Ajrsh May PDF

AJRSH
Volume 3, Issue 5 (May, 2013) ISSN 2249-7315
A Peer Reviewed International Journal of Asian

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
SCIENCES & HUMANITIES
SR.
PARTICULAR PAGE NO.
NO.
SOCIAL LOAFING IN BANKING INDUSTRY OF IRAN:
INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL [PDF]
1. COMMITMENT 1-11
ABBAS ALI RASTGAR, NINA POUREBRAHIMI

CAPITAL ADEQUACY AND FINANCIAL INDICATORS
FOR PROFITABILITY IN BANKS [PDF]
2. 12-32
DR. DEEPAK TANDON, DR. NEELAM TANDON,
HAVISH MADHVAPATY
A STUDY OF IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING
SITES & ONLINE SURFACES ON YOGA MARKETING [PDF]
3. 33-43
ARUNANGSHU GIRI, DR. MRINALINI PANDEY
CHILD LABOUR AND THEIR HEALTH STATUS:
A STUDY IN HOTEL INDUSTRY [PDF]
4. 44-55
DR. K. RAJASEKHAR
CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA: A SOCIO-ECONOMIC
PROBLEM; LEGAL REMEDIES AND SOLUTION [PDF]
5. 56-63
DR. SUKHWINDER KAUR VIRK
Journal of Asian Research Consortium
INNOVATION IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

6. [PDF] 64-73
CHITRA BAJPAI
http://www.aijsh.org
KARL MARX, MARXISM AND RELIGION

[PDF]
7. 74-83
ETIM E. OKON
NEWSPAPERS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: CHALLENGES

AND OPPORTUNITIES [PDF]
8. 84-90
DR. RAJESH KUMAR
AJRSH
PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF

MGNREGS IN MAYURBHANJ DISTRICT OF ODISHA [PDF]
9. 91-97
DR. KABITA KUMARI SAHU
TOURISM LEGISLATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF SIKKIM [PDF]
10. 98-105
DEBAPRASAD BANERJEE, DEBASISH BATABYAL
ILLNESS BEHAVIOR, MEDICAL PLURALISM
AND NON-COMPLIANCE TO BIOMEDICINE: [PDF]
11. REFLECTIONS FROM FIELDWORK IN ADDIS ABABA 106-115
DEJENE TESHOME
DIMENSIONS OF MUSLIM WOMEN HEALTH AND
LIVELIHOOD CONDITIONS – A CASE STUDY OF [PDF]
12. KUMBAKONAM TOWN, TAMIL NADU, INDIA 116-123
S. VADIVEL, J. SENTHIL
HEALTH STATUS OF WOMEN IN KASHMIR:
A SOCIOLOGICAL CONCERN [PDF]
13. 124-136
HEENA QADIR
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: A STUDY
ON STATUS OF SOLID WASTE IN ADDIS ABABA, [PDF]
14. ETHIOPIA 137-147
KEBENA DIRIBA DUNFA, T.V. KRISHNA

AN ANALYSES OF SHG PERFORMANCE THROUGH
MICRO FINANCE IN KARNATAKA STATE [PDF]
15. 148-155
MANJU H.A., DR. V. SHANMUGAM
PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT: A COMPARATIVE
STUDY OF TRIBAL AND NON-TRIBAL COLLEGE [PDF]

16. STUDENTS 156-169
DR. PANKAJ S. SUVERA

A STUDY OF WAGE AND EMPLOYMENT OF
AGRICULTURAL LABOUR MARKET OF THE CHAR [PDF]
17. AREAS OF ASSAM 170-190
DR. FARHEENA RAHMAN

PRODUCTIVITY PARAMETERS OF SCHEDULED
COMMERCIAL BANKS IN INDIA [PDF]
18. 191-216
DR. R. K. UPPAL, AMIT JUNEJA
AJRSH
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GROWTH AND

TREND PATTERN OF ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC AND [PDF]
19. PRIVATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF INDIA 217-226
YOGESH H. S., DR. M. MAHESHA

STRESS AS RELATED TO THE PERSONALITY
ADJUSTMENT OF ADOLESCENTS [PDF]
20. 227-235
NAVEEN PANT, S. K. SRIVASTAVA
THE MOTIVE AND METHOD OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL
STUDY OF RELIGION [PDF]
21. 236-244
ETIM E. OKON
SOCIAL SECURITY FOR WOMEN IN ASYLUM OF
MICROFINANCE: A STUDY OF SHIVAMOGGA [PDF]
22. DISTRICT, KARNATAKA STATE 245-257
SANDHYA.C, PROF. R.HIREMANI NAIK, ANURADHA.T.S

NEW TRENDS IN PRODUCTIVITY PARAMETERS OF
COMMERCIAL BANKS IN INDIA [PDF]
23. 258-287
DR. R.K. UPPAL, AMIT JUNEJA
TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT...
WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY? [PDF]
24. 288-302
MS. AFSHAN HUMA, MR. M. YASIR PIRZADA
HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY: STRUCTURAL
CAUSES AND THEIR REMEDIES [PDF]
25. 303-381
DR. VIKAS BAJPAI
WEB BASED GRIEVANCE HANDLING SYSTEM IN
INDIA POST
[PDF}
26. 382-394
SANTOSH KUMAR KAMILA
AJRSH
RELIGIOSITY IN POST SOVIET SPACE: A SPECIAL

FOCUS ON RUSSIAN MINORITY IN POST-
[PDF}
27. 395-399
INDEPENDENT TAJIKISTAN
FAROOQ A. RATHER
POPULATION GROWTH: IT’S INFLUENCE ON
ENVIRONMENT
28. [PDF} 400-406
PROF. P.VINAYAKA MURTHY, DR T.CHANDRASEKARAYYA,
M.SIVAPPA
AJRSH Volume 3, Issue 5 (May, 2013) ISSN 2249-7315

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
SCIENCE & HUMANITIES
SOCIAL LOAFING IN BANKING INDUSTRY OF IRAN:
INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
ABBAS ALI RASTGAR*; NINA POUREBRAHIMI**
*Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Management & Economics,
Semnan University,
Iran.
**Faculty of Management & Economics,
Semnan University,
Iran.
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted in Iran, and aimed to analyze the relationship
between organizational commitment and social loafing of 900 employees in a public
bank in Mazandaran. Referring to Krejcie & Morgan (1970), the minimum number
of sample size was determined as 269 people. After distributing questionnaires
among respondents with systematic random sampling, 273 usable questionnaires
1
were returned. The research method used for this study is descriptive-correlation.
Further, the analysis was carried out utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
methodology by LISREL 8.8 software. The factors analysis and the findings show
that organizational commitment has a significant negative influence on employees

social loafing. Therefore, managers of organizations should improve employees
commitment to their organizations to reduce the level of social loafing.
KEYWORDS: Organizational Commitment, Social Loafing, Iran.

______________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
According to Davoudi et al. (2012), as “group work” becomes more popular and desirable in
various fields today, researchers have developed theories of particular causes of social loafing
and figured out considerable variables to understand social loafing (e.g., Harkins, 1987; Harkins
and Szymanski, 1987; Jackson and Williams, 1985; Latane, 1981; Mullen, 1983; Paulus, 1983;
Shepperd, 1993; Stroebe and Frey, 1982).
Based on Latane, et al. (1979), social loafing is a type of social disease, having negative
consequences for individuals and societies (p.831). Moreover, social loafing refers to the act in
which an individual’s performance is reduced in a group as compared to working alone (Ingham,
et al., 1974; Latane et al., 1979; Harkins and Petty, 1982; Chidambaram & Tung, 2005). The
description is in the social psychology of groups, social loafing in organization is a phenomenon
that occurs when personnel make less effort to achieve organization’s goal when they work in a
group than when they work alone. When individuals are doing their share in a group, some may
be suspicious of their co-workers and worry that they might not make their appropriate
contributions. Further, according to George (1992), when an individual’s contributions to a
group work are being unfairly judged, the effort he makes usually will be accordingly adjusted to
reflect his perceptions of fairness and thus more liable to loafing behavior (Davoudi et al., 2012).
Also, employees’ commitment to the organization is a crucial issue in today's changing world.
Commitment of employees can be an important instrument for improving the performance of the
organizations. Previous studies on commitment have shown that employees with higher
organizational commitment engage in extra-role behavior and this, in turn, results in better
performance and higher work motivation that are beneficial to the organization. Therefore, it is
important for an organization to examine the relationships between these two variables. The term
of "commitment" has been defined, measured and investigated variously and extensively but
what is important is to examine the relationships between these two variables (organizational
commitment and social loafing). In this study, we’re going to examine that the relationship
between organizational commitment and social loafing of 900 employees of a public bank in
Mazandaran province of Iran.
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
Organizational commitment has an important role and impact in the study of organizational
Factors. This is in part as a result of variety of works which have examined relationships
2
between organizational commitment and attitudes in the workplace (Porter et al., 1974, 1976;
Koch and Steers, 1978; Angle and Perry, 1981).
Batemen and Strasser (1984) believe that the aim of studying organizational commitment are
related to “(a) employee behaviors and performance effectiveness, (b) attitudinal, affective, and
cognitive constructs such as job satisfaction, (c) characteristics of the employee’s job and role,
such as responsibility and (d) personal characteristics of the employee such as age, job tenure”.
Organizational commitment defined in different ways (Mowday et al., 1982; Reichers, 1985). In
the present study, organizational commitment refers to an accordance between the goals of the
individual and the organization whereby the individual identifies with and extends attempt on
representing the general goals of the organization.
Meyer and Allen (1991), and then confirmed by Dunham et al (1994), introduced three types of
organizational commitment: affective, continuance and normative.
Affective commitment defined as employee emotional connection to, identification with, and
involvement in the organization and its goals. It results from and is induced by an individual and
organizational value accordance. So, it becomes almost natural for the individual to become
emotionally connected, and enjoy continuing membership in the organization (March & Simon,
1958; Hall et. al., 1970; O'Reily & Chatman, 1986, Meyer & Allen, 1984). Steers (1977), and
Mottaz, (1988), identified agent which help develop inherently rewarding situations for
employees to be antecedents of affective commitment.
Continuance commitment defined as readiness to remain in an organization because of personal

investment in the form of non-transferable investments such as close working relationships with
coworkers, retirement investments and career investments, obtained job skills that are unique to a
particular organization (Mowday et al., 1982; Dunham et al., 1994).
Normative commitment inspired by a feeling of duty responsibility to remain with an

organization. Such a feeling of obligation often results from that Wiener (1982) characterized as
"generalized value of loyalty and duty." This is a natural susceptibility to be loyal and committed
to institutions such as family, marriage, country, religion and employment organization.
Socialization in a culture places a reward on loyalty and devotion to institutions as a result. This
view of commitment holds that an individual exhibit commitment behavior solely because he or
she believes it is the moral and right thing to do. Schwartz and Tessler (1972) introduced
personal norms as a responsible factor for what Wiener referred to as an incorporated normative
pressure, that makes organizational commitment a moral obligation because the individual feels
he or she must to do so. This feeling of moral obligation measured by the extent to which a
person feels that she or he should be faithful to her or his organization, make personal sacrifice to
help it out and not disapprove it (Wiener and Verdi, 1980).
SOCIAL LOAFING
According to Davoudi et al. (2012), scholars and business leaders have long recognized that
group work can be a competitive advantage for organizations. Yet, it is easy to lose sight of the
3
fact that group working isn’t always effective. One of the most important problems which
describe the productivity loss in group work is social loafing which describes the phenomenon
that occurs when individuals exert less effort when working as a group than when working
independently (Williams & Karau, 1991). Moreover, according to Davis (2003), social loafing
refers to the phenomenon of individuals in group situations doing less work, putting in less effort
or expending less energy on the group project than they would if they did the work alone.
Research indicates that there is some degree of social loafing within every group. Social loafing
is the tendency to reduce individual effort when working in groups compared to the individual
effort expended when working alone. Social loafing describes a person who is not providing the
maximum effort due to either motivation or circumstance. This phenomenon occurs when an
individual does not bear a proportional amount of the work and yet shares the benefits of the
group (Davoudi et al., 2012).
One of the first recorded reports of social loafing was in 1913 by German agricultural engineer,
Max Ringelmann, who was interested in determining the efficiency of animals, men and
machines in various agricultural applications (Kravitz & Martin, 1986). He recognized a
collective group performance required less effort by individuals compared to the sum of their
individual efforts (Kravitz & Martin, 1986). The phenomenon he noted has been termed the
“Ringlemann Effect”.
Based on Hassan (2010), in Ringelmann’s experiment, “participants pulled on a rope attached to

a strain gauge. Ringlemann noted that two individuals pulling the rope only exerted 93% of their
individual efforts. A group of three individuals exerted 85% and groups of eight exerted 49% of
their combined individual effort. As more individuals pulled on the rope, each individual exerted
themselves less. From these observations, Ringlemann determined that individuals perform
below their potential when working in a group.”
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Taking into account the above mentioned literature, it sounds like that, employees who are
committed to their organizations will try hard to achieve organizational objectives and they will
avoid social loafing. Therefore the following hypothesis is proposed which involved the
relationship between organizational commitment as independent variable and social loafing as
dependent variable.
H: Organizational commitment has a significant negative influence on social loafing.
METHODOLOGY
STATISTICAL POPULATION
Statistical population in this research includes 900 employees of a public bank in Iran. According
to Krejcie & Morgan (1970) the minimum number of sample size was determined as 269 people.
After distribution of questionnaires, with systematic random sampling, among respondents, 273
filled questionnaires were returned. Table 1 illustrates the Descriptive statistics of the
4
respondents.
TABLE 1. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS

Item Description Frequency Percentage

Gender Male 87 64%
Female 48 36%
Age Below 30 58 43%

31-50 65 48%
Above 50 12 9%
Education Diploma 13 10%
STP 32 24%
Bachelor 64 47%
Master and above 26 19%
INSTRUMENT
In order to collect the necessary data, a questionnaire was used to test the hypotheses of the
study. The questionnaire consists of three sections. The first part includes 3 questions about
demographic information of the respondents (table 1). In the second part, we used 5 questions
developed by Meyer & Allen (1997) to measure organizational commitment. Finally, 3 questions
were used to measure social loafing of employees.
We used five-point Likert type scale for all the items. Response categories range from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
RELIABILITY
The summary statistics of formal survey are shown in Table 2. For reliability evaluation we
utilized Cronbach's alpha. The Cronbach's alpha reliability of all variables are more than 0.7
(α>0.7), which indicates all the scales demonstrate good reliability.
TABLE 2. ITEM STATISTICS
Scale α
Organizational Commitment 0.845
Social Loafing 0.874
VALIDITY
For evaluating the validity of the questionnaires, we used content validity and construct validity.
Content validity deals with how representative and comprehensive the items were in creating the
5
scale. It is assessed by examining the process by which scale items are generated (Moon & Kim,
2001). Content validity assured us that all aspects and parameters that impact on main content
were evaluated. In order to test the content validity after devising a framework for the
questionnaire, we asked 10 experts to modify it if needed. These experts evaluated all the
implemented criteria in the questionnaire and modified it.
Construct validity determines the extent to which a scale measures a variable of interest (Moon
& Kim, 2001). In this research we used factor analysis for considering the structure of research.
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the construction of the questionnaire. Factor
analysis depicted that all the mentioned criteria are measured in these questionnaires.
MEASUREMENT MODEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
In the initial step, we applied confirmatory factor analysis in LISREL 8.8 and eventually
conducted path diagram of X model .We have tested the relationship between organizational
commitment and its indicators. Fitness's indices show good fitness of our X model, proving that
the selected indicators are good representatives for dimensions of workplace bullying. Based on
Joreskong & Sorbom (1989), Chi-Square/df≤3, RMSEA ≤ 0.10 show that the measurement
model provides a reasonable fit to the data.
MEASUREMENT MODEL OF SOCIAL LOAFING
In the next step, we applied confirmatory factor analysis in LISREL 8.8 and eventually
conducted path diagram of Y model .We have tested the relationship between social loafing and
its indicators. Fitness's indices show good fitness of our Y model, proving that the selected
indicators are good representatives for dimensions of social loafing. Based on Joreskong &
Sorbom (1989), Chi-Square/df≤3, RMSEA ≤ 0.10 show that the measurement model provides a
reasonable fit to the data.
RESULTS
For testing our main hypothesis, we performed our Structural model applying 5 questions of
organizational commitment and 3 questions of social loafing. Figure 1 and 2 shows the results of
the Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis. Fitness's indices also show good fitness of the
Structural Model.
TABLE 3. STRUCTURAL MODEL FITNESS INDICES
Fitness Indices Measure of Index

Chi-Square/df 3.07
P-value 0.000
Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) 0.87
Normed Fit Index (NFI) 0.96
Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI) 0.96
Comparative Fit Index (CFI) 0.98
6
Incremental Fit Index (IFI) 0.98

Relative Fit Index (RFI) 0.95
Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) 0.95
FIGURE 1. STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
FIGURE 2. T-VALUE MODEL

7
TABLE 3. THE RESULTS OF THE HYPOTHESIS TEST
No Hypothesis Path t-value Result

coefficient
H Organizational Commitment → Social Loafing -0.73 -10.83 Accepted
DISCUSSION
The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between organizational
commitment and social loafing of 900 employees in a public bank of Iran. Despite the growing
literature about these variables, there is little attention exploring the relationship between these
two variables; which was the main reason this research was carried out. It has been established
that low level of employees’ social loafing leads to improvement in individual productivity.
Therefore, examining factors affect social loafing negatively has always been of particular
interest to researchers and scholars in human resource management and organizational behavior,
which was another strong reason to carry out this research.
The results of the current study show that organizational commitment has a significant negative
influence on employees’ social loafing. The results of the current study imply that managers of
organizations should consider organizational commitment in organizations which leads to low
level of social loafing among employees. Therefore, managers should pay attention to factors
contribute to increasing in the level of employees commitment to their organizations.
This study has some limitations. One of them is about cause and effect relationship between
research variables. For example, maybe, there are potentially other factors that could influence
the relationship between organizational commitment and social loafing. The model proposed
8
here is an initial step, which need to be improved by future researches. Thus, authors can
consider the mediating effect of other variables (such as job satisfaction, organizational justice,
organizational citizenship behavior, social loafing, leadership style, organizational structure) to
expand the model.
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11

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
CAPITAL ADEQUACY AND FINANCIAL INDICATORS FOR

PROFITABILITY IN BANKS
DR. DEEPAK TANDON*; DR. NEELAM TANDON**; HAVISH MADHVAPATY***
*Professor,
International Management Institute (IMI),
New Delhi, India.
**Associate Professor,
JIMS Kalkaji,
New Delhi, India.
***Research Scholar.
ABSTRACT
Banks are the backbone of the Indian economy. The health of the economy depends
upon the profitability, performance and efficiency of the banks. After the 2008 crisis,
BASEL introduced BASEL III norms which focused on stringent rules for Capital
12
Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and Liquidity management. BASEL III introduced the new
buffers - capital conservation buffer and countercyclical buffer to prevent the
banking sector during any crisis; and the new minimum CAR requirements set
including these margins. The key factors that influence the bank’s profitability and
performance are Profit per Employee (PPE), Cost of Funds (COF), Return on
Advances, Wages as a percentage of total expenses, Return on Assets (ROA), Capital
Adequacy Ratio (CAR), and the Net NPA ratio. The banks have been divided in India
under 5 different heads namely: SBI and its Associates, Nationalized Banks, Public
Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, and Foreign Banks. Data for five years has been
considered for the analysis. The growth percentage for the various banks has been
studied. The authors have also used step-wise Multiple Regression model as well as
Correlation model1 to determine the factors affecting the Return on Assets (ROA) for
each of the banking head and see their correlation. Regression test shows that each
banking head has a different set of equation affecting their performance. For some
banks it is the COF, for some other it is the PPE which does not affect the ROA of
the bank. There are some significant high correlations here and there but no one
parameter of study has significant correlations between all categories of banks. It is
concluded that CAR is a very important benchmark for the Banking industry but we
should be cautious not to look at it in isolation from the other factors.
KEYWORDS: Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Cost of Funds (COF), Non-

Performing Assets (NPA), Profit per Employee, Return on Assets (ROE).
______________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
The liberalization of the Indian banking system dates back to the 1990s when the government
began to implement the recommendations of the Narasimham Committee. Various steps were
taken for liberalization of the banks like:
i. Liberal rules for the entry of new domestic and foreign banks: since then a lot of new
banks, private sector and foreign banks have entered India and as of 2010-2011 there are 34
foreign sector banks, 26 nationalized banks,, and 21 private sector banks in India.
ii. Infusion of Government capital in PSBs followed by Injection of private equity. PSBs are
allowed to increase the share of private capital up to 49% of which 20% can be foreign
equity.
iii. The emphasis was on better performance, transparency and accountability.
iv. Deregulation on interest rates except for certain specific classes such as savings deposit
accounts, NRI deposits, small loans up to Rs. 2 lakh, and exports credits.
v. Statutory Liquidity Requirements (SLR) and Cash Reserve Requirements (CRR) were cut
to reduce the pressure on bank lending.
13
vi. A new definition for priority sector lending was introduced.
BASEL NORMS ON CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO

The Committee on Banking Regulations and Supervisory Practices (Basel Committee) had
released the guidelines on capital measures and capital standards in July 1988 which were been
accepted by Central Banks in various countries including RBI. In India it has been implemented
by RBI w.e.f. 1.4.92.CAR is a measure of banks capital and is a weighted average approach. RBI
has mandated that banks maintain 8% CRAR and the government has moved for an increase to
12%.
Objectives of CAR: The fundamental objective behind the norms is to strengthen the soundness
and stability of the banking system. It determines the capacity of the bank in meeting the time
liabilities or the other risks. Without the capital, banks cannot enter into new business.
Capital Adequacy Ratio / CAR / CRAR definition: It is ratio of capital fund to risk weighted
assets expressed in percentage terms.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF CAPITAL FUND IN INDIA
Existing Banks 09 %
New Private Sector Banks 10 %
Banks undertaking Insurance business 10 %
Local Area Banks 15%
Tier I Capital should at no point of time be less than 50% of the total capital. This implies that
Tier II cannot be more than 50% of the total capital.
EXHIBIT 1
TIERS OF CAPITAL FUND
TIER I CAPITAL TIER II CAPITAL

Un-disclosed reserves and cumulative perpetual
Paid-up capital
preference shares
Revaluation Reserves (at a discount of 55 percent while
Statutory reserves
determining their value for inclusion in Tier II capital)
General Provisions and Loss Reserves up to a
Other disclosed free reserves
maximum of 1.25% of weighted risk assets
Capital reserves representing surplus Investment fluctuation reserve not subject to 1.25%
arising out of sale proceeds of assets. restriction
Minus Hybrid debt capital Instruments (say bonds)
14
Equity investments in subsidiaries, Subordinated debt (long term unsecured loans

Intangible assets, and
Losses in the current period and those
brought forward from previous periods
To work out the Tier I capital.

EXHIBIT 2
RISK WEIGHTED ASSETS - FUND BASED: Risk weighted assets mean fund based assets
such as cash, loans, investments and other assets. Degrees of credit risk expressed as percentage
weights have been assigned by RBI to each such assets.
NON-FUNDED (OFF-BALANCE SHEET) ITEMS: The credit risk exposure attached to off-
balance sheet items has to be first calculated by multiplying the face amount of each of the off-
balance sheet items by the credit conversion factor. This will then have to be again multiplied by
the relevant weightage.
PROFITABILITY IN BANKS
There has been a general perception that foreign banks operating in India are more profitable and
efficient as compared to the Indian banks. It has been said that foreign banks have better
technology and transact business with more profitable market segments. However to their
response, recent data have shown that public banks and nationalized banks have also shown
better performance in terms of return on Assets (ROA), Net NPA ratio, the Return on Investment
etc. thus indicating that foreign banks are no longer a huge threat to the Indian Banks. The
competition between the private sector banks and the public sector banks has been growing over
the years and due to this the banks have taken a lot of steps to improve their profitability without
affecting their efficiency.
The term profit means the excess of income over the expenditure over a specified period of time.
The term profitability on the other hand is a relative term where profit is measured as a ratio,
generally as a percentage. Profitability is the most important and reliable indicator and it is
affected by a lot of factors may be endogenous or exogenous. Exogenous changes may be
changes in interest rates and bank rates by RBI, changes in the monitory and fiscal policy etc.
Profitability analysis goes deeper than the typical financial report. This process takes a
comprehensive view of the institution's performance enabling management to fully understand
how the organization makes a profit so they can make changes to meet the demand for higher
returns.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The RBI (2000) studied that how deregulation has affected the banks' performance. The RBI's
study covered all categories of the banks. Capital adequacy and asset quality have both improved
over the period 1995-96 to 1999-2000. Profit per employee of the public sector banks witnessed
15
a significant rise in between 1996-97 to 1999-2000.
T. T. Ram Mohan (2002, pp. 393-97) in his paper documented and evaluated the performance of
the public, private and foreign banks since deregulation in absolute and in relative terms. It was
observed that the efficiency of the banking system as a whole measured by declining spreads has
improved.
Sathye Milind in his study found out that financial performance of partially private sector banks
(measured by return on assets) and their efficiency (measured by three different ratios) have been
higher than non-privatized banks.
Sharad Kumar and Sreeramulu found that on employee productivity and cost, foreign banks and
new private sector banks have demonstrated better performance.
OBJECTIVES
1. To analyze status of CAR requirement in India.
2. To check the interbank variance of the means for the important banking factors.
3. To develop an empirical model for the profitability of the various banking groups.
HYPOTHESIS
H0: There is significant difference in mean Capital to CAR of various banks.
H1: There is no significant difference in mean Capital to CAR of various banks.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Secondary data and the performance highlights of the various banks have been collected from
RBI website.
Tests used
Step Wise Multiple Regression; Correlation
ANALYSIS
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS BANKS
The various banks have been divided into various sectors for the study. The sectors that have
been considered for the comparison are:
1. SBI and its associates
2. Nationalized Banks
16
3. Public sector banks
4. Private sector banks

5. Foreign Banks
The percentage businesses for these sectors in the India are shown in Exhibit 3 and Exhibit 4.
EXHIBIT 3
17
EXHIBIT 4
The sectors have shown different amounts of growth. Exhibit 5 shows the percentage growth
from 2008-09 to 2011-12 for the 5 sectors.
18
EXHIBIT 5
COMPARISON OF MEANS
The plots of various means for all the important factors of a bank are given below.
PROFIT PER EMPLOYEE
EXHIBIT 6
Profit per Employee gives a measure of productivity of the organization in question. In Exhibit 6
we can see from analysis of the means of the various banks that the Foreign Banks have the
highest Profit per employee and the least is of SBI and its Associates. This means foreign banks
have the highest productivity.
COST OF FUNDS
19
EXHIBIT 7
For lenders such as banks and credit unions, cost of funds is determined by the interest rate paid
to depositors on financial products including savings accounts and time deposits. Although the
term cost of funds usually refers to financial institutions, most corporations that rely on
borrowing are impacted by the costs they must incur to gain access to capital. Exhibit 7 shows
that the Cost of funds of the foreign banks is the least compared to the other banks which have
almost similar value of cost of funds.
RETURN ON ADVANCES
EXHIBIT 8
Return on advances shows the return which the bank is getting on the loans it has given to the
various customers. Exhibit 8 shows that the foreign banks have the highest Return on Advances,
followed by the private banks and the rest have similar value.
20
WAGES AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EXPENSES

EXHIBIT 9
Exhibit 9 shows the varied results for all the banks for the wages as a percentage of total
expenses. Foreign Banks have shown highest ratio of means of wages to total expenses.
RETURN ON ASSETS
EXHIBIT 10
Return on Assets (ROA) tells us what earnings were generated from invested capital
(assets).Exhibit 10 shows that the mean of return of assets for the foreign banks was the highest
among all the banks and the rest of the banks have almost the similar returns.
21
CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO

EXHIBIT 11
Exhibit 11 shows that the mean of Capital Adequacy Requirement is the highest for the private
sector banks marginally followed by the foreign banks and rest of the banks have similar value.
We therefore reject null hypothesis that there is significant difference between means of CAR.
NET NPA RATIO
EXHIBIT 12
Exhibit 12 shows that the net NPA ratio was the highest for the SBI and associates this shows
that the highest default cases have been seen in case of SBI and its associates.
STEP – WISE MULTIPLE REGRESSION

22
Variables Entered/Removeda
Variables
Model Variables Entered Method
Removed
Return_on_Advances,
Cost_of_Funds,
Profit_Per_Employee,
1 . Enter
Net_NPA_Ratio,
Wages_TotalExpenses,
Capital_Adequacy_Ratiob
a. Dependent Variable: ROA
b. All requested variables entered
1. SBI AND ITS ASSOCIATES
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model
Std.
B Beta
Error
(Constant) 0.393 0.00
Net_NPA_Ratio -0.474 0.00 -0.715
1 Cost_of_Funds 0.178 0.00 0.961
Profit_Per_Employee 0.691 0.00 0.554
Return_on_Advances -0.013 0.00 -0.59
ROA = 0.393-0.013 (Return on Advances) + 0.178 (Cost of Funds) +0.691 (Profit per Employee) - 0.474 (Net NPA Ratio)
This gives an equation for Return on Assets of SBI. This shows that Net NPA Ratio and Return
on Advances have an inverse relationship with the Return on Assetsand we see that Wages as a
Percentage of Total Expenses and CAR have no impact on the Return on Assets of the bank.
2. NATIONALIZED BANKS
Model
Std.
B Beta
Error
(Constant) 1.260 0.000
23
Net_NPA_Ratio -0.195 0.000 -0.903

1 Cost_of_Funds -0.035 0.000 -0.295
Capital_Adequacy_Ratio -0.003 0.000 -0.026
Return_on_Advances -0.038 0.000 0.144

ROA = 1.260– 0.038 (Return on Advances) – 0.035 (Cost of Funds) – 0.195 (Net NPA Ratio) – 0.003 (Capital Adequacy Ratio)
This gives an equation for Return on Assets of Nationalized Banks. This shows that Net NPA
Ratio, Cost of Funds, Return on Advances and CAR all have an inverse relationship with the
Return on Assets and we see that Wages as a Percentage of Total Expenses and Profit per
Employee have no impact on the Return on Assets of the bank.
3. PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS
Model
Std.
B Beta
Error
(Constant) 0.946 0.000
Net_NPA_Ratio -0.249 0.000 -1.033
1 Cost_of_Funds 0.024 0.000 0.215
Capital_Adequacy_Ratio 0.012 0.000 0.081
Return_on_Advances 0.001 0.000 -0.005
ROA = 0.946+ 0.001 (Return on Advances) + 0.024 (Cost of Funds) – 0.249 (Net NPA Ratio) + 0.012 (Capital Adequacy Ratio)
This gives an equation for Return on Assets of Public Sector Banks. This shows that only Net
NPA Ratio has an inverse relationship with the Return on Assets and we see that Wages as a
Percentage of Total Expenses and Profit per Employee have no impact on the Return on Assets
of the bank.
4. PRIVATE SECTOR BANKS
Model
Std.
B Beta
Error
(Constant) 0.098 0.000
24
Net_NPA_Ratio -0.455 0.000 -0.912

1 Cost_of_Funds 0.052 0.000 0.226
Capital_Adequacy_Ratio 0.058 0.000 0.382
Return_on_Advances 0.078 0.000 -0.068

ROA = 0.098 + 0.078 (Return on Advances) + 0.052 (Cost of Funds) – 0.455 (Net NPA Ratio) +
0.058 (Capital Adequacy Ratio)
This gives an equation for Return on Assets of Private Sector Banks. This shows that Net NPA
Ratio has an inverse relationship with the Return on Assets and we see that Wages as a
Percentage of Total Expenses and Profit per Employee have no impact on the Return on Assets
of the bank.
5. FOREIGN BANKS
Model
Std.
B Beta
Error
(Constant) 2.003 0.000
Capital_Adequacy_Ratio -0.243 0.000 -1.431
1 Profit_per_Employee 0.458 0.000 0.927
Wages_TotalExpenses 0.104 0.000 0.644
Return_on_Advances 0.031 0.000 0.101
ROA = 2.003 + 0.031 (Return on Advances) + 0.458 (Profit per Employee) + 0.104 (Wages as % of Total Expenses) – 0.243 (Capital Adequacy
Ratio)
This gives an equation for Return on Assets of Foreign Banks. This shows that CAR has an
inverse relationship with the Return on Assets and we see that Net NPA Ratio and Cost of funds
have no impact on the Return on Assets of the bank.
CORRELATION
1. NON-PERFORMING ASSETS
CORRELATIONS
SBI NATIONAL PUBLIC PRIVATE FOREIGN
Pearson ** **
1 .963 .977 -0.711 -0.387
Correlation
25
SBI
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.009 0.004 0.178 0.519
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
.963** 1 .998** -0.831 -0.528
Correlation
NATIONAL
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.009 0 0.081 0.361
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
.977** .998** 1 -0.798 -0.497
Correlation
PUBLIC
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.004 0 0.106 0.394
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
-0.711 -0.831 -0.798 1 0.754
Correlation
PRIVATE
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.178 0.081 0.106 0.141
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
-0.387 -0.528 -0.497 0.754 1
Correlation
FOREIGN
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.519 0.361 0.394 0.141
N 5 5 5 5 5
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
There are high positive correlation values for State Bank of India - National Banks, State Bank -
Public Banks, and Public -National Banks. There are negative correlations between Foreign
Banks –all other Banks but they are not statistically significant at 99% significance.
2. COST OF FUNDS
CORRELATIONS
Pearson
1 .889* .939* .964** 0.876
Correlation
SBI
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.044 0.018 0.008 0.051
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
.889* 1 .992** .894* 0.761
Correlation
NATIONAL
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.044 0.001 0.041 0.135
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
.939* .992** 1 .935* 0.812
Correlation
PUBLIC
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.018 0.001 0.020 0.095
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
.964** .894* .935* 1 .962**
Correlation
PRIVATE
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.008 0.041 0.020 0.009
26
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.876 0.761 0.812 .962** 1.000
Correlation
FOREIGN
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.051 0.135 0.095 0.009
N 5 5 5 5 5
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
All correlation values are significant expect Foreign Banks – all other banks.
3. CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO
CORRELATIONS
Pearson
1.000 -0.162 0.425 -0.168 -0.277
Correlation
SBI
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.795 0.475 0.787 0.652
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
-0.162 1.000 0.824 0.710 0.734
Correlation
NATIONAL
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.795 0.087 0.179 0.158
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.425 0.824 1.000 0.537 0.490
Correlation
PUBLIC
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.475 0.087 0.351 0.402
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
-0.168 0.710 0.537 1.000 .952*
Correlation
PRIVATE
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.787 0.179 0.351 0.012
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
-0.277 0.734 0.490 .952* 1.000
Correlation
FOREIGN
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.652 0.158 0.402 0.012
N 5 5 5 5 5
27
There is no significant correlation except Foreign Banks – Private Banks.

4. PROFIT PER EMPLOYEE
CORRELATIONS
Pearson
1.000 0.700 0.819 0.724 0.558
Correlation
SBI
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.188 0.090 0.167 0.329
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.700 1.000 .983** .945* 0.615
Correlation
NATIONAL
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.188 0.003 0.015 0.269
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.819 .983** 1.000 .943* 0.636
Correlation
PUBLIC
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.090 0.003 0.016 0.248
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.724 .945* .943* 1.000 0.762
Correlation
PRIVATE
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.167 0.015 0.016 0.134
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.558 0.615 0.636 0.762 1.000
Correlation
FOREIGN
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.329 0.269 0.248 0.134
N 5 5 5 5 5
28

Only National Banks – Public Banks and National Banks – Private Banks have significant correlation.
5. RETURN ON ASSETS
CORRELATIONS
Pearson
1.000 0.137 0.584 -0.788 0.412
Correlation
SBI
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.826 0.301 0.113 0.491
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.137 1.000 .883* -0.678 0.129
Correlation
NATIONAL
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.826 0.047 0.208 0.836
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.584 .883* 1.000 -.926* 0.331
Correlation
PUBLIC
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.301 0.047 0.024 0.586
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
-0.788 -0.678 -.926* 1.000 -0.377
Correlation
PRIVATE
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.113 0.208 0.024 0.532
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.412 0.129 0.331 -0.377 1.000
Correlation
FOREIGN
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.491 0.836 0.586 0.532
N 5 5 5 5 5
29
Only Public Banks – National Banks has significant correlation.

6. WAGES AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EXPENSES
CORRELATIONS
Pearson
1.000 0.784 0.643 0.190 0.526
Correlation
SBI
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.117 0.242 0.760 0.362
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.784 1.000 .967** 0.593 0.616
Correlation
NATIONAL
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.117 0.007 0.292 0.268
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.643 .967** 1.000 0.766 0.723
Correlation
PUBLIC
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.242 0.007 0.131 0.168
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.190 0.593 0.766 1.000 0.817
Correlation
PRIVATE
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.760 0.292 0.131 0.092
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.526 0.616 0.723 0.817 1.000
Correlation
FOREIGN
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.362 0.268 0.168 0.092
30
N 5 5 5 5 5
Only Public Banks – National Banks has significant correlation.
7. RETURN ON ADVANCES
CORRELATIONS
Pearson
1.000 0.698 .893* 0.496 -0.513
Correlation
SBI
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.190 0.041 0.395 0.376
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.698 1.000 .946* 0.696 -0.326
Correlation
NATIONAL
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.190 0.015 0.192 0.593
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
.893* .946* 1.000 0.658 -0.445
Correlation
PUBLIC
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.041 0.015 0.227 0.453
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
0.496 0.696 0.658 1.000 0.365
Correlation
PRIVATE
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.395 0.192 0.227 0.546
N 5 5 5 5 5
Pearson
-0.513 -0.326 -0.445 0.365 1.000
Correlation
FOREIGN
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.376 0.593 0.453 0.546
N 5 5 5 5 5
31
There are high positive correlation values for State Bank of India & National Banks, State Bank
& Public Banks, and Public & National Banks. There are negative correlations between Foreign
Banks and all other Banks but they are not statistically significant at 99% significance.
CONCLUSION
1. The study conducted is a fact finding research. In the course of study some factors
influencing profitability, growth, and efficiency of the various banks have been examined.
1. The public sector banks hold the maximum percentage of business in India. It has been seen
that the private sector banks have shown maximum growth in 2011-12 and the nationalized
banks have shown a constant growth over the past 5 years.
2. The mean of Capital Adequacy Requirement is the highest for the private sector banks
marginally followed by the foreign banks and rest of the banks have similar value.
3. The step-wise multiple regression analysis of the profitability parameter i.e. Return on Assets
(ROA) discloses the relationship among the various factors considered on the ROA of the
banks. This relationship will help in determining the strengths and the weaknesses of the
various banks and the steps they can take to improve the profitability.
4. No conclusive correlation is seen between the different categories of banks. There are some
significant high correlations but no one parameter of study has significant correlations
between all categories of banks.
5. For Foreign Banks and Nationalized Banks CAR has an inverse relation with the Return on
Assets; for SBI and Associates there is no relation and for Public and Private Banks there is a
positive shared relation.
SUGGESTIONS
1. CAR is a very important benchmark for the Banking industry and unexpected losses and cost
of funding should be reduced to increased profitability. CAR should not be read in isolation
from other factors but in reference to the other factors mentioned in the case when attempting
to determine an equation.
2. The present status of Indian Banking is robust, reliable and resilient and as such increasing
amount of capital is not a viable methodology to increase profitability of the bank.
3. BASEL III lays emphasis on capital adequacy and stress testing. Though it sets for better and
higher quality capital and enhanced risk coverage- there is no need for additional buffers,
counter cyclical and pro cyclical buffers for micro financial stability.
REFERENCES
32
1. Bikker, J., Bos, Jaap W.B. (2008). A Theoretical and Empirical Framework for the Analysis
of Profitability.Competition and Efficiency,Rutledge Publications.
2. Das. A. (2002). Risk and Productivity change in Public Sector Bank, Economic & Political
Weekly, 37(5)
3. Tandon, D., Tandon,N., Ahuja,K. (2011) Indian Banking – Technology, Innovations and Key
Concerns. Kunal Books, New Delhi.
4. Kulkarni, R.V., Desai, B.L.(2004). Knowledge based systems in Indian Banking. New
Century Publications, New Delhi.

5. MacDonald, S., Scott/ Koch,T. Management of Banking 6th Edition. Cenage Learning, South
Western,New Delhi.
6. Ram Mohan, T.T.&RayS.L. (2004). Productivity Growth &Efficiency in Indian banking. The
Indian Banker – Opportunities in Indian Banking – IBA, 2(12), 26-34.
7. Uppal, R.K. (2008). Empowering Indian Banks through Dynamic Changes, Mahamaya
Publishing House, New Delhi.
8. Uppal, R.K. (2009) Indian Banking - A new vision. Mahamaya Publishing House, New
Delhi.
9. Uppal, R.K. (2009) Banking sector reforms - A fresh look. Mahamaya Publishing House,
New Delhi.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
A STUDY OF IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES & ONLINE
SURFACES ON YOGA MARKETING
ARUNANGSHU GIRI*; DR. MRINALINI PANDEY**
Department of Management & Social Science,
Haldia Institute of Technology.
**Assistant Professor,
Indian School of Mines (ISM),
Dhanbad.
ABSTRACT
Yoga is a tool to strengthen the health of the people, control over emotion and
attitudes. To maintain physical fitness, prevent diseases and manage stress in this
fastest world, people are getting motivated towards the Yoga specific lifestyle. Social
networking sites & online surfaces are the vital part of Yoga marketing. These sites
help to promote the Yoga business in the world premises. Currently used most
popular free social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and
Yoga Journal's online communities are fulfilling this objective. Yogaalliance.org,
33
YogaFinder.com, yogajournal.com etc. are helpful for the Yoga interested person to
search any Yoga related information. This study discusses how social networking
sites and other Yoga related websites are helping to spread the awareness of Yoga
and Yoga organizations and helps to understand the various marketing initiatives
taken by the Yoga organization through online. The findings of this study specify that
applying online marketing initiatives with new strategies may provide more
importance about Yoga concept in present scenario. This study also illustrates few
recommendations which indicate how different online marketing approaches taken
by Yoga organization can improve their business. This study has implications for
marketing agencies, researchers and Yoga practitioners.
KEYWORDS: Yoga, Social networking sites, Online marketing initiatives.

______________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Social networking sites where people express their interest area, preferences, work and social
background are earning money by matching people to products and services. In every aspect of
our life we need help from people to survive, so we always want to stay in a network. But it is
not possible for a person to spend time in busy schedule. Only online web facility can provide
them to keep in touch with friends, relatives or colleagues with minimum time spending in
similar platform. Also for a business organization like Yoga organizations it is possible to reach
billions of people in a similar way for marketing their services. Social networking sites and other
online interfaces help to increase the marketing opportunity for business organization. Not like
the other marketing communication media, Yoga organizations get the regular presence of
millions of users through social networking sites and other online interfaces. Use of online social
networking is very cheap in Yoga marketing perspectives. Through online promotional and
advertisements policies Yoga organizations can trace potential and interested customers. Not like
the other marketing tools, these online sites help to target common mass for the marketing aspect
of Yoga organization and gain customers' assurance by sharing information details about Yoga
and Yoga organization. Yoga related information has been spread out quickly to the web
network through these online sites. By creating business community profile in social networking
sites, Yoga organizations can compete with the other competitors available in the market through
updated marketing policies like attractive price offerings, convenient time schedules, cross
selling and new different posture of Yoga etc. These initiatives taken by Yoga organizations are
to be viewed at the same time instance to the potential customers.
METHODOLOGY
Data collection which is based on secondary data has been done from the following sources i.e.
different articles, reports, webs, white papers etc. This section deals with a comprehensive
methodology for enhancing interest about this study later on. This research has significance for
34
academicians, practitioners and researchers to think ‘Yoga marketing’ in a new dimension.
GLOBAL SCENARIO OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES & OTHER ONLINE

SURFACES WITH IMPORTANT PLAYERS
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are specially used for business utilization by creating
business community profiles. As per the research of Nielsen (2010), on social networking sites
like Twitter and Facebook, customers spent more than five and half hours time. Every year the
percentage of number of customers are increasing in a higher rate. So organizations are getting
chance by the use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to develop their business to
advertise the essence of products and services through online communities. Twitter helps to post
photos, query discussion with potential customers and make a link with Facebook. According to
Stafford (2010), on 2009, in Australia, 9 million people attached with social networking sites and
75% of them accessed Facebook. 86% of people were interested in online purchasing activities.
So this statistics expresses that organizations may be marketed hugely through Social
Networking Sites in the global scenario. These online sites are the platform where anyone can
get in touch in any time with their close friend or relatives. So the first thing what is asked by
anyone to his or her closest person is about health. Social networking sites like Twitter,
Facebook etc update quickly any information provided by the organizations which is very
helpful for marketing initiatives. Also these online sites help to interact in open conversations by
posting, commenting. According to Nielsen (2009), in the global perspective, online advertising
through social networking sites raised by 119% which is worth of $108 million form
2008(August) to 2009 (August). As per Yorke (2010), it is estimated that the worth of social
network advertisement cost will be $1.4 billion in 2011. From a research it has been revealed that
the countries like China, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil etc. have the highest number of social
networking sites browsers than the developed nations. So in this global context Yoga sites can
get the opportunity to focus the middle class people of developing nations. Nichesuiteseo (2011)
conveyed in his article about MerchantCircle survey which told more than 66% of small
companies choose social networking sites for their marketing. As per the research analysis by the
Nielsen Company, the people of US spent 22% of online contacting hours on social networking
sites which are a new version of word of mouth.
ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES & OTHER ONLINE SURFACES IN

BUSINESS
Social networking sites are the common platform to know each other’s interest areas which is
very much beneficial for the organizations to track and try to make them aware about the
products and services by different marketing strategies. When people browse the online sites or
chat with friends, many advertisements pop up several times, can hit the mind of health
conscious people who have not more time to take care about their health in the busy world.
Organizations utilize online sites to communicate with customers properly to increase sales,
monitor the complaint and collecting feedback online for rectifying the marketing initiatives.
These online sites allow exchanging messages, files, videos which is very helpful to promote the
business. Through the help of these sites organizations are advertising their services and spread
their thoughts to get the potential customers from anywhere beyond any cultural and
geographical differences. These online sites also help to collect information to take any decisive
35
initiatives regarding products and services. So these sites promote business to huge number of
people in the online network. Social networking sites and other online interfaces help
organization allows users to create their business profiles which may connect with other users.
These online sites are very popular among young generations and the professional people. For
example the sites like MySpace, Friendster, Orkut for the young generations which make them
connected on the basis of common interests. These are the most comfortable virtual places for
get together with friends, relatives and colleagues where people can share all their thoughts,
feelings and most personal information. So these are the best places to identify and penetrate the
customers for marketing. On the other hand Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. are the popular
sites which help the organization to market and support their business. Organizations can utilize
it as a medium to broadcast their services and attract more customers. If people are connected
with the Business communities, then he or she can access any latest news, free expert advice for
any issues which are related with the community. Social networking sites help to create virtual
interaction platform where organizations can advertise to specific customers and monitor them
systematically. Online social networking sites are concentrating different segments like Orkut is
the platform to gear college students specially, Xanga is aimed at blog-based community,
LinkedIn, Facebook are used for the professionals. Here organizations get the facilities to market
their services according to the requirement in different segments. Now the services of social
networking sites in computer screen are slowly extended and attached with cell phones facilities.
Customers can attach any query to the online sites through cell phone. So it will be better for the
organizations to get mobile marketing opportunity through various social networking sites and
online surfaces. Social networking sites which include business forums, fan clubs, alumni groups
and conferences should prefer different local languages for their text, so that it may impress the
customers. The low budget organizations get the facilities of less text advertisement fees from
these online networking sites. Like example LinkedIn offers 1000 impressions in $5. These
online sites help Yoga organizations to analyze their marketing policies by the use of data like
the demographics of customers, the number of person who view the sites regularly or stop
viewing.
YOGA MARKETING THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKS SITES AND OTHER ONLINE

SURFACES
The biggest benefit of social networking sites what a Yoga organization can get from an existing
customer is the accessibility of customer’s friend list who may accept the importance of Yoga.
These sites and interfaces are reaching at the peak of popularity in the marketing context. Yoga
marketing is also facilitated by the use of social networking sites and other online interfaces.
Social networking sites which break geographical barrier and help to build communities of
people with same interests, idea, lifestyle, education or age is the best participator of Yoga
marketing by spreading the massage quickly to millions of people. On the other hand customers
can share their opinions and recommendations through these sites free of cost. There are several
websites who are engaged in online advertisement of Yoga products. Like example
http://www.yogajournal.com and http://www.iayt.org provide the facility to access Yoga articles
and materials on Yoga therapy, http://www.yigaalliance.org offers customers the contacts list of
Yoga Gurus, Yoga training programs and http://www.Yogafinder.com facilitate to search Yoga
related products, Yoga events and classes. For the marketing of Yoga, the lessons which can be
viewed on the sites should be easy to follow and quick to implement must be prepared by the
36
proper supervision of yoga instructors. Advertising alliance with Google AdWords where
advanced techniques are used can hugely increase the yoga customers for the Yoga websites.
Also Google based free software; Analytics can give the answer to many questions by analyzing
the motive of the web traffic and also help to choose better marketing techniques for the future
aspects. On the other hand Yoga websites has to focus how to create and manage email lists
which can offer the potential customers for Yoga. The concept of distance-learning Yoga classes
also increase the customer interest because anyone from any corner the world can access it and
avoid the limitation of scheduling. On line Yoga training program makes far-distance-customers
feel that he is right there in studio. Also Yoga organization can generate new ideas of marketing
Yoga services from the intimate interactions with the customers. For these consequences of
classes Jamie Kent's ‘Yoga Downloads’, a audio library or Kimberly Wilson's ‘Creativity
Circles’, full of Yoga instruction and coaching which is available in YouTube can be
downloaded easily. On the other hand Barrett Lauck's Yoga Odyssey, which can remind us Yoga
is a part of our life sends emails or interact weekly through chat. For marketing of Yoga sites,
Yoga organization can post few video clips on Yoga advertisement with well-known celebrities,
then it will be more acceptable than something told by Yoga trainer. Few online free softwares
like Photoshop Express, Flickr, and Picasa can help to edit and store photos in social networking
sites which give an impression to market Yoga and Yoga sites. Social networking sites provide
Yoga organizations to collect the knowledge from the other Yoga communities and take rectified
awareness initiatives and marketing strategies. Few online platforms like KickApps.com and
Ning.com also help to create customized yoga-related social network. In some sites like
YogaTag.com, small Yoga organizations can post their profile and activities free of cost. Social
networking information helps Yoga organizations to understand the behavior of potential
consumers and improve brand image. Social networking sites provide the opportunity for
marketing of Yoga organizations with new directions. Online sites also remove all the
misconception and perceived hurdles between customers and Yoga organizations. The
organization like YogaToday collaborated with MailChimp which is engaged in email marketing
because it has a good tracking and data management facilities of the customers. YogaToday
sends personalized marketing messages for paid customers by the help of online surfaces.
Through YouTube, Yoga organization can communicate with the customers by uploading videos
or videos clips for advertisements of Yoga to provide a visual impression and better
comprehensible than the text. Most of the instance individual Yoga websites have been created
with the collaboration of Youtube, Facebook and Twitter where people can enjoy the video,
collect the information as per the requirement and suggest for rectifications. This customer
engagement by online sites helps Yoga organization to increase the revenue and improve in a
faster way. If some person wants to purchase Yoga related accessories and books, then brochures
and books must be available with download options that may be free or payable in the social
networking sites like Amazon. Specially the housewives who have more time to chat with her
relatives, friends or colleagues are very much concerned about family health. That may be
targeted area by the Yoga organizations who can market easily through these online sites. Yoga
organizations who provide Yoga services are not only concentrating to sell their services through
these social networking sites but also build the relationship with the people who may be the
future customers or the medium of getting potential customers. With the help of social
networking sites Yoga organization can influence the customers to be a part of them and try to
make them feel that they are not the customers and can participate in the promotional activities
by taking different marketing strategies. Strategy like example giving the information about
37
number of potential customers, information provider will get the discount facility in his or her
own service delivery, gift or commissions. Through these online sites Yoga organization must
maintain all the contracts dealing with the customers properly because any issues regarding
contract breaking may hamper the image of the organization hugely for this fastest news
spreading mechanism.
ONLINE YOGA MARKETING WITH FUN (FEW EXAMPLES)
Few web sources have related the logos of few popular social networking sites with Yoga poses
just for fun. But it is indirectly fulfilling the purpose of marketing of Yoga and tries to build a
relationship between social networking sites and Yoga sites.
(source: yogajournal.com) (source: yogadork.com)

38
(source: yogajournal.com) (source: deccanchronicle.com)

(source: yogajournal.com) (source: yogalifestyle)

ISSUES IN ONLINE YOGA MARKETING
In some cases of online sites secrecy of personal information is to be maintained but some cases
there are some incidences like cyber-crime, harassment, identity theft by disclosing or misusing
the information which may be undesirable facts.
For this reason people are afraid of to disclose private information, including phone number,
home address, plans which may be wrongly handled by the any unknown Yoga related sites and
getting wrong suggestions which may put them in the situation of embarrassment.
Fake online information or trainer profile with false certificate in Yoga related sites are
sometimes difficult to recognize for innocent users.
E-commerce facilities are not adapted completely by the social networking sites still now. So
Yoga sites are not getting flexibility to market their products and services in a full fledge.
In the case of advertising of Yoga on social networking site or other online surfaces,
organizations may face many legal barriers.
Social networking sites and other online surfaces create a social isolation which can cause stress,
anxiety and other prime issues of mental health. Pointing out these serious health related issues
Yoga can be marketed through these sites hugely.
Spread of misinformation, hacking privacy settings, posting vulgar pictures or offensive

comments in Yoga sites and Yoga related social networking sites should be strictly prevented by
applying legal initiatives because these may hit the reputation of the organization and cause
losing the customer database.
39
Sometimes organizations are restricted to access the personal data from the accounts of online
sites for marketing research to work on the future strategies.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Yoga organizations should always try to study the competitors available in online platform and
differentiate with them by new or uncommon features of online sites and innovative marketing
strategies.Associating with new technologies, social networking sites and online surfaces can
provide the facilities of fast downloading, easy payment facilities, providing customized
information, quick reply of query etc.
Yoga organizations can put graph, photos and videos to make the sites attractive. To promote
Yoga services, they can also post presentations and slideshows for the interested customers. Also
they can use multimedia, flash to give a fantastic look of their online page as well as make it user
friendly for easily handled by the customers. Few pictures or snapshots involving smoking,
consuming alcohol, religious contradictions must be avoided which may hurt the feelings of a
customer.
With the collaboration of social networking sites customer profiles must be maintained carefully
with their preferences and always try to respond always and appreciate their interaction. They
should inform upcoming events of Yoga organization, all updated information regarding Yoga
services, wish them in festivals.
People should not put all their personal information like address, emailed, phone number online
because it may be misused by anyone and people may fall in some legal complications. People
should judge thoroughly before joining any community and never indulge any requests or
provocation by some unknown online communities because sometimes it may hamper the image.
Privacy should be maintained in information of online business profiles like secret management
policies, financial aspects.
Yoga organization should add themselves with a good ranking for keywords of focused area in
search engines like Google and then company website will be prominently viewed in a first
option. There are several social networking sites are available in a same platform, so Yoga
organization should choose better alternatives to collaborate with.
Online training facilities with certification courses which must be available in downloadable
video format and study materials should be accessible in Yoga sites. On the other hand the policy
like dissatisfaction of training causes 100% money back can attract more customers for Yoga
organizations. Yoga organization should aware of posting or sending same sales-related
messages repeatedly which may create irritation for the customer. So they can add some
interesting news or information of Yoga and Yoga industry.
According to a statistics social networking sites are used by the women more than a man.
American Marketing Association survey (2007) conveyed that the purchasing decisions by the
women are taken by the references of these online sites. In another survey in 2006, it stated that
40
MySpace is used by the mothers who are very much concerned about their health and children’s
health, in a huge number (13% of the 48 million total visitors). So they may be targeted by the
Yoga sites.
These online distance learning courses need to be presented with variety of formats to attract
different types of customers and modify the sessions accordingly. By the help of online Yoga
classes people may be encouraged to participate by discovering new poses and inspire them to
understand the benefits of every poses. Designer of Yoga website or Yoga community in social
networking sites should check each and every context like study materials, bulletin, sound or
image quality in the site repeatedly because any mistakes may be harmful for the image of the
organization. A standard format must be maintained to open on different computers.
Sometimes it is difficult for some specific customer to discuss about their private problems or
diseases with the Yoga organization through these sites. For this purpose, some initiatives like
special options in Yoga websites or customers individual profile must be incorporated to prevent
the disclosing of the customer’s private information.
Yoga organization should provide the opportunity for the people to access lectures from famous
Yoga guru or trainer through Facebook and LinkedIn periodically, then that will be more
acceptable and marketable to them. Social networking sites and other online surfaces where
customer can exchange their experience should focus first the local people with the help of email
list or design the website with local languages and theme. In these online training programs free
or discounted trial classes should be offered to spread the awareness of Yoga services.
CONCLUSION
Social networking sites and other online surfaces not only fulfill the social requirement but also
provide huge opportunity for a Yoga organization to spread the awareness among the people
about their services. This study helps us to identify the important players of social networking
sites and other online surfaces and how they are working in a global scenario. It enlightens on
the benefits and pitfalls of these sites. It also helps to understand the role of these online sites in
business perspective. It discusses about the Yoga marketing initiatives and techniques by the
Yoga organizations associated with those online sites. This study also recommends Yoga
organization to implement new creative marketing strategies on Yoga marketing through those
social networking sites and other online surfaces to increase the more accessibility of Yoga
services and grow interests among the people.
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43

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
CHILD LABOUR AND THEIR HEALTH STATUS:

A STUDY IN HOTEL INDUSTRY
DR. K. RAJASEKHAR*
*Associate Professor,
Department of Population Studies and Social Work,
S. V. University,
Tirupati, A. P., India.
ABSTRACT
Child labour damage children’s health, threaten their education and lead to
further exploitation and abuse, in which they are enslaved, forcibly recruited,
prostituted, trafficked, forced into illegal activities or exposed to hazards. Due to
certain factors and forces children are compelled to work in the early stages of
their childhood, which does harm to the child and society , because age plays a
dominant role in shaping personality ,values, responsibility, and participation in
different walks of life. Children in poor families who are ailing with poverty
perceive their children as an income generating resource to supplement the
44
family income. Though the Indian government committed to the protection and
promotion of the well-being of children through its acts and policies, but
enforcement of them is a problem. Keeping in view the present study is taken up
to determine the activities of Chid labour in hotel industry in Tirupathi town,
Andhra Pradesh. The results are based on interviews of 160boys who are in the
age of 6-14 years. The findings reveal that most of them belong to poor families
and low social strata had no other alternative but to working as child laborers.
KEYWORDS: child labour, Health status, hotel industry, poverty, acts,

enforcement.
___________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Child labour is a universal phenomenon and it is a by-product of socio-economic structure of

the society, children are an asset/gift for any society as well as nation, and the same asset/gift
is being misused for personal gains as child labour. Toiling long hours for a pittance, these
little bread-winners accept exploitation as a way of life. Due to the pressing needs of family
and economic hardship, children are compelled to work in the early stages of their childhood,
which does harm to the child and society, because age plays a dominant role in shaping
personality, values, responsibility and participation in different walks of life. Children’s
employment/work was considered essential to maintaining the economic level of households,
either in the form of work for wages, of help in household enterprises or of household chores
in order to free adult household members for economic activity elsewhere (Mehra,
Kerpelman, 1996). Their study concludes that a child laborer’s income is important to the
livelihood of a poor family.
The problem of child labour though is a global one, yet it is more acute in India than
in other developing countries. The situation of child labour in India is desperate. In India,
parents being compelled to support their decision to send their children to work, by saying
that it is essential, because most of the poor families’ alternative sources of income are close
to non-existent. Some parents also feel that a formal education is not beneficial, and that
children learn work skills through labour at a younger age. In most areas, education is not
affordable, or is found to be inadequate. With no other alternatives, children spend their time
working. One in every five children below the age of 14 is a labour. The flower (child)
withers before it blossoms. However, Indian parents rarely wish to expose their children to
danger, but may see no alternative. All too often, both parents and young people are unaware
of the risk involved; because of the meager income of child labourers is also absorbed by
their families. Though the Indian Government committed to the protection and promotion of
the well-being of the children through acts and policies, but enforcement of policies is a
problem. Thus, there is a need for corrective steps, to be taken by the government to
overcome this problem.
Keeping this in view, the present study was undertaken to examine the activities of
child labour/employment in hotel industry. In this industry, children are forced to work for
long hours beyond their capacity without any break for recreational activities, games or
opportunity for developing their natural potentials. Further, by the time these children reach
adulthood, they are so debilitated that they cannot find gainful employment as adults.
45
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective is that to study the causes and consequences of child labour on the
socio-economic conditions of the sample population.
1) To study the working conditions, health status and wage structure.
2) To study the pattern of expenditure and future ambition of the sample.

UNIVERSE OF STUDY
The area of the present study is Tirupati town, which is famous pilgrim centre of India. The
town is spread over 10 kms. It has various trades, preferred by people in unorganized sector
including transport, hotels, construction work, poultry, motor servicing, bakeries and other
many small manufacturing units which have employed a considerable chunk of children as
child labourers in them. The present study is confined to the hotels and restaurants located at
Tirupati town. Where there is a large concentration of hotels and restaurants. The universe of
the study is the star hotels, medium and small hotels and restaurants of Tirupati town.
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
The study was carried out in hotels of Tirupati town, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. The
data have been collected through a schedule. The units of sampling for the study were boys
in the age group of 6-14 years (young people or unproductive people). The researcher had
selected 33 hotels out of 110 hotels at random, to analyze the working conditions of child
labourers, because it is not possible for to conduct a comprehensive study of the entire hotels
located in this town. For the selection of sample, convenience sampling method has been
followed in choosing a sample of 160 children (Boys) working in hotels situated in Tirupati
town. The schedule contained questions relating to personal details of the child labourers,
income and educational level of the parents and reasons for work, etc.
GENERAL BACKGROUND OF RESPONDENTS
The factors that generate child labour, include parental poverty and illiteracy, social and
economic circumstances, lack of awareness, lack of access to basic and meaningful quality
education and skills; high rates of adult-unemployment and underemployment, and cultural
values of the family and society.
Among the sample, more than three-fourths of them are belong to backward caste and
schedule caste/tribes. Data clearly indicates that it is generally the children of the lower strata
group who are usually economically poor are the ones who are working as child labourers.
Age-wise distribution of the surveyed showed that majority of them (66%) were in the age
group of 9 to 12 years. The overall mean age of the children interviewed is reported to be
around 10 years. Among the sample large family system is the dominant family system.
Among the sample around three-tenths of them could read and write or had low levels of
education (primary or below level). As regards to their parental background, only around 10
per cent children’s fathers could read and write, and an overwhelming majority of the parents
(78%) were working as daily wagers. Their family’s average income is about Rs.1100 per
month.
46
REASONS FOR WORKING
Child labour is a source of income for poor families, and mainly necessitated by economic
compulsions of the parents, habits of the head of the family, life in towns, family size/ parity,
family breakdown, are some of the reasons which breed child labour. In the study area the
children were asked the reason for their working.
TABLE-1: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY REASONS OF

WORKING
Reasons of working Number Percentage
Family poor economic conditions 51 31.9
Size of the family/parity 20 12.5
Family break down 29 18.1
Habits of the head of the family/members 37 23.1
Life in towns 23 14.4
Total 160 100.0
The data reveals that in the surveyed area nearly one-third of the children (32%)
reported that it was the poor economic condition of their family that compelled them to work.
More than one-fifths of the sample (23%) opinioned that the habits of their family head, had
compelled them to leave home and do work, but no other go. Another 18 percent of the
children stated that due to their family break down, they were entered into child work. The
families break down, leaving the households sort of income. The death of either parent or
both, divorce/separated which also directly divers children to leave home when they are still
young and compelled to work. It is very quiet interest to note that around 15 per cent of the
children viewed that ‘life in towns’ motivated them to enter into child work. One probable
reason may be is that of parents unable to fulfill all their needs, motivate them to leave their
homes for self fulfillment. Sometimes modernity and media exposure may also motivate
them to migrate to urban centers. About 13 percent of them mentioned that their family
size/parity were forced them in to child employment. One plausible explanation for child
employment is parents do not feel that it is useful to send their children to schools because
diverting the child from work means the loss of income to the parents and as additional
expenditure on education. Another reason is that there are some trades/ industries are
encouraging non-economic children, because they are easier to manage , they are less aware
of their rights, they have no rights as workers, less trouble some, less prone to complaint,
more trustworthy, less likely to absent themselves from work and no problem of labour
unions.
NATURE OF WORK
In India, the nature of the working children is very complex. Till today, no systematic
documentation of the types of nature of work performed by children has been produced in
India. An attempt is made to understand the nature of work in which the children were
involved.
TABLE-2: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY NATURE OF

WORK
Nature of work Number Percentage

Carry dirty plates/ dishes/ leaves 54 33.7
47
Wash dirty plates/ dishes 37 23.1

Cooking food/ tea 15 9.4
Serve food/tea/watering 08 5.0
Cleaning the floor/ tables 27 16.9
Cutting vegetables/ grinding 19 11.9

Total 160 100.0
The data reveals that, more than half of the children (57%) were involved either in
“carrying the used plates/ dishes/ leaves’ (34%) or in ‘washing of used plates/ dishes’ (23%).
About 17 per cent of the children were involved in cleaning the floors/ tables. Another 12 per
cent of them were involved in cutting vegetables/ grinding. Rest of the children were
involved either cooking food/ tea (9%) or in serving food/ tea/ watering (5%). The above
results clearly indicate that more than half of the sample was engaged in removing customers
used dishes or washing it. One probable reason may be that adult workers may hesitate to do
this type of work, because, they feel it is an ashamed / nasty work. Hence, the owners/
employers may engage children to do it. While, children have no right to choose their work,
only owners/employers allot the nature of work. Generally, the nature of work of children
depends upon the will and wish of the owners/ employers.
DURATION AND SHIFTING OF WORK
Data was elicited from the sample on their working pattern in terms of the number of hours
and days they worked in a week.
TABLE- 3: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY THEIR

WORKING DAYS (WEEKLY)
Working days (weekly) Number Percentage

Up to 5 days 29 18.1
6 days 54 33.8
7 days 77 48.1
Total 160 100.0
Regarding the number of working days in a week, as the data indicates that nearly
half of the respondents (48%) were working for all the seven days in a week, and another
one- third of them (34%) were working for 6 days in a week. Whereas remaining 18% was
working up to 5 days in a week.
TABLE- 4: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY WORKING

HOURS (SEVEN DAYS)
Working hours (Per day) Number Percentage

Up to 8 hours 13 8.1
9-10 hours 21 13.1
11-12 hours 34 21.2
13-14 hours 43 26.9
48
15 or more hours 49 30.7

Total 160 100.0
In the study area, data on length of hours they worked in a day shows that, it is
around 13 hours a day, which is more than the standard normative hours of work (8 hours)for
adults workers. The data reveals that only 8 percent of children reported working up to 8
hours a day. On the other hand 6 out of every 10children were putting in more than 13hours
of work daily. The data clearly indicates that the surveyed children were over utilized and
made to work for long hours much against the laws made to regulate the hours of work as
prescribed under the Act 1986. It has been observed that the daily working hours of children
vary between 8 to 16 hours, as against 6 hours, prescribed under section 7,clause(3) of the
Child Labour(P&R) Act,1986. Further, an attempt is made to understand the period of work
of current job in which the children were involved.
TABLE- 5: PERCENTAGE OF DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY THEIR

PERIOD OF WORK OF CURRENT JOB
Period of work (months) Number Percentage

1-3 months 53 33.1
4-6 months 23 14.4
6-12 months 17 10.7
13-18 months 19 11.8
19-24 months 37 23.1
25 and above months 11 6.1
Total 160 100.0
To a question, how long they have been working, one- third of the respondents
(33%) stated that their working period is 1 to 3 months. While,42 percent of the children had
started working before one year prior to the survey. Among the total 160 children
interviewed at their current work place, for 48 of them (30%) this was their first experience
at the job, and the rest of 112 children who have worked earlier. Among this, 71(64%) were
working in the same type of job earlier, while 41 children (36%) were working in another
type of job. Mobility of the children working in the hotel industry could be mainly in two
ways. A shift from one hotel to another hotel being involved in the same nature of work or
shifting from one type of work to another type for different reasons. This would also
indirectly indicate how long children below 14years with the skills available with them
continue working at one site.
PATTERN OF PROBLEMS IN WORK PLACE
Child labour is more a rural phenomenon, but in urban areas to survive in a cutthroat
competition, business owners/ employers have lowered the real wages for adult workers in
order to employ child workers on low wages. Indeed, younger children are totally dependent
on their employer to look after them and cannot even run away or protest at ill-treatment.
49
Sample children were probed about any problems if they faced at the work place.
TABLE-6: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY PATTERN OF

PROBLEMS IN THEIR WORK PLACE
Pattern of problems * Number Percentage

Scold by owners/ employers 77 48.1
Often get hurt 104 65.0

Very long hours of work 134 83.4
Not adequately paid/ not regularly paid 89 55.6
No holidays 98 61.2
No recreation/ resting place 118 73.8
Facing corporal punishment 103 64.4
Sexual abusement 84 52.5
*
Multiple responses
In study area, everybody has more than one problem at their work place. The most
common problem mentioned was ‘Very long hours of work’ (83%) followed by ‘no
recreation/ no proper resting place’ (74%). More than three-fifths of the children also said
that they ‘often get hurt’ (65%), facing corporal punishment (64%) and they could not take
leave/ holiday (61%). Further, a little less than half of the children also said that they are
often ‘scold by employers’ (48%). It is quite interesting to note that more than half of the
children (53%) also mentioned that they sexually abused at work place. Another 56 per cent
of the sample also stated that they are not adequately/ regularly paid. The data very clearly
shows that the children are in a very vulnerable position due to their age, compulsion to work
and as they usually stay within the premise they utilized to work for long hours. Further these
children are misused by their employers, by not paying them regularly and getting work from
them for which they are not equipped. The probable reason is that the working conditions of
child labour particularly in hotel industry have minimum basic facilities, and children are
compelled to work for long hours beyond their capacity without any break, which exert
negative effort on the physical and mental development of children and also hampers their
natural potentials. They may also invariably face physical and verbal abuses. Indeed, many
end up working unpaid for their employers in exchange for their food and shelter.
HEALTH STATUS OF THE CHILDREN
Children are forced to work in the most hazardous, unhygienic conditions, where they are
vulnerable to many severe health problems. Children start work when they are too young, or
take on work, that is hazardous for many reasons. Given the situation in which the children
are living and working, it is necessary to study the health status of them. For this purpose the
sample were asked if they had experienced any type of sickness past one year.
TABLE-7: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY PATTERN OF

ILLNESS (PAST ONE YEAR)
Pattern of illness* Number Percentage

Scabies 141 88.1
50
Swelling in scrotum 95 59.4

Weeping wounds on hands/ legs 107 66.9
Dysentery 63 39.4
Cut/burn problems 78 48.8
Stomach problem/headache 57 35.6

Cold/cough 81 50.1
Fever 49 30.6
Pain in legs 71 44.4

Others 53 33.1
*
Multiple responses
The data clearly indicates that all the surveyed (160) had experienced multiple health
problems. It is interesting to find that nine out every 10 children had experienced by scabies
followed by weeping wounds on hands/legs (67%), swelling in scrotum (59%), cold/cough
(50%) cut/burn problem (49%) and pain in legs (44%). The other health problems reported
by the children are obviously either due to food habits or due to the poor hygienic conditions
at the site. This includes stomach problem/ headache (36%) and fever (31%), etc. The
probable reason is that children work for eight to ten hours at a stretch with only a small
break for meals, the meals are also frugal and stale, the children are ill nourished and ill-
healthy. Most of the migrant children, who cannot go home, sleep at their work place, in an
unhygienic environment which is very bad for their health. The another possible reason is
that work in an unhealthy environment, which would expose children to hazardous
substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, vibrations which might
damage their health. These hazards are as an easy mode of transmission of infections
unknowingly to children. Further, most of them are illiterates, have no health care
awareness, do unskilled jobs for very long hours, having no choice but to work for survival
and many of the associated diseases can be attributed to the extreme poverty situation. The
survey results, therefore, show that the mandate of 8 of the Child Labour (P&R) Act, 1986, is
not at all obeyed by the Hotel establishments.
MONTHLY INCOME/EARNINGS OF THE CHILDREN
The income/earnings of working children is a complex nature. So, the present study also
made an attempt to estimate the monthly income earned by working children.
TABLE-8: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO

THEIR MONTHLY INCOME
Monthly income (Rs.) (wage& tips) Number Percentage

Up to 500 43 26.9
501-1000 68 42.5
1001 above 49 30.6
Total 160 100.0
In the Study Area, more than two-fifth of the survey children (43%) were earning
income between Rs 500 to 1000 per month. Another Three-tenths were earning more than Rs
1000 per month, but in Contrast, slightly more than Quarter of them were earning below 500
per month. The amount mentioned is obviously much less than what is set for minimum daily
51
wage. A wide variation was observed in the income distribution of child worker .The results
clearly indicates that the poor child workers are not paid even the minimum wages by their
employers/owners. In some cases, the employers paid some amount in advance to the parents
of the children, and monthly deducted some Principle amount plus interest from their wages;
this is clearly shows that employer’s/Owner’s way of exploitation or Profit motto.
PATTERN OF EXPENDITURE
The children in the unorganized sector like hotel industry are in economically desperate
position. Economic hardship, health problems, family responsibilities, unharmonious
relations and personal requirements are the challenging issues to child labourers. Given the
long working hours and the amount that these children receive, an attempt is made to
understand their pattern of expenditure.
TABLE-9: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY THEIR

PATTERN OF EXPENDITURE (INCOME SPENDING PATTERN)
Pattern of expenditure* Number Percentage

Giving to family 106 66.3
Paying to family debts 74 46.3
For personal needs 83 51.9
Treatment (health purpose) 101 63.1
Spent for illicit activities 97 60.6
Spent for recreational aspects 66 41.3
Savings 48 30.0
*
Multiple responses
Regarding the pattern of expenditure, as the data indicates that more than three-fifths
of the children (66%) were sending major amount to their families. and 63 percent also spend
some amount for their treatment. It is somewhat surprising to find that among the sample
about three-fifth of them (61%) are spending their incomes for illicit activities like drinking,
gambling and for smoking. One plausible explanation is that no break for recreational
activities or no time to play games or no scope to develop their natural potentials or
intellectuality (IQ), children generally choose alternative activities for their personal
satisfactions.About three- tenths of them (30%) also saving some amount for their future
course of life. In the study area, 52 Percent of the sample is also spending their income for
fulfillment of personal needs. On the whole, the pattern of the expenditure clearly indicates
that children are spending more of their incomes on their health purposes/treatements. One
probable explanation is that despite their hard labour for prolonged hours children are not
provided basic medical facilities in case of their illness, hence children themselves spend.
FUTURE AMBITION/INTENTION OF THE CHILDREN
Children are the greatest gift to humanity and the same gift is being misused for
52
personal/family needs. Toiling long hours for small amount, children are forced to accept
exploitation. Children working in unorganized sector like hotel industry are the most
deprived ones because these children are the first ones to be thrown out easily from their
employment. Given both the advantages and disadvantages associated with the present work,
all the children were asked about their future intention/ ambition.
TABLE-10: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS BY THEIR

FUTURE AMBITION
Reasons of working Number Percentage

Continue the same work 33 20.6
Self-business 21 13.1
Comfortable work/ recognized work
44 27.5
(as workers)
Shift to child rehabilitation centers 62 38.8
Total 160 100.0
The data indicates that majority of the children (39%) confirmed that they would like
to shift to child rehabilitation centers, if facilities are available, but on the contrast, 21 per
cent of the children thought they would be continue the same jobs. Those children who had
the desire to do the same jobs were further probed into the reasons, illiteracy, have no social
awareness and lack of access to basic and meaningful skills are the reason to continue in the
same field/work. Around 28 per cent of the children mentioned that they would shift to a job
where it would be comfortable to work. Another 13 percent of the children wanted to take an
initiative in setting up their own business. These results clearly indicate that an
overwhelming majority of the surveyed children (79%) are strongly willing to shift from the
present work. This is because; children are required to work beyond their physical capacity
for a mere pittance. They do not get enough rest and reaction and are exposed to various
pollutants. In most cases, by the time children reach adulthood they are so debilitated that
they cannot find gainful employment as adults. In hotels and restaurants they have to work
from morning till the last customer leaves at night. Not only long hours of work and low
wages, children also have to face many occupational problems. Moreover, the problems
becomes more complicated when their employers start scolding and giving corporal
punishment leads to psycho-social problems coupled with economic and health problems.
The worries of the children who are in child work are on two fronts in relation to social-
psychological strain and the economic dependence. These worries are in terms of what will
happen to them in case of sickness or disability. On the other hand, financial worries have
their bearing with the social class.
CONCLUSIONS
Even though children are paid less than adults, whatever income they earn is of benefit to
poor families. Further the economic benefits resulting from child employment are higher than
what are they consumed in the families. In addition to poverty, there are some factors due to
which, owners/employers also encouraging the child labour.
Among the sample, more than three-fourths are belong to backward caste and
schedule caste/tribes. So, data clearly indicates that lower strata group children are
compelled to enter into child employment/work. Majority of them (66%) were in the age
group of 9 to 12 years. The overall mean age of the sample is around 10 years. Large family
53
system is the dominant family system of the sample. Around three-tenths of children could
read and write. As regards to their parental background, only around 10 per cent children’s
fathers could read and write, and an overwhelming majority of the parents (78%) were
working as daily wagers. Their family’s average income is about Rs.1100 per month.
The survey data indicates that nearly one-third of the children reported that it was the
poor-economic condition of their families that compelled to work, but may see no alter-
native. It is very quiet interest to note that around 15 per cent of the children viewed that ‘life
in towns’ motivated them to enter into child work, because parents unable to fulfill their
needs, or modernity and media exposure may motivate them to migrate urban areas. In the
study area, majority of the sample (48%) were working all the week days, and 6 out of every
10 children were working more than 13 hours a day. Among the total sample, for 48 of them
the current job is their first time work. More than half of the children (57%) were involved
either in ‘carrying the used plates/ dishes/leaves’ (34%) or in ‘washing of used plates/dishes’
(23%). Generally, adult workers may hesitate/ disagree to do these types of work, because
they feel it is an ashamed/nasty work. So, the owners/employers may engage children to do
it. So, Children have no right to choose their work. The most common problem mentioned
was ‘very long hours of work’ (83%). Children are forced to work for long hours beyond
their capacity without any break for recreational activities. The results clearly indicate that
all the surveyed children had experienced multiple health problems. It is quite interesting to
found that nine out every 10 had experienced by scabies.
A wide variation was observed in the income distribution of child worker. The survey
data clearly explains that the average income earned per month is only around Rs.417. The
amount varied anywhere between Rs.400 to Rs.1500. The study, therefore discloses that the
poor child workers are not paid even the minimum wages by their employers. Among the
sample, more than three-fifth of the children (66%) were sending major amount to their
families. It is very wonder to note that 61 per cent of the surveyed children also spending
their incomes on illicit activities. Around two-fifths of the children confirmed that they
would like to shift to child rehabilitation centers, but on the contrast, 21 per cent thought they
would be continue the same jobs, because children working in the hotel industry could be
mainly in two ways. A shift from one hotel to the other but being involved in the same nature
of work or shifting from one type of work to another type for different reasons. This data
clearly indicates that an overwhelming majority of the surveyed children (79%) are strongly
willing to shift from the present work.
IMPLICATIONS
The children are mostly silent listeners or non-listeners of the policies/programmes meant for
them and hence, their problems are not properly realized, for which nobody pays serious
attention to their plights and the safeguards extended for the prevention of child labour are
not implemented effectively. The consequences of child labour are innumerable; some of
them leave their impact on the child alone, whereas, others influence the society as a whole.
The Indian government has tried to take some steps to alleviate the problem of child
labour in recent years by invoking a law that makes the employment of children below 14
years illegal. However this law is rarely adhered to due to practical difficulties. Factories or
trades like hotel industry usually find loopholes and circumvent the law by declaring that the
child labour is a distant family member.
54
PROGRAMEMS NEED FOR CHILD LABOUR
1) Free, compulsory, relevant and good-quality primary and basic education services are
essential.
2) Encourage civil society and media engagement; they can change social attitudes that
condone child labour.
3) Laws and regulations against child labour must be in place and rigorously enforced.
4) Need social programmes to support families in need and help them find alternative
income to replace their child’s employment.
5) To launch an effective campaign for social awareness against child labour.
6) To provide non-formal education programmes to former child labourers for return to

full-time education;
7) To implement proper vocational training, it will provide skills for a productive

adulthood.
8) To train the representatives of schools, youth clubs, mahilamandals, labour unions and
NGOs to assess the reasons for child work and to devise ways for return to school.
9) To design and implement effective poverty alleviation programmes which are

alternative to child income.
10) Adopt suitable population policy to restrict the family to one or two children.
Children are at risk of being sent to work, instead of going to school. Parental and
community understanding of the benefits of education, along with strong social disapproval
of exploitative employers, will help diminish this hazard.
REFERENCES
1. Burra.N.1995: Born to work: Child labour in India, New Delhi: Oxford University press.
2. Mehra, Kerpelman, K. 1996: Children at work: how many and where? World of work,
15: 8-9
3. Nagia, P. 1987: Child labour: cause–effect syndrome. New Delhi: Janak Publishers.
4. Shandilya, Tapan Kumar .2003: “Child Labour: A Global challenge”, Deep & Deep
Publications, New Delhi.
55

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA: A SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEM;

LEGAL REMEDIES AND SOLUTION
DR. SUKHWINDER KAUR VIRK*
Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law,
Punjab, Patiala, India.
Abstract
In our country children are found in agriculture fields performing heavy work. They are
doing work in dangerous industries and occupations like glass making, construction, mining
and carpet weaving. At many concerns they are working long hours for low wages.The
present paper analysis the various dimensions of Socio economic problems of Child labour
in India
Key Words: Psychological Development, Socio-Economic

56
INTRODUCTION
Children are an important component of our society. They are the future of our nation. But
the lives of children have become prone to sufferings and agonies due to social disruption and
poverty. The problem of child labour engulfs the society where poverty and social
discrimination exist. This problem is not only prevails in India but also in several developing
and under developed countries of the world, difference is only of form and degree. Late Shri
V.V.Giri, Former President of India once observed, “Child labour is commonly interpreted in
two ways –as an economic practice and as a social evil.”1
Child labour is a socio-economic problem deeply linked to poverty and illiteracy. There is
liability of parents, society and nation towards the physical and psychological development of
this valuable asset of society .The future of the human world very much depends upon the
rights of the children and the fate of nation inextricably intertwine with the welfare of its
1
Giri V.V., “Labour Problem in Indian Industries”, Asia publishing house, Bombay,(1958)p.360.
children.2So child labour is not only harmful for present generation, but for our future
generations also. Child labour is a hazard to a child’s mental, physical, social, educational,
emotional and spiritual development. It is a matter of grave concern that children are not
provided with education and leisure which are necessary and important for their growing age.
Hundreds millions of children of the world are adversely affected by inadequate basic health
facilities and lack of shelter, education, love and affection.
In our country children are found in agriculture fields performing heavy work. They are
doing work in dangerous industries and occupations like glass making, construction, mining
and carpet weaving. At many concerns they are working long hours for low wages. Children
working in any sector whether organized or unorganized, within or outside the family are
included in the child labour. A report of International Labour Organization(ILO) on child
labour used the term ‘child labour’ to cover all economic activities carried out by persons less
than 15 years of age regardless of their occupational status(wage earners, own account
workers, unpaid family workers etc.), but not household work performed by them in their
parents’ home.3
In the study titled as ‘Working Children in Urban Delhi’ conducted by the Indian Council of
Child Welfare, it has been stated that every child below fourteen years, who contributes the
family income or is gainful or is employee including that marginally working can be treated
as a child worker.”4 Child labour means any work done by child that work becomes hurdles
in his physical growth and mental development. Hommer Folks, Chairman of the United
Nations Child Labour Committee has defined child labour as, “any work done by children
that interferes with their full physical development, their opportunities for a desirable level of
education or their needed recreation.”5 According to the UNICEF, child labour in India is
more than 90 million out of 250 million in worldwide, excluding child in domestic labour,
India has the highest number of child labour of age group 6-14years.15 million children in
India are in hazardous occupation. According to the National Sample Survey Organisation
(NSSO), in 2004-05 the number of working children was reported 90.75 lakh. It is reported
that42% of our total population are children. It is shocking that about 5% of this child
population is child labour, which is about 6% of the total work force of the country.6
57
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CHILD LABOUR
Child labour is not a new problem. The child labour has been more or less in all periods of
time. In the past child labour has been a part of the social organisation in which all members
pooled their labour to produce for the subsistence and survival.7 In ancient India child labour
was only in the form of slavery. In those times children were required to do some work
either at home or in the fields along with their parents. We find in Manusamriti and
Kautilya’s Arthshastra that the duty of the king to educate every girl and boy and parents
2
Shandilya Topan Kumar and Khan Shakeel Ahmad . “ Child Labour: A global Challenge”, Deep and Deep
Publications( pvt). Ltd, New Delhi, p. 1.
3
Bajpai Asha, “Child Rights in India: Law, Policy and Practice”, Oxford University Press ( 2 nd edition)2006,p.
149.
4
Quoted from Joshi S.C., “Child Labour: Issues Challenges and Law”, Akomsha Publishing House, New
Delhi,p.1.
5
Giri V.V. , “Labour Problem in Indian Industries”, Asia publishing house,Bombay,(1958)p.360.
6
C.K. Shukla,S.Ali (editor) , “Child Labour and the Law” Sarup & sons New Delhi p.38.
7
Nangia parveen, “ Child Labour Causes effect Syndrome”, Janak Publishers, New Delhi, Pp.6-7.
could be punished for not sending their children to school called Ashram, which were really
residential school under a Guru.8 Kautilya’s Arthshastra also describes the existence of
domestic slavery in the prosperous households. Where slaves were normally of low caste
status child slaves of less than eight years of age were known working in these houses.9The
children of slaves took birth as slaves, lived and died as slaves unless the master liked to
release them from slavery.10In medieval period, children were placed as trainees under
artisans and craftsmen. Certain crafts were dependent totally upon the employment of
children. The traditions still continue in carpet weaving and cotton/ silk weaving industries
which provide employment to large number of children even today.11Industrialization on a
large scale leads to the employment of children in factories, workshops, hotels and other
regulated occupations. Factories required cheap and plentiful labour. Industrialization gave a
new turn in social scenario. With the development of industrialization the exploitation of
children has been increased.
ROOT CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR
With the advent of industrialization and growth of urbanization, radical change occurred in
social life of the people. There was unbroken stream of the rural people migrating to urban
areas in search of livelihood. In modern times family based economy has been destroyed. In
this situation, children have to earn for themselves and their family members. There is not
any one factor responsible for the problem of child labour. Sometimes inadequate income of
the parents does not fulfil the minimum requirements of the children then parents are
compelled to send their children into the job market though parents have knowledge that their
children are not safe in such jobs. Polluted environment in the jobs effects physical as well as
mental health of the children. Poverty is most often supplemented by other socio-economic
factors to expose the child to manual jobs.12 Majority of the parents of child labour are not
aware of the importance of education. They are only concerned with present and they
deliberately send their children for earnings instead of schools. They never try to think about
the future of their children. Child labour cannot be eliminated in presence of poverty and
illiteracy. Child labour is actually product of economic necessity and economic distress. A
study of the informal sector shows that 86% of the child workers belong to backward casts
58
and also 86% of them are between 11 to 14 years of age and one third of the family heads of
child workers are illiterate.13 A big size of family is also a factor of this socio-economic
problem. Enlarged family cannot afford to nourish high ideals and even proper food to all
members. But the illiterate parents think that if God has given the body, He will care them.
They also think that extra children are the big source of extra income. The late Prime
Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi observed after the family planning campaign of eighties, 14
8
Shandilya Topan Kumar and Khan Shakeel Ahmad . “ Child Labour: A global Challenge”, Deep and Deep
Publications( pvt). Ltd, New Delhi, p. 1
9
Banerjees, “Child Labour in India”, London Arti Slavery Society,1979,p2.
10
Dr. Chinna S.S., “Child Labour: Problem and Policy Implications”, Regul Publications, New Delhi,p.13
11
Shandilya Tapan Kumar,Nayan Kumar and Navin Kumar, “Child labour Eradication: Problems, Awareness,
Measures”, Deep and Deep Publication pvt. Ltd New Delhi,p.64.
12
Shandilya Tapan Kumar and Khan Shakeel, “ Child Labour: A global Challenge”, Deep and Deep
Publications( pvt). Ltd, New Delhi, p14.
13
C.K. Shukla,S.Ali (editor) , “Child Labour and the Law” Sarup & sons New Delhi p.198.
14
Gupta Padmini Sen, “Child Labour as a Social Problem, Its Causes, Extent and Consequences “ National
Seminar On the Employment of Children,NIPCCD,1975,p.20.
“Though India was the first country to take up family planning as an official
programme. But it is so personal that it cannot be forced upon the people, However it was
where there was greater general development that family planning had also progressed. The
birth rate had gone down from 42 per thousand to 35.5 per thousand. Formerly a very poor
person felt that an extra child meant extra help.”
To control the population in India no serious efforts were made by the Centre or the State
Governments after the period of national emergency (1975-1977). Trend of big families is
still prevailing in many parts of our country. This can be only changed with education and
awareness.
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK TO TACKLE CHILD LABOUR
At International level, various instruments provide for the protection to children from labour.
The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) policy has provision for the abolition of
child labour. To achieve this end, under the auspices of the ILO a series of Conventions and
on the exploitation of child labour have been adopted and recommendations are made. In
1919, ILO, in its first session adopted a Convention on minimum age of children for
admission into industrial development. This Convention laid down that no child under 14
years of age should be employed in any public or private undertaking other than in which
only family members are employed. This minimum age was revised from 14 to 15 in the
Convention No.59 of 1937. Subsequently ILO prohibited employment of children in
agriculture undertaking shops, hotels, restaurants, offices and place of public employment
etc. ILO Minimum Age Convention No. 138, 1973 obliges member states to pursue a
national policy designed to ensure effective abolition of child labour. This Convention
establishes that no child can be employed in any economic sector below the age designated
for the completion of compulsory schooling and not less than 15 years. The minimum age
for admission to any work likely to jeopardize health, safety or morals is 18 years.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as adopted by United Nations in 1948

incorporated the basic rights of children for growth and education. An independent
59
“Declaration on the Rights of Child” was made by United Nations in 1959. This emphasized
on special protection and care for child to develop in a normal and healthy manner in an
atmosphere of freedom and dignity.
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 provides full range of the civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights to all children that are meaningful for their survival,
development, protection and participation in the society. Article 32 of this Convention
recognises children’s right to be protected from work that threaten their health, education or
development and enjoins state parties to set minimum age for employment and to regulate
working conditions. India is also a signatory of this Convention from 1992. In 1999 ILO
Convention No.182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of
the Worst Forms of Child Labour 15was adopted. This Convention includes a ban on forced or
compulsory recruitment of child soldiers. It defines the worst forms of child labour as:
15
Adopted by the General Conference of the International Labour Organization at its eighty- seventh
session,Geneva,17 June 1999.
 All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of
children, debt bondage, serfdom, and forced or compulsory labour;
 Forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
 Use of a child for prostitution, production of pornography or pornographic

performance;
 Use procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the
production and trafficking of drugs; and
 Work which is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
The year 1979 was declared as International Year of the Child by United Nations
which gave importance on the cooperation of the Nations in common tasks of the basic needs
of the children, i.e. nutrition, health, education, maternal protection, family care, equal
society status and protection from racial and other forms of discrimination.16
CONSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS IN INDIA
After Independence, many Constitutional provisions and legislative enactments have been
made and suitable amendments were passed from time to time to control the magnitude of
problem relating to child labour. Article 24 of the Indian Constitution provides that no child
below the age of 14 shall be employed to work in any factory or mines or engaged in any
other hazardous employment. The Constitution of India in Article 39(e) of The Directive
Principles of State Policy provides that the health and strength of workers, men and women
and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic
necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength. Article 39 (f ) states that
children be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in condition
of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth be protected against exploitation and
against moral and material abandonment. So it has been made a duty of the state to raise the
60
level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. After passing 86th
amendment of December 2002 of the Constitution, right to education becomes a fundamental
right. By this amendment Article 21-A has been inserted in the Constitution and it provides
that State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to
fourteen years. By 86th amendment inserted as Article 51-A(k) it has now become a
fundamental duty for the parents, guardian and wards to provide the opportunities for
education to their children or as the case may be wards between the age of six and fourteen
years. The Parliament has also enacted the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act
2009. This Act is not only for sending children to school but also to provide quality education
to them. The Act also envisages that 25% of seats in every private school should be allocated
for children from economically disadvantaged groups. Although Article 38, Article 42 and
Article 43 of Directive Principles of State Policy do not directly deal with child welfare but
provide indirectly promoting welfare of children.
LEGAL SAFEGUARDS AGAINST CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA
16
C.K. Shukla,S.Ali (editor) , “Child Labour and the Law” Sarup & sons New Delhi, p.40.
The framers of the Constitution were aware of the need for special care for children hence
provisions to promote the welfare of the children and to protect them against exploitation in
work places were made in detail. Therefore both Centre and States governments enacted
laws on child labour. There are thirteen enactments that provide legal protection to the
children in various occupations. The Factories Act 1948 prohibits employment of child
below the age of 14 years in any factory. The Act puts restrictions in the matters of working
hours of these young persons. The restrictions are also placed on their employment in
dangerous occupations and are required to work for a limited period of four and half hours in
a day. Indian Mines Act, 1951 prohibits employment of children below of 16 years in any
underground mines. But Plantation Labour Act, 1951 has prescribed this age as 12 years.
The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 absolutely prohibits employment of children. The
Factories (Amendment ) Act,1954 prohibits employment of children under 17 years at night.
The Beedi and Cigar Workers( Conditions of employment) Act1966 prohibits the
employment of children under14 years in any industrial premises manufacturing beedis or
cigars; and also prohibits persons between 14 and 18 years from working at night between 7
p.m. and 6 a.m. The Employment of Children (Amendment) Act 1978 prohibits employment
of a child below 15 years in occupations in railway premises such as cinder picking, cleaning
of ash pit or building operations, in catering establishments and in any other work which is
carried on in close proximity to or between the railway lines.
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (CLPRA) was enacted in 1986 which
seeks to prohibit employment of children below 14 years in hazardous occupations and
processes and regulates the working conditions in other employment. This Act repeals the
Employment of Children Act 1938.The main object of the Act is to prohibit engagement of
children in occupation and processes which are unsafe and harmful to the child workers for
their personality development. The Act prohibits employment of children to work in any
occupation set forth in Part A17of the schedule or in any workshop wherein any of the
processes set forth in Part B18 of the schedule is carried on. Part 3 of this Act provides that no
child shall be allowed or required to work between 7 p. m. to 8 a. m. and to work overtime.
The period of work shall not exceed three hours and no child shall work for more than three
61
hours before he has had arrest interval of at least one hour. The total working hours including
the rest interval and the time spent in waiting for work shall not be spread over more than six
hours per day. The Act contains provisions dealing with offences and penalties In case of
employment of children in violation of the provisions of this Act the penalty is imprisonment
for 3 months to one year or a fine not less than rs.10, 000 or both.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act 2000 was amended in 2002 in
conformity with the UN Convention on the Rights of Child covers young persons who below
18 years of age. Section 26 of this Act deals with the exploitation of a Juvenile or Child
18 The Schedule in its Part A mentions occupations: Transport of passengers, goods or mails by railway; cinder
picking, cleaning of ash pit or building operation in the railway premises; work in a catering establishment ay
railway station involving movement of a vendor or any other employee of the establishment from one platform
to another or into or out of moving train; the work relating to construction of a railway station or with any other
work where such work is done in a close proximity to or between the railway lines; any port authority within the
limits of any port; work relating to selling crakers and fireworks in shops and temporary licences
18
. The schedule in its Part B mentions processes: Beedi making, carpet weaving cement manufacture, cloth
printing dyeing and cleaning, building and construction industry, manufacture of slate pencil, manufacturing
process using toxic metals and substances etc.
Employee and provides that whoever procures a Juvenile or the Child for the purpose of any
hazardous employment keeps him in bondage and withholds his earnings for his own
purpose, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years
and shall also be liable for fine. In October 2006, the government has included children
working in the domestic sectors as well as roadside eateries and motels under the prohibited
list of hazardous occupations. In September 2008, diving as well as process involving
excessive heat (e.g. working near a furnace) and cold; mechanical fishing; food processing;
beverage industry; timber handling and loading; mechanical lumbering; warehousing; and
processing involving exposure to free silica such as slate, pencil, industry, stone grinding;
slate stone mining; stone quarries as well as the agate industry were added to the list of
prohibited occupations and processes.
Apart from the executive and legislature, the judiciary of India also remained active for
intervention by its pronouncements/decisions against child labour. An important such
intervention came in the case titled ‘M.C. Mehta v/s State of Tamil Nadu and others19’ (1996)
in which the Supreme Court directed the Union and State governments to identify all
children working in hazardous processes and occupations, to withdraw them from work and
to provide them with quality education. In 1993, the Supreme Court in Unikrishnan v/s State
of Andhra Pradesh ruled that each child has the right to free education until he or she
completes the age of 14years. Article 21-A which was incorporated into the constitution,
reflects this standard. In 2005, The M.V. Foundation, an NGO working on child rights
brought a public interest litigation petition which argues that child labour up to the age of
compulsory education is unconstitutional and is a negation of rights under Article 21-A
which provides for compulsory education up to the age of 14.
NATIONAL CHILD LABOUR PROGRAMMES AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
Besides the efforts of Legislature and Judiciary regarding child labour, certain initiatives have
been taken and schemes formulated by the governments, both at the centre and at the states.
A National Policy on Child Labour was adopted in 1987 which emphasised the need for strict
enforcement measures in area of high child labour concentration. In order to translate this
62
policy into action, the government of India initiated the National Child Labour Project
Scheme (NCLPS) in 1988 to rehabilitate the working children. The National Policy reiterates
the Directive Principles of State Policy in India’s Constitution. The strategy for the NCLPS
includes the establishment of special schools to provide non-formal education and pre-
vocational skills training; promoting additional income and employment generation

opportunities; raising public awareness and conducting surveys and evaluations of child
labour. In 2001-2002 the government launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or the Education
for All Programme which is an effort to universalise elementary education. This programme
aims to achieve the goal of universal elementary education. The Eleventh Five Year plan
(2007-2012) includes expanding the NCLP Scheme to ensure universal enrolment of children
in the 6-14 age group to cover those in the hard to reach segment. Another notable
government initiative under the Eleventh Plan is to amend all laws to recognise everyone
under the age of 18 as children and to take appropriate measures to protect their rights
accordingly.
CONCLUSION
19
AIR 1997 SC699.
No doubt, children are the important assets and base pillars of any nation. The prosperity of
nation depends upon the growth and development of children. Child labour has become a
major socio- economic problem all over the world. Child labour is considered exploitative
and inhuman by the United Nations and International Labour Organisation. It is a bad
economic practice and is a social evil. For total eradication of child labour stringent laws
must be passed. Education system should be strengthened so that children removed from
work could go to school. In order to effectively abolish child labour it is necessary to remove
the artificial distinction between child labour and child work. Penal provisions must be
enhanced in Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. Employment of child
labour must be deemed as a cognizable offence and enforcement machinery should be
strengthened. The NCLP needs to recognise the special situation of migrant child labourer.
In addition to this, there has to be national campaign to invoke public interest and large scale
awareness on this issue. Only enacting laws are not sufficient for eradicating this evil. Role of
social mobilization and community participation should also be necessary. Departments of
labour, education, police, women and child development, Panchayati Raj, Judiciary and youth
volunteers can play an important role to eradicate this socio-economic problem with
coordination and cooperation.
63

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
INNOVATION IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

CHITRA BAJPAI*
Amity International Business School,
Amity University, Noida, India.
ABSTRACT
“The necessity is the mother of invention”
In today’s Scenario, Innovation is the one word which is being used by many
intellectuals like Scientists, Entrepreneur, R&D etc. innovation is not limited up
to the manufacturing sector it has also expanded in service sectors, in 21st
century the economy of world is service dominated or in other words the service
sector is booming. This is the time, when all the sectors of service has some sort
of the innovations. The service sector has an advantage over the manufacturing
sector is that this sector can innovate in the faster rate than earlier one. for e.g
.Hospitality, tourism, education, health care etc. Product has two meanings one
is goods another is services. The goods and service innovation varies from each
other on the following ways;
64
1. Services are perishable and intangible, so innovation in this sector should

match with its characteristics.2. In the service innovation the service providers
are the integral part of the customer experience.
‘’Power and potential reside within each of you. And you each have the capacity
for making this world a better place to live”
Henrietta Mann
The above line explains about the capacity and potential of human being.
Broadly the education can be divided into two types one is higher education and
another is elementary education. Higher education always gets support from the
elementary education. So, many more innovations are being done by various
countries in education sector.
KEYWORDS: Power, Potential, Necessitates, Booming.

