Dr. Swami Prakash Srivastava, Professor and Head, Dept. of Economics, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dayalbagh Deemed University-Agra
Demonetization of currency means discontinuity of the said currency from circulation and replacing it with a new currency. Most of the people hailed the Modi’s strong decision, while poor were shocked by the move. The overnight decision changed the life of many as black money holders were worried about the pile of cash they were sitting on. Many poor daily wage workers were left with no job and income as owners were unable to pay their daily wage. It is no doubt a bold step taken by the government which will definitely help India to become corruption-free.
Since our economy is heavily dependent on cash, as only less than half the population uses banking system for monetary transactions, demonetisation has hit. Trade and consumption hard. With people scrambling for cash to pay for goods and services, the move is likely to take a big toll on the country’s growth and output during the current fiscal. Consumption makes up for around 56% of India’s GDP, hence, a drop in spending will pull down growth. The current step could also lead to behavioural changes in households’ savings and their consumption pattern, say economists.
Naseer Ponnarath Kunnummal, Doctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Calicut, Malappuram and Dr. K.S. Pavithran, Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, University of Calicut, Malappuram, Kerala
The sixty five years history of India’s foreign policy and diplomatic relations with the South Asian nations let know the chronicle of a nation’s failure in articulating an effectual and expansive policy for managing the neighborhood. India’s concern in the neighbourhood was constantly dominated by the single cause of territorial security and stand for the management of neighbours on an individual and ad hoc basis. Every time India’s leadership pursued the policy of opportunism which resulted for the establishment of a negative perception on India. India’s advancement as a potential regional power has been conceived by the neighbours as a potential threat to their independent existence and consequently developing an anti India attitude in South Asia. The hate India policy of neighbours has an undesirable effect on India’s effort towards attaining all round development and stability in the nation. Being the largest nation among a group of deprived countries, India shall realize the importance of a friendly neighbourhood. India shall find the prospect in the neighbourhood to build confidence among them for replacing the negative perception. Indian leadership and diplomats must realize the need and importance of an articulated neighbour policy for an unending and mutually beneficial South Asian neighbourhood.
Dr. Ejilvanan, Research Assistant, Department of Politics and International Studies, Pondicherry University and
Rameez Raja Mir, Doctoral Fellow, Centre for European Studies, DPIS, Pondicherry University.
The British withdrawal from the Indian sub-continent led to the conflict between India and Pakistan. There were efforts to normalize the relations between India and Pakistan since their inception. But the disputes were turned into political conflicts escalated into three wars. The two countries have not been able to build trust between them. There is not any breakthrough in the process of dialogue between India and Pakistan due to lack of political will. There is an urgent need of peace which requires the leaders and masses of both countries to reverse the downward slide that is characterized between the India Pakistan relations. The ill planned and hasty British withdrawal from the subcontinent led to the conflict. It seems that the British policies of ‘divide and rule’ degenerated into ‘divide and run’. The Kashmir Dispute was one among them. The other problems that are considered as the legacy of the partition process include water dispute, the division of military and financial assets, the evacuee property issues, and the rehabilitation of the refugees and the annexation of Princely States. Despite all these problems efforts are being made to ensure that the confidence building measures (CBMs) continue to remain in place, to enable the people of both countries, in the border regions in general and in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in particular, to maintain a semblance of normalcy in their lives. This paper will try to evaluate the experience of CBMs between India and Pakistan. It will try to analyze to what extent have CBMs succeeded in achieving their underlying objectives.
Anuja Ganegoda, Lecturer in International Relations and Research Methods, Bandaranayake Centre for International Studies, (BCIS), BMICH, Colombo.
The security dynamics of South Asia is mainly shaped and reshaped by India as the regional power. In the domestic level almost all countries faced the problem of nation building and the roots emerged from colonialism. The general patterns of the domestic level problems have not been changed apart from few cases such as Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. In the inter-regional level China’s involvement to the region can be seen as a big threat to India and it caused to change the security pattern of inter-regional level. In the global level, US interest in the region is connected with the global ‘war on terrorism’.
