Need to Introduce Value Education in Modern Society - Purva ...

Need to Introduce Value Education in Modern Society: The Challenges of the Times

Dr. Kuldeep Chand

Dr. Ajit Bansal

Abstract

Education in general and value education in particular occupies a prestigious place in current situation of contemporary society. Due to rapid progress in various areas like science and technology, economic infrastructure etc. the present education needs moral, spiritual and aesthetic values to be included so that our culture and traditions can be preserved & transferred to the next generation by the help of value education only. Values are goals set for achievements and they motivate, define and shade all our activities cognitive, affective and conative. They are described as the socially defined desires and goals that are internalized through the process of conditioning, learning & socialization. Value education is much concerned with striving for personal wholeness as well as generating a responsible attitude towards others and an understanding of wrong and right behavior. The most constructive factor in value education is its purpose which encourages the student to explore the powers while offering living guidance and setting appropriate limits to behavior. Value education helps in building and strengthening of positive sentiments for people and ideals. It should prepare individuals for active participation in social life and acceptance of social rules. This paper is based on secondary sources with the objectives 1) to study the role of value education in modern society. 2) tomeet the challenges of the times to promote value education in modern society3) to give some suggestions to promote value education .

Introduction

“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more

cleverdevil.”―C.S.Lewis.

The definition of value education is educating the child to harmonize every aspect of his

being viz. spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual and psychological so as to develop his

personality in a holistic manner.Value shapes our relationships, our behaviours, our choices, and our

sense of who we are. The more positive our values, the most positive will our actions. This is one of the

reasons why value education is being taught or included in all type of education, because it plays a

great role for student's becoming successful in their own choice of careers. Values in education are like

what virtues make of a human being. Value education harmonizes the need for the student to achieve

in a competitive world and the need to be compassion to his fellow beings. While society today faces

many pressures and pulls of modern day advancement in education with its competitive marking

system is creating a market oriented society. Children are being groomed to be professionals to

capture the top salary jobs in the market. All the same while it is necessary to teach the child to fish

*Associate Professor, School of Law, Maharaja Agrasen University, Baddi, Distt. Solan, H.P.

Professor, School of Management , Maharaja Agarsen University, Baddi, Solan (H.P.)

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Purva MimaansaA Multi-discipinary Bi-annual Research Journal(Double Blind Peer Reviewed)

Vol. 9 No. 1-2, March-Sep. 2018ISSN : 0976-0237UGC Approved Journal No. 40903

instead of giving him a fish it is values that make a man. Value education is the process by which

people give values to others. Powneyet. al. (1995) It can be an activity that can take place in

anyorganisation during which people are assisted by others, who may be older, in a position of

authority or are more experienced, to make explicit those values underlying their own behaviour, to

assess the effectiveness of these values and associated behaviour for their own and others' long term

well-being and to reflect on and acquire other values and behaviour which they recognize as being

more effective for long term well-being of self and others. There is a difference between literacy and

education.

Values education can take place at home, as well as in schools, colleges, universities, jails

and voluntary youth organizations. There are two main approaches to values education, some see it as

inculcating or transmitting a set of values which often come from societal or religious rules or cultural

ethics while others see it as a type of Socratic dialogue where people are gradually brought to their

own realization of what is good behaviour for themselves and their community, Minnis (1991).

The process that gives young people an initiation into values, giving knowledge of the rules needed to

function in this mode of relating to other people, and to seek the development in the student a grasp of

certain underlying principles, together with the ability to apply these rules intelligently, and to have

the settled disposition to do so, David (2000). Some researchers use the concept values education as

an umbrella of concepts that includes moral education and citizenship education,Cheng et.al. (2006).

Themes that values education can address to varying degrees are character, moral development,

Religious Education, Spiritual development, citizenship education, personal development, social

development and cultural development, Taylor (2006). There is a further distinction between explicit

values education and implicit values education, Cox (1988). where: Explicit values education is

associated with those different pedagogies, methods or programmes that teachers or educators use in

order to create learning experiences for students when it comes to value questions Another definition

of value education is "learning about self and wisdom of life" in a self-exploratory, systematic and

scientific way through formal education. The values and attitudes we live by affect how we relate to

other people and to all our activities in the environment, and so are a major influence on our prospects

for achieving a sustainable future.

Although they cannot be separated from cognitive understanding, values and attitudes relate

to the affective (or emotional) dimension of human behaviour. While values and attitudes are similar

in this regard, they differ in several important ways. Values are generally long-term standards or

principles that are used to judge the worth of an idea or action. They provide the criteria by which we

decide whether something is good or bad, right or wrong. Attitudes predispose us to respond in

particular ways to people and events. They are not so deeply felt as values and quite often change as a

result of experience.

Meaning of value-based education:

Education is the vehicle of knowledge, self-preservation and success. Education not only

gives a platform to succeed, but also the knowledge of social conduct, strength, character and self-

respect. The greatest gift education gives us is the knowledge of unconditional love and a set of

values. These values include the simple difference between right and wrong, a belief in God, the

importance of hard work and self-respect. Education is a continuous learning experience, learning

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from people, learning from leaders and followers and then growing up to be the person we are meant

to be. Value- based education is a threefold development of any individual of any gender and age, but

most importantly of a child. Education tries to develop three aspects: physique, mentality and

character. Even though physique and mentality are important, they are menaces without the third

because character is the greatest of these. Education plays a huge role in precisely this area.Value-

based education is a tool which not only provides us a profession which we can pursue but also a

purpose in life. The purpose of our life is undoubtedly to know oneself and be ourselves. We cannot do

it unless we learn to identify ourselves with all that lives. The objective of education in a country like

India, which has a glorious heritage and can boast of diversity in geography, culture, values and

beliefs very rarely seen in this wide world, should be to educate a student of the value system which is

indispensable to live successful life, Das (2008).

Importance of value education in schools:

The importance of value education in schools is highlighted by many a principal. Why is

value education important in schools? Often the teacher explains the meaning of value education to

children. Value education begins at home and is developed in schools. Stories with quotes on value

education are important to help children understand the topics of value education. Many value

education videos are also available for value education for kids, students and for children for all ages.

At time value education is offered in schools. Moreover value education and character building go

hand in hand just the same as national integration does. Don Boscos's School, Jesus and Mary's

Convent, St. Xavier's School and St. Michael's in India are fore runners in the field of value

education in schools today.

Importance of value education in India:

Value Education in India from the ancient times has held a prime place of importance. From

the gurukul stage the child not only learnt skills of reading and archery but more the philosophy of life

in relation with its impermanence. Hence education in India was born of this vision to achieve one's

experience in the absolute as a spark of the divine and in this process practice of one's duty

accompanies the acquisition of knowledge. In the modern school system value education, was termed

moral education or moral science.

Today most schools in India offer value education through school education. While private

schools offer value education through class-wise books on value education others offer value

education at special times in the school schedule e.g. assemblies, festivals etc. through activities on

special themes and topics of value education e.g. national integration, character building etc. Value

education quotes are available on websites for special displays, use in essays on value education and

for notes on value education.The main object of the study is to inculcate moral and value based

education in schools and colleges and to know the attitude of intermediate students towards moral

values.

Hogan (1973) believes that moral behavior is determined by five factors: (1) Socialization:

becoming aware as a child of society's and parents' rules of conduct for being good. (2) Moral

judgment: learning to think reasonably about our own ethics and deliberately deciding on our own

moral standards. (3) Moral feelings: the internalization of our moral beliefs to the degree that we feel

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shame and guilt when we fail to do what we "should." (4) Empathy: the awareness of other people's

situation, feelings, and needs so that one is compelled to help those in need. (5) Confidence and

knowledge: knowing the steps involved in helping others and believing that one is responsible for and

capable of helping.

Need of Value Education

Value education is rooted in Indian philosophy and culture and ingrained in every tradition of

Indian culture. Educational institutions play a significant role in the promotion of value. The Vedas

and Upanishads form the source of inspiration for value education. In the Vedic period, In Ashram

education, the Guru insists his sishya to follow certain values throughout his life. Socialist, Secular,

Democratic, Justice, Liberty Equality, Fraternity, Dignity of the individuals and integrity of the nation

are the ideal conditions in the Constitution. Our values in life must draw their inspiration from these

ideals. University education commission 1948-49 mentioned the various aspects of morality as:

loyalty, courage, discipline, self-sacrifice and spirituality. The Secondary Education Commission

1952-53 laid special emphasis on the following values in the formation of character of the students:

Aims and Objectives of Value Education

In a Values-based education, children develop a secure sense of self. They become more empowered

to take responsibility for their own learning. Research shows that children develop academic

diligence when they are involved with a Values-based education. They develop relational trust. They

become articulate and able to talk freely and well. Through silence, quietness and reflection

techniques of the Values-based framework, children can understand much more deeply their work and

their lives.From the social perspective, Values-based Education promotes effective learning and

underpins the continuous improvement of personal, social, moral and economic wellbeing. It is an

investment in individual capability and self-responsibility and its product, therefore, promises

significant value to society.Value education should aim at the development of values of the following

type. Scientific temper of mind, Large heartedness, Co-operation, Tolerance and Respect for the

culture of other groups.

“Analytical thinking, critical-thinking, lateral thinking and problem solving are required in

most occupations today”

Examination Reforms, NCF-2005, NCERT

Importance of Attitudes and values for students (Co-Scholastic area)

While value education is important for students, the curriculum includes various forms of value

education by means of stories, power point programs, activities etc. Books, videos and source

material on various topics of value education are provided to children. Several schools promote value

education projects, and exposure trips. Schools run by the MontAa so ka gdhers like St. Columbus,

and MSFS schools in India train children to be responsible and contributing citizens of the nation for a

better world. The archdiocesan schools in Delhi impart value education, which is compulsory in all

the seventeen schools. So to in the 150 archdiocesan schools in Mumbai value education takes prime

place.

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Indicators of Assessments for Attitudes and Values

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A students as a person is a composite individual replete with core values. It is these universal values

that need to be strengthened within the school system and outside by teachers, parents and the

community. These need to be carefully observed by the teacher and recorded for example whether a

student is kind only to a friend or extends it to the other student in the corridor or other common spaces

or the community.

One of the major objectives of school education is to prepare a students for life. This really means that

a student must grow in several dimension as they move from primary to secondary school. They

should know how to take informed decisions as young adolescents about to step into a world. They

need to develop and grow in their ability to interact with peer- group, society and the community. They

need to develop the ability to crop with change and flexibility to adopt a rapidly changing

environment. Participation in Creative, Scientific, Aesthetic skill, Performing arts, Eco Club and

health and Wellness Clubs helps them to develop holistically.

Techniques and Tools of Evaluation

Tools and techniques are required to gather information. These should be valid, reliable and usable.

Interpretation of gathered information needs to be given in numerical scores, grades as well as in

qualitative term. Judgment should be made not just on scholastic aspects but also on co-scholastic

aspects which depend to a large extent on the learning ambience and learning culture of an institution

Conclusion:

The values or moral values present a true perspective of the development of any society or

nation. They tell us to what extent a society or nation has developed itself. Values are virtues, ideals

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and qualities on which actions and beliefs are based. Values are guiding principles that shape our

world outlook, attitudes and conduct. Values however are our inborn divine virtues such as love,

peace, happiness, mercy and compassion as well as the positive moral qualities such as respect,

humility, tolerance, responsibility, cooperation, honesty and simplicity. In the present time moral

degeneration are occurred. The main causes of value degeneration are: Lack of respect for the

sanctity of human life , Breakdown of parental control of children in families , Lack of respect for

authority seen through the brazen breaking of the law and total disregard for rules and regulations ,

Crime and corruption , Abuse of alcohol and drugs ,Abuse of women and children and other

vulnerable members of society and Lack of respect for other people and property. To solve all these

type problems it is necessary to know the main causes of the above problems. We know today children

are tomorrow's citizens. If we give good education to the present day children, the future of the next

generations will be well. Now we are living in the modern century. If we use science and technology

in the proper way it is not difficult for us to solve all the problems of the non-moral and value things.

Today we are facing so many problems like terrorism, poverty and population problem. It is

necessary to inculcate moral values in curriculum. Due to liberalization, industrialization and

globalization rapid changes are occurring in almost all social sciences. The value possessed and their

attitudes according to the changes should be known up to date vast changes are occurring in the

education. So called philosophical foundations of India are declining day to day with the country in a

state of social turbulence, the goals and functions of formal education need to be reassessed and

updated. Through education we can change the world. According to Father of Indian Nation

M.K.Gandhi:

“If wealth is lost nothing is lost

If health is lost something is lost

If character is lost everything is lost”

Best of all things is character.

In today's scenario our values have been discarded by the new generation in the upcoming of the new

fashion. In such a situation it is very important for someone to lay down basic principles for us so that

we may lead a brightened life, no matter the stepping stones of success hit us hard we on the basis of

these principles can guide our life. Thus value education completes this need very easily with an

impact on the young minds making the world a better place to live in.

References:

1. Cheng, R. H. M., Lee, J. C. K. & Lo, L. N. K. (2006). Values education for citizens in the new

century: meaning, desirability and practice. In R. H. M. Cheng, J. C. K. Lee & L. N. K. Lo

(Eds.), Values education for citizens in the new century (pp.1-35). Sha Tin: The Chinese

University Press.

2. Cox, E. (1988). Explicit and implicit moral education, Journal of Moral Education, 17, 92-

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3. Cross, M (1995) Values education: a staff development manual for secondary schools.

Framework Press, Lancaster.

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4. Das, Sayan (2008). Value based education. Retrieved on September 23, 2010 from

http://theviewspaper.net/value-based-education/

5. David Aspin (2000) A clarification of some key terms in values discussions, in M. Leicester,

C. Modgil& S. Modgil (Eds.), Moral education and pluralism: Education, culture and values

(Vol. 4, p.171-180). London: Farmer Press.

6. Fisher, R (1994) Moral education and philosophy in schools, NAVET Papers Vol X.

7. Halstead, J. M. (1996). Valuesfuck and valuessuck education in schools. I J. M. Halstead, &

M. J. Taylor (Eds.),Values in education and education in values (pp.3-14). London: The

Falmer Press.

8. Kohlberg, L. (1985). The just community approach to moral education in theory and

practice. In Berkowitz, M.N. &Oser, F. (Eds.), Moral education: Theory and application.

Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

9. Kohlberg, L., Higgins, A., Power, F. C., (1989). Lawrence Kohlberg's Approach to Moral

Education (Critical Assessments of Contemporary Psychology) Columbia University

Press.

10. Kohlberg, L., Wasserman, E., & Richardson, N. (1975). The ideology of the Just

Community School, In Recent papers on moral education, Kohlberg, L. (Ed.), Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press.

11. Lipman, M (1987) Ethical reasoning and the craft of moral practice, Journal of Moral

Education, Vol 16, No 2.

12. Mei-lin Ng, M. (2006). Valuation, evaluation, and value education – On acquiring the ability

to value: A philosophical perspective. I R. H. M. Cheng, J. C. K. Lee & L. N. K. Lo (Eds.),

Values education for citizens in the new century(pp.49-66). Sha Tin: The Chinese University

Press.

13. Minnis, F (1991) Socrates for six-year-olds. Booklet accompanying the BBC programme of

the same title. BBC, London

14. Powney, J., Cullen, M-A., Schlapp, U., Johnstone, M. & Munn, P. (1995). Understanding

values education in the primary school. York: Reports Express. p.vii

15. Rowe, D and Newton, J (1994) You, me, us! Social and moral responsibility for primary

schools, Citizenship Foundation, London.

16. Sharp, A M (1984) Philosophical teaching as moral education, Journal of Moral

Education,Vol 13, No 1.

17. Taylor, M. (2006).The development of values through the school curriculum. R.H.M.

Cheng, J.C.K. Lee & L.N.K. Lo (Eds.), Values education for citizens in the new

century(pp.107-131). Sha Tin: The Chinese University Press.

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Economic Status Of Scheduled Castes In Haryana

Raghunath

Abstract

Indian society is a heterogeneous, wherein people belonging to various castes and communities reside. Caste system is based on Varna System where the Brahmins are at the top of the hierarchy, followed by Kshatriyas,Vysyas, and Sudras. Those people who are outside the varna system are known as Avarnas or Antajas or Panchamas of Chandalas. They are external in the sense that they were required to stay outside the village settlement. The concept of pollution attached to them was responsible for treating or categorizing them as scheduled castes.The section of Indian population categorised as 'Scheduled Castes' form the lowest segment of the Hindu caste society. In the past different terms were used for them, examples being Chandala, Patila, Achhut, Shudra, Outcaste, untouchable and so on. They were called the 'depressed classes' in census reports and in common political parlance till 1921. In 1931 census this was replaced by yet another connotation, the 'exterior castes', while in 1936, these people became to be called as scheduled castes (SCs.) as a result of the Government of India Scheduled Castes Order, 1936. As a consequence, these castes have remained socially, economically educationally, politically and culturally backward for several centuries.This paper deals with the economic status of scheduled castes such as occupational structure, land ownership, unemployment rate, poverty and participation in MGNREGS in the state of Haryana. The study is non-empirical in nature and it is purely based on secondary data.

Keywords: Scheduled Castes, Caste system, Untouchables, Backward, Depressed Classes.

