rsc volume 9, issue 2, may 2017

RSC

RESEARCHINSOCIALCHANGE

Volume9,Issue2

May2017

|2RSCVolume9,Issue2,May2017

RSCRESEARCHINSOCIALCHANGEEDITORBorutRončević,FacultyofInformationStudies,NovoMesto,SloveniaASSISTANTEDITORandCONTACTPERSON:Petra Kleindienst, School of Advanced Social Studies, Nova Gorica,Slovenia,[email protected]

- GabrielBADESCU,Babeş-BolyaiUniversity,Romania- AndrasBOZOKI,CentralEuropeanUniversity,Hungary- LucaBRUSATI,SDABocconi,Italy- Ladislava CABADA, University of West Bohemia, Czech

Republic- JaneCURRY,SantaClaraUniversity,USA- NikolaiGENOV,FreieUniversitätBerlin,Germany- TeaGOLOB,SchoolofAdvancedSocialStudies,Slovenia- UmutKORKUT,CaledonianUniversityinGlasgow,UK- ZenonasNORKUS,VilniusUniversity,Lithuania- MatejMAKAROVIČ,FacultyofMedia,Slovenia- PeterVEROVŠEK,HarvardUniversity,USA- LernaYANIK,KadirHasUniversity,Turkey

PRINTUlčakar&JKGrafikaPUBLISHERZaložbaVegaISSN1855–4202RSC is included in Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts(ASSIA)andCSASociologicalAbstracts.

3|RSCVolume9,Issue2,May2017

CONTENTSVolume9,Issue2,May2017 FraneAdamPOPULISMAGAINSTGLOBALIZATIONANDNEOLIBERALISM:IDEOLOGICALANDINTELLECTUALDEBATESINSLOVENIAANDBEYOND...............................4TamaraBesednjakValič,MatejMakarovičOUTLINING RISK FACTORS FOR YOUTH PROBLEM GAMBLING WITHPOSSIBILITIESFORPREVENTION–SITUATIONINMUNICIPALITYOFNOVAGORICA……………………………….……............................................................…………........18NaveedAhmadLoneFINANCIAL INCLUSION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY: A COMPARATIVESTUDYOFMUSLIMSANDNON-MUSLIMSINTHERAJOURICITY.....................46AneeshK.A.WHOARE‘INDIGENOUS’ININDIA?STRUGGLEFORIDENTITYANDLIVELIHOODBYTHE‘ADIVASIS’ININDIA……………………………………………….66MohammedAnwarHossain,MohammadNureAlamMONITORING SOCIAL SAFETY NET PROGRAMS: LESSONS FROMBANGLADESH............................................................................................................................90


POPULISMAGAINSTGLOBALIZATIONANDNEOLIBERALISM:IDEOLOGICAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEBATES IN SLOVENIAANDBEYONDFraneAdamInstituteforDevelopmentalandStrategicAnalysis(IRSA),SloveniaE-mail:[email protected]:ThetextdealswiththerecentoutburstsofpopulismintheUSAandEurope.Thethesisisthatpopulismisareactiontoanomaliesandunintendedconsequences of globalization. Proceeding from the three models of socialdevelopment shows that populist leaders accentuate the loss of nationalsovereignty,thedominanceofsupranationalinstitutions(includingtheEU),aswell as the penetration of big capital and multinational corporations. It isimportant that the EU takes on amore active role in the regulation of freetrade, flow of capital, and migrations by combining openness and theautocentricmodel.Shouldthisnotoccur,thepopulistswilltendtomoreclosednationalsystems.Keywords: populism, globalization, neoliberalism, nationalism, democracy,autocentricvs.dependentdevelopment1.IntroductionPopulisminpoliticsiscurrentlyatrendingtopic.Butitisnotjustaboutthestyleandrhetoric(emphasizingacommunitybasedonnationalidentityandopposingsupranationalinstitutions)norisitsomekindofadeviationfrom"true"democracy.Whicheveropinionwemayholdaboutthisphenomenon–representedbysuchleadersasTrumpintheUSA,theeventsrelatedtothewithdrawal of Great Britain from the EU (Brexit), Orban and Kacynsky inPoland,oroutside theEU likePutin inRussiaandErdogan inTurkey–weneed to recognize and admit that now more than ever the limits ofglobalization in thesenseof free trade(respectively, the freemovementofpeople,goods,andcapital)aswellastransnationalintegration,havebecomeproblematized(cf.RussellMead2017).Ironically,ayearagomassproteststookplacein(Western)Europe–mainlyundertheaegisoftheLeft–againstthetradeagreementbetweentheUSAandtheEU.Afterthatcametherapidrise topowerof theright-wingedDonaldTrumpwhowishes toabolishall


theseagreementswithoutevenhavingtheintentionofstartingnewones.Allofthis,apparently,inthenameoftheallegeddamagethatsuchagreementswouldcausetotheAmericanworkersandAmericannationalinterests.The thesis I represent, is that populism skillfully took advantage of the

inability of the Left and the Right – as well as the EU – to articulate andimplement a program of regulating world trade, migration, financialindustry, tax havens, and the grossly overextended role of multinationalcorporations.Inshort,contemporarypopulismisareactiontotheanomaliesand (unintended) consequencesof globalization.Butwhether this reactionis adequate orwhether it brings any solutions for these anomalies is verydoubtful.On the other hand, populism is an extreme consequence of the

personificationofpolitics(TomšičandPrijon2013)andthearrivalofstrongleaders (from Berlusconi in Italy, Orban in Hungary, to Macron in Francewhowonthelastelectionasa“new-comer”withouttheapparatusofone’sownparty).Undoubtedly,itisthecrisisoftherepresentative(palamentiary)democracywhich is accelerating the shifts towards demagogic leadership.However,aspointedoutbefore,ourfocusisonpopulismasareactiontotheissuesandanomaliesofglobalization,suchasfreetrade,migrations,andtheenlarged influence of big techno-economic corporations. Free trade isdestroying theworkplaces in the EU and theUSA (Damijan 2017),1 globalmigrationshavebeenmetwithpoor integrationmeasuresandconsequentcultural conflicts but large (multinational) corporations and financialinstitutions continue still with active pursuits for various tax evasionchannels(‘taxhavens’),handsomelyrewardingtheirmanagersandownersalongtheway,therebycontributingtotheriseofsocialinequity.It couldbesaid thatglobalization, incunjunctionwith the technological

advancementof the last twodecades,haschangedthe(social)characterofbothdevelopedandunderdevelopedsocieties.Populismcanhencebetaken1SlovenianeconomistJožeP.Damijan(etal.)conductedananalysisonhowglobaltradeaswellastechnologicaladvancementshasinfluencedthelabourmarketintheUSAandtheEU.Theirconclusion(includedinOECDEmploymentOutlookfor2017)isthatfreetrade,institutionalisedintheformofWTO,contributedtothelossof5.7million jobs in theperiod from2001to2011 in theUSAandevenmore in theEUcountries (7.2 million). In contrast, one of the neoliberal opponents of presentTrump'spoliticsofprotectionismstatesthatfreetradewasnotatallresponsibleforthe lossof employment inAmerican industry.However, this is theonly statementwithoutanystatisticalorempiricalevidence.Theauthor isanAmericanacademiceconomist;itseemsthatinthiscaseheisprimarlyanideologueandnotascientist(Irwin2017).


as a signal of political transformations as well as of those pertaining todeepersocialrelationsandmodesofintegration.Thebigquestiononhowtoregulateglobalizationprocessestoreducenegativeandincreasethepositiveeffects thus remains unanswered. Individual states appear to be helplessalthough populist leaders tend to spread the illusions that closed nationalsystemscouldprovidefortheshelteragainstglobal issues.Nevertheless, itremainstruethattheEUcouldsurelybenefit fromamoreactiveapproachand the utilization of its full knowledge potential regarding its role andsignificance in defining the course of international relations and futuredevelopmentalmodel. However, we know that the EU in its present formandwayof functioning is incapable to focuson suchdelicate and complexissues. Therefore, not only reforms are needed but elaboration of newconceptsandintellectualrevitalization.Regardingthestructureofthetext,firsttheoftenopposingdefinitionsof

the populism will be presented, then the three models of societaldevelopment with the emphasis on autonomous (autocentric) anddependent type of socio-economic (international) interrelations areelaborated. From the point of view of recent electoral success of DonaldTrump as well as Victor Orban in Hungary, the essence and the future ofpopulist anti-globalist ideology will be illustrated. Finally, the role of theEuropean Union as more pro-active global player in regulation of globalprocessesisunderlined.2.Neoliberalism,Populism,andDemocracyMany see the populist parties andmovements as connectedwith (proto)-fascism. Others are trying to use more analytical ways to describe thisphenomenonfromdifferentpointsofview.Itseemsthatabetterapproachwouldbetounderstandthespecificfeaturesofcontemporarypopulism.Itsideology isnotalwaysconsistentandactsonvarious levels. Thedilemmahow to interpret or formulate conclusions is also present in a specialpublication dedicated to populism, issued by the Slovenian magazineMladina.Someauthorsinsistthatpopulismisthefirststeptowardafascistregimewhile otherdomestic and foreign authors remainmore cautious indefining,orrespectivelyresisting,animmediatestigmatizationofpopulism(Zupančič Žerdin 2016-2017;2 Rizman 2016-2017). On the other side,French philosopher Alain Badiou maintains that we are dealing with2 Alongside Slavoj Žižek and Mladen Dolar, Alenka Zupančič Žerdin is the thirdmusketeeroftheSlovenianLacanianSchool.


“democraticfascism.”Populistleadersmayindeedactwithinthedemocraticconstitution but they likewise act outside and their actions are beyond it(likeMussoliniandHitlerinthe1930s)–justifiablyhencebeinglabelledasfascist(Badiou2016-2017).3A completely different, wholly affirmative attitude towards this

phenomenonwasexpressedby(Slovenian)sociologistTomažMastnak.Histhesis is thatneoliberalism,notpopulism, iscloser to fascismand theonlyreal opponent of neoliberalism, cosmopolitanism and antinationalism,represent populist politics. This is how he concludes his discussion:"[o]pposing populism means opposing democracy. The political choice,whichwe face today, isachoicebetween liberalismanddemocracy. In thegiven situation the choice is: either neoliberalism or populism" (Mastnak2016-2017,47).TheLeft,Mastnakclaims,ismainlyonthesideoftheneoliberalelites.He

claims that multiculturalism, inclusivism, cosmopolitanism, genderism,lgbtism, xenophilia, and Islamophilia "are the death of the Leftist politicallanguage." The Left – both the social-democratic and themore radical – isdysfunctional and may be doomed to disappear. This is the harshestappraisal of the role of the Left – and it comes from under the pen of anauthorwhousedtodefinehimselfasaradicalLeftist.Theonlyalternativetoneoliberalglobaldominationandthedismantlingofdemocracyisareturntoeconomicnationalism,nationalsovereignty,andtheruleofthepeople(notelite)–andthatistheprogramofpopulistparties.It is interesting that Mastnak (a long-standing visiting professor at the

University of California, USA) has published a number of similarcontributions, in the main left-leaning Slovenian newspapers Delo andDnevnik (whereheholdsaregularcolumn). Inthem,heexpressedsupportforTrump'selectionaswellaspreviouslystandingupforVictorOrbanandthe Kaczynski party in Poland.4 In his last column, he analyzed the3 Inter alia, Badiou collaboratedwith another knownphilosopher, Slavoj Žižek, toorganizea congress inLondonon the futureof communisma fewyearsago.Nowtheyhaveverydifferent,evenopposingopinionsaboutpopulism. It isknownthatŽižekexpressedsomeunderstanding forTrump,namely thathewill shake-up theestablishment and interrupt the status quo (Žižek 2016; Zupančič Žerdin 2016-2017).4 It is interesting and intriguing to note that themain Slovenian opposition party(SDS), a member of the European People's Party (EPP), maintains a goodrelationshipwithOrban,whowas also invited topartake in theparty congress inMaythisyear.Themediareportedthathisspeechtothedelegateswasgreetedwithlongacclamation.TheSDSpartyis,incontrasttoOrban,ratheranti-Putinoriented.


presidentialelectionsinFranceandexpressedhispreferenceforMarineLePen. Surprisingly, these claims and analyses have provoked almost noobjectionsorcontroversyneitheramonghis former like-mindedadherentsnorinthewiderintellectualpublic.IbelievethatMastnak'sanalyseshelpustounderstandtheessenceofpopulismandthedynamicrestructuringofthepolitical space. But it is more difficult to accept his simplified dilemmabetweenneoliberalismandpopulism,inparticular,thestatementaboutthenonselective closure into national frameworks, including the withdrawalfromEUmembership.There are, however, differences between populist leaders. Orban and

Kaczynski might have a close relationship, but in their attitude towardsPutin,theyarenotinthesameboat.Furthermore,PolandandHungaryarehighlyunlikelytoexittheEU(whichwasoneofthemainprogramelementsof Le Pen at the last election although she too, as most populist leaders,includingpresumablyTrump,hascloserelationswiththeKremlin),asbothare dependent on the financial resources they draw from EU structuralfunds.ButinmanycountriestheerosionoftheLeftasaconsequenceofpopulist

ideological offensive is actually taking place, in Hungary and especially inPoland while in France and apparently in the Netherlands, Germany andAustriaitappearstobelosingground.

3.TheClosureandOpennessofNationalSystemsIn terms of ideal types, the sociological literature distinguishes betweenthreemodels of development. The first is the autocentricmodel based onclosure, the second is the autocentricmodel basedonopenness,while thethird is the dependent-peripheral model (Menzel and Senghaas 1986).Autocentricity means that the social or national system controls theresources and the ability for self-regulation by making key strategicdecisions. This serves to maintain the boundaries and the identity of thesystem.However,thereisasubstantialdifferencebetweenopenandclosedautocentric model. The autocentric model based on openness is acombination of endogenous developmental factors and actors, and of theintegration into the international environment, including, of course, acertaindependenceonthisenvironment.Such societies need to bemeritocratic because theyhave to activate all

the knowledge potentials and develop high-quality institutions in order tobe able to parry the demands of a more complex environment. Theautocentricmodelbasedonclosureseeks to reduce itsdependenceon the


environment, stresses national sovereignty and self-sufficiency. In themodernglobalizedworld,suchamodel is,ofcourse,unrealistic.Wecanatbesttalkaboutatendencytowardsa lesserorgreaterclosure/openness.Ifwe connect this framework to the current debate, then we can say thatpopulist politics tend towards a greater closure in regard to themodel ofautocentric development based on (relative) closure. Trump's program istypicalhere:hewouldbuildawallontheMexican-USAborderandabandontrade agreements or other international commitments (especiallyenvironmentalonesandconnectedtoclimatechange).Themainfeatureofthethirdmodel–theperipheral-dependent–isthat

it is too open towards the environment, thus outside interests dictate themajor decisions, and the domestic actors lose their capability forindependentoperations.Inthemoreextremecases,wearetalkingabouttheso-called neo-colonial situation, while, in a milder version, we are talkingabout such amodelwhere domestic actors have no right strategy to alignforeign capital or foreign policy interests with national priorities. Thepopulist ideology emerges precisely from the feeling that their countrieshavestrayedontoapathofperipheraldevelopment,thattheyhavelosttheattributesofastrongstate,andarenowunable to faceexternalpressures.Brexitwasbornoutofsuchfeelings.AndintheEasternpartoftheEU,theopinion of being subordinated to the EU, especially on the loss ofautocentricity, is spreading – inevitably leading to populism and state-ledcapitalism.

