NIU Journal of Social Sciencesniu.edu.in/Journal/Journal-of-Social-Sciences-vol-3,4-2016.pdf · Dr....

NIU Journal of Social Sciences

NOIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITYPlot No.1, Sector 17 A , Yamuna Expressway,

Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.www.niu.edu.in

NIU

JO

UR

NA

L O

F S

OC

IAL

SC

IEN

CE

SV

olu

me 3

-4, 2

016

ISS

N: 2

347-9

795

ISSNN0:2347-9795Volume3-4-2016NIU Journal of Social Sciences

NOIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITYPlot No.1, Sector 17 A , Yamuna Expressway, Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.

www.niu.edu.in

NIUJournalofSocialSciences

CHIEFPATRONS

Dr.VikramSingh(IPS)ProChancellor

NoidaInternationalUniversity

Prof(Dr.)KumKumDewanViceChancellor


EDITORIALBOARD

Editor-in-ChiefDr.AnshuMathurAssistantProfessor


Co-Editor-in–ChiefDr.SeemaKumariAssistantProfessor


ConsultingEditorsDr.NeelamRana

Dr.AparnaSrivastavaDr.ShrutiSingh

Dr.HeenaParveenDr.SnehGupta

Dr.ShradhanvitaSinghMs.AnamikaShahiMr.VivekTripathiMr.SrinjoyGhosh

NIUJournalofSocialSciences

ADVISORYBOARD

Professor(Dr.)NoorMohammad

Ex.DeanandChairmanofDepartmentofsociologyandSocial-Work,

AligarhMuslimUniversity,Aligarh,UP

Dr.VinayMishra

ProfessorofPsychology,

TheBhopalSchoolofSocialSciences,Bhopal,MP

Dr.KaladharArya

Professor-Director,HRDC-Rajkot,Gujrat

ProfessorAprajitaSharma

Professor,DepartmentofEnglish,

Govt.HamidiaCollege,Bhopal,MP

Dr.MohammadAkram

AssociateProfessor,DepartmentofSociologyandSocial-Work,


Dr.HassanImam

AssociateProfessor,TheCentreofAdvancedStudy,DepartmentofHistory,


MamthaMurali

Vice-Principal,SouthEastAsianLawCollege,Banglore

Dr.RashmiBhatnagar

Govt.College,SojatCity,Rajasthan

NIUJournalofSocialSciencesispublishedbyNIU.

ISSN:2347-9795Volume3&4,2016


Allrightsreserved.Thismanuscriptrepresentsoriginal,unpublishedmaterialthatisnotundereditorialconsiderationelsewhere,inwholeorinpart.

Publication of the article will not violate the terms of any funding agreement,employmentagreement,orothercontractualarrangement,ortheprivacyrightsoftheauthors.

Allauthorshavereadandapprovedthemanuscriptassubmittedandarepreparedtotakepublicresponsibilityforthework.

Nopartofthepublicationmaybereproduced,storedintheretrievalsysteminanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwisewithoutproperwrittenpermissionofNIU.

Copyright@NoidaInternationalUniversity

Publishedby:NoidaInternationalUniversity

PlotNo.1,Sector17A,YamunaExpressway,

GautamBudhNagar,UttarPradesh

www.niu.edu.in

Editorial

JournalofSocialSciences,apeerreviewedinternationaljournalthatcoversthefieldsofscientific knowledge and academic scholarship that study social groups and, moregenerally,humansocietyandlaw.

Socialscienceresearchtheatersasignificantresponsibilityinthesocietyasitextendsawarenessandunderstandingofthesociety,humanbeings,literaryworks,communityexistenceandenvironment.Giventhattheoriesandobservationsarethetwopillarsofscience,scientificresearchoperatesattwolevels:atheoretical levelandanempiricallevel.Thetheoreticallevelisconcernedwithdevelopingabstractconceptsaboutanaturalorsocialphenomenonandrelationshipbetweenthoseconceptswhiletheempiricallevelisconcernedwithtestingthetheoreticalconceptsandrelationshipstoseehowwelltheyreflectourobservationsofreality,withthegoalofultimatelybuildingbettertheories.Thereforebyconsideringthisperspectivebothtypesofpaperhavebeenincludedinthejournal.

DR.ANSHUMATHURDR.SEEMAKUMARIAssistantProfessor,

SchoolOfLiberalArts,NoidaInternationalUniversity

Issue1Volume3-4 2016

ImpactofGlobalizationonWomeninIndiaZafarIqubal-ResearchScholar,DepartmentofEconomics,AligarhMuslimUniversity,AligarhSohailAkhtar-JuniorResearchFellow,DepartmentofSociology,AligarhMuslimUniversity,Aligarh

NationalIntegration,InternationalUnderstandingandPeaceEducationDr.ParsanjeetKumar-Principal,MangalmayInstituteofManagementandTechnology,GreaterNoida

AdaptingaNew:Mrs.DallowayCaughtupintheHoursBhawnaShrey-ResearchScholar,DepartmentofEnglish,JamiaMiliaIslamiya,NewDelhi

EffectivenessofConceptAttainmentModelOverTraditionalMethodofTeachingonAchievementinBiologyIndrajitNath-ResearchScholarofvisvabharti,SantiniketanBiswajitNath-ResearchScholarofvisvabharti,Santiniketan

StatusofWomeninIndiafromAncienttoPostIndependencePeriodSohailAkhtar-JuniorResearchFellow,DepartmentofSociology,AligarhMuslimUniversity,Aligarh

ImpactofGlabalizationandChangingValuesonPastoralGrazinginIndianCentralandEasternHimalayaNehalA.Farooquee,NabiK.Jha,R.K.MaikhuriandPernilleGooch1.SchoolofExtensionandDevelopmentStudies(SOEDS),IGNOU,NewDelhi2nd&3rd.G.B.PantInstituteofHimalayanEnvironment&Development,(GU),Srinagar.4.DepartmentofHumanEcology,LundUniversity,Lund,Sweden

RecentApproachestotheSacredGeographyofEarlyMedievalIndiaDeepakYadav-ResearchScholar,CentreforHistoricalStudies,JawaharlalNehruUniversity,NewDelhi

EducationforAll:-APersistentChallengeforOutOfSchoolChildren(OOSC)AshmeetKaur-ResearchScholar,(CentreforRegulatoryandPolicyIssues)DepartmentofPolicyStudies,TheEnergyandResourceInstitute(TERI)University,Delhi

2-14

15-22

23-27

28-36

37-45

46-61

62-71

72-81

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

CONTENTS

1NIUJournalofSocialSciencesISSN:2347-9795,Vol-3&4,2016

NIUJournalofSocialSciencesISSN:2347-9795,Vol-3&4,2016NIUJournalofSocialSciencesISSN:2347-9795,Vol-3&4,2016

ImpactofGlobalizationonWomeninIndiaZafarIqubal-ResearchScholar,DepartmentofEconomics,AligarhMuslimUniversity,Aligarh.SohailAkhtar-JuniorResearchFellow,DepartmentofSociologyAligarhMuslimUniversity,Aligarh.

Abstract

Globalization is the process whereby nations increase their inter-relatedness andinterdependency through the spreadofdemocracy, thedominanceofmarket forces, theintegration of economies in a worldwide market, the transformation of productionsystemsandlabormarkets, thespreadoftechnologicalchangeandthemediarevolutionthat results in sets of increasingly transnational and multinational economies andpoliticalstructuresandprocesses.

Keywords:-Globalization,culture,politicsandeconomy.

Introduction

Globalization is not country based but company based and participation in globaleconomyisnotachoicebutbecomesanecessity.Itisatransformationofglobalsocietyresultinginthenegationofterritorialfrontiers.Therearevarioustransnationalfactorsthat are considered as determinants of globalization such as macro-economicprescriptions, trade & travel, migration, food security, environmental degradation,technology&communicationandforeignpolicy.

Although academics and economists differ on the definition of globalization,globalization can generally be defined as the integration of world economies byremovingbarrierstotradeandencouragingthefreeflowofforeigninvestment,privateportfoliocapitalandlaboracrossnationalboundaries.Themainprinciplesuponwhichtheentiretheoryofglobalizationisbasedareasfollows:

• Sustainedeconomicgrowth,asmeasuredbygrossnationalproduct,isthepathtohumanprogress.

• Freemarkets i.e.,markets that are free from government intervention, generallyresultinthemostefficientandsociallyoptimalallocationofresources.

• Economicglobalization,isachievedbyremovingbarrierstothefreeflowofgoodsandmoneyanywhereintheworld,whichinturnfosterscompetition,createsjobs,increases economic efficiencies, lowers consumer prices, increases consumer’schoice and is generally beneficial to everyone by increasing overall economicgrowth.

• Privatization,whichtransfersfunctionsandassetsfromgovernmenttotheprivatesector,improvesefficiencies.

ImpactofglobalizationonwomeninIndia

Within the past two decades, globalization has created a tremendous impact on thelivesofwomeninIndia.Globalizationcanbedefinedas“acomplexeconomic,political,cultural,andgeographicprocess inwhichthemobilityofcapital,organizations, ideas,discourses,andpeopleshavetakenaglobalortransnationalform”(Moghadam,1999).Withtheestablishmentofinternationalfreetradepolicies,suchasNorthAmericaFreeTradeAgreement (NAFTA) and GATT, transnational corporations are using the profitmotive toguide their factories towarddevelopingnations insearchof “cheap” femalelabor.Corporationspreferfemalelaborovermalelaborbecausewomenareconsideredto be “docile”workers,who arewilling to obey production demands at any price. Indevelopingnations,certaintypesofwork,suchasgarmentassembly, isconsideredtobeanextensionoffemalehouseholdroles.Therefore,culturalinfluencesindevelopingnationsalsoimpactsemploymentstratification.Bringingahighdemandofemploymentopportunitiesforwomenindevelopingnationscreatesaninstantaneouschangewithinthe social structure of these societies. Although the demand for female employmentbringsaboutanarrayofopportunitiesandasenseof independence, theglassceilingcontinues to existwith the “feminizationof poverty” (Moghadam,1999).Given thesecircumstances and the empirical evidence collected in the various studies, doesglobalization have an overall positive or negative impact on the lives of women indevelopingnationslikeIndia?

EconomicimpactofglobalizationonwomeninIndia

Women are defined as housewives and forced to a status of invisibility. Women areengaged in different kinds of works within and outside the domestic sphere, but itcontinues to be a long struggle to even get women’s work recognized andacknowledged that theburdenofdomesticwork,wild rearingand careofhouseholdmembers,constitutesamajorchunkofworkundertakenbywomen,thereisalimitedunderstandingofwhatisactuallyinvolves.Thereisaneedforregulatoryframeworksdesigned toprotectwomen from thenegative effectsof globalizationwith regards tohealthandsafety,occupational standardsetc.Women inother sectorshave lost theirjobs as a result of technological advances. For example, several traditional industrieswhere women work in large numbers like handloom and food processing haveundergone changes in the forms of production with the introduction of machines,power looms etc, which have result in the loss of employment for large number ofwomen. Unemployment, underemployment and temporary work are more commonamong women than among men. These subsets of workers do not have any socialsecurity or health care benefits. As a result, the work-related illnesses, which theysuffer from, remain hidden. Furthermore, long-term unemployment constitutes aserious risk for the worker’s emotional stability, because it leads to poverty anddeterioratesself-imageandself-esteem.

No doubt, some aspects of globalization have provided women with greateropportunitiestoworkbuthowever,ithasalsoledtogenderwagedifferentialsandthemarginalization of women which is clearly reflected through segregation of womenworkers incertainspecific jobs.Unfavorableworkinghours, lackof trainingandskillup-gradationopportunitiesandlessercareermobilityintheformalsectorofeconomystillprevail inalmosteverycountry.Therefore,anewvisionforthefutureisrequired

2 3

ImpactofGlobalizationonWomeninIndia ImpactofGlobalizationonWomeninIndia

and we need to create an alternative society based on gender justice, ecologicalsustainabilityandlocalglobaldemocracy.Atthisjuncture,societiesneedtoseewomenasdynamicpromotersofsocialtransformation,andhaveapowerfulinfluenceontheirability to control their environment towards contributing to economic development.Though umpteen steps are taken in this direction like invoking equality and equity,discouragingdiscrimination,and lengthy legislations, thepicture isstilldishearteningandremainsonlyinthetalk.

Thanks to globalization, schoolhours arenowmore flexible to the labordemandsofgirls,internationalorganizationshavebuiltanincreasingnumberofschoolsinIndiasothatmorechildrenhaveaccesstotheseinstitutionsandabout18%ofIndia'steachersare female today.These influencesofglobalizationwillprobablycontinue in thenearfuture. NGOs support especially the basic human and therefore women’s rights foreducationinIndia.Thus,adecreaseofilliteracyamongwomenisexpectedinthenextdecades. Furthermore, the Indian government facilitated the access of girls toeducation,madetheprimaryschoolcompulsoryforallchildrenandputlargeamountsof money into the educational system to provide an educated workforce tointernationalcompanies.Thestatealsotriestobuildupuniformschoolsystem,butthevariety of languages, religions and the Indian caste system complicates these efforts.Regrettably, private educational programme only promote male-dominatedprofessionalandtechnicalcourses,whichareverylucrativeformenbutusuallynotforIndianwomen. In order to educate adults, the government developed in cooperationwithinternationalorganizationsdocumentationsonTVattheadultschools.Aspecialprogramforthealphabetizationofwomenstartedin1988inseveralIndianstatesandwasverysuccessful.

Globalization in India led toashift fromsubsistence toamarketeconomy,whichhashad dramatic negative effects on women. The so-called "Green Revolution", whichaimedan increasedyieldofriceandwheat, resulted in theuseofmore technologicalequipmentandlesshumanworkforce.Thework,experienceandknowledgeofwomenweremarginalized and their role in agriculture shifted to subsidiaryworkers ratherthantobeingprimaryproducers.Furthermore,menpredominantlyrunthemachinessothatwomenarereplaced.Thisprocessofcommercializationandthefocusonyieldhascreatedasituationwherefoodistransporteddirectlyfromthefarmtothemarket.Before that, the majority of products were stored at home and the women had thepossibility to exchange them for other commodities. The rural women mainlycontrolledtheformersystem.OthernegativeeffectsofglobalizationcanbeobservedinIndia.Largemultinationalcorporationsfrequentlypushawaylocalbusinessessuchastailoring,jobsusuallytakenbywomen.Supportersoftheneoclassicaltheoryarguethatglobalizationcanleadtoalackofunionizationbecauseveryoftengovernmentstendtodecreaselabourrightsinordertoattractforeigncapital.Therefore,workingconditionsinmultinational companies are very often insufficient, people work very long hourswithoutbeingpaidwellenoughtomakeagoodliving.Often,asmallgroupofforeignersendupmakingalltheprofitwhereaslocalsareexploited,especiallywomensincetheyare less likely tooppose.Peoplewhoarealready richget even richerandmostly themoneydoesnottrickledowntothepoorestwhowouldreallyneedthemoneybutwhoinsteadgetevenpoorer.Theseeconomiceffectsofglobalizationareoftenaracetothebottom,whereleadersmakeconcessionsbecausetheywanttoattractforeigncapital.

The economic effects of globalization also improved the women's human rights

situationsinceglobalcorporationsinIndiahaveintroducedcertainincentivesystems.Especially for companies such asMcDonalds their brand image is paramount. If theyviolate human rights, which would of course include women's rights, they wouldencountergreatpressure fromtheirconsumers.Thespotlightwouldbeon themandtheycouldlosetheirreputationaswellasalotofmoney.Sothislargescrutinycouldbeafactorthatconvincescompaniestotakepartintheprocessofimprovingthehumanrightssituation.AnotherpositiveeffectofglobalizationinIndiaisthatforeignerstendtopaytheirworkersmorethanlocalcompaniesdo.Therearealsomanycall-centersaswellasIT-businessesthathirewell-educatedwomen.However,theoverallappearanceofwomeninbusiness-lifeisstilllimited.Furthermore,weshouldnotforgetthatmanywomen cannot yet afford all this technology and are excluded of the process oftechnologicalglobalization.

Corporationsdesirefemalelaborforassemblyproductionbecausewomenwillworkinlabor-intensive industries at wages lower thanmenwould accept, and in conditionsthatunionswouldnotpermit” (Moghadam,1999).Femalesareattracted toassemblyproduction because of the lack of opportunities for female employment in otherindustries (aside from the informal sector). The main reason for this lack ofemployment is gender employment segregation, which subjects women to inferioremploymentpositionsthanthoseheldbymen.Whencomparingoccupations, “nearlytwo-thirds of women in manufacturing are categorized as laborers, operators andproductionworkerswhileonlyafewcanbefoundintheadministrativeandmanagerialpositionspredominantlyheldbymen”(Tzannatos,1998).Corporationsarereinforcingwomen’s subordinate economic position in society by offering them inferioremploymentpositionsandwagesthatsustainthisposition.

Thelackofprotectivetariffsallowscorporationstotakeadvantageoffemaleworkers.Asidefromlowwages,womenarealsosubjectedtoworkinhazardousconditionsthatcancausehealthproblems.Thefilmentitled,TheHiddenFaceofGlobalization(2003),discussestheeffectsofglobalizationandfreetradeonwomeninBangladesh.Allofthegarmentworkersareyoungwomenwhoworklong,tedioushoursinordertosupporttheir families. Lengthy work hours and pressures tomeet work quotas have causednervousbreakdownsinseveralfemalefactoryworkers.Workersintextilefactoriesareexposedtodustandlintwhichcancause lungdisease.Electronic factoryworkersareexposed to carcinogenic chemicals without proper ventilation or tools to handle thedangerousmaterials.TheHiddenFace ofGlobalization (2003) also states that factoryworkers are rarely given breaks during the day and cannot afford to take sick days.Corporations, such as Sears and JC Penny, employ local subcontractors in developingnations that “show little concern for the health of their employees” (Fuentes andEhrenreich,1998).Thewomenareconstantlyverballyandphysicallyabusedinorderto keep up with production demands from corporations. One woman in the filmclaimedthateventhoughshewassickshehadtocontinueworking.Womenaredyingfromworkingundersuchhazardousconditions.

Otherresearchershavefoundthatalthough“workingconditions,andjobsecurityintheexportfactoriesareinferiortothoseinthedevelopedcountries,theyarecomparableifnotsuperiortothosefoundinwomen’s(andevenmen’s)jobsinmostothersectorsofthese still poor, underdeveloped local economies” (Lim, 1990). Women working inlarger, modern factories have better opportunities for unionization. They are morecapable thansmaller factoryworkers toorganizeapoliticaldemonstration, suchasa

4 5



strike,tonegotiatemorerights.Itisimportanttounderstandthatwhenanalyzingtheeconomicconditions indevelopingnations, entirelyWesternviewsof social justice isliable to skew the literature available aboutworking conditions andwages.Althoughwomen are subjected to certain terms and conditions, they are a significantimprovement from traditional and alternative employment opportunities in thesenations.Theintroductionoffactoryemploymenthasimprovedtheeconomicstatusforseveralfamilies,evenintheslightestway,ascomparedtootherformsofemployment.Regardlessof theadvantageofearningmorecapital inmanufacturing industries,“thewagesearnedareofteninsufficienttosupportafamily”(Lim,1997).Generally,femalesholdasecondarystatus–comparedtomales-inthehouseholdandworkenvironment.Therefore,althoughwomeninexportfactoriesarelikelytobepaidhigherwagesthanwomenwhoarefarmworkers,thewagesarenotenoughtokeepthemfromdependingonthefinancialsupportofmalesintheirfamily.

CulturalimpactofglobalizationonwomeninIndia

To understand the workplace culture for Indian women, a brief note on women’sempowerment in the present global scenario is highly essential. In the context ofdevelopment, women’s leadership and agency in social change have been levers forwomen’sempowermentwithincommunities.Womenhavesoughtto fightentrenchedinterests forcommunitybenefits,andthroughtheircollectivestrength,haveearnedanew identity. Women’s rights around the world are an important indicator tounderstanding global well-being. Although women hold a unique position in everysociety, they still belong to a disadvantaged class of society due to various socialbarriersandimpediments.Womenareusuallythemostexploitedandleastprivilegedmembersofhouseholdsandastheprimarycaregiversoftheirfamilies;theyareoftenoverburdened with domestic work for their families. Notwithstanding their second-classstatusinseveralsocieties,women’sissueshaveacquiredsalience.

Pollutionand industrialwastealsohaveconsiderable impactonwomen'shealth.Thesmoke fromhouseholdbiomass,madeupofwood, dung and crop residues,within athree-hour period is equivalent to smoking 20 packs of cigarettes. So, these womensufferfromeyeandrespiratoryproblems,chronicbronchitisaswellaslungcancer.Tofight against this development, international organizations and governments havesupported the foundation of the organization "Janani" in India. The aims of thisinstitutionare to trainyoung couples in rural areas tobecomemedicalpractitioners.Theyprovidefamilyplanningservicesandexplaintheuseofcontraceptivesaswellascertainmedicaments.Thesecouplesthengobacktotheirvillagesandcommunicatethenewinformationtoallinterestedcouplesandespeciallywomen.Usually,Indianwomenareveryshyanddonotwanttotalkaboutsexwithdoctorsbeingpredominantlymen.Theyonlyentrustthesetrainedwomen.Jananistatesthatwomenandmenshouldbeequalwithinpartnerships.This isawhollynewwayofthinkingaboutwomenforthemajorityofmen.Thewomenbeingtrainedusuallyaremoreconfidentandhavemorepowerthanbefore.Theparticipatingcouplesarearolemodelformanywomen.Today,morethan10,000couplestakepartinthisprogram.Aresultofthisglobalizationbasedprocess is thatwomenare increasingly accepted and respectedby their husbands asequalhumanbeings.Due toaglobal exchangeprocess in themedical sector,modernabortionmethodsarebecomingincreasinglyavailableforwomenalsoinruralareasofIndia.However,thisisfuellingfearsthatthetrendtowardstheabortionoffemalefetus

isontheincrease.ThegreatinfluenceoftheWHOaswellasofinternationalNGOsonIndia improved women’s health care rights on a large scale in recent years. Bettereducation in themedical field,more vaccinations andmedication aswell asmedicalassistanceformothersandchildrenamelioratedthesituationofwomen.

The culture of female employment in developing nations is based on “formal labor,housework,andinformal-sectorproduction”(Ward,1990).Onlyasmallproportionofwomenworkinexportfactoriescomparedtotheentirefemalepopulation.Mostworkinagriculture,performhousework,orareemployedintheinformalsector.Femalesinthese nations are limited in society by patriarchal control. These societies claim thatfemalelaborisanextensionoftheirhouseholdchores.Thisideologyis“interwoveninthecapitalisteconomytojustifywomen’ssubordinationontheglobalassemblyline,inthehomeandinformalsector”(Ward,1990).Regardlessofwhichsectorofemploymentwomen is working in, they are given limited access to resources and authority overtheirwork.

Furthermore,negativereportsaboutIndianmenabusingtheirwomen,childmarriagesandcompaniesexploitingwomencausedanoutcryoftheinternationalsociety,whichkepttouristsfromtravellingtocertainpartsofthecountry.Internationalpressureledto theChildMarriageRestraintActwhich“rose theminimumlegalage formarriagesfrom15 to18 foryoungwomenand from18 to21 foryoungmen” (Coonrod,1998).However, illegalchildmarriagesarestillcommon inruralareas.Womencanbemoreeasilyinformedabouttheirrightsandinformationiscrucialinthebettermentoftheiroverallsituation.Moreover,womencancomplainto theHumanRightsCouncil if theyfeel that their human rights are violated (Simmons, B. 2006). Increased globalawarenessforcultureenhancedtheprocessofgrantingwomenmorerights.Manynewmovies created by the Hollywood-influenced Bollywood industry show women in averymodernandself-confidentway:ThemovieMonsoonweddinge.g.pointsouttheconflictofayoungIndiangirlwhofindsherselfbeingtornbetweentraditionalandthedue to globalization increasing influence ofWestern value.Mostwomenwho choosetheoptionarehousewiveswhodonotreceiveenoughmoney fromtheirhusbands topay for the basic necessities for their family’s survival (i.e. food and clothing). Thesewomen cannot seek formal sector employment due to their family responsibilitieswithin the household. Informal/ domestic jobs also provide a survival strategy forwomendealingwithhusbandswhodon’twanttocontributeenoughoftheirwagestoprovideforthefamilies.

Althoughwomenmayfeelasenseofempowerment,theirwagesaresubstantiallylowin comparison to theirmale counterparts.Also, “womenhave the smallest shops, aretheleastabletocompete[intheinformal-sector]andaresubjecttomoregovernmentinspectionsthanmen”(Ward1990).Theglassceilingalsoexistsindevelopingnations.Womenaregivena“taste”ofindependencethatdoesnotallowthemtoascendtothesamemanagerialpositionsasmen.Thefactthatmalesupervisorsbelievethatgarmentassemblyisanextensionof“femalework”athome,causessupervisorstostigmatizeallwomen as labors rather promote them to managers. They are confined to thesepositions because of gender roles and expectations. However, “unemployed…menrefused to participate in their wives ‘informal work because they felt they could becalled away at any time for awaged job” (Ward, 1990). This double standard causeswomenindevelopingnationstodevelopadoubleroleofsurvival.Theinformal-sectorenables women to maintain these roles without the dependence of her husband’s

6 7



assistance.

There are other household issues that occur in relation to wages and survival. Asmentionedearlier, severalwomenseek informal jobsbecause theirhusbandsarenotcontributingenoughoftheirwagestoensurethefamily’ssurvival.Thesemen“simplyreducetheamountofmoneytheytransfertotheirwivessoas tobeabletomaintaintheirpreexistinglevelofalcoholandtobaccoconsumption”(Elson,1992).Alcoholandtobacco consumption usually leads to domestic arguments and is associated withdomesticviolenceagainstwomenandchildren…[Because] themenwouldoftenbeatup the women [and children] to demand money for drink[s] (Elson1992). Men’saddiction to alcohol and tobacco leads them to resort to using the money allocatedtowards household expenses after they have spent themoney set aside for personalexpenses. Several males would rather desert their families than give up alcohol ortobacco. Although this reduces the expenses within the household, females hold asubordinate position in society and are forced to depend on a man for adequatesurvival. The “number of women –headed households relying on insufficient andunstableremittancesisreportedtohavegrown”(Elson,1992).Familyabandonmentbymalescanbeanotherreasonfortheadvancementofpovertyindevelopingnations.Theunequalgenderwagesandlimitedaccesstoresourcesputswomeninadisadvantagedpositiontowardsthesurvivalofthefamilies.

Another problem that exists among women in developing nations is that “unpaiddomestic tasks are private rather than social and because they are both unpaid andprivate,thereisnosocialsystemofincentives,ofrewardsandpenalties,toencouragechange”(Elson1992).Womenwhosedailylivesarecenteredonhouseworkaresolelydependent on their husbands for financial support. They do not have access to thepublicsectorthatwillenablethemtoenterthemarket.Thelackofassistancetowardswomenwho perform housework, places them in a vulnerable position in relation totheir husbands. Theymight feel obligated to their husbands for financial needs andpossibly withstand cases of abuse in order to provide for their families. In MalayMuslims societies, men are given authority over their wives because “women arebelievedtobeparticularlyweakinspiritualessence…aconditionwhichmakeswomensusceptibletoirrationalanddisruptivebehavior”(Ong,1987).

Womenareshowingtheirstrengthbytakingresponsibilityfortheir familyaftertheirhusbands leave. Women in the informal-sector are also showing their strength bytaking on assembly employment, while managing their familial responsibilities. Thegovernments of developing nations are denyingwomen the opportunities to expandtheir strength to their fullest potential. If men are afraid that giving womenopportunitiesforadvancementwoulddecreasemalepower,theyhavealreadydonesobydisassociatingthemselvesfromthefamilyunit.Menmightfeelthatbuyingtobacco,alcohol,orabandoningtheirfamiliesareformsofdominationoverwomen,butfemaleshavefoundwaystosupporttheirfamilies.Eitherthroughsupportnetworksorinformalemployment, women is using their strength to overcome obstacles. What ifgovernmentsindevelopingnationsdevelopedasocialservicessystemtofurtherassistthesurvivaloffamilies?

