Komol Singha

Reservation Policy in India: Need for Re-Look

Reservation policy has emanated many controversies, discussions, and riots type agitations in India. Some are in favour of and others are against the policy. The antagonists argued that the policy, especially the caste-based reservation cannot improve the condition of poor masses in the country. They further argued that the policy contradicts the principle of secularism rather than uplifting the weaker communities in the country. The present paper attempts to analyse pros and cons of reservation policy of the country. To have an idea of reservation policy of the country and the categories of people benefiting from the policy within the reserved category, 30 respondents, consisting of 20 governvenment employee and 10 students under reserved category were interviewed. The paper further verifies whether the existing system of reservation policy protects the weaker sections of the society or not.

Public Spending and Rural Livelihood in India: A Study of MGNREGA

Even though the Indian economy has witnessed spectacular success in terms of achieving a higher growth rate and became one of the 12 largest and 10 fastest growing economies in the world at present, the rural community is still grossly neglected. In this context, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) was brought into force by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in February 2006. The primary aim of NREGA was to enhance the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household who volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The present study explored that though there were some issues of non-payment of wage on time, poor facilities at the work site, and so on, the programme has proved that the states having better funding or higher per capita of fund performed well.

Tourism, Environment and Economic Growth in Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan

At present, tourism has become one of the fastest growing industries in the world (Singha and Elangbam 2009; Rinzin et al. 2007), and probably there is no other economic activity which transects so many industries, levels and sectors as tourism does (Cater 1995).

Infrastructure for Entrepreneurship Development in India's Trouble-Torn State of Manipur

India’s north eastern-most State of Manipur, bordering Myanmar is facing onslaught of violence and conflict for long. Despite rich natural resources and geographical advantage of Indo-ASEAN trade, the State is lagging behind the national level in terms of trade and commerce. In the present flat world, the strength of economy of a nation/region is primarily determined by the volume of trade and commerce. With the help of primary and secondary data, the present study explores the importance of entrepreneurship development in Manipur. What makes the entrepreneurial activities developed in Manipur is also displayed in this paper. With the help of logit model and using 113 sample of entrepreneurs, the study revealed that the physical infrastructure, especially road network and market opportunity (law and order condition of the State) have positive impact on entrepreneurship development in Manipur. Further, the study explored that the volume of Indian products is demanded less in the market of Manipur (Imphal) as the volume of local products and the goods coming from ASEAN countries increases.