Browsing by Author "Dr. Manasa R."

Uttar Pradesh has a huge upside potential for economic growth if its people are engaged more productively. This study cursorily reviews the prospects of employment creation and argues that UP should focus on the secondary and tertiary sectors for generating self-employment opportunities. In this regard, growth diagnostics framework, developed at Harvard University, is used to analyse the possible constraints that may be impeding the entrepreneurship in the state. Based on secondary data analysis and wider consultation with many stakeholders, study provides observational conclusion that ‘access to finance’ can be a major constraint in growth of enterprises. This constraint is channelled through high-risk perception and aversion for microentrepreneurs from supply side of f inance. Additionally, other constraints such as coordination, infrastructure, lower desire for entrepreneurship among youth are also weakly identified. The study concludes with offering focused recommendations to deal with the identified obstacles in a systemic way, hitting their root causes.

Management education in India is elitist - attracting the well-heeled young men and women for positive association. It is predominantly a derivative of western management thoughts and practices. The foundations of Indian philosophy and worldview are unique and different from those of other countries. It has not evolved according to the situation on the ground in India. Or, at best, its development has been random. This monograph, based on a larger study, attempts to answer the following five questions as a basis to determine the relevance and course correction of management education and practices in India reflecting the ground realities. a) Is management applicable only to business situations? b) Is the functional approach in management inevitable? c) Is management applicable to non-organizational situations? d) Is there any inter-dependence between management education and practices? e) Does management in India need to focus more Indian thought? More than a hundred articles in international and Indian contexts have been reviewed to investigate the unexplored dimensions of management education and practices in India. The study focuses on conceptual gaps; contextual gaps; methodological gaps; identification and selection of the cases; data collection and analysis; management by individuals; and management for individuals. The management education in India is out of sync with the ground reality. It is time to revitalise it by contextualising both course curriculum and andragogy. This monograph has made a serious attempt and offered a few suggestions to re-engineer the management education in India. It presents a case for all those people responsible for management education in India to take a fresh look at the course curriculum and andragogy.

Right from the dawn of civilisation, every society had this problem: How to save food for the proverbial rainy days - safe from microbes and insects out to spoil it. The ancient Indian wisdom of preserving food, both perishable and non-perishable, has survived for centuries. Based on wisdom passed through generations, our ancestors practised several food preservation methods. For several years, these methods were on the decline. However, of late they are staging a comeback with necessary modifications. Regardless of the recent advances in modern food storage technologies, the revival of low-cost, readily available, environment friendly ancient food storage methods appear to be a promising option to minimise the post- harvest losses. Understanding the science behind these traditional practices and improvising them to make them relevant in the present context is the need of the hour as borne out by the studies we conducted in different climatic conditions of India. We studied the various food preservation methods prevalent in these regions and reviewed their potential for modern times. There is no doubt that traditional storage methods, when appropriately modified, can significantly reduce losses and contribute to increased food security and poverty alleviation by increasing the returns of smallholder farmers.

Hinduism is considered unique in the world of religions since it had no founder yet grew gradually over five thousand years, absorbing, assimilating, and guiding all other faiths to bear the cultural heritage of India. Hinduism has no Bible/Koran/Dhammapadam to find potential solutions for problems. Hinduism clarifies the differences and shared beliefs of different schools of thought within it, thus resembling Christianity binding human civilization with a common thread. There is no historical creator of Hinduism as in Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. According to the literature (Hindu text, the Bhagvad Gita), relationships of human/nature (yagna), human/divine (tapas), and human/human (dana) are conceptualized to stitch human beings and nature through soil, soul, and society. This suggests a high level of realization to connect these three to have a harmonious relationship with nature and sustain human civilization. All religions address soils differently and portray diverse cultural patterns of understanding this valuable natural resource. According to Hindu religious belief, soil (matter, nature) is considered divine and respected as Mother. Soil is seen as a feminine donor, attributed predominantly to chthonic (Ancient Greek word: khthon, which means earth or soil). In Hinduism soil is referred as dharti/bhoo mata: Mother Earth is also related to cosmic elements. In Buddhism, the soil is described as a symbol of dust in this ephemeral world to support life. Humans belong to nature, and when they cultivate soil, it always reverberates in their mind. To relate humans with soils, two different types of religious concepts, namely natural religion and salvation religion are postulated. During the long history of human civilisation with primal religion (Primal religion has a priority where the fundamental aspect of religion is available). Being dominant, the soil is considered supernatural and controlled by an unseen power. Soils are part of religious reverence, justifying certain rituals to sustain their fertility. However, the modern-day approach to soils takes environment, ethics, and ecology as more essential aspects. Human ecology is related to human concepts of nature and destiny (religion). Hindu religion always considers land/soil as mother earth, cautioned about its use and abuse, and recommends its preservation for posterity. Given this, Hinduism and other religions such as Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism and their concepts indirectly believe in the environment and ecological sustenance. They are in line with the modern-day vision.