JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS
ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 OPINION TOWARDS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN SOUTH 24 PARGANAS DISTRICT OF WEST BENGAL
Md. Yeosuf Akhter1, Prasenjit Deb2
1Research Scholar, Department of Lifelong Learning & Extension, University of Kalyani, India 2Professor and Head, Department of Lifelong Learning & Extension, University of Kalyani, India
Received: 14 March 2020 Revised and Accepted: 8 July 2020
ABSTRACT: Kanyashree Prakapla is one of the most valuable public service schemes introduced by the Government of West Bengal to develop the lives and conditions of girl children in providing cash assistance especially for the economically backward families. The purpose of this study is to find out whether this pecuniary assistance of one time grant of Rs 25,000 is endowing the poor families with any other benefit apart from helping to arrange marriage of their girl children. With the aid of this grant the girl children from poor family background are able to continue their much needed studies. The main focus of this scheme is to reduce child labour, child marriage, school dropouts, to increase female literacy, and to ensure women empowerment. Public library is a place from where all types of information are disseminated. The main aim of this study is to find out whether public libraries are able to disseminate information about Kanyashree Prakalpa and other public service schemes to girl students of marginalized families in order to empower them. It is interesting to note that during survey, handsome cases of early child marriages were found as the most alarming subject of further research.
KEYWORDS: Women empowerment, public library, scholarship, female education, child marriage, dissemination of valuable information, Kanyashree Prakalpa, school dropouts, etc.
I. INTRODUCTION “Educate a man and you educate an individual. Educate a woman and you educate a family”.(A. Cripps). The concept of empowerment stems from power. It is vested where it does not exist or exist inadequately. Empowering women means making women economically independent, self-reliant, and having a positive self- esteem, so that they can face any difficult situation and are able to participate in all developmental activities related to the progress of the society. Empowered women should be able to participate in the decision-making process. According to Jose´ N Harris, “Waiting hurts. Forgetting hurts. But not knowing which decision to take can sometimes be the most painful...” Unless women can help themselves spontaneously, they cannot be empowered. There is a need to develop regulations to reduce feminized poverty, promote education for women, and prevent and eliminate violence against women. For empowering women the Government of West Bengal has launched so many Public Service Schemes such as Kanyashree Prakalpa, Sabuj Sathi, Rupashree, Yubashree etc. Here we would like to highlight Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme only. Kanyashree Prakalpa aims at ensuring girls‟ staying in school for a longer span of time to complete studies and delay their marriages till the age of at least 18. Kanyashree‟s approach is quite simple: it uses a social safety net mechanism that has shown a high degree of success in transforming the lives of children and adolescents in several countries in the world. This scheme operates primarily on the platform of Conditional Cash Transfers. The scheme has three cash transfer components. There is a vivid discussion below. The first is an annual incentive of Rs. 750/- (now it is Rs. 1,000/-) to be paid annually to the girls of age group 13 to 18 years (studying in Class VIII or equivalent or above for every year that they remain in education, provided they are unmarried at the time). The second is a one-time grant of Rs. 25,000/-, to be paid after a girl turns 18, provided that she was engaged in an academic or occupational pursuit and was unmarried. The third one is that Rs. 2,000 to be given to female students of Arts and Commerce Stream and Rs. 2,500 to female students of Science Stream for University level on a monthly basis. The term „education‟ encompasses secondary and higher secondary education, as well as the various vocational, technical and sports courses available for this age group. Given that children from socio-economically disadvantaged families are more vulnerable to child marriage, the scheme is open only to girls from families whose annual income is Rs. 1,20,000/- or less. For girls with special needs, orphans and girls in J. J. Homes the income criterion is waived. Girls with special needs, but in a class below VIII, can also apply for the annual scholarship.