4.Neocolonialism,Globalism,andNationalismItisknownthatsomesocialscientistsspeakofaneo-colonialrelationshipoftheEastern and SouthernEUmember states in relation to the core states.Thiswas often voiced in connection to Greece. An influential group in theframework of the so-called Social Anthropology of Transition is especiallyloud.However, since this group is composedmostly ofNeo-Marxists, theyare not especially enthusiastic about nationalism and populism. They arewaitingfortheanti-capitalistrevolutionorfortheemergenceofthe"GreatMan," as the Slovenian anthropologist Vesna Godina puts it in her book(2014).Isthisalreadyclosertoapopulistleader?Victor Orban garnered such great support in Hungary because he was

abletoarticulatethefeelingsofthepopulationaboutthefactthatduringthereign of their Left (the former Communists) the country had lost theattributes of sovereignty, has been flooded by foreign capital, and hencebecomedependentonlargeforeigncorporationsandbigcapital.Thisisalso


supposedtobethefaultoftheEU,respectfullyofBrussels,concludingthatitisnecessarytoassertnational interests inthisregard,evenatthecostofadispute.Withthemigrationcrisis,allthishasdeepenedevenfurtherandhassomehowmanagedtounitetheVisegradcountries.However,thesituationissimilarintheWest,whereoneofthemainreasonsforBrexitwasthecontrolovermigration flows and for a large proportion of the public immigrationfromtheEasternEUcountrieswasjustascontroversial.Thewell-knownCzecheconomistandphilosopherTomášSedláček5sees

an irreconcilablecontradictionbetweennational identityandtheopennessof globalism (Gole 2017). To him, you are either a closed nationalist or aglobalist committed to openness. There is no middle path. SedláčekmentionsthattheCzechRepublichasnot faredbest inthemigrationcrisisbut he, nevertheless, expresses the opinion that his countrywill soon jointhe first leadinggroupofcountries in theEU.Buthe fails toexplain(ashedidnotexplainearlier),despitebeingananalyst for theCentralBank,whytheCzechRepublic refuses to adopt theEuro. If hewouldhave conductedthis particular analysis, he would probably no longer think in terms ofeither-or categories. Namely, this issue is not just relevant to his country,sinceSwedenandDenmarkalsorefusetojointheEurozone.Thisiscertainlyanelementofclosure,respectivelyofexercisingnationalsovereigntyattheexpenseofEuropeanization.However, we cannot say that either the Czech Republic or the

aforementionedScandinaviancountriesareeconomicallyorotherwiseself-sufficient.Buttheywanttokeeptheirhandsontheleversoftheirmonetarypolicy. And they are not doing badly either. Two years ago, the CzechRepublic'sGDP,intermsofpurchasingpower,overtookSlovenia,whiletheothertwocountries,wewellknow,belongtothecircleofthemostadvancedintheworld.Thisshouldnotbetakenasarecommendationtofollowthembut rather to contest Sedláček's thesis about the exclusionary relationshipbetweensystemicclosureandopenness.Inactuality,therearetradeoffsanddifferentcombinationsofclosureandopennesshere.

5T.Sedláčekistheauthorofabook,publishedinEnglish(andtranslatedintootherlanguages aswell) that becameabestseller for a short time (Sedláček2012).Thegistofitisthateconomicsshouldnotbesotechnicalandshouldbecomemoreopentohumanitiesandphilosophy.


5.HowandWhyaNeo-liberalFortressBecameaPopulistHeavenTrump’selectoralvictorybywayofmobilizingthe‘losersofglobalization’aswell as the decision of the British referenda for “Brexit” have been to anextent surprising; especially since both (Anglosaxon) countries representthemosttypicalformoftheso-calledLiberalMarketEconomies(LMEs)andneoliberalpolitics. Itistruethatforthetimebeingitcanbehardlyarguedthat there isapopulistparty in theUKsinceevenNigelFarage, thepuresttypeof apopulistpolitician,hasdisappeared frompolitical sceneafter thelastelection.Ontheotherside,therearepoliticianslikeBorisJohnsonwhoare not typical populists but have some potential to transform into them.ThereisalsoaquestiononhowlongtheTrumpadministrationwillbeableto survive and come to termswith the serious allegations regarding theirpotential connectionswithRussianofficialsduring thecampaign.He isalsoconfronted with the opposition from various parts of society. However, itcanbesaidthatTrumpisthemosttypicalrepresentativeofpopulistpoliticsin contemporary world. However, specific American context (as well asother national contexts where populists play important role) should betakenintoconsideration,too.IfwefollowTrump'spublicappearances,wecanfindoutthattheyarea

mixtureof tradeunionism,missionaryapproach,androbustsimplification.The rally in Pennsylvania in late April 2017 was very telling and alsointeresting from the perspective of studying the iconography anddistributionofTrump'sfollowers(respectively,oftheclosestinvitees)whoformed his escort. I noticed (at least) two representatives of the workingclass–miners,thatis.Oneofthemajoremphasesofthiscongregationwasthe promise that the new government will reopen the coal mines andprovideworkfor48thousandunemployed.Whatwillbetheenvironmentalconsequences of a renewed operation of mines and the use of coal forpower, of course, went by unmentioned. But Trump has, furthermore,promised new jobs in companies that he will supposedly convince not torelocate their operations to other countries. How will he achieve this,remainsunclear.Theplansforhisinfrastructureprojectslikewiseremaintobeseen(cf.Paulson2017).Oneof thehighlightswas also the fact that a trade agreement between

theUS,Mexico,andCanadacannotsimplybediscontinuedbutTrumpaimsto re-negotiate it and achieve an adjustment of the agreement to favornationalinterests.Oneofthemostcommonwordsusedwas"re-negotiate."As one commentator said, Trump's policy is marked by a "brilliantincoherence".


SpeakingofthewallontheUSA-Mexicanborder,whatcomestomindisa

book written by an American economist and a British political scientistentitled Why Nations Fail? (Acemoglu and Robinson 2013). The book,publishedafewyearsago,becameatruebestseller.Themainthesisisthatasuccessful socio-economic development necessitates quality and inclusiveinstitutions as opposed to extractive institutions that hinder development.Already the first chapter mentions the city of Nogales, Arizona, which isdividedintotheAmericanandtheMexicanpart.TheauthorsshowhowtheAmericanpart of the town is an example of prosperity,while theMexicanpart, despite the citybeing located in themostprosperouspartofMexico,still lags considerably behind the USA urban area. What could be thereasons?InadditiontothehistoricalheritageoftheSpanishcolonizationofMexico, the reason is supposed to be the fact thatMexicohad a one-partyreign of the InstitutionalRevolutionaryParty upuntil the year 2000.Onlyafter had it attained democracy. The problem that comes up today is thatTrumpwantstobuildawallthatwouldseparatetwodemocraticcountries.Ordoestheorganizedcrime-which,incertainpartsofMexico,hasreachedtrulygrotesqueproportions-disregardalldemocraticinstitutions?Another question is how these institutions function in anomic and

clientelisticsocietiessuchastheMexicanone.Whateverthecasemaybe,theauthors of the aforementioned book give a very schematic and also quiteuseless theory of development. Above all, they are uncritical towards thesituation in the United States. The victory of Donald Trump is likewise aresultofshifts in thecharacterof thesocietysince theAmericansociety islosingitsmeritocraticorientationandisapproachingaplutarchicsociety(asocietywhere a handful of super-rich rule). Thismeans that it is not self-evident that inclusive institutions stilldominate in theUSA,as theauthorsclaim.6

6 On the last page, they describe Chinese society as a society based on extractiveinstitutionswhichhindergrowth.However,thequestionremainshowtoexplainitshigh growth rate in the last decades. They simply say that also countries withextractiveinstitutionsmayexperienceashort-termgrowth,liketheSovietUnioninthe1970s. InregardtoChina, itcanbesaidthat thiscountry isauniquecaseandthattheauthorsdonotrespectthat.Ithasaonepartysystem,theCommunistpartyis hence very powerful, but on the other side,we have to dowith themixture ofstatecapitalismandpowerfulcronycapitalists.ItseemsthatChinaiseconomicallybetter-off due to its skillful adaption to globalization and a certain respect formeritocracy(Bell2015).


6.TheFutureofPopulismOverthelast20years,theworldhasexperiencedmanychangesinitssocialstructure,values,andinternationalrelations.Theeffectsofglobalizationarecontradictory: for certain countries, regions or social groups they arebeneficialwhile for others they remainnegative. If Trumphadnotwon intheUSA,wewouldpossiblynotevenknowthatelectionsinthiscountrycanbe won bymobilizing both the losers and opponents of globalization.Wewere all convinced that the USA is themain driver of globalization but itturnsoutthatthisisnotentirelyso.Weknow-andthisissaidalsobytheaforementionedSedláček-thatChinaisnowtheonewhoismostinterestedin the smoothoperationof free trade and themovementof capital (whichwas also evident at the meeting in Davos). But this is not the same asopenness(asclaimedbythesameauthor).AlthoughChinadoes,toacertainextent, take into account meritocratic principles it is yet to become ademocraticsociety(thethesisaboutthemeritocraticnatureofthiscountryisrepresentedbytheUSAsinologistandpoliticalscientistD.Bell2015).Itisnotopeninternallyanditisnotanopensociety(Shirk2017).TheEuropeanUnionshouldbemoreinterestedinthegreaterregulation

ofthedisorderedandanarchicglobalizationprocessesandassertitselfmoreasaglobalactor intermsofanautocentricmodelbasedonopenness.Thisdoesnotnecessarilymeanatradewarandbruteprotectionism,asimaginedby Trump. It does, however, mean that global trade needs to be in thefunctionofsustainabledevelopmentandmarkedbythequalityofconsumergoods, high safety standards, and consumer rights. This would limit thecurrently excessive low-quality consumerism and thewild proliferation ofshoppingmalls(inthisregard,SloveniaisneoliberalparexcellenceandevenattheforefrontintheEU).As faraspopulism is concerned, it ispossible that itwillneverbecome

establishedasadominantpoliticaloptionbutitwillcontinuetopersistandthus present a considerable challenge for both the political groupings indifferentcountriesaswellas fortheEU(Müller2016).Manystillmaintainthatpopulismis theresultofdemagogic leaderswhoareslightly ‘evil.’Butthisisnottrue-itisprimarilyanexpressionofaresponsetothealienationanddiffuseness,maybeeventothehyper-complexityoftheglobalizedworldinwhichwelive.Theneedforidentitypolitics, inthesenseofGemeinshaftvs.Gesellschaft,providedforbypopulistleadersisdeeplyrootedinhumannature(RussellMead2017).77 It is worth quoting a wider formulation: “Western elites believed that in thetwenty-first century, cosmopolitanism and globalismwould triumph over atavism


7.ConclusionThefirstcharacteristicofmodernpopulismisthepersonificationofpolitics.In otherwords, parties ormovements are identifiable by their founder orleader.Membersandtheirconstituencyseetheleaderastheembodimentofthepoliticalprogramandaguarantorof its implementation.Someanalystsclaimthatpluralismanddemocracyareindanger,whichmaybetrue,butinsome countries with a strong populist party or rule, the mechanisms of“checkandbalancies”stillexist.However, aperson-basedpolitics isnot just the trait ofpopulismsince

politics of the present day has likewise gone throughmany changes, frommediatization and adjustments to the media portrayals all to theincreasinglygreaterroleofpublicrelations.Furthermore,theuseofinternet(namelyTwitter)fostersapossibledirectcommunicationbetweenaleaderandthepeople(constituency).Theadulationtospecificsocialgroupsaswellasthepromiseandforecastsofwhatonestrongleader(orapartyleadbyastrongpersona)canaccomplish for thepeoplehasbeen in the limelightofmoderndaypolitics.Interestinglyenough,theenfantterribleoftheAustrianpolitics,SebastianKurz(actingforeignminister)intendstorunatthe2017election on a ballot of his own (The List of Sebastian Kurz- AustrianPeople'sParty).Althoughalreadyamemberofanestablishedconservativeparty,hisnameisintheforefront,andthepartyrepresentsonlytheformalframework. In this connection, Boris Johnson, the ‘brains behind Brexit,’shouldbementioned, forwhomit isprobablyonlyamatterof timebeforefollowingKurz’smodel.Macron in France is another representative of thepersonification of politics (although not a populist he is, au contraire,praisedfordefeatingLePen’spopulistNationalFront).Itisknownthattheleading Slovenian party (SMC) was initially named after its founder andleader Miro Cerar (acting prime minister) who was, as a new face inSlovenian politics and with some (selective) populist elements, able tosecuretheelectionsin2014.One other characteristic and intention of populism is the re-

establishment of the souvernity of the people and genuine political

andtribal loyalties.They failedtounderstandthedeeprootsof identitypolitics inthehumanpsycheand thenecessity for those roots to findpolitical expression inbothforeignanddomesticpolicyarenas.Andtheyfailedtounderstandthattheveryforces of economic and social development that cosmopolitism and globalisationfostered would generate turbulence and eventually resistance, as Gemeinshaft(community)foughtbackagainsttheonrushingGesellschaft(marketsociety),intheclassictermssociologistsfavoredacenturyago”(RussellMead2017,7).


community within national (or local) boundaries and the revolt againstinternational connections and international institutions. However, asdescribedinthetext,evenwithadominantpopulistpowerthatcanonlybedone to a smaller extent. This text has stressed what other authors andanalysts of populism neglected (cf. Müller 2016) – the consequences ofpolitical, cultural, andeconomic internationalizationandglobalization.Thepopulistideologywillarguethatthreatslikethelossofnationalsouverenityoreconomicdependencycanbesolvedbyastrongstate;butastrongleaderand a strong state are two sides of the same coin. Put shortly: populistregimesinevitableleadtostatecapitalism(cf.SallaiandSchnyder2015forHungarianexample).Let me conclude with the following thought: in order to reduce the

attractiveness of populism, on the one hand, we should be encouragingdiscussionson therevitalizationofdemocracy in thenationalaswellas intheEUcontext(Müller2016).Ontheotherhand,weshouldbeutilizingtheknowledgeonwaysof reachingmore contextual (discrete)mechanismsofregulating globalization processes. As was indicated, the process of deepreformationandre-orientationincognitiveandpoliticallevelsisneeded.Weshould take and learn from the lessons of different sources, even fromcontemporary populism. That is the main message from this text. Thismeans: the phenomena like populist politics should be studied andconsidered from different points of view since various sources must betakenintoaccountinordertoavoidideologicalandsubjectiveopinions.Thevalueassesmenton themeaningandconsequencesofpopulism isallowedand expected but should not be the starting point of analysis (cf. Berger2011onideologicalbiasofsociologicalresearch).