Generally, subordinate status in developing society shows a correlation with theirmotivationtowardfactoryemployment.Young,schoolagedfemalesaresocializedtobepassiveandobedientintheclassroom.Incontrast,boysareencouragedtobeleadersintheclassroomandinclassprojects.InIndiansociety,malesandfemaleshavetotakean

examinationtoproceedfromprimarytosecondaryschool.Maleswhopasstheexam,usually attend vocational or technical education to prepare for industrial jobs.Unfortunately for young women, “form three is the end of their schoolcareer…[corporations take advantageof thisby encouraging] school trips to the localFTZafterstudentshavesatfortheirFormThreeexams”(Ong,1987).Fromthisstudy,itis apparent that females are kept in a subordinate position in society by theincorporationofassemblyproductionintotheiryounglives.

Although a few females passed the Form Three exam and went on to further theireducation,“formostgirls,however,FormThreeistheendoftheirschoolcareer”(Ong,1987). Girls who move on to higher levels of education are also motivated towardfactoryproductionbut oftenbecomedissatisfiedwith “work conditions and… [Look]for better employment opportunities elsewhere” (Ong, 1987). From this evidence, itappears that women with more educational opportunities have more options forearning living than females with a limited educational background. Why are morefemalesthanmaleslikelytofailtheFormThreeexams?

Theyounggirlsaregivenhouseholdchoresandarerequired toassistwithchildcare,whereas boys, spend their “free time… [On] extracurricular school activities” (Ong,1987).Youngfemaleshavetoperformdomesticchoresinthehousesuchas:cleaningand cooking, in addition to attending school and doing homework. Therefore, “theirgradually increasing participation in these socially reproductive activities interfereswith their… [performance] in school” (Ong, 1987).Several females are unable tomaintain a balance between household and school work responsibilities. Upholdingstrongfamilybondsbecomeamajorgoalinafemale’slifeanditeventuallycauseshertolosefocusonschool.Incontrast,malesarerelievedfromtheseresponsibilitiesanduse their free time towards thebenefit of their education.The exam itself is tailoredtowards males. In several cases in the courses necessary to pass the exams are:“carpentry, agriculture, and domestic science (Ong, 1987). Females usually do notenroll in the first two courses because they are considered “masculine” subjects.Domestic science is also not taken because females are assumed to learn domesticresponsibilities from their mothers and other roles performed at home. Therefore,femalesusuallydropoutofschoolbecauseofthiseducationaldisadvantage.

Corporationstargetyoungfemaleworkerswithoutthinkingabouttheculturalchangesthat they create within developing societies. it appears that these females live a“westernized fantasy” by working in export factories. Corporations are imposingethnocentricvalues(independence-bothfinancialandsocially)uponfactoryworkers,without consideration for the implications that result from these value adjustments.Thefactthatfemaleworkerswholeavethefactoriesareforcedtolookforhusbandsinordertosurviveinsociety,makesitseemasthoughtheeffortsofthesewomentogaintheir independence were merely a waste of time. Corporations might be using theindependence factor to lure youngwomen into their factories. Nevertheless, femalesarestillsubjectedtoasubordinatestatusinsocietyoncetheyleavetheexportfactories.Howcanwomenreclaimthisformofindependencewithoutdependingonthemalesindevelopingnationsforsupport?

PoliticalimpactofglobalizationonwomeninIndia

Womeninvariouscommunities throughoutdevelopingnationshavecreatedself-help

8 9



lookingatwomenonlyintheirrolesasmothers,‘ratherthanasactiveagents,’workers,andmanagers of resources” (Bunch and Carrillo 1990). An example of this scenarioexistsinPeru,wherewomenareunabletoaccesswaterfortheirdailychoresbecausethemalewhohassoleaccesstothewaterpump,worksinthefieldsduringtheday.Ifawomanwasinchargeofthepump,womeninthevillagewouldhaveadequateaccesstothewaterneededtocompletetheirdailychores.Givingwomenpowerovertheirdailychoreswouldadvancetheirpositionsinsociety.

It is also states that there are two long term goal of feminism: the achievement ofwomen’s equality, dignity, and freedom of choice throughwomen’s power to controltheirownliveswithinandoutsidethehomeandtheremovalofallformsofinequalityand oppression through the creation of a more just social and economic order,nationally and internationally (Bunch and Carrillo, 1990). In regards to formal andinformalemployment,women’sworkshouldberewardedwithwagesandbenefitsthatwouldenable them to support themselvesand their family.Creatinga just social andeconomic order will allow more women to further their education and to obtainmanagerial and technical positions. Allowing women who have worked in ascertainindustrytobepromotedtomanagerialorhigherlevelemploymentwouldalsoenablethemtoearnmorewages tosupport their families.Asmentionedearlier, femalesarethemainprovidersfortheirfamilies-sincemalestendtospendtheirmoneyonothermeans.Realizingthisculturalfactorandallocatinghigherpayingjobstofemales,wouldreleasetheirdependencyonmalesforfinancialsupport.

Asmentioned earlier, the informal sector continues to play an important role in thesurvival of women in developing nations. The “Self- EmployedWomen’s Association(SEWA) in India was one of the first organizations to define the various informalactivities of women, such as vegetable vending, rag picking and producing goods athomeforsaleaswork”(Desai,2002).SEWAhasbeensuccessfulinunionizinginformalworkersinIndiaandestablishinganorganizationwhereawomanhasbecomeleaders.SEWAcontinuestoempowerwomeninIndia,allowingthemtomaintaincontrolovervariousaspectsoftheirdailylives.

Anotherissuefacingwomenindevelopingnationsistheprivatizationofhealthcare.Asmentionedearlierprivatization“hasgreatlyreducedgovernmentfundedprimarycare,thus limiting [the] access… [of healthcare towomen]…” (Desai, 2002).The Centre forEnquiryintoHealthandAlliedThemes(CEHAT)inIndiaconductsresearchonwomen’shealthinIndiaandprovideshealthservicestopoorcommunities.HealthWatch,whichderived out of CEHAT, strives toward a “more woman centered approach toreproductionandeliminatedthequotasthatlocalhealthpractitionershadtomeetforpopulation control” (Desai, 2002). At the population conference in Cairo, thedeclaration emphasized that “the need to empowerwomen and protect their humanrights [is the best strategy of population control” (Desai, 2002). Givingwomenmoreemployment opportunities and power over their reproductive health will enablewomentomakemoredecisionsintermsoffamilyplanning.

The environmentalmovement is another cause that has derived out of development.Deforestationanddesertificationcausedbytheincreasedneedofnaturalresourcesinglobalizationhascreatedseveralobstaclesinthelivesofwomenindevelopingnations.Forwomen “in the ThirdWorld, destruction of the environmentmeans that womenhavetospendmoretimeeverydaytogatherwoodforfuel,fodderforcattle,andfetchdrinkingwater”(Desai,2002).Spendingmoretimeonthesechoresresultsinlesstime

groups that “might provide a springboard to transformation if…[women] wereredirected toward women’s strategic gender needs as well as toward their practicalgender needs” (Elson, 1992). Although women cannot prevent their husbands fromleaving,theyhavejoinedtogethertoaddresstheproblemsinthepublicservicesector,including:“housing,schools,nurseries,transport,socialsecurity,andhospitals”(Elson,1992). Asmentioned earlier, the SALs require cuts in public expenditure. Therefore,poor women and children are unable to gain adequate access to the resourcesmentionedabove.Womenandchildrenaresufferingfromtheresultsofthisinequality,aswellastheeffectsofeconomicglobalization.Sincewomenarebecomingtheheadsofhouseholds,shouldn’tthegovernmentacknowledgethisformofsocialchangeandgivethemmoreaccesstoresources?

CommunitysupportgroupsweresomewhatsuccessfulintheirattemptstoimplementprohibitioninIndia.They’vemanagedtoreducetheamountofwomenbeingabusedbytheirhusbandsovertheconsumptionofalcohol.Itisimportanttorememberthat“thedegree to which survival and transformation strategies can be successful dependsheavily onwhat happens to the international financial system” (Elson, 1992).Womenwillcontinuetoworkintheinformal-sector,withorwithoutthehelpoftheirhusbands,tosupporttheirfamilies.Theonlywayforwomentogainaccesstoincreasedwagesorsocial services is to reform the system that maintains their subordinate position.Joining together and forming support groups is a step in the right direction towardsachievingmorerightsforwomen.Breakingthroughinequalitiesisthenextstepintheprocesstowardsachievingmorerightsforwomeninsociety.

Starting at the local level is important for women in developing nations because itenables more workers to join forces and create an awareness of women’s needsthroughout their country. Thesewomen share common backgrounds such as: abuse,poverty, and lack of adequate wages and resources. Creating support groups uniteswomen towards a common goal in achieving more rights. The governments withindevelopingnationsshouldbecomeawarethatwhilemalesarebeinggivenmorerights,wages, and access to resources, they are using these rights frivolously. Women areresponsibleformostofthehouseholdnecessitiesandshouldbecompensatedinordertomeettheseneeds.

During the U.N.’s Decade for Women (1976-85), women’s groups from acrossinternational boundaries came together to discuss the impact of development onwomenindevelopingcountries.ThreegoalsthatderivedoutofTheDecadeinordertoreducewomen’soppressedposition indevelopingnations are: “Equality [which]wasseenprimarilyasafeministissuecomingfromWesternindustrializedcountries),Peace[which]was included at the request of the Eastern Socialist bloc), and Development[which]wasperceivedaskey to theThirdWorld countriesof theSouth” (BunchandCarrillo1990).Feminismisthemainfoundationofthesegoals,whichessentiallywanttoaddressandresolvethepressingissueofdominationoverthelivesofwomenaroundtheworld.

TheU.N.Decadesparkedthe“developmentofglobalfeminism…[Where]womenoftheNorthandSouth[discuss]thediversityandcommonalityofourlivesandabouthowto‘developaglobalperspectivewitheachofourmovements’onalltheissuesthataffectwomen” (Bunch and Carrillo 1990). The organizations that attended The Decadediscussedthemalebias indevelopmentthatfailstoconsiderwomen’sneeds.Womenarenotconsideredindevelopmentprojectsbecauseofthepatriarchal“persistence in

10 11



spentonproductionintheinformalsector.Therefore,womenarenotabletoproduceenoughgoodstoensureasustainableincomeormaintainrurallanddevelopment.

TheNetworkalsoseekstoimprovethewageandworkingconditionsforwomeninallsectors of the economy in Central America. Theirmethods for improvement include“negation, lobbying, media campaigns, and electronically disseminated action alerts”(Mendez, 2002). TheNetwork alsomaintains records of human rights violations andother laborconditionsof their research in factories.TheNetworkusescareful tacticswhilelobbyingsothattheydon’turgefactoriestothepointofrelocation.This“greatlylimitsTheNetwork’sability toengage inthekindsofpoliticalmaneuveringthathavebeen successful for other transnational advocacy networks, such as internationalboycotts…” (Mendez, 2002. The Network used the media to gain attention to thisfactoryandwas successful in their attempts tomonitor the factory conditions.KathyLeewasinapositionwhererelocationwasnotanoptionbecauseifshedid,themediawould expose the conditions in the new factory. Therefore, NGOs have a significantimpact of on the lives of women in developing nations and offer women a form ofsupportandprotectionagainstunfairconditions.

Conclusion

Globalizationhasreducedtheabilityofwomenindevelopingnationtofindpaidworkthatofferssecurityanddignity(Desai,2002).Althoughwomen’srolesinthelaborforcehave changed from traditional agricultural and domestic roles, tomanufacturing andassemblyproduction,theoveralleffectofglobalization(basedontheliteratureusedinthisanalysis)hasproventobenegative.Thereareempiricalclaimsofwomengainingmoreautonomyover theirownwagesanda feelingof independence fromtraditionalgender roles in society- especially in marriage and childrearing. Women are alsobecoming the breadwinners in most households because of the lack of maleresponsibility in the household. Young daughters are financially supporting theirparents and fellow siblings, while mothers (married or single) are seeking informalwork to provide for their children. Globalization has changed the intrahouseholdresponsibilities for males and females, where females are given more responsibilityoverthesurvivalofthefamily.Malesarenolongertheproviders-yettheyhavemoreopportunities for financial and social advancement in society. They fail to includefemales inmanagerial and upper-level positions. The limited achievementwoman intheformalsectorshowsagreatdisregardfortheirsocialandeconomicresponsibilitieswithindevelopingnations.Femalelaborisnotrewardedinrelationtotheimpacttheyhave on society. Therefore,women’swork continues to be stigmatized as inferior, incomparisontomaleswork,regardlessoftheirincreasedresponsibilitiesinsociety.

The establishment of variousNGOs around the globe and the collaborative efforts oftheseorganizationshaveimprovedthelivesofwomenindevelopingnations.TheU.N.Decaderecognized the importanceof female labor indevelopingnationsand the factthateconomicpoliciesfailtoaddresstheneedsoffemales.RepresentativesfromNGOsagreed that global feminism should be established to reduce the inequality facingwomen in these nations and to improve the advancement ofwomen in society. As aresultofTheU.N.Decade,NGOsinthroughoutthedevelopingworldhavereachedoutto women to meet their needs in farming, environmental protection, healthcare,domestic issues, employment conditions, and to reduce the financial strains in their

everydaylives.Thecollectiveorganizationofwomen’sgroupsthroughouttheworldhasalsogeneratedtheattentionofthemedia,whichisnecessaryineducatingthegeneralpublic about the current issues facing women in developing nations. The continuedefforts of these groups and the economic realization of the importance of women’swork will eventually create greater social awareness about the inequalities facingwomeninthesenations.

Theeconomicpoliciesandstructuraladjustmentsassociatedwithglobalizationcreatethemostnegativeimpactonwomeninthedevelopingworld.Thedenialofsocialandeconomicrightsisthemostinhumaneaspectassociatedwiththeformalandinformalsectors. Economists and policy makers who implement these adjustments need toconsiderthe impactof thecurrentpoliciesonwomen’s livesandthe inequalitiesthatexistbetweenmenandwomen.Enablingtheadvancementoffemaleopportunitiesandguaranteeing female workersmore rights will increase the quality of life and createmoresustainablelivingstandardforwomenandtheirfamiliesinthedevelopingworld.Without these changes,womenwill continue to suffer in their subordinate positionswithintheeconomicmarket.

Bibliography

• Bunch,CharlotteandRoxannaCarrillo.1990.“FeministPerspectivesonWomeninDevelopment.” Pp. 70-82 in Persistent Inequalities: Women &World DevelopmentIreneTinker,editor.NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress.

• Desai, Manisha. 2002. “Transnational Solidarity: Women’s Agency, StructuralAdjustment, andGlobalization.” Pp. 15-33 inWomen’s ActivismandGlobalization:LinkingLocal StrugglesandTransnationalPolitics, editedbyNancyA.Naples andManishaDesai.NewYork:Rutledge.

• Elson, Diane. 1992. “From Survival Strategies to Transformation Strategies:Women’s Needs and Structural Adjustments.” Pp. 26-48 in Unequal Burden:EconomicCrises,PersistentPovertyandWomen’sWork.LourdesBeneriaandShelleyFeldman,editors.Boulder,CO:Westview

• Press.

• Fuettes,AnnetteandBarbaraEhenreich.1998.Women&theGlobalFactoryBoston:SouthEndPress.

• Harper,Charles.&Leicht,Kevin.ExploringSocialChange:Americaand theWorld,4thed.UpperSaddleRiver,N.J:PrenticeHall,2002.

• Lim,Linda.1990.“Women’sWorkinExportFactories:ThePoliticsofaCause.”Pp.101-122 Persistent Inequalities: Women and World Development. Irene Tinker,editor.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.

• Lim,Linda.1997.“Capitalism,ImperialismandPatriarchy:TheDilemmaofThird-World Women Workers in Multinational Factories.” Pp. 216-229 in The Women,Gender andDevelopmentReader, editedbyNaliniVisvanathan.Atlantic-Highlands,NJ:ZedBooks.

• Mendez,JenniferBickham.2002.“CreatingAlternativesfromaGenderPerspective:TransnationalOrganizingforMaquilaWorkers’RightsinCentralAmerica.”Pp.121-

12 13



NationalIntegration,InternationalUnderstandingandPeaceEducationDr.ParsanjeetKumar-Principal,MangalmayInstituteofManagementandTechnology,GreaterNoida.

Introduction

India is a pluralistic society with people speaking different languages, professingdifferent religions and following different cultural practices. At times, peace andharmony in the society is disturbed by some people on various issues. Thedisturbancescausedbythesepeopleadverselyaffecttheeconomicgrowthandtendtodisintegratethecountry.Specifiedvalueswhichneedtobepromotedamongpeopletopromote national integration. It also highlightsmeasureswhich need to be taken tofosterinternationalunderstandingamongpeoplewithaviewtoavertingwars.Italsoemphasizes attainment of hundred per cent literacy n each country. This is becauseliterate population is less vulnerable to indoctrination and is instrumental inpromotingpeace.

Objectives

• Toexplaintheneedforpromotingnationalintegration.

• Roleoftheteachersinpromotingnationalintegrationamongindividuals.

• ExplaintheneedofInternationalUnderstandingandPeaceEducation.

• MeasuresforDevelopingInternationalUnderstanding&PeaceamongStudents.

NeedForPromotionofNationalIntegration

Theworldisfastshrinkingintoaglobalvillagewithblurredgeographicalboundariesdue tomigrationofpeople formonepartof theworld toanother forsocio-economicreasons. Delores has identified the conflict between the global and the local in thiscontext,which the countries around theworld have to overcome in order to build apeacefulsocialorder.Educationtodayhastherefore,thechallengingtaskofpreparingstudents forworld citizenshipwithout threatening their national identities. NationalIntegrationandinternationalunderstandinghastobeunderstoodinthisbackdrop.

Indiaisalandofdiversefaiths,cultures,ethnicandreligiousgroups,andlanguagesinspiteofallthesediversities,thecountryhasbeenstandingfirmonthepillarofonenessof mankind through ages and it is this unity which binds our multicultural andmultiracialsocietyintoonecountry.Valueslikesecularism,socialism,democracyandfeeling of Indianness cherishedbyourpeoplehave contributed significantly towardssustaining peace and harmony in the society. However, at times divisive forcesemanatingfromnarrowloyaltiestocastecreed,religion, language,region,raisetheir

14 15

NationalIntegration,InternationalUnderstandingandPeaceEducationImpactofGlobalizationonWomeninIndia

141 in Women’s Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles andTransnational Politics, edited by Nancy A. Naples andManisha Desai. New York:Routledge.

• Moghadam, Valentine M. 1999. “Gender and Globalization: Female LaborandWomen’sMobilization.”JournalofWorldSystemsResearch2:367-388.

• Ong, Aihwa. 1987. “Domestic Relations: The Reconfiguration of Domestic Life.”Pp.85-115inSpiritsofResistance&CapitalistDiscipline:FactoryWomeninMalaysiaAlbany,NY:StateUniversityofNewYorkPress.Bacchus35

• Schultz,T.Paul.1990.“Women’sChangingParticipationintheLaborForce:AWorldPerspective.”EconomicDevelopmentandCulturalChange38(3):457-487.

• Tzannatos, Zafiris. 1999. "Women and Labor Market Changes in the GlobalEconomy: Growth Helps, Inequalities Hurt, and Public Policy Matters" WorldDevelopment,3:551-569.

• TheHiddenFaceofGlobalization2003.

• Ward,Katharine.1990.WomenWorkersandGlobalRestructuring.New

• York:CornellUniversityPress.(Introductorychapter).


ugly heads and disturb peace in the society., You must have observed that thesedisturbancesareoftencausedbypeoplewithvestedinteresttomeettheirselfishends.These people create turmoil andmake endeavors to disintegrate the country poor ,simpleIlliteratepeoplearemisledbyunscrupulousPeople.

Nationalintegrationisessentialasitisthecementingforcewhichbindsthecitizensofacountry intounity, it impliessocial,political,economic, linguisticandculturalunity, itbrings down thesedifferenceswithin a tolerable range and aims at fostering respectandaffectionforthosebelongingtootherculturalandethnicgroups.However,nationalintegration does not mean lifeless uniformity in thought and action; rather itencouragestheprogressiverealizationamongthecitizensofthecountrythatthereareways of living together in spite of all the differences and diversities. In thewords ofHumayaun Kabir, “National hood does not depend on race, language, religion orgeography,singlyorcollectivelythoughtheyallhelp,butonthefeelingofbelongingtoonenation,loyaltytothenationorthestatedoesnotandneednotmeanthedenialoffeelingforone’sgrouporcommunity”.

The concern for national integration has been addressed in India by variouscommissions and committees set up after the independence. Education has beenconsideredby these committees and commissions as a powerful instrument to avoidfrustration among young people and engage them in nation building activities. TheNationalintegrationCommittee(SampurnanandCommittee)forinstanceanalyzedtheroleofeducation in fosteringanationalandemotional integrationandsuggested theneed for a national policy on education , common school system, diversification ofcoursesandprovisionfordifferentterminalstageswithmoresemi-vocational ,semi-professional and vocational courses etc. Introduction of school uniform, morningassemblies geared partly to singing and understanding national songs and symbols,taking the oath of allegiance to the country, preparation of textbooks at the nationallevelemphasizing thecontributionsofvariousregionsof Indiaetc.,weresomeof themeasures suggested by the committee to remove disparities and promote nationalintegration.Kotharicommission(1966)alsostressedthatoneofthebasicobjectivesofeducationshouldbetoacceleratedtheprocessofsocialandnational integration.TheNationalIntegrationCouncil(1968)reiteratedtheneedforreorientationofeducationtofosterasenseofbelongingnesswiththenationvalueslikeunityamongdiversities,democracy secularism, socialism, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity wereconsideredtobeessentialfornationalintegrationofthecountryandwereemphasized.

The National Policy on Education (1986) stressed that ‘Educational has andacculturating role. It refines sensitivities and perceptions that contribute to nationalcohesionascientifictemper,andindependenceofmindandspirit,thusfurtheringthegoalsofsocialism,secularismanddemocracyenshrinedinourconstitution.Thepolicyfurtheremphasizedonvalueeducationasameanstoeliminateobscurantism,religiousfanaticism,violence,superstitionandfatalismwhicharemajorhindrancetopromotingthe culture of tolerance and living together. Schools therefore are expected to play amajor role in fostering the feeling of national integration. Values related to nationalintegrationneedstobeinculcatedthoughthecurricularandco-curricularactivitiesinthe school should be such that it promotes tolerance, sympathy, equality, equity,harmonyand senseofbelongingness among the studentswhicharepreconditionsofnationalandinternationalpeaceandunderstanding.

ValuestobecultivatedforpromotingNationalIntegration

The Delores report (1996) has identified ‘Learning to Live Together’ as one of thecentralpillarstopromotepeaceandharmonyinthesocietytomeetthechallengesofthesocietytomeetthechallengesof thismillennium,however, ‘WorldasOneFamily’and Living Together has always been at the core of Indian way of life. Religioustoleranceandunderstanding,WhicharethemajorfactorsfortheintegrationofanationarethefundamentalprinciplesofIndianlifeformthedawnofhumancivilization,TheobservationsofSwaminRanganathanda in thisregardareworthquoting: “Oneof theimportant fruits of Indian Philosophical thought was the broadening of the IndianReligious outlook. The discovery of spiritual unity of existence and the emphasis onspiritualrealizationasthegoalofreligion,fosteredinter–religiousharmony.Indiahasthe unique record of combing in her outlook and behavior, deep religious faith andfeeling with broad tolerance and spirit of acceptance” Only in today’s highlymaterialisticworld,wearewitnessingitserosionthisisbecomingdeeperanddeeper.We are now becoming more and more self- centered and selfish. “Life has almostbecomeabattle field relativesand friends– thoseoncenearanddear.Oftenbecomeenemieseagerlyawaitingtheopportunityofdestroyingeachother.Thosefightingsidebysidetodaylaterbecomedividedandcanbefoundfightingeachothertheegoandtheselfishness of man have turned human relationships into cheap business likeendeavors.Ourconcernforourfellowbeingshasbeenlost.Ourqualitiesasrealhumanbeingsarebeingscarified(MataAmritanandamayiDevi,1995).

Inthelightofabove,itismentionedthatthevalue“LearningtolivewithOthers’,needstobecultivatedamongstudents.TolivewithothersImpliesthatoneshouldappreciateand tolerateothers ‘religions, languages, raceand regionetc, Inaddition to thevalue‘livingwithothers,’ there isaneed to identifyvaluesessential forpromotingnationalintegration.Thesecouldbesecularism,patriotism, compassion towards thepoorandthesufferingpeople.IfanIndividualhasdeepfaithinsecularism,he/shecanhardlybemisledbypeoplewhotrytoexploithis/herreligiousfeelingandsentiments.Similarly,if an individual is patriotic, it is very difficult for anyone to instigate him/her toundertakeanyactivitywhich is against the interestsof the country towhichhe/ shebelongs,Socultivationofsaidvaluesamongpeoplewouldgoalongwayinpromotingnationalintegration.

RoleoftheTeacher

Letusnowdiscusstheroleofeducationandthatofa teacher incultivatingdesirableattitudesandvaluesamonglearnerswhichpromotenationalintegration.Promotionofnational integration must be an important objective of education at all the stages.Valueswhichpromotenationalintegrationneedtobecultivatedamonglearnersfroman early age in a subtle way. The didactic approach of inculcating values orsermonisation can hardly be effective. It is through appropriate programmes andactivities organized in and outside the classroom that the learners gradually imbibedesirablevaluesandattitudes.

Manyeducationalthinkersholdtheviewthatvaluescanhardlybecultivatedformallyin a classroom. At best, classroom teaching can only provide knowledge to convincestudentsabouttheneedofcultivatingvaluesandinspirethemtoimbibeit.Theyargue

16 17

NationalIntegration,InternationalUnderstandingandPeaceEducationNationalIntegration,InternationalUnderstandingandPeaceEducation


thatvaluesareactuallyunconsciously imbibedby individuals fromtheirenvironmentby observing rolemodels- be it parents, the neighbors, the teachers, the communityleadersorthepoliticalleaders.Itis,therefore,essentialthattheteachersactasrolledmodels.Theteacherhimself/herselfhastopresentexemplarybehaviorbeforehis/herstudents.He/shehastomakehimself/herselfalivingsymbolofnationalintegration.Throughhis/herthoughts,wordsanddeeds,ateacherhastodemonstratethathe/sheis free from all prejudices of caste, religion, language, region and sex. “The secret ofteachingvaluesistoinspireandkindlethequestamongthestudentsbymeansofone’sownexampleofcharacterandmasteryofknowledge.Itisbyembodyingvalueswithinourselvesthatwecanreallyradiatevaluestoourstudents”.(MinistryofEducationandCulture,1983).Further”Agoodteacherofswimminghastobeaswimmerhimself,andhe shouldbe able to take the learner into thewater tomakehim swim. Similarly , ateacherofvaluesshouldhimselfbeaseekerandaspirantofvalues,andheshouldbereadytowalkwiththelearneronthelonganddifficultpathofrealizingandembodyingvalues” (Ministry of Education and Culture, 1983).The experience has revealed thatinculcatingvaluesthroughcocurricularactivitiesproducesbetterresults.Visitstotheplacesofworshipofdifferent religions, todifferent regionsof thecountry, tovillagesand countryside, places of historical importance, develop among children valueappreciationandtoleranceofdifferentreligions,appreciationofIndianartandculture.Inter–cityandinter-statestudentsexchangeprogrammeforesterasenseofcommonbrotherhood.