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 Public Library acts as a nerve of knowledge centre in our civilization. Laura Bush in her famous quote said, "I have found out the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card”. The Public libraries have their stocks for the common people and users‟ requirements where the Library is situated. Sometimes Public Library offer some knowledge disseminating programs such as seminars, workshops, quiz contests, displaying new arrival of books, displaying old and rare stocks etc. Women empowerment can be improved with the help of Public Library also. Various types of women empowerment related training can be offered by the Public Libraries such as training of tailoring, sewing, women awareness training etc. Public Library has a great role for empowering the women. Many types of research have been done on the empowerment of women and the public library system. They are as follows: Jindal and Tripathi (2020) found in their study that women have been advancing, progressing and proving that they can surpass men in any sector, whether it is in sports, arts, science, politics, and service or anywhere: she is at par with men. Yet, she ponders for safety. Pessimistic and gruesome cases of brutal rape and murder by the nexus of many trafficking methods have alarmed and gained the entire nation‟s attention on the necessity for effective measures of security and safety of women in country. According to Batra and Yadav (2020), the study found that positive changes occurred in case of household decision making process especially in sale and purchase. Similar results were observed in case of expenditure on health. After becoming part of groups, women are now well aware about voting rights and quota in local Panchayat. The leadership skills are significantly improved in this case. The econometric analysis shows that education and position in groups are important factors in these aspects of empowerment. The study also observed that the participating NGOs have contributed a significant role in this process and suggests strengthening the capacities of such organizations so that other SHGs can get benefit and be successful. In the study of Nisa and Saranyadevi (2020), it was found that women empowerment ensures autonomy to women to practice, exercise, take decisions and make strategic life choices independently. It is the process in which women elaborate and recreate what they can be, do, and accomplish in a circumstance that they previously were denied. This study is based on both primary and secondary data. This paper is a study on government policies, role of society and organization to understand the importance of women empowerment for inclusive growth in the private sector of any nation. This study brings up all the hindrances and barriers related to women empowerment in this competitive world and suggests changes in acceptance level, perception, education and employment opportunities empowering women to make a difference of significance. Shikalgar (2020) stated in his study that in India, the emergence of liberalization and globalization in early 1990s aggravated the problem of women workers in the unorganized sectors from bad to worse as most of the women who were engaged in various self-employment activities have lost their livelihood. Despite the tremendous contribution of women to the agricultural sector, their work is unjustly considered as an extension of household domain and remains non-monetized. In 1992 Government introduced Micro Finance facilities through Self Help Group (SHG) Launched by NABARD. It was an insignificant beginning of a Pilot Programme launched by NABARD by linking 255 SHGs with banks in 1992. However in 2009-10, the programme has reached a certain dimension by linking 69.5 lakh saving-linked SHGs and 48.5 lakh credit- linked SHGs and thus about 9.7 crore households are covered under the programme. Out of this women saving- linked SHGs is 5310436 and credit linked women SHGs is 3897797 and loan distributed to these groups is Rs. 23030.36 crore which is 82.1% of total loan outstanding up to the year ended on 31.03.2010.(NABARD Report). According to Madhan (2019), the paper is basically vivid and inquisitive in nature. In this paper an attempt has been taken to scrutinize the empowerment of women in India. The data used in it is purely from secondary sources according to the need of this study. The study betrays that women of India are comparatively disempowered and they enjoy somewhat lower status than that of men in spite of many efforts undertaken by Government. It is found that acceptance of unequal gender norms by women is still prevailing in the society. The study concludes by an inspection that access to Education, Employment and Changes in Social Structure are only the legalizing factors to Women Empowerment. According to Monica (2019) this paper seeks to understand how much women are empowered to be on its own and how women are contributing to the national economy. The breeze of women entrepreneurship is touching all the areas to trigger the potentials out. In the words of Late Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”. It lucidly clears the value of women in the Indian Constitution and how women play a prominent role in the development of the economy. Indian Constitution has always stood forward for women development. This paper highlights the various schemes and provisions of Government of India together with banks for women entrepreneurship and development.
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 Frederiksen (2015) found in his study that Public Libraries are unique public spaces where people are formed as workers and citizens, and through which they can also contest neoliberal disinvestment from the public sphere. Accordind to Guccio, Mignosa and Rizzo (2018), it shows the importance of considering multi-process interactions in evaluating the overall performance of public state libraries and focuses on library operations and their sub-processes. It uses a network two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to examine the relationship between the libraries' basic inputs, intermediate outputs and final outputs. According to Galbraith, Merrill and Outzen (2018), the findings indicate in their study that race and gender pay disparities are larger at private libraries than at public libraries. However, disparity levels at both public and private ARL libraries are smaller than the national averages for all professions and continue to shrink. In the study of Anderson and Whalley (2015), they analyzed demonstrating the role that libraries play as the provider of public Internet access. It shows that this role is not without its difficulties – inadequate levels of resources have been provided to fulfill the multiple roles that libraries perform in these communities. Libraries enable users to engage in a wide array of online activities, the range of which reflects both the push of Government policies and the pull of innovative services. From the above literature it can be easily figured out how much research works were done on women empowerment and public libraries. However, no research has yet revealed the role of public libraries in empowering women. In this sense, this study is not only unique, but also the first attempt in 24 Parganas District, West Bengal. II. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 1. To study the present status of public libraries of Budge Budge- II Community Development Block of South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal. 2. To assess the proper utilization of Kanyashree one time grant of Rupees Twenty Five Thousand. 3. To appraise the present status of women empowerment in Budge Budge-II Community Development Block in South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal. 4. To evaluate the role of parents towards women empowerment. 5. To estimate the role of schools or colleges in getting Kanyashree one-time grant of Rs. 25,000/-. 6. To study the role of Gram Panchayet or Block Development Office about Kanyashree Prakalpa and other schemes of Government of West Bengal . 7. To find out the effectiveness of Kannyashree Prakalpa in empowering women for continuing education and reducing child marriage. 8. To identify the role of public libraries especially in women empowerment. III. METHODS a. Study setting The West Bengal government has introduced Kanyashree Prakalpa in 2013. This is a Conditional Cash Transfer Program for 18-year-old girls. A three-level scholarship of Rs 750 is provided annually for continuing education (K1) and if the girl is unmarried and continues to receive education before the age of 18, she will receive a one- time grant of Rs 25,000 (K2). Kanyashree girls, whether single or married, can receive financial assistance as long as they accept PG study in the Swami Vivekananda Merit and Mean Scholarship Program (K3), provided these girls have a graduation score of at least 45% in West Bengal. In order to pursue postgraduate courses in arts and commerce, each K3 beneficiary will receive a fee of Rs 2,000. And to continue to study post graduate science courses, each K3 beneficiary will receive a subsidy of 2500 rupees. The goal of this plan is to achieve women‟s education and prevent girls‟ marriage before the age of 18 years throughout the state of West Bengal. The main aim of this study is to find out the role of the public libraries in disseminating information and help to the students regarding Kanyashree Prakalpa and other Government schemes provided by the Government of West Bengal in order to empower them. b. Study Design This paper is based mainly on primary data collected from parents of Kanyashree girls. The data were collected from the parents of Kanyashree child who got one time grant of Rs. 25,000 in Budge Budge- II community development block of South 24 Parganas District in West Bengal. The researcher has gone through an in-depth study at the beginning of this survey. The survey was conducted in the span of February 2020 to March 2020.
