Research & Evaluation

EVALUATION OF POSTAL OPERATIONS, ESTATE MANAGEMENT AND INDIA POST PAYMENT BANKS

The study followed a mixed research methodology, wherein, combinations of the qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted for the study. As a part of the qualitative approach, the team had attempted to understand the performance of the schemes using qualitative data. For the quantitative data collection, a combination of community and stakeholder surveys was used. Based on the secondary data on OOMF for the period of 2020-2021 provided by the department. The questions were formulated using the 5 point Likert scale (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) . The study team also conducted Focus Group Discussions and In Depth Interviews with the senior officials of the Postal Department. As per the primary data collected by the study team. 

As per the responses shared by the users the scheme 'Quality of Service' was the best performer, with a ranking of 3.88 out of five. The beneficiaries/users seem to be satisfied with the quality of services that are being provided and also with the mail operations. One of the major strengths of the DoP is its presence in the Rural India, where not many competitors are present. Therefore, it should be considered as a strategic step towards expanding its services. Secondly, even if DoP has competitors, the competitive pricing of the services and the gamut of the services that are available makes it popular amongst the customers.

Digital Banking and its Impact in Rural India

Introduction

India is on the progressive path of development and its rural population is an integral part of this growth trajectory. As India gears up for an era of increased digitalization, the issue of holistic and inclusive economic growth remains a pivotal concern .While India is one of the world‘s fastest-developing economy, equitable growth remains a critical imperative. The rural population today constitutes above 45 percentof the national income. In 2050, despite urbanisation, over half of India‘s population will still be rural. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has prioritised radical digitalisation to induce economic inclusiveness through a host of initiatives. Digital India‘, Make in India‘ and Skill India‘ provide for impetus and opportunity to rural citizens, to ensure they are equal participants in India‘s growth story. In a country which was predominantly a cash-based economy doing cashless transactions was a farfetched dream. But a rather disruptive move of Demonetization changed the face of the game for the whole banking system and a new era of Digital Banking beaconed. Though there were a few initial hurdles for the commercial banks to transform their conventional transaction processes through digital mode, they took it as a challenge to move towards the goal of Digital India which required rapid transformation rather than the dated incremental approach to cope with the huge number of potential transactions. Today, digitization is not just a need of the towns and big cities but has become anecessity across all regions and strata of the country including the Rural India. This gave rise to the concept called Digital Village. A village where most of the day to day transactions happen in a cashless mode with services like, Mobile Wallets, Credit/Debit cards and Internet Banking etc.

There have been coordinated efforts by the banks to develop new service capabilities for streamlined adoption to Digitalization and all banks have taken up various initiatives to make all their branches in all parts of the country including rural and urban India digitally equipped. A recent example like UPI (Unified Payment Interface) which became a widely used and accepted payment interface with interoperability across all banks be it a PSU or a Private Bank. The demand for PoS (Point of Sale) machines has risen in the wake of demonetization more and more people are using their Credit/Debit cards for transactions but even where there is no provision of PoS Machine people can still use various E-wallets which are readily available across various platforms on their smart phones. This has helped smaller business owners to a great extent cutting costs of buying a standalone PoS machine. Conforming with the Government's Vision of Digital India and as a part of,company's corporate social responsibility, Bank of India which is one of the leading state- owned banks with one of the largest rural branch network decided to transform its branches situated in rural villages into Digital Villages through the implementation of digital programme

Evaluation of Food Safety Standards among Street Food Vendors

Introduction

 Food safety has long been the subject of research, and street food is a weak link in food safety supervision. Street food not only provides convenience for many people, but is also the livelihood for millions of low income people, making a great contributionto the economy of many developing countries. Street food safety is essential, and yet it has been rarely studied in countries world over. The street foods play an important socio-economic role in meeting food and nutritional requirements of city consumers at affordable prices to the lower and middle income people. The number of food poisoning notifications rose steadily worldwide since the inception of E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in the 1980s to date. This may be partly attributed to improved surveillance, increased global trade and travel, changes in modern food production, the impact of modern lifestyles, changes in food consumption, and the emergence of new pathogens. Consumer’s knowledge and attitude may influence food safety behavior and practice. For the sake of public health, it is important to understand the epidemiology of food borne illnesses that help in prevention and control efforts, appropriately allocating resources to control food borne illness, monitoring and evaluation of food safety measures, development of new food safety standards, and assessment of the costeffectiveness of interventions. 