Joint celebration of the festivals of various religious groups fosters the value oftolerance towards different religions and develops a sense of belongingness.Celebration of National days such as republic day, Independence Day, promotes thevalue of patriotism.Music anddance concerts, plays, dramas, social service activitiesetc.,arealsoveryusefulforcultivatingdesirablevaluesandattitudesamongstudents.

Itisobvious;thereforethatpeaceandharmonyinasocietycanbecomearealityonlywhenthecitizensforacountrycherishthevalueslikesecularism,patriotism,toleranceand living together etc. Citizens with these values only can undo the designs of thedivisiveforcesandpromotenationalintegration.

Activities

1. Prepareaprogrammeofactivitieswhichyouinstitutionwithaviewstodevelopingamongyourpreserviceprimaryteachersvaluesoftolerancefordifferentreligions,appreciationofdifferentlanguages,customsrituals,festivalsetc.

2. List the activities which you would like to organize for cultivating the value ofsecularismamonginserviceprimaryteaches.

InternationalUnderstandingandPeace

As discussed earlier the scientific and technical developments have reduced thegeographical distances and increased interdependence among, nations around theworld. However, it has not succeeded to reduce the sociopolitical and ideologicalconflicts between nations. Shrinking geographical boundaries have resulted in largescalemigrationsformonepartoftheworldtoanotherwhichcallsforrecognizingand

respectingthedignityofindividualasahumanbeingandlivingtogetherinpeaceandharmony. In the presents would scenario, no country big or small, rich or poor,developed or developing is self- sufficient or can afford to survive in isolation.Therefore, it isessential fordifferentcountries todevelopapositiveattitude towardseachotherandseektheirinterestswithoutjeopardizingtheinterestsofothercountry.

International understanding is the ability to observe critically and objectively and toappraisetheconductofallthehumanbeingseverywhere,irrespectiveofthenationalityor culture to which they belong. It implies a broad knowledge of the world of thecustoms,traditionsandlivesof thepeople.Educationfor internationalunderstandingimplieshelpingstudents tobecomereflectivecitizens inpluralisticdemocraticnationstates, where they are well informed of the events taking place in the internationalarenas,consciousofthebasichumanrightswhicheachindividualisexpectedtoenjoyandawareof theirowndutiesascitizensofaparticularnationaswellas thatof theglobal society. A strong sense of national identity along with a positive globalperspectivemayhelp indevelopingabalancedglobal citizenshipamong theyoungergeneration and contribute towards world peace. Therefore, knowledge concerningpeopleofdifferent countries, their customs, traditions, contribution toworld culture,human heritage and growth and advancement of mankind through ages has to bepresentedintherightperspectivewithproperemphasisandinterpretationsalongwithvalueeducation.

Promotionofinternationalunderstandingthereforecallsfor:

1. Knowingandunderstandingthepeopleandsocietyotherthanone’sown;

2. Recognizingandrespectingthebasichumanrightsforall;

3. Workingforpromotionofafairandjustworldorder;

4. Maintaininginterestintheeventsandproblemsoftheworld;

5. Recognizingandhelpingtosolveworldproblems;

6. Appreciatingthecontributionsofother;

7. Integrating one’s national patriotism and pride with broad social consciousnesstowards

8. theworldproblemsandissues;

9. Consideringtheworldasoneunit;

10. Realizingandbelievingincommonvaluesandgoalsforworldcommunity;

11. Understandingthatvictoriesofpeacearegreaterthanvictoriesofwar.

TheIndianConstitutionhadbeenawareoftheneedofpromotinginternationalunder-standingalongwithnational integration. Itdirects the state topromote internationalpeace and security, maintain just and honorable relations between nations, fosterrespectforinternationallawsandtreatyobligationsinthedealingsoforganizedpeoplewith one another: and encourage settlement of international dispute by arbitration.Educationhasbeenconsideredasoneofthemajorinstrumentstopromotepeaceandinternational understanding. It is through educating the minds of the youngergenerationthatenduringpeacecanbeachieved.

18 19



• The teacher shoulddevelop suitable skills andattitudesamonghis /her learnersfor international understanding. Schools and classroom are the places whereconflictsareboundtoarise.Theteachershoulddevelopskillsandattitudesamonghis/herstudentstoovercomethesetensionsbyholdingdiscussionwithpeersandotherteachers.Further,theteachershoulddevelopamongthestudentsvaluessuchastolerance,respectfordecision(s)ofthemajority.

• International education is a lifelong process. It starts fromhome. Parents have asignificant role in shaping their children’s attitudes. Teachers should therefore,developliaisonwithparentsofchildren.Teachersshouldsharetheirconcernwithparentsfordevelopinginternationalunderstandingamongchildrenandseektheircooperationinthisregard.

• A number of films and video programmes, which promote international under-standing, are available. Teachers should identify this films/video – programmesandshowthemtotheirstudentsfromtimetotime.

Summary

Ours is a pluralistic society with people speaking different languages, professingdifferent religions and following different cultural practices. Despite all thesediversities, there is peace and harmony in the society. But at times, divisive forcesemanating from narrow loyalties to religion, region, language and caste causedisturbancesinthesociety,endangerpeaceandtranquilityinthecountryandtendtomislead innocent, simple, illiterate people to meet their selfish ends. These divisiveforcesneedtobecubedtomaintainpeaceandharmonyinthesociety.However,insteadof curbing these divisive forces after they raise their ugly head, it would beadvantageous to inculcatevalues suchaspatriotism, secularism, compassion towardsthe poor and the suffering people and living with others. Once these values aredevelopedamongpeopletheycanhardlybemisledbytheonescausingdisturbances.Theprocessof cultivatingvalueswouldpromotenational integration.The roleof theteacherwithregardtocultivationofvaluesamonghis/herstudentsisverysignificant.

Thereisanunprecedentedthreathangingoverthefutureofmankindasaresultoftheaccelerationinthearmsrace.Theincreaseinthenuclearweapons,andtheirgrowingpotentialfordestructioncouldleadtotheexterminationofthehumanrace.Oneofthepotent ways to avert war in region/ the world is to foster spirit of internationalunderstanding amongpeople.Theprocessofdeveloping internationalunderstandingshouldstartformtheschoolstageitself.Foreignlanguages,regionalandworldhistoryandgeographyneedtobeintroducedatappropriatestagesofeducationstudentsandteacher exchange programmes are very significant for developing internationalunderstanding. For averting war and maintaining peace, educational system in eachcountry should forster4 critical thinking. Each country should Endeavour to achievehundred percent literacy because literate population is less vulnerable toindoctrination and alimentation and is instrumental inmaintaining peace. Educationsystemshouldfurtherfosterthevalueofunderstandingothersviewpoints.

MeasuresforDevelopingInternationalUnderstanding&PeaceamongStudents

Thefollowingaresomeofthemeasureswhichneedtobetakenbydifferentcountriestopromoteinternationalunderstandingamongstudents.

• The promotion of international understanding among learners should be anobjectiveofeducationatallthestages.

• Theexistingtextualmaterialforstudentsstudyingatdifferentstagesofeducationneedstobereviewedwithaviewtodeletingformitthecontentwhichgivesrisetomisunderstanding .mistrust, contempt and hatred towards people of othercountries.Thecontentwhichtendstoproducehostileattitudesandracistreactionstowardspeopleofothercountriesshouldalsobedeleted.

• Every country should formulate a policy to promote students and teachersexchangeprogrammes.Further,theyshouldadmitforeignstudentsintheirschool,collegesandUniversities.

• Values such as tolerance, respect for others, acceptance of differences, settlingconflict through peaceful means need to be cultivated with a view to fosterinternationalunderstandingamongpeople.

• People in different countries need to be educated to appreciate various culturesandproblemsbeingfacedbymankind.Theyalsoneedtobeapprisedofthecausesoftheseproblems.

• Besides teaching national history and geography regional andworld history andgeographyneedtobetaughttostudentsatdifferentstagesofeducation.

• Foreignlanguagesneedtobetaughtparticularlyatthehigherstagesofeducation.Thisisbecausetheseareakeytotheeducationofothercultures.

• Mass Media has significant role in promoting international education. It is apopularsourceofinformation.Itbringscontinents,menandpeopletogether.Itisan invaluable means of introducing international education into rural andbackwardareas/regionswhererateofilliteracyisveryhigh.

• History,Geography,PoliticalScienceandlanguagesarethesubjectsbestsuitedforpromotinginternationaleducation.Suitablecontentsneedtobeintegratedintothetextbooksofthesesubjects.

• Aninternationalanthologyofstoriesfromdifferentpartsoftheworldrepresentingdifferent cultures need to be prepared with a view to sensation learners aboutdifferentcultures.

• Eachcountryshouldformulatepolicyforpromotingexchangeprogrammesinarts,music and sports with a view to promoting international understanding amongpeople.

RoleofTeachers

Ateacherhassignificantroleinpromotinginternationalunderstandingamonghis/herstudents.

20 21



Adaptinganew:Mrs.DallowayCaughtupintheHoursBhawnaShrey-ResearchScholar,DepartmentofEnglish(JMI),NewDelhi

Abstract

The long history of Adaptation Studies has often been plagued by a general bias thatwhen the modality of story-telling changes from text to screen, the author dies/disappears. And this is not the Death of Author as proposed and advocated by RolandBarthes, it isasenseofpervasive losswhichassailsanyworkofartwhenitsaxisshifts.Challenging this notion is Stephen Daldry’s screen rendering of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs.Dalloway, which interestingly also deals with an intermedial textual adaptation, that ofMichaelCunningham’sTheHours.The film, achieves the impossible featofbringing theauthor back to life within cinematic space. And not just the author but also the act ofwriting (whichassumesscreenpresenceakin toacharacter), readingand livingastory.Ecriture gains different dimension as it is plunged into meaning-making process oflanguage and expression. We have the magical combination of a story’s fragmentedmultiplicitiesandambivalentsenseoftotteringontheedgeofnarrationwhile“enclosingeverything” calling tomind Deleuzian cinematic rhythm andWoolf’s efforts of cradlingtimeinanindefinitespace.

Keywords-Ecriture,DeleuzianCinema,AdaptationStudies,CinematicSpace

“Pardonmysanityinaworldinsane”-EmilyDickinson(BeyondtheGrave)

VirginiaWoolf,oneof thosememorablewriterswhosewritingsneverseemto takeabreak from the any circle that says anything about Modernism , the woman whosedeath invited a similar reaction which was patented to her throughout her life andevery time a book of hers came out; a sharp shock, disbelief and eventuallyunforgettable.StephenDaldry’sadaptationofMichaelCunningham’sTheHourswhichis in turnbasedonVirginiaWoolf’sMrs.Dallowayiswhat thispaperwillendeavor tolookinto.

AuthorshipinadaptationhasalwaysbeenapointdeeplycontestedwithinAdaptationTheorycritics.ForJackBoozerit is“theintertextualandindustrialmediationsacrosssourcetext,screenplay,andfilmthatanycriticalengagementmustbeattentivetoandbase its representation on’’ (199). But for Andrew Dudley “adaptation delimitsrepresentationby insistingontheculturalstatusof themodel,on itsexistence inthemodeofthetextorthealreadytexualized”(462).Moreover,itisalsoarecurringchargeagainstadaptationthat“theresultofsuchaprocessisaperhapsunavoidableforfeitureoftheoriginaltext’sessence;alossoftheauthor”(Daniele201).ForexampleStanleyKauffmann’sdemand“Whatismissing?’’ofthe1959filmversionofTheSoundandtheFuryandthenhisharshrebuke,“Faulknerismissing!”,probablysayssomuch.

22 23

AdaptingaNew:MrsDallowayCaughtUpinTheHoursNationalIntegration,InternationalUnderstandingandPeaceEducation

References

• Balan, K.(1990) : Education, National Integration and Development, New Delhi ,AshishPublishingHouse.

• Devi,MataAmritanandamayi (1995):Unity is Peace-AnAddress at the InterfaiththCelebrationinhonourof50 AnniversaryoftheUnitedNations(October21,1995),

Kollam,MataAmritanandamayiMissionTrust.

• Khanna,C.P.(1991):PeaceThroughEducation-RoleofUNESCO,NewDelhi,DoabaHouse.

• MinistryofEducationandCulture(1983):ReportoftheWorkingGrouptoReviewTeacher’sTrainingProgramme(inthelightoftheneedforvalueorientation)NewDelhi,MinistryofEducationandCulture.

• UNESCO(1983):FinalReportoftheInter-GovernmentalConferenceonEducationfor InternationalUnderstanding, Cooperation andPeace,Developing a Climate ofOpinionFavorabletothestrengtheningofSecurityandDisarmament,heldatParis,1983.


WhoRemindsofVirginiaWoolf,WhatBecomesofHer

Thereisalsosomethingtobesaidabout“theexpectationsoftheaudiencerelativetothegiven character profiles in the source text” (Boozer 203). Close matching of thecharacterswith the actors havemostly brought success. And perhaps Nicole Kidman isoneof thebest examples, ridiculed though, herprosthetic nose is bymany a reviewers,It’shard to lookather and thinkof anybodybutVirginiaWoolf.The issueof allegiancebetweenthetextandthefilmisalongcontestedissue,withfidelitybeingahighpoint.Insuch a case as The Hours this is easily resolved. The author is never far away, she isalways there, doing something in that fragile, scaredway of hers. Personal commentaryonherlifeawakens,aswerealizethat‘nobodyisafraidofVirginiaWoolf’.Notreally.

Theories of Structuralism as George Bluestone had explained greatly resulted in thedisappearanceoftheauthor(98).RolandBarthesdirectlyattackedthestatusofauthorin“Death of the Author (1968). A year later Foucault with “What is an Author” furtherinsisted on a reduced attention to a singular “author-function” and then came JuliaKristeva armedwithBakhtin and Intertexualitywhich openly challenged theprestige ofpriorsources.IttookatJacquesDerridaandhisdeconstructiontogivesomemerittothe“copy” (or adaptation), and claim that the copy might enhance the original, suggestingthecircularityofinfluence.

InTheHourswhenWoolf commits suicide,wearenot simplypresentedwith the imageof a mad woman walking up the river; instead, the image is accompanied by fleetingscenes to and fro from the river and Leonard running through the same path Virginiawalked through earlier. Supplementing this swift camera movement is a poignantreadingofherletter,containingalltheangstandpainofaseparationthatnoonewantedbutwillbefinal.Thefilmisasuccesshere, itprovesevenWoolfwrongwhocouldneverimagine Film manufacturing a given reality so well. The reality of the author in anadaptation film.Kauffman can finally behappy.VirginiaWoolf, thoughdead, is certainlynot“missing”here.

successive images; it gives us the idea that every image has a story to tell. Theauthor/character will tell it. And the reader/viewer will listen together in a room oftheirsown.Thebodyoftheauthorcomestolife,becausethetextisbeingenacted,whileitcontinuesonenactingitself.

24 25

AdaptingaNew:MrsDallowayCaughtUpinTheHours AdaptingaNew:MrsDallowayCaughtUpinTheHours

The paper attempts to refute this charge against adaptation practices,with its focus onThe Hours. The movie, if anything succeeds in bringing back the author to life.Reanimatingtheauthorasanaestheticcategoryandalsoclearingaspaceforherhuman,livedexperienceoflife.Andnotjusttheauthor’sbodybutalsothetextcomesintobeingon the screen.The text and theprocessofwriting and thevery femininityof thewholeprocess, ecriture in the real sense of theword. Its inception, conception, delivery andreceptionallshownmeticulously.

TheAuthorandtheText

In her literary and fictional work, Woolf inquiries into the status of the visual, itssemantic metaphorical and epistemological qualities, in order to produce new andalteredwayof seeing.inherwritings, a constant anxiety towardshowdowe see things,howdoweperceive them,whycertain thingsarealwaysvisualized inacertainmanner.Critics have noted it; this is a running preoccupationwhich affects not only the viewerbutmore importantly the author and in a case likeThe Hours where the author is thecharacter,thesceneshiftsratherinterestingly.

WhatTheHoursoffersisapossibilityofathree-dimensionalvisualoftheauthor.VirginiaWoolf (Kidman) herself, who playsWoolf the writer and the woman, Clarissa Vaughan(Streep) playing Clarissa Dalloway with a twist and Laura Brown (Moore), a womandrowning in her deep sense of dissatisfaction, portraying vaguely not only the elusiveMrsBrownoftheessaybythesamenamebutbecomingthelaunchingpadofthenovel.Writingassumesarole;itbecomesthen,acharacter.

For Foucault, the act of writing, the art of producing a text is a way of evading death.Woolf tooespousesa similarkindofpolitics,moreperhapsdue toaneed thanadesirebutHermioneLeehasarguedthat“therecurrentdepressionsimmediatelyafterfinishinganovelsignified the tiredness thathauntsafteryouelongateyour fragile life too far, toolong” (33). The text then becomes a reason for survival. It is why you wouldn’t killyourself.WhenLauraBrowninthemoviedecidesto“chooselife”assheputsit, it isthenovelthathasstoppedher,thathaschangedhermind.

Woolf’sclamour foraLondon lifewasadecidedpartofhermadness.Theseclusion toomuchforherhandle.AndinherverypersonalwayKidmandrawsheraudienceintothispunishment that “penalized despair” (105). We see the author’s eye, against all odds,against all of the realWoolf’s skepticism for films ability to carry a vision through, theaudienceandthecharacterbecomeoneastheactorplaystheperfectfoil:

“TheHoursactuallyprovidesitsviewerswiththatwhichissoreminiscentof itsauthors.IwasindenialbecauseIthought:Howcanafilm,amerefilm,bedoingthistome-thatistomakeme think likeWoolf can? Indeed this filmcaptures theopennessVirginiaWoolfwanted us to feel in response to death, and in thisway not only retains its author buttranscends the Hollywood formula for death: that is using death to create a sense ofclosure.”(Pauline33)

Morethanthat, there isaconstantplayaroundothertextsofWoolf.Thewaywealwaysseeinsittinginherownroom,herspaceofescapebringstomindwhatshepostulatedinA Room of One’s Own. It is so embedded in her personality that it seems impossible tothink of her as a writer outside that room. The Hours gives us more than a sense of


26 27

AdaptingaNew:MrsDallowayCaughtUpinTheHours

• McHale,Brian.PostmodernistFiction.London:Routledge,1989.Print.

• McNichol, Stella. VirginiaWoolf and thePoetry of Fiction. London:Routledge, 1990.Print.

• Minow-Pmkney, Makiko. "The Problem of the Subject in Mrs. Dalloway: ClarissaDalloway.Ed.HaroldBloom.NewYork:ChelseaHouse,1990.183-92.Print.

• Woolf, Virginia. "TheCinema/TheMovies andReality." TheEssays of VirginiaWoolfEd. Andrew McNeillie.Vol. 4. London: Hogarth, 1994. 591-97. - .The Death of theMothandOtherEssays.1942.London:Hogarth,1981

• . - . The Diary of Virginia Woolf Ed. Anne Oliver Bell. Vol. 3, 1925-1930. London:Hogarth, 1980. - . "Gothic Romance."The Essays of Virginia Woolf Ed. AndrewMcNeillie.Vol.3.London:Hogarth,1988.304-08.

-. "Modern Fiction."The Common Reader.1st series. 1925. New York: HarcourtBrace,1984.

-. "Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown."The Essays of Virginia Woolf Ed. AndrewMcNeillie.Vol.3.London:Hogarth,1988.384-90

• .-.Mrs.Dalloway.1925.Harmondsworth:Penguin,1992.

-."PhasesofFiction."CollectedEssaysofVirginiaWoolfEd.LeonardWoolf.Vol.2.London:Hogarth,1967.56-102

• . - . "Pictures."The Essays of Virginia Woolf Ed. Andrew McNeillie.Vol. 4. Lon- don:Hogarth,1994.243-47.

-. A Room of One's Own. 1929. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge UP,1995

AdaptingaNew:MrsDallowayCaughtUpinTheHours

WorksCited

• Andrews, Dudley, “From Concepts in Film Theory- Adaptation”, Film Theory anIntroduction. Ed. Leo Braudy andMarshall Cohen. London: Oxford University Press,1974.Print.

• Barthes,Roland. Image,Music,Text.Trans. StephenHeath.NewYork:Hill andWang,1977.Print.

• Boozer, Jack. “The Screenplay and Authorship in Adaptation”. Film and Literature ;An Introduction and Reader. Ed. Timothy Corrigan. London and New York:Routledge,1999.Print.

• Cunningham,Michael.TheHours.London:FourthEstate,1999.Print.

• The Hours. Dir. Daldry, Stephen.Perf.Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep,andStephenDillane.ParamountPictures,2002.

• Daniele Joseph.TheHours:Weaving a Fabric of Empathy.Mercer Street: OUP, 2009.Web.

• Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology.Tr. GayatriChakravarthi Spivak. London:CambridgeUniverityPress.1987.Print.

• Dickinson, Emily. “Beyond the Grave”.Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson. London:Bloomsbury,1898.Print.

• Foucault, Michel. "What is an Author?" Textual Strategies: Perspectives in Post-StructuralistCriticism.Ed.JosueV.Harari.Ithaca,NY:CornellUP,1979.141-61.

• Woolf, Virginia. "TheCinema/TheMovies andReality." TheEssays of VirginiaWoolfEd.AndrewMcNeillie.Vol.4.London:Hogarth,1994.591-97

Bibliography

• Brooke-Rose, Christine. "Palimpsest History." Umberto Eco: Interpretation andOverinterpretation.Ed.StefanCollini.Cambridge:CambridgeUP,1992.Print.

• Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. London: Fourth Estate, 1999. Denvir, Bernard.Post-Impressionism.London:ThamesandHudson,1992.Print.

• Erzgraber, Willi. "'The Moment of Vision' immodernenenglischen Roman." Au-genblick und Zeitpunkt: StudienzurZeitstruktur und Zeitmetaphorik in Kunst undWissenschaften. Ed. Christian W. Thomsen and Hans Hollander.Darm- stadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,1984.361-87.Print.

• Foucault, Michel. "What is an Author?" Textual Strategies: Perspectives in Post-StructuralistCriticism.Ed.JosueV.Harari.Ithaca,NY:CornellUP,1979.141-61.Print.

• Freud,Sigmund.DasIchunddasEs.Frankfurt/M.:Fischer,1998.Web.

• Hawthorn, Jeremy. VirginiaWoolf sMrs. Dalloway: A Study in Alienation. Lon- don:Chatto&Windus,1975.Print.


Tradition

Borrowing

RoleModeling&Mentorship

Logicalreasoning

ScientificApproach

Intuition

Trial&Error

Experience

Authority

SOURCES

Teachingisoftenthoughtassomethingthatcomesnaturallytopeoplewhoknowtheirsubject.But teaching isan intriguing, importantandcomplexprocess. It takesplace inacomplicatedsocial institutionwhichis filledwithdiversepeople.Theteachermust learntocontrolfiveprocessesofteaching.

i. Makingandusingofknowledge

ii. Shapingtheschool

iii. Teachingwithstrategy

iv. Creatinginterpersonalclimates

v. controllingateachingpersonality

Bruneralsoemphasizedfourmajorfeaturesoftheoryofinstructionineffectiveteaching.

A. Predispositiontowardslearning

B. Structuredbodyofknowledge

C. Sequencesofmaterialtobelearnt.

D. Natureandpavingofrewardandpunishment

However teacherdoesbroadlyremainpivotaroundwhichtheentireprocessrevolves inthe formal system. During the last two decades many new methods of teaching andtraininghavebeendeveloped,tested,modifiedandadoptedtodifferentkindsofteaching

Methodsofacquiringknowledge

Themethodsbywhichman from the earlier times sought answers to his problems canbe classified under the following categories: 1. Authority, 2. Tradition, 3. Experience, 4.Deductivereasoning,5.Inductivereasoning,and6.Scientificmethod.

28 29

EffectivenessofConceptAttainnmentModeloverTraditionalMethodofTeachingonAchievementinBiology


IndrajitNath-ResearchScholarofVisvaBharati,Santiniketan.BiswajitNath-ResearchScholarofVisvaBharati,Santiniketan.

EffectivenessofConceptAttainmentModeloverTraditionalMethodofTeachingonAchievementinBiology

Abstract

Teaching a subject like Biology needs special teaching methods. In spite of the fact thatBiologyhasagreatimportanceinmoderntimes,thesubjectofBiologyisconsideredverydifficultamongstudents.IthasbeenfeltthatinspiteofstrenuouseffortsofBiologyteacher,students fail to grasp the certain concepts of subject , which lead disinterest amongstudentstowardsBiology.Moreeverstudentsareoftenunabletoapplytheirknowledgetoadvance studies. Therefore there is a need to study the effectiveness of the teachingmethodsinBiology.ThisstudyisbasedonfactscollectedfromMaitriVidya,Risali,Bhilai,Durg(C.G).Themainaimofthisstudyistobringouttherelativeeffectivenessofconceptattainmentmodelof teachingandconventionalmethodof teachingon theachievementofstudents for acquisition of Biology concepts in class IX. Our study reveals that there is asignificant difference between concept attainment model (CAM) method and traditionalmethod (TM) on the achievement of students in understanding of Biology concepts. Ofthesemethodsconceptattainmentmodelismoreeffectivethantraditionalmethod.

Keywords:Effectiveness,Conceptattainmentmodel,Traditionalmethod,AchievementTest.

Introduction – Educational in the largest sense is any act or experience that has aformative affection the mind, character or physical ability of and individual. In itstechnical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits itsaccumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. Dictionarydefineseducationas,“strengtheningthepowerofbodyandsoul”.Thenewborninfantisahelplesshumanbeing.Hehasneitheranyofthenoranenemy.Heisnotawarenotonlythis,heisnotevenkeentoachieveanyidealorvalue.Etymologicallythewordeducationis derived from educate (Latin) “Bring up”, “bring forth what is within”, educare: “toraise”, educere: “to lead out”, educatum: “to nourish”. A synthesis of themeaning ofthese terms implies that education is drawing out and leading out something formwithintheindividualbybringingup,nourishing,raisingandtraining.

Education as a process takes into account both the science of education and the art ofeducation.Thescienceofeducationcomprises thecorpusofknowledgewhich is largelyresponsible for making the art of education more effective. The art of education hasrelevance to classroompracticesand for effectivedialoguebetween the teacherand thepupils. Since knowledge is expanding rapidly in all the disciplines including education,there isneed toextend the frontiersofknowledge inareaswhichconstitute thescienceofeducation.


differentdiscipline suchasbiologyetcand it is alsohelpful for teachers tomodify theirteaching strategies and make teaching learning process very effective. In the presentcontext we can believe that holistic development of student is very much essential toachievetheirgoals.Inphilosopherpointofview,Classroomisalaboratoryandteacherisascientistofthislaboratoryandstudentsaretestedhere.Theobjectivesofteacheristhehypothesis of scientist by which every teacher can make their way very smooth andmodify teaching learning strategies very effectively through proper instrument (such asCAMmethod)inclassroomsituation.

This study is very helpful for those research fellows who are engage in their study oneffectiveness of CAM method in different discipline. In service and pre service teacherwillgetknowledgeabout‘howcanCAMmethodeffectivelyuseinclassroomsituation.’

Statementoftheproblem

The research under the given report sought to find out – “Effectiveness of conceptattainmentmodelovertraditionalmethodofteachingonachievementinBiology”

Agoodstatementofaproblemmustclarifywhatistobedeterminedorsolved.Themostvital step in this respect is to specify the variable involved in the questions and definetheminoperationalterms.

Weknow‘studyisanart’somepsychologist,philosophiesandsociologisthasgiventheirownoptionaboutthisproblem.So,itisapotentinfluencingeducation.

Objectivesofstudy

TheObjectivesofthepresentstudywereasfollows

1. To compare the mean scores of achievement in biology taught through conceptattainmentmodelandtraditionalmethodofteaching.