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 According to the 2011 Census of India, the Budge Budge II CD block had a total population of 192,134, of which 135,254 were rural and 56,880 were urban. There were 98,570 (51%) males and 93,564 (49%) females. There were 20,985 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 38,495 (20.04%) and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 262 (0.14%). As per 2011 census, the total number of literate persons in the Budge Budge II CD block was 135,428 (79.13% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 73,573 (83.75% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 61,855 (74.26% of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 9.49%. In 2013-14, the Budge Budge II CD block had 93 primary schools with 7,945 students, 7 middle schools with 767 students, 10 high schools with 3,196 students and 14 higher secondary schools with 9,329 students. Budge Budge II CD block had 1 general degree college with 1,429 students and 250 institutions for formal, special and non-formal education with 8,785 students. IV. MEASURES a. Outcomes Results of this analysis involved in three steps. In the first step, the analysis includes the effectiveness of Kanyashree one time grant (Y) from 15 independent variables such as age of the respondent (X1), educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), association with self-help group (X6), reason behind the association with self-help group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) and role of Block Development Office in getting public services (X15). In the second step, we conducted a study to assess parents‟ views on women empowerment (Z) from 22 causal factors such as the age of the respondent (X1), educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), association with self-help group (X6), reason behind the association with self-help group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) and role of Block Development Office in getting public services (X15), effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18), encouragement towards women empowerment (X19), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) and activities of public libraries (X27). The third step is to collect data to assess the role of public libraries in women empowerment (W) from 15 following variables, such as the Kanyashree grant (X16), use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18), encouragement towards women empowerment (X19), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), assess the level of women empowerment (X21), availability of public library (X22), association with rural public library (X23), level of association with rural library (X24), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25), available services of rural library (X26), activities of public libraries (X27), expected services of rural library (X28), up-gradation of public library (X29) and suggestion towards development public library (X30). b. Analysis Using correlation and multiple regression models, we evaluated the effectiveness of Kanyashree one-time grant (Y) from 15 independent variables. We find out the perception level of parents on women empowerment (Z) from 22 casual variables and role of public libraries towards women empowerment (W) from15 casual variables from different socio-economic and personal variables. Table - I: Correlation Analysis between dependent variable effectiveness of Kanyashree one time grant (Y) and 15 casual variables Variables „r‟ Value
Age of the respondent (X1) 0.0954
Educational status (X2) 0.7100**
Financial condition of the family (X3) 0.7465**
Housing condition (X4) 0.8251**
Involvement towards the society (X5) 0.4465**
Association with Self Help Group (X6) -0.6569**
Reason behind the association with Self Help Group (X7) -0.4403**
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Availing bank loan (X8) -0.5448**
Reason behind taking the bank loan (X9) -0.4899**
Nature and extent of savings (X10) -0.5503**
Attention towards daughter‟s education (X11) 0.6240**
Expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12) 0.8163**
Difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13) -0.8344**
Role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) -0.7496**
Role of Block Development Office in getting public services (X15) -0.7207** Critical value (2-Tail, 0.05) = +or- 0.197 *Significant at 5% level Critical value (2-Tail, 0.01) = +or- 0.256 ** Significant at 1% level Table 1 shows parents' assessment on the effectiveness of Kanyashree's one-time grant (Y), which comes from 15 independent variables, such as age of the respondent (X1), educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), association with self-help group (X6), reason behind the association with self-help group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) and role of block development office in getting public services (X15). From the table of correlation coefficient, it has been found that educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11) and expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12) had strong positive bearing on the level of perception about the effectiveness of Kanyashree one time grant towards the empowerment of women. The variables such as association with Self Help Group (X6), reason behind the association with Self Help Group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of gram panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) and role of block development office in getting public services (X15) had strong negative bearing on the level of perception about the effectiveness of Kanyashree one time grant towards the women empowerment. Table II: Multiple Regression Analysis Variables “β” value “t” value
Age of the respondent (X1) 0.043500 0.789