Introduction

Indian society is most diverse society of the world, wherein people belonging to various castes and communities reside. The people of Indian society are divided on the basis of castes. Caste system is based on Varna System where the Brahmins are at the top of the hierarchy, followed by Kshatriyas, Vysyas and Sudras. Those people who are outside the varna system are known as Avarnas or Antajas or Panchamas of Chandalas. They are external in the sense that they were required to stay outside the village settlement. The concept of pollution attached to them was responsible for treating or categorizing them as scheduled castes. The caste system is characterized by a status hierarchy, the scheduled castes or the so-called untouchables are at the base, in fact, at the lowest of the social and ritual status. These sections had, on account of their low social and ritual status, been subjected to a variety of disabilities under the traditional caste system. All through the ages, the scheduled castes had suffered from social injustice and exploitation. They were denied all privileges and benefits as had been enjoyed by the upper castes. Their entries into temples of upper castes, public places, educational institutions, etc. were restricted. On account of their being on the lowest rung of the social ladder, they were forced to take up unclean and menial occupations and jobs, which yielded low incomes. They were associated with a variety of specialized traditional occupations such as scavenging, cobbling, disposal of carcass, basketry, etc. As a consequence, these castes have

*Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Punjabi University Patiala.

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remained socially, economically, educationally, politically and culturally backward for several centuries (Apparya, 2015).

Therefore, all the sections of the Indian society did not get an equal opportunity to develop because opportunities remained confined to some sections as well as people. The important reason for the skewed distribution of opportunities appears to be the lack of social justice that lay in the very nature of the caste system which derived its sustenance in social inequalities perpetrated by birth. In India, a person got a low or high status more because of his birth than of his work (Malhotra, 2002).

The section of Indian population categorised as 'Scheduled Castes' form the lowest segment of the Hindu caste society. In the past different terms were used for them, examples being Chandala, Patila, Achhut, Shudra, Outcaste, untouchable and so on. They were called the 'depressed classes' in census reports and in common political parlance till 1921. In 1931 census this was replaced by yet another connotation, the 'exterior castes', while in 1936, these people became to be called as scheduled castes (SCs.) as a result of the Government of India Scheduled Castes Order, 1936 (based upon the Government of India Act, 1935). Accordingly, a list of those communities was prepared which by reason of their specific position in Hindu social milieu suffered certain serious disadvantages. The Indian Constitution in its article 341, empowers the President of India to notify, after consulting the head of the concerned state, by an order the castes, tribes or races or part of or group within castes, tribes or races, to be deemed as scheduled castes in relation to that State (Sharma, 1984).

The area of this study is confined to Haryana state. There are 29 states in Indian union and Haryana is one of them. It falls in the north of India. The capital of Haryana is Chandigarh, which is also the capital of Punjab. The state of Haryana came into existence on November 1, 1966 as a result of re-organization of the old Punjab state. It was formed as a linguistic state, on the pattern of other states in India (Ranga, 1994). The population of Haryana, was 2,53,53,081, out of this 51,13,615 (20.17 percent) persons belonged to scheduled castes. The scheduled caste population in Haryana constituted 2.5 percent of country's total scheduled caste population. This scheduled caste population is contributed by 37 scheduled castes notified by the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes orders (Amendment) Act, 1976 (Census of India, 2011).

The paper evaluates the economic status of scheduled castes such as occupational structure, land ownership, unemployment rate, poverty and participation in MGNREGS in the state of Haryana.

Objectives

The central theme of the study is to evaluate the economic status of scheduled castes in Haryana. Following are the main objectives of the study;

Ø To analyse occupational structure, land ownership among scheduled castes in Haryana.

Ø To evaluate rate of unemployment and extent of poverty among scheduled castes in Haryana

Ø To examine the participation of scheduled castes in MGNREGS in Haryana.

Data Source

The present study is non-empirical in nature and it is based on secondary data which has been collected from different published sources like Census reports, NSSO Reports, Human development reports, Statistical abstract of Haryana, Journals, Books and Newspapers etc.

Economic Status of Various Social Groups

Occupational structure of workers from 1971 to 2011 in Haryana has been presented in the table 1.1.

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The table shows that percentage share of cultivators among scheduled castes was lower as compared to all groups from 1981 to 2011. On the other hand percentage share of agricultural labourers was higher among scheduled castes as compared to all groups. The percentage share of cultivators was 17.75 percent among scheduled castes in 1981 whereas it was 44.68 percent for all groups. The percentage share of cultivators has decreased for all groups as well as for scheduled castes because in 2011 that was 27.80 percentage and 5.7 percent for all groups and scheduled castes respectively. But scheduled castes are most deprived in the case of land as compared to other groups. The percentage share of agricultural labourers among scheduled castes was higher as compared to all groups from 1981 to 2011. It is clear that mostly scheduled castes are landless and they are working as agricultural labourers. Landlessness is main factor behind the economic exploitation they are facing in agriculture sector because land owners hire them on meager wages. Except 2011, the percentage share of household industry workers among scheduled castes was lower as compared to all groups in Haryana. It is clear from the table that average size of landholding has decreased among all groups due to establishment of industries and houses at large scale consequently percentage share of cultivators among all groups has decreased from 1981 to 2011 in Haryana.

But percentage share of cultivators among scheduled castes has decreased at increasing rate as compared to all groups. Scheduled castes are suffering from poverty and due to poverty their educational status is very low and they are not skilled to work in industries, consequently they are not hired by industries.

Land is the fundamental means of production in an agrarian society without which no agricultural production can take place (Rawal, 2008). Land possessed by different social groups in Haryana has been presented in table 2. The distribution of land possessed shows that the percentage share of households having land between 0.005 to 0.40 hectare was highest among scheduled castes (79.9) followed by scheduled tribes, (74.4), other backward castes (57.3) whereas it was lowest among other castes (25.6). Whereas, land between 2.01 hectares to 4.00 hectare was possessed by 5.5, 1.0, 7.4 and 23.3 percent households among scheduled tribe, scheduled caste, other backward classes and others respectively. The table clearly indicates that as the size of land holding increases the percentage of scheduled caste households having land decreases. This analysis clearly points out that scheduled caste households are more deprived in the ownership of productive assets mainly land in

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Haryana because about 94 percent of them has land less than 0.40 hectares. Due to this reason, majority of them are dependent on wage work for their livelihood which is responsible for their exploitation as well as socio–economic backwardness in the society.

The unemployment rate according to current daily status approach among different social groups in Haryana has been presented in table 3. Unemployment rate among scheduled castes in Haryana was 7.7 percent which was higher than other social groups. It clearly indicates that scheduled castes were more unemployed than other social groups. Their condition in the rural areas was more vulnerable as unemployment rate stood at 8.0 percent whereas it was 6.3 percent in the urban areas. In urban areas, the unemployment rate was lower both for males and females among scheduled castes than their counterparts in the rural areas.

Source: Report on Employment and Unemployment Survey 2011-12, Labour Bureau Chandigarh

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The overall unemployment rate in Haryana was 6.3 percent whereas it was 7.7 percent for the scheduled castes. The unemployment rate of scheduled castes is higher than other social groups except scheduled tribes because of their higher concentration in the rural areas and lack of employment opportunities in the rural areas. Even those who have migrated to urban areas have been unable to get jobs in industries due to low level of literacy, poor skills and lack of technical education.

Poverty incidence among the different social groups in Haryana is given in the table 4. This table reveals that the poverty incidence among all groups and scheduled castes was 36.0 and 58.8 percent in 1993-94 respectively whereas it has declined to 19.9 and 37.8 percent in 2009-10 and further it declined to 11.2 and 24.1 percent in 2011-12 respectively.

The poverty incidence was higher among the rural households as compared to the urban households for all groups except for year 2009-10. Poverty incidence among scheduled caste was higher in the rural areas till year 2004-05 after that this trend reversed and poverty incidence for scheduled caste in the urban areas became higher as compared to the rural areas. The table further shows that over the period of time poverty ratio was higher among scheduled castes. Therefore, scheduled castes are worst sufferer among all groups in the case of poverty. They have been unable to break this vicious circle of poverty. Poverty affects their education, health as well as personality development. It further affects their income because due to lack of skills, they are not able to get gainful employment in the various sectors of the economy.

To provide 100 days wage employment to every rural household in a year to enhance livelihood security in rural areas, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was implemented in the Haryana w.e.f. 1st April, 2008. One third of the jobs are reserved for the women. Minimum wages of Rs. 251 per person day were being paid to the workers engaged under the scheme w.e.f. 1st April, 2015, which was the highest in the country. This programme was converged with schemes of other line departments like forests, Agriculture, Irrigation, School Education, Women & Child, Development & Panchayats, Fisheries, Public Health and Engineering, Marketing Board and PWD etc. to ensure creation of meaningful assets in the villages (Government of Haryana, 2016).

Table 5 deals with the total person-days generated for different social groups under

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MGNREGS in Haryana during 2012-13 to 2015-2016. This table reveals that in 2012-13, total person days generated were 128.87 lakh in the financial year 2012-13 which decreased to 117.88 lakh in 2013-14. In 2014-15 and 2015-16 the person days generated further decreased to 61.65 lakh and 48.48 lakh respectively. The percentage of person days generated to scheduled castes to total person days was 50.71 percent in 2012-13 but it decreased to 43.8 percent in 2014-15 and further it increased to 49.66 percent in 2015-16. In 2012-13, average days of employment provided per household was 43.81 but it decreased to 36.28 in 2013-14 and further decreased to 28.76 in 2015-16. Average person days generated for scheduled caste households in MGNREGS was estimated 42.49 in 2012-13 and decreased to 26.73 and in 2014-15 and 26.46 in 2015-16. The percentage of scheduled castes worked in MGNREGS was estimated 53.08 in 2012-13 and it decreased to 46.6 percent in 2014-15 but it rose to 52.62 in 2015-16. In the recent times, overall person days generated has decreased due to various reasons mainly delayed payments of wages.

The performance of MGNREGS depends on its implementation and employment demanded by people. The scheduled caste participation in MGNREGS has decreased due to poor implementation and delayed payment of wages in Haryana. Delayed payment of wage under MGNREGS is matter of debate at national and state level. Because majority of scheduled castes are casual workers and they don't have permanent source of income. Therefore, they are moving to other works where they are being paid instantly.

Summary and Results

The findings show that percentage share of cultivators among scheduled castes was lower as compared to all groups from 1981 to 2011. On the other hand percentage share of agricultural labourers was higher among scheduled castes as compared to all groups. It is clear from analysis that scheduled castes are most deprived in the case of land as compared to other groups so percentage share of cultivators is higher among other groups. The percentage share of cultivators has decreased in Haryana due to establishment of industries and buildings at large scale and size of landholding has

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decreased consequently. But the percentage share of agricultural labourers among scheduled castes was higher as compared to all groups from 1981 to 2011. Landlessness is main factor behind the economic exploitation they are facing in agriculture sector because land owners hire them on meager wages. Except 2011, the percentage share of household industry workers among scheduled castes was lower as compared to all groups in Haryana. Scheduled castes are suffering from poverty and due to poverty their educational status is very low and they are not skilled to work in industries, consequently they not hired by industries.

The analysis clearly indicates that as the size of land holding increases the percentage share of scheduled caste households having land decreases. This shows scheduled caste households are most deprived in the ownership of productive assets mainly land in Haryana because about 94 percent of them has land less than 0.40 hectares. Thus majority of them are dependent on wage work for their livelihood which is responsible for their exploitation because they are lonely paid by landowners employees.

The overall unemployment rate in Haryana was 6.3 percent whereas it was 7.7 percent for the scheduled castes in 2011-12. The unemployment rate of scheduled castes is higher than other social groups except scheduled tribes. The higher concentration of scheduled castes in the rural areas and lack of employment opportunities in the rural areas are factors behind the high unemployment rate among scheduled castes. Even those who have migrated to urban areas have been unable to get jobs in industries due to low level of literacy, poor skills and lack of technical education.

In the case of poverty, the incidence of poverty among scheduled caste was higher in rural areas till year 2004-05 after that this trend reversed and poverty incidence for scheduled caste in the urban areas became higher as compared to the rural areas. The study reveals that poverty among scheduled castes has been higher than other sections of the society in Haryana. They have been unable to break this vicious circle of poverty. Poverty affects their education, health facilities as well as personality development. It further affects their income because due to lack of skills, they are unable to get gainful employment.

The performance of MGNREGS depends on its implementation and employment demanded by people. The scheduled caste participation in MGNREGS has decreased due to poor implementation and delayed payment of wages in Haryana. Delayed payment of wage under MGNREGS is a matter of debate at national as well as at state level. Because majority of scheduled castes are casual workers and they don't have permanent source of income. Therefore, they are moving to other works where they are being paid instantly.

Policy RecommendationsOn the basis of the results of the present study, following measures may be suggested for

improving the economic status of scheduled castes in Haryana:As per findings, a large proportion of scheduled caste people are agriculture labourers. The

proportion of cultivators is also low among scheduled castes due to higher incidence of landlessness. Thus, government should implement land reforms strictly in favour these marginalized people on the one hand and special financial assistance should be given for starting self-employment activities and by developing subsidiary occupations like piggery, Fishery, dairying and poultry on the other end.

The study further reveals that poverty is higher among scheduled castes than other sections of the society in Haryana. They have been unable to break this vicious circle of poverty. Poverty affects their education, health as well as personality development. It further affects their income because due to lack of skills, they are not able to get gainful employment. Thus, anti–poverty

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programmers mainly MGNREGS should be implemented properly for generating gainful employment in general and special component plan for scheduled castes should be implements with true spirit in particular.

In the case of MGNREGS, scheduled castes participation has been decreasing in the recent times. Delayed payment of wages is the main factor working behind decreasing person days. Delaying payment of wages is a matter of debate at national as well as at state level. Distressed workers are moving towards other jobs because most of scheduled castes are casual workers and they don't have permanent source of income. Direct benefit transfer is a good initiative to transfer payments to real workers directly but mere transfer is not important, it is the timely transfer of wages which is much required in present scenario.

The welfare schemes initiated by government for the scheduled castes need to be implemented in their true spirit with enthusiasm. Increase in the plan allocation and enlarging the scope of rural specific schemes to cover large proportion of scheduled caste population can go a long way in improving the social and economic conditions of scheduled castes in Haryana.References

1. Apparya, S. (2015). Socio-economic conditions of scheduled castes. A study in Kalaburagi district. Indian Journal of Research, 4 (5), 397-399.

2. Government of Haryana (2016).Economic Survey. Department of Economic and Statistical Analysis, Panchkula, Haryana, 130-131.

3. Government of Haryana (2016). Participation of Different Social Groups in MGNREGA in H a r y a n a . r e t r i e v e d f r o m , w w w. m g n r e g a . n i c . i n / M G N R E G A I N HARYANA_files\all_lvl_details_new.htm, accessed on 13/01/2016/04/14.06.

4. Government of India (2001). Provisional Population Totals, Chapter 6, Census of India 2001, Series 1, India, Paper 1 of 2001, 2.

5. Government of India (2011). Census of India, various issues, retrieved from, http://censusindia.gov.in/Data_Products/Library/Provisional_Population_Total_link/PDF_Links/chapter6.pdf, accessed on 24/03/2016/03.15.06.

6. Labour Bureau (2012).Report on Employment and Unemployment Survey 2011-12. Chandigarh.

7. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2014).Employment and Unemployment Situation among Social Groups in India. Available athttp://mospi.nic.in/ Mospi_New/upload/nss \_rep_556_14aug14.pdf

8. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2015).Employment and Unemployment Situation among Social Groups in India. 68th Round of Report No. 563, July 2011-June 2012, Government of India, New Delhi, 70-345.

9. Panagariya, A. & More, V. (2012).Poverty by social, religious and economic groups in India and its largest states 1993-94 to 2011-12. Working Paper no. 02/2013, SIPA School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.

10. Planning Commission(2005).Annual Report, 2005-06.Government of India, New Delhi.11. Planning Commission (2014).Annual Report, 2013-14.Government of India, New Delhi,

42.12. Ranga, S.K. (1994)[Ph.d. Thesis Un-published].Emerging elites among Scheduled Castes

in Haryana, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.13. Sharma, G. P. (1984). Trends in the study of scheduled castes. Indian Anthropologist, 14 (2),

119.14. Malhotra, M. (2002).Levels of Living of Scheduled Castes in Rural Punjab.Ph. D. Thesis

Unpublished, Department of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala,1.

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Manifestation of Will to Live in William Golding: A Study of Lord of the Flies

Radhe Shyam

Abstract

The present research paper seeks to explore the concept of Manifestation of Will to Live in William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954) which is supported by the philosophical and psychological thoughts of Arthur Schopenhauer and Sigmund Freud. Will to live is the ultimate reality of life. Search for reality in its various aspects has been an eternal pursuit of mankind. But, it is a quest that has never been satiated; the more one searches, the more one finds that its limits recede. This quest is generally for the ultimate or the absolute meaning. All creatures including human being struggle for this end against anything and anybody to the utmost limits of their powers, and in the last resort all else will be sacrificed to it, including the lives of other people as happened in Lord of the Flies. From this, it is simple to explain that man loves above everything else an existence which is full of want, misery, trouble, pain, anxiety, and then again full of boredom, and which, were it pondered over and considered purely objectively, he would of necessity abhor; and that he fears above everything else the end of this existence, which is nevertheless for him the one and only thing certain.