This study was sponsored by Department of Consumer Affairs,GoI. It was undertaken by Prof Suresh Misra and Dr Mamta Pathania ,CCS,IIPA to examine the attitude, taste, preferences and awareness about food safety and hygiene issues and also to assess the level of food safety and hygiene practices among the street food vendors in India. The study also assessed the level of awareness among street food vendors towards food safety laws and regulations. In order to collect information various stakeholders (consumer, street vendors and concerned authorities) were approached to understand the he a lth and hygiene of food and its impact on the consumers eating behavior. To assess the practice of hygiene and food safety guidelines by street vendors and level of awareness of the consumers the primary data was collected through questionnaires which were administered to street vendors and consumers. Keeping in view seven states with different characteristics, having different food culture were selected to collect consumers’ opinion about street food safety standards. Seven cities recognized as prominent tourist placein the country were selected for the survey of Street Food Vendors. These cities were Delhi, Kolkotta, Mysore, Ujjain, Varanasi, Puri and Guwhati . As regards consumers, the survey was conducted in seven states namely Bihar, J&K, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and in the following cities Muzaffarpur, Jammu, Mysore, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Nadia.

The Impact of Inter-Caste Marriage Scheme of Dr. Ambedkar Foundation on the Lives of Beneficiaries

Executive Summary 

In India, most Indian families still prefer marriages arranged within their religion and caste. Marriages outside these rigid boundaries have often led to violent consequences. Inter-caste married couples often become targets of severe physical assault, social ostracisation and economic boycott. There have been violent killings of inter-caste married couples, across India. The couples in Inter-caste marriages undergo hard times when their immediate families disown them. Dr. Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration through Inter-caste Marriages was introduced in 2013 under the aegis of Dr. Ambedkar Foundation (DAF), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The objective of the nation-wide scheme is to extend financial support to the inter-caste married couples to help them integrate into the mainstream of life.

The present study entitled „The Impact of Inter-Caste Marriage Scheme of Dr. Ambedkar Foundation on the Lives of Beneficiaries‟ is to assess the social integration fostered by the scheme. The DAF Inter-caste marriage scheme offers monetary incentives to lower parental control over the choice of the spouse.There are many studies on the role of incentives in increasing/decreasing the pace of social integration through the medium of inter-caste marriage. Social integration is contextual and there is a need for more studies to bring out intrinsic factors behind inter-caste marriages.

PMGDISHA-Impact Assessment Report

The biggest change in the 21st century has and will be in regard to the upcoming advancements in digitisation and automation. From consuming information to creating, collaborating and socialising, the use of technology has become an integral part in our everyday lives. Familiarity with the working of these technologies has therefore, become a valuable learning tool for our society to move forward. Recognising the need and importance of digital literacy in today’s world, various agencies and organisations around the world have taken steps towards the introduction of these skills in different parts of the world. India with its growing population, has, emerged as both a consumer and producer of different digital tools. This growth, however, has been limited to only a fraction of its population- much of which belongs to the urban areas of the country. The rural parts on the contrary see a very limited use and adoption of different digital technologies and advances. A major reason for this problem has been identified as the lack of knowledge as well as awareness about the understanding and benefits of various digital tools and applications. This has created a digital divide between the urban and rural spaces within the country. This gap or digital divide has become more apparent as the country moves towards the adoption of a faster and more secure ways of faceless, cashless, contactless and paperless governance through the medium of digital technologies. The government policies today, rely heavily on digital operations in different sectors like education, healthcare, economy and governance. Citizen participation using digital technologies in this context emerges as an essential requisite. It is thus important that they aim to create an engaging, collaborative and agile framework for all.