Educational status (X2) 0.230427 2.491*
Financial condition of the family (X3) 2.474757 2.422*
Housing condition (X4) 0.264807 0.757
Involvement towards the society (X5) 0.058197 0.902
Association with Self Help Group (X6) 1.500434 2.591*
Reason behind the association with Self Help Group (X7) 0.012780 0.084
Availing bank loan (X8) -4.688503 -2.878**
Reason behind taking the bank loan (X9) 0.874914 1.456
Nature and extent of savings (X10) 2.980077 3.033**
Attention towards daughter‟s education (X11) 0.016606 0.179
Expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12) 0.519806 2.037*
Difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13) -0.349211 -1.261
Role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) 2.248861 2.652**
Role of Block Development Office in getting public services (X15) 0.006601 0.025 Critical value (2-Tail, 0.05) = +or- 1.989 *Significant at 5% level Critical value (2-Tail, 0.01) = +or- 2.636 ** Significant at 1% level Multiple R = 0.88876 R Square = 0.78989 Adjusted R Square = 0.75237 Standard Error = 0.43497 Analysis of Variance DF Sum of Squares Mean Square Regression 15 59.74756 3.98317
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 Residual 84 15.89244 0.18920 F = 21.05317 Signif F = .0000 Table II presents the multiple regression analyses with β values and corresponding t-values. It is visible that the variables like age of the respondent (X1), educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), association with self-help group (X6), reason behind the association with self-help group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of gram panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) and role of block development office in getting public services (X15). Different factors have been identified that affect the effectiveness of the Kanyashree one-time grant. It should also be mentioned that all fifteen variables put together can explain 78.98 per cent of the total effect (R2 = 0.78989). Table III: Step-down Regression Model
Step I: X13 Multiple R = 0.83443 R Square = 0.69628 Adjusted R Square = 0.69318 Standard Error = 0.48417
Step II: X2 Multiple R = 0.84501 R Square = 0.71404 Adjusted R Square = 0.70815 Standard Error = 0.47222
Step III: X12 Multiple R = 0.85167 R Square = 0.72534 Adjusted R Square = 0.71675 Standard Error = 0.46520
Step IV: X10 Multiple R = 0.86741 R Square = 0.75240 Adjusted R Square = 0.74197
Standard Error = 0.44401 Table III shows the stepwise regression model. It is found that after the 4th step, 4 variables namely difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), educational status (X2), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12) and nature and extent of savings (X10) together can explain 75.24 per cent of the total effect. Here, these 4 variables can explain for a regression effect of 75.24 per cent on the effectiveness level of Kanyashree one-time grant, while the total estimate value is 78.98 per cent. We make use of socio-economic and personal variables, the role of gram panchayat and block development office to show the perceptional level of parents on women empowerment as the effectiveness of the Kanyashree one-time grant. Table - IV: Correlation Analysis between dependent variable the perception level of parents on women empowerment (Z) and 22 casual variables Variables „r‟ Value
Age of the respondent (X1) 0.0174
Educational status (X2) 0.5950**
Financial condition of the family (X3) 0.6466**
Housing condition (X4) 0.7093**
Involvement towards the society (X5) 0.3536**
Association with Self Help Group (X6) -.6502**
Reason behind the association with Self Help Group (X7) -.4252**
Availing bank loan (X8) -.5331**
Reason behind taking the bank loan (X9) -.4745**
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Nature and extent of savings (X10) -.5289**
Attention towards daughter‟s education (X11) 0.5877**
Expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12) 0.7117**
Difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13) -.6810**
Role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) -.6502**
Role of Block Development Office in getting public services (X15) -.6193**
Effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16) 0.7474**
Use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17) -.5053**
Wages towards women empowerment (X18) -.7366**
Encouragement towards women empowerment (X19) -.7327**
Social taboo towards women empowerment (X20) 0.3463**
Role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) 0.4690**
Activities of public libraries (X27) 0.3880** Critical value (2-Tail, 0.05) = +or- 0.197 *Significant at 5% level Critical value (2-Tail, 0.01) = +or- 0.256 ** Significant at 1% level Table IV describes the level of parents on women empowerment from 22 causal factors (Z) like age of the respondent (X1), educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), association with self-help group (X6), reason behind the association with self-help group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) and role of block development office in getting public services (X15), effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18), encouragement towards women empowerment (X19), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) and activities of public libraries (X27). From the correlation coefficient table, it has been found that the variables such as educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12), effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) and activities of public libraries (X27) had strong positive bearing on the level of perception about the empowerment of women. And the another variables such as association with Self Help Group (X6), reason behind the association with Self Help Group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of gram panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14), role of block development office in getting public services (X15), use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18) and encouragement towards women empowerment (X19) had strong negative bearing on the level of perception about the empowerment of women. Table V: Multiple Regression Analysis Variables “β” value “t” value