___________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
In ancient India the education was being given in ‘Gurukulas’ where students were taught not
only mandatory subjects but also their personality were being shaped .But in 21st century the
paradigm has been shifted from monologue to dialogue. In which the education is not only
the fundamental right but also the primary requirement of the citizen as a medium of the Self
actualization.
IMPACT OF THE EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
The government is using education technology for the awareness of rural population
especially in the primary school. For e.g. Diarrhea Control, Polio awareness, Aids and
Malaria .Earlier it was restricted through Puppet show, exhibition and Nukkad Natak.
In urban area the NTLAN (Local area network lab) with the audio visual support which is
being used by DPS(Delhi Public School). The technique is basically Robotics related which
aims to introduce automation. Some other new trends are CD’s containing presentations on
animal life , National heroes etc. Admissions, Counseling through online and parents teachers
interaction by Email are some other examples.
EDUNET
Edunet helps a teacher to interact with all the students through network. In this the mouse and
keyboard of the student can be controlled by the teacher in the case of the practicals. These
are being used by Presidency School (Bombay), Doon School (Dehradun ), Convent of Jesue
Merry(Delhi) etc.
E-CAMPUS
As Edunet helps teachers to teach their students , E-campus helps staff to handle the students
for e,g. the performance of the students in the college can be identified in the few seconds,
online attendance ,campus security, absenteeism notification , fees payment reminders ,book
65
return request, school schedule etc. It is in St,.francis de dales , Salwan Public School,
Silverline school and Delhi public school etc.
EDUSET
It is a satellite which was launched by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 20 th

Sep 2005.the aim was to provide education to all primary school children in remote areas .
The classes are being conducted through audio Visual Means.
OPEN LEARNING
Open universities are providing higher education opportunities to all those who wants higher
education but because of some obstacle like time, distance from the institute and social
economic factors etc they can not go for the regular classes .In India there is one national
university and few state owned universities which have innovated their education through E-
learning.
E TUTOR
In this facility students can take tuition from the teacher with the help of computer. For this
Broad band connectivity and work station is required.
Even in today’s scenario hundreds of E-Tutor Of India helps the students of developed
countries (U,S.A.&U.K.) to complete their homework of Math and English.
EDUCATION STRATEGY (2006-2009)1
New Zealand has an Education strategy for India, this Strategy seeks to create an
environment in which sustainable education relationship could be developed and in which the
emphasis is on mutual learning, research and economic benefits.
It has four objectives:
1. Advance the bilateral education relationship through a program me of education

diplomacy initiatives and activities.
2. Increase New Zealand access to education opportunities in India.
3. Increase New Zealand, s knowledge of policy and market trends in Indian education.
4. Enhance Indian Knowledge of the New Zealand education system policy and
strengths.
Such type of education strategy is leading some development in this sector.
According to World Bank report India and knowledge economy: leveraging strengths and
opportunities India can do much more to leverage its strength in today’s knowledge based
economy. This reports recognizes India’s achievements of grooming world class economy in
terms of Science, engineering, IT etc in promoting innovation as well as the India’s potential
66
to be a leader of knowledge economy.
LOOPHOLES OR OBSTACLES IN RELATIVELY SLOW RATE OF INDIAN

INNOVATIVE EDUCATION SYSTEM
INDIA’S FALTERING HIGHER EDUCATION
Most of the intellectuals like C.N.R. Rao, Scientiest, Andre Betteille, The Sociologist and Mr.
Narayan Murthy recently accepted in different occasion that the higher education in india is
being flattened. where the quantity of education is really high but quality of education is not
up to the mark. The reasons are as follows:
Source:http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=11824&index
id=11319&indexparentid=6663
1. LACK OF QUALITY TEACHING: According to the national Knowledge Commission

(NKC-2006). The quality of higher education in most of our universities requires sustainable
improvement. The National Knowledge commission also emphasis on the improvement of
Gross Enrolment ratio of the students in different universities. The prediction for gross
enrolment ratio India should attain at least 15% by 2015.
2. TRADITIONAL: Indian generations have a lot of faith on IIT’s and IIM’s But there are
some other institute also which have equitable potential.
3. TO CONVERT LARGE HUMAN RESOURCE INTO KNOWLEDGE WORKER:

India is facing a problem to convert large human resource into knowledge worker this can be
improved with the focused attention towards higher education with improved reforms in
primary education.
OPEN PRODUCTION OF EDUCATED PERSONS
There are some surveys which were being done by Govt. Committees and research agencies
on the increased unemployment of educated persons.
UNBENDING UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: It has been observed that Indian university

system is rigid .when any innovation comes from outside generally refused by the Professors
and teachers. e.g. Merit Promotion Scheme, Faculty Improvement Programme,
Semesterization of the course ,curriculum development centre , annual self appraisal reports
PRIVATIZATION
There are two views regarding the privatization one is it can improve the quality of education
and another is it also has some social cost for example it promotes inequality in the society.
EFFECTIVE MEASURES TO OVERCOME THESE PROBLEMS
CROSS BORDER EXCHANGE

67
India also gives importance to the cross border exchange of the ideas In fact India has hosted
various foreign delegates in their institutes even before the independence. Even our delegates
like Manmohan Singh, Lalu Yadav etc. have been invited by foreign universities for
interaction .
The international workshops are the medium of such type of interaction among various
countries.
EVOLVING DIFFERENT KINDS INSTITUTE IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION: The

Indian university can promote this upto great extent like western universities. Where are no
single system and universities are free to adopt any system which could give birth to higher
competition.
RETAINING TALENT IN TEACHING PROFESSION
Many application based coarse Like Engineering, Medical, management requires some
talented teachers but retaining those teacher is a problem in modern education system.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANSGE: Edunet and E-campus are some facilities which could
help the employees.
SIGNIFICANCE OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Like other western university Indian teachers should also get autonomy to enhance the
quality of students.
Dynamic Curriculum the Coarse should be designed according to the industry and market
demand .one or two corporate could be invited by the teachers while designing the
curriculum.
INTER DISCIPLINARY STUDIES ACROSS THE DOMAINS
Interdisciplinary studies promotes generalists. who can understand the areas of others for e.g.
natural science projects like human genome , social science these subject are more near to the
real life situations . that’s why they require interdisciplinary approach.
India has both opportunities and the threats for achieving success in this scenario India should
react on opportunities and try to overcome the threat
OPPORTUNITIES
Due to global education popularity in higher education India has a plenty of opportunities to
be a one global leader especially in education.
THREATS - CRAZE OF INDIAN STUDENT TO STUDY IN THE FOREIGN

UNIVERSITIES
Indian students has a trend to complete their higher education from the foreign universities
like Australia ,Britane and U.S.A.
68
WORLD CLASS FACULTY
Even reputed institute like IIT,S and IIM,S are facing difficulties in attracting and retaining
world class faculty.
INNOVATION IN THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
U.K.
IN U.K. a report has been published in the name of HMIE Report emerging good practice in
promoting creativity in March 2006which was completely focused towards creativity and
innovation in primary and secondary school.
According to this report:- Norther Ireland
*Innovating in the culture education
*innovating in the method of the assessment.

WALES
This country has a national curriculum in which the creativity skill is one of the essential skill
put of seven common requirements.(others are Maths ,science etc.)
SCOTLAND
The creativity education advisory Board works to encourage creativity in the primary and
secondary schools between students and teachers. The Scottish executives have several
programmes to promote the innovation.
1. FUTURE LEARNING AND TEACHING PROGRAMME: It encourages the pilot

project to improve future learning
2. Schools of ambition to raise the ambition of the school.
IRELAND2: The Irish government is also committed towards the innovation in the higher
education for that recently they introduced an strategy 2006-2013 for science,technology and
innovation.
This report contains following points
1. Greater emphasis on the Research and development AND Ph.D.
2. Investment in the human capital for success and sustainability.
3. Well structured research activity
4. Establishment of the graduate school for better development of researchers
5. Sustainable career for the researchers.

69
U.S.A.
Recently U.S.A. Department of education plan to improve higher education performance. this
report basically focused on making higher education more accessible, affordable and
accountable for parents and students.
Source-http://journal.heinz.cmu.edu/articles/accountability-higher-ed/
WELL DEVELOPED RANKING SYSTEM TO ENCOURAGE HEALTHY

COMPETITION IN THE HIGHER
EDUCATION: The two institute one was institute for higher education policy and
UNESCO-CEPES both framed ranking in the higher education.
2
Source-http://journal.heinz.cmu.edu/articles/accountability-higher-ed/
Further Centre for higher education development (CHE) framed ranking in the higher
education.
PRIVATE ENTRANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Earlier the concept was that private means profit but the Phoenix university in the U.S.A.is a
private University which is unconventional.
According to recent article in change; the magazine of higher learning, KevinKinsee(2006)

has emphasized that this university is not profit oriented like other private organizations .it is
a big university In terms of the million of the students and they have a centralized curriculum
designed by a committee.
LOOPHOLES IN THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
1. OPPORTUNITIES: there are shortage of opportunities for all the Americans or we can
say distribution of opportunities are unequal. The following facts are supporting it:-
*A person from a family with an annual income above $75000 per year has an
86%chance of reaching college by age 18 to 24.
*A person from a family with an income is less then 10,000per year has a 38%chance of
reaching college by the same age .
Source:- http;//www.higher education org/ reports/learning/learning 5shtml
2. LEARNING
In the American education system the tendeny of students is very high to leaves institute
without completing their education.
This problem in early schools is called “Drop outs “while in higher education this problem is
70
called retention problem.
SOME EFFORTS BY SMALL COUNTRIES IN TERMS OF INNOVATION
HAMPSHIRE: In this place the English techers of the Cowplain community introduce the
exercise of creative writing in which the pupils were encouraged to write fairy stories for
children. It gives pupils a sence of satisfaction that they would get audience for their stories.
DUNDEE - SCOTLAND
In the St. Columba,s primary school the experiment has been started for the students as a
game to check the mental ability .
In the pilot study the results were in the favor of this game.
HONG KONG
The Hong Kong institute of the contemporary culture introduced an arts

school where the creativity and innovation are being promoted.
The curriculum and schedule emphasizes on the creativity and innovation without any formal
class.
Students, can show their creativity with the help of exhibitions, study Group, seminars etc.
The three projects are the example in which UNESCO was an observatory;-
1.Light Right Summer Techno
2.The creative campus T.V. Project
3.Liberating Labs
CONCLUSION
Innovation is good only when it leads to the development. Whenever any concept being
introduced by any one or group or organization that always has two sides of the coin one is
positive and another is negative .So implementer or introducer must have remedies to
overcome such type of problem. The success of any innovation requires proper management
also for sustainable development. Innovation always has a cost. Expenditure power varies
from country to country and organization to organization .Only those innovation could be
successful which are within the available resources of the organization or country Innovation
techniques or pattern varies from country to country due to difference in the socio, cultural,
legal. Political, technology factors etc. There are various technological fields in which even
developed countries are dependent on India. For e.g .Wipro and Infosys are western
companies which are highly influenced by Toyota’s technology.
The better performance of these sector (BPO’s KPO’s) in the India are showing the
dependence of developed countries on India because of education (some other factors are also
responsible for this dependence these are cheap labor , Indian timings are suitable to many
western countries etc.). Even in today’s scenario hundreds of E-Tutor Of India helps the
students of developed countries (U.S.A. & U.K.) to complete their homework of Math and
71
English.
REFERENCES
A. BOOKS
1. Report of Finpro India2005;Indian innovation and education system

2. Innovation in service sector by Simantee Sen
3. Learning tradition and teachers role:The Indian Prespective by Sameer Dogra and Anjali
Gulati
B. ARTICLES
4. Madhava Menon NR (2002). Role of teachers in the Pursuit ofAcademic Excellence.

University News, 40(3), Jan.21-27.
5. Parhar Madhu (2005). Application of Educational Technology in Adult
Education.
C.RESARCH PAPERS
6..Jagannathan, Shanti (2000). The Role of Non governmental Organizations in Primary

Education: A Study of Six NGOs in India, November 2000, World Bank Policy Research
Working Paper No. 2530.
7..World bank report of Indian and knowledge economy; leaveraging strength and
opportunities India’s flattering Education System by Kaushik Basu Professor of Economics
Cornell University
8..Emerging directions in global education by K.K.Kasturiorangan
D.WEBSITES
9. http://www.literacvonline.org/products/ili/webdocs/parhar.html visited on24.Education

stategy206-2009by Newzealand10 Oct
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/india visited on 17 Oct 2005
11. http://www.accu.or.jp/litdbase/policy/ind/ visited on 16 Oct 2005
12. http://www.educationtimes.com/goforit/Wired-schools.htm visited on 20 Nov 2005Dogra
and Gulati 169
13.http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications/2/Topic9zh.pdf visited on 24 Oct. 2005
14.http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/unhighedu.htm visited on 12 Aug, 2005Delhi Public
School R K Puram
72
15.http://www.dpsrkp.net/primary_schools.htm visited on 20 sep. 2005

16.http://www.alternativeeducationindia.net/edusat.htm visited on 18 Oct. 2005
17.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India visited on 10 Oct. 2005
18.http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/higedu.htm visited on 30 Oct.2005

19.Rai DK (1999). Role and Responsibility of a teacher, University News, 37(46), Nov.15,
pp. 5-7.
20.http://www.bologi.com/hinduism/mahabharata/06.htm visited on 5 Oct, 2005
20.http://higheredn.delhigovt.nic.in/ggsip.html visited 25 Nov. 2005
21.http;//www.buzzel.com/editorials/9-7-2006-109062-asp
22http;//www.project-statsschool-com/physicaleducation.php
23.http;//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south-asia/4793311.stm
24.http;//www/higher education.org /reports/learning/learning 5shtml
25.www.ihep.org and www.cepes.ro

26.www.academicjournal.org erp
73

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
KARL MARX, MARXISM AND RELIGION
Etim E. Okon *
Senior Lecturer, Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University
of Calabar, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
This paper is aimed at a critical re-examination of the views of Karl Marx on

religion. The paper investigates atheism in Marx’s thought and the social milieu
that created such a revolutionary mind-set. The humanistic influence of the
Enlightenment captivated Marx to the extent that he dedicated his entire life to
the struggle to change society. The research found that Marx was not an original
thinker, and his anti-religious stance was sifted from extant social thought of his
time. The research discovered that Marx did not have sufficient justification to
advocate for the abolition of religion.
KEYWORDS: Religion; atheism; Karl Marx; Marxism; communism.

___________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
74
Karl Heinrich Marx was born on May 5, 1818 of Jewish parents in Trier in Prussian
Rhineland. He was the oldest son of the Jewish lawyer, Heinrich (Heschel) Marx, and of the
lineage of many rabbis. Family sources shows that Marx was born into a family that was
nominally religious. He was brought up as a Protestant following his parent’s conversion into
Lutheranism. His father, Heinrich conversion to Lutheran Church was not as a result of
religious conviction, but a matter of prudence and sound judgment to allow him practice law
after the Prussian edict denied Jews the right to the bar. Karl was only six years when the
whole family became converted into German Protestantism and baptized into the Lutheran
Church in August 1824. Religiously, Marx formative years were a combination of both
Jewish and Christian traditions. Through University education Marx was aligned to the anti-
religious establishment of his time. The drive to change society at all cost led Marx into the
adoption of utopian socialism that was pivoted on the platform of scientific atheism.
History has it that the family was not religiously committed and a clear evidence of
the nominal nature of Marx’s Family was that there was no single volume on religion, or
theology in the family’s library. The family had no commitment to either evangelical
Protestantism, or evangelical Judaism. Marx was raise in an atmosphere of tolerance and
flexibility. Vincent Miceli (1971:94, 95) observes that the family lived as liberal Protestants
without profound religious convictions. Karl grew up without any inhibiting consciousness
of himself as a Jew. Marx attended the Gymnasium (high school) from (1830-1835). In1835,
he was admitted into the University of Bonn to study law at the age of seventeen. After one
year he changed over to the University of Berlin, abandoning legal study in preference for
philosophy. Three years later, and at the age of twenty-three, he graduated his doctorate
program in philosophy with dissertation titled: “On the Difference Between the Democritean
and Epicurean Philosophies of Nature”. His father died in 1838. Apart from his father who
had a tremendous influence on his intellectual convictions and socio-psychological
developments, Marx was also influenced by Ludwig Von Westphalen, a neighbor and
Prussian government official who later was to become his father-in—law. It was this
distinguished bureaucrat who pushed up Marx’s interest in literature and respect for Greek
poets and tragedians like Dante and Shakespeare (Stumpf 1971: 416).
THE INTELLECTUAL ROOTS OF MARX’S THOUGHTS
Marx’s biographers are in agreement that the year 1843 was very eventful for the young
Marx, who was only 25 years old. It was in that year that he met for the first time with
Frederick Engels who became his bosom friend, benefactor, collaborator and ideological
‘soul mate’ (Mcdowell 1985:46). Engels’s father was a wealthy cotton manufacturer. Engel
supported Marx financially for many years. It was still in the same year that he married Jenny
von Westphalen (a baroness). Still in the same year he wrote two of his early works “The
Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Law” and “On the Jewish Question”. It was also in 1843
that the newspaper, Reinische Zeitung folded up and the subsequent expulsion of Marx and
his bride from Germany. Marx relocated to Paris in October of 1843 (Mcdowell 1985:47).
The intellectual roots of Marx can be traced to the University of Berlin, Where
Hegel held sway as a philosophical colossus and cynosure of ratiocination. Marx was
impressed by Hegel’s idealism and positive view of history. He joined the group of radical
Young Hegelians. Hegelianism revolved around the notion of spirit and mind. Hegel
postulated that Absolute Spirit, or Mind is God, and that God is the sum total of reality which
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is identical with all nature and found also in the configuration of culture and civilization
(Stumpf 1971:416).
For Hegel, history is made in the gradual self-realization of God with time. Nature is
knowable in essence through the Mind and history is the continuous struggle of mind or
Spirit or Ideas to achieve perfection. In Hegelianism, God is not different from the world and
the basic reality is either Spirit or Mind. Hegel averred that the rational basis of reality, that
is, the Idea, “is in a continuous process of unfolding from lower to higher degrees of
perfection, and this is the process we know as history. History is a dialectic process moving
in a triadic pattern from thesis to antithesis and finally to synthesis” (Stumpf 1971:416). It
is not clear whether Marx endorsed Hegel’s idealism comprehensively, but he was fascinated
by Hegel’s method of equating God and Nature or the world. Hegel had taught the “spirit
(God) is alone reality. It is the inner being of world, that which essentially is and is per se”
(qtd. in Stumpf 1971:417). The implication of Hegelian thought is that everything that man is
supposed to know exist as the world of Nature. Outside the world and history nothing else
exists.
Marx was enthralled by Hegel’s courage in rejecting traditional theology, which had
put a demarcation between God and the world. Perhaps, contrary to Hegel’s intention, his
views destroyed the very foundation of religion and obliterated classical theological
formulations. Young radical Hegelians at the University of Berlin started a “higher criticism”
of the gospels. David Strauss came up with a critical study of the life of Jesus, in which he
contended that a reasonable portion of Jesus’ teaching was completely mythical invention,
especially those passages which pointed to another world. Bruno Bauer went deeper in his
criticism of the gospels by denying outright the historicity of Jesus (Stumpf 1971:417).
Hegelian method identified God with the world and successfully annulled the literal
interpretation of the language of the gospels. Hegelianism drifted perennially to identify God
with man, since things that exist in nature embodies the Spirit or Mind in a special way. Even
though the culmination of radical Hegelianism into philosophical atheism cannot be
attributed completely to Hegel, young radicals including Marx reached atheistic zenith in
their analysis of God, nature and society. Marx was not an original thinker. His economic
thought can be traced to Ricardo; Marx read Hegel, Feuerbach, Saint-Simon, Fourier,
Proudhon and Bakunin and applied their radical and anarchistic thinking into social analysis
and methods.
MARX’S THEORY OF RELIGION
Many scholars have reached a consensus that alienation and the task of overcoming it was
central to Marx's socialist humanism and the aim of socialism. The concept of alienation was
originally developed by Hegel who posited that the world which comprises of nature, things
and others have become alien to man. Man no longer see himself as the subject of his own
acts, as a thinking, feeling, loving person. Before Marx, Hegel had posited that God was the
subject of history. Hegel saw God in man, in a state of self-alienation, and that through
historical process, God returned to himself. For Ludwig Feuerbach, God represented man's
inherent powers transferred from man, the owner of this power, to a being outside of him. “...
so that man is in touch with his own powers only by his worship of God; the stronger and
richer God is, the weaker and poorer becomes man” (qtd. in Fromm 1980:42). In his
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Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts (1960: 99), Marx applied theoretically the phenomenon

of religious alienation to the alienation of labor. “Just as in religion the spontaneous activity
Selbsttaetigkeit of human fantasy, of the human brain and heart, reacts independently as an
alien activity of gods and devils upon the individual, so the activity of the worker is not his
own spontaneous activity”.
Even though the views of Karl Marx have dominated sociology of religion for many
decades, Marx never studied religion in any detail. His views on religion were derived from
the writings of Ludwig Feuerbach, who posited that through the process of alienation, human
beings attribute their culturally created values and norms to alien, or separate beings (i.e.
divine forces or gods), because of the ignorance of their cultural history. Marx endorsed the
view that religion represents human self-alienation.
Marx argued that religion is man-made without any element of the supernatural and
that religion is the self-consciousness of man who has failed to realize his authentic self and
capabilities, and that the struggle against religion is therefore indirectly a fight against the
world of which religion is the spiritual aroma. “Religion is the general theory of that world,
its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in a popular form, its spiritualistic point d'honneur, its
enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, its universal source of consolation
and justification” (1957:38).
Marx was of the opinion that religion originated from the impact of alienation.
Religious beliefs are not only false, but illusory. Religion is a product of class conflict.
Religion hinders genuine rebellion as it preaches a heavenly bliss which is prepared and kept
for the faithful. Religion is a tool of the oppressors. Religion legitimizes structural violence.
Marx therefore advocated for a forceful abolition of religion as a way to free the society from
bondage. “To abolish religion as the illusory happiness of the people is to demand their real
happiness. The demand to give up illusions about the existing state of affairs is the demand to
give up a state of affairs which needs illusions” (1957:39).
Religion, according to Marx is a poor substitute for social justice and happiness in the
present world. Religion is a major obstacle to social engineering; it hinders the emotional and
intellectual development of the working class and frustrates the evolution of a non-alienated
society in the 'real' world. Religion suppresses the explosive tensions of a society; it aligned
with the interests of the dominant few and assuages the exploited majority. For Marx, the
criticism of religion is the foundation of all criticism and that the struggle against religion is
indirectly a fight against the world which religion is the spiritual aroma. Religion as a false
consciousness is a reflection of people's actual condition and reality and it is the consequence
of alienation in society. It is socio-economic frustrations that cause people to be religious.
The oppressive condition of the social order has inflicted miseries on people, diminish their
humanity and distort their self-understanding.
Religion, according to Marx, originated from, and is maintained by the need of the
oppressed and exploited majority to escape from the oppressive and hard conditions of social
life. Religious distress is both an expression of real distress and also the protest against real
distress. Marx saw religion as a vampire, a social anesthesia, a lullaby that soothes and
assuage genuine revolutionary aspiration and hinders rebellion. Acting as an opiate, religion
dull the pain produced by oppression. It is also a distortion of reality.
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Marx observed that while religion does nothing to solve the problem, it has the
potential to hinder revolution. Religion supports the status-quo: “Religious distress is at the
same time the expression of real distress and also the protest against real distress. Religion is
the sigh of the oppressed creature, the hearts of a heartless world just as it is the spirit of
spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people” (1957:38, 39). The most important task
that is before the human society is to shake off the chains of religion and set itself free.
THE UTOPIAN VISION OF MARXISM

Karl Marx had a vision of humanity that will be freed from oppression and exploitation. Marx
was not an alien communist who attacked the Western world-view. It is not correct to see
Marx as the originator of the conflict between the East and the West. Marx was a full-fledged
product of a major stream of Western thought- (the Enlightenment). Marx had a strong faith
and passion in the power of reason and human perfection. Marx blames evil and human
failings on social institutions and particularly in dehumanizing economic structures, rather
than in the hearts and wills of human beings (Hill 1991:19).
At the very beginning of social analysis, Marx was dismissive of the socialist utopian
of his day, but later on Marx thought of rosy post-capitalist world that was equally utopian.
Marx was undoubtedly a product of nineteenth century Western Europe, where hopes for a
better future was more than a religious commitment. The key component of Marx’s thought
was atheism; Marx had no space in his heart for a transcendent God who wields cosmic
sovereignty. Sergei Bulgakov, a Russian Marxist who converted to Christianity observed that
the dominant theme in Marx’s doctrine was his “militant atheism” (qtd. in Hill 1991:20).
Kent Hill maintained that Marx declared a full blown intellectual and psychological warfare
against any notion of divine transcendence. The only plausible reason for the existence of
religion, according to Marx was that human beings often seek compensation and consolation
for their material insufficiency. Religion as a false hope and source of illusory happiness
must be uprooted not only from the social fabric but from the psyche of people (Hill
1991:20).
David Easton in his analysis of the statement “Religion is the opium of the people”
has argued persuasively that Marx was opposed to religious actions and dogmas that seems to
belittle man’s aspirations to social and intellectual greatness and that his criticism was a
courageous response to the categorical imperative to overthrow everything that reduces the
dignity of man: “In one of his letters, Marx wrote bitterly, that after the Greeks the essential
dignity of man disappeared from the world. Historical Christianity too much emphasized
man’s worthlessness and the vanity of any effort to change his present state” (qtd. in Otten
1965:278-279). Easton went on to say that Marx’s attack on religion is directly an attack on
supernaturalism, or other forces that are indifferent to human progress and development.
Marx’s doctrines are fundamentally in agreement with humanistic and naturalistic

philosophy. Atheism is an integral part of Marxism. Nicolai Lenin wrote “Marxism cannot
be conceived without atheism” (qtd. in Otten 1965:279). Frederick Engels wrote “all religion,
however, is nothing but fantastic reflection in men’s mind of those external forces which
control their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces assume the form of
supernatural forces” (Marx and Engels, 1957:146). Nicolai Lenin once defined God
historically and socially as “a complex of ideas engendered by the ignorance of mankind, and
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by its subjection, firstly beneath the forces of nature, secondly by class-oppression- the ideas
which perpetuate this ignorance and blunt the class struggle” (qtd.in Hill 1991: 45-46).
The Soviet Encyclopedia defines God as a “mythical invented being” (1950:337). The
Encyclopedia states further that “the scientific materialistic outlook is incompatible with
belief in God as it arose and developed in an action and constant struggle with religion”
(1950:337). Communism is a materialist philosophy where the non- existence of God is
emphasized. For the Communist, “matter in motion is the sum total of all being… Man does
not have a soul or spirit and there is no after life” (Schwartz 1960:28).
In 1913 Lenin wrote a letter to Maxim Gorky, in which his hatred for the notion of
God gathered momentum. Lenin declared that the idea of God is: filth, prejudice,
sanctification of ignorance and stupor on the one hand, and of serfdom and monarchy on the
other hand (qtd. in Hill 1991:24).The persistent theme of atheism and compulsion to attack
religion led Kent Hill to assert that “Marxism is not simply socialism which happens to be
atheistic; but it is the atheism which happens to be socialist” (1991:28).
MARX ‘S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
Marx’s philosophy of history is impregnated by economic determinism. It is an economic

interpretation of history and to a great extent the elongation of the criticism of religion.
Historical development and necessity is governed by certain laws, which includes the
determination of the direction of the historical process. History is not governed by immutable
laws, but a process in which new things or ideas are created regularly. Marx argued that
economic developments are conditio-sine–qua-non for social change and human progress.
The sum total of ideas, institutions, law, politics, religion and art are conditioned and
propelled by economic necessities.
While Marx did not deny the influence of ideas on history, he however insisted that
ideas are not independent agents, but simply an intermediary. All professionals and thinkers,
no matter the height of their attainments are subjected to pervasive monetary pressures. Marx
attributed religious devotion, patriotism and all idealistic quests to economic motivation.
Marx avers that all important historical progress can only be achieved through a full-blown
conflict between the old and the new order. This idea can be traced to Hegelian dialectics-
thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. Marx applied this dialectics to his theory and posited that the
level and quality of progress is determined through the intensity and outcome of the tension
between the old and the new order.
Marx also expatiated on class struggle. That is, the inevitable clash of interest within
the social group. The conflict of interests can be seen in antagonistic political actions. Marx
identified class struggle as the most powerful motivating force in history. Sheik Ali observes
that there has always been in history one type of struggle or the other. A struggle between
feudalism and the serfdom and capitalism against workers unions. Human society is in a state
of perpetual conflict always between two groups. Democracy cannot resolve this conflict.
Progress can only be recorded when the new class overpowers its oppressors and the old
order is eventually liquidated.
The struggle of the workers against exploitative capitalism will culminate in the
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imposition of the dictatorship of the proletariat during the transition from capitalism to
Communism (1978:312-313). Marx defined value as labor crystallized. The value of any
commodity is determined through amount of labor time of its production. Labor power is the
only power that has value greater than its own. Workers actually work in more hours than
necessary, which produced surplus value. From the very beginning of his philosophical
quest, Marx was interested in charting a new course on social analysis. He dumped old ideas
and expanded his intellectual horizon to accommodate and address new challenges. Marx
claimed to have “settled his accounts” with his “philosophical conscience”, and was ready to
carry out economic analysis of history and the ‘anatomy’ of capitalist structure.
Marx’s historical outlook appeared first in his philosophical doctoral thesis of 1841,
which was a critical study of the philosophy of nature of Epicurus and Democritus. Marx
compared the Epicurean, Stoic and Skeptics after Plato and Aristotle with Feuerbach, Stirner,
Bauer and Hegel, and concluded that abstract principle, classical philosophy has reached an
unproductive pinnacle which does not require any progression. What is reasonable in the
historical turning-point is a new attempt and a definite break with traditions. Marx declared
“Those who do not understand the necessity of a new beginning will have to resign, or to
copy a cheap plaster of what has been created in costly marble by the master” (qtd. in Lowith
1949:34).
Marx argued that with his ideas the ‘universal sun’ has set and it is only reasonable
for all artificial light of private lamps to give way. Future philosophy must achieve the unity
of reason and reality of essence and existence. Philosophy is thus liberated from the status of
a theory to become a world historical analysis of the political economy… the overview of the
existing social order (qtd. in Lowith 1949:35, 36). In his 1856 essay, Marx explain alienation
of man from himself: “The machine is endowed with the marvelous power to shorten labor”
(qtd. in Lowith 1949:36). Marx advocated the creation of a new world and the creation of
new men- a new kind of man. The new man according to Marx is the Communist, the
proletarian.
MARXISM AS A PHILOSOPHY OF VIOLENCE
Many Christians see Marxism as a philosophy of violence. Globally and historically,

Communism does not accept the idea of democratic transition of power. The goal of world
conquest is often realized through forceful seizure of power. The process to usher in the
transition from the bourgeois state to proletarian is impossible without a violent revolution
(Lenin, the State and Revolution, 1976:33-40).
Marxism does not see the possibility of a non-violent revolution. It will be recalled
that the only reason for the rift between Karl Kautsky, the leading Marxist theorist of the
Second International, and Lenin, was Kautsky’s believe in the possibility of a peaceful
transition to Socialism in England and America. Lenin told Kautsky pointblank: “the
revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is violence against the bourgeoisie…”
(1976:23, 24).
Communism does not use violence only when the exploiting class resists their
assumption of power. Violence is ab initio the Communist method of resting power, with or
without resistance from the opposing forces. In his The State and Revolution, Lenin wrote:
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“That force, however, plays also another role in history, a revolutionary role… it is the
midwife of every old society which is pregnant with a new one, that it is the instrument with
the aid of which social movement forces its way through and shatters the dead fossilized
political forms…” (1976:32, 33).
The purpose of Communist revolution was not to rest power and control the State, but
to destroy it. World history according to Lenin is leading to the “concentration of all the
forces of the proletariat revolution on the ‘destruction’ of the State machine (1976:40).
Communist’s assumption of power through violent revolution leads to the destruction of the
State and culminates in the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Fred Schwarz
has identified three methods of Communists assumption of power (1) internal revolt-through
control of the labor unions. (2) Military conquest and (3) piecemeal surrender to military
blackmail (1960:67-80).
Communist consolidation of political power is the dictatorship of the proletariat. The

dictatorship is theoretically exercised by the proletariat, that is, the poor and toiling masses.
The Communist Party as the executive of the proletariat is the custodian of political power
and authority. The first strategy of the Communist consolidation of power through the
dictatorship of the proletariat is to disarm the people to avert a possible rebellion. The next
step is to eliminate potential leadership of the counter-revolution. There is total control and
monopolization of the press by the Communist Party. The Communist Party is also the sole
employer- in that case there is no choice of employment, either you accept to work for the
Communist Party, or you starve to death.
For the Communist, the State is not a mass of individual, but an organic unity, higher
form of being. The dictatorship of the proletariat operates with a vast, internal espionage
network that feeds the secret police with information and threat to State security. Fred
Schwarz writes: “children are sent to spy on their parents, wives on their husbands,
employees on employers, pastors on their congregations, parishioners on their pastors. Every
group, large or small, would have in its midst a number of informers” (1960:98). The stark
reality here is that there will be no rule of law in a Communist State. Except Communism is
subjected to overhauling revisionism, the principles of democracy, civil liberty, separation of
power and independence of the judiciary cannot be implemented in a Communist state.
MARXISM AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY
One of the debated issues in liberation theology which William Barr pointed out in his 1987
article was the ideological linkage of liberation theology with Marxism-Leninism. It is now
common knowledge that liberation theologians have consistently employed Marxist concepts,
hermeneutics and methodology in their struggle against oppression and injustice. The fear in
some quarters is that liberation theology has adopted the philosophy of historical and
dialectical materialism which from inception was atheistic. Barr has said that Marxism is not
a logically tight system that must be accepted in whole, or not at all (1987:516).
The implication of Barr’s submission is that it is possible to adopt some aspect of

Marxism-Leninism and incorporate it into liberation theology. Barr went on to say that
liberation theology makes critical use of revisionist Marxists, such as Althusser and Veron.
While the usefulness of Marxist analysis in the present revolutionary situation is not in doubt,
it is impossible for Christian theologians to capitulate to Marxist orthodoxy. In Latin
81
America, liberation theologians view their regional problems in the form of class struggle and
glaring social and political inequality. It is not correct to attribute every struggle against
oppressive structure as Marxist. The ideas of freedom, liberation and resistance to social and
political bondage were not invented by Marx. We have stated that Marx himself was not an
original thinker. He read profusely and applied the revolutionary thoughts that existed in
Europe of his time.
Barr has also pointed out the distinction between the use of Marxist thought and
involvement in Marxist political parties. The disparity between Marxist and Christian
doctrine is not the materialism of Marx, since there is some element of materialism in
Christian teaching. The unbridgeable chasm between the two views has to do with the narrow
limits of Marxist human perception. Human existence in its fullness covers moral, mystical
and eschatological dimensions which are reasonably ignored in Marxist interpretation of
reality (Barr 1987:518).
Another puzzle for liberation theologians and Marxists to resolve is the basic
ambivalence as to the role of religion in social struggle. Was Marx correct when he described
religion as a temporary projection of social longing and hopes? Is it possible for revisionist
Marxist to see religion as indispensable aid in the struggle for human and social liberation?
Marx was completely unable to address this vital element in his social analysis.
For Marx, human beings are just workers-providers of labor, which was a limited
vision of human beings. Human beings are not only homo economicus, but also homo
religiosus, homo ludens, homo adorams and homo faber, homo liber, homo academicus,
homo politicus et cetera. Human beings are to be viewed from a multifaceted perspective.
Communism as a system, advocates common, rather than private ownership of property. It
was amazing that just after seventy years after the demise of Marx about one-third of the
world was dominated by Marxism. Marx interpreted history as the product of an ongoing
conflict of “opposing material forces shaping the economic conditions of human social
existence” (Netland 2000:217).
CONCLUSION
The views of Marx on religion reflected the views of an iconoclastic and bohemian
intellectual group which he joined at Berlin known as the Young Hegelians. Marx was
obsessed with faith in progress through scientific socialism. A unique feature of the
philosophy of history expounded by Marx was his belief that the only way man can learn to
understand history was to change it. Marx was disappointed with philosophers who “have
only interpreted the world in various ways; the point however is to change it” (qtd. in
Blackham 1965:291). Throughout his lifetime, Marx combined a secularized form of
messianism with a strong faith in human progress. He had a vision of the consummation of
history through the overthrow of capitalist structure and imposition of the dictatorship of the
proletariat which involves the liquidation of not only capitalism, but militarism and
bureaucracy.
Marx was convinced that the social revolution he predicted cannot succeed if religion
was not uprooted forcefully from the social fabric. Today, the contrary is the case.
Institutional religion has outlived the negative prediction of Karl Marx. There is ample
evidence to justify the fact that social and political change can be carried out successfully
82
without the abolition of religion. Marx was not in any way scientific in his criticism of
religion. He ignored totally the positive functions of religion in society. Marx did not see
anything good in religion. There is no element of objectivity in his criticism of religion.
Besides, the type of revolution which Marx envisaged could have been counter-productive
because if a particular social institution was targeted for extinction, then society can end up in
anarchy and endless social disequilibrium.
Religion has not only survived extinction, it has expanded its tentacles in
humanitarian services across the globe. Even in the present exploitative world order, religion
is a reliable source of help for the vulnerable, and the less privileged members of society.
Religion is a unique social institution that is complementing the efforts of government
worldwide in the provision of social amenities and spiritual succor. The contemporary social
relevance of religion is enough evidence that Karl Marx was wrong when he advocated for
the abolition of religion. If religion in the time of Marx served a negative and dysfunctional
function as the guarantor of social injustice and oppression, we have witnessed the opposite
in the 21st century. Contemporary research findings in the social sciences and humanities
show a strong and functional correlation between religion and politics. Politically, religious
people have led successful social and political revolution that has led to the establishment of
egalitarian society in many parts of the world. The progress which religion has recorded in
the 21st century as a movement of the masses shows that the future of religion is bright.
REFERENCES
Ali, B. Sheik (1978). History: Its Theory and Method, Madras: Macmillan.
Bar, William R (1987). “Debated Issues in Liberation Theology”, Theology Today,

Vol. XLIII, No.4, Jan, pp.510-523.
Blackham, H. J. (1965). Scientific Socialism in Growth of ideas, Knowledge, Thought,

Imagination, (ed.) Jill Cameron, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, pp. 290-291
Fromm, Erich (1980). Beyond the Chains of Illusion: My Encounter with Marx and Freud,
London: Sphere.
“God”, The Large Soviet Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, Vol.5, 1950, 337-340.
Hill, Kent R. (1991). Turbulent Times for the Soviet Church, Portland, Oregon: Multnomah.
Marx, Karl and Engels (1957). On Religion, Moscow: Progress.
__________ (1960).Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, Moscow: Progress.
Miceli, Vincent P. (1971). The Gods of Atheism, New Rochele, NY: Arlington.
McDowell, Josh (1985). Understanding Secular Religions, San Bernardino, California.
Netland, Harold A. (2000) “Communism| Marxism” Evangelical Dictionary of World
Missions, (eds.) A. Scott Moreau, Harold Netland and Charles Van Engen, Grand Rapid,
Michigan, pp.216-217.
83
Lenin, V.I. (1976). The State and Revolution, Perking: FLP.
Lowith, Karl (1949).Meaning in History, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,.

Otten, Herman J. (1965). Baal or God, New Haven, Missouri: Leader Publishing Co.
Schwarz, Fred (1960). You can Trust the Communist, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Stumpf, Samuel Enoch (1971). Philosophy: History and Problems New York: McGraw-Hill.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
NEWSPAPERS IN THE DIGITAL AGE:

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
DR. RAJESH KUMAR*
*Associate Professor,
School of Communication,
Doon University.
ABSTRACT
Newspapers and magazines are prominent sources for news and information.
They bring to the readers the information from around the region and the globe
by overcoming all geographical limits. However, in today’s digital world when
the readers are hooked more to internet, iPads, mobiles etc, the print media is
facing uphill task to sustain itself. There is a crisis situation for print media in
developed countries while India is yet to feel the impact and newspapers here are
still expanding their readers base. Though, with increasing digital literacy and
access, newspapers in India may also face this challenge. But this challenge may
be turned into an opportunity by print media. Many newspapers and magazines
have begun to publish their online editions which has brought the whole world on
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a reader's desktop/palm and make him/her aware of all subject fields. This paper
makes an attempt to analyze the status of print media in this digital world with
special reference to India.
KEYWORDS: Digital world, Internet, Online newspapers, Readership.

_________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Information dissemination has got a new dimension in this digital era. The communication
sector indicates a shift from mass broadcast media to interactive media. Digitized information
is replacing the printed matter. Internet is providing its users more choice and control of
content, and offers individuals and groups the chance to produce and distribute information.
As a result, Internet news is proliferating, produced by individuals, freelance experts,
advertising agencies and traditional news organizations. Most of this information can be
accessed freely. The World Wide Web's role in the generation and dissemination of
information and news affects the printed media in various ways. Due to this reason, the
revenue base for the printed media gets threatened by decrease in the number of readership
and advertising revenues, but at the same time many new opportunities for news production
and distribution are also present. The transformation of newspaper publishing from a separate
and independent enterprise into one of the products of multi-media production houses is a
very significant phenomenon. The software and telecommunications industries, and also the
television industry, compete and co-operate with newspapers on different levels, bringing
new issues about access and freedom of information to the fore. These processes are taking
place at a rapid speed that there is little chance for public intervention or corporate analysis
and strategy building. The transfer of digitized information from the source to the receiver is
easy and less complicated when compared to the printed matter. The internet users have also
grown considerably. All these factors have contributed to the emergence of a new situation
where newspapers and magazines are going online to counter their dwindling readership and
thereby advertising revenue.
THE SCENARIO IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD
The newspapers are in crisis across the developed world. There has been definite meltdown
in the newspaper industry in United States and across the Europe in this digital age. With the
arrival of the digital revolution and accompanying evolution of the Internet, the emergence of
new forms of media, and the rise of online social networks, the news media scene has
changed radically and made the newspapers vulnerable to the extent of challenging their
survival. There is a strong sense that ‘the news industry is no longer in control of its own
future’ (Rosenstiel and Mitchell, 2011) and it is companies like Google and the social media
that lead the way and look set to grab the public space that once belonged to the newspapers
and also to broadcast media. The global financial crisis and economic slowdown of 2008-
2009 sent several western media organizations into a tailspin. Advertising revenues, the
lifeline of the newspaper industry, declined sharply during this period. Many big newspapers,
whose strengths had been sapped and whose situational advantages had been undermined
over the years, went into bankruptcy or protection against bankruptcy. The New York Times
was bailed out by an emergency loan of US $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos
Slim ‘to help the newspaper company finance its businesses’ (NYT, 2009). Tens of thousands
of journalists lost their jobs in the United States, where newsrooms shrunk by 30 per cent as
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compared to year 2000 (Rosenstiel and Mitchell, 2011). Similar is the situation across
Europe. There has been some recovery beginning mid-2010, but the general trend in printed
newspaper circulation and readership is of irreversible decline across the developed world;
they have been in steady, long term, secular decline much before the recent recession hit
these countries and their news media.
‘Circulation is like the sun. It continues to rise in the East and decline in the West’,
Christoph Riess, Chief Executive Officer of the World Association of Newspapers and News
Publishers (WAN-IFRA), told those assembled at the World Newspaper Congress and World
Editors Forum in Vienna in October, 2011. ‘Now we are in a more challenging environment,
because readers are more promiscuous, they have more choices, they read newspapers with
less frequency. We have to do more to attract them, find new ways to garner loyalty’, said
Reiss to his audience present. The ‘World Press Trends 2011’, the annual survey done by
WAN-IFRA, presented there, focused on six key areas: the media consumption shift;
economic developments; newspaper circulation and number of titles; advertising expenditure
by media; newspaper revenue; and internet versus mobile (Reiss, 2011). The report said that
the historical era for the print media was coming to an end and they had entered, even if
differentially across the world, an indeterminate period of uncertainty.
Downie and Schudson (2009) in their report titled ‘The Reconstruction of American
Journalism’, commissioned and published by the Journalism School of Columbia University,
New York say, ‘the era of dominant newspapers and influential network news divisions is
giving way to one in which the gathering and distribution of news is more widely dispersed’
and the economic foundation of U.S. newspapers is ‘collapsing’. Newspapers, ‘the country’s
chief source of independent reporting, are shrinking – literally’, with fewer journalists
‘reporting less news in fewer pages’. With the changes in audience behaviour and news
consumption accompanying the migration to the web and to mobile platforms gathering pace,
the big challenge for the traditional news business is to engage the audience that is getting
away, with grim financial implications. These industry-wide trends, and the accompanying
stresses, pessimism, and disarray, have already taken a big toll of independent and
resourceful journalism in the developed world.
THE INDIAN SCENARIO
While daily print newspaper circulation has been in decline globally, by 17 per cent between
2006 and 2010 in the United States, 11.8 per cent in western Europe, and 10 per cent in
eastern and central Europe, it has risen 16 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region and 4.5 per cent
in Latin America over the same period (Riess, 2011).With nearly three-fourths of the world’s
100 top-selling daily newspapers now published in Asia, India and China are regarded as ‘the
world absolute leaders in the newspaper industry’, with current daily circulations in the
vicinity of 110 million copies in each case. In India, the growth trends in circulation and
readership are especially strong in the Indian language sectors of the press, led by Hindi.
Some studies predict that, by 2040, the Indian print industry would meet the fate of the
American print media industry but by then Indian media publishers should be in a position to
‘get a good share of the advertising revenue’ (Mathew, 2011).
Internet use and broadband access are growing rapidly, although unevenly, across the
developing world. China’s development in this area has been quite spectacular with more
than 500 million internet users – by far the largest number for any country in the world –
most of them served by broadband, minimally defined by western standards. India, by
86
contrast, has only something like 100 million internet users (Internet World Stats, 2011),
most of them poorly served by bandwidth. One would think the number would be much
higher, given the country’s fairly advanced capabilities in the software field but this is typical
of India’s political economy paradox, large swathes of backwardness amidst high economic
growth rates. The most revealing indicator in the comparison is the internet’s penetration of
the comparable populations: China’s 36.30 per cent, which is still only about half the
developed country norm, contrasts sharply with India’s 8.40 per cent. What this means is that
the impact of the digital revolution on the print press and on broadcast television is
considerably stronger and the tipping point is likely to arrive sooner in China than in India.
According to the last National Readership Survey (NRS, 2006), there were an estimated
204 million readers of daily newspapers and an estimated 222 million readers of all
publications in India. A positive feature spotlighted by the survey was the rising profile of
rural readers who constituted nearly 50 per cent of all daily newspaper readers; this was in
striking contrast to the composition of newspaper readership in India twenty years earlier.
However, women were severely under-represented in the ranks of daily newspaper readers in
the country. There were more than 650 million people aged 12 and above who did not read
any daily newspaper. The 2006 survey found that nearly 360 million people who could ‘read
and understand’ some language did not read any publication. They represented a huge
potential readership of the near future.
The latest survey by the Indian Readership Survey (IRS 2011, Q4) shows further growth
in the numbers but the structural features of the all-India readership are not very different.
Total readership of all publications is put at 350.34 million, with Hindi publications leading
great ahead of English one. For English language newspapers, still the most resource-
endowed sector within the Indian press, the challenge is one of consolidating gains and
holding their place against rising Indian language challengers, competition from television,
and potential competition from digital news operations. Robin Jeffrey who has written
profusely on Indian readership(1987; 1993; 1997) highlights a lively and buoyant situation
where, essentially, five factors have been capitalized on over the past two decades. They are:
improved technology which enables the production and distribution of larger numbers of
more attractive newspapers, steadily expanding literacy, better purchasing power, aggressive
publishing, and political excitement. ‘The logic of capitalism’, Jeffrey explains, has driven
newspaper expansion ‘as strongly as a thirsty potential readership.’
Amidst all these heartening figures and facts, there have been some troubling pointers also
which may mar the readership in digital world in future. Recently, Press in India have
attracted sharp criticism from Press Commission of India(PCI) chairman Justice Markandey
Katju. The retired Supreme Court judge began his term by highlighting ‘three major defects
in the Indian media’, which he listed as frequently diverting attention from serious
socioeconomic issues to non-issues and trivializing news, dividing the people by putting out
communal or other divisive messages, and promoting superstition and obscurantism instead
of rational and scientific ideas. He also criticized what he considered to be the relatively low
intellectual level of a majority of journalists, their poor general and domain knowledge, and
their lack of ‘desire to serve the public interest’. He called on the Indian media, print as well
as broadcast, to take the progressive path the print media charted in Europe’s Age of
Enlightenment. He also revealed that he had written to the Prime Minister suggesting that the
Press Council Act be amended to bring the broadcast media under the purview of the PCI and
also that it be given ‘more teeth’, including penalizing powers (Katju 2011a; 2011b).
87
A NEW SITUATION, A NEW OPPORTUNITY
In the midst of this print media crisis, more and more people are reading newspapers digitally
and it is a global audience for the best publications. Worldwide, printed newspapers, with a
reported circulation of 519 million, reach an estimated 2.3 billion people every day, 20 per
cent more than the internet (Riess, 2011). But the ‘terms of trade’ are shifting fast in favour
of the web, mobile, and newer interactive digital platforms. Many newspapers have excellent
websites offering rich, many-sided, multi-media content, including long-form features,
investigative articles, and thoughtful analysis. Several journalism schools round the world
now take digital journalism seriously. It still comes mostly free-to-air but some major western
newspapers have begun to price their digital content and some new revenue streams have
opened up. Mobile platforms and tablets led by the iPad hold promise, with several
newspapers and television channels coming up with innovative and attractive applications
and appliances.
But all this does not add up to a viable revenue and business model for digital journalism.
The internet advertising model is doing exceedingly well but it is the search engines, above
all Google, that take the lion’s share of the revenue; the paid-content model is also well
established on the mobile platform, what with hundreds of millions of users accepting
‘monthly contracts, pre-paid phones, and paid-for apps’, but here too, the new kids on the
block, Apple and the mobile operators, take the bulk of the revenue (Riess 2011). The
newspaper industry faces a double squeeze: the print business continues heavily to subsidize
digital journalism, which cannot pay for itself by attracting enough advertising or
subscriptions or a mixture of the two; and the new digital players put increasing pressure on
newspaper circulation, readership, and the business itself.
Newspapers and magazines as carriers of information in today's digital environment are

expected to provide various services that should be equal to radio and television services.
Online editions of the newspapers and magazines have become successful in the Western
countries, while in India it is slowly gaining popularity. The printed paper risks losing
revenue generators such as classified and other ads, and thus runs the risk of becoming less
profitable. Competitors now fight in the same field for the user's attention and the limited
advertising money available. The World Wide Web allows the existing and new media
outlets compete for advertising revenues, and also provides a new range of advertising based
services. Ads can be put on free communication services, on search engines and directory
services, on free homepage services and on e-commerce sites. The difficulty in attracting
users to a particular website results in growing advertising budgets from these online editions.
Many e-commerce companies spent on average over 8.6 million dollars per year each on ads,
marketing and branding, of which a large part is going to existing print and broadcast media.
The fragmentation of the online public gives more prominence to the gathered audiences of
print and broadcasting.
New services, such as interactive features, guides to information sources and community
building are new to online newspapers & magazines, since it is the continuous production
cycle that the Internet requires. Economically, the option of multiple revenue streams means
that the entire publishing industry should turn to a database model, by which generated
information or content can be marketed and sold in different formats. This offers interesting
new opportunities for the printed media, which has many advantages in its trusted content, a
88
well-organized news production model, and access to both readers and advertisers, but it also
means that the press needs to invest substantially in research and development. Long-term
strategies and large financial commitments are needed, which may be hard to come up with
for small individual newspapers and magazines.
Internet allows for user involvement. This is an advantage to the online publications.
Through its low barrier to entry, it offers publishers the opportunity to develop additional
revenue streams based on their core product, the collection and analysis of information. The
interactivity of the medium has proven to be attractive for many, drawing the audience away
from television to return to a largely text-based medium.
TO SUM UP
Information is the backbone of today's information society. All human activities are
dependent on information. Information has become so vital for all processes, without which
any human activity can hardly take place. Among the several kinds of information, current
information is highly demanded and needed by various research groups and individuals.
Newspapers and magazines are prominent sources for the current information. They bring to
the readers the global information by overcoming all geographical limits. After the advent of
World Wide Web many newspapers and magazines have begun to publish their online
editions. This helps readers to access the newspapers and magazines of many foreign
countries and thereby could be well informed on almost all events. 'Information Democracy'
and 'Right to Information' are the hot topics of discussion among the information
professionals today. Online newspapers & magazines contribute a lot to these issues, since
users can access them irrespective of their location.
The Internet has made a deep impact on all information-related products and services. This
has not spared the newspapers & magazines. The increasing user population in the Net has
attracted the traditional newspapers and magazines to publish their online editions. In India, e
online medium has still a long way to go when compared to the western countries. It should
be designed in such a way that users of all age and interests get attracted by them and derive
benefit from it. Online Newspapers and magazines have brought the whole world on a
reader's desktop/palm and make him/her aware of all subject fields. Online newspapers and
magazines have bridged geographical limits and transformed the whole world literally into a
global village. This is a great opportunity for the print media to seize and devise means and
ways to sustain and flourish.
REFERENCES
Downie & Schudson (2009), The Reconstruction of American Journalism (New York:
Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University). Available at:
http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/system/documents/1/original/Reconstruction_of_Journa
lism.pdf.
Indian Media Scenario (March, 2011). Available at: http://www.aidem.in.
Internet World Stats (2011). Available at: http://www.internetworldstats.com.
IRS 2011, Q4 (Indian Readership Survey), ‘Topline findings’. Available at:

89
http://www.mruc.net (New Delhi: Media Research Users Council).
Jeffrey, Robin (1987), ‘Culture of Daily Newspapers in India: How it’s Grown, What it
Means’, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. xxii, no. 14, April 4.
 (1993), ‘Indian-Language Newspapers and Why They Grow’, Economic and

Political Weekly, vol. xxviii, no. 38, September 18.
 (1997), Economic and Political Weekly, January 4 to March 29.
 (2000), India’s Newspaper Revolution: Capitalism, Politics and the Indian-language

Press, 1977-99, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Katju, Markandey, (2011a), ‘The role the media should be playing in India’, The Hindu,
November 5, 2011. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/article2600319.ece.
(2011b), ‘Justice Markandey Katju clarifies’, The Hindu, November 15, 2011. Available
at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2629257.ece.
Mathew, Jacob (2011): ‘Inspiration from India: Q&A with Jacob Mathew’, WAN-IFRA
Magazine. Available at: http://www.wan-ifra.org/articles/2011/06/28/inspiration-from-
india-qa-with-jacob-mathew.
Miller, Arthur (1961), quoted in ‘Who killed the newspaper?’, The Economist, August 24,
2006. Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/7830218.
NRS 2006 (National Readership Survey), Press Release, ‘NRS 2006 – Key Findings’,
August 29, 2006.
NYT(The New York Times, 2009). Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20

/business/media/ 20times.html.
Riess, Christoph (2011), World Press Trends 2011, WAN-IFRA press release, October 13,
2011. Available at:http://www.thehindu.com/news/resources/article2548460.ece); and slide
presentation by CEO, WAN-IFRA at the 63rd World Newspaper Congress. Available at:
http://www.wan-ifra.org/articles/ 2010/11/26/world-press-trends-and-more-reports.
Rosenstiel, Tom & Mitchell, Amy (2011), The State of the News Media 2011: Overview,
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Available at:
http://stateofthemedia. org/2011/overview-2.
UNESCO (2011), ‘Concept Paper, World Press Freedom Day 2011’, 21st Century Media:
New Frontiers, New Barriers. Available at:
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/ WPFD/WPFD2011/
WPFD_Concept_Paper_2011.pdf
90

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF MGNREGS IN

MAYURBHANJ DISTRICT OF ODISHA
DR. KABITA KUMARI SAHU*
*Lecturer,
North Orissa University,
Baripada, Odisha.
ABSTRACT
The objectives of paper are to analyse block wise physical Performance,

financial Performance, person-days of employment created, fund utilization
under MGNREGS in mayurbhanj district of Odisha during 2006-2011.
Mayurbhanj has completed six years of NREGA implementation. Among 26
blocks, Badasahi block has issued maximum number of job cards followed by
Betanoti, Kaptipada, Kuliana and Samakhunta. Sikruli block has issued the
lowest. Tiring, Jamda, Baripada and Rasgobindapur are other blocks which have
issued less number of cards. Coming to utilization of funds, Gopabandhunagar
block followed by Sarakshana and Bijatala have made significant utilization of
funds of more than 80% of the funds allocated. As many as 14 blocks of
91
Mayurbhanj have exceeded the wage-non wage ratio by margins varying from 1
to 14. Morada block is the worst performer in this front. Rasgovindpur has also
failed miserably in meeting the mandate as the proportion of expenditure on
unskilled wages. However, Samakhunta appears to have just reached the
margin.
KEYWORDS: Employment, Expenditure, Job Cards, Material, Work.

___________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is one of the largest public
programme initiatives for the benefit of the rural poor which confer the right to guaranteed
employment up to 100 days in a year to every needy and poor person in rural areas of the
whole country. The name of Mahatma Gandhi was added to NREGA in the 1st of Feb, 2010.
The criteria of NREGA is fulfilled keeping the needs and rights of the participating labour in
view, together that would constitute the fulfillment of the right to life with dignity, to work,
livelihood, health ,shelter, privacy and labour welfare enshrined in Article 41, 42 and 43 of
the Constitution that help understood and interpret the fundamental right guaranteed in
Article 21 to work, human conditions of work and wages; and Article 243 which is the
expansion of the right given in Article 40 which commands that “the State shall take steps to
organize village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be
necessary to enable them to function as units of self-governance”. The NREGS seems to offer
the safety net and employment that many rural families require due to the seasonal and
variable nature of employment opportunities. The NREGS is an ambitious public works
programme intended to provide a basic safety net to the poor and distress people living in
rural area.
In this context, the objectives of paper are to analyse block wise physical
Performance, financial Performance, person-days of employment created, fund utilization
under MGNREGS in mayurbhanj district of Odisha during 2006-2011. The study highlights
number of job cards issued , households demanded & provided employment, funding,
expenditure, total person days created over the years with trend. NREGA programme was
first introduced in 200 most backward districts of the country. In the second phase of
implementation, it was extended to 130 additional districts and the remaining districts were
covered in the third phase on April 1, 2008. During the first phase itself, Mayurbhanj was
selected along with 18 other backward districts of the state including eight KBK districts. The
Mayurbhanj has completed six years of NREGA implementation.
PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE OF MGNREGA
Due to high poverty incidence and importance of NREGA in Odisha, the Central
Government, in the first phase of NREGA, introduced the programme in nineteen districts of
the state. Five more districts were brought under the purview in the second phase, while the
remaining six districts were covered in the third phase in April 2008 (Figure 2.1). There are
evidences that with the implementation of NREGA, additional employment opportunities
have been created in rural areas and livelihood conditions are said to have improved over
the years. A lot of durable community assets have been created in the villages. They include
village roads, ponds, irrigation tanks, etc. There are also reported cases of decline in forced
92
migration in the lean seasons. The NREGA was implemented in Mayurbhanj in first phase
and job cards were issued since 1907-08. The employment status in Mayurbhanj district from
2007 to 2012 are shown in table-1. The data for 2011-12 are related up to December, 2011
only. The number of job cards issued is increasing over time and it is around 4.00 lakh every
year. It is observed that approximately 25 % of job card holders are provided jobs under
MGNREGA. The number of households completing 100 days of employment per year is
extremely low in Mayurbhanj. It is 3.01% in 2007-08, 6.32 % in 2008-09, 13.65 % in 2010-
11. So in term of physical performance, MGNREGS has failed to provide targeted number of
100 days of employment in a year.
TABLE-1 JOB CARD AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS IN MAYURBHANJ

Year Job Cards Employment Person HH Completed % completed 100
Issued to HH Provided(EP) days(PD) 100 days Days
2007-08 397370 101407 205548 3052 3.01
2008-09 411951 117834 5178938 7444 6.32
2009-10 427822 107805 5152520 6474 6.01
2010-11 429027 148146 7470902 20225 13.65
2011-12 431733 80756 2153693 982 1.22
Source- www.nrega.nic.in
FIG-1 TREND OF JOB CARDS, EMPLOYMENT & PERSON DAYS UNDER

MGNREGS
8000000
7000000
6000000
5000000
Job Cards Issued to HH
4000000
Employment Provided(EP)
3000000 Person days(PD)
2000000
1000000
0
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
The trend reveals that there is wide fluctuation in person days created under MGNREGS in
Mayurbhanj district of Orissa.However, Job cards and Employment has no significant
variation over time.
BLOCK WISE PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE OF MGNREGA
Mayurbhanj is the largest district in Odisha having 26 blocks. The number of job cards
93
issued in Badasahi block is 24217 which is highest among all blocks. But total persons
employed under NREGA is highest in Kaptipada block and person days of employment
created is highest (162475) in Gopabandhu Nagar block. Lowest job cards are issued in
Sukruli block and
TABLE-2 JOB CARDS AND EMPLOYMENT IN DIFFERENT BLOCKS IN

MAYURBHANJ DURING 2011-12
Job Card Employment Provided

Block Issued Household Persons Person days
Badasahi 24217 6179 9851 106990
Bahalda 15188 1811 4409 57837
Bangriposi 20295 3984 7696 104471
Baripada 11862 2965 5150 76724
Betnoti 22559 4665 11095 130135
Bijatala 13898 2786 6066 64494
Bisoi 14052 2827 7420 76877
Gopabandhunagar 12819 3441 9290 162475
Jamda 11021 1640 4882 67108
Joshipur 20650 3329 6010 65953
Kaptipada 22904 4638 12178 118227
Karanjia 18768 2664 5062 54750
Khunta 15057 3556 7919 117749
Kuliana 20282 3731 7961 93364
Kusumi 15823 1820 4054 44367
Morada 18140 4820 9738 120509
Rairangpur 11684 2627 5525 74125
Raruan 13397 2805 7137 93998
Rasgovindpur 13081 3141 4818 73475
Samakhunta 19946 3155 7290 89071
Saraskana 18324 2575 6081 77774
Sukruli 9613 1812 4942 61585
Suliapada 19561 3248 6628 65165
94
Thakurmunda 20784 3069 6463 65586

Tiring 9758 933 1519 12465
Udala 18050 2535 6160 78419
Grand Total 431733 80756 175344 2153693

Source-www.nrega.nic.in
lowest employment is provided in Kusumi block. So performance of MGNREGA depends on

number of person days created rather than number of job cards issued as shown in table-2.
There exist wide variation in employment under MGNREGA among blocks in Mayurbhanj.
In Mayurbhanj, among 26 blocks under NREGA, Badasahi block has issued maximum
number of job cards followed by Betanoti, Kaptipada, Kuliana and Samakhunta. Sikruli
block has issued the lowest. Tiring, Jamda, Baripada and Rasgobindapur are other blocks
which have issued less number of cards. Coming to utilization of funds, Gopabandhunagar
block followed by Sarakshana and Bijatala have made significant utilization of funds of more
than 80% of the funds allocated. As many as 14 blocks of Mayurbhanj have exceeded the
wage-non wage ratio by margins varying from 1 to 14. Morada block is the worst performer
in this front. Rasgovindpur has also failed miserably here in meeting the mandate as the
proportion of expenditure on unskilled wages. However, Samakhunta appears to have just reached
the margin.
PROPORTION OF WAGE AND MATERIAL IN TOTAL EXPENDITURE
The financial performance of the programme in a region can be studied from percentage of utilization
and wage material ratio to total expenditure. Table-3 shows proportion of expenditure on wage for
labour and material from 2007 to 2012 in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. It is observed that in all
developed states of India, 80 % to 90 % of total expenditure on MGNREGA is incurred on wage only.
For example, in 2010-11, percentage of expenditure on wage is 94.1 % in Kerala, 100 % in Tamil
Nadu, 72 % in Chhatisgarh, 78.3 % in Maharastra and 68 % in Haryana. In Odisha, 52.52 %
expenditure was incurred on wage of labour which increased to 64.81 % in 2009-10 and again
declined to 62.75 in 2010-11as shown in table-3.
TABLE-3 PERCENTAGE OF WAGE AND MATERIAL IN TOTAL EXPENDITURE IN

MAYURBHANJ
Year Odisha % Odisha % Mayurbhanj Mayurbhanj India % India Exp

Exp on Exp on % Exp on % Exp on Exp on on
Wage Material Wage Material Wage material
2007-08 52.52 47.48 49.19 50.81 N.A N.A
2008-09 61.18 38.82 62.74 37.26 67.75 32.25
2009-10 64.81 35.19 67.75 32.25 65.48 34.52
2010-11 62.75 37.25 64.67 35.33 65.28 34.72
2011-12 63.24 36.76 58.20 41.80 72.14 27.86
Source-www.nrega.nic.in
FIG-2 COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGE OF EXPENDITURE ON WAGE &

MATERIAL
Percentage of Expenditure on Wage & Material

in Odisha, Mayurbhanj
95
80
70
60
50 Odisha % Exp on Wage

40 Odisha % Exp on Material

Mayurbhanj % Exp on Wage
30
Mayurbhanj % Exp on Material
20
10
0
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
In Mayurbhanj, expenditure on labour increased to 67.75 % in 2009-10 but declined

thereafter. Since there is a scope of corruption in material, the study suggest for higher
expenditure on wage of labour for more number of days of employment to the people.
SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION
The NREGS is a broad and successful programme in providing livelihood opportunities to

the tribal people, though hard labour. The scheme is also successful in providing employment
opportunities to the uneducated workforce as the works under the scheme require unskilled
and manual labour. This programme is able to reduce rural urban migration through
generation of guaranteed employment. Registration of a reasonably high number females for
job cards indicates that the NREGS has created ample awareness on state-sponsored
employment opportunities amongst the female job-seekers and has motivated them to tap the
same. Payments of wages are observed to be quite regular and largely institutionalized
through banks. The workers generally receive their wages within a fortnight and large part of
them is paid even within a week mostly through their bank accounts. Such regular and
institutionalized wage payments not only encourage the job-seekers to work under the
scheme. The works under the NREGS generally include water conservation, irrigation
facilities, renovation of ponds, and construction of rural roads. Such works not only facilitate
conservation of natural resources, but also help in creating tangible assets for the community
as a whole in addition to generation of necessary employment opportunities. Such efforts
towards water conservation are also expected to facilitate agriculture and other farm activities
and hence sustainable development of the concerned panchayats in a considerable way. The
NREGS largely follows participative approach. Selection of works is usually made on the
basis of the community requirements and in consultation with the people in the villages. This
signals effective participation of the people in the decision making process of NREGS. Such
an approach not only incorporates local level needs in the work plans, it also helps in
optimum utilization of available resources. This is essential for successful implementation of
any scheme.
The success of the NREGS is largely limited by the lack of necessary awareness of
96
the people about its various provisions like minimum number of days of employment,
minimum wage rate, unemployment allowance, etc. that a household should get. Many of the
job card holders are not even aware of the fact that they need to apply for jobs and there is
stipulated time frame of 15 days to get jobs. There should be continuous efforts towards
creating adequate awareness on different provisions of NREGS amongst the people. Such
attempts should be initiated by the executives and people’s representatives at the GP level.
There is a need for sufficient canvassing on the scheme at the village level in vernacular
language. Creating awareness is necessary not only to motivate the people to work under the
scheme but also to encourage them to participate in its planning and implementation.
REFERENCES
Ambasta P., Sankar V. P.S and Shah M. (2008),“Two years of NREGA the road ahead”,
Economic and Political Weekly, February 23, 2008.
Centre for Science and Environment (undated), “An ecological act: A backgrounder to the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)”, Draft, prepared by Natural Resource
Management and Livelihood Unit, New Delhi.
CSE (2008) NREGA – Opportunities and Challenges, Policy Paper, New Delhi: Centre for
Science.
Dreze Jean, Khera Reetika, Siddhartha.K (2008), “Myths and Reality”, Yojana,
August, 2008.
Gopal K.S (2009),“NREGA, social audit: Myths and Reality”, Economic Political Weekly,
January 17,2009.
Gaiha Raghav, (2005), “Does the Employment Guarantee scheme benefit the rural poor in
India, some recent evidence”, Asian survey, Vol. 45, No.6, November-December- 05.
Khera Reetika (2008),“Employment Guarantee Act”, Economic and political Weekly,

August 30, 2008.
Nayak N.C, Behera b. and Mishra P(2009), “Appraisal of Processes and Procedures of
NREGS in Orissa: A Study of Mayurbhanj and Balasore District”, Report submitted to
Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India
Papola, T.S. (2005): ‘Employment guarantee–A Universal programme is feasible’, Economic

and Political Weekly, February 12, 2005.
97

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
TOURISM LEGISLATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF SIKKIM
DEBAPRASAD BANERJEE*; DEBASISH BATABYAL**
*Research Scholar,
Department of Business Administration,
University of Burdwan.
**Research Scholar,
Department of Business Administration,
University of Burdwan.
ABSTRACT
The need for tourism legislation has been increasingly gaining importance in our
country and Sikkim is not exception to that. Though the state is one of the
cleanest destinations in India with naive natural beauties, yet several adverse
environmental, socio-cultural and industry-oriented problems are coming to
light. Concentration of tourist traffic in a very few destinations, poor
architectural design, poor land use planning, loss of degree of freedom of hosts
to attractions and other civic amenities, etc. are the problems resulting from
98
tourism along with the conventional environmental threats such as landslides,

changes in flora and faunal species composition etc. this article is distinct in that
it is identifying and explaining the relationship between tourism legislation and
infrastructure and superstructure. An opinion survey was conducted by
considering the extent of legislation and the level of development in Sikkim.
________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Sikkim is a small hilly state, bounded by vast stretches of Tibetan plateau in the North, the
Chumbi Valley, and the kingdom Bhutan in the East, the kingdom of Nepal in the west and
Darjeeling (West Bengal) in the South. Sikkim is famous for scenic valleys forest, snow clad
mountains, magnificent Buddhist culture and heritage and peace-loving people. Though
small, the environmental, social and cultural diversities are not so. Some scholars believe that
the word Sikkim involves Nepalese dialect and it refers to a ‘new place’ or the term has been
derived from a Sanskrit word which means a ‘mountain crest’. The people of Sikkim have
ethnic diversity. The Bhutias came from Tibet, the Lepchas were the aboriginal community,
and the Nepalese came from Nepal. When Sikkim was an independent state and faced many
invasions by its neighboring countries and the king took the help of the British India and,
later, gifted some of its region including Darjeeling to the British Government. Now this 22nd
Indian State (joined Indian Union in 1975) has Over 81% of the total geographical area under
the administrative managerial control of the Ministry of Environment and Forest,
Government of India. Over 45% of the total geographical area of the state is under tree cover
and nearly 34% of the geographical area is set aside as protected area network in the form of
national park and wildlife sanctuary. The basic statistics of flora and fauna are given here
under. Besides, the State is having a wide range of species ranging from one hundred forty
four mammals, five hundred fifty birds, six hundred fifty butterflies and moths, five hundred
fifty orchids to over four thousand species of flowering plants and three hundred ferns and
allies (Economic Survey 2006-07, Govt. of Sikkim) . Sikkim is ecologically a fragile region.
The state has the responsibility to conserve its rich biological diversity that includes
coexistence and protection of over 5000 species of angiosperm (one third of the total national
angiosperms). Again this place has multi-ethnic communities. Any destination is widely
acknowledged to be one of the most difficult products to manage and market. Over the
coming decade, the challenges facing destination marketers are likely to be even greater with
a whole host of issues likely to impact on the future marketing of destinations ( Kozak et.al.,
2006). Davidson and Mailtland (1997) outlined the characteristics of a tourist destination in
the context of a single district, town, city or clearly defined and contained coastal, rural or
mountain area as having a total tourist product based on a variety of resources, other
economic activities either in conflict or complementary to tourism, a host community, public
authorities responsible for planning the resources and a active private sector. Howie (2003)
proceeded by saying that destinations present complex challenges for management and
development in that they served a broad range of the tourists’ needs and the tourism-related
businesses as well as the local community, local businesses, and industries. Howie (2003)
further proceeded with the view that destination management plays a key role in addressing
the many and sometimes conflicting issues that arise in contemporary tourism and ensures its
managerial implications with a different type of direction, control, planning and coordination.
Ritchie et. al. (1999) conceptualized it as “a package of tourism facilities and services, which
like any other consumer product, is composed of a number of multi-dimensional attributes”.
99
Some authors (Leiper, et.al., 2000) studied the tourism destinations from the demand
perspective and identifying it as a set of products, services, natural and artificial attractions
able to draw tourists to a specific place, where the geographical location is simply one of the
factors in tourism system. Some studies specifically examined categories within the supply
system while other still highlight the critical role played by the actors that manage tourism
destinations. So, it was important to clarify and emphasize the important distinctions that
existed between destination policy, planning and development (DPPD), destination
management organization (DMO), and destination audit (DA). Smith (1994, p. 175) defined a
tourism region as ‘a contiguous area that was explicitly delineated by a researcher, planner or
public agency as having relevance for some aspect of tourism planning, development or
analysis’. There was an increasing competition between tourism destinations, and Smith
(1995: 199) adapted the work of Gunn (1979) to develop a list of criteria to define tourist
destination zones. These were a set of cultural, physical and social characteristics that created
a sense of regional/ destination identity, adequate tourism infrastructure, a set of attractions
and potential attractions, potentiality to support tourism planning agency and accessibility.
Although modern authors of tourism management sought to improve the competitiveness and
sustainability of the destination, they differ fundamentally in that DPPD is essentially an
intellectual process that uses information and judgment to make macro-level decisions
regarding the kind of destination that stakeholders want. In the awareness that the potential
competitiveness of a destination is influenced or limited by the relationships between these
three forces, it is a trend to focus on the main “functions” that the last two forces – DMO and
DA - play on the development of the destination.
From the above discussion, it is noteworthy to mention that the root of guest-host relationship
has an inherent relationship with the demand and supply of a destination. But the second
consequent step of such relationship in the analysis of an inter-linkage through the
relationship between guest and hosts, their opinion, condition in the destination, tolerance
level. It was published in Asia Intelligence Wire from FT Information (2007, 7th November,
Business Line) that Sikkim took over as the most-favored tourist destination in Eastern India
and achieved the Best Performer Award as the focus has been on creating the right
infrastructure and adopting an aggressive marketing policy. Although started later, Sikkim
managed to achieve significant gains from tourism and its Master Plan was found to be
contributing well to ecotourism. Mr R.B. Subba, the Minister of Sikkim Tourism said “The
strategy seems to have worked for the State”. He also stressed on two other significant moves
made by the State Government is to prepare the 20- year Sustainable Development Plan and a
Master Plan for Trekking. He also remarked that the marketing strategy adopted by the State
was need-based and the whole idea was not only revolving around the concept to exceed the
carrying capacity and equitable distribution of wealth but also to a sincere effort to equally
distribute tourist traffic to all four districts in order to reduce the burden on very few circuits
by developing infrastructure. One of the industry representatives Lama B. directly put
forward her opinion by saying that “What we really need is an airport in the State, and,
perhaps, an alternative highway”. According to the Tata Consulting Report (2005), Tourism
Master Plan for the State projected a gradual growth of tourism-related activities till 2011
though the projected figure for domestic travelers already exceeded. But the foreign tourist
arrivals did not show any significant progress compared to domestic counterparts. According
to the Minister of Tourism of the State, the growing concern was the impact of the
accelerated tourist flow with an ill-equipped infrastructural status. He was also concerned
for receiving more low-end budget tourists.
100
In the report (Asia Intelligence Wire from FT Information, Business Line, 2009, 6th June),
‘JICA warns of cutting down funds for Sikkim forest project’, Atreya, S.( 2009, 21st August)
disclosed that Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has asked the Forest
Department of Sikkim to improve its absorption capacity otherwise the projected Rs 357-
crore loan for sustainable development of Sikkim forest recourses could be cut down by half.
The official of JICA said that the non-availability of geographical information such as
scientific data or maps in Sikkim and poor maintenance and operation of assets are important
reasons for deciding such proposal. He highlighted the non-eligible financing components of
JICA for the proposed project such as payment for land acquisitions, resettlement, and
military components and for big constructions inside national parks besides general
administration expenses, taxes and duties, compensation and other indirect items and such
technical issues for reducing the funds. The JICA official also stressed the need to have
private sector participation in the promotion of Siikkim Tourism. In the article “Impact of
firewood extraction on tree structure, regeneration and woody biomass productivity in a
trekking corridor of the Sikkim Himalaya” written by Chettri, N., Sharma E., & Deb D.C.,
& Sundriyal R.C. ( 2002, May) explained how tourism in Sikkim was a rapidly growing
industry and recorded a roughly 10 fold increase in visitors during the past 2 decades. The
authors mentioned in their article that how the phenomenon resulted in encroachment on the
forest for firewood (Rai and Sundriyal 1997; Chettri 2000). They mentioned that although the
Government regulation in Sikkim forbade the use of firewood in remote trekking areas yet
the trekking support staff and travel agents were still continuing the use of firewood in
remote trekking areas resulting in various environmental degradation including deforestation,
landslides, avalanche etc. So, the above literature review recognizes the unequal and
unsustainable tourism development practices and advocates sustainable development
approach for the future.
The objectives of the study are
 To identify the relationship between tourism development and the formulation of

tourism legislation in Sikkim.
 To measure the different areas of legislation in compliance with tourism development

and resulted consequences.
 To understand the roles and responsibility of the government and other regulatory
organizations held responsible for the development of proactive and reactive tourism
legislations in Sikkim.
METHODOLOGY AND HYPOTHESES
All the questions in the questionnaire were related to the existing development features and
socio-cultural and ecological progress and problems in the locality. The respondents were
informed that their participation was on a voluntary basis and all information provided would
be kept private and confidential. Questionnaires were distributed only to those who agreed to
participate in the study. The researcher then briefly explained the nature and requirement of
the survey before the respondent filled up the questionnaire.
101
For collecting the data from the primary sources, a set of structured questionnaire made for
the community members belonging to gangtok, Namchi, and Mangan representing three
districts of Sikkim. Apart from that observation, schedules and interview methods are
followed for the above said purpose. A total of 475 customers were contacted, and the overall
response rate was 42.32% (201 completed, usable questionnaires). The secondary sources of
data collection made from collection of data cited in the reports of Department of tourism,
Govt. of India, Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation ( STDC). Apart from these,
relevant (e) books, (e) journals, (e) magazines and (e)news papers have also been taken into
consideration.
To understand the changing aspects of tourism legislations following hypotheses are

considered in the study.
H01: There is no relationship between the development of tourism and that of the legislation
in Sikkim as a destination.
H02: The existing tourism legislations are reactive and came to light only after the
consequences. So there is no proactive legislation for tourism beforehand.
BACKGROUND OF TOURISM LEGISLATION AND SIKKIM
Tourism is a multifaceted phenomenon and so its legislation. A general understanding of

tourism phenomenon from the point of view of different parent subjects has brought about a
new subject i.e. ‘Tourism Legislation’. Legislation itself is exhibited through the socio-
economic, cultural, political philosophy and changeable conditions of a country.
Tourism as an important phenomenon has been gaining its social, economic, cultural and
political recognition so its legislation. The nature of tourism legislations is multifaceted and
incorporates such legislations as may be found to be relevant from time to time.
So, there is an urgent need to identify and choose laws related to tourism and of course to
introduce new laws keeping in view the present socio-cultural, apolitical and financial
conditions of the society. Again, there is an urgent need for continuous assessment of such
laws from time to time. Introduction and assessment of tourism legislation itself will bring
about a sustainable development orientation in institutionalized and non-institutionalized
fields of tourism. According to UNWTO, “in the matter of tourism legislation, developed,
developing and less-developed countries are equal”. So, a systematic understanding of
tourism legislation through the development of its literature is not only essential but also
imperative with necessary supports from other subjects and new research studies. This article
is based on a descriptive research study accumulating and analyzing existing legislations in
India with respect to tourism and incorporating some new aspects of tourism legislations
prevalent in our country. With this massive acceleration of tourism industry and significant
impacts on economy, ecology, local people and more than identified 15 subsidiary and
informal sectors, tourism deserve increasing status of infrastructural industry and separate
legislations for scientific and systematic planning and development. It is a well accepted fact
that developed countries have more better and more number of tourism rules and regulations
than their developing counterparts. Again, the scope, the scope, range and depth of tourism
legislations are largely depends on the policy of the government and its intention to preserve
all types of natural, cultural social and other tourism resources and to introduce a sound, fair
102
and quality business practice. Tourism legislations should be proactive forward-looking and
futuristic in nature. These are to be accepted by the all concerned parties i.e. hosts, guests,
and industry people. Tourism legislations in India must have the following characteristics:
 Necessity
 Acceptability

Sustainability- patronizing sustainable practices
 Proactive and forward-looking
 Humanistic and value based receptivity and responsible
Tourism legislations are really pervasive issues in which several rules and regulations
specifically for each sector and their link with other sectors should be determined. Tourism
laws create and define seven basic concepts.
Travel is a legal right
 Reliable and safe transportation must be available
 Safe and adequate accommodation must await the traveler
 All travelers should have access to such accommodations
 Travel and accommodation costs must be reasonable
 Regulations of the travel and tourism sector are necessary
 Redressal mechanism for transgressions of rights and regulations is necessary.
Sikkim is one of the proactive destinations in India and as such it has adopted many proactive
forest related legislations. But in the matter of socio-economic and cultural effects of tourism
core legislations are not found. In fact, the relationship among laws and regulatory aspects are
neither integrated nor oriented to tourism though tourism is pre-dominating the society.
Following diagram can better identify and address the areas of tourism legislations in Sikkim.
EXHIBIT 1: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM VALUES AND PRINCIPLES MODEL FOR

TOURISM LEGISLATION
103
Source: After Sadler & Wright (1993)

Considering the following diagram and incorporated areas in a broad way the relationship
was sought to identify and establish the relationship between tourism development and that of
the legislation in Sikkim. Here the study was confined to this relationship and related future
implication with an orientation to justify the level of proactive sustainable orientation.
ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION
The implication of environmental legislation and its relationship with the basic civic
amenities in a destination is relatively new in tourism literature. Land use planning,
architectural designing, conservation and preservation of plants and animals etc. have a direct
contribution to the development and maintenance of quality environment and resource
conservation. That is also the primary responsibility for the formulation and enforcement of
environmental legislation. This relationship has been empirically tested with respect to
Sikkim. Following is the basic multiple regression model given here under considering
fourteen independent variables.
Y    1 X1  2 X 2  ....  14 X14  e
TABLE : MULTIPLE REGRESSION RESULTS SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN EXISTING (TOURISM) ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION AND
INFRASTRUCTURE & CIVIC AMENITIES PROVIDED IN SIKKIM
E-Eco-Clubs -0.19278 0.278285 -0.69273 0.490366 -0.74608 0.360529 -0.74608 0.360529

HTA -0.1872 0.317398 -0.58979 0.556899 -0.81827 0.443876 -0.81827 0.443876
LFATRB 0.179297 0.262874 0.682064 0.497053 -0.34337 0.70196 -0.34337 0.70196
CREX-NR 0.17088 0.303362 0.563288 0.574722 -0.43229 0.774046 -0.43229 0.774046
PPNearby 0.508025 0.326929 1.553932 0.123916 -0.142 1.158046 -0.142 1.158046
TDS 0.07243 0.226561 0.319691 0.749987 -0.37803 0.522894 -0.37803 0.522894
SPNR 1.013023 0.495825 2.043105 0.04414 0.02719 1.998856 0.02719 1.998856
WCWE 0.123752 0.475809 0.260087 0.795425 -0.82228 1.069787 -0.82228 1.069787
104
SUDrain 0.394875 0.171941 2.29657 0.024103 0.05301 0.73674 0.05301 0.73674

LDDrain 0.859704 0.331612 2.592498 0.011215 0.20037 1.519037 0.20037 1.519037
UDDrain -1.19222 0.267152 -4.46271 2.47E-05 -1.72339 -0.66105 -1.72339 -0.66105
DCDrain 0.223065 0.380782 0.585808 0.559557 -0.53403 0.980162 -0.53403 0.980162
Edrain -0.14087 0.369848 -0.38088 0.704241 -0.87623 0.594489 -0.87623 0.594489

