiential, inquiry-driven, and meaningful. With the implementation of NEP 2020, we expect many higher education institutions, especially engineering, to adopt and integrate service-learning experiences into their curriculum. In this paper, we provide a conceptual analysis of engineering project-focused service-learning experiences and analyze the potential learning outcomes students can attain through the process. We also align the various learning outcomes with the engineering graduate attributes recommended by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) in India. The goal is to highlight how learning outcomes from service-learning experiences can be mapped to all the twelve graduate attributes recommended by NBA, thus making service-learning a very relevant pedagogy for engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of development in India is not narrow but broad, encompassing not just economic development but also social development, quality of life, empowerment, women's and child development, education, and citizen awareness. A holistic vision and coordinated efforts including numerous departments, agencies, and even NGOs are essential to accomplish this. NGOs, or Non-Governmental Organizations, have more advantages working in rural regions than governmental organizations because NGOs are more flexible, specific to a given location, and committed to serving the public and community as a whole. The knowledge that little was known about the roles played by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in rural development gave rise to the idea for this study. This paper primarily examines the function of NGOs in rural development from a conceptual standpoint. It examines the meaning of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), their many classifications, their areas of activity, their role and manner of operation, and their funding sources. These nongovernmental organizations play an important role in the development of society, the improvement of communities, and the promotion of citizen engagement. The study concluded by recommending that NGOs do a thorough evaluation and set criteria to ensure that required levels of management skills and quality are met while implementing projects in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to assess the vulnerability to river bank erosion of human communities in different mouzas of selected blocks of Diara sub division of Malda District of India. A primary household survey has been done to collect data on socio demographic profile, livelihood strategy, health, food, water, social network, natural disaster and river bank erosion indicators which were selected for Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and Livelihood Vulnerability Index-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (LVI-IPCC) analyses to predict and compare the vulnerability of mouzas currently suffering from frequent flooding, river bank erosion and embankment breaching on an annual basis. Secondary data are collected from the Human Development Report of Malda district; Regional Agriculture office and analyzed through relevant charts, diagrams and calculating index values. A GPS survey has been conducted to identify locations of affected mouzas due to river bank erosion. The results indicate that the study area has experienced rise in water level, higher amount of water discharge, riverbank line change, constant land loss, embankment breaching and changing land use, which have had impact on vulnerability, particularly of poorer riverine people. From the result of both LVI and LVI- IPCC, high to moderate vulnerability condition has existed within the selected mouzas. The high vulnerable mouzas are Dharampur, Manikchak, Kesarpur, Mirpur, Mathurapur, Jot Bhabani and relatively less vulnerable mouzas are Suksena, Duani Tafir and Paschim Narayanpur in respect to both indices. The poor conditions of LVI components of the selected mouzas in the study area make them more expose and sensitive and decrease their adaptive capacity. These findings enable policymakers to formulate and implement effective strategies and programs to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience by improving the livelihoods of the vulnerable riverine community of all other parts in India as well as world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lachung valley in north Sikkim, India is valorised and marketed as a pristine, traditional, culturally and ecologically rich landscape. Tourism in Sikkim relies on a trail of non-local tour operators, hotel chains and migrant labour, which in turn, has emptied the landscape of local communities who out-migrate for education and employment. This emptying however, comes not from displacement or dispossession, but from the effectiveness of local land regimes that allow many locals to live and work in other parts of the state while generating profits from the land. The paper focuses on tourist-based placemaking in Sikkim, India to illustrate, first, the reconfiguration of socio-spatial relationships as a result of tourism as a development strategy; second, the transformation of the landscape and the attendant mobilities that it enables, and finally, the material, social and political assemblages crucial to the production of the constantly shifting understandings of space and place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to derive insights from Kongthong village, popularly known as the "whistling village," a low-key rural tourism destination that has often gone under the radar. As an upcoming rural tourism destination, mothers create a unique tune for their children, ensuring that their identity remains unique. This is because the residents of Kongthong have two names: an official name and another in the form of a whistled tune. The primary objective of this study is to better understand the rural tourism activities at Kongthong and to explore the symbiotic relationship between indigenous cultural practices and holistic development through tourism. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses an ethnographic approach wherein the researchers conducted in-depth interviews and group discussions. The study respondents are the village elders, youth, men and women across different age groups. The various governing bodies act as secondary data sources concerning tourism and development. Findings: The study observes that rural tourism activities in Kongthong go hand in hand with understanding indigenous knowledge. The governing bodies and the local community are on the right path to achieving potential growth and preserving the village as a holistic rural tourist destination. Originality/value: Rural tourism in Kongthong highlights the traditional practices of the Khasi community. Owing to this, Kongthong was nominated for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) best tourism village by the Government of India as it showcases local culture through social, economic and political elements at the destination that add value to a tourism product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sanitation change continues to be on the forefront of the global development agenda, even as it is becoming clear that the targets established in the Sustainable Development Goals will not be met. But since improving access to safely managed sanitation facilities remains a cost-effective and impactful measure to improve people's lives, it is still important to assess currently implemented policies to be able to learn from best practices and to understand how different approaches work under different contexts. This paper provides comparative analysis of country-level policies in India and Ethiopia, two countries that achieved notable progress in eliminating open defecation through distinct sanitation strategies, with the aim of confronting the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. While in India the primary emphasis has been on the supply-side, i.e., provision of subsidized sanitation infrastructure, Ethiopian strategy prioritized the demand-side by addressing change in sanitation behavior through Community Total Led Sanitation. The analysis shows that neither of the strategies can fully achieve the sanitation change and a combination of both seems to be the most impactful approach in combating open defecation. It also argues that policymakers must consider not only local socioeconomic and budgetary constraints but also historical, institutional, sociocultural, and geographical specifics in deciding what type of subsidies would be the most fitting. At the same time, they also need to address the appropriate social norms to achieve the desirable change in sanitation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years has witnessed loss of human life as well as the physical and mental strain to the large populations of the world, which could be termed as disastrous. Many researchers (Arasli et al., 2020; Rezapouraghdam & Karatepe, 2020; Lim & To, 2021; Karatepe et al., 2021) have demonstrated that COVID-19 had a significant impact on the economy and human life globally. In fact, the new Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic first appeared in the late December 2019 in China and then moved into other countries, before reaching India in March 2020. Further, the pandemic continued into 2021 & 2022 in the developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. Added to this, Governments are meeting the costs of dealing with the pandemic and supporting business and citizens. Therefore, we consider how both the pandemic and resultant economic issues have and will affect tourism and hospitality-specifically sustainable tourism & hospitality that will develop and sustain local communities in a balanced way for the benefit of future generations. In fact, beyond the immediacy of the situation and the management of the short-term consequences of the crisis, we must look ahead to the future, to the world of tomorrow, which will inevitably be different from all past societies and all past economies. This paper conceptually focuses on evaluating the potential effects of COVID-19 on the tourism and hospitality industry in India and post COVID-19 settings, recovery strategies and new normal and suggests the theoretical development and policy implication of this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the assimilatory politics of modern schooling as embodied in the spatial and temporal logics of the state's educational apparatus. Drawing upon a study of early childhood care and education in Gudalur, India, it demonstrates how modern schooling, even during preschool years, deprioritizes indigenous Adivasi commmunities' socio-cultural practices surrounding children. The separations produced by state educational institutions, between home and school, children's work and (economic) work of adults, (in contrast to the continuities they assume for communities) are central to this. Adivasi communities negotiate the decontextualized state educational provisions, without completely rejecting them, cognizant of its implications for their lives. Demanding greater accountability from educational institutions, they show how educational institutions include without attending to their socio-political histories and changing relationships with forests, which requires children to be prepared for the present and future, economic and social life, and through intergenerational continuity in knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, financial institutions in India have not sufficiently met the needs of small and marginal farmers due to the greater risks and higher operational costs involved in catering to their needs. To expand access to finance to these underserved but important sections of the economy, it is necessary to look beyond traditional standardized lender-borrower relationships. Financiers need to instead adopt flexibility in governance forms and forge new kinds of inter-organizational partnerships to serve these segments profitably. A good example of such a new lending model is agricultural value chain financing. Agricultural value chain financiers adopt flexibility in governance forms by having in their fold multiple group entities with more than one legal form. They also form several partnerships with flexibility in governance mechanisms and governance tools to develop customized solutions for a particular value chain. This paper uses the situation-actor-process and learning- action-performance (SAP-LAP) framework to evolve a conceptual model to illustrate this. It further describes a case study of an agricultural value chain financier in India to demonstrate the application of the model. The objective of the paper is to demonstrate how governance flexibility can help address traditional barriers in addressing the financial needs of neglected communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurrent summer floods along the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries are a major challenge for the people and state governments of Northeast India. While riverine communities in the region rely upon a variety of adaptation strategies to live with these destructive floods, climate change is expected to further exacerbate this challenge, as melting Himalayan glaciers and changes in the South Asian monsoon lead to an increase in the frequency of severe floods. At the same time, a multitude of new dams are under construction in the Brahmaputra river basin, to meet India's growing energy demands. Though these dams could provide flood protection for downstream communities, political