2. To compare the mean scores of achievement in Biology taught to experiment oncontrolgroupswithrespecttogender.

Hypothesesofthisstudyareasfollowing

i) There will be no significant difference in mean scores of achievement in Biologytaughtthroughconceptattainmentmodelandtraditionalmethodofteaching.(H )1

ii) Therewillbenosignificantdifference inmeanscoresofbiologyachievementtaughttoexperimentalandcontrolgroupwithrespecttogender.(H ).2

Delimitations

Delimitations are those characteristics selected by the researcher to define theboundaries of the study. The researcher makes conscious exclusionary andinclusionarydecisions regarding thesample (includingsuch informationasgeographiclocation), the variables studied, the theoretical perspectives, the instruments, the

30 31



learning situation.Model of teaching is an innovativemethodof teaching.There isneedto direct efforts towards transformation of teachingmethods right upto development ofscienceand technology,curriculumandmaterial researchalongwith teacherorientationto receive attention. The ultimate responsibility of information processing has beenenshrinedbythesocietyinteachers.Thusatheoryofteachingmustattempttosetforththemeansofmaximizing learningon thepart of children. For achievingneeded learnerbehavior intellectual development and acquisition of knowledge and specific mentalprocesslikereasoning,scientificcreativitybeprimaryconcernsforeffectiveandefficientinformationprocessing.

IntheconcernJoycehasstated,"Toprovideanallrounddevelopmentweneedtodesignsuitable instructional strategies which helps our students grow emotionally, physically,sociallyand intellectually.Therestillexistsabiggapbetweentheoreticalknowledgeandactual teaching in classroom or schools. Models of teaching as strategies need to beincorporated in our teaching practice." A variety of teaching approaches have beenevolvedtodesigninstruction.Butwhichapproach/Modelofteachingismostappropriatehaving better impact, effective, efficient, interesting. Can only be answered throughresearchkeepingeachModel'sinstructionalandnurturanteffectsinview.

ConceptAttainmentModel(CAM)

The term Concept Attainment Model is historically linked with the work of JeromeS.Bruner and his associates. This Model is intended to teach specific concepts bycomparingandcontrastingexamplesthatcontaintheconceptwithexamplesthatdonotcontain the concept. It is built up from Bruner's work on the cognitive activity calledcategorizing. He is of the opinion that categorizing helps to reduce the complexity ofenvironmentandnecessityforconceptlearning.

Traditionalmethod(T.M)

Traditionalteachingmethodswhereclassesareconductedinatraditionalteachingstyle,with an emphasis on lectures and note taking. Traditional teacher-centered methodsfocused on rote learning and memorization must be abandoned in favor of student-centeredandtask-basedapproachestolearning.

Significanceofstudy

This present study is very important for constructing knowledge in classroom context.According to Bruner point of view, knowledge can be constructed with the help ofconcept by which student can able to study with suitable environment. ConceptAttainment Model is very effective to construct specific concept of different disciplineand organized those concept in their mind. Through Concept Attainment Model (CAM)studentcangetknowledgebyvisual(Primary)andauditory(secondary)perceptionandmake concept map about concern topic in different subjects. According to differentpsychologist,visualperception isveryeffective tovisualizecontentmatter in theirmindthan auditory perception. Traditional method is not such efficient as like ConceptAttainmentModelmethod. This study can generate the gateway of concept building in


Afterthecollectionofthedataforanalyzingandinterpretationofthedataresearcherwillemploy‘t’testmethod.

STATISTICSISTOBEUSED

DESCRIPTIONOFTHETOOL

Twoequalgroups,30studentseachgroups,werechosenonthebasisofintelligenttest(UseRavensstandardmatricesscale).Theagerangeofthetwogroupswasalsoequalandbothgroupscontainmale&femalestudents.TheExperimentalwastaughtbyconceptattainmentmodel(CAM)andcontrolgroupwastaughtbythetraditionalmethod(TM).

Selfevaluatedquestionnaireuseforscoreonbothgroup.

Generalintelligencetestwasusedtopreparehomogenousgroups

SAMPLEMETHOD

IhavechosethestudentsofMaitriVidya(school),Risali,Bhilai,DurgPurposeofthestudydatawillbecollectedfromthesetypeofschool.

POPULATION

Inthestudyfortheselectionofexperimentalandcontrolgroup.Generalintelligencetestwasusedtopreparehomogenousgroups.

SAMPLING

3332

**Significantat0.01level

It is observed that the t value is 2.48which is significant at 0.01 level .It indicates thatmeanscoresofstudents likingofCAMandTMgroupsdiffersignificantly .Inthiscontextthe first null hypotheses H1 is rejected .Further it can be seen that mean score ofstudents likingofCAMgroupwasfoundtobesignificantlysuperiortoTMgroup.Itmay,therefore, be said that students of CAM group were found to have significantly higherstudentslikingincomparisontostudentsofTMgroup.

Group Mean(M) Number(N) t-value

CAM Group

21.7

30

2.48**

TM Group 10.53 30

TABLENO:-1

[ForEffectivenessofCAM(H )]1

TABLENO:-2

[ForEffectivenessofCAM(H )]2

BOYS GIRLS t score

CAM

MEAN-21.4 ∑x2=6448

MEAN-22 ∑y2=7292

t =0.074

TM

MEAN-11.26

∑X2=1935

MEAN-9.8

∑Y2=1469

t =0.368

t score t =1.68 t =1.891

generalizability,etc.

Delimitation refers to the establishment of limits or boundaries of something or a linethat indicates a boundary also known as demarcation. It comes from the term delimit,whichmeanstofixordefinethelimitsofsomething.Thepresentstudyhasthefollowinglimitations:

1. Thestudywasdoneonaparticularoneschoolstudent.

2. ThestudywasdoneonstudentsofclassIXfromMaitriVidya,Risali ,Bhilai ,Durg(C.G).

Researchmethodology

Researchmethodology is away to systematically solve the research problem. Itmay beunderstoodasascienceofstudyinghowresearchisdonescientifically.Init,westudythevariousstepsthataregenerallyadopedbyaresearcher instudyinhisresearchandhisproblemalongwiththelogicbehindthem.Itisamethodwherearesearcherisguidedbytherulesoflogicalreasoningandalsoinvestigationproceedsinanorderlymanner.

Thus research means to observe the phenomena again and again from differentdimension. To achieve the aims of any research problem collection of the data thewellarrangedplanisamustforthistheknowledgeofresearchshouldbeexhaustivepertainstotoolsanddevicessothathemayselectmethodsandmakepropertoolssailableofhisproblem.

Researchdesign

One of themain steps in the development of scientific research ismeasurementwhichprovides a relatively unlimited number of categories into which phenomena can beorderedandwhichpermitsamoreaadequateand facilemanipulationof thecategoriesbyvirtueoftheirsusceptibilitytomathematicaltreatment.

Success in research and in science depends upon the availability of measurements insufficientprecisiontomeasurethephenomenonunderstudy.Mostof themeasurementswithwhicheducationalresearchisconcernedarederivedthroughpencilandpapertestswhichare,asyet,relativelyimprecise.




34 35

seminarsshouldbeorganized.

Suggestions

As the present study review that Concept Attainment Model was effective in terms ofBiology concept understanding of students, hence CAM should be used by the schoolteacher in class room teaching specially in teachingBiology concepts. In order to orientthe interest of teachers towards use of CAM in class room teaching, workshops andseminarsshouldbeorganized.

Followupstudies

1.TheSimplicityPrincipleinHumanConceptLearning.

2.ThinkingandConceptAttainment.

3.Bettermentofteachinglearningstrategies.

4.Motivationforlearning.

5.Selfdesirabilityandselfunderstandingareelevated.

6.Effectiveconceptformationabouttext.

7.Effectiveforslowlearner.

8.Toolsforeffectiveeducationalresearch.

References

• Agarwal, R. andMishra, K.S.(1988). Effectiveness of Reception Concept AttainmentModel of teaching for enhancing attainment of science Concepts. Indian EducationReview,Vol.23(2).

• Bhaveja,B.(1989). Information Processing Models of Teaching in the IndianClassroom.IndianEducationalReview,Vol.24(1).

• Bruner,J.S.,Goodnow,J.J.&Austin,G.A.(1956)AStudyofThinking. Chapman&Hall,Limited.London.

• Chaudhury, K. (1989). Teaching of Concept through the Concept Attainment ModelandFacts throughTraditionalTeachingCompetency in teaching skills of pre-serviceteachers.UniversityofPoona.

• Chopra, Seema. (1994). A Study of Effectiveness of Bruner’s Concept AttainmentModelinlearningofconceptinEnglish

• Gupta. (2006). Effect of Concept Attainment Model on understanding ofMathematicsconceptinclassIX.M.EdDissertation,GuruNanakDevUniv.Amritsar.

• Jamini, Nirupama,(1991).Effect of Teaching Strategies on conceptual – learningefficiencyandretentioninrelationtodivergentthinking.Ph.D.Edu.,Univ.ofDelhi.

• Joyce,B.,Weil,M.,&Calhoun,E.(2009).Modelsofteaching(8thed.).Boston:Pearson



It isobserved that the t value is0.074(withinCAMgroupboysandgirls),0.368(withinTM group boys and girls) which is not significant. It indicates that mean scores ofstudents (Boys and Girls) within CAM and TM groups are equally significant. In thiscontextthesecondhypothesesH2isnotrejected.Furtheritcanbeseenthatmeanscoreof students (boysandgirls)withinCAMgroup&TMgroupwas found tobesignificantlyequal. It is observed that the t value is 1.68 (CAM group boys and TM group boys),1.891(TMgroupgirls&CAMgroupgirls)which issignificant. ITmay, therefore,besaidthat students of CAM group were found to have significantly higher students liking incomparisontostudentsofTMgroup.

On the basis of the results drawn and discussion with the Biology teachers of seniorschools ofMaitri Vidya, Risali , Bhilai , Durg ( C.G),the following conclusions have beendrawn:

• Concept AttainmentModel of teaching is superior and effective in terms of BiologyconceptunderstandingofstudentsincomparisontoTraditionalMethod.

• Concept AttainmentModel has significantly higher students liking in comparison toTraditionalMethod.

Globalinterpretation

It iswidelyaccepted that conceptattainmentmodelof teachinggivenbyBruner isveryeffective for concept building in different discipline. All over theworld teachers shouldemphasis on concept formation in themind of pupils and through which students canovercome thehardspotofdifferent subject.Conceptattainmentmodel ismoreeffectivethan traditional method of teaching which reflects in researcher study. Conceptformation of different subject such as Biology, chemistry, history etc can modify theorganization of different domain of body and implemented teaching learning strategiesmoreeffectivelyinourschoolprocesses.

Conclusions

Onthebasisof theresultsdrawnanddiscussionwiththeBiologyteachersofsecondaryschoolsMaitriVidya,Risali,Bhilai,Durg(C.G).

Thefollowingconclusionshavebeendrawn:

• Concept AttainmentModel of teaching is superior and effective in terms of BiologyconceptunderstandingofstudentsincomparisontoTraditionalMethod.

• ConceptAttainmentModel has significantly higher students liking in comparison toTraditionalMethod.

Educationalimplications

As the present study review that Concept Attainment Model was effective in terms ofBiology concept understanding of students, hence CAM should be used by the schoolteacher in class room teaching specially in teachingBiology concepts. In order to orientthe interest of teachers towards use of CAM in class room teaching, workshops and


36 37

SohailAkhtar-JuniorResearchFellow,DepartmentofSociology.AligarhMuslimUniversity,Aligarh

StatusofwomeninancientIndia

In India, women has enjoyed great freedom and great prestige, but due to unhappyimpact of restricted ideologies, inhuman restrictions clamped upon them, theywererelegated to a position of servility and insignificance and they were burdened withseveraltaboosandrestrictions.(Sood,1990,xi)

TheimageofawomaninIndiaisvisualizedasShakti(Energy).Sheisdescribedinallourancienttextastheforceunderlyingcreationanddivinity.InseveralwordslikeJaye,Patni,Mahila,Streee,Ardhanginietcwomenisexaltedtothepositionofgloryandgrace.(Janapathy,2002:40).Thepositionofpower,statusanddisabilitiesofthedaughter,thewife, and the widow went on changing in the course of time. Women enjoyedconsiderable freedomandprivileged in the spheresof family, religionandpublic life,butascenturiesrolledon,thesituationwentonchangingadversely.ThepositionwhichwomenoccupiesintheHindusocietyatthedownofcivilizationduringthevedicageismuchbetterthanwhatweordinarilyexpectittohavebeen.

Inancienttimeswomenhavenotbeenexcludefromreligiousritesnorrelegatedtoaninferior status. In the early times, mother- right and the matriarchy proceededpatriarchy,inthedevelopmentofthehumansociety.Thestatusofwomenintheearlyagriculturalist societies was comparatively high.Womenwere considered to be onlycreatorsoflife,theywerealsotheprovidersoffoods,andthehelpmatesofmen.They

StatusofWomeninIndia:FromAncienttoPostIndependencePeriod

Abstract

Status ofWomen’ is a pretty worn –out theme. Much has been written and much hasbeenspokenonthesubjectandyetonehastogoonhappeningonthesamethemeforasimplereasonthatwomenhasnotattainedher fullstatusand it isnecessary toremindherofitsothatshemaycontinuehereffortstillhegoalisreached.

The term ‘Status’ signifies the sum total of thevarious culturally ascribed rolesonehastoplayandtherightsandduties inherit inasocialposition.Besidestheascribedstatus,there is also a ‘achieved status’ which results from one’s efforts and personalachievement. The concept of status is used to indicate the ordering the individual interms of attributes such as, level of education, occupation, income, perception of one’sstatuswithinthehomeandthecommunity,decisionmakingrole,numberofrestrictionsimposedontheone’sactivities,freedomandsoon(Vohra&Sen,1986:3).

Keywords:-Women,staus,ancientandpostindependence

StatusofwomeninIndia:fromancienttopostindependenceperiodEffectivenessofConceptAttainnmentModeloverTraditionalMethodofTeachingonAchievementinBiology

Education,Inc.McDonald,D.

• Kumar, A. (2005). Effect of Concept AttainmentModel on understanding of conceptinphysicsinclassIX.M.Ed

• Dissertation,GuruNanakDevUniv.Amritsar.

• Kumara,s.(1985).EffectivenessofConceptAttainmentModelintermsof

• Pupil Achievement and their Reactions. M.Ed Dissertation, Devi.Ahilya VishwaVidyalaya,Indore.

• Mahajan,Jyotsna.(1992).A Comparative study of Effectiveness of two Models ofteaching,Viz. Bruner’s Concept Attainment Model and Ausubei’s Advance OrganiserModel on the teaching abilities of student-teachers and on achievement of studentsinvariousschools.Ph.D.Edu.,ShreematiNathibaiDamodarThackerseyWomenUniv.

• Manocha, Vineeta.(1991).Development of textual material in biology for class IXusingBruner’sConceptAttainmentModelof teaching.Ph.D.Edu.,DeviAhilyaVishwaVidyalaya,Indore.

• Mohanty,B.K.(1992).AstudyoftherelativeEffectivenessofusingthejurisprudentialInquiry Model and the Concept Attainment Model in the cognitive development inmoral-judgment, moral-concepts and personal-values of sec. school students.Ph.D.Edu.,UtkalUniv.

• Passi, Singh, L.C. and Sansanwal, D.N.(1989). Effectiveness of strategy training inmodels of teaching. An experimental study. Indian educational review,Vol.24(1):36-58.

• Singh, Daijeet K.(1990). Effectiveness of Inquiry Training Model and ConceptAttainment Model over traditional teaching methods for teaching physicalscience.Ph.D.Edu.,KumaunUniv.

• Sushma.(1987). Effectiveness of Concept Attainment Model and Biological Sciencemodeltoeightclassstudents.Dept.ofEdu.BHU.

• Viney. (1992). Effectiveness of Different Models of teaching on achievement inmathematics Concept and Attitude in relation to intelligence and cognativestyle.Ph.D.Edu.,PunjabUniv.


38 39

they lost their importance as comrades of men in public activities, they came to behonoredmerely asmother (Ram, 2004:23-24). The discontinuance of Upanayan, theneglectofeducationandloweringthemarriageageproduceddisastrousconsequencesregarding thepositionandstatusofwomen.Earlymarriagebecamehindrance in theeducationofgirls.WomencametoberegardedasbeingofthesamestatusastheSudra.Duringthisperiodontheonehand,womenwerebeingidealizedandontheothershewasgivenaverydegradestatus(Altekar,1983:348).Thedeteriorationinthestatusofthe widow commenced from the epic period. Widowhood was considered bothundesirableaswellasinauspicious.Thepositionofthewidowsbecamemorepitiablebecause sutra ordered awidow to avoid, for a duration of a year, the use ofmoney,meat,spritsandliquoraswellasandsleepontheground(Mahabharta,X111,5-7).

TheriseofBrahmanismduringtheSamitiperiodbecamedetrimentaltothestatusofwomen. The customs of niyoga was condemned by Samities writers when chastitybecame themain qualification ofmarriage.Manudisapproved the customs ofniyogaanddeclareditwasfitforcattleonly(Altekar,1983;146-149).Thus,widowremarriagewas prohibited. The practices of Sati were recommended by many of the later

thauthoritiesandwerewellestablishedbytheendofthe6 centuryAD.Thelawgiversforced the widows to lead a life of austerities, fasting and abstinence from pleasure(Ram,2004:28).

The period of Samiti or pre Islamic period according to Altekar was one of theprogressivedeteriorationinthepositionofwomen.InthehistoryofIndia,thesedarkanddepressingdaysof the total injustices, intolerancesand inequalitywill remainasthedarkestspotforever.Therewerevariedandmanyreasonsforthedeteriorationsoffall in the position of women (Altekar, 1983:353). There are contradictory viewsregardingthepositionandstatusofwomenwhilesomeoftheearlierauthoritieshavewomenas abodesofmore evil than good, theprogressive and liberal thinkers are infavoroftwowomen(Ram,2004:28).Duringthisperiodtheageofmarriagewasfixedateight.Thecommentatorsoftheopinionthattheparentwouldbecommittingsin,ifthegirl’sageexceedeightyears.Onlyinthekshatriyafamiliesgirlsweremarriedattheageof14or15.Gradually, thepracticeof childwidowswas stopped. Widowwas tolead a strict ascetic life (Ram.2004:28). Thus, the life ofwomenwasworse in Smritiperiodasshewassuppressedduetodeeplyentrenchedpatriarchalbeliefs.

Statusofwomeninmedievalperiod

thTheinvasionthecountrybyMuslimsinthe11 centurybroughtaboutthepositionofwomenintheworsecondition,theirlifebecameinsecure.Restrictiononherrightandfreedomandherresultanthardshipwereaggravated.WomenwereforciblytakenawaytobeslavesortomarryintoMuslimshomes.Theconsequentinsecurityandinstabilityfurthernarroweddownwoman’ssocialliberties(Mishra,2006:34).PolygamyandthepurdahweretwoofthemostimportantsocialinstitutionoftheMuslimsconquerorsofIndia.Under thepurdah system,not only thewomen required living in apartmentofhouse, but also they had to dress in apparel which completely covered their bodyexceptingtheeye(Desai,1967:23).

Womenfacedanumberofhardshipandcrueltyduetoevilpracticeslikemarriages,thepurdah system, sati, widow hood, prostitution, and the devadasis system (Ram,

StatusofwomeninIndia:fromancienttopostindependenceperiodStatusofwomeninIndia:fromancienttopostindependenceperiod

wereconsideredtobesupremesymbolsof fertility itself.Thustherewaswidespreadworshipofmothergoddessintheformofmanypowerfulduties(Janapathy,2002:1)

AsperRCMajumdar(AncientIndia)thewomenwasthepivotinthefamily.Familylifewas interwovenwithher.Expressions like jaydastan (thewomen in thehouse)echothissentiment.ThewomenwerekeptonagoldenthronesofarherstatusisconcernedduringtheRigVedicperiod.Shecouldexhibithertalentinthepublicplacesbuthadtoworkwithintheframeworkofrules.ButamanwasNeta(leader)andwomenNeetha(thelead).ThewordDampati,indicatesthatthewifeandthehusbandconstitutedoneunit.Inonecontextthehusband,anidlemongerbemoansthat,heisresponsibleforthepitiableconditionofhiswife.

In theVedic periodwomanparticipated in all fields likemen and took active part inevery sphere of human life. During that period, women enjoyed a fair amount offreedom.WomenstudiesinGurukulandenjoyedequalityinlearningVedas.Foralongtime,girlsinhighersocietieswereallowedtoundergoUpanayanrite.Thegreatwomenlike Ghosa, Apala, Lopamudra, Visvara, Gargi, Atreyi, Indrani, Yami, and other haddistinctqualitiesofarts,music,danceandevenfightinginthebattle(Mishra,2006.3).The condition of girls are married after attaining puberty, they were instance ofSwayamwara where the women had the right to choose her husband (Janapathy,2002:46). If foranyreasonadaughter remainedunmarried, shewasexpected to liveunder theprotectionofher fatherandafterher father’sdeathunder the control andprotection of her brother (Ram, 2004:19). During this period asceticism was not ofgreatprominence.Themaindisadvantaged fromwhich thewife suffered in theVedicage was that she could neither hold nor inherit property. The only property theyassimilatedwastheirbride-priceatthetimeofthegirls’marriagewhichwasknownasStridhana. Thewidowof this agewaspermitted to remarry.Thesepractices seem tohavebeenacceptedasnormalfromtheVedicperiodonwards.SatiorburningofwidowinRig-Vedawasnot found.Ontheotherhand, theVedichymnreferstoremarriageofthewidowsratherthantheirselfimmolation(Altekar,1983:188).Widowre-marriagebytheniyogaformwaspermittedwherebyawidowcouldwedherbrother-in-laworthemanbelonging toherhusband’s castes.This, however,wasmore tomaintain thefamily institution, then as a special presence for the sex life for awidow (Khanna&Verghese,1978:188).

Thusthepositionof thewomenduringtheVedicperiodwasclearlymanifestedtobeequal.Womenasadaughter, sister,wives, andmotherhadequallyhonoredplaces inthe family, society, and the statealike.Thus, in all aspects theyhadequal rightswithmen andwere their equal partners, friends and helpers all through. The right of theniyoga showshowawidowwasvery liberal treated inthosedays.The legalstatusofthewidowwasthesameasthatofthewife(Ram,2004:18).

DuringthePost-Vedicperiodthepositionofthewomenwasnotthesame.ThiswastheperiodofthelaterSamhitas,BrahmanasandUpanishad.Thesewereagradualdeclineinthestatusandeducationofwomen.Thedesiretogetasontoprovideforthefuture,becomequiteintenseanddaughtercametobelookeduponasencumbrancesandthemarriage age of the girls continued to be around 16. Among the Kshatriyas,Swayamwara was fairly common in practice. The social and familiar status of thedaughterdeterioratedinthePostVedicperiod.

Womenwerenot allowed toparticipate inperformanceof sacrificial ceremonies and


40 41

thedignitywomenbecamemorethingsluxury.

c. Childmarriagebecameverycommon.YoungIndia inarticleentitledEvilsofChildthMarriagedated26 august1926throwsmorelightonthisaspectandthesociety

forthepreventionofthechildmarriage.In1931itpublishedthefollowingdetailedgiveninthetable.

Table-1.1

Age(Yrs)

Below1

1-2

2-3

3-4

4-5

5-10

10-15

Marriages(Percentage)

0.8

1.2

2.0

4.2

6.6

19.3

38.0

So,itcanbeconcludedfromthetable1.1thatevenbelowIyearsofage,onegirlinevery1000wasmarried.Evenforthegirlsbelow15yearsthesamewastheposition.Whenin1921, therewere9066marriedgirlsbeforeoneyearsby1931, therenumber increasedto44082.

Aschildmarriagewasfavoredalsobecamerampant.Thenumberofwidowswas759in1925 and then strength increased to 1515, within 10 years, which is mentioned intable1.2.

Table–1.2

MoreParticularAboutwidows

Number

1515

1785

3485

9076

15019

1,05,482

1,85,339

Below1

1-2

2-3

3-4

4-5

5-10

10-15

Age(Yrs)


2004:29)

Alongwith the insecurity and uncertaintywhich prevailed in theMughal period, thepractice of purdah became rigid and women were forbidden even to visit the holyshrines.BothHindusandMuslimswomenlostalltheirliberalactivitiesandbecametheproperty of their male masters. Widow-remarriage was prohibited in general. Thepracticesoftonsuringthewidowswereprevalentamongmanyhighcastesanditexistseventodayinmanypartofthecountry.Itwascommonmoreinthesouththaninthenorthofthecountry.Thoughthecruelpracticesaredyingout,itisstillpracticebysomeorthodox sects of Brahmins in the southern India. Once widow marriage wasprohibited, society desired tomake thewidowas unattractive as possible so that nomancouldoverwanttomarryher.Widowshavetofollowstrictrulesandrestriction.So they frequentlypreferSati to the tire some lifeprescribed for them.Mostwidowsvoluntarily ascended the funeral pyres of their husbands. (Ram, 2004:30-31). Thepractice of Jauher was also quite commonwherewomen folk immolated themselves‘en- masse’ on a burning fire which was very much popular particularly among theRajputs(Janapathy,2006;146).SeveralMuslimsemperorsdiscouragedSatiandadoptedmeasurestopresentitasfaraspossible,butdidnotsucceed.Thiseralednotonlytothe degenerations of the women’s physical, mental and social life, but her right ineducational, social, religious, and economics field also lowered gradually (Ram,2004:32).TheBhaktimovementalsoplayedanimportantroleinraisingthestatusof the women. The evil practice of Sati received some setbacks, the movementencouragedreligiousparticipation,moreandmorewomenparticipatedinthereligiouscongregationanditwasnotconsidereddisrespectful(Janapathy,206:147).

thIn the history of India, the 18 centurywas a period of all rounddecline. Itwas thedarkest period so far as women were concerned. Political decay following thedescriptionoftheMughalempireanddisorderduetothepreventofvariousEuropeanspowers, combined with fossilized customs, tradition, superstition, and irrationalbigotry, ruined the nation. Under the new condition, women lost their independentidentity.Theydidnotenjoyaseparateworldoftheirown.Theyweretotallyandforcedsubjugatedtomalesuperiorityphysicallyandintellectually.

StatusofwomeninBritishperiod

Towardstheendofthe18thcentury,socialconditioninIndiacametosuchalowlevelthatneithertherulernorthepeople’sleaderscouldcontrolthemeasily.Someunusualnationcrept into themindsofpeopleand tookverydeeproots. Ideologicallywomenwas considered a completely inferior species, inferior to the male, having nosignificance,nopersonality,sociallyshewaskeptinthestateofuttersubjection,deniedanyright,suppressedandoppressed.

During this period there were three social evils that changed the very image of thesociety:

a. Polygamy became the very common among all sections.Men could easily take asecondwifeevenwhenthefirstwifewasalive,withoutanyobstacle.

b. Prostitution became rampant. To arrangemelas and nauch parties with dancinggirlsbecameasymbolofstatus.Securityneverconsideredthehabittobebeneath


Onaccountofthechildmarriage,womenbecamemotherattheveryearlyageandmanydied during the child birth. As a result, death rate among the women went up. On anaverage, thenumberofdeadper yearwas2 lakhs.Toput inotherswords, 22diedperhours.Satiwasanotherevilthattookitstoll.

In 1815 - 1828, the number of women who died in Bengal itself is as following table1.3(Janapathy,2002:169-170).

However, it is clear that with the increase in the evil customs the status of women wasaffectedinmanywaysinIndiaparticularlydueto-

a. Patriarchaljointfamily:

b. Polygamyandsati:

c. Enforcementwidowhood:

d. Childmarriageandpurdahsystem:

ThepitifulandpitiableofthewidowwhowasforcedcommitSatiattractedtheattentionofgood number of enlightened Indians and the British under the leadership of Raja RamMohanRoyandLordWilliamBentick. Inspiteof thestrongopposition,historic resolution

ofgreatimportancewaspassedonDecember14th1829,bywhichSatiwasmadeacrimeofculpablehomicidepunishablewithfineorboth.