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Damijan, P. Jože. 2017. “Globalizacijski šok za delovna mesta na Zahodu.”[GlobalisationShockforJobsintheWest].Svetkapitala,2July.https://goo.gl/iHKcqQ.Godina, Vesna. 2014. Zablode postsocializma [Delussion of Post-socialism].Ljubljana:Beletrina.Gole, Nejc. 2017. Interview with Tomáš Sedláček. Delo, 10 May.https://goo.gl/h8D4xe.Irwin,Douglas.2017.“TheFalsePromiseofProtectionism.”ForeignAffairs96(3):45-56.Mastnak,Tomaž.2016-2017.“Demokracijabrezlevice[DemocracyWithoutthe Left].”Mladina alternative: Posebna številka – prispevki k razumevanjučasa,9December,42-7.Menzel, Ulrich and Dieter Senghaas. 1986. Europas Entwicklung und dieDritteWelt:EineBestandsaufnahme.Frankfurt:Suhrkamp.Müller, Jan-Werner. 2016. What is Populism? Philadelphia: University ofPennsilvaniaPress.Paulson, John. 2017. “Trump and Economy – How to Jump-Start Growth.”ForeignAffairs96(2):8-11.Rizman, Rudi. 2016-2017. “Demokracija niso le volitve in referendum[Democracy is Not Only Election and Referenda].” Mladina alternative:Posebnaštevilka–prispevkikrazumevanjučasa,30-39.Russell Mead,Walter. 2017. “The Jacksonian Revolt – American PopulismandtheLiberalOrder.”ForeignAffairs96(2):2-7.Sallai,DorottyaandGerhardSchnyder.2015.“StrongState,WeakManagers.How Firms CopeWith Authocracy in Hungary (Working Paper No. 474).”Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge, 1 July.https://goo.gl/Zg8DJE.


Sedláček,Tomáš.2012.EconomicsofGoodandEvil:TheGuest forEconomicMeaningfromGilgameshtoWallStreet.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.Shirk,Susan.2017.“TrumpandChina.”ForeignAffairs96(2):20-7.Tomšič, Matevž and Lea Prijon. 2013. “Person-based Politics in Italy andSlovenia:ComparingCasesofLeadership’s Individualisation.” InternationalSocialScienceJournal64(213-4):237-48.Zupančič Žerdin, Alenka. 2016-2017. “AIMO: Smo se res znašli v fašizmu?[AIMO:HaveweReallyEndedupinFascism?].”Mladinaalternative:Posebnaštevilka–prispevkikrazumevanjučasa,9December,10-5.Žižek,Slavoj.2016.https://goo.gl/u3ZDYV.


OUTLINING RISK FACTORS FOR YOUTH PROBLEMGAMBLING WITH POSSIBILITIES FOR PREVENTION –SITUATIONINMUNICIPALITYOFNOVAGORICATamaraBesednjakValičSchoolofAdvancedSocialStudiesinNovaGorica,SloveniaE-mail:[email protected]čSchoolofAdvancedSocialStudiesinNovaGorica,SloveniaE-mail:[email protected]: Research in gambling prevalence in Slovenia is fairly under-researchedandthedatafromthefirstnationalprevalencesurvey(from2008)showed that very small percentage of population has gambling-relatedproblems (SOGS ≥3 =1.91%). Additional calculations reviled there is largerpercentageof youngpeoplehavingproblemswith theirgamblinghabit (agegroup18-30,SOGS≥3=5.38%).Maingoalsofthestudyaretwo,firstbeinginoutlining the main objective causes which may lead to excessive gamblingamong youth and the second being in testing the ground for possibility onestablishing school-based prevention programme to decrease the gamblingrelatedproblemsalongyouthwiththeaimofpreventingit.Methodsusedwereboth quantitative (questionnaire sample encompassed 1113 final year highschool pupils attending high schools in 8 different Slovenian towns, ageM=18.15) and qualitative (focus groups and interviews with school socialworkers, NGO leaders, therapists, and representatives of the municipality ofNova Gorica, total 3 focus groups and two interviews were undertaken).Regressionanalysisshowedthatintermsofriskfactorscontributingtowardshigher SOGS-RA scores, there is: playing roulette with croupier in casino;sports betting; internet gambling; gambling to avoid every-day problems; awish to get a financial reward; parental and colleague’s gambling; andreceiving pocketmoney or stipendmoney. Qualitative research on the otherhand reviledhighmotivationof socialworkers,municipality representatives,therapists,andNGOleaderstoshapeandstartexecutingacoherentpreventiveprogramme for high school pupils in Nova Gorica municipality. To sum up,regardingtheSlovenianyouthgamblinghabitsandcurrentstateofartinthefield of prevention organisation and implementation, the conclusion is that


there is muchmore to be done in terms of organising and undertaking thesufficientmethodsofschool-basedprevention.Keywords: youth gambling, Slovenia, SOGS-RA, prevention mechanisms,qualitative,quantitative1.IntroductionSloveniaisacountryoftwomillioninhabitantswhogaineditsindependencefrom Yugoslavia in 1991 and itsmembership to EU in 2004. Slovenia is ayoung state with fairly long tradition in legalised gambling. According toMacuretal.(2009)thefirstcasinoopenedinnowadaysSlovenianterritoryof Portorož in 1913. Itwas in 1946when lottery gamblingwas permittedand it was in 1962 when the first basic legislation in gambling wasadoptedandItwasin1964(Portorož)and1965(Bled)thatfirsttwocasinoswereopened (ibid.). From thebeginning, casino gamblingwasunderstoodas tourist offer for exclusively foreign (mainly Italian) guests. In 1984 thefirst ‘American’ style casino was opened in Nova Gorica, town borderingwith Italy.Thepredominant industry in townnowadays remainsgamblingindustry. The proliferation of casinos, both along the western Slovenian-Italianborderandacross the country, continued through1990s (alsowithabolishmentofprohibitionofgambling forSlovenians)andhasreached itspeakatthebeginningof2000swherein2012wasencompassing9casinoswith260 tables and3950 slotmachines, and32gamblinghallswith4716slotmachines(UNPIS2011)contributingtoGrossGamingRevenue(pay-insdecreased by pay-outs) of 359.1 million EUR in that same year (ibid). Tosumup,Sloveniangamblingindustryhascontributed1.04%tonationalGDPandwasin2011lowestsince2005(UNPIS2013).Knowingthis,itissomewhatinterestingtoobservethelevelofresearch

conducted in this field. Most of it has been focused on the economics ofcasinogamblingandarenotevenfullyavailableforinterestedpublictosee,just like therearenot fullyavailablesomeminorstudiesconductedby theFacultyofSports(regardingtherecreationalhabitsofcasinoemployees)orof the Institute of Public Health, Koper (gambling among universitystudents).MoreresearchhasbeenundertakenbySchoolofAdvancedSocialStudiesinNovaGorica,regardinggamblinghabitsamongcasinoemployees(Besednjak 2008), National Gambling Prevalence Survey (Makarovič et al.2008) and Youth Prevalence Survey introduced in the following text. Thelatterwasfoundtobeofextremeimportance,sincesomeresultsinNationalGambling Prevalence Survey indicated the increased number of gambling


relatedproblemsamongyoungerpopulation(from18-30).Thisleadtothedecisiontoadditionallymonitorthegamblingprevalenceandtheprevalenceof gambling related problems (using the established SouthOaks GamblingScreen adapted for Slovenian high school population). The results areintroducedlateron.2.ProblemFormulation2.1.YouthgamblingProliferationofgamblingraisedinterestingamblingresearch,beingfocusedheavilyonthephenomenonofsocalled‘problemgambling’(Cosgrave2010,Reith2007)orinsomecaseseven‘gamblingaddiction’(ibid.).Thefocushasbeen most often placed on general public but also different social sub-groups like college students, immigrants,minorities, andelderly (Cosgrave2010).Special consideration has also been given to youth and adolescents

(Govoni, Rupcich and Frisch 1996, Griffiths 1995, Ladouceur, Dubé andBujold 1994, 1994a, National opinion research Center (NORC) 1999,Nationalresearchcouncil1999,StinchfieldandWinters1998,Wiebe,1999,Derevensky and Gupta 2000, Molde et al. 2009). It was in 1999 whenNational Research Council (1999) and National Gambling Impact Studycommission (1999) stated that young population is at higher risk forgambling problems compared to their adult counterparts (see also Shafferand Bethune 2000). In this respect, most extensive work in the field hasbeen done by Derevensky and Gupta (see Derevensky and Gupta 2004,GuptaandDerevensky1998,DerevenskyandGupta1996,1997;GuptaandDerevensky1998a)butalsootherworksindicatetheexistenceofaproblem(Acuri, Lester and Smith 1985, Lesieur and Klein 1987, Shaffer and Hall1996,NationalResearchCouncil1999, Jacobs2000,Wickwireetal.2007).Other surveys tend to embrace population prevalence but results outlinehigherfrequenciesofbothgamblingandproblemgamblingwithinyoungestagegroups.Seeforexample,Slovenia(Makarovičetal.2008),andBelgium(Druine 2009), where in other countries independent research on youthgambling has already been undertaken. Those are the following: Estonia(Laanso and Niitt 2009), Finland (Jaakkola 2009), Germany (Meyer andHayer 2009), United Kingdom (Griffiths 2009), Lithuania (Skokauskas2009),Spain(Becoña2009),andSweden(JonssonandRönnberg2009).Reviewing the literature there canbe found twomaincharacteristicsof

youth gambling. Firstly, youth engage in different types of gambling


(Boldero et al. 2010) than do adults and the levels of gambling relatedproblems are higher among youth than among adults. The engagement indifferent games can be explained by both limited finances and legalrestrictions when it comes to entering gambling venue (ibid.), where thelatterhasbeenexplainedbytheadolescentsbeingpronetoengageinhealthriskbehaviours(Clayton1992ascitedinWintersandAnderson2000).Whenitcomestodifferentgamesbeingmoreplayedamongadultssome

differencesbetween countrieshavebeenoutlined,namelybetweenUnitedStates of America and Australia (Boldero et al. 2010). Differences wereoutlinedinthefollowingmanner:USadolescentsplaymorefrequentlycardgames, bet on sports events and games of skills (see also Engwall, Hunterand Steinberg 2004, Welte, Barnes, Tidwell and Hoffman 2009). Thesituation is slightly different in Australia where it was researched (seeDefabbro, Lahn and Grabosky 2005) that the most popular games amongproblem gamblers were card games, racing, Electronic gaming devices(EGMs), sports and the Internet (ibid.).The reasons for thisdivision couldalso lye in different types of legislationwith enforcement of different agelimitsforaccesstogambling.It is apparent, from the literature, that youngmales aremore likely to

participateingamblingactivitiesthanyoungfemalesandtheyarealsomoreprone to develop gambling related problems (see research by Adlaf andIalomiteanu 2000, Westphal et al. 2000, Johanson and Gotestam 2003,Delfabbro et al. 2003,Moodie and Finnigan 2006,Huang andBoyer 2007,Kessler et al. 2008, Molde, Pallesen, Bartone, Hystad and Johnsen 2009).Whenitcomestofavouritetypesofgamblingamongboysandgirls,resultsfromCanada (Augeretal.2010)show, thatyoungboysaremoreprone toplaying games for money where girls are more prone to buying lotterytickets.IntheSloveniancase,boystendtoplayallgamessignificantlymoreoften than girls. However, the differences are far the most significant forsportsbetting,playingcardswithfriendsformoneyandinternetgambling.When it comes to levels of risk gambling several studies have been

conducted showing fairly high numbers in the past (Shaffer et al. 1999)reaching up to 14.8% of at-risk gamblers and 5.7% of problem orpathological gamblers in US and Canada (see also Moodie and Finningan2006).Severalmorerecentstudieshavefounddeclinesinratesofproblemgambling(seeStinchfield2011)especiallyintermsoffrequencyofgamblingandunderagegamblinginUS.Speaking about risk factors for problem gambling, studies show links

between problem gambling and personal psychological characteristic.


Derevensky and Gupta (2001) reviled the links with lower self-esteem,depression,andanxiety(seealsoMagoon,GuptaandDerevensky2007).2.2.RiskFactorsIt is noticed that adolescent probable and pathological gamblers tend tohave some history in of delinquency (Hardoon, Derevensky, Gupta(unknown),butalsoStinchfield2000,Wintersetal.1993).Therehavealsobeen analyses in connections between problem gambling, delinquentbehavioursandsubstanceabuse(Barnesetal.1999,WintersandAnderson2000,ShafferandKorn2002,Vitaroetal.2001,Barnesetal.2005).In terms of accessibility some less research have been undertaken, but

still, they show some tendencies in terms of greater accessibility beingrelatedtoacorrespondingincreaseingambling,increasedmoneyspendingon gambling and increasing the number of problem gamblers (more in(Hardoon,DerevenskyandGupta(unknown)).In terms of familial influences, some early research (Gupta and

Derevensky 1996, 1997, 1998, 1998a, 2000) shows that early initialgambling experience of adolescent pathological gamblers took place withfamilymembers in their ownhome.Additionally, Felsher,Derevensky andGupta (2003) showed that youth’s perceptionof parent involvement withlotteryplaysan importantrole in the initiationandmaintenanceof lotteryparticipation for youth. As children get older tend to change the gamblingpattern away from parent and towards friends (more in Hardoon,Derevensky and Gupta (unknown)). Strong peer modelling and sociallearning component has been researched and reported by Hardoon andDerevensky(2001).

