ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF COVID 19 ON THE TOURISM INDUSTRY: A CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE

Corona virus originated from Wuhan city China has proliferated in such a way that it has made its presence in almost every country. This virus has impacted every industry such as manufacturing, service industry etc. It has put a great dent in the tourism and travel industry. It is assumed that tourism and travel can take a long time to recover. This impact of this varus has resulted in millions of job losses and took economy in negative figures. India, which was once considered to be the largest growing economy, has seen a double-digit negative growth. The objective of this paper is to find the impact of pandemic on tourism industry. An extensive literature review resulted in three dimensions of microenvironment which have suffered in tourism industry. Results showed that the scale is reliable and valid. Pandemic has resulted in un-employment, reduced income of tourism and reduced traveller preference etc. Hypotheses were tested by calculating correlation coefficient, which showed that there is significant relationship among factors. This study will help managers and policy makers to make projections for profit margins and to build strategies to overcome the negative effect of pandemic on tourism.

ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY OF EMPLOYEES OF INDIAN POST OFFICES: A CASE STUDY ON NORTH-WESTERN INDIA

This paper helps to revisit the administrative efficiency related perspectives of India Post. It relooks the administrative efficiency aspects of the organisation from related perspectives. This paper looks to appraise the administrative efficiency of India Post in gone 10 years, w.r.t regional, national and international competitors, for its different product lines. Administrative Efficiency will be measured from the Primary Data Perspective. The objective along with pursuance of other objectives, taken along 3 independent stages: I. Initial Feild Screening, I. Pilot Survey, III. Main Survey.

INNOVATIVE TEACHING METHODS FOR BLENDED LEARNING UNDER NEW EDUCATION POLICY, 2020: A FUTURE PERSPECTIVE

India’s New Education Policy, 2020 aims to revamp our education system completely. One of the key features of this policy is increased use of technology and teaching through on-line resources along with traditional face-to-face mode. This type of blended learning calls for innovation in the teaching and learning process. One of the innovative teaching methods is through the use of movies in the classroom. This article presents an innovative way of teaching Management Courses through the use of a movie. The exercise used for this purpose aims to teach the Expectancy Theory of Motivation through short movie clips, discussion prompts, group discussion and a comparison debrief. The exercise has been found useful in increasing the students’ engagement level in class along with a better understanding of the underlying concepts in the theory. It is recommended that such innovative methods which use technology and on-line resources should be incorporated into the teaching and learning process for achieving the objectives laid out in the New Education Policy, 2020.

ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL FACTORS ON E-WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN INDIA – AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

With the technological advancement and changes in the working and lifestyles of people and industry, the rate of obsolesce of electrical and electronic equipment and gadgets, particularly computers and mobile phones, is high, posing a threat to health and environment creating a threat to sustainability for nations around the globe. Realizing the difficulties of e-waste management, many developed countries have started dumping the e-waste to developing nations that suffer from resources constraints, thus leading to hazardous activities mainly in the informal sector. Therefore, we are motivated to examine whether the awareness of the environment, attitudes, and beliefs, particularly knowledge (constructs), impact practices relating to management of e-waste in India. Analysis of the results of our survey of 180 respondents through SEM model show an insignificant association of these constructs with e-waste management practices. However, we find a significant mediating role of Environmental Knowledge in all these relationships.

ENHANCING GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS: APPLICATION OF STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN INDUSTRIES

Despite maintaining high standards in product quality during the production process, continuous run of machines and vibrations may send out defects that can result in poor quality output. The continuous monitoring and detection of the causes of error are required to bring the process back to acceptable quality levels. The implementation of statistical techniques such as quality control and design of experiments are needful for the industries to make an effective control process during production. The present study has carried out a survey to elicit the opinions of the executive engineers in the industries in regard to quality cognizance for producing quality products and the use of statistical techniques for achieving the target quality. The study findings recommend to an industry perspective in statistical techniques in the course curriculum and enhance the employability skills in the students of higher educational institutions (HEI).