VCStake 0.668955 0.407841 1.640237 0.104652 -0.14194 1.479852 -0.14194 1.479852
N.B.: E-ECO-Clubs =Existence of eco-clubs in your locality, Existence of hidden tourist attractions, LFATRB =Loan facility available to
open up tourism related business , CREX-NR =Community rule to extract or ensure access to natural resources , PPNearby
=Park/playground nearby,TDS= Types of drainage system , SPNR= Staircase/ pucca narrow road , WCWE= Whether connected with
electricity , SUDrain= Space used for drainage is , LDCDrain= Lack of discharge capacity in drains , UDrainOLarine= Use of drains as
open latrine/ Garbage disposal , DCDrain= Dilapidated and Chocked drains , EDrain= Encroachment for drainage , VCSake= Does the
village community have a stack on village/Anchal forests/joint forestry management?
So, the relationship between the development of tourism legislation and that of the tourism
with all round civic amenities are found to be evident in this study. The result also interprets
the extent of development and its important relationship with the policy issues involved in the
tourism legislation. The extent of legislation has direct effects on its acceptability. This all
round acceptability by the hosts, guests, industry leaders and other stakeholders significantly
influence the level of success and the sustainable development philosophy.
REFERENCES
Batabyal D. ( 2010). Implication of a Scientific Destination Study in Tourism Product

Management: A Case Study in Sikkim. Article Presented and Published in a National
Conference “ Science and Technology Applications in Tourism Sector focusing on
Uttarakhand Opportunities”, September 27-28, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar,
Uttarakhand, India.
Census of India (2011), Retrieved from

http://www.censusindia.gov.in/in/2011census/censusinfodashboard/doanload
Das D. K. and Batabyal D. ( 2009). Environmental, Social and Cultural Impacts of Tourism
in Sikkim: A Case Study Approach. Tourism Theory and Practice: Tourism Impact Issue.
Kolkata.Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 108-118.
Howie, F. ( 2003).Managing the Tourist Destination. London, Continuum.
Jodha ( 1986). Common Property Resources and Rural Poor in Dry Regions of India.
Economic and Political Weekly, 21, 169-181.
Economic Survey of Sikkim ( 2006-07). Government of Sikkim
Kwazulu-Natal Tourism Authority( 2002). Tourism Product Development Strategy. Deloitte

& Touche Consortium
Pike S. ( 2004). Destination Marketing Organizations, Advances in Tourism Research

SeriesAmsterdam, Elsevier.
Poon, A. (1998). Tourism, Technology and Competitive Strategies. CABI International

Publication.
105
Sikkim Development Report (2008). Planning Commission, Government of India.
Sikkim Strategic Planning , Tourism ( May, 2008), Government of Sikkim and Building &
Construction Authority ( BCA),Singapore.
Wahab, S. & Pigram, J.J. (Ed.). ( 2005). Tourism Development and Growth: The Challenge
of Sustainability. London & New York , Routledge.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
ILLNESS BEHAVIOR, MEDICAL PLURALISM AND

NON-COMPLIANCE TO BIOMEDICINE:
REFLECTIONS FROM FIELDWORK IN ADDIS ABABA
DEJENE TESHOME*
*Research Scholar,
Department of Anthropology,
Andhra University.
Lecturer,
Jimma University,
Ethiopia.
ABSTRACT
Non-compliance to biomedicine is one of the major challenges to public health

officials and physicians mainly in developing countries. The evaluation of symptoms
106
and the subsequent decision to seek help involves complex processes. The
accessibility of biomedicine alone does not ensure the utilization of the service.
Many socio-cultural and economic factors come into play in the decision making
process of patients. This brief ethnographic account therefore shades light on the
illness behavior, noncompliance to biomedicine and the patterns of resort in Addis
Ababa.
KEYWORDS: Illness behavior, non-compliance, medical pluralism, patterns of

resort.
_____________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
In every culture, people react in specific ways to a given symptom of sickness. The process by
which a given symptom is perceived, defined and evaluated for subsequent actions is known as
illness behavior (Mechanic, 1961:189). This encompasses the responses of a sick person and the
people around him/her in relation to the courses of the illness. The response “include attention to
the symptoms, compliance with therapeutic advises, change in treatment regimens and the
evaluation of therapeutic efficacy and outcome.” (Chen, Kleinman and Ware, 1994:277).
Illness behavior is part of a shared belief and behavior about the prevention and treatment of
illness in every society. These shared beliefs and behavior about the prevention and treatment of
illness constitute the health care systems of that society (Levinson, 1997:136; Sobo, 2004:6).
Kleinman (1978:86) noted that medical systems are cultural systems that include people’s beliefs
and the patterns of behavior. Human understanding about disease etiologies and the medical
interventions have undergone tremendous changes since antiquity. The magnitude of these
changes become evident when we look at these conceptions in ancient Egypt or Greek, Middle
Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment and through to the 21st century ( Pramukh, 2008:40-58).
However, the changes in the understandings of the etiologies, health and subsequent preventive
measures and/ or treatment have not led to the emergence of an overarching medical practice. It
is common to come across more than one medical practice in a society across the world.
Anthropologists call this medical pluralism. Medical pluralism is a situation where by more than
one medical practice of diagnosis, treatment and therapy do exist in a society (Janzen,2002). The
plural medical practices could include bio-medicine that results from western biomedical
research and a number of Alternative ones. Alternative or traditional medicine forms an
important element of health care in any society especially, in developing countries.
Clearly, the existence of medical pluralism is linked to the illness behavior and non-compliance
to biomedicine. Some studies tend to associate non-compliance to biomedicine in the presence
of biomedicine with socio-economic marginality of low income groups in urban settings of
Western societies (Press1978:1). Others associate the non-compliance especially of migrants
from other societies as an indication of low acculturation into mainstream of Western societies
(Farge, 1977). However, subsequent studies research on heterogeneous urban population in
Western countries revealed non-compliance to biomedicine was not limited to migrants but it
includes all sectors of the society. Two theoretical themes then developed to explain the growing
popularity of CAM among these heterogeneous urban population and non-compliance to
107
biomedicine in Western societies (Astin 1998; Ronen, 1988; cited in Fadlon 2004: 70). The first
theme posits the growing use of CAM serves as an indicator of the rejections to biomedicine due
to its deleterious side effects and growing alienation because of its highly technological
procedures and specialization. The main point is then the idea that the limitations of the
biomedicine and the patients’ awareness about these limitations have led to the growing
popularity of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and ultimately to non-

compliance to biomedicine. The second theme took the dissatisfaction with biomedicine to
higher level and considers the growing medical pluralism through the popularity of CAM as
“counter culture and equated with ideological concern for the ecology; preoccupation with the
body and fascination with the super natural; a cultural alternative to the materialist Western
philosophical traditions.” (Bakx, 1991; Glassner, 1989; Lupton 1994; in Fadlon 2004:70). So, it
is about the level of dissatisfaction with biomedicine where the limited dissatisfaction views non-
compliance to biomedicine makes CAM a second resort where as the general dissatisfaction with
biomedicine views CAM as counter culture.
Studies from non-Western societies have noted the access by patients to pluralistic medical
practices involves complex transactions among diverse systems of technologies, meaning and
power. Hausmann-Muela & Muela Ribera (2003:97) for instance noted there is a sequential and
integrative form of treatment for malaria in Tanzania. The studies reveal the fact that mothers
first apply traditional medicine for their sick children from malaria as a kind of first aid and then
seek biomedical treatment not as separate courses of therapeutic alternatives but as
complementary hierarchies of treatment. The study further suggests the hierarchy is not rigid and
it can be adapted to concrete situations. When the hospital treatment is proved unsuccessful after
two or three attempts, parents in Tanzania would opt for traditional health services of different
kinds. Further, similar studies from other African countries (Stekelenburg, etal 2004; Goods,
1987; Janzen, 1978) show non-compliance to biomedicine is a common phenomenon due to
complex socio-cultural and economic factors. The practice of medical pluralism and the uses of
the services of these medical traditions by patients are common in the Addis Ababa, the capital
city of Ethiopia. It is the phenomenon worth anthropological scrutiny because while the official
policy strongly supports biomedicine, patients at times tend to prefer the services of medical
traditions other than biomedicine. The objective of this study is therefore to shade light on the
illness behavior and non-compliance to biomedicine using the primary data collected from Addis
Ababa.
METHODS AND SETTINGS
Qualitative data have been collected from patients, healers and health professionals in Addis
Ababa through anthropological fieldwork between July 2011 and August 2012. Specific tools
such as observation, unstructured and semi structures key informant interviews and focus group
discussions were used to this end.
The study area is the capital city of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a country located in East Africa. It
covers a land area of 1.2 million square kilometer. It shares borders with Kenya in the South,
Eritrea in the North and North East, Sudan in North West, and with Djibouti and Somalia in the
East (Bahru, 2003:204;) South Sudan borders the country in South West since its independence
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in 2011.
According to recent estimates by Central Statistics Agency, Ethiopia is the second populas
country in Africa with a population of 82.4 in July, 2011. On the other hand, Addis Ababa is
home to an estimated population of about 3 million in July, 2011 (CSA, 2010:30). The annual
population growth rate in Addis Ababa has been 2.1 %. Addis Ababa entertains diverse socio-
economic and cultural conditions. The official statistics shows that in 2007, about 119,197
people in the city were engaged in trade and commerce; 113,977 in manufacturing and industry;
80,391 homemakers of different variety; 71,186 in civil administration; 50,538 in transportation

and communication; 42,514 in education, health and social services; 32,685 in hotel and
catering services; and 16,602 in agriculture.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HEALTH CARE
Medical historians documented Ethiopia had faced ranges of epidemics and diseases in the past.
Early unidentified epidemic is believed to strike the country around 831 AD. After similar
successive unidentified epidemics, the country suffered from a small pox epidemic and influenza
in early 18th century. The prevention and treatment to these epidemics and other disease were
administered through traditional medicine and surgery until the introduction of foreign medical
practitioners (Pankhurst, 1990).
Despite the early quest by rulers to introduce biomedicine, it was only in early 20th century that
the first biomedical hospital in the country was established in the Addis Ababa. But the country
did not have an official national health policy that clearly guides the organizations of national
health care system until mid-twenty century. It was in 1950s that the World Health Organization
(WHO) influenced the formulation of a substantive health policy which aims at primarily
preventive care side by side curative treatments. The political system that replaced the Imperial
rule in 1974 pursued the preventive policy with emphasis to rural areas (Massow, 2001:23).
Regime change in 1991 again led to put in place by the then Transitional Government of
Ethiopia a new health policy that is aligned with its aim of federalism and decentralizes the
national health system (Kloos, 1998).
A National Health Sector Development Plan was formulated in 1998 with consecutive four
phases for twenty years. The Federal Ministry of Health has devised and been implementing a
framework to improve the health of all. The Ministry designed and implemented strategies such
as Reproductive Health Strategy, Safer Pregnancy, Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health
strategy and the revision of Laws on abortion. Moreover, There has been a strategy on Health
Care Financing that allow free service or access to key maternal and child health services , the
training and deployment of female health extension workers and health officers. The health
officers are trained at postgraduate level with integrated skills of Emergency Obstetric and
Surgery (MoH, 2011:4).
The health care service is organized based on the principle of the decentralization of services to
Regional States and local communities. It has an interlocked tier of facilities. The link among
each tier follows referral systems. The referral system begins from community level up to
109
specialized hospitals in the national capital. The National Health Sector Development Plan
clearly stipulates the referral health system organization has three levels. It states:
Recently, the health sector has introduced a three-tier health care delivery system: level one is a
Woreda/District health system comprised of a primary hospital (to cover 60,000-100,000
people), health centers (1/15,000-25,000 population) and their satellite Health Posts (1/3,000-
5,000 population) connected to each other by a referral system. The primary hospital, health
centre and health posts form a Primary Health Care Unit (PHCU). Level two is a General
Hospital covering a population of 1-1.5 million people; and level three is a Specialized Hospital
covering a population of 3.5-5 million people (MoH, 2011:4).
However, it appears that the understanding of the Ministry about National Health System is
largely confined to the prevention and treatment of disease using biomedicine. Such tendencies
could be noticed from the organization of the national health care services. Nonetheless, it is
essential to raise a few points about the anthropological understanding of medical system which
consist the theory of disease causation and the health care system (Bhasin 2007;
Kleinman, 1978). The health care system that logically follows the disease causation theory deals
with the sickness and maintenance of health. The health care system therefore may employ
biomedicine, non-conventional medicine or both to deal with sickness and the maintenance of
health. The context in Ethiopia is that the health care system is in line with the principles of
biomedicine at least at official level. But this official subscription to biomedicine is an
incomplete health care system at the study area which has far reaching implications.
FIGURE 1. ORGANIZATION OF HEALTH CARE IN ETHIOPIA
ETHIOPIAN HEALTH TIER SYSTEM
Comprehensive
Specialized Tertiary level health care
Hospital
(3.5-5.0 million
people)
General Hospital Secondary level health care

(1-1.5 million people)
110
Health Primary
Centre Hospital
(40,000 (1-1.5 million
people people)
Health Centre Primary level health care
(25-40,000
people)
Health Post
(3-5,000 people)
Urb Rural
an
Source: MoH,HSDP Phase IV, 2011: 74
Comparatively speaking, biomedicine is the most organized medical practice in the city in terms
of facilities, staffing, training and financing. It is a medical practice whose practitioners have
strong influence in guiding the national health policies as well as a practice that consumes almost
all the budget allocated for health care financing by the government, its partners and private
investors in health care. There are public and private health institutions where biomedicine is
available to the public. In addition, non-governmental, not for profit organizations have limited
involvement in the provision health care services.
The health care service and medical education institutions have been increased gradually mainly
in the last two decades through public and private interventions. The figures for health facilities
for instance increased to 50 hospitals, 30 health centers, 464 private clinics of different size and
capacity, 262 pharmacies and 244 drug shops in Addis Ababa in 2012. From the total of 50
hospitals, 34 were private hospitals. Furthermore, 50 new health centers and two general
hospitals were under construction in the city (AAHB,2011/2012). However, all have similar
features in that they rely primarily on medical technologies imported from abroad. The health
personnel in public and private health institutions are sanctioned by the government office
entrusted with evaluating the competence of the health personnel in the knowledge and skill of
biomedicine. Both private and public health institutions share similar grounds on the causes of
sickness and nosologies in line with the teachings of biomedicine at the medical schools.
The health service in public sector is linked by referral system. At the grass root are health
extension workers. Health extension workers have been trained and deployed by the government.
The health extension workers have close interactions with grassroots communities. Their primary
role is to raise the awareness about disease preventive methods. They sensitize residents about
environmental sanitation, reproductive health, antenatal and post natal care. Teaching about
personal hygiene and environmental sanitation in the capital city may sound odd to an outside
observer. However, it is a cautiously devised strategy for the city which is home to a significant
number of migrants from other parts of the country including rural areas.
Patients whose health service needs exceed the activities and capacities of the health extension
workers have mainly two major destinations for biomedical health service-the public and private
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biomedical clinics and hospitals. The public biomedical health care services are financed and run
by the government. They are organized in such a way that the treatment begins at a health center.
The health center is estimated to serve a population of 40,000 in its catchment area. Regional
hospitals admit patients only when patients are referred by the health centers for advanced
treatment. They are designed to serve a population of 1 to 1.5 million. Patients whose cases need
the attention of specialists are referred to specialized hospitals. In other words, there is a strict
rule of referral system in place for biomedical services in public health institutions except under
emergency conditions (see figure 1).
ILLNESS BEHAVIOR AND MEDICAL PLURALISM
Health is broadly conceptualized in Addis Ababa. It is so broad to mean more of wellbeing than
the mere absence of disease. The wellbeing in this context is believed to result from harmonious
social relations, the humoral balance in the body and the normative compliance with the
expectations of the Supreme Being. Therefore, people in the city area are engaged in different
activities whenever they feel sick in order to define as well as to seek relief from illness.
The illness behavior in the city is embedded in the overall socio-economic and cultural contexts
of the study area. Symptom definition begins at home by a patient, family members and
neighbors. The symptom may be defined either from religious or biomedical perspectives. These
definitions will eventually dictate where the patient should seek treatment. Of course, economic
factors measured in terms of the financial capacity of a patient to also influence greatly the
illness behavior in Addis Ababa. Therefore, the cumulative results of these factors bring
patients to the door step of anyone or more of the organized medical practices in the city.
While indigenous traditional medicine and biomedicine are in place for long, non-indigenous
alternative medicine has become a new phenomenon mainly over the last twenty years. These
include acupuncture, chiropractic and tiashi organic supplements.
NON-COMPLIANCE AND PATTERNS OF RESORT
Despite the pressure from the national health policy that promotes biomedicine, non-compliance
to biomedicne is common in Addis Ababa. Many patients seek relief from their illness at
indigenous traditional and non-indigenous alternative medical service centers. Neither the
accessibility nor its affordability deters patients from patterns of resort for treatment at different
medical practice centers based on different ideas of health, illness and healing. Two factors
major could be identified which push patients to look for pluralistic consultations at different
medical practice centers. The first is the commonly held belief about the etiology of the disease
and its culturally appropriate therapy. Secondly, the dissatisfaction with treatment outcomes at
anyone of the pluralistic medical practices push patients for patters of resort.
However, patients go through a complex decision making process before consulting anyone of
the medical practices or before shifting from one to the other. The decision by one’s family
members or kin, the pressure from one’s social network and the dissatisfactions with prior
treatment outcomes play important role in the decision making process. The influence of what
Janzen (1978) called therapy management group is significant in Addis Ababa. But physicians
112
most often misunderstood the influences these factors as simply non-compliance by a patient to
biomedicine.
Patients’ treatment seeking behavior is generalized (Geslier and Pool, 2005; Press, 1978) as
either simultaneous use or a hierarchy of resort. The hierarchy most often put traditional
medicine at the bottom for the common reason that it is either affordable or biomedicine is not
accessible. But significant variations are at work in the arrangement of the patterns of resort and
non-compliance to biomedicine at my study area. The patterns of resort in the use of pluralistic
medical practices in Addis Ababa could take anyone of the following patterns:
A) A patient may begin with traditional medicine and shift to biomedicine and finally end
up at the door step of alternative medicine;
B) Treatment may begin with biomedicine then shift to traditional medicine and then alternative
medicine;
C) Patients may begin with biomedicine and then shift to traditional medicine.
D) Simultaneous use of both traditional and biomedicine.

The hierarchy of resort identified at the study area was under great influence of treatment
outcomes and the pressure from what Janzen (1978) calls therapy management group. However,
the resort goes both ways in the study area rather than the common assumption of incremental
hierarchy which begins with traditional medicine. Self treatment for mild illness is quite common
in Addis Ababa. But once a patient suffers that brings him/her to the door step of organized
medical practice, the patient being influenced by the therapy management group and the
treatment outcomes may shift from one medical practice to the other.
Moreover, resorts were not only hierarchical at my study area but also parallel. Patients at times
shift from one biomedical clinic to another or from one herbalist or holy water site to the other
depending on their satisfaction and evaluation of the therapy management group about the
treatment out comes.
The most common simultaneous use of medical pluralism was observed in the treatment of two
major diseases through the integration of biomedicine with faith healing by patients. Patients of
tuberculosis and AIDS use biomedical drugs side by side faith healing. The integration comes
about due to the fact that patients failed to comply with biomedical prescriptions in favor of faith
healing. Such non-compliance forced Public Health Officials to implement massive media
campaign to “negotiate” with patients that biomedical drugs do not have counter reaction
with faith healing( prayers, fasting, , holy water etc.). The “negotiation” through media campaign
has been successful and many patients at the faith healing sites apply simultaneous treatment
with biomedicine and faith healing.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARK
The illness behavior in Addis Ababa is embedded in the overall socio-economic and cultural
contexts of the study area. Rarely do patients alone define the symptoms and decide to consult
113
any of the health care service available in the city. Symptom definition begins at home by a
patient, family members and neighbors. The symptom may be defined either from religious or
biomedical perspectives. These definitions will eventually dictate where the patient should seek
treatment. Further, economic factors measured in terms of the financial capacity of a patient
influence the illness behavior in the study area. Therefore, the cumulative influences of these
factors foster non-compliance to biomedicine and bring patients to the doorstep of any one, some
or all of the organized medical practices in Addis Ababa including biomedicine. A combination
of socio-medical and anthropological factors such as accessibility, cost, acceptability, etiological
concepts and worldviews sound desirable to understand the illness behavior and non-compliance
to biomedicine in the pluralistic medical systems at the study area. Moreover, close
understanding of these patterns of resort and the underlying factors would be essential to
physicians and policy makers to provide quality health care services to the population.
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apparently irrational behavior; in Anthropology & Medicine, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2003.
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California Press.
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Northeast Studies.Vol.5No.1 (New Series) 1998.pp 83-113.
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Pankhurst Richard (1990) An Introduction to the Medical History of Ethiopia. New Jersey: The
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Pramukh Raj K.E (2008) Medical Anthropology; A Bio Cultural Discipline. Ambala Cantt
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1
Ethiopian Ministry of Health

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
DIMENSIONS OF MUSLIM WOMEN HEALTH AND LIVELIHOOD

CONDITIONS – A CASE STUDY OF KUMBAKONAM TOWN,
TAMIL NADU, INDIA
S. VADIVEL*; J. SENTHIL**
Department of Geography,
Government Arts College,
Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India.
ABSTRACT
Urban Indian women aged 35 and above are victim of health risks due to sedentary
lifestyles, rich food and lack of exercise. Obesity is increasing at an alarming rate
throughout the world. It is estimated that there are more than 300 million obese
people worldwide. Automation has replaced most of the women’s household works.
116
According to All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, reveals that
50 per cent of women and 40 per cent of men aged 35 and above are overweight and
it leads to chronic heart diseases, diabetes and high blood pressure. Overweight and
obesity are the major cause for the ill-health of Muslim women. The aim and
objectives are: to analyze the socio-economic and demographic background; to
estimate the livelihood conditions and dietary habits and to discuss the health status
and health problems. Kumbakonam was chosen as the study area to investigate the
Muslim women health and livelihood conditions. There is an urgent need to impress
upon the need for developing physical health among Muslim women. Considerably,
the Muslim populations were living in Kumbakonam Town as well as surrounding
regions. The data were collected from the 400 respondents by questionnaire survey
and transformed into SPSS. As much as 55 Variables were drawn from the data
structure possibly covering socio-economic, demographic, environmental, diet
survey and anthropometric measurements (BMI and Waist to Hip Ratio) based on
random sampling procedure. Factor analysis was employed and six most important
dimensions are drawn to facilitate easy interpretation of variables. The present
study, Socio-economic conditions, Physical inactivity, Dietary habits, Health risks,
Physical constraints and mental stress are the major influencing dimensions of
Muslim women health in Kumbakonam Town. According to BMI 19.5 per cent were
overweight 26.0 per cent of them were under risk of obese conditions. Waist to Hip
Ratio shows that and 98.8 per cent of them were at high risk. Eighty per cent of them
were eating non-vegetarian food four times in a week. 84.7 per cent were having
health problems and 81.5 per cent of women were started to tackle the health
problems.
________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Urban Indian women aged 35 and above are victim of health risks due to sedentary lifestyles,
rich food and lack of exercise. Obesity is increasing at an alarming rate throughout the world. It
is estimated that there are more than 300 million obese people worldwide (WHO, 2002).
Automation has replaced most of the women’s household works. According to All India Institute
of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, reveals that 50 per cent of women and 40 per cent of
men aged 35 and above are overweight and it leads to chronic heart diseases, diabetes and high
blood pressure. At this juncture, there is a need to impress upon the need for developing physical
health among Muslim women.
OVERVIEW
In India, it has been found that older women were relatively more overweight and obese than
younger women (Agrawal, 2002; Dhurandhar and Kulkarni, 1992). In a recent study in northern
India by Agrawal and Mishra (2004), stated that urban women were the risk of obesity
According to Dr. Reddy, excess fat deposit in a woman's body can also give rise to pancreatic
problems, gall stones, cancer of the uterus, osteoporosis and serious interruption in the sleep
pattern. Several studies in India have related overweight conditions with diabetes, hypertension,
and heart disease (Venkatramana and Reddy, 2002; Misra et. al., 2001; Singh et. al., 2000;
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Gopinath et. al., 1994). Globalization has made imported cheap vegetable oils (Palm Oil) and
fats widely available which has been increased fat consumption in all nations (Drewnowski and
Popkin, 1997). The predominance of overweight and obesity was alarmingly high among
infertile Muslim Saudi females (Carolus, et. al., 1995). Obesity is thus an important factor in
increasing morbidity and mortality patterns due to chronic non-communicable diseases. As a
result, overweight and obesity are the major cause for the ill-health of Muslim women.
STUDY AREA
Kumbakonam Town is situated on the old delta of river Cauvery, one of the important religious
town in South India and second biggest town in Thanjavur District (Granary of Tamil Nadu) well
known for its agricultural activities. Kumbakonam municipality was founded on 1866 and the
municipal area consists 7.86 square kilometer with the population of 33.800 in 1866. At present,
the city covers an area of 12.58 square kilometer. It has been divided into 45 electoral wards with
a population of 1, 67,098 in 2011.
IMPORTANCE OF THE PRESENT STUDY
Muslims are living in different parts of Kumbakonam town. They were leading a quality way of
life due to the increasing of standard of living by trading and business, foreign employment
which pave the way for mechanization of household articles. Generally, Muslim women are
highly sticking on their culture especially dressing, food system, devotional practices etc. Most
of them were housewives and physical activities are comparatively less when compare to others.
These socio-economic and cultural factors are determining the health status of Muslim women.
In this direction the study is more emphasis on health and livelihood conditions of Muslim
women with reference to type of work engaged at home, duration of work, dietary habits and
existing health conditions and problems of respondents.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
1. To analyze the socio-economic and demographic background.
2. To estimate the livelihood conditions and dietary habits.
3. To discuss the health status and health problems.
METHODOLOGY
The present study is based on a questionnaire survey by direct observation method, 400 Muslim
women respondents have been selected based on random sampling procedure. The random
number table was used to pick out the sample. The questions are mostly closed one except in
some places the questions are designed in an open-ended manner. The questions are related to
socio-economic, cultural, demographic, physiological and psychological characters and also
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health problems and health care utilization. The information collected through the questionnaire
has been transformed into 55 selected variables and entered into SPSS for the application of
statistical technique to find out the association. These variables are assumed to be the vital factor
in determining the health and livelihood conditions of Muslim women. A multivariate statistical
technique known as “factor analysis” was employed for the present data structure and
accordingly a matrix of 400x55 were subjected to dimension reduction process.13 out of 55

variables were extracted for the interpretation purpose of present study. So the data were reduced
to 13x13 inter correlation matrix to facilitate for easy interpretation of inter-relationship between
variables. In addition to the above the factor loading matrix was used to explain the strength of
relationship and the variance of each variable with all other variables.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
The application of factor analysis for the present study is very useful in separating the major
dimensions of Muslim women and livelihood conditions. Six dimensions identified were
contributing a total variance of 72.712 per cent. An Eigen value of 1 is taken as a cut-off point
(Yeates 1974) to determine the number of dimensions to be extracted. Correlation matrix
revealed the presence of many coefficients of .4 and above. The Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin (KMO)
value was 0.706, exceeding the recommended value of .6 and the Barlett’s Test of Sphericity
reached statistical significance (.000), supporting the factorability of the correlation matrix.
Principal components analysis revealed the presence of six components with Eigen values
exceeding 1.0
LIVELIHOOD CONDITIONS OF MUSLIM WOMEN
The respondent’s women mean age were 41.03 years, weight 60.82kg, height 154.60cm, Body
Mass Index were 25.49, waist circumference 37.58 inches, hip circumference 32.61 inches and
waist to hip ratio were 1.650. 97.2 per cent of the women were married and the remaining (2.2%)
were widowed. Around 81 per cent of the respondents were revealed that they have been as
housewives. Their family sizes were small to medium. 79.0 per cent of the respondents were told
that they have housemaid at their home to look after home. 93.8 per cent of them had family
planning surgery to avoid pregnancy.
According to Body Mass Index (BMI) 10.3 per cent of the respondents have been under
weight (BMI = < 18.5), 44.2 per cent of them were having normal weight (BMI =18.5 and 24.9),
19.5 per cent were overweight (BMI = 25.0 and 29.9) and 26.0 per cent of them were under risk
of obese conditions (BMI = > 30.0).
Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) also shows that 1.0 per cent of the respondents were having
low risk (WHR = < 0.80), 0.2 per cent were at moderate risk (WHR = 0.81 and 0.85) and 98.8
per cent of them were at high risk (> 0.85). 43.2 per cent 51.5 per cent of the respondent’s
father and mother were obese respectively.
Eighty per cent of them were eating non-vegetarian food four times in a week. Most
(98%) of them were eating rice made foods. 84.7 per cent of the respondents were having health
problems due to obese; High Blood Pressure, Low Blood pressure, Cardiovascular disease,
119
Thyroid problems, Diabetes, Cancer and Hypertension. After they became obese 81.5 per cent of
the respondents were started to minimize the intake quantity of food. 64.9 per cent of the
respondents were informed that they have physical constraints due to obesity; walking (65.4%),
running (9.6%), daily works (10.6%), sit and stand (14.4%). 64.9 per cent of the obese women
were reported that they have been taking treatment to get rid of obese. 41.7 per cent were
consulted the health specialists, 32.6 per cent were have been doing exercises, 21.5 per cent were
changed the diet habits and food items and 4.2 per cent were not taken any measures against their
obese.
58.0 per cent of the obese women were miserably informed that their sexual life affected
due to obese. That is why; about 47.7 per cent of the women were regret about their obese
physique. In contrast, 40.5 per cent of the respondents were revealed that being with obese is a
sign of wealth.
DIMENSIONS OF MUSLIM WOMEN HEALTH
DIMENSION I: PHYSIQUE
The dimension on “Physique” explained the accumulation of fats in the parts of waist and hip of
women with an Eigen value of 2.105 and a total variance of 16.195 percent and emerged as a
single most important dimension. A high positive loading recorded for the variables Waist
Circumference (0.972) and Hip Circumference (0.969). This study is shows that the respondent’s
physical structures were obese and fats accumulated around their waists and hips.
DIMENSION I: PHYSIQUE
Variable
Sl. No. Variable Name Factor Loadings
Number.
1 4 Waist Circumference .972
2 5 Hip Circumference .969
Eigen value = 2.105; Percentage of variance = 16.195
DIMENSION II: BODY MASS INDEX AND WEIGHT
The second dimension “Body Mass Index and Weight” showing with an Eigen value of 1.914
explaining 14.719 percent of total variance. The high positive loading occurred on the variable
Body Mass Index (0.956) and Weight (0.952). This is clearly indicating that the Muslim women
were overweight.
DIMENSION II: BODY MASS INDEX AND WEIGHT

120
Variable
Number.
1 3 Body Mass Index [BMI] 0.956
2 2 Weight 0.952
DIMENSION III: HEALTH PROBLEMS AND TYPE OF FOOD
Health Problems and Type of food emerged as a third important dimension with an Eigen value
of 1.776 indicating 13.663 percent of total variance. The variable health problems (0.755),
problems by Obese (0.682), non-vegetable food (0.555) and sleeping in day time (0.506) are
having high positive factor loadings. This is undoubtedly explaining that the obesity of Muslim
women due to the consumption of non-vegetable food followed by sleeping in day time and all
these were contributing the respondent’s obesity and its health problems.
DIMENSION III: HEALTH PROBLEMS AND TYPE OF FOOD
Variable
Number.
1 8 Health Problems 0.755
2 11 Problems by Obese 0.682
3 13 Non-Vegetable food 0.555
4 9 Sleeping in Day Time 0.506
DIMENSION IV: ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
The fourth dimension “Economic Conditions” is expressing with an Eigen value of 1.438 and the
percentage of total variance is 11.059. The high positive loadings are on the variables
consumption of sweet (0.792) and family income (0.706). The respondent’s family incomes were
high due their occupation like trading, business and foreign currency. This has been risen their
level of standard of living and purchasing power. Most of the respondents (87%) were revealed
that they used to consume sweets four to six times in a week.
DIMENSION IV: ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Variable
Number.
1 7 Consumption of Sweet 0.792
2 1 Family Income (Monthly) 0.706
121
DIMENSION V: INACTIVE AND UNHAPPINESS

The following dimension “Inactive and Unhappiness” shows with an Eigen value of 1.193 and
the percentage of total variance is 9.173. The high positive loadings are on the variable regret
about obese (0.835) and sleeping in day time (0.505). This factor highlighting that the
respondents were unhappy about their body shape and at the same time they were accustomed
with the behavior of sleeping in day time. So, inactiveness is also one of the reasons for their
obesity.
DIMENSION V: INACTIVE AND UNHAPPINESS
Variable
Number.
1 9 Sleeping in Day Time 0.505
2 12 Regret about obese 0.835
DIMENSION VI: TREATMENT AND JUNK FOOD
Treatment and Junk food formed as a last dimension with an Eigen value of 1.027 and the
percentage of total variance is 7.903. The variable taking treatment to get rid of obese (0.733)
DIMENSION VI: TREATMENT AND JUNK FOOD
Variable
Number.
1 10 Taking treatment to get rid of obese 0.733
2 6 Snacks consumption 0.664
and consumption of snacks (0.664) are having high factor loadings which explaining that the
respondents were taking treatment to reduce their weight/obese by the advice of doctors through
clinical investigation, physical exercise and dietary habits. Similarly, the respondents were also
revealed that they used to consume more snacks during watching television, social function and
cultural ceremony. This has also leads their fatness on their body.
CONCLUSION
The study, explaining that the respondent’s age increases the health problems and risks were also
increasing. However reducing or maintaining the static weight is more important after the age of
40 through strict dietary habits and physical works. It has been confirmed that the living
conditions, economic level, consumption of non-vegetable food, snacks, using more gee, milk
122
and butter, less or no physical activity, sleeping in day time and heredity were the important
inducing factors for obesity of Muslim women in Kumbakonam town. Still there is a need for
awareness towards to their self health to overcome the health risks of obesity.
REFERENCES
1. Agrawal, P.K. 2002. Emerging obesity in Northern Indian States: A serious threat for
health. Paper presented at the IUSSP Regional Conference, Bangkok, June 10-13.
2. Agrawal, P. and V. Mishra. 2004. Covariates of overweight and obesity among women in
North India. East West Center Working Papers, Population and Health Series, No. 116,
January.
3. Carolus, J. C., M.A. Kamal and V. Ulla. 1995. “The high prevalence of obesity in a Saudi
infertility population”, Ann Saudi Med 15 (4).
4. Dhurandhar, N.V., and P.R. Kulkarni 1992. “Prevalence of obesity in Bombay”,

International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 16 (5): 367–375.
5. Drewnowski, A., and B.M. Popkin (1997). “The nutrition transition: New trends in the
global diet”, Nutrition Reviews 55 (2): 31–43.
6. Gopinath, N., S.L. Chadha, P. Jain, S. Shekhawat, and R. Tandon. 1994. “An
epidemiological study of obesity in adults in the urban population of Delhi”, The Journal
of the Association of Physicians of India 42 (3): 212–215
7. Misra, A., R.M. Pandey, J.R. Devi, R. Sharma, N.K. Vikram, and N. Khanna. 2001.
“High prevalence of diabetes, obesity and dyslipidaemia in urban slum population in
northern India”, International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 25
(11): 1722–1729.
8. Singh, R.B., R. Beehom, S.P. Verma, M. Haque, R. Singh, A.S. Mehta, A.K. De, S.
Kundu, S. Roy, A. Krishnan, H. Simhadri, N.B. Paranjpe, N. Agarwal. 2000.
“Association of dietary factors and other coronary risk factors with social class in women
in five Indian cities”, Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 9 (4): 298–302.
9. Venkatramana, P. and P.C. Reddy. 2002. “Association of overall and abdominal obesity
with coronary heart disease risk factors: Comparison between urban and rural Indian
men”, Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 11 (1): 66–71.
10. WHO (World Health Organization). 2002. The World Health Report: Reducing Risks,
Promoting Healthy Life. Geneva: World Health Organization.
123

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
HEALTH STATUS OF WOMEN IN
KASHMIR: A SOCIOLOGICAL CONCERN
HEENA QADIR*
*Research Scholar,
Department of Sociology,
University of Kashmir,
Srinagar (J & K), India.
ABSTRACT
The present study was aimed to make the sociological assessment of health
profile of women keeping in view the diversified gendered centric issues
prevalent in most of the societies. The research was conducted in rural,
urban and tribal areas of Srinagar where from a sample of 80
respondents including children, adolescents, adults and elderly was selected
through stratified random sampling method. Srinagar city was purposively
selected as the universe of study as it provides a living platform to multiple
124
women with different socio-economic, cultural, occupational, educational

and geographical settings. The variables selected were age, socio-economic
status, occupational profile, educational status, geographical conditions and
marital status. Women in Kashmir are enjoying a very poor standard of
health and their issues related to health are getting intensified due to
patriarchy, poverty, growing work culture, illiteracy, stress, lack of

sanitation and hygiene, gender bias, increased divorce rates, unemployment,
inadequate medical infrastructure and lack of proper gendered centric
treatment. They are the victims of most of the diseases ranging from physical
to acute psychological disorders. The development of health infrastructure
across the valley is poor and uneven due to weak financial position and the
local priorities and compulsions of the state government. Despite of various
conventions declared over a period of time, good health for Kashmiri women
is still a dream and there is the necessity of immediate initiatives on the part
of government and the institution of health in particular to ensure the health
of women, especially the majority of the poor and deprived.
KEYWORDS: Sanitation, Nutrition, Diseases, Survey, Health Indicators.
______________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Good health is the basic objective of any development effort. Health is defined by
World Health Organization (WHO) as a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not just avoidance of disease. Health is a complex issue,
multidimensional and a holistic concept involving the well-being of the whole
community. It gets more complex in an area with great diversities, large and growing
population and poverty. However in order to study and analyze the question of health
“Health” must be understood and considered as a ‘Human Right’. The right to health
must be a right that is available to every human being irrespective of sex, caste, creed
etc. The concept of ‘Health as a Human Right’ is enshrined in Article 25(2) of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as well as Article 7(b) of the
international Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Constitution of
India, 1950 too by virtue of Article 39(c), Article 41 and Article 43 provides for the right
to health. Health is thus a right which is guaranteed and protected by the Constitution.
The Supreme Court of India, too, in various decisions has recognized health as a
human right. Even Amartya Sen, the Noble Prize winning economist speaks of Health
as a legal entitlement of every human being.
There has been a shift in the perception of health care. Instead of being an
issue of human rights of citizens of a nation, it has become an economic service with a
price tag. Unfortunately, it then becomes available for those who can afford to pay and
places it out of reach of the majority that does not have the purchasing power. Provision
of subsidized health service to those who do not have the purchasing power is reckoned
as wastage of financial resources adding to fiscal deficits. This approach places financial
savings above the value of human lives, thus ignoring the human capital. Emphasis is on
management and administration that focuses on medical care, increasingly
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marginalizing public health; public health institutions and public health experts in health
care, training, provision of services and health care planning. Whereas the average life
expectancy at birth is about 70-75 in the developed countries, it is only 45-55 in most
developing countries. Of every 1,000 children born into poverty in the least developed
countries, 200 die within a year, another 100 die before the age of five and only a few
survive up to the age of 40.
Per capita income, health expenditure, availability of portable water, proper

sanitation, availability of doctors, education, food supply and nutrition are major
indicators of health. Per capita incomes of developed countries vary from more
than 50-80 times that of India. Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP is
significantly higher in developed countries as compared to India and even the
neighboring countries of India. Public expenditure on health care in India at about
1% of GDP is one of the lowest among all countries of the world. Availability of
portable water supplies in India is not only insufficient but also impure. Proper
sanitation keeps a lot of diseases and epidemics away from us. Dreaded disease like
cholera has been wiped off entirely due to proper sanitation. But unfortunately India has
very low sanitation coverage, even lower than in Nepal which is the poorest South
Asian neighbor of India. The basic weakness of the Indian health care system
continues to be the absence of an accessible basic doctor. Even today 70% of the
primary health care is provided by unqualified or untrained medical practitioners.
Evidences points to individual and societal health benefits of basic education,
particularly for girls. According to the World Bank, “participatory health education for
school children is one of the most timely and effective ways of promoting healthier
lifestyles and averting the emerging pandemic of non-communicable diseases among
the next generation of the poor”. Proper and balanced diet increases one’s immunity to
diseases. It has been observed that about half of the children in India are malnourished
and 79% of children aged 6-59 months are suffering from anemia.
Several sociologists like Talcott Parsons, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber.

Michael Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and Bronislaw Malinowski have theoretically
contributed to the development of medical sociology. Feminist theory in medical
sociology also has post structural roots, especially in regard to social constructionist
accounts of the female body and its regulation by a male dominant society. Social and
cultural assumptions are held to influence our perceptions of the body, including the use
of the male body as the standard for medical training, the assignment of less socially
desirable physical and emotional traits to women, and the ways in which women’s
illnesses are socially constructed.
Health is a universal human aspiration and a basic human need. Every human
being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive
to live a dignified life. Equal enjoyment of human rights by women and men includes
equal access to education and health services and is a universally accepted principle
reaffirmed by the Vienna Declaration adopted at the World Conference on Human
Rights in 1993 by 171 countries. Similarly the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
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action (1995), states that women have the right to enjoy the highest attainable standards
of physical and mental health. It further states that to attain optimal health, equality
including the sharing of family responsibility and peace are necessary conditions.
When we look into the situation of women, the age long distinction and
disparity takes its ugly turn. Various researches have been carried out regarding health
but the gendered perspective has always been neglected which has proved negative for
the overall development of women folk all over the world and particularly in Kashmir.
Women’s health status is also very important for understanding and analyzing the nature
of stratification and inequality in the society which in turn depicts the developmental
index of that particular society.
Women of Kashmir are the most neglected community both by the centre and
the state owing to the fragile political situation in the valley. The socio-political
situation in the valley has taken a different outlook in the past two decades and
unfortunately women have been the worst sufferers. Extreme inequalities and disparities
persist both in access to health care and health outcomes in Kashmir, and this large
disparity places the greater burden on poor, especially women. Moreover there is a
wider disparity between working and non-working women in terms of major

developmental indices of which health is no exception.
HEALTH ISSUES OF WOMEN IN PRESENT SCENARIO
After more than sixty years of planned development, India remains one of the
unhealthiest countries in the world. Millions of Indians suffer from diseases that do not
exist anymore, almost anywhere in the world. India with 16% of the world population
accounts for about 30% of the child/infant mortality in the world. The maternal
mortality of the country is significantly higher than its population share justifies. More
than half of the women in India suffer from anemia that results in high rate of morbidity.
India since the 1960s identifies the women’s health preponderantly with safe maturity
and child birth, contraception and reproductive health. This means that women’s assured
access to medical services is limited to a short period of time. The perspective on other
aspects of women’s health seems to be that the public health system is equally
responsible for both women and men and so women are equally eligible to receive the
services. This gendered neutral approach, in the absence of special arrangements,
negatively affects all women, especially the vulnerable women, the poor, the socially
marginalized and the illiterate.
The emerging message of various researchers and activists is that women’s

overall disease burden, mortality and morbidity patterns be given much higher priority
at the planning stage itself. While the issue of maternal mortality is deservedly well
highlighted in the public forums, data on Tuberculosis as a leading cause of female
mortality is not. Women are at a greater risk of malaria during pregnancy but malaria by
itself is not seen in this gendered way. Diseases such as leprosy, filariasis, tuberculosis
etc are stigmatizing and impact more harshly on women due to socio-cultural reasons.
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Health seeking behavior and their outcomes are most often much more negative in the
case of women. Indian Nutrition Profile (1998) specifies different health hazards faced
by women at home and outside home that include dowry deaths, female infanticide and
feticide, wife battering, physical and sexual harassment. The basic reasons of the
worsening health status in India according to the third National Family Health Survey
for 2005-2006 are the following;
1. Inadequate food and nutrition.

2. Polluted water and air.
3. Unsanitary living conditions.
4. Illiteracy, and
5. Extremely poor health care facilities.
The health status of women in Kashmir is very poor in spite of the state taking
vast strides in the field of health. The parameters reflecting women’s health are
depressing and show a total neglect and lack of sensitization. India and Pakistan’s
relationship has created a turbulent history for the Kashmir valley and has a crippling
impact on the development of this region. This conflict has taken resources and
attention away from social welfare, thus causing education and health care to continue
to struggle. Local health specialists do not possess the necessary resources to effectively
prevent many illnesses, and health initiatives centered on women such as breast cancer,
are nearly non-existent at local level in Kashmir valley at this time.
The state has not been able to keep pace with the national level achievements,
in spite of giving due priority to the health sector while distributing state resources.
Women are the most affected, given the burden of child bearing in a patriarchal set up
and the brunt of discrimination in the family and society. The health status of women is
worsened when it is associated with poverty, illiteracy, rural background, lower caste,
widowhood, desertion, disability, single marital status or childlessness. In Kashmir low
female literacy combined with low social status of women has resulted in keeping them
oppressed in the name of community, culture, tradition, family honor and religion. The
failure to address the socio-economic and political roots of the continued poor health of
women has been one of Kashmir’s biggest tragedies.
OBJECTIVES
THE PRESENT STUDY ENTITLED “HEALTH STATUS OF WOMEN IN

KASHMIR: A Sociological Concern” is conducted to assess the health status of
women in its broader perspective which is otherwise restricted to pregnancy and post
natal areas only. Health status of women is studied in association with different
variables like social, economic, cultural, occupational, educational, geographical and
marital. The study is aimed to inquire about the methods and modes of treatment
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accessible to diversified groups of women. It will also highlight those diseases which
have become gender centric and the focus will be on gendered dimension of various
diseases.
METHODOLOGY
The present study was conducted in rural, urban and tribal areas of Srinagar where
from a sample of 80 respondents belonging to diversified socio-economic, cultural,
occupational, educational and geographical settings was selected through stratified

random sampling method. The rationale behind choosing the Srinagar city as the
universe of study was that the city is pluralistic representing multiple groups of
respondents, making sure the accuracy and generalization of results over the valley.
The variables selected were social, economic, cultural, occupational, educational,
geographical and marital status. Necessary information was sought from various
city hospitals and tertiary health centers. Household surveys were conducted to get
information by in depth interviews, questionnaires and observation. Data was also
collected from the women patients within hospital premises.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The following data presents the sociological assessment of health status of women in
Kashmir with respect to different variables as mentioned earlier. Frequency
distribution entailed on the basis of above variables is shown in the tables ahead:
TABLE 1: DISEASES MORE COMMON IN KASHMIRI WOMEN
S. No. Name of Disease S. No. Name of Disease

1. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) 11. Cervical Cancer
2. Gall and Kidney Stones 12. Ovarian Cysts
3. Migraine Headaches 13. Uterine Cancer
4. Anemia and Malnutrition 14. Breast Cancer
5. Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) 15. Vaginitis
Table 1 continue from page 7
6. Diabetes 16. Hypertension and Obesity
7. Auto Immune Disorders 17. Thyroids
8. Osteoporosis 18. Fibrocystic Breast Condition
9. Ovarian Cancer 19. Gonorrhea
10. Anorexia 20. Miscarriage
(Source: Primary Data)
Women in Kashmir are the victims of all the above health ailments with the
major proportion of women suffering from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Gall
and Kidney Stones, Anemia and Malnutrition, Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), Diabetes,
Anorexia, Cervical Cancer, Ovarian Cysts, Vaginitis, Hypertension and Obesity,
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Thyroids, Fibrocystic Breast Condition and Miscarriage. There has been an increasing
trend in the obesity and heart stroke in the valley and women are caught in the
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome which is the most common hormonal disorder occurring in
women in their reproductive years. It is thought that 4-10% of women suffer from this
disorder in the country and its prevalence is much higher in the valley as compared with
the rest of the country. Various researches have concluded that stress is the responsible
factor for the growing trend of these diseases in Kashmir.
TABLE 2: HEALTH PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS WITH DIFFERENT AGE

STATUS (N=80)
Age Status
6-14 14-19 19-45 45+ Total
Years Years Years Years
Health Profile (%) (%) (%) (%)
Good Health 13(65%) 11(55%) 3 (15%) 10(50%) 37 (46.25%)
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome None 2 (10%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%) 5 (6.25%)
Gall and Kidney Stones None None 2 (10%) 1 (5%) 3 (3.75%)
Anemia and Malnutrition 4(20%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%) 1 (5%) 8 (10%)
Urinary Tract Infection 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%) 6 (7.5%)
Diabetes None None 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (3.75%)
Anorexia 2(10%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%) None 5 (6.25%)
Cervical Cancer None None 1 (5%) None 1 (1.25%)
Ovarian Cysts None None 2 (10%) 1 (5%) 3 (3.75%)
Vaginitis None 1 (5%) 1 (5%) 1 (5%) 3 (3.75%)
Hypertension and Obesity None None 1 (5%) 1 (5%) 2 (2.5%)
Thyroids None None 1 (5%) 1 (5%) 2 (2.5%)
Fibrocystic Breast Condition None None 1 (5%) None 1 (1.25%)
Miscarriage. None None 1 (5%) None 1 (1.25%)
Total 20 (25%) 20 (25%) 20 (25%) 20 (25%) 80 (100%)
(Figures in Parentheses indicate percentage)
The above data reveals that only 46.25% women enjoy good health in Kashmir and
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rest of the women folk are suffering from different types of health disorders. Increased trend of
diseases like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (6.25%), Gall and Kidney Stones (3.75%), Anemia
and Malnutrition (10%), Urinary Tract Infection (7.5%), Diabetes (3.75%), Anorexia (6.25%),
Ovarian Cysts (3.75%) and Vaginitis (3.75%) is negatively affecting the human development and
needs a serious attention. The primary reasons responsible for this growing menace are poor
health indicators like Per capita income, health expenditure, sanitation, availability of doctors,
illiteracy and lack of proper nutrition. Stress due to unemployment and other socio-economic
issues is another dominant factor that has proved to be the precursor of a number of diseases.
Emerging trend of divorce and late marriage within valley is also negatively affecting the health
of women. Growing work culture without the availability of adequate incentives and medical
facilities is also posing a serious threat. The above data also indicates that the adult women (19-
45 years) are the worst victims of various diseases as is obvious from their lowest percentage of
good health (15% only). Children with age group 6-14 comparatively enjoy good health status
followed by adolescents (14-19 years) and aged (above 45 years) with average health profile.
Due to compulsions imposed by gender bias in society and patriarchal system, most
of the women stay away from medical care. One more problem is the absenteeism of government
doctors from their place of duties during the duty time that keeps the medical services away from
majority of the poor women having a limited time to invest on personal care. Several studies
have reported absenteeism as high as 30% or more. Laxity in supervision is inherent in our
hierarchical system.
TABLE 3: HEALTH PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS WITH DIFFERENT

ECONOMIC STATUS (N=80)
Health Profile Economic Status
Extremely Lower Middle Upper Total

Lower Class Class Class (%)
Class (%) (%) (%)
(%)
Good Health 5 (25%) 7(35%) 10(50%) 15(75%) 37 (46.25%)
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome 2 (10%) 2 (10%) 1(5%) None 5 (6.25%)
Gall and Kidney Stones 1 (5%) 1 (5%) 1(5%) None 3 (3.75%)
Anemia and Malnutrition 4(20%) 3(15%) 1(5%) None 8 (10%)
Urinary Tract Infection 3(15%) 2 (10%) 1(5%) None 6 (7.5%)
Diabetes None 1(5%) None 2(10%) 3 (3.75%)
Anorexia None 1(5%) 2 (10%) 2 (10%) 5 (6.25%)
Cervical Cancer None None 1(5%) None 1 (1.25%)
Ovarian Cysts 1(5%) 1(5%) 1(5%) None 3 (3.75%)
Vaginitis 2 (10%) 1(5%) None None 3 (3.75%)
Hypertension and Obesity None None 1(5%) 1(5%) 2 (2.5%)
Thyroids 1(5%) None 1(5%) None 2 (2.5%)
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Fibrocystic Breast Condition 1(5%) None None None 1 (1.25%)

Miscarriage. None 1(5%) None None 1 (1.25%)
Total 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 80(100%)
The above data reports that the women with extremely poor economic status
constitute the most deprived group of people as far as the health status is concerned. Only 25%
of these women are in good health conditions and rest of the 75% are involved in one or another
disease. The common ailments found among these women are anemia, malnutrition and urinary
tract infection due to lack of required food supplies and proper sanitation. The figure 35% of
good health for lower class women is comparatively better than that of extremely poor but it is
far below than that of upper class women. Lower class women also face the same health issues as
faced by extremely poor. Middle class women enjoy the average health profile. The figure 75%
of good health indicates very good health status of upper class women with a small proportion
involved in diabetes and anorexia. The emerging trend of diabetes is commonly seen among
upper class women. Thus economy plays a decisive role in the maintenance of health and both of
these variables are highly associated with each other. The inadequacy of various health indicators
is the responsible factor for deprived health condition of the poor.

OCCUPATIONAL STATUS (N=80)
Occupational status
Health Profile Non – Working in Working in Part- time Total
Working Organized Un- Workers
(%) sectors (%) Organized (%)
sectors (%)
Good Health 11 (55%) 9 (45%) 7 (35%) 10(50%) 37 (46.25%)
Average Health 5 (25%) 6 (30%) 6(30%) 6(30%) 23 (28.75%)
Poor Heath 3 (15%) 4 (20%) 4(20%) 3(15%) 14(17.5%)

Very poor Health 1 (5%) 1(5%) 3(15%) 1(5%) 6 (7.5%)
Total 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 80(100%)
It is obvious from above, that the health condition of non-working women is far better
than that of working ladies. Working women are more vulnerable to health problems that range
from physical to acute mental and psychological disorders. This can be attributed to their role
conflict. Various studies revealed that the rapid rise in the participation of women in the
workforce has been a mixed blessing for women. They have to work in double shifts and find
minimum possible time to invest on personal care. Further, the women working in un-organized
sectors, which constitute the majority of the poor, have the worst health condition. Almost all the
women working in organized sectors and majority of the non-working ladies from high
economic profile resort to private treatment. All the women working in un-organized sectors and
most of the part time working ladies are entirely dependent on government hospitals. It has been
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reported that doctors in government hospitals do not pay the necessary attention towards these
marginalized poor women. Besides this, these women do not follow the prescription of doctor
due to expensive treatment.
EDUCATION STATUS (N=80)
Educational status
Health Profile Un- Primary Level Medium level of Highly Total
Educated of Education Education (%) Educated
(%) (%) (%)

Good Health 6 (30%) 8 (40%) 10 (50%) 13 (65%) 37 (46.25%)
Average Health 5 (25%) 6(30%) 6(30%) 6(30%) 23 (28.75%)
Poor Heath 6(30%) 4 (20%) 3(15%) 1(5%) 14(17.5%)

Very poor Health 3 (15%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%) None 6 (7.5%)
Total 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 80(100%)
The sound figure of 65% good health indicates that the highly educated women are
much more health conscious than their un-educated or partly educated counterparts. Regular
health checkups, maintenance of hygiene and proper sanitation results in the good health of
educated women. In most of the cases highly educated women are economically independent and
can easily bear the expenditure of treatment. The figure 30% of good health for un-educated
women is far below than that of highly educated women as is shown by the highest percentage
(15%) of very poor health status for uneducated women. Thus education and health are closely
associated with each other.
TABLE 6: HEALTH PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS WITH DIFFERENT PLACE

OF LIVING (N=80)
Place of Living
Urban (%) Semi-Urban (%) Rural (%) Tribal (%) Total
Health Profile
Good Health 11 (55%) 10(50%) 9 (45%) 7 (35%) 37 (46.25%)
Average Health 7 (35%) 7(35%) 5(25%) 4(20%) 23 (28.75%)
Poor Heath 1(5%) 2(10%) 5(25%) 6(30%) 14(17.5%)

Very poor 1(5%) 1(5%) 1(5%) 3(15%) 6 (7.5%)
Health
Total 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 80(100%)
The above information reflects that urban women followed by semi-urban women do
not face too much health challenges due to easy access to hospitals with well equipped
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infrastructure. The percentage of good health decreases as we move from urban to tribal areas.
The poor percentage of good health for tribal women indicates their lowest health standard. In
rural and especially tribal areas there is dearth of primary health centers and lack of well
qualified staff. In addition, doctors do not pay proper attention towards patients due to which
women face a lot of health troubles and become the victim of chain of interrelated diseases.
Despite of consistent efforts of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to upgrade the
institution of health, tribal women continue to survive with extremely poor health status.
Jammu and Kashmir State, inherited a primitive health care system at the time of
Independence. Due to difficult terrain and lack of infrastructural facilities, no breakthrough could
be made during the earlier times. Thus there were only a few hospitals and dispensaries, mostly
located in cities and urban areas due to which, the people particularly in rural areas remained
dependent on the indigenous system of medicine.

MARITAL STATUS (N=80)
Marital Status
Married Divorced (%) Widowed Unmarried Total
Health Profile (%) (%) (%)
Good Health 11 (55%) 7 (35%) 5(25%) 14 (70%) 37(46.25%)
Average Health 5(25%) 7(35%) 7(35%) 4 (20%) 23(28.75%)
Poor Heath 4(20%) 6 (30%) 8 (40%) 2(10%) 20 (25%)

Total 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 20(25%) 80(100%)
In comparison to married women, unmarried enjoy far better health status. Married
women are usually involved in certain female and excretory problems. Widowed women
followed by divorced keep a very poor health standard as shown by the above given data.
SUGGESTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS
On the basis of above observations and findings, it can be inferred that overall health status of
women in Kashmir is very poor and needs a very serious attention on the part of state and central
government. There is a dire need of a scientific, intensive and sustained health system for
women in Kashmir. The following recommendations are suggested to meet some challenges:
1. Establishment of health centers purely meant for gender centric diseases with preferably
female doctors.
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2. Women are more prone to diseases due to which a special consideration should be given
in the process of treatment.
3. Performance of doctors should be periodically evaluated and the infrastructure of

hospitals needs to be improved. Doctors should be given proper incentives so that they
will provide necessary attention towards the patients.
4. Number of women specialists should be increased and there should be the availability of
female counselors in every hospital. Women must be counseled about prevention and
management of unwanted pregnancies, family planning information and services, and
prevention and management of sexually transmitted diseases.
5. The annual investment on health sector need to be enhanced in priority so as to ensure the
proper health for all and particularly for women.
6. There should be the free availability of medicines and medical tests in the government
hospitals for the majority of the poor and deprived women.
7. To ensure the quality oriented health services, strict rules must be adopted in the process
of selection of doctors for government hospitals. Corruption and back door entries need
to be prevented.
8. To meet the necessary health services of rural and tribal women, more and more hospital
need to be established in these remote areas. Doctors serving in these hospitals must be
given all the additional incentives.
9. A team of doctors should be selected periodically to deliver family health services in

every area.
10. Hospitals must provide safe pregnancy and delivery services like prenatal care, safe
delivery and postpartum care.
11. Practices harmful for women health need to be prevented. Government as well as
community of its own need to initiate certain public education programs and policies to
encourage equitable access to food and health care for women and girls. People must be
educated to discourage gender discrimination, domestic violence, rape and female genital
mutilation.
CONCLUSION
Health is a universal human aspiration and a basic human need. Every human being is entitled to
the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive to live a dignified life,
irrespective of sex, caste, creed and other differences. There has been a shift in the perception of
health care. Instead of being an issue of human rights of citizens of a nation, it has become an
economic service with a price tag. When we look into the situation of women, the age long
135
distinction and disparity takes its ugly turn. Various researches have been carried out regarding
health but the gendered perspective has always been neglected which has proved negative for the
overall development of women folk all over the world and particularly in Kashmir. Women of
Kashmir are the most neglected community both by the centre and the state owing to the fragile
political situation in the valley. The parameters reflecting their health are depressing and show a
total neglect and lack of sensitization. In Kashmir low female literacy combined with low social
status of women has resulted in keeping them oppressed in the name of community, culture,
tradition, family honor and religion. The failure to address the socio-economic and political roots
of the continued poor health of women has been one of Kashmir’s biggest tragedies.
Women in Kashmir are enjoying a very poor standard of health and their issues
related to health are getting intensified due to patriarchy, poverty, growing work culture,
illiteracy, stress, lack of sanitation and hygiene, gender bias, increased divorce rates,
unemployment, inadequate medical infrastructure and lack of proper gendered centric treatment.
They are the victims of most of the diseases ranging from physical to acute mental and
psychological disorders that need to be addressed at the earliest. Women with poor socio-
economic and educational status are deprived of the basic essentials of health. Besides this, rural
and tribal women living in remote areas and working ladies are more prone to health disorders.
Despite of various conventions declared over a period of time, good health for Kashmiri women
is still a dream and there is the necessity of immediate initiatives on the part of government and
the institution of health in particular to ensure the health of women, especially the majority of
the poor and deprived. It is high time that Kashmir as a nation wakes up to these realities and
fixes what ails women’s health as in the health of women lies the health of the future generations
and ultimately the health of the nation.
REFERENCES
1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare 1998. Annual Report of Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, New Delhi: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
2. Bamzai PNK 1994. A History of Kashmir: Political, Social and Culture. New Delhi:
M. D. Publishers.
3. Bhat Roop Krishan 1987. A descriptive study of Kashmir. Delhi: Amar Prakashan
Publishers.
4. Dasgupta Monica 1998. Women’s Health in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
5. Gupta NS 1988. Socio-economic Development of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and

Kashmir: Jay Kay Book House.
6. Gupta Sunil 1995. Status of Women and Children in India. New Delhi: Anmol publishers
Private Limited.
7. Ministry of Human Resource Development 1998. Indian Nutrition Profile, New Delhi:
Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource
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Development.
8. Qadeer Imrana 2001. Public Health and the Poverty of Reforms: The South Asian
Predicament. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT:

A STUDY ON STATUS OF SOLID WASTE IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
KEBENA DIRIBA DUNFA*; T.V. KRISHNA**
*Research Scholar,
Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
**Professor,
Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
ABSTRACT
With a rapidly expanding human population and a growing trend of industrial

137
development, problems related to the management of solid waste have become of

considerable magnitude in Ethiopia. The problem is more severe in the capital city,
Addis Ababa, where most of the urban population growth and industrial
establishments of the country have been taking place. The process of urban growth
in Ethiopia has come to be associated with tremendous socio-economic
problems. Solid waste problem is among the main areas of concern. This study
was conducted so as to investigate this serious problem and find out the possible
solutions. The required data were gathered through inspection of published and
unpublished documents. The collected data were served to assess solid waste
management in Addis Ababa, and are used to illustrate key issues and concerns
regarding problems under the study. The results of the study showed that the degree
of solid waste problem in the study area is so serious that it necessitates immediate
measure to tackle the prevailing problems.
KEYWORDS: Ethiopia, Population Growth, Solid Waste Management.

_______________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Cities generates various types of wastes arising from human activities such as residential,
commercial, medical, industrial and construction. The development associated with urbanization
and industrialization and rapid population increase have contributed to massive generation and
uncontrolled solid waste in developing countries of the world (Girma, 2004;
UN-HABITAT, 2007).
Like in many developing cities, a rapid population growth poses environmental challenges for
Addis Ababa city. One of these challenges is related to dry waste management. The inadequate
solid waste management system has resulted in the accumulation of waste on open lands, in
drains and around residential area of the city, causing huge trouble especially due to unclean
smelling pools, water and soil pollution and burning of waste(air pollution), blockage of drains,
and consequently aggravates the spread of diseases. In many areas of the city, unattended piles of
waste are becoming a breeding place for disease vectors (insects and rats). This situation is
believed to result in poor urban environmental conditions and chronic of epidemics, which in
turn present a formidable threat to health and productivity of the inhabitants of the city
(Tadesse, 2004).
According to Addis Ababa City Government (2010), the total amount of waste collected per
annum is about 65 per cent of the total volume generated in a year, i.e. 35 per cent uncollected
every year. This demonstrates that despite of relative improvement in waste collection by
employing more efficient means as planned, the volume of actual uncollected waste will
continue to increase in proportion to the population.
The phases involved in Municipal solid waste management in the study area do not conform to
the standard phases indicated in Bernstein (2004). In the study area, solid waste management
138
includes the collection, recycling and disposal phases only. However, Municipal solid waste
management should involve “refuse storage and collection, street and drain cleaning, solid waste
transfer and transport, solid waste disposal, and resource recovery. It also involves vehicle
maintenance repair; financial management; administrative activities such as routing, scheduling,
and record keeping; staff management and development, and strategic Municipal Solid Waste
management planning” (Bernstein, 2004). Therefore, starting from the steps used, Municipal
Solid Waste management system in the study area is not adequate enough to fully deal with the
waste management systems. Now days, Ethiopia is facing environmental crisis and it is
becoming the most serious challenges of socio-economic development of the study area.
1. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
In light of the above mentioned problems, the primary objective of the study is to assess the
status of solid waste in Addis Ababa. Its specific objectives are to:
a) Analyze volume and composition of solid waste in the study area
b) Assess distribution of waste disposal systems according to sub cities

c) Assess the status of solid waste disposal site of the study area
2. DATA BASE AND METHODOLOGY
2.1 LOCATION
Addis Ababa is situated in the high plateaus of central Ethiopia in the North-South oriented
mountain systems neighboring the Rift-Valley. It is located at latitude 09° 02’ and longitude
38° 44’. The stations in the relatively low altitude parts of the city, around Bole International
airport is 2408 meters, while the elevation in Enxoxo Mountain, north of the city is more than
2444 meters. The city is overlooked by mount Yarer to the east having approximately the
same height as mount Enxoxo and mount Woceca to the west, which is approximately 3361 ft
above sea level. Not far from Addis Ababa there are a number of small crater lakes distributed
in the east west direction, many of them around in Bushoftu about 40 Kilometers east of the
city.
2.2 LEVEL OF ANALYSIS
The administrative structure of Addis Ababa has three levels. These are the central city
administration, s u b -cities and Kebele. The city is divided into ten sub-cities and
about 99 kebeles.
For the purpose of this study, the study area is classified in to two more or less distinctive
morphological, demographic and functional zones, namely central and peripheral.
a) Central Addis Ababa incorporates Addis Ketema, Arada, Qirkos and Lideta sub cities
139
b) Peripheral Addis Ababa incorporates Akaki, Bole, Gullele, Kolfe Nefas Silk Lafto and Yeka.
FIGURE 1 LOCATION MAP OF THE STUDY AREA (SOURCE: CSA, 2010)
TABLE 1 SUB CITIES OF ADDIS ABABA ACCORDING TO POPULATION SIZE,

140
AREA AND DENSITY
Sub City Population size Area in km Density

Central Addis Ketema 271644 898 302
Arada 225999 1156 196
Lideta 214796 1240 173

Qirkos 235441 1626 145
Total 947880 4920 193
Peripheral Kolfe Keraniyo 456219 6510 70

Gullele 284865 3273 87
Yeka 368418 8230 45
Bole 328900 12093 27
Akaki Qaliti 195273 12613 15
Nefas Silk Lafto 335740 6510 52
Total 1969415 49229 40
Source: CSA, 2010
2.3 DATA SOURCE AND METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS
Data for this study was obtained from secondary sources. It relied on various published and
unpublished sources which reveal the most current solid waste management information for
Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa City Municipality and Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia
(CSA) provided crucial information (mainly tabulated data) for this study. Secondary data for
this study was also obtained from several published and unpublished literatures. The available
data covered type of solid wastes, disposal systems and status of solid waste disposal field of the
study area. Tables and percentages mutually with qualitative descriptions served as the main
techniques of analyzing and presenting the collected data.
3. POPULATION GROWTH OF THE STUDY AREA
During the past century, the population of Addis Ababa increased significantly. The population
of the city during 1935 was estimated to about 100,000. Within the span of less than a century
the population of the city increased dramatically. According to the 2007 national population and
housing census carried out by the Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia, the size of the city’s
population was 2738248. Compared to the 1994 census, the 2007 population size has shown a
3.95% increase. This change had occurred due to not only natural increase and migration but also
reclassification of area. It must be notified that the built up area size of Addis Ababa had
increased from 13763 hectares in 1994 to 33,900 hectares in 2010(Addis Ababa City Authority,
2010).
Population Growth
4,000,000
141
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
FIGURE 2 POPULATION GROWTH OF THE STUDY AREA (SOURCE:

CENTRAL STATISTICAL AUTHORITY OF ETHIOPIA, 2010)
The rapid growth of the urban population has accelerated the process of slum formation in Addis
Ababa. The formation of slums in developing countries in general is largely influenced by the
rate of city ward migration as well as by the rate of absorption and assimilation of migration that
hold to their traditional attitudes and values. The city ward migrations have given rise to the
worst slum conditions in Addis Ababa. The congested areas of high gross residential density
have very often more than 5071 persons per km2 with attached houses built in an extremely
haphazard manner without regard to lack of adequate solid waste disposal facilities, sanitary
toilets, inadequate surface drainage and open drains; this result in environmental degradation.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 VOLUME AND COMPOSITION OF SOLID WASTE IN THE STUDY AREA
According to Table 2, out of the total waste generated in the city in 1982, about 54 % is organic
(all fine/ useless and are mostly generated by households, commercial and industrial institutions)
in nature, while about 25 % of the waste is characterized as combustible or recyclable in nature.
Table 2 also indicates that except for the organic waste (all fine) the trend of composition of
solid wastes over the year 1994, 2003 and 2010 shows similar trends. Out of the total waste
generated in the city over the three years, about 65 %( 60.5% in 2003) is organic in nature, while
about 15% of this waste is characterized as recyclable waste.
As it can be seen from Table 3, the amount of total solid waste generated shows an increasing
trend between the year 2005 and 2007. Then, the trend declined in the year 2008, and in 2009 it
started to rise up. One can observe from Figure 1 & 2 that there was a fluctuating trend in the
amount of formally disposed wastes, with an increment starting in 2008. Regarding the amount
in the informally dumped solid wastes, the figure shows a declining trend between year 2006
and 2009.
142
TABLE 2 VOLUME AND COMPOSITION OF SOLID WASTE IN THE STUDY AREA
Major instruments Weighted % composition by weight and years of information

1982 1994 2003 2010
All fine 53.6 65.58 60.5 65

Combustible 25.2 15.13 15.1 15.1
Vegetables 8.7 4.185 4.2 4.2
Rubber or Plastic 1.2 2.93 2.9 2.9

Paper 2.2 2.47 2.5 2.5
Non Combustible stones 6.3 2.53 2.5 2.5
Textiles 1.5 2.37 2.4 2.4
Wood 1.3 2.37 2.3 2.3
Source: CSA, 2010
According to Addis Ababa City Government, (2010), however, the total amount of waste
collected per annum was about 65 per cent of the total volume generated in a year. This
demonstrates that despite of relative improvement in waste collection by employing more
efficient means as planned, the volume of actual uncollected waste will continue to increase in
proportion to the population.
TABLE 3 VARIATIONS IN FORMALLY DISPOSED AND ILLEGALLY DAMPED

WASTES
Dumping System 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Formally Disposed Wastes 623,624 540,266 615,335 537,050 669,645
Illegally dumped 139,591 232,058 171,970 141,562 47,501
Annual Solid Waste Generation 763,215 772,324 787,305 678,612 717,146
Source: AACG, 2010
Percentage Distribution
100.0
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
Percentage
143
50.0
Formally Dispossed Wastes
40.0 Illegally dumped
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year
FIGURE 3 TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN THE MODE OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

SYSTEMS, (%)
Actual Comparision
800000
700000
600000
Meter Cube
500000
400000
Formally Dispossed Wastes
300000
Illegally dumped
200000
100000
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year
FIGURE 4 TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN THE MODE OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

SYSTEMS, ACTUAL COMPARISON
4.2 DISTRIBUTION OF WASTE DISPOSAL SYSTEMS ACCORDING TO SUB CITIES

OF THE STUDY AREA
Table 4 discloses that peripheral sub cities emit larger amount (69.2 %) of solid waste than
central sub cities (30.8 %). This wide gap is mainly because of the fact that most industries
144
which are potentially susceptible to emanate solid wastes are concentrated in peripheral sub
cities. At sub city level, Kolfe Keranio is the top in discharging greater proportion (14.8 %) of
the total solid waste, followed by Yeka constituting about 13.9 %. Bole sub city ranks third with
12.1 % of the total.
TABLE 4 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF WASTE DISPOSAL SYSTEMS BY
HOUSING UNITS AND SUB CITIES

Sub Cities Formally Disposed Informally Disposed Total Waste disposed
Akaki Qaliti 6.2 9.6 7.3
Nifas Silk Lafto 11.3 13.5 11.9

Peripheral
Kolfe Keranio 12.6 20 14.8

Gullale 9.3 8.9 9.2
Yeka 11.5 19.2 13.9
Bole 11.5 13.7 12.1
Total 62.4 84.9 69.2
Lideta 8.5 3.8 7.1
Kirkos 10.8 2.9 8.4
Arada 9.4 3.3 7.5
Addis Ketema 8.9 5.2 7.8
Central
Total 37.6 15.2 30.8

Total 100 100 100
Source: CSA, 2010
Peripheral sub cities are higher in the proportion of both means of disposal. It constitutes about
62.4 percent of the total formally disposed solid wastes and 84.9 percent of the total informally
disposed wastes. This indicates that peripheral sub cities use informal means of solid waste
disposal system than formal means. In contrary to this, central sub cities use formal means of
solid waste disposal system than informal one.
At individual sub city level, the proportion formally disposed solid waste is higher than
informally disposed solid wastes in Gullele, Lideta, Kirkos, Arada and Addis Ketema. For the
rest sub cities, the proportion of informal means of solid waste disposal system is higher than
informal means.
Total
Addis Ketema
Central
Arada
Kirkos
Lideta
Total
Bole Solid Waste
Yeka
Peripheral
Gullale
Kolfe Keranio
Nifas Silk Lafto
145
Akaki Qaliti
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
FIGURE 5 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SOLID WASTE VOLUME

ACCORDING TO SUB CITIES
4.3 FEATURES OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL SITE OF THE STUDY AREA

Solid waste disposal sites usually space intensive (A landfill site with a 20-year lifespan covers
approximately 100ha & should have an 800m buffer around it). It can be incorporated within
recreational space system with careful design. Essential facilities that must be planned within the
Municipality’s Integrated Development Plan require professional engineering advice &
environmental impact assessment (Source: PPDC, 2008).
However, the characteristic of damping site which is found in the study area is far from the
above standard. Reppi/Koshe dumping site is approximately square in shape with an area of
about 25 hectare. The south side of the dumping site is bounded by ring road of the city. Other
boundaries are straight without fence and other means of protection for man as well as for
animals. Dumping area is compartmentalized into 2 zones: 1 filled zone and 2 others in
exploitation zone. The filled cell occupies an area of about 20 hectare and has piled up to a
height of 5 m. The height of the landfill from the bottom of the cell is today is expected to be 11
meters above ground level.
Different researchers (Tamiru Alemayehu et al. (2003), Bjerkli (2005) and Tadesse Kuma
(2004)) show that “Koshe” or “Repi” open dumping site has been posing negative impacts on the
environment and public health like downstream water pollution, soil pollution and health
problems to the surrounding community. The problems resulted due to not considering
environmental and social factors during site selection.
According to the study made by Gizachew (2011) on landfill site suitability analysis of Addis
Ababa, the current dumping site falls in unsuitable site. The site is located near main road and
surrounded by residential area resulted in health and social problems like nuisance, health
hazard stigma and hampering of societal activities practiced near the site due to large number of
waste picker are continuously working daily. Moreover, the area is vulnerable to ground and
surface water pollution as it is located at very highly permeable area and near rivers/streams and
faults. Moreover, all types of solid wastes from domestic, market, industry, commercial and
hospitals, which may contain leachable toxic compounds, have been dumped without any
treatment and separation. These practices signify the risk to the public health and the
environment. Hence, the location of dumping site does not satisfy the international landfill
standards. Furthermore, open dumping is not acceptable from international and national
environmental point of views. Therefore, the current solid waste disposal system is not
environmentally friendly and socially acceptable.
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

146
Inadequate municipal and industrial dry waste collection and disposal creates a range of
environmental problems in Addis Ababa. A considerable amount of waste ends up in open
dumps or drainage system threatening environmental quality, and causing over flooding which
provides a breeding ground for diseases - carrying pests. Informal disposal system such as open
air burning of waste, spontaneous combustion in landfills, and incinerating plants that lack
effective treatment for gas emissions are causing environmental degradation. The situation is
exacerbated in slums where households cannot make use of garbage collection containers. Lack
of the most basic solid waste services in crowded, low-income neighbors is a major contributor
to the high morbidity and mortality among the urban poor. The adverse effect of inadequate solid
waste service on productivity and economic development of the city expected to be significant.
Hence, measures for the improvement of environmental quality are given below:
a) The involvement of private and non-governmental organization in the management of solid

wastes will improve environmental quality of the study area. Hence, their participation in
environmental management should be given due attention.
b) In line with the internationally recognized waste management hierarchy, the first priority
should be given to waste minimization (reduction at source). It should be followed by
recycling, treatment and land disposal (landfill) in this order (WHO, 1996). Even though,
landfill is the least in the waste management hierarchy, it is one of the most common solid
waste management methods used in many countries.
c) The study identified that the current solid waste disposal system is not environmentally
friendly and socially acceptable. Hence, environmentally feasible and socially acceptable
waste disposal site should be identified and implemented.
6. REFERENCES
Bernstein, Janis (2004) 'Tool Kit Social Assessment and Public Participation in Municipal Solid
Waste Management’ http://www.worldbank.org/urban/uswm/socialassesstoolkit.pdf
Bjerkli, L.C. (2005). The cycle of plastic waste: An analysis on the informal plastic recovery
system in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. MSc thesis. Norwegian University of Science and Technology
(NTNU), Norway, pp150.
CSA (Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia). 2010. Summary and Statistical Report of the
2007 Population and Housing Census. Addis Ababa: CSA.
Girma Kebede.2004. Living With Urban Environmental Health Risks: The case of Ethiopia. Ash
gate Publishing Limited, England.
Gizachew Kabite. 2011. GIS and Remote Sensing Based Solid Waste Land Fill Site Selection: A
Case of Addis Ababa City, Ethiopia: A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of
Addis Ababa University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of
Sciences I n Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems
PPDC- The Planning Initiative Team. 2008. Guidelines for Planning of Facilities in KwaZulu-
Natal, Provincial Planning & Development Commission – Standard Series Volume 84.
147
Pietermaritzburg: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Planning & Development Commission.

Tadesse Kuma. 2004. Dry Waste Management in Addis Ababa City: Accounting for Urban
Environment. Ethiopian Development Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
AACG.2010. Urban Development Indicators: Addis Ababa Bureau of Economic Development.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Tamiru Alemayehu, Solomon Waltenigus and Yirga Tadesse (2003). Surface and ground water
pollution status in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Http//: www.un.urbanwater.net/cities/addababa.html.

UN-HABITAT.2007. Cities without Slums: Situation Analysis of Informal Settlements in Addis
Ababa, Addis Ababa Slum Upgrading Program, Nairobi.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
AN ANALYSES OF SHG PERFORMANCE THROUGH MICRO FINANCE

IN KARNATAKA STATE
MANJU H.A.*; DR. V. SHANMUGAM**
*Research Scholar,
DOS in Economics and Co-operation,
University of .Mysore,
Mysore, India
**Associate Professor,
University Evening College,
University of Mysore,
Mysore, India.
ABSTRACT
Micro Finance has vital role in economic empowerment of women in India and
148
Karnataka also. The main objectives of the study are to examine the SHG-Bank
Linkage programme in Karnataka and to evaluate the performance of Micro Finance
in Karnataka with women economic empowerment in Karnataka. This study purely
based on secondary date and this paper has used simple mathematical and
econometrics models like Mean, Co-efficient of variation, Compound Growth Rate,
One way Anova model to interpret. This paper has concluded that, Commercial
Banks have dominant role in formulation of SHGs and providing loan facility to
SHGs through SHG-Bank Linkage Programs but in the period of providing refinance
facility, Cooperative bank and Commercial bank has taken 2nd and 3rd place in
providing refinance facility in Karnataka orderly. Hence NABARD annual report
2010-11 says that SHGs have helped reduced dependence on local money lenders up
to 66 percent of the members are free from the clutches of local money lenders in
Tamilnadu and as high as 92 percent in Karnataka state. But unfortunately,
majority of SHG members are using loans to unproductive purpose this leads to
indebtedness. So, the members should use loans to productive purpose, in order to
empower the economic condition.
__________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
MICRO FINANCE PROGRAM IN KARNATAKA
Micro Finance program was introduced by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (NABARD) in 1992 through pilot project of SHG-Bank Linkage Program in India
and Karnataka also. In the period of 1984 and 1985, Mysore Resettlement and Development
Agency (MYRADA)s, non-governmental organization (NGOs) and several co-operative
societies engaged in rural development through promotes the members and provide the loans
facilities to their members in Karnataka. Subsequently, the large co-operatives broke up into
small groups, which were the genesis of the first SHGs, referred to at that time as Credit
Management Groups, with a focus on the management of credit. The concept of each member
making a saving in the group soon followed as also the establishment of a system of regular
meetings, book keeping and records, and collective decision-making. A pilot study (Puhazhendi
and Sai, 2000) gave NABARD the confidence to mainstream the SHG Bank Linkage Programme
in 1996 as a normal lending activity. The programme then spread rapidly, if unevenly, across the
country, making it by 2002, the largest MicroFinance Programme in the world. Thus, the history
of SHG promotion started with NGOs taking the lead in the mid-1980s and the lead passing on
to NABARD by the late 1980s after the SHG-Bank Linkage.
SHG-Bank Linkage Programme was launched in 1991-92; the very first loans to SHGs in
the country were given in Kolar district of Karnataka: by the Vysya Bank, Bangarpet branch to
Venkateshwara Mahila Sangha of Muduguli on December 9, 1991 and by the Corporation Bank,
Andersonpet Branch to Saraswathi Mahila Sangha of Boduguriki on January 30, 1992.
NABARD up scaled the programme in Karnataka by initiating a series of measures that included
training of NGO and bank staff, convening regular meetings of all intervening agencies,
149
analyzing reports and providing feedback for changes in operational systems to make them more
user-friendly and launching the first RRB (Regional Rural Bank), the Cauvery Grameena Bank
of Mysore district, as an SHG promoting institution (1994-95). In the 1990s, IFAD, with World
Bank collaboration and in partnership with the Government of India and six state governments,
including Karnataka, launched a similar programme titled Swashakti. This experience
encouraged Karnataka to launch a state-wide programme called Stree Shakti, (Women’s Power)
based on the SHG strategy. Together, the initiatives of the various stakeholders (the government,
NGOs, banks) increased SHG coverage in Karnataka significantly. At recent estimates, 40,295
anganwadi workers (of the Department of Women and Child Development), 561 NGOs, 8
regional rural banks, 20 District Central Co-operative Banks, and 2 commercial banks are
engaged in SHG promotion. Together they are estimated to have facilitated the creation of close
to 1, 95,000 SHGs in Karnataka (KHDR, 2005).
SAVINGS AND CREDITS
Cultivating the habit of regular savings and the ability to access them when required through
credit not only reduces significantly the vulnerability of the livelihood base of the poor and their
dependence, it also enhances human development. It enables them to borrow for urgent needs
instead of going to moneylender, which increases their dependency since he/she is often the one
who provides them with labor employment at low wages. This, in turn, gives them a degree of
freedom to bargain for better wages and working conditions and enables them to build a capital
base which, hitherto, was impossible since the exorbitant interest rates demanded by
moneylenders siphoned off all surpluses. The ‘feel good’ factor is evident in a group that has
been able to save enough in the group to meet with urgent needs. However, the members of the
group need to go further if they are to justify the claim that savings empower people. They need
to ensure that savings and credit are managed effectively (KHDR, 2005).
SHGs AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Increased lending has been made possible through accessing loan funds from financial
institutions, after the SHG – Bank Linkage Programme was launched in 1991-92. Under this
programme, there are no subsidies for the asset, yet it has grown, particularly after 1999, and is
today the largest MicroFinance programme in the world. The repayment rates average around 95
per cent. The SHG members consider their ability to raise loans from banks and their ability to
negotiate with banks directly as a major indicator of increased levels of confidence and self
esteem4. This provides some insights into SHG members’ ability to access finance from
mainstream institutions. Many members say that they learnt to sign after joining the group.
Although this might seem like a minor achievement to most of us, to SHG members, it
seems to be a way of gaining acceptance in the ‘mainstream’, and a source of pride. Many
members spoke of how they were previously ashamed to conduct bank transactions, as they used
thumb impressions in place of signatures. Only after learning to sign were they comfortable
about going to a bank. It was after joining the SHG, that they had gained the confidence of
conducting bank transactions on their own, and approaching bank officials for loans.
The credit funds provided under the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme in Karnataka
150
compare favorably with the credit disbursed to SHGs in Karnataka under the Swarna Jayanthi
Gram Swarozgar Yojana (KHDR, 2005).