2.3.PreventionandtreatmentIn terms of prevention and treatment Nower and Blaszczynski (2004)suggest,thatschoolservicesintheformofgamblingeducationrepresentanideal means of protecting youth from potential progression towardsgamblingrelatedproblems(p.26).Inthisregard,themainpurposeisharmminimization along with the need for parental education about youthgamblingrelatedproblems.Theneedfor implementationofschool–basedharmminimizationstrategiesforyouthandparentshavealsobeenoutlinedby Shaffer et al. (2000). Harmminimization strategies in this context arebeing strategies not promoting abstinence but rather safe engagement inrisky behaviour, where each individual is aware of the risks (Dickson,Derevensky and Gupta 2003). Messerlian, Derevensky and Gupta (2005)haveintroducedYouthGamblingRiskPreventionModelwhichillustratesat


the continuum of gambling risk the primary, secondary and tertiarypreventioninterventionpoints(p.73).Primarypreventionstartsatthelevelof no risk gambling with its main objective in increasing theknowledge/awareness of risks in youth, parents and public. Secondaryprevention starts at the level of at-risk gambling with increased earlyidentification, assessment, intervention and referral. It also preventsprogression of problems. Tertiary preventions at the level of gamblingproblems tend to minimize harm to individual, family and community(ibid.).In terms of content of prevention, the following have been outlined:

education curriculum,where youth can learn tomake distinction betweenconceptsofskillandluckbutalsostudentscanlearntounderstandcommonmythsandfallaciesaboutgambling(WilliamsandWood2010).Additionally,youthpreventionprogrammesmustaimtowardsdevelopinglifeandcopingskills, such as decision making and problem-solving skills (Turner et al.2008,Messerlian,DerevenskyandGupta2005).3.StructureoftheanalysisAfter identifying the prevalence and major patterns of problem gamblingwithin theanalysedsegmentsofscientific literatureonyouthgamblingweoutline the most important questions we address within further researchwork. These are: What are the major risk factors that may contribute toproblemandpathologicalgamblingamongfinishingyearhighschoolpupilsof two Slovenian regions? And more specifically, what type of games arethosecontributing towardshigherSOGS-RAscores? Is it internetgamblingresulting to be the riskiest one? What is the role of peers and parentalgamblinginrespectofhighSOGS-RAscoresandwhatgamblingmotivationalfactorsalsocontributetowardshighSOGS-RAscores?In terms of qualitative research, we are interested in possibilities to

establishcoherentpreventionforyouthgamblinginGoriškaregionfocusingonNovaGoricamunicipality.

3.1Methodsapplied3.1.1SampleQuantitative study on free time activities and gambling habits wasconducted in high-schools in 8 Slovenian towns in two regions, namelyGoriška region and Dolenjska region. Totally 1113 pupils (F= 62,7%; M=


37,3%, age M=18,15) of the finishing, fourth year, of high school wasincludedintheresearch.Thesecondresearch,qualitative,tookpartinmunicipalityofNovaGorica

– Goriška region, where totally three focus groups were conducted withsocial workers employed in participating high schools, representatives ofNova Gorica municipality and addiction therapist. Two interviews wereexecuted; one with a therapist who agreed in participation but did notmanagedtoparticipateatfocusgroupandsecondwithNGOrepresentative–withthesamereason.3.1.2.InstrumentsThe quantitative study is based on an extensive questionnaire, whichincluded several aspects of pupils’ characteristics, motivations andbehaviour.Theyarethe:

- thepatternsofspendingleisuretime,includingtheactivitiessuchassocialising with friends, watching TV, playing computer games,readingbooks, recreationalandculturalactivities,drinkingalcohol,usingdrugsandgambling;

- the presence of gambling and addictions in the pupils’ socialenvironment, includingplayinggamesbythepeers,parents,talkingto followpupils aboutgambling, suspecting that followpupilshaveproblemswithalcohol,drugsorgambling;

- the direct contact with playing different games, including varioustypes of lottery and tombola, scratch cards, gambling machines ingamblinghallsandcasinos,cardsandrouletteinacasino,electronicroulette, dice games in a casino, sports betting, cards and othergames with friends for money, sports games (such as billiard,bowling,golf...)withfriendsformoney,internetgambling;

- the main motivation for gambling, including the wish to win thefinancial reward, entertainment and relaxation, socialising withpeople,curiosity,challengeandavoidingeverydayproblems;

- the inclusion into prevention mechanisms such as listening tolecturesondrugaddictionandgamblingaddiction,consideringsuchmechanisms as useful, knowing who to contact to get informationandhelpconcerningdrugandalcoholaddiction;

- the presence of regularmonthly income, including stipend, pocketmoney,students’workandothersources;

- thepresenceof commuting to schooland theplaceof livingduringthestudies, includingthepossibilitiesof livingathome, inapupils’dormitory,withrelativesorinsomeotherplace.


- Gambling problems were assessed using SOGS-RA questionnaire

(Winters,StinchfieldandFulkerson1993–vMoldeetal.),adoptedforSlovenianhighschoolpupils

Distinguishing between ‘normal’, ‘risky’, ‘problematic’ or ‘pathological’gamblingbasedon theSOGS-RAresultsmaybe–despite theconventionaluseof suchconcepts– ratherarbitrary.Therefore, for thepurposesofouranalysiswewould not distinguish between these categories andmeasure,for instance, the probabilities of being a pathological gambler. Instead,wewouldsimplytaketheSOGS-RAscoreassuchasameasureoftheintensityof gambling problems. This also implies using the possibility of a linearregressionmodeltoassesstherelativeimpactofparticularvariablesinsteadofabinarylogisticregression.We have been using the linear regression model as a simplified

approximationtogetsomegeneral impressionabouttherelativeimpactofparticularmotivations,behaviours,experiencesandsocialenvironmentstothe SOGS-RA score as the dependent variable. The categorical (nominal)independentvariablesbasedonthesurveyresultshavebeendichotomised,i.e.expressedbydummyvariableswhenevernecessarily.Qualitativeresearchencompassed3focusgroupsand2interviewsbased

onguidelineopenendedquestionselaboratingthefollowingtopics:- Regarding the prevention programmes in Slovenia the discussion

touched the field of prevention that is encompassed in nationalgamblinglaw,thelackknowledgeaboutthefunctioningofgamblingwithin society and lack of actual data on gambling prevalence, andregarding the role of schools in terms of exercising prevention.Withinfocusgroups,thewillingnessofstakeholderstoactuponthesituationwasdiscussed.

- Intermsoftreatmentofyouthgamblingproblems,theresultsshow,thetopicsismorethanjustunrecognized.Themaincharacteristicisthe lack of data, experts’ expectation was pointed out in terms offuture trends of youth behaviour. The aspect of financing botpreventionandtreatmenthasalsobeenaddressed.

3.1.3.DesignThelinearregressionmodelwasgeneratedbytheSPSScomputersoftwareusingthe‘backward’method.Initially,alltheaspectsmentionedabovehavebeen entered into the equation and all that did notmatch the significancecriteriawere automatically dropped from themodel. Themain aim of theanalysis is to discover which objective causes may lead to excessivegamblingamongyouth.


All focus groups and interviews were audio recorded. The recordings

weretranscribedandanalysedusingclassicalmethodofcoding.Basiccodeswere shaped regarding the guideline questions, later more abstractcategories were shaped and finally codes were assigned to belongingcategory.Withtheexceptionoftranscribing,theinterviewsandanalysiswasconductedbyauthorsofthepaper.3.1.4.ProcedureQuantitativeresearchhasbeenundertakenindifferenthighschoolsfrom8selected Slovenian towns from two regions; in every case the pupilswerelocated in a classroomwithonly researchers’ presence.Theywere toldbytheresearchertheaimsandscopeof theresearchandintroducedwiththeassurance of anonymity and the possibility of declining the participation.Secondly,qualitativeresearchwasundertakenatthepremisesoftheSchoolofAdvancedSocialStudiesinNovaGorica(SASS)whereparticipantsagreedtomeet.Theywerealso introducedwiththeconceptofanonymityandthepossibility of declining their participation. Focus groups and interviewswereagreedtoberecordedonaudiodevice.3.2.Otherconsiderations3.2.1.EthicsconcernItisacommonpracticeinSloveniathatforunder-agedpupilsinelementaryandsecondaryschool’sparentssignannualpermissionfortheirchildrentoparticipateindifferentsurveys.Schools,bythemselves,decidewhichtopicsare tobeallowedtoberesearchedon theirpremises.Additionally, inbothquantitative and qualitative research the concept of anonymity has beenintroducedandstrictlyfollowed.Allparticipantshavebeenintroducedwiththeoptionofrefusingtoparticipateattheresearch.3.2.2.ConflictofinterestThequantitativeresearchonyouthgamblinghasbeenfundedbySASSfromown fundswherequalitative researchon the relevanceandpossibilitiesofyouth gambling prevention has been financed by Slovenian ResearchAgency.3.2.3.AccesstodataData has been collected by authors of this paper and they are thereforeresponsibleforintegrityandaccuracyoftheanalysis.


4.Results4.1.QuantitativesurveyresultsAskingpupilsabouttheirhabitofspendingfreetimeandfavouritefree-timeactivities reveal that vastmajority spend their free timewith friends (seeTable 1) or with watching TV (multiple answers were possible). Moreinterestingistheresultthat79,89%ofrespondenthavealreadycameacrosseither alcohol or drugs or gambling in their free time and that 18,29% ofrespondents has already had problem with the police. Regarding indirectcontactwithgambling47,03%ofrespondentshavecolleaguesgamblingand11,50%haveparentsgamblingwhile17,82%haveattendedalectureaboutproblemgambling.Ontheotherhand,71,48%thinkthatsucheducation isneededsincesolely16,56%ofrespondentsknowwhotocontactregardingproblemgambling.Regardingtheirownmotivationforgambling,thedesireto gain money comes first with 41,92% and relaxation with fun comessecondwith 32,60%. Out of curiosity gambles 23,29% and as a challengegambles 9,86% while 9,59% gambles for socialising and 1,92 to avoideverydayproblems.


Table1:Freetimeactivities,indirectcontactswithgambling,andmotivationforgambling

Source:MakarovičandMacur(2010)Among themost frequently played games are those conducting outside

casinos(Table2).Inthepastyear27,04%ofrespondenthaveatleastonceplayed scratch cards, 21,48 have played cards or other with friends formoney, 19,21% have played Lottery. 18,82 have bet on sports and 16,82havegambledontheinternetwhile11,26haveplayedsnooker,bowlingorgolf for money. 15,55% and 15,00% have played slot machines either incasinosoringamblinghallsand10,88haveplayedelectronicroulette.Lessrespondents played card games in casinos (8,57%), roulettewith croupier(3,69%) and dice games in casinos (2,43%). In terms of gambling relatedproblems, the severity measure in terms of SOGS-RA scores show that12,58% of gamblers gamble with some risks, 4,25°can be classified asproblem gambler and 3,15% of gamblers can be classified as pathologicgambler.


Table 2: Direct contacts with gambling and intensity of gambling relatedproblems

Source:MakarovičandMacur(2010)Majority of respondents have some kind of regular monthly income

(Table 3), most (40,09) receive pocket money or stipend money (39,05)while 12,88 have no regularmonthly income at all. In terms of amount ofincome 36,07% receive between 120-250€ per month, 22,14% receivebetween 60€ and 120€ and 24,95% receive less than 60€ per month.16,84%receivemorethan250€permonth.Majorityofrespondentsliveathome during their secondary education and 32,54% commute to thedistancegreaterthan20kilometreswhere24,59%commutetothedistanceless than 20 kilometres and solely 7,50% of respondents live in pupils’dormitory.


Table3:Monthlyincomeandlivingduringhigh-schooleducation

Source:MakarovičandMacur(2010)The final linear regression model generated included 17 independent

variables,outofwhich15havesignificancelevelslowerthan0.05andwerethusconsideredassignificantlyrelatedtotheSOGS-RAscore.TheadjustedRsquare measure indicates that the linear regression model thus gainedexplains 54.6 per cent of the entire variance. The coefficients for the 17independentvariablesincludedinthefinalmodelarepresentedinTable4.Themodel indicates that playing certain gamesmakes higher SOGS-RA

scoressignificantlymorelikely.Onlythreetypesofgames,however,seemtobedirectlyrelated tohigherSOGS-RAscores.Thesinglemostsignificant isplayingroulettewithacroupierinacasino.Sports’ betting, on the other hand, takes place in significantly less

controlled and restricted environments,more easily accessible to the highschool students. Consequently, it ismuchmore commonamong thepupilswhencomparedtoplayingroulettebutnotmuchlessrisky–asindicatedbyourregressionmodel.


Table4:Risksofproblemgambling:Coefficientsandtheirsignificancelevelsinthelinearregressionanalysis

Source:Own


The risks of high SOGS-RA scores are somewhat lower at internet

gambling than among those practicing roulette and sports betting, this isalso the area that is themost difficult to control and regulate and is thusalmostcompletelydependentontheindividualpractices.Thetypesofmotivationforgamblingarenolessimportantasthefactor

of risk independently from the concrete types of games that are played.Playing for ‘avoiding everyday problems’ is the second most importantfactorofriskinourmodel.Thecontributionofthemotivationbythewishtogetamoneyrewardto

the SOGS-RA scores is lower but still quite significant. Playing ‘to avoidevery-dayproblems’or‘playingformoney’seemtoberelatedtosomewhatgreaterrisksthanplayingforfun.Socializingwithotherpeopleandcuriositywere include in the model as well but with the significance levels ofapproximately 0.07 (i.e. above the 5% usual threshold in statisticalhypothesestesting)whichmakethemlesscertainasthepotentialfactorsofrisk.Certain aspects of the pupils’ social environment are relevant as well.

