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2013 - 20177
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Subject: Agricultural Extension Education × End date: 2017 × Start date: 2010 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    A study on the effectiveness of Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana in district Udham Singh Nagar of Uttarakhand
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2014-06) Bisht, Nikita; Amardeep
    Poverty is the state where there is a lack of certain amount of material possessions or money.Today, most of Indian population lives below poverty line, unable to fulfil its basic need of food, clothes and shelter. Since the inception of economic planning in India, effort has been made in successive plans to mitigate the incidence of poverty. Therefore various anti-poverty programmes had developed by Government of India. But most of them could not lead to balanced and overall development of rural and poor people. With a view to remove this drawback, the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was introduced in 1999. The objective of the SGSY was to bring the assisted poor families (Swarozgaries) above the Poverty Line by ensuring appreciable sustained level of income over a period of time. This objective is to be achieved by inter alia organising the rural poor into Self Help Groups (SHGs) through the process of social mobilization, their training and capacity building and provision of income generating assets. SHG has to be a group of rural poor who volunteer to organize themselves in a group. Now the SGSY programme has been closed, but SHGs operational under this scheme are still functioning. Thus, there is a need to study that to what extant SGSY has been effective. Keeping a fact in mind, the present study was undertaken to study the profile characteristics of women SHGs, to assess the effectiveness of SHGs and the constraints faced by women SHGs under SGSY. The study was conducted in two randomly selected blocks viz. Rudrapur and Sitarganj of U.S. Nagar district of Uttarakhand state. Eight SHGs were selected randomly through chit method i.e. four from Rudrapur and four from Sitarganj block. Descriptive research design was used to meet the objectives of the study. The data was collected with the help of interview guide prepared on the basis of parameters given by the Government of India i.e. credit and subsidy, increase in income, trainings, market support, infrastructure facility and microenterprise development. Besides, interview guide, focus group discussion was also used to enrich data. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the SHGs (75%) had 10 members in a group, half of them (50%) were from SC category, most of the SHGs (75%) had no group leader election, majority (62.5%) follow group norms, had no drop outs (87.5%), most of the SHGs (75%) had life insurance and majority of SHGs had monthly income up to Rs. 8000. It was also found that half of the SHGs (50%) had knowledge of loan and subsidy, had information related to income (50%), majority (75%) got training, block office provide market place to some of the SHGs (37.5%), choose skill base activity (62.5%), had no infrastructure facility (75%) and less than half of the SHGs (37.5%) had group level micro-enterprise. The major constraints perceived were unsupportive attitude of officials, no variety in trainings, lack of infrastructure and knowledge of the programme components. The findings may enable the policy makers and planners to review and redesign such self employment programme in better way and may serve as bench mark for planning and conducting researches of such and similar nature in future.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    A study on adoption of soil health management practices by farmers in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2013-07) Mohapatra, Lalatendu; Kameswari, V.L.V.
