Training needs assessment of rural women of migrant households: a study in Kumaon division of Uttarakhand
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Date
2021-10
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
According to the report of Rural Development and Migration Commission 2018, more than 66 percent of Uttarakhand population lives in rural areas. Majority of the rural population in the hills either survive on subsistence agriculture or migrate for better livelihood opportunities. The state has witnessed significant changes in its demographic structure with slow decadal growth of population in the hilly regions during the period 2001-2011. In conformity with earlier studies on migration, report on outmigration from hill region of Uttarakhand (Mamgain and Reddy 2015), most of the migrants are men and youth. About 86 percent of migrants are men and 51.4 percent of them are in the age group of 30-49 years and another 35.5 percent in the age group of 15-29 years. The excessive rate of male out migration has changed the overall demography and socio-cultural system of Uttarakhand leading to a number of changes in the lives of rural women. Rural women faces greater vulnerability and various problems due to male out-migration and limited livelihood opportunities. Their ability and capacity to cope with the uncertainties and vulnerabilities in the hill region is determined by the knowledge and skill they have. This study attempted to find socioeconomic, communication and psychological characteristics, change in the role of rural women after male out migration, training needs assessment of rural women, designing a training module and to find the relationship between selected profile characteristics of rural women and training needs. The descriptive research design was used to meet the objectives of the study. The study was purposively carried out in Almora district of Uttarakhand. One block, Dwarahat was selected randomly. Villages viz. Talli Mirai and Kaphara were selected randomly and rural women in age group of 18-55 were selected purposely through census method. Pre-tested interview schedule was used for data collection. The data was classified, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted with the help of appropriate statistical procedures and techniques like frequency, percentage, Z-test, correlation and t-test. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the rural women were in the age group of 31-42 years, mostly married, majority of respondents belonged to General category, had middle level educational qualifications, had a medium-sized nuclear family, had small size of the land holding, involved in farming activities and had low monthly income. Most of the respondents had medium level of innovativeness and extension agency contact. Almost, all the respondents owned television and mobile phone. Only a quarter of the respondents had attended a training program in the last three years. Majority of them have medium level of innovativeness, change proneness, economic motivation and risk preference. It was found that out of the 18 roles that were identified, there had been a significant change in eight roles. These were household chores, care for elderly, care of livestock, fetching firewood, attending social events, voting for local bodies, participation in development activities at local level and value addition/post harvest activities. Regarding training needs of rural women, out of the six areas that were identified it was found that high training need was expressed in the area of mushroom cultivation, followed by disease and pest control of field crops and vaccination and disease management of cattle. A training module was prepared for organization of training program on mushroom cultivation. The findings regarding relationship between selected personal, socioeconomic, communication and psychological characteristics of rural women and their training needs revealed that age has significant negative relationship with training needs of rural women. Education, size of the land holding, monthly income, mass media ownership, mass media access, cosmopoliteness, innovativeness, change proneness and economic motivation have significant positive relationship with needs of rural women training needs. There is no significant relationship between family size, risk preference and training..