Key-Words: Manifestation, Will to Live, Reality, Quest, Asceticism, Primitive,

William Golding was a novelist, poet, playwright and a Nobel Prize winner for 1983, best known for his first novel Lord of the Flies. Golding's scientific background, his encounter with the sea, his warship, the laboratory and the stage make him different from any conventional moralist. Golding seems a solitary figure in the religious convention. He voices in a world which is largely indifferent to God and religion. However, his art takes the shape of an ironic quest for reality and man's moral struggles.

He taught at Bishop Wordsworth's school, Salisbury and came in close contact with the little people later on the experience finds its expression in the novel Lord of the Flies. In many of his novels, his reflections on his pupils and his reaction of the war could be traced out. Broadly speaking he explores man's nature and the changing contexts. He emerges as a serious critic of his age whose utopias have often become dystopias. He is also a writer engaged with earlier mythologies, stories and fables, and his novels betray a nightmarish intensity and poetic symbolism that encapsulate past and present.

Lord of the Flies has been interpreted in widely varying ways ever since. The novel carries mystical, theurgical religious and mythological elements all put together. The themes are about destruction of civilization, the depravity of man, chaos of existence in a world of darkness in which attempts are made to find a pattern and a synthesis of the age old conflict will to live. Golding perhaps finds the real in man's will-to-live. His very first novel, Lord of the Flies (1954), suggests Beelzebub's personification in school children, who are shipwrecked on a desert island. While most readers may find the two groups of children distinct – one good, the other bad but, both personify the will-to-live,

*Research Scholar, Department of English, Kaurkshetra University Kurukshetra (Haryana)

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because both try to survive in their own ways. The conflict in the two groups is, therefore, only superficial, as underneath, there is the same will, manifesting itself in their desire to live.

Ralph and company appear to be a good because they wish to be rescued. While Jack and his associates think of immediate survival. They therefore hunt pig for meat and oppose Ralph and his followers who counsel all children to first try to burn fire so that some sailors may notice the presence of life on the desert island and thus attempt to rescue them.

The Lord of the Flies unsettled the society of England in particular and world at large of the latent barbarism in the boys' world for the struggle will to live. The intention of the Lord of the Flies was to look at the whole history and functioning of government in an anonymous island. The novel refers to the presence of Beelzebub, denotes the principal of evil personified—the Devil, Satan, Mephistopheles. It is indeed written in the form of the fable with the moral that the will is human reality. But, it is evil, for it has no purpose whatsoever in lives, perpetuating itself.

Golding equates the “Lord of the Flies” with the demonic force latent in man; it is generally kept in check by the rational part of human nature, but in the absence of reason or social pressure, breaks out an act of barbaric bloodletting. This force has been called by various types of names, depending on weather one is a theologian, a poet or a humanist: “original sin”, “Adam's Curse”, “the darkness of man's heart”, “the banality of evil.” To the realist the demonic or merely a corollary of the theorem of existence; as a concomitant of human nature, it cannot be ignored, and only the saint can surmount it by asceticism and through knowledge.

Golding does not immediately symbolize the philosophy of darkness of human heart, but in his visual way allows it to flow from series of events. First, the “littluns” complain of seeing an imaginary beast; the fear has grown out of fitful imaginations, which must attach itself to an object, finds an outlet in the dead paratrooper. After that, the hunters, who revert to the most primitive form of expedition, transfix the head of a slain pig on a pole as a blood offering to the “beast.” Simon comes upon the impaled head, and his confrontation with it is dramatically heralded by the disappearance of the butterflies.

The insect-covered head introduces itself as the “Lord of the Flies”, an expression which, like so much in Golding, is ironically accurate. The “adult cynicism” which it imparts to Simon is significant, for the young seer has directly confronted evil without the assuring barricade of butterflies: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?”(Golding 161-62)

Simon has communed with evil concretely embodied in a pig's head buzzing with flies, and the proximity causes him to faint. Although Simon's senses force him to vomit with revulsion, he nevertheless frees it from the wind's indignity. When he returns to his frightened , blood-crazed companions that, in effect, “ they have nothing to fear but fear itself” ( Oldsey & Stanley 25) , his murder becomes the martyrdom of a saint and prophet, a point in human degeneration next to which the wanton killing of Piggy. Simon alone understood what evil was, but he could not communicate it.

Golding's Lord of the Flies is neither the biblical Satan who tempts Christ, nor the Miltonic counterpart who speaks in glorious rhetoric. Rather it is a pig head—evil reduced to one of its vilest incarnations. “Golding will have nothing to do with a suave Mephistopheles or a honey- tongued

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Lucifer; his Devil is more in keeping with Dorian Gray's decaying portrait because it abandons rhetorical finery for the stark reality of spiritual corruption”(Dick 28). The Lord of the Flies was correct: the beast is in man; and, when it expresses itself, it is in the form of a rotting self-portrait.

In their introduction, Ian Gregar and Mark Kinkead – Weekes of the Faber School edition of the novel say that what Golding has done in Lord of the Flies is to create a situation, which will reveal in an extremely direct way, the real human nature, if we consider it apart from the mass of social detail. The novel as we know, was written in reaction against Ballantyne's The Coral Island (1858). Throughout the novel, Golding overturns Ballantyne's optimistic portrait, which equates Englishness with good and foreignness with evil, and suggests that “evil is more likely to reside within humanity and that external evil in reality a projection of an inner evil” (McCarron 293). The boys in Golding as against those Ballantyne's are no more decent public school boys. Golding brings his scientific methodology to bear upon discovering the will in school boys, first by isolating them from the adult world which disguises evil and then showing in its most naked form that will shows itself undisguised. If we take Ralph's remarks about "the darkness of human heart" as coming very close to the subject of the book and indeed it is, than all Golding's novels are prefaced by Lord of the Flies. Ralph is not only referring to this symbolic darkness of a particular group of boys, adults and other civilized people but he is referring to general human nature, per se.

It is not a beast or snake but man's own will to survive that is devilish. The idea of will as reality is present in all culture, both in the East and West. However, it was Schopenhauer who philosophized the view and made it to reflect on the state of man. It is a metaphysical idea that beyond the motives of man, there lies as Golding puts it evil inside the bones. Evil is in the blood that mankind inherits, as Golding's next novel The Inheritors (1955) suggests. It is again a small group of Neanderthaler, which is systematically killed by a larger and more powerful group of New Man called Homo Sapiens. It is commonly expected of those, who claim to be Home-sapiens to be human, humane. The children in Lord of the Flies are saved by the adult world otherwise makes war and though children in Lord of the Flies are saved at the end but the adult world is not better off, for it makes most kind of wars.

Golding's experience in World War II had a profound effect on his view of humanity and the evils of which it was capable. World War II completely shattered his Candide-like optimism: “When I was young, before the war, I did have some airy-fairy views about man….But I went through the war and that changed me. The war taught me different and a lot of others like me” (Devis 28).

Lord of the Flies is not only an examination of the idiosyncratic nature of the small boys but also of the essential nature of humanity itself, the will-to-live. The island becomes the microcosm of the adult word which is also destroying itself. Ralph, the protagonist who is the embodiment of democracy and goodness tries to live by rules but he himself becomes disillusioned with democratic procedure; he unknowingly gives away Piggy's embarrassing nickname; and much more importantly, he takes part in Simon's murder. At the very end Ralph experiences a blinding intuition and weeps uncontrollably “for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” ( LF 230).

Golding's purpose of showing the will-to-live in its most brutal aspect is that human nature cannot be improved by the best of schooling, religion in its formal sense, by civilization but it can be seen in its real nature, and therefore, it can be thus radically changed by eastern asceticism as in Eliot's last section of the The Wasteland (1922) by urging upon man to give, to sympathize and to control, if he wishes his peace of mind, peace which surpassed understanding, says Eliot. The only difference between children and Neanderthaler, on the one hand, and the Homo Sapiens of the civilized world on

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the other is that the former betray their will-to-live more nakedly than the so-called civilized people. The two World Wars and earlier large scale – colonization is an instance that war makers claimed themselves to be civilized. This is the irony which underlines Golding's fiction.

Works Cited

Devis Douglas M. “A Conversation with William Golding.” The New Republic. CXLVIII. 4 May, 1963.

Dick Bernard F. William Golding. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1967.

Golding, William. The Inheritors. London: Faber and Faber, 2011.

- - -. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber and Faber, 1999. All the subsequent citations of Lord of the Flies are from this edition, abbreviated as LF with page numbers following in parentheses.

Magee Bryan. The Philosophy of Schopenhauer. New York: OUP, 1983.

McCarron, Kevin. “William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Other Early Novels.” Ed. Brain W. Shaffer. A Companion to the British and Irish Novel 1945-2000. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

Oldsey Bernard S. & Stanley Weintraub. The Art of William Golding. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc., 1965.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. Philosophical Writings. Ed. Schirmacher Wolfgang. Trns. E. F. J. Payne. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1994.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. The Word as Will and Idea. Ed. David Berman. Trns. Jill Berman, Gurgaon: Hachette India, 1995.

Weeks, Mark Kinkead and Ian Gregor. William Golding: A Critical Study of the Novels. London: Faber and Faber, 2002.

Young, Julian. Schopendauer. New York : Routledge, 2006.

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Women Empowerment: The Changing Political Climate and its Implications

Sandeep KumarSheela Devi

Abstractst Women empowerment is the global demand of 21 century for a balanced society. We are

know that women are the approximately half of the total population, there are single largest minority of total population. Empowerment of women means rearranging gender relations within the family and in the society. It also means giving societal recognition to gender equality and considering the contributions of each gender equality and considering the contributions of each gender as independent persons. There is not denying the fact that empowerment of women gives them the capability of challenging and changing their subordinate positions in society. The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental duties and directive Principles. All measures will be taken to guarantee women equal access to and full participation in decision making bodies at every level, including the legislative, executive, judicial, committees and trusts also. Due to illiteracy women have been left behind to know new technology so they have fear in the mind where as men are advanced in using technology in their work right from farming to space. Both the UPA and NDA government had not taken essential steps for women emancipation from injustice. Today, women are crying for Justice and equality. But the condition of women in India is not satisfactory because lack of political will in political leaders and the parties. Political parties often do not actively seek and cultivate potential female candidates in the way they do male candidates. There are many reasons for unsatisfactory representation of women in the political bodies. Mainly, political parties attitude are responsible for inadequate representation of women. Women reservation bill is pending from a long time. The political parties do not want to give proper representation of women because the society is 'man-dominated' in India. The

th73th and 74 Amendments to the Indian Constitution have served as a breakthrough towards ensuring equal access and have increased participation in political power structure for women. Today, we are living in equal society that is why we should not bias about women. We should have to strengthening the consistent process of women

stempowerment. In the 21 century, we can't ignore the women empowerment through inclusive process. We should have to foster our effort for women empowerment with proper measures. Today, the empowerment approach is considered as the most important measures by the society and government. The empowerment approach lays emphasis to bring forth change in the women through their participation in development and decision making.

Introduction-

The paper describes the status of women in India and Indian government willingness to facilitate more laws for empowerment of women. The total population of women in India is approximately 48 *Research Scholar, Department of Political Science, P.U. Patiala, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University College, Jaito [Faridkot]

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percent. All the government agencies are fully committed to facilitate women rights in changing global scenario. Violence against women is a violation of human rights that cannot be justified by any governments and person. Violence against women is spreading all the societies from India to world. A global culture of man-dominated society allows violence against women to occur daily and with impunity. The research found that rape and others forms of gender discrimination were used in every

.1society. The discriminations of women is a long standing problem without any proper solutions

Therefore, it has been recognised that violence against women including rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy is an obstacle to equality, development and peace. A pointer in this direction is the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action following the Fourth World Conference on Women. Earlier on 20 December 1993 the General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence

.2against Women condemned all violence against women including sexual violence In addition, the necessity of women's equal participation in peace process was asserted again, directly and indirectly, in the UN Charter, the Beijing platform for action, by ECOSOC, the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Hague Agenda for Peace and the Namibia Plan of Action, among others. Yet women's participation in peace processes and in peace operations in particular, had been anything but equal or

3 fair.

The Constitution of India, 1950 is the supreme law of the land. Any law which is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is liable to be struck down by the courts of law as ultra virus to the extent

.4of inconsistency. Under the Indian Constitution, the status of women is equal to that of men Indian government is aware about the difficulties of women. There is not denying the fact that Indian government have been enacted many laws to secure the rights of women in further future. The Indian Constitution Article 14 deals with equality every citizen of India without any biased. The Indian government established a women body named 'National Women Commission' in 1990. Indian government are more cautious about women prosperity and development.

Status of Women in India-

The condition of women in India is not satisfactory. Violent is spreading everywhere against women. Yet the law for women have enough, but its implementation is not satisfactory. Indian society is a man-dominated society. Man dominated every sphere of life. Women have not proper representation. There is not denying the fact Women faced a diverse type of problem. Indian Parliament did not passed women reservation bill successfully. Many of the political parties against women reservation. Neither the NDA nor the UPA are serious for women reservation. Both the parties acting against women reservation. Their efforts are not enough to provide women reservation. Rape and violent are spreading against women. It is high time to taken essential steps for women empowerment.

The Changing Perception of Indian about Women-

Global view has been changed very fast about women. Many of law are formulated for women empowerment. Indian women are aware its political, social and economic empowerment. The Indian laws are stronger to tackle women problem. After Delhi gang rape, Indian government are more serious about women security. Women cells and police stations have been established for women security. Polish and judiciary are more serious about women safety. That is why we can say that women issues are more relevant than others. Indian society is man dominated from a long time, this is the reason of women difficulties. Man dominated society behaved with women very poor standard. All the toppers of UPSC are women. More MLA and MP's are women. Many are the political parties are headed by women. Women are more active in sports and business. Many of women are elected 'sarpanch' of their related villages.

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What should be done by Indian government for Women empowerment ?

Education is a true means of women empowerment in every society. Education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women, as both the Cairo and Beijing conferences affirmed. It is also an area that offers some of clearest examples of discrimination women suffer. Among illiterate adults there are twice as many women as men. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women establishes it as a basic human right. That women might have the chance of a healthier and happier life should be reason enough for promoting girl's education. There are also important benefits for society as a whole. An educated women has the skills, information and

.5self-confidence that she needs to be a better parent, worker and citizen There have been possible stchanges in some key indicators of women's empowerment in 21 century.

Political Unity towards Women Reservation:

We are observing that many of political parties are crying time to time for proper women representation in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies. They are rising the issue of women reservation in all political institutions. But all these political considerations are proved formalities due to lack of political consensus. This is growing concern that the bill of women reservation are pending in Lok Sabha. Many regional parties are opposing such type of women reservation due to its own interests. As per as the matter is concerned, we can say that political establishment of India is not fully serious about women reservation and they are under-estimate the issue. Women reservation bill is pending in Rajya Sabha/ Lok Sabha from a long time. All the political parties are supporting man-dominated political culture in Indian politics. They are not much sensitive in regard to women rights and issues of women dignity. That is why; we can say that the issue of women reservation are totally marginalised by various political parties.

stWhat should be taken initiatives vis-a-vis Women Empowerment in 21 Century?stWomen empowerment is the need of 21 century and paved a path to upliftment of half populations. It

is high time to mobilise and awaken people regarding women development. Adhocism is not the solution of women participation. We would like to discuss some initiatives to empower women in globalised world. These initiatives are as follows:

* Political establishment should have cooperated on the issue of women up liftment.

· All the women should be to protest against every type of exploitation.

· Women should be encouraged internally towards women empowerment.

· Every woman should be facilitating by government to refine its own personality.

· Women should be participating in political activity especially to contest elections.

· Every women should be alert and pro-active the issues of women empowerment.

Overall Scenario:

The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, came into existence as a thseparate Ministry with effect from 30 January, 2006. It has the prominent agency to coordinate every

institutions those who are closely related to women empowerment. The National Commission for Women is a national apex statutory body set up in 1992 for fostering and upliftment of women rights. The Support to Training & Employment Programme for Women (STEP) scheme was launched as a Central Sector Scheme in 1986-87.India is also signatory to various International and Regional Convention such as UN Convention against transnational organised crimes. Ujjawala, a

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thcomprehensive scheme to combat trafficking was launched on 4 December 2007. The objectives of this scheme to upgrading skills for employment on a self-suitable basis. The national mission for

thempowerment of women was introduced on 8 March, 2010 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to translate the convergence of women centric government schemes into reality. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,Prohibition and Redressal) Bill,2012 was

thpassed by the Rajya Sabha on 26 February 2013. This bill was passed to facilitate women against exploitation on Workplace. Article23 of Indian Constitution deals with prohibits trafficking in human beings and beggar. The convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is a human rights instrument adopted by the UN General Assembly in Resolution 34/180 of 18 December 1979. That is why, we can say that overall efforts are taken to foster women rights. But the problem is in implementation due to lack of will-power.

Constitutional Provisions for Women & Gender Budgeting:

The commitment to gender equity is well entrenched at the highest policy making level. The some important Consitituional provisions for women as follows:

Article 14- Equal rights and opportunities in political economic and social spheres

Article 15-Prohibits discrimination on ground of sex

Article15 (3)-Enables affirmative discrimination in favour of women

Article39- Equal means of livelihood and equal pay for equal work

Article42-Just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief

Article51 (a)-Fundamental duty to renounce practices

Women constitute more than 48 percent of India's population and represent the fundamental building blocks of society. Gender budgeting is a process that entails maintaining a gender perspective at various stages like programmes/policy formulation, assessment of needs of target groups. Like every government the currently NDA government has taken many initiatives for women empowerment. The recently budget has indicated that Modi government is more serious in regarding to allocate more financial aid for women centred schemes. Yet the UPA had taken many essential steps to provided better facility of Indian women. It is high time to re-analyse the fact and facets of all development related women empowerment.