Age of the respondent (X1) 0.002763 0.048
Educational status (X2) 0.075829 0.729
Financial condition of the family (X3) 14.579307 4.956**
Housing condition (X4) 6.408465 5.293**
Involvement towards the society (X5) 0.055810 0.694
Association with Self Help Group (X6) 4.501504 3.463**
Reason behind the association with Self Help Group (X7) 0.080562 0.511
Availing bank loan (X8) 0.098954 0.055
Reason behind taking the bank loan (X9) 4.211437 3.703**
Nature and extent of savings (X10) -6.371454 -3.399**
Attention towards daughter‟s education (X11) -0.098419 -1.002
Expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12) 0.121890 0.349
Difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13) 2.308084 5.183**
Role of Gram Panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) 12.505295 4.856**
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Role of Block Development Office in getting public services (X15) 0.054882 0.202
Effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16) 0.517402 4.315**
Use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17) 6.318087 5.240**
Wages towards women empowerment (X18) -9.926053 -5.740**
Encouragement towards women empowerment (X19) 6.049833 5.748**
Social taboo towards women empowerment (X20) -5.432640 -5.044**
Role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) 0.164660 0.953
Activities of public libraries (X27) -0.419427 -2.774** Critical value (2-Tail, 0.05) = +or- 1.991 *Significant at 5% level Critical value (2-Tail, 0.01) = +or- 2.641 ** Significant at 1% level Multiple R = 0.89085 R Square = 0.79361 Adjusted R Square = 0.73465 Standard Error = 0.43374 Analysis of Variance DF Sum of Squares Mean Square Regression 22 55.70369 2.53199 Residual 77 14.48631 0.18813 F = 13.45842 Signif F = 0.0000 Table V presents the multiple regression analyses with β values and corresponding t-values. It is visible that the variables like age of the respondent (X1), educational status (X2), financial condition of the family (X3), housing condition (X4), involvement towards the society (X5), association with self-help group (X6), reason behind the association with self-help group (X7), availing bank loan (X8), reason behind taking the bank loan (X9), nature and extent of savings (X10), attention towards daughter‟s education (X11), expenditure towards daughter‟s education (X12), difficulties towards daughter‟s education(X13), role of gram panchayat in getting Kanyashree grant (X14) and role of block development office in getting public services (X15), effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18), encouragement towards women empowerment (X19), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) and activities of public libraries (X27). Significant regression has been found in assessing the level of parents' perception on women's empowerment. Different factors affecting the level of women's empowerment have been identified. It is also mentioned that adding all 22 variables together can explain 79.36 per cent of the total effect (R2 = 0.79361). We considered the relationship between the role of public libraries and socio-economic and personal variables, the role of local self- government, the effectiveness of Kanyashree one-time grant, issues related to women empowerment, and public library participation in empowering women are considered as independent variables. Table VI: Step-down Regression Model
Step I: X16 Multiple R = 0.74742 R Square = 0.55864 Adjusted R Square = 0.55413 Standard Error = 0.56224
Step II: X18 Multiple R = 0.77782 R Square = 0.60500 Adjusted R Square = 0.59685 Standard Error = 0.53463
Step III: X27 Multiple R = 0.79127 R Square = 0.62611 Adjusted R Square = 0.61443 Standard Error = 0.52285
Step IV: X6
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 Multiple R = 0.80283 R Square = 0.64454 Adjusted R Square = 0.62957 Standard Error = 0.51247
Step V: X10 Multiple R = 0.81677 R Square = 0.66712 Adjusted R Square = 0.64941 Standard Error = 0.49856
Step VI: X18 Multiple R = 0.81113 R Square = 0.65793 Adjusted R Square = 0.64352 Standard Error = 0.50273 Table VI shows the use of a stepwise regression model to isolate the main independent variables. It was found that after step 6, the 6 variables were effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), wages towards women empowerment (X18), activities of public libraries (X27), association with self-help group (X6), nature and extent of savings (X10) and wages towards women empowerment (X18) can together explain 65.79 per cent of the total effect 79.36 per cent. Table - VII: Correlation Analysis between dependent variable role of public libraries towards women empowerment (W) and 15 casual variables Variables „r‟ Value
Effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16) 0.6066**
Use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17) -.5099**
Wages towards women empowerment (X18) -.6230**
Encouragement towards women empowerment (X19) -.6217**
Social taboo towards women empowerment (X20) 0.2046*
Assess the level of women empowerment (X21) 0.4322**
Availability of public library (X22) 0.7906**
Association with rural public library (X23) 0.9176**
Level of association with rural library (X24) 0.9176**
Role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) 0.9153**
Available services of rural library (X26) 0.8891**
Activities of public libraries (X27) 0.9251**
Expected services of rural library (X28) 0.7570**