As the sole regional power remaining in the region India’s role is very important for shaping and reshaping the security patterns in South Asia. Indo-Pakistan tension caused to most of the security patterns in the beginning. After the rising of India as a great power Indo- China tension can be seen the main factor of shaping and reshaping the security patterns. According to above discussion ‘India is the main actor who controls the characteristics and dynamics of South Asia as a sub-regional security complex’. The rising tension between India and China will be one of the main factor which shapes and reshapes the security patterns in the whole world.
Dr.M.R Biju, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Public Administration and Policy Studies,
Central University of Kerala, Kunia Campus, Periya P.O Kasargod, pin- 671316
BRICS is a new organisation with existence of eight years (2009-17), but due to its membership and the nature of issues raised by it, the platform has assumed a high profile within this short span. It is a group five emerging economies with huge potential for growth and development. An analysis of its activities within this period shows that its is working on three fronts. First, it has demanded an equitable and just mutilateral global order in place of the one dominated by the US and its European allies. It strives to ensure the representation and say of developing countries in the management of global economic order. Second, it has also strengthened and expanded the scope of cooperation among its members. In spite of various bilateral differences among its members, they have many complementarities and opportunities for cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit. The third aspect of BRICS activities is concerned with its desire and poor countries. It wants that the future development agenda should reflect the interests of developing countries. The establishment of New Development Bank is also a step in this direction.
However, the success of BRICS largely depends on the level of convergence achieved by its members on various global and bilateral issues and the level of economic development realized by them in future. Their larger agenda requires their larger strength as well as larger cooperation and synergy.
In short it can be concluded that both the BRICS and the BIMSTEC have made spectacular progress in these limited span. The BRICS Bank or NDB remains the biggest and brightest achievement which shows the extent of what could be achieved through this kind of groupings. During India’s chairmanship, the group has been taken forward and the network to enhance cooperation among BRICS countries has been further strengthened. After Goa, India has emerged and established itself as a more active partner among five member countries. On the other hand, despite being there for almost double of the 3’ears compared to BRICS, the BIMSTEC has yet to invent itself. India has now decided to lead the regional economic cooperation efforts against the backdrop of Pakistan’s marginalisation in South Asia. India’s outreach to , BIMSTEC during the BRICS Summit in Goa was an important signal that New Delhi is serious about its role as a facilitator of economic cooperation in South Asia.
Dr. P. Lazarus Samraj, Professor, Department of Politics and International Studies, Pondicherry University and
Vineeth Thomas, Doctoral Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies, Pondicherry University
From the dawn of its independence, Indian republic is facing so many challenges in the form of intra-national as well as international. At one side, the cold war politics knocked the door of poor India to join their camps. India succeeded in not joining any power camp by following the policy of Non-Alignment. Back home India was beset with acute poverty,illiteracy, malnutrition, gender discrimination, caste discrimination, hunger death, sub nationalism, caste distinction, so many identity politics so on and so forth. Keeping India together itself was considered as a Himalayan task by the founding fathers. Moreover, practicing democracy among the immature and illiterate people by giving voting rights was not appreciated by many thinkers like Rajaji. However, the sixty plus years of nation building experiences clearly reveals that Indian democracy is growing in a positive direction in spite of so many failures. Of course both the success and failure of Indian democratic experiences are Himalayan in nature.
The country has experienced various threats in the form of foreign invasion, sub-nationalism, corruption at all levels, threat to democracy, rise of majoritarian communalism, casteism, sectarianism so on and so forth. However, election after election the question of power politics, multiparty system and above all democracy are transforming political parties from negative to positive politics. At present, Modi is talking about development, Make in India, Swatch Bharat, curding black money etc. to attract the people of India. However, election after elections people are expecting great things from their leaders and if they fail to meet the expectations the people will show the door to the leader whoever he or she may be. Indira’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war and the famous nuclear explosion couldn’t prevent the defeat of her party in the 1977 election. ‘India shining’ slogan failed to give victory to Vajpayee the second time. Yes, Indian political leaders and all political parties should be ready to learn from history, otherwise the people of India will reject them mercilessly for Indian people are known for their maturity of wait and watch and take the right decision at the right time.
