A Study of Effectiveness of Kanyashree Prakalpa in Women Empowerment
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
International Journal of Applied Research 2020; 6(11): 407-414 ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 A study of effectiveness of Kanyashree Prakalpa in Impact Factor: 8.4 IJAR 2020; 6(11): 407-414 women empowerment in Murshidabad district of west www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 12-08-2020 Bengal: Role and contribution of teachers, Gram Accepted: 02-10-2020 panchayats and librarians Subrata Biswas Research Scholar, Department of Lifelong Subrata Biswas and Dr. Prasenjit Deb Learning, Extension, University of Kalyani, Abstract Kalyani, West Bengal, India Women represent nearly half of the population and if empowered, will enhance the pace of national Dr. Prasenjit Deb development. Education is considered as a milestone for women empowerment because it enables them Professor and Head, to respond to challenges, to confront their traditional role and change their lives. Ideally, it should be Department of Lifelong equity approach and not welfare oriented one. Women have so much unexplored potential which has Learning & Extension, hardly been harnessed. According to the census of 2011, the female literacy rate was 65.46% whereas University of Kalyani, male literacy rate was over 80%. Gram Panchayat is viewed as a solution to all the problems related to Kalyani, West Bengal, India rural development and plays a significant role in the empowerment of the marginalized section of society, especially women. This analysis also reveals that libraries can have profound influence in dissemination of knowledge to empower women of the community-at-large. This paper discusses the effectiveness of Kanyashree Prakalpa in women empowerment and the role and contribution of Teachers, Gram Panchayats and Librarians as well as the challenges and changes that we must have to deal with during the process. Kanyashree Prakalpa, an initiative taken by the Government of West Bengal can be successfully spread among the community-at-large by the public libraries Keywords: Women Empowerment, Kanyashree Prakalpa, Teacher, Gram Panchayat, Librarian, Public Library etc. Introduction Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru once said: “If you educate a man you educate an individual, however, if you educate a woman you educate a whole family. Women empowered means mother India empowered”. Women represent half of the society, and are an integral part of political, social, economic and health opportunities. Women with disabilities have been largely neglected. Also due to several societal ‘traditions and customs’, they never were a part of the decision making process. Though at present women enjoy equal status with men as per the constitution and legal provisions but still, they have a long way to go. Women’s empowerment is vital towards the development of the society. The status of various educational opportunities for women, reasons behind poor implementation of educational opportunities, disparities in educational opportunities and causes underlying disparities in educational opportunities have been successfully studied by Bhagat (2017) [1]. The paper also strongly recommends that various schemes, policies and programmes for women empowerment whether it is social, economic or political, should be women friendly and this can be achieved through: awareness campaigns, workshops and seminars; arranging programmes for interaction with other empowered women in the society; starting short term diploma or certificate courses in areas of rural development with special emphasis on projects for women’s development etc [1] . That a society may not progress without education especially in village areas and library Corresponding Author: is considered to be the prime source of information has been highlighted through the studies Subrata Biswas Sport can be beneficialrts, including fun, fitness, social interaction and stress relief. Research Scholar, Participating in sports, including fun, fitness, social interaction and stress relief. Participating Department of Lifelong in sports is especially imports is especially imp if you participate regularly the purpose of the Learning, Extension, University of Kalyani, study was to find out the parental attitude towards female participation in sports of Basak Kalyani, West Bengal, India (2018). ~ 407 ~ International Journal of Applied Research http://www.allresearchjournal.com Therefore, the importance of library and functions of a 3. To highlight the challenges against women librarian as per thoughts of Gurudev formed the basis behind empowerment the preparation of this study [2]. 