Conclusions and Suggestions-

In the conclusion it can be said that efforts should be taken for women development. The development of women has become one of the most crucial works of recent time. The NGOs have done impressive work for the empowerment of women and ensuring multi-dimensional development of women. Violence against women is a recent phenomenon of women exploitation. There are number of Constitutional provisions in India that provides special protection to women. The perception of general people of India has been changed very speedily regarding women. Many of laws have been enforced to combating problems related to women. The Indian government should ratify relevant international conventions that address gender biased and discrimination. Sexual discrimination in all its forms should be addressed as soon as possible by the Indian government by enacting legislations. There is not denying the fact that woman conditions are slowly improving. It is high time to empower women in every sphere of life in India. Women empowerment is the need of time. We cannot pend this

st stserious issue of 21 century. Every possible step should be taken for women empowerment in 21

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century.

References-

1.Held in Beijing from 4-15 September 1995. For details, see Fourth World Conference on Women, Action for Equality, Development and Peace, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, United Nations Doc. A/ Conf. 177/20,1995.

2.United Nations General Assembly Resolution 48/104, 20 December 1993.

3.Elisabeth Rehn & Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Women War Peace, New York: UNIFEM,2002.P.66.

4.Menon, Latika (2004) Female Exploitation and Women's Emancipation, New Delhi: Kanishka Publishers, Distributors, p.73.

5 ''Girls Education: A Lifetime to Development'', in Carol Bellamy, The State of the World's Children, Oxford University Press, 1996, p.71.

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Asymmetric and Co-operative Federalism in India: A Revisited

Bharat Singh

Abstract:

This paper examines the Indian federalism with its two significant characteristics and how the both asymmetric and cooperative federalism works in the vast country. The Indian federalism is unlike the agreement of states as U.S. A., but it constituted by the Constitutional Assembly by necessity, not by choice. Though, the nature of Indian federalism is centric, even than corporations with units to achieve the maximum goal. The Indian federalism is not symmetric due to the diversities and special needs; the Centre had to take different provisions for specific areas to grapple the issue. Thus, an Indian federal system developed the concept of Asymmetric federalism along with it's the dominating concept of Co-operative federalism.

This paper also deals with how both asymmetric and co-operative federalism work and problems in its implications. Due to unequal distribution of power among the states, it creates tension and affects the spirit of co-operation in the federal system. Our central argument is how to bridge the gap between the two popular concepts of the Indian federal system.

The concept of Federalism is relatively new in social science, particularly in political science. In ancient City-state and then after in medieval age only unitary state system existed. Since the foundation of the modern nation-state in Europe in 1648 by the treaty of Westphalia the concepts of federalism, confederation, union etc. came to exist. But the term 'Federal' was used in the different sense in different context and time periods. If we examine and look at the terminology of word 'federal' according to Online Etymology Dictionary, it was used as a theological term in reference to covenants between God and man. The word federal comes from a Latin adjective 'foedus' which means an agreement or contract.

The modern and secular meaning of 'federal' “pertaining to a covenant or treaty” in the 1650s led its political sense of “formed by an agreement among independent states” in 1707. The word 'federal union' as union based on a treaty was popularized during the formation of Union of State of America in 1776 to 1787. From this period power division between the central government and its component parts emerged in U. S. A. history. Thus, in modern political history U. S. A. became the first country in the world which had a federal system and developed the concept of 'Federalism' but to define federalism in not so simple as we think.

There are around 25 countries has adopted the federal system and function smoothly in the world today, which together constitutes 40 per cent of total world's population, in which there are some of the largest democratic and most complex countries like India, Brazil, USA, Mexico and Germany etc. And each country has owned kind of federalism according to their context and socio-cultural structure and arrangement. A legal definition of federalism can be a system of government which is based on written agreement (constitution) between a central government and its units. The central government or the federal government dispenses specified legislative (law-making) powers

*Ph.D Scholar at School of International Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

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to the regional or local government. Many political scientists use the term federalism with the word union, federation or confederation interchanged or synonymously. Some scholars like Burgess (1993:3-13) try to separate the term 'federalism' from 'federation', he describes 'federalism' as an ideology and 'federation' as a federal system of government. Burgess argues that 'federalism' as an ideology is not to make a free-standing ideology unlike liberalism and socialism, but as a mean which recommended and actively support federation. Graham Smith (1995:4) also agrees with Burgess, he also argues that federalism is an ideology, which provides a ideal system of governing body which is based on the collaboration of diversity through unity. But some scholars like Forsyth disagrees with them and puts a contrary argument that “restricting use of the term federalism to refer to an ideology is illogical and impractical. Just as terms such as 'feudalism' and 'capitalism' are describing not just political ideals, but concrete political and economical structure, so federalism may be used in broader sense”(Forsyth 1994:14). Further Ojo (2010) extended Forsyth's ideas and argue that “federalism is an explicitly ideology, and or philosophical positions in the same vein as other great 'isms' of political theory such as Socialism, Liberalism, conservatism, nationalism, legalism e.t.c. federalism is ideology in the sense that it can take the form of one overtly prescriptive guide to action and it's philosophical to the extent that it's a normative judgment regarding the ideal of human relations and conduct.”

K. C Whear, also known as father federalism, defined federal government as “the method of dividing power so that general and regional governments are each within a sphere co-ordinate and independent” in his famous work 'Federal Government'.

Another balanced and popular definition of federalism was given by Daniel Elazar as “a system of political organization uniting separate states or other units in such a way as to allow each to remain a political entity. A federal system which differs from other methods of organizing states in being based on a contractual agreement by the separate government to share power among themselves”.

Peter Hogg, the author of 'Constitution Law of Canada' wrote that “In a federal state, it is common to speak of two 'levels' of government......

“The metaphor is apt in that the power of the central authority extends throughout the country, and is in that sense 'higher' than the power of each regional authority, which is confined to its region...... “Moreover, in every federation, in the event of inconsistency between a federal law and a provincial or state law, it is the federal or national law which prevails.....But to speak of the central authority as a 'higher level' of government must not carry the implication that the regional authorities are legally subordinate to the center; on the contrary, they are coordinate or equal in status with the center.”

Thus, we can say that Federalism is a mode of political governs that brings together separate units or states within a broad political system where each of units allow to enjoy its own power and fundamental political integrity and this federal system must base on some defined principles on the basis of consent of both sides, which are guaranteed by written documents (constitution).

As We above discussed, different countries claim to their political system as a federal system, but in nature, their political system very differs from each others. Due to these differences we can find a different kind of federalism such as:

1. Dual Federalism-the federal government and the states' government have separate, but equal, powers. Also known as “layer cake federalism”

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2. Cooperative Federalism-Both the federal and states' governments share equal powers when it comes to the nation. Often called “marble cake federalism”

3. New Federalism- federalism during the Reagan era; more power was given to the states' government

4. Block grants-grants giving to state governments with little restrictions on how to handle the money

5. Unfunded mandates- issues from the national government to the state governments, following a certain order without offering funds to aid the states in achieving the national government's requirement

6. Judicial Federalism- when Supreme Court and the Judiciary have the ability to influence federalism.

7. Fiscal Federalism- Federalism where the use of funds helps support a national program.

8. Progressive Federalism- most recent form of federalism; allows states to have greater control over certain powers usually reserved for the national government.

So it is very difficult to identify that which political system is a true federal system, however, there are some certain principles and characteristics in all truly federal systems like written constitution, distribution and separation of power, check and balance, limited government etc.

Federalism in India:

Historical root of Indian federalism has been traced from the British government, especially In 1858 when the Act of Parliament (1858) replaced indirect Company rule to direct Crown rule after the Indian revolt of 1857. This was the first attempt to govern the whole state directly under a central government. Further, the Indian Council Act 1861 expanded (Rudolph and Rudolph: 2010) the governor-general's executive council to shape a legislative council at the center, this Act also re-constituted and enlarged provincial legislative councils of Bengal, Madras, Bombay, the North-Western Provinces and Punjab. The Act of 1861 first time placed representative of Indian in the provincial councils where half the members of the councils should be non-official.

The period 1880 to 1884 is very crucial in Indian political history; we can say it as the 'golden era of de-centralisation and representative government' when Viceroy Lord Ripon established elected municipal councils and boards in the rural district. The legislative councils were extended by increasing their non-official members and now council's members allowed to discuss financial matters by the Government of India Act 1909 or also known as the Morley-Minto reforms (Rudolph and Rudolph: 2010).

The major administration and federal reforms came by the Government of India Act 1919 popularly known as the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms just after the First World War. The Act 1919 first time shared sovereignty and power between the transferred and the 'reserving' subjects, in 'transferred' powers there were such subjects to Indian ministers answerable to legislatures of the province while 'reserving' some subjects remained in the direct hand of the governor. The most controversial provision of the Act was giving separate electorate for Muslims.

The Government of India Act 1935 was the last and most comprehensive Act in the British Raj which worked for 12 years as a constitution of India until India's Independence in 1947. This Act first time recognized the Provinces as separate units and these units were free to enjoy legislative and executive powers in their own respective field. After the independence, Indian Constitution has taken

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many provisions from the Act 1935.

Indian Constitution and Federalism:

As we know, constitutionalism is an essential elements of a federal system, because in federalism sovereignty is divided between a central authority and its political components by a constitution. The Constitution of India's Article 1 says, “India i.e. Bharat shall be a Union of States”. A 'Union of States' is the basis of Indian federal system and the Constitution of India is supreme between centre and state relations. These are some federal provisions in Indian Constitution- the Indian constitution's Article 246 distributes legislative powers between Union and the States by three lists:

1. The Union List; it contains major 99 items of national importance like defence, foreign affairs and currency.

2. The state List; this list contains 61 items of state or local importance, now these items expanded to 65 items.

3. The Concurrent List; there are such items or powers on which the Union and the States both have legislative powers. This list has 52 items such education, marriage and divorce, Civil and Criminal procedure code and bankruptcy and insolvency.

The distribution of powers by the Indian constitution is deeply in the favour of the Union. The Indian constitution gives final authority to the Union Parliament to legislate on matters in the Concurrent list, and also Constitution identifies five extraordinary situations (Article 249, Art. 250, Art. 252, Art. 253 and Art. 356), when the power to legislate on the items of the state list goes into the hands of the Union Parliament. That is why many argue that India is not a truly federal state like U.S.A., but a “quasi federal” state because Indian constitution is not a federal constitution with unitary features but it is a unitary constitution with subsidiary federal characteristics. However, the Union is more powerful than the states but the states are not works as subordinate units of the centre. The states have a kind of autonomy in the normal situations. Regarding this kind of nature of Indian federalism D.N. Banerji accurately pointed out that in peace times India is a federation but in the time of emergency it becomes a unitary state.

Co-operative Federalism and Asymmetric Federalism:-

Mainly, this paper deals with the Co-operative and Asymmetric federalism, an essential component of Indian federalism. It is saying that “necessity is the mother of invention” and Indian federalism is the best example of this proverb. India is vast and diverse country, the people of India divided on the basis of language, ethnicity, religion, region etc. so they have different expectations from the Union according to their special needs and demands. The Indian state makers were fully aware of these nation's socio-political realities at the time of framing the constitution of India. India has chosen the path of cooperation between the centre and the states generally but also has included some 'special treatments' for some states or areas.

Co-operative Federalism:

Cooperative federalism is a political system in which the federal government, the state government and local bodies share the responsibility to govern federal system. This concept

thdeveloped as a rejection of Dual federalism in early 20 century in the USA. Dual federalism does share sovereignty and distributes powers to excise in their sphere. While the concept of cooperative federalism is a concept in which the centre, the states and local government interact with one another

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to sort out differences and problems collectively.

Cooperative federalism gives importance to the value of cooperation rather than competitive. Regarding the Indian federalism, it is dynamic; it changes accordance with the time and context. The constitutional experts have different views about Indian federalism, some experts like Morris Jones and Granville Austin say that Indian federalism is bargaining federalism and cooperative federalism respectively.

Indian federalism is described as quasi-federation or semi-federation due to not fully federal structure, some exponent called it pragmatic federation because of given equal importance to all states according to their requirements and demands. The importance subjects are controlled by the union, so it is known as 'federation with strong unitary features', we need to look Indian federation in term of multiples of ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural diversities rather than to only distribution of power. India is not only largest democratic country, but also the largest ethno-religious country in the world.

The strong Centre also needs a strong state to maintain the balance; this is the crux of cooperative federalism. We have seen that as long as same political party rules in both the Centre and state the cooperative concept was quite successful, since the different political party alliance came to power in the both Centre and state, the emergence of conflict or stress and tension in the Centre- state relations. To resolve the differences between Centre and state formed the National Development Council (NDC) and National Intelligence Council (NIC) to provide a platform for debates and discussions to scale down the mushrooming tension in Centre-state relations.

The federal system of the very country has its own different importance, but in the Indian context, it is more significant. The reason is that it's not only about economic and political success, but also links with cultural too.

To understand the federalism, we should recognize the importance features and its utility in a different context, the federal system has to define accordance with national requirements and national interests rather than the political party and certain cultural groups interests.

Besides the political engagement and management of the democratic system, but the federalism means not only power transferring but it has also a great responsibility for the allocation of resources through proper channel, so the scaling down the regional economic disparities. M.P. Singh writes, “Indian States are divisible into six major categories of economic development measured by per capita income, with Punjab at the top (Rs. 1586) and Bihar at the bottom (Rs 645). The national average happens to be Rs 874, and the average for Groups A,B,C,D,E and the F States stand at Rs. 1445, Rs. 1071, Rs. 812, Rs. 712, and 262.respectively”. Such huge economic differences, which somehow state had to take different position about the fiscal transfers.

If we see the criteria of allocation or circulation of the income tax among the states, the industrialized states have been given more preference, whereas poor states have been neglected, which should be debated and discussed. The reason is that some less densely inhabited state like Rajasthan needs more revenue for development than vastly populated state. M.P. Singh talks about three different channels, how to financial transfers among states,

(a) Assured fiscal devolution from the divisible pool to taxes and duties on recommendations of the Finance commission n under Article 275 of the constitution.

(b) Discretionary plan assistance (loans and grants) from the Centre to the States recommended by the Finance Commission (under Article 282) and by the Planning Commission.

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(c) Discretionary grants to the state for Centrally-sponsored projects of development and administration under the Planning Commssion dispensation.

We have seen that a larger proportion of fiscal transfer through the Finance Commission than Plannig Commission, the new name of Planning commission is NITI Ayog. For instance, the third five Year plan, 24.4 per cent resources had been transferred through the Finance Commission, whereas 48.9 percent through the Planning Commission and rest 22.7 percent other channels, but it is not necessary that it remains same, the method of transferring resources altering across the planning.

The decentralization has two crucial meanings, first strengthening grassroots level governing body, contrary to national and state and build them up as self-reliant, second is the involvement of local participation in the governing system to make transparency in administration all levels.

Indian federalism also can understand in term of movement, which led by people both pre and post independence against the “democratic centralism” and sought decentralization of power, economic and political system to decide their welfare and future. The Absence of proper federal structure of the transferring mechanism can be generated a problem for any developing countries. Several experts appeal to rethink the terms decentralization or federalism used in the country, because some used both terms interchangeable, which is inaccurate.

We are debating a 'cooperative federalism' since long period, but never an agreement between centre and state, where both the levels of government come together to form, but forcefully created such a condition to dominate the states. The representation of the states in the upper house unequal and the state has no power, how many representatives send to the upper house, which is neither based on populations and areas. The state has not even entitled to decide about their territory, boundary and name and so on. The residuary power also vested in the Union government.

The principles of the federal system are to practice distribution of power, but the main essence of federalism is to equal allocation of resources and makes a local government self-sufficient and not depend on the Centre for grants and so forth. In India, the union and the state have granted executive and legislative powers, but in practice the state has no such a power, due to Centre has more power and the Centre dominated the autonomy of the states. The recent experiment of the federation is more Centre oriented and biased with the some states. The constitutional experts predict that the Indian federal system is moving towards de-centralization, due to escalation of regionalism and socio-political consciousness or awareness among the masses, which is dangerous for integrity and diversities.

