eChapters

ABSTRACT

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become one of the basic building blocks of modern society. Young people are the world’s largest resource in development. Forty percent of the world’s population is under 20 years of age while 66 per cent of the total population in the country is below the age of 35 and this youth play very important role in adoption of ICTs. Present study is concerning with Information and Communication Technology, importance of ICTs on youth and rural peoples of our country, the importance of ICTs is not the technology as such, but its enabling function in facilitating enhanced access to information and communication across large distances. It involved development and need of Information and Communication Technology. It also focused on strategies for sustained ICTs growth in India and development ranking of some selected countries. India has been ranked 121^st among 157 countries in terms of progress in the realm of information and communication technology.

Introduction

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands popularly known as the Bay Islands are situated 1200 Km away from Indian mainland and are well known for their wide range of biodiversity.The dreaded tsunami hit the island on 26th December, 2004 and it destroyed livelihood of thousands of people. CARI on a limited scale initiated process of restoration of livelihood by technological interventions with generous funding by DBT under project entitled “Integrated Rehabilitation of tsunami affected people through technological intervention in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands” in the adopted villages of Manjeri, Manglutan and Guptapara. (Three situations). A total 56 ha has been affected by tsunami in the adopted villages. Following three situations occurred after tsunami and for each situation appropriate technological interventions were taken up.

ABSTRACT

Information is the data that have been put into a meaningful and useful context and communicated to a recipient who uses it to make decisions. Information is needed because of it affects individuals living activities. The present age has rightly termed as an ‘information age’. Information cannot provide finance, inputs or infrastructure. But, it can help in creating awareness about technologies and mobilise people to use them. It also helps in imparting training to people, organising community and ultimately the development of the whole nation.

The present study was undertaken to assess the information needs of young farm women (18-35 age group) with respect to kharif paddy cultivation. The study was conducted in Bolpur sub-division of Birbhum district, West Bengal. Results of this empirical study indicated that farm women wanted to know more about selling of product, pest control, nursery raising and disease management. The study also revealed that most preferred sources of information for the young farm women personal localite sources.

Key words: Young farm women, information needs, personal localite, personal cosmopolite, kharif paddy

ABSTRACT

Marketers make consistent attempts to innovate tools and strategies to overcome the challenges they face in the business arena. Business innovations are broadly classified under two heads, namely Product / Service innovation. Marketers need to design creative solutions to overcome challenges typical of the rural environment such as physical distribution, channel management, promotion and communication. India’s rural markets offer a sea of opportunity. The urban rural split in consumer spending stands at 9: 11, with rural India accounting for 55 percent of private retail consumption. Indeed the market can be tapped with focused attention and strategy. Currently the Indian retail market is estimated at Rs. 13,30,000 crore and almost half of this growing retail market at present lies in rural India, which is a tremendous growth sector that needs to be tapped with care. This paper examines how the corporate sectors with their innovation and creativity tapping the Indian rural market with their retail marketing.

Key words: Innovation, retailing, rural retailing, rural India, creativity

11.1. Introduction
The input-output relationship is commonly referred to as the Classical Production Function.
The Classical Production Function is also known as the Law of Diminishing Returns or the Law of Increasing Costs.
It is sometimes termed the “Law of Life”, as it serves as a fundamental principle of economics upon which several other economic laws are based.
This law analyzes the relationship between a single variable factor and output while keeping all other factors constant.
It represents a short-run production function.
11.2. Definition
The Law of Increasing Cost states that the proportion of one factor in a combination of factors increases till a certain point but after that first the marginal product then the average product will diminish.
According to Marshall “An increase in capital and labour applied in the cultivation of land causes in general less than proportionate increase in the amount of produce raised, unless it happens to coincide with the improvements in the arts of agriculture”.
According to Earl O. Heady “If the quantity of one of productive service is increased by equal increments, with the quantity of other resource services held constant, the increments to total product may increase at first but will decrease after certain point”.

Simple interest?

Simple interest can be simply defined as the interest that is paid only on the principal amount. Unlike compound interest, simple interest does not consider “interest on interest” concept and the value is obtained by multiplying the interest rate by the principal amount and the number of days that elapse between payments.