Dr. Tapan Das, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Assam University, Silchar
In the North-Eastern Region of India, the picture of electoral politics is not much different. The Indian National Congress has an unassailable record both in the state Assembly and parliamentary election with minor exception with regard to politics in Sikkim. Neither as strong as the congress Party nor could magical rise of the BJP could dent into the electoral arena of the state. It is worthwhile to mention another state, namely Tripura, which has ostensibly presented an altogether different scenario of electoral politics wherein the communist party of India (CPI-M) marks an enduring presence in the state politics as well as in the General Election. The unprecedented and meteoric rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party did not produce any significant impact in the state. As it has been mention earlier that the share of parliamentary seats in the region is 25, it does not generate much of interest which a can be observable in other parts of India. Political competition is often stifled due to low average of contesting candidate per constituency. Nationwide average for constituency in their recent election shows 15.20 whereas it is little above 9 candidates per constituency in the North-Eastern Region.
Tomaj Arian Kia, Doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Studies in Political Science, University of Mysore, Karnataka and
Dr. Midatala Rani, Professor, Dept. of Studies in Political Science, University of Mysore, Karnataka
The goal in doing this research was to reach at a certain definition of the legal regime of Caspian Sea. We know that there are different methods to divide the border seas and lakes. In this article, the scholar has tried to explain all the ways through which Caspian Sea can be divided. At the same time, the advantages and disadvantages of each way have been analyzed. Different viewpoints of the littoral countries of this sea are also stated. All the investigations done show the fact that Caspian Sea is a closed and big lake and it takes its own specific solution to divide its bed and under bed. In short, the legal regime of this sea is unique in the world. It should be done based on the agreements between Iran and the former soviet union .Considering the rights of the newly formed countries from the former soviet union, a new legal regime has to be written for this sea. The best solution to that is to divide this sea equally among the littoral countries for the resources of under bed and to form a shared ownership for the surface waters of the sea.
Dr. G. Palanithurai, Professor, Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Department of Political Science and Development Administration, Gandhigram Rural Institute - Deemed University, Gandhigram
“THAI” scheme is unique because of its objective to reach the unreached. Through the process of planning at the panchayat and keeping the focus on habitation as a planning unit, the apparent neglect of such areas are made visible and people of that village panchayat become sensitive to the issues of exclusion and marginalization. Without looking at the face of the beneficiaries, if one looks at the table it appears nothing more than spending money for laying roads to burial ground, providing streetlights, installing drinking water systems which are routine infrastructure facilities. But the noticeable fact is that all the above facilities have been created for the people who have been neglected for the past several years. In every Gram Panchayat money has been spent through a series of development schemes. But certain segments of the society have remained neglected. These neglected segments are the target groups for this scheme. Yet, it is not solely a target oriented scheme. It is both target and process oriented scheme in the sense, that it ensures felt needs of the people are attended to and in this process affected groups are involved at the planning stage. When the planning process was initiated from below, people from all sections and segments have been sensitized on the issues of exclusion. Tamil Nadu is pioneer in addressing the issues of the poor. Innovative pro-poor schemes have been implemented in Tamil Nadu earlier also. It is a model to other states. Likewise this “THAI” scheme is also a pioneering model to address the infrastructural issues of the marginalised.