and economic factors have led dam-builders to prioritize hydroelectricity generation over flood control. Furthermore, hydroelectricity generated along the Brahmaputra is "evacuated" to distant urban centers, while rural dwellers in Northeast India suffer from high levels of energy poverty. Using the Ranganadi Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal Pradesh as a case study, this paper examines how, by changing the flood regime and undermining current adaptive strategies, large dams along the Brahmaputra are testing the capacity of downstream communities to live with summer floods. This work highlights the ways in which poor and vulnerable communities in Northeast India are forced to bear the costs of both climate change impacts and decarbonization efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the main and interactive effects of national culture dimensions and HIV prevalence rates on stigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIVA). We examined these various relationships using data from a sample of 68,041 individuals from 49 countries, obtained from the World Values Survey. We used Hierarchical Linear Modeling to conduct our cross-level analyses. Our results indicated that collectivistic societies were positively associated while egalitarian and performance-oriented societies were negatively associated with stigma towards PLHIVA. Additionally, HIV prevalence rates interact with several cultural dimensions to worsen stigma towards PLHIVA. Our findings indicate the need to tailor stigma reduction strategies by taking the national culture dimensions of a given society into consideration when designing and implementing programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographical paper re-explores the ancient remains of Sultanganj, Bihar, reports new findings of interest to archaeologists and art historians of eastern India and attempts to explain the historical context for the emergence of the site. Intervowen are prevailing popular conceptions of recovered old images and their place in the living traditions of a complex socio-religious pilgrimage town. It explores the local community's response to a recent threat to this cultural heritage and demonstrates how popular conceptions of the life and location of ancient images offer a complementary model for the protection and preservation of ancient heritage in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive primary health care has been a subject of concern for millennia, and the Indian government has undertaken a variety of initiatives, including the National Health Mission, Ayushman Bharat, and Health and Wellness Centers, to mention a few. Despite this, there are significant challenges in providing equitable access to primary health care, particularly for persons who live in rural and hilly areas. The major goal of this model is to develop a comprehensive community-based participatory strategy for galvanizing the community toward improved health-care access and realizing the impact of community empowerment. A thorough literature search was conducted to identify the articles that provide a snapshot of primary hea lth-care services situation in mountainous regions of India. Based on the gaps identified in health-care delivery, we proposed a unique approach built on the principle of "to the community, for the community, and by the community." This paper provides the description of the model, its importance, as well as effectiveness of its implementation in a hard-to-reach region. The model recommends developing a community taskforce within the community to educate the masses about their primary health-care needs, thus reducing emergency department visits and hospital admissions, and also assist the primary care or family physician in preparing a collaborative treatment plan for their patients in early stages of diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants use food blogs to construct and maintain their ethnic identities. During the pandemic in spring of 2020, the Indian food blog Bongmom's Cookbook, which showcases food from the Kolkata region of India, was my go-to for coping with the sense of uncertainty in the world. The blog and Facebook posts used humor to document meals and family life during the pandemic, while avoiding more difficult topics surrounding the pandemic. Using Bongmom's blog as an example, this paper argues that the topic of food is fraught with politics. On the one hand, the blog fulfills readers' emotional needs by helping them connect with their homeland and providing a space for self-care during a crisis, but on the other hand, the absence of discussion on issues such as economic inequality, healthcare, unfair immigration practices, and institutional racism highlights the economic and social divides within the immigrant community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income‐generating activities by women are an effective means of reducing gender‐based deprivation and disparities. In the constrained familial and community settings of developing economies, online platforms can be an appropriate means for women to carry out economic activities. In this context, important initiatives taken by the Government of India, such as the Common Service Centres scheme, are worth studying. This paper critically evaluates such revolutionary online platform–based entrepreneurial initiatives using the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen. We examine through case studies how women‐run businesses use online platforms and what determines their success, inputs, capabilities, and conversion factors. Further, national enterprise‐level data from Indiaʼs National Sample Survey Office are analysed to show that states with a higher level of gender inequality are also the regions with a lower level of information and communications technology usage by women‐run enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the adverse effects of growing water scarcity on the lives and livelihoods of poor people have become a major policy concern in India. This paper reviews the effectiveness of macro-level policies for rainwater conservation and critically examines micro-level local community institutions for the sustainable management of traditional water bodies. Using Ostrom's design principles and qualitative data from three different multipurpose tanks, the study finds that management decisions at the local level have benefited few influential members of local communities and deprived a large number of poor households from resource uses, making the local institutions ineffective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baheliya, a nomadic tribe, were confined on the outskirts of a village in Madhya Pradesh, India due to the sudden lockdown announced by the government. How does the