HigherSOGS-RAscoresaremorelikelywhenthepupilsareexposedtotheenvironmentwhengamblingispracticedbyothers.Childrenoftheparentswho gamble and the high school students whose fellow students aregambling are more likely to have gambling problems themselves. Talkingaboutgamblingwiththefellowstudentsisareasontoworryaswell.Moreover, problems with alcohol and/or drugs by others within the

social environment also seem to contribute to higher SOGS-RA scores:pupils,whosefellowpupilsseemtohavesuchproblems,aremorelikelytohavehigherSOGS-RAscores.ParticulartypesofmonthlyincomecontributetohigherSOGS-RAscores

as well. Gambling clearly requires some inflow of financial resources andboth receiving pocket money and receiving stipend contribute to higherSOGS-RAscores toa similarextend.On theotherhand, this isnot true forthemoneyearnedbystudents’work.Finally,commutingtoschoolfromthedistancebellow20kmorlivingin

adormitorycontributestowardslowerSOGS-RAscores.Ontheotherhand,we foundno significant impact to thedependent variable in ourmodel bythe reported leisure activities, using drugs and alcohol (extensively) andhaving problems with the police. Moreover, we also found no significantrelationbetweentheinclusioninthepreventivemechanismsandtheSOGS-RAscores.


4.2.Qualitativesurveyresults4.2.1. Youth prevention programmes: perspective of Nova GoricamunicipalityTheresponsesofthesocialworkersgiveveryvariedprofileofthesituationin the region. They are convinced over the dual nature of the gamblingindustry. On one hand, they are convinced that gambling has a negativeimpact–resultingmainlyfromavailabilityofgamblingbroughttoaregion.Butontheotherhand,theybelieve,thatpresenceofgamblingindustryinaregionresultsinmorealertobservationofthepublicopinionovergamblingitselfalongwithpayingattentionoverproblemgambling.Participantsinthefocus group agree over the importance of knowledge regarding problemgamblingamongyouth–theyclaimtheneedformoreconsistentresearchintheseterms.Additionally, they claim high schools to be a valuable source of

informationforyouthandatthesametimetheyacknowledgethatschoolisnot the only source of information youth rely on. Moreover, they feel theschool is losing the role in youth’s life in terms of being the source ofinformation. At the same time, schools still mainly conduct differentpreventionprogrammes,designedmainlytotackletheproblemsofdrugandalcohol abuse. Those schools that have conducted gambling preventionprogrammes face severe lack of experts on the field on one hand anddifficultiesinfinancingontheother.ThelatterisalsoconnectedtoeconomiccrisissincethemajorityoffundingcamefromtheNovaGoricamunicipalitywhocutthefinancesduetoitslimitedbudgetinthelasttwoyears.Intermsof treatment – the existing treatment organisation suffered fromdiminishedamountoffinances.Thenextproblemsocialworkersdetect in the fieldofprevention is the

problemoflackingtheactualdataontheprevalenceofgamblinghabitsandmoreimportantly,gamblingproblems.Theyclaimthatsuchlackofobjectivedatacanleadtofalsebeliefsthatgamblingproblemsdonotexist.Thisisalsoone of the reasons for the lack of regional strategy in terms of problemgambling prevention they claim. All the measures undertaken so far are,according to their opinion, just ‘ad hoc’ measures undertaken for instanttreatment of problems,when they already burst out in the past. They feelthat cooperation among key stakeholders does exist and is possiblewhenspeakingaboutcreationofregionalpreventionpolicy.Participants in the focus group also agree that the major advantage in

current situation is the willingness of key stakeholders (namely themunicipality, schools, NGOs, treatment institution and others) in terms of


cooperation.Whatisneededisapolicyregardingtheexerciseofpreventionalong with guaranteed financing of the programme. As the maindisadvantage the unsystematic financing so far has been mentioned, butproblematic is also lackofverifieddataon theextentof theproblemsandthenatureofthehabits.Still,onthebasisofthefocusgroupconductedwithparticipantsfromthe

municipalities of Goriška region, they seem in favour to be the first in thecountry to systematically finance problem gambling prevention. Otherstakeholders call for independent teamofpeople, experts inmanaging theactivities in the fieldofproblemgamblingprevention–mainly in termsofcoordinationofactions in the field. Ithasalsobeenpointedout thatwhenelaborating the problem gambling prevention programme, the importanceofresponsibilityofbothconsumersandindustryshouldbestressedout.

4.2.2.Youthtreatmentprogrammes:regionalperspectiveofNovaGoricamunicipalityArising from the claim of the social workers – that in region where noprevalence data is available over the extent of the gambling problem theproblemseemstonotexistiswellshowinginthissection.Ithasactuallynotbeendetected theexistenceofany facilitydealingwith treatmentofyouthwith gamblingproblems. The only onewhich is public enough about theiractivitiesisNovaGorica’sClinicforAddictions.Thelatterdealwithgamblingproblemsalongwithotheraddictionstheycoverattheirwork.Thetherapistworking at Clinic in his interview admits that majority of young personsseeking help is seeking help because of their addictionon internet andcomputer gaming where gambling is solely a side effect of their internetaddictionasiswaspresented.Intervieweeisconvincedthefutureproblemsthatareabouttoburstout

intermsofyouthgamblingarehiddenininternetgambling.Heclaimsthatsomeresearchshowthatyouthisverykeenontechnologicaladvancementsandaccordingtointerviewee’sopinionthisrevilesthemostovertheuseofinternet.5.DiscussionAswewereabletoobserve,themodelindicatesthatplayingcertaingamesmakeshigherSOGS-RAscoressignificantlymorelikely.Playingroulettewithacroupierinacasinoappearstobetheriskiestoneandobviously,thisisnotaverycommonpracticeamongthehighschoolpupils,notevenamongthosewhogamble.TheSlovenianlegislationpreventspersonsbellowtheageof18


togambleincasinos,sothosehighschoolstudentsthatarebellowthisageare not even able to play – the comparatively strict enforcement of thisprohibitionisconfirmedbythefactthatonlyonehighschoolstudentbellowtheageof18claimed tohaveplayeda roulette ina casino.Becauseof therelativescarcityofplayingrouletteinacasino,suchpracticesbyhighschoolstudents may often be a clear manifestation of being deeply involved ingamblingmaking gambling problemsmore likely. This explains the highlysignificant statistical relationship between roulette playing and SOGS-RAscore. Nevertheless, though such practices are not very common whencomparedtoplayingothergames,thescopeoftheproblemstillshouldnotbeunderestimated,sincethehighschoolpupilsincludedinouranalysisarestillmore than fifth timesmore likely to play roulette in a casino than anaveragememberoftheadultSlovenianpopulation.Sports’betting,ontheotherhand,asthethirdmostimportantriskfactor,

takes place in significantly less controlled and restricted environments,more easily accessible to the high school students. Moreover, the lack ofexternal control is even more typical for internet gambling. Although therisks of high SOGS-RA scores are somewhat lower than among thosepracticingrouletteandsportsbetting, this isalso thearea that is themostdifficulttocontrolandregulateandisthusalmostcompletelydependentonthe individual practices. Additionally, these games require particularattention–asthetypicalgamblingoftheyoungergeneration(moreonthatinGriffiths,Wood2000)andperhapseventhemosttypicalgamblingofthefuture,sincethehighschoolstudentsinaresampleare27-timesmorelikelytogambleontheinternetthantheaverageadultpopulationaccordingtothestudyin2008(Makarovičetal.2010).The second most important risk factor results to be playing to avoid

every-dayproblems.Thistypeofanswersmayimplybothhavingsignificantproblemsineverydaylifeandtryingtoescapefromthemintotheworldofgambling. This finding may demonstrate a clear connection between theproblems in the other fields of one’s life and one’s problem gambling.Moreover,gamblingmotivatedbyescapismoravoidanceismorelikelytobeproblemgambling(Magoon,GuptaandDerevensky2007,21).Amongthemotivationsforgamblingwewereabletonoticethewishto

getamoneyreward(1.6-timeslargerSOGS-RAscoresforthoseplayingforthereward;t-testequals3.2)whilenoadditionalriskseemstoberelatedtoplaying for fun (t = 0.6), socialising (t = 1.0) and playing out of curiosity,which might even imply lower SOGS-RA scores – though statisticallyinsignificant(t=1.7)amongthoseplayingoutofcuriositywhencomparedto the rest. This is not consistentwith the findings byMagoon, Gupta and


Derevensky(2007)claimingthatthewishtogetamoneyrewardcannotbetreated as a risk factor,while playing for social involvementwas reportedmoreoftenbyyouthwithhigherSOGS-RAscores.Thestudiesareconsistent;however,inthefindingthatplayingforfunassuchisnotariskfactor(ibid.).Oneshouldthusbecarefulbeforemakinggeneralisations.Specifics of pupils’ social environment – the cases when gambling is

practicedbysignificantothers,namelyparentsandfellowpupils,canbethereasonsthatindicatehigherlevelsofSOGS-RAscores.Thesameevidenceisalso noticeable in the literature (Felsher, Derevensky and Gupta 2003).Talking to fellow pupils about gambling may also be the risk factor andalthoughtalkingassuchobviouslydoesnotgenerategamblingproblems,itmay be an indicator of the social environment involved in frequentgambling.Typeofmonthlyincomegivesaninterestinginsightalsointhegambling

habits.ReceivingpocketandstipendmoneyresultedtocontributetohigherSOGS-RAscoreswhere thesituation issomewhatdifferentwith themoneyearnedbypupilsthemselves.Itmaybeexplainedthatthemoneyearnedbywork is harder to spend for gambling than the money received in otherways.Moreover,thosewhoworkextensivelyalreadyashighschoolstudentsmayalsobemorelikelytohavesignificantfinancialresourcesoftheirownandtendtoworkoutofnecessity.Consequently,theyhaveasmallerchancetohavesubstantialfinancialresourcesavailableforgambling.Asseen,commutingtoschoolfromthedistancebellow20kmorlivingin

adormitorycontributestowardslowerSOGS-RAscores.Bothlivingwiththeparentswithoutcommutingtocomparativelysmalldistancesandlivinginahigh school students’ dormitory perhaps contribute to stricter and moreconsistentsocialcontrol.Eitherhavingdailyinteractionswiththeparentsorfollowing the rule imposed by a dormitory seems to contribute to lowerchances of having gambling problems. Moreover, we also found nosignificantrelationbetweentheinclusioninthepreventivemechanismsandthe SOGS scores. This may imply that these mechanisms are either notsufficientlydevelopedorfullyinplacewhenneeded.5.1.YouthpreventioninSlovenia–regionalperspectiveofNovaGoricamunicipalityFocusgroupshavereviled thescarcesituation in termsofawarenessof

gambling problems. Few social workers have outlined the dual nature ofgambling industry as it arises from the social costs/economic benefitsperspective.Theverysmallscopeandvirtuallynofinancingoftheresearchintermsofsocial impactdocontributetowardsthissituation.Additionally,


theproblemisalsoinfinancingandapartfromthis,theadditionalproblemis in lack of experts in the field. Some schools still decide to shape someprevention activities but these are more ‘ad hoc’ actions frequently non-systematicandverymuchelementaryinshape.Itispositivethatintermsofpolicymaking,thekeystakeholdersagreed

on the need to establish both financing and systematic school preventionfollowingtheopinionsofmunicipalitystakeholderstogivetheefforttofindthesourcesoffinancingfortheprogrammes.5.2.YouthtreatmentprogrammesinSlovenia–regionalperspectiveofNovaGoricamunicipalityFrom the data gathered in 2007 (Macur et al. 2008) one can see that inmajority of cases gambling problems are being treated within a frame ofinstitutions which otherwise treat alcohol or drugs dependents. Usuallythese are psychiatric institutions. Among such establishments the mostrecognisableistheworkofAmbulancefortreatmenttheaddictionsinNovaGorica, where they exclusively asses gambling problems as own addictionand not in context of co-morbidity to alcohol or drugs dependence.Therapies are conducted also at few other privately-owned institutions,NGOs andGamblers Anonymous. Youth gambling is in Slovenia at presentlevel very much unrecognisable – the 2010 survey was actually the firstsurvey assessing the level of gambling among high school finishing yearstudents alongwith the level of gambling problems among the populationmentioned.WhatisincommontobothpreventionandtreatmentsysteminSlovenia

is the fact that no state money is designated to tackle financing eitherpreventionortreatmentofgamblingrelatedproblems.6.FutureresearchThepresentedresearchhasbothweaknessesandstrengths.Firstarisefromthe questionnaire – itwas not distributed nation-wide but in two regions,Goriška,withmain focus onNovaGoricamunicipality andDolenjska,withfocus on Novo mesto municipality. The results therefore cannot begeneralized on whole nation. Still the main strength of the research is ingroundbreakingnature,being the first research focusingongamblingandaddressing the questions of gambling problems risk factors. Secondly, thesecond part of the research, the qualitative research on possibilities ofestablishingthepreventionofyourgamblingproblemsinschoolsistosomeextent small in scope and very modest in terms of responses but


nevertheless it reviles the current situation in Goriška region – the regionwithhighestamountofgamblingprofitsinthecountry.Future research in this field is needed in terms of monitoring the

situation. It has been reviled that the levels of gambling problems amongyouthisfairlyhighandmonitoringatthisstageisnecessarybutevenmore–the national prevalence survey among high school pupils is probably themost important direction for future research. Also, the possibilities ofelaborating and establishing the nation-wide prevention programme arenecessary tobe furtherresearchedalongwith thepossibilitiesof financingsuchprogrammes.Additionally, the results showed some interestingoutcomes in termsof

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FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY: ACOMPARATIVE STUDY OFMUSLIMS AND NON-MUSLIMS INTHERAJOURICITYDr.NaveedAhmadLoneIslamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora 192122, J & K,IndiaE-mail:lonenaveed@gmail.comHurmatSumaiyaBintiBashirCentralUniversityKashmir,190015,Srinagar,J&K,IndiaE-mail:[email protected]: The economic welfare and growth of a nation depends upon theaccessibilityofpeopletofinancialproductandservices.Efficientlymobilizingtheir household saving and allocating them effectively to the growing creditrequirement of the economy helps in the sustainable development of thecountry.Govt.,RBIandbankingsectorsaremakingtremendousefforttobringeverysectionof thecountry intothemainstreamfinancialsystem.Still, thereexists a significant gap between the growth expectations and the groundrealities in contextof ‘mobilizationandutilizationof funds’ that support thefinancialinclusionandultimately(inclusive)growthofthecountry.However,there isalsoa significantdisparityamongthepeopleavailing theservicesofthe financialsystem.Suchdisparitiesarebecauseof factor,botheconomicaswellasnon-economicfactors.Oneimportantfactorisfinancialliteracy,andsoin this regard, the study will make an attempt to estimate how importantfinancial literacy is filling this gap. The study will alsomake an attempt tounderstand that is there any significant difference existing among andMuslimsandnon-Muslimswithregardtotheextentoffinancialinclusionandlevelfinancialliteracy.Thiswoulddirectlyorindirectlyreflecttheeffectivenessof the financial institution's efforts to bring in underprivileged people to themainstreamfinancialsystem,especiallyinruralareaandsupportinachievingGovt.objectiveofinclusivegrowth.Keywords:SustainableDevelopment,FinancialInclusion,FinancialLiteracy