The experience gained from planning and implementation of scheme will be very useful for introducing integrated development planning as well as for claiming the 14th Finance Commission awards for panchayats. The greater participation of the Dalits and other marginalised groups in the Gram Sabha meetings is yet another interesting features one could observe in the process of planning and implementation of the scheme. Now they not only attend Gram Sabha meeting but also any other meeting organised by the panchayats. If one traces the reasons for such participation one could easily find out that this scheme has given hopes to the hopeless. They have found the benefit, scope and potentials of their participation. They get enormous information from the officials who attend the Gram Sabha meetings. Through their interaction with the officials they get to know the details about facilities and opportunities in other rural development schemes and programmes to improve the conditions of life of the Dalits and other marginalized groups.
This scheme goes a long way in restoring the dignity of people. Women who walked to fetch water for drinking purposes in the main village met with different kinds of unpleasant experiences, the main affront being verbal abuses by the caste Hindus. No doubt water is a common good meant for every household, but the source is in the main village dominated by the caste Hindus. But now they get water in their neighbourhood, which is also a succor to their self-respect and dignity. To cremate their dead, the Dalits had to walk to the cremation ground through the passage across the land of higher caste people. On every occasion they needed to seek permission from the landlord before carrying the dead bodies through their fields. This was a constant source of discomfiture and conflict. By laying separate road to the cremation grounds, their long pending demand has been met. In the same way the Dalits found difficulty in accessing facilities created in the cremation ground meant for the caste Hindus. Cremations during rainy season added to their miseries because, till the completion of the burial work, they had to stand in rains. The shelter created in the cremation ground meant for the caste Hindus cannot be used. They faced similar distress and difficulty in scorching heat during the hot summer days. Now water facilities have been created in the cremation ground meant for the Dalits. It has been a long pending demand but fulfilled through this scheme. The amount spent is not huge. But what the Dalits got through this scheme is the acknowledgement of their right to dignity. Now they feel the self respect of the Dalit poor is intact.
The need of the hour will be to sustain the spirit and enthusiasm with which the scheme has been launched. The first five-year phase has meant a lot for the deprived people not only in terms of the basic facilities but more importantly for the sense of social inclusion which is writ large on the faces of beneficiaries spread across the state. The scheme has introduced innovations in planning and implementations. These innovations need to be sustained, fine-tuned and institutionalized. Funds are channelized to rural local bodies for development through a host of schemes and programmes, they experiences of THAI should be guiding spirit to utilize these resources equitably to fulfil the avowed objective of social justice.
Dr. Rajnish Saryal, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Panjab University Regional Centre, Ludhiana
The word environmental justice has appeared significantly in various environmental debates during the last two decades. The term environmental justice refers to the rights of every human being to a pollution free environment. More importantly, the environmental justice refers to the determination of criterion of distribution of costs and benefits of any development project among the different stake holders that causes displacement and environmental damage. Beside this, the ecosystem services like water, land, minerals, raw material and other natural resources are the primary inputs of any modern industrial activity. The advocates of environmental justice argue that the analysis of costs and benefits of development projects must include both the usage of free common ecosystem services and the cost of damage done to environment in the process of industrial production. The distribution of benefits and burden of these projects, thus, must be based on some criterion that takes into consideration the socio-economic realities of poor people who lose their due share in the common ecosystem services and also suffer harm in the form of health hazards, displacement, loss of habitat etc., on account of environmental destruction. This paper is an attempt to put the Indian discourse of environmental justice into an analytical framework. There are alternative voices of environmentalism in India and each espouses its own world view of environmental justice. The three broad ideological perspectives Gandhian, Marxists and Ecofeminists exert their influence on the environmental justice movements in India. Although, these three ideological perspectives are distinct in nature but there is a common thread that unite them all. Survival of the poor or marginalised constitutes the central theme for all the three perspectives.