4. The role of Gram panchayats towards the effectiveness The powerful role of public libraries in implementing the of Kanyashree Prakalpa in women empowerment. information literacy programs, initiated by Government of 5. To role of a librarian in getting information towards India, constraints faced by public libraries in implementing women empowerment the IL programs, and marketing and promotion of IL programs were the subjects of the study conducted by Methodology Srikanth (2017). Suggestions are made for offering effective The present study is dealing with the study of effectiveness IL programs by the public libraries [3]. of Kanyashree Prakalpa in women empowerment in In enhancing empowerment, women’s age, age at marriage, work experience and husband’s education and occupation, Murshidabad district of West Bengal: Role and contribution women’s self achievement to earn more income, economic of Teachers, Gram Panchayats and Librarians. The status and positive attitude towards job play a profound researchers have employed survey method. The primary positive influence (Thapa & Gurung, 2010). The study also data was collected from November 2018 to June 2019 from underpins the importance of economic interventions to Murshidabad District of West Bengal. The data was empower and uplift the holistic condition of women [4]. collected from 50 teachers, 30 Gram Panchayats and 20 In school management, women are able to attain librarians of public library of four blocks such as Lalgola, management positions and can perform creditably becoming Beldanga-II, Jalangi and Nabagram in Murshidabad of West an imperative for educational planning and management. Bengal. It attempts to describe and interpret practices, This was surveyed by Irechukwu (2010). Therefore, equal processes, trends, effects, attitudes and beliefs etc. of the opportunities should be given to both sexes in order to tap phenomenon. Hence, this method has been found to be the their talents and abilities for societal progress [5]. most suitable for this study. Self-help Groups can also mark the beginning of a major process of empowering women, although not much attention Population of the study was paid to women’s formal education (Ghosh, Chakravarti All teachers, Gram panchayats and librarians of and Mansi, 2015). The study explores the impact of these Murshidabad District of West Bengal constituted the measures on women’s empowerment in the states of West population of the present study. Bengal and Mizoram. The study also found that affirmative action does ensure that larger number of women may enter Variable into the arena of politics. Simultaneously, it does not ensure that the women participating in politics function as elected The variables are used in this study: representatives, because of lack of education. Empowerment needs to be seen as a holistic outcome of processes of Dependent Variable critical education that enables women to lead autonomous The perception of teachers towards the effectiveness of lives and the freedom to act. Both affirmative action and Kanyashree Prakalpa in women empowerment (Y), role of education are necessary to empower women who have Gram Panchayats towards the effectiveness of Kanyashree suffered discrimination and lack of power always [6]. Prakalpa in women empowerment (Z) and the role of a Another aspect of women’s empowerment is the intimate librarian in getting information towards women connection between employment in general and self- empowerment (W). employment in particular. This was the subject matter of study of Konesa & Kumar (2013). They also attempted to Independent Variable know what measures the Panchayat Raj Institutions had Age of the respondent (X1), educational status (X2), taken to implement employment schemes, especially objectives of the Kanyashree Prakalpa (X3), useful of [7] Swaranjayanti Gram Swaranrozgar Yojana . Kanyashree Prakalpa (X4), Kanyashree Prakalpa helps to Another study of Demasson, Partridge and Bruce (2017) reduce girls’ dropout (X5), Kanyashree Prakalpa helps revealed that the respondents constituted information reduce child marriage (X6), Kanyashree Prakalpa helps to literacy in four ways, as: intellectual process, technical get higher education for girls (X ), Kanyashree one-time skills, navigating the social world and gaining the desired 7 grant helps girls to make them self-reliant (X ), utility of result. The findings and the attending study will help to 8 Kanyashree one-time grant (X ), availability of other provide a new evidence base that assists in the design and 9 delivery of activities supporting future information literacy schemes (X10), knowledge about the Kanyashree Prakalpa endeavors in the nation’s public libraries [8]. (X11), how to help in the case of women empowerment The librarian’s multiple roles as an expert searcher, (X12), Gram Panchayat’s help for Kanyashree Prakalpa organizer, and analyzer form an integral part of the (X13), what steps do you think should be taken for girls to Cochrane Collaboration’s criteria