1.IntroductionWiththetransitionfrombartertomonetizedsystemoftransactionandtheconsequent development of banking sector as an alternative to traditionalmeans of resource mobilization modern economic systems have grownexponentially in terms of a varied range of economic and financialindicators. Be it the macroeconomic indicators of GDP/GNP,Savings/Investment, Money supply, trade balance etc. or the microindicators like per-capita consumption, Household Income and savings,individualwelfareetc.societieshavegrownbyleapsandbounds.Howeveran introspection of the composition anddistribution of the growth storiesacross space reveal the inherent temporal skewness of all the indicatorsreferred to.Noneof thecontemporaryeconomieshaveanormativeequitycriterion to show that the growth and development on the economicindicatorshasbeen for ‘one andall’. This normative concept of ‘growthbyand growth for all’ has very recently been referred to as “Inclusive”. Theconcept of inclusiveness has got currency in the recent debates of growthanddevelopment.Howevergiventhecontextintowhichitiswieldeditsetsinwellmoresoincaseofdevelopmentliterature.Inclusivegrowth,Socio–economicinclusionandof latefinancial inclusionhasbeenbutsomeofthemanifestations of this celebrated equity concept. Among all thesemanifestations,whatisof interesthereistheconceptof financialInclusion(FI).Access to finance, especially by the poor and vulnerable groups, is an

essential requisite for employment, economic growth, poverty alleviationand social upliftment. So in recent times, financial inclusion as adevelopmentobjectivehasreceivedtremendousattentionofbothglobalandnation-levelpolicymakers.Awell-functioningandinclusivefinancialsystemcanplayacriticalroleintheefficientallocationofresourcesinaliberalisedeconomy. It has now became the common consensus that the financialinclusion also facilities the efficient delivery of other social programmes.Consequently, achieving greater financial inclusion now tops the policyprioritiesforinclusivegrowthinIndia(Mukhopadhyay2016).The Planning Commission, Government of India is looking forward to

achievea‘Faster,SustainableandmoreInclusiveGrowth’initsapproachtothe twelfth five-yearplan (2012-2017).Ever since India’s independence in1947, the biggest priority for the nation has been its economic growth,education for all and financial inclusion for the vast population of thecountry. While India has made some noteworthy progress in the past sixdecadesandmore,butontheaspectoffinancialinclusion,progresshasnotbeen satisfactory. For the poor, access to finance is a major challenge.


Oceans of ideas, a sea of discussions have been given by the concernedauthorities regarding the financial inclusion. But how much the ideas getshared with the common people matters a lot. The way of interpretationmightvaryfromonegrouptoanothergroupbeingsubjectedtothevariationofideas.Inclusionissimplyaprocessthatmeansbringinginalooptheleftouts and when it goes to Financial Inclusion, it means the provision ofaffordable financial services by the formal financial system to those whotendtobeexcluded(GwalaniandParkhi2014).Anefficientfinancialsystemfor the underprivileged people to mobilize their household saving andallocatingthemeffectivelytothegrowingcreditneedofthecountryshouldbe ensured. However, there is a significant disparity among the people ofruralandurbanareas,majorityandminoritygroupsinavailingtheservicesof the financial system.Oneof themajor reasons for theabovementionedobservation could be attributed to the lack of information regarding thefinancial literacyamong theruralpeopleandalso to theonesbelonging totheminoritygroups (Gupta2011).Financial inclusionwill enable thepoorand rustics of our country to open a bank account to save and invest, toborrowandtorepay,toinsureandtotakepartinthecredit.There isa longhistoryof financial inclusioninIndia. Ithastraditionally

been understood to mean opening new bank branches in rural andunbanked areas. Nowadays, however, financial inclusion is seen to besomething more than opening bank branches in unbanked areas to takeformal financial services across the length and breadth of the country.Unfortunately, therearepeoplewhodesire fortheuseof financialservicesbutaredeniedaccesstothesame.Thefinanciallyexcludedsectionslargelycomprisemarginalfarmers,landlesslaborers,unemployedandunorganizedsector enterprises, ethnic minorities, socially excluded groups, seniorcitizens andwomen. In this context, the need of apprehension among thecitizensbecomesmore concerned than just by framingout the scheme. Sotheneedforfinancialliteracybecomesmoreimportantthaneverbeforeasitdetermines the successof financial inclusionprogramsof every country.Thus financial literacy goes side by sidewith financial inclusion. Financialliteracy means the ability of a person to understand financial matters. Inotherwords,itmeanstheawareness,knowledgeandskillsofindividualstomakedecisionsaboutsavings, investments,borrowingsandexpenditure inaninformedmanner.InIndia,financialliteracyistheneedofhourbecausealargesectionofthepopulationstillremainsoutoftheformalfinancialsetup.Thelowlevelsoffinancialliteracyaremostlikelytobeconsideredamajorbarriertofinancialinclusionandthefinancialliteracyisconsideredtobean


enabling factor that unlocks other key dimensions of financial inclusion(GardevaandRhyne2011)Inthisbackdropthestudywillmakeanattempttoinvestigatethelevel

of financial literacyandsothefinancial inclusionamongMuslimsandnon-Muslims in the Rajouri city. However the major focus of the study is tounderstand,isthereanysignificantdifferenceamongtheMuslimsandnon-Muslimswithrespecttofinancialliteracyandfinancialinclusion.Thefactisthat theeconomiccondition isakeyparameter toassess thewell-beingofany community particularly minorities. The poverty and economicmarginalization does not portray a very happy picture of the largestminorityofIndia.ItisalsooneofthenotedfindingoftheSacharCommittee(Sachar2006)thateconomicdeprivationofMuslimsintermsofviabilityofself-owned small businesses in an increasingly globalized and liberalizedmarket as well as the denial of jobs in government and private sectors(Studies2014)

2.India’sassignationwithFinancialInclusionIndia’sassignationwithinclusivegrowthhasmoreorlessbeenelusiveifnotexclusive.With the eleventh Five year plan emphasizing on growth for alland growth of all, the economy and the think tanks thereof are all tryinghardtomakethegrowthstoryall-inclusiveandalloweachandeverycitizento share the pie. However a review of the achievements of the 11th FYPwhich pioneered the concept of inclusive growth reveals it beyond doubtthatstilla lotneedstobedone.Of the instrumentswhichdeliver inclusivegrowth, financial inclusion is themost important.Notwithstanding the factthat access to finance by the poor and vulnerable groups is aprerequisiteforpovertyreductionandsocialcohesion,the11thFYPdidnotlaytherequiredemphasisonthisaspectofinclusioninthebroaderschemeof inclusive growth and development. On hindsight one cannot expect thepoorestofthepoortogetbenefitedfrominitiativesaimedatandguidedbytheprincipleof‘trickledown’unlessanduntiltheycommandthepurchasingpower to lay claim on the products of macroeconomic growth. There isalwaysatemporalandspatialgapbetweentheprogressmadeatthemacrolevelanditstranslatoreffectsatthemicrolevelandthisgapgetswidenedinpresenceoffinancialexclusion.Accesstocredit,mobilizationofsavingsandafairinsurancecoverlayattheheartofinclusionhowsoeverdefined.Itistothiseffectthat financial inclusionbecomesanintegralpartoftheeffortstopromote inclusivegrowth. In fact,providingaccess to finance isa formofempowerment of the vulnerable groupswhich lays the foundations for an


all-inclusive growth trajectory. Financial inclusion denotes delivery offinancial services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of thedisadvantaged and low-income groups. The various financial servicesincludecredit,savings, insurance and paymentsand remittancefacilities.Theobjectiveoffinancialinclusionistoextendthescopeofactivitiesoftheorganized financial system to include within its ambit people with lowincomes.TheprocessoffinancialinclusionhasbeencarriedoutinIndiainphases.

The Indian Government has a long history ofworking to expand financialinclusion.Nationalization of themajor private sector banks in 1969was abig step. In 1975 GOI established RRBswith the same aim. It encouragedbranch expansion of bank branches especially in rural areas. The RBIguidelinestobanksshowthat40%oftheirnetbankcreditshouldbelenttotheprioritysector.Thismainlyconsistsofagriculture,smallscaleindustries,retail trade etc. More than 80% of our population depends directly orindirectlyonagriculture.So18%ofnetbankcreditshouldgotoagriculturelending.RecentsimplificationofKYCnormisanothermilestone.Thesecondphase focused towards strengthening the financial sector through variousreforms and change in regulatory norms during nineties. The highlightsbeing Introductionof SelfHelpGroups (SHG)andbank linkagesandKisanCreditCards,Thefocuswastowardsprovidingcreditbenefittothemasses.AnditturnedtobeagoodsuccessespeciallyforWomen.Thecurrentphasei.e. 2005 onwards has been explicitly a policy decision with greateremphasisonextensionandcoverage.ManyinitiativesaretakenbyRBIandGovernmentofIndiatoimprovethepositionHoweverwithaleapintothe21stcenturyandaneverexpandingIndian

economy following the controversial economic reforms and the contestedfruits thereof and with the launch of large scale public interventions intopoverty alleviation and infrastructure building programmes of the likes ofMGNAREGA, a renewed thrust on FI has been there spearheaded by theReserveBankofIndiaandoflatebytheGovernmentofIndia.FollowingisasynopticviewofthedevelopmentsthathavetakenplaceinIndiasince2006,were in a direct mention of FI inclusion following the above quoteddefinitionsandfeatureshavebeenreligiouslyfollowed1.

1See'PradhanMantriJan-DhanYojana'ANationalMissiononFinancialInclusionDepartment of Financial Services Ministry of Finance Government of Indiawww.financialservices.gov.in.


In January 2006, banks were allowed to enlist non-profit Bank Mitr

(Business Correspondent) as agents for delivery of financial services, forbranchless banking through online fixed points. Bank Mitr (BusinessCorrespondent) would act as representative of Banks to provide basicbanking services. Building on this initiative it was determined (in April2008) that BCs should be located not more than 15 kilometers from thenearestbankbranch,soastoensuretheiradequatesupervision.Thiswasavery restrictive rule that severely limited theexpansionof thismodel.TheRBIthereafter(in2008)issuedoperativeguidelinesformobilebankingandamendedthesameinDecember2009toeasethevarioustransactionlimitsand security norms. Individuals for profits were allowed to participate asBCs,andthiscategoryincludedkiryanastore,gasstations,PCOsetc.in2009.Further,BCswereallowedtooperateupto30kilometersfromthenearestbank branches. Again in 2009, Banks were allowed to apply 'reasonable'servicechargesfromcustomerstoensureviabilityoftheBCmodel ,andtopaya'reasonable'commission/feetotheBCstoincentivizethem.Oneofthemajor developments in the process of FI in India, aiming at access to theremotestofareas tookplace in June,2010were in theRBIandTRAIwereabletoreachaninitial agreementregardingtherolloutofmobilebanking,whereby TRAIwould dealwith all interconnection issues and RBIwouldhandle the banking aspects such as KYC checks, transaction limits etc.Another milestone in the process was the delegation of authority to allcompanies listed under the Companies Act (1956) to act as BCs, with theexception of non-bank financial companies in September 2010. The samedirective empowered the state level bankers committees to relax thedistance role for the functioning of the BCs, with the exception that thedocument verification falls under the domain of the banks, to ensureadherencetoKYCnorms.ToensureaffordabilityoffinancialservicesTRAI(in January 2011) announced its intent to fix mobile tariffs for financialservicesasagainst their current market pricing,and inconcurrence theRBI issued guidelines for opening Aadhaar Enabled Bank Accounts tofacilitate routing of MGNREGA wages and other social benefits in to theaccountsusingEBTthiswasfollowedbythegrantofpermissionbyRBI(in2012) to Aadhaar letter as a proof of both Identity & Address for thepurposeofopeningofbankAccounts.Againin2012theGoIintroducedSubServiceArea (SSA) approach for opening of banking outlet and forDirectCashTransfer.AadhaarPaymentBridgeSystem(APBS)was introducedforcentralized credit of Social Benefits in 2012. Guided by the philosophy ofeasingtheaccountopeningprocessRBIpermittedtousee-KYCin2013.TheReportonTrendandProgressofBanking in India for theyearended June


30,2013madeaclearmentionoftheintentoftheRBI.2Theentirethrustofthe ensuing policy was reiterated thereupon. This was followed by TRAIissuing guidelines on USSD basedmobile banking services for FI in 2013.The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), announced on August 15,2014 is the latest in a seriesof efforts takenby the government to ensurethatfinancialservicesareextendedtoalargerproportionofthepopulation.This latest effort is the first major initiative of the BJP led government.However, the scheme is largely a continuation of the financial inclusionpolicy co-authored by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governmentandtheReserveBankof India(RBI)after2005.All thisconcertedeffortofthe RBI and GoI, however has not borne the aspired fruit. ContemporaryIndia still has a long way to go in order to make some dint on financialexclusion.Itisdishearteningtonotethatthenumberofpeoplewithaccesstotheproductsandservicesofferedbythebankingsystemcontinuestobeverylimitedevenyearsafterintroductionofinclusivebankinginitiativesinthe country through measures such as the cooperative movement,nationalization of banks, creation of regional rural banks, etc. As NobelLaureate Prof. Amartya Sen has also noted, “the thrust of developmentalpolicy in Indiahasundergone aparadigmshift froman exclusive focusonefficiency to one on equity; from the rate and pattern of growth, and oninequalities,distributionofincomeandwealthtotheextenttowhichpeopleare deprived of the requirements for leading a fulfilling life and suffer‘capability deprivation’. Over the past five years, Reserve Bank of India, asalso other policy makers have resolutely pursed the agenda of financialinclusionandachieveddiscernibleprogressinimprovingaccesstofinancialservices for themasses. However, the progress is far from satisfactory asevidencedbytheWorldBankFindexSurvey(2012).Accordingtothesurveyfindings,only35%ofIndianadultshadaccesstoaformalbankaccountand8% borrowed formally in the last 12 months. Only 2% of adults used anaccounttoreceivemoneyfromafamilymemberlivinginanotherareaand

2InordertofacilitatethesmoothimplementationoftheElectronicBenefitTransfer(EBT)schemeforroutingMGNREGAwages,othersocialsecuritybenefitsincludingproposedcashtransferswithrespecttosubsidiesonkerosene,LPGandfertilizers,guidelineswereissuedonNovember30,2011toallscheduledcommercialbankstoensureopeningofAadhaarenabledbankaccountsofallthebeneficiariesincludingthose residing in villageswith less than 2,000 population. Bankswere advised toexpand their reach in remote locations either through a branch or BusinessCorrespondent(BC)orothermodesaseveryeligibleindividualshouldhaveabankaccountforDBTtotakeplace.