Jyotirmayee Tudu, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
In meeting free open defecation target government is seeking the help of different community driven institutions. Engaging SHGs to monitor such activity is one of the aspects. This has been reported by media that women SHGs are more effective in ensuring it. This has led to my first question that can women SHGs to be taken as effective medium to discipline behavioural challenges of rural local society? An exploration to above inclined the author to deal with the nature of policy intervening strategy. It focuses how shame strategy conventionally implemented as a practice used by community to control female sexuality now witnessing the reverse. It brings the role of government agencies in encouraging local women groups to regulate behavioural challenge. However the concern remains about its equity based implications. In order to have empirical evidence towards it a case study of women’s SHG initiative in Ganjam, Odisha has been discussed. The paper points out that why only women found to be the fit subject in implementing this strategy? In this regard it is argued that the success of women initiated shame strategy to penalise others depend on how community perceive such action. Here the burden of penalising others makes the vulnerable/excluded more responsible to regulate the careless than the powerful male community members. Hence paradox remains that it is more beneficial to make administrative practice effective than equity ensuring challenge. As a result of which women face more social constraint or conflict and more burden to ensure such target.
Dr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, Professor & Head, Department of Political Science & Public Administration,
Dr. Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow and Dr. Ashutosh Pandey, Associate Professor,
Department of Political Science & Public Administration, Dr. Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow
At present the consumer movement in India is in its infancy. Vast majority of the people are not even aware of consumerism as a movement closely connected with the protection of their interest. Many constitutional provisions have been made by government to protect the consumers. Until and unless these provisions are availed of by the consumers, the protection of consumer becomes inevitable. There is a great need to make them aware of their rights and responsibilities. The current investigation has been undertaken to seek answers to key aspects such as level of consumer awareness regarding rights, legislation and organizations. This paper analyses the consumer protection rights in India issues and challenges.
Dr. Vinod F. Khobragade, Department of Sociology and Political Science, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra
With the increasing high potentials, India is expecting to become the great power to join the elite club of the great powers of the world. In this direction, Mr. Modi’s vibrant diplomatic efforts surging forward in making India ‘world leader’ and ‘knowledge superpower’. The initiatives towards digitalization of the country, smart cities, metro and bullet trains, which are held (by government) as the symbols of progress and development of the country, are taken in hand. However, the domestic turmoil also has taken the wider space. The weaker sections, minorities and the marginalized of society are majorly grappled with multiple life and livelihood threats. Despite India’s better economic growth for the last few decades, India’s position is low far behind the many other countries in terms of citizen’s access to potable water, basic health and sanitation services, the immunization of children and malnutrition. India’s performance is poor compared to some of the world’s poorest countries. Ironically, the state cannot rise, domestically or internationally, on the basis of faked claims. Though India is rising to accomplish the status of great power, India’s real unaddressed and neglected problems are; rampant poverty, Dalit massacres, farmer’s suicides, violence against and insensitivity towards humanism, threats to women dignity, rampant corruption, declining democratic values and undemocratic filthy politics, unscrupulous, selfish and corrupt politicians and leaders, attacks on minorities, rise of class/caste violent politics, communalism, religious extremism, Naxalism and insurgency, unjust and imbalance development and so on. India cannot be a model great power to lead the world by skipping these problems. The fearlessness, security and well being of ‘all citizens’ are the prerequisite to build a healthy and strong India. India must first settle the domestic problems to become great power.
Dr. Asha. J.V., Hon. Director, Curriculum Development Centre& Asst. Professor, Dept. of Education, University of Kerala
Teachers in institutions of higher education play a critical role to train students in economic development as well as sustaining the well-being of the societies. The academic pursuits in higher educational institutions must be marked by modern courses, relevant curricula, good syllabus, inviting instructional materials, challenging methods of instructions, reliable procedures of examination and evaluation along with a dynamic and motivating institutional climate. In this context, the collegial responsibilities of the teachers of higher education include: Teaching, Guiding Research, Evaluation and assessment, tutoring students, contributing to student progression engagement in Academic committees and Boards of Studies, engagement in the corporate life and other functions of the institution. In accomplishing these responsibilities, the importance and role of teachers has never been more apparent and critical than at this stage of educational growth and expansion. The collegiality of competent, committed, and satisfied teachers are the best resources for any educational institution. The present study aimed to find out the extent of teacher collegiality in arts and science colleges affiliated to the University of Kerala. The quantitative, non-experimental study conducted in randomly selected 10 colleges (5 aided and 5 government) affiliated to the University of Kerala found that the teacher collegiality in arts and science colleges affiliated to the University of Kerala is moderate. It is hoped that the valid outcomes of the study have wider implications to enhance the quality of our higher education.