    Deterioration of soil health through excessive and imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers is a serious issue during the post green revolution era. Knowledge about the nature and extent of the problem on the part of the farmers is an important constraint in adoption of Soil Health Management Practices. Hence, the present study was carried out in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha state during February-March, 2013 in two villages, viz; Telibila & Rangamatia to study economic, socio-personal and communication characteristics of farmers in the study area, to measure the knowledge level & extent of adoption regarding selected Soil Health Management Practices by farmers, to study the relationship between knowledge level and extent of adoption, to find out the relationship between Socio Economic Status and extent of adoption and to identify the constraints in adoption of the selected Soil Health Management Practices. Farmers were selected randomly following probability proportionate to size criterion. A total of 90 farmers were selected. It was found that majority (53.34%) of the farmers belong to medium Socio Economic Status. Majority (64.44%) respondents had medium level of knowledge regarding selected SHM practices. About one fifth (21.12%) respondents had low level of knowledge followed by 14.44% respondents who had high level of knowledge regarding SHM practices. Majority (58.88%) respondents showed medium extent of adoption followed by 22.22% who had high and 18.89% who had low extent of adoption. Use of compost was found to be maximum and was adopted by 42.22% respondents followed by adoption of Acid Soil Amendment (ASM) by 38.88%. Use of phosphate in compost pit was not followed by 80% respondents and bio-fertilizer application was not adopted by 66.66%. Soil testing and soil sample collection were discontinued by 37.77% respondents. Independent variables such as education, annual income, land holding, social participation and extension participation were positively associated with extent of adoption, where as age and institutional participation were negatively associated. There existed a positive and significant relation between knowledge and adoption. Major problem faced by farmers in adoption of soil testing technology was difficulty in understanding and following soil test based recommendations. The other constraints in adoption of SHM practices were uncertainty in yield gain, long procedure involved in testing and the non availability of test results on time. Regarding INM adoption major constraints were lack of knowledge about recommended dose of nutrients, lack of awareness about bio-fertilizer and micro-nutrients and non availability of bio-fertilizers. Major constraints behind non adoption of ASM were lack of availability of amendments and lack of proper knowledge about its’ use. The study indicates that there is need to train farmers on application of bio-fertilizer and ASM. Report of soil test should made available to the farmer without much delay and in an easy language.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Capability assessment of women self help groups: A study in Nainital district of Uttarakhand
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2014-06) Chunera, Anjali; Bhardwaj, Neelam
    Women constitute a significant part in household as well as in the economy. In India, out of the total population, 48.37% are women. They are the most under privileged and vulnerable section of the society and constitute a sizeable segment of those who belong to below poverty line (Mathew, 2000). Out of several efforts to up-lift women economically, Self Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as a key strategy for women development. The rural women, with the intermediation of voluntary organizations join together for self-help to secure better economic growth. This has resulted in the formation of a large number of Self Help Groups in the country, but the end objective of maintaining quality is not fulfilled. It is seen that many of the Self Help Groups could not sustain for long and most of the members leave the group in between. Most of the Self Help Group could not sustain because they lack capabilities necessary for the proper functioning of these group. There is a need to study the prevailing gap between the capability present and required for sustenance of the Self Help Groups. Keeping these facts in mind, the present study was undertaken to study the profile characteristics of women members of the Self Help Groups and to document Self Help Groups profile, to assess the capability of the Self Help Groups and the constraints faced by women Self Help Groups were also studied. The study was conducted in two purposively selected blocks viz Haldwani and Bhimtal of Nainital district in Uttarakhand state. Ten Self Help Groups were selected through Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) method i.e. six from Haldwani block and four from Bhimtal block. Descriptive research design was used to meet the objective of the study. The data was collected with the help of pre-tested interview schedule and interview guide. Besides observation, focus group discussion was also used to support the quantitative data and collect qualitative data. The findings of the study revealed that most of the respondents were middle aged (43.30 %), married (83.51 %), housewives (39.17%), belonged to general caste (62.87%), were from APL family (57.73 %), had educational qualification up to primary school (42.27%), medium sized family (56.70 %) and maximum number of the respondents had agriculture as secondary occupation (46.15%). It was also found that majority of SHGs were rated good in organizational capacity (70%) and financial management capability (70%), rated as moderate in savings and credit capability (60%), awareness capability (60%) and in plans and visions capability (60%) and rated as weak in micro-enterprise development (40%) capability, skill development capability (50%), empowerment and influences capability (50%) and networks and linkages capability (100%). It was also observed that in overall Capability Index majority of the SHGs were rated as moderate (60%). The major constraints perceived by the SHGs were lack of training, poor financial condition of the members, delay in sanctioning of loan, unprofessional attitude of the members, less education and time management.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    A study on extension needs of vegetable growers of Kumaon region of Uttarakhand
