scholarly journals Substantially Present but Invisible, Excluded and Marginalised: A Study of Musahars in Bihar

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43
Author(s):  
Gaurang R. Sahay

This article is an engagement with the socio-cultural, economic and political life-world of a Scheduled Caste, namely the Musahars, in light of official records and field data collected from four villages in Bihar. Against the background of Brahminical, colonial and post-colonial understandings of Musahars, the article presents an ethnographic account of Musahars by reflecting on their life cycle, culture and educational, health, political and economic conditions. They have remained as usual a poor, landless, marginalised and excluded caste group in the state of Bihar. The discourses representing Musahars in a negative manner have continued to remain as deeply embedded forms of structural violence against Musahars. The article finds that the Naxalite movement in Bihar has generated a somewhat socio-political awareness and aspiration among the Musahars and is equipping them to fight against the system for their well-being.

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. N. Tripathy

Women constitute nearly half of the aggregate population in India; but bulks of them are not empowered to participate in socio-cultural, economic and political life. Most of the women are unskilled and, as such, economically and socially dependent on men which rigorously restrict their prospect for socio-economic empowerment. The assumption is that investments of microfinance in microenterprises, small business, transmitted through women self-help groups, surges women’s access to productive occupation and income, enable women to make a greater contribution to household income and thereby improve well-being for women. Based on field studies conducted in the most backward tribal-dominated villages of KBK districts of Odisha and supplemented by secondary sources of data, this study seeks to investigate the impact of microfinance as a strategy in alleviating poverty and empowering tribal women.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jefim Vogel ◽  
Julia K. Steinberger ◽  
Daniel W. O'Neill ◽  
William F. Lamb ◽  
Jaya Krishnakumar

<p>Meeting human needs at low levels of energy use is fundamental for avoiding catastrophic climate change and securing the well-being of all people. In the current international political-economic regime, no country does so.</p><p>Here, we assess which socio-economic conditions might enable societies to satisfy human needs at sustainable levels of energy use, and thus reconcile human well-being with ambitious climate mitigation. Applying a novel analytical framework and a novel regression-based moderation approach to data from 106 countries, we analyse how the relationship between energy use and six dimensions of human need satisfaction varies with a wide range of socio-economic factors relevant to the provisioning of goods and services (‘provisioning factors’).</p><p>We find that higher achievements in provisioning factors such as income equality, public service quality, democracy and electricity access are associated with greater need satisfaction and lower energy dependence of need satisfaction. Conversely, higher levels of economic growth and extractivism are associated with lower need satisfaction and greater energy dependence of need satisfaction. Our analysis suggests that countries with beneficial configurations of key provisioning factors are much more likely to reach high levels of need satisfaction at low(er) levels of energy use. Based on our statistical models, countries with highly beneficial configurations of several key provisioning factors could likely achieve sufficient need satisfaction within levels of energy use found compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5 °C without negative emissions technologies. Achieving this would be very unlikely for countries with detrimental provisioning configurations.</p><p>Improvements in relevant provisioning factors may thus be crucial for ending human deprivation in currently underproviding countries without exacerbating climate and ecological crises, and for tackling the ecological overshoot of currently needs-satisfying countries without compromising sufficient need satisfaction. However, as key pillars of the suggested changes in provisioning run contrary to the dominant political-economic regime, a broader political-economic transformation may be required to organise provisioning for the satisfaction of human needs within sustainable levels of energy use.</p><p>Our findings have important implications for climate mitigation, poverty eradication, development discourses, and efforts towards Sustainable Development Goals and socio-ecological transformation.</p>


Author(s):  
Nataliia Makarchuk ◽  
◽  
Liliia Kulinenko ◽  
Olga Vasylieva ◽  
Olga Zhurkova ◽  
...  

Objective: The main tasks of this study are as follows: to substantiate the interdependence of perversion as a form of violence and the human ego in the context of hybrid warfare; to prove the existence of perversion as a form of violence against a person in the context of hybrid warfare in Ukraine (personal perversion); to describe the alteration of ego states as conditions for effective human self-regulatory activity in the context of hybrid warfare. Background: Hybrid warfare, including the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, as a phenomenon, has been widely studied both abroad and in Ukraine. However, there are very few works on the psychological impact of such a war. There are currently no works on disorders of human self-regulatory activity in the context of hybrid warfare, which makes the study unique and relevant. Method: The study used a combination of various methods, in particular, structural-clinical interviews, psychological counseling and therapeutic meetings, data analysis. Data were collected for 2014-2020. The total number of participants was 55 people aged 25 to 63 years, with 70% female and 30% male. Results: The latent tension and denial of hybrid warfare result in a gradual increase of neurotization, which is in 95% of cases passes into a neurosis state with concomitant manifestations of symptoms. There is also a deterioration in psychological well-being and phylogenetic disorders (erogenous dysfunction in men, uncontrolled neurotic masturbation in women). Disorders of the mental level of self-regulation determine the manifestation of the mental content of perversion, in which perversion takes on the character of intrapersonal functioning. Conclusion: The combination of disorders of the physical, mental and personal levels of the self-regulatory activity of the psyche increased perverse tendencies in social and political life, which provoked a high rate of psychotization of the entire society and an increase in deficit characterological manifestations of each individual.