District Good Governance Index UP Government

• India observes National Good Governance Day on 25th December, every year. The day marks the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• Good Governance Day is an effort to create awareness of accountability in government among the Indians. It became a tradition since 2014 to honour the memory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• Good Governance is the prerequisite for the sustainable growth and transformation.  overnments across the world are actively involved in evolving their strategies in and around good governance by involving citizens in co–creation of next generation public services. Good Governance Index (GGI) is a comprehensive and implementable framework to assess the State of Governance across different level of the government. It helps to assess the impact of various Governance interventions taken up by the State/ UTs.

Technology Gap Analysis- TRIFED

The Tribal Co-Operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) was set-up by the Government of India as National level Cooperative in 1987 under the administrative control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It was established with the basic mandate of bringing about socioeconomic development of tribals in the country. This was to be done by institutionalising the trade of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Surplus Agricultural Produce (SAP) collected/cultivated by tribals.

As a market developer and service provider, the objective of TRIFED is socio-economic development of tribal people in the country by way of marketing development of the tribal products on which the lives of tribals depends heavily as they spend most of their time and derive a major portion of their income. The philosophy behind this approach is to empower tribal people with knowledge, tools and pool of   formation so that they can undertake their operations in a more systematic and scientific manner.

Impact Assessment of the Scheme of Financial Assistance for Setting up of Electronics and ICT Academies

Technology development in the last two decades has led to increased automation and digitization across all sectors of society. It has changed the way we consume, create, communicate, entertain and collaborate. It has even altered the very nature of work and work spaces within the society. The E&ICT sector and industry, in the coming years, is thus poised to be at the forefront of economic growth and development of country. In this context, it becomes increasingly necessary to facilitate growth and improvement within the industry as a whole, so that India is able to carve out a substantial share for itself in the global market. This will not only allow the country to take lead in various innovations, but also contribute to its socio-economic growth and development.

An educator’s responsibility in this backdrop is higher than ever before. This can largely be attributed to the sheer scope, speed and impact of the technological changes around the world. Education models will thus have to adapt, equip and prepare the future workforce of the country to be critical, individual thinkers in an innovation driven economy. This can only be made possible through a training ecosystem which is closely aligned with the needs and demands of the industry.

Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Sap In India

Industry, in collaboration with other stakeholders – the government, civil society, think tanks and academia, play a major role in the process of socio-economic development of the country. Businesses, through their actions, are able to enhance people’s assets, capabilities, opportunities and standards of living. This assessment not only highlights the contribution made by SAP in India, but also its strategic drivers, the geography in which it operates, as well as the company’s course of impact creation.

SAP in India has been the fastest growing market of SAP SE, the world’s leading provider of business software solutions. It began operations in India in 1996 and has, since then, witnessed unprecedented growth both in terms of revenue and customer acquisition. With this spectacular growth in the Indian subcontinent (its key market), it also becomes imperative for SAP to pay heed to India’s growth and SAP’s involvement with it.

An ‘Organisation Impact Evaluation’ of SAP in India can help gauge upon the social and economic impact it has had on the nation as a whole. This task of undertaking the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of SAP in India was entrusted to Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi. IIPA acts as a think tank for the Government of India for training, research and information dissemination in streams related to the ethos of public policy and public administration.