 To examine the SHG-Bank Linkage programme in Karnataka
 To evaluate the performance of Micro Finance in Karnataka with women economic

empowerment.
METHODOLOGY
This study is purely based on secondary data collected from NABARD annual reports and has
used simple statistical and econometric tools like, Mean, Co-efficient of variation, Compound
Growth Rate, One way ANOVA model and charts. The period of the study is from 2000-2001 to
2010-2011 to examine the SHG-Bank Linkage programme in Karnataka
SHG-BANK LINKAGE PROGRAMME IN KARNATAKA
Table 1 and chart 1 indicates the Micro Finance performance of Karnataka, interms of No. of
SHGs, Bank Loan and Refinance for the study period 2000-01 to 2010-11. We have used
Compound Growth Rate to identify the progress of SHGs bank linkage programme in Karnataka.
In the initial period No. of SHGs was only 8,009 and it has increased to 94,280 till 2007-2008
after that No. of SHGs decreased to 49,759 in 2010-11 due to lack of knowledge & co-
ordination of SHGs members about microfinance systems, because of their illiteracy and high
rate of interest. The average of the SHGs is 51759.90 and coefficient of variation is 53.23 as well
as compound growth rate of the SHGs is 18.23.
NABARD has been providing loan facility to SHGs hence, from the initial period of
2000-01 to 2010-11; the NABARD has provided bank loans continuously from the amount of
1,714.00 till 1, 44,702.80 because of encouragement of the SHGs members to take loan and to
attract the nonmembers to join the SHGs. The total average of the bank loan outstanding is
60760.39, the coefficient of variation is 89.90 and compound growth rate is 57.49.
As well as refinance also increased from 1,404 to 16,477.80 from the period of 2000-01
to 2010-11 but in the year of 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2010-11 this has been decreased to 6,695.43,
12,699.52 and 16,477.80 respectively due to high rate of interest. Hence, the beneficiaries are
taking low amount of Refinance. So, the average and coefficient of variation of the total
refinance is 10627.46 and 67.34 respectively along with compound growth rate of 29.13.
TABLE 1: GROWTH OF SHG-BANK LINKAGE PROGRAM (MF) IN KARNATAKA
(IN RS. LAKHS)

151
YEAR No of SHGs Bank Loan (in Lakh) Refinance(in Lakh)

2000-01 8009 1714.00 1404.00
2001-02 18413 3475.39 2229.00
2002-03 25146 7249.50 4073.55
2003-04 41688 13960.37 6090.22
2004-05 59332 26653.00 9951.00

2005-06 61730 44266.02 6695.43
2006-07 92708 81638.87 15599.24
2007-08 94280 100646.47 12699.52

2008-09 60319 120702.37 19219.00
2009-10 57975 123355.55 22463.30
2010-11 49759 144702.80 16477.80
AVG 51759.90 60760.39 10627.46
CV 53.23 89.90 67.34
CGR 18.23 57.49 29.13
Source: NABARD Annual Reports, 2000-2001 to 2010-2011
Note: AVG - Average, CV - Co-efficient of the variation and CGR- compound growth rate
CHART 1: GROWTH OF SHG-BANK LINKAGE PROGRAM (MF) IN KARNATAKA

(IN RS. LAKHS)
152
TABLE 2: ONEWAY ANOVA FOR AGENCY-WISE SPREAD OF SHGS IN

KARNATAKA
No of SHGs Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 1.557E10 2 7.783E9 1.397 .262

Within Groups 1.838E11 33 5.571E9
Total 1.994E11 35
This study has used ANOVA table to test the number of SHGs among the three types of
banks in India namely; Commercial Banks, Co-Operative Banks and Regional Rural Banks.
Table 2 One way ANOVA result shows that, number of SHGs spread across the three banks is
not similar in Karnataka. Here estimated value of F is 1.397 is statistically insignificant at 5
percent level. This examines that, there is no significance in number of SHGs across three banks
of the country.
TABLE 3: MULTIPLE COMPARISONS FOR AGENCY-WISE SPREAD OF SHGS IN

KARNATAKA NO. OF SHGs
(I) Banks (J) Banks Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig.
1 2 49690.83333 3.04709E4 .112
3 34535.25000 3.04709E4 .265
2 1 -49690.83333 3.04709E4 .112
3 -15155.58333 3.04709E4 .622
3 1 -34535.25000 3.04709E4 .265
2 15155.58333 3.04709E4 .622
The Multiple Comparison table 3 shows that, statistically it has insignificant differences
among three types of banks in SHGs formation in the state. It reveals that, Commercial bank has
highest no of SHGs because they are more connective and cooperative with SHGs with
providing loan facility quickly and good infrastructure to SHGs members. RRBs and cooperative
banks have 2nd and 3rd place in formation of SHGs respectively.
TABLE 4: ONEWAY ANOVA FOR AGENCY-WISE BANK

LOAN OUTSTANDING IN KARNATAKA
Bank Loan Outstanding Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 2.867E9 2 1.434E9 .663 .522
153

Total 7.427E10 35
The study has used ANOVA table to calculate the bank loan outstanding distributed
among the three banks. The results are reported in table No 4.This result shows that, there is a
wide variation in the distribution of bank loan outstanding among the three banks so, study has
concluded that, the estimated value of F is .663 which is statistically insignificant. It shows that,
there is no significance between three banks in Karnataka in terms of Agency-wise Bank Loan
Outstanding.
TABLE 5: MULTIPLE COMPARISONS FOR AGENCY-WISE BANK

LOAN OUTSTANDING IN KARNATAKA BANK LOAN OUTSTANDING
1 2 21564.11250 1.89899E4 .264
3 13886.12667 1.89899E4 .470
2 1 -21564.11250 1.89899E4 .264
3 -7677.98583 1.89899E4 .689
3 1 -13886.12667 1.89899E4 .470
2 7677.98583 1.89899E4 .689
Table 5 reveals that, among the three banks there is no significance in bank loan
outstanding. But, Commercial banks stands in first place in providing loan facility to SHGs due
to high number of SHGs, in the same way RRBs and Cooperative banks have covers 2 and 3
place in bank loan outstanding performance in Karnataka.
TABLE 6: ONEWAY ANOVA FOR AGENCY-WISE REFINANCE IN KARNATAKA

Refinance Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 2.507E8 2 1.254E8 3.982 .028
Total 1.290E9 35
154
The table.6 clearly shows that, the refinance distribution among the three banks in the
state. The reported result says that, the estimated value of F is 3.982 is statistically significant at
5 percent level. Here also we can see the differences in refinance distribution among the three
banks like Commercial bank, Co-Operative bank as well as Regional Rural Bank
TABLE 7: MULTIPLE COMPARISONS FOR AGENCY-WISE

REFINANCE IN KARNATAKA REFINANCE
1 2 -3033.40192 2.29064E3 .195
3 -6460.23108* 2.29064E3 .008
2 1 3033.40192 2.29064E3 .195
3 -3426.82917 2.29064E3 .144
3 1 6460.23108* 2.29064E3 .008
2 3426.82917 2.29064E3 .144
Table 7 explained that, NABARD provided more refinance to RRBs so, RRBs has got
first place and remaining two banks like Cooperative bank and Commercial bank has 2nd and 3rd
place in providing refinance facility in Karnataka orderly because to uplift the low graded banks
by different initiation of NABARD.
CONCLUSION
Microfinance program is one of the most important programs in India as developing countries
are facing initial capital problem to investment that is why Micro Finance system is providing
financial facility through SHGs in India as well as Karnataka. From the observation of Anova
results, it is quite clear; Micro Finance programs are growing through Commercial Banks,
Co-operative Banks and Regional Rural Banks with the help of NABARD. Commercial Banks
are playing important role in providing loan facilities to SHGs through SHG-Bank Linkage
Programs in Karnataka but in the period of providing refinance facility, NABARD has taken
different measurement to uplift the low graded banks there for RRBs has taken first place,
Cooperative bank and Commercial bank has 2nd and 3rd place in providing refinance facility in
Karnataka orderly. But unfortunately, majority of SHG members are using loans to unproductive
purpose this leads to indebtedness. So that the members should use loans to productive purpose,
in order to improve and empower the economic conditions of the women in Karnataka.
REFERENCE
1. KHRD (2005), Karnataka Human Development Report, Govt. of Karnataka.
2. NABARD, Varies Annual Report from 2000-01 to 2011-12.
3. Puhazhendi V. and Sai Sathya (2000), Micro Finance - A Lead to Empowerment of the
155
Rural Poor, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, New Delhi.
4. Mayoux, L. (2005, 2006), “Women’s Empowerment and Micro Finance: A Think Piece
for The Micro Finance Field, Sustainable Micro-finance for Women’s Empowerment”.
www.genfinance.info/
5. RBI Annual Report (2007-08), Micro Finance.
6. Bhuvan I.B (2007), “Performance of Micro Finance Provider in Karnataka”, pp. 1-20,
Dept. of Agriculture Marketing Co-operations and Agricultural Business Management

College of Agriculture, Dharawada-580005.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF

TRIBAL AND NON-TRIBAL COLLEGE STUDENTS
DR. PANKAJ S. SUVERA*
Department of Psychology,
Sardar Patel University,
Vallabh Vidyanagar, Anand,
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of Types of students,
Sex and Types of Faculty of the college students on Psychological Adjustment. The
sample for the study comprised of 120 Tribal and 120 Non-Tribal College students
from Sabarkantha District. Personal data sheet and Bell (1905) Psychological
Adjustment Inventory Gujarati translate was developed by Bhatt,(1994) were used to
156
collect the required data. 2x2x2 factorial design was planned where Types of
students, Sex and Types of Faculty were considered as independent variables and
Psychological Adjustment as dependent variable. Accordingly 2x2x2 ANOVA was
carried out to test the hypothesis. Results revealed significant difference The Non-
Tribal college students Psychological Adjustment is better than the Tribal college
students. The boy college students Psychological Adjustment better then the girls
college students. The Science college students Psychological Adjustment is better
than the Arts college students. There is no significant mean interaction effect of the
Psychological Adjustment in the types of students, Sex and Types of Faculty of the
college students.
__________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Human being can more quickly adjust and develop in his life than other creatures. Hence, happy
moments can be seen in perplexity of his life, quick development of technology, disseminating of
information, views and knowledge. Hence, he cannot pedicle how to behave in continuously
changing and challenge for him and he has limited alternatives with him to face these
problems/challenges. Man has not even proper information for himself and surrounding
atmosphere. So his worries increase day by day. His continuous tries to reach up to his needs and
his recent life style in limited time make his life more helter-skelter. The needs of a man has
increased. His troubles, loss and in his continuous efforts to fulfill this loss he has forgetter his
physical, and psychological health. Today number of patients of mentally retarded persons is
even increasing. His strength is decreased to endure his family, professional and educational
trebles. Really every person of society is panning through terrific trouble. He is facing more than
one troubles.
The same situation can be seen in educational field also. Education is an important factor in
human life. School and college play an important role in a child after his home new changes are
happening in educational world as time posses, which affects to students. It feels that education
is forced on students. But, student of today is more cautions. He knows the importance of
education. He is trying to see education positively. Today, students are trying their level best to
achieve best in their performance. Hence, there is a creation of competition in educational world
student has more himself leader for his best and highest career in his study. people of India are
also aware/awakened regarding education of their children. Every person is forwarding to
achieve education. Scope of education is enhanced from cities to towns and villages. People of
every caste and creed are forwarding to achieve education. Tribal students from remote area are
also aware/awakened for their education. They go to schools and college to get education and
trying to get best result like other non-tribal students.
Major part of population of our country is made of poor and economically downtrodden class.
Different in axes are scheduled of various castes and tribes according to constitution of India.
Scheduled tribe is also included in that index. Known as scheduled tribe, schedule cast and more
backward class. 8 % people are scheduled tribe recent time in India while people of scheduled
tribe class in Gujarat is 16 % who are mainly spread in forest and remote area. Tribal people live
mainly in eastern part of Gujarat. There is variety in their language, culture and dress. They are
157
habituated from their customs. Their long list can be seen of social, economic, cultural,
educational and health problems. As they are less connected with developed people.
Tribal people are so poor and backward that their development is not happened as it should be.
They are exploited by other people or society from years. e.g. they were taken high rate of
interest for monad landed by money lenders. These money-renews occupied lands of tribal
people in exchange of interest of amount, they had landed. In this was money lenders were
becoming hurdle some in their development. Moreover, evils like addiction, blind faith, ghosts
and apparitions, amulet etc. were widely speeded among them. Which are also hurdles in their
development. But as time parses, gradual change is happened due to tries of social reformers.
Today tribal society is marching towards development. Contribution of education is of prime
importance people of tribal society were illiterate and victimized of many problems. Hence tries
were made by NGOs and people to inspire them to get education. Schools and residential schools
were established in villages, and tries were made to give education according to their choice. As
a result of this, tribal students coming forward to get education.
Tribal students are coming forward for education but they are tacking many problems. They are
eager to get education but they do not get proper suggestion and guidance. As a result they
cannot study like other students. Sometimes they are the first generation to get education so they
do not get proper suggestion regarding study from their parents and siblings. As a result they
experience perplexity which affect to their career. Poor economic condition is also responsible
for their problem in their study/education. Be comes due to privatization of education, it is too
costly to study them in their higher study. in this way, tribal students are facing all these
problems. No withstanding, tribal students are inspired themselves to get education. They are
firm to join themselves with non-tribal students and to come forward.
The present study is aimed at to examine effect of Psychological Adjustment on tribal and non-
tribal students. Tribal and non-tribal students come from various social, family, economic
situation, various customs, beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, and culture. All there factors of feet on
their Psychological Adjustment. It a person be have according to his/her age he can be called
matured. Society, and culture play an important role in development of a person.
1.To study the Psychological Adjustment among the tribal and non-tribal college students.
2.To study the Psychological Adjustment among the male and female college students.
3.To study the Psychological Adjustment among the Arts and Science college students.
4.To study the interaction effect on the Psychological Adjustment of the types of students, Sex,
and types of faculty of the college students.
HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

158
1. There is no difference between the psychological adjustment of the tribal and non-tribal
college students.
2. There is no difference between the psychological adjustment of the male and female college
students.
3. There is no difference between the psychological adjustment of the Arts and Science college
students.
4. There is no interaction effect on the psychological adjustment of the types of students and
sex of the college students.
5. There is no interaction effect on the psychological adjustment of the types of students and
types of faculty of the college students.
6. There is no interaction effect on the psychological adjustment of the sex and types of faculty
of the college students.
7. There is no interaction effect on the psychological adjustment of the Types of students, sex
and types of faculty of the college students.
METHODOLOGY
SAMPLE SELECTION OF THE STUDY
Sample is this study will consist of 240 subjects, 120 Tribal and 120 Non-Tribal College students
randomly selected from sabarkantha District. There college students in the sample will be
selected from various Arts and Science college of Sabarkanthe district. Again from 120 students
of each group 60 Male and 60 Female students will be taken, from which, again 30 from the
Faculty of Arts and 30 from the faculty of Science.
TOOLS OF THE STUDY
The following tools were used in the study.
PERSONAL DATA SHEET
A personal data sheet developed by the investigator was used to collect information about types
of students, Sex and Types of faculty.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT INVENTORY
Psychological adjustment scale was developed by Bell (1905). Gujarati translate psychological
adjustment scale was developed by Bhatt,(1994) was used. There are 160 statements in this scale
it is divided into five factors. In each factor, there are 32 statements.
1. Family adjustment
2. Health adjustment
159
3. Social adjustment
4. Emotional adjustment
5. Job adjustment
We different areas for the above types of adjustment and we also get the total score of
psychological adjustment. In the present research, the entire score of psychological adjustment
has been used.
For the details of the scale of psychological adjustments the subject has to his consent for of the
three alternatives by doing the sign of true. In these alternative, there are three things yes,
indecisive, No for ‘no’ response 1 score is given, for ‘yes’ response score of two is given and for
intensive response ‘0’ score is given. Scoring pattern shows that more score indicates less
psychological adjustment or maladjustment. The low score in the scale indicates good
psychological adjustment.
The reliability score of psychological adjustment scale comes to 0.85, derived by the split half
method, obtained from the sample of 320 students. The researcher of the present research has
found out the reliability score as 0.89, by using split-half technique on the sample of 50 students.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
In this study ‘F’ test was used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
‘F’ Values were calculated by 2x2x2 factorial analysis method to check “Null hypothesis” (1to7)
constructed with reference to study of independent and inter-relational effect on psychological
adjustment of types of caste, sex and types of faculty of score of psychological adjustment under
this 2x2x2 factorial design were obtained for 8 (Eight) groups, which is shown in table No.-1.
TABLE NO. 1 MEANS AND SDS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT WITH

REFERENCE TO TYPES OF STUDENTS, SEX AND TYPES OF FACULTY OF
COLLEGE STUDENTS
(N = 240)
Independent Variables→ Types of Faculty

↓ ↓ Arts C1 Science C2
Male B1 M =124.83 M =107.60
SD =16.70 SD =16.64
Tribal A1
N =30 N =30
Sex
Types of Students
M =140.30 M =105.93
Female B2 SD =12.96 SD =22.83
160
N =30 N =30
Male B1 M =68.47 M =56.37
Non-Tribal A2
SD =17.33 SD =14.29
N =30 N =30
Sex
Female B2 M =100.87 M =76.10
SD =17.03 SD =12.34
N =30 N =30
TABLE NO. 2 2X2X2 ANOVA ANALYSIS SUMMARY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL

ADJUSTMENT WITH REFERENCE TO TYPES OF STUDENTS, SEX AND TYPES OF
FACULTY OF COLLEGE STUDENTS
(N = 240)
Sum of Mean Sum of Level of

Source of Variance df F
square Square Significant
Types of Students(A) 117306.82 1 117306.82 428.13 **
Sex (B) 16302.02 1 16302.02 59.50 **
Types of Faculty(C) 29348.82 1 29348.82 107.11 **
AxB 5510.42 1 5510.42 20.11 **

AxC 814.02 1 814.02 2.97 NS
BxC 3330.15 1 3330.15 12.15 **
AxBxC 74.82 1 74.82 0.27 NS
Error (SSW) 63568.13 232 272.00
SST 236255.18 239
** P < 0.01, NS = Not Significant.
TABLE NO. 3 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEAN SCORES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL

ADJUSTMENT WITH REFERENCE TO TYPES OF STUDENTS, SEX AND TYPES OF
FACULTY OF COLLEGE STUDENTS
(N = 240)
Independent Difference between the

Categories n Mean
Variables mean
Types of Tribal A1 120 119.67
44.22
Students(A) Non-Tribal A2 120 75.45
Male B1 120 89.32
Sex(B) 16.46
Female B2 120 105.80
Types of Arts C1 120 108.62
22.12
Faculty(C) Science C2 120 86.50
1. TYPES OF CAST AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE COLLEGE

STUDENTS
161
It can be clearly seen from above table No. 2 that ‘F’ value regarding psychological adjustment
of tribal and non-tribal students was 428.13 this ‘F’ value is significant at 0.01 level. So null
hypothesis No. 8. is rejected. i.e. the result shows significant difference. It can be clearly seen
table No. 3 that mean of score of tribal and non-tribal college students were119.67 and 75.45
respectively. The difference between mean of psychological adjustment of tribal and non-tribal
students is 44.22. Hence it can be said that psychological adjustment of non-tribal students than
tribal students is more. This difference can also be seen from figure (graph) No. 1 designed on
the basis of obtained result.
It can be attributed while giving possible reason of result that social and family atmosphere of
tribal students plays an important role in it. Tribal students come from remote area. Hence they
feel difficult while interaction with other students who posses modern views. Tribal students feel
difficulty in many ways. Tribal students possess special knowledge in their own language. As a
result they feel difficulty in learning and talking in other language. Some students experience
narrow mindedness’ so some tribal students so not maintain contact with students from other
society. Sometimes, discrimination is also seen to tribal students from other non-tribal students.
As a result, they feel difficulty in adjustment. Tribal students are separated from other students
due to their poor economic situation. They do not gain their daily needs easily. As a result they
also defer from other students due to their dress.
GRAPH NO. 1
X = Types of cast (Tribal A1and Non-Tribal A2)
Y= 1.00 Sem. = 20 Average Score
140
120
Psychological Adjustment
100
80
60
40
20
0
Tribal Non-Tribal
162
Types of Cast
2. SEX AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE COLLEGE STUDENTS
‘F’ Value obtained from test to check null hypothesis Ho.2 was 59.50 this value can be seen in
table No. 2 this ‘F’ value is significant at 0.01 level. i.e., there is significant difference between
psychological adjustment of boys and girls college students, and null hypothesis No. 2. is
rejected. To make this result more clear, it can be seen clearly from table No. 3 that mean score
of psychological adjustment of boys and girls college students were 89.32 and 105.80
respectively. There is difference of 16.46 in psychological adjustment of boys and girls college
students. Hence it can be said that there is significant difference between psychological
adjustment of boys and girls college students. There is wide difference between mean of boys
and girls college students. This difference can be clearly seen from graph No. 2 which is
prepared on the basis of obtained mean of psychological adjustment. It shows that significant
difference exists regarding psychological adjustment of boys and girls students.
The reason of the result can be attributed that, boys get more freedom than girls in Indian
society. Hence they interior their self confidence. Decision regarding personal life is also taken
by other of maintain mainly domestic work. Their interaction with other person is also limited.
While boys have different external responsibility also. Hence they interact with other people. So,
they feel loss difficulty in psychological adjustment. Boys are given more responsibility when
creative work is to be taken or other responsible work is to be done. Hence psychological
adjustment can be more in them.
GRAPH NO. 2
X = Sex (Male B1and Female B2)
120
100
80
60
40
20
163
0
Male Female
Sex
3. TYPES OF FACULTY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE COLLEGE

STUDENTS
It can be clearly seen from above table No. 2 that ‘F’ value regarding psychological adjustment
of Arts and Science college students was 107.11 this ‘F’ value is significant at 0.01 level. So null
hypothesis 3. is rejected, i.e., the result shows significant difference. It can be clearly seen table
No. 3 that mean of score of Arts and Science college students were108.62 and 86.50
respectively. The difference between mean of psychological adjustment of Arts and Science
college students is 22.12. Hence it can be said that psychological adjustment of Arts college
students than Science college students is more. This difference can also be seen from figure
(graph) No. 3 designed on the basis of obtained result.
The reason of the result that, psychological adjustment in science faculty students is seen more
than the arts faculty students. Activation of arts faculty students can be lose than the science
faculty students. Science faculty students are in contact with so many persons. Their activities
are more due to practical work and tuition classes. Their family atmosphere is also batter than the
arts faculty students. Their economic position is also more batter than arts faculty students.
Science faculty students take more interest in their study. Hence their group becomes
comparatively larger than arts faculty students. Their creativity activities are also seen more than
arts faculty students. As a results all these factors lead to more psychological adjustment among
science faculty students.
GRAPH NO. 3
X = Types of Faculty (Arts C1and Science C2 )
120
100
80
60
40
164
20
0
Arts Science
Types of Faculty
4. PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT WITH REFERENCE TO TYPES OF CAST AND

SEX OF THE COLLEGE STUDENTS.
TABLE NO. 4
(N = 240)
Independent Variables → Sex (B)

↓ ↓Categories→ Male B1 Female B2
Types of Students Tribal A1 116.22 123.12
(A) Non-Tribal A2 62.42 88.49
GRAPH NO. 4
X = Types of cast(Tribal A1and Non-Tribal A2)
Sex (Male B1and Female B2 )
140
120
100
80
165
Male
60
Femal
40
20
0
Tribal Non-Tribal
Types of Cast
F value obtained with reference to interaction, while examining of hypothesis to get information
regarding effect of interaction with reference of mutual psychological adjustment of types of cast
and sex of college students can be seen in table No. 2 the F value is 20.11this F values is
significant at 0.01 level. Hence null hypothesis is rejected. The result shows significant effect. It
is clearly seen while observing mean in table No 4 it is also seen while observing graph No. 4
prepared of interaction with reference to this mean that there is significant effect on
psychological adjustment of interaction. Psychological adjustment of non-tribal boys and girls
college students is quite more than that of tribal boys and girls college students.
5. PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT WITH REFERENCE TO TYPES OF CAST AND

TYPES OF FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE STUDENTS
TABLE NO. 5
(N = 240)
Independent Variables → Types of Faculty (C)

↓ ↓Categories→ Arts C1 Science C2
Types of Students Tribal A1 132.57 106.77
(A) Non-Tribal A2 84.67 66.24
GRAPH NO. 5
X = Types of cast(Tribal A1and Non-Tribal A2)
Types of faculty (Arts C1and Science C2 )
140
166
120
100
80
Arts
60
Science
40
20
0
Tribal Non-Tribal
Types of Cast
“F” value obtained while examining hypothesis to get information regarding effect of interaction
with reference to mutual psychological adjustment of types of cast and types of faculty of can be
seen in table No. 2 this “F” value can be as 2.97 which is less than 0.05 and Hence it is not
significant effect so the above hypothesis is accepted. The result does not possess significance. It
is also clearly seen while observing table and graph No. 5 that there is no significant effect on
psychological adjustment of mutual interaction of types of cast and types of faculty of the
college students.
6. PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT WITH REFERENCE TO SEX AND TYPES OF

FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE STUDENTS
TABLE NO. 6
(N = 240)
Independent Variables → Types of Faculty (C)

↓ ↓Categories→ Arts C1 Science C2
Male B1 96.65 81.99
Sex (B)
Female B2 120.59 91.02
GRAPH NO. 6
X = Sex (Male B1and Female B2 )
Types of Faculty (Arts C1and Science C2 )

167
140
120
100
80
60 Arts
Science
40
20
0
Male Female
Sex
F value obtained with reference to interaction, while examining of hypothesis to get information
regarding effect of interaction with reference of mutual psychological adjustment of sex and
types of faculty of the college students can be seen in table No. 2 the F value is 12.15 this F
values is significant at 0.01 level. Hence null hypothesis is rejected. The result shows significant
effect. It is clearly seen while observing mean in table No. 6 it is also seen while observing graph
No. 6 prepared of interaction with reference to this mean that there is significant effect on
psychological adjustment of interaction. Psychological adjustment of boys Arts and Science
college students is quite more than that of girls Arts and Science college students.
7. Psychological adjustment with reference to types of cast, sex and types of faculty of the
college students.
“F” value obtained while examining hypothesis to get information regarding effect of interaction
with reference to mutual psychological adjustment of types of cast, sex and types of faculty of
can be seen in table No. 2 this “F” value can be as 0.27 which is less than 0.05 and Hence it is
not significant so the above hypothesis is accepted. The result does not possess significance. It is
also clearly seen while observing table No. 1 that there is no significant effect on psychological
adjustment of mutual interaction of types of cast sex and types of faculty of the college students.
CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY
1. The non-tribal college students psychological adjustment is better than the tribal college
students.
2. The boy college students psychological adjustment is better than the girls college students.
3. The Science college students psychological adjustment is better than the Arts college
168
students.
4. There is significant mean interaction effect of the psychological adjustment in the types of
cast and Sex of the college students.
5. There is no significant mean interaction effect of the psychological adjustment in the types of
cast and types of faculty of the college students.
6. There is significant mean interaction effect of the psychological adjustment in the Sex and
types of faculty of the college students.
7. There is no significant mean interaction effect of the psychological adjustment in the types of
cast, sex and types of faculty of the college students.
REFERENCE
Bell, H.M.,(1905) Adjustment Inventory, Stanford University Press.
Bhatt, D. J.,(1994), Psychological Adjustment Inventory, Saurashtra University, Rajkot.

Coleman, J. S., (1941), Social theory, Social research and Theory of action, The University of
Chicago press.
Dewan, R. and Kumari, M. (2010), Improvement of women: A Socio-psychological study of

Tribal and Non Tribal of Ranchi Town in Jarkhand, Gujarat manovigyan darshan. Vol.no 3 Issue
No.3,pp.48-54.
Freud, S., (1938), Some elementary lessons in Psycho-analysis, standard edition, Hogarth,
London.
Gupta, G., and Kumar, S., (2010), Mental Health in relation to emotional intelligence and self
efficacy among college students, Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Vol.36,
No.-1,pp 61-67.
Jyothi. D. A. and Ramkrishnaiah, D,(2000), The relationship between scholastic Achievement

and Academic adjustment of junior intermediate students, Journal o psychological researches,
Vol.44, No.2, p.96-100.
Kumar, R.(2009), Effect of parental evaluation on the adjustment of children, Gujarat academy
of psychology & education, Vol.- 3.pp.76-84.
Majed, M.A., (2010), Predictive relationship of prejudice with creative activities, emotional
intelligence and Linguistic intelligence among commercial institute students, Indian Journal of
Community Psychology, Vol.6, No.-1, pp.12-23.
Patel, M. M., (1985), A comparative study of some social beliefs and attitudes of Tribal and
Non-Tribal High school and college students, Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, M. S. University,
169
Baroda.
Rai G.C. (1985), Cross cultural study of concept formulation and discrimination abilities of
Tribal and Non-Tribal Children An unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Rajasthan University.
Raju, M.V.R. and Rahemtulla,T.K. (2007), Adjustment problem among school students, Journal
of the Indian academy of applied psychology, January 2007, Vol-33, No.1, p.73-79.
Rangari, A. (1988), Interpersonal relationship of Backward caste, Tribal and Forward castes
students as measured by the FIRO-B. Journal of the Indian academy of applied psychology,
January, Vol.14, No.1, p.13-17.
Shushma, N. (2011), A Study of Tribal and Non- Tribal students with respect to vocational
values, Indian Journal of Community Psychology, Vol.6, No.-1, pp.143-145.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
A STUDY OF WAGE AND EMPLOYMENT OF AGRICULTURAL

LABOUR MARKET OF THE CHAR AREAS OF ASSAM
DR. FARHEENA RAHMAN*
*Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, ADP College, Nagaon, Assam
ABSTRACT
Agricultural labourers constitute the most marginalized and the poorest section in
the char areas constantly facing the threat of flood and erosion. But with low income
and meager assets, the poor labour households have to adapt to the extreme climate
shocks under more constrained conditions. They are the most floating class and
found to be the most depressed section in these areas. They are also found in
irregular employment. Labour displacement is yet another important problem in
170
these areas. Labour is surplus in the char farms not because their service is essential
but as there is not enough scope for employment due to instability of the chars and
also due to large family size of the labour households.
The labour market of the char areas works under distinct social institutional
framework and constant natural shocks which is distinct from other mainland areas.
This paper attempts to explore the unique features of the agricultural labour markets
of the char areas by studying the wage and employment conditions of the
agricultural labourers in these areas. The paper is based on a micro level study of
sample of 245 collected from three char villages taken from three different agro-
climatic zones of Assam. The study finds from the survey that there is no single
homogenous labour market persisted in these sample areas. Hired casual and
attached labour are two main categories of labour in the sample areas of char
agricultural labour market. The extreme weather risks always results in massive
human displacement in the sample areas. It has been found that land is the major
source of conflict also the basis of formation of labour class. The matabbars and
dewanis play an important role in the char areas. They are instrumental in settling
the displaced peasants in newly emerged or re-appeared chars. Under the aegis of
these locally powerful village leaders the peasants settle in the chars. These leaders
are the large land owners of the char areas. It is impossible in case of char areas to
analyze the changes in the agrarian structure as a purely economic phenomenon. In
riparian societies, changing relationships in landholding are reflected in changing
positions in the society. Right to the land is unevenly distributed among the peasants.
Many of the landless peasants are bound by debt to the dewanis. Large scale
oppression and exploitation of the char peasants by these self styled leaders are
common phenomena in the immigrant Muslim dominated riparian areas.
This study of agricultural labour market is tantamount to a study of casual

agricultural labour market in the sample areas. Landlords and the landless
agricultural labourers stand in glaring contrast. Labour usually supplied by the
landless and the marginal cultivators is the basis of the agricultural labour market.
Caste system plays an important role in forming agricultural labour as a distinct
class at the bottom of their societies in the sample villages dominated by Napalese.
It has been found that the char labour market is segmented in terms of sex in the
Muslim immigrant dominated zones as normally females do not work as agricultural
labourers in the field. Although casual labour is the important form of labour in the
char agricultural labour market, but employment of attached labour is also found.
The main causes for the attachment from the viewpoint of labour are the risk of
future unemployment, allotment of land and outstanding loans in the Napalese
dominated sample areas whereas in the Muslim minority dominated sample char
villages, attached labourers are interlinked with a different kind of patronage. The
base of attachment of agricultural labourer is basically allotment of land. The
landless labourers are allotted land for settlement by these leaders. They settle in the
char villages under the shelter of the matabbars. Therefore these matabbars can
count on the services of their labourers when required. The casual labour market is
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relatively risky market in char areas. The risk element is exacerbated by regular
flood and erosion. Both the employer and the employee have to plan to hire in and
out labour according to the agricultural operations involved. To minimize risks from
the point of view of both the landowners and labourers, the existing personal
contacts play an important role in casual labour market. In the char economies of
the sample areas, prices are created by the class of large farmers who dominate the
marketed surplus. Small peasants and landless labourers are compulsively involved
in markets in order to obtain the means of subsistence. With inadequacy of livelihood
options, unemployment, poverty, low welfare situation and constantly under extreme
constrained conditions of flood and erosion, the labourers of these areas lack
freedom of choice. Both the real wage and employment is found declining in the
surveyed areas. Real earnings of the labourers are falling and the number of days of
unemployment is rising. They can not reject the low wage offered by the employers.
Being landless and sheltered by powerful village leaders, these labourers can not
refuse to work under terms and conditions set the landowners. They work under
compulsion and obligation. Their bargaining power does not exist under these
circumstances. It is observed that at the prevailing low wage rate also, there is a
percentage of involuntary unemployment prevails even in the agriculturally busy
seasons. The labourers as a whole in these areas live in marked isolation and suffer
from discontent and injustices of socio-economic order.
KEYWORDS: Agricultural labour market, char area, real wage, displacement,

unemployment.
____________________________________________________________________________
1. INTRODUCTION
Agricultural labourers constitute the most marginalized and the poorest section in the char areas
of Assam constantly facing the threat of flood and erosion. With low income and meager assets,
the poor labour households have to adapt to the extreme climatic shocks under more constrained
conditions. They are the most floating class and found to be the most depressed and vulnerable
section in these disaster prone areas. Labourers are found in irregular employment and labour
displacement is yet another important problem. Labour is surplus in the char farms not because
their service is essential but as there is not enough scope for employment due to instability of the
chars and also due to large family size of the labour households.
The char economy is based on cultivation, fishing and livestock rearing. The settlement,
agricultural patches and other secular institutions of these areas are quite distinct in identity and
attributes from the other areas of Assam (Bhagaboti, 2004). The labour market of these areas
works under distinct social institutional framework and constant natural shocks which is distinct
from other mainland areas of Assam. The char villages are quite remote from the towns and its
dwellers are marginalized from the benefits of mainland Assam through their poor
communication network. The extreme weather shocks which are common features in these areas
always results in massive human displacement leading to poverty, unemployment and serious
socio-economic deprivation. This paper attempts to explore the unique features of the
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agricultural labour markets of the extremely underdeveloped char areas by studying the wage
and employment conditions taking under consideration the extreme climatic shocks faced by the
of dwellers of these areas.
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
John Locke considered that the land as the principal form of property and unequal distribution of
which explains the origin of rent. Landlords having more lands get the landless tenants to work
on their lands. The landless people in order to live were compelled to offer their labour to the
landlords. The landless tenants had to pay rent to the landlord with the surplus produce of their
labour in order to earn their subsistence.
In his theory of capitalist exploitation of labour Marx (1954) explained that the capitalist
exploited labour by expropriating surplus value. The surplus value which exceeds the value of
his means of subsistence and the labourer creates it during the surplus labour-time of the labour
process. Marx opined that the use-value of labourer is the whole working day of the labourer
which the capitalists hire while; exchange value of labour is the subsistence of the labourer. The
whole produce of labour belongs to the capitalist, a part of which he pays the labourer as wage.
Marx’s labour theory of value applies to a society of free labourers where property-owning
capitalists (bourgeoisie) employ property less labourers (proletariat) to produce commodities for
sale. Free labourers as Marx told sales their labour power to the capitalists to buy their
subsistence. The variable part of capital is the means of subsistence. Labour produces its means
of subsistence as well as surplus value. Labour does not receive what it produces so it is
exploited.
According to the early neo-classical economists, as the initial endowment are arbitrarily
given; therefore the origin of land, labour and capital is irrelevant. They consider that each
consumer possesses a given quantity of many distinct kinds of productive services such as land,
labour or capital. Wage rate is determined at the equilibrium of the aggregate demand for and
supply of labour. Labour market theories rose out of macroeconomics evolved since Keynesian
revolution, which want to establish that unemployment could result from deficient of aggregate
effective demand for goods and services. This may be due to excessive saving or to excessive
demand for liquidity.
The subsistence theory of wage maintains that the wages have a tendency to settle only at
the subsistence level. The subsistence wage rate is the wage rate which is sufficient for a
labourer and his family to subsist, and hence, keeps average family size and total population
constant. A wage exceeding the subsistence level will lead to an increase in the population and
thereby an increase in the supply of labour. This will continue until the wage reduces to the
subsistence level. Again, if the wage shrinks below the subsistence wage, the population also
decreases leading to a decrease in labour supply. This will persist till the wage moves up to the
subsistence level. So, according to this theory, wage level can neither increase nor can decrease
below the subsistence level. There is absolute rigidity of wages in this theory. Gaurav Datt
(1996) in his thesis “Bargaining Power, Wages and Employment: An Analysis of Agricultural
Labour Markets in India” disregarded the straightforward monotonic relation between the rate of
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population growth and the real wage rate or even the real earning of the subsistence theory. The
subsistence theory states that the wages referred to the real wages are independent of supply and
demand. He is of the opinion that in the context of Low Developed Countries, the empirical
evidences showed that observed variation in the real wages over time and space is systematically
responsive to factors affecting labour demand and supply.
When in recent years, high and persistent unemployment in developed countries became
a focus of serious attention, macroeconomists and labour economists in search of the micro
foundations of this disturbing phenomenon again turned their attention to the paradox. The
puzzle is particularly striking for the densely populated agriculture of poor countries, where trade
unions are weak or non-existent and minimum wage legislation is hardly enforced (Lewis, 1954).
Harvey Leibenstein (1957) in his article “The Theory of Underemployment in Backward

Economies” writes that it is asserted by some literature that underdeveloped areas have a great
deal of “disguised” or underemployment or surplus labour in agriculture. Leibenstein maintains
that agricultural workers in underdeveloped areas receive a positive wage. So it is a contradictory
concept that a surplus labour receives a positive wage. But according to him, there is no problem
of explaining the simultaneous existence of a surplus labour and a positive income in a case
where all land is owned by those who work in it. But the agricultural workers who are not the
owners of the land do not receive the rent. The agricultural labourers get only return from his
labour which depends on the competitively determined share of the crop. In case of a perfectly
competitive market, the competition will force the wages down to zero. This will lead to
unemployment in a labour surplus agricultural economy. The unemployed will be willing to
work at less than prevailing wage which will depress the wage level. But a zero wage rate can
not be occurred. Leibenstein explains that amount of effective work increase as wages increase.
Very low wage may lead to labour deficit because so little work is done by each man. Work done
per man increases rapidly at a higher wage creating surplus labour in agriculture. Datt (1996)
discusses the basic axiom underlying these models of efficiency wage theory that the labour
productivity or the effort per labourer positively depends on the real wage received by the
labourer. Given this basic relation, these wage models show the employers profits are no longer
strictly non- increasing in the real wage, thus creating sufficient conditions for employers
wanting to pay more than the market clearing wage, which induces involuntary unemployment.
Bliss and Stern (1982) study finds that simple and familiar supply and demand
competitive model is not obviously inadequate as a description of the labour market in Palanpur.
The wage rate is not rigid; there are large numbers of both buyers and sellers inside Palanpur and
there are opportunities for buying and selling labour outside the village too”. The efficiency
theory contributed little to an understanding of markets in the Indian village of Palanpur.
Dash (1996), while analyzing the trend of wages of unskilled agricultural labourers, finds
that there is a close negative association between the incidence of rural poverty and agricultural
growth that has been established by Ahluwalia (1978). The paper studies two types of data one
relates to the minimum wages fixed by different states under the Minimum Wages Act and the
other relates to the actual wages/earnings received by the agricultural workers in the field. The
paper reviews the daily and real wage trends and gives a fair idea about wage differentials across
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the states which have been narrowing in the eighties as against fifties. The analysis views a
decline in the male-female disparities in the matter of payment of wages. While studying the
wage rates fixed under the Minimum Wages Act 1948, it has been observed that the agricultural
labour does not receive the notified minimum wages except in certain parts of the country such
as Kerala, Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh and actual wages in Assam, Bihar and
Orissa are less than those fixed under this act.
Himanshu (2006) finds that wages are an important indicator of the level of living of the
agricultural labour households. The level of agricultural wages is strongly affected by the
performance of the agricultural sector. The level and trend of agricultural wages are not only
determined by land productivity alone but are also affected by the population pressure in
agriculture especially the share of agricultural labourers.
While studies on the wage and employment of agricultural labourers of underdeveloped

areas are plenty but the same is not true in the case of the studies of agricultural labourers of the
environmentally challenged underdeveloped agricultural areas like char areas of the river
Brahmaputra.
3. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY:
3.1 OBJECTIVES
Different from other areas, char labour market works under distinct social institutional
framework and constant natural shocks. Under these circumstances, the present study focuses on
the following objectives.
 Tries to explain the distinct features of the agricultural labour market of the char areas.
 This study attempts to explore the wage and employment pattern of the agricultural
labour market of this area taking under consideration of the existing agrarian labour
market relations as well as the constant natural shocks of the char areas involving the
most disadvantageous section of the society.
3.2 METHODOLOGY
The study is both descriptive and analytical. Due to dearth of economic literature and statistical
data on the char areas of Assam, the study relies primarily on data collected from the field to
explore the functioning of labour market of the char areas of Assam.
It is found advantageous both from administrative and statistical considerations to use a

multi-staged mixed sample to select the sample villages. In the first stage, 3 agro-climatic zones
are selected purposively from the 4 agro-climatic zones having char areas. The selected zones are
North Bank Plains Zone (NBPZ), Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone (CBVZ) and Lower
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Brahmaputra Valley Zone (LBVZ) representing the North bank of the river Brahmaputra,
Central Brahmaputra Valley and the Lower Brahmaputra Valley respectively. After studying the
distribution of the district wise percentage of the agricultural labourers and number of char
villages in the districts, the districts having high percentage of agricultural labourers with large
number of char villages have been selected for the purpose. Thus, in the second stage of the
sample, one district from each of the three agro-climatic zones has been selected considering the
percentages of agricultural labourers to the total workers and the numbers of char villages in the
districts within the zones. The districts selected for the sample survey are Barpeta from Lower
Brahmaputra Valley Zone, Morigaon from Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone and Sonitpur from
North Bank Plains Zone. In the third stage, total number of 5 blocks having char villages selected
purposively from the districts In the next stage, a total number of five char villages are selected
namely Baghbor and Bandhali from Borpeta; Nabur Char from Morigaon and Balijan Chapori
and Bahbari Pathar from Sonitpur District. The first three districts have Muslim immigrant
dominance while the rest of the two districts have Nepalese dominance with some indigenous
tribes. Each char village has large number of population. These villages are situated in relatively
stable chars. In the last stage, 2 to 5 percent of the total labour and cultivator households have
been selected at random with equal probability and without replacement resulting in a sample
size of 245 households.
The field survey was done between 2006-2009 through pre-tested schedules. Fieldworks
for the study are undertaken in four phases. The main difficulties that are faced during the
surveys are the mobility and transportation system to the char villages.
4. SOME FEATURES OF THE CHAR AREAS
The numerous triangular shaped lateral and mid channel bars in the river Brahmaputra locally
named as char lands are extremely vulnerable to erosion and flooding. The settlers of the chars
around 24, 90,097, numbers (GoA: 2003) with the exception of a few, are not of indigenous
origin. The population inhabiting the chars is comprised of immigrant Muslims, Bengali
refugees, Nepalese immigrants and a very small number of indigenous people called ‘Mising’
tribe. The people of the char areas adopt agriculture as their economic pursuit as it is well suited
to the peculiar physical make-up of their habitats. The basic economic activities are cultivation,
fishing and livestock rearing in theses areas. The settlement, agricultural patches and other
secular institutions of these areas are quite distinct in identity and attributes from the other areas
of Assam. With significantly different physical, ecological, cultural, environmental adaptation,
the char dwellers constantly explore the possibilities of living provided by the nature.
Massive human displacement due to extreme weather risks in the char areas is one of the
core problems faced by the dwellers. The char dwellers mainly get displaced due to flood and
erosion and unemployment in agriculture. These human displacements are sometimes temporary
and sometimes permanent. But the concept of both the temporary and permanent migration in the
char areas is somewhat fuzzy. All migrations can be clubbed in to temporary migration because
of the unstable nature of chars. Chars are subjected to erosion and reappearance. Therefore,
permanent in migration and settlement in the char villages depend on the stability of the char and
the age of the char. The permanent migration in our case is the migration of the dwellers for a
comparatively long duration of 20 to 25 years over the temporary one which of 3 to 4 months.
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People displaced by char erosion have to settle in accreting char lands elsewhere creating a
typical socio-economic char environment. With their physical vulnerability and emerging
cultural landscape, the char areas of the river Brahmaputra present a unique geo-environmental
situation different from the other non char areas of the Brahmaputa valley.
Erosion and re-emergence of the chars are two major problems of the char areas. While
studying the land tenure system of these areas, it has been found that, after erosion of the land, if
the land owner continues to pay the land revenue, then after re-appearance of the char at the
same site, the original land holder is entitled to reoccupy it. But, normally, after the erosion of
char land, the land owner ceases to pay the land revenue and the government declares the eroded
land as khas (public). Also it is extremely difficult for the land record staff to locate and
demarcate the old plots on their reappearance. Therefore, it is suggested that once the land is
eroded, it would automatically be deemed to have been excluded from the lease and that
proportionate reduction in revenue would be granted. Therefore, on re-appearance, it would
purely be a land of government and no one would have any right to occupy it (Sheikh, 2005). But
reality describes a different story. Settlement or ownership right over a newly emerged or a re-
appeared char have always been complicated by the difficulty in ascertaining the ownership of
new land, whether it should belong to the state or some other riparian proprietors. When a new
char emerges or an old eroded char re-appears, the locally powerful dewanis and matabbarsi in
order to get control over it, creates armed conflicts among different groups under them. These
armed disputes for the possession of new char lands are common phenomena among the
immigrant Muslim dominated chars. In case of a newly emerged chars too, people do not wait till
the government systematically settles the lands. The land hungry peasants rush to occupy the
lands as soon as they are ready for agricultural activities. This again leads to conflicts. Again, in
some cases, the land which has gradually and imperceptibly emerges out of the river bed and
added to the land of riparian owner becomes a part of the land belonging to him and is to be
considered as his property.
It is impossible in case of char areas to analyze the changes in the agrarian structure as a
purely economic phenomenon. It has been found that land being the major source of conflict also
the basis of formation of labour class in these areas. As discussed earlier, as these chars are
situated in remote areas, usually to gain the right over a char, violence occurs among the lathial
groups of the matabbars or dewanis. After gaining control over the chars though violence, these
powerful dewanis are considered as leaders. In riparian societies, changing relationships in
landholding are reflected in changing positions in the society. Right to the land is unevenly
distributed among the peasants. The matabbars and dewanis playing important role in char areas
and are instrumental in settling the displaced peasants in newly emerged or re-appeared chars.
Some times, the peasants are financed by them to erect hut and till the soil. Under the aegis of
these locally powerful village leaders, the peasants settle in the chars. The leaders settle large
farm houses (pam) in the chars. Some of them have a house to reside in the char and some stay in
main land not in chars. Small and landless farmers enter into the agreement of crop sharing
(adhi) undertake to hand over half of the crops and perform field services. Many of the landless
peasants are bound by debt to the dewanis. They possess boats the only means of communication
to the chars. With big plots of land or sometimes even owning the whole char they become the
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symbol of power and prestige. These can not be achieved without the support of the peasants.
The peasants are also assured security by them. The landowners manage to get control in varying
degrees over the socially and economically weaker sections in the char villages. It has been
found that, the condition of dependence of the peasants on the landowners on which the agrarian
relationship is usually based is dependent on the concentration of ownership of land. Large scale
oppression and exploitation of the char peasants by the dewanis are common phenomena in the
immigrant Muslim dominated riparian areas.
The sample villages are essentially agricultural with low level of irrigation and fairly high
rainfall. Summer and Rabi seasons are the two main cropping seasons in these areas. Kharif
season generate less employment due to occurrence of flood in this season. These villages are
found to be extremely economically and technologically backward. Villages are densely
populated with extremely low literacy rate. Dense settlement is seen in sample villages of Lower
Brahmaputra Valley Zone and North Bank Plains Zone but in the sample village of Central
Brahmaputra Valley Zone population density is the lowest. Although the settlement of the
households in the sample villages appears to be linear, but it is also found that in some of the
sample villages, the households settle down here and there in the midst of the agricultural fields.
The villages have serpentine footpaths and narrow zig-zag kutcha roads. . The sample chars do
not have any dispensary or rural hospital except a health center in sample village of Balijaan
Chapori which was also found closed at time of survey. The public raised platforms made by the
government are available in each sample villages which are used by the char dwellers at the time
of flood. There is no market in these areas except a weekly village market (haat) in Baghbor
char. All the villages have private shops with minimum items for sale.
5. AGRICULTURAL LABOUR MARKET IN THE CHAR AREAS
In the sample areas, wage income is their key source of livelihood. Hired casual and attached
labour are two main categories of labour in the agricultural labour market. In the sample villages,
the dominance of the large landowners is obvious. It is interesting to observe that the labourers
considered as privileged if they are employed by the matabbars or deewanis, the patrons which
are also the large landowners of the char areas. These large landowners create maximum
employment for agricultural labourers. Sometimes, landless agricultural labourer who leased in
small portion of land also hire in labour but this is very minimal.
The study of agricultural labour is necessarily a study of casual agricultural labour in the
sample areas. Almost 94 percent of the total hired labour consists of casual labour in Nabur Char.
Of the total hired labour Bandhali char uses 91 percent and Baghbor char uses almost 87 percent
casual labour in Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone. Bahbari Pathar and Balijan Chapori of North
Bank Plains Zone, use 82.7 and 90 percent casual agricultural labour out of the total labour. It is
notable that despite significant use of family labour, the proportion of casual labour in the total
hired labour is also high in all villages of all the three zones. Therefore, casual labour constitutes
the most pervasive form of hired labour used by almost all size classes of landholdings. It is
preferred among the hired labour in all crop activities because of the risk from natural disasters
assigned to the char agriculture. Casual agricultural labour is hired and paid on day to day basis.
Wages include both cash and kind. Piece rated contractual work is not common in char
agriculture. Sometimes, casual labourers work for continuous number of days in the peak
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agricultural seasons. In all the zones, casual labour is the predominant mode of hired labour use.
Sometimes, even the landless households, who can rent-in some portion of land for cultivation,
also employ some amount of casual labour. Table 1 shows the percentage of households within
each landholding size class hiring in and hiring out casual labour. The table shows that the large
cultivator households depend largely on casual labour in all the crop activities as well as for
livestock rearing in the sample areas.

TABLE 1 PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLDS WITHIN EACH LANDHOLDING

GROUP HIRING-IN AND HIRING-OUT OF CASUAL LABOUR
0-5 5-20 bigha 20 bigha and Landless

bigha above
LBVZ Hiring-in 26.6 71.8 95.2 4.0
Hiring-out 70.1 34.5 - 92.1
CBVZ Hiring-in 19.3 73.4 97.3 2.6

Hiring-out 71.8 32.5 - 95.4
NBPZ Hiring-in 24.1 82.2 91.2 12.2

Hiring-out 64.8 29.1 - 90.4
Survey: Primary Survey, (2008)
It is clear from the information of the Table 1 that the large cultivator households do not
hire-out their labour. It has been found that generally the large cultivator households in the
Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone (LBVZ) and Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone (CBVZ) are the
households of the powerful dewanis and the matabbars (village headman) whereas in North Bank
Plains Zone (NBPZ) they are the upper caste Brahmins. They engage in supervisory activities. It
is evident from the Table 1 that in all the three zones, landlords and the landless agricultural
labourers stand in glaring contrast. In between these two, the marginal farmers and the medium
farmers are the labour hiring-in as well as labour hiring-out classes. It is clear that normally, the
rich large cultivators as well as the medium and the marginal farmers participate in the
agricultural labour market for hired labour as employers of the labour power. The landless
peasants, the marginal and also medium peasants supply labour power. So, the marginal and the
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medium farmers are active as employers as well as suppliers of the labour power. Therefore,
casual labour usually supplied by the landless and the marginal cultivators is the basis of the
agricultural labour market. Caste system plays an important role in forming agricultural labour as
a distinct class at the bottom of their societies in the sample villages dominated by Napalese. It
has been found that the char labour market is segmented in terms of sex in the two zones namely
Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone and Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone as normally females do
not work as agricultural labourers in the field whereas it is segmented in terms of caste in the
sample villages of North Bank Plains Zone.
The mode of employment spells out the nature of the market for casual labour and the
degree of risk involved both on the part of the employers and the employees.
TABLE 2 MODE OF EMPLOYMENT OF CASUAL WORKERS
(PERCENTAGE OF ALL CASUAL WORKERS)
Lower Brahmaputra Central North Bank Plains

Valley Zone Brahmaputra Valley Zone
Zone
Approaching 19.8 40.6 26.1
Landlords/owners
Through Some 1.5 2.9 3.6
Medium
(individual/Market)
Existing personal 78.7 56.5 70.3
contacts
Source: Primary Survey
The Table 2 shows the percentage of casual labourers report the modes by which they
receive employment. The majority of the casual labourers of our survey reported that they
received employment through existing personal contacts with their employers, mostly to the
landowners. In Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone, employment through personal contacts is most
prominent followed by North Bank Plains Zone and then Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone. The
personal contacts include employment received through contractors and other individuals in
some non- agricultural activities outside char village. The next way to get employment in these
survey areas is approaching landlords or the matabbars. The casual labour market is relatively
risky market in char areas. The risk element is exacerbated by regular flood and erosion. Both
the employer and the employee have to plan to hire in and out labour according to the
agricultural operations involved. To minimize risks from the point of view of landowners and
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labourers, the existing personal contacts play an important role in casual labour market.
Although the casual labour is distinctly more important than the attached labour in all
sample villages but in the sample villages North Bank Plains Zone, the employment of attached
labourers is relatively high. For livestock rearing, the employer employs attached labourers.
Attached labour represents unfree labour employed in agriculture of the char areas. But these
labourers are not bonded labourers. They are contractual labourers. The duration of contract is
generally one year. The mode of payment is both cash and kind. Most of the cases, monthly
payment is made. The employer prefers attached labour to minimize the risk of unavailability of
labour. Also, continuous service is needed to take care of cattle. The landless labourers are
basically employed as attached labour since they want year long assured employment with
earning. The main causes for the attachment from the viewpoint of labour in the sample villages
are the risk of future unemployment, allotment of land and outstanding loans.
It has been already discussed that, unlike Nepalese dominated areas, Muslim dominated
sample char villages, attached labourers are interlinked with a different kind of patronage. In
these areas, attached labourers are found working in the form of farm servants with the locally
powerful matabbars or village leaders. In these areas, sometimes the maximum parts of the char
village is occupied and owned by the matabbars and their families. Therefore, base of attachment
of agricultural labourer is basically allotment of land. The landless labourers are allotted land for
settlement by these leaders. They settle in the char villages under the shelter of the matabbars.
Therefore these matabbars can count on the services of their labourers when required.
6. WAGE AND EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE IN THE CHAR AREAS.

6.1 Agricultural Wages In The Sample Char Villages
In the char economies of the sample areas, prices are created by the class of large farmers who
dominate the marketed surplus. Small peasants and landless labourer are compulsively involved
in markets in order to obtain the means of subsistence.
The agricultural labourers who are the proletariats in the real sense own nothing but their
labour power. Mostly living on rice, potato and salt these labourers are locally called as “Kamla”
in char areas usually work on a daily basis for eight hours. The wages are paid them both in cash
and kind. The local casual labourers and their efficiency level are generally known to the
landlords. Attached labourers do agricultural activities including other household activities
including looking after the cattle. The contract is generally for one year and the employer
provides food, clothing, wage and sometimes shelter.
The Table 3 provides an idea about the changes in the average nominal wage rates of
casual agricultural labourers across sample zones under study in the survey periods. In a year, we
have found uniform average wage rates prevailing in each zone for casual labourers regardless
their ownership of land and dependency ratio.
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TABLE 3 AVERAGE NOMINAL WAGE RATES OF CASUAL LABOURERS ACROSS

ZONES (IN RUPEES)

Zone
2006 50 45 55
2007 52 50 55
2008 55 50 60
2009 55 55 60
The above table also reveals an insignificant increase in the nominal wage rates across
sample zones in between 2006 to 2009, which is quite lower than the government determined
minimum wage rates. The sticky part of this average wage rates can be found in the years 2008
and 2009 in both Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone and North Bank Plains Zone and 2007 and
2008 in Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone. This can be illustrated by various rigid wage theories
which claim that these wages are fixed at a subsistence level or socially sanctioned level
independent of the forces of demand and supply of labour. Although the low level of livelihood,
rampant poverty and unemployment are the powerful evidences against the socially sanctioned
subsistence wage of agricultural labour in the sample villages but we can not deny that
agricultural wages are not determined by subsistence or nutrition determined efficiency or by
custom in this case. In the situations where the whole wage is used in consumption by the
labourers, there is a direct link between consumption and capacity to work. Therefore, pushing
wage below a certain level will decrease efficiency. The wage will not increase beyond this level
also due to the low bargaining power on the part of the labourers.
On the basis of the information provided by the labour hiring cultivator households about
the distribution of nominal wages in the sample villages for different operations in case of paddy
cultivation, in the year 2009(Table 4) we found variations in wages in the sample villages for
different agricultural operations of the two zones Lower Brahmaputra Valley and North Bank
Plains Zone.
TABLE 4 AVERAGE WAGE RATES (CASH + KIND) OF MALE AGRICULTURAL

LABOURERS (CASUAL) IN THE SAMPLE CHARS (IN RS) AT A POINT OF TIME
Zones Char Land Sowin Ploughin Transplantin Harvestin Boilin

Village preparatio g g g g g and
n dryin
g
LBVZ Bandhal 50+10 50+ 10 60+ 10 60+ 10 60+ 10 50+10
i
Brahmaputr Baghbo 50+10 50+ 10 60+ 10 60+ 10 60+10 50+10
a Valley r
182
Zone
Nabur 50+10 50+10 50+10 50+10 50+10 50+10

CBVZ Char
NBPZ Bahbari 50+10 50+10 70+10 70+10 70+10 60+10

Pathar
Balijaan 50+10 50+10 70+10 70+10 70+10 60+10
Chapori
Source: Primary survey, 2009
In preparation of land for cultivation, wage rates are relatively low in these sample
villages. Wage rates shoots up for the operations like ploughing, transplanting and harvesting
which needs more physical labour. It can be observed that during the time of ploughing,
transplanting and harvesting, the nominal wage rate increases to up to rupees 70 in both the
villages of North Bank Plains Zone and to rupees 60 in the sample villages of Lower
Brahmaputra Valley Zone. But in the sample village of Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone, we
found a uniform wage across all agricultural operations. The employers fix this wage which is a
low wage at the subsistence level corresponding to the minimum requirement of the labourers to
stay alive. This may be the socially sanctioned wage rate. The employers do not want to push the
wage below rupees 50 even in the operations like preparation of land for cultivation, sowing etc.
may be due to maintain efficiency level of the labourer. This can also be justified that the
pressure of moral elements in wage determination prevents wage which is already low to fall
beyond this level. On the other hand, in the operations needing more physical labour, the wage
rate has not increased beyond rupees 50 because of the low bargaining position of the workers.
The Table 4 also reveals the wage variation of the agricultural labour across different
villages. There are differences in money wage rates for casual labourers in different sample
villages. A part of the wage is also paid in kind in all the villages. It is found that the landlord
provides mid day meal to their labourers worth rupees 10. The landlords take this strategy to
maintain the nutritional efficiency of the labourers.
The lowest wage payment was made in the Nabur Char of Central Brahmaputra Valley
Zone which is rupees 50 with a meal of worth rupees 10. This indicates the agricultural labour
has very little bargaining power in this village. In the sample villages of Lower Brahmaputra
Valley Zone a higher nominal wage rupees 60 is offered with a meal of worth rupees 10 in the
pick hours of ploughing and transplanting since the labourers require the maximum efforts to do
these jobs. But, in case of the jobs like land preparation, sowing, boiling and drying; the wage
rate comes down to rupees 50 with a lunch of value of rupees 10. In the sample villages of North
Bank Plains Zone, the wage shoots up to rupees 70 in the peak hours of ploughing, transplanting
and harvesting. The higher demand for the labourers having alternative employment
opportunities in livestock rearing in this zone leads to an increase in wage level. It can be also
illustrated by the concept postulates by the efficiency theoryii that the efficiency of the worker in
terms of the effort they supply in these operations depends on the wage they receive, through
nutritive value of the food which their wages allow them to purchase. Therefore, at low levels of
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wage, an increment greatly increases output.
The average daily wage earnings and average number of days worked do not differ
significantly in the three sample zones. The result of the study did not support geographical
fragmentation and segmentation of the labour markets. The char labour market is segmented in
terms of sex in the two zones namely Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone and Central Brahmaputra
Valley Zone as normally females do not work as agricultural labourers in the field. It is
segmented in terms of caste in the sample villages of North Bank Plains Zone, as the higher caste
Brahmins do not participate in agricultural work in fields and the lower caste households work as
wage labourers.
TABLE 5 WAGE RATES (CASH + KIND) OF MALE AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS

(ATTACHED) IN THE SAMPLE CHARS OF NORTH BANK PLAIN ZONE (IN RS)
Villages Annual Incomeiii Estimated daily wage rateiv of

permanent worker
Bahbari Pathar 11,520 40
Balijaan Chapori 14,240 42
Table 5 describes the different wage earnings of the permanent agricultural labourers
engaged in livestock activities in the sample areas of North Bank Plains Zone. It is found that the
permanent agricultural labourer’s wage rates are substantially less then the wage rates of the
casual agricultural labourers (Table 5 and 6, 7 and 8). The difference represents the risk premium
for the casual labour.
TABLE 6 THE DAILY WAGE RATES OF CASUAL AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS

IN LOWER BRAHMAPUTRA VALLEY ZONE
Years Nominal wage Kind CPIALv Real value of

rates(cash component cashvi
component)
2007 45 750 gms 100 45
2008 50 750 gms 112 44.6
2009 60 750 gms 148 40.5
Source: Primary survey
IN CENTRAL BRAHMAPUTRA VALLEY ZONE
Years Nominal wage rates Kind CPIAL Real value of
(cash component) component cash
2007 40 750 gms 100 40
2008 45 750 gms 121 37
2009 50 750 gms 135 37
Source: primary survey
184

IN NORTH BANK PLAINS ZONE
Years Nominal wage Kind CPIAL Real value of
rates(cash component cash

component)
2007 60 750 gms 100 60
2008 70 750 gms 131 53

2009 80 750 gms 138 57
Source: Primary field data
The attached labourers are at the disposal of cultivator households. In addition to monthly
salaries, daily two times meal and tea are provided to them. They are provided arrangements for
staying also. Cloths and foot wares are given once in a year. At the time of harvesting, they are
sometimes provided grains.
It can be seen that majority of the agricultural labour work on a casual basis and the most
important wage system happens to be the daily wage rate. The mode of payment is both cash and
kind in all the zones. It is revealed from the tables that the real value of the cash component of
the wage of agricultural labourers has declined over the years in all the three zones. The real
wage data (Tables 6, 7 and 8) make it clear that the rise in money wages lagged behind price
changes leading to reduced real wage rates. The erosion of the real wage rates indicates that the
material condition of the agricultural labourers has worsened over the years. In Central
Brahmaputra Valley Zone the real value decreases in the first year but remain stagnant in the
second year although the level is very low. In North Bank Plains Zone, it decreases at first and
then started increasing at a slow pace.
Table 9 presents the group wise annual income positions of the casual agricultural labour
households and the contribution of different sources in the total family income.
TABLE 9 GROUP WISE AVERAGE ANNUAL INCOME POSITIONS FOR CASUAL
AGRICULTURAL LABOUR HOUSEHOLDS (IN RUPEES)
Income from various Lower Brahmaputra Central North Bank Plains
sources Valley Zone Brahmaputra Valley Zone
Zone
Wage income from 9250 6700 10500
local agriculture
Wage income from 4500 4000 2500
other than
local agriculture
Income from livestock 1000 850 2000
Income from 0 0 0
cultivation
Remittances 0 0 0
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Total income 14750 11550 15000

From the table it is quite evident that the agricultural wage income is the most important source
of income for labour households and income from other than local agriculture is very minimal.
The level of total income is very low in the three sample zones.
6.2 WAGE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP IN THE CHAR AREAS OF ASSAM

The popular micro economic theory of supply demand model suggests that there is an inverse
relationship between employment and the wages. Unemployment occurs due to high real wages.
According to neo-classical economists, high real wages are associated with high labour
productivity and low level of employment.
The following diagram reports the changes in the real wage rates of the casual agricultural
labourers in different sample villages. The graphs of real wages for the zones Lower
Brahmaputra Valley and Central Brahmaputra Valley show a downward movement. But the
graph representing the real wage of North Bank Plains Zone moves downward then again
increases. Decrease in real wage indicates increase in poverty.
FIGURE 1 GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF THE VARIATION IN THE REAL

WAGE
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2007 2008 2009
LBVZ CBVZ NBPZ
The real earnings of an agricultural labour household are primarily dependent on the agricultural
wage rates, the quantum of employment per year available per worker and the price of the wage
goods consumed by the members of the household. So, increase in the nominal wage rates need
186
not necessarily reflect an increase in the income levels of agricultural labour households as it
could also be accompanied by a decline in the annual availability of employment and an increase
in the price of wage goods. However, we can see an increase in the nominal wage rates in the
sample villages.
TABLE 10 TOTAL AVERAGE DAYS OF EMPLOYMENT IN DIFFERENT ZONES


Zone
2006 120 100 115
2007 109 90 109
2008 100 90 105
2009 95 88 99
Source: Primary survey
Although natural shocks play a negative role in employment generation in char agriculture, the
non flood normal period also witnessed a downward movement in the days of employment in
these sample areas. Rapid increase in the number of landless agricultural labourers and
marginalization of the farmers has put a downward trend in the availability of employment for
agricultural labourers in the sample areas in normal non flood seasons also. In the recent years, a
male agricultural labour is hardly getting 100 days of employment in agriculture in the sample
zones. Although the surveyed years from 2006 to 2009 are normal years with seasonal flood, but
a steady decline in the average days of employment is experienced in the surveyed areas.
FIGURE 2 GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF VARIATION OF AVERAGE DAYS OF

EMPLOYMENT
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2006 2007 2008 2009
187
LBVZ CBVZ NBPZ
We can observe that both real wage and the days of employment are falling in recent years in the
sample areas. In the labour market of the char areas, the employer has some monopsony power to
determine the wage rate and the unemployment level of the labourers. Therefore at some wage
cost, he can only keep the unemployment level high to maintain a low recruitment cost for new
labour. Shrinking labour days employment in agriculture made illiterate, unskilled and low caste
labourers accept low real wage. They accept this low wage also may be due to their fear of
loosing future jobs since no alternative employment is available in the sample char villages as
compared to labour supply. Also, high indebted ness, shrinking land base and natural shocks
make them accept low wage. Fall in the real earnings and rise in the number of days of
unemployment leads to the worsening of the situation of the labour households. It is observed
that the entire income that these household receive is spent on essential items like food and
clothing. Reduction in the purchasing power of these households leads to decrease in demand for
essential items of consumption by the agricultural labourers in the char.
In between May to October, char areas remain inundated due to flood. Flood affects agriculture
to a large extent which leads to high unemployment in these areas in this period. The dwellers
get displaced either to some other char areas or to the nearby towns or cities. This leads to sharp
increase in the supply of cheap labour in the labour markets of these areas with this there is an
increase in unemployment and decrease in wage in these areas. In the normal non flood periods
also sample villages experience high unemployment in the labour markets of these areas. This is
mainly because char agriculture alone can not alone generate employment for this large pool of
labourers.
Both wage and employment are affected by relative bargaining positions of the workers and
employers. There is no obligation on the part of the employer to ensure full employment at the
current wage rate. If this is the amount of unemployment deliberately contrived by the employers
to solve their recruitment problems in these areas, the argument of subsistence wage fixed by the
employers on moral ground and norm corresponding to the minimum required by workers to stay
alive will not hold good. In these areas, a minimum wage for casual labour operates in the
agricultural labour market at which a portion of labour days remain unemployed. Greater
unemployment level indicates a lower bargaining position of wage labourer and a lower wage.
Alternatively, higher unemployment indicates higher bargaining positions of the employers
which depress the wages. But pushing the wage below a certain level may reduce the return to
employer. This particular wage rate is the efficiency wage for the sample agricultural labourers.
The employer optimizes profit but at this wage there is a percentage of involuntary
unemployment persists.
7. CONCLUSION
Caste system plays an important role in forming agricultural labour as a distinct class at the
bottom of their societies in the sample villages dominated by Napalese. It has been found that
the char labour market is segmented in terms of sex in the Muslim immigrant dominated zones as
normally there females do not work as agricultural labourers in the field. In the char economies
188
of the sample areas, prices are created by the class of large farmers who dominate the marketed
surplus. Small peasants and landless labourer are compulsively involved in markets in order to
obtain the means of subsistence. With inadequacy of livelihood options, unemployment,
poverty, low welfare situation and constantly under extreme constrained conditions of flood and
erosion, the labourers of these areas lack freedom of choice. Their bargaining power does not
exist under these circumstances. Both the real wage and employment is found declining in the
surveyed areas. Real earnings of the labourers are falling and the number of days of
unemployment is rising. The labourers can not reject the low wage offered by the employers.
Being landless and sheltered by powerful village leaders these labourers can not refuse to work
under terms and conditions set the landowners. They work under compulsion and obligation.
Their bargaining power does not exist under these circumstances. It is observed that at the
prevailing low wage rate also, there is a percentage of involuntary unemployment prevails even
in the agriculturally busy seasons. The labourers as a whole in these areas live in marked
isolation and suffer from discontent and injustices of socio-economic order.
NOTES
i
The self styled village leaders.
ii
Leibenstein H. (1957), “The Theory of Underemployment in Backward Economies”,
The Journal of Political Economy, Vol 65, Pp91-103.
iii
Annual income is computed by adding all salary income plus all payments in kind made to
the permanent worker over the year.
iv
The daily wage rate is estimated on the basis of 288 days full employment norm.
v
The consumer price indices for Agricultural labourers (CPIAL) are compiled separately for
each of the 5 villages at general. The village-wise price relative of each item is worked out
by expressing the current price as a percentage of base year price. The consumer price index
is worked out by using the Laspeyre’s base weighted formula which is given below as is
compiled in “Annual Report On Consumer Price Index Number For Agricultural And Rural
Labourers 2003-04” by National Sample Survey, Government of India.
 P n 
   P 0Q 0
In   P0   100
 P 0Q 0
 P nQ 0
or  100
189
 P 0Q 0
Where:
In = Index Numbers
Pn = Price for current period

Po = Price for base period
Qo = Quantity for base period

vi
The real value of the cash component of the wage rates recorded in the column 5 presents
the real value of cash component of wage rates recorded in column 2 using CPIAL for
Bandhali as deflator.
REFERENCES
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Bardhan Pranab Kumar (1989), “Alternative Approaches to the Theory of Institutions in
economic Development”, in P.K. Bardhan (Ed), The Economic Theory of Agrarian Institutions,
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Bhagaboti Aboni Kumar (2004), “Cultural Adaptation in the River Islands (Char Areas) of the
Brahmaputra (Assam)” in Grover N. and Singh K.N.(ed) Cultural Geography: form and Process.
Bliss C.J. and N.H. Stern (1982), “Palanpur: The Economy of an Indian Village”, New Delhi,
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Booth A and Sundrum R.M. (1985), “Labour Absorption in Agriculture Theoretical Analysis and
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Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol.39 No.2.
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2003”, Guwahati-6: Directorate of Char Area Development of Assam.
Himanshu (2006), “Agrarian Crisis and Wage Labour: A Regional Perspective” The Indian
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Bengal”, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol.49 No.4.

Leibenstein H. (1957), “The Theory of Underemployment in Backward Economies”, The Journal
of Political Economy, Vol 65.
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School of economic and Social Studies, 22 (May).

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Production of absolute Surplus-Value, Chapter VII, The Labour Process And The Process Of
Producing Surplus-Value” Volume I, Moscow, Progress Publishers. In the Section 1 of Chapter

VII, “The Labour Process and the Process of Producing Surplus-Value”.
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Solidarity in a Divided World”, New York, USA, Palgrave Macmillan.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
PRODUCTIVITY PARAMETERS OF SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL

BANKS IN INDIA
DR. R. K. UPPAL*; AMIT JUNEJA**
*Principal Investigator,
UGC Financed Major Research Project,
D.A.V. College,
Malout, Punjab, India.
**Research Scholar,
Department of Economics,
Panjab University,
Chandigarh, India.
ABSTRACT
Any bank or bank group is known for its productivity and profitability and it is the
191
single factor that can make it sound in the banking industry and can attract the
customers towards it. This has become the foremost condition for the survival of any
bank or bank group. There are several parameters to determine bank’s productivity.
In order to comparatively analyse bank’s productivity in pre and post e-banking era,
five banks each from the five bank groups namely Nationalized Banks, SBI & its
associates, Old Private Sector Banks, New Private Sector Banks and Foreign Banks
are selected and their productivity performance on deposit per employee, credit per
employee and business per employee is evaluated in pre and post e-banking period.
Pre e-banking period is taken as 1998 to 2001 and post e-banking period is taken as
2001 to 2012. Performance is evaluated with the help of average, coefficient of
variation, range, skewness and Kurtosis. The results reveal that Foreign Bank group
is the most productive and consistent bank group and Nationalized banks and Old
Private Sector Bank group are the least productive and consistent in their
performance on the selected parameters during the study period.
KEYWORDS: Business per Employee, Credit per Employee, Deposit per Employee,
e-banking, productivity.
____________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
India’s financial sector had long been characterized as highly regulated and financially repressed.
The prevalence of reserve requirements, interest rate controls, and allocation of financial
resources to priority sectors increased the degree of financial repression and adversely affected
the country’s financial resource mobilization and allocation. Since 1991, India has been engaged
in banking sector reforms aimed at increasing the profitability and efficiency of the then 27
public-sector banks that controlled about 90 per cent of all deposits, assets and credit. The
Government of India introduced economic and financial sector reforms in 1991 and banking
sector reforms were part and parcel of financial sector reforms. These were initiated in 1991 to
make Indian banking sector more efficient, strong and dynamic.
The reform measures necessitated the deregulation of the financial sector, particularly the
banking sector. The initiation of the financial sector reforms brought about a paradigm shift in
the banking industry. In 1991, the RBI had proposed to form the committee chaired by M.
Narasimham, former RBI Governor in order to review the Financial System viz. aspects relating
to the Structure, Organisations and Functioning of the financial system. The Narasimham
Committee report, submitted to the then finance minister, Manmohan Singh, on the banking
sector reforms highlighted the weaknesses in the Indian banking system and suggested reform
measures based on the Basle norms. The guidelines that were issued subsequently laid the
foundation for the reformation of Indian banking sector.
BANKING SECTOR REFORMS
 Reduction of Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) to 25 per cent over a period of five years
 Progressive reduction in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)

192
 Phasing out of directed credit programmes and redefinition of the priority sector
 Stipulation of minimum capital adequacy ratio of 4 per cent to risk weighted assets
 Adoption of uniform accounting practices in regard to income recognition, asset

classification and provisioning against bad and doubtful debts
 Imparting transparency to bank balance sheets and making more disclosures
 Setting up of special tribunals to speed up the process of recovery of loans
 Setting up of Asset Reconstruction Funds (ARFs) to take over from banks a portion of
their bad and doubtful advances at a discount
 Restructuring of the banking system, so as to have 3 or 4 large banks, which could

become international in character, 8 to 10 national banks and local banks confined to
specific regions. Rural banks, including RRBs, confined to rural areas
 Abolition of branch licensing
 Liberalising the policy with regard to allowing foreign banks to open offices in India
 Rationalisation of foreign operations of Indian banks
 Giving freedom to individual banks to recruit officers
 Inspection by supervisory authorities based essentially on the internal audit and

inspection reports
 Ending duality of control over banking system by Banking Division and RBI
 A separate authority for supervision of banks and financial institutions which would be a
semi-autonomous body under RBI
 Revised procedure for selection of Chief Executives and Directors of Boards of public
sector banks
 Obtaining resources from the market on competitive terms by DFIs
 Speedy liberalisation of capital market
This process of reforms in the financial system was initiated to ensure that it becomes more
competitive and gets integrated with the world economy through internationalizations of
financial markets in the world. Today in the modern era of information and technology and the
demand driven economy which is menu-driven ultra-robust specialized software programmes are
applied and called the banking applications. One could regard the past of Banking Industry as
193
medieval age and the present one as the modern era which is an independent information silo,
and multi-channel banking (ATMs, Net banking, tele-banking, etc) which was almost non-
existent earlier. The main purpose behind these banking sector reforms and its deregulation was
to make Indian banking sector more productive for the economy and for the customers as well.
These changes have brought about a paradigm shift in Indian banking sector and it has become
more productive. After the implementation of IT act and emergence of e-banking services, there
is big changes occur in its functioning. These e-banking services have completely changed the
face of Indian banking. So, there is a need to compare the performance of different banks and
bank groups in pre and post e-banking era.
SCHEME OF THE PAPER
The plan of research report has been framed under six sections:-
Section-I gives the introduction of the problem taken for study.
Section -II deals with review of related literature.
Section -III objectives, hypothesis, data base, statistical techniques and research methodology.
Section -IV deals with the analysis and interpretation of data.
Section-V deals with conclusions and implications of the study.
Section-VI deals with future areas of research.
I. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Sharma,A.K., Sharma,D, Barua,M.K. (2012) adopt the 2 –stage DEA model and Tobit regression
model to examine the efficiency of bank efficiency for public, private and foreign owned
scheduled commercial banks operating in India between 2000 and 2010. Results of study are
evident to favour public banks in India as public banks lead private and foreign owned banks in
terms of average annual efficiency scores in banking industry. Empirical evidences explain the
role of bank specific factors on banks efficiency frontier. In Indian banking system large banks
have an edge over the small operators in industry and therefore large banks are efficient whereas
deposits behave in opposite way. Banks having low deposits and high total assets apparent to be
on efficiency frontier of Indian scheduled commercial banks. Loan intensity is insignificant in
nature for Indian banks. Bank’s diversification into other activities appears to have a negative
impact and high probability of inefficiency in banks. Indian banking sector still earning profit
through traditional activities only. Higher profitability of any bank definitely leads to higher
probability of efficiency in bank.
Tandon, D. (2012) in his paper conducts productivity and efficiency analysis of Public Sector
Banks operating in India .The number of instruments available, the number of services banks
provide-to both retail and corporate customers, the levels of technology involved, are the mantras
for leap bound progress of public sector banks. This paper empirically defines and an attempt has
been made by the authors to analyze technical efficiency of Public Sector Banks operating in
194
India applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Model .The performance of Banks is assessed
in DEA using the concept of efficiency or productivity, which is the ratio of total outputs to total
inputs. This paper will explain the performance variance and relative efficiencies of 19
(nineteen) public sector banks excluding State Bank Group operating in India during 2003 to
2008 financial years. The model reveals relative efficiency of decision making units with respect
to the most efficient decision making unit in a given sample. The paper includes two inputs and
one output. Considering one input and one output at a time reveals two different banks as most
efficient banks PNB and OBC with interest expense and operating expense of respective inputs
but for same level of output.
Mahesh,H.P., Meenakshi,R. (2011) in their present study attempts to examine the changes in the
productive efficiency of Indian commercial banks after financial sector reforms were initiated in
1992. For this purpose they employ the technique of stochastic frontier analysis and estimate
bank specific deposit, advance and investment efficiencies by using data for the period 1985-
2004. Results show that deregulation has significant impact on all three types of efficiency
measures. While deposit and investment efficiencies have improved, advance efficiency has
declined marginally. Public sector banks as a group ranks first in all the three efficiency
measures showing that, as opposed to the general perception, these banks are doing better than
their private counterparts. Private Banks however have shown marked improvement during post-
liberalisation period in terms of all three types of efficiency measure.
Sanyal, P., Shankar, R. (2011) in their paper investigates the effect of ownership and competition
on Indian bank productivity since the 1991 reforms. They find that Indian private banks
dominate the public and foreign banks both in terms of productivity levels and productivity
growth, with the new Indian private banks leading the charge. Competition has a positive impact
on productivity for the old Indian private banks, and all the other banks are hurt by competition -
- the worst hit being new Indian private banks. A similar picture emerges on the productivity
growth side, with the new Indian private bank productivity growth being the worst affected as
competition increases. An analysis of the pre- and post-1998 periods shows that the latter period
displays a much higher productivity gap between the Indian private banks and the public and
foreign banks. Indian private bank productivity and productivity growth suffer due to increasing
competition in the post-1998 period.
Gupta,O.P., Doshit, Y.& Chinubhai, A. (2008) in their paper analyzes the performance of the
Indian banking sector, measured and compared in two stages: Through the construct of
productive efficiency using the non-parametric frontier methodology, DEA and finding the
determinants of productive efficiency through TOBIT model. Inputs and outputs are measured in
monetary value and efficiency scores determined for the period 1999-2003. The study shows that
SBI and its group have the highest efficiency, followed by private banks, and the other
nationalized banks. The results are consistent over the period, but efficiency differences diminish
over period of time. The capital adequacy ratio is found to have a significantly positive impact
on the productive efficiency.
Bhattacharyya, A., Lovell, C.A.K., Sahay,P.(1997) examine the productive efficiency of 70

Indian commercial banks during the early stages (1986-1991) of the ongoing period of
195
liberalization. They use data envelopment analysis to calculate radial technical efficiency scores.
They then use stochastic frontier analysis to attribute variation in the calculated efficiency scores
to three sources: a temporal component, an ownership component, and a random noise
component. They find publicly-owned Indian banks to have been the most efficient, followed by
foreign-owned banks and privately-owned Indian banks. They also find a temporal improvement
in the performance of foreign-owned banks, virtually no trend in the performance of privately-

owned Indian banks, and a temporal decline in the performance of publicly-owned Indian banks.
They attempt to explain these patterns in terms of the government's evolving regulatory policies.
RESEARCH GAP
Productivity of the banking sector depends upon the efficiency of its employees. The more
efficient the employees, the more productive the banks are in terms of their operations. In pre
and post e-banking era, a great difference has come in the productivity of employees. Now, it has
become the foremost essential thing for the banks today that their employees should work with
utmost efficiency, so that the bank should use this in favour of its profitability. So, there is a need
to empirically analyse the productivity of banks through the productivity of its employees. With
this view in mind a comparative study is conducted related to various parameters of bank’s
productivity, so that an estimate can be made about the progress and efficiency of different bank
groups. So this study is an attempt in this area.
II. OBJECTIVES
i. To see trends related to Deposit per Employee of different banks related to all the bank
groups in India in pre and post e-banking period.
ii. To see trends related to Credit per Employee of different banks related to all the bank
iii. To see trends related to Business per Employee of different banks related to all the bank
FOCUS AREA
The present paper focuses on the study of selected parameters related to the productivity
performance of different type of banks related to all the groups in India in pre and post e-banking
period.
DATA COLLECTION WORK
Secondary data had been used in present study.
i. Performance Highlights, IBA, 1998-2012.
STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES
196
For the analysis of data from different angles various types of statistical techniques such as
mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, skewness, Range, Kurtosis and t-value are
used. t-values are used to see significant difference in the performance of banks in pre and post
e-banking era.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
A descriptive comparative research design was used in the present study. The study has been
conducted about the productivity performance of different banks related to all the bank groups on
selected parameters.
SAMPLE DESIGN
The present paper is concerned with five bank groups and further from all these five bank
groups, five banks are selected and those banks are as under:
i. Nationalized Banks: PNB, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India & Bank of
Baroda.
ii. SBI and its Associates: SBI, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank
of Travancore & State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur.
iii. Old Private Sector Banks: Jammu & Kashmir Bank, The Federal Bank Ltd., ING Vysya
Bank Ltd., The Karnataka Bank Ltd., SBI Commercial & International Bank Ltd.
iv. New Private Sector Banks: ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UTI Bank, INDUS Bank, Kotak
Mahindra Bank.
v. Foreign Banks: STC Bank, CITI Bank, HSBC Bank, ABN Bank, Deutsche Bank AG.
TIME PERIOD
As far as the time period for the present study is concerned, it can be said that the comparative
productivity analysis of different banks related to all the bank groups in India is done w.r.t. their
performance in pre and post e-banking era. Pre e-banking era means a time period of 1998 to
2001 and post e-banking era means a time period of 2001 to 2012.
SAMPLING PLAN
In carrying out a data firstly selected the factors and then study the productivity performance of
each factor with respect to the selected banks from different type of bank groups.
PARAMETERS OF THE STUDY

197
In the present study, the analysis and comparison of the productivity performance of various
selected banks from different bank groups in pre and post e-banking period is done with
reference to the following parameters:
i. Deposit per Employee

ii. Credit per Employee

iii. Business per Employee
III. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The major findings of this research and the analysis of data is shown the following tables:
TABLE 1 SHOWING DEPOSIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-I IN PRE AND POST REFORM PERIOD
Bank Mean SD SEM SED CV Range Skewness Kurtosis t- Significant
Name Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Value Level
Pre
Vs
Post
PNB 0.708 2.133 0.191 0.611 0.096 0.184 0.068 0.130 27.03 28.64 0.304 0.453 0.254 0.186 1.192 1.891 4.488 1%
CAN 0.417 3.015 0.587 1.190 0.294 0.359 0.208 0.254 140.70 39.47 1.000 0.542 1.144 0.001 2.277 1.406 4.115 1%
BOI 0.731 2.282 0.508 0.885 0.254 0.267 0.180 0.189 69.51 38.77 1.000 0.539 0.757 2.760 2.168 5.298 3.268 1%
UBI 0.824 3.530 0.570 1.554 0.285 0.469 0.201 0.331 69.18 44.02 1.000 0.560 0.815 0.015 2.180 1.351 3.334 1%
BOB 1.041 2.234 0.141 1.429 0.071 0.431 0.050 0.305 13.58 63.98 0.157 0.926 0.006 0.291 1.657 3.394 1.629 N.S.
Source: Performance Highlights, IBA, 1998-2012.
Table 1 is showing comparative trends related to deposit per employee of five public sector banks in pre and post e-banking period.
198
From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant improvement in their deposit per employee in
post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks Canara Bank shows most significant
percentage increase on this parameter. Bank of Baroda is not successful in showing significant improvement on this parameter. As far
as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank of Baroda is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking
period on the basis of consistency tests, but in post e-banking period Punjab National Bank is the most consistent bank. As far as range
on this parameter is concerned, Bank of Baroda in pre e-banking period and Punjab National Bank in post e-banking period show least
range. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Bank of Baroda is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Canara bank in
post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Canara bank shows much
of this concentration in pre e-banking period and Bank of India in post e-banking period.
TABLE 2 SHOWING CREDIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-I IN PRE AND POST REFORM PERIOD
Pre
Vs
Post
PNB 0.342 1.934 0.101 1.205 0.051 0.363 0.036 0.257 29.54 62.32 0.319 0.731 0.449 0.225 1.970 1.740 2.576 5%
CAN 0.198 2.124 0.276 1.049 0.138 0.316 0.098 0.224 140.00 49.41 1.000 0.667 1.136 0.000 2.274 1.432 3.548 1%
BOI 0.413 2.541 0.304 1.680 0.152 0.507 0.107 0.358 73.43 66.11 1.000 0.720 0.283 0.381 2.055 1.747 2.461 5%
UBI 0.378 2.485 0.278 1.239 0.139 0.374 0.098 0.264 73.61 49.85 1.000 0.625 0.312 0.065 1.965 1.365 3.296 1%
BOB 0.508 1.827 0.077 1.461 0.039 0.441 0.027 0.312 15.25 79.99 0.168 0.808 0.343 1.319 1.845 2.913 1.761 N.S
Source: Same as Table 1.
Table 2 is showing comparative trends related to Credit per employee of five public sector banks in pre and post e-banking period.
From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant improvement in their credit per employee in post
199
e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks Canara Bank shows most significant percentage
increase on this parameter. Bank of Baroda is not successful in showing significant improvement on this parameter. As far as the
consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank of Baroda is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period
on the basis of consistency tests but in post e-banking period Canara bank is the most consistent bank. As far as range on this
parameter is concerned, Bank of Baroda in pre e-banking period and union bank of India in post e-banking period shows least range.
As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Bank of India is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Canara bank in post e-
banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Canara bank shows much of
this concentration in pre e-banking period and Bank of Baroda in post e-banking period.
TABLE 3 SHOWING BUSINESSE PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-I IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Name Value Level
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
Pre
Vs
Post
PNB 1.050 4.067 0.292 1.757 0.146 0.530 0.103 0.375 27.83 43.20 0.309 0.598 0.319 0.024 1.930 1.734 3.338 1%
CAN 0.615 5.138 0.864 2.238 0.432 0.675 0.305 0.477 140.39 43.56 1.000 0.594 1.141 0.001 2.276 1.417 3.861 1%
BOI 1.144 4.824 0.810 2.143 0.405 0.646 0.286 0.457 70.77 44.43 1.000 0.568 0.570 0.112 2.121 1.657 3.283 1%
UBI 1.202 6.015 0.845 2.786 0.423 0.840 0.299 0.594 70.33 46.32 1.000 0.584 0.644 0.037 2.119 1.347 3.328 1%
BOB 1.549 4.061 0.218 2.668 0.109 0.804 0.077 0.569 14.07 65.69 0.161 0.865 0.070 0.498 1.693 2.970 1.837 NS
200
Table 3 is showing comparative trends related to Business per employee of five public sector banks in pre and post e-banking period.
From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant improvement in their credit per employee in post
e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these four banks Canara Bank shows most significant percentage
increase on this parameter. Bank of Baroda is not successful in showing significant improvement on this parameter. As far as the
consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank of Baroda is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period
on the basis of consistency tests, but in post e-banking period Punjab National Bank is the most consistent bank. As far as range on the
parameter is concerned, Bank of Baroda in pre e-banking period and Bank of India in post e-banking period show least range. As far
as the deviation from normality is concerned, Bank of Baroda is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Canara bank in post e-banking
era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Canara bank shows much of this
concentration in pre e-banking period and Bank of Baroda in post e-banking period.
TABLE 4 SHOWING DEPOSIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-II IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
SBI 0.873 2.361 0.221 0.799 0.110 0.241 0.078 0.170 25.32 33.83 0.277 0.486 0.268 0.280 1.812 2.291 3.598 1%
SBoH 0.695 3.049 0.506 1.686 0.253 0.508 0.179 0.359 72.81 49.46 1.000 0.625 0.346 0.214 2.050 1.578 3.102 1%
SBoP 0.659 3.867 0.461 1.728 0.231 0.521 0.163 0.368 69.97 44.67 1.000 0.641 0.695 0.059 2.136 1.469 3.588 1%
SBoT 0.606 2.626 0.423 1.040 0.212 0.313 0.150 0.222 69.89 39.59 1.000 0.561 0.727 0.002 2.115 1.590 3.704 1%
SBoBJ 0.524 2.893 0.373 1.636 0.187 0.493 0.132 0.349 71.17 56.55 1.000 0.698 0.545 0.134 2.067 1.742 2.805 5%
Table 4 is showing comparative trends related to Deposit per employee of five banks from SBI & Associate group in pre and post e-
banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant improvement in their deposit per
201
employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks State Bank of Patiala shows most
significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that State
Bank of India is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range
on this parameter is concerned, State Bank of India shows least range in pre and post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from
normality is concerned, State Bank of India is least deviated in pre e-banking era and State Bank of Travancore in post e-banking era.
As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of Patiala shows much of this
concentration in pre e-banking period and State Bank of India in post e-banking period.
TABLE 5 SHOWING CREDIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-II IN PRE AND POST REFORM PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
SBI 0.438 1.791 0.081 1.013 0.040 0.305 0.029 0.216 18.51 56.57 0.195 0.717 0.329 0.249 1.758 2.100 2.606 5%
SBoH 0.338 2.166 0.243 1.306 0.122 0.394 0.086 0.278 71.84 60.30 1.000 0.713 0.442 0.146 2.084 1.443 2.718 5%
SBoP 0.376 2.694 0.269 1.390 0.134 0.419 0.095 0.296 71.43 51.58 1.000 0.686 0.505 0.026 2.072 1.355 3.240 1%
SBoT 0.315 1.904 0.228 0.890 0.114 0.268 0.080 0.190 72.23 46.75 1.000 0.644 0.428 0.077 2.025 1.422 3.425 1%
SBoBJ 0.260 2.131 0.185 1.387 0.093 0.418 0.066 0.296 71.47 65.08 1.000 0.792 0.501 0.061 2.069 1.636 2.628 5%
Table 5 is showing comparative trends related to Credit per employee of five banks from SBI & Associate group in pre and post e-
banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant improvement in their Credit per
employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks State Bank of Patiala shows most
202
significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that State
bank of India is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and State Bank of Travancore in post e-banking period on the basis of
consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, State Bank of India shows least range in pre e-banking period and
State Bank of Travancore in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of India is least
deviated in pre e-banking era and State Bank of Patiala in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is
concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of Hyderabad shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and State
Bank of India in post e-banking period.
TABLE 6 SHOWING BUSINESS PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-II IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
SBI 1.310 4.152 0.300 1.805 0.150 0.544 0.106 0.385 22.92 43.47 0.242 0.590 0.332 0.259 1.784 2.193 3.062 1%
SBoH 1.033 5.575 0.749 2.989 0.375 0.901 0.265 0.637 72.48 53.61 1.000 0.659 0.377 0.182 2.061 1.510 2.940 5%
SBoP 1.035 6.564 0.730 3.112 0.365 0.938 0.258 0.664 70.47 47.42 1.000 0.660 0.624 0.042 2.113 1.413 3.440 1%
SBoT 0.921 4.533 0.650 1.918 0.325 0.578 0.230 0.409 70.61 42.32 1.000 0.591 0.622 0.033 2.083 1.499 3.615 1%
SBoBJ 0.784 5.024 0.599 3.021 0.279 0.911 0.198 0.644 71.26 60.14 1.000 0.738 0.531 0.096 2.068 1.689 2.727 5%
Table 6 is showing comparative trends related to Business per employee of five banks from SBI & Associate group in pre and post e-
banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant improvement in their Credit per
203
employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur
shows most significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be
concluded that State bank of India is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and State Bank of Travancore in post e-banking period
on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, State Bank of India shows least range in pre and post
e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of India is least deviated in pre e-banking era and
State Bank of Travancore in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded
that State Bank of Patiala shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and State Bank of India in post e-banking period.
TABLE 7 SHOWING DEPOSIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-III IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
J&KB 1.064 3.416 0.766 0.849 0.383 0.256 0.271 0.181 72.00 24.85 1.000 0.373 0.509 0.456 1.946 2.004 4.850 1%
FEDB 0.843 3.564 0.569 1.582 0.284 0.477 0.201 0.337 67.47 44.40 1.000 0.617 1.147 0.075 2.278 1.170 3.295 1%
VYAB 0.931 2.823 0.640 0.712 0.320 0.215 0.226 0.152 68.73 25.21 1.000 0.410 0.906 0.026 2.190 2.019 4.658 1%
KARB 1.006 3.297 0.706 1.092 0.353 0.329 0.249 0.233 70.14 33.13 1.000 0.474 0.666 0.079 2.133 1.500 3.861 1%
SIB 0.778 3.114 0.547 0.965 0.273 0.291 0.193 0.206 70.25 31.00 1.000 0.419 0.679 0.256 2.091 1.939 4.153 1%
Table 7 is showing comparative trends related to Deposit per employee of five banks from Old Private Sector Bank group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant improvement in their Deposit
204
per employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks The Federal Bank shows most
significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that
Federal Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and Jammu & Kashmir Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of
consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank shows least range in post e-banking period.
As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and ING Vysya
Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Federal Bank
shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ING Vysya Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 8 SHOWING CREDIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-III IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
J&KB 0.442 2.284 0.314 0.885 0.157 0.267 0.111 0.189 71.10 38.73 1.000 0.569 0.544 0.055 2.084 1.672 3.991 1%
FEDB 0.529 2.380 0.358 1.217 0.179 0.367 0.126 0.260 67.63 51.14 1.000 0.663 1.111 0.065 2.268 1.573 2.932 5%
VYAB 0.466 1.986 0.336 0.778 0.168 0.234 0.119 0.166 72.10 39.16 1.000 0.549 0.490 0.112 1.953 1.559 3.713 1%
KARB 0.472 1.906 0.330 0.744 0.165 0.224 0.117 0.159 69.98 39.03 1.000 0.561 0.694 0.101 2.135 1.586 3.659 1%
SIB 0.410 2.026 0.288 0.809 0.144 0.244 0.102 0.172 70.18 39.93 1.000 0.530 0.681 0.144 2.104 1.897 3.829 1%
Table 8 is showing comparative trends related to Credit per employee of five banks from Old Private Sector Bank group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant improvement in their Credit
205
per employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks Jammu & Kashmir Bank
shows most significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be
concluded that Federal Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and Jammu & Kashmir Bank in post e-banking period on the
basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, SBI Commercial & International Bank shows least range in
post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, ING Vysa Bank Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking
era and Jammu & Kashmir Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be
concluded that Federal Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and SBI Commercial & International Bank in
post e-banking period.

TABLE 9 SHOWING BUSINESS PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-III IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
J&KB 1.506 5.700 1.078 1.722 0.539 0.519 0.381 0.367 71.59 30.22 1.000 0.455 0.532 0.204 1.996 1.778 4.498 1%
FEDB 1.371 5.944 0.926 2.798 0.463 0.844 0.327 0.597 67.53 47.07 1.000 0.636 1.133 0.070 2.275 1.642 3.140 1%
VYAB 1.397 4.725 0.973 1.548 0.487 0.467 0.344 0.330 69.65 32.76 1.000 0.458 0.766 0.052 2.123 1.576 3.969 1%
KARB 1.478 4.373 1.036 1.818 0.518 0.548 0.366 0.388 70.09 41.57 1.000 0.493 0.675 0.104 2.134 1.514 2.969 5%
SIB 1.188 5.140 0.834 1.771 0.417 0.534 0.295 0.378 70.21 34.46 1.000 0.463 0.682 0.208 2.096 1.919 4.218 1%
Table 9 is showing comparative trends related to Business per employee of five banks from Old Private Sector Bank group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant improvement in their Credit
206
per employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these five banks Federal Bank shows most
significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that
Federal Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and Jammu & Kashmir Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of
consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank shows least range in post e-banking period.
As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and ING Vysa
Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Federal Bank
shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and SBI Commercial & International Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 10 SHOWING DEPOSIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-IV IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre
Vs
Post
ICICI 5.226 5.714 1.707 0.848 0.854 0.256 0.604 0.181 32.68 14.83 0.349 0.212 0.521 0.537 2.021 2.088 0.756 N.S.
HDFC 3.866 3.345 0.631 1.445 0.316 0.436 0.223 0.308 16.33 43.20 0.174 0.740 0.000 0.002 1.274 2.137 0.685 N.S.
UTI 6.966 5.061 0.914 1.963 0.457 0.592 0.323 0.418 13.12 38.78 0.144 0.822 0.193 1.208 1.575 3.290 1.837 N.S.
INDUS 13.773 7.475 2.751 3.078 1.375 0.928 0.973 0.656 19.97 41.18 0.247 0.501 0.047 0.675 2.010 2.257 3.589 1%
KOTAK 0.000 1.867 0.000 1.172 0.000 0.353 0.000 0.250 0.000 62.79 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.001 0.000 3.091 3.110 1%
Table 10 is showing comparative trends related to Deposit per employee of five banks from New Private Sector Bank group in pre
207
and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that only one out of four pre e-banking period established banks is
successful in increasing its deposit per employee and other three banks shows declining trends in their performance in post e-banking
period as compared to pre e-banking period. Kotak Mahindra Bank shows significant improvement in its performance in post e-
banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that UTI Bank is the most consistent bank
in pre e-banking and ICICI Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is
concerned, UTI Bank shows least range in pre e-banking period and ICICI Bank post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from
normality is concerned, HDFC Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Kotak Mahindra Bank in post e-banking era. As far as
the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that ICICI Bank shows much of this concentration in pre
e-banking period and UTI Bank in post e-banking period.