20.1. Introduction
• The exchange of goods and services (trade) among countries across national boundaries is called as international trade.
• No Country can be self-sufficient in producing all the goods and services required by it.
• Thus, Countries need to trade to obtain commodities, they cannot produce themselves or they can purchase elsewhere at a lower price.
• The act of selling domestically produced goods to international consumer is known as exportation. India Export Refined Petroleum, Jewellery, Rice, etc.
• The act of purchasing goods from foreigne country in order to sell them domestically is known as importation. India import Crude oil, Coal, Gold, Electronics item etc.
20.2. Why International Trade?
• Countries cannot domestically produced all the goods and services that each individual consumer wants and needs.
• Because each country has different factor of production (Land, Labour, and Capital).
• Each country is endowed with different combination of these factors and therefore each country is capable of producing different combination of goods and services.
• When domestic production is greater than domestic demand for a good, excess production is traded on the international market

Entrepreneurship serves as a crucial element of economic development. In times of economic crisis, the significance of business development rises. Entrepreneurship has been linked to enhanced economic growth, greater wealth, and an elevated quality of life. In developing countries like India, the planning and implementation of entrepreneurship program development is essential for the standard of living of most of the backward areas due to their over-dependence on agriculture for employment (Uplaonkar and Biradar 2015). Entrepreneurship development therefore seems to be the best option to find job opportunities, generate income, reduce poverty and improve nutrition, health and overall food security in the national economy.

Entrepreneurship refers to the ability to take big risks to make a profit, to succeed, to manage and organize a new business. Entrepreneurship is a process in which a person becomes aware of owning a business as an alternative and develops new ideas for business. In addition, they try to learn the whole process of becoming an entrepreneur, and an initiative has been taken to develop entrepreneurship. It shows the practical application of all qualities such as innovation, creativity and risk in a work environment. The development of agriculture requires innovations in agricultural business. Stabilizing innovations and increasing productivity is a long-term and difficult business.

Concept of Evaluation

Evaluation is the structured interpretation and giving of meaning to predict or actual impacts of proposals or results. It looks at original objectives, and at what are either predicted or what was accomplished and how it was accomplished.

Context Based Meaning and Concept

The meaning of evaluation is the way of judging or calculating the quality, importance, amount, or value of something: Evaluation of this new treatment cannot take place until all the data has been collected.

In its earliest uses (documented in the 15th century), context meant “the weaving together of words in language.” This sense, now obsolete, developed logically from the word’s source in Latin, contexere “to weave or join together.

Concept of Evaluation: Meaning and concept in different contexts
The term “evaluation” originates from the Latin word “Valupure,” which signifies the value attributed to a particular entity, concept, or action. Evaluation is a systematic process that involves the periodic comparison of actual outcomes and impacts against those initially planned or anticipated. It is designed to assess the overall worth of an endeavor, thereby facilitating learning and improvements for future initiatives. This process encompasses the structured and objective assessment of an ongoing or completed project, program, or policy, including its design, execution, and results. The primary objective of
evaluation is to determine the relevance, achievement of objectives, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of a given intervention. Through this approach, evaluation seeks to provide credible and useful information that supports informed decision-making for stakeholders, including beneficiaries and donors. By integrating lessons learned from past experiences, evaluation enhances the strategic planning and implementation of future projects, ensuring continuous improvement and better resource utilization. Evaluation is an essential tool in both public and private sectors, allowing organizations to measure their performance against predefined benchmarks. It serves as a crucial mechanism for accountability, ensuring that resources are utilized effectively to achieve intended goals. Moreover, evaluation fosters transparency by offering objective insights into the successes and shortcomings of initiatives, thereby reinforcing stakeholder trust and engagement. There are several types of evaluation, each serving a distinct purpose.

Introduction

Impact studies isolate the effect of an intervention by assuring that there is clean comparison between a treatment group that received the intervention and a comparison group that is just the same except that it did not get the intervention.

Impact studies test whether one thing causes another. Just knowing scores have gone up following an intervention doesn’t mean improvement is attributable to that intervention.

The data are generated from an impact study used to identify best practices, to replicate successful programs or policies, and to avoid mistakes that might have negative implications for future projects.

Introduction
Impact Assessment (IA) is a systematic process used to evaluate the potential or actual effects of a project, policy, or program on society, the economy, and the environment. It helps decision-makers understand the implications of their actions and ensures that interventions achieve their intended outcomes while minimizing negative consequences.
Meaning of Impact Assessment
Impact Assessment is a structured method of determining the significance of an action or intervention in various sectors. It involves analyzing both the intended and unintended effects of policies, projects, or programs. IA provides insights into the sustainability, feasibility, and effectiveness of an initiative before or after its implementation. By assessing social, economic, and environmental impacts, IA helps stakeholders make informed decisions.
Concept of Impact Assessment
The concept of IA is rooted in sustainable development and evidencebased policy making. It is used in multiple fields, including environmental management, social development, economic planning, and corporate governance. The key principles of IA include:"
i. Comprehensiveness: Evaluating a wide range of impacts, including social, economic, and environmental factors.
ii. Transparency: Ensuring that the assessment process is open and inclusive.