Forest Rights Act, 2006:An Assessment of Ground Reality

The entire life cycle of the indigenous (Adivasi) people is in consonance with nature and culture. The life cycle of the tribal communities, as articulated by the scholars is often centred around jal, jungle and zamin (water, forest and land), authentic human labour, participation with nature, production for primary needs, consumption, distributions and saving. There are over 275 million tribal population and other forest dwellers living in the forest and who derive their livelihood from forest resources in India (VNR India, 2020). The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, known as forest right rights and/or tribal rights act recognizes the rights of the tribal communities and other traditional forest dwellers to forest resources, on which these communities are dependent for a variety of needs, including livelihood, habitation and other socio-cultural needs. The Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 recognizes the symbiotic relationship of the STs with the forests, reflected in their dependence on the forest as well as in their traditional wisdom regarding conservation of the forests. The Act encompasses Rights of Self-cultivation and Habitation which are usually regarded as Individual rights; and Community Rights such as Grazing, Fishing and access to Water bodies in forests, Habitat Rights for PVTGs, Traditional Seasonal Resource access of Nomadic and Pastoral community, access to biodiversity, community right to intellectual property and traditional knowledge, recognition of traditional customary rights and right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource for sustainable use. It also provides rights to allocation of forest land for developmental purposes to fulfil basic infrastructural needs of the community.

In conjunction with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Settlement Act, 2013, FRA protects the tribal population from eviction without rehabilitation and settlement (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India). The Act further enjoins upon the Gram Sabha and rights holders the responsibility of conservation and protection of bio-diversity, wildlife, forests, adjoining catchment areas, water sources and other ecologically sensitive areas as well as to stop any destructive practices affecting these resources or cultural and natural heritage of the tribals. The Gram Sabha is also a highly empowered body under the Act, enabling the tribal population to have a decisive say in the determination of local policies and schemes impacting them. Thus, the Act empowers the forest dwellers to access and use the forest resources in the manner that they were traditionally accustomed, to protect, conserve and manage forests, protect forest dwellers from unlawful evictions and also provides for basic development facilities for the community of forest dwellers to access facilities of education, health, nutrition, infrastructure etc. The three-fold objective of the forest rights act is to: (i) undo the historical injustice occurred to the forest dwelling communities, (ii) ensure land tenure, livelihood and food security of the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, and (iii) strengthen the conservation regime of the forests by including the responsibilities and authority on Forest Rights holders for sustainable use, conservation of  iodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance.

Evaluation of the impact of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Scheme on Unorganised Workers

The Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) is implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), Government of India. Enrolment of unorganized workers under the scheme is done by the Common Service Centers (CSCs). Whereas, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has been designated as a pension fund manager and responsible for pension pay out. The scheme is implemented through 3.53 lakh dedicated common service centers covering 36 Indian States and UTs. As on date, more than 49 lakh unorganized workers in the country engaged in various professions/occupations have already been empanelled under the scheme. It is expected that the scheme will benefit 42 crore strong unorganized workers in the country. It is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme under which the beneficiary would receive a minimum assured pension of Rs 3000/- per month after attaining the age of 60 years. Year-wise enrolment of unorganized worker subscribers under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Scheme in the States/UTs shows an upward trend. As on 20th December 2022, 49,18,331 unorganized workers are enrolled under the scheme in the country as a whole. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of enrolment of unorganized workers under the scheme is 12.38 per cent in the last five years. Budgetary allocation and expenditure pattern of the scheme reflects that the total fund allocated under the scheme for the financial year 2022-23 was ₹350 crore, out of which 26.3% has been incurred as on 31-10-2022. The States/UTs were granted ₹ 11.73 cr. in the year 2019-20 for undertaking IEC activities under the scheme. The Ministry has taken several steps to promote the scheme and bring awareness among the targeted beneficiaries and towards increasing the rate of enrolments under the scheme in a mission mode. To improve the implementation mechanism of the social security services for the unorganized workers, SMS have been sent to eligible beneficiaries registered under e-SHRAM falling under the age group of 18-40 years in order to encourage them to enroll under PM-SYM scheme. Furthermore, extensive social media campaigns have been launched and Pension Saptah is celebrated from 7th to 13th March, 2022 with an objective to enroll maximum number of beneficiaries through States/UTs and CSC- SPV machinery

Evaluation of the Scheme of Scholarship to the ST Students for Studies Abroad

Scholarship plays an important role in making higher education in abroad more accessible and affordable for the students belonging to the deprived sections of tribal society. Generally, students graduate from the higher educational institutions with enormous burden of study loan or limit their education at certain level in an attempt to minimize the costs. Since scholarships do not have a payback model, students availing scholarship focus on their careers rather incessantly bothering about how to repay the educational loans. While removing financial hurdles, scholarship impacts the ease of continuing and achieving higher education and career goals. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal Ministry for overall policy, planning and coordination of programmes meant for development of Schedule Tribes (STs) in the country.