lockdown impact the nomad community? Using the lens of liminality, this paper details the experience of the community as they struggle between a detached past and an uncertain future. It describes the features of a liminal phase; namely, freedom, egalitarianism, communion, and creativity as experienced by the members from the Baheliya community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of nonprofits have shifted their microfinance operation to a for-profit format. Little has been explored on how these for-profits are being legitimized. This paper draws on the legitimacy theory to explore how nonprofits use substantive actions to seek legitimacy within the community to commercialize microfinance operations. Findings from case studies on two Indian microfinance organizations reveal that these organizations use three sets of substantive actions focusing on performance, legal suitability, and community participation. Implications include the use of substantive actions by SEs to balance the dual purpose and to ensure downward accountability toward the community. This study extends our understanding of efforts undertaken by social enterprises to seek legitimacy with the community as the evaluator. The identification of substantial actions offers tools for managers to incorporate commercial processes within nonprofits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agroalimentaria is the property of Alejandro Antonio Gutierrez Socorro and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The belief system of the tribes regarding Traditional Ecological Knowledge enables the community to come up with better solutions for various situations, as it provides not only information about the environment but also an understanding of cultural dimensions such as responsibilities toward others, reciprocity, and sustainability. Using TEK, this paper investigates forest management dynamics among three tribal groups in the Gandhamardhan hill range of western Odisha. The data collected for the study is based on fieldwork conducted in three villages that topographically share the Gandhamardhan forest as their commons. Consequently, TEK can be used as an educative tool to teach effective strategies for conserving biodiversity. Hence, this study attempts to demonstrate the significance of TEK as a means to enhance the governance of the commons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional festivals are the amalgamation of various aspects of the Intangible Cultural Heritage which reflects the worldview and culture of a particular community. Understanding festivals in the natural socio-cultural context is very important to understand the culture of a particular community. This paper attempts to describe the Ronghoan festival of the Nocte tribe inhabiting in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh, India and discusses various aspects of the festival by interpreting the associated rituals and symbolic attributes, which largely manifest their worldviews. It also highlights the multifaceted nature and role of festival in Nocte society and tries to identify a variety of tasks performed by festival. Ronghoan is a harvest festival of millet celebrated by Nocte community of Khonsa (Hakhun) village during the month of June-July every year. It is celebrated to propitiate the god, Almighty Rang for his blessing in order to attain good crops and well-being of the village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of populations are suffering from haemoglobinopathies including tribal populations. Sickle-cell-anaemia and Thalassemia are two major genetic mutations in human haemoglobin. Toto is one of the PVTGs in India, living under the foothills of Himalayan region in the Indo-Bhutan border. The objective of the paper is to find out the status of haemoglobin and the types of haemoglobins found among them. CBC and HPLC tests were performed by collecting blood samples from 114 genetically unrelated couples from the community. On the basis of CBC test inferences were drawn that 72.4% individuals have normal blood haemoglobin and 23.2% people have low blood haemoglobin. Different types of haemoglobin like HbF, HbA2 and HbA are also found from HPLC test. Where, 63.6% have HbF and 100% have HbA in low range, 12.3% have HbF and 69.3% have HbA2 in high range, and the rest are normal. From both the tests it is seen that 49.1% people have HbE heterozygous, 19.7% have HbE homozygous type. In conclusion it can be said that besides having HbE type of haemoglobin among the studied population they have very good haemoglobin status and good health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camps are a popular approach to deliver medical care in India. While it is usually a one-off event for physical ailments, it is a long-term affair in Psychiatry. One of the first camps in psychiatry was rolled out as early as in 1967 at Mandar, Ranchi, followed by Raipur Rani (Haryana) in 1976 and at Gunjur, Karnataka in 1977. This camp approach became extremely popular and got expanded across India as they were thought to be synonymous with community-based outreach for mental illnesses. In the past 5 years, however, newer models of community care have emerged, necessitating a relook at this traditional approach. In this paper, the authors trace the origin, utility and future directions of these camps, taking data from community psychiatry camps conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, a premier neuropsychiatric tertiary care institute in India. Data have been collated from the annual reports of the Institute, database from the District Mental health Program, Government of Karnataka, India, and compared with published literature on the same field. While camps remain as one of the important avenues to reach the unreached, there is a need to change the approach of their functioning by incorporating training (primary care providers) aspects and collaborative care. The latter may make the initiative more meaningful and sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic impacted the well-being of communities globally. In providing psychosocial care, mental health practitioners at the frontlines had to deal with soaring demands that left them feeling overwhelmed. In response, a supportive supervision program was launched by Rahbar in India. This paper presents supervisors' reflections on providing supervision based on principles of social justice, trauma informed, and strengths-based practice to mental health practitioners and psychosocial care workers to navigate challenges in remote counseling, supporting children and persons diagnosed with Covid-19 and managing their own well-being. Implications for supervision programs, specifically in crisis/trauma contexts, are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]