Journal Press India®
It gives me immense pleasure to introduce yet another issue of MANTHAN to our readers. This issue covers a wide range of diverse topics in the field of commerce and management ranging from women empowerment, rural credit cooperatives and financing of higher education to mobile intervention in Indian agriculture and entrepreneurial opportunities for persons with disabilities.
This issue has a number of papers that focus on issues related to rural India. The paper on ‘Impact of Mobile Intervention in Indian Agriculture’ explores the potential of mobile phones and mobile-enabled agricultural services in improving the agricultural performance of farmers. The authors adopt the constructs of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) such as perceived usefulness, ease of use, self-efficacy, attitude of the respondent (farmer) and behavioural intention to measure mobile adoption behaviour of farmers in agriculture. A related area in rural management is the functioning of Self Help groups and women empowerment. The paper on ‘Self Help Groups in Empowering Rural Women in Goa’ attempts to understand the impact of group membership on its members, along with the role of Self Help Group Promoting Agencies essay in realising the goal of women empowerment. The study also analyses the independence that women exhibit in taking decisions, be it in the economic or political domain. Another paper in the rural domain is on Rural Credit Co-operatives that form an integral part of the rural credit system in India. Despite the phenomenal outreach and volume of operations, the financial health of a very large proportion of rural credit co-operatives has deteriorated significantly. The author finds that the institutions are beset with problems like low resource base, high dependence on external sources of funding, excessive governmental control, dual control, huge accumulated losses, imbalances, poor business diversification, and low recovery.
Another interesting paper in this issue is on the ‘Changing Trends in Financing of Higher Education’. This review paper traces the changing trends of financing higher education across the globe over the years and the entry of private sector into the arena. Another paper on a rather unexplored area is ‘Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities’. Promoting entrepreneurship at the grass root level is an important concern, especially for the people who are so far excluded in the growth process, i.e., person with disabilities (PWDs). This paper focuses on the role of NHFDC and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in promoting entrepreneurship among different abled persons. Similarly, the paper on ‘The Perception of Senior Citizens of Mumbai on Old Age Homes’ touches on a relatively under-researched area. This paper is based on a series of Focus group discussions (FGDs) held with the senior citizens of Mumbai to know their views on various aspects of elderly life especially regarding the alternative arrangement for aged, that is, old age homes. On the basis of the study, the author concludes that elderly people who are very sick or dying prefer to stay in their own homes. One of the papers in this issue focus on the marketing dimension of commerce. It investigates the growth of internet marketing in Indian scenario, and the impact of internet marketing on business.
I hope this issue of MANTHAN makes for an interesting reading and provides new insights into some pertinent issues in commerce and management. I also hope that the journal would continue to get the patronage of its readers and contributions from diverse and unexplored areas of international business.
Dr. Himanshu Sekhar Rout
Editor-in-Chief