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2017-06) Rawal, Jyoti; Ansari, M.A.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Utilisation pattern of social media by the students for education: A study at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2016-06) Soni, Jyoti; Amardeep
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    People’s perception about panchayati raj system in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2016-08) Yadav, Abhinav; Sharma, Gyanendra
    Panchayati Raj System (PRS) is identified as an institutional expression of democratic decentralization in India. It is a system of self-governance for rural people electing their own leaders to look after the village administration (Bhandari, 2013). In the year 1993, the Government of India took a revolutionary step by making Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) a part of the constitution. The introduction of constitutionally mandated panchayat system through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act was the most significant experiment in reforming governance in India. The main objective of the 73rd amendment was to create a new system of PRIs with People’s participation providing good governance at grassroots level. Since the 73rd Amendment came into force, panchayat elections have been regularly held in all the States and Union Territories, reservations have been provided to the women, SC, ST and OBC in proportion to their share of the population in each panchayat area. Panchayati Raj (PR) in its initial phase of implementation did succeed in the empowerment of rural people by ensuring their participation in decision making process but there are reports that the PR because of poor implementation has failed to realize the dreams of its architects (Rao, 2009).The ground reality of the working of PRS indicates very weak and ineffective implementation leading to little progress on the path of rural development. Though this system has brought some significant changes in the lives of rural people and has been instrumental in bringing women in political arena; it has not been effective up to expectations in building the reputation of being a democratic development agency among rural people (Gandhi, 2015). The system suffers from miscellaneous difficulties like mass illiteracy, class consciousness, in egalitarian attitude of officials, ignorance, party strife and limited financial and administrative autonomy and lack of faith in grass roots democracy etc. (Sharma, 1997).Perception of rural people towards PR has not been favourable due to these lacunae so the present situation poses serious questions on the implementation of the PRS. Thus there is a strong need to study the villagers’ point of view towards the PRIs and analyse the perception of people about PRS. Therefore, keeping in mind the researchable gaps the study entitled “People’s perception about Panchayati Raj System in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand” was undertaken. The exploratory research design was used to meet out the objectives of the study. Two blocks namely Gadarpur and Kashipur were selected randomly out of seven blocks of the district. Two Gram Panchayats (GPs) namely Vijaynagar (GP1) from Gadarpur block and Khadakpur-devipura (GP2) from Kashipur block, were selected randomly. Further two villages from each selected GP were selected through simple random sampling method. Thus in all four villages, namely Vijaynagar and Kalinagar (from GP1), Khadakpur and Shyampuram (from GP2) were selected. Those who are registered as the voters in their respective village panchayats, were targeted as the respondents of the study. A total sample size of 120 respondents, 60 each from Vijaynagar and Khadakpur-devipura GPs were selected. The data collected was coded, tabulated, analysed and interpreted with the help of appropriate statistical tools like mean, frequency, percentage, standard deviation etc. Findings of the study revealed that the majority of respondents were of middle age (26 to 48 years), male, general caste, had educational qualification up to graduate/above and major family occupation was farming and service. Majority of them were landless, belonged to medium family size and above poverty line (APL). Majority of respondents had medium level of cosmopoliteness, social participation, information seeking behaviour, achievement motivation and leadership ability. Total 50 per cent respondents had medium level mass media exposure and most of the respondents were having medium level of awareness towards PRS. Another important finding was that the overall perception of majority of the respondents was ambivalent towards PRS and huge majority of the respondents took part in last panchayat voting. Most of the respondents had regular interaction with Gram Pradhan and other elected representatives. Majority of the respondents had visited the GP office at least once. It was disappointing that majority of the respondents thought they did not play important role in panchayat activities. Majority of the respondents get prior information about meetings of Gram Sabha and used to attend Gram Sabha meetings. Distribution of money and alcohol in the society by nominated candidates during and prior to elections, False voting/proxy voting in panchayat elections, Proxy representation of women Pradhan and representatives by their husband or any family member in discharging duties/functions/role performance, Lack of higher education and political experience among elected representatives etc. were major problems under PRS.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Vocational training needs of rural youth in agriculture related areas: A study in U.S. Nagar of Uttarakhand
    (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2016-06) Dash, Debashis; Kumar, B.