Up-gradation of public library (X29) 0.8559**
Suggestion towards development public library (X30) 0.8321** Critical value (2-Tail, 0.05) = +or- 0.197 *Significant at 5% level Critical value (2-Tail, 0.01) = +or- 0.256 ** Significant at 1% level Table VII is derived from the parents‟ perception roles of public libraries towards women empowerment (W) from 15 casual variables, such as, effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18), encouragement towards women empowerment (X19), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), assess the level of women empowerment (X21), availability of public library (X22), association with rural public library (X23), level of association with rural library (X24), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25), available services of rural library (X26), activities of public libraries (X27), expected services of rural library (X28), up-gradation of public library (X29) and suggestion towards development public library (X30).From the correlation coefficient table, we can find that the variables such as effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), assess the level of women empowerment (X21), availability of public library (X22), association with rural public library (X23), level of association with rural library (X24), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25), available services of rural library (X26) , activities of public libraries (X27), expected services of rural library (X28), up-gradation of public library (X29) and suggestion towards
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 development public library (X30) had positive bearing on the level of perception of parents to evaluate the functions of public libraries towards women empowerment. Variables, such as, use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18) and encouragement towards women empowerment (X19) had strong negative bearing on the level of perception of parents in evaluating the functions of public libraries towards women empowerment. Table VIII: Multiple Regression Analysis Variables “β” value “t” value
Effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16) 0.038335 0.494
Use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17) -.005421 -.047
Wages towards women empowerment (X18) -.026809 -.125
Encouragement towards women empowerment (X19) 0.005845 0.023
Social taboo towards women empowerment (X20) .049970 0.482
Assess the level of women empowerment (X21) 0.019419 0.347
Availability of public library (X22) 0.109853 0.918
Level of association with rural library (X24) 0.395312 2.275*
Role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) 0.171951 1.354
Available services of rural library (X26) -.222240 -1.363
Activities of public libraries (X27) 0.666159 3.570**
Expected services of rural library (X28) -.156078 -2.108*
Up-gradation of public library (X29) 0.534081 2.151*
Suggestion towards development public library (X30) -.616385 -2.316* Critical value (2-Tail, 0.05) = +or- 1.989 *Significant at 5% level Critical value (2-Tail, 0.01) = +or- 2.636 ** Significant at 1% level Multiple R = 0.95363 R Square = 0.90942 Adjusted R Square = 0.89450 Standard Error = 0.38785 Analysis of Variance DF Sum of Squares Mean Square Regression 14 128.37338 9.16953 Residual 85 12.78662 0.15043 F = 60.95510 Signif F = 0.0000 Table VIII provides a multiple regression analysis with β values and corresponding t-values. It can be seen that the variable like effectiveness of Kanyashree grant (X16), use of Kanyashree scholarship grant towards education (X17), wages towards women empowerment (X18), encouragement towards women empowerment (X19), social taboo towards women empowerment (X20), assess the level of women empowerment (X21), availability of public library (X22), association with rural public library (X23), level of association with rural library (X24), role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25), available services of rural library (X26), activities of public libraries (X27), expected services of rural library (X28), up-gradation of public library (X29) and suggestion towards development public library (X30) have been found to exercise significant regressional effect on the predictor variable. The various factors were found to impact the role of public libraries towards women empowerment. It is also mentioned that all fifteen variables together can explain 90.94 percent (R2 = 0.90942) of the total effect. Table IX: Step-down Regression Model
Step I: X27 Multiple R = 0.92509 R Square = 0.85579 Adjusted R Square = 0.85432 Standard Error = 0.45577
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Step II: X23 Multiple R = 0.94048 R Square = 0.88451 Adjusted R Square = 0.88213 Standard Error = 0.40996
Step III: X25 Multiple R = 0.94606 R Square = 0.89502 Adjusted R Square = 0.89174 Standard Error = 0.39289 Table IX shows the step-down regression process, it was noted that only 3 variables like activities of public libraries (X27), association with rural public library (X23) and role of public libraries towards women empowerment (X25) can explain 89.50 percent of the total effect 90.94 percent. We considered the relationship between the role of public libraries and socio-economic and personal variables, the effectiveness of the Kanyashree one time grant, factors that promote the role of public libraries towards women empowerment as independent variables. Table X: List of some skilled Kanyashree girls in Budge Budge- II C.D Block. Sl Name of the Fathers Name Address Trade Name Name of the Training No. Students Centre. 