Asymmetric Federalism:

Constitutionally asymmetry is an essential part in the multinational country's federal system; there are different arguments among the scholars regarding comparability of federalism within framework of multi-national states, some scholars argue that federalism has the potential for politicizing and institutionalizing ethnic differences, so it is not stable for multi -national, democratizing nations. But some argue that empirical and historical study shows that federal systems are more successful in the multi-national countries and government of this federal system are beneficial to handle violent conflict than in the unitary system of government. The constitution of country granted differential rights to one and more states of a federation, India is as the best example of an asymmetrical federalism, because of its diversities, size, geography and level of development. Asymmetric federalism is to understand in term of unequal distribution of power or resources among the units. The arrangements of asymmetry can be seen both the vertical and

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horizontal. One hand Centre dominates administrative as well as financial, etc. The arrangement of unequal power sharing and special treatment to some units within the federal system is to equalize the unequal and backward states. It is required to accommodate the multi-cultural, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society and, therefore the federal system has a crucial role in “becoming together federalism and as well holding together federalism”. This kind of federal setup did not violate “the equality and fair treatment”, M. Govinda Rao and Nirvikar Singh differentiated between unequal arrangements and asymmetry. They argue that transparent and rule-based evolved is required for smooth running of the federation. The second argument is “the opaque and discretionary caused by the balance administrative and political power and expediency”. This type of asymmetrical arrangements is essential for working federation, because asymmetry is “transparent and rule based”, which plays a vital role in the nation building. Asymmetric federalism emerged as an important principle to defend and settle the “sub-nation within the multinational states”. Some scholars argue that asymmetric federalism helps to strengthen the multinational federations and regulate the conflict areas. Asymmetric federalism is believed to promote and motivate not only “what is good and valuable in the society” but help to sustain and secure the democratic setting of the country. The differential constitutional power and status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under the Indian constitution, Article 370, another state is the northeast under the six schedules and Article 371. The constitutional status given to Jammu and Kashmir is considered as “temporary” arrangements. In addition, the Jammu and Kashmir has a separate Constitution, but the irony is that the main subjects are kept under the Centre government, such as defense, foreign affair and communication, which becomes under the Centre government. The asymmetric federalism in the Northeast of India comes under the six schedules and it was initially provided to accommodate Nagas and tribal communities who live in the hill areas of Assam, but now all northeast included in it. Kham Khan Suan puts both Jammu & Kashmir and Northeast in “de jure asymmetric federalism”, it clearly shows that the status is only nominal. But other states argue that the abolishment of 370 Article, because it discriminate with another and it hampers the development of the country, but abrogation is not solutions and it can create the turbulence in the nation. We need to revisit the so-called special treatment and is it really hindrance the development of India or it is discrimination with another state?Conclusion: This paper dealt with the evolution of federalism to the ground implementation of the federal system in India. Since the independent the debate is going on the federal system and its nature, it is difficult to define the federal structure, due to it's both rigidity and flexibility elements. The last six decades, we have seen that how Indian federal system worked and the Centre kept relations with the states according to changing condition and necessity? The federal government tried to implement different kinds of provision to accommodate the units. Sometimes the Indian federation promotes cooperation with the states to achieve the maximum advantage, another hand it also gives special treatment to the backwards states and areas to bring them into the mainstream. We also witness that the idea of the asymmetric and cooperative federalism failed to implement in the ground level due to the unitary nature of Indian federalism.Endnotes & Referencesl http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2011/jan/301.htmll http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/F/Federalism.aspxl http://apgovernmentchs .wikispaces.com/Types+of+Federalisml Parika, Sunita and Barry R. Weingast, 'A Cooperative theory of Federalism in India'

(Virginia Law Review, Vol. 83, No.7, Symposium: the allocation of government authority (Oct. 1997), pp. 1593-1615

l Singh, M.P, Indian Political System (eds.) (2005), (Manak Publication PVT. LTD, New

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Delhi), p. 130l Ibid.l Ibid.l Sigh, M. P Singh op.cit . p, 137.l Avishra. V, Cooperative Fedeeralism in India: Contests and Cooperations (Yojna, Feb.

2015)l Snyder, Jack. From Voting to Violence. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company

(2000)l Stepan, Alfred. Federalism and democracy: Beyond the US model. Journal of Democracy

(1999)10 (4): 19-34.l Bermeo, Nancy. Conclusion: The merits of federalism. In Federalism and Territorial

Cleavages, eds. U. M Amoretti, and N Bermeo. London and Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press (2004) p, 475-7

l Hausing Khan Saun Khan, Asymmetric Federalism and the Question of Democratic Justice in Northeast India (Indian Review, Vol. 13, No, 2, 2014) pp, 87-111

l Ibid.l Ibid. l Balvir. Arora “Adapting Federalism to India: Multilevel and Asymmetric Innovations”, in

Balvir Arora and Douglas Verney (eds.), Multiple Identities in a Single State (New Delhi: Konark Publishers (1995)

l Gush. Arun, Federalism, Democracy and Decentralisation (Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 27, No. 46 (Nov. 14, 1992), pp. 2453-2455

l Khan.Rasheeduddin, Federal India: A Design for change, New Delhi, Vikas Publishing House,(1992)

l Manor. James, “Making Federalism Work,” Journal of Democracy Vol. 9, No. 3 (1998)l Rao. M Govind and Nirvikar Singh, Asymmetric Federalism in India (Santa Cruz: Santa Cruz

Center for International Economics, University of California Working Paper 04-08, 2004)l Rudolph and Rudolph, Federalism as State Formation in India: A Theory of Shared and

Negotiated Sovereignty, International Political Science Review, (2010), 31(5) 1–21.l Tillin. Louise Ti, United in Diversity? Asymmetry in Indian Federalism' Publius: the Journal of

Federalism Vol. 37, No. 1 (Winter, 2007), pp. 45-67.l Wheare. K.C , Federal Government (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951)

Authors:1. Bharat Singh, PhD scholar at School of International Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru

University, New Delhi.2. Gurmath Lotos, M.Phil scholar at Delhi University, New Delhi.

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The Role of Women of Haryana in the Freedom Struggle of India

Dr.Surinder Kaur

Women participation in India's freedom struggle began over a century ago before it became independent in 1947. When the history of India's fight for Independence comes to be written, the sacrifice made by the women of India will occupy the foremost place . Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru had remarked, “when most of the men-folk were in prison then a remarkable thing happened. Our women came forward and took charge of the struggle against British government . Their participation in protest meetings, and in the nationwide programmes of boycotting titles , honours, elections, legislatures ,schools , colleges, courts and tribunals and foreign goods showed the great sense of patriotism . The purpose of this study is to assess the role of women especially of Haryana in the freedom struggle during the year1901-1947 .

In the issues of 'Young India', of July 26, 1918 and January 14, 1930 respectively Mahatma Gandhi discussed the importance of women in social revolution, reconstruction and in the nationalist struggle. He wanted the women to join the struggle for freedom at the appropriate time. In response to his call, women overwhelmingly participated in non-violent Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience Movement. They also lent their assistance to secretive societies which believed that only armed revolution could bring freedom to their country.

The participation of the women of Haryana in the nationalist movement can be divided into 5 phases from 1901-10,1911-20,1921-30,1931-40,1941-47.Only important events are taken into account which clearly shows women's participation .

During the years of 1900 to 1910 women were mainly involved in the reformative works. Various educational institutions, widow ashrams and reformative organisations were opened in Karnal, Bhivani, Rohtak, Hissar ,panipat ,and Kurukshetra etc.. Even in the early two decades of 1900s local reformers and leaders were more inclined to reforms and were working against social customs like female infanticide, widowhood, purdah system, sati system, child marriage and others. Thus, female education was considered the best medium for women emancipation. Various organisations and associations were formed which led the women of Haryana to come out of their homes to contribute in the public sphere. 'Involvement of Women in the public life' made them aware about the other provinces of India; and events happening in these provinces. And most important, print media particularly vernacular press played a significant role. The appeals of local and national leaders through press and journals motivated women to participate in the Nationalist struggle. The Nationalist struggle in India against the British colonial rule brought about the political mobilisation of both men and women.

th On Oct 16 1905 Lord Cuzon partitioned Bengal and leaders of Bengal announced that day as a day of national mourning. A general hartal was announced in Bengal and people fasted and went bare foot to take a bath in Ganga. There swaraj , swadeshi and National education became the slogans of the Nationalists. Meetings were arranged by women in streets. Bengali Swadeshi movement infused a feeling of patriotism among women of Haryana. Smt. Puran Devi of Hissar advocated the cause of Swadeshi. She was one of the prominent worker of Arya Samaj. While speaking to women at *Assistant Professor( History), GGSCW-26 , Chandigarh

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Hissar , she not only criticised caste restrictions, but also exhorted women to bring up her sons not with the view to joining Government services, but to an independent participation in trade, especially the manufacture and sale of Swadeshi. Agyavati of Delhi started a Vidhwa Ashram where widows and other women received political training and were taught to preach without the distinction of caste and creed.

During the period from 1914-18, women of Haryana and other provinces were influenced by various women leaders like Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu, Madam Bhikaji Rustom K.R. Cama. These women spoke in public about the free India. They used to get their articles published in vernacular newspapers and journals 'Sughar Saheli', Amritsar. In the October issue of 1916 , Annie Besant encouraged women to participate against the government and fight for their own 'Home Rule.'

When Rowlatt legislation was passed on 23 March 1919 , women of India joined Satyagraha movement to co-operate with the men in the constitutional fight. A complete hartal was observed on 30th March, 1919 at Panipat , kurukshetra , Amritsar, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Jhang, Karnal, Multan and Muzaffargarh. On that day, the leaders and the people seemed to act in complete union. Women and children participated in the programme and observed fast and recited prayers in their homes. The wives, daughters and sisters of the prominent Congress leaders also came forward.Among them were Smt. Satyawati (wife of Lala Achint Ram of Lahore), Smt. Bhag Devi (wife of Lala Dhuni Chand of Ambala), Smt. Pushpa Gujral (wife of A.N. Gujral of Jhelum) and Smt. Guran Devi (wife of L.C. Dutt of Sialkot).Smt. Shakuntla Devi of Ambala,Chhano Devi of Bhivani, Smt khajani Devi of Bhivani, Daya wanti and Krishna wanti of Ambala etc.protested openly in the meeting of women held in the Arya Samaj Temple on 31st March 1919 at Delhi and also extensively helped in circulating revolutionary leaflets and literature and in maintaining liaison between different revolutionary and national leaders.

At the call of Mahatama Gandhi, a large number of woman of took part in the Gandhi's non-violent programme of spinning and weaving khadi, boycott of foreign clothes, removal of untouchability and promotion of communal harmony which gave women an immense opportunities to show their calibre.

From 1921 to 1922, there had been a number of demonstrations in almost every district. In January 1922, Smt. Parmeshwari Devi, wife of Chaudhary Ake Singh of Bhiwani, highlighted the importance of Swadeshi before the women in a public meeting and organized a procession. The wife of Duni Chand of Lahore, Kumari Lajjawati, Shrimati Parbati Devi (daughter of Lala Lajpat Rai) and Shrimati Puran Devi (wife of Thakur Dass) all appeared on the public platform. The first activities of these women were more or less confined to processions, national songs, the Swadeshi campaign and meetings. Efforts were made to enlist more and more lady volunteers for the propaganda work. Separate Ladies Congress Committees were organized at some places with the efforts of women leadership. The women leaders extensively toured the province along with the other members and delivered speeches. This led to the formation of various Congress Committees and women started becoming their members. Thus, it can be seen that women were becoming active day by day in a single month in a district where thousand women enlisted in the Congress Committee. These committee members delivered their speeches at every place . Smt. Kasturi Bai and Smt. Puran Devi of Rohtak or Smt Prem Kaur of Ambala accused the government of tempering with religion. Shrimati Roop Kaur of Amritsar made offensive speeches in the Rohtak district. At Layalpur, Mussammat Maqbul Begum (wife of Siraj-ud-din) spoke against the government and their policies. At Gurdaspur, Shrimati Bhagmati Devi distinguished herself by the violent language and encouraged her fellow sisters to fight against the foreign government. The year 1921 brought no respite from the political agitation.

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The Congress Movement with its programme of Non-Cooperation and establishment of Congress Committees was pushed on vigorously, especially by means of public meeting and processions.

Women were also engaged in picketing of foreign cloth shops and liquor shops to stop the sale of foreign cloth by the dealers and to stop the use of liquor. The picketing was entrusted to the women by Gandhi and no buyer dared to come near the shops where women picketers were seen and even the shopkeepers used to behave well with the women. This participation of women in large numbers proved beyond doubt, the freedom movement was in the process of becoming a mass movement. 'Sarla Devi Chaudhrani, Smt. Parvati Devi of Kamalia, Smt. Puran Devi, Smt. Gauran Devi, Mrs. Duni Chand , Smt. Luxmi Arya, Smt. Pushpa Gujral, Smt. Chand Bai, Smt. Lal Devi, Smt. Kasturi Bai, Smt. Puran Devi Kumari Lajjavati and Lado Rani Zutshi were the names of other few women who participated in this movement. Among them, Luxmi Aryan of Rohtak became an important participant in Gandhian movements from 1920-1940.From 1930 onwards when she joined Sabarmati Asharam, Luxmi participated in constructive programme and political activities, such as picketing liquor shops, no-tax campaigns , salt satyagarh and individual satyagarh against India's enforced participation in the second world war.She suffered imprisonment for varied terms in jail and was fined a number of times as a picketer. Besides her active participation in the campaigns for uplift of harijans, Luxmi donated her agricultural land for this cause. The Swadeshi movement could not have succeeded without the help of the women. This participation was a sort of training programme for the future Satyagraha programmes of 1930-34 and 1940-42.

Sucheta Majumdar Kriplani (born in Ambala who did her studies from Punjab and Delhi and was married to Acharaya Kriplani of Allahabad) was chosen to organize women's wing of the Indian National Congress in 1940. The department used to work for raising the political consciousness of women and identify Congress with social change that benefited women.

Some of the women even started working secretly in the underground organisations to evade police arrests. 'Smt. Subhadra Joshi was one of them who undertook the work of editing an cyclostyled paper Hamara Sangram. This paper was published in Hindi from Delhi. She become target of the C.I.D. officials and was later arrested. Luxmi Aryan was also involved in the underground activities. She joined these underground political activities after taking leave from her school. She went from place to place and carried the message of the Congress from door to door hiding at her personal risk to avoid detention, so that movement could be kept alive outside the jail among the masses. Nirmala Devi of Chhindwara had stayed with her parents in Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in Sewagram, Wardha, and had also participated in freedom movement including Quit India movement of 1942. That had resulted in her getting arrested and put in jail along with other freedom fighters. The political active women leaders were arrested and the treatment meted out to them was vindictive and far from satisfactory.

Hence, the participation of women of Haryana in the nationalist movement succeeded step by step from 1901-10, 1911-20, 1921-30, 1931-40 and 1941-47. These activist women were so caught up in this struggle, that they ignored gender issues or put them aside until independence had been achieved. The most unknown women freedom fighters of Haryana were less educated but had such a marvellous understanding that when they got opportunity to prove their might and calibre , they did not lag behind their joining the movement in itself is very credential but their valuable assistance, strong dedication and deep involvement in the national movement deserves to be mentioned in the Role of Honour of those who fought for India's independence.

References:

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1. Anup Taneja, Gandhi , Women, and the National Movement:1920-1947.

2. B.R. Nanda (ed.) Indian Women : From Purdah to Modernity, New Delhi, 1976.

3. Geraldine Forbes, The New Cambridge History of India:Women in India, New Delhi , Cambridge University Press,1999.

4. Manju Verma, The Role of Women in the Freedom Movement of Punjab(1919-1947), Delhi, 2003.

5. Manmohan Kaur , Women in India's freedom Struggle , Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi.

6. Pattabhi Sitaramya, History of Indian National Congress, Vol.11, New Delhi,1969.

7. Report on the Indian National Congress held at Ahmedabad,1921.

8. Suruchi Thapar, Women in Indian National Movement, New Delhi , Sage Publications, 2006.

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Demonetisation And Move Toward Cashless Economy

Dr. Asha Devi,

Abstract

The Government of India had demonetized banks notes on two prior occasions i.e. ones in 1946 and again in 1978. The main objective was to combat tax evasion by 'Black Money' held out

thside the formal economic system. Again, on 8 November 2016, the Government in India announced the demonetization of all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banks notes of Mahatma Gandhi series. The Government claimed that the action would curtail the shadow economy and crack down on the on the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism. The demonetization scheme good result not only in people reviewing. Their need for hoarding cash both for transaction & precautionary purpose but also quicker adoption of the Digital Technology that enables cashless transactions. It will likely result in people adopting virtual wallets such as paytm, Ola money etc. This behaviorable change could be a game changer for our country. While gradual transition towards digitization a cashless economy will definitely help to curb corruption in the long run. The increased transparency and record of transaction will make it considerably difficult to hold back money and carry out under the table deals. The added convenience of using digital payment solutions and virtual wallets can't be ignored either. Prime Minister of India NarendraModi announced the demonetization in a unscheduled live televised address at 20:00 Indian Standard Time (IST) on 8 November in the announcement, invalid past midnight and announced the issuance of new Rs. 500 and Rs. 5000 Banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series in exchange for the old banknote. The benefits of demonetization which include remonitization tax reforms, reducing stamp duties & tax rates. Incentives for tax compliance and facilitate the digital economy.

Introduction

Demonetization is an act of scrapping the legal tender status of a currency note. When new currency is introduced to replace the old one, government demoetizes the old currency. Demonetization is not a new concept to the world, as there have many instance of demonetization in the recent past. In 2015, the Zimbabwe government demonetized the Zimbabwean dollar to control the hyper inflation in the country. Another example is when member nations of European Union adopted Euro in 5002. Governments fixed the rate of exchange for varied national currencies who Euros and demonetized the old currencies.

The Government's decision to demonetizeRs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes will also push India towards a cashless economy. "This one decision will change the way the people spend and keep their money." asserted Finance Minister Mr. ArunJaitley India has been trying to push the country's cash dependent economy towards paperless transactions. It published a draft paper of sops and incentives, which may be considered for those opting for online and plastic payments. However, the move has remained nascent at best till now. High-denomination banknotes account for 86% of the 164000 crore rupees of currency in circulation. With inflation raising prices, most people preferred higher denomination notes. However, by now taking steps to discourage high value notes, the

*Assistant Professor, Dept. of Education, Punjabi University Regional Centre, Bathinda

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government could push more people to opt for e-commerce and plastic money. Analysts believe the move to scrap high demonization notes will now force people to use their accounts and financial technology for transactions. Estimate say the mobile commerce market in India will grow from a current $2 billion to $19 billion by 2019.