Thewidowwas ill treated by her in laws and kinsmen as the virtual destroyer of herhusband. She was never allowed to appear cheerful and wear bright clothes orornaments. She had to drudge along day and night and was the victim of all kinds ofinsolencebyotherwomenof thehousehold includingservants.The tragedybecameallthemorepoignantifthewidowhappenedtobeachild.Therefore,inordertoimproveherlot, British passed the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act, 1856. This act was enacted toremove all he legal barriers to remarriage of HinduWidows (Ram, 2004:34-36). ChildmarriageAct111of the1872abolished childmarriageand fixed theminimumage formarriage at 14th for girl and 18 for boy, permitted widow remarriage and penalizedpolygamyamongtheBrahmoSamaj(Bakshi,2007:11).

The reform movement of the last century, therefore concentrated on mitigating thehardshipandhandicapofwomenandthenonelevatingtheirposition.theBrahmoSamajof Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the Prathna Samaj of Ranade, the Arya Samaj of Daya NandSaraswati, all aimed at ameliorating the lot of women and shedding the dross thatHinduismhasgatheredovertheages(Bakshi,2007:11).

Thefamilial,socialandlegalpositionoftheHinduwomenwasgreatly improvedduringtheBritishperiodascomparedtotheMuslimperiod.Althoughasmallsectionofwomentook advantages of these measures and privileged given, their initiation was indeedsignificant. During the India's struggle for independence thousand ofwomen took partunder the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Viajaya Laxmi Pandit, andKasturbaGandhiweresomeoftheuniquewomenpersonalities.Gillhasrightlyobservedabout the achievement with regards to the status of women during the British period(Gill,1986:38)

Statusofwomeninpostindependenceperiod

After Indiabecame independence, thestatusofwomenchangedaltogether.The laws inforcewere different in different provinces before 1947.Under the leadership of PanditJawaharlal Nehru, the first PrimeMinister of India, B.N. Rao committeewas formed toworkoutthenecessarychangesinsociety.Thememberofthecommitteetouredthefourcorners of the country and obtained the opinion of the people and based on theirrecommendations in1955,some importantactswerepassed.TheSpecialMarriageAct,Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Act of Maintenance was passed by theparliamentandHinduadoptionActwerealsopassedin1956.Inequalitywasremovedinallaspects.Thewomenweregivenequalstatusinallrespects(Saikia,2008:13).Thus,alegal frame work within which women right can be protected in India. Human rightsjurisprudence has constitutional status and a great deal of religious lawswas codifiedsoon after India achieved independence. Parliament has also passed a numbers of actswhichinteralia,speciallyprotectedwomen'sright.TheseActsincludes:

1. TheHinduMarriageAct,1955.

2. TheHinduAdoptionandMaintenanceAct,1956.

3. TheImmoralTraffickPreventionAct,1956.

4. TheDowryProhibitionAct,1961.

42 43

Table1.3

Years

1815

1816

1817

1818

1819

1820

1821

1822

1823

1824

1825

1825

1826

1827

1828

No.ofDead

378

442

707

839

650

598

654

583

575

572

639

639

518

517

463



44 45

women in India is still surrounded by violence neglected and exploitation. This ishappening everywhere in our country and the number is increasing alarming. Even theeducatedurbanandwellinformedwomenareexposedtosuchevents.Largesectionofthewomen has suffered a decline of economic status. Even after the promulgation of theselaws (legal measures) , the protection enjoyed by the larges masse of women fromexploitation and injustice is negligible, though women do not numerically constitute inminority, they are being to acquired the feature ofminority community by the recognizeddimension of inequality of class, economic situation, status (social position) and politicalpower.Thechasmbetweenthevaluesofanewsocialorderproclaimedbytheconstitutionand the realities of contemporary Indian society as far as women right are concernedremainsasgreatasatthetimeofindependence.

It is clear that thestatusof thewomen in India societyhaschanges throughmanyphasesfrom ancient times to modern times. Though they have received very honorable place insocietyduringancient times,as timepassed their statuswasnot same.Womenhavegonethroughmany tortures and ill-treatment throughout their lives. Even inmodern times, inspiteofmanlegislationfortheirprotectiontheyarestillininferiorposition.

References

• Altekar, A. S. 1983. The position of women in Hindu Civilization, New Delhi: Moti Lal BanarshidasPublisherPvt.Ltd.

• Bakhsi, S. R. 2007. Encyclopedia of EminentWomen in India. Vol. I, NewDelhi: Vista InternationalPublishingHouse.

• Desai,Neera,1967.WomeninModernIndia.Bombay:Vora&CoPublisherPvt.Ltd.

• Ghosh,S.k.1989.IndianWomenThoughAges.NewDelhi:AshishPublishingHouse.

• Gill, K, 1986. Hindu Women Right to Property in India. New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publication.

• Janapathy, V. 2002. Indian Women through the Ages. New Delhi: Gyan publishing House.PublicationPvt,Ltd.

• Khanna,Girija&Verghese,Mariamma,A.1978. IndianWomenToday.NewDelhi:Vikas PublishinghousePvtLtd.

• Mishra, Preeti, 2006. Domestic Violence against Women Legal Control and Judicial Responses.NewDelhi:DeepandDeepPublicationPvt.Ltd.

• Mitra,Singh&kumar,Bachan.2004.EncyclopediaofWomeninSouthAsia(India),Vol.I, NewDelhi:KalpazPublication.

• Ram,S.2004.(ed),WomenThoughAges,NewDelhi:CommonWealthPublisher

• Saikia, Nandita. 2008. Indian women; a socio Legal perspective, New Dehil: Serial Publication.

• Sood, Sushman, 1990. Voilence against Women, Jaipur: Arihant Publishers. Vohra,Roop&Sen,ArunK.1986.StatusEducationandProblemofIndianWomen,New Delhi:AkashPublication.


5. TheMedicalTerminationandPregnancyAct,1971.

6. TheIndecentRepresentationofWomenProhibitionAct,1986.

7. TheCommissionofSatiPreventionAct,1987.

8. TheNationalCommissionofWomenAct,1990.

9. ThePrenatalDiagnosticTechniques(RegulationandPreventionofMassive)Act,1994 (Mittra&Kumar,2004:313).

In spite of all these laws even today women are ill treated and are in sub ordinateposition.Thelaw,initselfinnothingmorethananinstrumentofsocialchanges.Assaidby Jawahar Lal Nehru, “Legislation cannot by itself normally solve deep -rooted socialproblem.Onehas to approach them inotherways too, but legislation isnecessary andessential, so that itmay give that push andhave those educative factors aswell as thelegal sanctionsbehind itwhichhelppublic opinion tobe given a certain shape (Saikia,2008:15)

Apartfromthesesomanylegislationpassedforwomen,eventodaythebirthofgirlinanaverage Indian family innotconsideredtoberejoicingevent,as thebirthofboy.Crimeagainstwomen has increased; over 4,000 cases of rapewere reported in 1979. Dowrydeath, and molestation, eve teasing etc. have increased considerably. Most of the postindependencesocialreformslikethedowryabolitionandthelawsagainstchildmarriagehaveprovedineffective.Socialwelfareisonpaperswhereitisacteduponseriously,thereiscorruptionandmismanagement.(Janapathy,200:218-219).

Withtherapidurbanizationandindustrializationofthecentury,exploitationofwomeninrecent years has been a serious menace to our society. with the multiplication oflegislation on the various fields,with a view to improve the social, political and socialcondition and statusofwomen, even the ancient formsof victimization, childmarriageandprematureconsummationresultinginearlyanddangerouspregnancies,sati,femaleinfanticides,illegalabortion,dowrydeathandrape,eveteasingandvariousotherformsofmolestationofwomenstillcontinue.Infact,sincethepassingofthedowryprohibitionactandevenafterseveralamendmentsof theI.P.C.,Cr.PC.andtheEvidenceAct,dowrydeathareincrease.TheHinduMarriageActof1955andtheHinduSuccessionActof1956securing the women the right to divorce and property have not automatically evenwomenrights.Traditionally,girlshavebeenconsideredaliabilityandtherequirementtoprovidetothemwithadowryonmarriage,isbigburden.Thuswiththisnewtechnology,femalefoetusareabortedinlargenumbers(Mishra,200:466).

Women'shealthisgivenconsiderationonlyintermsofmaternity,leavingwomenbeyondthe reproductive age, young unmarried girls and widow outside health and nutritionschemes. The government's family planning program has a very gender bias (Saikia,2008: 15). The condition of elderly women is also not satisfactory especially those ofwidows.Shehastoearnasalsorunthehouseandraisedherchildren, ifshedoesearnher condition is even worse. If widow has no issues, she has to work hard as a maidservant in her husband's joint family. She has neither economic security nor a say indecision concerning her and her children. Families still believe that once a daughter isgivenawayinmarriage,shecannotbegivenawayagaintoanotherperson.Hence,widowremarriage, thoughsanctionedbyHinduWidowsRemarriageActof1986seldomtakesplaceandisdiscouraged(Ghose,1989:19).

Thus, we see that the condition of Indian women is very much shocking. The life of the


Uttarakhand,SikkimandArunachalPradesh)incountry(Laletal.,1991).Allofthese

states have ethnic pastoral communities who practice nomadic, semi-nomadic and

transhumantformofpastoralherdingtraditionallyasoneoftheirmajorlivelihood.The

majorpastoralcommunitiesofIndianHimalayaareChangpas,Bakarawals,andGujjars

of Jammu and Kashmir, Gaddis, Kanets, Kaulis and Kinnaurs of Himachal Pradesh,

BhotiyasandVan (Forest)Gujjars ofUttarakhand,Bhuttiyas of Sikkim,andMonpas of

Arunachal Pradesh (Singh, 1996). The state of Uttarakhand constitutes the Indian2CentralHimalayacoveringanareaof53,483km andhasvastareaofforestswithgreat

bio-geo-diversity. Forests cover 34,651 km2 (64.8%) area of total geographical land2(Govt. of Uttarakhand, 2010), whereas alpine pastures occupy 8,524 km (Lal et al.,

1991)or14.5%ofthetotalarea.

Uttarakhandhastwomajorpastoralcommunities-transhumantBhotiyasandtheforest

dwelling nomadic Van Gujjars. Apart from these two ethnic communities, pastoral

herding is also practiced by a portion of common hill people as a complementary

componentoftheiragro-pastorallivelihoodsystem.Theprimaryanimalsraisedbythe

Bhotiyas as well as the hill people are goats and sheep and milk buffaloes by Van

Gujjars.Thebuffaloesandlivestockofpastoralcommunitiesgrazeinforestsandalpine

meadows in a cyclic ordermigrating through the traditional routes between foothill

forests and alpinemeadows. The basic characteristic ofmountain pastoralism is the

verticalstratificationofnaturalresourceswithaltitudinalandseasonalvariations.The

pastoralists have adapted themselves successfully to this environment applying their

indigenousknowledgeandexperiencetosustaintheirlifeandlivelihood.Bhotiyasare

scheduled tribe agro-pastoralists and live in two different seasonal villages in the

northerndistrictsofUttarakhand.Theycultivate theiragriculture landatbothplaces

apartfromlivestockherding.Bhotiyasspendtheirsummer(mid-Maytomid-October)

inhighaltitude(2600-3700mamsl)villagesinManaandNitivalleyinChamolidistrict

andDarma, JoharandMilamvalley inPithoragarh. Inwinter, they comedown to the

villages inmid-hillsdue to extreme coldandheavy snow fall athighaltitude.On the

other hand common hill agro-pastoralists have only one settlement in the mid-hills

where they live round the year. Only themales of these two communities take their

livestocktoalpinesandfoothillforestsforgrazing.Againnotalloftheseshepherdswho

visitalpinesforsummergrazingmigratetofoothillforestsduringwinter.Someofthem

have small herd and enough common forests surrounding their village. They do not

migratetofoothillsbutgrazethelivestockinthosemid-hillforestsduringwinter.Very

fewBhotiyas are presently engaged in pastoral grazing system.Van Gujjars are quite

different from Bhotiya and common hill pastoralists. They are nomadic traditional

forest dwelling community. They do not have any permanent house or crop land. By

faith, Van Gujjars are Muslim and live in the temporary huts (locally called dera or

chhapar) inside state forests. Inwinter they live and graze their buffaloes in foothill

forests near Dehradun town and adjoining forests of neighboring Uttar Pradesh. In

summer, theymigratewithwhole family and buffaloes to tree line forests of greater

HimalayamainlyinUttarkashidistrict(Table1).

46 47

Introduction

The IndianHimalaya covers approximately 18%of the total geographical area of the

countryandconsistsmorethan50%ofitsforest,endowedwithvastdiversityofflora,

faunaandpeoplewhoinhabitit.Thegreatdiversityofwildlifeandculturaldiversityof

peoplehavemadetheHimalayaauniqueecosystemintheworld.Alpinepasturescover

25.88% of the five Himalayan states (Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,

1 2 3 4NehalA.Farooquee ,NabiK.Jha ,R.K.Maikhuri andPernilleGooch

1.SchoolofExtensionandDevelopmentStudies(SOEDS),IGNOU,NewDelhi2.&3.G.B.PantInstituteofHimalayanEnvironment&Development,(GU),Srinagar.4.DepartmentofHumanEcology,LundUniversity,Lund,Sweden

Abstract

One of the impacts of globalization is that it destroys the traditional resource usepattern,uniquetraditionalculturesandvalues.Peopleoftenprefertobepartofa largergroup that share in the same beliefs and customs that they practice. To protect thesewaysof life, borders are established, forming states and sometimesevennations.Thesetraditionalways of dependence on nature such as resourcemanagement, adaptation totenurial rights, language, dress, religion, and sometimes even local laws are sometimespasseddownfromgeneration togeneration.Destroying theseeliminates factors thatseta region or a community apart from others, such as local culture, tradition and foodhabits. The developments in the last decades have tracked the remote mountainpopulations from the mainstream economic growth to the peripheral existence. Thesituation of mountain pastoral communities, such as the buffalo grazers Gujjars ofUttarakhand and Yak grazers Monpas of Twang has deteriorated substantially due tonegligenceandpoliticalunwillingness.These twogroupsare facing theuncertain futuredue to changing rulesofpowerof statesandpressure from ‘conservation’ lobbies.Theyarecruciallydependentontheirsurroundingforestsandalpinepasturesforfodder, fuel,food and building materials. But now they are losing their common grazing resourcesand prohibited to enter into traditional alpine and tree line grazing meadows. TheGujjars, have remained isolated with the sedentarized population of the state due tosmallnumbers,social,cultural,educationalandpoliticaldifferencesandhence,arequiteslow in terms of changing values, culture and resource use. The Monpas on the otherhandhaveexperiencedafasterrateofchangeduetotheirproximityandclosenesstotheothercommunities,higherrateofeducation,andsocial,culturalandpolitical integrationintheTwangregionofArunachalPradesh.

Keywords: Central Himalaya; Eastern Himalaya; Pastoralism; Gujjars; Monpas; SocialChange.

ImpactofGlobalizationandChangingValuesonPastoralGrazinginIndianCentralandEasternHimalaya




SettlementMigrationPattern

SummerGrazing WinterGrazing

1 VanGujjars

Insideforestsoftheseasonalgrazingzones

TreelineforestsofUttarkashidistrict

FoothillforestsofDehradunandadjoiningareasofUttarPradesh.

2 Bhotiyas

NorthernvalleysofUttarkashi,ChamoliandPithoragarhdistricts

AlpinemeadowsofHarshil,Mana,Niti,Milam,Byans,Ralametc.

FoothillforestsofDehradun,Mussoorie,Rishikesh,Kotdwar,RamnagarandTanakpur.

3 Hillpeople

Valleysofmid-HillsinUttarkashi,ChamoliandPithoragarhdistricts

AlpinemeadowsofHarkiDoon,Harshil,Mana,Niti,Milam,Byans,Ralametc.

SomeofthemmigratetofoothillsasBhotiyas,whileothersgrazelivestockintheirmid-hillvillageforests.

PastoralistsofUttarakhandplayavery important role inutilizationofnatural fodder

resourcesaswellassupplyinganimalfoodtothesocietyaselsewhereintheHimalayan

region. Herding buffaloes and livestock has been an important source of sustainable

livelihood for thesemarginalmountain communities of the state. In fact pastoralism

supplementsandcomplementsthelimitedagriculturalproductionoftheregiondueto

adverseclimatic conditions, rugged topographyandsmall landholdings.Uttarakhand

hadonly14.3%landundernetsownareain2006-07(Govt.ofUttarakhand,2010).The

stateproduced1,205,528metrictonsmilk,352,872kgwooland6,192,100kgmeatin

2005-06.

Increasing anthropogenic activities in fragile mountains are resulting in habitat

destruction, fragmentation and degradation of wildlife (Ehrlich 1995; Cincotta et al.,

2000)anddeclining the regional andglobalbiodiversitywhich raised thedemandof

wildlifeconservation.Butunlikeotherforestandmountainareasoftheworld,Indian

Himalayahasbeenthehomeandsourcesoflivelihoodfornumberoftribesandforest

dwellingcommunities.Theyarehighlydependentontheforestsfordailyfood,fodder,

fuel and other minor forest produces. In most part of the Himalaya people has

encroachedupontheforestsandnaturalhabitatsofwildfloraandfauna.Commercial

exploitationofHimalayanforestsbygovernmentsupportedagenciesforindustriesand

revenuehaddestroyedittolargeextentduringcolonialandpost-independenceperiod.

Expansion of human settlement and rapid exploitation of natural resources have

created conflicts between people and wildlife which created global conservation

awarenesstoprotectandconservetheexistingwildlife.Beingabiodiversityrepository,

Indian Himalaya has been focused for conservation purposes for a long time.

Table1:MigrationpatternofmajorpastoralcommunitiesinUttarakhand:

48 49

Table1.3

PastoralCommunities

Government created laws to establish protected area network in the country. Today

thereare99NationalParksand523WildlifeSanctuariesinthecountryalongwith43

ConservationReservesand3CommunityReserves(WII,2009).Uttarakhanditselfhas

6 National Parks and 6 Wildlife Sanctuaries apart from large area of reserved and

protectedforests.

Overgrazing is a major threat to vegetation and biodiversity after deforestation and

wildlife poaching. Large population of livestockwithout proper grazingmanagement

has caused irreversible soil degradation and desertification in West and East Africa

(Nuru,1996).Indiaranksfirstincattle,secondingoatandthirdinsheeppopulationin

theworld.UttarakhandForestDepartmenthasbannedgrazingactivityalmostinevery

forest zone blaming the pastoral grazing for forest degradation which has directly

affectedthelivelihoodofthepoorcommunitiesengagedinthissystemandhasthrown

them into the uncertain future due to lack of grazing land and livelihood options.

Pastoral communities of Uttarakhand had faced two big incidents of eviction due to

conservation. Bhotiya and other shepherds were evicted from Nanda Devi National

ParkandValleyofFlowerNationalParkinChamolidistrict.Over1500VanGujjarshad

been evicted and sedentarized fromRajajiNational Park inHimalayan foothills.Now

proposedevictionofVanGujjarsfromGovindNationalParkareainnorthernUttarkashi

districthasonceagainfrightenedthemlookingattheuncertainfuture.

Moderate and controlledgrazing is very essential formaintaining species richnessof

forestsandalpine(Harper,1969;RawatandUniyal,1993).Removalof livestock from

theforestsandalpinestraditionallymaintainedbygrazingwithoutscientificstudymay

causereverseresults(lossofspeciesrichnessduetooverdominanceofsomespecies)

as happened in Valley of Flower National Park (Kala and Srivastava, 2004). Loss of

common natural resources, restrictions on grazing, urbanization and developmental

activities (such as extension of road network, increasing tourism industries,massive

dam projects) and impact of global environmental changes during last decades have

trackedthetraditionalmountainpastoralismfromthemainstreameconomicgrowthto

theperipheralexistenceinthestate.

StudyArea

Uttarakhand is situated in the Central part of IndianHimalaya. The region has three

distinctparallelgeographicalzones fromsouthtonorth-theShivalik, lesserHimalaya,

and thegreaterHimalaya.The state is rich in termsof cultural andwildlifediversity.

Thisstudyismainlyfocusedontwomajorpastoralgrazingzonesofthestate(Fig.1):

Govind National Park (31°00´10.89´Ń to 31°15´00.13´Ń and 78°16´07.87´É to

78°37´36.35´É)inUttarkashidistrictandNitivalley(30°17´10.83´Ńto31°00´20.77´Ń

and79°34´31.93´Éto80°00´38.17´É)intheNandaDeviBiosphereReserveofChamoli

district. Both districts are well known for their ethnic communities, indigenous

knowledgesystems,richbiodiversityandprotectedareanetwork.TheGovindNational

Park region is used traditionally as summerpasture by the nomadicVanGujjars and

migratoryshepherdswhilethehigheralpinesofNitivalleyaregrazedbythelivestock

ofBhotiyasandotherpastoralcommunities.




Importanceofmigration

The animal husbandry system which follows migratory pastoral grazing has someadvantages over the stall feeding. This may be argued by the fact that in migratorysystem of grazing, pastoralists utilize the natural fodder resources of marginal andwastelands. In fact migration is an ecological requirement for pastoral grazing due tobigger stocking rate. In this way they convert the green vegetation into animal foods.Migratorylivestockandbuffaloesaddsubstantialamountoffertilizertotheecosysteminthe form of dung. Seasonal migration allows the vegetation proper time to regenerate.The pastoralists as well as their animals are adapted to a wide variety of localenvironments and vegetation types due to migratory grazing pattern. It gives themcapability to survive in caseof fodder scarcity.Lackof commongrazing lands in thehillvillagesforcestheagro-pastoralhillpeoplestomigratetothehigheralpinesforsummergrazing. Grazing in state forests require official grazing permit from forest departmentand the permit holders are to pay grazing tax. But not all of the households have legalgrazing permit. Some of them join as pastoral laborers and take their small herd oflivestockwith the permit owners. Others give their whole or part of herd tomigratingpermitownersona seasonal contract.Communitymanagedgrazingpracticehasbeenatraditional way to sustain the forests and grassland in Himalaya. But that traditionalsystemhasbeenbrokendowninmanyregionsduetothelackofsocialintegration.

MajorChallengestoHimalayanPastoralism

Growing human population and settlement, imposition of conservation policies, socio-economic and cultural changes have endangered the sustainability of mountainpastoralismintheregion.Inspiteof largedeclineinpastoralsystemduringlastdecadespastoral grazingpressurehasbeen increasedon forests and alpinepasturesdue to lossofforestcoverandreductioninavailablegrazingland(asmostgrazinglandswentunderconservation).ManyBhotiyapastoralistsleftthepastorallivelihoodafterclosingofcross-border grazing and tradingwithChina after1962 conflict between two countries.Manyshepherds had to settle down for closing of grazing in Nanda Devi National Park

Fig.2:GrazingzonesofUttarakhand:

50 51

Methodology

The present article is an account of long participatory field survey and data collectionabout different stakeholders of forests and pastoral communities in Uttarakhand. Thefocus has been given on Garhwal region in particular. Questionnaire survey andinterviewswerecarriedoutamongtheVanGujjars insideGovindWildlifeSanctuaryandNational Park and shepherds of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The secondary dataregarding Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks were collected from different forestoffices of the state and State Forest Statistics of Uttarakhand. Different Acts regardingforests and conservation were analyzed in the present scenarios of pastoralism in theregion.Pastoralmigratory routesweremappedby takingpart in theseasonalmigrationwithpastoraliststhroughdifferentforestsandalpinepastures.

PastoralgrazingzonesofUttarakhand

The pastoral grazing zones in Central Himalaya (Fig. 2) is spread over three differentclimate and ecological zones-i) the sub-tropical foothill forests (400-1000 m) are usedduring winter months from December to March; ii) the sub-temperate and temperategrazing zones (1000-3500) are used during upward migration (April-May) anddownward migration (October-November), the Van Gujjars generally stay below thealpine zone (in the tree line forests) and do not go above 3500 m; and iii) the alpinemeadows (3500-4500) are used as the summer grazing ground. All the three grazingzones have different geographical and biological characteristics in terms of weather,topographyandvegetationcover.



Fig.1:StudyareaandpastoralmigratoryroutesinIndianCentralHimalaya:


Status Sub-status Area(km²)

Aspercentageoftotalforestarea

Aspercentageoftotalgeographicalarea

ReservedForest

National 4915.46 14.19 9.19

WildlifeSanctuary 2420.13 6.98 4.53

Other 17307.34 49.95 32.36

Total 24642.93 71.12 46.08

ProtectedForest 9884.58 28.53 18.48

Source: Forest Statistics of Uttarakhand, 2009 and Office of the Dy. Director, GovindNationalPark.

The critical conflict between pastoralism and conservation in Uttarakhand started inearly1980safterestablishmentoftwoNationalParksinthevitalsummergrazingzonesof pastoral livestock in Chamoli district in 1982 following theWildlife (Protection) Act,1972. The entire sub-alpine and alpinemeadows of Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP)and Valley of Flowers (VoF) National Park used to go through pastoral land use. About2000 pastoral livestock and 90 cattle (according to local villagers) from the villages oflower Mana valley used to graze on common lands in VoF National Park. The alpinepastures inandaroundNandaDeviNationalPark hadbeengrazedby largenumberofpastoral livestockfromBhotiyavillagesofNitiValley.Theextensivetourisminthesetworegions caused ecological concern and threat to the wildlife. Government blamed thepastoralgrazingasusualandbannedtourismaswellasgrazinginsidebothparkareain1983.Asaresultabout15pastoralgroupslosttheirtraditionalalpinepasturesinNDNP.Sheep population in Niti valley declined over 66% between 1970-75 and 1990-95(Maikhurietal.2001b)asmostof thepastoralistssoldtheirherddueto lackofgrazingland.ThebaninNandaDeviregionputanextrapressureonthealpinesofMana,UpperNiti and Sumna valley (table 2). According to a study by Nautiyal et al., (2005) thestockingdensityofanimalunitsperunitareaofpasturesurrounding theNDNPbecamedoubled after the enclosure of park for grazing. Mana, Malari, Gamshali, Niti and someothervillageswhichwerenotaffectedby thisgrazingrestrictionstartedcollecting taxesfrom those evicted pastoralists to allow grazing in their alpines. The grazing tax is alsocollected by theDhatmeer, Gangar, Pawani andOsala village in GovindNational Park inUttarkashi district from the shepherds coming from other areas to the alpines of thesevillages but not from the Van Gujjars. Van Gujjars have been paying tax to the forestdepartment.

2Creation of Rajaji National Park spreading over 820.42 km in foothill forests of threedistricts (Dehradun, Haridwar and Pauri) in 1983 led to bring to an end of pastorallivelihood of Van Gujjars. Some of the evicted families have beensettled by thegovernment at two colonies near Haridwar. But there are still many families who have

Table3:LegalstatusofconservedareaunderforestdepartmentinUttarakhand(2009):

52 53

andValleyofFlowerNationalParkin1983.AlargenumberofVanGujjarswereforcedtosettle down and leave the forest dwelling life when they were thrown out from RajajiNational Park in Himalayan foothills during the same period. Nature conservation hasemergedasthebiggestchallengetopastoralisminthispartofHimalaya.