4% used an account to receive payment from the Government3. Theminisculenumberssuggestacryingneedforafurtherpushtothefinancialinclusionagendatoensurethatthepeopleatthebottomofthepyramidjointhe formal financialsystem,reapbenefitsand improvetheir financialwell-being.4It is inthisbackdropthatthePMJDYisbelievedtobecomeawatershed.Yet,banksare fighting to fulfill theFinancial Inclusiondream.Themain

reasonisthattheproductsdesignedbythebanksarenotsatisfyingthelowincomefamilies.Theprovisionofuncomplicated,small,affordableproductswill help to bring the low income families into the formal financial sector.Banks have limitations to reach directly to the low income consumers.Correspondents canbe considered tobeanexcellent channelwhichbankscan use to distribute their product information. Educating the consumersabout the financial benefits and products of bankswhich are beneficial tolow income groups in general andminorities in particular will be a greatsteptotaptheirpotential.3.ReviewofLiteratureA largevolumeof research studiesareavailableon financial inclusionandfinancialliteracy.SomeofthesestudiesareconductedinIndiawhileothersareoverseasstudies.SharmaandParis(2008)analyzedthehistoryoftheconceptoffinancial

inclusion in India. The concept was started in the years of 1904 as Co-operativemovement,andthenitgainedmomentumin1969when14majorcommercial banksof the countrywerenationalized and leadbank schemewas introduced shortly thereafter. From that year, the majority of bankbrancheswereopenedinlargenumbersacrossthecountryandevenintheareaswhichwerehithertobeingneglected.However,thereisaseveregapinfinancialaccesswhichneedsspecialattention.Somanystudieshaveprovedthatlackofinclusionorratherexclusionfromthebankingsystemresultsina loss of 1 percent to the GDP. Thus, the RBI concluded that the financialinclusion is not just a socio-political imperative but also an economic oneandrealizedthegravityoftheproblem.

3http://www.wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2012/04/19/000158349_20120419083611/Rendered/PDF/WPS6025.pdf)4See'PradhanMantriJan-DhanYojana'ANationalMissiononFinancialInclusionDepartment of Financial Services Ministry of Finance Government of Indiawww.financialservices.gov.in


RBI(2012) in itsdraftreport ‘NationalStrategyforFinancialEducation’

releasedonAugust15,2012recognizestheimportanceoffinancialliteracyand financial education that canplay a vital role in financial inclusion andinclusive growth. The draft National Strategy envisages ways towardscreatingawarenessandeducatingconsumersonaccesstofinancialservices,availability of various types of products and their features; changingattitudes to translate knowledge into responsible financial behaviour; andmaking consumers of financial services understand their rights andobligations.Collins (2012) Studied more than 250 financial diaries of low income

individuals inBangladesh, IndiaandSouthAfrica.Their findingsshowthateach household uses at least four types of informal financial instruments(suchas interest free loansand informal savings clubs) inayear,with theaveragebeing justunder ten.Thissuggests that low income individualsdoneedaccesstofinancialservices,andtheexistenceofbarriersthatpreventtheir use of formal sector services. The supply side factors include non-availability of suitable products, physical barriers, and non-eligibility onaccountofdocumentationissues.Onthedemandside,financialliteracyandfinancial capability are regarded as important factors by the task force.While financial literacy refers to the basic understanding of financialconcepts, financial capability refers to the ability and motivation to planfinancials seek out information and advice, and apply these to personalcircumstances.Dev (2006) explores that financial inclusion is important for improving

the livingconditionsofpoorfarmers,ruralnon-farmenterprisesandothervulnerablegroups.Financialexclusion,intermsoflackaccesstocreditfromformal institutions is high for small andmarginal farmers and some socialgroups. Apart from formal banking institutions which should look atinclusionbothasabusinessopportunityandsocialresponsibility,theroleoftheself-helpgroupmovementandmicro-financeinstitutionsisimportanttoimprove financial inclusion. This requires new regulatory procedures anddepoliticisationofthefinancialsystem.N.SRaoandHarshitaBhatnagar(2012)explores thatstrongandrobust

financial institutions are the pillars of economic growth, development andprosperityofmoderneconomies.Financialinclusionisemergingasaglobalhot topic. The important of an inclusive financial system is widelyrecognized not only in India, but has become a policy priority in manycountries. Financial access can truly lift the financial condition andstandardsof lifeof thepoorandthedisadvantaged.Only55percentof thepopulation have deposit account and 9 percent have credit accounts with


banks.Only18percenthaddebit cardsand less than2percenthad creditcards. So, RBI has been continuously encouraging the banking sector toexpand thebankingnetworkboth throughsettingupofnewbranchesandalso through BC model by leveraging upon the information andcommunication technology (ICT). The National Bank for Agricultural andRural Development (NABAR) led SHG Bank Linkage Programme and theparallel microfinance services offered by microfinance institutions (MFIs)aim to ameliorate the effects of this financial exclusionbydirectly lendingtinyamountstothepoorhouseholds.However,poorhouseholdscontinuetolanguish under financial exclusion due to limited availability of suitablefinancial products that match their diverse financial needs and varyingincome-expenditure patterns. Hence, the Committee on ComprehensiveFinancialServicesforSmallBusinessesandLowIncomeHouseholdsarguesinitsreportthat“Financialinclusioncanbesaidtobecompleteonlywhenthere is access to a suite of appropriate products and services for all thefinancialneedsofahouseholdorenterprise”(Mor2013).Gwalani and Parkhi (2014) explores that it is important to understand

that a personwith a reasonable access to all essential financial services isconsidered‘financiallyincluded’andmerelyoneoffaccesstosomefinancialservicesforthesakeoffulfillingthemandateoffinancialinclusiondoesnotinterpret inclusion in the true sense. The problem of exclusion is notsingularly facedby Indiabut thewholeworld. Statistics show that70%oftheadultpopulationoftheemergingmarketsisexcludedfromthebenefitsofBankingandwhenitcomestoIndiathethingsarenottoodifferent.Indiahasmadeenormousstridestowardsgreaterfinancialinclusion.Atthisstage,India has been adopting best practices from around the world that arerelevantand is leveraging thenation’s inherent strengths toaccelerate theongoing towards greater financial inclusion- a critical social and economicimperativeofthecountry.Barua et al. (2016) describe that India’s financial inclusion agenda has

witnessedaparadigmshiftoverthelastdecade,awayfromanemphasisoncredit to a more comprehensive approach toward financial services (e.g.opening bank accounts and offering basic financial products, such asinsurance).Thispaperdescribesthestructureofbankingandmicro-financeinstitutionsinIndiarelevanttothedevelopingmodeloffinancialinclusion,aswell as relevant regulatory structure andmodes of delivery. It explainsthe current state of financial inclusion, as well as regulatory changesnecessarytomakethenewarchitectureforinclusionviable.


4.MethodologyandDataThestudy isdescriptive innature.Themainsourceof thedata isprimary,field survey have been conducted to collect data. For that purpose, well-structuredinterviewschedulehavebeendeveloped.Theinterviewscheduleintend to examine the financial literacy and the financial inclusion of therespective households by asking basic questions about bank accountopening, reasons for bank account, saving investment, SHG, insurance,pension,creditcard,debitcard,bankloansetc.alongwithbasicinformationondemographiccharacteristicsThe sample selection is done in two stages. Sample selection has been

made by applying Purposive sampling method. At the first stage, theresearcher has selected 10 wards, given the stratified division of the city(cityhasbeendividedinto13wardsandwehaveselectedoursamplefrom10wardsgiventhehomogeneityamongsomewards)inthesecondstage10households from each ward have been selected randomly. A total of 100sample size have been divided into two sub samples consisting 60 non-Muslims and40Muslims.Thebasic reason for this sampledivision is thatour population (Rajouri City) has population composition of non-MuslimsandMuslims60percent,40percentrespectivelyaccordingtocensus2011.(RegistrarGeneral2011).Dataanalysishasbeendonebyusingappropriatemathematical and statistical tools such as Percentage, Simple Average,StandardDeviationandtestofsignificancechi-squaretestetc.

5.FindingsandDiscussionsThere is no single indicator that one can use to denote how inclusive aneconomy’sfinancialsystemis.Indeed,financialinclusioncomprisesasetofdifferentissuesimpossibletobereflectedinasinglenumber.Nevertheless,itisveryimportanttoassortofagreementregardingindicatorsthatmaybeused to assess the degree of financial inclusion in a country. There areseveralsetsofindicatorsforwardedbydifferentinitiativesonhowtoassesshow inclusive a financial system is.However the common consensus is ontheaccessandusageof financialservicesandproducts.Thesectionwill tomakedeliberationonthefieldobservationsfromthesamplearea,giventhebasicobjective is thereanydisparitybasedonreligion inaccessaswellasuse, alongwithother coreobjectiveof awarenessaproxy for the financialliteracy.Herewe start from the family sizeof thehouseholds althoughnot very

important, but has implication for the explanationof thedata. The table 1


below shows the family size distribution among the Muslims and non-Muslimsofthesamplearea.ThetableshowsthattheaveragefamilysizeofMuslimsishigherthannon-Muslims.ItisrevealedthatMuslimshouseholdshavingmorethan4familymembersareabout68%whileincaseofthoseincaseofnon-Muslimsitisonly53%.Thefactisthatthisisnotimportantsoforourobjectivesof the studyare concerned,howeverwhat is in thenexttableIIismoreappealing.Table1:FamilySizeDistributionReligion FamilySizeoftheHouseHolds

2-4 4-6 6< Total

Muslim 11(27.5)

19(47.5)

10(25.0)

40(100)

Non-Muslims

28(46.7)

26(43.3)

6(10.0)

60(100)

Source:PrimarySurveyDatainBracketsShowsthePercentageThe table 2 clearly shows that more than 65% of Muslims households

havethreeorlessthanthreenumberofaccountsinperhousehold,giventhe27.5%ofhouseholdshavingfamilysizeinthesamerange.Howeverincaseof non-Muslims the figures are totally otherwise. This is the first block tohaveaccessand tobe included in the inclusive financial system.Ashavingbankaccountisthepre-conditiontoavailthefacilitiesassociatedwiththesocalledfinancialinclusion.


Table2:ReligionwisenumberofBankAccountsperFamilyReligion No.ofAccountsPerFamilyWithRespecttoFamilySize/Religion

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Muslim 3

(7.5)8

(20.0)10

(25.0)5

(12.5)6

(15.0)5

(12.5)2

(5.0)1

(2.5)

Non-Muslims

1(1.7)

3(5.0)

13(21.7)

12(20.0)

14(23.3)

15(25.0)

2(3.3)

0(0.0)

Source:PrimarySurveyDatainBracketsShowsthePercentage5.1.ReasonforhavingBankAccountIn the literatureof financial it isnowclear thathavingbankaccount isnotnecessary and sufficient condition for one to be included in an inclusivefinancialsystem.Whatisimportantisthatistheaccountopenedinthenameofan individual isactiveordormant5andaboveallwhat is thepurposeofopeningbankaccount.Ifthepurposeisjustmakeuseoftransferpaymentsortoplayzerosumgamesthenagain it isverymuchfutileexercise.Theremaybemanyreasonsforopeningabankaccountbutwesummarizedthenintocategoriesandthenweaskedaboutthereasonwithpreferencefortheparticular reason. The table III shows that there is significant differenceamong the Muslims and No-Muslims with their preferences for openingbankaccounts. AmongtheMuslimsthemajorreasonforopeningthebankaccount and having first preference is receiving government subsidies(32.4%) followedbyMGNREGA(24.3%)while incaseofnon-Muslims it ismaking deposits & availing loans (36.7%) followed by Remunerations(20.0%).Given thenature andpreferences foropeningbankaccounts it isverymuch clear that theMuslims are just trying tomake themmore andmorefinancialdependent6ratherthanapartoffinancialinclusion.

5 If the accounts opened are dormant then it is a futile exercise and has negativerepressionsfortheeconomy.Asopeninganaccounthasitsowncost(AccordingTMBhasin,chairmanofIndianBanksAssociation(IBA)"AllbanksputtogetherincurredacostofaroundRs2,000croreforPMJDY... InitiallywewereexpectingthatitwillbeRs80foropeninganaccountandRs40fortransactions,"(Standard2015,Feb.3)socreatesanextraburdenfortheeconomy.6 However it is again the point to major concern and need to be delineated andshouldbedeliberationson theexclusionofMuslims from theagendaof so- calledInclusivedevelopment,giventhefactsandfiguresifnotallatleastaccordingtothe


Table3:ReasonforOpeningBankAccountamongMuslimsandNon-Muslims

Reason Religion PreferenceofReasonforOpeningofBankAccount

1 2 3 4 5 TotalMaking

Deposits&AvailingLoans

Muslims

7(18.9)

7(18.9)

8(21.6)

15(40.5)

0(0.0)

37(100)

Non-Muslims

22(36.7)

17(28.3)

11(18.3)

9(15.0)

1(1.7)

60(100)

Govt.Subsidies Muslims

12(32.4)

12(32.4)

5(13.5)

8(21.6)

0(0.0)

37(100)

Non-Muslims

10(16.7)

28(46.7)

11(18.3)

11(18.3)

0(0.0)

60(100)

Scholar-ships

Muslims

3(8.1)

5(13.5)

19(51.4)

7(18.9)

3(8.1)

37(100)

Non-Muslims

7(11.7)

3(5.0)

32(53.3)

17(28.3)

1(1.7)

60(100)

MGNREGA Muslims

9(24.3)

13(35.1)

3(8.1)

6(16.2)

6(16.2)

37(100)

Non-Muslims

10(16.7)

5(8.3)

2(3.3)

23(38.3)

20(33.3)

60(100)

Remune-rations

Muslims 5(13.5)

2(5.4)

1(2.7)

2(5.4)

27(73.0)

37(100)

Non-Muslims

12(20.0)

6(10.0)

3(5.0)

1(1.7)

38(63.3)

60(100)

Source:PrimarySurveyDatainBracketsShowsthePercentage5.2.AwarenessandUseofFinancialServicesAswealreadymentionedaboveitisnotjustopeningofbankaccountthatissufficientconditionforthefinancialsystemtobeconclusive.However,whatis important is the use of services for which it has been maintained andgovernment constituted committee e.g. Sachar Committee and Broken Promisesandmanyothers(See:Sachar2006,Studies2014)


opened.Onecanusetheserviceonlywhenheisawareabouttheprosandconsoftheproductorserviceverywell,knowingthetheseprosandconsofthefinancialproductsandserviceinlaysman’slanguageisnothingbutthefinancial literacy. So given this factwe try to understand both the level ofawarenessandusageoffinancialproductsandservicesamongthereligiousgroups.The table 4 reveals that both in awareness and usage of the financial

services and products the Muslims are lagging behind the Non-Muslims.AlthoughtheNon-Muslimsarealsonotgoodbutincomparativesensetheyare in a better position thanMuslims. From thedata it is verymuch clearthattheitisonlythesavingaccountweretheMuslimsrespondentsofmorethan90%wereawareandalmost90%areusingtheservice.Whileincaseofotherservicesthefiguresareverydismal.ThemostappealingpointtonoteisthecasepfSHGwhichisapartoffinancialinclusionprogrammeweretheonly37.5%Muslimsrespondentsareawareand17.5%areusingtheservicewhileincaseofNon-Muslims61.5%and25%respectively.WithrespecttostockmarketsthefiguresaredismalincaseofbothMuslimsaswellasNon-Muslims.