01. Ankana Betal Arup kr. Betal Sonaria Assistant Beauty Budge Budge Nari Therapist Kalyan Samity 02. Sarika Parvin Saidul SK Sonaria Assistant Beauty Budge Budge Nari Therapist Kalyan Samity 03. Anupampa Khar Arjun Kr. Khar Mohanpur Assistant Beauty Budge Budge Nari Therapist Kalyan Samity 04. Krishna Mondal Asit Kumar Poali Self Employed Budge Budge Nari Mondal Tailor Kalyan Samity 05. Soma Patra Arun Patra Sonaria G.S.T Sonarpur 06. Sthiti Das Uttam Das Chak Beauty and Chaksukdev Bansbaria Wellness 07. Tannu Das Tapan Das Alampur Health Care Gobourjhuni 08. Nandita Malick Samar Malick Dongaria Beauty & Wellness Chaksukdev 09. Neha Pal Srikanta Pal Uttar Raipur Paddy Farmer Hemnagar Sundarban Dream 10. Rimpa Mondal Panchu Mondal Danch Baria Health Care Gobourjhuni 11. Krishna Bag Late Dudhk Bag Howri Health Care Amtala 12. Koyel Mondal Dilip Kr. Mondal Purba Poali Health Care Gobourjhuni 13. Riya Maji Robin Maji Sehai IT(DEO) Paita 14. Shraboni Manna Jayanta Manna Bawali Self Employed Mili Enterprise Tailor 15. Priyanka Das Manik Das North Bowali Self Employed Mili Enterprise Tailor Table X shows that with the help of this Kanyashree onetime grant of Rs. 25,000 some students took skill development training under Utkarsha Bangla programme for their entrepreneurship development in Budge Budge- II C.D Block. This result shows the great achievement of Kanyashree Prakalpa conducted by the Government of West Bengal. Times of India published a report that Kanyashree Prakalpa has so far helped over 60 lakh girl-children in West Bengal. Considering all activities and achievements, Kanyashree scheme has won the United Nations Public Services (First Prize) Award in 2017. Table XI: List of some students got marriage below 18 years in Budge Budge- II C.D Block. Sl. No. Name of the student Fathers name Age 01. Sangita Sabek Ananta Sebak 17 02. Bithika Manna Sankar Manna 16
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 03. Priya Bag Sailen Bag 14 04 Kabita Dului Kartick Dului 13 05. Kashri Bhuiya Taren Bhuiya 12 06. Pallabi Das Biswanath Das 17 07. Susmita Haldar Pachu Gopal Haldar 17 08. Madhushree Mondal Pachu Mondal 16 09. Riya Pramanik Biswanath Pramanik 17 10. Rittika Mondal Rabin Mondal 16 11. Tasnima Khatun Ajijul Jammadar 15 12. Parmina Khatun Atiyar Rahaman Sheikh 17 Table XI shows that due to poverty, illiteracy and other reasons, many girls got married before the age of eighteen. According to the Human Development Report for South 24 Parganas district published in 2009, in the Budge Budge II CD block the percentage of households below poverty line was 34.04%. The total number of literate persons in Budge Budge II CD block was 135,428 (79.13% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 73,573 (83.75% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 61,855 (74.26% of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 9.49%. According to the above reasons immature girls are forced to marry with dire consequences. It has also opened the eyes of different welfare schemes whether they are sufficient to address the problem or the government has to think the remedy for such social problems. Table XII: Parents‟ expenditure according to their preferences: st nd rd th th th th Priorities of expenditure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8th Daughter‟s education 81 18 1 Son‟s education 19 60 14 4 3 Marriage of daughter 14 31 20 12 20 3 Investment of Agriculture/ Business 6 41 29 14 10 Treatment of family 2 10 35 29 18 5 1 Construction of sanitation facilities and 2 12 33 36 17 maintenance of houses Savings 1 12 14 72 1 Others 2 3 95 Table XII shows that from 100 parents of the students spent their money from their family income on daughters‟ education in the following manners. 81 per cent have their 1st preference; accordingly 18 per cent and 1 per cent have their 2nd and 3rd choice. Expenditure towards Son‟s education 19 per cent, 60 per cent, 14 per cent, 4 per cent and 3 per cent have their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th preference. The parents who spent the money in daughters‟ marriage from their income are 14 per cent, 31 per cent, 20 per cent, 12 per cent, 20 per cent and 3 per cent having 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th preferences respectively. In the purpose of investment towards agriculture and business the parents spent their money 6 per cent, 41 per cent, 29 per cent, 14 per cent and 10 per cent have their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th preference accordingly. They spent their money in family Treatment, which are 2 per cent, 10 per cent, 35 per cent, 29 per cent, 18 per cent, 5 per cent and 1 per cent have their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th preferences accordingly. Here 2 per cent, 12 per cent, 33 per cent, 36 per cent and 17 per cent respondents use their income in the cases of construction of sanitation facilities and maintenance of houses having 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th preferences accordingly. 1 per cent, 12 per cent, 14 per cent, 72 per cent and 1 per cent parents keep their income aside for saving purposes takes 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th preferences accordingly. Some of the parents manage to spend their income for other purposes like buying house hold goods, ornaments and other limited purposes which are 2 per cent, 3 per cent and 95 per cent have their 6th, 7th and 8th preferences accordingly. Table XIII: Desired societal changes according to parents Priorities 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Eradication of illiteracy 29 Child labour or school dropouts 22 Violence against women 39 Child marriage 10 Table XIII explains that among the 100 interviewees, 39% of the interviewees prefer to make violence against women their top priority. 29% of parents want to change in their village to eliminate illiteracy; 22% of parents give priority to changing child labor or dropout rate; and finally, 10% of them give priority for changing the child marriage rate around.