Under the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for Higher Studies Abroad, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides financial assistance to students selected for pursuing higher studies abroad for Post-Graduation, Ph.D and Post-Doctoral research programmes. The Ministry has revised the scheme of National Overseas Scholarships (NOS) for ST candidates for implementation from the year 2017-18 onwards. 20 awards per year are sanctioned to ST students, out of which 17 numbers of awards are for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in general and 3 awards are for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). Six awards (30%) are earmarked for girls. Priority is given to candidates who have already secured preliminary letter/offer of admission; second priority is given to those who cleared GRE/GMAT/TOEFL etc. and have started applying to various universities and thereafter other candidates. The jurisdiction of the Scheme extends only to providing prescribed financial support to the selected candidates for pursuing higher education in the specified subjects. The scheme does not ensure

employment opportunities for the awardees after his/her having availed the award. The subject/disciplines in which courses may be undertaken for grant of award are such as Engineering, Management, Economics/Finance (07); Pure Science and Applied Science (03); Agriculture and Medicine (05) Humanities and Social Science (05). Grants are given to the selected candidates on 100 per cent basis directly by the Ministry through the Indian Mission. Ministry of Tribal Affairs conducts interview every year to select and award ST students for studies abroad. The Indian Mission abroad plays an important role in obtaining quarterly progress/performance reports from the universities/institutions where the Indian ST student is pursuing his/her studies for which the award has been given under the National Overseas Scholarship scheme and sends the report to Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Impact Evaluation of the Scheme of National Fellowship and Scholarship for Higher Education of ST Students – A Report

Scholarship and fellowship play an important role in making higher education more accessible and affordable for the students belonging to the deprived sections of tribal society. Generally, students graduate from the higher educational institutions with enormous burden of study loan or limit their education at certain level in an attempt to minimize the costs. Since scholarships do not have a payback model, students availing scholarship focus on their careers rather incessantly bothering about how to repay the educational loans. While removing financial hurdles, scholarship impacts the ease of continuing and achieving higher education and career goals. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal Ministry for overall policy, planning and coordination of programmes meant for development of Schedule Tribes (STs) in the country. Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been implementing the central sector scholarship schemes namely, national fellowship and scholarship for higher education of ST Students in the country through dedicated portals. Since the various components of the national scholarship and fellowship scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs covers tuition fees, books and stationery, living expenses, computer and accessories; and the national fellowship scheme for higher education of ST students covers fellowship, contingency, HRA and escort/reader assistance, it has certainly reduced the dropout rates especially among the tribal students from their higher studies. Further, it gives opportunity to the tribal students to pursue their studies in the premier educational institutions in the country. The scholarships and fellowships are sources which raise hopes and aspiration among the students belonging to marginalized sections for perusing their studies at the higher level. On successful completion of studies with the financial assistance in the form of scholarship and fellowship, tribal students have entered into the service sector both in private and public sectors through campus placement agencies in the country. There are 331 Universities where 4794 tribal Scholars are availing fellowship for their higher studies from Ministry of Tribal Affairs. All such Universities have been integrated with Fellowship portal through 'Verification Module', wherein the registered Nodal officer of University can view documents available on Digi-locker and documents uploaded by Scholar and can approve or reject application digitally. 