Conservationandprotectedareas:majorthreattoHimalayanpastoralism

Everchangingdefinitionof'forest' 'and'conservation'hasbeenaconsistentthreattothepastoral communities since colonial period. The British acquired a large tract of forestlandinhabitedbythetribalcommunitiesandforestdwellersforcommercialexploitationand declared as 'reserve forest' restricting the pastoral rights of those people. Thecolonial IndianForestActof1927remains thebasic legislationof forestmanagement inthe country even after the independence. According to this act the forage resources forthe grazing livestock became the 'forest produce' which is the property of government.The tribal communities and nomadic pastoralists became the target of the “anti-pastoralist” forest officers for harassment under this Act. TheWildlife (Protection) Act,1972pavedwaytocreateprotectedareasinthecountrywithoutgivinganyspacetothepeople dependent on forests. This Act restricted the pastoral communities from theirtraditionalgrazing landswhichwentunderprotectedareas.Theybecamethe 'victimsofconservation'underdifferentgovernment legislations.TheSection35 (7)of theWildlife(Protection) Act prohibited total entry of livestock inside National Parks and providedvery little space in Sanctuaries with special permission from ChiefWildlifeWarden i.e.the pastoralists had to live on the dictatorship of forest department. At present about

24.83%ofcountry's3,287,263km geographicalareaisundertheprotectedareanetwork(MoEF: Govt. of India, 2009). The conservation issues in the Himalayas and TransHimalayas increased after Chipko movement in 1970s against the timber mafias. TheGreaterandTransHimalayanregionsofcentralHimalayahavegreatwildlifeimportance.Uttarakhand is a unique harbor of some of the endangered alpine floras andmammalslike snow leopard, musk deer and Himalayan bear. To conserve the wildlife habitats anumber of protected areas were created in the state during last three decades oftwentieth century. TheNational Parks (NP) in the state are-i) GangotriNP, ii) RajajiNP,iii)NandaDeviNP,iv)CorbettNP,v)GovindNPandvi)ValleyofFlowerNP.Outofthese,fournationalparksare situated ingreaterHimalayaand two (Rajaji andCorbett) are inHimalayan foothills.TheWildlife Sanctuaries (WLS)are situated in sixdifferentdistrictsboth in Garhwal and Kumaon division. The Sanctuaries are-i) KedarnathWLS, ii) AskotWLS, iii) Govind WLS, iv) Sona nadi WLS, v) Binsar WLS and vi) Mussoorie WLS.

2Uttarakhand is spread over 53,483 km area. About 64.8% of its geographical area is2under forestcoveringanareaof34,651km .Thenationalparksandwildlifesanctuaries

2cover21.17%oftotalforestand13.72%geographicalland.Butonly2202.86km (3.89%of total reported area) area is under permanent pasture and grazing land for its8,327,344 heads of grazing livestock. The Reserved Forests in state occupies 71.12%(table 3) of total forest area. Grazing is highly restricted in 14.19% forests which areunder National Parks and very little allowed in Sanctuaries. The increased area underconservationhasreducedtheavailablegrazinglandforthelivestockofthestate.Grazingmay be permitted in reserved and protected forests on a sustainable basis, but there ishardly any active process to allow sustainable grazing in these forest areas. Closing oflargeforestareasforgrazingisaddingpressureonremainingavailablegrazinglands.




54 55

Pastoralmigrationwas once represented as an example of spatio-temporal resourceuse pattern, but now gradually transforming into nuclear transhumance (Farooquee,1992)dueto 'conservation'policies.TodayHimalayanpastoralismisprofessedbytheforest department as an environmental threat. But there is lack of proper scientificproof to support this theory particularly in this region. Vegetation characteristics ofgrazinglandsandlivestockgrazingpracticeaffecteachother.Thehealthofgrazinglandaswellasof livestockarehighly influencedbythegrowthpatternofvegetation, timespent on the particular grazing land by livestock and the time the pasture is restedbetweensuccessivegrazing.Livestockstockingratehasmajorinfluenceonsustainablegrazing management (Wilson and Hodgkinson, 1990). The ratio of pastureconsumption rate to pasture growth rate must have to be maintained in order tosustain the forage availability for a long time (Doyle, Grimm and Thompson, 1993).Moderate and controlled grazing balances the ecological sustainability of forests andalpinemeadows.Thegovernmentshouldallowthiskindofgrazingpracticeforthesakeofpeopleandnature.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition ofForestRights)Act,2006andthepastoralists

It is very surprising that the nomadic forest dwellers and tribal communities whoinhabit the forests of Himalaya and traditionally used the seasonal pastures in amigratorygrazingsystemsinceagesdidnothaveanyrightonthoselands.Atlastabighope has emerged as 'The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(RecognitionofForestRights)Act,2006'atsuchatimewhenthepastoralrightsofVanGujjars andotherpastoral communities areunder threat from the forest departmentand conservation lobbies. The new Act has recognised the traditional rights of thescheduledtribeandotherforestdwellersovertheirforests.AccordingtotheActforestrightsincludeonallforestlands(evenreservedforests,protectedforestsandprotectedareassuchasSanctuariesandNationalParkstowhichthecommunityhadtraditionalaccess)and“right toholdand live in the forest landunder the individualorcommonoccupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood”. Though the Act givesforest rights to thehistorically ignored tribaland forestdwellercommunities, itdoesnotunderminethewildlifeconservation.AccordingtotheprovisionsoftheActunderSection 4, “the forest rights recognized under this Act in critical wildlife habitats ofNational Parks and Sanctuariesmay subsequently bemodified or resettled, providedthat no forest rights holders shall be resettled or have their rights in any manneraffected for the purposes of creating inviolate areas for wildlife conservation”.Therefore, forest rightsareevenpossiblewithina 'criticalwildlifehabitat'unless thegovernment and expert establish that the activity of the presence of people or theirrights “is sufficient to cause irreversible damage and threaten the existence of”wildspeciesandtheirhabitat.TheGovindNationalParkhasbeenrecentlychosenundertheProjectSnowLeopardbyMinistryofEnvironmentandForestsand in thatcase if theareaisprovedasacriticalwildlifehabitatandneedstobeinviolateeventhenaccordingtothepresentActthegovernmenthastopreparearesettlementoralternativepackageandthathastobecommunicatedwiththeaffectedforestdwellers(VanGujjars inthiscase)thatsecurethelivelihoodofthoseindividualorcommunities.Itfurthersaysthat“nomember of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellershallbeevictedorremovedfromforest landunderhisoccupationtill therecognition



VanGujjarInsideCorezoneofGovindNP 129 __

UpperNitiValley 23 15548

SumnaValley 16812

BhotiyasandOther

16nuclearfamiliesin7deras

30

__

__

Community Region Families/Groups LivestockPopulation

GoatandSheepBuffaloes

not been alloted land due to bureaucratic apathy. According to government thesedentarization was needed for improvement of the forest dwelling Van Gujjars andconserving thewildlife diversity especially ofAsiatic Elephant in the region. The settledVan Gujjars now have land for 'agriculture' and permanent hut and they do not live indeep forests being isolated anymore. But the ground situation of 'development' isdifferent. The infertile land allotted for cultivation is not productive and theVanGujjarsalsodonothavetechnicalknowhowtocultivateland.Mostofthemnowworkaslaborerinnearbytownsandvillagestoearntheirlivelihood.Theethnictraditionalforestdwellerhasbecomelaboreroftwentyfirstcentury.

2Govind National Park in Uttarkashi district covering an area of 472.08 km was curvedoutfromGovindWildlifeSanctuaryin1990.Thealtitudeoftheparkvariesfrom2056mto6323mabovemsl.Avastvarietyofrareandendangeredplantandanimalspeciesareprevalent in thepark.About25speciesofmammalsand150speciesofbirdshavebeenrecorded in the region along with varieties of reptiles and fishes. The alpinemeadowsoccupyapproximatelyone-fifthareaof theparkwhichareusedassummergrazing landformorethan30migratoryshepherdgroups.Thetreelineforestsoftheparkhavebeentraditionallygrazedbythebuffaloesofmorethan100nuclearVanGujjar familiestillthebeginningofthisdecade.Butonly13familieshavetheofficialgrazingpermitseversincethe official permits were alloted from Forest Department and not a single new permitwas issued after that. The forest department started restricting the movement of VanGujjars intheregionaftercreationoftheNationalPark.Mostofthemstoppedmigratingto this area being unable to cope with the threat and forced bribery of the forestdepartment. They stay in foothill forests round the year and keep only two or threebuffaloes fed on purchased supplementary fodder. The situation has worsened after2006.Restofthefamilieswhichwerestillmigratingtotheparkareawerenotissuedtheofficial grazing permit though were allowed tomove only on the basis of humanity. Insummer 2010 therewere only 7deras inside the park (table 2) areawhich used to beabout25intheregiontilltheearlyyearsofthisdecade.RestrictionongrazinginGovindNationalParkhavecreatedthepark-peopleconflictonceagaininthestateafterthecaseof Nanda Devi National Park, Valley of Flower National Park and Rajaji National Park.Accordingto the forestdepartmentplan, theaffectedshepherdsofGovindNationalParkwillbeallowedtousethealpinesofbufferzoneinGovindWildlifeSanctuarybutthereisnosuchalternativeplanfornomadicVanGujjars.AgaintheforestdepartmentalsotryingtobantheVanGujjarswhogotoPustaraforests(notinsidethecorezoneoftheparkbutinsameforestrange).ThemoststrikingfeatureofthisevictionisthattheVanGujjarsarenot included in thegovernment'splan for compensating their rightsover the traditionalgrazing land.And thus, thepastoral rightof this forestdwelling community isdenied inspiteofthenotificationofForestRightsAct,2006.

Table2:PastoralherdersinthreevalleysofUttarakhandduringsummer2010:


departmentnever issuednewpermitsaftertheinitialdistributionofgrazingpermits.Asa result in spiteofproliferationof families, thenumberofpermit remainedsame.Thishascreatedverybadsituationparticularly incaseofVanGujjars.OneVanGujjarfamilywhowasgiven thatpermithasnowproliferated intomore thansevennuclearfamilies.Itisclearthatiftheforestdepartmentinterfereintherecognitionprocessandforcestoidentifyonlythenameofthepermitholdersanddeniestherightsoftheirsub-familiesthatwillbeagreatinjusticetothem.Atpresenttheofficialstockingrate(goatand sheep) of individual permit holder pastoral shepherds in foothills of Ramnagar,Nainitalrangesfrom130to500.TheStockingrateforVanGujjarsofGovindNationalPark area in official grazing permit is from 10 to 30 each family. The 4 hectare(provisionofmaximumareaoflandperindividualorfamilyunderactualoccupation)land under actual occupation would not be sufficient to graze the above number ofanimalsiftherightsaregivenonlybasedupontheoldpermitnumbers.Thecommunityrights for grazing the livestock in the traditional lands would probably be a moresustainableoptionforthepastoralcommunities.

ManyinstitutionssuggestedforCommunityForestManagement intheprotectedareasduring the conflict period of Rajaji National Parkwhich ensures the participation ofpeople in themanagementofprotectedareas.Theprimaryobjectivewas toconservetheforestforsustainingthelivelihoodofthepeople.Butthatideaof'conservationwithpeople'wasnotacceptedastheWildlife(Protection)Actdoesnotallowanypeopleandlivestock inside National Parks. The Forest Right Act 2006 has incorporated thatobjective and given the right “to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage anycommunity forest resource which they (tribals or other forest dwelling community)have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use”. Governmentshould implement this idea not only to conserve the wildlife but also to eradicatepovertyofpastoralcommunities.

Discussion

FutureofHimalayanmountainpastoralismisthreatenedunlessthetraditionalrightsofthe pastoral communities are settled immediately. Increasing number of protectedareas and tourism in almost every forests andNational Parks, growth of settlement,lack of common property resources, population pressure, and negligence ofgovernmentsareworsening the futureof thepastoralists.According toGooch(2008)the traditional grazing lands inHimalaya arenowa 'politicized landscape'which aredictatedbypoliciesoriginatednotattherealgroundbutotherplaces.Pastoralistshavealways been seen by the forest administrator as a threat to the environment. ButcontrarytothatpastoralismhasbeenanessentialpartofthesocioeconomicsystemoftheregionsincethehumansettlementintheHimalaya.

In spiteofhavinga large forestedareaandexistenceofethnicpastoral communities,thestategovernmentdoesnothavepropergrazingmanagementpoliciesorpractices.Village and alpine grazing areas are traditionally conserved and managed by thepastoralists themselves. High altitude Bhotiya villagers prohibit grazing in certainslopesandpasturesduringearlygrowingandfruitingseasonofvegetation.GrazingisstrictlybannedonLangpayarnearNitivillagewhichisahabitatofmuskdeerandallthevillagersandpastoralherdersobeythiscommunitylaw.Governmentcanhelpthecommunities in protection and development of common pastures. Implication of

56 57



and verification procedure is complete”. But contrary to this act the GovindNationalParkauthority isnotreissuingthegrazingpermit from2007andthreateningtheVanGujjars.TheActhasalsospecifiedtherightover“seasonaluseoflandscapeinthecaseofpastoralcommunities”.ThisclausestrengthenstheclaimsofVanGujjarsandBhotiyapastoral communities over their seasonal grazing lands both at summer and wintergrazing zones.VanGujjars havebeenpaying grazing tax to the forest department forbothplaces.InfacttheForestRightsActismorerelevantforVanGujjarsastheydonothaveanykindof legal rightoveranypieceof land in thestate,whereasBhotiyas andotherpastoralistshavepermanentsettlementandrightsovervillageforests.

Themostcriticalpartoftheactisthatitrequiresdocumentedproofoflanduseovera75yearperiodincaseofotherforestdwellercommunitiestoclaimanyrightsoveranyforest land. Proving the timeperiod is a very tough task especially for the individualforestdweller.Due to theirseasonalmovementandunsettled life in thedeep forests,governmentofficialsneverreachedtothemwithanyservice,eventheywerenotgivenanykindofidentity.Theyhavebeenthemostneglectedcommunityinthecountryandnever enjoyed any government facilities even on paper. Official grazing permits havebeen the only legal document for theVanGujjars. The grazingpermitswere given toveryfewfamilies(notevento10%oftotalcommunityinsomecases)andreissuedthesame in an irregularmanner over the years. The 'clever' forest department stoppedreissuingthegrazingpermitsofGovindNationalParkareafrom2007,justafterpassingthe Forest Rights Act in 2006. Forest department does not want to allow thepastoralists to thisareaandtries tobreaktheir linkwith the localGramSabha (localvillage councils) who has been given the authority to initiate the process fordetermining thenature and extent of individual or community forest rights. TheVanGujjarsofGovindNationalParkareahavetobeveryawaretoclaimtheirrightsintheregion because the state government can try to avoid formation of the Gram SabhaForest Rights Committee (FRC) in the region as none of the four revenue villages(Dhatmeer, Gangar, Pawani and Osala) in the area has any population of ScheduledTribe category. But it is very clear in the act that “no member of forest dwellingScheduledTribe or other traditional forest dweller shall be evicted or removed fromforest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure iscomplete”.ThetoughlifestyleofVanGujjarsdoesnotalwaysallowthemthelegacyofpreservingalltheoldofficialpapersof75years.TheNGOsandsocialinstitutions(suchas localvillagecouncils)haveagreatroletoplayhere.Theyhavetocomeforwardintheareaswherethereisnotribalvillage(andnosuchvillagecounciltoformFRC)butnomadicforestdwellersusetheforestsasseasonalgrazinglandsbeingisolatedinthearea.Theyalsoshouldproducedifferent literatureanddocumentsregarding the longhistory of Van Gujjars in the forests and alpines of Uttarakhand to the respectiveauthorities. Gooch (2009) reported that the Van Gujjars have been migrating to theupperhillsofUttarakhandsinceBritishRajandtheywerealsoharassedbythecolonialrule during theirmigration in 1880swhich indicates that the documentedhistory ofnomadicbuffalograzinginthisregionisatleast130yearsoldthoughtheactualtimespanisfarmorethanthat.

According to the Act theBhotiya transhumant pastoralists (scheduled tribe) and theVanGujjarswillnowgettheirlegalgrazingrightsalsointheirtraditionalfoothillforestgrazing zones. The recognizing authorities have to be honest in identifying all thenuclear families during the process. Due to its 'anti-pastoral' policies the forest


statusofwomenofdifferentHimalayantribesandforestdwellercommunitiessuggestan equality of gender in varying degrees.Van Gujjars women enjoy a very dominantpositionintheircommunityandequalityinfamilyasthemeninsideforest.Butwhentheysettleddownatoneplacethewomendonotgetsuchfreedomorequalstatusinthecommunity.

Wipingoutthepastoralsystemwillaffecttheregioninmanyways.Alargepopulationof Dehradun city is dependent on themilk supplied by theVan Gujjars. SomemajorDairy industries in Haridwar, Risikesh and Dehradun collect milk from Van Gujjars.Sedentarizationmeans no buffaloes, and that will create a scarcity ofmilk andmilkproducts in the region. About 90% sheep in Uttarakhand aremigratory.Most of theproducedmeat in thestatecomes fromthepastoralsheepandgoatherders.Manyofthe pastoralists have sold their animals due to lack of grazing lands and fodderresources.Therewasadeclineinsheeppopulation(-4.78%)instateduring1997-2003and negative meat production (-13.88%) during 2004-06 which is an indication ofdecreasingtrendofpastoralismincentralHimalaya.

Conclusion

Eradicating poverty and hunger is the first priority of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals(MDGs)ofUnitedNations.ThetraditionalHimalayanpastoralismdoesnotonlygive food and livelihood security to the local marginal people but alsomaintain theecological stability of the forests and alpine pastures. Moving with the herds ofbuffaloesorsheeprequiresagoodknowledgeofvariousgrasses,grazingpatterns,herddiseases,landscapeandaboveallmanagingherdinaveryefficientway.Beingclosesttothenature thepastoralistsgain thepractical aspectsofdifferentecosystemand theirchanges over time. Phasing out pastoralism will also close the door of acquiringpractical knowledge about nature and lose traditional indigenous knowledge ofpastoralists.TheBhotiyacommunityisalreadylosingtheirindigenousknowledgeandthat will only remain in books in coming future. The agro-pastoral system inUttarakhandHimalayaisthebasicsourcesofsurvivalandverycomplexandinterlinkedby crop cultivation, settled and migratory animal husbandry, forests components,commonproperty resourcesandecological factors.This systemplaysa veryefficientroleinbiomassrecyclingandproduction.Themostcriticalfactorofagro-pastoralisminthispart ofHimalaya is thatno single component of this systemcan sustainwithoutother. Agriculture, forests and pastoralism are complementary factors to each other.The approach of 'conservation without people' never can be successful in such acountrywhere largeportionof itspopulationistotallydependentonforests fordailyneeds.Theyhavetobeincorporatedinconservationandmanagement.ThecreationofGovindNational Park is forcing the nomadicVan Gujjars to sacrifice their traditionallivelihood to save environment which have destroyed by the people who are nowopposingtheirrightsanddemandingevictionoftribesandforestdwellersfromforests.SustainablepastoralismcanfightthenegativeeffectofclimatechangeintheHimalaya.Hence,promotingpastoralisminaregulatedsustainablewaywillsaveitsfutureandbetheperfectlanduseoptioninthehighmountainsthatwillalsoreducevulnerabilityoflivelihood of ethnic communities due to environmental changes and can give a foodsecuritytothemalongwithparticipatorynatureconservation.

58 59



scientificguidelinestomaintainstockingratesandgrazinglandcansustainthegrazingpressure.Therearelargenumbersofpastoralgroupswhodonothavegrazingpermitand give their livestock to permit holders on contract basis. This system increasesstocking rate of individual permit holder. They are compelled to take much morenumberoflivestockthantheactualpermission.Forestdepartmentalsoallowstheextralivestockillegally.Largenumberoflivestockgrazetogetherinoneherdwhichincreasesgrazingpressureonaparticular forestpatch. Issuingnewpermits to thepastoralistswithstrictdefinitionofstockingsizeandinlargergrazingpatchinarotationalmannerwilldefinitelymaintainthesustenanceofforestsandalpines.Iftheforestpatchesaregrazed every alternate or every two years in a rotational system that will not onlymaintaintheplantdiversitybutalsodecreasepressureonheavilygrazedareas.Forestsandalpines cannot supplydemandof fodder for the largenumberof livestock in thestate.Encouraging fodder cultivationonwasteor fallow landswill reduce the fodderscarcityat least for thestall fedcattleand livestock in thevillages. In fact, the foddercultivationandgrazingmusthavetobecomplementarytoeachother.

TwoyearsandninemonthshavegoneafterthenotificationoftheForestRightsActbuttheworkdonebytheUttarakhandgovernmentinthisregardisnegligible.Accordingtothe information of Ministry of Tribal Affairs (GoI), only 16 Forest Right Committees

thhavebeenformedsofarinUdhamSinghNagardistricttill24 October2010inwholestate.Thereisaresistancefromtheforestauthoritiesinthestateinimplementingtheact. The division of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in 2000 drew a red line rightthroughthefoothillsnearDehradunbetweentwostateswhichputmostofthewintersettlementofVanGujjars intheterritoryofUttarPradesh.AsaresultUttarakhandaswellasHimachalPradeshforestdepartmentstartedtreatingthemigratoryVanGujjarsas“intruders”intheirowntraditionalsummerpastureswhichfallinUttarakhandandHimachalPradesh.UnlikeotherpastoralcommunitiesintheregiontheforestdwellingnomadicVanGujjarshadneverbeengivendomicile identityofUttarakhand.Nowtheforest department is using this 'tool' to deny the right of Van Gujjars in the state.Governments should remove the political barrier among neighboring states for thenomadicpastoralistsandgivethemtheirrightsontheirtraditionalseasonalpastures.

Sedentarizationofpastoralistsistoendthepastorallivelihoodsystem.Forpastoralistslike Van Gujjars who do not have any other knowledge of earning livelihood,sedentarization is the end of their culture at an uncertain future. The Bhotiyapastoralistsdidnothavetofacelackofof livelihoodoptionsorpovertywhenmostofthemsettleddownastheyweregivenScheduledTribestatusin1967.Theywereableto orient their new life to a stable future. But Van Gujjars do not have that legalScheduledTribestatusthatprovidegovernmentreservationsandbenefitsineverystepof life for the improvement of the community. Theyhave a big questionmarkbeforethem.Theprocessofsedentarizationofthenomadicpastoralistsmustbeinawaythatthe rights of those people over their grazing land would not be overlooked. Whenallottinglandforcompensatingtherights,thepresentnumberoffamilyheadsshouldbecounted.ThiswasthemajordisputeinthecaseoftheVanGujjarsofRajajiNationalPark.ThismightberepeatedagainincaseofVanGujjarsofGovindNationalParkiftheyareresettledanyhow.Sedentarizationof forestdwellingVanGujjarsofRajajiNationalPark has changed the social life and value of those people. Pastoralists have beenturnedintopetty“cropcultivator”andlaborersinnearbytowns.Studiesregardingthe


60 61

• Lal,J.B.,Gulati,A.K.andBist,M.S.(1991)'SatellitemappingofalpinepasturesintheHimalayas',InternationalJournalofRemoteSensing,12:3,435—443.

• Maikhuri,R.K.;Nautiyal,S.;Rao,K.S.;Saxena,K.G.(2001a)'ConservationPolicy–PeopleConflicts:ACaseStudyfromNandaDeviBiosphereReserve'.InForestPolicyandEconomics,2:355-365.

• Maikhuri, R. K., R.L. Semwal, K. S. Rao, K. G. Saxena, and A.K. Das (2001b):IndigenoustechniquesforagriculturalsoilfertilitymaintenanceintheCentralHimalaya.EcologyEnvironmentandConservation7:1,pp.15-20.

• Nautiyal,S.,R.Shibasaki,K.S.Rajan,R.K.MaikhuriandK.S.Rao(2005):Impactoflandusechangesonsubsidiaryoccupation:acasestudyfromHimalayasofIndia.InternationalSocietyforEnvironmentalInformationSciences,2005.

• Negi, C. S., (2007):Declining transhumance and subtle changes inLivelihoodPatterns andBiodiversoity in theKumaonHimalaya.MountainResearch andDevelopment.Vol27.No.2.May2007:114-118.

• Nuru, S., (096): Agriculturall development in the age of sustainability:Livestockproduction. In:GeorgeBenneh,WilliamB.MorganandJuhaI.Uitto(ed.)Sustainingthefuture-Economic,social,andenvironmentalchangeinsub-saharanAfrica.UnitedNationasUniversity.1996.

• PanditMK,BhakarA,KumarV(2000):FloraldiversityofGorigangaValley inthe Central Himalayan highlands. J Bombay Nat Hist Soc 97:184–192Semwal, R. L. and R.K. Maikhuri (1996): Agroecosystem analysis of GarhwalHimalaya,BiologicalAgricultureandHorticulture,13,pp.267-289.

• Rawat, G.S. and Uniyal, V.K. (1993) Pastoralism and plant conservation: TheValleyofFlowersdilemma.EnvironmentalConservation20,164–7.

• Singh, K. S. (1996): Peoples of India Series, Anthropological Survey of India,NewDelhi,1996.

• UnitedNations(2000):UnitedNationsMillenniumDevelopmentGoals.UnitedNations,NewYork.

• Wilson, A.D. andHogkinson, K.C. (1990). The response of grasses to grazinganditsimplications for themanagement of native grasslands. In 'ProceedingsNativeGrassWorkshop',(Eds) P.M. Dowling and D.L. Garden, AustralianWoolCorporation,Melbourne,pp.47-57.



Reference:

• Chape,S.,Spaeding,M.,andJenkins,M., (2008):TheWorld'sProtectedAreas. Prepared by the UNEPWorld ConservationMonitoring Centre. University of CaliforniaPress.Berkeley,USA.

• Chatterjee, D. (1939): Studies on the endemic flora of India and Burma. J RAsiatSocBengal(Sci)5:19–67.

• CincottaR.P.,WisnewskiJ.andEngelmanR.(2000):Humanpopulationinthebiodiversityhotspots.Science404:990–992.

• Doyle, P.T., Grimm, M. and Thompson, A.N. (1993). Grazing for pasture andsheepmanagementin the annual pasture zone. In 'Pasture Management:Technologyforthe21stCentury'(Eds) D.R. Kemp and D.L. Michalk. CSIRO,Melbourne,pp.71-90.

• EhrlichP.R.(1995):Thescaleofthehumanenterpriseandbiodiversityloss.In:LawtonJ.H.and

• MayR.M.(eds),ExtinctionRates.OxfordUniversityPress,Oxford,pp.214–226.

• Farooquee,N.A.(1992):NuclearTranshumance-APracticeat the interfaceofSedentarism and Transhumance in S.K. Chadha (ed.) EnvironmentalDegradationinIndia.VinodPublishersandDistributers.Jammu.pp.83-96.

• Gooch,P.(2008):FeetFollowingHooves.In:WaysofWalking:EthnographyandPracticeonFoot(eds.Ingold,T.andJ.L.Vergunst).AshgatePublishingLimited,London.Pp-67-80.

• Gooch, P. (2009): Victims of Conservation or Rights as Forest Dwellers: VanGujjarPastoralistsbetweenContestingCodesofLaw.ConservationandSociety7(4):239-248,2009.

• Govt.ofIndia(2008):ImpactofTehriDam:LessonsLearnt.PreparedbyWater forWelfareSecretariat,IITRoorkee,2008.

• Govt. of India (2009): State of Environment Report, India 2009. Ministry of EnvironmentandForests.GovernmentofIndia2009.

• Govt. of Uttarakhand (2010): Uttarakhand: at a Glance (2009-2010),DirectorateofEconomicsandStatistics,Dehradun,India.

• Harper,J.L.(1969):Theroleofpredationinvegetationaldiversity.BrookhavenSymposiuminBiology22,48–62.

• Joshi, M.P. and C.W. Brown (1986): Some Dynamics of Indo-Tibetan Trade throughKumaonGarhwal. in Ecology, Economy and Religion of Himalayas (eds.)L.P.VidyarthiandMakhanJha.OrientPublications.Delhi.pp.59-71.

• Kala, C. P., and R. J. Shrivastava (2004): Successional Changes in HimalayanAlpine Vegetation: Two Decades after Removal of Livestock Grazing. WeedTechnology.2004.Volume18:1210-1212.