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Table XIV: Parental perception towards women empowerment Priorities 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Financial empowerment 46 Decision making within the family 16 Societal decision making 34 Decision making in local administrative matters 4 Table XIV describes the parental perception towards women empowerment. 100 respondents have given the chance to express their views on women‟s empowerment as priority basis. When asked what they mean by women empowerment then 46% of the total respondents agreed to put their first priority on financial empowerment; 34% of them preferred social decision-making as second priority; 16% of them believed on decision making within the family as the third priority; and the last 4% of them have the fourth priority in local administrative decision-making. V. CONCLUSION The present study represents the perception of parents towards public libraries in empowering women in Budge Budge- II Community Development Blocks of South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal. Kanyashree Prakalpa is one of the most important Public service schemes for reducing child marriage, school dropout and its importance has also been in observed in increasing female education rate. With the help of this Kanyashree one time grant of Rs. 25000, some students of Budge Budge- II Community Development Block have built their career in different fields such as Assistant Beauty Therapists, self employed tailors, paddy farmers, general duty assistants, someone as domestic data entry operators, and web developers etc. Some of them also took training in Health care, beauty and wellness with the aid of this grant. It is to be noted that the majority of the students have used this money for their education purpose. The students who hailed from poor families are the main beneficiaries of this grant in the sense that they utilized the money to build their small enterprises. As public library is known as public information centre, public libraries have a great role for providing proper information to the students for building their careers. As there are few Public Libraries only in Budge Budge-II Community Development Block, the students are deprived of getting information regarding Kanyashree and other public service schemes provided by the Government of West Bengal. VI. RECOMMENDATION Kanyashree Prakalpa has five dimensions, namely, delaying child marriage, enhancing female literacy rate, reducing drop-out, reducing child labour, and encouraging women empowerment. The present survey brought forward the picture of early child marriage. A sustainable number of girls were forced to marry below 18 years of their age. As a result, other consequences will automatically come in post-marriage situations. The problem is serious. The public libraries of the locality, NGOs, schools, and the three tier local governments will have to take rigorous sensitization programmes on it. In the post-Covid situation, a huge number of people have already lost their jobs. Under such dire circumstances, Kanyashree one time grant would be highly beneficial to the girl students in setting up their own micro enterprises. Public libraries of the localities would play a pivotal role in disseminating the proper knowledge to them. Public libraries need to be rejuvenated. During survey, it has been found that many libraries were not opened in all working days due to the shortage of staff. One librarian is looking after more than one library. There is hardly any public library in the rural areas with more than one staff. Public library is no longer attractive to the young people of the locality as they do not help to fulfill their dreams of getting access to computer, internet facility, new books, magazines, career related books etc. State Government has to address these issues with immediate effect, or else harnessing human resource to the fullest extent can never be achieved. VII. FURTHER RESEARCH The present study has opened up the scope of new research questions on the following dimensions: i. Whether the existing public services would sufficient to address the early child marriage problems; ii. Whether the prevailing social taboos would influence the parents to give marriage of their girls before 18 years; iii. Whether the democratic system at the local level is not sufficient to resist the occurrences of early child marriages; iv. Whether the local leaders are convinced with the existing early child marriage system; and v. Whether the existing issues will be reflected in the school text books in a wide manner so that it may be discussed at all levels.
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DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. FUNDING The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Extensive support and cooperation from the respondent girl students and their parents, Headmasters and Headmistresses, Teachers, school librarians, public librarians, Block Development Officer, 3 tier Panchayat members within Budge Budge- II C.D. Block are highly acknowledged. Special thanks to Mr. Indranil Bhaumik for his untiring effort in thorough proof reading. VIII. REFERENCES [1] Anderson, G. & Whalley, J. (2015). Public library internet access in areas of deprivation: The case of Glasgow. Telematics and Informatics, 32, 521–537. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2014.12.001 [2] Batra, V. & Yadav, P. (2020). Rural Women Empowerment through Self Help Groups: A Study of Shg- Bank Linkage Programme In Alwar District Of Rajasthan. Studies in Indian Place Names, 40(3), 3336- 3345. [3] Frederiksen, L. (2015). “Our Public Library”: Social reproduction and urban public space in Toronto. Women's Studies International Forum, 48, 141–153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2014.11.009 [4] Galbraith, Q., Merrill, E. & Outzen, O. (2018). The Effect of Gender and Minority Status on Salary in Private and Public ARL Libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44, 75–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2017.10.005 [5] Guccio, C., Mignosa, A. & Rizzo, I. (2018). Are public state libraries efficient? An empirical assessment using network Data Envelopment Analysis. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 64, 78–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2018.01.001 [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budge_Budge_II retrieved on 27. 04. 2020 [7] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/kanyashree-scheme-has-helped-60-lakh-girl- children-mamata/articleshow/70672507.cms Retrieved on 28. 04. 2020 [8] https://wbkanyashree.gov.in/kp_4.0/kp_conditional.php retrieved on 27. 04. 2020 [9] Jindal, S. & Tripathi, R. (2020). Eradicating Women Trafficking: Socio-Legal Study in Special Reference to Indian Laws. Studies in Indian Place Names, 40(3), 2405- 2412. [10] Madhan, G. (2019). The Status of Women Empowerment in India - An Analysis by The Issues and Challenges. Thematics Journal of Geography, 8(12), 504- 508. [11] Monica, K. (2019). Women Empowerment & an Overview of Government Schemes towards Women Entrepreneurship. Thematics Journal of Geography, 8(12), 543- 549. [12] Nisa, M. & Saranyadevi, M. (2020). A Study on Issues and Challenges of Women Empowerment - with Respect to Private Organizations in Coimbatore. Our Heritage, 68(1), 8513- 8521. [13] Shikalgar, M.B. (2020). Empowerment of Women Through Self-Help Group : Indicators and Impact. Our Heritage, 68(25), 617- 624.
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