TABLE 11 SHOWING CREDIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-IV IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
ICICI 2.213 5.035 0.615 0.528 0.308 0.159 0.218 0.113 27.80 10.49 0.283 0.156 0.001 1.921 1.136 3.704 8.793 1%
HDFC 1.507 2.046 0.403 0.907 0.201 0.273 0.142 0.193 26.72 44.31 0.331 0.820 0.601 0.164 2.073 2.262 1.129 NS
UTI 4.237 2.752 0.342 1.022 0.171 0.308 0.121 0.218 8.08 37.14 0.083 0.842 1.187 2.295 2.279 4.110 2.792 5%
INDUS 7.052 5.203 2.239 1.907 1.119 0.575 0.792 0.407 31.75 36.66 0.320 0.431 0.012 1.267 1.212 2.892 1.592 NS
KOTAK 0.000 1.792 0.000 1.066 0.000 0.321 0.000 0.227 0.000 59.46 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.100 0.000 2.946 3.284 1%
Table 11 is showing comparative trends related to Credit per employee of five banks from New Private Sector Bank group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that only two out of four pre e-banking period established banks are
208
successful in increasing its credit per employee and other two banks shows declining trends in their performance in post e-banking
period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these two banks ICICI Bank show more percentage increase in its credit per
employee. Kotak Mahindra Bank also shows significant performance in post e-banking period. As far as the consistency in
performance is concerned, it can be concluded that UTI Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and ICICI Bank in post e-
banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, UTI Bank shows least range in pre e-
banking period and ICICI Bank post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, HDFC Bank is least
deviated in pre e-banking era and Kotak Mahindra Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is
concerned, it can be concluded that UTI Bank shows much of this concentration in pre and post e-banking period.
TABLE 12 SHOWING BUSINESS PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-IV IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre
Vs
Post
ICICI 7.439 10.749 2.167 0.894 1.084 0.269 0.766 0.191 29.13 8.32 0.331 0.149 0.378 0.041 2.085 2.782 4.350 1%
HDFC 5.373 5.391 0.948 2.322 0.474 0.700 0.335 0.495 17.65 43.07 0.184 0.768 0.006 0.038 1.236 2.158 0.015 NS
UTI 11.204 7.813 1.119 2.917 0.559 0.879 0.396 0.622 9.99 37.33 0.114 0.820 0.000 1.917 1.555 3.802 2.222 5%
INDUS 20.825 12.678 4.638 4.951 2.319 1.493 1.640 1.056 22.27 39.05 0.256 0.472 0.024 0.919 1.682 2.497 2.859 5%
KOTAK 0.000 3.659 0.000 2.110 0.000 0.636 0.000 0.450 0.000 57.66 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.351 0.000 2.672 3.386 1%
Table 12 is showing comparative trends related to Business per employee of five banks from New Private Sector Bank group in pre
209
and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that only two out of four pre e-banking period established banks
are successful in increasing its business per employee and other two banks shows declining trends in their performance in post e-
banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these two banks ICICI Bank show more percentage increase in its
business per employee. Kotak Mahindra Bank shows significant performance in post e-banking period. As far as the consistency in
performance is concerned, it can be concluded that UTI Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and ICICI Bank in post e-
banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, UTI Bank shows least range in pre e-
banking period and ICICI Bank post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, UTI Bank is least deviated
in pre e-banking era and HDFC Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be
concluded that UTI ICICI Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and UTI Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 13 SHOWING DEPOSIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-V IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
STC 2.495 5.572 0.685 1.168 0.342 0.352 0.242 0.249 27.44 20.97 0.263 0.351 0.002 0.246 1.059 2.073 4.896 1%
CITI 7.118 10.618 2.027 2.222 1.014 0.670 0.717 0.474 28.48 20.93 0.321 0.368 0.023 0.078 1.588 2.344 2.751 5%
HSBC 2.758 5.714 0.556 1.343 0.278 0.405 0.197 0.286 20.16 23.51 0.199 0.333 0.001 0.056 1.086 1.595 4.192 1%
ABN 3.579 4.438 1.160 0.478 0.580 0.144 0.410 0.102 32.42 10.78 0.374 0.161 0.083 0.085 1.848 1.851 2.110 N.S.
DEUT 3.207 5.581 2.140 2.166 1.070 0.653 0.757 0.462 66.73 38.81 1.000 0.575 1.319 0.003 2.239 2.284 1.882 N.S.
Table 13 is showing comparative trends related to Deposit per employee of five banks from Foreign Banking sector group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that three out of five banks shows significant improvement in their
210
deposit per employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these three banks STC Bank shows
most significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that
HSBC Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and ABN Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency
tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, HSBC Bank shows least range in pre and post e-banking period. As far as the
deviation from normality is concerned, HSBC Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Deutsche Bank in post e-banking era.
As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Deutsche Bank shows much of this
concentration in pre e-banking period and CITI Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 14 SHOWING CREDIT PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-V IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
STC 2.012 4.737 1.058 1.163 0.529 0.351 0.374 0.248 52.56 24.56 0.529 0.348 0.004 1.267 1.183 3.432 4.094 1%
CITI 4.247 8.542 1.822 1.876 0.911 0.566 0.644 0.400 42.92 21.96 0.471 0.402 0.007 0.043 1.441 2.771 3.948 1%
HSBC 1.302 3.408 0.682 0.688 0.341 0.207 0.241 0.147 52.37 20.18 0.611 0.352 0.006 0.223 1.586 3.515 5.255 1%
ABN 3.402 5.015 1.201 1.795 0.601 0.541 0.425 0.383 35.31 35.79 0.371 0.870 0.000 1.058 1.216 5.206 1.648 NS
DEUT 2.659 3.196 1.799 2.069 0.900 0.624 0.636 0.441 67.66 64.74 1.000 0.891 1.106 0.020 2.266 2.057 0.457 NS
Table 14 is showing comparative trends related to Credit per employee of five banks from Foreign Banking sector group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that three out of five banks shows significant improvement in their
211
credit per employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these three banks HSBC Bank shows
most significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that
ABN Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and HSBC Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency
tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, ABN Bank shows least range in pre e-banking period and STC Bank in post e-
banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, ABN Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Deutsche
Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Deutsche Bank
shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ABN Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 15 SHOWING BUSINESS PER EMPLOYEE OF BANKS RELATED TO G-V IN PRE AND POST REFORM
PERIOD
Name Value Level
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
Pre Vs
Post
STC 4.058 1.308 1.734 2.133 0.867 0.643 0.613 0.455 38.47 20.70 0.384 0.301 0.000 0.104 1.103 1.931 4.850 1%
CITI 11.364 19.160 3.847 4.009 1.923 1.209 1.360 0.855 33.85 20.92 0.377 0.382 0.014 0.098 1.518 2.585 3.361 1%
HSBC 4.059 9.122 1.225 1.865 0.613 0.562 0.433 0.398 30.18 20.45 0.330 0.315 0.003 0.174 1.332 1.938 4.987 1%
ABN 6.980 9.919 2.263 1.240 1.131 0.374 0.800 0.264 32.42 12.50 0.325 0.217 0.078 1.102 1.390 4.015 3.273 1%
212
DEUT 5.866 8.776 3.930 4.099 1.965 1.236 1.389 0.874 66.99 46.70 1.000 0.691 1.255 0.121 2.309 2.386 1.227 NS

Table 15 is showing comparative trends related to Business per employee of five banks from Foreign Banking sector group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks are successful in increasing their business
per employee whicle there is a decline in business per employee of STC Bank. Out of these four banks three banks shows significant
improvement in their business per employee in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period and out of these three
banks HSBC Bank shows most significant percentage increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is
concerned, it can be concluded that HSBC Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and ABN Bank in post e-banking
period on the basis of different consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, ABN Bank shows least range in pre
and post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, STC Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and
CITI Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Deutsche
Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ABN Bank in post e-banking period.
IV. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

CONCLUDING REMARKS
The major findings of this research work can be concluded with the help of following tables:
TABLE 16 SHOWING COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF ALL THE BANKS ON SELECTED
PARAMETERS IN POST E-BANKING PERIOD
Bank Group Parameter Average Consistency Range Skewness Kurtosis
G-I Deposit Per Employee UBI PNB PNB CAN CAN
Credit Per Employee BOI CAN UBI CAN BOB
Business Per Employee UBI PNB BOI CAN BOB
G-II Deposit Per Employee SBoP SBI SBI SBoT SBI
Credit Per Employee SBoP SBoT SBoT SBoP SBI
Business Per Employee SBoP SBoT SBI SBoT SBI
G-III Deposit Per Employee FEDB J&KB J&KB VYAB VYAB
213
Credit Per Employee FEDB J&KB SIB J&KB SIB

Business Per Employee FEDB J&KB J&KB VYAB SIB
G-IV Deposit Per Employee INDUS ICICI ICICI KOTAK UTI
Credit Per Employee INDUS ICICI ICICI KOTAK UTI
Business Per Employee INDUS ICICI ICICI HDFC UTI
G-V Deposit Per Employee CITI ABN ABN DEUT CITI
Credit Per Employee CITI HSBC STC DEUT ABN

Business Per Employee CITI ABN ABN DEUT ABN
i. As far as the performance of Nationalized Banks is concerned, it can be concluded that Union Bank of India show better
performance on average deposits and business per employee and on the same two parameters Punjab National bank is the most
consistent bank. As far as deviation from normality is concerned, Canara Bank clearly surpasses all the other nationalized
banks and on concentration of items around the mean Bank of Baroda performs better on two parameters. Overall, Canara
Bank shows better performance on 5 areas followed by Punjab National bank and Union Bank of India on three areas each.
ii. As far as the performance of SBI & Its associates is concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of Patiala shows better
performance eon average deposits, credit and business per employee while State Bank of Travancore is more consistent on two
out of three parameters. As far as deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of Travancore is performing better on two
out of three selected parameters. As far as concentration of items around the mean is concerned, State bank of India clearly
surpasses all the other banks by performing better on all the selected parameters. Overall State Bank of India is performing
better on 6 areas followed by State Bank of Travancore on five areas. State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and
Jaipur not show significant performance on any of the selected parameter.
iii. As far as the performance of old private bank group is concerned, it can be concluded that Federal Bank clearly surpasses all
the other old private sector banks in average deposits, credit and business per employee but Jammu & Kashmir Bank is the
most consistent bank on all the selected parameters. As far as deviation from normality is concerned, it can be concluded that
ING Vysa Bank performs better on two out of three parameters and on concentration of items around the mean is concerned,
SBI Commercial & International Bank is performing better. Overall Jammu & Kashmir Bank performs better on 6 areas
whereas Karnataka Bank is not successful in performing better on either of the selected parameter.
iv. As far as the performance of New Private Sector bank group is concerned, it can be concluded that INDUS Bank clearly
surpasses all the other banks of this group on average deposits, credit and business per employee whereas ICICI Bank is the
most consistent bank of this group. As far as deviation from normality is concerned, KOTAK Mahindra Bank is performing
better on two out of three parameters. As far as concentration of items around the mean is concerned, UTI Bank performing
214
better on all the three selected parameters. Overall, ICICI Bank is performing better on 6 areas followed by UTI Bank and
IN0DUS Bank.
v. As far as the performance of Foreign Banking group is concerned, it can be concluded that CITI bank clearly surpasses all the
other banks of this group in average deposits, credit and business per employee whereas ABN Bank is most consistent bank
and it also shows more concentration of items around the mean on two out of three selected parameters. As far as deviation
from normality is concerned, Deutsche Bank is least deviated from normality. Overall ABN Bank performs better on six areas
followed by CITI bank on four parameters.
TABLE 17 SHOWING COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF ALL THE BANK GROUPS ON

SELECTED PARAMETERS IN POST E-BANKING PERIOD
Parameter Average Consistency Range Skewness Kurtosis
Deposit per Employee G-V G-V G-V G-IV G-II
Credit per Employee G-V G-V G-IV G-IV G-II
Business per Employee G-V G-V G-V G-IV G-II
vi. As far as the overall performance of all the bank groups on the selected parameters is
concerned, It can be concluded that Foreign Bank group is the most productive bank
group as it shows more average deposits, credit and business per employee. Nevertheless,
this bank group is also the most consistent bank group on all the selected parameters.
New Private Sector Bank group shows least deviation from normality on all the three
selected parameters and SBI and its associates shows more concentration around the
mean. Nationalized Banks and Old Private Sector Bank group are not successful in
performing better on either of the selected parameters and hence are least productive on
the parameters selected. Overall, it can be concluded that Foreign Bank group is the most
productive bank group in Indian banking industry on the basis of the selected parameters.
CONCLUSION
In the nut shell we can conclude that on the five selected bank groups, foreign bank group is the
most productive and consistent bank group on all the selected parameters because this bank
group shows more average performance on all the three selected parameters and shows most
consistent performance in post e-banking era. Nationalized banks and Old Private bank group are
the least productive bank group as they neither show more average nor consistency in their
performance on the selected parameters.
IMPLICATIONS
The current study is mainly concerned with the analysis of comparative performance evaluation
of the five bank groups during pre and post e-banking period in terms of various selected
parameters. As the study reflects the banking groups that have improved or declined their
215
performance in respect of all the selected parameters, so provides important analysis to judge the
bank groups with poor performance which further help to make some policy measures to
improve their performance. Besides this study will also provide important information about the
banks that comes under various bank groups and their comparative performance. The study will
be helpful to the academicians and researchers for further study in this respect.
V. FUTURE AREAS OF RESEARCH
i. Comparative performance evaluation of some other banks of these five bank groups in
pre and post e-banking era.
ii. Comparative performance evaluation of these banks of five bank groups on some other
parameters related to productivity.
iii. Comparative performance evaluation of these bank groups on profitability parameters.

REFERENCES
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Public Sector Banks in India’, Punjab Journal of Business Studies, Vol.1 (1), Pp.11–25.
Bhattacharyya, A., Lovell, C.A.K., Sahay,P.(1997). ‘The impact of liberalization on the

productive efficiency of Indian commercial banks’, European Journal of Operational Research,
Vol. 98, Pp. 332-345
Chakrabarti, R., and Chawla, G., (2005). ‘Bank efficiency in India since reforms an assessment’,
Money and Finance. Vol.2, pp.31-48.
Kasman and Kasman (2006). ‘Efficiency, Productivity and Stock Performance: Evidence from
the Turkish Banking Sector PANOECONOMICUS, 2011, 3, pp. 355-372 Received: 13
September 2010; Accepted: 23 February 2011.
Gupta,O.P., Doshit, Y.& Chinubhai, A. (2008). ‘Dynamics of Productive Efficiency of Indian

Banks’, International Journal of Operations Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, Pp. 78-90.
Mahesh,H.P., Meenakshi,R. (2011). ‘ Liberalisation and Productive Efficiency of Indian

Commercial Banks: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis’, Available at
www.hss.iitb.ac.in/ties07/paper/ts3/psC/4.doc.
Sanyal, P., Shankar, R. (2011). ‘Ownership, competition, and bank productivity: An analysis of
Indian banking in the post-reform period’, International Review of Economics & Finance, Vol.
20(2), April, Pp. 225-247.
Sharma,A.K., Sharma,D, Barua,M.K. (2012). ‘Efficiency and Productivity of Indian Banks: An

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Application of Data Envelopment Analysis and Tobit Regression’, National Conference on

Emerging Challenges for Sustainable Business.
Tandon, D. (2012). ‘Performance variances & efficiency parameters of the Indian Public Sector
Banks – A suggestive (Nonparametric) DEA Model’, Lecture at IBS HYDERABAD, Available
at www.iilm.edu/.../performance-of-indian-public-sector-banks.pdf

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GROWTH AND TREND PATTERN OF

ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
OF INDIA
YOGESH H. S.*; DR. M. MAHESHA**
*Research Scholar,
DOS in Economics & Co-Operation,
Mysore.
**Associate Professor/Guide,
DOS in Economics & Co-Operation,
Mysore.
ABSTRACT
217
The public and private institutions have a great role to play in mixed economies and
welfare states. In India, while they worked in different and exclusive spheres, largely
in the immediate post-independence era gradually they are converging to
collaborate and compete with each other. Although the growth of private schooling
in India is quite visible, this paper intends to compare the Growth and Trend of
Enrollments in public as well as private Elementary Schools in India and to find out
the reason for the Development of Private Schooling in India. This paper is based on
purely secondary data and it has used exponential growth model to measure the
growth and trend pattern of Enrollment in Public and Private Schools of India. This
paper has concluded that, Public and Private Schools are playing a vital role in
providing good education in India. But compared to Govt schools, the private
institutions have lion share in the growth of Enrollments in India. Hence, the impact
of Private Schooling in India is very positive which leads to increase the rapid
growth of Private Schools and its Enrollment in India.
___________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
The public and private institutions have a great role to play in mixed economies and welfare
states. In India, while they worked in different and exclusive spheres, largely in the immediate
post-independence era gradually they are converging to collaborate and compete with each other.
The Human Resource Development Ministry of India has proposed “Public-Private-Partnership
(PPP) as an alternative to improve access to quality school education while ensuring equity and
social justice” (Seethalakshmi, 2009:16). Kapil Sibal (2009:17), the Minister for Human
Resource Development, was also emphatic that “there is enormous interest evinced by foreign
education providers to collaborate with Indian Institutions both in the private and public sector to
set-up a variety of educational enterprises in India”. The government of India has also proposed
for opening up of accreditation for multiple accreditation agencies, mostly private, with their
action being monitored by a regulator (Mukul, 2010a:6).
These attempts may be largely due to what Shailaja Fennel (2007:194) has outlined as
“the failure of government sector to provide adequate schooling and a growing commercial
interest in the education sector”. The mushrooming of private school sector is also attributed to
lack of government schools, and desire of parents for instruction in English (Tooley & Dixon,
2007:16). It has also been ascribed to “increased opting out of public education by those who can
afford to pay, and by liberalized regulatory frameworks that allow non-government providers to
offer educational services” (Lewin, 2007:41). The private sector has its proponents and vehement
critics and both have their own view points as pointed by C.D. Levy (2006:217) that “promoters
glorify roles (e.g. access), while critics demonize roles (e.g. money making)”.
Although the growth of private schooling in India is quite visible, even in rural areas, the
contours of this change remain poorly understood because of data limitations. Official statistics
often tend to underestimate private school enrollment (Kingdon 2007). Moreover, there is at best
218
limited understanding of the effectiveness of private education in India. If parents know what is
best for their children and if they are voting with their feet, we might assume that private schools
must be of better quality than existing public schools.
However, in the light of the above, it is pertinent to compare the performance of public
and private elementary schools in terms of its enrollment level as well as No of Schools at
elementary stage. And also it examines that, the various reasons for the development of private
schools in India in this context so far.
OBJECTIVES
 To compare the Growth and Trend of Enrollments in Public and Private Schools of India.
 To find out the reason for the Development of Private Schooling in India
METHODOLOGY
This paper is based on purely secondary data obtained by, “Elementary Education in India-
Where Do We Stand? State Report Cards” from 2002-2011.This paper has used exponential
Growth model to find out the growth and trend pattern of Public and Private Elementary Schools
and its Enrollment during the study period 2002-2011.
MODEL SPECIFICATION FOR COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
This paper has used two universally accepted yardsticks traditionally, to compare the growth and
trends in enrollments and No of public and private elementary schools in India. The data were
collected to find out the growth and trends of both public and private schools in terms of its
enrollments and No of Elementary schools in India.
Further Exponential Growth Rates were computed for school enrollments and No of
elementary schools at India level. These Exponential Growth Rates were estimated by fitting an
exponential function of the following form:
Yt = β0β1teut---------------------------------------------------------- (2)
Where Yt is dependent variable, β0 and β1are the unknown parameters, Ut is disturbance

term. The equation (1) could be written in the logarithmic form as follows:
Log Yt = β0 + β1 t + Ut-------------------------(3)
Above equation was estimated by applying ordinary least square method and exponential
growth rate of growth was obtained by taking antilog of estimated regression coefficient,
subtracting 1 form it and multiplying the difference by 100, as under:
Gre = (A.L. β1 – 1) × 100------------------------(4)

219
Where β1is an estimate for all the significance of growth rates was tested by applying t-test
as follows;
t= β1------------------ ~ t(n-2) d.f. ---------------(5)

Se
Where β1 is the regression estimate, se (β1) is the respective standard error.
GROWTH OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN INDIA
Once the preserve of the elite, both Govt as well as private institutions are playing a dominant
role in providing good education in India. But compared to Govt schools, the private schools
have undergone rapid growth in recent years, primarily to satisfy the educational aspirations of
middle-class children and their parents. Although reliable statistics are difficult to come by, The
New York Times recently said that "tens of thousands" of private schools have been started up
across India in recent decades. The trend extends to villages in rural areas, and poor families
have increasingly expressed a willingness to pay at least a small percentage of their income to
bolster the educational prospects for their children.
Recent reports (DISE,) have proved that, the growth of private schools in India has been
increasing gradually during the past two decades compared to Govt. schools.
TABLE: 1 TOTAL NO OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN INDIA 2002-2011

(IN THOUSANDS)
Govt. Private schools Rural Rural Urban Urban

Schools Govt Private Govt Private
Schools Schools Schools Schools
2002-03 103.72 23.91 92.73 13.58 10.99 10.33
2003-04 102.48 23.65 92.15 12.07 10.33 11.58
2004-05 99.53 24.33 89.26 13.33 10.27 11.00
2005-06 132.2 40.81 122.46 30.82 09.74 09.98
2006-07 102.34 28.51 93.03 16.97 09.31 11.54
2007-08 92.00 24.96 82.72 13.25 09.27 11.70
2008-09 85.49 27.79 76.77 13.07 08.72 14.71
2009-10 79.31 29.16 71.52 14.00 07.79 15.16
2010-11 74.61 29.50 66.97 14.08 07.63 15.41
Source: Elementary schools in India: Where Do We Stand? State Report Cards
CHART: 1TOTAL NO OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN INDIA 2002-2011

(IN THOUSANDS)
220
140
120
100
80
60 Govt Schools
40
Private Schools
20
0 Rural Govt Schools
Rural Private Schools

20 0 3
20 0 4
20 0 5
20 0 6
20 0 7
20 0 8
20 0 9
20 1 0
1
-1
-
Urban Govt Schools

02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
20
Urban Private Schools

TABLE: 2 GROWTH OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN INDIA 2002-2011
Dependent Variable Constant Parameter (β1) Sig R Square

Govt Schools 120.23 -0.046 0.024 0.542
Private Schools 24.96 0.021 0.381 0.111
Rural Govt Schools 108.52 -0.046 0.033 0.499
Rural Private Schools 15.39 -0.005 0.904 0.002
Urban Govt Schools 11.59 -0.045 0000 0.956
Urban Private Schools 009.4 0.052 0.003 0.741
To find out the growth in No. of public, private rural as well as urban elementary schools
in India for the study period, this paper used exponential growth model. The results of the model
are given in Table. 2. Avg growth of no of Govt schools is -4.6 percent and it is statistically
significant at 1 percent level and the R Square value is 0.542. Where as in private sector, the Avg
growth is 2.1 percent and it has positive values. It is also statistically insignificant so, R Square
value is 0.111. Well in the rural areas, the Avg growth of Govt schools is -4.6 percent and it is
statistically significant at 1 percent level and the R Square value is 0.499. When we looked at the
rural private schools, the Avg growth is 0.5 percent, it is also statistically insignificant and the R
Square value is 0.002. Where as in the urban Govt schools, the Avg growth is negative, it means
-4.5 percent but it is statistically significant at 1 percent level and the R Square value is 0.956.
Finally, in the urban private schools have positive growth rate, that is 5.2 percent and it is the
highest growth rate among all types of elementary schools. It is statistically significant at 1
percent level and the R Square value is 0.741.
Thus, the reported results have shown that, the total no of Govt schools have negative
221
growth rate. But the private schools are positive in nature in terms of its growth. But in rural
areas both public as well as the private schools have negative growth rates. Where as in the urban
areas, the Avg growth of Govt schools is negative but the private schools have positive growth
rate. It means that, the private schools in urban areas are growing rapidly compared to all kinds
of elementary schools in India.
GROWTH OF ENROLLMENT IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

IN INDIA
Private and public schools have some amount of share in the total enrollment in elementary
schools of India. The contribution of private schools is more in terms of its enrollment compared
to Govt. schools. Because, the people wants to provide quality education to their children and
they are ready to invest more income for that purpose. Parent’s participation is the best reason
for the highest growth of enrollments in private institutions.
TABLE: 2 TOTAL ENROLLMENTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF INDIA-

2002-2011 (IN LAKHS)
year Govt Private Rural Rural Urban Urban

Schools Schools Govt. Schools Private Govt Private Schools
Schools Schools
2002-03 104.37 23.87 92.58 13.12 11.78 10.74
2003-04 112.51 30.47 96.2 16.45 16.3 14.02
2004-05 121.31 36.24 106.91 20.04 14.39 16.19
2005-06 125.7 42.58 111.53 23.88 14.16 18.69
2006-07 129.45 50.04 114.87 28.19 14.58 21.85
2007-08 133.95 51.09 119.06 28.2 14.89 22.88
2008-09 133.2 54.45 118.36 29.98 14.84 24.47
2009-10 130.71 57.15 115.8 31.14 14.91 26
2010-11 130.1 59.11 115.21 32.16 14.88 26.95
Source: Elementary Education in India-Where Do We Stand? State Report Cards.
CHART.2 TOTAL ENROLLMENT IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF INDIA-2002-2011
160
140
120
100
80
Govt Schools
60
40
222
Privat e Schools
20 Privat e Rural
0
Rural Privat e
20 -03
20 -04
20 -05
20 -06
20 -07
20 -08
20 -09
20 -10
1
-1
Urban Govt
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
20
Urban Privat e Schools

TABLE.3 GROWTH OF ENROLLMENT IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF INDIA

2002-2011
Dependent Variable Constant Parameter (β1) Sig R square

Govt Schools 18.506 0.026 0.004 0.721
Private Schools 17.04 0.108 0.001 0.9
Rural Govt Schools 18.371 0.028 0.004 0.72
Rural Private Schools 16.447 0.108 0.001 0.879
Urban Govt Schools 16.424 0.013 0.274 0.167
Urban Private Schools 16.235 0.109 0.001 0.922
Here also the paper has used the same exponential growth model to measure the growth
of Enrollment in Govt. Public, rural and urban Elementary Schools in India for the study period.
The results of the model are reported in Table.3. The Avg. growth of Enrollment in Public
Schools is 2.6 percent and it is statistically significant at 1 percent level and the value of the R
Square is 0.72. Where as the Enrollment in Private Schools were increased with an amount of
10.8 percent approximately four times higher than Public Schools and it is statistically significant
at 1 percent level and the value of R Square is 0.90. We have also compared the Enrollment of
rural and urban elementary schools, the Avg of Enrollment in rural Govt Schools is 2.8 percent
and it is statistically significant at 1 percent level and the value of R Square is 0.72. In the same
way, Enrollment of rural Private Schools also increased with an amount of 10.8 percent, again it
is higher than the rural Govt Schools. It is statistically significant at 1 percent level and the R
Square value is 0.879. Where as in the urban Govt Schools the overall Avg growth of Enrollment
is 1.3 percent and it is statistically insignificant compared to the growth of Enrollment in all
types of elementary schools the value of R Square is 0.167. Finally the Avg growth of
Enrollment in Urban Private Schools is 10.9 percent approximately it has higher Avg of growth
in Enrollment of all types of elementary schools in India. It is statistically significant at 1 percent
level and the value of R Square is 0.922.
The above result reveals that, both public and private schools are participating well in
providing good education. Unfortunately, the level of enrollments in Govt schools is very low in
both rural and urban areas. But compared to Govt schools, the private schools have lion share in
growth of enrollment as well as providing standard education at elementary school level.
REASON FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN INDIA
Most of the parents wanted to join their children to private institutions because the parents many
a times are in a dilemma whether to send their children to a private school or public school. How
223
does one make a comparison between education in private schools and public schools in India?
According to Just Indian Schools a discussion like this should consider the following factors like,
Teaching, Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR), Focus on personal development, Administrative support,
Budgets and Facilities etc...
TEACHING
Public sector teachers are generally better paid better than private sector schools. Moreover
compensation varies widely depending on the local economic situation. Additional benefits in
public sector benefits have historically been excellent; however, health and pension costs have
risen so dramatically, that public educators have been forced to pay more for their benefits.
Private school compensation tends to be somewhat lower than public. Again, much
depends on the school and its financial resources. Both private and public schools in India
require their teachers to be credentialed, which means a proper teaching certificate would be
required.
Generally private schools in India tend to hire teachers with advanced degrees in their
subject over teachers who just have an education degree. That means a private schools hiring an
English teacher will want that teacher to have a degree in English language and literature as
opposed to an education degree with a minor in English.
PUPIL TEACHER RATIO (PTR)
The main reason many parents begin to consider a private school is because the classes are small.
Individual attention is one of the key pointers of private education in India. We need optimum
teacher to student ratios are 1:8 or better to achieve that goal of individual attention and to ensure
that your child is not lost in shuffle.
On the other hand a public system has to take almost anyone who lives within its
boundaries. Public schools in India generally have much larger class sizes. At this junction
teaching rapidly declines and student’s attention also decreases.
FOCUS ON PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
The major focus of most private schools is getting the student ready for higher studies, college
and personality development apart from the academic preparation. In such a way, a student can
emerge from Elementary school with both a degree and a clearer planning of their future career.
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
The longer the hierarchy, the harder it is to get decisions made at all, much less to get them made
quickly. The public sector education system is notorious because of its stringent work rules and
bureaucracies. This type of union is generally a result of political considerations or union
associations. Private schools in India on the other hand generally have a lean management
structure. Every rupee spent has to come from operating income and endowment income. The
224
other difference is that private schools rarely have teacher unions to deal with.
BUDGETS
A lot depends on the school's annual budget since it’s a correlation between the local property
taxes support and the political business. In poor communities or communities who have many
voters living on fixed incomes, there is very little time to respond to budget requests within tax
revenues projected. On the other hand private schools in India can raise tuition fees and also
raise significant money from variety of other sources like annual appeals, donations, alumni
membership charges and grants from foundations and corporations. The strong commitment
towards private schools in India by alumni makes it possibly a success for raising funds from
alumni.
FACILITIES
Private schools have been giving a lot of focus on building their body of knowledge through a
fully equipped library, which are now called media centers. Whether a private school is large or
small both media and learning centers become the focal point of the very best private high
schools in India. Private schools in India include the rating of athletic activities in their
curriculum. Many private schools in India and international schools offer sports like hockey,
racquet sports, basketball, football, swimming, as well as dozens of other sports. Besides
professional staff to coach the teams and manage these athletic programs, private schools also
have the facilities to house and support all these activities. Apart from sports extracurricular
activities are a major part of private high l programs like choirs, bands and drama clubs can be
found in most schools. The teacher’s guide or coach extracurricular activities as part of their job
requirements.
In public schools the first programs to be introduced to the students are sports, arts
programs and extracurricular activities. Although the trend is changing now where many public
school facilities are becoming impressive; others still remain mediocre. In some cases the same
is true of private schools. In the public school system, the two pillars of political support and
economic revenue base are critical.
Whereas in private schools the ability to attract parental and alumni support endowments
and other forms of financial support are just as critical. Today private schools in the range of K-
12 education have shown enough attention to facilities and amenities pertaining to school
infrastructure which even surpass those found at many colleges and universities. It is hard to find
comparable facilities in the public sector that might be fewer in number and in between. Public
schools also reflect the economic realities of their location. Wealthy suburban schools will have
more amenities than inner city schools as a rule.
On the whole, the reported result says that, both public and private schools are
participating well in providing good education. Unfortunately, the growth of elementary schools
and level of enrollments in Govt schools are very low in both rural and urban areas. But
compared to Govt schools, the private schools have lion share in growth of No of schools and its
enrollment as well as providing standard education at elementary school level.
225
REFERENCES
Banerjee, Abhijit V., Shawn Cole, Esther Duflo, and Leigh Linden.(2007). Remedying
Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India. Quarterly Journal of
Economics 122 (3):1235-1264.
Chakrabarti, Rajashri, and Paul Petersen, (2008). School Choice International: ExploitingPublic-
Private Partnerships. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Chaudhury, Nazmul, Jeffrey Desai, Sonalde, Cecily Darden Adams, and Amaresh Dubey.
Forthcoming. Segmented Schooling: Inequalities in Primary Education. In Blocked by Caste:
Discrimination and Social Exclusion in Modern India, edited by K. Newman and S. Thorat. New
Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Elementary Schools in India-Where Do We Stand? State Report cards 2002-2011
Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi (2007). “The Progress of School Education in India. In Global
Poverty”Research Group Working Paper No. 071. London: London School of Economics.
Mehrotra, S. & R.P. Panchamukhi (2006) “Private Provision of Elementary Education in India:
Findings of a Survey in Eight States” in Compare, 36(4), pp.421-442.
Mehrotra, S. & R.P. Panchamukhi.( 2007). “Universalizing Elementary Education in India: Is the
Private Sector the Answer?” in Prachi Srinivatava & G. Walford [Eds]. Private Schooling in Less
Economically Developed Countries: Asian and African Perspectives. Cambridge: Symposium
Books, Cambridge University Press, pp.129-151.
Molnar, A.(2006), “The Commercial Transformation of Public Education” in the Journal of

Education Policy, 21(5), pp.621-640.
Sonalde Desai, Amaresh Dubey, Reeve Vanneman and Rukmini Banerji (2008), “Private
Schooling in India: A New Educational Landscape” India Human Development Survey Working
Paper No. 11
Yagnamurthy Sreekanth (2011), “Dynamics of Public and Private Sector Participation in

Education: A Perspective on India and Beyond” EDUCARE: International Journal for
Educational Studies, 3(2) 2011
226

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
STRESS AS RELATED TO THE PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT OF

ADOLESCENTS
NAVEEN PANT*; S. K. SRIVASTAVA**
*Research Scholar,
Gurukula Kangri University,
Haridwar, U.K. India.
**Professor and Head,
Gurukula Kangri University,
Haridwar, U.K., India.
ABSTRACT
The present study is conducted on 80 adolescents of class 9th in Haridwar

227
(Uttarakhand). The aim of the present study is to examine the level of stress and
personality adjustment among male and female adolescents and also to see
relationship between two variables (stress and personality adjustment) and to
examine the difference between male and female adolescents in terms of stress and
personality adjustment. The incidental sampling technique is used to select 40 male
40 female adolescents from different schools. Students stress scale (s. s. scale) and
Personality Adjustment Inventory (PAI) are used to see the magnitude of stress and
personality adjustment. In the present study correlational design is employed. For
analyzing relationship Pearson correlation is used and for testing difference, t-test is
employed on SPSS. Findings of the study revealed that stress and personality
adjustment are correlated significantly among adolescents. And it was also found
that male and female adolescents differ significantly in terms of stress and the
personality adjustment.
KEYWORDS: stress, personality adjustment, adolescents.

____________________________________________________________________________
1. INTRODUCTION
The term stress has many definitions (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). We will define stress or an
internal state which can be caused by physical demands on the body (disease conditions exercise
extremes of temperature and the like) or by environment and social situations which are
evaluated as potentially harmful, uncontrollable or exceeding our resources of coping. The
physical, environmental and social causes of the stress are termed stressors. One induced by
stressors, the internal stress state can then lead to various responses. On the one hand, it can
result in a number of physical, bodily responses. On the other hand, psychological responses
such as anxiety, hopelessness, depression, irritability and a general feeling of not being able to
cope with the world can result from the stress state (Stressor).
Zimabardo (1988) defined stress as the pattern of specific and non-specific responses as
organism makes to stimulus event that disturb its equilibrium and tax or exceed its ability to
cope. According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), Pervin (1968). "Stress is a function of degree
of person-environment fit."
When our resources are more adequate to deal with difficult situation, we may feel little
stress. When we perceive that our resources will probably be sufficient to deal with event but
only at the cost of great efforts, we may feel a moderate amount of stress. But when the
individual perceives that his resources are not probably sufficient to meet a environment stressor,
he may experience a great deal of stress.
So far stress as related to the personality is concerned even the early 1930s, psychologists
have had evidence that personality characteristics are a major factor in predicting health. A
longitudinal study begun in 1932 (Lehr & Thomae, 1987) found that personality was almost as
important to longevity (how long people live) as genetic, physical and lifestyle factors. Other
228
researchers have found that people who live to be very old into their nineties and even over 100
years tend to be relaxed, easy going, cheerful and active. People who have oposite personality
traits such as aggressiveness, stubbornness, inflexibility and tenseness typically do not live as
long as the average life expectancy (Levy et.al., 2002). Those personality traits are some of the
factors associated with two personality types that have related to how people deal with stress and
the influence of certain personality characteristics on coronary heart disease.
It is widely believed that adolescents are widely emotional that they experience huge
swings in mood and turbulent outbursts of emotions. Is this belief correct? To a degree, it is. In
several studies on this issue, large numbers of teenagers wore beepers and were signaled at
random times throughout an entire week when signaled, they entered their thoughts and feelings
in a diary. Results indicated that they did show more frequent and large swings in mood than
those shown by older persons (e.g. Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1984). Moreover, these swing
occurred very quickly, sometimes within only a few minutes. Older people also show shifts in
mood, but these tend to be less frequent, slower and smaller in magnitude.
And as far as the happiness is concerned it would be appropriate to take a short look on
role of adjustment. To be happy, children must make good personal as well as social
adjustments. Because of the high social value placed on social acceptance in our culture today,
children cannot be happy unless they are reasonably well accepted by the people in their lives
who are significant to them. If affection is to add, to children's happiness it must be in a form
that is developmentally appropriate for the child. How important a role affection from others
plays in a child's level of adjustment has been shown when children lack love. As Horn (1976)
has said, "Someone who experiences a shortage of love in childhood is unhappy then, and also
develops values that perpetuate unhappiness in later life." Shaver and Freedman (1976) have
pointed out that, "Happiness has a lot to do with accepting and enjoying what one is and what
one has, maintaining a balance between expectations and achievement's.
Children who make poor personal and social adjustments are labeled "maladjusted". They
are frequently called "problematic children". There are two major kinds of personality
maladjustments. The first involves behaviour which is satisfying to the child but is socially
unacceptable. The second involves behaviour which is socially acceptable but is a source of
continuous excessive and disturbing conflict to the child. One of the major causes of
maladjustment is self-rejection. Children who have a self-rejectant attitude dislike themselves.
Just as children reject as playmates or friends those whom they dislike, so they reject themselves
when they feel that they are not what they want to be.
No child who is self-rejectant can hope to make good personal and social adjustments.
And, no child who makes poor personal and social adjustments can hope to be happy. That is
why maladjustments are such a serious hazard in childhood. To become well-adjusted people, all
children should have a reasonably happy childhood. Because childhood is the age when the
foundations are laid for later life, if children lay foundations that guarantee happiness in
childhood, they will know how to behave so that they can achieve happiness during the
remaining years of their lives. By developing realistic self-concepts and patterns of behaviour
that conform to social expectations, this happiness can be achieved. For their own sakes as well
as for the good of the social group with which they are identified, it is essential that children be
229
well-adjusted individuals.
Recently, Meeus et.al. (2005) done a study on adolescents. The objective of this study was
to test their alternative interpretation of the separation–individuation hypothesis. This
interpretation states that separation from the parents is not a precondition for individuation, but
rather separation and individuation are two parallel processes of development during
adolescence. The findings supported their interpretation. In other words, as adolescents become
older, they experience less parental support, while its importance for their emotional adjustment
also declines. The opposite pattern was observed with respect to identity development: as
adolescents become older, their relational and societal identity commitments develop, and the
degree to which these commitments are developed also becomes more important for their
emotional adjustment.
Hussain et.al. (2008) undertaken a study among Public and Government high school
students to see relationship between academic stress and adjustment. Results indicated that
magnitude of academic stress was significantly higher among the Public school students where
as Government school students were significantly better in terms of their level of adjustment.
However, inverse but significant relationships between academic stress and adjustment were
found for both the group of students and for each type of school.
Saeed (2010) made a study to identify the daily stressors, coping strategies and
adjustment of adolescents. Findings revealed that females were more stressed in the domains of
academics and interpersonal relations and males were more stressed in socio-environmental
domain. Intrapersonal stressors were reported equally by both genders. Significant gender
differences were found on four sub-areas: Religious Coping, Humor, Behavior Disengagement,
and Substance Use. Females scored high on Religious Coping and Behavioral Disengagement
and males scored high on Humor and Substance Use. The perceived Self-efficacy among
adolescents was also high and it was positively correlated with Problem-focused coping. He done
Gender comparison also and found that both males and females exhibited coping with stressful
situations in a variety of ways. Active coping, Planning, Acceptance, Religious Coping, Mental
or Behavioral Disengagement, Focus on and Venting of Emotions were the most dominant
coping strategies for stressors related to academics, interpersonal, intrapersonal and socio-
environmental domains.
In other study Lee and Julie (2012) examined the relationship between appearance-
related stress and internalizing problems in adolescent girls in South Korea. And found
appearance-related stress experienced during Grade 5 was to cause problems of internalization in
Grade 6, and problems of internalization in Grades 6 and 7 was found to induce appearance-
related stress in Grades 7 and 8 respectively. The social pressure that young women in South
Korea face to maintain a certain type of appearance is also discussed in their studies.
OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY
OBJECTIVES
230
The present study is conceptualized to achieve the following objectives:
1. To study the relationship between stress and the personality adjustment of adolescents.
2. To study the relationship between stress and the personality adjustment of male
adolescents.
3. To study the relationship between stress and the personality adjustment of female
adolescents.
4. To examine the difference between male and female adolescents in terms of stress.
5. To examine the difference between male and female adolescents in terms of personality
adjustment.
HYPOTHESES
In the light of the past researches and objectives of the present study, the following hypotheses
are formulated:
1. There would be significant relationship between the stress and the personality adjustment
of adolescents.
of male adolescents.
of female adolescents.
4. There would be significant difference between male and female adolescents in terms of
stress.
5. There would be significant difference between male and female adolescents in terms of
personality adjustment.
2. METHODOLOGY
SAMPLE: In the present study, Incidental sampling technique is used. And subjects, designated
for the study are boys/girls. Data from 40 boys are collected from Jwalapur Inter College,
Jwalapur (Haridwar). And 40 girls’ data are collected from the S.S.S. Girls Inter College; Sati
Kund (Haridwar).
TESTS: 1. MEASURE OF STRESS: This measure assessed stress level of the respondents.
231
The 30 items manual for Students Stress Scale (S.S. Scale), constructed by Taresh Bhatia and
Arunima Pathak (2005) is employed for this purpose. It is a five point scale, the scoring of which
has been given by assigning five to one scores respectively from strongly agree to strongly
disagree. The total score for each area of stress ranges from 5 to 25, whereas the grand total of
the stress ranges from 30 to 150. Higher scores on scale reveal the greater degree of stress.
2. MEASURE OF PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT: Personality Adjustment Inventory,

developed by C. Prakash Sharma (1995) has been used to assess the personality adjustment of
adolescents. In the present test the constructor has developed the Personality Adjustment
Inventory (PAI) containing 54 items to measure the maladjustive- adjustive behavioral reactions
of the individual. The items are modified and framed in suitable manner for discrimination the
maladjustive behavioural reactions.In this inventory, the two category response type 'Yes' and
'No' was used. 'Yes' responses were considered to be the correct answers, i.e., the individual
shows the neurotic tendency and the 'No' responses show otherwise. One mark was given to 'Yes'
answer and zero to the 'No' answer. The sum of scores shows the degree of neurotic tendency of
the individual.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The obtained data on the various scales are analyzed in view of
the objectives and hypotheses of the study. For analyzing main hypotheses (first 3 hypotheses)
Pearson correlation is used. And for testing sub-hypotheses (last 2 hypotheses) t-test is employed
on SPSS.
3. RESULTS
Keeping the objectives and hypotheses of the present study in view, results have been organized
according to them. The first table (table 3.1) reports the results of correlational analysis in order
to have a better understanding about the relationship among variables studied. And last 2 tables
(table 3.2 and 3.3) pertain to the results of significance of the difference between means, to
understand the difference between the male and female adolescents.
TABLE 3.1: SHOWING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STRESS AND

PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT
GROUP N CORRELATION LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE

(r)
TOTAL 80 0.508** Correlation is significant at the 0.01** level
MALE 40 O.668** Correlation is significant at the 0.01** level
FEMALE 40 0.326* Correlation is significant at the 0.05* level
TABLE 3.2: SHOWING THE COMPARISON BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE

ADOLESCENTS ON STRESS
N MEAN STD. STD. LEVEL OF

GENDER DEVIATION ERROR SIGNIFICANCE
232
MEAN
MALE 40 87.20 14.914 2.358
0.05*
FEMALE 40 89.92 16.950 2.680
* Significant at the 0.05 level.
TABLE 3.3: SHOWING THE COMPARISON BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE

ADOLESCENTS ON PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT
N MEAN STD. STD. LEVEL OF

GENDER DEVIATION ERROR SIGNIFICANCE
MEAN
MALE 40 21.78 10.287 1.626
0.05*
FEMALE 40 25.28 7.078 1.119
* Significant at the 0.05 level.
4. DISCUSSION
This study aimed to understand the relationship of adolescents' stress with the personality
adjustment. Following methodology, the study empirically investigated these concerns in relation
to the further aspect i.e. gender. Firstly, we shall discuss the results and then, the conclusion.
1. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS AND THE PERSONALITY

ADJUSTMENT OF ADOLESCENTS: In the present study it was presumed that there
would be significant relationship between the stress and the personality adjustment of
adolescents (Hypothesis 1). Results of the study also suggested that stress and personality
adjustment relates significantly among adolescents. This result helps in describing the
negative roll of stress with the personality adjustment of adolescents. So the degree of
stress increases as the degree of maladaptivity increases. In one of such study, Hussain
et.al. (2008) found the significant relationships between academic stress and adjustment
for two groups (public school and government school) of class IX. Finally on the basis of
our study, we can conclude that the stress has significant positive correlation with the
mal-adaptive behaviours of adolescents.

ADJUSTMENT OF MALE ADOLESCENTS: In hypothesis no. 2 it was presumed
that there would be significant relationship between stress and the personality adjustment
of male adolescents. The results also suggested the same correlation is found significant
at the 0.01 level (0.668**). Therefore, on the basis of the results and previous studies, we
can conclude that stress has significant positive correlation with the mal-adaptive
behaviours of male adolescents.

233
ADJUSTMENT OF FEMALE ADOLESCENTS: In hypothesis No. 3 it was presumed

that there would be significant relationship between stress and the personality adjustment
of female adolescents. Just as the males, results suggested the significant relationship
between stress and the personality adjustment of female adolescents. But correlation is
found significant at the 0.05 level (0.326*), which is lower than the results of
correlational analysis of boys. There may be many causes of this difference such as poor
coping strategies and techniques of male adolescents, earlier growth and maturity in
female adolescents and the gender biasness (hiding tendency of female adolescents in
Indian culture).
4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE

ADOLESCENTS IN TERMS OF STRESS: The study also aimed to examine the
difference of stress in males and females. As in hypothesis (No. 4) it was presumed that there
would be significant difference between male and female adolescents in terms of stress.
Results accepted this hypothesis, a significant difference is found between males and females
in stress. Therefore results indicated that the magnitude of stress differs significantly between
male and female adolescents. In the present study mean of females' stress found to be
significantly higher than the males. The main cause of this difference can be gender
biasedness and the cultural pressure and expectations over the female adolescents.
5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE

ADOLESCENTS IN TERMS OF PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT: In hypothesis
(No. 5) it was presumed that there would be significant difference between male and
female adolescents in terms of personality adjustment. Results accepted to this hypothesis
too, a significant difference is found between males and females in personality
adjustment. In the present study, mal-adaptivity among girls is found to be significantly
higher than the boys. Cause of this difference may be the differences in socialization
process.
CONCLUSION
The present study was undertaken to understand stress as related to the personality adjustment of
adolescents. This study attempted to answer some general questions whether the stress and
personality adjustment of adolescents are correlated, and the other, whether there is significant
difference in gender in terms of stress and the personality adjustment. Findings revealed that
stress and personality adjustment are correlated significantly among adolescents. And it was also
found that male and female adolescents differ significantly in terms of stress and the personality
adjustment. So finally it may be concluded that the stress and the mal-adaptivity are highly
correlated among adolescents and the role of gender found significant in determining stress and
personality adjustment of the adolescents.
REFERENCES
Bhatia,T. and Pathak, A. (2005). Students stress scale. Jalaun (U.P.): Prakhar
234
Psychological Testing and Research Centre.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Larson, R. (1984). Being adolescent: conflict and growth in the
teenage years. New York: Basic Books.
Horn, H. (1976). Love: The most important ingredient of happiness. Psychology Today, 10(2),
98-102.
Hussain, A., Kumar, A. and Husain, A. (2008). Academic stress and adjustment among high
school students. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 34, Special Issue, 70-73.
Lazarus, R.S. and Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer
Publishing Co.
Lee, A. and Julie, A. (2012). The relationship between appearance-related stress and
internalizing problems in south korean adolescent girls. Social Behaviour and Personality: An
International Journal, 40(6), 903-918.
Lehr, U. and Thomae, H. (1987). Patterns of psychological agings. Results from the Bonne
Aging Longitudinal Study (BOLSA). Stuttgrt : Enke.
Levy, B. R., Slade, M. D., Kunkel, S.R. and Kasl, S.V. (2002). Longevity increased by positive
self-perceptions of aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 261-269.
Meeus, W., Ledema, J., Maassen, G. and Engels, R. (2005). Sepration–individuation revisited:
on the interplay of parent–adolescent relations, identity and emotional adjustment in
adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 28(1), 89-106.
Pervin, L.A. (1968). Performance and satisfaction as a function of individual - environment fit.
Psychological Bulletin, 69, 56-68.
Saeed, I. (2010). Daily stressors, coping strategies and adjustment of adolescents. Doctoral diss,
Dr. Muhammad Ajmal National Institute of Psychology Quaid-i-Azam University: Islamabad.
Sharma, C. P. (1995). Personality adjustment inventory. Agra (U.P.): National Psychological

Corporation.
Shaver,B. and J. Freedman (1976). The pursuit of happiness. Psychology Today, 10(3),
26-32, 75.
Zimabardo, P.G. (1988). Psychology and life (12th Ed). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foreman.
235

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
THE MOTIVE AND METHOD OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF

RELIGION
Etim E. Okon*
*Senior Lecturer, Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Calabar,
Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the fundamental concern of sociologists on

religion. This study investigates the peculiar interest of sociologists on religion.
Religion both as a social phenomenon and as a universal need of human society
must be understood. Sociological interpretations are based on empirical evidence.
Images of social reality are subjected to experimental evidence. Scientific objectivity
236
means that it is not the duty of the sociologist to evaluate, endorse, or condemn the
content of religious belief. The sociological inquiry on religion does not involve the
personal opinion of the researcher. Sociologists have described scientific objectivity
variously as agnostic neutrality, academic morality and methodological atheism. The
sociological perspective treats religious belief dispassionately as objects of study. In
this paper, we have identified the fundamental concern of sociologists on religion

both as a social institution and as an academic discipline.
KEYWORDS: Religious studies, religion and society, scientific objectivity, empirical

study.
______________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Of all the social institutions, religion is the most misunderstood. Religion emerges and exists in a
social context. It is one of the most influential pervasive forces in human society. Religion
shapes the nature of interpersonal relationships. Human actions in many societies are motivated
by religious beliefs and values. Religion is a vital aspect of social life. To the outsiders, religion
is a dispensable superstition and a major obstacle and distraction to social progress. For the
insiders, religion is a positive social experience that produces moral values, courage, altruism,
urbanity and brotherhood. We are yet to see any human society without religious consciousness
among its members.
The peculiar concern of sociologists is the relationship between social phenomena, the
meanings people have and the consequences of these meanings for the individual and the society
(McGuire 1992:1-6). Sociologists study social consequences, especially the way belief systems
and religious institutions influence social experience (Andersen 1997:224, 225; O'Donnell
1992:400; Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum 2003:528, 529; Bibby 2001:118). The sociological
perspective therefore views religion from the human (social) aspect of religious belief in its
practical dimension. All aspects of religious experience are interpreted through available
symbols that conform to culturally validated interpretations.
In the application of scientific methodology, sociologists investigate social reality from

what can be perceived through the senses. Religious people have argued consistently that what is
known through the senses is a little part of a greater reality that can be known, only through faith
(Bibby 2001:118). Sociologists do not have any acceptable means to prove or disprove religious
doctrines. In the words of Max Weber "The essence of religion is not a concern of sociologists,
we make it our task to study the conditions and effects of a particular type of social behaviour”
(1963:1).
Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum (2003: 528) posits that academic study of religion is a
challenging enterprise on sociological imagination. “We must confront ideas that seek the
eternal, while recognizing that religious groups also promote quite mundane goals, such as
acquiring money or followers. We need to recognize the diversity of religious beliefs and modes
of conduct, but also probe into the nature of religion as a general phenomenon”. For sociologists,
religion is a cultural system of commonly shared beliefs and rituals that provides a sense of
237
ultimate meaning and purpose by creating an idea of reality that is sacred, all compassing and
supernatural (Giddens, Duneier and Appelbaum 2003:528).
SOCIOLOGY AS THE SCIENCE OF THE SOCIAL ORDER

Sociology is the science of society. It is the study of human societies. Sociology is particularly
concerned with the study of human interaction and social organization. Sociology formulates and
corroborates theories and generalizations concerning the influences people exercise on one
another. As a discipline, sociology began in the nineteenth century in France, Germany and the
America. The name "sociology" was coined by the celebrated French scholar, Auguste Comte
(1798 - 1857). Comte as a philosopher and founder of the school of philosophy called Positivism
wanted a new discipline that will produce a rational religion for humanity, such that traditional
religion and the ideology of the French revolution could be repudiated. Comte who was a
conservative was worried over the impact of that revolution in France and other countries.
Comte was a strong believer in law and order and the basic purpose of sociology was to
discover the laws of the social order. Comte hated Christianity and regarded it as a retarding
force in human history. He had exorbitant expectations for science. Through sociology, Comte
had wanted to develop a scientific body of knowledge about human societies, consisting of (1) a
theory of social interaction (i.e., a theory to explain the cohesion of societies), and (2) a theory
of societal progress or evolution. Comte had anticipated a transition from traditional social
philosophy to modern sociology. Comte's vision was popularized by the famous English
scholar, Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903). Spencer's preoccupation was the symbiosis between
societal evolution and organic evolution, following Darwin's theory.
The most fertile academic soil for the new discipline was in America, where leading
universities established professorial chairs for a scientific study of society. Within the period
between the two world wars, sociology was more of an American enterprise. American
sociologists became more concerned with contemporary society. Empirical research was carried
on in the studies of local communities and social problems like crime, delinquency, poverty,
social inequality, illegitimacy, social adjustment and divorce.
Some of the perennial and inevitable questions which agitate the mind of scholars in
humanities and social sciences include; the purpose of society and modes of social behaviour
and interaction. While some scholars are of the opinion that it is the individual alone that have
objective existence and that social organizations, including society itself, are mere abstractions,
others steer the middle path and hold that society as a network of institutions is a creation of
man, to that extent society cannot exist without the individual and the individual cannot survive
without the society. Society is indispensable to man, and man is indispensable to society. It is a
relationship of mutual dependence and interdependence.
Human societies are a conglomerate of various groups and organizations which are
regulated by normative prescriptions (O'Brien, Schrag and Martin 1964:409). The regulation of
social activities, enable people to increase their potential and prospects to achieve set goals and
objectives. Social activities are classified into jurisdiction based on functions. O'Brien, Schrag
and Martin (1964: 409) have defined social institution as: “... configuration of prescriptions,
238
beliefs, and practices that are regarded as being essential for the maintenance of society, its
structure, and its basic values. Institutions that come readily to mind are the family, religion,
government, education, and the economy. Each has a distinctive task to perform”. All the social
institutions are interrelated. Interdependence is necessary for the smooth operation of
institutions. Autonomy of any institution is interpreted as social disequilibrium, or lack of
balance.
SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION: A BRIEF HISTORY

Sociology of religion was not altogether a new phenomenon in the intellectual history of
mankind. Birnbaum and Lenzer (1969: 1) have said that there is no discipline without its
precursors, and that ideas which reflected the sociological perspective on religion existed as far
back as classical antiquity in the speculations of pre-Socratics “as well as the views on religion
elaborated by Lucretius. There is the nominalist tradition in medieval European philosophy and
Muslim thought. And there are the skeptical reflections on religion of Machiavelli”.
By the end of 17th century, there was a, paradigm shift in the philosophical modes and
categories of thought that paved the way for secularization of thought. The entire process of
secularization culminated into the evolution and development of the social sciences from the turn
of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century. Birnbaum and Lenzer writes: “ In a world in
which all phenomena could be seen as man-made and without any transcendent originator or
causation, the emergence of the social sciences in general and the sociology of religion in
particular represented one of the most momentous developments in the process of secularization”
(1969:1).
Following World War 1, there was a shift in the focus of interest, from evolutionary
perspective to the structural-functional approach. It was through the structural-functional
approach that sociologists developed interest in the new branch of sociology called 'sociology of
religion'. Sociology of religion studies the impact of religion in the society. It is a study of
interactions between religion and other institutions of society.
Sociology of religion deals with religion as a human universal. It studies the functions of
religion in human society. It takes particular interest in how religion influences human
behaviour. It shows how religion helps man to cope with the crisis of life. Although sociology of
religion does not ignore the functions of religion to the individuals, its particular area of focus is
on how religion functions for groups, or collectivity of society. It covers the interaction between
religion and society, culture, social change, stratification, status and social solidarity. Sociology
of religion does not only study the positive impact of religion on society, but also the dysfunction
of religion in human society.
As a social science, sociology of religion studies how religion is responding to the

frustration of people within a given society. It examines how socio-cultural, economic and
political realities of a given community can influence religion and vice-versa. Sociology of
religion studies the motivations and causal factors of sect development; it studies the origin,
doctrine, membership status, leadership and organization of a particular religious group in the
society. Sociology of religion studies the impact of religious conviction on national development.
239
For the sociologist of religion, religion is just a social institution like law, politics, economics,
morality and culture. It performs some function within the social system.
THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION

Functionalism either as a theory or doctrine, stresses utility or purpose. All functions in human
society have natural or intended purpose. Much has been written on the concept of function in
social sciences and humanities. The first systematic formulation of the concept was by Emile
Durkheim. Durkheim postulated that the "function" of a social institution is the correspondence
between it and the needs of the social system (1965:10). In interpreting Durkheim's view, A. R.
Radcliffe-Brown substituted the terms "needs" (that is besoins in French), with the terms
"necessary conditions of existence" (1952:178). The implication is that there are necessary
conditions of existence for human societies which proper scientific enquiry will reveal. For
purpose of clarity, scholars have analogically compared social life with organic life.
As animal organism represents an agglomeration of cells and interstitial fluids as an

integrated whole, even so, the human society is an integrated system of complex institutions.
Radcliffe-Brown writes: “The continuity of the social structure, like that of an organic structure,
is not destroyed by changes in units. Individuals may leave the society by death or otherwise;
others may enter it” (1952:180). Durkheim and Radcliff-Brown insisted that the social life of the
community is the functioning of the social structure. Radcliffe-Brown was also of the opinion
that the concept of function involves: “...the notion of a set of relations amongst unit entities, the
continuity of the structure being maintained by a life process, made up of the activities of the
constituent units” (1952:180).
Function therefore connotes the contribution which a particular institution makes to the
total social life. The social system which implies the total social structure of a society depends on
the totality of its social usages for continued existence. Society generally requires some level of
functional unity if it must survive. Functionalism is a situation in which all the component parts
of the social system work together without opposition which cannot be resolved. Otherwise,
organized and regulated antagonism is an essential feature of every social system. The
sociologist is very curious to know the social functions of religion in human society and the
overall impact of religion on social life.
Religion sacralizes the norms and values of society. It venerates and deifies the moral
principles of society. It brings added sanction to morality. "If it is believed that a breach of moral
law is followed by disastrous consequences, perhaps for the whole community, then this belief
will act as a powerful deterrent" (Lewis 1969:148). John Lewis has said that religion can lead the
society to believe that the rules of morality have been promulgated by supernatural powers and
that will create added sanctity (1969:148). Religious feast and ceremonies are instruments of
social solidarity. Religion brings people together in joy and fellowship.
Religion equips man with functional principles for his moral life. Through various ethical
codes, religion has been the leading factor in socialization and traditional education. Edward
Dayton (1984:87) has this to say: “Religion bestows on man and society the sense of the
sacred…. The sacred seems to lie in the domain of the church, or at least in religion… it is the
240
sacred that gives meaning to life, all life”. The loss of the sacred could render life shallow,
uncreative, artificial and a purposeless boredom. N.S.S. Iwe has said that a healthy society needs
the sense of the sacred which religion instils and that it is through religion that people can cope
with the riddles, puzzles and human mysteries like “dreams, accidents, birth and death, plagues,
earthquakes and other ecological and natural disasters, innocent suffering and various forms of
injustice and evil. Man and his society cannot stand for long meaninglessness and ignorance in
matters intimately affecting human life” (Religion, Morality and Ethics 1992:9).
Some scholars prefer to describe the sacred as the 'numinous' or' the spooky'. Numinous
is derived from the Roman numen, which to the Romans was a vague feeling of awe, amazement
and thrill. On the social functions of numen, John Lewis writes: “The numen presided over
marriage, over agriculture, over the domestic health, over each man's person. It is formless,
sexless, and cannot be represented, nor does it need a temple or status” (1969:173). The numen
was not only mysterious and weird; it was also imposing, horrifying and monstrous.
Among the Egyptians, the idea of the sacred was represented by the term maat. Maat
means right order. Berger and Berger (1976:29) avers thus: “This right order extends from the
world of the gods to the world of men, embracing birth in one all-enveloping meaning. The gods
act in accordance with maat in the way they run the universe. To be in conformity with maat is to
be in proper communion with the gods”.
Religion affords man a forum to celebrate life and achieve a linkage with the
supernatural. It is through religion that man celebrates the various rites of passage like birth,
adulthood, marriage, child dedication, death, burial and reincarnation rituals. It is also through
religion that man appeases the divine through sacrifices, worship and prayers. Ekpunobi and
Ezeaku (1990:33) have this to say: “Sacrifice is a system attempting to establish a relationship
between the visible and invisible worlds. Material things are offered to the spirit worlds. It is
believed that the spirits consume the essence or 'life' of the victim offered while human beings
participate in sharing the material part or the meat”. Thus, it is through religion that man can eat
with God in the anthropomorphic sense. It is only religion that can lead man into such realm.
Throughout human history, from antiquity to modern times, religion has been the
repository and custodian of human and social value. Iwe has argued that the functions of religion
as the guardian of the social order do not mean that religion is all the time hostile to change: “As
religion plays its priestly conservative and stabilizing role, it stands as an indispensable agent of
social control, functioning as the custodian and defender of established norms and values in all
human arenas, personal and spiritual, domestic and political, social and cultural against all
threats and violations” (1992:7, 8).
Religion provides man with a sense of another life. It is through religion that man is
given reasonable explanation for death, and life after death. This is the eschatological functions
of religion. Through religion man is given a reliable hope and promise of eternal life in the
anticipated kingdom of God. Religion reminds man of divine justice; God will punish the wicked
and reward the righteous.
241
The primary purpose of religion is to make sense out of existence, positive or negative.
Kelly writes: “Man is an inveterate meaning monger. He tries to make sense out of his
experience, even if he has to resort to nonsense to do it ... His mind finds patterns in his
experience” (1972:38). Religion provides man with a mechanism to tackle the uncertainties of
life. Man is always visited by unforeseeable circumstances which create anxiety and even mental
torture.
When man is faced with problems which he cannot identify religion provides a
framework for interpretation. Meaning has to do with inner, symbolic interpretation of reality. It
is an expression of ultimate values. Social values consist of notions of right, or wrong actions.
Values are moral judgments of voluntary actions. While some judgments are made by isolated
individuals in opposition against the entire society, others are collective that is, held in common
by members of a particular group, or society.
The central concern of sociology of religion is the link between ultimate meanings and
the meanings of everyday life. Sociology of religion is only interested in collective meanings. It
was through the works of Max Weber that sociologists paid due attention to the latent meanings
of social action. It was Weber's considered opinion that a good understanding of social action
involves an objective interpretation of the motives and intentions of the participants. Values are
special category of meaning. Peter Berger has described meanings as "definitions of reality".
“Just as individuals participating in a social situation jointly define what that situation means, so
entire society will produce definitions of the overall reality of human life, and these definitions
of reality serve as the taken-for-granted context of all social situation in that society” (1967:368).
Definitions of reality could be either normative or cognitive. Normatively, it reveals what

reality ought to be, and cognitively, what reality is in essence. The quest for values and ultimate
meaning is properly classified as man's primordial necessity. It is no luxury, it has to be met.
Since we pride ourselves of being a civilized society, it is incumbent on us to be tolerant, open-
minded, equalitarian and sensitive to individual differences, rights and convictions.
The quest for meaning cannot be reduced to mere superstition, or primitive drive. It is
more than that. Kelly writes: “Man has a deep craving to make coherent sense of his life within a
framework of ultimate meanings…. We have seen that the mechanism, by which such ultimate
meanings are developed, embodied, propagated, and maintained is the religious movement or
organization” (1972:154).
Objectively, ultimate meanings must have correspondence with real-life-situation. Man as

a meaning-oriented being is confronted by fundamental questions. The oldest of such question is:
"How can I survive?" This has to do with the basic wants of mankind, which includes: food,
water, clothing, shelter and medication. Religion may not resolve this directly. This can be
resolved through science and technology. Man can make a living through farming, hunting,
fishing, trading et cetera. It is man's duty to affect his environment and harness its natural
resources and live a happy life. Man does not necessarily need to be religious before he can fend
for his livelihood (Kelly 1972:39,40).
CONCLUSION
242
Sociology as the science of society cannot ignore the pervasive influence of religion.
Sociologists who study religion are not interested in the truth, or falsity of a religious belief
system. Sociologists as scientists cannot decide between the competing claims of religion. It is
glaring that the objective of sociological study may be incompatible with the basic belief of
many religious groups, and the researcher is expected to display scientific objectivity to the
maximum. Religious belief is anchored on the view that there is a spiritual reality that co-exists
with material reality. Sociologists do not have any valid, or reliable means to affirm or negate
"divinely revealed truth" (Johnstone 1997:1-5). Sociologists desire to understand the meaning of
religion to votaries, and the impact of religion on society. It is also possible for sociologists to
understand the larger society through the study of religion. The sociological perspective involves
the questioning of taken-for-granted methods of social analysis and examining of the
interdependence of religion on other social institutions and vice versa.
No matter man's level of civilization and technological advancement, religion remains a

very important social fact. Religion is not just a legacy of antiquity, but a social phenomenon and
a universal human need. Kelly observes that a human need whose fulfilment has sometimes
entailed mutilations, human sacrifices, war and at times social and political instability cannot be
underrated. “The deplorable enormities occasionally practiced in the name of religion, as well as
its regular perversion by rulers to uphold their thrones, testify not only to its rootage in man's
primordial past but to the leverage in men's lives that can be exploited today by its unscrupulous
manipulation” (1972:155).
REFERENCES
Andersen, Margaret L., (1997). Thinking about Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and
Gender, Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Berger, Peter L., (1967). The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion,
Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
___________ and Brigitte Berger, (1976). Sociology: A Biographical Approach, New York:
Penguin.
Bibby, Reginald (2001). "Religion" in New Society: Sociology for the 21st Century, 3rd edition,
(ed) Robert J. Brym, Toronto: Harcourt.
Birnbaum, Norman and Gertrud Lenzer, (1969). Sociology of Religion, Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Dayton, Edward R., (1984). Whatever Happened to Commitment, Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Durkheim, Emile, (1965). The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, New York: Free Press.
Ekpunobi, Emma and Ifeanyi Ezeaku (eds.), (1990). Socio-Philosophical Perspective of African
Traditional Religion, Enugu: New Age.
243
Giddens, Anthony; Mitchell Duneier and Richard Appelbaum, (2003). Introduction to Sociology,
4th edition, London: Norton.
Iwe, N. S. S., (1992). "Religion, Morality and Ethics". A Paper Presented at the Professors
World Peace Academy Conference, 3rd - 5th March, Abuja Nigeria.
(1979). Christianity, Culture and Colonialism in Africa, Port Harcourt: COE.

Johnstone, Ronald L., (1997). Religion in Society: a Sociology of Religion, Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Kelly, Dean M., (1972). Why Conservative Churches are Growing: A Study in Sociology of
Religion, New York: Harper and Row.
Lewis, John, (1969). Anthropology Made Simple. London: Allen.
Marx, Karl and Engels, (1957). On Religion, Moscow: Progress.
McGuire, Meredith B., (1992). Religion: the Social Context, Belmont, California: Wadsworth.
O'brien, Robert, Clarence Schrag and Walter Martin, (1964). Readings in General Sociology,
Boston: Houghton.
O'Donnell, Mike, (1992). A New Introduction to Sociology, 3rd edition, London: Nelson.
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R., (1952). Structure and Function in Primitive Society, London: Routledge
and Paul.
Weber, Max, (1963). Sociology of Religion, Boston: Beacon.Yinger, Milton J., (1970). The
Scientific Study of Religion, New York: Macmillan.
244

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
SOCIAL SECURITY FOR WOMEN IN ASYLUM OF MICROFINANCE: A

STUDY OF SHIVAMOGGA DISTRICT, KARNATAKA STATE
SANDHYA. C*; PROF. R. HIREMANI NAIK**; ANURADHA. T. S***
*Research Scholar,
Institute of Management Studies and Research,
‘Jnana Sahyadri’ Kuvempu University,
Shankaraghatta.
**Chairman & Dean,
Shankaraghatta.
**Research Scholar,
Shankaraghatta.
245
ABSTRACT
Over the few decades, it’s been a great debate that microfinance is actually a
prominent part of women life. There are many formal and informal microfinance
institutions in India extending help through SHGs linkage programmes. It is striving

to provide social security for the women. This paper endeavored to know how
microfinance providing social security for the women through SHGs. As a social
security factors housing, health, education, employment, financial issue and social
issue has been included in the study. To satisfy the above objective the study was
relied on structured questionnaire and direct interview. To test the hypothesis T test
was employed. The result of the study bear out that there is a significant relationship
between microfinance and social security factors. MFIs bequeath with social
security factors to the women in the study area.
KEYWORDS: Microfinance, MFIs, Social Security, SHGs.

______________________________________________________________________________
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending
groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and
related services. More broadly, it is a movement whose object is "a world in which as many poor
and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high
quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund
transfers." Those who promote microfinance generally believe that such access will help poor
people out of poverty.
1.2 Social Security refer to the action programs of government intended to promote the welfare
of the population through assistance measures guaranteeing access to sufficient resources for
food and shelter and to promote health and wellbeing for the population at large and potentially
vulnerable segments such as children, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed. Everyone, as a
member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national
effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of
each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free
development of his personality. In simple term, this means that the signatories agree that society
in which a person lives should help them to develop and to make the most of all the advantages
(culture, work, social welfare) which are offered to them in the country.
INDICATORS OF SOCIAL SECURITY
Housing
Education
Health
Social
246
Security
Social Employment
Issue
Finance
3. RESEARCH METODOLOGY Issue
3.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
 Manisha and Vishal Sarin in their study “Sharma Exploring the Benefits of Microfinance
Organisations for Poverty Alleviation,” opined that microfinance organization playing
prominent role in poverty alleviation. The paper focused on the identification of critical
factors responsible for poverty and extent to which Microfinance organisation has helped
in alleviating poverty.
 Richard Burkhauser, Alan Gustman, John Laitner, Olivia Mitchell, and Amanda Sonnega
study entitled “Social Security Research at the Michigan Retirement Research Center”
concentrate on Social Security Reform, Social Security Disability Insusrance, Labour

Supply Behaviour, and Financial Investment for Retirement and Distributional Effects.
The paper emphasized on developing a dynamic model of household behavior to estimate
and simulate the effects of actual and proposed policy changes, promoting household
welfare as the ultimate concern of public policy, Using a research framework that is rich
enough, and flexible enough, to encompass large-scale trends, mitigating the shortage of
financial literacy.
3.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Everyone as a member of society has a right to dig up social security. In every country
government and non-government institutions determined to provide social security to the people
by different schemes and programmes. MFIs are working in this way to uplift the economic,
social, political status of the people by providing social securities. Hence, the present study is
undertaken to enquire into the relationship between microfinance and social security factors.
3.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study relied on the following objectives
 To understand the outline of microfinance and social security Issues
 To evaluate the relation between microfinance and social security factors.
 To analyze the role of microfinance in providing social security for women in the study
area.
247
3.3 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY
1. Ho: There is no significant relation between microfinance and social security factors.
H1: There is a significant relation between microfinance and social security factors
a) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Housing Facility

(social security factor).
b) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Education Issues

c) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Health Issues (social
security factor).
d) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Employment Issues

e) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Financial Issue

f) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Social Issue (social
security factor).
3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN
The study is based on the both primary and secondary data. Primary data has been collected
through structured questionnaire and interview with microfinance beneficiaries. The scope of the
study is restricted to Shivamogga city, Karntaka State and to study social security factors such as
housing, education, health, employment, financial issue and social issues relation with
microfinance. The total sample constitutes 25 members from different SHGs in Shivamogga city
and a simple random sampling technique was employed to involve respondents in the study.
Likert five point scale has been used to get the response. In order to test the hypothesis simple
one way T test was applied.
248
4. DISCUSSION OF THE STUDY

TABLE 4.1: DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS
Particulars
Responses No of Respondents Percentage
25 to 30 9 36.0
30 to 35 9 36.0
Age 35 to 40 7 28.0
Total 25 100
Illiterate 7 28.0
Primary 6 24.0
Middle 3 12.0
Education Status Secondary & 9 36.0
above
Total 25 100
BPL 15 57.5
Poverty Status APL 10 42.5
Total 25 100
Joint family 11 44.0
Family Status Nuclear family 14 56.0

Total 25 100
1 t0 3 18 45.0
3 to 6 14 35.0
6 to 9 6 15.0
No of dependents of Respondents 9 & above 2 5.0
249
Total 25 100
1 to 3 14 56.0
No of Children’s 3 to 6 5 20.0
6 to 9 6 24.0
25 100
Total
Below 2000 4 16.0
2000 to 4000 6 24.0
4000 to 6000 2 8.0

6000 to 8000 5 20.0
Monthly Income of Husband
8000 to 10000 7 25.0
10000 & above 4 16.0
25 100.0
Total
Source: Primary Source
Table 4.1 states a major proportion of the respondents are between the age group of 25 to 35.
Majority of the respondents are having the education of secondary & above and they are below
poverty line. Majority of the respondents are living in Nuclear family. Majority of the
respondents are having children between 1-3 respondents. This is quite less in number when
compared to earlier days it might be due to the awareness about governmental schemes and
family planning. As income is major determinant of the standard of living of the people majority
of the women beneficiary husband’s income falls below the category of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000.
MICROFINANCE & SOCIAL SECURITY FACTORS
4.2 MICROFINANCE AND HOUSING ISSUE
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
a) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Housing Facility

H1: There is a significant relationship between microfinance and Housing Facility

TABLE 4.2: HOUSING ISSUES
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
Sig. 95% Confidence Interval
Housing Factors
(2- Mean of the Difference Result
T df tailed) Difference Lower Upper
Construction of house 11.072 24 .000 2.240 1.82 2.66 Rejected
Water connection/access to 11.476 24 .000 2.040 1.67 2.41 Rejected
clean water
250
Construction of toilet 12.730 24 .000 2.120 1.78 2.46 Rejected

Lighting facility 11.476 24 .000 2.040 1.67 2.41 Rejected
RESULT
Hence, null hypothesis is rejected and alternative hypothesis is accepted. This shows there is a
significant relationship between Microfinance and Housing Facility (social security factor). In
the study, 44 % of the respondents agreed that after joining SHGs they have constructed house,
24 % of the respondents strongly agreed, 4 % of the respondent’s responded that same as

before.48% of the respondents agreed that after joining SHGs they got water connection and to
clean water, 28% strongly agree and 16% said same as before, 8 % disagree for the same. 56% of
the respondents they constructed toilet for home after joining SHGs, 20% strongly agreed for the
same. 16% same as before.48 % of the respondent got lighting and power facility after joining,
28% strongly agreed, 16% same as before. Microfinance playing prominent role in providing
social security for the needy people in society. As majority of the respondents falls below
poverty line and their income is low, microfinance institutions providing loan facility for the
construction of home, toilets and lighting facility under different schemes, the remaining
percentage of respondents lack access to this facility. In the study area it was found that theys
have accessed to the loan which comes under this facility but they have diverted this amount for
the other purposes like daily consumption, repaying of loan amount etc.
4.3 MICROFINANCE AND EDUCATION ISSUE
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
b) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Education (social

security factor).
H1: There is a significant relationship between microfinance and Education (social

security factor).
TABLE 4.3: EDUCATION ISSUES
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
95% Confidence
Education Issue Interval
Sig. (2- Mean of the Difference Results
t df tailed) Difference Lower Upper
Access to further education 12.050 24 .000 2.520 2.09 2.95 Rejected
Children education 9.859 24 .000 1.800 1.42 2.18 Rejected

Participation in self 9.656 24 .000 2.080 1.64 2.52 Rejected
development programme
Attending training 11.047 24 .000 2.480 2.02 2.94 Rejected
251
programme
RESULT
relationship between Microfinance and Education a social security factor. In the study, 28% of
the respondents agreed that they have been accessed to further education but 32% of the
respondents responded that same as before.44% of the respondents and 40% of the respondents
strongly agree and agree for the statement of increased education for their children, 8% of the
respondent responded that same as before and decreased. 36% of the respondents strongly agree
and agree that due to the SHGs their participation in self development programme increased and
16% strongly disagree for the statement.44% of the respondents agree that they are attending
training programme and 24% same as before and 8% strongly disagree and disagree. In the study
area majority of the women beneficiaries have the education of secondary & above. It is not
sufficient in the competitive era. As they are having family constraints she need to look after her
family and the loan amount sanctioned by the MFIs is insufficient if she takes the loan for
education she is not supposed to take for other purpose. This might be the reason where she is
not able to access for further education. Only less percentage of the women showed interest for
their further studies. It is appreciable that they are taking interest in their children education; this
is an indicator for growing awareness about education due to microfinance in India.

Microfinance Institutions providing education loan, scholarship for the SHG members children.
In the study area SHGs members actively taking participation in the self development and
training programme (tailoring, pot making, candle making and bag, gift box making) arranged
under the streamer of Microfinance Institutions. Time, money and family constraints made the
women to lack access from education; therefore, she is concentrating on their children education.
For her development she found alternative way by participating in self development and training
programme enhancing her knowledge in related activities.
4.4 MICROFINANCE AND HEALTH ISSUE
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
c) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Health Issue (social
security factor).
H1: There is a significant relationship between microfinance and Health Issues (social
security factor).
TABLE 4.4: HEALTH ISSUES
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
95% Confidence Interval
Health Issue
Sig. (2- Mean of the Difference
t df tailed) Difference Lower Upper Results
Access to nutrition 9.939 24 .000 2.440 1.93 2.95 Rejected
252
Conscious about 10.914 24 .000 2.120 1.72 2.52 Rejected

hygiene factors
Family planning 10.445 24 .000 2.000 1.60 2.40 Rejected
awareness
Participation in health 9.656 24 .000 2.080 1.64 2.52 Rejected
campaign
Arranging health camp 9.702 24 .000 2.760 2.17 3.35 Rejected

Access to health 9.168 24 .000 2.360 1.83 2.89 Rejected
insurance
RESULT
relationship between Microfinance and Health a social security factor. In the study 36% of the
respondents opined that their awareness increased about nutrition, 12% and 8% disagree and
strongly disagree for the statement. 44% of the respondents awareness increased about the
hygiene factors, 28% increased, 16% same as before and 12% decreased.48% and 32% of the
respondents awareness level increased and highly increased about family planning, 12% and 8%
respondent same as before and decreased. 36% of the respondents highly increased and increased
for the statement that they are participating in health campaign, 12% and 16% responded as same
and before and decreased. 28% and 16% of the respondents responded that arrangement of health
camp highly increased and increased, 20%, 24%, 12% responded same as before, decreased and
highly decreased. 36% and 16% responded that their access to health insurance highly increased
32%, 8% responded same as before and decreased and highly decreased. In the past period
people were not aware about health factors due to the lack of education, income and blind
beliefs. MFIs are working in this way to educate the people about health by arranging various
health programmes and campaign. In the study area it would be observed that majority of the
SHGs members easily accesses for medical facility by the compulsory health insurance among
SHGs and MFIs collaboration with local and reputed hospitals.
4.5 MICROFINANCE AND EMPLOYMENT ISSUE
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
d) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Employment Issue

H1: There is a significant relationship between microfinance and Employment Issue

TABLE 4.5: EMPLOYMENT ISSUES
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
95% Confidence Interval of the
Employment Issue
Sig. (2- Mean Difference
253
t Df tailed) Difference Lower Upper Results

Agricultural/ Non 11.619 24 .000 3.000 2.47 3.53 Rejected
Agricultural activities
Self employment 8.687 24 .000 2.760 2.10 3.42 Rejected
Added value to work 6.230 24 .000 1.880 1.26 2.50 Rejected
RESULT
relationship between Microfinance and Employment a social security factor. In the study,
Compare to agricultural and non agricultural activity respondents responded that they are more
sustained to self employment and their value about work highly increased due to the reason of
SHGs. It was found that majority of the women started their own small enterprises..
Microfinance institution motivating for self employment of women even she is highly preferred
self employment activities, compared to Agricultural activities, because she is physically not able
to handle agricultural equipments and less knowledge in the agricultural allied activities. By
providing loan, training, subsidies and marketing of goods manufactured by SHGs. motivation of
MFIs by providing loan, training, subsidies and marketing of goods manufactured by SHGs
members they are showing great value, interest and dedication in their work.
4.6 MICROFINANCE AND FINANCIAL ISSUE
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
a) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Financial Issue

H1: There is a significant relationship between microfinance and Financial Issue (social
security factor).
TABLE 4.6: FINANCIAL ISSUES
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
Financial Issue Difference
Sig. (2- Mean
t df tailed) Difference Lower Upper Results
Earning 6.743 24 .000 1.880 1.30 2.46 Rejected
Savings 6.743 24 .000 1.880 1.30 2.46 Rejected
Access to Credit 7.746 24 .000 2.000 1.47 2.53 Rejected
Knowledge about cash 8.220 24 .000 2.240 1.68 2.80 Rejected
book. account
maintenance
Financial asset purchase 12.338 24 .000 2.480 2.07 2.89 Rejected
254
Purchase of vehicles 10.559 24 .000 2.880 2.32 3.44 Rejected

Land purchase 19.468 24 .000 3.680 3.29 4.07 Rejected
Household purchase 8.375 24 .000 2.680 2.02 3.34 Rejected
Investment (Business 8.088 24 .000 2.520 1.88 3.16 Rejected
Activities)
RESULT
relationship between Microfinance and Financial Issue a social security factor. In the study, 64%
of the respondents earning and saving highly increased, 16%, 12% responded that same as before
and highly decreased, 44% and 36% respondents credit access highly increased and increased
respectively. 8% and 12% same as before.36% opined that their knowledge about cash book and
account maintenance highly increased 12% responded highly decreased. 40% opined their
financial asset purchase, vehicle purchase and land purchase increased and 24% same as before
and 20% decreased. It is a good trend and secures issue that SHGs earning and saving increased.
Earning and savings can give better live for the women. Because of MFIs women is able to
withstand her by self employment. Various MFIs providing loan and other facility under
different schemes made the respondents to access easily for their credit facility and to spend on
the purchase of home appliance. Mixed response in the study about purchase of financial asset,
land and investment indicates that they are spending their income in a very dilute manner where
those asset cost high they could not able to investment at this stage as they are in the nascent
stage.
4.8 MICROFINANCE AND SOCIAL ISSUE
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
a) Ho: There is no significant relationship between microfinance and Social Issue (social
security factor).
H1: There is a significant relationship between microfinance and Social Issue (social
security factor).
TABLE 4.8: SOCIAL ISSUES
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
Social Issue
Sig. (2- Mean Difference
T df tailed) Difference Lower Upper Results
Standard of Living 10.914 24 .000 2.120 1.72 2.52 Rejected
Recognition in Society 10.914 24 .000 2.120 1.72 2.52 Rejected
Increased decision 10.002 24 .000 2.040 1.62 2.46 Rejected

255
making
Attending social 9.526 24 .000 2.200 1.72 2.68 Rejected
programme
Confidence Level 9.632 24 .000 1.920 1.51 2.33 Rejected
Knowledge about 10.817 24 .000 1.840 1.49 2.19 Rejected

social/legal/political
Urge for development 11.298 24 .000 1.760 1.44 2.08 Rejected
RESULT
relationship between Microfinance and Social Issue a social security factor. In the study, 44%
responded that their standard of living and recognition in society has increased and 16% opined
same as before.36% respondents decision making and attending social programme highly
increased. 44% respondents confidence and knowledge about political/legal/social issues highly
increased.44% responded that their urge for development highly increased and they highly feel
aware. Initiatives of MFIs SHGs members Standard of living highly increased due to self
employment opportunities, consistent income generation become reason for increased purchase
power and spending pattern. Recognition in society makes the one to lead happy and respectful
life before joining to the SHGs respondents anguish from these factors. Active participation in
the SHGs and discussion among the group member about current affairs made the increased
knowledge about social/legal/political issues. Human is a social being when he/she be in a group
causes for confidence and MFIs striving to build up the confidence level of women by arranging
meeting and workshops, financial backups.
5. CONCLUSION
Social security is a right of the people living in any country. Government and non-government
organisation try hard to provide social security to their citizens with different schemes. In India
MFIs took initiative to provide this to the people through SHGs linkage programme. In the study
area awareness level about education increased among the SHG members this has become the
reason for their children education. Due to family constraint and other reasons they have
neglected their own education. MFIs should take inventiveness for the education of women by
tie up with NGOs, Universities and it should make compulsory for the SHGs members. MFIs
individually providing loan for the needy people (like education loan, health loan), the size of the
credit is too small that if the women accessed for any one she is not supposed to seize other
loans. This becomes great constraint for her she may have need of other loans. This factor should
be considered by MFIs by having alternative like making above social factors as a one and
provide percentage of loan on the same and develop entrepreneurial activities among SHGs
members. It can be concluded that there is a significant relationship with microfinance and social
security factors, for the needy it has become real consecrate at the same time it is necessary to
develop proper regulatory framework to cover the neglected sections in the society.
REFERENCE
256
 K.S Mohindra, Slim Haddad, D Narayana “Can microcredit help improve the health of
poor women? Some findings from a cross-sectional study in Kerala, India”(2008)
International Journal for Equity in Health.
 Manisha Sharma Vishal Sarin “Exploring The Benefits Of Microfinance Organisations

For Poverty Alleviation (A Research Study Conducted In Punjab)” (2011), International
Journal of Multidisciplinary Research.
 Richard Burkhauser, Alan Gustman, John Laitner, Olivia Mitchell, and Amanda Sonnega
”Social Security Research at the Michigan Retirement Research”(2009) Social Security
Bulletin • Vol. 69 • No. 4 .
 S. Mahendra Dev ,P.Padmanabha Rao “Poverty Alleviation Programmes In Andhra

Pradesh - An Assessment” (Sponsored by Planning Commission, Government of India)
(2002).
 S.Galab, N.Chandrasekhara Rao “Women’s Self-Help Groups, Poverty Alleviation and

Empowerment”(2003) Economic and Political Weekly Publication.
 Towards a Sustainable Microfinance Outreach in India Experiences and Perspectives

Report
 V.P.Sriraman, “Micro Finance, Self Help Groups and Women Empowerment – current
issues and concerns”
257