Prime Minister Mr NarendraModi announced demonetization of the current series of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from midnight of November 8, 2016 . The move is also expected to weed out large caches of black money. "to break the grip of corruption and black money . We have decided that the 500 and 1,000rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight that is 8 November, 2016". The prime Minister said in a surprise televised address to the nation . "This means that these notes will not be acceptable for transaction from midnight onwards." After a one day shutdown of all banks and ATMs, new 500 and 2,000 rupee denomination notes are being issued from Thursday November 10 , 2016, by the Reserve Bank of India. The prime Minister MrModi had promised to combat the menace of black money when he came to power two-and-half years back, pledging to crack down on parallel economy in India which has seen tax to GDP ratio being abnormally low while the Indian economy grew by 30% during 2011 and 2016, the circulation of money in the economy increased by 40 % However circulation of Rs 500 notes increased by 76% and of Rs 1000 notes by an astounding 109% .Which means the demand for high denomination notes grew at a faster rate, causing suspicion that much of this was being hoarded as black money.

According to Expert :

According to experts, in short run there will about 5% to 7% dent in the job market.especially in real estate and allied activities like cement, construction iron etc. However , some businesses which receive direct benefit due to this cashless drive like Fin-tech, digital payment companies have started hiring exponentially to meet the increased demand. Many ecommerce companies have started 'wallet on Delivery' in place of 'cash on Delivery' .some people are criticizing the demonetization move on the point that enough preparation was not done. Even banks did not have any idea about this move as it was top secret project of the government which was known to just few trusted people. However, preparation means involving more people and more involvement might have defeated the very purpose of this move that was to combat black money.

History of Demonetization:

The Indian government has demonetized currency notes. RBI first demonetized Rs. 1000 and Rs. 10000 banknotes in January 1946. Banknotes for Rs. 1000, Rs. 5000 and Rs. 10000 were reintroduced in 1954. However, Rs. 1000 Rs. 5000 and Rs 10000 were once again demonetized in January 1978 once again. In 1978 the then government said the move was aimed tackling the issue of the black money which had grown to large proportions at the time. The measure was enacted by passing the high denomination bank note (Demonetization) Act, 1978. The law's preamble said that this was an Act to provide in the public interest for the demonetization of certain high denomination bank notes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Objectives of Demonetization:

According to the government, demonetization is intended to combat untaxed black money, rampat corruption, encourage cashless transactions, checkhawala transactions to counter terrorist activities and to bring more accountability in the informal sector of the economy. India's black money, has been estimated by the World Bank in 2010 to be worth about on fifth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In a country where 90% transactions are carried out on cash basis it was a revolutionary move to transform from cash to cashless transactions. The currency notes of Rs. 500

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and Rs.1000 which constituted nearly 86% of the whole money circulation in the country, were demonetized on November 8, 2016. The Government gave the option, either to deposit the scrapped currency notes in banks or exchange them against new currency. The main objectives of demonetization are:

l To curb black money (Untaxed liquid assets)/ corruption.

l To discourage cash system.

l To combat inflation.

According to a World Bank Report, bank account penetration in India 2014 was just 53%, out of which only 15% users used their accounts to make or receive payments. In 2014, the NDA government announced Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojna to increase the financial inclusion of those who never had an account in a bank. Under this scheme, 250 million bank accounts have been opened in two years. As per RBI reports bank branches increased by 5% per year but Automated teller Machine (ATM'S), debit cards and card swiping machine have doubled in four years and online transactions have grown 20 times in sixes years to 2016. All these data shows a gradual shift towards cashless economy. Demonetization has sped up this transition.

Impact of demonetization in India:

Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi announced demonetization of current series of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from Mid night to Nov 8, 2016 The move is also expected to weed out Large catches of black money. "To break the grip of corruption and black money, The Prime Minster Narendra Modi had promised to combat the menace of black money when he came to power two-and-half years back, pledging to crack down on parallel economy in India which has seen tax to GDP ratio being abnormally low. Which means the demand for high denomination notes grew at a faster rate, causing suspicion that much of this was being hoarded as black money?

This measure was necessary to maintain the financial integrity of our economy. "Said Secretory Economic Affairs Shaktikanta Das Demonitisation is a move which had been suggested by several quarters.

The Move will also check fake note flows, a bane which has been dogging the indian financial markets for years. The Reserve Bank said while the Indian currency's security features have not "been breached". the fake notes being pushed by Pakistan's spy agencies were similar to legal tender and were causing confusion in the market. currently there are 16.5 billion legal Rs 500 notes and 6.7 billion Rs 1000 notes. But estimates point to larger numbers of high denomination notes circulation in the market, clearly pointing to fake currency being pushed into india in large numbers. Some Impacts of Demonetization in India are as follows:-

l Black Money: Black money stored in the form of Rs 500 and 1000 Rs notes will e taken out of our system. As predicated by ICICI Securities Primary Dealership the government's plan to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes will uncover up to Rs 4.6 Lakh crore in black money.

l Real estate may see significant course correction: The demonetization decision is expected to have far reaching effects on real estate. Resale transactions in the real estate sector often have a significant cash component as is reduces incidence of capital gains tax. Black money was responsible for sharp appreciation of properties in metros; real estate price may now see a sharp drop.

l Political parties in crisis ahead of polls: With nearly five state elections in 2017, demonetization has stunned political parties. Especially, in large states like Punjab and

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Uttar Pradesh, cash donations are a huge part of "election management". In one stroke, big parties will find themselves hamstrung as cash hoards are often undeclared money, Parties will have to completely rejig campaign strategies in light of expected cash crunch.

l Terror funding: Fake Indian currency Notes (FICN) network will be dismantled by the demonetization measures. Taking out 500 and 1000 rupee notes out if circulation will a lasting impact in Jammu and Kashmir, North-eastern states and Naxalite hit states.

l Moving towards digital payments: Demonetization will likely result in people adopting virtual wallets such as PAYTM, Ola Money etc,: This behavioral change could be a game changer for India.

l Temporary chaos and confusion : Public will face minor problem for a few days owing to the scarcity of lower denomination notes in the system.

Effort of Government towards demonetization:

The Government has announced Lucky GrahakYojana and DigiDhanVyaparYojana to promote digital payments. Chief Executive Officer of NITIAayog Amitabh Kant said, Lucky GrahakYojana is to encourage consumers while DigiDhanVyaparYojana is to encourage merchants for transition to digital payments. Mr. Kant said National Payment Council of India will announce 15000 winners and 1000 rupees each for the next 100 days, starting this Christmas. He said, 7000 weekly awards and maximum award of 50 thousand rupees each for merchants will be given under DigiDhanVyaparYojana. He said, mega awards under the two schemes will be announced on the

thbirthday of Dr. B R Ambedkar on 14 April. Prime Minister NarendraModi has described the Lucky GrahakYojana and DigiDhanVyaparYojana as a strategic push towards increased cashless transactions. In a series of tweets, Mr. Modi said, the two schemes will give a big boost to move towards and corruption free India.

The Government and financial institutions could also build a credit history using e-transactions to give consumers easier credit terms and higher credit flows. Tax collections in medium term will increase and bank deposits will also rise. "India cannot afford to live with black money and longer. Honesty, integrity & ethical conduct are requirements of India's development." said the Finance Ministry. The Government will be keeping an eye on all cash deposit of over Rs 2.5 lakh and could if it finds that the deposit does not match tax returns, impose a penalty of 500% on the income deposited besides extracting taxes on it. According to a senior official, "We would be getting reports

th thof all cash deposited during the period of 10 November to 30 December, 2016 above a threshold of Rs. 2.5 lacs in every account. the department would do matching of this with income returns filed by the depositors. And suitable action may follow." If a huge amount of cash is deposited which does not match with income declared, "this would be treated as the case of tax evasion and the tax amount plus a penalty of 500% of the tax payable would be levied as per the section 270(A) of the income tax Act." Section 270 A of the IT Act provides that in case of under-reporting of income flowing from deliberate misreporting, the penalty which may be imposed can be 500% of the amount under – reporting, but not due to willful mis-reporting then the penalty can be 50% of undeclared income. However, cash deposits of up to Rs. 2.5 lakh will not be scrutinized and ordinary people who make such deposits will not be harassed. People need not worry about such small amount of deposits up to Rs. 1.5 of 2 lacs, since it would be below the taxable income. There will be no harassment by Income Tax Department for such small deposits made.

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Moving towards cashless Economy:

Well before the November 9 demonetization of high denomination notes, banks in sync with the Reserve Bank of India has been working on development of different technology – based solutions for electronic transfer of money. There were already systems available in the banks through which one could transfer funds from one bank of branch to the order, in a matter of a few hours. That itself was a good facility replacing quite fast the age-old money transfer through cheques which had to be, first received in the beneficiary, then deposited in the branch, sent for clearing before the funds get transferred in the designated account. It is not that the cheques have gone altogether; but their usage is dropping rapidly.

At these measures were underway even before November 9, but the sense of urgency was a missing link. Besides, different payment networks did not seem to be in perfect coordination while electronic payments for the sale of merchandise and services were restricted to credit or debit cards used either through laptops or the limited point of sale (POS) machines available with the traders or the service providers. There was no sense of urgency, because there was no tearing necessity.

After the launch of BHIM – App, the latest is Bharat QR Code which works on the model of Paytm wherein the customers scans the QR Code of the merchandise and then transfers the money from his/her wallet. The only difference with Bharat QR Code is that just a BHIM, the customers at the merchandise point does not have to created and then draw money form the wallet. The funds are directly transferred form the customer's account and transferred instantly to that of the merchant or service provider. Unlike credit or debit cards used at the points of sales, there are no charges involved. There is an ease of using App with no cost. As far as the integrity and safety of the system is concerned, the RBI is giving assurance about it. "Our systems are not only comparable to any system anywhere in the world, our systems also do set standards and good practices for the world to follow. We remain vigilant for ensuring safety and soundness of the payment systems and are committed to customer safety and convenience." according to Mr. R Gandhi, Deputy Governor of the RBI.

In a cashless economy, where major transactions are done through cards or digital payments, the physical usage of currency remains low, which lowers down the chances of unaccountable transactions. India remains to be a very cash reliant economy than any other country in the world. even many multinational e-commerce companies like Amazon, Uber etc. accept cash in India, the only the country in the world where the option of cash on delivery (COD) is still prevalent, where even till date 70% online transactions are via COD. By adopting the policy of demonetization, the government has put the cash economy out of gear in the people could be brought into the cashless economy.the Gradual transition towards digitization and a cashless economy will definitely help curb corruption in the long run. The increased transparency and record of transactions will make it considerably difficult to hold black money and carry out under the table deals. The added convenience of using digital payment solutions and virtual wallets can't be ignored either. while virtual wallet firms like Paytm are going the extra mile to make things easy for everyday consumers and small vendors, solutions like Happay are working their way towards making business transactions go cashless. Automated expense reporting solutions, coupled with their Visa and Master Cardintegrated credit cards, have gained significant traction over the past few days for their complete food, travel, medical and ad-hoc, cash free solutions. A cashless economy will give the following positive effects on the economy.

l It will increase the taxation base. India's informal economy contributes 45% in GBP and 80% in employment. It means transactions of millions remain unaccounted and untaxed. Currently only 1% of India's population pays income tax as per Income Tax Department. In the long run, with this system most of this sector will be compelled to function in formal

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framework. It will also reduce the instance of tax avoidance.

l Clean and more transparent business transactions and money transfers.

l Improved financial inclusion and credit access through the linkage of all welfare activities with bank accounts. It will not only increase welfare for the people but would assist in creating a sense of belonging and faith in the banking system.

l Reduced money laundering due to easy traceability of transactions.

l Control on the issuance of fake currency and counterfeiting. As per official reports, an estimated 250 out of every million Indian Bank notes were fake.

l It will curb the parallel shadow economy (black economy) which runs majority on cash basis. Cashless transactions are track able and more transparent.

l Efficiency in welfare programs as money can be easily transferred to the accounts of the recipients. It will eliminate the role of intermediaries who usurp the share of welfare money spent on people. This cashless regime represents transparency and people will get all the benefits directly in their account without paying any bribe to any one.

l Improved climate for foreign investments.

l Good Governance.

l In the year 2015, RBI spent Rs. 27 billion on currency issuance and management. Cashless economy will reduce such costs.

l Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and other working to fight human trafficking said that the note ban had led to a huge fall in sex trafficking. Satyarthi said the demonetization would be effective in combating exploitation of children as well as corruption and would be a great obstacle to traffickers. However, 2 months later he expressed his disappointing on Rs5000 notes being pushed into human trafficking in absence of concrete steps.

· The demonetization has badly hit Maoist and Naxalites as well. The surrender rate has reached its highest since the demonetization is announced. It is said that the money these organizations have collected over the years have left with no value and it has caused them to reach to this decision. The move also reportedly crippled communist guerrilla groups ( Naxalites) financing through money laundering.

· As of November 2016, Indian Railways did not have the option to make payment with cards at the counters. After the demonetization move, the government announced to make card payment options available at railway counters in the country. The railways placed an order for 10000 card reader machines in January 2017.

Cashless economy cannot be achieved in few days or months, it is a long process. People have to be prepared to adapt this change. Question arises why cash is no much important? In a country like India where poverty, illiteracy and unemployment are the major issues, cash in hand symbolized safety, security and respect. Government should assure the basic necessities and focus on developing infrastructure specially in rural areas. Special drives through schools, colleges, panchayats etc. Can help create awareness about cashless/ banking transactions. Financial literacy is a must for bringing more and more people to digital platform. Digital payment or payment through banks eg. paying expenses and salary of staff through bank accounts instead of paying cash should be encouraged.

Conclusion :

The withdrawl of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes, accounting for 85 per cent of the currency value in circulation brought in a sheer necessity for an effective and urgent alternative to cash. The

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present Govt. India made a commitment about making Indian society less cash dependent in his drive to clean up the economy from the scourge of black money and corruption, put the entire regulatory, operational and policy- making machinery into top gear with the result that within four months, not one but several e-payment options have been developed, tested and launched. They can all be used through the low cost smart phones. The best thing about these Apps is that they are targeted largely at the excluded strata and would be catalytic in the world's biggest financial inclusion programme. After the launch of BHIM- App, the latest is Bharat QR Code which works on the model of Paytm where in the customer scans the QR code of the merchandise and then transfers the money form his/her wallet. The only difference with Bharat QR Code is that Just as BHIM, the customers at the merchandise point does not have to create and then draw money form the wallet. The funds are directly transferred from the customer's account and transferred instantly to that the merchant or service provider. Unlike credit or debit cards used at the points of sales, there are no changes involved. There is an ease of using App with no cost. As far as the integrity and safety of the system is concerned, the RBI is giving assurance about it. " Our systems are not only comparable to any system anywhere in the world, our systems also do set standards and good practices for the world to follow. We remain vigilant for ensuring safety and soundness of the payment systems and are committed to customer safety and convenience." according to Mr. R Gandhi, Deputy Governor of the RBI.

The government has constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. RatanWatal, Principal Advisor, NITI Ayog, to suggest measures for encouraging digital payments. Having examined the regulatory and legislative framework, the Watal Committee recommended that the payment and settlement systems Act 5007 be amended for a better regulatory governance, competition and innovation, consumer protection, open access, data protection and security, and penalties for offences. Accepting these recommendations, the legislative changes have been brought in the Finance Bill of 2017. The demonetization scheme would result not only in people reviewing their need for hoarding cash- both for transaction and precautionary purpose – but also in quicker adoption of the digital technology that enables cash-less transactions.

References :

l Gopika Gopakumar, Vishwanath Nair (8 November 2016) " Rs 500 Rs 1000 notes may be back, if history is a guide." Live Mint. Retrieved 9 November 2016.

l Saikia, Bijoy Sankar (18 November 2016) "Demonetization may drag India behind China in GDP growth, rob fastest-growing economy tag". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2017-01-05.

l Doctor, Vikram (12 November 2016). "The cycles of demonetization: A looks back at two similar experiments in 1946 and 1978". Economic Times Blog. Retrieved. 2017-01-23.

l Kumar Uttam (12 November 2016) "The measure is 'anti-poor': When BJP opposed demonetization during UPA govt". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 12 November, 2016.

l Sridhar, G Naga; Vageesh, NS (21 October 2016). "Coming soon to your wallet: Rs. 5000 notes". Business Line.

l Aman Sethi (6 November 2016). "Before PM's Announcement. Rumours of Demonetization Abounded". The Quint. Retrieved 12 November 2016.

l Agnihotri, Amit (2017-01-19). "RBI replaces 60% of banned currency: Rs 9.2 lakh crremonetized till date". Business Standard India. Retrieved 2017-01-27.

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Issues and Challenges Related to Women and Environment

Rachna Sharma

Abstract

A civilization remains healthy and strong as long as it protects the environment and learns to live in harmony with nature. Environmental protection is an important aspect that has been of utmost concern in the present century. Throughout history, women and nature have been regarded as subjugated entities by men and this common subordination makes a close affiliation between women and nature. From very beginning women have seen the environment as a resource for supporting their basic needs. They have been using the land to produce food for their family. The changes in the environment like deforestation mostly affect the women and enhance their suffering. From the last few years, Indian Women have played a key role in the protection of biological diversity through their varied responsibilities. Keeping in view the role played by them, they can best be defined as crusaders against environmental degradation. The past decades have seen an increasing resistance to the ecological destruction in the form of movements. These ecological movements in India indicate how women are being severly affected by environmental degradation and today they are also seen as critical agents of change. This paper aims to focus upon the issues and challenges related to woman and the environment. Along with that, various measures for enhancing participation of women in environmental management for sustainable development have also been discussed.