The term project originates from the Latin word projectum derived from the Latin verb proicere, “before an action” which originates from pro-, signifying precedence, something that occurs prior to something else in timing, and icere, “to do”. The term “project” therefore initially signified “before an action. “. A project is a distinct kind of production system that produces a sole unit of product. Like, building a ship or a house, moving a department or a plant, developing a new product or performing a study are examples of such one-of-a-kind products.

In modern business and science, a project is a joint effort, encompassing research or design, that is carefully organized to accomplish a specific goal. The project can also be described as a collection of interconnected tasks to be performed within a defined timeframe and under specific budgetary and other constraints. Projects can be additional defined as temporary instead of enduring social systems or work systems that are formed by teams within or between organizations to achieve specific tasks under time constraints. And all must be expertly managed to deliver the on-time, on budget results, learning, and integration that organizations need. A project in business and science is a provisional endeavor engaged in to produce a distinct item, service, or result. Basically, it is planned to attain a specific goal. The aim of a project is to achieve its goal and subsequently conclude.

Escalating chaos and entropy in ecosystem poses threats to resilience and stability
Since the beginning of industrial revolution in 18th century onwards and until today, the chronicle of civilizations depicts more horrible consequences that it we predicted. Ecological metamorphosis hag gone the dare devil way to deny the quiet and placid pathway of evolution as delineated by Charles Darwin, it has become more serendipitous, ephemeral and phenomenal as well. The changes are becoming non-linear in ecosystem, far away from simple harmonic motion. Bay of Bengal has become the global capital of depression followed by severe cyclonic storms, good enough to make the resilience of ecosystem unexpectedly disrupted and fragile. Continuous perturbation and chaos lead to upscaling entropy and disorder. An analogy can take a serpentine look like Cyclone-destruction of mangrove-flood-crop damage-migration-ingroup vs outgroup conflict and chaos.
When uncertainty and unpredictability cripples into system deeper, we need or it should be our choice to take the help of AI and machine learning. Peoples soft perceptions need to undergo a quantification process for better understanding of their role-contribution-mainstreaming process and as a result the tools like ANN, FCM, AHP, ARIMA would be more effective and inevitable.
From history data to present assessment and from assessed algorithm to practiced scenario, there will be more mathematics and strategy of analysis. In the beginning of eco-system analysis, we had history data only. Then we get busy to go for status report kind of data clubbing, cataloguing, and networking. Today we can underscore the application of AI in futuristic approach to ecosystem analysis including intervention plan and scenario analysis. We can quantify what amount of uncertainty an individual can sustain, confront and adapt to. For the honey collectors in Sundarbans, how many deaths and fear to die, as an abrupt attack by tigers can be adaptable to the poor collectors are of million dollars’ question.

Food security of a country can be achieved through advanced agricultural research, followed by efficient and effective transfer of technologies. Unlike laboratory experiments, agronomic experiments are being conducted at open environment which leads to lot of variations in outcome/results due to influences of unpredictable weather condition and heterogenic soil characters even though proper adoption of local control. Results of an experiment can be expressed in different ways to make the clients to understand easily recordable output data viz., growth attributes, yield parameters and yield, laboratory analyses data like soil and crop nutrient status and quality parameters of the produce. Nutrient management studies should focus the efficiency of particular fertilizer nutrient over others, methods of fertilizer application, contribution of nutrients to crops from soil and fertilizer etc. Similarly, water management experiments would explain the water conveyance, application and storage efficiencies, suitability of method of irrigation, water saving techniques and water use efficiency of different crops as well as agronomic practices etc. In weed management experiments, the efficiency of particular herbicide in terms of controlling weeds, and increasing crop yields have to be expressed by various efficiency indices. Weed suppression ability of an intercrop can be explained by smothering efficiency.