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
NEW TRENDS IN PRODUCTIVITY PARAMETERS OF COMMERCIAL

BANKS IN INDIA
DR. R.K. UPPAL*; AMIT JUNEJA**
*Principal Investigator,
UGC Financed Major Research Project,
D.A.V. College,
Malout, Punjab, India.
**Research Scholar
Department of Economics,
Panjab University,
Chandigarh, India.
ABSTRACT
Productivity is the most important success parameter of any bank group. In order to
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comparatively analyse bank’s productivity in pre and post e-banking era, five banks
each from the five bank groups namely Nationalized Banks, SBI & its associates, Old
Private Sector Banks, New Private Sector Banks and Foreign Banks are selected and
their productivity performance on total expenditure per branch, total earning per
branch, establishment expenditure per branch and spread per branch is evaluated in
pre and post e-banking period. Pre e-banking period is taken as 1998 to 2001 and
post e-banking period is taken as 2001 to 2012. Performance is evaluated with the
help of average, coefficient of variation, range, skewness and Kurtosis. The study
concludes that among the five selected bank groups, Foreign Bank group is the most
productive bank group in pre and post e-banking period as it shows maximum
spread per branch which is the sigh for the productivity of any bank group and its
also shows consistent performance on most of the parameters selected in pre and
post e-banking period. SBI and its Associates bank group is incurring least
expenditure per branch in pre e-banking period and Old Private sector bank group
in post e-banking period. Foreign sector bank group is getting most earning per
branch in both the selected time periods. Private sector bank group which comprises
Old and New Private sector bank group show least establishment expenditure per
branch in pre and post e-banking period respectively.
KEYWORDS: e-banking, establishment expenditure, Productivity, spread, total

expenditure, total earning.
______________________________________________________________________________
I. INTRODUCTION
A large number of economies, including both developed and developing countries have
deregulated their banking systems over the past two decades. The primary objective of such
reforms is to improve productivity, efficiency and profitability of the banking systems and also
to increase international competitiveness. Banking industry in India is undergoing a major
transformation due to changes in economic conditions and continuous deregulation. The
implementation of reforms has had an all round salutary impact on the financial health of the
banking system, as evidenced by the significant improvements in a few salient financial
indicators of the banking system. Financial deregulation in India began in 1992, following the
Indian economic crisis of 1991, and it is an integral element of the ongoing process of economic
and structural reform. These reforms also sought to create a more level playing field among
different ownership structure. Financial sector reforms initiated by Reserve Bank of India, the
regulatory norms with respect to capital adequacy, income recognition, asset classification and
provisioning have progressively moved towards convergence with the international best
practices. These reforms are expected to have an impact on the operations of banks. With
reduced statutory requirements banks will have more funds at their disposal for commercial
lending. And interest rate liberalisation is expected to bring flexibility and competition into the
banking system. Competition is also infused by opening up banking sector for private and
foreign banks. Along with these flexibilities certain regulatory reforms are also introduced,
which are meant to make banks strong enough to face fluctuations in the economy. Overall, these
reforms are aimed at improving the performance of banks. These measures have enhanced
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transparency of the balance sheet of the banks and infused accountability in their functioning. On
the accomplishment of the first stage, the second stage reforms paid more attention to
strengthening the Indian banking system and enhancing its international competitiveness.
Reform measures included further relaxation of policies implemented in the first stage;
strengthening the institutional setting to reduce the high level of NPAs; further increasing capital
adequacy requirements and prudential norms on asset classification and provisioning close to the
international standards, and emphasizing the importance of modernization and technology
upgrade.
It is well recognized that technology holds the key to the future success of Indian Banks since it
is Information technology which has brought in a sea change in the way banking is being
conducted today--which is but an indication of the morrow. It would be beyond anybody's
imagination to even think about conducting banking business anywhere in the country or using a
powerful yet simple medium such as the Internet even from roadside kiosks. But today this is the
reality--which owes its credit to the rampant exploit of IT by banks. And concepts such as
'Anywhere Banking' or 'Automated Teller Machines' are but offshoots of technology
implementation by banks, as also Internet Banking and Mobile Banking. Such innovations have
had a positive impact on customer service--but the fundamental benefit that is derived by banks
relates to reduced costs of operation--such as in handling cash and in servicing customers
efficiently and accurately over the counters of branches. So, it becomes necessary to critically
evaluate bank’s productivity in light of these reforms and technology up gradation. So, this study
is an attempt in this area.
SCHEME OF THE PAPER
The plan of research report has been framed under six sections:-
Section-I gives the introduction of the problem taken for study.
Section -II deals with review of related literature.
Section -III objectives, hypothesis, data base, statistical techniques and research methodology.
Section -IV deals with the analysis and interpretation of data.
Section-V deals with conclusions and implications of the study.
Section-VI deals with future areas of research.
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Rajan, S.S., Reddy K.L.N. & Pandit, V. (2011) in this study attempts to measure productivity
and thereby efficiency of Indian scheduled commercial banks for the period 1979 through 2008
using the asset approach, under which bank output is measured as quantum of bank revenue
(loans and investments). Technical efficiency measure has been examined, using semi
parametric PSS efficient estimates. Based on this methodology results show that the banking
system has gone through two major policy upheavals; nationalization in 1969 and deregulation
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and other reforms in mid nineties. Both of these have had a significant impact on the efficiency
and productivity in the banking industry in two different ways. Significant changes in the policy
environment have clearly enabled banks to expand their operations efficiently under the new
liberalized atmosphere. It turns out that the public sector banks (PSB) i.e. the nationalized banks
(NB) and state bank of India and its associates (SBI&A) are more efficient compared to domestic
private banks and foreign banks. Rather surprisingly, foreign banks are considerably less
efficient than PSBs possibly because of their relatively smaller scale. However, the foreign banks
have higher efficiency compared to the domestic private banks, due to their specialized activities.
Kumar, L. Malathy, D.Ganesh,L.S. (2010)in this paper attempts to understand the influence of
technology change in the banking sector by employing data envelopment analysis (DEA) and
also to determine the change in total factor productivity (TFP) and its components, namely
technical change and technical efficiency change. In doing so, for each bank group the levels of
technical efficiency, technical efficiency change, efficiency change and TFP change have been
estimated. Further investigation has been done to determine if significant differences in these
exist between the different bank groups in terms of size, time period and ownership. The
determinants of productivity have been assessed. The TFP growth over the entire period (1995-
2006) was driven by technical change as compared to efficiency change, showing that
technology and innovation had a greater impact than efficiency change, or the catch-up effect.
The fixed effects estimates of the determinants of TFP change and its components show that size,
ownership and time period exert significant effect on technical change.
Dash, P., Bhole, L.M. (2007) in this paper attempts to quantify the extent of universalisation
(excluding bancassurance activities) by constructing a weighted index of five variables (called as
universal banking score) such as income from commissions, exchanges and brokerages, term
loans, profit and loss on exchange transactions, investment in shares and investment in
debentures and bonds capturing various dimensions of universal banking activities. Most of the
sample banks have experienced higher levels of universalisation during 1997 to 2002.
Nationalized banks are found less universalized compared to Indian private and foreign banks. In
order to examine the impact of universal banking on bank performance, the technical, allocative
and cost efficiency measurements are carried out for all the sample banks for the time period
1997-2002 by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with input-orientation. Despite
significant reforms in Indian banking sector, the domestic banks are lagging behind foreign
banks in terms of efficiency and productivity scores. The panel regression analysis shows the
positive insignificant relation between universalisation and efficiency and productivity scores.
The higher real wage expenses do not deteriorate bank performances. Thus, the benefits of the
strategy of ‘universal banking’ in India remains inconclusive.
Sahoo, B.K., Sengupta, J., & Mandal, A., (2007) in this paper attempts to examine, using data
envelopment analysis, the productivity performance trends of the Indian commercial banks for
the period: 1997-98 - 2004-05. Broad empirical findings are indicative in many ways. First, the
increasing average annual trends in technical efficiency for all ownership groups indicate an
affirmative gesture about the effect of the reform process on the performance of the Indian
banking sector. Second, the higher cost efficiency accrual of private banks over nationalized
banks indicate that nationalized banks, though old, do not reflect their learning experience in
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their cost minimizing behavior due to X-inefficiency factors arising from government ownership.
This finding also highlights the possible stronger disciplining role played by the capital market
indicating a strong link between market for corporate control and efficiency of private enterprise
assumed by property right hypothesis. And, finally, concerning the scale elasticity behavior, the
technology and market-based results differ significantly supporting the empirical distinction
between returns to scale and economies of scale, often used interchangeably in the literature.
Singh & Kumar (2006) analyzed that deposits is a major determinant of spread followed by
borrowings and labor. The study again concluded that average technical and allocative efficiency
are the highest in foreign banks while of PSBs is although lower than FBs but much better than
private sector banks.
Sathye (2005) used financial ratios to study the effect of privatization on the performance and
efficiency of banks. Efficiency is defined in terms of net profit per employee and deposit and
loans per employee. The study concluded that the financial performance of partially privatized
banks were significantly better than that of the fully public sector banks. There was no
significant difference in performance of partially privatized banks and fully private banks.
De (2004) used an econometric approach to determine the technical efficiency of the Indian
banks, relationship between ownership and efficiency and impact of reforms on efficiency. Panel
data for the years 1985 to 1995-96 were used in a stochastic frontier production function. Two
alternative measures of output (gross income and total earning assets) and four inputs (sum of
deposits and borrowings, fixed capital, number of officers and number of other employees) were
used for a Cobb-Douglas technology. The study concluded that the efficiency did not improve
after liberalization, and the foreign banks, as a group, had the highest efficiency.
Rammohan, T.T. and Ray, S.C. (2004) used DEA technique to compare the revenue efficiencies
of the public, private and foreign sector banks in India during the period 1992-2000. Using
operational data on inputs (deposits and operating cost) and outputs (loans, investments and other
income), they found significant difference in performance between the public and private sector,
whereas between the public sector and foreign banks, the results were comparable.
Kumbhakar and Sarkar (2003) & Kumbhakar and Sarkar (2004) used the parametric method to
evaluate the efficiency of the Indian banking system using panel data for the period 1986-2000.
Postulating a cost function and using stochastic cost frontier, they determined the changes in
efficiency over time. Using dummy variables, they also found contribution of reforms and role of
ownership to the change in efficiency. They found the Indian banking system to be cost
inefficient but the tendency for inefficiency to decline over time. They found the private sector
banks to be more cost efficient than public sector banks. The deregulation resulted in increase in
inefficiency and there was no significant difference in impact of deregulation on private sector
banks and public sector banks.
RESEARCH GAP
There are various parameters to know the success of any bank or bank group. Productivity of a
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bank or bank group is such an important parameter. Productivity of a bank or bank group
depends upon many factors like expenditure, earnings, spread etc of both the employees and the
branch. So, there is a need to empirically analyse the productivity of different banks and bank
groups, so that a clear picture can be obtained about the success of a particular bank or bank
group. With this view in mind a comparative study is conducted related to various parameters of
bank’s productivity, so that an estimate can be made about the progress and efficiency of
different banks or bank groups. So this study is an attempt in this area.
III. OBJECTIVES
i. To see trends related to Total Expenditure per Branch of different banks related to all the
bank groups in India in pre and post e-banking period.
ii. To see trends related to Total Earnings per Branch of different banks related to all the
bank groups in India in pre and post e-banking period.
iii. To see trends related to Establishment Expenditure per Branch of different banks related
to all the bank groups in India in pre and post e-banking period.
iv. To see trends related to Spread per Branch of different banks related to all the bank
FOCUS AREA
The present paper focuses on the study of selected parameters related to the productivity
performance of different type of banks and bank groups in India in pre and post e-banking
period.
DATA COLLECTION WORK
Secondary data had been used in present study.
i. Performance Highlights, IBA, 1998-2012.
STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES
For the analysis of data from different angles various types of statistical techniques such as
mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, skewness, Range, Kurtosis and t-value are
used. t-values are used to see significant difference in the performance of banks and bank groups
in pre and post e-banking era.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
A descriptive comparative research design was used in the present study. The study has been
conducted about the productivity performance of different banks and bank groups on selected
263
parameters.
SAMPLE DESIGN
The present paper is concerned with five bank groups and further from these five bank groups,
five banks are selected and those banks are as under:
i. Nationalized Banks: PNB, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India & Bank of
Baroda.
ii. SBI and its Associates: SBI, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank
of Travancore & State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur.
iii. Old Private Sector Banks: Jammu & Kashmir Bank, The Federal Bank Ltd., ING Vysya
Bank Ltd., The Karnataka Bank Ltd., SBI Commercial & International Bank Ltd.
iv. New Private Sector Banks: ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UTI Bank, INDUS Bank, Kotak
Mahindra Bank.
v. Foreign Banks: STC Bank, CITI Bank, HSBC Bank, ABN Bank, Deutsche Bank AG.
TIME PERIOD
As far as the time period for the present study is concerned, it can be said that the comparative
productivity analysis of different banks and bank groups in India is done w.r.t. their performance
in pre and post e-banking era. Pre e-banking era means a time period of 1998 to 2001 and post e-
banking era means a time period of 2001 to 2012.
SAMPLING PLAN
In carrying out a data firstly selected the parameters and then study the productivity performance
of each bank or bank groups on these selected parameters.
PARAMETERS OF THE STUDY
In the present study, the analysis and comparison of the productivity performance of various
selected banks and bank groups in pre and post e-banking period is done with reference to the
following parameters:
i. Total Expenditure per Branch
ii. Total Earnings per Branch
iii. Establishment Expenditure per Branch
iv. Spread per Branch

264
IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The major findings of this research and the analysis of data is shown the following tables:
TABLE 1 SHOWING TOTAL EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-I IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Bank Mean SD SEM SED CV Range Skewness Kurtosis t- Significance
Pre Vs
Post
PNB 1.330 3.208 0.221 1.369 0.111 0.413 0.078 0.292 16.65 42.69 0.185 0.514 0.024 0.460 1.501 1.941 2.668 5%
CAN 1.752 4.714 1.183 1.950 0.591 0.588 0.418 0.416 67.53 41.37 1.000 0.443 1.135 0.294 2.272 1.494 2.815 5%
BOI 1.599 4.068 1.074 2.002 0.537 0.604 0.380 0.427 67.18 49.21 1.000 0.533 1.216 0.476 2.293 1.729 2.311 5%
UBI 1.236 3.243 0.848 1.161 0.424 0.350 0.300 0.248 68.62 35.82 1.000 0.446 0.930 0.047 2.191 1.462 3.133 1%
BOB 2.024 2.745 0.260 1.534 0.130 0.462 0.092 0.327 12.84 55.87 0.155 0.821 0.025 0.188 1.950 2.763 0.914 NS
Source: Performance Highlights, IBA, 1998-2012
Table 1 is showing comparative trends related to total expenditure per branch of five public sector banks in pre and post e-banking
265
period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant rise in their total expenditure per branch
in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. Bank of Baroda is the only bank in which this increase is not
significant. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank of Baroda is the most consistent
bank in pre e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests, but in post e-banking period Union Bank of India is the most consistent
bank. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Bank of Baroda in pre e-banking period and Canara Bank in post e-banking
period show least range. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Punjab National Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking
era and Union Bank of India in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be
concluded that Bank of India shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and Bank of Baroda in post e-banking period.
TABLE 2 SHOWING TOTAL EARNINGS PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-I IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Bank Mean SD SEM SED CV Range Skewness Kurtosis t-Value Significance
Name Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Vs Level
Post
PNB 1.442 3.622 0.222 1.473 0.111 0.444 0.078 0.314 15.36 40.66 0.167 0.485 0.064 0.188 1.494 1.486 2.882 5%
CAN 1.829 5.199 1.236 1.880 0.618 0.567 0.437 0.401 67.55 36.15 1.000 0.418 1.132 0.172 2.271 1.429 3.294 1%
BOI 1.660 4.799 1.116 2.668 0.558 0.805 0.394 0.569 67.19 55.60 1.000 0.589 1.212 0.495 2.292 1.720 2.239 5%
UBI 1.285 3.614 0.880 1.269 0.440 0.382 0.311 0.270 68.48 35.10 1.000 0.423 0.950 0.033 2.205 1.445 3.352 1%
BOB 2.187 3.050 0.228 1.726 0.114 0.520 0.081 0.368 10.42 56.58 0.126 0.818 0.004 0.222 1.875 2.770 0.974 NS
Source: Same as Table 1
Table 2 is showing comparative trends related to total earnings per branch of five public sector banks in pre and post e-banking period.
From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant rise in their total earnings per branch in post e-
banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. Bank of Baroda is the only bank which doesn’t shows any significant increase on
266
this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank of Baroda is the most consistent
bank in pre e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests, but in post e-banking period Union Bank of India is the most consistent
bank. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Bank of Baroda in pre e-banking period and Canara Bank in post e-banking
period show least range. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Bank of Baroda is least deviated in pre e-banking era
and Union Bank of India in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded
that Bank of India shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and Bank of Baroda in post e-banking period.
TABLE 3 SHOWING ESTABLISHMENT EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-I IN PRE AND
POST E-BANKING PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
PNB 0.298 0.546 0.061 0.123 0.030 0.037 0.022 0.026 20.41 22.52 0.241 0.336 0.063 0.270 1.890 1.825 3.799 1%
CAN 0.322 0.643 0.224 0.133 0.112 0.040 0.079 0.028 69.65 20.69 1.000 0.271 0.734 0.001 2.164 1.545 3.468 1%
BOI 0.321 0.521 0.223 0.082 0.112 0.025 0.079 0.018 69.65 15.82 1.000 0.226 0.736 0.054 2.161 1.895 2.655 5%
UBI 0.225 0.394 0.158 0.063 0.079 0.019 0.056 0.013 70.54 15.90 1.000 0.242 0.618 0.446 2.105 2.198 3.101 1%
BOB 0.353 0.459 0.058 0.216 0.029 0.065 0.021 0.046 16.53 47.02 0.186 0.821 0.597 0.874 2.128 2.623 0.949 NS
Table 3 is showing comparative trends related to establishment expenditure per branch of five public sector banks in pre and post e-
banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant rise in their establishment
expenditure per branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. Bank of Baroda is the only bank which doesn’t
267
show any significant increase on this parameter. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank
of Baroda is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests, but in post e-banking period Bank of
India is the most consistent bank. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Bank of Baroda in pre e-banking period and Bank of
India in post e-banking period show least range. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Punjab National Bank is least
deviated in pre e-banking era and Canara Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned,
it can be concluded that Canara Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and Bank of Baroda in post e-banking
period.
TABLE 4 SHOWING SPREAD PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-I IN PRE AND POST E-BANKING PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
PNB 0.430 1.138 0.075 0.292 0.038 0.088 0.027 0.062 17.54 25.65 0.212 0.443 0.022 0.185 1.985 2.185 4.692 1%
CAN 0.505 1.448 0.346 0.399 0.173 0.120 0.122 0.085 68.39 27.54 1.000 0.443 0.958 0.179 2.223 1.889 4.171 1%
BOI 0.428 1.361 0.290 0.683 0.145 0.206 0.103 0.146 67.68 50.18 1.000 0.550 1.105 0.431 2.262 1.773 2.597 5%
UBI 0.359 1.214 0.254 0.451 0.127 0.136 0.090 0.096 70.73 37.16 1.000 0.498 0.582 0.005 2.111 1.661 3.538 1%
BOB 0.635 1.009 0.081 0.527 0.040 0.159 0.029 0.112 12.72 52.29 0.155 0.821 0.014 0.097 1.977 2.133 1.380 NS
Table 4 is showing comparative trends related to spread per branch of five public sector banks in pre and post e-banking period. From
the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant rise in their spread per branch in post e-banking period
as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank of Baroda
is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests, but in post e-banking period Punjab National
268
Bank is the most consistent bank. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Bank of Baroda in pre e-banking period and Punjab
National Bank and Canara Bank in post e-banking period show least range. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Bank
of Baroda is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Union Bank of India in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items
near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Bank of India shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and
Punjab National Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 5 SHOWING TOTAL EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-II IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Post
SBI 2.521 4.223 0.527 0.489 0.263 0.147 0.186 0.104 20.89 11.58 0.251 0.171 0.001 0.040 1.860 1.829 5.856 1%
SBoH 1.367 3.751 0.940 1.357 0.470 0.409 0.332 0.289 68.77 36.19 1.000 0.420 0.911 0.237 2.173 1.394 3.207 1%
SBoP 1.258 10.717 0.854 21.240 0.427 6.404 0.302 4.528 67.91 198.20 1.000 0.944 1.064 7.790 2.238 8.911 0.869 NS
SBoT 1.446 4.179 0.981 1.557 0.490 0.470 0.347 0.332 67.82 37.27 1.000 0.481 1.087 0.145 2.240 1.544 3.239 1%
SBoBJ 1.161 3.353 0.794 1.358 0.397 0.409 0.281 0.289 68.45 40.49 1.000 0.479 0.960 0.206 2.203 1.484 3.003 5%
Table 5 is showing comparative trends related to total expenditure per branch of five banks from SBI & Associate group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant rise in their total
expenditure per branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is
269
concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of India is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and post e-banking period on the
basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, State Bank of India shows least range in pre and post e-
banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of India is least deviated in pre and post e-banking
era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of Travancore shows much
of this concentration in pre e-banking period and State Bank of Patiala in post e-banking period.
TABLE 6 SHOWING TOTAL EARNINGS PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-II IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Post
SBI 2.703 4.822 0.525 0.691 0.263 0.208 0.186 0.147 19.43 14.34 0.227 0.212 0.008 0.006 1.717 1.798 5.526 1%
SBoH 1.478 4.002 1.016 1.189 0.508 0.358 0.359 0.253 68.72 29.70 1.000 0.376 0.919 0.145 2.178 1.446 3.755 1%
SBoP 1.395 5.103 0.950 2.503 0.475 0.755 0.336 0.534 68.13 49.05 1.000 0.570 1.021 0.293 2.222 1.507 2.833 5%
SBoT 1.525 4.744 1.039 1.919 0.519 0.578 0.367 0.409 68.11 40.44 1.000 0.518 1.030 0.208 2.218 1.606 3.142 1%
SBoBJ 1.261 64.721 0.861 150.151 0.431 45.272 0.305 32.012 68.29 232.00 1.000 0.992 0.992 7.216 2.209 8.542 0.825 NS
Table 6 is showing comparative trends related to total earnings per branch of five banks from SBI & Associate group in pre and post
e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks shows significant rise in their total earnings per
branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be
270
concluded that State Bank of India is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and post e-banking period on the basis of consistency
tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, State Bank of India shows least range in pre and post e-banking period. As far as
the deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of India is least deviated in pre and post e-banking era. As far as the
concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of Patiala shows much of this concentration in
pre e-banking period and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur in post e-banking period.
TABLE 7 SHOWING ESTABLISHMENT EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-II IN PRE AND
Post
SBI 0.508 0.754 0.114 0.122 0.057 0.037 0.040 0.026 22.55 16.14 0.251 0.238 0.520 0.032 2.074 1.737 3.517 1%
SBoH 0.245 0.515 0.166 0.123 0.083 0.037 0.059 0.026 67.95 23.86 1.000 0.330 1.054 0.298 2.236 1.632 3.442 1%
SBoP 0.241 0.475 0.170 0.092 0.085 0.028 0.060 0.020 70.60 19.38 1.000 0.267 0.595 0.083 2.124 1.546 3.505 1%
SBoT 0.254 0.679 0.181 0.239 0.090 0.072 0.064 0.051 71.30 35.15 1.000 0.488 0.550 0.021 2.032 1.596 3.215 1%
SBoBJ 0.268 0.576 0.183 0.173 0.092 0.052 0.065 0.037 68.34 30.05 1.000 0.385 0.965 0.087 2.227 1.580 3.001 5%
Table 7 is showing comparative trends related to establishment expenditure per branch of five banks from SBI & Associate group in
pre and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant rise in their
establishment expenditure per branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in
271
performance is concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of India is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and post e-
banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, State Bank of India shows least range
in pre and post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of India is least deviated in pre e-
banking era and State Bank of Travancore in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it
can be concluded that State Bank of Hyderabad shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and State Bank of India in
post e-banking period.

TABLE 8 SHOWING SPREAD PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-II IN PRE AND POST E-BANKING PERIOD
Post
SBI 0.747 1.797 0.140 0.533 0.070 0.161 0.049 0.114 18.72 29.68 0.210 0.420 0.209 0.017 1.808 1.715 3.804 1%
SBoH 0.459 1.193 0.312 0.295 0.156 0.089 0.110 0.063 68.07 24.72 1.000 0.374 1.023 0.002 2.236 1.803 4.207 1%
SBoP 0.510 1.315 0.361 0.249 0.181 0.075 0.128 0.053 70.86 18.95 1.000 0.293 0.587 0.003 2.075 1.812 4.941 1%
SBoT 0.345 1.368 0.251 0.403 0.125 0.122 0.089 0.086 72.53 29.47 1.000 0.476 0.386 0.498 2.035 2.112 4.688 1%
SBoBJ 0.368 1.193 0.254 0.356 0.127 0.107 0.090 0.076 68.86 29.80 1.000 0.486 0.876 0.026 2.190 2.226 4.217 1%
Table 8 is showing comparative trends related to spread per branch of five banks from SBI & Associate group in pre and post e-
banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks shows significant rise in their spread per branch in post
e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that
State Bank of India is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and State Bank of Patiala in post e-banking period on the basis
272
of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, State Bank of India shows least range in pre e-banking period and
State Bank of Patiala in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of India is least
deviated in pre e-banking era and State Bank of Hyderabad in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality
is concerned, it can be concluded that State Bank of Hyderabad shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and State
Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur in post e-banking period.
TABLE 9 SHOWING TOTAL EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-III IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Post
J&KB 1.620 4.168 1.146 1.095 0.573 0.330 0.405 0.233 70.73 26.26 1.000 0.312 0.630 0.350 2.043 1.571 3.942 1%
FEDB 1.802 3.868 1.201 1.545 0.601 0.466 0.425 0.329 66.67 39.93 1.000 0.426 1.333 0.393 2.333 1.516 2.403 5%
VYAB 1.883 4.056 1.293 1.538 0.646 0.464 0.457 0.328 68.64 37.93 1.000 0.704 0.937 0.036 2.177 2.413 2.505 5%
KARB 1.333 3.658 0.917 1.342 0.459 0.405 0.324 0.286 68.80 36.68 1.000 0.423 0.892 0.272 2.189 1.489 3.169 1%
SIB 1.013 2.597 0.694 1.368 0.347 0.413 0.245 0.292 68.51 52.69 1.000 0.813 0.959 0.121 2.189 1.949 2.178 5%
Table 9 is showing comparative trends related to total expenditure per branch of five banks from Old Private Sector Bank group in pre
and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks show significant rise in their total
expenditure per branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is
273
concerned, it can be concluded that Federal Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and Jammu & Kashmir Bank in post e-
banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank shows least
range in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank is least deviated in pre
e-banking era and ING Vysa Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be
concluded that Federal Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ING Vysa Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 10 SHOWING TOTAL EARNINGS PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-III IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Post
J&KB 1.862 4.918 1.328 1.364 0.664 0.411 0.469 0.291 71.31 27.73 1.000 0.332 0.557 0.340 2.019 1.605 3.862 1%
FEDB 1.868 4.318 1.247 1.669 0.623 0.503 0.441 0.356 66.72 38.65 1.000 0.390 1.321 0.338 2.329 1.396 2.653 5%
VYAB 1.962 4.806 1.349 1.548 0.675 0.467 0.477 0.330 68.77 32.21 1.000 0.434 0.914 0.109 2.169 1.725 3.237 1%
KARB 1.442 4.442 0.988 1.938 0.494 0.584 0.349 0.413 68.49 43.62 1.000 0.471 0.952 0.416 2.202 1.635 2.913 5%
SIB 1.062 2.846 0.735 1.529 0.368 0.461 0.260 0.326 69.25 53.74 1.000 0.814 0.836 0.179 2.137 2.041 2.203 5%
Table 10 is showing comparative trends related to total earnings per branch of five banks from Old Private Sector Bank group in pre
and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks show significant improvement in their total
earnings per branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is
274
concerned, it can be concluded that Federal Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and Jammu & Kashmir Bank in
post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank shows
least range in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank is least deviated in
pre e-banking era and ING Yvsa Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can
be concluded that Federal Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and SBI Commercial & International Bank
in post e-banking period.

TABLE 11 SHOWING ESTABLISHMENT EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-III IN PRE AND
Post
J&KB 0.175 0.623 0.117 0.281 0.059 0.085 0.042 0.060 67.18 45.03 1.000 0.496 1.214 0.197 2.295 1.504 3.042 1%
FEDB 0.199 0.605 0.135 0.311 0.067 0.094 0.048 0.066 67.83 51.32 1.000 0.590 1.084 0.526 2.241 1.931 2.488 5%
VYAB 0.200 7.616 0.136 22.895 0.068 6.903 0.048 4.881 68.20 300.62 1.000 0.990 1.018 8.096 2.208 9.098 0.633 NS
KARB 0.158 0.441 0.106 0.202 0.053 0.061 0.037 0.043 67.00 45.75 1.000 0.493 1.257 0.316 2.306 1.578 2.635 5%
SIB 0.157 0.346 0.108 0.126 0.054 0.038 0.038 0.027 69.04 36.49 1.000 0.661 0.886 0.124 2.132 2.267 2.657 5%
Table 11 is showing comparative trends related to establishment expenditure per branch of five banks from Old Private Sector Bank
group in pre and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that four out of five banks show significant rise in
their establishment expenditure per branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. ING Vysa Bank is the only
275
bank which is successful in maintaining its establishment expenditure per branch. As far as the consistency in performance is
concerned, it can be concluded that Karnataka Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and SBI Commercial &
International Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned,
Karnataka Bank shows least range in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, SBI Commercial &
International Bank is least deviated in pre and post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it
can be concluded that Karnataka Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ING Vysa Bank in post e-
banking period.
TABLE 12 SHOWING SPREAD PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-III IN PRE AND POST E-BANKING
PERIOD
Post
J&KB 0.585 1.632 0.406 0.438 0.203 0.132 0.144 0.093 69.43 26.82 1.000 0.349 0.771 0.373 2.172 1.968 4.165 1%
FEDB 0.310 1.500 0.254 0.732 0.127 0.221 0.090 0.156 81.93 48.81 1.000 0.589 0.047 0.227 1.565 1.543 3.116 1%
VYAB 0.261 1.358 0.194 0.888 0.097 0.268 0.069 0.189 74.53 65.43 1.000 0.775 0.248 3.431 1.932 6.100 2.394 5%
KARB 0.285 0.988 0.197 0.395 0.098 0.119 0.070 0.084 68.99 39.99 1.000 0.577 0.844 0.044 2.194 1.741 3.351 1%
SIB 0.237 0.755 0.172 0.333 0.086 0.100 0.061 0.071 72.48 44.10 1.000 0.674 0.427 0.000 1.977 1.620 2.926 5%
Table 12 is showing comparative trends related to spread per branch of five banks from Old Private Sector Bank group in pre and post
e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that all the five banks show significant rise in their spread per branch in
post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded
276
that Karnataka Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and Jammu & Kashmir Bank in post e-banking period on the
basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, Jammu & Kashmir Bank shows least range in post e-banking
period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, Federal Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking period and SBI
Commercial & International Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be
concluded that Karnataka Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ING Vysa Bank in post e-banking
period.
TABLE 13 SHOWING TOTAL EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-IV IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Post
ICICI 8.667 23.668 3.438 6.416 1.719 1.934 1.216 1.368 39.67 27.11 0.508 0.629 0.645 2.821 2.066 5.349 4.381 1%
HDFC 7.229 10.127 1.471 3.735 0.735 1.126 0.520 0.796 20.35 36.89 0.195 0.662 1.279 0.062 2.135 2.419 1.481 NS
UTI 11.421 12.626 0.772 5.303 0.386 1.599 0.273 1.131 6.76 42.00 0.078 0.616 0.496 0.335 2.054 2.634 0.442 NS
INDUS 14.795 14.328 4.258 3.844 2.129 1.159 1.505 0.819 28.78 26.83 0.323 0.394 0.178 0.007 1.544 1.927 0.203 NS
KOTAK 0.000 9.837 0.000 5.879 0.000 1.773 0.000 1.253 0.000 59.77 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.292 0.000 2.233 3.267 1%
Table 13 is showing comparative trends related to total expenditure per branch of five banks from New Private Sector Bank group in
pre and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that in case of one out of four pre e-banking period
established banks, there is an increase in its total expenditure per branch and that bank is ICICI bank. In case of INDUS Bank, there is
277
a decrease in its total expenditure per branch. KOTAK Mahindra Bank shows significant increase on this parameter. As far as the
consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that UTI Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and INDUS
Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, UTI Bank shows least
range in pre e-banking period and INDUS Bank post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, INDUS
Bank is least deviated in pre and post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be
concluded that HDFC Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ICICI Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 14 SHOWING TOTAL EARNINGS PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-IV IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Post
ICICI 9.780 26.562 3.819 7.090 1.909 2.138 1.350 1.512 39.05 26.69 0.504 0.628 0.826 3.242 2.161 5.807 4.433 1%
HDFC 8.706 12.161 1.561 4.484 0.780 1.352 0.552 0.956 17.92 36.87 0.172 0.664 1.230 0.068 2.294 2.430 1.478 NS
UTI 12.327 13.735 0.649 5.520 0.324 1.664 0.229 1.177 5.26 40.19 0.060 0.584 0.345 0.437 1.893 2.697 0.497 NS
INDUS 16.096 15.610 4.969 4.412 2.485 1.330 1.757 0.941 30.87 28.27 0.358 0.393 0.132 0.030 1.556 1.771 0.183 NS
KOTAK 0.000 10.901 0.000 6.126 0.000 1.847 0.000 1.306 0.000 56.20 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.687 0.000 2.571 3.475 1%
Table 14 is showing comparative trends related to total earnings per branch of five banks from New Private Sector Bank group in pre
and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that one out of four pre e-banking period established banks, there
is a significant increase in total earnings per branch and that bank is ICICI bank. INDUS bank shows decrease on this parameter in
278
post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded
that UTI Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and ICICI Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests.
As far as range on this parameter is concerned, UTI Bank shows least range in pre e-banking period and INDUS Bank post e-banking
period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, INDUS Bank is least deviated in pre and post e-banking period. As far as
the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that HDFC Bank shows much of this concentration in pre
e-banking period and ICICI Bank in post e-banking period.

TABLE 15 SHOWING ESTABLISHMENT EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-IV IN PRE AND
Post
ICICI 0.322 1.479 0.123 0.491 0.062 0.148 0.044 0.105 38.31 33.19 0.490 0.664 0.378 0.880 2.035 3.034 4.561 1%
HDFC 0.465 0.672 0.095 0.193 0.047 0.058 0.033 0.041 20.33 28.68 0.213 0.516 0.433 0.095 1.855 2.945 2.020 NS
UTI 0.331 0.711 0.017 0.182 0.009 0.055 0.006 0.039 5.16 25.57 0.057 0.382 0.901 0.040 2.147 1.910 4.078 1%
INDUS 0.226 1.138 0.064 0.776 0.032 0.234 0.022 0.165 28.10 68.16 0.317 0.696 0.385 1.050 2.052 2.727 2.293 5%
KOTAK 0.000 1.852 0.000 1.065 0.000 0.321 0.000 0.227 0.000 57.52 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.731 0.000 2.317 3.395 1%
Table 15 is showing comparative trends related to establishment expenditure per branch of five banks from New Private Sector Bank
group in pre and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that three out of four pre e-banking period
established banks shows a significant increase in its establishment expenditure per branch and form these three banks. HDFC Bank
279
doesn’t show any significant increase in their establishment expenditure per branch in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-
banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that UTI Bank is the most consistent bank
in pre and post e-banking period. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, UTI Bank shows least range in pre and post e-
banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, ICICI Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and UTI Bank
in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that UTI Bank shows
much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ICICI Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 16 SHOWING SPREAD PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-IV IN PRE AND POST E-BANKING
PERIOD
Post
ICICI 1.958 5.432 0.523 1.794 0.262 0.541 0.185 0.382 26.74 33.03 0.322 0.643 1.224 0.761 2.297 2.895 3.734 1%
HDFC 3.047 6.059 0.562 3.613 0.281 1.089 0.199 0.770 18.44 59.63 0.198 0.774 0.776 0.835 2.135 2.869 1.622 NS
UTI 1.619 5.040 0.403 4.481 0.201 1.351 0.142 0.955 24.87 88.91 0.277 0.784 0.002 2.261 1.408 3.572 1.489 NS
INDUS 2.813 3.622 0.779 1.032 0.389 0.311 0.275 0.220 27.68 28.50 0.317 0.392 0.068 0.000 1.503 1.655 1.414 NS
KOTAK 0.000 5.745 0.000 4.436 0.00 1.337 0.000 0.946 0.000 77.21 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.244 0.000 2.275 2.529 5%
Table 16 is showing comparative trends related to spread per branch of five banks from New Private Sector Bank group in pre and
post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that only one out of four pre e-banking period established banks
shows a significant increase in their spread per branch and that bank is ICICI Bank. As far as the consistency in performance is
280
concerned, it can be concluded that HDFC Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking and INDUS Bank in post e-banking
period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, HDFC Bank shows least range in pre e-
banking period and INDUS Bank post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, UTI Bank is least
deviated in pre e-banking era and INDUS Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is
concerned, it can be concluded that ICICI Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and UTI Bank in post e-
banking period.
TABLE 17 SHOWING TOTAL EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-V IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Pre
Vs
Post
STC 48.568 64.984 14.490 34.321 7.245 10.348 5.123 7.317 29.83 52.81 0.306 0.558 0.022 0.042 1.280 1.119 0.910 NS
CITI 178.518 156.414 44.065 77.875 22.032 23.480 15.579 16.603 24.73 49.79 0.244 0.634 0.002 0.264 1.084 1.892 0.521 NS
HSBC 42.401 104.892 8.513 62.706 4.256 18.907 3.010 13.369 20.08 59.78 0.201 0.614 0.473 0.319 1.857 1.487 1.941 NS
ABN 73.519 544.525 14.512 794.373 7.256 239.512 5.131 169.361 19.74 145.88 0.201 0.941 0.326 1.044 1.726 2.055 1.158 NS
DEUT 80.000 147.319 53.687 42.672 26.843 12.886 18.981 9.098 67.11 28.97 1.000 0.375 1.228 0.175 2.301 1.602 2.537 5%
Table 17 is showing comparative trends related to total expenditure per branch of five banks from Foreign Banking sector group in pre
and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that one out of five banks shows a significant increase in its total
281
expenditure per branch. There is a decrease in total expenditure per branch in case of CITI Bank. As far as the consistency in
performance is concerned, it can be concluded that ABN Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and Deutsche Bank
in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, HSBC Bank and ABN Bank
show least range in pre e-banking period and Deutsche Bank in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is
concerned, CITI Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and STC Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items
near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Deutsche Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and
ABN Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 18 SHOWING TOTAL EARNINGS PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-V IN PRE AND POST E-
BANKING PERIOD
Pre Vs
Post
STC 56.033 90.962 17.558 56.674 8.779 16.485 6.208 11.657 31.34 60.11 0.334 0.655 0.000 0.304 1.272 1.853 1.229 NS
CITI 196.559 224.833 41.310 150.936 20.655 45.509 14.605 32.180 21.02 67.13 0.211 0.715 0.008 0.634 1.132 1.992 0.362 NS
HSBC 46.778 145.057 10.596 106.741 5.298 32.184 3.746 22.757 22.65 73.59 0.233 0.699 0.442 0.604 1.847 1.915 1.795 NS
ABN 86.812 584.209 13.365 844.259 6.683 254.554 4.725 179.997 15.40 144.51 0.162 0.935 0.145 1.048 1.533 2.060 1.150 NS
DEUT 88.584 171.065 59.784 42.758 29.892 12.892 21.137 9.116 67.49 24.99 1.000 0.349 1.142 0.041 2.277 1.508 2.991 5%
Table 18 is showing comparative trends related to total earnings per branch of five banks from Foreign Banking sector group in pre
and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that though there is an increase in total earnings per branch of all
the banks of this group, but only one out of five banks shows significant increase in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-
282
banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that ABN Bank is the most consistent bank
in pre e-banking period and Deutsche Bank in post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this
parameter is concerned, ABN Bank shows least range in pre e-banking period and Deutsche Bank in post e-banking period. As far as
the deviation from normality is concerned, STC Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and Deutsche Bank in post e-banking era.
As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Deutsche Bank shows much of this
concentration in pre e-banking period and ABN Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 19 SHOWING ESTABLISHMENT EXPENDITURE PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-V IN PRE AND
Post
STC 4.112 6.202 0.792 2.678 0.396 0.808 0.280 0.571 19.26 43.19 0.214 0.584 0.466 0.005 2.001 1.352 1.504 NS
CITI 10.782 33.966 1.449 69.456 0.725 20.942 0.512 14.808 13.44 204.49 0.153 0.949 0.101 7.889 1.719 8.978 0.652 NS
HSBC 4.130 13.100 0.802 6.598 0.401 1.989 0.284 1.407 19.43 50.37 0.213 0.628 0.768 0.023 2.179 1.444 2.649 5%
ABN 4.704 14.368 0.869 6.333 0.435 1.909 0.307 1.350 18.48 44.07 0.180 0.589 1.238 0.051 2.300 1.559 2.972 5%
DEUT 7.467 20.317 5.036 7.963 2.518 2.401 1.780 1.698 67.44 39.19 1.000 0.447 1.153 0.283 2.278 1.622 2.798 5%
Table 19 is showing comparative trends related to establishment expenditure per branch of five banks from Foreign Banking sector
group in pre and post e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that though there is an increase in establishment
expenditure per branch of all the banks of this group, but STC Bank and CITI Bank are not showing any significant increase on this
283
parameter in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can
be concluded that CITI Bank is the most consistent bank in pre e-banking period and Deutsche Bank in post e-banking period on the
basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, ABN Bank shows least range in pre e-banking period and
Deutsche Bank in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, CITI Bank is least deviated in pre e-
banking era and STC Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items near normality is concerned, it can be concluded
that ABN Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and CITI Bank in post e-banking period.
TABLE 20 SHOWING SPREAD PER BRANCH OF BANKS RELATED TO G-V IN PRE AND POST E-BANKING
PERIOD
Post
STC 16.886 35.031 7.144 16.176 3.572 4.877 2.526 3.449 42.31 46.18 0.435 0.535 0.000 0.125 1.164 1.428 2.129 NS
CITI 58.248 78.760 6.897 36.232 3.448 10.294 2.438 7.725 11.84 46.00 0.134 0.592 0.398 0.105 1.953 1.525 1.100 NS
HSBC 13.018 55.541 2.936 39.174 1.468 11.812 1.038 8.352 22.55 70.53 0.261 0.752 0.139 0.283 1.887 1.658 2.118 NS
ABN 25.796 45.131 7.063 21.443 3.532 6.465 2.497 4.572 27.38 47.51 0.295 0.535 0.004 0.495 1.282 1.778 1.733 NS
DEUT 32.500 66.008 21.937 55.293 10.969 16.671 7.756 11.788 67.50 83.77 1.000 0.831 1.149 0.527 2.266 1.831 1.156 NS
Table 20 is showing comparative trends related to spread per branch of five banks from Foreign Banking sector group in pre and post
e-banking period. From the analysis of the table, it is clear that though there is an increase in spread per employee of all the banks of
this group, but none of the bank show any significant increase on this parameter in post e-banking period as compared to pre e-
284
banking period. As far as the consistency in performance is concerned, it can be concluded that CITI Bank is the most consistent bank
in pre and post e-banking period on the basis of consistency tests. As far as range on this parameter is concerned, CITI Bank shows
least range in pre e-banking period and STC Bank and ABN Bank in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is
concerned, STC Bank is least deviated in pre e-banking era and CITI Bank in post e-banking era. As far as the concentration of items
near normality is concerned, it can be concluded that Deutsche Bank shows much of this concentration in pre and post e-banking
period.
V. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

CONCLUDING REMARKS
i. As far as the performance of different banks on total expenditure per branch is concerned, it can be concluded that SBI
Commercial and International Bank is showing least total expenditure per branch in pre and post e-banking period. As far
consistency in performance is concerned, UTI Bank is most consistent in pre e-banking period and State Bank of India in post
e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is concerned, State Bank of India shows least deviation in pre e-
banking period and INDUS Bank in post e-banking period. As far as concentration of items near normality is concerned,
Federal Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and State Bank of Patiala in post e-banking period.
ii. As far as the performance of different banks on total earnings per branch is concerned, it
can be concluded that CITI Bank is showing most total earnings per branch in pre e-
banking period and ABN Bank in post e-banking period. As far consistency in
performance is concerned, UTI Bank is most consistent in pre e-banking period and State
Bank of India in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality is
concerned, STC Bank shows least deviation in pre e-banking period and State Bank of
India in post e-banking period. As far as concentration of items near normality is
concerned, Federal Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and
State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur in post e-banking period.
iii. As far as the performance of different banks on establishment expenditure per branch is
concerned, it can be concluded that SBI Commercial and International Bank is showing
least establishment expenditure per branch in pre and post e-banking period. As far
consistency in performance is concerned, UTI Bank is most consistent in pre e-banking
period and Bank of India in post e-banking period. As far as the deviation from normality
is concerned, Punjab National Bank shows least deviation in pre e-banking period and
Canara Bank in post e-banking period. As far as concentration of items near normality is
concerned, Karnataka Bank shows much of this concentration in pre e-banking period
and ING Vysa in post e-banking period.
iv. As far as the performance of different banks on spread per branch is concerned, it can be
concluded that CITI Bank is showing most spread per branch in pre and post e-banking
period. As far consistency in performance is concerned, CITI Bank is most consistent in
pre e-banking period and State Bank of Patiala in post e-banking period. As far as the
deviation from normality is concerned, STC Bank shows least deviation in pre e-banking
period and SBI Commercial and International Bank and INDUS Bank in post e-banking
period. As far as concentration of items near normality is concerned, ICICI Bank shows
285
much of this concentration in pre e-banking period and ING Vysa Bank in post e-banking
period.
v. As far as the performance of all the bank groups on different parameters is concerned, it
can be concluded that SBI & its Associates shows least expenditure per branch in pre e-
banking period and Old Private Sector Bank group in post e-banking period and Foreign
Bank group is the most consistent in their performance in pre e-banking period and
Nationalized Bank group in post e-banking time period. Foreign Bank group shows most
earnings per branch in pre and post e-banking period and it is the most consistent bank
group in pre e-banking period and Nationalized Bank group in the post e-banking time
periods. New Private Sector Bank group shows least establishment expenditure per
branch in pre e-banking period and Old Private sector Bank group in post e-banking
period and Foreign Bank group is most consistent in pre e-banking period and SBI and its
Associates in post e-banking period. Foreign Bank group shows most spread per branch
in pre and post e-banking period and also the most consistent in pre e-banking period and
SBI and its Associates in post e-banking era.
vi.
CONCLUSION
In the nut shell we can conclude that on the five selected bank groups, Foreign Bank group is the
most productive bank group in pre and post e-banking period as it shows maximum spread which
is the sigh for the productivity of any bank group and its also shows consistent performance on
most of the parameters selected in pre and post e-banking period. SBI and its Associates bank
group is incurring least expenditure per branch in pre e-banking period and Old Private sector
bank group in post e-banking period. Foreign sector bank group is getting most earning per
branch in both the time period. Private sector bank group which comprises Old and New Private
sector bank group show least establishment expenditure per branch in pre and post e-banking
period respectively.
IMPLICATIONS
The current study is mainly concerned with the analysis of comparative performance evaluation
of the five bank groups during pre and post e-banking period in terms of various selected
parameters. As the study reflects the banking groups that have improved or declined their
performance in respect of all the selected parameters, so provides important analysis to judge the
bank groups with poor performance which further help to make some policy measures to
improve their performance. Besides this study will also provide important information about the
banks that comes under various bank groups and their comparative performance. The study will
be helpful to the academicians and researchers for further study in this respect.
VI. FUTURE AREAS OF RESEARCH
i. Comparative performance evaluation of some other banks of these five bank groups in
pre and post e-banking era.
286
ii. Comparative performance evaluation of these banks of five bank groups on some other
parameters related to productivity.
iii. Comparative performance evaluation of these bank groups on profitability parameters.

REFERENCES
Dash, P., Bhole, L.M. (2007). ‘Does ‘Universal Banking’ Improve the Efficiency and
Productivity: A Study of Indian Banking Sector’,

http://www.hss.iitb.ac.in/ties07/paper/ts5/psC/1.pdf.
De (2004). ‘Technical efficiency, ownership, and reforms: An econometric study of Indian

banking industry’, Indian Economic Review, Vol. 39(1), Pp. 261-294.
Kumar, L. Malathy, D.Ganesh,L.S. (2010) ‘Productivity growth and efficiency change in Indian
banking: Technology effect vs catch-up effect’, Journal of Advances in Management Research,
Vol. 7, Issue: 2, Pp.194 – 218.
Kumbhakar and Sarkar (2003). ‘Deregulation, ownership and productivity growth in the banking
industry: Evidence from India’, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 35, Pp. 403-424.
Kumbhakar and Sarkar (2004). ‘Deregulation, ownership, and efficiency change in Indian
banking: An application of stochastic frontier analysis’, Finance Workshop, Indira Gandhi
Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, Pp. 1-30.
Rajan, S.S., Reddy K.L.N. & Pandit, V. (2011). ‘Efficiency and Productivity Growth in Indian
Banking’, Working Paper No. 199, Centre for Development Economics, Department of
Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
Rammohan, T.T. and Ray, S.C. (2004). ‘Comparing Performance of Public and Private Sector
Banks: A Revenue Maximization Efficiency Approach’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.
39, Pp. 1271-1276.
Sahoo, B.K., Sengupta, J., & Mandal, A., (2007). ‘Productive Performance Evaluation of the
Banking Sector in India Using Data Envelopment Analysis’, International Journal of Operations
Research, Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=956812.
Sathye (2005). ‘Privatization, performance and efficiency: A study of Indian banks’, Vikalpa,
Vol. 30(1), Pp. 7-16.
Singh, I. & Kumar, P. (2006). ‘Liberalization and Efficiency: The Case of Indian Banking’,
Indian Management Studies Journal, Vol. 10(4), Pp. 77-93.
287

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT... WHOSE

RESPONSIBILITY?
MS. AFSHAN HUMA*; MR. M. YASIR PIRZADA**
*Student,
Michigan State University.
Lecturer,
AIOU,
Islamabad, Pakistan.
**Ex Deputy Director DSD & Provicial Director,
Pre-Step Punjab,
Pakistan.
ABSTRACT
Teacher education around the world is being planned for many years as a formal
288
professional education. The paper explores various forms of teacher education

programs and initiatives in Pakistan. Particularly focusing the last ten years
between two successive National Education Policies (1998 and 2009), when many
major initiatives were taken for teacher education. The focus of teacher education
has shifted from quantity to quality with the efforts of Government initiatives and
support of foreign agencies. With the assumption that teacher quality will only
improve when the teachers themselves are willing to improve, we conducted a survey
study to explore teachers' views about their own professional development. The
major objective of the study was to investigate the teachers' perceptions, teachers'
practices, availability of opportunities, and responsibility of teachers' professional
development. The findings lead us to explore the ways of how to make teachers’
professional development an intentional practice rather than an imposed learning.
__________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Teaching as a separate occupation is about two hundred years old. During the first hundred years
the knowledge base of teaching was ‘prescriptions’ normally written by people outside the
occupation (e.g. priests and civil servants) telling teachers in detail how to teach. Most
applications of the prospective approach were based on religion, political ideology or

philosophical anthropology; ‘consequences’ for educational practice were deduced from these
ideologies. (Laursen, 1996) From the beginning of twentieth century the teaching profession
started to become independent of the priesthood. From about the same time psychologists and
educators constructed the knowledge base of teaching as a theory of teaching methods.
Proponents of the professionalization movement, in the 1960s, viewed the future as being quite
straightforward: teaching was going to grow both in its scientific knowledge base and in its
social prestige and thereby attaining the desired professional status. The development has been
quite different. Instead of the gradual acknowledgement of professional status,
professionalization has become the focus of both social and political struggle and of academic
discussion. In relation to this Hargreaves (1994) mentioned that people always want teachers to
change. He maintains that few people want to do much about the economy, but everyone-
politicians, the media and the public alike- wants to do something about education. The
development of professionalism in education is not less important than any other field.
In education, teacher professional development is an indispensable aspect in human resource

management & development. The level of education and training is one of the major factors that
determine the importance of teachers’ professionalism and then comes the coordination between
theory and practice. Well-educated and properly trained teachers would find their work
interesting and meaningful.
Reforms during 1998-2009 do not require mere organizational and structural changes but rather
asked for changes in curriculum and instruction and it resulted in dire needs of teachers’
professional development. These needs have changed the meanings and modes of professional
development over time (Smith and Gillespie, 2007). Professional development can be viewed as
“processes and activities designed to enhance the professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes of
289
educators so that they might, in turn, improve the learning of students” (Guskey, 2000, p.16).
This simple definition implies that it is not a onetime activity rather it is a going on process that
supports teachers to improve their teaching and enhance student learning. Reitzug (2000)
identifies five areas in which professional development helps improving – “teacher knowledge,
teacher attitudes and beliefs, teaching practice, school-level practice, and student achievement”
(p.238).
Continuous professional learning seems to offer solutions and ways to cope with the demands of
current reforms. Feiman-Nemser (2001) has proposed a comprehensive model of “Continuum of

Teachers’ Learning” beginning from pre-service teacher education to early years of professional
development. She has given a basic framework for designing a curriculum which begins from
preservice phase and goes across the early years of teaching. She identifies “learning to teach” as
a “central task” at school (p.1048). In her framework learning to teach is a continuous process
which does not end as she suggests “continuous professional development” even after the early
years of induction and she includes practices like “mentoring” and involvement in curriculum
designing as further learning experiences which themselves need special preparation and
enhanced learning (p.1037). Her proposal is framed on the ideal of “reform minded teachers”
and she has placed “universities, schools and unions” as partners in providing learning
opportunities to the teachers (p. 1034-35, 1050).
TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTAN
First challenge in a developing country is the availability of qualified and trained teachers at all
levels in the classrooms of heavily populated schools and then in-service professional
development of teachers is a further challenge. Like many other countries on one hand the
teachers have to practice multi-grade and multi-disciplinary teaching and on the other hand are
expected to cope with all changing trends of curriculum and emerging standards and views of
learning, and to change their roles and practices accordingly. Teaching itself is a demanding job
and is a complex task, and substantial time is required for teachers and other educators to test out
new ideas, assess their effects, adjust their strategies and approaches, and make an effort to reach
all the available resources globally to bring out meaningful learning. Today working along with
the continuous expansion of knowledge, teachers need to be continually supported with the
opportunities of professional development.
A basic connotation usually given is that gaps in the teachers’ subject matter knowledge have
been well documented in other parts of the world (Mehrunnisa, 1998), but this issue has not been
systematically studied in Pakistan. However, reports addressing other matters and anecdotal
evidence bear testimony to the gravity of the situation. The situation itself asks for well
structured in-service teacher trainings so that the gap between teachers' knowledge and
classroom practices may be minimized with gradual professional development in an organized
manner. But it is not yet clear how much is it a matter of teachers’ professionality and how
much is it a responsibility of state to develop their knowledge and skills as per need of the new
curriculum and classrooms.
290
Teacher education encompasses that knowledge, skill and ability which is relevant to the life of a
teacher as a teacher. Teacher education is internationally divided into two phases – pre-service
and in-service. The two phases are considered as parts of a continuous process (Rasul, 2000).
Teachers are inducted at all levels of education as per their qualifications and different levels of
training. PTC – Primary Teaching Certificate and CT –Certificate of Teaching are the basic
qualifications which were pre-requisite to become and elementary schoolteacher in Pakistan

while B.Ed was the pre-requisite for becoming a secondary schoolteacher and in some colleges
and institutes B.S.Ed is also being offered specially for science teachers. Along with these basic
professional qualifications some higher degrees in education are also being offered. MA
Education is a two years scheme after graduation, while the M.Ed program is for one year after
B.Ed. Along with the theoretical schemes of study, each program has a compulsory element of
teaching practice of different durations varying from four weeks to two months. Across the
country there has always been a huge requirement of trained teachers and the urge for their
professional development once they have entered into this profession. To fulfill these needs on
one hand teacher education colleges and institutes / departments of education at different
Universities are offering degrees in education through formal system of education on the other
hand Allama Iqbal Open University is catering a large number of in-service teachers and the
students from far flung areas where formal institutions are not available.
Though same situation of teacher education still prevails in the country, yet currently the Higher
Education Commission, under the federal ministry of education has taken up the responsibility of
in-service trainings and refresher courses for University and College teachers, while on the other
hand Provincial Education Departments and Federal Directorate of Education is planning and
conducting refresher courses and in-service trainings for the elementary and secondary school
teachers.
THE STUDY
A survey study was conducted in Rawalpindi to explore teachers' views about professional
development and to investigate the query of who is considered responsible for teachers'
professional development. The sample of study included eighty permanent teachers of
Government Schools of Rawalpindi and the sample was further divided into two sample groups –
forty teachers enrolled in B.Ed program of AIOU who had participated in course workshop and
forty teachers who had participated in the trainings during summer vacation through Directorate
of Staff Development Punjab.
1. ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY
Allama Iqbal Open University began only as an institutions for teacher education in early
seventies when majority of teachers working in public schools were untrained or not more
qualified mostly than ten or twelve years of schooling. Once it was given a charter as a Open
University the department of teacher education was also established which has now evolved as a
complete Faculty of Education with five departments working under its umbrella. The Faculty of
education still offers programs from post high school to post graduate and doctoral level. Today
the departments of Early Childhood and Elementary Teachers Education on the one hand and
Department of Secondary Schools Teacher Education on the other are offering pre-service
291
programs for teachers around the country. The Programs being offered are PTC, CT, B.Ed,
M.Ed, MA-Education, M-phil and Ph.D as well as MS leading to Ph.d in Education. The current
enrolment of students in these programs is nearly two hundred thousand per semester. The
university has established 36 regional campuses and centers in various parts of the country to
coordinate and facilitate decentralized system of education of the university (Allama Iqbal Open
University 2012).
2. DIRECTORATE OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT, PUNJAB

Among all the four provinces of Pakistan Punjab is the largest one with reference to the number
of schools and teachers working in the public sector. The provincial ministry of education in
Punjab has structured an agency for the sole purpose of teacher training in the form of
Directorate of Staff Development. Initially established in 1959 as the Education Extension
Centre (EEC), it was renamed as the Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) in 1993. In 2002,
DSD was merged with the University of Education (UoE) but later on de-linked in July 2004
with the mission to establish a system for continuous professional development of teachers and
education personnel to enhance the quality of learning in the government schools of Punjab. In
2006, after decision of the LHC, Provincial institute of Teacher Education (PITE) and 33
Government Colleges of Elementary Teachers (GCETs) were placed under the administrative
and financial control of DSD (Directorate of Staff Development, 2012).
Sample of Study N= 80
Following is the sample structure of survey:
Category Female Male Total

Teachers enrolled in B.Ed 20 20 40
Teachers attending training at DSD 20 20 40
45
40
35
30
Teachers enrolled in B.Ed
25
20 Teachers attending
training at DSD
15
10
0
Female Male Total
292
The teachers were asked about how they feel about professional development, how they got
enrolled in the current program of education and training as well as their other experiences of in-
service trainings and qualifications. The teachers were requested to comment upon the
availability of opportunities for professional development of teachers in Pakistan and their views
were collected to find out how much the responsibility of teachers' professional development lies
upon the Government.
Following are the findings of the study under the five questions asked in the interviews:
I. IS IT ESSENTIAL FOR A TEACHER TO GET FURTHER EDUCATION OR

TRAINING DURING JOB?
Respondents Yes No Indifferent

Teachers enrolled in B.Ed Female 14 04 02
Male 13 05 02
Teachers attending training at DSD Female 18 02 -
Male 17 01 03
Total 61 12 07
20
18
16
14
12 yes
10 no
8 indiff
6
4
2
293
0
Female Male Female Male
Teachers enrolled in B.Ed Teachers attending training at DSD

Majority of the teachers mentioned that teachers should get further education and training during
their job and they explained further that once they get into teaching only then they know many
new features of different subject areas which they have never come across during their student
life. They stated that they cannot find any support from their senior teachers or heads on their
specific problems related to subject content and teaching pedagogy therefore they think they
must get further training and education to fulfill the needs of their jobs.
Some of the teachers mentioned that the trainings are of not much use as the trainers do not know
the actual problems they face in classroom and instead of further trainings and education it is
better for teachers to study more and more books about the subject they are teaching and through
this they can enhance their knowledge. A few teachers mentioned that trainings are not necessary
because you do not get promotion or increment for that and this is why they are not interested.
II. HAVE YOU EVER TRIED FOR YOUR OWN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT?
HOW?

Teachers enrolled in B.Ed Female 18 - 02
Male 19 - 01
Teachers attending training at DSD Female 15 05 -
Male 10 07 03
Total 63 12 05
20
18
16
14
12 yes
10 no
8 indiff
6
4
2
294
0

Majority of the teachers mentioned that they have tried for their own professional development
and all of them had got enrolled or already done further degrees in teacher education such as
those who were PTC/ CT had now done B.Ed or were still doing while some of them who were
doing B.Ed didn’t know much about what professional development is, so when they were asked
why they were doing a further degree they mentioned that they hope to get promoted after doing
this degree and that was the mere reason for studying further. The teachers attending DSD
training who mentioned that they have tried for their professional development also gave the
similar answer and they had never attended any short course or trainings other than those for
which they were nominated by the department as in their view the professional development
means further degree and promotion or increment. Some of the teachers also mentioned that
teachers' wages are so low that they cannot think of getting further education, rather they have to
do part time jobs or do tuitions to meet their expenses.
III. HOW DID YOU GET ENROLLED IN THE CURRENT PROGRAM?
Respondents Personal Nominated by Any other

Initiative the department
Teachers enrolled in B.Ed Female 20 - -
Male 20 - -
Teachers attending training at Female - 20 -
DSD Male - 20 -
Total 40 40 -
25
20
15 Personal Initiative
Nominated by the department
10 Any other
5
295
0
Teachers enrolled in B.Ed Teachers attending training at

DSD
It was interesting to know that all the teachers enrolled in the B.Ed program at AIOU had got
enrolled by their own initiative but with the permission of the department; while all teachers in
the training at DSD had been nominated by the department of education and no one had come by
their own initiative or by personal choice. When explored more the trainees explained that when
they are nominated by the department they have to attend the training no matter if they want to
attend it or not. On the other hand they also mentioned that these trainings are though very useful
and interesting but if they are asked before hand they can identify the areas where they need
trainings to improve their teaching. Some of the teachers mentioned that there should be more of
such trainings arranged for them more frequently as they always feel they need some practical
skills which they have never learnt through the pre-service qualifications.
IV. ARE THERE ENOUGH OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN PAKISTAN FOR

TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT?

Teachers enrolled in B.Ed Female 04 16 -
Male 05 15 -
Teachers attending training at DSD Female 06 12 02
Male 08 08 04
Total 23 51 06
18
16
14
12
yes
10
no
8
indiff
6
4
2
0
296
Majority of the teachers mentioned that there are not enough opportunities available for their
professional development in Pakistan. Some of the teachers mentioned that they have never tried
to look for any opportunity as they do not have any time for that. A few of the teachers
mentioned that there are so many colleges for computers and language and other short courses
but there is no institute that may offer courses for teachers' training. Many of them mentioned
that AIOU is the only source for them through which they can study further and continue their
jobs as well but some of them mentioned that the quality of AIOU programs is not very good so
they do not learn much from it and it is just an addition of degree which enables them to get
promotion and increments. The teachers attending DSD training mentioned that for last few
years their department has been initiating trainings but earlier it was selective nominations so
there was a lot of favoritism and now when these trainings are for all then they have also got the
opportunity otherwise same teachers were sent for trainings again and again and some of them
never got the chance. The teachers also mentioned that if they apply for study leave they are
always told by the authorities that there is a shortage of teachers so they can never avail the leave
and get further education and the last option they are left with is the AIOU programs.
V. WHO SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT? WHY?
Respondents Individual Government Both

Teachers enrolled in B.Ed Female 04 06 10
Male 03 08 09
Teachers attending training at Female 02 15 03
DSD Male 01 18 01
Total 10 47 23
20
18
16
14
12 Individual
10 Government
8 Both
6
4
2
0
297
Many of the teachers were of the view that as they are public school teachers therefore it
becomes a responsibility of the government or their respective departments to provide them
opportunities of professional development. Many of the teachers again mentioned the low wages
of teachers in and hence gave it as a strong reason for not being able to get involved in any kind
of trainings and other professional development opportunities. They stated that if Government
cannot provide funding and grant leave for their further education and training then they will
never be able to improve their teaching skills. Some of the teachers said that it is not only
Government's duty but the teachers themselves can also look for opportunities as many NGOs
are offering low cost courses but the only issue is that they cannot get time for these activities
therefore if they are given leave for such courses and trainings they'll be happy to get involved.
DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS
The study revealed some very significant aspects of planning teachers' professional development.
Following are the major findings of the study discussed in the light of detailed literature review:
1. TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Majority of the teachers perceive professional development only as education or qualification

that is going to give them an increment in their salary or a promotion in their jobs. Teachers’
professional development is not being perceived by the teachers in its real sense. Thus there’s a
need of developing basic awareness for professional development and its significance among
teachers and generally in community so that the perception of teachers may become more clear
and vast and they begin to think of various aspects of reforming their practices.
2. TEACHERS’ PRACTICES FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Teachers are mainly interested in higher education and qualification degrees like doing Masters
in their relevant fields or doing M.Ed after B.Ed or MA Education. Most of them have never
attended any short course other than those which are mandatory. Apparently, teachers are at the
core of any teaching and learning process and teacher professionalism must increase if education
is to improve (Kallestad & Olweus:1998). Researchers have shown that teacher professional
development has a noticeable positive impact on teachers’ beliefs and in turn their practices both
inside and outside their classroom as teachers’ grounding and improvement have large influence
on identifying teachers’ goals for their students and these goals in turn, affect teachers’
performance in their classroom and schools.
3. AVAILABILITY OF OPPORTUNITIES:
The study reveals that teachers do not have many opportunities available for their professional
grooming. Only a few refresher courses are offered to them during their professional carrier and
no other significant opportunities are available to them. According to Speck & Knipe (2005)
professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging
298
from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences and informal learning opportunities
situated in practice. Professional development opportunities can range from a single workshop to
a semester-long academic course, to services offered by a medley of different professional
development providers and varying widely with respect to the philosophy, content, and format of
the learning experiences. Teachers and their professional development must be seen as an
investment so it is necessary that schools not only apply appropriate teacher professional
development and human resource development policies but also ensure the means of their
executions through efficient management and leadership.
Teachers' professional development therefore depends upon opportunities provided for their
grooming. Systematic teacher education and training programs contribute significantly to their
efficient functioning. Such programs should therefore be giving teachers both grounding in basic
subjects and professional skills throughout their careers. The continued advancement in the
basic subject knowledge and teaching skill would provide them with the opportunity for
professional growth and career security.
4. RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
The study shows that the responsibility of teachers' professional development is being shared by
the teachers themselves as well by the state. But the sharing is not systematically planned. As the
teachers themselves only try to improve their qualifications and they complained that for this
they do not get any support from the departments and institutions, even to get study leave is
reported to be very difficult in many cases. On the other hand the state or department of
education only provides opportunity for refresher courses which are not very frequently offered
and teachers are then forced to attend these courses. Evidences from researches all over the
world have proved an encouraging relationship that links the improvement of teachers’ education
with the levels of students’ accomplishment (Meiers & Ingvarson: 2005). Teachers' professional
development is also very important to their schools as their career growth vitally contributes to
their schools’ teaching quality, diversity and reputation. It is my strong belief that there is a two-
way, inter-related relationship between teacher professional development and their schools’
advancement.
Through the above analysis it is obvious that teachers have drastically different perspectives for
their own professional qualifications and for their professional development. They do not
perceive that professional development is a further stage in their qualifications but their
perspective is that professional development is needed only to fulfill the need of new reforms
and it becomes state’s responsibility to equip them with new skills and knowledge if it is needed.
Similarly state does not take the responsibility of improving their qualifications though the
agenda in education policy states clearly that teachers professional development can result in
improving classroom situation in public schools.
Reform is something in which various stakeholders have their vested interest and influence. The
list of interested parties is then not limited to policy makers, state departments, district and
299
school administrators, teachers and teacher unions and last but not the least parents; yet it also
includes institutions of teacher education and professional development. Tyack and Cuban
(1995) mentioned “…the older assumption that schools were growing better, generation by
generation, has been replaced by a common assertion that public education is in decline” (p.33).
This exactly explains the common perspective of all concerned parties. A common perspective
across many of them is that schools need reforms but what they mean by a reform or what they
expect from it is different from each other.
The actual effect on students, of reforms including standardization and accountability moves, is
likely to depend on the decision that many teachers reach in response to the reforms. How
policies are interpreted by teachers influence their practice (Coburn, 2001, Hill, 2001, and
Spillane, 2001). There are so many different perspectives held by the stakeholders within a
system, therefore in such situation in the words of Kennedy (2010) “…when a lot of people care
about an enterprise and they all seek solutions, they can exacerbate the problems by introducing
excessive noise into the system” (p.7). According to her education is suffering from the same
problem. There are so many interested parties and everyone is viewing reforms differently and
offering different perspectives. She further elaborates “There have always been zealous
education reformers, of course. But the number and variety of helpful ideas are now so great that
the solutions themselves have become a problem” (p.8).
Thus to achieve improvement in teachers practices and students results in the era of
accountability and standardization reforms, schools need to develop culture of continuous
learning through collaborative efforts of teachers and administrators. Professional development
should not be an outside intervention rather it should meet the institutional needs and should be
adopted as a continuous process not merely as a short term activity. Though the research in the
field of professional development and its effectiveness does not provide evidence for strong
policy making about which form of professional development than the others (Smith and
Gillespie, 2007).
CONCLUSION
On the bases of study and detailed literature review it is concluded that teachers' professional
development is inevitable for educational development in any society. In countries like Pakistan
where the resources are limited, it cannot be assumed that the state only can take the
responsibility to enhance teachers' professional skills. Like in any other profession teachers also
need to make an effort for their own professional grooming. The responsibility of teachers'
professional development should be taken up as a shared responsibility. State should provide
maximum opportunities and the individual teachers should take initiatives to avail these
opportunities, here again the departments should facilitate and support teachers to go for further
qualifications, course, trainings, seminars, conferences or any other mode of professional
development. Another very important and significant feature of teachers' professional
development is that the teachers in the classrooms do not know what changes are coming up in
the curriculum planning. Looking for courses and programs here and there without set goals is of
no use. Hence this becomes the responsibility of departments of education at national and
300
regional level that they develop refresher course for the teachers to meet the needs of new
curriculum as well as to face the new trends and challenges of classrooms. Along with this, to
change the imposed professional development into intentional professional development, there is
also a need to enhance the motivation of learning among teachers. This is not as simple until
such learning is guaranteed to be resulting in uplifting the status of teachers and teaching as a
profession, which definitely is a big challenge for the current policy makers and planners.
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Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY:

STRUCTURAL CAUSES AND THEIR REMEDIES
DR. VIKAS BAJPAI*
*Ph.D Scholar,
Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health,
Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi, India.
INTRODUCTION
The ‘Great Indian Food Security Debate’ reminds one of the story in which seven blind men
exploring an elephant came up with different perceptions of the beast depending upon the part of
the elephant’s body they explored while totally missing its composite form. Likewise, the
different sides to this debate in India have been articulating different views as per their
convenience while missing the single most important point; which to put in the words of Susan
303
George is – “Overcoming Hunger” is to “strengthen the weak” and “weaken the strong” (George
Susan, 1984). Unlike the original story, different actors in the food security debate have chosen
to play the role of blind men.
Through this apparently animated debate, a magnificent illusion is woven by which the
government now and then reiterates its commitment to ensure people’s food security on one hand
while doing much the reverse through policies. On the other hand is the ‘National Advisory
Council’ (NAC) headed by the leader of the principal ruling party, that pretends to act as an
opposition to its own government. Nested within the NAC and enjoying official patronage is the
civil society, a section of which performs the role akin to ‘her majesty’s loyal opposition’. The
Supreme Court may be regarded as the third important player, which through its various orders
has sought to appropriate the role of the nation’s conscience keeper on issues of hunger and
poverty. Together the combine manufacture the grand illusion of progress towards food security
with the help of a corporate controlled media.
As to the role of the political parties, most of them are not interested in the issue beyond pin-
pricking the government to score political debating points. The Parliamentary Left seems to have
outsourced food security issues and dispossession of land from the peasantry to the civil society,
with occasional demonstrations when the session is on to prove their credentials. The all
important question of how to ‘weaken the few, to strengthen the weak’ for overcoming mass
hunger remain outside parliamentary discourse.
Even though poverty and hunger are very much to be found in the developed world as well, and
in increasing numbers of late, but in terms of mass affliction these primarily remain third world
phenomenon. The ruling elite in developed capitalist countries are able to ensure the food
security of their poor largely through effective social security nets, facilitated through enormous
resources, much of which are obtained through the exploitation of the third world. However, for
the working masses in the third world, the question is primarily of altering the power relations in
the society that are structured around antiquated relations of production and gross inequality in
access to society’s productive resources perpetuated and maintained by the subservience of the
ruling elite in these countries to the western imperialist powers in the exploitation of the
resources and working masses in their own countries. This makes the rulers in majority of the
third world countries incapable of independently developing the productive capabilities and
effective demand of their populations. Hence the task of mitigating hunger from the third world
necessitates “weakening the strong” to “strengthen the weak.” We shall dwell on the need for
this in specific context of India in a later section.
FOOD SECURITY; TRACKING THE DEVELOPMENTS
The World Food Summit at Rome in 1996, attended by the highest representatives of the
governments of 186 countries, defined ‘Food Security’ as a multi-dimensional concept which
implies that “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”
(FAO, 2008). It is only natural then that all measures directed at food security, nationally or
internationally, should be judged against this gold standard.
304
With regard to eradicating hunger in the country, much hope has been generated by the proposed
Food Security Bill (FSB) of the second UPA government at the Centre. For more than a year
now we have been witness to a raging debate over the FSB, with the deliberations of the
National Advisory Council (NAC), the empowered group of ministers and action programs of
the NGOs setting the pace. The debate has been given a wide coverage along with the time to
time pronouncements of the Supreme Court on the issue of food security. Given the background
that India is home to the highest number of hungry people in the World, both in absolute and
proportional terms, the FSB could have served for scripting a new story.
The story however has gone awry even before completion. After months of high decibel debate,
the National Advisory Council (NAC) finally passed a much watered down proposal for a Bill
that legally entitles 75 % population of the country for subsidized foodgrains. This 75 %
population is to be further divided into ‘priority households’ that shall be entitled to Rs 1 / kg of
millets, Rs 2 / kg of wheat and Rs 3 / kg of rice, and ‘general households’ that shall be entitled to
20 kg of foodgrains every month at a price that is not to exceed 50 % of the minimum support
price (The Hindu, 2010). Even before the ink of its recommendations had dried, Government
appointed Rangarajan panel declared NAC’s recommendations “unfeasible” on account of
“supply side constraints” (Indian Express, 2010). The government draft of the FSB prepared by
the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs (GOI, 2011) does in much of the little potential for
public good that was left in the already watered down draft of the NAC.
This debacle was not entirely unexpected. The seeds of FSB’s failure had been sown in the very
conceptualization of food security in the Bill. The entire debate on food security has
overwhelmingly focused on two issues - the quantum of monthly food grain entitlement to a
family and the ‘Universalization of PDS.’
To begin with, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) manifesto had promised 25 kgs of grain at
Rs 3/kg for BPL households (Right to Food Campaign). Later, citing paucity of funds and food
grain, the Empowered Group of Ministers on food security that was constituted by the
government not only opposed the demand for an universal Public Distribution System but also
wanted that the FSB should be restricted to giving 25 kg of foodgrains to those living below the
poverty line (Gupta S, 2010 a). This was a total negation of demand for raising the foodgrain
limit and inclusion of many more items. The fact that government has got mired in huge
corruption charges and its largesse to the tune of lakhs of crores to the corporate sector in every
year’s budget only betrays a lack of political will to act in favor of people rather than a paucity of
resources.
A NUMBER GAME WITHOUT PEOPLE
Any attempt at addressing the issues of poverty and hunger by its very nature gets linked up with
a numbers game, for one has to know how many poor and hungry are there before one can plan
or make policies for them. The problem however is that the game has become more about
suppressing the truth rather than knowing it, especially since the advent of the ‘economic
reforms’ in 1990. In 1993-94, the Planning Commission pulled the impossible by bringing the
poverty down to 19 percent from 25.5 percent in 1987-88. “The never-tell-a-lie Dr. Manmohan
305
Singh” was then the country’s finance minister. This extra-ordinary feat was knocked down to
senses in 1996 by the then Planning Commission Chief, the veritable Prof Madhu Dandavate. He
said – “Kill me, I say”; “I just doubled poverty in your country today” (Sainath P, 2012).
In fact the number game or body count on poverty has a pre-history. It started with Robert
McNamara as the U.S. defense secretary who wanted records dept of the number of dead bodies
of U.S. soldiers that arrived in bags to monitor the progress made in winning the war in Vietnam.
U.S. lost the war but McNamara brought the tradition to the World Bank as its president – to
body count the number of ‘poor’ in the world. As a young officer in the World Bank, Montek
Ahluwalia rose in rank as an early enthusiast engaged in this number game and the game soon
developed into a vast academic industry with a large consultancy fees and financial support from
the Bank.
Dr Singh as the Prime Minister and Montek Ahluwalia as the Planning Commission chief, are
once again at the helm of affairs in the country. It is little surprise then that ‘Planning
Commission’, the country’s top most policy institution has acquired less than an enviable
reputation in making poverty disappear, at least on papers. The widespread public outcry at the
poverty line cut offs of Rs 32 and Rs 26 per capita per day for the urban and the rural areas
respectively given by the Planning Commission in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of
India in Sept 2011 is a case in point. However, the Commission’s response to the outcry was to
bring down the cut offs to Rs 28.35 and Rs 22.42 for the urban and rural areas in March 2012.
Planning Commission’s position on the FSB flows from this mindset. Planning Commission’s
take on the Bill matched with the government’s position, albeit its argument was a little more
sophisticated and came in a roundabout manner. Planning Commission’s representative on NAC,
Dr Abhijit Sen struck a very progressive note - “If you are taking the rights approach, the law
must be universal in scope”. He even advocated that “there should be one price, as the BPL/APL
(Above Poverty Line) distinction divides society” (Gupta S, 2010 a). However, he added that
“providing grain at Rs. 3 is not economically viable” (Gupta S, 2010). He suggested that the
grain be provided “at a price reasonably close to the minimum support price (MSP), for which a
small subsidy would be required — rice, say at Rs. 12 a kg and wheat at Rs. 8/9” i.e. Rs 420 and
Rs 315 for 35 kilograms of wheat and rice respectively per month. What he failed to reflect upon
was just how much would this pricing mechanism leave from the overall poverty line level
consumption expenditure of the poor to meet expenditure on other necessities of life.
Dr Sen further premised that “In a normal year, most people would not exercise their right to
these foodgrains. Of course, in years when the market price shoots up for any unforeseeable
reason, more people will avail themselves of the PDS and the government must be prepared to
meet that contingency” (Gupta S, 2010 a). This was the clearest indication that the government
had little intention of implementing whatever the NAC finalized; for when the hope is that
people would ‘normally’ not use PDS, then where is the need to have an effectively functioning
PDS in ‘normal times’; and if there is no effectively working PDS in normal times, then it is
least likely to come alive in times of “unforeseen” circumstances. So how does the government
propose to prepare itself for such “unforeseen” circumstances?
To this the Planning Commission proposed that the concession of Rs 3 a kg of food grains ‘could
306
be’ extended to the poor only in such ‘unforeseen years’ when market prices shoot up; this too
through ‘smart cards’ rather than the PDS network (Gupta S, 2010 a) – a suggestion that has an
uncanny concordance with the proposal of issuing ‘food stamps’ that has been so vigorously
argued by FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) in a report on
restructuring of food procurement and distribution system.. This only indicates that even as the
NAC and the government were seemingly exerting themselves to feed the poor, plans were
already afoot to dismantle the PDS in due course.
CIVIL SOCIETY’S TAKE
For civil society groups like ‘Right to Food Campaign’, what was to be cause célèbre became
‘cause turned sour’. In what they have described as addressing ‘the structural roots of hunger’,
they demanded an Act that ensures “a universal PDS (providing at least 50 kgs of grain per
family with 5.25 kgs of pulses and 2.8 kgs of edible oils); special food entitlements for destitute
households (including an expanded Antyodaya programme); consolidation of all entitlements
created by recent Supreme Court orders (e.g. cooked mid-day meals in primary schools and
universalisation of ICDS); support for effective breastfeeding (including maternity entitlements
and crèches); safeguards against the invasion of corporate interests in food policy; and
elimination of all social discrimination in food–related matters. Further, ........... the Act must
include strong accountability and grievance redressal provisions, including mandatory penalties
for any violation of the Act and compensation for those whose entitlements have been denied”
(Right to Food Campaign). They also emphasized that “ensuring the right to food requires, on
the other hand, economic access for people, involving for instance adequate employment and
wage levels, the protection of existing livelihoods, and equitable rights over land, water and
forests” (Right to Food Campaign, 2009). The demands of “adequate employment”, “protection
of livelihoods” and “equitable rights over land, water and forests” appear only on the website of
the Campaign, but have been notably absent from the actual debate during the formulation of the
FSB, which as we have already mentioned, has largely been about ‘universalization of PDS’ and
the ‘quantum of foodgrain’ to be provided.
In a later open letter written to the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers, the Campaign
failed to mention employment, protection of livelihoods and land, water and forest rights in the
list of demands mentioned in the letter (Right to Food Campaign, 2011 a). The letter reflects a
good measure of disillusionment of this section of the Civil Society with what the government
has proposed for mitigating hunger in the country.
It may be argued that at least the demand for adequate employment has been addressed to some
extent by the passage Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), but the
fact remains that not even once has the issue of plugging the loop holes in the implementation of
NREGA and further increasing its scope been raised while debating the FSB, even though
ensuring food security was one of the express purpose of enacting MNREGA. Along with the
absence of a pro-active approach on the issues of equitable land, water and forest rights, this
approach only underscores the myopia in the conceptualization of food security while framing
the FSB.
307
While it may be assumed that the later demands were dropped in order to focus on the more
achievable ones, the question that begets an answer is – do all of the above mentioned demands
raised by the Campaign suffice to strike at all at ‘the structural roots of hunger’. We shall assess
this shortly.
ALTERNATIVE OPINION WITHIN THE CIVIL SOCIETY
To begin with, the NAC, led by the UPA Chairperson – Ms Sonia Gandhi argued a fairly
substantive opinion for making the Food Security Act all inclusive and comprehensive.
However, it wasn’t long before the establishment put its safety valves in operation to let off
much steam. Ms Gandhi remarked in one of the subsequent meetings that “the poor might
wonder why the rich were being given the same entitlements — a comment that paved the way
for the view that there should be a system of two prices / differential entitlements” (Gupta S,
2010 b). One is only left to wonder that when the poor have not voiced any objection to lakhs of
crores of rupees being handed over in tax exemptions in every year’s budget to some of the
richest persons in the country, then what objection could the poor have to these humble souls
standing in queue with them to collect their rations?
Anyhow, in its final assessment, the NAC quietly buried its initial proposal to begin
implementing a universal PDS first in the 150 poorest districts of the country, followed by
gradual implementation in the rest of the country (Gupta S, 2010 a).
The rest, as they say is history. With the NAC itself prepared to move two steps backward, the
government forced a couple more on it; and what we have in the form of government draft of
FSB is a pale shadow of what was promised by the NAC to begin with. This however does not
mean that there are no takers for this version of the Bill. Indeed, there is a section of Civil
Society within the NAC that finds merit with the Bill as it stands. The present Bill will, in their
opinion “End Indifference” and “Exile Hunger” (Mander, 2011).
The arguments of this section of Civil Society within the NAC have pulled the impossible; they
dexterously tread the paths of the supporters of ‘Universalization’ and those favoring a
‘Targeted’ approach both at the same time. On one hand they affirm – “Basic rights like to food,
education, social security and healthcare must be guaranteed by governments to all citizens, as
universally state-supplied and common entitlements……… It should be the choice of citizens
whether or not they wish to use these public services, but none should be excluded by law”; on
the other hand “ethical grounds of opposition” are found in agreeing with the opinion - “What is
the justification to give you and me, and for that matter a rich rural landlord subsidized grain,
and that too at the same levels and price, as a destitute rural landless widow, or a homeless
disabled beggar” (Mander, 2011) (the marked fidelity of this argument with Ms Gandhi’s
comment to same effect must be noted). They ultimately settle for a “middle path” through an
“administratively complicated formula” as enunciated in the latest draft of the government.
Solace is found in the fact that the sections of the government that would earlier settle for
nothing but the absolute minimum, ultimately conceded to “the monthly entitlement to 35 kg,
and the coverage of households to 46% of the rural and 28% of the urban households”
(Mander, 2011).
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As to the more substantive demands raised by the ‘Right to Food Campaign’ vis-à-vis ensuring
food security, their disarming reply is – “There is no dispute that each of these is imperative, if
malnutrition is to be fought. But how much can you load on to a single law?” (Mander, 2011).
COMING BACK TO ‘THE STRUCTURAL ROOTS OF HUNGER’
It is understandable that the ‘Right to Food Campaign’ activists have criticized the Bill’s
recommendations as “a minimalist proposal that misses many important elements of food

security” and retains a PDS with a framework that is “very fragmented and fails to abolish the
artificial distinction between APL and BPL households” (Drèze's, 2010). But suppose all the
demands put up by the Campaign vis-à-vis the Act were accepted; would that have ensured food
security in the sense of its definition that we began with?
Poverty is the biggest impediment in ensuring ‘economic access’ to food even if we presume
that physical access should not be a problem. However, in the debate that we have summarized
above, though there is mention of poor, but hardly has any emphasis been placed on poverty
reduction. It must be mentioned though that in its critique of the NAC’s final recommendations,
the ‘Right to Food Campaign’ does talk of sustainable development process that protects
people’s livelihood and development of agriculture, albeit only in generalist terms; the thrust of
their critique is on making the PDS more inclusive and comprehensive (Right to Food
Campaign, 2011 b).
Alleviating hunger would essentially require an all round attack on poverty of the people which
is propagated by the social, economic and political structure of the country. In India, agriculture
still forms the bed rock of rural economy. Talking of poverty reduction would necessarily entail
far reaching structural changes in agriculture that would make it not only economically gainful
for those engaging in it, but would also increase its productivity which remains a lot poorer than
many other countries at similar levels of development.
Development of agriculture is a function of both the forces of production (technology and the
peasantry) and the relations of production in agriculture which are determined by the ownership
of the principle means of production – the land. While the forces of production are the key to
increasing productivity, their impact is mediated in the context of the relations of production.
Together they form the mode of production in the given phase of development of society.
Applying advanced means of production e.g. advanced technologies, while the relations of
production remain antiquated would only mean that the benefits of the advanced technologies by
way of increased production shall be cornered by those who predominantly control the means of
production. Besides, the production process provides little incentive for the majority who do not
have sizable ownership of means of production, thus imperiling sustainability of enhanced
production. It is only through equitable control over the means of production that the benefits of
increased production can be availed by society at large.
The ruling classes in India have always placed one sided emphasis on the development of ‘forces
of production’ within which also the emphasis is on introduction of newer technologies,
increasingly through industrial farming, at the cost of the small, marginal and the landless
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peasants who will simply be rendered surplus for agriculture and join the reserve of poverty
stricken mass of unemployed as a source of cheap industrial labor.
The most important characteristic of Indian agriculture is the highly skewed ownership of land.
The National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) survey for land holding patterns in 2003
showed that at the all-India level, marginal and small owners constituted 90.4% of the total
number of owners. But they owned only 43.43% of land, whereas medium and large farmers
who constituted only 9.60% of landowners owned as much as 56.21% of land (Bandyopadhyay,
2008). Besides this there is a huge chunk of landless agricultural labourers; by far the largest and
the poorest segment of the population in the country. Though landless, the land hunger of this
segment remains in-satiated.
Iniquitous relations of production in agriculture result in disproportionate appropriation of

produce by the handful of the rich landowners, thereby disinsentivizing agriculture for the
majority who work in it. In this context land reforms that transfer the ownership of land to the
tiller is the most potent poverty alleviation program which will unleash in its wake a productive
potential that will ensure both ‘physical and economic’ access to food for an overwhelming
majority of our population. Besides, land means power. You empower the people; they will
themselves ensure that the government cares for them.
Both the government and the civil society activists, party to the above debate know all this. It is
surprising then, that the civil society chose to mention ‘equitable rights over land’ as less than a
foot note in the whole scheme of the “Food Security Act”. The problem actually is, that what
they describe as addressing ‘the structural roots of hunger’ is nothing more than a ‘reformist
policy orientation’ to the immense structural problem of ‘hunger’ that afflicts millions of poor
Indians.
The essence of this ‘reformist policy orientation’ is that it seeks to ameliorate the symptoms of
food insecurity while avoiding redressal of the causes of food insecurity. The capitalist countries
of the west were able to enormously develop their productive capabilities through the historical
process of development of bourgeoisie democracies; where in the revolutionary bourgeoisie
uprooted all antiquated forces and relations of production through popular mobilization of the
hitherto oppressed masses. The bourgeoisie strived to develop production in their own countries
and competed with the bourgeoisie of other countries for the expansion of the markets for its
products.
Much different from this the bourgeoisie and the big feudal classes were propped up as the
supporting pillars of colonialism by imperialist powers in their erstwhile colonies in Asia and
Africa. As colonialism receded, the political power in the newly independent colonies fell in the
hands of this alliance between the comprador bourgeoisie and the big feudal class. Addressing
the ‘structural roots of hunger’ would of necessity entail striking at the existing power structures
in the society and a redistribution of its resources in order to develop the forces of production
and improve the material conditions of the people. The comprador nature and subservience of the
ruling alliance between the big bourgeoisie and the feudal class of the country to the imperialist
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powers renders it incapable of independently developing the productive forces in the country and
the markets for its products. The ruling elite of India are content to play second fiddle to their
imperialist masters and attempt to bargain for a higher share of the country’s loot to the extent
this is possible by using the contradictions between the imperialist powers. It is for this reason
that the combating food insecurity in the country is not possible while retaining its semi-feudal,
semi-colonial social, economic and political structure.
Such a change is tall order to achieve through pleadings for certain policy reforms from the very
sections that benefit from the present unjust social, economic and political order. This is a
political task requiring a much larger political mobilization of the masses, and is certainly
beyond the limited capabilities of the civil society. This is where the political parties need to step
in.
It can be agreed that one cannot have two Acts in one – i.e. both a comprehensive land reforms
Act and a PDS reforms Act. Nonetheless it needs to be acknowledged:
 That the concept of food security goes much beyond policy reforms directed at increasing the
size of food subsidies and designing an appropriate mechanism for their distribution. To
achieve a long term sustainable food security for the people the problem is not how ‘we’ feed
‘them’, but how to “make sure that the people can feed themselves. Given the opportunity,
they would do just that; they will not need ‘us’ “(Susan George, 1984). The “moral
question” here is – “not of ‘charity’ but of ‘social justice’” (Susan George, 1984).
It is most unfortunate that under the conditions as are increasingly obtaining in our country
and around the World (including many parts of the developed World), an ever increasing
number of people are finding it difficult to feed themselves for reasons that are beyond their
control.
 Secondly, the FSB ought to be recognized for what it really is – a ‘Public Distribution
Reforms’ Bill, which seeks to secure only one aspect of food security.
 Thirdly, the preamble and the provisions of the FSB ought to have reflected the
comprehensive understanding of food security as outlined above, to serve as a guide to future
action.
In the scheme of things as they stand at present, even a marvellously functioning PDS, providing
all the commodities asked for and a universal coverage; will only lead to a mass of perpetually
‘dependent people’ rather than self-respecting people capable of feeding themselves with secure
livelihoods.
Given the neo-liberal development paradigm, the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor have
come under increasing liquidation. The figures of 2001 census (which was during the erstwhile
NDA regime) revealed that in the period between 1991 and 2001 census as many as seven
million people for whom agriculture was the primary means of subsistence left the field. The
drastic increase in the growth rates of urban population which has overtaken the increase in rural
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population for the first time in last ninety years indicates a huge footloose migration from the
villages to the urban areas in search of livelihoods. So, the pogrom of liquidating the viability of
agriculture for the hundreds of millions of the most impoverished of India’s population is indeed
progressing very well. The only problem is that rather than a decrease, the runaway footloose
migration is an indication of a steep rise in rural distress, poverty and therefore hunger.
The lack of willingness of the civil society to look beyond the structural boundaries of the
present social, economic and political system for empowering the poor and alleviating their
poverty and hunger, has reduced them to the status of being hangers on to the system’s coattails.
It is least surprising that the Government is keeping two steps ahead of the Samaritans of Civil
Society. Even as they cried hoarse about the sham that NAC played on food security, at many
places the Government has introduced ‘smart cards’ on trial basis as a substitute to PDS. This
will allow the beneficiaries to get ration for a given amount from designated shops rather than
have a fixed quota of food grain through PDS irrespective of the fluctuations in the market price
of food.
WHY MUST A FEW BE WEAKENED TO ENSURE FOOD SECURITY FOR THE

MASSES?
It is difficult to understand why a seemingly simple thing as reaching food to the people,
especially as it is said to be available in plenty, cannot be achieved, unless we are willing to
understand the class character of the ruling elite and the governance system built by them. We
have already dwelt in brief on this aspect above. However, a discussion on such issues is either
dismissed as political jargon by many or illusions regarding the present political system in the
country prevent the full meaning of these terms from sink into the popular psyche. We try to
present an answer to this question in a simpler form here.
Sixty four years after the ‘transfer of power’ and the transplanting of ‘Parliamentary Democracy’
from above by the colonial masters, the democratic credentials of the social, economic and
political fabric in the country have come to be questioned as never before. To illustrate the point
being raised here, we would like to add a few questions of our own.
 Since 1991, the year when the ‘neo-liberal’ policies were launched, almost every ruling class
party spanning the entire ideological spectrum from the far right to the mainstream Left, have
wielded power at the Centre and different States; yet, not only has there been continuity in
economic policies but the neo-liberal economics has gone from strength to strength. It is
worth understanding, as to what explains this continuum?
 Even as purchasing power of the people is falling, failing them to consume even the
minimum required calories; Governments at the Centre have tried to paint a picture of
‘Shining India.’ Overflowing food stocks amidst hunger have sought to be explained by
spurious theories of diversification of diets. People were said to be opting for high value
foods at the cost of foodgrains (GOI, 2002)1 – what explains such nihilism for people’s
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plight?
 The country is in throes of an agrarian crisis. The former Chief Minister of an otherwise
affluent State which has witnessed the largest number of farm suicides in the country,
mocked at the cotton farmers of the State as cheats (Sainath, 2007) – what fuels such
audacity with impunity?
 Even as millions go hungry in the country, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on