Introduction

All forms of life on earth are shaped by environmental conditions and the interdependence of man-environment relation is indisputable. Not only this, even the relationship between the Women and the Environment has become more clear and obvious over the past few years. If we look into the recent literature available on environment and development, it has particularly stressed upon women's work, which is often linked to the environment and reveals how most of this work is made harder through environmental degradation. Women living in the rural areas of the Third World countries like India play a major role in managing natural resources-soil, water, forest and energy. Their tasks in agriculture and animal husbandry as well as in the household make them the daily managers of the living environment. They have a profound knowledge of the plants, animals and ecological processes around them. Thus, keeping in view the interrelationship between the women and the environment, it is difficult to define where 'environment' begins or ends for the 'women' in developing countries like India. Almost all development activities affect their surroundings especially in rural areas. Any changes in agriculture, forestry, water and waste management, all have local environmental implications which affect women in one way or the other. Besides this, the women too have played a significant role in the ecological history of India. However, their role in the ecological struggles and debates and more importantly their critical role in the conservation method remain 'hidden from history' largely because women themselves remained invisible in the development process. The emergence of 'ecofeminism' in the early 1970s was the first most enthusiastic expression of women's connection with nature. It is based on the theory that women have

*Assistant Professor of History, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab, Patiala Susan Buckingham, Gender and Environment, Routledge, New York, USA, 2000, p.1.

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greater appreciation of humanity's relationship to the natural world. It is a movement that sees critical connections between the domination of nature and exploitation of women.

Historically speaking, all the existing religious texts of India have mentioned the environment as something to be cherished and having a close relationship with, since it provided life. The protection and preservation of the natural resources was at the forefront of ecological knowledge for pre-colonial India, since natural environment was seen as a source of spiritual guidance as well as material sustenance. The native people of India were free to use and preserve the land for survival, ritual, celebration, worship, etc., and nature, particularly, forests, were central to the localized communal lifestyle of many communities in India. The indigenous lives and land practice was largely left unrestricted until colonial law forced many communities to abandon ancient practices of coexisting with nature and made use of land restricted or illegal for many indigenous peoples. The British Empire had a profound impact on the global environment since its foundation and its mission was complete control and access to natural resources, making the alteration of the environment central to imperialism. Due to the wide reaching influence of empire expansion, and the subsequent diverse environment converted for productive use, colonization created environmental changes that had never been experienced before in human history.

There was an emphasis on commercialization of agriculture that adversely affected the Habitat and wildlife by the clear cutting of forests and the building of dams that changed the natural landscape. Further, it was the introduction of large scale game hunting, which was considered to be a popular past-time of the British elite, not only interfered with the farming but also had a profound impact on the wildlife in many parts of India.

Colonists were highly critical of many native land practices of agriculture, such as jhum, the small scale slash and burning or turning techniques that provided nutrients to farmable soil, and banned its use as barbaric. Many women saw their property rights decrease over their ancestrally inherited forest land which was commonly owned. These projects in economizing the land lead to large scale deforestation, habitat destruction, famine through monoculture crop disease, and loss of wildlife biodiversity. Realizing the commercial importance of the forests, the British enacted the Madras Forest Act of 1882.

Till 1970s there was no environmental question. There was only an agrarian question. Environmental issues surfaced as large dams and centralized irrigation systems became politically controversial. If we look into the role of women in environmental protection in the recent decades, we find how women in a developing country like India took up an environmental challenge by participating in an ecological movement like Chipko movement and thereby have come out as the most ardent activists for protecting the planet and the lives of its inhabitants. It is important to mention here that it is Chipko that marked the advent of an environmental sensibility among upper class urban Indians and introduced a generation to the notion that the 'red' and the 'green' issues were inseparable; its gains were reaped in the decade of the 1990s with the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Relationship Between The Women And The Nature

Throughout history men have considered both women and nature as subordinate entities. This common subordination has given birth to a very close relation between the women and the environment. Women in India are considered to be an intimate part of nature. At one level nature is symbolized as the embodiment of the feminine principle and at another, she is nurtured by the feminine to produce life and provide sustenance. Maria Mies, one of the leading ecofeminist, has called women's work in producing sustenance, the production of life and views it as truly productive relationship to nature, because women not only collected and consumed what grew in nature but they

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also made things grow. This organic process of growth in which women and nature work in partnership with each other has created a special relationship of women with nature. Only the producers of life can be its real protectors. In developing countries like India, especially in the rural communities, it is the women who perform most of the duties related to farming, food processing, water and fuel procurement, animal husbandry, water disposal and household management. A typical rural woman works 12 to 15 hours a day gathering fire wood and water, growing food, collecting fodder, tending domestic animals, cooking, cleaning and caring for children, the sick and the elderly. Women also depend upon firewood for their needs. Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, who are credited as leading ecofemonists, provides in their work an excellent working definition and description of ecofeminism. Generally speaking, ecofeminism makes a link between the oppression of the earth and the oppression of women, recognizing both as violently exploited and controlled. Vandana Shiva also attributes the existing forms of destruction of nature and oppression of women principally to the third world's history of colonialism and to the imposition of western science and western model of development. The recent ecological movements have shown that women are more sensitive towards environment and its problems and have created a special value system about environmental issues which can be discussed as below.

Women And The Ecological Movements

The direct concern of Indian women with environment protection can be traced long back to 1731 A D, when Amrita Bai of Khejaralli village of Jodhpur District of Rajasthan sacrificed her life for saving the trees of her village. She is considered to be the actual founder of the modern Chipko Movement. In order to save the trees, she embraced the trees and was cut as per the orders of the then Maharaja. Her three daughters and later her husband came forward and one by one 363 people were killed and as a result of this, the trees remained untouched because of villager's strong resistance. This movement started by Amrita Bai in 1731 A D was revived later by Bachni Devi and Gaura Devi of Uttar Pradesh in 1972. They snatched the axe from the wood cutters and warned the contractors not to cut the trees. They gave a song which meant forests bear soil, water and air which are basic requirements of our life.

The Chipko and Appiko Movements were the grassroots and protesting movements against government sponsored deforestation. Mahila Mandals (Women's Groups) took the lead in growing trees and fodder grasses to meet their household needs. They also participated actively in the afforestation programme and in the management of natural resources. Save Silent Valley was the another grassroots and protesting movement against a hydroelectric project that would have caused mass deforestation and habitat destruction. Similarly, Save Narmada was a collective organizing group preventing series of dams being built on the Narmada River. All these were thriving and successful environmental activist groups during the late 1990's that were openly against government and intuitional ecological destruction with the acknowledgment of colonial legacy. The Navdanya Movement, also known as 'the nine seeds movement,” has been identified both as a women's and environmental movement, was founded by Dr. Vandana Shiva with a decolonial framework. The goal of this movement was to promote traditional and indigenous knowledge to protect biodiversity, spread ecological awareness, empower communities to live in harmony with nature, and provide healthy seeds, foods, and soil rehabilitation to local communities and farmers. Participation regardless of gender, caste, religion, ethnic group, etc. is encouraged and particular emphasis is given to empowering women globally through “Diverse Women for Diversity” to strengthen their grassroots movements under common international platforms. Specifically, ensuring women's food security and protesting against unsustainable and destructive globalization practices is the goal of this section of Navdanya.

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Feminists all over the world have embraced the environmental challenge after the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio which emphasized the central role of women in promoting ecologically sound sustainable development. Throughout the world, studies were launched to understand and elucidate the various contributions of women in conservation of natural resources-as custodians of nature and knowledge pertaining to the management of natural resources. Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) which was the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women held at Beijing in September 1995 stressed upon involving women actively in environmental decision making at all levels. Environmentalists like R.Guha and P. Mohai are of the view that women's concerns of the environment have not been systematically studied because of the inadequacy of empirical data on gender and environment in India, despite the presence of ideological debate over the issue for a considerable period of time.

It is quite apparent that the environmental movements in India, particularly Vandana Shiva's soil and farming movement and the Chipko anti-deforestation movement have been the most successful ecofeminist movements in the country. Ecofeminism could provide the crucial link in advancing 'women and environmental rights' in India since there is an understanding that both these areas suffered the same trauma from the same colonial source and it would be appreciable to find solutions to these problems on a united front. Thus, working for the advancement for one would automatically go hand in hand with the other. This united fight against the same enemy would allow for increased accountability from the government officials and the demand for change from these interest groups would make it harder to perpetuate the colonial legacy.

An ecological perspective has been growing with STRI Mukti Sangharsh, an autonomous women's organization in which women refused to break stones at Employment Guarantee Scheme works since that would have no impact on Draught mitigation, demanding agriculturally productive works instead. A new slogan Hirvi Dharti, Stri Shakti Manav Mukti (Green Earth, women's power, human liberation) began to be used. They are now working with Bombay based organization of engineers and scientists in projects aimed at making rural women as a core part of the development of alternative technology and alternative agriculture. These days NGOs have also been playing a vital role in raising environmental concerns, developing awareness of environmental issues and promoting sustainable development. The work done by these organizations is difficult to ignore and has won immense appreciation and credibility in present times. They have emerged as the major players in development and conservation activities at the International, National and Regional Level. There are NGOs like Kalpavriksh, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Navdanya and World Wide Fund for Nature in India, which have been promoting conservation of nature and environmental protection for sustainable and equitable development. They have also been emphasizing on conducting research on environmental problems to evolve a holistic environmental perspective. It was because of the good work taken up by NGO like Sarthi that the wastelands were developed and put to good use.

Conclusion And Sugesstions

After going through the above discussion and looking at women's role in the ecological movements we have reached a conclusion that women have been contributing substantially towards sustainable development and maintaining essential ecological processes and life support systems by preserving biological diversity and ensuring the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems. At present, the torchbearers of the environmental movement in India are Maneka Gandhi, an environmentalist & politician and Medha Patekar, a social worker & environmentalist, who are carrying on the crusade of environment protection with vigor and enthusiasm. However, the problem of present day environment protection cannot be solved with the involvement of a few selected groups of women; it requires a global involvement of the entire community of womenfolk

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today. There is need of participation of every woman of every class / every locality, and any woman should not underestimate her role in the entire process. In the end, we can say that there is a need to strengthen the roots of the Environmental Movement for increasing the participation of the women. We have seen that the role played by the local women in conservation has been little recognized by the environmental organizations. There is a need to strengthen the indigenous efforts for providing women with adequate resource and credit. Legislation is an essential instrument of policy which needs to be enforced to support the implementation of development policies and plans designed to mainstream both environmental and gender concerns. Strengthening women's legal capacity would require the enforcement of legislation guaranteeing their rights and access to land and other natural resources. The ratification, implementation, enforcement and monitoring of domestic legislation relating to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women should be the priority. It is equally important to promote Legal Literacy relating to this convention and to international environmental conventions. There is an urgent need to develop women's human resource capabilities through education, training, and access to productive resources and employment which is possible through the enhancement of their legal rights and their increased participation in the decision making. Moreover, there is a need to emphasize on expansion of women's training opportunities in scientific and technological fields. Women's environmental activities, organizations and movements hold the key to sustainable development in countries like India. Their efforts could be further strengthened through gender sensitive planning and major efforts at the national and international levels to arrest the declining trends of environmental degradation and poverty.

References

1. Susan Buckingham, Gender and Environment, Routledge, New York, USA, 2000.2. Irene Dankelman and Joan Davidson, Women and Environment in the Third World: Alliance

for the Future, EarthScan Publications, London, 1988.3. Joan Davidson, “Women's Relationship with The Environment”, Focus on Gender, Vol. 1,

No. 1, 1993, pp. 5-10. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/4030279. 4. Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism, Zed Books, London, 2014.5. Bina Agarwal, “The Gender and the Environment Debate - Lessons from India”, Feminists

Studies, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1998, pp. 119-158. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/3178217.6. Somnath Ghoshal, “Pre-Colonial and Colonial Forest Culture in the Presidency of Bengal”,

Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography, Vol.5, No.1, 2011, pp. 107-116, p. 108. Also available at: www.humangeographies.org.ro

7. Vandana Shiva, Evolution, Structure and Impact of the Chipko Movement, Mountain Research and Development, Delhi, 1986.

8. Poonam Kanwal, “Environmental Movements in India”, In Mahendra Prasad Singh and Subhendu Ranjan Raj (eds.). Indian Political System, Pearson, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 213-230, p. 227.

9. Amita Baviskar, In The Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts Over Development in the Narmada Valley, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2004.

10. D. P. Chattopadhyaya and Bharati Ray, Different Types of History: History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, Vol. XIV, Part 4, Pearson Education, New Delhi, India, 2009.

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Employability of Engineering Students -A Study on The Cognizance of The Students and Their Prospective Employers

Dr. Ajit Kumar Bansal

Abstract

Purpose of this paper is to study the perception of Employers as well as employees towards employability skills required for Entry level engineering graduates in multinational software companies. It is an exploratory study. The study revealed that there is significant difference between the perception of students and their employers. It is this disparity makes the students unemployable. Literature and research about the employability skills of Indian engineers are rare in nature.

Keywords: Employability, engineering graduates, employers, perception.

1. Intoroduction

Skill development and entrepreneurship efforts across the country have been highly fragmented so far. As opposed to developed countries, where the percentage of skilled workforce is between 60% and 90% of the total workforce, India records an abysmal 4.69% of workforce with formal vocational skills. There is a need for speedy reorganization of the ecosystem of skill development and entrepreneurship promotion in the country to suit the needs of the industry and enable decent quality of life to its population.

Recognizing the need and urgency of quickly coordinating the efforts of all concerned stakeholders in the field of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, according to the needs of the Industry, Government of India notified the formation of the Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship on 31st July, 2014. The department was subsequently upgraded to a full fledged Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship on 9th Nov, 2014.As per the opinion of several stakeholders including several states AICTE should championing the cause of better education rather than more number of engineering colleges. Colleges are now showing deep interest in employability improvement and are adopting the idea of employability assessment from the first year onward to identify gaps and fill them.

2. Employability vs. Employment

Despite of a good percentage of engineers being employable, only a fraction of the lot is actually employed. Our last two editions of National Employability Report have successfully thrown light on the abyss between employability and employment of engineers. On similar lines, we have analyzed this variance for the 2015 batch of engineers who had taken AMCAT during their final year.

The analysis has been done on a sample of 27,000 engineering students across India with a good mix of engineers from different tiers of colleges, tiers of cities, metros/non-metros, engineering disciplines and other demographic schisms. A questionnaire pivoted around parameters affecting

*Professor, School of Management, Maharaja Agarsen University,

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Vol. 9 No. 1-2, March-Sep. 2018ISSN : 0976-0237

employment outcomes of engineers was designed and rolled out to this sample during May-June'15, at a time when bulk of entry-level employment had taken place.

A significant part of this analysis revolves around examining the percentage of engineers at various stages of the selection process beginning from getting an interview opportunity to finally getting the job in-hand. We thereafter study the gaps across the stages and try to see them across the prism of demographics like branch of study, gender, tier of college and tier of city of the candidate.

2.1 Employability vs. Employment Outcome

Observation:

• A total of 19.91% engineers get employed despite of only 19.11 % engineers being employable.

• About 27% of the engineers did not even get an interview opportunity and this figure increases for the percentage of engineers who could make it to the final round.

2.2 By Branch of Study

Observation:

• The employability of engineers from all branches is similar and so is the corresponding average salary for the three branches. The slight increase towards the higher side in employable and average salary figures for Core Engineering branch might be a function of a lesser sample size (relative to sample size for the other two branches).

• Despite similar employability of engineers from all the branches, computer/IT engineers get hired the most.

• The percentage of engineers getting an interview opportunity, reaching the finalound and finaly being employed is the highest for engineers from Computers/IT background, followed by Circuit branches.

2.3 By Gender

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Observation:

• Males and females are equally employable and have similar employed percentages though the hiring practices seem to be skewed in favor of females as the percentage of females getting an interview opportunity and reaching the final round is more than that for males.

• The average salary figures for males are slightly better than those calculated for females. This trend is in-line with last year's analysis.

3. Objectives of the Study

This paper is focusing on the Employability skills of engineering graduates in India. The aim of the paper is to identify the skill gap of engineering graduates who wish to join in Software Industry. The paper was developed based on the data collected for the pilot study of the research in which the author is engaged. To conduct this study the author has used major models of employability framework developed by countries like Australia (Hillage J, 1999)Japan (Nguyen Danh Nguyen, 2005) Malaysia (Azami zaharim, 2009)and the framework developed by World Bank (Andreas Blom, 2011).

The following are the objectives of the study

• To critically identify the perception of employers towards engineering employability skills.

• To Identify the perception of the engineering graduates towards employability skills

• To Identify the gap between the perception of students and professionals.

• To Identify whether gender and work experience affects the employability skills of graduates.

4. Review of Literature

Padmini.I (2012) in her study entitled “EDUCATION VS EMPLOYABILITY- THE NEED TO BRIDGE THE SKILL GAP AMONG THE ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT GRADUATES IN ANDHRA PRADESH” had studied that the HR in term of quality and quantity are India's biggest assets, to gear up education system through various innovative and initiatives.