Dr. A.K. Ampotti, Head, Department of Islamic Studies, University of Kerala, Kariyavattom
To conclude, it can be said that Makti Thangal was the first and foremost Muslim reformer of Kerala who made strenuous initiatives to build a modern Islamic community in Kerala. He was to Muslim community what was Sree Narayana Guru to Ehavas, and he exhorted his Muslim brethren to embark on a cultural regeneration, citing the example of the Ezhava community under the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam. Though his contemporaries like Shaykh Muhammed Hamadhani Tangal and Chalilakathu Kunhammad Haji were well-known and distinguished reformers, they could not spread the reformist ideals through their speeches and writings throughout the breadth and length of Kerala as Makti Thangal did. The establishment of hegemony of the English East India Company in the beginning of the nineteenth century in Malabar had given rise to two kinds of revolts: one political and the second one based upon Islamic knowledge and belief. Makti Thangal’s resistance to British rule belonged to the second category. In this world of globalization and when the Muslims all over the world are facing numerous challenges, it could very well be said that Makti Thangal’s ideas are as relevant today as they were in his time. There is no denying that this great pioneer reformist had inspired later reformers like Muhammad Abdul Qadir Moulavi in bringing the Muslims to the threshold of modern education, religious redemption, political regeneration and intellectual achievement.
Aparna Sajeev, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi and
Dr. Simrit Kaur, Professor of Public Policy, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi
Fuel prices have substantial linkages with the financial and economic sectors of an economy. Findings of existing literature reveal that crude oil prices have differential effect on macroeconomic variables, depending upon the nature of economy (net oil exporter or importer), time period analyzed and the variables under consideration. Therefore, in this study an attempt is made to specifically understand the inter-relationship between fuel prices, stock market movement’s, inflation and economic growth, as proxied by industrial production. Various time series econometric tests such as Zivot-Andrews, Granger Causality, Gregory-Hansen cointegration and Generalised Impulse Response Functions (GRIFs) have been deployed on monthly data for the period January 1994 to April 2015.
Having estimated the structural breaks, our sample period is divided into two sub periods, viz pre and post the break. The pre structural break period is from January 1994 to November 2007. The post structural break period is from March 2009 to April 2015. Based on GIRFs, there are five main findings. First, often the magnitude of response on stock markets due to innovations in oil prices, inflation and economic growth remain stronger in the post break period. Second, in the post break period, positive shocks to stock market and economic growth influence oil prices adversely. Third, hike in oil prices adversely affects the stock markets. This has important implications for portfolio investors. Further, for India, despite lower global oil prices, the stock market returns rose in the post break period, which is indicative of petro-dollar flight not being substantial. Fourth, innovations to GDP growth are not conducive to stock markets. However, the paper suggests that the same may not necessarily be pessimistic, as this could be on account of diversion of resources from financial towards physical investments. Finally, there is a positive relationship between inflation and stock market. The authors argue that this could be due to diversion of funds from fixed and savings deposit towards shares and stocks, which the investors undertake to hedge against inflation.
Dr. Mousumi Sengupta, Professor, SDM Institute for Management Development, Mysore, Karnataka,
Pavithra. S, Assistant Professor, Sambhram Institute of Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka and
Dr. Nilanjan Sengupta, Professor, SDM Institute for Management Development, Mysore, Karnataka.
