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The present study is an ethnographic investigation on the food economy among a deaf as well as a hearing community, both belonging to a particular clan called Nongsteng in a War Khasi village in Meghalaya. The study presents the procurement of food crops against the challenging rocky terrain; both for personal consumption, as well as for commercial purposes. Delving further into the study, the paper explores the predominantly practised traditional agriculture, the associated rules and pattern of land use, the shift from a food economy to a non-food economy, and its implications. In addition, the study takes into account the revenue generated by selling the cash crops in the market; the supply and demand, and the extent of financial assistance sanctioned by these crops in supporting the families. Additionally, the extent and role of nutritional programmes, implemented for the alleviation of nutritional deficiency have been probed. Data were collected by conducting interviews and engaging in participant observation which was achieved by partaking in the tour to the fields and visiting the weekly markets during prolonged fieldwork. The study shows that the income produced by selling the cash crops is meagre and barely enough to sustain the family, let apart from affording a nutritional diet.

Keywords: deaf, land use pattern, cash crops, food culture

Background: The development debate around the world is showing trends of changing scenarios. With introspection of the ongoing model of development, the world community has started advocating for an alternative development paradigm. Enlisting ‘sustainability’ as the core of this new paradigm, the idea is to shift towards sustainable development’ models. As we adopt the ‘sustainable development’ model with the imperatives of optimism, it becomes essential to reflect upon the unsustainable characteristics of the past and ongoing development processes. A reflection of this nature will be instrumental in the avoidance of previous mistakes in the impending era of sustainable development.

Materials and Methods: Land, being one of the most important finite resources is not only a piece of natural resource, which requires management and conservation; it is also an economic good and an important component of social formation. Practices and policies around land use vary considerably across the world and depend on physical as well as socio-economic and cultural factors. However, the use of agricultural land for industrialisation leads to a number of adverse socio-economic and cultural impacts in rural societies. The district of Paschim Medinipur in West Bengal is chiefly an agriculture-based district where more than seventy per cent of the population lives in the rural area and among them, the majority depends on agriculture and agriculture-related activities. Findings: In this micro-level study, we would present some empirical data on the socio-economic and cultural consequences of land acquisition for the establishment of heavy industry (Tata Metaliks) on the fertile agricultural land in the Kharagpur subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district in the early 1990s by the West Bengal government.

Keywords: Land-people bonding, Land Use Change, Agriculture, Industry, sustainability, socio-cultural Environment, Economic and Socio-Cultural transformation.

Urbanisation is considered both as an index of economic development and an important factor of social change. The features of urbanisation are formed by the nature of its locale, cultural roles, demography, class organisation and administrative system. The urbanisation process leads to an increase in population density. The character of ecological substructure in urban centres has altered its spatial character to provide residential units to its natives as well as the migrants. A new residential character in the Urban setting is the apartments that have produced social space which act as the site of production of culture.

The apartments or flats are micro-components of a housing unit which is generally considered as a collection of facilities for the exclusive use of a separate social group called a household. The present paper will make an attempt to trace the historical genesis of Urban Apartment Houses, over time and space from the global context in general to the city of Kolkata in particular. It will also try to emphasize the way spatial theory conforms to the production of this new urban character.

Keywords: Urbanisation, Apartments, Social Space, Culture.

The study was conducted among three selected NGOs of Majuli district, Assam (largest Riverine Island in the world). This paper deals with the understanding of the concept of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), their nature and their functioning. Besides, it also tries to bring out the picture of how NGOs have been engaging themselves with developmental activities therein besides highlighting the issues and challenges encountered by the NGOs in Majuli. The present study tries to bring out the ground realities on how NGOs have been working for the development of the people in Majuli especially on providing social justice, development and working for human rights, especially for the poor and weaker section of society, focusing on poverty alleviation, etc. It also attempts to reflect on various important roles that the NGOs engage in shaping and implementation for valuable solutions towards minimizing local issues. It also highlights how NGOs become a powerful catalyst for identifying ground realities and also for realizing the needs of the communities through promoting citizen participation in various developmental activities initiated in the community.

Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Participant observation, Qualitative research, Majuli, Self Help Groups (SHGs), Training Programmes, Upliftment, Challenges.

Domestic resource mobilization is considered a milestone for sustainable development in many countries. A country can reduce its poverty and foreign dependency by increasing domestic resources, and, thus, can achieve sustainable development in the long run. Presently, the role of domestic resource mobilization has been recognized globally for sustainable development. The local government needs to enhance local revenue mobilization under their jurisdiction to ensure sustainable development because local revenue is a vital part of the domestic resource. Bearing in mind the state it is essential to know the history of local government especially the Union Parishad and its connection with revenue mobilization. The Union Parishad is very nearby to the local people and because of that, the Union Parishad functionaries can inspire more the local people to pay revenue for their development. Union Parishad in Bangladesh is the lowermost level of local government. The main objective of the paper is to explore the evolution of the Union Parishad and its connection to local revenue mobilization. It is significant to know how the Union Parishad was connected with revenue mobilization from the very beginning and up to now. The paper is made based on secondary sources of data. The secondary sources of literature were collected from various local government-related books, scholarly journals, magazine articles, dissertations, national and international local development reports, working papers and many annual reports for exploring revenue mobilization at UPs.