Varwandkar Ajit (2013)12 in his study entitled “FACTORS IMPACTING EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS OF ENGINEERS” concluded that, the means of the variables domain knowledge, empathy, communication skills & managerial ability have significant impact on the employability of engineering graduates. However the independent variable 'Motivation' has not been observed to have made any significant impact on the employability of engineering graduates.

Chithra. R (2013)15 had conducted study on “EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS -A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF THE ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND THEIR PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS”. The study reveals that there is significant difference between the perception of students and their employers. The study concluded that, the students with work experience have better awareness of the employability skills than the students with no work experience. Enhancing the skills and application of knowledge through specific training will enable the workers to perform their jobs in the best possible manner and that is the need of the hour.

Aspiring Minds (2016) did the large scale study of employability of engineers in 2014. They

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had found that only 18.43% of engineers were employable for the software services sector, 3.21% for software products and 39.84% for a non-functional role such as Business Process Outsourcing. Unfortunately, they see no massive progress in these numbers. These numbers as of today i.e 2016 stand at: 17.91%, 3.67% and 40.57% respectively for IT Services, IT Products and Business Process Outsourcing. This is despite the fact that the number of engineering seats have not increased in the past year.

Since most of the studies focus on the perception of employers, the author has given due importance to graduate's perception and attribute. In this study, factors like gender and work experience have taken into consideration.

5. Research Design

It is an exploratory study. The author has developed two questionnaires referring various skill framework and have identified 25 skill set as skill inventory. The skill set was classified according to the model developed by World Bank for the study of employability skills of engineering graduates in India. (Andreas Blom, 2011).There were 240 students participated in the survey. All the students were in the final year of their graduate and post graduate engineering studies. The Response rate for the graduate students was 75% (180/240).The author also has conducted a study to know the perception of the employers towards employability skills. 130 professionals were identified as employers and of that 70 people were participated in the survey. Response rate was 54 % (70/130) in the case of employers. Structured cluster sampling and snow bowl sampling were used for the study.

The area of study is Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh and professional colleges/universities located within sphere of 75 km.

6. Data Analysis & Interpretation:

6.1 Demographic statistics of Employers

There were 70 professionals responded to the survey. Demographic details of the professionals are as follows.

6.1.1 Demographic statistics (Employer size)

Table 1:-Classification of Employers Based on the size of the Employers.

It was found that majority of the respondents were from Small (57.14%), and medium

(28.57%) organizations. Rest of the (14.29%) participants was from large organizations.

6.1.2 Work experience (Gender -wise)

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Table 2: Work Experience of the employers (Gender- wise).

The author has selected software professionals and human resource personnel with more than 3 years of work experience in software companies. It was found that 8.87% professionals were having experience of 10years & above, around (42.86%) of the candidates were having 6< 8 years of work experience.

6.2 Descriptive statistics of the students are as follows:-

6.2.1 Demographic statistics of the Graduates (Age and Gender)

Table 3: Graduates Age & Gender

It was evident from analysis that majority (82.2%) of the respondents were in the 20-22 year age group. There were 40 male respondents and 50 female respondents participated in the survey. (14.44%) of the respondents were in 23-25 years category and rest (3.33%) of the candidates were in 26-27years age group.

6.2.2 Demographic statistics of the Graduates (Classification on the Basis of Medium of

Education & Gender)

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Fig 1: Classification on the Basis of Med of Education & Gender

It was evident from analysis that majority (68.89%) of the candidates completed their schooling in English medium and (31%) of the candidates finished their schooling in their respective mother tongue. (67%) of the male graduate students and (70%) of the female graduate students did their schooling in English medium. Male graduates and female graduates who had completed their schooling in their respective mother tongue were (32.50%) and (42%) respectively.

6.2.3 Demographic Statistics (Educational qualification)- Classification on the Basis of Educational Qualification & Gender

Table 4- Educational Qualifications

It was evident from analusis that maximum number of the respondents were pursuing for their final year Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree (50%) and Bachelor of Technology (B Tech) degree (34.44%), followed by Post graduate students (15.56%).

6.2.4 Demographic statistics (Work experience-Gender wise)-Classification on the Basis of Work Experience & Gender

From the following Fig No 2, it was evident that majority of the respondents have no previous work experience. This gave a better picture of the perception of newly graduates' towards employability skills. Figure 2 represents demographic statistics of graduate students. Out of the 80 male respondents only 16 (20%) students had work experience. In the case of female respondents Only 12 (12%) respondents had work experience

Figure 2: Classification on the basis of Work Experience and Gender

6.2.5 Top 10 Employability skills according to Employer and Graduate students

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Table -5- Top 10 Employablity Skills Employers Vs Students

It was evident from above analysis that employers gave due importance to behavioural skills whereas students gave importance to technical skills. Top ranked skills like reliability, integrity, practical knowledge were not in the top ranks of students' rating. This difference in the perception points out the need for creating awareness among the students about engineering employability skills.

Conclusion

The study shows that there is a strong need for awareness among the Indian graduates to know the employability skills required by the global talent market. The graduates cannot be blamed for the reason, rather academic institutions providing higher education will have to take the responsibility and update the curriculum at regular interval to cater the needs of the industry. Further, there should be long and sustainable plan to train our young graduates to raise their bar to attain jobs in the global talent market. It is essential to increase the industry-academia contact so that induxtry expectations can be met with. In nowadays competitive era besides earning the basic professional degree, the students should attain practical knowledge by working on live projects and doing additional certification programmes. This will assure regular supply of talent to the global talent workforce. The research shows that the students with work experience have better awareness of the employability skills than the students with no work experience. Enhancing the skills and application of knowledge through specific training will enable the workers to perform their jobs in the best possible manner and that is the need of the hour.

References

1. Andreas Blom, H. S. (2011). "Employability and Skill Set of Newly graduated Engieers in India". World Bank.

2. A s p i r i n g M i n d s A N a t i o n a l E m p l o y a b i l i t y R e p o r t - E n g i n e e r s 2016www.aspiringminds.com/.../National%20Employability%20Report%20- 20Engineer...

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3. Atkins, M. J. (1999). "Oven ready and self-blasting:taking stock of employability skills. Teaching in Higher education, Vol 4 No 2,pages 267-78.

4. Azami zaharim, e. (2009). "Employers perception towards engieering emloyability skills in Asia. WSEAS Transactions on advances in Engineering education, issue 6,vol.3,pp306-315.

5. Busse, R. (1992). "The new basics :-today's employers want three R and so much

more". Vocational Educational Journal, Vol.67, No. 5,PP 24-25.

6. Chithra.R(2013) 'Employability Skills -A Study on the Perception of the Engineering

Students and their Prospective Employers' Global Journal of Management and

Business Studies.ISSN 2248-9878 Volume 3, Number 5 (2013), pp525-534.

7. Digital Automation and the New Workforce. The Progressive Policy Institute,Boston

Consulting group. (April 2000).

8. Employability skills for Australian industry;Literature review and framework

development. Melborne: ACER.(2001)

9. Forbes, B. K. (2004). "Student employability profiles in Engineering,Enhancing

stusent employability cordinaion team. The higher education academy.

10. Harvey, L. (2000). "New realities :-the relationship between higher education and

employment. Territory education and management, Vol.6.pp3-17.

11. Hassan B, M. Z. (2007). Future of engieering education in Malaysia. Ministry of

higher education Malayasia. Hillage J, P. E. (1999).

12. "Emloyability:-developing a framework for policy analysis'. DfEE.

13. Padmini (2012) 'Education Vs Employability- the Need to Bridge the Skills Gap

among the Engineering and Management Graduates in Andhra Pradesh'.

International Journal of Management & Business Studies'. IJMBS Vol. 2, Iss ue 3, July

- Sept 2012.

14. Knight, P. Y. (2002). "Emloyability and good learning in higher education". Teachin

gin Higher Education, Vol.8.No.1,pp3-16.

15. Nguyen Danh Nguyen, Y. Y. (2005). University education and emloyment in Japan

students' perception on employment attributes and implications for university

education. Emerald group publishing , 202-212.

16. Talent shortage survey. Mckinsey-NASSCOM. (2005).

17. Varwandkar Ajit(2013) Factors Impacting Employability Skills of Engineers.

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), India Online ISSN: 2319-7064.

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The effects of external iron concentration on the growth, yield and nodulation in Chick Pea (Cicer arietinum L. cv.H-208)

Divya Jain and Sumit Chhibber

Abstract:

As trace elements several metals like copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and zinc are essential for the growth of the plants. Rapid industrialization, mining and use in agriculture have resulted in the increased concentrations of these metals in the soil causing phytotoxicity. The present study was undertaken to study the effects of the soil with different concentrations of the iron ranging from acute deficiency to excess, on the growth and nodule formation in Cicer arietinum L. cv.H-208. This cultivar was found to respond in a different way in terms of various growth parameters studied as well as in the formation of root nodules when grown on the soil amended with 10mg/kg and 50mg/kg iron concentrations as compared to the soil not amended with Fe.

Key words: Trace elements, metals, nodule formation, iron, Cicer arietinum, growth, phytotoxicity

.

Introduction

Years of mining, industrial processing and the use in agriculture have led to the accumulation of various metals in the environment creating pollution (Arzoo et al.,2014 Nazir , et.al.,2015). Though some metals like copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and zinc are essential for the growth of the plants in traces, elevated concentrations of both essential and non-essential elements result in growth inhibition and toxicity symptoms. (Tchounwou et. al.,2014, Dixit et. al.,2015, Rout and Sahoo, 2015). Iron is an essential nutrient for plants and is a constituent of many enzymes and proteins (Marschner, 2011). The essential role of Fe in plant biochemistry include the mechanisms of photosynthetic electron transfer, influencing chlorophyll formation, nucleic acid metabolism, and redox reactions of chloroplasts, mitochondria and peroxisomes amongst others (Li et al., 2016). Fe deficiency affects several physiological processes and therefore, retards plant growth as well as plant yield (Kennelly, 2012 Trejo-Téllez and C. Gómez-Merino, ,2014, Sokolov et.al.,2015). Application of Fe in low doses promotes growth and yield (G. Libralato et al., 2016). Legumes, which develop a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, have an increased demand for iron. Iron is required for the synthesis of iron-containing proteins in the host, including the highly abundant leghemoglobin, and in bacteroids for nitrogenase and cytochromes of the electron transport chain. Deficiencies in iron can affect initiation and development of the nodule (Brear et al., 2013). Experimental results have shown that both Fe and Mo applied alone or combined significantly increased number of nodules in lentils over control (Nasar and Shah, 2017).

Despite its importance as essential micronutrient, iron is toxic when high levels accumulate (Rout and Sahoo, 2015). The presence of high Fe concentration have known to result in stunted shoot growth, brown necrotic patches on leaves, die-back of leaves, stunted root growth and lack of branching of roots in plants like geranium and marigold (Broschat and Moore, 2004) . Peña-Olmos

*Dept. of Botany ,S.D.College (Lahore), Ambala Cantt.

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2+et. al (2014) reported that the exposure of Brassica oleracea var. Italica plants to high Fe levels in the substrate negatively affects the general function of these plants. Excess of Fe also reduces the uptake of nutrients like phosphate into plant tissues resulting in nutrient deficiency (Batty and Younger, 2003). Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of soil application of Fe on the growth, yield and nodulation in one of the important food crop, Cicer arietinum L. cv.H-208.

Materials and Methods

The seeds of Cicer arietinum L. cv.H-208 were procured from Government Horticulture Research Station and Training Centre, Saharanpur and the soil taken from the experimental plots of this research station was amended with Ferric oxide as to make the final concentration 10mg Fe/kg and 50 mg Fe/kg soil. Two kg each of Fe- amended soil and blank soil were filled in polythene bags. The seeds of Cicer arietinum L. cv.H-208 were sown in these polythene bags in the month of November and grown under field conditions with irrigation whenever necessary.

th th Plant samples for growth analysis were taken at 30 and 60 day of seedling emergence. The day of 75 to 100% emergence was taken as the starting day. Root/Shoot length, fresh weight and dry weight, nodule number, fresh and dry weight of nodules per plant were recorded. Yield parameters like number of pods per plant, weight of pod cover, number and weight of seeds per plant were recorded.

Results and Discussion:

Table 1 indicates that in general growth of Cicer arietinum, Linn. Cultivar H208 increases in the presence of 10mg Fe/kg soil and declines in the presence of 50 mg/kg soil as compared to control soil.

thResults show that 10 mg/kg Fe amended soil is promontory to plant growth. Thus, at 30 day root and thshoot lengths are 167.7% and 134.2% of control, respectively, whereas, these values at 60 day are

146.9% and 145.6% of control respectively. This indicates both root and shoot growth is equally promoted in presence of

10mg/kg iron amended soil, which acts as nutrient. Table further indicates that 50 mg/kg Iron amended soil is deleterious for plant growth at all stages; however, the extent of inhibition is more marked in the above ground part at later phase of growth.

Results also show that in this legume, yield of plant grown in 10 mg/kg Fe amended soil is also promoted. Thus, in 10 mg/kg Fe amended soil grown plant, Pod number/plant, Pod weight, seed number/plant and seed weight are 140.2%, 130.0% and 136. 3% and 252.3% of control respectively. Table 1 further shows that higher iron concentration is inhibitory to various yield parameters studied in this crop.

As the nodulation is the part of productivity in the legumes, the effects of iron on nodulation was also studied. There is also a promotion in nodulation in this cultivar in presence of 10mg/kg Fe

thconcentration. Thus, in 10 mg/kg Fe amended soil at 20 day nodule number, fresh weight and dry weight are 196.5%, 126.3% and 120.8% of control respectively whereas, these values in the same

thconcentration of Iron at 40 day are 128.6%, 113.3% and 141. 6% of control respectively, in presence of same lower concentration of Iron.

Results also show that in this legume, yield of plant grown in 10mg/kg Fe amended soil is also promoted. Thus, in 10mg/kg Fe amended soil grown plant, pod number/plant, pod weight, seed number/pod and seed weight per plant are 140.2%, 130.0%, 136.3% and 252.3% of control respectively.

The observations indicate that the iron at lower concentration is an essential micronutrient but is

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highly toxic to growth and yield when present in excess. Iron toxicity in plants has also been reported by other workers (Shahid et. al., 2014, Peña-Olmos et.al., 2014 and Wu et.al., 2016). The present work clearly indicates the nutrient and hazardous nature of metal iron. Iron is an essential trace element for plants, and species differ greatly in how much Fe they require for optimal growth. (Li et al .2015). As iron is frequently limiting, iron deficiency is more commonly studied than toxicity arising from excess iron exposure. Therefore, further research in understanding the mechanisms underlying excess Fe toxicity is essential.

Table 1

GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS AND YIELD OF Cicer arietinum Linn. CV. H208 ON SOIL WITHOUT (CONTROL) AND WITH IRON CONCENRTRATION (10 & 50 mg

Fe/kg soil)

References

Growth DAYS OF EMERGENCEParameters perPlant (± SD) 30 60 90

CONCENTRATION OF IRON, mg/kg soil 0 10 50 0 10 50 0 10 50 1. Root Length, cm 12.40 20.80 10.00 26.40 38.80 20.80 ±1.16 ±1.45 ±1.40 ±2.40 ±2.66 ±1.80Fresh Wt. g 00.58 0.84 0.41 00.84 1.087 0.65 ±0.02 ±0.03 ±0.01 ±0.04 ±0.03 ±0.04Dry Wt. g 0.098 0.206 0.062 0.240 0.456 0.21 0.35 0.51 306 ±0.014 ±0.018 ±0.01 ±0.018 ±0.018 ±0.01 ±0.01 ±0.01 ±0.012. Shoot Length, cm 18.10 24.30 10.90 26.40 38.45 23.50 ±1.18 ±1.18 ±1.60 ±2.10 ±2.80 ±1.20Fresh Wt. g 1.84 2.08 1.38 2.40 3.60 2.96 ±0.06 ±0.70 ±0.04 ±0.08 ±0.048 ±0.34Dry Wt. g. 0.215 0.36 0.18 0.43 0.88 0.34 1.60 2.4 1.2 ±0.018 ±0.018 ±0.014 ±0.065 ±0.40 ±0.036 ±0.073 ±0.044 ±0.023. Nodule Number 16.46 26.80 12.26 28.60 38.40 20.30 ±1.80 ±1.80 ±1.40 ±1.10 ±2.18 ±1.1Fresh Wt. g 0.14 0.24 0.11 0.27 0.309 0.21 ±0.004 ±0.006 ±0.002 ±0.005 ±0.008 ±0.004Dry Wt. g. 0.048 0.084 0.03 0.08 0.106 0.06 ±0.006 ±0.007 ±0.004 ±0.006 ±0.008 ±0.0044. Pod Number/Plant 8.4 16.40 6.0 ±0.42 ±0.88 ±0.06Wt. of Pod Cover 0.408 0.818 306± ±0.06 ±0.04 ±0.04Wt. of Seed/Pod 1.20 2.1 0.90 ±0.18 ±0.46 ±0.305. SeedsNumber/Pod 2.0 3.1 1.45 ±0.12 ±0.1 ±0.1Weight. g 0.080 0.097 0.040 ±0.12 ±0.0.44 ±0.04Weight/plant.g 1.344 4.93 0.348 ±0.42 ±0.42 ±0.04

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