Commerce remarked regarding the wastage of foodgrains in the godowns – “Huge quantities
of grains are being wasted and farmers are scarcely getting returns for their investments. The
Committee expresses serious concern about the problem and is of the view that under
favourable global market conditions, the question of permitting export of food grains should
be considered as an option to save the farmers from this crisis, to earn valuable foreign
exchange and to prevent the produce from going to waste” (Mehdudia, 2011). In past the
1
The spurious theory of ‘voluntary choice’ and ‘diversification of diets’ away from foodgrain consumption, in
favour of high value foods, has been dealt with in detail by Utsa Patnaik in her essay “Food Stocks and Hunger: The
Causes of Agrarian Distress” published in Social Scientist, Vol. 31, No. 7/8 (Jul. - Aug., 2003), pp. 15-41.
government has handed over foodgrains at less than the BPL prices to private exporters, thus
enabling them to make huge profits.
The government, the Supreme Court, the National Advisory Council, the Civil Society; all
wish to wipe out hunger from the country, yet the food produced in the country rather go
waste than being fed to the people. This does not happen by providence but occurs regularly
year after year. What makes such criminal governance possible; who benefits from this; and
how do they manage to go scot free?
 In a country that is host to the largest number of hungry people on the globe, the precious
foodgrain gets diverted for manufacturing alcohol (Tiwale, 2010) – whose interests does the
government serve through such decisions?
 According to an estimate, from 1951 to 2005, nearly 55 million people were forcibly evicted
from their land for different projects (Fernandes, 1998) During the reform years this process
has gained a lot more urgency with the might of the State’s armed forces being openly used
to dislocate the security of people’s lives and livelihoods (MRD) That all the ruling class
Parties cutting across the political spectrum are united in the pursuit of such development
policies is demonstrated by the fact that the inglorious ‘Special Economic Zones Act, 2005’
was unanimously passed by the Indian Parliament in May 2005 (Dohrman, 2008). – What
explains such remarkable unity of ostensibly disparate political forces in the pursuit of
power?
 How come the Prime Minister of the country has the audacity to equate the subsidies for food
security to the losses due to multi-billion dollar scams by his government (Sainath, 2011 a),
and has the gumption to tell the farmers that “there are no free lunches” (Varadarajan S,
2010), for after all he still has to get their votes.
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 While on one hand subsidies on health, education, food and agriculture are sought to be
reduced in the name of resource crunch or for the sake of fiscal prudence; direct and indirect
concessions worth lakhs of crores are doled out to the corporate sector year after year
through budgetary provisions.
 What explains the indifference with which the government files an affidavit in the Courts
saying that a person earning more than 25 rupees a day cannot be considered to be poor
(Parsai G, 2011); or for that matter pursue policies which hit the poorest of the poor the most;
a section which ought to be the valued vote bank of all the ruling class parties.
The answer to these questions is both simple and complex at the same time. It is simple because
there is a straightforward answer in the fact that the poor have been totally marginalized in their
ability to impact upon the dynamics of politics and State power in the country which has become
the exclusive preserve of the wealthy and their managerial middle classes. A direct measure of
this can be had from the number of billionaires in the Lok Sabha (Sainath, 2009) and the rates at
which those in power have increased their financial worth (Sainath, 2011 b).
Yet, the answer is complex because this loot of the rulers is maintained through the instrument of
Parliamentary democracy and regular elections managed by maze of money power, powerful
propaganda machinery and the coercive might of the State. As to the ordinary mortals, they are
free to vote for their favorite billionaire.
Many individuals, even among those who otherwise have genuine concern for India’s working
masses, harbor illusions about the ‘right to vote’ that is conferred by the country’s constitution.
However, what need be emphasized here is that the Indian ‘parliamentary democracy’ is not as
much about the ‘power of the vote’, but everything about how universal franchise is rendered
meaningless with reference to leveraging the interests of the oppressed masses by utilizing the
fault lines of region, religion, caste, ethnicity and nationality in the society.
Presenting a much nuanced analysis of this Atul Kohli has described this process as
“management of power conflicts” by the Indian State in dealing with a “variety of politicized
social groups – ethnic, caste, class or regional – that periodically demand a greater share of
resources, autonomy and self government” (Kohli, 2001). It is further stated – “No electoral
democracy can long survive without protecting the interests of the
powerful………………..While the rhetoric of the Indian state has often been redistributive –
socialism, abolition of traditional privileges, reform of caste system, and populism – political
practice has been considerably more conservative eschewing any decisive
redistribution……………However, the political impact of these twin tendencies – radical in
tone, conservative in practice – may well have been benign, strengthening democracy: the
powerful in society feel well served by the system but weaker groups do not feel totally excluded
or hopeless, at least not so far” (ibid, p 2).
In fact the real worth of India’s democracy has been best articulated by the representatives of the
system itself. Addressing his alma mater at Oxford during a State visit to United Kingdom during
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his first tenure as Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh said – “Today, with the balance and
perspective offered by the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, it is possible for an
Indian Prime Minister to assert that India's experience with Britain had its beneficial
consequences too. Our notions of the rule of law, of a constitutional government, of a free press,
of a professional civil service, of modern universities and research laboratories have all been
fashioned in the crucible where an age-old civilization met the dominant Empire of the day.
These are all elements which we still value and cherish. Our judiciary, our legal system, our
bureaucracy, and our police are all great institutions, derived from British-Indian administration
and they have served the country well” (Manmohan Singh, 2005).
While these words may have been said by one Prime Minister, but the experience of governance
that people have had throughout the country since 1947, would easily attest them to be true of the
country’s mainstream polity, bureaucracy, the police forces and the army. In nut shell, the State
structure in the country continues to espouse the colonial legacy. The fact that instead of ruling
in the name of British crown, it rules in the name of Indian people, only serves to confound its
tyranny and the path to liberation from it.
So, while India’s ‘parliamentary democracy’ may have effected changes from within the ruling
class parties in the formation of governments, or may even have delivered partial relief on some
issues to the oppressed classes, but their emancipation shall entail a revolutionary upheaval. The
system carefully ensures that the existing power relations in the society are not only maintained
but further strengthened. Resultantly, the interests of the oppressed masses can be ensured in this
system only to the extent that doing so also favors the interests of the ruling classes or if a
relative leveraging of the interests of the oppressed people can be achieved at no significant cost
to the dominant classes.
Hence, while adjusting the amount of food subsidy is possible; even if with a lot of pleading;
equitable division of productive resources; of which land is the most important with respect to
ensuring food security; is not permissible. Food subsidies distributed through PDS inherently
project the ruling classes as the compassionate ‘provider’ for the poor. The poor must feel
obliged to the ruling elite for these favours.
Secondly, subsidies do help the poor to tide over extreme depravation. Besides subsidies
subsidize the cheap labour of the poor to be exploited by those who own the means of
production. Thirdly, subsidies are an instrument to buy social peace for the ruling elite in the
face of the overall impact of their exploitative policies.
Another important point is that unlike the developed countries, where only a small minority is
poor, in countries like India both the size and depth of poverty is huge. A number of government
committees themselves have acknowledged that nearly 80 per cent of the country’s population
consumed less than the minimum calories (2400 and 2100 calories for the rural and the urban
areas respectively) designated for estimation of poverty. Deprivation on such a mass scale is
built on the foundation of gross inequality in the ownership of productive resources and can
hardly be remedied through the usual policy instruments of subsidies. Thus, in as much as the
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challenge remains to enable the people to feed themselves; this cannot be achieved without a
redistribution of society’s productive resources. Weakening of the strong is imperative for such
redistribution.
THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES

We have mentioned above the essentially political nature of the task of upturning the existing
power relations in the society to achieve long term gains in ensuring the food security of the
oppressed masses.
However, all this debate for a just, humane, comprehensive PDS, seems to have done little to
mobilize the poor themselves who ought to be the motive force for ensuring the success of any
food security program. Perhaps because the poor realize how ephemeral this debate is to their
real needs i.e. the need for economic security and freedom from dependence on the propertied
classes.
We say this even as we are aware of the fact that numerous dharnas, rallies, demonstrations and
other programs have been organized by the different civil society organizations that are fighting
for a comprehensive and meaningful ‘Food Security Bill’ to be enacted into law by the
Parliament. There are inherent limitations when such efforts are left to the capabilities of the civil
society organizations alone, and we shall come to that a while later. Here we deal with the role of
the political parties.
Even though there is a consensus among the different political parties on the broad contours of
the economic policy, they differ in the way they prioritize issues and articulate their stand
depending on which side of the political spectrum they belong to. Further, the class character of
different Parties must be recognized not by what they say, but by what they do.
Generally speaking, in the economic sense, the mainstream political spectrum in India may be
considered to be divided into the rightwing and the leftwing parties, with the centrist parties
having all but disappeared. Outside of these there exists a revolutionary Left movement in the
country, but it does not aspire for any stakes in the given State structure. When it comes to
upholding the economic interests of the poor, little reliance is placed on the rightwing parties like
the BJP, Congress and other bourgeoisie parties even though they all depend on the vote bank of
the poor for staking their claim to power. The poor are sought to be manipulated by these parties
by stoking emotions around the numerous fault lines of religion, region, ethnicity or caste backed
by the money bags of the propertied classes.
As opposed to this, the Parliamentary Left seeks to occupy a political space in the name of
upholding the interests of the working class and the poorer peasantry. It is natural then that there
is a greater expectation from these Parties to provide leadership on issues that primarily affect
these sections. In this respect a prominent role by the Left was desired in the struggle for
ensuring the food security of the poor.
Leaving it to the Left parties themselves to describe their conduct on the issue of food security,
perhaps they may sight the number of mass programs undertaken by them in this regard; or how
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their parliamentarians raised this issue in the Parliament; or other forums that are suitable for
raising such issues. However, to what effect actions are carried out and where will they lead, will
be decided by the politics that commands them; and the true nature of politics is determined not
by what is said but what is practically done.
There is an accumulated experience from across the World that the Left parties have come to be
accepted into the mainstream parliamentary framework only when they have tempered down the
revolutionary content of their politics to suite the sensibilities of the dominant classes. As to the
rest, with respect to the third world, imperialist forces have moved with great alacrity and
ruthlessness to cut short any possibility of a change that is perceived to be harmful to their
interests. Overthrow of the Salvadore Allende regime in Chile on the 9 / 11 of 1973 and the
liquidation of the Indonesian Communist Party in the mid sixties, both with the involvement of
the CIA are two examples worth remembering.
The mainstream Indian Left has learnt its lessons well from such experiences. Indeed, its top
most leaders have had a demonstrated ability to forthrightly articulate their liking for capitalism,
even as they use the symbols and slogans of the oppressed classes to garner the support of these
sections. In 2008 just days after the erstwhile Left Front Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee advocated a capitalist course for the Left bastion, perhaps the tallest
figure of the mainstream Left, late Jyoti Basu said - "We want capital, both foreign and domestic.
After all we are working in a capitalist system. Socialism is not possible now............ We had
spoken about building up a classless society, but that was a long time ago.......... "Socialism is our
political agenda and was mentioned in our party document, but capitalism will continue to be the
compulsion for the future" (Indian Express, 2008). Like every wise leader, he had his alibis for
the saying so. Pointing to the fact that CPM-led governments were in power in three states only,
he said, "Can we say we will establish socialism on the basis of this" (Indian Express, 2008).
These were not one off comments of a tired and retired leader. Its indeed the prevalent view in
the Party, as is affirmed by the comments of the present general secretary of CPM, Mr Prakash
Karat articulated while addressing the alumni meeting of the Madras Christian College in
Chennai on 30th October, 2010. Elaborating on the ostensible contradiction in the positions Left
took on the FDI and market economy at the national level and in the States where it was in
power, Mr. Karat clarified that contrary to the misconception, ― “Marxists are not against the
market”, or opposed to FDI. Based on CPM’s experience of building socialism, he had words of
wisdom to offer, that – “market has a function even in a socialist order… and that if you eschew
the market, or fail to integrate the market into a planned economy, as the Soviet Union did, you
are in trouble” (The Hindu, 2010).
It was perhaps an effort at integrating markets into their economic planning that the CPM daily
in West Bengal, ‘Ganashakti’ carried full page Coca-Cola ad long ago (Vanguard, 1994). We
have already pointed out their acquiescence in the passage of the ‘Special Economic Zones Act.’
The developments of Singur (TATA nano car plant) and Nandigram (where land was forcibly
acquired for the SEZ of the Abu-Salem group of Indonesia) bear further testimony to the results
of this friendship between markets and CPM variety of socialism.
If one comes to collating them there can be any number of instances to cite such opportunism of
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the mainstream Left both in theory and in practice. This need not be by inference for we have it
from the horse’s mouth.
The roundabout manner of their confession notwithstanding, they have themselves agreed that
for now their task is to build capitalism in the States where they rule. While much may be said or
done for public consumption, it is this ideological position that defines and limits the scope of
their agitational programs and what is intended to be achieved through them. In respect of food
security, this practically rules out the feasibility of taking up a revolutionary agenda like the land
reforms. However, the tragedy is that the performance of the mainstream Left even with regard
to partial measures like the PDS and their position on the FSB leaves much to be desired.
While the Parliamentary Left may well have postponed the task of building socialism for now,
but a sincere attempt at implementing bourgeoisie reform in the arena of food security i.e. an
efficient PDS, would not have gone against their principle of friendship with capitalism. This
however has not been the case. We would like to dwell on this in some detail lest we are accused
of assaulting the integrity and pro-people credentials of the Parliamentary Left with unfounded
allegations.
Though the Left is now crying itself hoarse on making the PDS universal, the State governments
led by the Left i.e. the Left Democratic Front Government in Kerala and the Left Front
Government in West Bengal were among the first governments in the country to adopt the
Targeted PDS (TPDS) when it was introduced in the country in 1997. While the State
government in Tamil Nadu, a neighbouring State of Kerala, chose to revert back to universal
PDS under public pressure, the same option however was not exercised by the Left ruled States.
That Tamil Nadu did so at least shows that it could have been done by others as well if there was
sufficient political will to leverage the welfare of the people.
Meanwhile, the functioning of PDS has steadily deteriorated in the States of West Bengal and
Kerala. We shall take up here a detailed exposition of the PDS in West Bengal, as that is the
State which has known a long unbroken stint of ‘Communist’ government until recently, which
afforded all the time that could have been desired to streamline PDS in the State. The following
discussion largely relies on the findings in the report of Justice Wadhwa Committee for the State
of West Bengal (Justice Wadhwa, 2010) that was constituted by the Supreme Court to study the
maladies afflicting the functioning of PDS in different States and suggest remedial measures.
Criticizing the provisions of the FSB, the CPM Polit Bureau member Ms Brinda Karat wrote in
The Hindu that – “The Bill shifts from the present quota of 35 kg per family to an individual
based system fixed at a monthly quota of 7 kg per person for a BPL (below poverty line) family.
While individual based quotas may appear to be reasonable, it will end up punishing poor
families that have fewer children..........For APL (above poverty line) sections it is even worse,
with just a 3 kg quota per individual. Can 3 kg a month provide food security? This is an affront
to human dignity and shows utter lack of social conscience” (Karat, 2011)
It must be appreciated that she has found such provisions to be “an affront to human dignity”
amounting to “utter lack of social conscience”; only that she somehow did not seem to know that
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her comrades in West Bengal translated these very provisions into policy. As to the ‘individual
based quotas’ (Unit based ration card scheme),2 the Justice Wadhwa Committee reports that –
“Ironically the State also projects itself as one of the example so far as the implementation of the
TPDS and Unit based ration card scheme is concerned.” Cautioning regarding the
implementation of Unit based ration cards scheme, the Committee has cited Bengal as a model
for studying the loopholes of the scheme (Justice Wadhwa, 2010).
It becomes evident from the report that this scheme has led to a rather serious situation wherein
“as a consequence of unit system and non-issuance of the ration cards to the minors, minors in
many families do not get ration for themselves. Considering poor families like AAY (Antyodaya
Anna Yojna; this scheme is for the poorest of the poor) families, such situation is alarming and
needs immediate consideration and action from the government in order to avoid cases of
2
In the ‘Unit based Ration Card System’ a separate card is made for each member of the family. As revealed in the
report of the Justice Wadhwa Committee, this has led to a number of anomalies where in different cards under
different categories have been made for members of the same family. Often new cards are difficult to get for newer
additions to the family either by birth or by marriage of a sibling. As the knowledge regarding the provisions of the
scheme is very poor among the beneficiaries, often the rations due for an adult are not obtained as the card made
during childhood was never updated.
malnutrition among minor children both in tribal and non-tribal families” (Justice
Wadhwa, 2010).
The ‘Unit system of ration cards’ has led to weird situations for many families all over West
Bengal; if the husband has the AAY card, the wife and daughter have APL cards, while the
grandchild has none even seven years after filing an application for him. The situation
constrained the Committee to note that - “If we compare the AAY family residing in other States
which do not follow unit system, it appears that AAY families residing in those States enjoy
better benefits than in Bengal” (Justice Wadhwa, 2010).
Through these pages we may tell Ms Karat of another fact which her West Bengal comrades
never cared to inform her about – that until September 2010 the Left Front government in Bengal
rubbed in “affront to human dignity” with “utter lack of social conscience” by earmarking
exactly 3 kg of foodgrains (500 gm of wheat and 250 gm of rice every week) per adult in APL
category per month; only that from September 2010 onwards the burden of this ‘affront’ was
lightened by 400 gm every month by increasing the wheat quota to 600 gm per week (Justice
Wadhwa, 2010).
The litany of complaints against the PDS in West Bengal is long and at least some more of them
deserve a mention here to drive home our case regarding the sincerity of mainstream Left in
ensuring the food security of the people any more than what other parties desire.
 The Committee report mentions that most of the rice that is procured locally is of an
unacceptable quality for the consumers. As regards wheat, nearly 50% of the stock is usually
found to be of an unacceptable quality for human consumption (Justice Wadhwa, 2010).
The following description of a grain storage facility in the Kashipur block of Purulia district
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completes the picture for us (Justice Wadhwa, 2010):
“The sheds were in deplorable condition. They were poorly managed. The shed storing APL
grain (shed no. 28) was even stinking. The sheds storing BPL grain (shed no. 13 & 9) were
badly maintained and the grain stored there in was of inedible condition. In all the sheds, a
large quantity of grain was scattered on the floor. It was dirty with rodent and bird faeces in
it..............The premises outside the shed were also poorly maintained. There were drains with
stagnant water around the sheds which was seeping into the sheds and causing the sheds to
emanate a foul smell.”
“The godown premises was of State government and FCI officials blame the State
government for the condition and claimed that the upkeep and maintenance of the godowns
are responsibility of the department i.e. the State government.”
Contrary to this, on a visit to another godown owned by FCI, conditions were found to be
satisfactory.
 The Parliamentary Left is never found tiring in their advocacy of the importance of public
sector in the economy; except of course in States where they themselves are in power. Even
though the State government has its ‘West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply
Corporation’, it has not been allocated any role in the functioning of the PDS in the State,
while reliance is placed on private distributors and wholesalers who act as middlemen in the
system (Justice Wadhwa, 2010).
The Chairman of the Corporation, Mr Rebati Bhattacharjee felt that given a chance the
Corporation was willing to perform its role in smooth functioning of PDS. He said – “that the
private wholesalers are unable to lift all commodities in prescribed time for the want of
capital. This can be done by the Corporation in a better way by enhancing the role o the
Corporation in distribution” (Justice Wadhwa, 2010).
Actually the distributors, wholesalers and fair price shop (FPS) owners are a part of a system
of political patronage that was built by the Left Front in general and CPM party in particular
throughout the State and the same is even reflected in the report of the Committee.
 Vis-a-vis the appointments of dealers and middlemen the Committee notes – “All
appointments in the State are political at the State government level. The appointments of
FPS / MR dealers and distributors / wholesalers should be made apolitical for a fair and
effective functioning of the PDS. The appointment process ought to be made transparent.”
 The patronage system extended even in the making of ration cards with a clear goal of
increasing the influence of the Party. The report notes – “It was also informed to the
Committee that there was political influence when BPL and AAY cards were initially given.
To influence maximum families for vote bank. It was tried to distribute AAY and BPL cards
to as many families as possible rather than covering all the members of a family. Focus was
to cover maximum families rather than to cover the AAY families” (Justice Wadhwa, 2010).
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Needless to say such practices have led to all sorts of anomalies in the making of ration cards
in the State.
 In 2010, the State had more ration cards in circulation than its projected population for the
year 2011. It was estimated that up to 20% to 30% cards in the State are bogus with there
being widespread errors of inclusion and exclusion from the BPL list. There were numerous
instances wherein different members of the same family had BPL and APL cards.
 With all these anomalies being rampant, it is little surprise that massive pilferage and grain
diversion was detected at all levels of the system.
 Complaints of under-weighment and forceful selling of non-PDS items by the FPS owners
were rampant throughout the State with the consumers having little recourse to any remedial
action as the elaborate scheme of vigilance committees at different levels has not taken off
the paper in most parts of the State. “Most of the beneficiaries were unaware of the authority
which can address their complaints and grievances” (Justice Wadhwa, 2010).
 Inspections of the FPS by any authority were few and far between sending the ‘monitoring’
mechanism for a toss.
With these being the results to show after 34 years of uninterrupted rule by the Left Front in the
State, what measure of seriousness can be accorded to their objections to the FSB and an
ostensible concern for ensuring the food security of the poor. These details also affirm that the
move to outsource the fight for food security to the Civil Society is not a tactical error, but is a
strategic shift that was initiated quite some time back when they joined forces with national and
international NGOs and their funding agencies which in turn had links with imperialist powers,
for organizing the ‘World Social Forum’ jamboree at Mumbai in January 2004.
The near absence of any elaboration on the role of other ruling class parties over here is not to
absolve them of their role in the present state of food security in the country, but only because of
the fact that their self professed political stand does not inspire any expectation from them in so
far as the issues relating to poor are concerned. These parties are obliged to talk of food security
only because the responsibility of managing already prevalent food security schemes falls on
them by default. We have no illusion that they would usher in any positive change in policy vis-
à-vis food security of their own accord; the same shall be possible only under the impact of
powerful people’s movements.
The emphasis on the role of the Parliamentary Left is required for another reason – because it is
the biggest obstacle in mounting determined class struggles of the section of oppressed people
that is motivated and is willing to be mobilized under the revolutionary banner. Because of their
history of militant struggles in distant past and by virtue of the fact that they still remain the
largest Left parties, they manage to diffuse the anger of a large section of working masses into
safe channels of Parliamentarism. Therein lies the challenge for the revolutionary Left to clearly
expose the true character of the mainstream Left by launching widespread militant struggles of
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the working masses on various issues that impact on their existence.
POTENTIAL OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY TO AROUSE MASSES
There has been an extensive debate on the role of NGOs from the standpoint of bringing about a
change in society. Without revisiting the debate per se over here; it may suffice to note that from
the point of view of radical politics and a radical social transformation, NGO instituted reform is
a countervailing force that seeks to protect the given social, economic and political order of the
day (Research Unit for Political Economy, 2004). Desrochers writes of NGOs – “most NGOs
function to mediate and diffuse the enormous build-up of social and political tension, which is
the outcome of iniquitous and highly destructive development” (Desrochers, 2006).
The decades of the 1980s and the 1990s were marked by a worldwide rise of NGOs, especially
across developing countries. This also is the period when the process of ‘Globalization’ and neo-
liberal economic reforms was unrolled, most prominently in the developing World. The
coinciding of the two processes is especially important. NGOs were the prop to mitigate the
profound human suffering caused by ‘Globalization’ (Research Unit for Political Economy,
2004). NGOs have a specific political purpose, as opined by the World Bank – “social tensions
and divisions can be eased by bringing political opponents together within the framework of
formal and informal forums and by channelling their energies through political processes, rather
than leaving confrontation as the only form of release” (World Development Report, 2000 – 01,
quoted in Desrochers, 2006). Such a conceptualization if taken to its logical conclusion would
recognize the political processes acceptable to the system as the only ‘legitimate’ political
processes, while political action that defies established authority becomes ‘illegitimate’.
There are two other important issues regarding NGOs that have an immense bearing on the
outcome of their action - one, that they emphasize primacy of ‘identity’ (region, religion, caste,
gender or ethnicity) over ‘class’; leading thereby to negation of factors that can form the basis of
a broader unity of the oppressed masses. In fact emphasis on identity may pitch one section of
the oppressed people against another.
Secondly, the issue of funding; rarely is it that the NGOs depend for their day to day functioning
and sustenance on the resources provided by the sections whose interests they claim to espouse.
Issue of outside funding, including from foreign organizations, some of whom have had a very
dubious record as to furthering the democratic aspirations of the people; has been a big issue
regarding NGOs (Research Unit for Political Economy, 2004; Biswas, 2006). The answerability
of the NGOs to their funding agency is absolute, which effectively sets the limits to which NGOs
can afford to cross the establishment. As to the people, well they ought to be thankful for the
selfless services of the NGOs.
Given this summarization of the political character of NGOs, it becomes clear that taking up of
equitable distribution of land as a measure for ensuring food security by the civil society is ruled
out for this would necessarily entail intense confrontation with the dominant powers of the day.
So, reforming the PDS becomes the only and the best way forward.
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The ‘Right to Food Campaign’ (RTFC), which has been in the forefront of the debate on the
‘Food Security Bill’, describes itself as “an informal network of organisations and individuals
committed to the realisation of the right to food in India. Admittedly, its sustained focus has been
on “on legislation and schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA), the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Mid-day Meals (MDM) scheme,
and the Public Distribution System (PDS)” (Right to Food Campaign). While there is always a
scope for framing better laws and schemes as it must be done; but what needs to be realized here
is that the lot of the poor in India is what it is not due to a dearth of schemes or laws but because
of the ruling elite to whom we entrust their implementation. Right to life is a fundamental right,
protected under constitution, yet encounter killings, custodial deaths and wanton killing of
people under draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act by the security forces is
widely prevalent in large parts of the country. It is always the powerful who commit these crimes
against the powerless; bringing to question again the fundamental issue of changing the power
relations; empowering people vis-à-vis the rulers.
A militant mass mobilization of the people is the only way to make this elite yield to the people’s
needs even as regards the policy reforms that are feasible within the system. The meaning of the
word ‘militant’ becomes clearer form the discussion to follow.
It is with respect to building militant mass struggles that the campaigns such as the RTF hit the
roof. Let alone the organizations working for the physically challenged, single women, dalits and
those promoting breast feeding, which are all part of the RTF and are not likely to have an appeal
beyond their sectoral constituencies, even a trade union centre that is part of the Campaign talks
of building a “unity of the trade union movement on the basis of independence from government,
employers and political parties” (NTUI, 2009). Given the fact that the bulk of the organized
working class in the country is with the trade union centres affiliated to political parties, not only
such an orientation practically works at keeping the working masses divided over their bread and
butter issues, but it also seeks to detach them from the rich ideological heritage of the working
class movement in the country. Little wonder then that the major trade unions in the country
have kept themselves aloof from the activities of the Campaign.
Least to say, such a coalition of forces can hardly challenge the establishment’s apathy towards
the plight of the people in any meaningful way, especially if its leading lights have been lending
their credibility to the very establishment as members of the most notable advisory committees.
Above all this there is plenty of advice from them for the people. Even the “what to do” portions
of the primers on different food security schemes that are available at the RTF website are
nothing but exhortations for what the people can do to make things run better for themselves –
stuff like community organization for action, community awareness regarding their entitlements
or the Court’s rulings, education about nutritive value of foods, health melas, having kitchen
gardens, maintaining cleanliness and hygiene, and of course petitioning to the authorities about
what might be lacking.
All of this is definitely important and helpful for the efficient implementation of different
schemes; but the question is – is it for the lack of all this that India is home to the largest number
of hungry people in the World? One need only go to the people to know that it is the authorities
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that systematically and systemically fail these schemes. Few if any of the drawbacks of PDS
mentioned in the report of the Justice Wadhwa Committee are amenable to these ‘what to do’
prescriptions. How would these prescriptions oblige the authorities to ‘give me what is my
right?’
We are likely to be challenged on this by citing the number of agitational programs taken up by
the Campaign and its affiliate organizations to press for the various demands from the
government. Sure, but to what effect? There is no reason yet, to believe that any of these
programs have challenged the establishment to the detriment of its designs on tampering with
food security of the people.
Meanwhile, the country has been witness to a number of other kinds of people’s movements in
the past few years; most of which can be categorized under the umbrella of ‘anti-displacement
struggles’; struggles that have effectively stalled in their tracks the government’s policies of
furthering the loot of country’s resources or uprooting the livelihoods of the people in the name
of so called development. Examples are many starting with Singur or Nandigram in West
Bengal; anti-POSCO movement and the movement against the steel plant of the TATAs in
Kalinganagar or the successful struggle against the mining of bauxite by Sterlite group in
Niyamgiri; the movement of the tribal peasantry of Narayanpatna against the alienation from
their lands, all in Orissa; the struggles against setting up of nuclear power plants at Jaitapur in
Maharashtra and Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu or the struggle by tribals against State sponsored
vigilante groups like Salwa Judum unleashed with the purpose of opening up the mineral
resources in the forest area of central India. All of these movements have profound ramifications
for food security of the people in the respective areas. These movements enjoy no formal
recognition of the governments they confront; none of their leaders share the high table with
their tormentors and they are not the virtuous ‘opposition within’; rather some of these have been
labelled as extremist led or influenced.
The immediate demands in most of these aforementioned movements do not seek a radical
transformation of the society; rather the people involved there in seem to be asking the
government to leave them in their present condition rather than impose on them its model of
development. Yet, they have had to sacrifice lives to maintain status-co.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce ‘helplessly’ pleaded that foodgrain rather
be exported than let it rot in the go-downs (Mehdudia, 2011). Ironically such recommendations
come even as millions go hungry in the country. The sinister design is that most of the FCI
godowns are located in areas with excess foodgrain production. Had these godowns been located
in the pockets of hunger, the people would have readily spared the honourable parliament
members the helplessness of taking such unpleasant decisions by timely utilization of this grain.
In doing so they would only be implementing the Supreme Court orders to the effect that the
grain be distributed free; which the government refused to do.
PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER
We have deliberated above in quite some detail on the stand and the roles of the different sides in
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the debate on food security in the foregoing sections. The question is how we make sense of this
debate?
Even as the government prepares itself to sustain a high growth rate of the economy during the
12th Plan period by further intensifying the neo-liberal economic policy, it has often expressed its
commitment to an ‘inclusive growth.’ Though not in the actual life conditions of the people, this
idea of inclusive growth was consummated in the creation of the National Advisory Council
(NAC) which took onboard civil society activists to give it the flavour of an activist, action
oriented body seized with welfare of the people.
There are layers within layers in this whole arrangement. The NAC acts as an opposition to the
government; placing its own demands from it and even manages a standoff of sorts before
wilting under the spell of pragmatism and finally settling for much the same as what government
initially offered. This transition itself is played out over a long period and every stage of it hogs
due coverage, at least in the print media, until people are thoroughly confused over who is saying
what and yet the impression is that they are all concerned about removing hunger sooner than
later.
A section of the civil society that takes on the mantle of opposing and critiquing the changing
stance of the NAC as also the government. It does its homework well and is technically
impeccable in its critique. It even backs its words with demonstrative actions – dharnas,
demonstrations, conventions, academic consultations and the like.
The government, more often than not, does not decry the position of those opposed to its stand as
being flawed; invariably its stance is that their propositions are not feasible for one reason or the
other. These actors continue to define the boundaries within which the great Indian food security
debate revolves.
Given the kind of acceptance this caucus has as ‘the credible authority’ on issues of poverty,
food security, employment and health in the academic institutions, both within and outside the
country, in the academic journals, national and international donor agencies and technical bodies,
in the media, among the judiciary and different executive arms of the government; it becomes
near impossible to penetrate the boundaries of the debate set by them. Worse still, within the
caucus it is not the reform oriented civil society that sets the agenda for the debate; rather it is
the government which has kept two paces ahead of the rest. So when the rest are talking of
‘universalization’ and ‘increased quota’ of foodgrain, the government throws up the issue of
‘cash transfer’ which becomes the new talking point; a whole issue of a prestigious academic
journal was devoted to this. Such a debate becomes the veritable rat race in which the real issues
of the people are left far - far behind and ultimately lost.
As someone has said that the “opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference”; this caucus
maintains an eloquent indifference to the central question of the need for equal redistribution of
society’s resources as a precondition to eliminating poverty and hunger from the country. The
din of partial demands for PDS reform is kept up in the policy circles, the corridors of power,
among the academia and the public spaces in an effort to firmly establish that comprehensive
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PDS reform is equal to ensuring food security and conversely; ensuring food security is to ask
for implementation of comprehensive PDS reform. In the process the question of broader societal
change is sought to be sidelined.
Such tactics are nothing new and have been choreographed as and when the establishment has
felt the need for it regarding a high stakes issue. The last that this was resorted to was during
another highly contentious and raging debate in the development sector - ‘The Indian Poverty
Debate’ in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It would be worth quoting Utsa Patnaik on this:
“Many critical voices (Suryanarayana 1996, Mehta and Venkataraman 2000, Swaminathan 1999,
2002) which had continued to draw attention to the high prevalence of undernutrition and
malnutrition, to the secular decline in average rural calorie intake, to high direct poverty
estimates using reasonable calorie norms and which criticized the indirect estimates, have been
sought to be silenced by the pro-reform economists, by the simple expedient fo ignoring them
altogether. Not one critical author is referred to in the articles by those presenting their indirect
estimates at a Conference and later collecting them in a special issue of ‘The Economic and
Political Weekly’ tendentiously titled ‘Poverty Reduction in the 1990s’ (Deaton 2003a and
2003b, Tendulkar and Sundaram 2003 etc.)”(emphasis ours) (Patnaik, 2007).” The readers
should kindly take note of the names mentioned here.
Outside of this elite food security caucus there are other actors who impinge upon its actions –
the Supreme Court and the political parties of the opposition. The Supreme Court seeks to
occupy the high moral ground through its various pronouncements in the civil writ petition 196
of 2001 that seeks enforcement of the right to food. Not only have orders been passed that have
converted the provisions of different food security schemes into legally enforceable rights for
different sections of the population, but a new set up has also been created in the form of
Supreme Courts Commissioners on food security who assist the Court in the supervision of its
orders. These Commissioners are also the members of the NAC.
There are numerous reports of the Commissioners on implementation of the Courts orders and
investigations of hunger deaths, but unfortunately there is little data to show the extent to which
this exercise has led to ensuring the food security of the people by any conventional measure of
the term. In fact one of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court while participating in the
‘National Consultation on Developing Tools for Early Identification of Acute Hunger for
Effective Administrative Action’ organized at the Jawaharlal Nehru University on the 13 th of
May 2010 even remarked that as and when a situation of hunger stalking the people in a given
place is brought to the notice of the government through the office of the Commissioners,
subsequent visits to the place have only revealed a worsening of the situation.
The other element outside of this elite caucus are the political parties other than the ruling party,
who as we have already stated, largely satisfy themselves by scoring debating points against the
government and the ruling party while assiduously avoiding to build any sustained and militant
movement of the people against hunger, less to talk of bringing the core issue of ‘weakening the
few to empower masses’ to the forefront.
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This has been a long drawn out process and by the time of coming to its present stage, the
original definition of food security, by which the World knows it has been completely lost in the
public eye. It has been supplanted by a much dwarfed understanding that limits itself to asking
for reforms in the PDS alone. Dwarfing of the ‘concept’ leads to dwarfing of people’s
expectations or their understanding of what is possible. People can hardly fight for achieving
what they cannot even visualize.
This enables the establishment to manage people and their expectations with relative ease and
even go two steps ahead to further restrict the public purse for the poor. The official scaling
down of the poverty line by the Tendulkar Committee to a level of consumer expenditure that
would enable the people to consume only 1800 calories per day; both in rural and urban areas; as
against the previous cut off of 2400 calories for rural and 2100 calories for the urban areas, is a
case in the point.
All the exertions at fructifying even the partial demands notwithstanding, we are as yet nowhere
near to achieving the universalization of the PDS as it stood in 1997 before switching over to the
targeted PDS. Further, in the meeting of the full Commission held on the 15th of
September 2012, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia
expressed hope that “the exercise of cash transfer of subsidies would be completed by
March 2017” in line with “Finance Minister P. Chidambaram‟s suggestion with regard to cash
transfers pertaining to food, fuel and fertiliser subsidies” (The Hindu, 2012).
The government clearly has gone from one step to another bigger step to implement its agenda,
while those who have ostensibly been arguing the case of the poor and the hungry are still busy
mobilising the people (which most of the time fails to go beyond a limited circle of NGO
activists) for dharnas, demonstrations and other such programs to ask for implementation of PDS
reforms, and probably they shall continue doing this until the last man interested in a fight with
the rulers on the issue of food security leaves in frustration.
If at every stage the government has chosen to ignore the protestations of the civil society and go
ahead with its plans that are bound to put the people in greater distress should it not be expedient
for those fighting on the side of the people, to take their movement also to the next higher stage
of letting the people know of the true political character of their rulers and instead of being
perpetual pleaders, to join forces with other militant movements in the country that have been
steadfastly opposing government’s development policies, all of which have immense bearing on
the food security of the people. Idioms should be developed that shall help in aligning the fight
for food security with the issues being articulated by different peoples movements, among which
the anti-displacement struggles are the foremost.
However, the disillusion woven by the NGO agenda is far more sinister and attempts to pre-empt
any possibility of a real change that might put the system in crisis. The small, marginal or
landless peasants by far constitute the largest section of the people in the country engaged not
only in producing food but are also among the worst sufferers of food insecurity. Militant
mobilization of this section of people in mass struggles on their core demand of land reform
constitutes the axis of revolutionary change in the country. As and when such a mobilization has
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happened in the country, the ruling classes have come down heavily on such struggles; may it
have been the ‘Telangana Peasants Armed Struggle’ between 1946-51 against the feudal forces
in the Telangana region of the Andhra Pradesh State, the Naxalbari movement on the central
demand of – ‘Land to the Tiller’ or the ongoing ‘Operation Green Hunt’ in parts of Central and
Eastern India against the mobilization of the tribal peasantry under the leadership of communist
revolutionaries. The repression unleashed on such struggles has cost thousands of lives as the
ruling elite knows that these struggles can succeed only at the cost of undermining their social
and political base in the country. Even as the restiveness among the peasantry in different regions
of the country increases, the NGOs are rising up to the occasion in defence of the system by
trying to wean away the sections of the peasantry who constitute the core strength of the Indian
revolution.
In a recent move an NGO, ‘Ekta Parishad’ organized a 350 km long march of some 60 thousand
landless peasants gathered from across the country from Gwalior to Delhi. As per the Parishad’s
claims some 1 lakh peasants would have entered Delhi on 28th of October, 2012 to press for their
demands of homestead rights and fast track land tribunals for implementation of land reforms.
Unlike the peasant struggles mentioned above, this struggle had the Union Rural Development
Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh rushing to meet the leaders of the march at Agra while they were
still more than half way from their destination (Jebaraj, 2012a).
A successful deal clinched between the government and the March leaders through backroom
negotiations enabled the minister to declare - “The nation will get happy news from the city of
the Taj Mahal”, and indeed the next day’s newspaper headlines declared victory for the marchers
as an agreement was reached between the government and the Ekta Paraishad leaders. Whatever,
may well be the fate of this deal reached between these champions of landless peasants and the
government, it need be noted that “A similar padayatra (walk on foot) by Ekta Parishad five
years ago resulted in the setting up of a National Land Reforms Council. Headed by the Prime
Minister, and including Chief Ministers, that eminent body has not met even once” (Jebaraj,
2012a). Little wonder then that the representatives ranging from that of the Parliamentary Left to
the right wing parties, besides other NGO laureates were all eager to join the march. All of these
are equally united in their opinion that the communist revolutionary movement in this country
which has its mass base almost exclusively among the small, marginal and landless peasants, is
the biggest internal security threat to the country.
As to the enthusiasm of many of the landless peasants who took part in the March with high
hopes, the following comments by one participant from Tamil Nadu at the beginning and the end
of the March convey much more than what the Ekta Parishad leadership would have liked to
reveal. Malliga, a 35-year-old Paliyar tribal woman from Kodaikanal taluk in Tamil Nadu quoted
a Tamil proverb at the beginning of the March:
“I may not have very much in common with people from Madhya Pradesh or the
Northeast or Orissa, but I know that if one hand claps, it cannot be heard. But if
many hands clap, if we all join together, they will have to hear us” (Jebaraj,
2012b).
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By the time an agreement was reached at Agra and the March called off, Malliga was a dejected
woman. To the news of the agreement that promised 10 cents fo land to the landless for a
homested, she responded thus:
“What will I do with one-tenth of an acre? What can I grow on it? If I throw my
seeds on that land, can my children eat from it?”
Even if we presume that all the rural homeless will be given a plot for homestead (which has not
been possible till now) and land tribunals will be set up as promised in the agreement, does that
amount to implementing land reforms? Landless peasants like Malliga know it does not. And yet
demands like homestead and setting up of meaningless tribunals are fought under the banner of
struggle for ‘Land Reforms’ while actually sidelining the real land reforms by generating false
hopes through managed struggles that seek to deviate people from joining revolutionary
struggles.
In this respect the similarity between the NGO struggle for ‘Food Security’ and their struggle for
‘Land Reforms’ is not providential. Even as march for the landless was being organized, the
‘Right to Food Campaign’ has been busy organizing marches in different states for the enactment
of the ‘Right to Food Bill.’ Even as these marches have been on, the government has pushed
ahead with its agenda of opening up the economy to imperialist capital through two successive
rounds of reforms that will further undermine the livelihoods of the poor. It is undeterred by these
marches and yet has granted them respectability by way of agreements and saying all the nice
words that will help sustain disillusion woven by the NGOs / Civil Society in the service of the
ruling classes.
MAKING SENSE OF THE DEBATE
We would like to take a broadside at the debate; that is to say that – ‘Given the manner in which
it has been conducted by different constituents till now, the food security debate has furthered the
corporate agenda of controlling the food chains of the people in the country.’
If the first decade of the neoliberal economic reforms was about “Poverty reduction by
manipulation” (EPW, 1996) and the brazen ‘Shining India’ campaign to somehow prove the
success of the reforms; the actual results of the reforms have obliged the ruling establishment to
start talking of ‘Inclusive Growth’ during the second decade of the reforms, but without
jettisoning the reforms per se. The more the people shall be uprooted by the reforms, the more
shall be the need for their inclusion.
The title of the 12th Plan approach paper reads – ‘Faster, Sustainable and More Inclusive
Growth’ (Planning Commission, 2012). Actually, to maintain and increase their profits, even as
one sector after another is becoming sick, it is imperative for the big capital to open up newer
areas for loot of the country’s resources. The country’s natural resources are literally being given
away to the corporates as has been shown by the scams involving allocation of gas fields in the
Godavari basin to Reliance Group, the 2G scam and allocation of coal blocks to various
industrial houses for free. The recent volley of reforms in the retail and aviation sectors and
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disinvestment in a number of public sector undertakings are steps in this direction only. The
mandarins at the helm of affairs know very well that this will lead to pauperisation of more and
more people. The incumbent president and not until long ago, the finance minister of the country,
Pranab Mukherjee admitted that “Trickle down’ will not work in tackling poverty” (The
Telegraph, 2012). Hence, there shall be a greater need for handing out some relief / doles to the
millions adversely affected by these policies. This relief is being euphemistically called
‘inclusive growth.’
Hence the greater the depth and the expanse of neoliberal loot, the shriller are the voices calling
for ‘inclusive growth.’ The dominance of the ‘corporate media’ as a means of reaching out
information and moulding opinions in society at large, helps in projecting the slogan of
‘inclusive growth’ to the advantage of the ruling elite. While on one hand its seeks to blunt the
resentment against government’s policies, on the other, those who are pressing for more
inclusive social sector policies from outside the government, are portrayed as the champions of
‘Welfare State’ in the interest of the oppressed masses. In the process however, the real solutions
to the problems of the working masses are sought to be sidelined further.
THE IDEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF THIS WELFARISM
Beginning from the first tenure of the UPA government at the Centre, starting in 2004, few very
high profile social sector programs were launched viz. the ‘National Rural Health Mission’, the
‘Right to Information Act’, the ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’
and the under consideration ‘National Food Security Act.’ There is a need to look closely at the
genesis of these programs. As is the wont of policy formulation in much of the Third World, our
policies originate in the West; only their implementation is left to local governments, of course
with the able guidance of the Western multilateral and bilateral agencies.
Before aforementioned social sector initiatives were launched here, the need for ‘welfare
economics’ in the development policy paradigm was first realized in the West. This change in
mood in the Policy capitals of the world was signalled by bestowing Nobel Prize for economics,
first on our own Amartya K Sen in 1998 and then on Joseph Stiglitz in 2001, followed by
Muhammad Yuns of Bangladesh in 2006 and Paul Krugman in 2008. These are very important
names along with that of Jean Dreze with respect to the discussion in the following section.
Jean Dreze is a well known development economist and has co-authored books on issues of
poverty and hunger with Amartya Sen. Dreze has been member of Ms Sonia Gandhi led
‘National Advisory Council’ and is among the most acclaimed personalities in India in the fight
against hunger. He has been closely associated in guiding the ‘Right to Food Campaign’ for
legislation of a comprehensive ‘Right to Food Bill.’
According to one account, less than two years before Amartya Sen was finally given the Nobel
Prize for economics, a Calcutta professor had quizzed Prof Asar Lindbeck of the Nobel
economic committee in Stockholm regarding the reason for Amartya Sen being overlooked for
Nobel Prize in economics. Lindbeck’s reply, after considering the question with due seriousness,
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was a rather derisive one. He said – “much of Sen’s work was on the fringes of the subject called
economics” (Sen, 1998). Yet the rapidly evolving economic crisis in the financial markets and
the economic crisis in South Asia, Japan, China, South Korea and South East Asian economies in
1997-98 made Lindbeck’s of the West eat their own words. Voices from within the
establishment in America decried IMF as “ineffective, unnecessary and obsolete” (Passell,
1998). While the 1997 Noble in economics was give to America’s Robert Merton and Myron
Scholes for devising techniques that facilitated scientific speculation in hedge fund markets, the
meltdown in the world financial markets and several Asian economies with its attendant societal
implications brought a shift in focus among the bourgeoisie think tanks in the West from ‘market
worship’ to ‘welfare economics’ (Sen, 1998). Amartya Sen being the tallest figure in the field
then, became a natural choice for the 1998 Nobel Prize in economics. He was followed by the
Nobel Prize in economics being awarded to erstwhile chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph
Stiglitz (author of the much acclaimed book - Globalization and its Discontents) in 2001, then
Nobel Peace Prize to Bangladesh economist Muhammad Yunus (promoter of micro credit) in
2006 and another Keynesian economist (emphasizing the welfare function of the State) Paul
Krugman in 2008. All this happened even as the economic crisis of the mid and later 1990s fast
developed to unprecedented world economic crisis of 2008.
The important question to answer here is – did these luminaries represent an ‘alternative
economic paradigm’ to the reigning ‘economic philosophy’ or they represented more of a
‘cautionary voice’ within the reigning ‘economic philosophy’? Our focus here will be on
Amartya Sen whose pre-eminent stature as the ‘Indian expert on poverty, hunger and famines’
has had an overbearing influence on the recent welfare policy formulation in the country in
collaboration with Jean Dreze.
It is important to be noted that the running thread in the economic and the political philosophy of
all the aforementioned luminaries has been that none have actually repudiated the economic and
political process of ‘Globalization’ that has dominated the world economic and political scene
over more than last two decades. Broadly speaking, they consider ‘Globalization’ as unavoidable
and indeed desirable for the betterment of the world, provided adequate measures are taken to
shield the weaker sections of the society from its ill effects, including the need to go beyond and
proactively develop the economic, social, intellectual, cultural and political capabilities of all the
citizens such that they can partake in the process of globalization. There apparently is no
contradiction in the fact that a person can be the chief economist of the World Bank (the
organization most often blamed for the devastating impact of the ‘Globalization’ policies across
much of the world) and also be a critique of the ‘Globalization’ process.
Talking of ‘Globalization’ Amartya Sen takes a historical view of the process to begin with. He
says – “Over thousands of years, globalization has contributed to the progress of the world
through travel, trade, migration, spread of cultural influences, and dissemination of knowledge
and understanding (including that of science and technology). These global interrelations have
often been very productive in the advancement of different countries” (Sen, 2002). However,
except may be in case of a lunatic fringe, the contentions regarding globalization have not been
about its beneficial role and course over centuries, which any reasonable person would find
acceptable. For that matter, in the modern world history, it is the working class movement that
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has been the foremost bearer of Globalization, forthrightly calling for the unity of the world
proletariat irrespective of their national, ethnic and cultural boundaries. What need be addressed
here are the contentions regarding the current phase of ‘Imperialist Globalization.’ However, to
Sen imperialist nature is not the principle aspect of Globalization. He says – “Of course, there are
issues related to globalization that do connect with imperialism (the history of conquests,
colonialism, and alien rule remains relevant today in many ways), and a postcolonial
understanding of the world has its merits. But it would be a great mistake to see globalization
primarily as a feature of imperialism (emphasis ours). It is much bigger--much greater--than

that” (Sen, 2002).
Once the primarily imperialist nature of present Globalization process is denied, then the need to
oppose it on these grounds is also obviated; and the adverse consequences of the process,
howsoever daunting, are projected as mere distortions rather than as inevitable results thereof. In
fact Sen’s assertion regarding the present phase of what we would categorically call as
‘Imperialist Globalization’ goes much ahead – “Indeed, we cannot reverse the economic
predicament of the poor across the world by withholding from them the great advantages of
contemporary technology, the well-established efficiency of international trade and exchange,
and the social as well as economic merits of living in an open society. Rather, the main issue is
how to make good use of the remarkable benefits of economic intercourse and technological
progress in a way that pays adequate attention to the interests of the deprived and the underdog.
That is, I would argue, the constructive question that emerges from the so-called anti-
globalization movements” (Sen, 2002).
Thus in one swathe he has resolved questions regarding control over contemporary technology,
to whose advantage and at what cost to the environment and people (remember the widespread
displacement of people brought about in putting to use this ‘contemporary technology’); the
imbalances, restrictive practices, ruining livelihoods of millions of families in the developing
world and downright loot of the resources of the third world countries by the industrialized West
through “well-established efficiency of international trade and exchange” controlled by them.
One need only ask, and ask emphatically, how the ‘underdogs’ can make “good use of the
remarkable benefits of economic intercourse and technological progress” over which not only
that they do not have any control, but every effort is made to ensure that they cannot acquire
such capability anytime in near future through effective enforcement of regimens like ‘TRIPS’,
‘TRIMS’ and if need be, a necked use of brute force. The understanding that in a world where
relations between the nations continue to be defined by unabashed power play, and so long as
pursuit of private profit continues to guide the use of “economic intercourse and technological
progress”, the beneficial use of these processes for the betterment of humanity is impossible, is
nowhere reflected in his views on globalization. Sen does criticise some of the globalization
measures as being obstructive for creation of a more just society, but having given away on the
most fundamental contentions of ‘Imperialist Globalization’ one can have little to complain on
its natural outcomes.
Sen upholds the supremacy of markets. In his opinion – “Even though the operation of a given
market economy can be significantly defective, there is no way of dispensing with the institution
of markets in general as a powerful engine of economic progress” (Sen, 2002). It may be true
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that market guided economy may not be immediately dispensed with and indeed there might be a
need for market based exchange in some areas of trade between the nations for a long time to
come. Is market the only forum for commodity exchange between and within the nations? Is
there no feasibility of need based exchange, at least in the most fundamental of the human
wants? And if that indeed is the case, then one would expect a comment from the market
worshipers on the Socialist credo of – ‘from, to each according to his ability to each according to
his need.’
As we shall see later in the chapter, that market based exchange need not be the only way to
satisfy human wants. As the productive capabilities at the disposal of man enable us to satisfy the
needs of more and more people across the globe, every endeavour should be made to promote
human need as the basis of exchange of commodities. This all the more so when it concerns the
most fundamental need like food for the hundreds of millions across the globe who are unable to
constitute themselves effectively as part of markets, simply for the lack of purchasing power?
Sen however holds that defective market outcomes could be influenced by “public policies in
education, epidemiology, land reform, microcredit facilities, appropriate legal protections, et
cetera; and in each of these fields, there is work to be done through public action that can
radically alter the outcome of local and global economic relations.” In fact it is the shared vision
of ‘public action’ as a solution to the problems of market failure or development apathy that
sustains academic collaboration between Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze. A fuller exposition of this
vision is to be found in their book titled ‘Hunger and Public Action’ wherein they define public
action as “not merely the activities of the state, but also social actions taken by members of the
public – both ‘collaborative’ (through civic cooperation) and ‘adversarial’ (through social
criticism and political opposition.................But the reach of public action goes well beyond the
doings of the state, and involves what is done by the public – not merely for the public. We also
argue that the nature and effectiveness of the activities of the state can deteriorate very easily in
the absence of public vigilance and activism” (Sen & Dreze, 1989, Preface). Such fine words,
and yet, so simplistic in their assumptions.
Public is as though a homogenous mass of people, without divisions of class that make them take
different views on public policies to suite their class interests; or divisions of nationality,
ethnicity, gender, race, region, religion and caste that are so commonly used to keep the working
masses divided so as to dissipate their class consciousness. The state is as though a neutral power
rather than a coercive apparatus of class rule. In the world view of Sen and Dreze there seems to
be infinite malleability of the State in adopting policies privileging the interests of the most
marginalized, provided of course this homogenous public can be spurred into action to demand
such policies.
All of this can be said only by way of inference; the distinguished duo can always dismiss the
inference as imaginary. However, the entire debate on ‘Food Security’ in India that we have
traced above does tend to prove our inferences to be right. At least the debate certainly does not
acknowledge the fundamental conflict between the interests of India’s ruling elite and those of
India’s poor and hungry.
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It is not without reason that Sen’s economic contribution is said to lie in enhancing the
“neoclassical notion of welfare by including rights and liberties, and more egalitarian notions of
fairness” (Vakulabharanam & Motiram, 2000). “While far from Marxist, his political leanings
are definitely left of the mainstream economic tradition. Thus, though he has never explicitly
rejected the capitalist mode of production, in many of his writings he mocks at a vulgar
extension of market logic and egoistic behaviour into every aspect of human existence. In this
manner of being an “internal” critic of the mainstream tradition he has brought issues of
starvation, famines, poverty and human development into the very heart of a remarkably callous
economic tradition (Vakulabharanam & Motiram, 2000). However, it must be stated

emphatically that in their theorization both Sen and Dreze do not reject the basic premises of the
present social, economic and political system. Hence, public action informed by such theory
cannot but revolve within the structural limits imposed by the system.
Conservatism in theory cannot keep conservatism in policy far behind, its liberal form can at best
be misleading. In the debate on poverty trends during the years of neoliberal economic reforms
in India Angus Deaton, who has been a close associate of Dreze has sided with the claims of the
ruling establishment that the reforms have led to decline in poverty levels in India (Deaton 2003a
and 2003b) In what can be considered to be supportive of Angus Deaton’s thesis on poverty
reduction, we have already noted in chapter 2 that as against the contention that the falling levels
of per capita calorie consumption are a direct result of the rising poverty levels in the country,
Deaton and Dreze have eminently argued that there is not enough evidence to support this
hypothesis. Instead in face of the evidence to the contrary, they go on to discuss various other
factors being responsible for this decline (Deaton and Dreze 2009; 2010) in calorie consumption
which have been shown by us not to withstand the test of available facts.
Likewise, talking of the moves for industrialization of Bengal (read the Singur and the
Nandigram anti-displacement movements) by the erstwhile CPM government of West Bengal,
Amartya Sen told the ‘The Telegraph’ in an interview – “Ultimately, those who want to prevent
industrialisation of Bengal do not look enough at the interest of the people of the state. They may
intend well, but they are not serving the interest of Bengal’s working class or peasantry. The
prosperity of the peasantry in the world always depends on the number of peasants going down.
That is the standard experience in the world” (The Telegraph, 2007). It is difficult to say if the
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh took his cue from Sen in telling the journalists at his residence
that – “there is no such thing as a free lunch. India has no option but to industrialise,” he said.
“The only way we can raise our heads above poverty is for more people to be taken out of
agriculture” (Varadarajan, 2010). Nonetheless, Sen’s statement is remarkable in more ways than
one – he simplistically paints people either as pro-industrialization or anti-industrialization;
people’s experience of how industrialization has served them till now; their apprehension
regarding loss of their livelihoods, especially given the fact of nearly jobless growth over the
decades of neoliberalization ought not to matter in their decision to support or oppose the
industrialization moves of the government. Coming as it does from a person of his stature, such
a comment by Sen cannot be regarded as a casual comment and serves to dilute his contribution
in expanding the “neoclassical notion of welfare by including rights and liberties.”
Thus in the ultimate analysis the Samaritans of the civil society and their ideologues exerting
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themselves to mitigate the pangs of hunger from India can at best be described in the words of
Marx and Engels as ‘Bourgeois Socialists.’ They said in ‘The Communist Manifesto’ - “A part
of the bourgeoisie is desirous of redressing social grievances in order to secure the continued
existence of bourgeois society. To this section belong economists, philanthropists,
humanitarians, improvers of the condition of the working class, organisers of
charity..........................hole-and-corner reformers of every imaginable kind. This form of

socialism has, moreover, been worked out into complete systems.................................. The
Socialistic bourgeoisie want all the advantages of modern social conditions without the struggles
and dangers necessarily resulting there from. They desire the existing state of society, minus its
revolutionary and disintegrating elements” (Marx and Engles, 1848).
The series of social sector programs and schemes launched by the government during the tenure
of the UPA government have been directed more at blunting the opposition to government’s
policies rather than being reflective of a genuine desire on part of the ruling elite to ameliorate
the difficulties of the people. This is amply evident in the fact that, despite the evident adverse
impact of the neoliberal policies, the government is going ahead with further intensifying their
implementation and introduction newer policies, while at the same time the implementation of
the social sector schemes leave much to be desired. The most likely reason behind the social
sector initiatives seems to be that the rulers are aware that when the consequences of their
policies become too disconcerting for the people to bear, the likelihood of their getting attracting
towards more radical solutions also increases. The number of militant struggles against the
‘economic policies’ being pursued by governments at the Centre and several states and the
spectre of ‘left wing insurgency’ continuing to haunt the government bear testimony to this.
However, the leopard cannot change its spots to become a sheep; in order to deepen its loot of
country’s resources in collaboration with their imperialist masters; the country’s rulers cannot
but intensify the implementation of neoliberal policies. Under the circumstances, the social
sector reforms that promise the moon but deliver nothing more than crumbs to the oppressed, is
perceived by the ruling elite as the best way out. Viewed this way, MNREGA does not just
remain a poverty alleviation program, but it serves the function of aborting land reforms from
coming centre stage on the country’s development agenda.
Under the circumstances, those indulging in single minded pursuit of a ‘welfare policy regimen’
at the cost of a revolutionary transformation of the society, forget a very important lesson of
history, that – the western conceptualization of a ‘Welfare State’ also came into being when the
oppressed masses first established a socialist state in the Soviet Union. The need to wean away
their own workers from embarking on a more direct and resolute path became even stronger after
World War II when more than a third of the globe turned red. The radical land reforms in Japan,
South Korea and Taiwan after World War II, which laid the foundation for developing
industrialized economies in these countries, were carried out under the tutelage of American
agricultural economist Wolf Ladejinsky only when post revolution China and North Korea had
implemented thorough going land reforms. Even that one prized attribute of developed
bourgeoisie democracies – ‘universal suffrage’ was made universal in many countries only when
it was first granted as an inalienable right in the Soviet Union.
It is worth quoting noted American sociologist Prof James Petras here:

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“Immediately following the defeat of fascist-capitalist regimes with the defeat of Nazi Germany,
the Soviet Union and its political allies in Eastern Europe embarked on a massive program of
reconstruction, recovery, economic growth and the consolidation of power, based on far-reaching
socio-economic welfare reforms. The great fear among Western capitalist regimes was that the
working class in the West would “follow” the Soviet example or, at a minimum, support parties
and actions which would undermine capitalist recovery. Given the political discredit of many
Western capitalists because of their collaboration with the Nazis or their belated, weak
opposition to the fascist version of capitalism, they could not resort to the highly repressive
methods of the past. Instead, the Western capitalist classes applied a two-fold strategy to counter
the Soviet collectivist-welfare reforms: Selective repression of the domestic Communist and
radical Left and welfare concessions to secure the loyalty of the Social and Christian Democratic
trade unions and parties” (James Petras, 2012).
Today the most fundamental tenets of a ‘Welfare State’ are crumbling in the West. In India
‘Welfare State’ has never been anywhere comparable to that in the Western bourgeoisie
democracies, let alone the erstwhile socialist countries of Eastern Europe, Soviet Union or
socialist countries of the third world viz China, Cuba and Vietnam. Add to this the comprador
character of the Indian bourgeoisie and the feudal class that is happy expediting the loot of the
country’s resources and its people in partnership with the imperialist bourgeoisie of the West.
That all sections of the ruling classes are broadly united on the questions of economic policies
was once again evident in their response to the UPA government’s brazen policy initiatives to
throw up multi-brand retail to FDI, allow foreign investment in aviation and increase it further in
insurance sector and disinvestment in public sector undertakings. The various opposition parties,
including the parliamentary Left made much noise about this set of reforms, but backed off from
bringing down the government or coming out with a sustained plan for a determined agitation
against such policies.
Under such circumstances what makes the civil society leaders believe that their appeals for
compassion, concession and relief for the poor from the government would succeed, except of
course a situation where these partial demands are raised as part of an overarching struggle for
societal change that is prepared to confront the ruling classes and their State power by large scale
mobilization of the oppressed masses. It is only through such a political process that one can
hope for conditions to obtain in the society where the poorest of the poor can realize their due.
Public action has to be guided by a Revolutionary Politics rather than limit itself within the
boundaries defined by the rulers.
There are examples from different parts of the world where such changes were attempted with
varying levels of success. For reasons of the size of their populations and the enormity of the
developmental challenges faced by both India and China in 1947 and 1949 respectively, it would
be worth tracing their development histories with respect to satisfying the most basic human
want – food.
CHINA AND INDIA; SIMILAR CHALLENGES BUT DIVERSE WAYS

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An argument in favour of comprehensive and equitable redistribution of societal resources, of

which land reforms are an integral part, has been the running thread in this book. But at a time
when fashionable preaching of reactionary economic and development policies, even by the Left
section of the mainstream polity, has gained ascendency, it might be difficult for the readers to
comprehend the real import of and the possibilities that our argument holds in store for the
overall welfare of the people in India, especially in so far as securing their food security is
concerned.
We present here some of the experiences of the Peoples Republic of China, where the kind of
land reforms that we have argued for were carried out throughout China after the revolution in
1949. A comparison is also presented between achievements of India and China in both food
production and consumption, as also the overall welfare of the people.
The Peoples Republic of China was established in 1949 after the Communist Party of China
under the leadership of Com Mao Zedong established a people’s democracy in the country after
defeating the comprador bourgeoisie represented by the Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) that
was led by the military dictator Gen Chiang Kai Shek. As for the revolutionary classes in China,
these comprised of the peasantry, the working class and the nationalist bourgeoisie. However, the
peasantry constituted the bulk of the revolutionary forces mobilized by the Chinese Communist
Party and in this sense the Chinese revolution was a ‘New Democratic Revolution’ where, unlike
in the West, the task of vanquishing feudalism and establishing bourgeoisie democracy as a
transitory phase towards establishing socialism was performed by the alliance of the peasantry
and the working classes, led by the working class, The country wide mobilization of the
oppressed working masses and their control over the State power through the Communist Party
after the revolution facilitated a radical and equitable distribution of the society’s productive
resources of which land reforms were primary. This removed gross disparities between social
classes in the Chinese society and led to more equal opportunity for China’s working masses for
their social, economic and political development.
As opposed to this the political process of transition of State power from the British colonialists
to their Indian acolytes (who as we have already seen are now emboldened enough to openly
praise the so called beneficial effects of colonial rule) was anything but capture of the State
power by the hundreds of millions of impoverished Indians or political forces representative of
their class. India’s Constituent Assembly was not a body elected through universal suffrage;
much less, it was indirectly elected by the members of the provincial legislative assemblies, who
in their turn were elected by an electorate that constituted only upper class Indians as per the
1909 ‘Indian Councils Act’ of the British Parliament, also referred to as the ‘Morley-Minto
Reforms.’ Just to give an idea how ridiculously unrepresentative the size of this electorate was, it
may be noted that the total electorate in the 1934 General Elections held for the ‘Central
Legislative Assembly’ in British India was a mere 1,415,892 (Hansard, 1942). More than a third
of the Constituent Assembly members were nominated from the erstwhile princely states.
The Constitution that was drafted by the Constituent Assembly and took effect on the 26 th of Jan
1950, heavily borrowed its provisions from the ‘Government of India Act, 1935.’ Writing about
the ‘Constitution of India’, Padma Bhushan awardee, Prof. M V Pylee says – "The makers of the
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Indian Constitution drew..........especially much from the British-made Government of India Act
of 1935. Thus the Constitution of India is the result of considerable imitation and adaptation
rather than of originality." He says further – "The Constitution derives directly from the
Government of India Act, 1935, many of its provisions almost verbatim." It should be least
surprising then that the current Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh finds reason in lavishing
praise on lessons learnt from the British.
Unlike the Western bourgeoisie democracies the Parliament in India was not established as a
result of the popular upsurge of the people against the erstwhile rulers. The fabled Parliamentary
democracy of India was established from above under British tutelage, through the acts of their
parliament – the Indian Councils Act, 1909; the Government of India Act, 1919 and the
Government of India Act, 1935. This gradual and controlled process of establishing the
parliamentary form of government in India went hand in hand with co-opting the Indian elite in
the evolving system of governance. Over the years, the necked power play backed by money and
muscle power of the dominant classes, the Representative Parliamentary Democracy has become
more and more non-representative of the aspirations of India’s labouring masses.
Whatever else may be the import of these facts; it is clear that such a transition of State power
was least amenable to equitable distribution of societal resources to leverage the interests of the
overwhelming majority of impoverished Indians. The development strategy followed by India’s
ruling elite post 1947 has primarily enriched their interests. This of course left enough scope for
pacifying the working masses by doling out some concessions, while at other times unleashing
brutal repression on their political mobilization and movements for seeking a more just society.
Thus while in China the largely egalitarian social structure resulting from the policies adopted by
the revolutionary government after 1949 laid down the basis for a more equitable distribution of
the fruits of development; in India such egalitarianism was resorted to only in rhetoric and
resisted in policy. The socio-economic disparities between different sections in the country have
only increased. So much so that even during the phase of ‘Green Revolution’ which is said to
have made India self sufficient in food, it is only the propertied sections among the peasantry
that benefited, while the small peasants in the green revolution areas got further marginalized
(Chowdhury, 1970; Jacoby, 1972).
The current phase of imperialist globalization is only worsened the socioeconomic inequities in
India (Weiskopf, 2011).
THE CHINESE PATH
In 1949 China had 22 percent of the world population to feed in 1950 with just about 5 percent
of the Earth’s water resources and about 7 percent of its arable land (Zhang, 2011). While India
had 14.2 percent of the world population in 1950 with second largest arable land mass after the
U.S. but only 4 percent of the world’s renewable water resources (GOI, 2012). (Government of
India (2012): Draft National Water Policy (2012) as Recommended by National Water Board in
its 14th Meetomg Held on 7th June, Ministry of Water Resources.) Table 1 gives the comparison
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between China and India as regards these parameters. These comparisons apart, both the
countries faced immense problems of poverty, a backward economy predominantly based on
agriculture, lack of industrialization and massive morbidity and mortality due to infectious
diseases.
TABLE 1: COMPARISON OF ARABLE LAND AND WATER RESOURCES OF CHINA

AND INDIA
Country Arable land TRWR Dependency ratio

per capita (actual per capita (%)
(hectares per person) (m3/ year inhabitant)
China 0.08 2258 0.6
India 0.13 1880 33.9
Source: Figures for arable land have been obtained from the World Bank data from the World
Bank website. Figures for total renewable water resources (TRWR) and the dependency ratio of
renewable water resources have been obtained from ‘Review of world water resources by
country, FAO, Rome, 2003.
Note: Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double
cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for nowing of for asture, land under
market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting
cultivation is excluded.
DEPENDENCY RATIO: That part of the total renewable water resources originating outside
the country.
Famines, big and small were a common occurrence in China. In the following passage Chen
describes the scene that was not atypical of a Chinese village:
“.........the annual spring famine, after the winter stores were eaten, merged into
summer starvation that reduced animals and humans to walking skeletons of dried
skin and bones. Without stamina to resist such hardships, the children and old
folks died first and the able bodied grew steadily weaker and more debilitated.
Then, just as in times of flood, there were the same agonising questions or fateful
decisions. Flee or stay? Sow a crop and chance that the rain would come in time
and nourish it? Or chance it on the road, eating up your seed grain and then go
begging?” (Chen, 1973).
Lack of industrialization and a predominantly agrarian economy meant that surplus to be

ploughed into development of other sectors of the economy had to come from agriculture. This
could only have put additional burden on land apart from feeding the hungry millions.
Soon after the revolution the Communist Party of China (CPC) undertook extensive land reforms
between late 1940s and 1952 which transformed China’s land and income distribution system,
thereby bringing forth the production initiative of the Chinese peasantry. This was reflected in
339
the rapid improvements in food production as also the dietary intakes of the Chinese (Wang,
1993). However, the average size of the landholding being too small, meant that the produce
from the land was not enough to mitigate the hunger of most of the peasant families let alone
generate surplus for the country’s industrial development.
Unlike the Indian rulers, who see the solution for the sickness in Indian agriculture to lie in
taking more and more people out of land and promoting contract farming by big landlords or
companies, the CPC had different plans for its agriculture. After land reforms, the CPC under
Mao moved quickly on the collectivization of agriculture. More than 100 million farm
households joined collectives between 1954 and 1956. A further consolidation of collectivization
process was in the formation of ‘rural people’s communes’ with the beginning of 1958
(Riskin, 1986).
Apart from inputting modern technology such as machinery and fertilizers, the Chinese
government sought to maximise the use of organic manure and concentrated on the organization
and maximum utilization of human labour which was one resource that was available in plenty,
in projects such as bringing newer lands under cultivation and on farm activities (Croll, 1983,
45). Even at the cost of repetition we would like to emphasize the following information from a
1981 World Bank report, purely for the stark contrast in which it stands to the ‘taking people out
of agriculture’ kind of approach of the Indian rulers and eminent economists. As is evident from
table 2, not only did China consistently add labour force to its agricultural sector at the rate of 2
percent per annum, but also registered a handsome increase in net agricultural output and net
output per worker (World Bank, 1981).
TABLE 2: GROWTH RATES OF NET OUTPUT, LABOUR FORCE AND

PRODUCTIVITY IN AGRICULTURE, 1953-79 (% P.A.).
Years Net output Labour force Net output per

worker
1952 – 57 4.9 2.2 2.6
1957 – 77 1.6 2.1 -0.5
1977 – 79 9.4 1.0 8.3
1952 - 79 2.7 2.0 0.7
Source: World Bank (1981).
It need be mentioned here that in India and other developing countries that share similar social,
economic or political structure, the limited extent to which land reforms have been implemented,
were not accompanied by any substantive support through credit, marketing and other technical
support to make the small and marginal farms viable. Resultantly, whatever land was distributed,
much of it ended up being back with the landed gentry. Contrary to this, post land reforms, in
China the peasants were encouraged to pool in their resources and labour; thus the unit of
production was sought to be moved from a household to a production team which was the lowest
level of collectivization unit. This in itself was a very laudable social goal. Collective production
undermined the material basis of seeking
340
Journal of Asian Research Consortium 341
AJRSH
Volume 3, Issue 5 (May, 2013)
ISSN 2249-7315
Source: Figure 8 In ‘The Porcelain Bowl: Food Consumption in Republican China’ In ‘The
Family Rice Bowl; Food and Domestic Economy in China’, UNRISD and Zed Press, London,
1983: p 48.
individual rewards, meaning thereby that individual’s wellbeing becomes integral to collective
well being of the people. This went hand in hand with means of collective consumption; for
examples workers were encouraged to eat in large communal halls managed by the communes
(Millman, 1990).
With collectivization the surplus labour was utilized in the construction of communal facilities
on the Communes. The peasant collectives supervised the allocation of different agricultural
inputs, the credits as well as marketing. Unlike a market driven system where it is the purchasing
power of the affluent sections that decides the nature of production, in socialist China “certain
staple foods were excluded from the market and distributed at least partly according to the need”
(Croll, 1983, 5). As opposed to the Sen’s advocacy of market based exchange as being the most
efficient means for increasing peoples’ access to commodities, the socialist China did attempt to
bring in the concept of need based exchange,
free from vagaries of market. The storage and redistribution of surplus foods was undertaken by
either the commune or the State. Besides production and distribution of food, the Communes
also played a pivotal role in the industrialization of rural China with industries producing
chemical fertilizers, agricultural machinery, cement etc being set up in Communes. Thus the
surplus agricultural labour was absorbed into these industries (Chen, 2009). This again stands out
in sharp contrast to the prescriptions of our rulers to take people out of agriculture irrespective of
whether alternative employment is generated for them or not.
The Figure 1 above depicts different levels of food production in the National Food System of
342
China and their respective functions. Once collectivization of food production was realized, the
production team was recognized as the basic accounting unit in which the distribution of income
was done through a work point system. There were two kinds of work points – one that were
given on the basis of the ability and the skill of the worker and were to be realized by the worker
by putting in a day’s work. Another kind of work point was given according to the nature of the
task performed. A relative parity was maintained vis-a-vis the total work points earned by
different households by giving different tasks to the different members of the family such that
there is no gross disparity in the distribution of income. Privileging egalitarianism in income and
distribution minimized the social friction that differential entitlements could have produced. In
fact the State put caps on personal income as a matter of policy.
At the harvest time the total income of the production team was calculated by deducting from the
value of the total produce, the anticipated production cost, agricultural tax, contribution towards
fund for purchase of capital inputs and that towards the welfare fund for indigent members in the
production team households. Income thus derived was divided by the total work points earned by
the team members to determine the cash value of each work point (Riskin, 1986).
Until collectivization, the compulsion for survival itself constituted a potent incentive for
production in private farming. However, the work point system under collectivised production
obviated such incentives. At the same time the work point system did not entail any immediate
individual payoff that would prove to be a bigger incentive compared to for example doing a task
with highest work points. The ultimate reward under the work point system could come only
through the “values of cooperation and collective solidarity” in the process of production. Hence,
the effectiveness of the work point system in a production team “depended on the quality of team
leadership and on the general social and political environment that shaped and limited team
operations” (Riskin, 1986). In our opinion this implied that increasing production was more than
a technological question; it required revolutionary politics to be kept in command; a need that
was thoroughly repudiated by China’s rulers after 1979, the time when communes were
dissolved and family responsibility system was introduced instead.
Two methods of grain distribution were followed in the communes – one, known as the ‘basic
grain’ in which grain was distributed for every individual member of the family based on the age
and sex of the family members. Grain thus distributed was debited from the family’s account
with the collective. Basic grain had to be paid for at the time of post harvest settling of family’s
account with the collective. The second component of the family grain was based on the total
work-points earned by the family and therefore depended on the earning power of the family in
the production team. Different communes privileged one or the other method of grain
distribution; thus communes emphasizing the ‘basic grain’ method, had a more equitable
distribution of food among households (Riskin, 1986).
As girls were married out of the village, the elderly parents were taken care of by the sons.
Households of elderly members not having sons, or a household having a higher dependency
ratio were termed “five guarantees” or “hardship” household. The commune provided for such
elderly people by guaranteeing their food, clothing, housing, medical care and burial expenses.
343
In case of ‘hardship’ households a sideline employment and a plot of land as means of

supplementary income were provided (Riskin, 1986).
The commune system also epitomised a model of democracy in the matters of most immediate
concern to the people. For example, the production team leaders were not State bureaucrats or
officials who exercised all control over the production teams and its decisions without being
answerable to them. Riskin writes – the team leaders were “paid out of team income. Like other
commune cadres but more so, they owed their success not only to the ability to satisfy higher
authorities, but also to their rapport with the villagers. The degree to which rural leaders
exercised development initiative and also protected their constituents from the more arbitrary
demands of the higher levels has probably been underestimated in recent indictments of the
commune system” (Riskin, 1986).
One criticism that has been levelled against the commune is that – it being the lowest level of
State administration and at the same time a collective economic organization, rendered a
commune and thereby the peasants liable to dictates from the State (Riskin, 1986). However, one
has to take a nuanced view of this criticism, for there has to be a mechanism for the State to get
through its decisions in a planned economy down to the lowest level. Additionally, while the
commune may be competent to take decisions regarding production commensurate with its
economic and social interests, but a commune may have inherent limitations in taking a view of
the regional and national priorities that can best be adjudicated by regional and national level
bodies of the State and the CPC. Almost every government in different countries reserve unto
themselves administrative and economic mechanisms to get decisions implemented in
accordance with their priorities. But this certainly does not happen in every country that the local
communities get to elect their local administrators / bureaucracy and that such administrators
exercise their power only so long as they enjoy the confidence of their constituency as seemed to
be the case with communes in China.
CHINA AND INDIA: COMPARATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS IN FOOD SECURITY
The commune system in China may appear ideal, but it would add up to little worth if it failed to
create the material basis to provide for the people’s needs. It shall be our attempt in this section
to compare the achievements of China and India in terms of food production and the consequent
human wellbeing.
FIG 2: COMPARISON OF TOTAL ARABLE AREA BETWEEN CHINA AND INDIA

SINCE 1961
344
FIG 3A: TOTAL CEREALS PRODUCTION IN CHINA AND INDIA SINCE 1961
FIG 3B: AVERAGE YIELD FOR ALL CEREALS IN CHINA AND INDIA SINCE 1961
FIG 4A: VARIATION IN TOTAL COARSE GRAIN PRODUCTION IN CHINA AND

INDIA SINCE 1961
345
FIG 4B: AVERAGE YIELD FOR ALL COARSE GRAINS IN CHINA AND INDIA
SINCE 1961
FIG 5A: VARIATION IN TOTAL OIL CROPS PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN CHINA

AND INDIA SINCE 1961
FIG 5B: AVERAGE YIELD OF OIL CROPS IN CHINA AND INDIA SINCE 1961
346
FIG 6A: VARIATION IN TOTAL PRODUCTION OF PULSES IN CHINA AND INDIA

SINCE 1961
FIG 6B: AVERAGE YIELD OF TOTAL PULSES IN CHINA AND INDIA SINCE 1961
FIG 7A: VARIATION IN TOTAL PRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES AND MELONS IN

CHINA AND INDIA SINCE 1961
347
FIG 7B: AVERAGE YIELD OF VEGETABLES AND MELONS IN CHINA AND INDIA
SINCE 1961
Source: Figures 2 to 9b in this section are based on the FAO data for China and India. Since data
prior to 1961 is not available with FAO, hence the data comparison is done beginning with the
year 1961. Note: K = thousand, M = Million, Hg = Hectogram and Ha = Hectare.
Figures 3a to 7b very categorically tell the story of productivity of Chinese and Indian
agriculture both in terms of total production and the yields. For most of the commodities to begin
with China and India were very close in total production, with China having slightly higher level
of production except for oil crops and vegetables and melons. However, in subsequent years the
gap between China and India has progressively increased both in total production as well as
yields. In fact for coarse cereals, oil crops and pulses the yields in India have remained almost
stagnant. It is only in case of pulses that the total production in China has decreased
progressively even though the yields have remained much higher than those in India. As we shall
see shortly, the reason why production of pulses has decreased in China seems to be because of
the fact that a large part of the dietary protein requirement of the Chinese has come to be met
with by consumption of animal products. However, the yields of pulses in China have remained
consistently higher than in India. It is worry some that the overall production as also the yields of
pulses has more or less remained stagnant in India, despite the fact that pulses are the most
important source of dietary protein for a large number of Indians.
While China consistently increased the production as also the yields of coarse cereals as an
important source of dietary energy, in India the graph for overall production as also the yields of
coarse cereals has remained almost flat. This is so inspite of the fact that a large part of India’s
arable land mass is much more amenable to growing the hardy coarse cereals due to deficiency
of water resources. One reason for this neglect of coarse cereals apart from the fact that the
government itself encouraged the shift to input intensive varieties of wheat and rice appears to be
the gross disparity of purchasing power between the rich and the poor. Wheat and rice are the
preferred cereals of the well to do sections and as they form the effective market for food grains,
348
the production of food grains gets tilted towards these two corps. However, the fact that the
government has not privileged coarse cereals even for distribution through the public distribution
network, has cost the country a viable mechanism for increasing the consumption and thereby
the demand for coarse / nutri-cereals.
The productivity of Chinese agriculture becomes all the more impressive compared to that of
India because of the fact that China’s arable land mass has consistently remained much lower to
that of India as shown in Fig. 2. Even the fabled ‘Green Revolution’ does not seem to have
helped much to increase the overall productivity of cereals in India.

FIG 8A: TOTAL PER CAPITA PER DAY CALORIES CONSUMED IN CHINA SINCE
1961
FIG 8B: TOTAL PER CAPITA PER DAY CALORIES CONSUMED IN INDIA SINCE
1961
349
Figures 8a and 8b show the trends in the total dietary energy consumption since 1961 in China
and India. In 1961 the average total dietary energy consumption in China was far lower than in
India due to the famine that lasted in China from 1959 to 1961. However, thereafter while we see
a consistent and stable rise in total dietary energy consumption in China, in case of India not only
is the total dietary energy consumption a good 30 percent less than that of China in 2009, but the
increase over the years has been very unstable, including during the years of ‘Green Revolution’
powered increase in production of wheat and rice.
FIG 9A: PER CAPITA PER DAY DIETARY CALORIES DERIVED FROM CEREALS
IN CHINA AND INDIA SINCE 1961
FIG 9B: PER CAPITA PER DAY DIETARY ENERGY DERIVED FROM ANIMAL
PRODUCTS IN CHINA AND INDIA SINCE 1961
350
It is noteworthy that under the impact of the famine of 1959-61 China’s per capita per day
calorie consumption from both cereals and animal products in 1961 was less than that of India,
with the former being as much as 66.7 percent less than that of India. Inspite of the fact that the
pre-famine dietary energy consumption levels could not be reached in China until the beginning
of the seventies, the progress thereafter has been impressive, especially with regard to the
consumption of calories from animal products.
Here there are lessons to be learnt by Indian policy wizards as regards the true meaning of
‘diversification of diets.’ We have dealt with the ‘diversification of diets’ controversy in the
context of falling overall dietary energy consumption. The argument of some of the pro-
establishment economists has been that the people in India have been opting for higher
consumption of high value calories even at the cost of overall decline in the daily dietary energy
consumption (as against the FAO Food Balance Sheets, the NSSO data shows that average per
capita per day calorie consumption has been declining in India). Table 3 gives the changes in per
capita per day dietary energy consumption from different sources of dietary energy between
1961 and 2009.
TABLE 3: CHANGES IN PER CAPITA PER DAY DIETARY ENERGY

CONSUMPTION FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES OF DIETARY ENERGY BETWEEN
1961 AND 2009
Dietary
energy Country 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2009
source
209
India 112 107 123 155 181
Animal (86.6%)
products 694
China 56 125 177 329 565
(519.6%)
63
Fruits India 30 31 31 34 45
(110%)
excluding
81
wine China 6 6 10 20 52
(170%)
46
India 25 29 32 34 45
(84%)
Vegetables
205
China 60 36 42 70 158
(241.7%)
351
1318
Cereals India 1270 1278 1338 1468 1332
(3.8%)
excluding
1447
beer China 807 1209 1470 1546 1523
(14%)
Source: Compiled from data available at FAOSTAT Food Balance Sheets.
Note: The figures in parenthesis are percentage rise in dietary energy from the given source as
compared to the base year 1961. With the exception of vegetables where China’s consumption
was more than that of India in 1961, figures for India in 1961 have been taken as the base for
China as well because due to the famine conditions in China in 1961, its own figures for the base
year would be exceptionally low.
China’s average per capita per day calorie consumption as of 2009 is still only 3000 calories
which is still much lower than 3,688 calories for U.S.; its movement in the direction of
diversification of diets has meant as huge an increase of 519.6 percent in calories from animal
products, while those from fruits and vegetables have increased by 170 and 242 percent
respectively. The increases from the same dietary sources in case of India are much too modest
to sustain the claim of diversification of diets, especially as the number of people going hungry
continues to be the highest in the world in absolute terms.
IMPACT ON HUMAN WELFARE
We could not get comparable data for both India and China for parameters like incidence and
prevalence of infectious diseases, the infant mortality rates or levels of malnutrition etc to
compare the impact of the level of food security in both the countries. However, Riskin (1987)
describes the impact of food production and distribution in post-revolution China in the
following words:
“Rationing, an ethic of relative equality as well as frugality, and powerful state

organization have been credited with stretching meagre food supplies over
China’s enormous population so that the most extreme deprivation to be found in
many other poor countries was on the whole avoided most of the time (the major
exception, of course, being 1959-61). Impressive statistics on life expectancy and
infant mortality are consistent with this picture, and it is not contradicted by the
observations of international observers.”
FIG 10: VARIATION IN LIFE EXPECTANCY IN CHINA AND INDIA BETWEEN 1950
TO 1980
352
Source: Sen A (1987) (Sen A (1987): ‘Food and Freedom’, Sir John Crawford Memorial lecture,
Washington D. C., October 29.
Life expectancy at birth can be a composite measure of people’s welfare as it reflects improved
nutrition, lesser morbidity and mortality as a result from improved healthcare and housing.
Figure 10 shows the variation in life expectancy at birth for both China and India. Except for the
dip in life expectancy from 1959 to 61, China’s performance has by far exceeded that of India.
The question here is how to account for the steep decline in life expectancy between the years
1959-61, especially as it is said to have led to excess mortality varying between 16.5 million to
up to 30 million in China during the famine of 1959 - 61 (Banister 1987; Coale 1981; Ashton
et.al. 1984; Peng 1987). Chang and Halliday in fact have gone miles ahead of others to claim in
their book Mao: the Unknown Story a total of 70 million deaths during the Mao’s leadership of
CPC, of which 38 million died in the famine of 1959 to 61 (Chang & Halliday, 2005). For the
purpose of our argument, we may also state that barring the estimates of Chang and Hallidy, Sen
and Dreze agree with the estimates presented by Judith Banister and other American
demographers referred to above (Sen & Dreze, 1989, 210).
Facts alone would not suffice to counter and defeat such malicious accusations against CPC and
its tallest leader Com Mao Zedong, especially when the intent of those making such accusations,
howsoever academically marshalled, is to the target the politics and policies pursued by CPC for
socialist development of China under the leadership of Com Mao. Under the weight of
overwhelming evidence many of these authors are obliged to accept the impressive achievements
of China in its human development indicators. For example, Banister, the most prominent
advocate of ‘massive death toll’ hypothesis of the Chinese Famine agrees that in 1973-75 the life
expectancy in China was higher than that in many countries of Africa, Middle East, South Asia
and South America. In a 1981 paper she along with Preston has described China as a super
achiever in terms of increasing life expectancy of its people by an average of 1.5 years every
year since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 (Banister & Preston, 1981).
Sen and Dreze acknowledge that “as far as morbidity, mortality and longevity are concerned;
China has large and decisive lead over India” (Sen & Dreze, 1989, 205).
353
As regards the achievements of the Chinese people under the leadership of Mao, the figures
released by even his Chinese detractors – the Deng Xiaoping clique, only affirm to
unprecedented growth of Chinese economy. Between 1952 to76 the Chinese industrial
production increased on an average by 11.2 percent every year. In 1952 the industrial output
made up barely 36 percent of the gross national output in China. However, in 1975 industry and
agriculture contributed 72 percent and 28 percent respectively to the gross national output
(Meissner, 1996). Table 4 below gives the achievements in agricultural production by China
from 1961 till 1978 (the last year before CPC launched economic reforms and family
responsibility system in agriculture under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping) along with
comparison with U.S. and India.
TABLE 4: GROWTH IN PERFORMANCE OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR AND FOOD

SUPPLY – U.S, CHINA, INDIA
Parameter U.S. China India

1961 1978 % 1961 1978 % 1961 1978 %
chang chang chang
e e e
Cereals total 16361999 27660357 69 10965998 27303812 149 8737650 14296470 63.6
prod. 6 4 1 1 0 0
(tonnes)
Cereals total 25222.93 41097.84 62.9 12110.05 28019.53 131.4 9472.84 13701.81 44.6
yield
(Hg/Ha)
Cereals- 627 616 -1.8 807 1387 71.9 1270 1480 16.5
Excluding
Beer –Food
supply
(kcal/capita/
yr)
Animal 1010 948 -6.1 56 139 148 112 112 0
prod.-Food
supply
(kcal/capita/
yr)
Arable land* 180630 188755 4.5 103397 97221 -6 155806 163635 5.02
Source: Compiled from FAOSTAT data. Note: *Land in thousand hectares. The figures are
given from 1961 onwards only because FAOSTAT does not have figures for earlier years.
It can be seen from table 4 that China’s performance far outstrips that of India. Even during the
famine year of 1961 the cereal crop yields in China were as much as 28 percent higher than those
354
in India, while the total cereal production (absolute quantity) in China had almost reached the
level equal to that of U.S. inspite of the fact the arable area of China which was 75 percent less
than that of the U.S. in 1961 got further reduced to only half the arable area of U.S. in 1978. This
is in sharp contrast to India’s arable area which was only 15 percent less than that of U.S. in
1978. While the scope for further increase in the yields and the total production of foodgrains
may have been less in the U.S. because of its already high levels of productivity, yet it is
commendable that a poor resource strapped country like China at that time could almost equal its
foodgrain production to that of the largest foodgrain producing country in the world.
It is worth giving a thought whether such achievements are possible without active and conscious
participation of the most ordinary people of the country, and whether the government can elicit
the cooperation and willing participation of the people by being insensitive to their misery;
especially a misery that is said to have led to a loss of 30 million or more lives? The famine of
1959 – 61 in China is said to have had the maximum impact in the rural areas with little if any
impact on the urban centres. It need be noted that in the 1950s China was still an agrarian
economy and the prosperity of agriculture as a source of surplus was most important even for
industrial development of the country. Hence, if one were to presume that the estimates of
‘massive mortality’ during the famine of 1959-61 are true then the industrial performance of
China had been despite the unprecedented tragedy that was unfolding in rural China. This is
something that defies rational thinking.
Sen and Dreze state – “The remarkable aspect of the famine is its continuation over a number of
years without an adequate recognition of the nature of the crisis (and without leading to the
necessary changes in public policy)” (Sen & Dreze, 1989, 211). World War II caused as many as
65 to 75 million deaths over five years and we all know the kind of disruption it caused across
the globe. Here we have around 30 million excess deaths taking place in a single country over a
period of three years and yet it passes off “without an adequate recognition of the nature of the
crisis.” One is likely to say that World War II was a war, while what happened in China was a
peace time tragedy. But what is not intelligible is that how come people simply chose to die
silently, in the numbers that is claimed, in the villages without making attempts to escape to the
cities and urban areas. In fact Chang and Hallidy claim that - “The traditional possibility of
escaping a famine by fleeing to a place where there was food was now blocked off” by Mao
(Chang & Halliday, 2005). If this indeed were true and if the government had tried to prevent the
migration of people to cities per force, then given the size of the population of China such
coercion could only have led to an explosive situation hard to ignore.
Based on his own study Prof Han Dongping of the Department of History and Political Science,
Warren Wilson College, U.S. puts a poser:
“The Great Leap Forward ended up in a unprecedented grain shortage under the
Communist rule in China. But it was not the only thing that was unprecedented.
There were no grain riots, no peasant rebellion, no grain hoarding for profits, no
selling of children and wives, which would have been normal occurrence with a
famine like that in Jimo and in China in general. It was so unlike China that even
today many younger people still asked their parents why they did not storm the
355
government granaries which were not even guarded by any military forces. Is not
this something worth studying too? Mao did not talk about anding tuanjie
(security and order) at the time, as the current Chinese leaders do today, but his
government was able to maintain order and security in the face of such
unprecedented national disaster. Why? (Dongping, 2003).
In his interviews with peasants in the provinces of Shandong and Henan they said:
“without the organized relief efforts of the Maoist state, the impact of the natural
disasters of 1959, 1960 and 1961 would have been much greater in Jimo for all
we know. That was why many farmers say ‘without the Government’s relief
efforts, more people would have died” (Dongping, 2003).
Dongping further says:
“Mao’s mistakes and Mao’s merits were paradoxically entwined to such an extent
that any effort to separate the two would be simply impossible. For that reason,
few Chinese workers and farmers ever blamed Mao for what happened during the
Great Leap Forward. It is not that Chinese farmers and workers are too dumb to
know any better, as many Chinese elites suggest. It is their wisdom to see both
Mao’s mistakes and his merits at the same time” (Dongping, 2003).
Lest we presume Dongping to be a blind Mao sympathizer, it be stated here that two of his
grandparents had perished during the ‘The Great Leap Forward’ famine, and indeed at times he
sounds more critical Mao than the peasants he interviewed for his study.
That there was excess mortality during the years of ‘Great Leap Forward’ seems to be true;
though the jury is still out on the number of people who perished. Everyone seems to be picking
a figure as per one’s own persuasion. The government during the Mao’s regime accepted that 30
percent of the economic problems were caused due to human error, while 70% was caused by the
natural disasters; under Deng this was made just the other way round i.e. 70 percent due to
human error, 30 percent due to natural disasters; the Western scholars make the natural disasters
seem inconsequential and put the entire blame on human error due to policies implemented under
great leap forward (Dongping, 2003).
The ‘massive death toll’ thesis of the Chinese famine of 1959 – 61 came to be taken more
seriously after the Deng Xiaoping regime released the death rates in China for the decades of
1950s and the 1960s (Banister, 1987). As per these death rates the excess mortality in China
between 1959 and 61 was as much as 16.5 million. Later these “official” Chinese figures were
picked up by American demographers Ansley Coale, John Aird and Judith Banister who
processed them further to come out with an estimate of 30 million deaths during the famine
(Ball, 2006). As regards the official Chinese data no information was available as to the
methodology involved in their collection more than two decades after the famine occurred or the
authenticity of these figures in general. As to the further spin given to these figures by the
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American demographers, many agencies like the CIA, the private American Foundations like the
Rockefeller, academic institutions propagating neo-liberalism and the established academic
journals played their due role in the process.
Anyone interested in a more balanced handling of the issue and an academic critique of the
‘massive death toll’ thesis can read the 2006 article by Joseph Ball that was published in the
‘Monthly Review’ (Available from: http://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-
millions-in-the-great-leap-forward on 18th October, 2012.). Another source for a more matter of
fact and academic assessment of Mao’s China can be had from Gregor B and Chun L, eds.
(2009): Was Mao really a monster?: the academic response to Chang and Halliday’s "Mao: the
unknown story". Routledge, London, UK.
Those insisting on denigrating the attempts made by Chinese people to develop socialism in their
country under the leadership of Mao may well discover yet more sophisticated ways of
estimating the death toll during the ‘Great Leap Forward.’ However, the significance of the
policies adopted as part of the ‘Great Leap’ cannot be judged by the number of dead in the
famine or the various omissions and commissions of policy alone. To make a judgement on the
‘Great Leap Forward’ we need to keep politics in command. The revolutionary politics of the
‘Great Leap Forward’ needs to grasped for more than historical and academic reasons. All those
genuinely interested in carrying forward the struggle for emancipation of working masses
beyond the limits that are sought to be imposed by ‘bourgeoisie socialists’ need to understand the
politics of the social and economic change that was attempted as part of the ‘Great Leap
Forward’ in China under the leadership of Com Mao, as also the politics of the ‘bourgeoisie
socialists.’
TWO LINE STRUGGLE IN CHINA AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO THE