Keywords: Evolution, Revenue Mobilization, Panchayat, Chowkidari Panchayat, Sustainable Development, Legal provisions.

The development of the fishing communities is determined by the capital of assets and support from the local environs. The fishermen revealed that the development of the fishing communities is a lower condition while compared with other marginal communities. The recent marine ecosystems and community fishing practices have been changing the local perceptions that impacting on community development. However, this article provides the current challenges and issues regarding community development by focusing on the development, education and migration of fishing communities in north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Keywords: Development, Education, Fishing, Migration, Visakhapatnam.

This article is related to the study of the formation of the famous Kalapahad tradition of Eastern India. It highlights the process of the construction of the tradition for transmitting a message of social change in Eastern India in the pre-colonial and colonial phases. But after its construction which demanded reform of Hinduism and prevention of conversion it had many modifications in the 19th and 20thcentury A.D. In the expanded form of this tradition on Kalapahad reconversion to Hinduism was articulated. While historians ponder over the many secrets of the Kalapahad tradition literary figures-poets and playwrights consider this tradition as a story of radical protest and social reconstruction.

Keywords: Tradition, Radical protest, Burunji, Kalpahad, Reconversion, Social Reconstruction

Arogyasree is a public sector Insurance Scheme that the government of Andhra Pradesh had set up originally in 2007 to cater for the health needs of families below the poverty line. A study has revealed some dissatisfaction among those beneficiaries who received service in public network hospitals for high out-of-pocket costs and not covering the minor ailments that surfaced mostly in the post-hospitalized stage. Patients generally feel that they received relatively better service from private hospitals in comparison to the public sector hospitals due to less financial burden, fewer post-hospitalized related difficulties and a quick recovery rate. On the other hand, the public network hospitals are able to provide quick post-hospitalized check-ups and allow multiple visits and consultations in the post-hospitalized stage but did not provide quality service. The study has further shown that achieving goals of the insurance through public health care is an impossible task because these hospitals have joined the insurance network without developing on par with private hospitals. In general, the welfare scheme Arogyasree has achieved its goals to a limited extent by including poor and marginalized sections of the society by extending health care services, but ultimately relying on public network hospitals. Therefore, unless the services of public network hospitals improve their delivery of health care, it would be very difficult to deliver qualitative service to insured patients and such hospitals also would fail to deal with a deadly virus like Covid-19 properly. So, the development of public hospitals would play a significant role in delivering quality service to poor people.

Keywords: Health Insurance, Public Network Hospitals, Private Network Hospitals and Patients.

This study was attempted to explore the psychosocial and economic consequences of road traffic accidents on victims in Mettu town, Ilu Aba Boor zone of Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. This study identified the psychological consequences of RTAs on victims, described the social consequence of RTAs on the victim, identified economic consequences of road traffic accidents on victims. Regarding methodology for conducting the study, qualitative research approach was carried out. For this study, the researchers determined the sample size based on the data saturation point. The sample study comprised 26 participants from all kebeles of the town. In this research, non-probability sampling (purposive and snowball sampling) techniques were applied. The data generated during the field were thematically analyzed. Anxiety, depression, irritability and mood disturbances, disability, inability to interact with the people as they did before the accident, economic dependency and difficulties to develop coping strategies were some of the psychosocial and economic consequences with victims of RTAs. Victims of RTA also thought that social institutions like ‘Idir’ and government officials could also play a great role in the minimization of RTAs on victims.

Keywords: Road traffic accident, victims, traffic crashes, Idir (indigenous institution).

Leisure activities are part and parcel of everyone’s life but different patterns can be observed among different socio-economic groups. In the case of India, caste is the most significant factor of social stratification. Its impact can also be seen in the practice of leisure activities. Earlier, scheduled castes which are positioned at the lowest strata had a very limited scope of leisure because of their social and economic backwardness. But, with an increase in urbanisation, education level, employability and the advent of new technologies new patterns of leisure are emerging among scheduled castes in particular and the society in general. Smartphone and their related activities have become the most common leisure activity among all sections of society including scheduled castes. However, many leisure activities are still away from the reach of scheduled castes due to social and economic constraints.

Keywords: Leisure, Leisure Activities, Caste system, Scheduled castes

Caste dynamics is an important aspect in respect of sustainable development, the caste dynamics work three ways i.e., cohesiveness between certain castes groups to build up solidarity to sustain, the second one is the occupational mobility in order to economic sustenance, thirdly, caste wise religious doctrine plays an important role to unify the rural society within the fabric of development perspectives. Thus, caste dynamics in rural society emerged from historic entities but reincarnated in terms of the present sociopolitical domain. The objective of the present article is to analyze and interpret the scenario of a Marwar village in Rajasthan state to discover how the caste dynamics still plays a significant role in the rural socio-economic sphere. The perspective of sustainable development is focused on the backdrop of the critical review of the government projects and schemes in the light of environmental and socio-religious impact. Therefore, this is a critical appraisal of the dynamics of various socio-religious facets within the rural society under the shadow of economic development and environmental sustainability.

Keywords: Caste, Development, Sustainability, Marwar, Jajmani System.