Evaluation of the Impact of Mission Shakti in Women Empowerment in KBK Districts in Odisha

National Commission for Women (NCW) has entrusted the task to conduct a study on ‘Evaluation of the Impact of Mission Shakti in Women Empowerment in KBK Districts of Odisha’ to Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. Mission Shakti is a flagship programme of Government of Odisha, launched on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2001 with an objective to empower women through Self Help Groups (SHGs) . In two decades, Mission Shakti has grown from 41,475 WSHGs during 2001-02 to 14 folds increase to 6,02,013 WSHGs during 2020-21. The revolutionary stride of Mission Shakti has supported over 6 lakh self-help groups covering 70 lakh women of Odisha. The study is a pioneering endeavour to review the organizational structure and pattern of Mission Shakti SHGs in Odisha.   

The primary objectives of the study were to: (i) analyse the socio-economic profile of Mission Shakti assisted tribal and rural WSHGs; (ii) examine the effectivity of Mission Shakti WSHGs with regard to employment generation, indebtedness reduction, financial inclusion and level of autonomy through generating awareness; (iii) examine the Mission Shakti initiatives in livelihood generation and women empowerment; (iv) examine the sustainability of income generating activities and group dynamics within SHGs; (v) analyse the entrepreneurial skills developed among WSHGs; (vi) document success stories and role models emerging from field inspections; (vii) examine the convergence of activities of Mission Shakti SHGs with line departments and finally, (viii) provide policy suggestions for effective implementation of the scheme 

The report is based on field survey conducted in four KBK districts of Odisha, namely: Kalahandi, Koraput, Balangir and Subaranapur. The study sample includes 201 household heads of SHG members and 196 SHG beneficiaries drawn from 96 SHGs villages from 8 blocks across the selected districts. The study is judicious mix of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. It is based upon exploratory research design. The respondents (SHG beneficiaries and households) of the study were drawn through purposive sampling method. The criteria for identifying the study area and the beneficiaries were mainly based upon geographical diversity, social composition of SHGs (SC, ST, OBC, General), maturity level of the SHGs and availability of SHGs formed by Self-Help Promoting Agencies (SHPAs)..  

Good Governance, Process and Policy in the state of Jammu and Kashmir,

The personal discussion with some scholars revealed a feeling that till a full-proof, comprehensive census of 2021 concludes, Centre may go ahead with the idea of Assembly elections. or, may formulate/nominate an interim government’ as envisaged in Article 239-A read with section 13 of J & K State Reorganization Act. It may be just pertinent to mention here that at present, there are 37,33,111 voters in Jammu Division, 40,10,971 voters in Kashmir Division and 1,79,147 voters in Ladakh Division15.Whatsoever, may be the case, it seems imperative that the 2011 Census did not endorse many migrants who left Kashmir as part of the exodus and are settled in various parts of the country or even out of the country to make a living,

The personal discussion with some scholars revealed a feeling that till a full-proof, comprehensive census of 2021 concludes, Centre may go ahead with the idea of Assembly elections. or, may formulate/nominate an interim government’ as envisaged in Article 239-A read with section 13 of J & K State Reorganization Act. It may be just pertinent to mention here that at present, there are 37,33,111 voters in Jammu Division, 40,10,971 voters in Kashmir Division and 1,79,147 voters in Ladakh Division15.Whatsoever, may be the case, it seems imperative that the 2011 Census did not endorse many migrants who left Kashmir as part of the exodus and are settled in various parts of the country or even out of the country to make a living, Thus the above data shows that the distribution of the Assembly seats in the J&K region is not balanced. To reduce the blatant gaps, the Central Government must revisit the Delimitation process so as to make way for factoring a self-assured distribution of seats. And for purposes of study, analysis and making recommendations, the entire state needs to be taken as one cohesive unit. Delimitation of J&K Assembly seats will end partisanship that favours currently one region, which turned the state into ‘rotten borough’ of valley.16 Our survey revealed that majority of the people are in favour of the idea that Central Government should go for Delimitation in J&K, however amongst the respondents, a section of the people felt strongly that population should be the prime basis for such an activity,