Employee engagement is all about the willingness and ability of employees to give sustained discretionary effort to help their organization succeed. Employees give their best performance with full energy and passion to serve the customers i.e., they go extra mile to cater to the needs of the customer without giving much adherence to rules and policies of the organization (Cook, 2008). Since many researches show that the disengaged and not engaged employees are more when compared with engaged employees, organization need to identify the key drivers of engagement to enhance the levels of engagement. Employee engagement may be defined as the amount of discretionary effort exhibited by employees in their job, or as an emotional and intellectual commitment employee has, towards the organization. The organizational leaders and managers play a key role in promoting the employee engagement and hence, they should come up with innovative strategies to increase the levels of engagement. Making employee engagement as a strategic goal and embedding it in all managers’ performance objectives helps to sustain the focus on employee engagement strategy. The present paper makes an effort to discuss various issues related to ‘employee engagement’.
Priyakrushna Mohanty, Doctoral Fellow Department of Tourism Studies, School of Management, Pondicherry University, Dr. Anu Chandran, Assistant Professor Department of Tourism Studies, School of Management, Pondicherry Universityand and Dr. Ravish Mathew, U.G.C.Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Tourism Studies, School of Management, Pondicherry University
Make in India is an indigenously conceived and developed campaign. Launched on 25th of August, 2014 with lot of fanfare, Make in India, the brainchild of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a highly sophisticated and well drawn campaign designed to take the Indian economy to the next level by specifically providing thrust to the manufacturing sector. The campaign aims at attracting higher volumes of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through simplifying and subsidizing the rules and regulations associated with the establishment of manufacturing units on the Indian soil. Since its launch, the campaign has grown from strength to strength and crossed milestones galore. The campaign outlines 25 major sectors that will be the torchbearers of its triumph. Tourism configures one of those 25 sectors and it won’t be an exaggeration if it is counted as one of the most avowed sectors given PM’s specific inclination towards tourism sector (which can reinforced with the often repeated mention in his addresses). Amitabh Kant, the Chief Secretary of the campaign, is a highly regarded man for his extraordinary contributions to tourism and being the mastermind behind brand building campaigns like Incredible India and Kerala: God’s Own Country. Further, India is blessed with captivating and unspoiled natural and manmade assets which are stellar factors for the success of tourism in any country on the globe. The Tourism sector in India has shown exceptional growth in the last two decades and the pattern is a quite sustaining. This work attempts to analyse the stark aspects as regards the intricacies of Make in India endeavors. The present study aims to envisage ways and means by which tourism could play sparkling role in adding value to the campaign. Media reports have been extensively reviewed to make concrete deductions on the prospective role of tourism in strengthening the Make in India ventures. This conceptual work has ample scope given the niche and contemporary vibes associated with the campaign and the far-reaching and pronounced implications of the initiatives.
Anitha. R, Assistant Professor, Sree Narayana Arts and Science College, Kumarakom and Research Scholar, R&D Coimbatore and Dr. Ambeeshmon. S, Assistant Professor, IMK, University of Kerala & Research Centre, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.
A responsible tourism initiative at its inception focused only on cultural and environmental aspects and was found to be successful in countries like India, Indonesia, Namibia, Nepal, Philippines Zambia, Zimbabwe etc. Considering its livelihood aspects we can extends its practices to the urban areas also. Since hospitality sector is the backbone of Tourism industry, the RT practices have a prominent role to uplift the communities by linking RT Practices with the accommodation sector. This practice got momentum after the Cape Town ,Declaration, in South Africa. Today there are a number of awards and certification schemes for the best responsible tourism practices in the industry. Most of the award programmes highlight the principles of sustainability especially employment quality, biological diversity, local quality of life and social prosperity. The present study analyses the best practices in tourism that can be incorporated with responsible tourism in urban areas which hence can eliminate and reduce poverty of the downtrodden city/urban dwellers. From the study it is observed that the hospitality and tour companies can promote the best practices with the support of both guests and hosts.