‘GREAT LEAP FORWARD’
With the success of the Chinese Revolution under the leadership of Mao in 1949 the task of the
‘New Democratic Revolution’ in China was accomplished.3 There from what direction should
the Chinese revolution take had been a hotly contested ideological, philosophical and public
policy issue (CPC, 1973); Hsueh-ping, 1969). One section of the Party led by Mao was in favour
of carrying forward the ‘New Democratic Revolution’ to merge into a ‘Socialist Revolution’ in
order to develop China into a modern socialist state through rapid modernisation of its
agriculture and building the country’s industrial base with social ownership of the means of
production (Hsueh-ping, 1969). As part of this strategy after implementation of land reforms,
Mao led China in the collectivization of agriculture that went up to the process of organization of
communes in the rural areas. Alongside development and modernization of agriculture, socialist
construction of industry was also undertaken on a large scale both in the urban areas as also the
rural communes.
As opposed to Mao’s line of ‘Socialist Construction’ Liu Shao-chi and his acolyte Deng Xioping
forwarded the ‘Theory of Productive Forces.’ Their contention being that building socialism in a
backward country like China cannot be possible unless forces of production are fully developed
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under capitalism. On socialist development of agriculture Liu Shao-chi held that - “that steps
3
“Old China was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country in which the productive forces were at a very low level
and had long stagnated. This resulted mainly from cruel oppression and exploitation by imperialism, feudalism and
bureaucrat-capitalism. When we have political power we have everything. The decadent and backward relations of
production could be fundamentally changed and the productive forces greatly developed only when the masses were
armed with Mao Tsetung Thought and when the proletariat (through the Communist Party) led the masses (mainly
the peasant masses) in carrying out the revolution, i.e., the new-democratic revolution, against the three main
enemies — imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism — to seize political power throughout the country”
(Hsueh-ping, 1969). In classical European history the task of demolishing feudal mode of production was performed
by the bourgeoisie, leading to the establishment of bourgeoisie democracies. However, with the coming into being
of imperialism in the colonial countries the imperialists used the alliance of local comprador bourgeoisie and the
local feudal classes to rule these countries. Hence, the local bourgeoisie was incapable of overthrowing either the
colonial rule or the local feudal classes with whom it shared power after the erstwhile colonies turned into semi-
colonies due to the erstwhile colonial powers resorting indirect ways to exploit the newly independent third world
countries. Simultaneously, feudal relations of production also evolved into semi-feudal relations. As the bourgeoisie
in these countries is incapable of overthrowing the feudal classes, the task of completing the bourgeoisie democratic
revolution also has to be performed by the working class in alliance with the peasantry which forms the
overwhelming mass of the exploited people in these countries. Completion of bourgeoisie democratic revolution
under the leadership of the working class is called a new type of democratic revolution and hence – ‘New
Democratic Revolution.’
should be taken gradually to shake the foundations of private ownership, weaken it until it is
nullified and raise the mutual aid organizations for agricultural production to the level of
agricultural producers cooperatives as a new factor for ‘overcoming the peasants’ spontaneous
tendency.’ This is an erroneous, dangerous and utopian conception of agricultural socialism”
(Renmin Ribao, Hongqui & Jiefangjun Bao editorial departments, 1968, 9).4
Shao-chi propagated – “Question of Socialism is a matter of future. It is too early to raise it

now”..........”Capitalism in China today is still in its youth and it is high time to give full play to
its historical and positive role and let it make its contribution” and that “the capitalists should
exist and develop for decades” without restriction (Hsueh-ping, 1969). Its ideological trappings
apart, such a line only implied that having captured the political power, the workers and the
peasantry in China should hand over this power to the capitalists. After all Mao termed Liu
Shao-chi and Deng Xiaoping as capitalist roaders for no mean reason.
These were not just theoretical differences of opinion, but posed problems at every stage of
implementation of policies for ‘Socialist Construction.’ For example in 1955 even as the
movement for forming agricultural cooperatives was gaining strength in China, in the month of
May Liu Shao-chi along with Deng Xiaoping bared their hostility to the ‘agricultural co-
operation movement by formulating the retrogressive policy of “holding up”, “contraction” and
“checking up”, as a part of which a plan for reducing the number of co-operatives was
formulated and in a little over two months 200,000 co-operatives were dissolved in the country
(Renmin Ribao, Hongqui & Jiefangjun Bao editorial departments, 1968, 11). Even as the ‘Great
Leap Forward’ was launched in 1958 for establishing of the rural communes and boosting up
both agricultural and industrial production in rural China, these capitalist roaders tried every
measure in the book to defeat the laudable objectives of the ‘Great Leap.’ They propagated and
tried to implement the system of ‘individual household responsibility’ in agricultural production
(Renmin Ribao, Hongqui & Jiefangjun Bao editorial departments, 1968, 14-18). It is during this
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phase that Deng Xiaoping made his famous comment – “So long as it raises output ‘going it
alone’ is permissible. Whether the cats are white or black, so long as they can catch mice, they
are good cats” (Renmin Ribao, Hongqui & Jiefangjun Bao editorial departments, 1968, 16).\
Such circumstances could not have helped but only complicate further the situation created by
the natural disasters that occurred during the period of the ‘Great Leap Forward.’ It would seem
prudent to conclude that a large part of the human error of the ‘Great Famine’ of China was in
fact constituted of the disruption caused by the capitalist roaders rather than the policies of
‘socialist development’ of the ‘Great Leap.’
Apart from the opposition within, the ideological split with the Soviet Union was eminently clear
by 1957, after Khrushchev signalled capitalist restoration in Soviet Union during the 20 th
congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Mao held forth the
‘Revolutionary Spirit’ of Marxism-Leninism against the line adopted by the CPSU. In response
the Soviets withdrew all technical assistance in the ongoing industrial projects in 1960, including
even the blue prints of the plants. China was denied the much needed spare parts for many
4
Comment on the report submitted by Shansi Provincial Party Committee: ‘Raise the Mutual – Aid Organizations in
the Old Liberated Areas to a Higher Level’, July 3, 1951.
industries. The question that faced CPC and the Chinese people was – whether to give in to such
blackmail or to push ahead with an independent path of building Socialist China by relying on
the twin resources China had in abundance – ‘its human resource and its enthusiasm’?
THE PARADOX OF SOCIALIZING CONSUMPTION
In what appears to be the most laudable and yet, paradoxically the most controversial policy
initiative taken during the ‘Great Leap Forward’ is that of establishing ‘Community Dining
Rooms.’ This was the first such initiative by the State at ‘socializing consumption’ on the
communes by transforming the old way of ‘individual living’ into a new way of communal
dining. Yet it is paradoxical that such a laudable initiative has been indicted by various authors
as being one of the important causes of food scarcity. Again, as in case of numbers of deaths
during the famine, it is difficult to separate grain from the chaff to know the extent to which
‘communal dining’ led to grain shortages? However, there are enough reasons to see the
establishment of ‘communal dining halls’ as signs of remarkable success of government’s
policies to hasten the ‘Socialist Construction’ of China.
The need for establishing ‘communal dining halls’ was borne out of the objective conditions
resulting from the success of the policies of socialist construction followed upto the time of
‘Great Leap Forward.’ It is said:
“The appearance of mess halls is not a chance phenomenon, but is dictated by

objective conditions. Since last winter, an unprecedented and all-round great leap
forward has been achieved in agricultural production. The enlargement of the scale
of production, the increase in undertakings and the need for more intensive
farming make the shortage of labour power keenly felt. In order to resolve this
contradiction, it is essential, in addition to large-scale improvement in farm tools,
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to tap the great labour resource provided by women” (Beijing Ribao, 22nd July
1958).
Further,
“In the wake of expanding socialist enterprise the necessity of lightening the
household burdens of women as much as possible has come to the fore of public
attention” (Renmin Ribao, 2nd June, 1958).
In the words of Elizabeth Croll the official publications of the Communist Party like Renmin
Ribao, 25th and 29th October 1958, Hebei Ribao dated 7th September, 1958 explained the
rationale of the ‘communal dining halls’ thus:
“The hitherto individual and dispersed peasant way of life, with its concomitant
small-producer, narrow and parochial interest in food supplies was to be replaced
by community co-operation and a mutual responsibility for each other’s
sustenance and welfare. Party members and cadres were therefore exhorted to
participate in the mess halls and assume responsibility for establishing and
infrastructure that would allow for some democratic management of the mess
halls” (Croll E (1983).
The community dining halls played a great role in securing the food security and nutrition of the
rural households, especially the ones that were grain deficient due to lesser number of working
hands, or larger number of dependents or old people in the family. They are said to have led to
savings in food, fuel and labour and ‘equalization of consumption.’ However, the role played by
dining halls in the emancipation of women was exceptional. While paid labour increased their
financial independence and social status, at the same time it relieved the demands of petty
domestic chores placed on women and created scope for leisure (Croll E (1983). Highlighting
this role of the ‘community dining halls’ the leadership of the ‘National Women’s Organization’
opined that the dining halls had been instrumental in resolving the contradiction between the
participation of women in social production and their role in servicing the needs of individual
households. A statement of the Chairwoman of the National Women’s organization published in
Peking Review on the 9th Dec 1958 stated:
“We are setting up community dining rooms, nurseries, kindergartens and so on

not to negate the significance of household work, but to change household work
originally carried out on an individual scattered basis into collective social work
both in form and essence” (Peking Review, 9 Dec 1958). (Peking Review, 9 Dec
(1958): quoted in
It is regrettable that this novel experiment in the socialization of consumption did not last for
long. The reasons are stated to be many. It is said that overconsumption by peasants and workers
during the initial period led to scarcity later on; moreover workers are said to have become
casual towards agricultural production for making this food available for such socialized
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consumption. The dining halls put additional burden on the meagre resources of the production
teams as the expenditure that was earlier incurred by the households was now to be borne by the
production teams and the earlier unpaid domestic labour of women was not socially paid work.
Indeed the reasons were many, but the point here is - does such an endeavour become worthless
only because difficulties were encountered during its implementation? Or should we insist on
such laudable social projects being implemented only on the fulfilment of as impossible a
condition as that there shall be no mistake, no setback in their implementation? The authors
certainly do not think so.
Whatever may be dilemmas in this regard, at least the peasants in China do not seem to think so.
This is what the peasants in two of the worst affected provinces – Shandong and Henan had to
tell Prof Dongping regarding their experience of the communes:
“There was no evidence to suggest that the public dining halls actually caused the
famine by itself, or that the public dining halls were unpopular among farmers. In
fact, many farmers recalled the beginning of public dining halls with fond
memories. Some farmers said that they never had eaten so well in their life, and
never before could they eat as much as they wanted. The food was much better
than at home, with meat and tofu dishes and fried cakes” (Dongping, 2003).
Whatever else may be the disagreements with the policies pursued during the ‘Great Leap
Forward’, the foregoing description should enable us to see through the designs of authors like
Jun Chang and Jon Halliday and who they speak for while writing in their 2005 book ‘Mao: the
Untold Story’ on the deaths that occurred during the Chinese famine - “We can now say with
assurance how many people Mao was ready to dispense with” alleging that the deaths were part
of a deliberate plan. In fact the book called Mao a “liar, ignoramus, fool, philistine, vandal,
lecher, glutton, hedonist, drug-peddler, ghoul, bully, thug, coward, posturer, manipulator,
psychopath, sadist, torturer, despot, megalomaniac and the greatest mass murderer of the
twentieth century”
Attempts such as these to malign the historically unprecedented achievements of the Chinese
working masses under the leadership of Mao, or for that matter any revolutionary upheaval of the
oppressed people on the globe and their leadership that are perceived as the most stoic threat by
the oppressors, can only expect to be maligned in the most malignant of the terms. For us in
India, who have among us the largest number of hungry people in the world, it is worth
wondering as to when we will be able to create conditions for realizing socialized production and
socialized consumption in our own villages and towns such that the interests of the most
marginalized among the marginalized are taken care of; as to when can we overcome the
boundaries that are sought to be imposed on the way we think of the security of our bread and
butter?
As to the lessons of the ‘Great Leap Forward’, someone has talked of French Revolution to the
effect that – ‘we might only be beginning to learn its lessons now.’ While the ‘Great Leap’ may
have fumbled on some of its objectives in the immediate sense, it afforded a precious opportunity
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to the working masses around the world to learn from the experience gained during the
implementation of the ‘Great Leap Forward’ policies. As Dongping says:
“The critics of the collective farming system in China often use the tragic failure
of the Great Leap Forward to condemn the idea of collective farming in China.
They did not pay attention to the fact that the Great Leap Forward only represents
a short learning curve of the collective farming years, and many of the
experiments that failed during the Great Leap Forward flourished during the
Cultural Revolution years” (Dongping, 2003).
THE POLITICS OF OUR ‘BOURGEOISIE SOCIALISTS’
We have dealt in detail above the development trajectory of China in order to draw appropriate
lessons for India. One aspect that emerges very clearly from the experience of China is that its
working masses have been the motive force behind its impressive achievements in the social
sectors like health, education, livelihood development and food security etc. No doubt the
leadership was provided by the CPC and its tallest leader Mao, but they tapped on the
enthusiasm and capabilities of the Chinese people to enable these achievements.
A critical appraisal of China’s achievements in human development would require an

understanding of the politics, the processes and the factors that facilitated galvanizing people to
shape their own destiny, rather than just an appreciation for the end result of their efforts. Indeed
if the end results are desirable then the politics, the processes and the factors that led to these
results should at least be worth studying. The attitude that people take towards this politics and
processes would in a way be indicative of the extent to which they are committed to any
meaningful change in our own society.
Alternatively, if we have a better alternative or difference of opinion, it should be clearly

articulated. In this section, drawing from the experiences of China we try to focus attention on
the kind of politics and economic thinking that has informed the various welfare measures that
have been initiated by the central government over the last ten years or so. We have focussed our
arguments largely around the views expressed by Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze over the period as
they have been the foremost development economists who have exercised a great deal of
influence in shaping development policies in the country apart from the pro-government
economists of the neoliberal persuation.
Talking of the processes that led to social change in China, the following observations should
appear agreeable in light of the foregoing:
 The success of the revolution in 1949 led to a massive campaign for an equitable distribution
of means of production in the society, of which the land reforms program was the most
important given the fact that China was overwhelmingly an agrarian economy with
overwhelming number of its people residing in villages.
 Equitable distribution of productive resources was fundamental to creating an egalitarian

society in which all the members not only enjoyed equality before law, but also equality of
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opportunities to develop their capabilities. Such a situation undermined the possibility of

exploitative relations of production in the society.
 Unlike subsidy driven charity, much of the resources required for the implementation of the
social welfare measures were generated by the benefactor communities themselves by
socializing production and appropriation of surplus and socialized consumption. This

arrangement was more in line with the principle of ‘enabling people to take care of
themselves’ as against ‘we taking care of the people.’
 Newer forms of organizing production and consumption like production teams, production
brigades, the communes and ‘communal dining’ etc that were formed, despite their possible
shortcomings ushered in a much greater participation of the people in regulating matters of
their daily life. Far greater practical measures seemed to have been taken towards
emancipation of women, for developing rural industry to absorb surplus labour from
agriculture and provide employment to all.
It would be reasonable to presume that these constituted steps towards ushering in real time
functioning democracy in the lives of the majority of people in China and certainly went far
beyond conceptualization of democracy as one man one vote; a vote that is manipulated in
every possible manner through use of money, muscle and societal fault lines of caste, class,
region, religion and ethnicity. Simultaneously the relationships of dependence, subjugation
and exploitation continue to be strengthened by systemically and systematically maintaining
high levels of poverty, illiteracy and ill health.
In their comparison between China and India, Sen and Dreze do recognise the vast lead that
China has over India in terms of controlling morbidity and mortality and vastly increasing the
life expectancy of average Chinese with the support of much enhanced nutrition (Sen & Dreze,
1989, 204-225). They have examined two possible reasons for China’s success in enhancing the
well being of its citizens – one, economic growth led social security and secondly support led
security. Their verdict is clearly in favour of support led security. They say:
“The network of health services introduced in post- revolutionary China in a

radical departure from the past – involving cooperative medical systems,
commune clinics, barefoot doctors, and wide spread public health measures – has
been remarkably extensive...................these and other medical resources are
distributed more evenly across the country (even between urban and rural areas),
with greater popular access to them than India has been able to
organize..............Food distribution is, in fact, a part of a far reaching programme
of social security that distinguishes China from India.................and it is plausible
to see China’s success story as one of support-led security” (Sen & Dreze, 1989,
209).
But there are problems with this verdict. It is much too succinct – while it takes note of the huge
infrastructure of social support built by China to develop its human resource, it totally eclipses
the politics and the profound social changes that were brought in wake of success of Chinese
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revolution in 1949. More importantly, ensuring ‘support led security’ entailed massive political
mobilization of the working masses of China both in the villages and the cities. In the absence of
highlighting these developments, it would seem that ‘support led security’ is something that can
be ordered top down and people cannot but be passive recipients of State’s largesse.
This certainly is not true that persons of Sen and Dreze’s erudition are ignorant of
the underlying process behind China’s achievements. In his 1982 article – ‘How
India is doing’, not only does Sen acknowledge that in India the power actually
rests in the hands of the elite, which while being a minority are still numerous. He
writes:“In so far as elitism is seen as one of the main problems with India, a
comparison with China is obviously relevant. With the establishment of
Communist China, anti-elitism immediately became one of the major emphases
of its official policy, and during the Cultural Revolution this aspect of Chinese
policy became particularly prominent. Certainly anti-elitest achievements of
China are very substantial. The traditional rural power structure was smashed
effectively, the hold of the urban elite quite transformed. Schooling and medical
services have expanded rapidly and are much more widely spread than in India.
The general level of nutrition has vastly improved. Life expectancy – between
sixty four and sixty nine years according to various recent estimates – is much
higher than India’s miserable fifty two years” (Sen, 1982).
He then goes on to pose the question:
But in view of the price that India has to pay for its political system, it could be
asked: are these liberties (emphasis ours) worth it? Would not better feeding,
clothing and health for the Indian population compensate for the loss of liberty
(emphasis ours) which after all effectively concerns only a minority? (Sen, 1982).
Sen gives two reasons in answer this question:
“First, there is little evidence that matters of liberty do not concern most of the
people even in the poor countries. Indeed, the response of Indian voters to Mrs
Gandhi’s “emergency” rule demonstrated the wider concerns of one of the
poorest electorates in the world.....................”
“Second, the choice posed is unreal. A regime in which basic liberties (emphasis
ours) are severely suppressed and in which the government cannot be voted out of
office no matter what it does, is deeply unpredictable, and there is no guarantee
that even large-scale starvation and famines would not occur under such a regime.
Indeed, there is clear evidence now that in China during the three years from
1959 to 1961 a great many people died from lack of food” (Sen, 1982).
We would agree with Sen that “matters of liberty” not only concern most of the people, but they
concern the poor the most, for these liberties play a crucial role in enabling the poor to safeguard
their lives and livelihoods. However, both in his question and the second part of its answer, Sen
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seems to be distinguishing his ‘basic liberties’ from rights like feeding, clothing and health.
Apparently, what he means by ‘basic liberties’ are – the right to vote (to be able to vote a
government out of office) and the right to free expression (to criticise the government’s policies
without fear). From the tenor of his submissions it is obvious that people in China lacked these
“basic liberties.”
In 1989 Sen and Dreze reaffirmed their faith in parliamentary democracy characterised by
political opposition and adversarial journalism as a potent weapon against hunger and famine.
They postulate:
“A political ‘triggering mechanism’ which brings the protection system into play
and indeed which keeps the public support system in a state of
preparedness..................Given the political system of post-independence India, it
is extremely hard for any government in office – whether at the state level or at
the centre – to get away with neglecting prompt and extensive anti-famine
measures at the first signs of a famine. And these signs are themselves more
easily transmitted given India’s relatively free media and newspapers, and the
active and investigative role that journalists as well as opposition politicians can
and do play in the is field” (Sen & Dreze, 1989, 212).
Assessing the aforementioned submissions of Sen and Dreze is important to know the directions
they provide for ‘Public Action.’ The thrust of the argument forwarded by both seems to be that
whatever be the liberating impact of achievements of the Chinese people in the fields of
healthcare, education, nutrition, tackling unemployment, emancipation of women and the rapid
economic advances under Communist rule (at least till the end of Mao’s period), these still do
not add up to be recognized as equivalent to or facilitating the “basic liberties” which people in
democracies like India can freely enjoy. The “basic liberties” (right to vote and the freedom of
expression) in India can meaningfully and effectively operate even as people are illiterate,
unemployed, hungry and crippled with disease; even as oppression based on economic status,
caste, gender and religion continues to have a free run. The proof is provided in the form of
Indira Gandhi being voted out of power in 1977 for the excesses committed during ‘Emergency.’
It is another matter that those who were voted in were not any revolutionaries who threatened the
monopoly of the elite on political power and the productive resources; they were just another
section from within the ruling classes, several of them being erstwhile Congress leaders not until
far back in time.
It is acknowledged that nature of Indian society and polity is basically elitist and that the elite
have a vice like grip on power. They have used this power to further their social and economic
interests even as they have devised mechanisms in the form of ‘affirmative actions’ to co-opt the
foremost minds from among the traditionally oppressed sections in the ruling set up controlled
by them. While the elite have been responsive enough to avoid any precipitate situation like
famines, yet they have effectively blocked the avenues for the socioeconomic emancipation of
the oppressed working masses to ensure their interests (Sen, 1982).
Inspite of so much being ascribed to Indian elite, yet under similar circumstances when the
Communists in China, under the leadership of Mao smashed the power structure of the elite of
China to implement land reforms, to sweep aside a ‘millennia of social tradition’ with the birth
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of the commune (Hesketh & Zhu, 1997) to emancipate Chinese women from centuries of slavery
to domestic labor and make them equal participants in the building of a new society, to develop
Chinese industry and agriculture for the prosperity of the commonest Chinese rather than serve
the profit motive of the elite, to make the city based intellectuals, who despised the Chinese
peasant, go to the villages and use their knowledge for the uplift of the poorest of the poor
Chinese and being responsive to their needs (Hesketh & Zhu, 1997), all of these actions do not
seem to usher in the quality and level of democracy that exists in India. Communists made all
Chinese, irrespective of their social status, eat together, even as we may still only be able to find
an occasional village in which a Brahmin or a Rajput or any upper caste person would be willing
to have meal together with a dalit publically without fearing for retribution from his / her own
community. When Mao saw that the Communist Party leadership itself had become an obstacle
in the realization of the development of the Chinese masses and their liberties, he gave the
slogan – ‘Bombard the Headquarters’ (Headquarters of the Communist Party) while launching
the ‘Cultural Revolution.’ The most ordinary peasants and workers stood upto the authority of
the government officials, village heads, production team leaders and Commune leaders and
made them accountable for their mistakes. The officials were supposed to labor with the
peasants and workers to understand their problems rather than just order them around. Cultural
Revolution brought in a new wave of democratization in the Chinese society (Dongping, 2003).
These facts need only be contrasted with the image of a dalit landless laborer, a small or
marginal peasant begging for help with folded hands before petty officials in the collectorate or
Block head quarters in a district in India.
Yet all of this still does not add up to the worth of the “basic liberties” enjoyed by the working
masses of India, their poverty, illiteracy, hunger and squalor and centuries old exploitation
notwithstanding. It is still less to be acknowledged as any process of democratization of the
Chinese society. For if it is acknowledged as such, who will recount all the excesses (real or
alleged) that took place during this march of hundreds of millions of ordinary Chinese working
masses to build a new society? So what if Mao said:
“A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing

embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous,
restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one
class overthrows another.”
But our bourgeoisie socialists would have nothing of this. In their conceptualization of
‘democracy’, rather than smash the power base of the elite, which they themselves acknowledge
as being responsible for the miserable condition of the working masses of India, they would
rather have poor masses of India to use their “basic liberties” to keep changing the governments
through vote, even if this has increasingly come to mean that Indians have only the right to
choose their favorite millionaire with the prospects of any real alternative being thrown up being
next to none. The unity of all the ruling class political parties on the implementation of the
neoliberal economic policies is only one case in the point.
Given the conditions as they obtain in the present time, the reliance placed by Sen and Dreze on
the ‘political ‘triggering mechanism’ of political opposition and adversarial press in preventing
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famines or situations akin to them looks increasingly simplistic. As regards the political parties,
the more numerous they are the more the same they look. Even on issues like corruption which
at one time did result in overthrow of governments, there hardly appears any difference between
ruling parties or alliance and those in the opposition in present time. We have allegations of
corruption being thrown around against leaders of all the major political parties. The role of the
‘free press’ in taking up the real issues of the people – those of poverty, unemployment, hunger
and health, agrarian crisis etc. is stark only by its absence. Over the years, especially during the
years of neoliberalism, common interests have come to span across business, politics and the
media with the role of money in the conduct of politics and media acquiring gigantic
proportions. In this scheme of things the poor have been reduced to the state of being helpless
onlookers, except in those situations / areas where they are politically organized under the
leadership of revolutionary forces or their independent organizations and are waging resolute
struggle against predatory policies of the ruling elite.
It may be added here that with the kind of resources and the logistical capacity available with
large modern States like India and China, occurrence of famines may well have become a
relatively distant possibility. There are a large number of other factors to which the much valued
‘political trigger mechanism’ ought to be sensitive and effective in preventing. Not only has this
trigger mechanism failed in tackling the issues of mass hunger, malnutrition, frequent disease
epidemics, political corruption, loss of lives and livelihoods on a large scale through the kind of
development paradigm being pursued in the country; there is an increasing brazenness among
the elite on all these issues. Even in cities like Delhi vector borne disease epidemics occur every
year with their associated casualties, yet there has been total failure to prevent these in the
national capital let alone prevent yearly epidemics like that of Japanese Encephalitis occurring in
large parts of UP that have been killing and maiming people for years. Allegations of corruption
against the section of elite in power are countered not by the assurance of investigating these and
taking appropriate action, but by assertions that the government also has evidence of corruption
against those making allegations. The general secretary of Congressthe principle party of the
ruling coalition at the Centre, Mr Digvijay Singh recently said in a television talk show – “There
were lot of things, which came out during the NDA (erstwhile ruling coalition at the Centre)
regime. But did Congress party ever use that. We will never use this...If I say, I do not have it
(evidence against kin of Advani and Vajpayee), then it is not correct" (Outlook, 2012). For two
recent scams (2G spectrum and the ‘Coalgate’) totalling tens of billions of dollars, the
government had the temerity to field senior ministers in its defence by claiming that there had
been no loss at all inspite of the government auditor giving official report to the contrary. The
ruling coalition has managed to take the sting out of allegations of corruption against the
companies of the son in law of the first ruling family by exposing scams committed by the
companies owned by the President of the principle opposition party. The story of scams has
become the veritable race riding on a tiger, where the accused can hope to survive only by
exposing bigger scams of his / her adversaries even as they keep running faster and faster out
doing eachother in doing more scams.
As regards the elitist character of media, the less said the better. There has been a lock, stock and
barrel dumbing down of the media where the issues of the working masses are the least priority
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or are invariably construed in a manner to present the concerns of the elite for example on the
issues of strikes and agitations by the workers and peasants. The Neera Radia tapes in the case of
the 2G spectrum scam only present a glimpse of the way the nexus between big business, the
fourth estate and the ruling polity operates to rob the country and its people of its precious
resources. Innovations like paid news have seriously undermined the credibility of the Indian
news media. The worst is that inspite of all these exposures there appears to be little effort on
part of the powers that be to remedy the situation. The import is that one simply has to live with
it. The political trigger mechanism of Sen and Dreze is irreparably short circuited. No doubt,
both the authors have criticised the components of this trigger mechanism from time to time, and
yet they provide credibility to them by being associated with the charmed inner circles.
Under the circumstances how long can we abhor the path seeking to smash the power base of the
Indian elite to facilitate the redemption of India’s working masses? Devoid of any vision to
usher in a larger societal change, merely exhorting people to fight for enactment of newer laws
in the quest for “support-led social security”; when the ruling elite have had little intention to
implement security that the existing laws provide, amounts to a serious mischief. The mischief
lies in disarming the working masses ideologically by weaning them away from a revolutionary
change on the one hand and weaving illusions of a ‘caring elite’ on the other.
It is in this context that the far greater democratic changes that came about in the lives of the
ordinary Chinese in the wake of the success of the Chinese revolution of 1949 are sought to be
portrayed as less than democratic, while the so called democracy in India seems still desirable
inspite of all its shortcomings. Moreover, there is an implicit understanding that these
shortcomings can be overcome by enacting entitlements assuring various social securities –
health, employment, food etc. Not only that the practical experience of the people belies such
hopes, but it is remarkable that inspite of alluding to the elitist nature of Indian State, Sen and
Dreze still have high hopes from this elite to implement comprehensive social security schemes.
Under the circumstances, if one indeed believes (which Sen and Dreze do) that smashing the
power base of the elite in China after the success of the 1949 revolution led to “substantial”
social sector achievements for the Chinese people and that the elitist character of the State and
polity in India have been the biggest impediments in alleviating the condition of the masses, then
the natural result of such an understanding would be that one should emphasize on taking
practical measures towards linking the struggles for partial demands with the struggles seeking
broader societal change, of which there are many in our country. However, such an effort on part
of the movements like the ‘Right to Food’, with which Dreze has been openly associated, is not
evident in any recognizable manner. The desperate attempt rather seems to be that – ‘Please
enact entitlements lest those fighting for changing the system take is too close to the precipice.’
What does one make of the fact that inspite of clearly recognizing that the problem lies with the
present system, Sen and Dreze still attempt to salvage it by asserting that the present social,
economic and political order in the country is still the better choice, even if a devil’s choice,
rather than going the way China did after 1949? To our understanding, the attempt clearly is to
dissuade people from taking to the revolutionary path.
368
Sen and Dreze seem to unquestioningly accept the ‘massive death toll’ thesis of the Chinese
famine of 1959-61. In 1982 Sen wrote:
“Indeed, there is clear evidence now that in China during the three years from
1959 to 1961 a great many people died from lack of food. The exact size of the
extra mortality caused by the food problem remains
controversial.......................based on recently available Chinese data, suggests that
“the net loss in 1960-61 would have to be no less than 23 million” though other
evidence suggests that “the losses during the crisis may not have been as acute”
(Sen, 1983).
These claims are reiterated in 1989 in the book ‘Hunger and Public Action’ co-authored by Sen
and Dreze. As already mentioned earlier, the Chinese data that Sen and Dreze refer to is the data
that was released by the Deng Xiaoping regime in the 1980s, more than 20 years after the
famine. The fact that Deng along with Liu Shao-chi had consistently opposed Mao’s policies of
building socialism in China arguing for capitalist development of China in the name of
developing productive forces; that this data could be motivated and a deliberate overestimation
of the actual mortality especially as the methodology of collection of the data is not known – are
factors that do not seem to have crossed Sen and Dreze’s minds.
This is only further helped by the fact that both the authors hardly discuss the politics behind the
developments in China. Such a discussion could have at least obliged them to discuss the
motivations behind the policies like the ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the ‘Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution’ rather than simply condemn them on the basis of selective discussion on
some adverse consequences. A closer political scrutiny would have also made them realize that
there is a genuine possibility of the most well intentioned policies also facing serious problems,
especially when these are being attempted in the process of building a socialist society in a
backward agrarian country that had just emerged from a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society,
of which there was little experience available at that time.
The other route that these authors could have adopted was to accept their bias against the
development trajectory adopted by revolutionary China and defend their bias more robustly.
However, given the way things have been dealt with by them, they have even attempted a
misleading presentation of Mao’s words to strengthen their argument. In their chapter comparing
China and India in the book ‘Hunger and Public Action’ Sen and Dreze write:
“The misinformation also contributed to the non-revision of production and

distribution policies and to the absence of any emergency entitlement protection
programme”35 (Sen & Dreze, 1989, 213).
The footnote number 35 mentioned here is as follows:
“In 1962, shortly after the famine, when the recent experiences were being
reviewed, Mao Zedong noted the problem of informational failure for planning in
369
the absence of local democracy (emphasis ours): ‘If there is no democracy and
ideas are not coming from the masses, it is impossible to establish a good line,
good general and specific policies and methods....without democracy you have no
understanding of what is happening down below; the situation will be unclear;
you will be unable to collect sufficient opinions from all sides; there can be no
communication between top and bottom; top-level organs of leadership will

depend on one-sided and incorrect material to decide issues, thus you will find it
difficult to avoid being subjectivist; it will be impossible to achieve unity of
understanding and unity of action, and impossible to acieve true centralism” (Mao
Tse-tung, 1974: 164).
In the above sequence ‘misinformation’ leading to ‘non-revision of production and distribution

policies’ is automatically linked to what is made out to be a confession of sorts by Mao regarding
the absence of ‘local democracy’ in the Chinese society. Whereas the fact in Mao’s own words is
as follows – “The central point that I have spoken about is the question of how to realize
democratic centralism and how to promote democracy within and without the Party” (Mao,
1962)5.
‘Democratic Centralism’ is the key organizational principle of a communist party that can be and
needs to be emphasized time and again among the party members to improve upon the
functioning of the Party. In his speech he even stressed the need for this emphasis on explaining
‘Democratic Centralism’ in view of the fact that 80 percent of the party membership had joined
the party after the revolution. The emphasis on ‘Democratic Centralism’ by Mao can in no way
be construed to be an admission of lack of democracy either in the party or in the Chinese
society. Needless to say, one can always stress the need for greater democracy either inside the
Party or in Party’s relationship with the society. In fact in the same speech Mao says:
“Generally speaking our Party is very good. Our Party is mainly composed of
workers and poor peasants. The great majority of our cadres are good, they all
work industriously, but we must also see that in our Party there still exist some
problems; we mustn‟t imagine that everything is good with the state of our Party”
(Mao, 1962).
Mao does make a mention of the experience during the great leap forward:
“Comrade Liu Shao-chi said in his report that in the past four years our line was
correct. and that our achievements were the main feature; we made some
mistakes in our practical work and suffered some hardships, but we gained
experience; therefore we are stronger than before, not weaker” (Mao, 1962).
Explaining the dialectical understanding of the process of ‘socialist construction’ attempted

during the ‘Great Leap Forward’ Mao says:
370
“............understanding the laws of socialist construction must pass through a

process. It must take practice as its starting point, passing from having no
experience to having some experience; from having little experience to having
more experience; from the construction of socialism, which is in the realm of
necessity as yet not understood, to the gradual overcoming of our blindness and
the understanding of objective laws, thereby attaining freedom, achieving a flying
leap in our knowledge and reaching the realm of freedom” (Mao, 1962).
Explaining the laws of socialist construction further, Mao says:
“Our understanding of the objective world must pass through a process. First of
all we do not understand, or do not completely understand it, but after repeated
practice and after we have obtained results through practice, when we have won
victories and also had tumbles and setbacks, we are able to compare our victories
and defeats. Only then is there a possibility of developing to the point of
achieving complete understanding or relatively complete understanding. By that
5
This reference refers to the same speech of Mao as is referenced in reference ( Mao Tse-tung, 1974: 164).
time we shall be exercising more initiative, we shall be more free and we shall
become more intelligent. Freedom means the recognition of necessity and it
means transforming the objective world. Only on the basis of recognizing
necessity can man enjoy freedom of activity; this is the dialectical law of freedom
and necessity. What we call necessity is an objectively existing law. Before we
recognize it our behaviour cannot be conscious; it has elements of blindness. At
this time we are stupid; during the last few years haven’t we made many stupid
blunders?” (Mao, 1962).
As a great teacher Mao leaves his mark in so lucidly explaining the dialectical nature of the
process of development and the need for the party members to grasp this process. Even as he
acknowledges the “blunders” that were committed during ‘socialist construction’ attempted
during the ‘Great Leap Forward’ he asserts that such mistakes are inevitable and indeed it is only
though such a process of achievements and failures; victories and setbacks, that we can grasp the
objective reality of the laws of development.
Even as he acknowledges the mistakes, there is no reason to believe that Mao accepted lack of
democracy in China, let alone the banal allegation that tens of millions perished during the
‘Great Leap Forward.’ In fact there are lessons to be learnt for us here in India from what Mao
had to say regarding the experiences gained through the development path adopted in China.
Redemption of the working masses of India is much more complicated than a struggle for
enactment of a few laws guaranteeing some entitlements for the poor. The emancipation of the
working masses of India cannot but be guided by the objective realities of class contradictions in
the Indian society. Rather than grappling with these questions and organizing the struggles of the
workers and the peasantry even on their partial demands as an integral part of the larger struggle
for societal change, the attempts of the civil society are to pre-empt the struggles for larger
societal change, especially any revolutionary upheaval. Even as the government is withdrawing
371
from committing itself to fulfil the meagre entitlements provided for in the recent social sector
legislations, civil society mavericks are busy rallying the people to make ever more fervent
demands for relief from the government but without breaking the safe limits for this struggle set
by the system. Such tactics can only lead to defeatism among the people.
HOW HAS CHINA DONE UNDER THE REFORMS
After Mao’s death the capitalist roaders were quick to gain power in the Party as well as the
government. In agriculture, the collective organizations were dissolved and individual household
responsibility system introduced under the new dictum propagated by Deng’s regime – “letting
some get rich first.” The result was that the households with superior skills, more labour power
and political access forged ahead, whereas those less endowed in such attributes were left
behind. The inequities have increased in China and with the dissolution of the communes the
elaborate system of social security has all but disappeared (Riskin, 1987). Passion for economic
liberalism has weakened the resolve to provide public support measures for the population.
Riskin (1988) notes that “the style is a hybrid one involving ‘a strange mixture of residual
socialist rhetoric and Chicago School Values.’ But the socialist rhetoric has been distinctly in
retreat in recent years.
We shall present the impact of market reforms with the help of just two examples – changes in
the per capita grain production and the crude death rates in China before and after the reforms
that were launched in 1978.
FIG 11: TRENDS IN PER CAPITA GRAIN PRODUCTION IN CHINA SINCE 1950
372
Source: Zhang, 2011.

FIG 12: COMPARISON OF TRENDS IN CRUDE DEATH RATES BETWEEN CHINA

AND INDIA
373
Figure is based on statistics available from National Bureau of Statistics of China: China
Statistical yearbook 2011, chapter 3 Population, Available from:
http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2011/indexeh.htm, For India five year average crude death rate

available from United Nations (2011): ‘World Population Prospects, the 2010 Revision’,
Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section.
In 1978 after introducing the household responsibility system in agricultural production, the
Chinese government doubled the procurement prices for foodgrains which resulted in a steep rise
in production of foodgrains until 1985. But thereafter the per capita foodgrain production has
stagnated due to non-remunerative prices and rising costs of inputs (Dongping, 2003).
In terms of human welfare we can see that the crude death rate was the lowest in China in 1977-
78, and thereafter the crude death rate rose marginally and remained more or less stagnant until
2004, when it rose further. The difference between the CDRs of China and India is worth
noticing for the period up till beginning of the 21st century. This difference would imply an
excess mortality in India over all these years that is many times larger than the claimed ‘massive
death toll’ during the Chinese famine of 1959-61.
CONCLUSION
Given the thrust of the argument presented in this paper, some might remark; rather derisively -
‘Oh! So you mean everything should wait until revolution takes place, for the measures you
suggest may not be possible under the present dispensation.’ Nothing could be farther from the
truth and a bigger travesty of the struggle for food security than this.
Principally, what needs to be understood is that there is a need to bridge the distance between
‘aaj ki ladai’ (fight for the pressing immediate issues) and ‘raaj ki ladai’ (fight for the rule of the
working class), without being derisive towards the undeniable need for a revolutionary change of
the highly unjust social, political and economic order of the day. Let this be clear that without a
resolute struggle for the immediate needs / partial demands of the working people, we cannot
hope to build a powerful revolutionary movement for establishing their class rule. Likewise, a
one sided emphasis on partial demands amounts to setting the people in pursuit of a chimera.
We most emphatically affirm to the crucial importance of strong redistributive policies in

tackling the immediate crisis along with addressing the ‘real structural roots’; but to go silent
about the latter, or turn them into an understatement while emphasizing the former is to disarm
the people in their fight for a just and honourable solution to their food insecurity and it is in this
sense that it amounts to supplanting a ‘revisionist agenda’ in place of a ‘revolutionary agenda’ in
the sphere of food security. The struggle for the partial demands ought to be conducted in a
manner as to expose the limits of the present system and not to set limits to the struggle itself.
To translate this into practice means to understand that today there is a broad unity among the
374
different parties of the ruling classes; from the extreme Right to the Left, within the Parliament
over the anti-people economic policies. The struggle against these policies has moved outside the
realm of Parliamentary politics as reflected by the different struggles mentioned above, none of
which is led in the main or exclusively by any party represented in the Parliament. Hence, to
build a fighting alliance one has to look towards forces outside of the Parliament. There is a need
to build a ‘New Democracy’ in the country in place of the one we have at present.
There might still be some who may scoff at us saying – ‘the government is not willing to
increase the entitlement from 25 kg to 35 kg and you talk of redistributing land.’ To this we
would like to conclude by recounting another story; that of a lion cub who was abducted by
jackals and was subsequently rescued by other lions. Unable to hunt as he was, the other lions
exhorted – ‘you may not be able to hunt, but you are a lion cub; you can at least roar.’ Our
exhortation is that we all must roar and roar in defence of the people’s rights.
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381
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Experimental Botany, Vol. 62(11):3707-11.

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
WEB BASED GRIEVANCE HANDLING SYSTEM IN INDIA POST
Santoshkumar Kamila
Indian Postal Service
CVO, HPC Ltd. Kolkata-700016
ABSTRACT
A customer is one who brings us his wants. It is our job to handle them profitably to him and to
ourselves, which will be mutually beneficial win-win situation. If one has to do business,
grievance redressal is a must. India Post has the largest postal network of the world having
382
nearly1.55 lakh post offices. Keeping in view the large network and the millions of customers’
dealings on regular basis it is certain to generate the grievances, which need to be handled in
expedient manner to bring customers’ delight. At the same time keeping in view the process of
movement of articles in the traverse of the country or abroad; collection of information manually
to settle the grievances becomes Herculean time consuming task. To overcome the delay, taking
advantage of Information Communications Technology web based grievance handling system

has been introduced in India Post. It is one of the few government organizations that provided
this facility to lodge a complaint and get a reply without visiting the post office. On registration,
the complainant gets a registration number and gets the replies in his given email address.
KEY WORDS: India Post, web base, public grievance handling, Information
Communications Technology, customer, Citizen’s Charter, Sevottam
_______________________________________________________________________
1. BACKGROUND:
The INDIA POST (IP) which has wide public interface receives about 1 million
complaints in a year. If we compare this with the total traffic, the percentage comes to about
0.007%. IP has a structured grievance redress mechanism. In 1998, the Cabinet Secretary in the
meeting of the Standing Committee of the Secretaries had complimented that the Department Of
Posts (DOP) had very well structured and effective grievance redressal and monitoring system
which could be replicated by other Ministries and Departments. It was further commented that
the DOP or IPhad decentralized the Public Grievance redressal mechanism but with a strong
central monitoring.
We are sometimes lulled in to believing from the above examples that everything relating
to customer care and grievance handling in IP is working fine. We are getting a measure of
customer satisfaction by tallying the number and types of customer complaints for each period.
But studies show that in fact, 95% of dissatisfied customers don’t complain, many may reduce
their buying or may just stop coming or switch over to, if there is any alternative service
provider. This may happen without our notice or knowledge.
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
India Post has the largest postal network of the world having 1,54,866 post offices as on
1.3.2011. Keeping in view the large network and the millions of customers’ dealings on regular
basis it is certain to generate the grievances, which need to be handled in expedient manner to
bring customer delight. At the same time keeping in view the process of movement of articles in
the traverse of the country or abroad; collection of information manually to settle the grievances
becomes very time consuming process. To overcome the delay, taking advantage of Information
383
Communications Technology (ICT) web based grievance handling system has been introduced
in India Post. It is one of the few government organizations that provided this facility to lodge a
complaint and get a reply without visiting the post office. On registration, the complainant gets a
registration number and gets the replies in his given email address. The study intends to analyze:
1. The process of grievance handling in India post and the changes brought in by
introduction of web based services for settlement of grievances.

2. If the same has been effective for time bound redressal of grievances keeping in view the
norms of Citizen’s Charter to fulfill tenets of Sevottam.
3. If more people have been resorting to avail such facilities and the rate of success of the
process is increasing proving this as boon of ICT.
3. METHODOLOGY:
The study is based on the secondary data compiled by India Post at the central level i.e.
Postal Directorate relating to statistics of the whole country only. Various parameters such as
types of complaints, the total number of such complaints, percentage of disposals etc. have been
analyzed.
4. WHY GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL?
A customer is one who brings us his wants. It is our job to handle them profitably to him
and to ourselves, which will be mutually beneficial. If one has to do business, grievance redressal
is a must. Studies show that between 54 and 70% of the customers who register a complaint, will
do business again with the organization if their complaint is resolved. The figure goes up to a
staggering 95% if the customer feels that the complaint was resolved quickly. Customers who
have complained to an organization and had their complaints resolved satisfactorily tell an
average of five people about the treatment they received.
5. ORGANIZATIONS MONITORING PUBLIC GRIEVANCES:

(i) Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Ministry of
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension.
In his broadcast to the nation on 5.1.85, the then Hon'ble Prime Minister had announced
that an effective machinery for redressal of public grievances will be set up in offices and
departments with large public dealings. In pursuance of the Prime Ministers’ directive, the
Department of Administrative Reforms was made a nodal agency to act as a catalyst and to
evaluate the performance of ministries having public dealings.
(ii) Directorate Of Public Grievances (DOPG) (Cabinet Secretariat)
(a) In order to strengthen the machinery for redressal of public grievance, an independent
Directorate of Public Grievances was set up under Cabinet Secretariat under Gazette Notification
dated 25.3.88. This Directorate is headed by the Secretary to Govt. of India. Primarily, it is
concerned with the review and processing of individual complaints.
(b) This directorate forwards the complaints along with their forwarding note either for
calling for a report or for direct disposal directly to the Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) or
Regional Postmaster General (PMG) with a copy to Director (Grievances) Department of Posts.
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For agency functions like SB/PLI, a direct reference is made to the concerned DDGs.
(c) Director (Public Grievances) of the Department of Posts is the nodal officer who liaises
with this Directorate and keeps a track over the disposal of cases.
6. NEW APPROACHES OF INDIA POST FOR PROMPT REDRESSAL OF

PUBLIC GRIEVANCES:
6.1 Dak Adalat:
Dak Adalats were ordered to be held at circle level in the first instance on a quarterly
basis vide letter No.76-23/90 GA(P) dated 11.10.90. The Adalat, chaired by the Head of Postal
Circle with two other Members covers Pension cases and all types of problems relating to postal
services like delay in transmission of mails, speed post articles, parcels, money orders, savings
bank, cash certificates and counter services. Ultimate aim is to provide an on the spot redressal to
the complainant. To avoid public inconvenience, under the orders of Minister of State for
Communications its scope was further extended up to the Divisional level on quarterly basis. It
would be chaired by the Divisional head.
6.2 Post Forum:
A new venture to foster better relationship with clients and to create a ready
responsiveness to public needs. Post Forum was introduced on 10.9.90. Post Forum is a
representative body of users of a post office to advise the post office on matters of its service in
public interest conceived in the widest sense. It shall consist of not more than 7 (seven)
Members. They shall be users of the Post Offices. It will meet once every three months. Initially
it was ordered to be introduced in at least three major post offices in circle which has been
extended to all important post offices.
7. THE OLD MANUAL PROCEDURE:
The system of registration of complaints in the Department of Posts is readily accessible

to the public. Each Post Office works as a receiving point for complaints. In the old manual
system the aggrieved customer makes a written complaint in the Complaints and Suggestions
Book maintained in all the Post Offices, which is also available now for traditional need. The
Sub Post Master/ Post Master used to copy the extract and send it to the office of the Sr./
Superintendent Of Post Offices. Or else the complainant used to write a complaint addressed to
the Sr./Superintendent Post Offices. Further the Inspector (Public Grievance) in the office of the
Superintendents used to acknowledge it and issue CPT-21, Search Bill and Enquiry Notes to the
office of destination to find out the disposal of the article concerned. On receipt of reply from the
destination office, reply to the complainant is issued. The process was too lengthy and response
was very poor in spite of stipulation of time bound reply and repeated reminders.
8. REGISTRATION OF COMPLAINTS ONLINE:
The Department has also introduced a facility for customers to register complaints on-line
as a new system at its website www.indiapost.gov.in. The Department has a well laid out
procedure for handling public grievances for its services. A monitoring mechanism to ensure
quality of services and prompt redressal of public grievances is also in place. Steps have been
taken to strengthen the customer care infrastructure in the Department by adopting modern
technology. All complaints are looked into at all levels (Post Offices, Divisions, Regions, Circles
and Directorate). An enquiry is initiated to redress the grievances and if the loss has occurred due
385
to improper handling by an employee, action under Departmental rules is taken against the
employee(s) at fault. During such an inquiry shortcomings in the service are also looked into and
rectified. During the year 2011-12 (April 2011 to December 2011), a total of 9,90,630 cases of
public grievances were handled and 9,19,142 cases were settled during the period of report, i.e.,
92.78% of the total grievances handled.
9. LAUNCHING OF ON-LINE PROCESSING OF GRIEVANCES IN INDIA POST:

(i) Handling of complaints lodged online by the public (indiapost.org/ adminlogin.html)
The INDIA POST being a customer centered organization, it is imperative that a

customer centered organization would make it easy for its customers to deliver suggestions and
complaints. Keeping in line with this, in December 2001, the Department offered its valued
customers the facility to register complaints on-line in the Department’s website. It is one of the
few government organizations that provided this facility to lodge a complaint and get a reply
without visiting the post office. On registration, the complainant gets a registration number and
gets the replies in his given email address. If the complainant has not given his e mail ID, then he
is given reply to his given postal address. This system is basically postal Circle centric as mail
boxes have been created for each Circle including one for foreign articles. The complaints
relating to international speed post articles (EMS) are handled by the International Mails
Division of the Postal Directorate, Dak Bhawan, New Delhi- 110001.
On 20.12.2010, a modified version of the existing Computerized Customer Care Centre

(CCCC) software was made operational. The new system was designed keeping in view the
requirements for making the Grievance Redress Mechanism in the Department of Posts Sevottam
compliant. New features such as automatic generation of acknowledgement; escalation of
unresolved complaints to next higher administrative level for better monitoring and quicker
redressal; differentiation of complaints into minor, major or critical; automatic generation of
reply to the complainant on completion of inquiry; provision for feedback of complainant; etc
have been incorporated in the updated Sevottam compliant CCC System. Presently, 10,058
Computerized Customer Care Centres (CCCCs) have been established in the Post Offices, Speed
Post Centres and Divisional / Regional / Circle Headquarters across the country for online
exchange of information amongst all the units for speedy redressal of public grievances. At
present 117 Computerized Customer Care Centres are operational in the North East Circle and
203 Computerized Customer Care Centres are functioning in Assam Circle. The network covers
all Head Post Offices in the country with the objective of providing easy and speedy access to
information and help required by the customer, apart from the redressal of grievances. (Annual
Report 2011-12, India Post)
(ii) Guidelines for Registration of Complaints
The following guidelines need to be observed for speedy settlement of grievances:
(a) For online lodging of complaints and status update through website
www.indiapost.gov.in (Go to home page and click on Customer Care link, select option
Complaint Registration for lodging complaint and select option Track your Complaint Status for
knowing the position of the case.)
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(b) Register your complaint in the Complaints and Suggestions Book maintained by the Post
Office where transaction has taken place and get acknowledgement. A copy/ extract is sent by
the Post Office concerned to the concerned divisional superintendent for follow up action/
monitoring.
© Approach the next higher authority of the Department if the complaint is not settled in a
reasonable time.
(d) The standards for resolving complaints are announced through the Citizen Charter of
Department of Posts available in link About Us on Home page of the website.
(e) Complaint on Postal Services addressed to Postal Directorate, New Delhi, may only be
addressed to concerned officer and sent on given email, telephone or fax number.
A. Initial Level for lodging Complaints

Sl.
Nature of complaints Whom to Complain
No.
Any complaint on the services rendered
Postmaster / In-charge of the Post Office where
1. and concerning behavior of employees
the transaction has taken place.
of the Department of Posts.
Any complaint on the services rendered Senior Superintendent / Superintendent of Post
2. and concerning behavior of employees Offices of the Division in whose jurisdiction the
of the Department of Posts. concerned Post Office falls.
Any complaint on the services rendered The Post Master General of the Region in whose
3. and concerning behavior of employees jurisdiction the concerned Post Office and
of the Department of Posts. Division falls.
B. If the complaint is still not settled, the complainant may approach the Chief Postmaster
General of the respective Circle at the addresses/ telephone/ FAX numbers provided in the
website.
C. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the action taken, he / she may approach the Officers in
the Postal Directorate, Dak Bhavan, New Delhi-110001 according to the nature of complaint in
the contact addresses given in the website.
(iii) Handling of Complaints on-line by the Customer Care Centres (CCC)-
(indiapost.org/ccclogin.asp)
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Table- 1
PRODUCT WISE ANALYSIS OF COMPLAINTS RECEIVED DURING THE LAST
THREE YEARS
Product Wise Analysis of Complaints Received during 2009-10
Services Total Settled Percentage %age of Complaints received
Complaint Settlement w.r.t. Total Traffic
s
Unregistered
Mails 8722 8387 96.16% 0.000%
Speed Post 174040 167653 96.33% 0.074%
Registered
Letters 277312 268333 96.76% 0.173%
Insured Letters 3127 2946 94.21% 0.076%
Unregistered
Parcels 1625 1534 94.40% 0.014%
Registered
Parcels 13845 12733 91.97% 0.150%
Insured Parcels 413 377 91.28% 0.026%
VPPs 37881 34968 92.31% 0.090%
Foreign Mails 49644 47284 95.25% 0.131%
Money Orders 238395 230327 96.62% 0.236%
SB &
Certificates 23544 21743 92.35% 0.010%
388
MGNREGA 0 0 NA NA
Miscellaneous 51601 50133 97.16% NA
Total 880149 846418 96.17%
Product Wise Analysis of Complaints Received during 2010-11

Services Total Settled Percentage Percentage of Complaints
Complaint Settlement received w.r.t. Total Traffic
s
Unregistered
Mails 7362 6912 93.89% 0.000%
Speed Post 191970 187625 97.74% 0.069%
Registered
Letters 271076 262272 96.75% 0.158%
Insured Letters 5089 4926 96.80% 0.096%
Unregistered
Parcels 2329 2287 98.20% 0.010%
Registered 15760 14845 94.19% 0.151%
Parcels
Insured Parcels 656 624 95.12% 0.045%
VPPs 38831 36212 93.26% 0.060%
Foreign Mails 35016 33766 96.43% 0.103%
Money Orders 204677 199870 97.65% 0.164%
SB &
Certificates 17163 16198 94.38% 0.008%
MGNREGA 55 41 74.55% NA
Total 842478 815567 96.81%
Product Wise Analysis of Complaints Received during 2011-

12
Services Total Settle Percentage Percentage of Complaints
Complaint d Settlement received w.r.t. Total
s Traffic
Unregistered Mails 6214 5878 94.59% 0.000%
Speed Post 17777
183058 9 97.12% 0.066%
Registered Letters 27904
287317 5 97.12% 0.167%
Insured Letters 1008 803 79.66% 0.058%
Unregistered Parcels 3121 2931 93.91% 0.022%
Registered Parcels 18807 17367 92.34% 0.119%
389
Insured Parcels 937 862 92.00% 0.039%

VPPs 12072
138026 7 87.47% 0.134%
Foreign Mails 41686 39782 95.43% 0.152%
Money Orders 16082
164966 1 97.49% 0.132%

SB & Certificates 13206 12282 93.00% 0.003%
MGNREGA 258 238 92.25% NA

87364
Total 915346 0 95.44%
(Source: Department of Posts)
To identify specific features of the data above, it is to be noted that grievance redress has
been quite efficient in areas where there is greater application of IT services, compared to other
sectors – for instance speed post, money order etc. Also, it can be noticed that with greater
degree of involvement of IT features, the efficacy of the system to address failures and
grievances increases – like in the case of MGNREGS payments. It is also to be appreciated that
India Posts has been quite successful in bridging the gap between online complaint registration
and on-field curative action – with specific references to SB and certificates. One could also
view this as the 'positive externality' of efficient grievance redress mechanism on the overall
work culture and operational accuracy. With implementation of eMO number of complaints on
money order has reduced.
Table- 2
NO. OF WEB BASED COMPLAINTS ENTERED AND CLOSED
Complaints entered
Year Online Complaints Complaints entered by Total Number of
entered by Public Customer Care Centers Complaints
2012 236515 432070 668585
2011 112406 471560 583966
2010 092963 477655 570618
2009 060169 500833 561002
Complaints closed
Year Closed Complaints Earlier year’s Pending Total Number of
which got entered in the Complaints which got Closed Complaints
same year closed in this year
2012 623021 029225 652246
2011 583966 016904 600870
2010 553731 031482 585213
390
2009 529646 030311 559957
Source: http://www.ptcinfo.org/ccctrainingvideo/
From the above table it can be seen that the entry of number of online complaints have
increased almost four times over the 4 years period from 60 thousands to 237 thousands. So that
work load of entering complaints at the CCC by post office staffs have been reduced from 501
thousands to 432 thousands showing acceptability of online grievance handling by postal
customers and resultant less workload on manpower of post office. Receipt of complaints and
disposal of the same is a continuous process, but early disposal is very important which really
matters which has been successful by web based grievance handling system.
10. MAJOR FEATURES OF THE UPDATED CCC SOFTWARE:
The Modification of Public Grievance Redress Software has taken into account all the three
aspects of grievance handling: how they are received, how they are resolved, and how they are
prevented. An elaborate system of recording, acknowledging and monitoring of grievance
settlement has been set up and specific rules and procedures for redressal and compensation,
wherever needed have been formulated. The updated software has following major improved
features;
• Provision for self generation of acknowledgment, interim reply and final reply letter
wherever required in hard copy
• Provision for seamless system of acknowledgment through email.
• Provision for seamless integration of Speed Post and eMO Tracking link with CCC
software for instantaneous checking the position of complaint.
• Provision for attaching copy of complaint as scanned attachment.
• Provision for feeding service standards for redress of complaints in the software for
self work audit.
• Provision for defining tolerance time line, a time line to prompt well before the
deadline fixed for redressing the complaints of various categories.
• Provision to freeze the PLI and Post Office Savings Bank complaints till the duration
of standard process time.
• Provision for escalation levels in form of reporting to the Divisional, Regional and
Circle Heads for cases not settled as per fixed standards.
• Provision for forwarding complaint to the Divisional Superintendent or other
authority for authorizing closures of grievance cases.
• Provision for recording directions / remarks by reviewing authority like Postmaster,
Divisional Head, Regional Head and Circle Head and forwarding / returning the case.
• Provision for management reports with focus on self work audit.
• Provision for seriousness and severity classification of all the complaints into Critical,
Major and Minor categories.
Standardized formats for acknowledgment, interim and final reply through the drop down
window options in the computer interface.
391
Linking the PIN Code Search with the PO Search option to easily locate the correct CCC.
Possibility of linking relevant information provided by the complainant to that entered in various
modules (such as Postman module) in Meghdoot, Speed net & Sanchayika Software.
This system is CCC-centric as in comparison to the earlier system which was Circle-centric.
India Post has more than 1000 CCCs functioning all over the country. They are located either at
the H.O. or at Divisional Office level. During the 9th Five-year plan 230 CCCs were
computerized. During the 10th Five-year plan more than 800 such centres are proposed to be set
up with Internet connectivity. The objective is to settle all complaints expeditiously by
processing them on-line.
On registration, a unique complaint number is generated. As for example, complaint no. 9-158-
672-320 can be interpreted as 9 for Karnataka, 158 for South Karnatak Region, 672 for Mysore
CCC and 320 is a running complaint number. This system is easier for monitoring as the
Directorate/Circle Office/Regional Office/Divisional Office can access the mail boxes of their
respective CCCs and come to know how many outward cases have been registered and how
many inward pending cases have been replied to.
Most of the CCCs are not using this new system fully. It is apprehended that if the Inward CCC
does not respond, then the complaint of Outward CCC will remain unsettled. This is a system
based on duality or reciprocity. If one CCC takes interest and does not get response from the
other end, then it is a matter of time before it loses interest. If any CCC is not provided with
computer with internet connectivity, then either the Divisional Office or the Regional Office or
the Circle Office should take the responsibility of settling all pending inward complaints of that
CCC on priority by either taking the printout or feeding the response on-line at their ends on
behalf of their CCC. This type of handholding is essential at the beginning and the onus lies with
the administrative offices. Feedback of the circles will be valuable in this regard.
10.1 All complaints received manually should be entered into the system. The
acknowledgement and final reply are generated on-line. Action is taken to provide the facility for
issue of Duplicate Money Order in the software. Besides, necessary modification is being made
in the s/w to generate prescribed reports for all 11 categories of complaints starting from CR-1 to
CR-11. Mailboxes with user-id and passwords for the new CCCs which would be upgraded and
networked during the 10th Five Year Plan would be created and circulated shortly. The necessary
equipment for operating for CCCCs and their networking is likely to be available in the next two
months. Therefore, it is necessary that all the staff handling complaints in HPOs/CCCs are
trained to adopt the new system without loss of time and we are in a position to handle all
grievances on-line in the next three months.
10.2 Handling of VIP cases on-line by the Postal Directorate/CO/RO

(indiapost.org/viplogin.asp)
It is seen that if a complaint is not redressed at the Post office or Division office level, it
comes to the RO/CO. If it is not settled at this level, in every likelihood it may get sponsored
through the DPG, ARPG, PMO, MOC, MOS or other VIPs like MP or MLA. So, it is in our
interest to settle the complaint at the base level by providing an effective grievance redressal
392
mechanism. Otherwise, we have to handle a large number of VIP cases.
Software has been recently developed for web based monitoring of VIP cases. This will
enable different divisions of the Directorate to send important letters received from the VIPs to
the Circles and Regions and also receive response from them. Monitoring of pending references
will be simple affair hereafter if this system is effectively utilized. The User-id and passwords to
the COs/ROs will be circulated shortly.
11. CITIZENS’ CHARTER:
An updated Citizen's Charter containing all three components viz. service standards,
grievance redress mechanism and service delivery capabilities was formulated and placed in the
public domain at www.indiapost.gov.in in July 2011. The Charter has been revised again during
January, 2012. It now contains the vision, mission, introduction about the organization, purpose
of Citizen's Charter, postal services and facilities for the customers, postal products and services,
delivery standards and customer's expectations, complaint settlement mechanism, liability of the
organization and administrative set up.
12. SEVOTTAM COMPLIANT CCC SYSTEM OF INDIA POST:

Department of Posts is also operating Central Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring
System (CPGRAMS) to handle complaints received in DAR&PG, Department of Public
Grievances (DOPG), President's Secretariat and cases registered by consumers of Postal Services
are processed in this system which is accessible at the website www.pgportal.gov.in.
India Post was awarded IS 15700:2005 Certification for implementing "Sevottam - a
service delivery excellence model" for its retail outlet New Delhi HPO on 11th April 2008 which
was valid for three years. Sevottam license for New Delhi HPO was renewed for another three
years up to July 2014. Further, 100 post offices have been selected for obtaining Quality
Certification under above standards during the current year and the work is in progress.
The government has redefined the role of citizens and service users as stakeholders and
participants instead of customers through institutionalization of the tenets of citizen centric
governance in the Sevottam model. It is a model of service delivery standards based on
experiments in e-governance. Sevottam is developed by The Bureau of Indian Standards
(BIS) as a benchmark for quality service delivery (IS 15700:2005) based on the assessment-
improvement model developed by Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances
(DARPG). Though, as a pioneer, the Department of Posts had achieved IS 15700:2005
certification for the New Delhi GPO on 11th April, 2008 it remains committed to bring other
Head Post Offices progressively to the IS 15700: 2005 certification level to realize the objective
of quality excellence. Recently the Government of India has directed the Ministries and
Departments of the Government to create sectoral standards to improve two Sevottam
components. As far as the Department of Posts is concerned, these are mentioned in the Results
Framework Document (RFD) for 2010-11 as;
• Creation of a Sevottam compliant system to implement, monitor and review of
Citizen's Charter, and
• Creation of a Sevottam compliant system to redress and monitor Public Grievances.
393
Once the sectoral standards are achieved through a systemic process, the organization can
go in for certification of its selected HPOs and other Post offices.
13. ACTION PLAN FOR 12th FIVE YEAR PLAN:

For the 12th Five year Plan. It is proposed to attain IS 15700:2005 Certification for all
Head Post Offices. However, the Cabinet Secretariat has desired to submit an Action Plan to
implement ISO 9001 Certification. In view of this, PG Division may pursue ISO 9001
Certification instead of IS 15700:2005 from now on. Clarification has been sought from the
Cabinet Secretariat regarding appointment of consultants for the work of Certification. Once this
issue is clarified, further course of action would be pursued.
14. CONCLUSION:
Receipt of complaints and disposal of the same is a continuous ongoing process. But
swift and correct disposal is very important from the customers’ satisfaction and business point
of view. The feeling of being listened to or grievance being attended to is very important. Web
based grievance handling has improved and expedited the grievance handling by India Post and
the increasing number of web based grievance in comparison to reduced manual grievance is a
testimony of success of Information Communications Technology and web based services of

India Post. Further it has been seen that grievance handling has been prompt in IT/ ICT based
services.
One of the major areas of complaints against services of India Post was relating to non-
receipt of money orders, acknowledgement of registered letters etc. With present of concept of
eMO where money orders are sent in the electronic online mode which is almost compulsory
with computerization and networking of all departmental post offices; the grievance of non-
receipt of MO has reduced. Further even if grievance is there the particulars of booking,
dispatch, and payment which is available in the database can be traced and reply sent to the
complainants.
So is the case with registered letters which are now tracked and traced and reply can be
given promptly. The following items of the postal articles can be tracked and traced- Speed Post
(Domestic EMS), International EMS, Electronic Money Order (eMO), Registered Mail, Express
Parcel, Electronic Value Payable Parcel (eVPP). India Post’s online tracking allows one to
access tracking information and confirm the delivery of item by using the tracking number
assigned on the Postal receipt handed over to him at the Post office Counter at the time of
booking. The tracking system is updated periodically to provide with the most current
information available about the location and status of the item. One will be able to find out the
following: (i) when the item was booked (ii) when the item was dispatched and received at
various locations during its Journey (iii) when the item was delivered, or (iv) when a Delivery
Intimation Notice was issued to notify the recipient that the item is available for delivery. When
the customer fails himself to obtain the information by online tracking, web based grievance
handling is available for early solution.
394
References:
1. Compendium on Postal Complaints, Department of Posts
2. Annual Report, India Post 2011-12
3. www.indiapost.gov.in
4. www.pgportal.gov.in.
5. http://www.ptcinfo.org/ccctrainingvideo/

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
RELIGIOSITY IN POST SOVIET SPACE: A SPECIAL FOCUS ON

RUSSIAN MINORITY IN POST-INDEPENDENT TAJIKISTAN
FAROOQ A. RATHER*
*research Scholar, Centre of Central Asia Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar.
ABSTRACT
During the Soviet period, all the rulers indiscriminately were, in most of the cases, against
religion of whatever faith. For many of them were atheists and as such, very often, embarked on
the path of anti-religious campaigns in the entire Soviet Union including Central Asia; and as
395
such the case of Tajikistan was not different. Different methods were adopted to make people to
give up their faith upon their respective religions for the Soviet authorities consider it as a big
hurdle in the socio-economic development of the region. The sole motto therefore remained to
transform the diverse people of the entire Union into what is called the “Soviet Man”. And as
such more and more energies were invested in this direction from the very formation of the
Soviet Union in 1917.
Key Words: Religion, Atheists, Muslims, Christians, Russia, Central Asia, Soviet Union,
Tajikistan.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Introduction:
During Soviet period, government in the entire USSR embarked on a ruthless anti-
religious campaign especially against Christianity and Islam The policy of the
Soviet government authorities was to eliminate all the religions from the entire
territories of the Union. In this connection, the Bolsheviks executed over 1,200
Russian Orthodox priests in the first five years of Soviet regime. Others (other
believers) were imprisoned or exiled, harassed and persecuted while most
seminaries were closed, and the publication of most religious material was
prohibited; wikipedia.org; The anti-religious campaign of Soviets was targeted at
the Russian Orthodox Church, nevertheless the Muslims were also encompassed in it. In
the process several Muslim clerics were arrested and executed resulting in the
massive decrease in the number of registered Muslim clergy. Significant number of
Mosques was left without imams or mullahs. The number of mosques came down
considerably. In 1917 there were 20,000 mosques in Central Asia but in 1929 there
number was not exceeding 4,000. In accordance with the 1929 law on religious
associations Islamic courts (that oversaw rulings on both Sharia and customary law)
in Central Asia were abolished. In 1940 there were 1200 section of atheists in the
USSR. In the process Church in Central Asia was dispossessed off many of its
places of worship; in 1923 alone 11 out of 28 in Turkmenistan and 7 out of 11
churches in Samarkand were closed down. On the whole, church, towards the close
of Soviet rule in Central Asia nearly ceased to exist on institutional level. In 1917
there were 39,530 churches in the entire USSR, which were reduced to 14,090 in
1936 and to 950 in 1940. Same was the case with all other things related to this
aspect (religion). For example those primary schools which were imparting
religious education were closed down in the 3rd decade of the 20th century and the
practices like veiling, polygamy and kalym were either banned or discouraged. In
1928 1,500 religious primary schools were closed by the government authorities.
All in all people generally were considered non-religious of whatever ethnic
background they were. Accordingly church or mosque had lost the importance in
political setup; even though a restricted number of these were allowed to operate in
396
former USSR at different periods of time.

However, the scenario changed immediately after the fall of Soviet Union.
The freedom of people was guaranteed and people were allowed to chose a religion
of their own. Thus independence allowed all ethnic groups of Central Asia,
belonging to Turkic or Iranian stock, to adhere to Islam and all Slavs including
Russians chose to regroup under the church. Due to the migrations between the
states of former Soviet Union there was a change in the demography of almost
every state in Central Asia. As a consequence the number of followers of a
particular religion also changed.
On the whole all the states of Central Asia including Tajikistan, after 1991,
turned in to multi-religious states with comparatively much freedom to profess
their religions. And all the religions in the country are existing peacefully without
imposing ones ideology on the society at large, because amidst of the religious
freedom there exists secular thinking which is protected by law. Since majority of
Tajikistan’s population profess Islam, the state takes special care for the religious
freedom of ethnic minorities in the country. The constitution of independent

Tajikistan gives freedom to its citizens to profess or not to profess any religion and
to participate in cults, rites and sacramentals. This is mentioned in articles 26 of the
Constitution of Tajikistan. There are no reports of denial of registration of religious
minorities, and unlike other countries of Central Asia, Tajikistan even permits the
formation of political parties of a religious character.
The Russian ethnic minority living here are Christians (mainly Russians
Orthodox) by faith. Christians (Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant) have been
living in Central Asia since 18th century. They are allowed to regulate religious
practices and organisations smoothly, but the Law on Freedom of Conscience and
Religious Associations (Law on Religion) and other governmental decrees have
put some restrictions on them to prevent overlapping and conflicts with others.
With the adoption of this law the picture for religious freedom in the country
severely limits the religious freedoms in Tajikistan. Every section of the society
(including title nation) in the country are indiscriminately facing certain violations
of freedom of religion or belief. Any religious activity (done by a community –
Muslims, Christians, Jews and other religious believers) has to face repercussions
at the hands of the government. For example in the name of internal security a total
ban was imposed on the participation by people under the age of 18 in all religious
activity, other than funerals, demolitions and closures of mosques, churches, and
the country's only synagogue; ban on all religious activity without state permission;
limitations on the right to share beliefs; and tight government censorship. From
2007 many mosques, the country's only synagogue in the capital Dushanbe, and
397
some Protestant churches have been closed, demolished or confiscated. The

restrictions thus give the state freedom to curb many activities of people, without
ethnic considerations. Accordingly registration of religious establishments is
necessary as was the case during Soviet period of 1940s. It thus gives rise to
secular character to religions proposed by the people and thus debars orthodoxy.
All Central Asian republics including Tajikistan have given official status to
the Russian Orthodox Church and recognized several places of worship. Because
the Orthodox hierarchy gives its support to political authorities through its
association that the rights of the Russian minorities enjoy full respect. In 1989
there were as many as 43 registered religious associations in Tajikistan containing
24 Muslim mosques, 17 churches and other Christian houses of prayer, and 2
synagogues. Besides there were 60 unregistered religious associations and groups:
18 Christian, one Jewish and more than 30 Muslim. In December 2003 there were
251 registered Friday mosques and 3,000 smaller ones besides 69 non-Muslim
religious organisations operating within the country. In Tajikistan following non-
Islamic religious organisations exist: the Roman Catholic Church; the Evangelical
Baptist Church; the Evangelical Christian Church; the Sonmin missionary centre;
the Grace Sonmin missionary society; the Baha’i religious centre; the New
Apostolic Church; the Russian Orthodox Church (in three cities); the “Hope”
missionary centre; the Seventh Day Adventist Church; the Society for Krishna
Consciousness; the Jehovah’s Witnesses society and the Lutheran Church. All the
churches in the country are freely doing their work / daily activities without having
any kind of interference from the people of majority groups. People in entire
Central Asia including Tajikistan generally reside in their own regions and would
not mix with other groups in the performance of religious activities therefore the
reasons for conflicts get crippled. Add to it the restrictions imposed that allow
government to keep a watch on these activities, since the people are so to speak
“neo-converts to their own religions” therefore they are in the process of learning
dogmas of religions and thus not strictly orthodox in thought and approach.
Accordingly the reasons for animosity also get diluted for any kind of religious
conflicts. Such conflicts also get negated because Central Asians have adopted to
that discipline of Islam where non-orthodoxy was much more stronger because of
the preaching of Sheikhs and Sufis and their seminaries across the region are still
being used for such activities. Like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan has grown such
religious culture for centuries together and it is this brand of religion that is
nourished by the state in these countries and therefore leaves no space for ethno-
religious conflicts between Russians and natives. Accordingly at present the
relationship between the followers of different religions in Tajikistan is cordial and
398
tolerant.
References:
 “Christians in Tajikistan Face Uncertain Future as New Law Forces Churches to Close” an
article posted by European Union Times on 9 January 2010, available online at
http://www.eutimes.net
 “Tajikistan Country Report”, available on line at http://www.bti-
project.de/fileadmin/Inhalte/reports/2012/pdf/ BTI%202012%20Tajikistan.pdf
 “USCIRF Annual Report 2012 - Countries of Particular Concern:
Tajikistan”, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom,
20 March 2012.
 Emily O’Dell, “The Teaching, Practice, and Political Role Sufism in

Dushanbe”, An NCEEER Working Paper, National Council for Eurasian and
East European Research, University of Washington, 2011
 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination, reports submitted by states parties under article 9 of the
convention, Addendum, Tajikistan, United Nations, 2011.
 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination, reports submitted by states parties under article 9 of the
convention, Addendum, Tajikistan, United Nations, 2004.
 Library of congress – federal research division, country profile Tajikistan
 Mushfig Bayram and John Kinahan, “Tajikistan: Religious freedom survey”,
published by F18News, Oslo, Norway, 17 March 2011
 Olivia Kroth, “Russia, China, Iran close ranks in Tajikistan”, Prepared for
publication by Lisa Karpova, Pravda.Ru, on 30.10.2012
 Sebastien Perose, “The Russian Minority in Central Asia: Migration, Politics
and Language”, Occasional Papers, Woodrow Wilson International Center
for Scholars, Washington, D.C., 2008.
 Sébastien Peyrouse, “Christian Movements in Central Asia: Managing a
Religious Minority in Soviet Times”, Acta Slavica Iaponica, Issue. XXV,
Slavic Research Centre, Sapporo, Japan, 2008
 United Nations Commission on International Religious Freedom: Annual
Report of May 2011.
399
 Yusufbekov Yusuff, Babajanov Rustam and Kuntuvdiy Natalya, Civil

Society Development in Tajikistan, Allavida, Dushanbe, 2007.
Internet References:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR_anti-religious_campaign_ (1928%E2%80%931941)
 www.spdb.ohchr.org

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/untc/unpan003670.htm
 http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=2379&tmpl=printpage
 www.state.gov/documents/organization/171761.pdf
 http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tajikistan-01-status-of-islam-since-1917

Research Consortium
AJRSH:
ASIAN JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN SOCIAL
POPULATION GROWTH: IT’S INFLUENCE ON ENVIRONMENT

Prof.P.Vinayaka Murthy
Dept. of Population Studies & Social Work,

Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, A.P, India-517502.
Dr T.Chandrasekarayya
Assistant Professor,
Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, A.P, India-517502.
M.Sivappa
Research Scholar,
Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, A.P-517502.
400
ABSTRACT
Human population essentially depends on environment for survival. In earlier decades, high
birth rate balanced by high death rate thereby low natural growth. However, in recent decades
with advancement of medical facilities, the death rate has been decline drastically, while the
birth has come down significantly thereby causes high population growth rate. The growing
population causes to environmental challenges. The present paper examines the Population
growth and its influence on Environment. This perspective needs attention to generate
knowledge among people on the environmental impact of human activities.
Key Words: Human population, Natural resources, Environment, Degradation,
Deforestation, Climate, Biodiversity, Energy and Pollution
______________________________________________________________________
Introduction
Human population trends are centrally important to environmental science because they help
to determine the environmental impact of human activities. As the world's population grows,
improving living standards without destroying the environment is a global challenge. Most
developing countries with rapid population growth face the urgent need to improve the living
standards. As we exploit the nature to meet the present needs, we are destroying the resources
needed for the future. A population or any organism for that matter, do not exist in isolation.
They need an environment to be alive and to live. This environment provides the energy, food
and necessary requirements for life to happen.
It is estimated that the present Earth’s Life is 5 billion years and the human beings are 2
million years. In the year 1800, world population was 1 billion. It took 120 years to become 2
billion and 39 years to reach 3 billion. But it took only 15, 13,11and 13 years to reach 4, 5, 6 and
7 billion respectively. Today, 5 births and 2 deaths per second are taking place in the world and
the net result is 3 are adding to world population. Between 1960 and 1999, Earth's population
doubled from three billion to six billion people. If current population growth rates continue, the
world’s population would grow from today’s 7 billion to 11 billion by 2050. Similarly India’s
population was 30 crores in 1941 and reached 120 crores in 2011.
Raising population leads to over use of natural resources, endangering the welfare of future
generations. Increasing population has created several environmental problems. They are overall
reduction in agricultural land, lower productivity, deforestation, soil erosion, landslides,
expansion of waste land, problem of drinking water and malnutrition. Population pressure also
leads to gradual change in climate conditions like increasing frequency of floods and draughts.
Also, increasing level of pollution has adverse effects on human health and quality of life. Rapid
population growth increases pressure on resources that are already over-taxed, including water,
401
forests, land, and the atmosphere. Human society’s impacts on the environment are a function of
three major, interconnected elements: population size, affluence or consumption, and technology.
Environmental Impact = Population x Affluence (or consumption) x Technology

The immediate or proximate causes of environmental degradation are population growth,
economic development, and technology. The relative contribution of each varies from place to
place, from time to time, and according to the specific type of degradation(Sharma,1994).
Environmental challenges
Pressure on land
Fulfilling the resource requirements of a growing population ultimately requires some form of
land-use change--to provide for the expansion of food production through forest clearing, to
intensify production on already cultivated land, or to develop the infrastructure necessary to
support increasing human numbers. During the past three centuries, the amount of earth's
cultivated land has grown by more than 450 percent, increasing from 2.65 million square
kilometres to 15 million square kilometres. Whereas developing countries experienced a net loss
of 200 million acres, developed countries actually experienced a net increase of 20 million acres.
For example, in India, on an average 2000 people every day abandon farming
(Lakshmana,2008).
Land/Soil degradation
Direct impacts of agricultural development on the environment arise from farming activities,
which contribute to soil erosion, land salination and loss of nutrients. The spread of green
revolution has been accompanied by over exploitation of land and water resources and use of
fertilizers and pesticides have increased many folds. Shifting cultivation has also been an
important cause of land degradation. Leaching from extensive use of pesticides and fertilizers is
an important source of contamination of water bodies. Intensive agriculture and irrigation
contribute to land degradation particularly salination, alkalization and water logging.
Deforestation
Forests are a vital resource for many of the world's people. They provide societies with a
wide array of goods and services, sustain millions of plant and animal species, maintain air and
water quality on which human life and health depend, and are important regulators of the planet's
climate. Forests are an important natural resource in the environment. They have moderate
influence against floods and thus they protect the soil erosion. Forests also play an important role
in enhancing the quality of environment by influencing the ecological balance and life support
system (checking soil erosion, maintaining soil fertility, conserving water, regulating water
cycles and floods, balancing carbon dioxide and oxygen content in atmosphere, decrease in
climate change etc). Nearly half of the world's original forest cover has been lost. Each year
millions of hectares of forests are cut, bulldozed or burned. Forests provide over 400 billion
US$ to the world economy annually and are vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems. Current
demand for forest products may exceed the limit of sustainable consumption by 25 percent.
402
Water Resources
Of all the planet's renewable resources, fresh water may be the most unforgiving. Difficult to
purify, expensive to transport, and impossible to substitute, water is essential to food production,
to economic development and to life itself. There are currently more than 430 million people
living in countries considered "water stressed." Population Action International (PAI) projects
that by 2050, the percentage of the world's population living in water stressed countries will
increase by at least threefold.
After waging battles over land, food, oil and other essentials for life, mankind is now on the
verge of a global war thanks to the scarcity of fresh water. Earth’s water resources, including
rivers, lakes, oceans, and underground aquifers, are under stress in many regions. Water
resources are under major stress around the world. Rivers, lakes, and underground aquifers
supply fresh water for irrigation, drinking, and sanitation, while the oceans provide habitat for a
large share of the planet's food supply. Today, however, expansion of agriculture, damming,
diversion, over-use, and pollution threaten these irreplaceable resources in many parts of the
globe.
Providing safe drinking water for the more than 1 billion people who currently lack it is one
of the greatest public health challenges facing national governments today. In many developing
countries, safe water, free of pathogens and other contaminants, is unavailable to much of the
population, and water contamination remains a concern even for developed countries with good
water supplies and advanced treatment systems. And over-development, especially in coastal
regions and areas with strained water supplies, is leading many regions to seek water from more
and more distant sources. The amount of water available per person has declined in recent
decades primarily because of population growth and water scarcity is projected to worsen in the
future. Supply of fresh water is limiting, since the demand is soaring as population grows and
per-capita use rises. By 2025, when world population is projected to be 8 billion, nearly 48
countries containing 3 billion people will face freshwater shortages.
Public Health
Humans need water for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, and industry; and contaminated water
can spread illnesses and disease vectors, so clean water is both an environmental and a public
health issue. Unclean water along with poor sanitation kills over 12 million people each year.
Water pollution is a serious problem everywhere. The increasing river water pollution is the
biggest threat to public health. The diseases commonly caused due to polluted water are cholera,
diarrhea, hepatitis, typhoid amoebic and bacillary, dysentery, guinea worm, whereas scabies,
leprosy, trachoma and conjucvitis are some of the diseases associated with water scarcity.
Global climate change

Global air and ocean temperatures have risen in response to human-driven emissions,
particularly of carbon dioxide. Oceans have become more acidic and the sea level has gone up;
the Arctic Sea ice has melted faster than expected; rainfall and snowfall patterns have changed;
and extreme weather events seem more frequent than in the past. Such changes with the
associated consequences are likely to worsen considerably if emissions continue unabated. The
403
Earth's surface is warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, largely from burning fossil fuels.
If the global temperature rises as projected, sea levels would rise by several meters, causing
widespread flooding. Global warming also cause droughts and disrupt agriculture. Research
suggests that temperatures have been influenced by growing concentrations of greenhouse gases,
which absorb solar radiation and warm the atmosphere. It also suggests that many changes in
atmospheric gas are human-induced.

The demographic influence appears primarily in three areas. First, contributions related to
industrial production and energy consumption lead to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel
use; second, land-use changes, such as deforestation, affect the exchange of carbon dioxide
between the earth and the atmosphere; and third, some agricultural processes, such as paddy-rice
cultivation and livestock production, are responsible for greenhouse gas releases into the
atmosphere, especially methane. According to one estimate, population growth will account for
35 percent of the global increase in Co2 emissions between 1985 and 2010 and 48 percent of the
increase in developing nations during that period. As such, both attention to demographic issues
and the development of sustainable production and consumption processes are central responses
to the processes involved in global warming.
India has already seen its average annual surface air temperature rise about 0.5 degrees
Celsius during the past century. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay indicated that the country’s average annual surface air
temperature could go up by between 4 degrees Celsius and 7 degrees Celsius by the end of this
century at the current rate of emissions (The Hindu, Daily News Paper, 2012). A global warming
by 4 degrees Celsius could lead to an associated sea level rise of 0.5 to 1 meter which increases
the cyclones storm surges. This will have a devastating impact on large urban centres, including
the mega cities of Mumbai and Chennai. For instance, in India the wheat production could fall by
about 4 billion tones for every one degree Celsius rise in temperature during the crop’s growth
period. Many aspects of climate change, such as exactly how quickly and steadily it will
progress, remain uncertain. However, there is strong scientific consensus that current trends in
Green House Gas emissions will cause substantial warming by the year 2100, and that this
warming will have widespread impacts on human life and natural ecosystems.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity describes the variety of living organisms of all kinds—animals, plants, fungi, and
microorganisms—that inhabit a particular area. Most commonly, biodiversity is measured by the
number of species in an ecosystem. However, diversity within a species—that is, the variety of
genes found in a population—can be critical to the survival of that species. No species lives
alone; all the members of a biological community are linked together in the web of life. They
depend on each other for nutrients, water, energy, and other resources, forming ecosystems.
Living species on earth may number anywhere from 5 million to 50 million or more. Although
we have yet to identify and describe most of these life forms, we know that many are endangered
today by development, pollution, over-harvesting, and other threats. Earth has experienced mass
extinctions in the past due to natural causes, but the factors reducing biodiversity today
increasingly stem from human activities.
404
There are important connections between biodiversity and the properties of ecosystems. For
example, a tract of forest land can sustain more plants if it contains significant numbers of
organisms that enhance soil quality, such as earthworms and microbes. As we will see, a change
in the status of one species can affect many others in ways that are not always predictable.
Healthy ecosystems provide many important services to humans, although these functions are
not always recognized or awarded economic value. If biodiversity erodes, we may lose some of
these services permanently. Earth's biological diversity is crucial to the continued vitality of
agriculture and medicine, and perhaps even to life on earth itself. Agricultural intensification
because of increasing cropping intensity, irrigation intensity and excessive use of chemical
fertilizers resulting into water logging, Stalinization and alkalinisation of croplands and
eutrophication of water bodies and ill health of oceans and thus reductions in biodiversity.
Human activities are pushing many thousands of plant and animal species into extinction. Ocean
fisheries are being overexploited and fish catches are down. Two of every three species is
estimated to be in decline. In fact, if current rates of forest clearing continue one-quarter of all
species on earth could be lost within the next 50 years.
Pollution
Many forms of atmospheric pollution affect human health and the environment at levels from
local to global. These contaminants are emitted from diverse sources, and some of them react
together to form new compounds in the air. Industrialized nations have made important progress
toward controlling some pollutants in recent decades, but air quality is much worse in many
developing countries, and global circulation patterns can transport some types of pollution
rapidly around the world. Air pollution, already a serious problem in cities, is becoming worse as
urban population grow and the number of motor vehicles rises. Increasing vehicular traffic is
also the main source of air pollution. In India, Tamil Nadu recorded the higher growth rate of
vehicles fallowed by Haryana, Rajasthan. Drastic decline in forest area are witnessed in states of
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Where population growth is high.
Air pollution kills nearly 3 million people per year. A tide of pollution is rising in the world's
seas. Levels of solid wastes increased in rivers and lakes and other water systems are also
heavily polluted due to the intrusion of solid wastes. The process of agricultural intensification
and intensification is leading to land degradation, overexploitation of underground water
resources, and increased use of chemical fertilizers leading to eutrophication and water pollution.
Rapid growth of industries has resulted in environmental degradation various industrial
processes release a large spectrum of pollutant into land, soil water and air.
Energy Challenges
Industrialized nations rely on vast quantities of readily available energy to power their
economies and produce goods and services. As populations increase in developing countries and
their citizens demand better standards of living, global energy use will continue to rise, with
405
developing nations accounting for a growing share of total world demand. Modern societies also
consume vast amounts of material resources, including metals, minerals, stone, chemicals, and
fibres. In most cases, these materials are abundant enough that they can be considered either
renewable or available in such quantities that we will not soon deplete them. The main concerns
associated with material resources, therefore, are generally the costs and environmental impacts
of extracting, transporting, and refining them.

Increasing vehicular traffic is the main source of air pollution. In India, Tamil Nadu recorded
the higher growth rate of vehicles fallowed by Haryana, Rajasthan. Drastic decline in forest area
are witnessed in states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Where population growth is
high. Registered motor vehicles especially in India of late, are getting aggregated by the kind of
Socio-economic development through changes in life style of population. A near lack of vision is
apparent on the part of our planners and they have instead of promoting means of mass public
transport, allowed corporate automobile industry to market a dangerously high number of cars,
two-wheelers etc, andl disregarded to environmental factors and carrying capacity of our road
network. Without the greenhouse effect earth would be too cold to live on. We need this to live,
it is not bad. The problem is when it gets too strong it can heat up earth too much. There are
signs that this has happened on Venus. To help, keep this not too strong recycle, reuse and don't
use up Earth's resources.
Conclusion
The rapid growth of population has certainly influence on environmental aspects. Therefore,
social awareness among the people is necessary to tackle the degradation and strong
environmental policies and stringent laws are needed for balanced utilisation of irreplaceable
resources.
References
1.
R.C.Sharma. “Population Trends, Resources and Environment: Hand Book on Population
Education”, Delhi: Dhanpath Rai & Sons, 1994.
2. C.M. Lakshmana. “Effects of Population Growth on Environmental Degradation: With
Reference to India “, Delhi: Demography India, Journal of The Indian Association For
The Study Of Population, Vol.37, No.1 (January-June 2008)
3. The Hindu, Daily News Paper, March 6, 2012, Chennai.
406

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AJRSH

Volume 3, Issue 5 (May, 2013) ISSN 2249-7315

A Peer Reviewed International Journal of Asian

ABBAS ALI RASTGAR, NINA POUREBRAHIMI

INNOVATION IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

KARL MARX, MARXISM AND RELIGION

NEWSPAPERS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: CHALLENGES

PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF

KEBENA DIRIBA DUNFA, T.V. KRISHNA

STUDY OF TRIBAL AND NON-TRIBAL COLLEGE [PDF]

DR. PANKAJ S. SUVERA

DR. FARHEENA RAHMAN

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GROWTH AND

YOGESH H. S., DR. M. MAHESHA

SANDHYA.C, PROF. R.HIREMANI NAIK, ANURADHA.T.S

RELIGIOSITY IN POST SOVIET SPACE: A SPECIAL

A Peer Reviewed International Journal of Asian

that organizational commitment has a significant negative influence on employees

KEYWORDS: Organizational Commitment, Social Loafing, Iran.

Continuance commitment defined as readiness to remain in an organization because of personal

Normative commitment inspired by a feeling of duty responsibility to remain with an

Based on Hassan (2010), in Ringelmann’s experiment, “participants pulled on a rope attached to

H: Organizational commitment has a significant negative influence on social loafing.

TABLE 1. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS

Item Description Frequency Percentage

Age Below 30 58 43%

TABLE 2. ITEM STATISTICS

implemented criteria in the questionnaire and modified it.

MEASUREMENT MODEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

MEASUREMENT MODEL OF SOCIAL LOAFING

TABLE 3. STRUCTURAL MODEL FITNESS INDICES

Fitness Indices Measure of Index

Incremental Fit Index (IFI) 0.98

FIGURE 1. STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING

FIGURE 2. T-VALUE MODEL

TABLE 3. THE RESULTS OF THE HYPOTHESIS TEST

No Hypothesis Path t-value Result

1. Angle, H. L., & Perry, J. L. (1981). “An empirical assessment of organization

commitment and organizational effectiveness”. Administrative Science Quarterly, 26, 1-

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A Peer Reviewed International Journal of Asian

CAPITAL ADEQUACY AND FINANCIAL INDICATORS FOR

KEYWORDS: Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Cost of Funds (COF), Non-

iii. The emphasis was on better performance, transparency and accountability.

vi. A new definition for priority sector lending was introduced.

BASEL NORMS ON CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF CAPITAL FUND IN INDIA

TIERS OF CAPITAL FUND

TIER I CAPITAL TIER II CAPITAL

Equity investments in subsidiaries, Subordinated debt (long term unsecured loans

To work out the Tier I capital.

a significant rise in between 1996-97 to 1999-2000.

1. To analyze status of CAR requirement in India.