• Kutiyal,M.P.,(1993)"SeemaVyapaarShaukaSamajKeLiyeNaiUmmedain"(inHindi).Amitkar.Lucknow.


DeepakYadav-ResearchScholar,CentreforHistoricalStudies,JawaharlalNehruUniversity,NewDelhi

RecentApproachestotheSacredGeographyofEarlyMedievalIndia

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of tracing history of India in early medieval period(600CE-1300CE)withthehelpofmappingitthroughareligiouslens.SacredGeographytracestheevolutionanddevelopmentofreligioussites.Historiansandotherscholarsareusing it to understand the societies of past as religious beliefs reflects the socialconstructofanysociety.

Introduction

Sacred Geography is a stream of History of religion in which spaces are analyzed andclassifiedaccordingtotheirimportanceinthereligiousprocess.DianaL.Eckinherbookon sacred spaces – India: A SacredGeographyclassifies various religious sites accordingto their making as a sacred centre.⁵ She recalls her visits to many religious places ofIndia during her research. During her visit to the Himalayan area, she reveals havingfound a site named 'hidden Kashi', which is duplicated on the pattern of the originalKashiinthenorthIndianplains.⁶Thisledhertoconcludethatit istheculturalmemoryandimagerywhichplayaroleinmakingaplacesacred.Accordingtoher:

"Itbecameincreasinglycleartomethatanywhereonegoes inIndia,one finds a living landscape inwhichmountains, rivers, forests, and villages are elaborately linked to the stories of the gods and heroes. The land bearsthetracesofthegodsandthefootprintsoftheheroes.Everyplace has its story, and conversely, every story in the vast storehouse ofmyth andlegendhasitsplace.”⁷

VaranasiisanancientcitywhichwasthecapitalofKashiJanapadain6��CenturyBCE.⁸Itemerged as a prosperous urban centre which later became a sacred place in thebrahmanicalreligioussystem.ThePurāṇaasacategoryoftextscomposedfromtheearlycenturies of the Common Era exalted this place as the most sacred.⁹ Skanda Purāṇa,composed in early medieval times, enumerates the importance of Kashi as the mostimportantholyspotafterPrayaga.ThePurāṇascreatedstoriesto legitimizethereligiousimportanceofcertainplacesduringtheancientandearlymedieval times in India.¹⁰Theimpactofthesenarrationswassogreatthattheroyalcourtsoftheearlymedievalperiodpatronized various religious institutions and rituals at these sites. According to thePurāṇas, these sacred places were the arenas where the divines showed their powers.This larger than life narration of divine powers and their acts were the subjects ofPurāṇas in which mountains, rivers, forests, and villages are elaborately linked to thestoriesofit.R.N.NandiinhisbookSocialRootsoftheReligioninAncientIndia¹¹givesthetheory that it was the economic mindset of the brāhmaṇas that lay behind imposingsacrednesstothedecayingtownsoftheearlierperiod.Forthem,itwasapracticalwayto

thensure their own survival during the economic decline from 5 Century CE onwards.¹²But the question arises that if urban decay induced the imposition of sacredness to

thvariousurbancentres,thenwhywasthisphenomenonstillprevalentduringthe11 andth12 centuries, when urban centres were revived, according to the same theory? Nandi

gives the credit to the Vırasaiva movement in the newly emerged economy from theth10 century onwards but he does not explain the process of tīrthayātra in the same

period.

1.MappingtheSacredSites

George Spencer in hiswork 'The SacredGeography of theTamil ShaiviteHymns' tracestheSacredgeographyofearlymedievalTamilNaduwith thehelpofhymnssungby theS�avitesaintsfromthatarea.¹³Accordingtohim:

“As the Saivite saints travelled through the countryside, they sang the praisesofthegodandofthetemplesandshrinesbelievedtobesacredto him.Eachhymnissaid tohavebeencomposedataparticularplace,and either the name of that place or the name under which god was worshippedtherewasusuallymentionedinthetextofthehymn.Itisthe detailed study of these references which allows us to reconstruct the sacredgeographyofTamilSaivism.(sic)”¹⁴

62 63

5-DianaL.Eck,India:ASacredGeography,NewYork,2012.

6 - Kashi is supposed as themost sacred place in the Hindumythology. Diana L. Eck's entry point to Hindu sacred place is Kashi. See, Diana L.Eck,Benaras:ACityofLight,ColumbiaUniversityPress,1982.ShequotesMcleod:“Benares(Kashi)istotheHindooswhatMeccaistotheMohamadan,andwhatJerusalemwastotheJewsofold.Itisthe'holy'cityofHindostan.Ihaveneverseenanythingapproachingtoitasavisibleembodimentofreligion;nordoesanything like it existonearth.” (NormanMacleod,Days inNorth India,Philadelphia,1870,p.20) citedbyDianaL.Eck, India:ASacredGeography,p.1.

7-DianaL.Eck,India:ASacredGeography,pp.4-5.

8-RanabirChakravarti,ExploringEarlyIndia,p.80.

9 -OneKhanḍaof SkandaPurāna is calledKāshīKhand,which consists twoparts- pūrvārdhaanduttarādha.Bothparts consist 50-50 chapters each.These chapters enumerates various stories related to deities and highlights the importance of Kashi as a sacred centre. See, The Skanda-Purāṇa,PartsIXandX,translatedandannotatedbyG.V.Tagare,MotilalBanarsidass,Delhi,1996.

10 - The composition of the Purāṇas was an ongoing process in ancient and early medieval India. The main Purāṇa texts are 18, according tobrahmanicalmythology.MatsyaPurāṇa is the oldest text and contains the story related to Viṣṇu's fish incarnation. See, R.C.Hazra, Studies in thePuranicRecordsonHinduRitesandCustoms,NewDelhi,1940/1987(reprintofsecondedition),p.84.

11-R.N.Nandi,SocialRootsoftheReligioninAncientIndia,Introduction,Calcutta,1986.

12-Ibid.

13-GeorgeSpencer'TheSacredGeographyoftheTamilShaiviteHymns'inNumen,Vol.17,Fasc.3(Dec.1970),pp.232-44.

14-GeorgeSpencer,SacredGeography,235-6.

RecentApproachestotheSacredGeographyofEarlyMedievalIndia RecentApproachestotheSacredGeographyofEarlyMedievalIndia


15-Ibid.p.236.

16-Ibid.,p.239.

17-Ibid.,p.243.

18-Ibid.,p.244.

instance, fromKaraikkalAmmaiyar'schoiceofaparticularsiteknownto beassociatedwithanindigenousgoddess.”¹⁹

George Spencer and R. Mahalakshmi develop some points related to Sacred GeographyandDianaEck'sworkgivesinsightsintothetransformationofplacesthroughpilgrimagein the course of time in Indianhistory. She supposes that the concept oftīrthaneeds tobeunderstoodtoknowtheSacredGeographyofIndia.²⁰Accordingtoher:

“The tīrtha is a place of spiritual crossing,where the gods are close and the benefits ofworshipgenerous."²¹

SacredGeography is an imagined religious space andnetwork constructed in themindsofdevoteesandpeople,whoassociateaparticularreligioninaparticularregion.Icall it'imagined' because I am convinced by the argument given by Simon Schama, whosestudyonthemythicallandscapeofWesternworldisphenomenal.Schamasaysthat:

“Before itcaneverbereposeforthesenses, landscape is theworkof the mind. Its scenery isbuiltupasmuch fromthestrataofmemoryas from layersofrock.”²²

EckaddedtothisinthecontextofIndiathat:

“…thesceneryof thesacred landscape,whilenotpainted, isalsobuiltup with the strata ofmyth,memory, and association that shape the human perceptionofnature.”

Forthepurposeofthisresearch,variousaspectsofsocietyofearlymedievalnorthIndiamust be examined and explored for tracing its Sacred Geography. We have to keep inmind various frameworks and theories appliedon this area for understanding the earlymedievalperiod.

1.ModelstoGazeEarlyMedievalIndia

Feudal frameworkcountsbhaktī as themaincomponentof religious lifeofearlymedievalnorthIndia.ThecompletesurrendertoGodwasanideologywhichcouldyieldmorelaborfromtheserfs.²³Asadevoteehe/shecouldnotquestionhis/herGod,serfsalsocouldnotargue against their exploitation by the feudal lords. The integrative framework shows theintegration of various cults into the pan-Hindu religion by appropriation and assimilation.The segmentary state framework shows the dominance of religious specialists in theperipheral areas of the state. As we discussed in the introduction, the political impact ofkingwaslimitedtothecoreareaofthestateandperipheralareawasundertheinfluenceofthe ritual specialists who were sustaining the political hegemony of the king under theumbrellaof religion.Theenquiry intoSacredGeographyof this timewill try toputall the

19-R.Mahalakshmi,TheMakingoftheGoddess,p.102.

20-DianaL.Eck,India:ASacredGeography,p.7.

21-Ibid.

22-SimonSchama,LandscapeandMemory,London,1996,pp.6-7.

23 -M.G.S.NarayanandKesavanVeluthat,TheBhaktiMovement inSouth India inS.C.Malik (ed.) IndianMovements:SomeAspectsofDissent,ProtestandReform,Shimla,1978,pp.40-53.

64 65


He finds a “close connection between the Sacred Geography of Tamil S�aivism and theearly agriculturaldevelopmentofTamilnad” ashe shows that the fertile areaofTanjoredistricthadnumeroussacredplacesintheTamilregion.¹⁵

Spencer stresses on the borrowing of Colas from the Pallavas in the field of templearchitectureandrituals.InearlymedievalIndia,kingsborrowedritualsandotherdetailsof worship from their predecessors. Temple construction and eulogizing hymns by thesaintstogodsinspecificplaceswereconcomitantlyoccurring.Templesgavetheplatformfor the singing of the hymns, and saints made some particular temple sites famousthroughtheirhymns.Heargues:

“Theprogramof temple-constructionwhichwasencouragedby the imperial Cholas, who dominated the Cauvery delta from the ninth throughthetwelfthcenturies,drewmuchofitsinspirationfromthe earlierbhaktimovementofthePallavaperiod.”¹⁶

Spenceralsoargues thatCola kingspatronized thesesaints forupholding their 'politicalpropaganda'as“thiswas intendedpartlyasavisibleandaudibledemonstrationofroyalpiety.”¹⁷ Spencer compares thepatronage givenby theCola to that given to theMarathisaintsby rulers like Shivaji during themedieval times in theMaharashtra region,whichconsciouslymanifestedtheregionalpridetoupholdtheirrule.Spencerconcludes:

“Thus,itisnotsolelyinTamilnad,butalsoinotherpartsofIndia,thatthe development of bhakti devotionalism and the emphasis upon regional languagesasvehiclesforthecommunicationofreligiousthemesprovided a significant medium for the dissemination of regional symbols and therebyhelpedtosowtheseedsofregionalpride.”¹⁸

R.Mahalakshmiobserves the sameprocess in south Indiaduringearlymedievalperiod.She finds that ideology of bhakti conspicuously converted some sites as the majorcentresofSaivism.Accordingtoher:

“The bhakti hymns, perhaps drawing upon but also overshadowing earlierpatternsofmovementknownfromthearrupataigenreofSangam literature, conspicuously marked out a Sacred Geography, linking places together and encouraging pilgrimage to these various sites among the adherents of the tradition. The specific focus here is on the deliberate attemptsunder theguiseofbhakti fora singledeity,S� iva, tomarginalize andeven ignoreotheralreadyexisting localcultic traditions in theTamil region. However, themarginalization of local cults was never final… but there were conspicuous attempts in this direction, as can be seen, for


Secondary literature: Various works on ancient and early medieval India by modernscholarsprovideusefulinformationabouttheplacesrelatedtovariousdynastiesthatwerefunctioningasreligiouscenters.ThestudiesofvarioushistoriansofancientIndia,primarilyD.D. Kosambi, R.S. Sharma, B.D. Chattopadhyaya, R. Champakalakshmi, Vijay Nath, N.N.Bhattacharya, JamesHeitzman,HermannKulke, Kunal Chakrabarti, andR.Mahalakshmi,²⁴show how the history of a region can be construed by analyzing the contemporarysourcesandunderstandingthereligiousbeliefsofthesociety.

In the case of early medieval India, inscriptions and contemporary texts constitute theprimary source of information for the study of religious processed. Almost all states inearly medieval India patronized religious functionaries and institutions on a very largescale.

The availability of inscriptions²⁵ in abundance has led many scholars to produceprominentworksonearlymedievalsouthIndia,especiallythereligiousprocess insouthIndia inmuch detailedmanner.²⁶ However, the study of earlymedieval north India hasnot been done in as much depth and detail.²⁷ The cause can be rooted in the limitedsources. The inscriptions from north India describe the construction of temples on alargescale in theearlymedievalperiodbutnotmuch information isavailableabout thefunctionoftemples,specificdetailsaboutvariousdeitiesandritualsetc.

thK.M.Shrimali inhispresidentialaddressof the49 IndianHistoryCongressatDharwad,Karnataka, traced various dimensions in the study of religion and showed how it tookshapewiththepassageoftime.HestressedthattheSociologyofReligionwasstartedbyEmileDurkheim(1858-1917)inFranceandMaxWeber(1864-1920)inGermany. Bothwereworking 'with problems of how individuals and groups identify themselves in theworld.'²⁸ Durkheim made his impact on the study of religion in India. He occasionallyused the existing writings on Indian civilization to highlight his general framework ofreligion.²⁹Weberwanted togobeyond thenarrow focuson the indirect impactof ideason behavior by examining in detail the “anchorage” of religious ideas in socialorganization.³⁰

Shrimali gives an account of other historians who worked on religion and also drawslacunainthewritingsonreligioninIndia.Heemphasizestheneedtoworkongeographyofthereligion,whichisneededtomakeitmorescientific.Hewrites:

24-See,D.D.Kosambi,TheCultureandCivilizationofAncientIndiainHistoricalOutline,NewDelhi,1970;R.S.Sharma,IndianFeudalismAD300-1200,NewDelhi,1980(2ⁿ�edition)andEarlyMedievalIndianSociety:AStudyinFeudalisation,Kolkata,2001;B.D.Chattopadhyaya,TheMakingofEarlyMedieval India, New Delhi, 1994/2008; R. Champakalakshmi, Religion, Tradition and Ideology: Pre Colonial South India, New Delhi, 2011; VijayNath, Purāṇas and Acculturation: A Historico-Anthropological Perspective, New Delhi, 2001 and The PurāṇicWorld: Environment, Gender, RitualandMyth,NewDelhi, 2009;N.N.Bhattacharya,Ancient IndianRitualsand their SocialContents,NewDelhi, 1975/1996; JamesHeitzman,Gifts ofPower, New Delhi, 1994; Kunal Chakrabarti, Religious Process: The Purāṇas and the Making of a Religious Tradition, New Delhi, 2001and R.Mahalakshmi,op.cit.

25 - JamesHeitzman,op. cit.Hepointsout in the introductionofhisbook: “Anyonewhohasgone tovisitanold temple in southernpartof India,andparticularlyinthestateofTamilNadu,maynoticeinscriptionscarvedintowalls,doorways,pillarsandevenpavementstones.”

26-See,NoboruKarashima,HistoryandSocietyinSouthIndia,theCholastoVijayanagar:ComprisingSouthIndianHistoryandSociety,TowardsaNewFormation, New Delhi, 2001; R. Champakalakshmi, Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India 300 B.C. to A.D. 1300, New Delhi, 1996; JamesHeitzman, op.cit.; CynthiaTalbot,Pre colonial India inPractice: Society,Regionand Identity inMedievalAndhra,NewYork, 2001and LeslieOrr,Donors,Devotees,andDaughtersofGod:TempleWomeninMedievalTamilnadu,NewYork,2000.

27 - Although Roma Niyogi (The History of the Gāhaḍavāla Dynasty, Calcutta, 1959), Urmila Bhagowalia (Vaiṣṇavism and Society in Northern India,700-1200(CE),NewDelhi, 1980), SwatiDatta (Migrant Brahmanas inNorthern India, Delhi, 1989) andVibhuti BhushanMishra (Religious BeliefsandPracticesinNorthIndiaduringtheEarlyMedievalPeriod,Leiden,1973)andotherscholarshavedonesomeworkinthisarea,thesearelimitedtospecificdynastiesorissues,andthereisscopetodomore.

28-K.M.Shrimali,Religion, IdeologyandSociety,PresidentialAddress,49thsessionof IndianHistoryCongress,Dharwad(1988), laterpublishedalso inSocialScientist,Vol.16:12(Dec.,1988),pp.14-60,p.16-20.

29-Ibid.

30-Ibid,p.21-30.

66 67


placesunderthestudieddynastiesinaplaceaswellastrytovalidatealltheseframeworksanddrawaclearpictureofearlymedievalnorthIndianreligious life.Thereligiousmapofearly medieval north India can be constructed with the help of various sources ofinformation,whichcanbecategorizedasbelow.

1.SourcestoConstructtheSacredGeography

Religious scriptures: The epics Rāmāyaṇa andMahābhārata and the Purāṇas are themainsourcesinthiscategory.Purāṇasprovideinformationontwokindsofplaces:actualplaceslikeKası,PrayagaandKuruksetraandmythicalplaceslikeMeruParvata.

thAccountsof foreigntravelers:AccountsofHieuenTsang(7 CenturyCE)andAlBirunith(11 CenturyCE)providevaluableinformationaboutnorthIndiaoftheirtime.

Inscriptions: Inscriptions issued by various dynasties, royal persons, businessmen andotherindividualsindicatetheplacesandspeakoftheirreligiousimportance.Inscriptionsarepublicrecords,generally issuedbythepoliticalelite,whichproclaimthesignificanceofparticularactsofthestateinthepremodernIndiancontext.Inscriptionsmaybroadlybe divided into royal orders and donations, and indicate the nature of political controlovereconomicresourcesandsocialgroupsatagivenpointoftime.Donativeinscriptionsrecord the patronage accorded to particular religious traditions primarily for thepurposes of legitimacy, and may be examined to ascertain the extent of influence ofreligiousinstitutionsandfunctionariesaswellasthemannerinwhichitexertsaholdinaregion. In thisstudy, Iseektounderstandthesignificanceof thebrahmanicalreligiousinstitutions in earlymedieval Indiaon thebasisof the inscriptions issuedby fournorthIndianstates:Candella,Gahadavala,KalacuriandGurjara-Pratihara.

Commentaries on inscriptions: Epigraphia Indica and Indian Antiquary arecompilations of the above written inscriptions with the commentaries by the editors,who have tried to locate not only the provenance of the inscriptionwithin themoderngeographical boundaries, but also the other placesmentioned in those inscriptions, andanalysedsignificantaspectsrelatedtopolity,economyandsociety.

Other contemporary literature: Rajasekhara was the court poet of the Gurjara-PratiharaswhoshiftedtothecourtofKalacurısafterthedemiseoftheformerandriseofthe latter. His works Kāvyamīmānsā and Karpūramanjarī are the basis to ascertain theareaunderthesetwodynasties.

Monuments:Monumentswhichwere constructed in theperiodunder study canbe thebest source to trace the Sacred Geography of that area. The places of religiousimportancecanbecorroboratedfromtheinscriptionsandothertexts.


31-Ibid,p.35.

32-Ibid.

33-Śiva,Parvatī,KārttikeyaandGaneśaareknittedinaframeworkoffamily,withShivaatthehead.(Wolf–DieterStorl,Shiva:TheWildGodofPowerandEcstasy,Rochester,pp.147-165)

34-Ibid,p.36.

that brahmanical literature alone mentions more than 4000 tirthas in early medieval times and that theMahabharata and the Puranas alone contain at least40,000versesontirthas,sub-tirthasandlegendsconnectedwiththem.”³⁵

According to Shrimali, socio-economic aspects of the religion can be better understoodbythemappingofsacredcenters.Heurgestheneedfor:

“…micro studies of specific sites and temples. We have some very goodworkson individual temples, butmost of themare concerned with architectural and iconographic details, though a few also take cognizance of their material setting and role in society and economy..(and)….(w)e require more extensive macro analysis of pilgrimcentresatregionallevelswithaviewtocreatingapattern,if possible, of the types of these centres in terms of the nature of pilgrims, deities associated, extent of appeal, etc. Both lines of enquiry would have to take into account the socio-economic context.”³⁶

Conclusion

TheabovediscussiononSacredGeographyofearlymedievalIndiashowsaneedtostudythe sacred centres in north India. The disciplines of History, Religion and Architecturewillwork together tomapa SacredGeographyand its significance in the societyof anytime period. Our epics like Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata provide a firm geography ofancientnorthIndia.Thisinformationcanbeusedtounderstandtheevolutionandoriginofasacredcenetre.ThetextsoflatertimeslikePurāṇascorroboratetheidentificationofthese area. The pilgrimage centre should be taken more seriously in our accounts toknow the structure of the society. Its ritual shows the material condition as well associetalprocesses.Pilgrimagecentrealso indicatestheeconomicstatusofthesociety.SoSacredGeographyisanessentialstreamofHistoricalGeographywhichcanunravelmanylayersofanyparticularsociety.

Bibliography

• Bhagowalia, Urmila, Vaiṣṇavism and Society in Northern India, 700-1200 CE, IntellectualPublishingHouse,NewDelhi,1980.

• Bhattacharya, N.N., Ancient Indian Rituals and their Social Contents, Manohar PublishersandDistributors,NewDelhi,1975/1996.

68 69


“Broadly speaking, ours is a plea for an atlas of Indian religions in which mapping per se must have the objective of grappling with some problems of the growth of Indian religions. Perhaps certain specific illustrations can help us in identifying the directions of our plea.”³¹

According to Shrimali, D.D. Kosambi pioneered the geography of religion in India in hisstudy ofmother goddess.³² He enumerated the effect of highland and lowland over thecultpractices.

Shrimali also stresses the need to map the mother goddess through the millenniumsaccording to their geographical-ecological setting. The mapping of S�aivism andVaisnavismuptotheGuptaperiodwillalsosolvemanypuzzleslikeoriginanddifferenceinthepatternofthesetwosects.HealsoposesahypothesisthatS�aivism'sappealforthedivine family³³unlikeVaisnavism'sstresson incarnationcouldbeunraveledbymappingthesetwosects.ItcouldbededucedthatS�aivism'seffectwasmoreonthosepartswhichwerenotunderthebrahmanicalorbitandstillhadtheirtribalmoorings.Hecites:

“The little work done on the geographical distribution of temples and monasteries in the Deccan in general and Karnataka in particular,betweenc.AD500-1200bringsout fascinatingdetailsof the mutual relationships of brahmanical and non-brahmanical religions. There is obviously a great deal that needs to be done in this context: an intensive mapping of different sects in relation to landgrantsaswellas thegeographicaldistributionofotherrelated antiquitiesisdesirable.”³⁴

Hepointsout that themappingof theSriVaisnavasect in theareaofKerala,KarnatakaandTamilNaduhasbeenpossiblebyusingtheinscriptionsrelatedtothisarea.

In the section 'The Study of the Sacred Sites', he again urges for themacro andmicrolevelstudiesofthesitesandtemples.Henotes:

“AsfarasIndiaisconcerned,someanthropologistshavetriedtoworkoutthe methodologyofstudyingsacredcomplexesingeneralandspecificsacredsites in particular. Though this methodology has been evolved, it is limited to brahmanicalcomplexesandneglectsthehistoricalperspective.Itiswellknown

35-Ibid,p.39

36-Ibid,pp.39-40.


70 71

• Sharma, R.S., Indian Feudalism AD 300-1200, MacMillan Publishers India Ltd., NewDelhi,1980(secondedition).

• --------------Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation, Orient LongmanPvt.Ltd.,Kolkata,2001.

th • Shrimali, K.M., Religion, Ideology and Society, Presidential Address, 49 session of Indian History Congress, Dharwad (1988), later published also in Social Scientist,Vol.16,No.12(Dec.,1988),pp.14-60.

• Spencer,George 'TheSacredGeographyof theTamilShaiviteHymns' inNumen, Vol.17,Fasc.3(Dec.1970),pp.232-44.

• Storl,Wolf –Dieter, Shiva: TheWild God of Power and Ecstasy, Inner Tradition, Rochester,2004.

• Talbot, Cynthia, Pre colonial India in Practice: Society, Region and Identity in MedievalAndhra,OxfordUniversityPress,NewYork,2001.

• The Skanda-Purāṇa, Parts IX and X, translated and annotated by G.V. Tagare, MotilalBanarsidass,Delhi,1996.


• Chakrabarti, Kunal, Religious Process: The Purāṇas and the Making of a ReligiousTradition,OxfordUniversityPress,NewDelhi,2001.

• Chakravarti, Ranabir, Exploring Early India: Upto C.1300 AD, Macmillan India, Delhi,2010.

• Champakalakshmi, R., Religion, Tradition and Ideology:Pre Colonial South India, OxfordUniversityPress,2011.

• Champakalakshmi, R.,Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India 300 B.C. to A.D.1300,OxfordUniversityPress,NewDelhi,1996.

• Chattopadhyaya, B.D., The Making of Early Medieval India, Oxford University Press,NewDelhi,1994/2008.

• DianaL.Eck,Benaras:ACityofLight,PenguinBooks,NewDelhi,1993.

• Eck,DianaL.,India:ASacredGeography,HarmonyBooks,NewYork,2012.

• Hazra, R.C., Studies in The Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, Motilal Banarsidass,Delhi,1940/1975(secondedition).

• Heitzman,James,GiftsofPower,OxfordUniversityPress,NewDelhi,1994.

• Heitzman,James,GiftsofPower,OxfordUniversityPress,NewDelhi,1994.

• Karashima, Noboru, History and Society in South India, the Cholas to Vijayanagar: Comprising South Indian History and Society, Towards a New Formation,OxfordUniversityPress,NewDelhi,2001.

• Kosambi, D.D., The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India inHistorical Outline, VikasPublishisngHouse,NewDelhi,1970.

• Mahalakshmi, R., The Making of the Goddess: Koṟṟavai Durgā in the Tamil Traditions,PenguinBooksIndia,NewDelhi,2011.

• Mishra, Vibhuti Bhushan, Religious Beliefs and Practices in North India during theEarlyMedievalPeriod,E.J.Brill,Leiden,1973.

• Nandi, R.N., Social Roots of the Religion in Ancient India, Introduction, Firma KLM,Calcutta,1986.

• Narayan, M.G.S. and Kesavan Veluthat, The Bhakti Movement in South India in S.C.Malik (ed.) IndianMovements: Some Aspects of Dissent, Protest and Reform, IndianInstituteofAdvancedStudies,Shimla,1978.

• Nath, Vijay, Purāṇas and Acculturation: A Historico-Anthropological Perspective, MunshiramManoharlalPublishersPvt.Ltd.,NewDelhi,2001.

• -------- The Purāṇic World: Environment, Gender, Ritual and Myth, Manohar PublishersandDistributors,NewDelhi,2009

• Niyogi, Roma, The History of the Gāhaḍavāla Dynasty, Oriental Book Agency, Calcutta,1959.

• Orr, Leslie,Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: TempleWomen inMedieval Tamilnadu,OxfordUniversityPress,NewYork,2000.


AshmeetKaur-ResearchScholar(CentreforRegulatoryandPolicyIssues)DepartmentofPolicyStudies,TheEnergyandResourceInstitute(TERI)University,Delhi

Introduction

School participation at the elementary stage stands at a high level at present. Thenumber of students enrolled in grades 1-8 increased from 131.4million in 1990-91 to197.37million in 2010-11.(MHRD) Specifically, in the period between 2005 and 2009,school participation increased from 93.9 per cent to 96.3 per cent in the 6 to 10 agegroupandfrom91.4percentto94.8percentinthe11to13agegroup.(IMRB,NationalEstimationSurveyonOutofSchoolChildreninagegroupof6-13yearsinIndia,2005).GiventhelargesizeofthepopulationinIndia,despitehighenrolmentwithanestimatedtotal number of children in the age group of 6-13 years is 20.41 Crores, even smallpercentages of never-enrolleds, along with dropouts, translate into an estimated 60.41lakhs(2.97%)areoutofschool.(SRI-IMRB,2014)Theproportionofoutofschoolinthisround isestimated tobe lower thanboth theprevious rounds,2009 (4.28%),and2006(6.94%).Higher proportion of females (3.23%) are out of school than males (2.77%).