Author(s):  
Kim A. Kayunze ◽  
Angwara D. Kiwara ◽  
Eligius Lyamuya ◽  
Dominic M. Kambarage ◽  
Jonathan Rushton ◽  
...  

One-health approaches have started being applied to health systems in some countries in controlling infectious diseases in order to reduce the burden of disease in humans, livestock and wild animals collaboratively. However, one wonders whether the problem of lingering and emerging zoonoses is more affected by health policies, low application of one-health approaches, or other factors. As part of efforts to answer this question, the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) smart partnership of human health, animal health and socio-economic experts published, in April 2011, a conceptual framework to support One Health research for policy on emerging zoonoses. The main objective of this paper was to identify which factors really affect the burden of disease and how the burden could affect socio-economic well-being. Amongst other issues, the review of literature shows that the occurrence of infectious diseases in humans and animals is driven by many factors, the most important ones being the causative agents (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.) and the mediator conditions (social, cultural, economic or climatic) which facilitate the infection to occur and hold. Literature also shows that in many countries there is little collaboration between medical and veterinary services despite the shared underlying science and the increasing infectious disease threat. In view of these findings, a research to inform health policy must walk on two legs: a natural sciences leg and a social sciences one.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12470
Author(s):  
Maruf Ahmed ◽  
Sabrina Jannat Mitu ◽  
Petra Schneider ◽  
Masud Alam ◽  
Mohammad Mojibul Hoque Mozumder ◽  
...  

Hilsa fish (Tenualosa ilisha) have become an essential factor behind the well-being of the fishing community, giving fishers their identity as a source of cultural heritage. A field survey was conducted to understand the socio-economic conditions of hilsa fishers at the Meghna river estuary of Chandpur District using well-structured questionnaire interviews (N = 250) with hilsa fishers. The survey revealed that fishers’ livelihoods and living conditions were still below average due to low literacy levels, lack of professional skills, and low incomes. More than two-thirds of the fishers were entirely dependent on hilsa fishing, while more than one-third had between 11 and 20 years of fishing experience. More than two-thirds of the fishers did not have an alternative occupation during ban periods, and the incentives provided by the government were not adequately received by half of the fishers. Fishers were divided into three groups according to their dependence on hilsa fishing. Significant differences were found between these groups in terms of the age of fishers, annual income from fishing, and annual fishing activity days. Therefore, the government, Fisheries cooperatives, NGOs, and other relevant organizations must unite to support fishers for sustainable management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliano Schwartz ◽  
Paul Oh ◽  
Maira B. Perotto ◽  
Ryan E. Rhodes ◽  
Wanda Firth ◽  
...  

In light of new evidence on the prevention of chronic diseases and the elevated rates of overweight and obesity in Brazil and Canada, this critical review aims to interpret and synthesize current aspects regarding dietary and physical activity initiatives in both countries and make future recommendations. The pioneering work presented in the last Brazilian dietary guidelines has been called a model that can be applied globally, given its conceptualization of healthy eating that translates easily to practical guidance. The new Canadian Food Guide has incorporated similar aspects, also putting the country as a leader in dietary guidance. With these new recommendations, citizens in both Brazil and Canada have access to impactful evidence-informed nutritional guidelines. Both documents propose eating patterns that focus not only on health benefits, such as chronic disease prevention, but also incorporate well-being concerning cultural, economic, sociodemographic, biological, and ecological dimensions. A similar approach is required for physical activity to allow individuals to have attainable health and life goals and thereby fully enjoy their lives, regardless of geographical location, health status, and socioeconomic condition, a concept recently described as physical activity security. The wholistic dietary guidelines from both countries represent a change in paradigm in public health. Likewise, national evidence-based policies are warranted to reduce disparities in physical activity, allowing healthier and more active lifestyles for everyone.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p81
Author(s):  
Titus Ogalo Pacho

Globalisation is one of the most powerful worldwide forces transforming society. It dominates today’s world as a major driver of change. Globalisation has brought about an agglomeration of cultures, where diverse cultures not only interact but also sometimes clash. It permeates through all spheres of life including the environment, politics, economy, prosperity, culture, religion, education, and human well-being in societies across the globe. The present “villagization” of the world has greatly affected many African countries in almost all aspects of life. It has done so in both positive and negative ways. With the emergence of a global society, social, cultural, economic, political, technological and environmental events in one part of the world quickly come to be significant for people in other parts of the world. This theoretical paper assesses the impact of globalisation for Africa and its implications to education.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Baber

Abstract Is Utilitarianism Bad for Women? Philosophers and policy-makers concerned with the ethics, economics, and politics of development argue that the phenomenon of ‘adaptive preference’ makes preference-utilitarian measures of well-being untenable. Poor women in the Global South, they suggest, adapt to deprivation and oppression and may come to prefer states of affairs that are not conducive to flourishing. This critique, however, assumes a questionable understanding of preference utilitarianism and, more fundamentally, of the concept of preference that figures in such accounts. If well-being is understood as preference-satisfaction it is easy to see why poor women in the Global South are badly off: even if they do not desire more favorable conditions they nevertheless prefer them, and that preference is not satisfied. Preferentism provides a rationale for improving economic conditions and dismantling the unjust institutions that prevent them from climbing higher on their preference-rankings. Utilitarianism, therefore, insofar as utility is understood as preference satisfaction, is good for women.


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