HARNESSING DIGITAL AGRICULTURE TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN INDIA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Agriculture in India faces an unprecedented challenge. As a signatory to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), India must end hunger by 2030. Achievement of this goal hinges on finding viable solutions to make farming a sustainable source of income generation by adopting sustainable agricultural practices. A survey of the literature reveals that digital technologies offer promising results to farmers globally. However, India lags in the adoption of digital technologies in agriculture. The paper identifies opportunities in promoting the development and adoption of digital agriculture technologies. It analyses policy interventions of the Government of India, such as Digital Agriculture and Precision Agriculture, to make the agriculture sector more sustainable in terms of economic, environmental, and societal perspectives. This research paper discusses barriers to their adoption and provides policy suggestions. It is an analytical paper based on a survey of literature that is secondary sources such as books, research articles, and policy documents, reports published by various government and non-government organizations, online databases, and discussion papers. Thematic analysis was used to identify sustainable agriculture dimensions and discover opportunities and challenges in using digital agriculture technologies.

E-LEARNING MARKET FOR EDTECH STARTUPS AFTER COVID-19 IN INDIA

Classroom teaching at every level viz., schools, higher education, coaching, and certifications saw a major setback due to pandemic COVID-19. Complete shutdown of classrooms was need of the hour to stop the spread of coronavirus. The current paper is an attempt to understand the various opportunities posed by pandemic for Edtech startups. This paper attempts to understand the growth trends and growth drivers of Edtech industry in India. Current and popular Indian Edtech startups were reviewed to understand the market for Edtech companies. A survey was conducted to understand the perception of people towards Edtech startups with reference to their awareness level, satisfaction, customer database and market growth. Results have shown that digital learning has substantial potential to grow post- pandemic as well. The results here confirm the worth of EdTech startups in the current pandemic situation, and even after.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: A REVIEW

Increased competition among businesses demands adequate attention towards steps which would ensure business survival in long run. Businesses must build on their strengths which in turn depend upon their employee’s strengths. One of such strengths is employee’s positive Psychological Capital which comprises of self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience. Employee’s Psychological Capital has been linked to key driver of sustainable competitive advantage in today’s business scenario that is innovation. This review focuses upon studies determining the relationship between Psychological Capital and innovation. The review suggests that Psychological capital is a significant predictor of innovation among employees working in various sectors. Positive leadership styles such as Authentic, transformational leadership etc. and favourable organizational climate are found to foster Psychological Capital among employees. Although at individual level there are studies linking Psychological Capital with innovative behaviour, but less number of studies have examined the role of team or collective Psychological Capital in predicting overall innovation within the organizations.

BRIDGING MOUNTAINOUS DIVIDE THROUGH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY: A STUDY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Digital technology is impersonating as an essential part in transforming the attitude and panorama of society towards women. In the hilly state, like Himachal Pradesh, the women have less access to digital technology due to geographical disadvantages. resulting in economic dependence and lack of market intelligence. Women are the backbone of the national rural economy. They play an important role in household and agriculture activities. So, there is a need to empower them with knowledge and capacity building programmes. The provision of training women towards the digital technological sphere can encourage them to attain socio-economic mobility as training promotes skill development while intensifying the capacity of women to earn a livelihood. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the mountainous divide, digital astuteness, and capacity building of rural women in Himachal Pradesh. The present paper is an attempt to evaluate the effects of mountainous divide and constraints to digital technology in Himachal Pradesh. The study reveals that mountainous divide hinder access to New Technology, Internet, latest Information, job Opportunity, establishing and running business, infrastructure development for digitization, women empowerment and benefits of programmes and schemes. But majority of women believed that the spread of digital technology can help them a lot.

INVESTIGATING CONSUMERS' ADOPTION OF M-COMMERCE IN EMERGING ECONOMIES

Covid-19 pandemic and Internet penetration propelled an unprecedented spike in the adoption of mobile commerce (m-commerce) amongst consumers across the world including emerging economies like India. This paper investigates the antecedents (six observed variables and four moderating factors) of the adoption of m-commerce in India with the help of an extended TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) by making use of primary data collected from 288 consumers residing in different rural and urban areas of Delhi NCR, India. Multiple regression and ANOVA tests were applied on collected data which revealed perceived benefits to be the strongest independent variable having a significant bearing on the adoption of m-commerce along with the consumers’ area of residence. The study results have peculiar implications for consumers, producers, marketers, policy-makers, and the state and central governments.