EducationforAll-APersistentChallengeforOutOfSchoolChildren(OOSC)

Abstract

With Sustainable Development Goal 4, the world has pledged to ensure inclusive andequitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Leadershave set an ambitious new global education goal: universal primary and secondaryeducation for all by 2030. But, Just as the international community is setting a newsustainable development goal that includes universal secondary education, it becomespertinent to note that to provide even primary education to all children remains anelusive target with OOSC – Out of School Children .Children facemultiple barriers thatexclude them from learning. This paper identifies the barriers that prevent children inagegroupof6 -13years fromgoing toschooland learn.Thispaperhelp to throw lighton the processes that lead to children remaining out of school. It identifies causes thatcontribute to their exclusion from schooling. It determines the barriers that keepchildrenfromenrollingorleadthemtodropouti.e.childrenwhoarenotparticipatinginformal schooling and children who are attending primary or lower secondary school,respectively but are at risk of dropping out .It helps to scrutinize factors of exclusionfrom schooling. The barriers and bottlenecks are driven by both supply side of thesystem as well the demand side .Supply-side barriers keep children out of school invariousways.Fordisadvantagedpopulationgroupssufferingfrommultipledemand-sidebarriers,supply-sidebarriershaveanaggravatingeffect.

Keywords:-Education,Gender,SGD’S,Barriers,School,drop-outs,Children

Also, more children from rural areas (3.13%)are out of school than from urban areas(2.54%).(SRI-IMRB,2014)

As per (SRI-IMRB, 2014) study ,it canbe observed that relatively morechildren aged 11-13 years are out ofschool (3.28%-26.66Lakh) comparedto children in the age group 6-10years (2.77% -33.98Lakh) It was alsoobserved that maximum children whoare out of school have never been enrolledin any school recognised under RTE. This iscloselyfollowedbythosewhohavedroppedoutaftersuccessfully completing some class. This study reveals than the maximum dropouts inthisagegroupareafterclass2.(SRI-IMRB,2014).

It is suggestive that enrolment in schools, while a very indispensable first step towardsuniversalising elementary education,may notwarrant smooth completion of eight yearsof schooling. In this context, the barriers for schooling which lead children to drop outbefore completing eight years of schooling become extremely important.What then arethe critical barriers that continue to prevent children in the 6-13 age group fromcompletingtheelementaryeducationcycleofeightyearsofformalschooling?

The barriers to school participation have been analysed along demand and supply sideparameters.

Supplysidebarriers

PoorPhysicalInfrastructure

Thechallengeatpresentisnotonlytoenrolallchildreninschool,buttoensurethattheyattend school regularly and complete at least eight years of schooling. The supply-sidebarriers are important in keeping children in school. Barriers in terms of schoolinfrastructureandqualityarerelevantacrosspopulationgroups.Supplyside factorsmayalso play a major role in children dropping out from school. While a well functioningschoolmaymotivateparents and children to continue schoolingdespite several demandside barriers, a poorly functioning school or infrastructural deficiencies may lead to demotivation and apathy for parents and students, and have the opposite impact. Thesefactors by themselves may keep children out of school or may aggravate the impact ofother factors to push children out of school. The recent (SRI-IMRB, 2014) only 0.45%citedlackofinfrastructuralfacilitiesasacauseofdropout.

According to JEAN D'REZE, most important factor responsible for poor literacy rates islack of educational infrastructure. Quality of these schools in terms of physicalinfrastructure is very poor. Large proportions of them are single teacher schools. Oneteacher manages five classes. Only Kerala has achieved distinction of having 3 teachersfor every class. D’REZE says itwas due to inadequacy of infrastructure. 97% of villageshaveschoolwithintheradiusof1kmbutareofverypoorquality.Therearenotoiletsinthe school;moreover there is absence of female teachers. So girls at the age of pubertyarewithdrawnfromtheschools.Provisionofgirls’toiletsisextremelyimportanttoretaingirl students in school. Less than75per centof schoolsprovidingelementaryeducation

Anestimated60.41million(2.97%)

childrenareoutofschool

72 73

EducationforAll-APersistentChallengeforOutOfSchoolChildren(OOSC) EducationforAll-APersistentChallengeforOutOfSchoolChildren(OOSC)


reckoning/jaitley-slashes-education-health-spending-67467)If India has to achieve GDPgrowthof8percent, then itneedsaskilled, trainedandeducatedworkforce tomake itpossible.

QualityofEducation

Wedon'thavereal literacy.Reading,writingasentenceinvernacularlanguageisnottheliteracy that’s going to endure. Programmes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Mid Day MealScheme end up dumping children in schools, while there remains no progressiveincreaseineducation.Mostofour3-5standardstudentsareunabletodobasicadditionandsubtraction.

Severalstudieshaveshownschoolchildrendonotseemtoacquireageappropriateskillsin reading,writing andnumeracy. There is a need to explore the various approaches toimprove teaching–learning at the elementary stage. The objective of this theme is tounderstandtheissuesoflowlearningachievementlevelsinelementaryschooling,assessthesystem...andsuggestwaysandmethodsofimprovingthelearningoutcomes.ArecentAnnualStatusofEducationReport(ASER)releasedbyeducationnon-profitPrathamsaidover the last 10 years, although access to schooling has improved significantly, learningoutcomeremainsachallenge. Inoneof the indicators,ASER foundeverysecondClass5student in rural India can’t read texts of Class 2 level. Result --the poor quality oflearningatprimarylevelstillhasmillionsofchildrenleavingschoolwithoutbasicskills.

Schoolcurriculumalsotendstoencourageapatternof inequality.Rolemodelsprojectedforgirlsaretraditionalrolesforwhicheducationhasnorole.AstudyofHinditextbooksinUPcalled'GyanBharti'wasconductedbyNiddhiMehrotra.Thestudyfoundthatintheentire book there were 49 pictures of boys while there were only 14 pictures of girls.Boyswere depicted in diverse roles of scientist, teacher, king, poet, doctor but the girlswere projected in more subordinate roles expressing their dependence on men. Liketyingrakhi,fanningtheking,cookingfood.Theyaresocialisedtobelovingsisters,caringmothers, to serve themen. Sowhen a child reads these textbooks, their role projecteddoes not find any relevance of education. Therefore it does not encourage them to takeleadership roles, rather reinforces their traditional roles further discouraging themtowards education. Even the courses they seek during education interest them towardshumanities,whichdoesnotgivethemmuchemploymentopportunities.

Language

Languagebecomesaconcernparticularly for tribalchildren living inremoteareas if theteacher imparting the classroom instructions may be unfamiliar with the languagespokenbythesechildrenathome.

India is a country of immense linguistic and cultural diversity and has 122 languageswith10,000ormore speakers.Only22 languagesareusedasmediumof instructionasagainst these122 languages .Thisentails thatmanychildren inourcountryare likely toface language related problems in schools. The language of instruction in school beingdifferent fromachild’smother tonguecanactasamajorbarrier toschoolparticipationespecially in the early years, when the child needs to successfully make the transitionfrom communicating at home to learning in school. Childrenwho speak a dialect of aregional language, children of migrants who live in a state with a different officiallanguage,andchildrenwhoselanguageisnotthestate-selectedmediumofinstructionat

74 75


haveagirls’toilet.Allthetoiletsarealsonotfunctional.AccordingtoD’REZE,ifqualityofeducation is assured i.e. 3 teachers out of which at least 1 female teacher, 5 rooms,toilets, and blackboard. Thenwewill be able to restrain high dropout rates among girlstudents.

(Team, 1999)A study by JEAN D'REZE called PROBE (PUBLIC REPORT ON BASICEDUCATION) found that 27% of our schools did not have blackboards. 52% of schoolsdid not have playground.60%of schools did not have drinking water facility. 67%ofschoolsdidnotuseteachingkits.80%schoolsdidnothavelibrary.90%ofschoolshadnotoilets .One teacher was kept always for minding the children. There are dropouts ontrivialissues.

(ASER Resource center, 2011)A 2011 study by ASER similarly found that while mostprimaryschoolsmetseveralRTEnorms,availabilityofaseparatetoiletforgirlswasstillscant,andeveninschoolswheretheywereavailable,theyweremostlylocked

According to JEAND'REZE, other important factor responsible for poor literacy rates isinadequateaccess .Although ‘school too faraway’hasbeencitedasareasonbyonly1.1per cent of 6-17 year old males dropping out of school during the (National FamilyHealth Survey (NFHS), 2005-06), for 6-17 year old females this proportionwas 5.8 percent. (Indian Institute of Population Sciences, 2007) It is possible that the higherpercentage for females reflects thesecurityconcerns forgirlswhowouldhave toattendschools that arenot located in their homevillage. Though asper (SRI-IMRB, 2014) thiswascitedasareasononlyby1.18%oftherespondents.

PoorteachingInfrastructure

Teaching staff constitutes a vital aspect of education. Pupil teacher ratio is one of thecritical indicators of education. It provides insight tomeasure the quality of education.There are also critical barriers related to teachers and the teaching process. There hasbeen progressive decline in recruitment of teachers because after reforms there havebeen attempts at curtailing social sector spending. (SRI-IMRB, 2014) 1.94 % ofrespondentcited irregular teachingor teachingnotsatisfactoryasareasonfordroppingout.While0.28%citedteachersbehaviourunappropriateasareasonfordropout.

InadequateGDPspendingfortheeducationsector

Issueof financing isofutmost importance to thegrowthanddevelopmentofeducationinIndia.Educationsectorremainsunder-financed .EducationspendinginIndiahasbeenlower than the world average. Globally, 4.9% of GDP was spent on education in 2010while India spent only 3.3%of GDP, according toWorldBank data. Compared toBRICSnations, India’s literacy rate is only 74%while that of these economies is equivalent tothat of the developedworldwhile expenditure on education has gone up from2.9% in2008-09toapproximately3.4%in2014-15.USAspends7%.Countries likeSriLankaaredoingbetter,Keralahasdoneit.Itneedsonlycommitmentbypoliticalelite.Comparethiswith the Kothari Commission (set up in 1964-65) and National Education Policyrecommendation suggestion of allocating 6 percent of GDP towards education.Ramamurthy’s committee recommended that India needs to spend 6% of its GDP oneducationandhalfofit(3%)shouldgotowardsprimaryeducation.Thus,itisironicaltonotethatthoughtheoutlayof6percentofGDPwasrecommendedalmost50yearsago,wearestill farfromreachingthemarkinviewofthepresentoutlaynotcrossingeven4percent of GDP.(http://www.indiaspend.com/budget-2015-modis-moment-of-


Survivalconstraintsforthepoor

Inboththeruralandurbanscenario,earningopportunitiesforchildren(Ramachandran,2004)combined with the demands on them to do household tasks acts as factorsdetriment of their schooling. Children in poor families are involved in labour includingpaid labour, in farms likegrazingcattleand innon-farmwork in theruralcontextwhilein urban areas ,the manufacturing sector continues to employ children, in smallbusinesses like in shops, tea stalls, hotels, factories, as domestic help, etc. In spite ofextensive campaigns to draw children into school, children can still be found working.Many children who spend long hours doing household chores who are not counted asworkers. Boys aremore likely to get into doing earningwork very earlywhile girls getinto doing sibling care/household work from a young age. The phenomenon of childlabour is aggravated by the limited scope of child labour laws, the availability ofeconomic opportunities for children, as well as a lack of direct linkages betweeneducationandearningopportunities . Thereforeparentsseelittlerelevanceinschoolinginthefaceoflivelihoodconstraints

Therecent(SRI-IMRB,2014)surveysuggestthat12.16%oftherespondentscitedthisareason for being out of school.While 7.57% of the respondent cited it as a reason forchildren dropping out of school.; In urban areas a higher proportion of thechildren(28.67%)are out of school because of poverty/economic reason as compared toruralareas(22.33%)This isalsoshownbythe fact thatasmanyas20.74%respondentsfrom urban areas report that their child is out of school because he/she is needed tosupplementhouseholdincomewhileintheruralareasthepercentagestoodat(9.66%).

IftheirstayinschoolismadebeneficiallikewithinducementofvocationaleducationlikeTRYSEM, children would not be pulled out of the schooling cycle on this constraint.Inducements like Mid DayMeal Scheme only takes care of their poverty. High dropoutrates imply high degree of irrelevance of education. So functional literacy's emphasisshouldbeonvocational trainingaswell. Ifeducationdirectly impactstheir life, theywillnotwithdrawtheirchildrenfromschools

Hence Attendance and dropouts from the school can be improved when the perceivedbenefitsofschoolingaremorethanthecosts–bothdirectandopportunitycosts.

Genderdisparities

Gender inequality and disparity in education between males and females has beenfundamental characteristic of Indian education system. It wasmore pronounced earlierbutthispatriarchalbiasstillcontinuestoexist.

JEAND'REZErulesoutparentalmotivationasafactorexcept incaseof femalechildren.StudyofURBMstatessays99-100%parentsbelieve that theirsonsshouldgo toschool,whileits85-93%incaseofdaughters.Sodefinitelythereexistsgenderbias.

Inruralareas,thedemand-sidebarriersforgirlsarerelativelyfewerattheprimarylevelof schooling, but plays amajor role in keeping adolescent girls out of school. Norms ofchildmarriage is an additional barrier faced by girls. The supply-side problems arisingfrom lack of upper primary schools in the immediate neighbourhood , lack of toiletfacilities and inadequate number of female teachers add to these barriers. HighlightingthegenderdichotomyinIndia,ahigherproportionoffemalechildren(3.23%)intheagegroup of 6-13 years are estimated to be out of school as compared to male children

76 77


schoolarechildrenwhoendurealanguagerelatedlearningdisadvantage.

Home or native languagewhen different from themedium of instruction at school hasbeen found to have an adverse impact on student attendance as well. (ASER Resourcecenter,2011) In the InsidePrimarySchool study, forchildren ingrades2and4,abouthalf of the children whose home language was the same as the school language werefound present on all three visits of the ASER survey team, but attendance was muchlower (25 - 31 per cent) for children for whom home and school languages weredifferent.Thestudyhasshownhowthe lattergroupofchildrenalsohadrelativelypoorlearningoutcomes.

Soifthelanguagetheyarefamiliarwithdiffersfromthemediumofinstructionatschool,the teacher’s proficiency in the first language of the student becomes importantstipulationforthelearningprocesstobeeffective.Yetlanguagesknownbytheteacherisnotoneof the factors thatareusually taken intoaccountwhendecidingondeployment.Inthestudydiscussedabove,tribalchildrenwerefoundtobeabletoreadonlywithalotofeffort,mostlywordbyword,eveninClass5.

Schoolsbuilt andoperatedunderCSRofbig companies in tribal areas; found that someteachers in the elementary schools had petite knowledge of the local languages spokenby the children. This could partly explicate the large number of tribal children out ofschool

For tribal children, not only can language become an issue, curriculum or the textbookcontent becomes a hitch, since the tribal way of life is barely reflected in dominantlanguage textbooks and curricula. The problem is compounded lack of formal schoolingoftheparent’samongtribalcommunities.

Demandsidebarriers

CostofSchooling

TheNationalSurveyEstimationofOutofSchoolChildren2014bySRI–IMRB observesthat economic reason or poverty still cited by 23.76%population as a reason for beingoutofschool.(SRI-IMRB,2014)ForlongyearsnowtheIndianstatehasstrivedtoreducethe cost of education. At present there exist free education to all the children upto theage of 14 years in government schools. Moreover different states have been providingincentives to make elementary schooling more attractive and affordable fordisadvantaged communities through scholarships, subsidised books and stationery,mid-daymeal, student concession in public transport. SRI-IMRB 2014 survey indicated thatpoverty/economic constraints was the most frequently cited reason for childrendropping out of school (28.52 per cent of respondents). This exibits the fact thatalthoughgovernmentschoolschargenegligiblefees,inactual,theothercostsofpursuingschool education can act as a major barrier to school participation for children fromunderserved families. These expenses can be in form of examination fees, books andstationery,uniformandprivate tuition,etc. Education is seenasdrainon limited familyexpenses. Poor complaint even of rising soap expenditure. Although government andlocalbodyschoolshaveindeedmadeschoolingmoreaffordable,weshouldnotdisregardthefactthatforpoorfamilieswithtwotothreeschool-goingchildren,thedrainmaystillbeprofound.


Poverty levels are very high amongst these three groups. (National Council of AppliedEconomicResearch (NCAER) India andUniversity ofMarylandUSA, 2005)indicates thatthe incidence of poverty is highest among the STs (49.6 per cent), followedby the SCs(32.3per cent), and then theMuslims (30.6per cent). Ithasalsobeenobserved that inareaswithaconcentrationofSC,STorMuslimcommunities,civicserviceslikeelectricitysupply,water supply, etc. are poor. The provision of schooling facilities is also deficient.Thebarriersthatchildrenfromthesecommunitiesarethusinterlinked.

TheScheduledCastes

TheScheduledcastesareeconomicallyvulnerablebecausetheyhavelimitedornoaccessto land and aremainly dependent onwage labour as a source of livelihood. Thus, theirlivelihoods are very insecure. In urban areas too, they Make for their living from low-paid, low-status and low-skilled jobs. SCs have traditionally been socially annihilatedfrom the privileged “general castes” and OBCs, especially in the rural areas, and havebeenlivingonmarginsofthesocietyasconsequence.

This group experiences all the demand-side barriers associated with uncertainlivelihoods – migration, residence in slums, etc. In addition, many children from thiscommunityare first-generation learners,with theassociatedproblems like lackofhomesupport, and low educational aspirations which certainly risk their prospects ofattendingschools.

TheScheduledTribes

StatisticsrevealsthatahigherproportionofSTchildrenareoutofschoolthananyothersocialcategory.Inthisround,4.36%STchildrenareestimatedtobeoutofschool.Thisislowerthanthelastroundwhere5.60%STchildrenwereoutofschool.(SRI-IMRB,2014)

TheScheduledTribes,over600bycount,mostlyliveinremoteareasandinhillyand/orforested terrains, inwhat used to be largely self-sustaining societies. Today their forestrights have been eroded and they have lost the food security and life patterns whichwent with it. In an attempt to integrate them into the mainstream society they arecompelled into casual work, construction, urban domestic work, etc. With livelihoodsbecoming increasingly scarce, families migrate to benefit from work opportunitieselsewhere . This leads to temporary discontinuation of the children’s schooling, andsubsequentlytheirleavingschoolaltogether.

Tribal communities have a distinct language and cultural practices from that of themainstream society , so the content of learning in mainstream schools may standirrelevant to their context and their needs. Also an important alienating factor for theyoung child is the gap between his home language or own dialect and the medium ofinstruction used in school. In addition, parents drowned in a struggle for survival,mayseelittlebenefitfromschooling.

Muslims

Areligionwisedisaggregationreveals thatoutof the totalestimatedMuslimchildren inthecountry,4.43%areoutofschool.Thisproportionis lowerthanthelastroundwhere7.67%Muslimschildrenwereestimatedtobeoutofschool.(SRI-IMRB,2014)

AmongMuslims out of school shares are high for both boys and girls and in rural andurban areas i.e12%and 18.4%respectively. (IMRB,National SurveyonEstimationof

78 79


(2.77%)(SRI-IMRB,2014)Educationseemedtobemoreirrelevantforthegirlchild

Many of the demand-side barriers take their roots in socio-cultural factors which areresistant to change. Expenditure on education for the girl child is not consideredmeaningful. Itseemstobemore irrelevant for thegirlchild thanthemalechildbecauseit is not in sync with her future roles. There exists a belief that the curriculum standsirrelevant with respect to the real life problems that they will face. The norms of apatriarchalsocietydefinerolesandresponsibilities for themaleand femaledistinctively.Schooling decisions are biased in favour of themale child –which stem from the beliefthat it is he whowill be entrustedwith earning responsibilities for the household andtaking care of theparents in their old age.While the girl, is believed to bedestined formarriage and care of her affinial household and family. Thus, in Indian society, a girl isoftenconsidered tobe ‘parayadhan’ ,since she ismeant tobea sourceofwealth forheraffinal home, believed to be her ‘real home’. This is seen to contribute to under-investmentingirls’education,as istheviewthatwomen’s labourisrequiredonlyinthedomestic sphere, which does not require much schooling. Education not considerednecessarybytheheadofthehousehold’isalsoreportedbymorehouseholdswithanoutof school female child (6.27%) as compared to households with an out of schoolmalechild(2.39%)(SRI-IMRB,2014)

Fromatenderage,girlsaregivenhouseholdduties likecookingandsiblingcare– tasksthatalsopreparethemfortheirfutureroles.Asper(SRI-IMRB,2014)survey,itwascitedby8.66% of the respondentsas reason for theirdaughtersbeingoutof school.Averysignificant percentage of out of school girls are the eldest female children in theirfamilies.Often their schooling is sacrificed in for theother children ,especiallyboys, cango to school, so that the hard-pressed mother gets adequate support around thehousehold. A genderwise disaggregation of the reason reveals that a higher proportionof the girls are out of school becauseof the reason ‘needed tohelp indomesticworkerneededtotakecareofchildren’ascomparedtoboys(SRI-IMRB,2014)

Fortheolderagegroup(11-13years)childmarriageisoftenafactorleadingtodropout,especially in rural areas School drop-out rates have been found to be very high amonggirls.Althoughtherecent(SRI-IMRB,2014)surveyonly0.70%ofrespondentcited itasa reason for females to drop out of the school. Girls who are enrolled might bewithdrawn when they attain puberty, or because of child marriage. Moreover, manyparentsareunwillingtosendtheirgirlstoschoolsiftheyarecoeducationaloriftheyareschools without female teachers. Girls face various barriers including the deep-rootedpatriarchal traditions in their localcommunities.Factorssuchas lackof female teachers,and transport facilities to be important barriers for girls’ education in light of issues ofsafetyandsecurity.

Socio-culturalreasons:Economicallyandsociallydisadvantagedcommunities

Social andeconomic factors togetherdrive theeducationdeprivation for certain sociallyand economically disadvantaged groups in India: the SCs, the STs, and Muslims.Enrolmentratesforthesegroupshaverisen,withasharpreductioninthegapwithmoreprivilegedsections,especiallyat theprimary levelof schooling .At thenational level,themaximum proportion of out of school children in India is within Scheduled Tribes(4.20%),followedbyScheduledCastes(3.24%),OBC(3.07%)andOthers(1.87%)


as factors such as lack of teacher motivation, non-teaching duties, and social distancebetween teacher and pupils.While the government is sensitive to this barrier to schoolparticipation, more effective engagement is needed. Though elementary education hasreceived sizeable financial resources with the advent of the SSA, the overall resourceavailabilityfortheeducationsectorisstillfarfromadequate.

Forshapingapost-2015globaleducationagenda,itisinstructivetodrawfromthelessons of the past 15 years to increase the prospects of achievements over thenext 15.We see hope because education is considered and will remain a biggestfactor for mobility and with emergence of India as a knowledge based economy,humancapitalwillnowbeitsgreateststrength.

Bibliography

• ASERResourcecenter.(2011).ASERStudy.

• http://www.indiaspend.com/budget-2015-modis-moment-of-reckoning/jaitley-slashes-education-health-spending-67467.

• IMRB, S. (2005). National Estimation Survey on Out of School Children in agegroupof6-13yearsinIndia.CommissionedbyEdCILandMHRD,GOI.

• IMRB, S. (2009). National Survey on Estimation of Out od School Children inIndiainagegroupof6-13.CommissionedbyEdCILandMHRD,GOI.

• (2007).IndianInstituteofPopulationSciences.

• MHRD.SESAllIndiaTimeSeries.

• NationalCouncilofAppliedEconomicResearch(NCAER)IndiaandUniversityofMarylandUSA.(2005).IndiaHumanDevelopmentSurvey(IHDS).

• (2005-06).NationalFamilyHealthSurvey(NFHS).MinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare.

• Ramachandran, V. (2004). Hierarchies of Access: Gender and Equity in PrimaryEducation.NewDelhi:SagePublications.

• Sachar,R.(2006).SacharCommitteReport.

• SRI-IMRB.(2014).NationalSurveyEstimationofOutofSchoolChildreninageof6-13inIndia.

• Team, P. (1999). Public Report on Basic Education in India. New Delhi: OxfordUniversityPress.

• http://ssa.nic.in/pabminutes-documents/NS.pdf

80 81


Out od School Children in India in age group of 6-13, 2009) More importantly, theproportionoutofschool inthe11to13agegroupissignificantlyhigher incomparisonto other religious groups, both among males and females. However, as the SacharCommittee Report points out, Muslims in India are not a homogeneous group, andsignificantregionaldifferencesexist.

MRB 2009 data also show large regional differences – the proportion of out of schoolamongMuslims is very high (at 18 to 20 per cent) in the Hindi speaking north Indianstates,while it is3percentor lower in thesouthernstates. It isoftenbelieved that theneed for religious education in madrasas and makhtabs acts as a barrier to Muslimchildren being enrolled in regular schools. An in-depth study of theMuslim communityby the (Sachar, 2006) Sachar Committee showed that, contrary to common perception,Muslim parents are not averse to sending their children to mainstream schools.TheReport found that only 4-7 per cent of Muslim students were found to be studyingexclusivelyinmadrasasandhadoptedformadrasaslargelybecauseofthelackofaccessto Urdu-medium schools and a lack of Urdu language teaching (and teachers) in non-Urdumediumgovernmentschools.

Conclusions

Theprofileofout-of-schoolchildrensuggest that thebarriers toeducationareprimarilythe poorest and most disadvantaged shouldering the heaviest burden withdisadvantagesduetotheirlocation,tosocialfactorsrelatedtocaste/tribe/religion,socio-economicstatusandgender.Out-of-schoolchildrencomefromgroupswhofacemultipledisadvantages, and for them the demand-side barriers overlap and have a cumulativeimpact.Manyofthesedemand-sidebarriershavetheirrootsinsocio-culturalfactorsthatare resistant to change. The supply-side barriers are important in keeping children inschool. Supply side barriers in terms of school infrastructure and quality are relevantacrosspopulationgroups.

Atpresentthechallengeisnotonlytoenrolallchildreninschool,buttoensurethattheyattendschoolregularlyandcompleteatleasteightyearsofschooling.

Access to schooling is less of a barrier to school participation at present, though itcontinues to be an impediment for some other groups of children such as childrenbelonging to migrant families, children from tribal communities While distance hasceasedtobeamajorreasonevenfordroppingout,althoughitisstillfairlyimportantforrural females, primarily among older age groups. School infrastructure is one aspect ofthe government school system that has improved steadily over the past decades butseveral studies have suggested the need for greater attention towards maintenance ofthese infrastructural facilities .Overtheyearsthegovernmenthasmandatedfor freeandcompulsory education for all children in the country. However, problems related toteaching, maintenance of school facilities, and governance has impacted school quality.Oneoftheimportantbarrierswhichcontinuetobeachallengeisthenatureofclassroomtransactions. Teaching methods have been slow to change and schools can become anunappealing space for students. Most of the children from disadvantaged communitiesarefirstgenerationschool-goers,andtheyrequirespecialattentionaswellas innovativemethods of teaching to adapt learning at schools to their experience and context. Thisbarrier is thus a complex combination of shortcomings in teacher recruitment policy,curricularrequirementsofstudentsfromdiversesettings,andgovernanceissues,aswell


NIU Journal of Social Sciencesniu.edu.in/Journal/Journal-of-Social-Sciences-vol-3,4-2016.pdf · Dr....

Documents

Transcript of NIU Journal of Social Sciencesniu.edu.in/Journal/Journal-of-Social-Sciences-vol-3,4-2016.pdf · Dr....