Agriculture occupies a significant place in the economy of India. It contributes nearly 20% to the Gross Domestic Product [GDP] and provides employment to around two-thirds of nation’s population Agricultural commodity exports account for nearly 20 per cent of the total export earnings of the country. The agricultural produce sector has been one of the most important components of Indian economy. Considerable progress has since been achieved in scaling new heights in the production of foodgrains, commercial crops like cotton, sugarcane, tea etc., fruits, vegetables and milk. The increasing trend of agricultural production has brought, in its wake, new challenges in terms of finding market for the marketed surplus. There is also pressure from all segments of agricultural economy to respond to the challenges and opportunities that the global markets offer in the liberalized trade regime. To benefit the farming community from the new global market access opportunities, the internal agricultural marketing system in the country also needs to be integrated and strengthened. In particular the market system has to be revitalized to a) provide incentives to farmer to produce more; b) convey the changing needs of the consumers to the producers to enable production r burning; c) foster true competition among the market players and d) to enhance the share of farmers in the ultimate price of his agricultural produce.

Project Formulation and Finance
Project Formulation and Finance involves two key aspects of project
management: developing the project’s structure and ensuring it has the necessary financial resources. Here’s a closer look at each part:
1. Project Formulation: This is the initial phase where you define the project, including its scope, objectives, and outcomes. It involves identifying stakeholders, setting goals, and determining the resources required. Effective project formulation ensures that the project is feasible, aligns with organizational strategy, and addresses the stakeholders’ needs.
2. Project Finance: This aspect focuses on securing the financial resources needed to execute the project. It includes planning the budget, analyzing investment requirements, and managing financial risks. Financing strategies might involve obtaining funds through loans, equity, grants, or other financial instruments. This phase also covers the assessment of financial viability and the preparation of financial forecasts to ensure that the project is economically sustainable.

Introduction

The smooth functioning of an organisation depends on its financial resources. For a newly established venture, it is important to accurately predict its financial requirements for the purpose of raising funds and assessing the profitability of the proposal. While the major investment in an organisation could be for short term and long-term purposes, there are multiple sources from which these funds could be raised. The conventional sources mainly include commercial banks and other financial institutions; non-conventional sources include lease financing, angel investors, venture capitalist firms, factoring, and bill discounting.

Finance is the basic requirement for the smooth functioning of any organisation. Finance is required to meet the short-term and long-term requirements of a f irm. While the short-term fund is required to meet day-to-day expenses, long term funds are required for the acquisition of long-term or fixed assets that would yield benefits in the future, financing the permanent part of working capital, and for the growth and expansion of a business.

The quantum of both finances depends upon the nature and size of the business’s organisation, and the sources from which one acquires these funds also have a multi-dimensional range.

ABSTRACT

Agriculture can act as a catalyst in accelerating growth and reducing poverty. Agriculture can be an important engine of growth and poverty reduction. But in spite of its futuristic capabilities, the sector is underperforming because the productivity is reduced because of the constraints faced by the women in agriculture and allied sector. The women are the backbone of agricultural workforce but worldwide their hard works have mostly been unpaid. They have to perform most tedious and back breaking part of work in agriculture, animal husbandry and at homes. The tribal women play a significant and crucial role in agricultural development and allied fields including in the main crop production, livestock production, horticulture, post harvest operations, agro / social forestry, fisheries, etc. Tribal women have to manage, often, complex and multiple livelihood strategies. Their activities typically include producing agricultural crops, tending animals, processing and preparing food, working for wages in agricultural or other rural enterprises, collecting fuel and water, engaging in trade and marketing, caring for family members and maintaining their homes. Women’s participation in rural labour markets varies considerably across regions, but invariably women are over represented in unpaid, seasonal and part-time work, and the available evidence suggests that women are often paid less than men, for the same work.

ABSTRACT

Rural youths represent both a challenge to and an opportunity for reducing rural poverty. To overcome this challenge and seize the opportunity concerted efforts are needed to generate decent employment opportunities. A complementary set of awareness generation, entrepreneurship development, enabling policy, capacity building and technical support activities need to be designed for creating an enabling environment that meets the multi-dimensional needs of rural youths. Sustainable poverty reduction and rural economic development can only be achieved when national enabling environments facilitates and empower young people to achieve their full potential. Agriculture being the core of rural activity, potentiality of farming sector to create employment opportunity both in primary as well as in secondary agriculture needs to be highlighted with proven success before the rural youths. Enabling environment in all aspect needs to be created to motivate the educated youths to live in villages and launch a new agricultural movement based on integrated application of science and social wisdom. The untapped demographic dividend will become our greatest strength when the aspiration turns into reality.