Table4:AwarenessandUseFinancialServices/ProductsProducts/Services Religion Yes No Total

SavingAccount

Muslims

Absolute 37 3 40Awareness (92.5) (7.5) (100)

Use (87.5) (12.5) (100)

Non-Muslims


Use (95.0) (5.0) (100)

CurrentAccount

Muslims


Use (22.5) (77.5) (100)

Non-Muslims


Use (36.7) (63.3) (100)

BankLoansMuslims

Absolute 28 12 40Awareness (70.0) (30.0) (100.0)


Use (47.5) (52.5) (100)

Non-Muslims


Use (73.3) (26.7) (100)

ATM

Muslims


Use (62.5) (37.5) (100)

Non-Muslims


Use (88.3) (11.7) (100)

CreditCard

Muslims


Use (10.0) (90.0) (100)

Non-Muslims


Use (35.0) (65.0) (100)

Insurance

Muslims


Use (30.0) (70.0) (100)

Non-Muslims


Use 48.3% 51.7% (100)

SHG

Muslims


Use (17.5) (82.5) (100)

Non-Muslims


Use (25.0) (75.0) (100)

StockMarkets

Muslims


Use (5.0) (95.0) (100)Non-

MuslimsAbsolute 18 42 60Awareness (30.0) (70.0) (100)


Use (13.3) (86.7) (100)

Source:PrimarySurveyDatainBracketsShowsthePercentage5.3.SavingBehaviorSaving is one of the basic financial services provided by the financialinstitutionsandhasabilitytoserveasabackboneinunevenhappeningsandhasmajorimplicationforresourcemobilizations.Asithasbeenverymuchclearly that there is significant difference among the Muslims and Non-Muslimswith respect awareness anduseof the financial service.Nowourconcernistounderstandthepatternofsaving.Table5:SavingOptionsamongtheMuslimsandNon-MuslimsReligion SavingOptions

Bank Wife Self Others TotalMuslims

17(48.6)

7(20.0)

10(28.6)

1(2.9)

35(100)

Non-Muslims 43(82.7)

1(1.9)

8(15.4)

0(0.0)

52(100)

Source:PrimarySurveyDatainBracketsShowsthePercentageThe table V indicates that the various options available for saving. It is

clearthattheonlythatthemajorsourceofsavingisbank.Howeverthedatareveals that in case of Muslims it is only 48.6% of respondents who aresavingwithbankwhileas incaseofNon-Muslims it is82.7%respondents.TheMuslimshaveotheroptionsi.e.eithertheyaresavingwiththeirwives(20%) or they save with themselves (28.6%). If it is the case then thepertinent question is what the reasons that hinder a large chunk ofespeciallyMuslimrespondentsnottosaveinbanks.


Table6:ReasonsfornotSavingamongtheMuslimsandNon-MuslimsReligion/ReasonsforNotSaving

LowEarning

Lackof

Trust

UnwareabouttheIntestinalSources

others Total

Muslims

8(34.8)

11(47.8)

1(4.3)

3(13.0)

23(100)

Non-Muslims15

(88.2)1

(5.9)0

(0.0)1

(5.9)17

(100)

Source:PrimarySurveyDatainBracketsShowsthePercentageThe table 6 shows the distribution of those respondentswho does not

savewiththebanks.ThedatarevealsthatincaseofNon-Muslimsitis88.2%of the respondentswhodonot savebecauseof lowof earningwhile as incaseofMuslimsitisthelackoftrust(47.8%)thatisthedominantfactorandthathinderstheMuslimstosaveinformalfinancialinstitutions.6.ConclusionAccess to finance, especially by the poor and vulnerable groups, is anessential requisite for employment, economic growth, poverty alleviationand social upliftment. And financial literacy is considered as an importantadjunct for promoting financial inclusion and ultimately financial stability.Muslims being the largestminority in India have been disadvantaged andvulnerable inspiteofConstitutionalsafeguards,continueto live inpovertyandbackwardness.ThesituationwasearlierhighlightedbytheGopalSinghSingh Committee (1980), the Sachar Committee (Sachar 2006) and manyothers. However the situation of the Muslims remains in destitute.Successively democratically elected governments since 1947, includinggovernmentsledbyavowedlysecularpoliticalparties,havedonelittlemorethan lipsympathyto theplightof theminorities. If itwouldnothavebeenlike this then the results revealed by the study have been definitelyotherwise. There would not have been significant differences among theMuslims and Non-Muslims with respect to financial literacy and so thefinancial access. Above all what is most alarming that almost 50% of the


respondents among Muslims who do not have because of lack of trust,keeping the literacy and access to financial ceteris peribus. So it may beconcludedthatamongtheMuslimsthetwomajordeficitsoneistrustdeficitandanotherisknowledgedeficitingeneralandinparticularwithrespecttofinancial inclusion. So it is theneedof hour that government shouldmakeaffirmativeactions for India’s largestminority. It isonly thenpossible thattheworld’soneofthefastestgrowingeconomy,canbebecometheworld’seconomicpowerhouse.ReferencesBarua,Abheek,RajatKathuriaandNehaMalik.2016.TheStatusofFinancialInclusion, Regulation, and Education in India. Asian Development BankInstitue.Collins, J. Michael. 2012. "Financial advice: A substitute for financialliteracy?"FinancialServicesReview21(4):307.Dev, S. Mahendra. 2006. "Financial Inclusion: Issues and Challenges."EconomicandPoliticalWeekly41:4310-4313.Gardeva, Anita, and Elisabeth Rhyne. 2011.Opportunities and Obstacles toFinancialInclusion:SurveyReport.CenterforFinancialInclusion12.Gupta,SanjeevKumar.2011.FinancialInclusion-ITasEnabler.ReserveBankofIndiaOccasionalPapers32(2):129.Gwalani, Hema and Shipla Parkhi. 2014. "Financial Inclusion-Building asuccessmodelintheIndiancontext."Procedia-SocialandBehavioralSciences133:372-378.Mor,Nachiket,B.Ananth,P.Bakshi,B.Doshi,A.Hota,S.Kaushal,R.Kudvaetal. 2013. "Committe on Comprehensive Financial Services for SmallBusinessesandLowIncomeHouseholds."ReserveBankofIndia.Mukhopadhyay,JyotiPrasad.2016."FinancialInclusioninIndia:ADemand-sideApproach."EconomicandPoliticalWeekly51(49):46-54.Narpal, Singh Rao and Harshita Bhatnagar. 2012. Financial Inclusion: Issues and Prospects. Pacific Business Review International, 84-96.


RegistrarGeneral, India.2011.Censusof India2011:provisionalpopulationtotals-Indiadatasheet.OfficeoftheRegistrarGeneralCensusCommissioner,India.IndianCensusBureau.Rseserve Bank of India. 2012. National Strategy for Financial Education.ReserveBankofIndia.Sachar,Rajindar.2006.SacharCommitteReport.GovernmentofIndia.Sharma, Mandira and Jesim Paris. 2008. "Financial Inclusion andDevelopment: A Cross Country Analysis." Indian Council for Research onInternationalEconomicRelations,1-28.Singh,Gopal.1980.HighPowerPanelonMinorities,ScheduleCasts,ScheduleTribesandOtherBackwardSections.NewDelhi:MinistryofHomeAffairs.Standard, Business. 2015.Banks spent Rs 2,000 crore for opening accountsunderJanDhanYojana.BusinessStandard,Feb.3.Studies, Centre for Peace. 2014. Broken promises: A study on the Socio-Economic Status of IndianMuslims: Seven Years post Sachar. Danish BooksGazipurDehli.


WHOARE‘INDIGENOUS’ININDIA? STRUGGLEFORIDENTITYANDLIVELIHOODBYTHE‘ADIVASIS’ININDIAAneeshK.A.Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), Jawaharlal NehruUniversity(JNU),NewDelhi,India-110067E-mail:[email protected]:Thispaperpresentsadetaileddiscussiononthepopularmovementsled by the adivasis in the contemporary India. Their popular struggles areclassified into fourcategoriesandeachof themare trying toexplain inbriefwith examples, facts and figures to illustrate the situation. The wholediscussionstartswiththequestionoforiginoftheindigenouspeople inIndiaandtheirstatusduringthecolonialperiodandaftertheindependenceofIndia.The basic argument the author tries to rise is that there is no fundamentalchangeinthe lifeandlivelihoodoftheadivasicommunity inIndiaevenafternear70yearsofindependenceduetothecontinuousneglectandexploitationof these communities by the changing governments and the mainstreamcommunities. Most of the time they have to march on to the streets, riseslogansand soon tohear theirdemandsby theauthorities.Though someofthemgainedsuccess,someotherswerebrutallysuppressedbytheauthoritiestoprotectthewhimsandwishesofthelobbiesandinterestgroups.KeyWords: Indigenouspeople in India,ScheduledTribes,Adivasis,Strugglesforidentity,Adivasimovements,MaoismandNaxalisminIndiaAcknowledgmentI would like to thank Dr. Peter Gartner, course tutor of the seminar-Indigeneity and Europeanisation- World Regions in ComparativePerspective, inUniversity of Leipzig,Germany forhis valuable suggestionsandcommentstoframethispaper.


1.IntroductionIndiaisacountrywithimmensediversity,distinctivenessandmultiplicityinallspheres,especially in itsgeography,society,culture, tradition, language,etc.Itisahomefor121millionpeople,withasecondrankinthepopulationafter the People’s Republic of China (Census of India 2011). Maintainingunitywithsuchagiganticanddiversepopulationisamammothtask,whilethe country has always been esteemed for its “unity in diversity’.Economically, India is an emerging super power and often termed as ‘theleader of the Third World’. While critiques often doubt whether Indiafollowing an inclusive growth or exclusive growth process. Though thecountry has been climbing the strides of success, there has some distinctgroupsofpeoplealwaysbeenneglectedfromenjoyingthebenefitsofthesedevelopments. Most mistreated and striving among such a group is theAdivasis in India, which literally means indigenous people. With anestimatedpopulationof84.3million,theyconstitutearound8percentofthetotal population in India (Census of India 2011). They are minorities inIndia,butconcentratedindifferentpartsofthecountry.Officially the Adivasi community in India is recognised as Scheduled

Tribes (STs) or simply Tribes. In India around 461 ethnic groups arerecognisedasSTs,however,manymoreethnicgroupsthatwouldqualifyforST status but which are not officially recognised. Estimates for the totalnumber of tribal groups are as high as 635. The largest concentration ofindigenouspeople is found in the seven statesofnorth-east India, and theso-called‘centraltribalbelt’stretchingfromRajasthantoWestBengal.India has several laws and constitutional provisions, such as Fifth

Schedule for mainland India and the Sixth Schedule for certain areas ofnorth-eastIndiawhichrecogniseindigenouspeople’srightstolandandself-governance.Thelawsaimedatprotectingindigenouspeoplehavenumerousshortcomingsandtheir implementation is far fromsatisfactory.TheIndiangovernmentvotedinfavouroftheUnitedNationsDeclarationontheRightsofIndigenousPeoples(UNDRIP).However,itdoesnotconsidertheconceptof“indigenouspeoples”,andthustheUNDRIP,applicabletoIndia.Lawsandregulationsaremostofthetimesimplysilentspectatorsofthe

exploitation of the indigenous people in India. Though they are the realownersofthisland,alargesectionamongtheadivasis inIndiadonothaveown lands. The continuous encroachments on forests and hill areas forresources and development projects have been destroying the naturalinhabitationofthetribals.So,mostofthepopularmovementsthetribalsinIndiahaveeverdoneare forprotecting theirhome landand livelihood forsurvival.


Thispaperpresentsadetaileddiscussiononthepopularmovementsled

by the adivasis in the contemporary India. Their popular struggles areclassifiedintofourcategoriesandeachofthemaretryingtoexplaininbriefwith examples, facts and figures to illustrate the situation. The wholediscussion starts with the question of origin of the indigenous people inIndiaandtheirstatusduringthecolonialperiodandaftertheindependenceof India. The basic argument the author tries to rise is that there is nofundamental change in the life and livelihood of theadivasi community inIndia even after near 70 years of independence due to the continuousneglectandexploitationofthesecommunitiesbythechanginggovernmentsandthemainstreamcommunities.Mostofthetimetheyhavetomarchontostreets, rise slogans and so on to hear their demands by the authorities.Thoughsomeofthemgainedsuccess,someotherswerebrutallysuppressedby the authorities to protect the whims and wishes of the lobbies andinterestgroups.There are a few studies dealing with tribal movements in India. Three

volumes on Tribal Movements in India, edited by K. S. Singh (1982,1983,1998)areanimportantcontributiontotherelativelyscantliteratureonthesubject.Thefirstvolume(1982)dealswiththenortheastfrontiertribes,thesecond volume (1983) focuses on central and south India and the thirdvolume(1998)confinesitselftoasurveyof literatureontribalmovementsin different parts of the country. Different scholars have evolved differenttypologiesoftribalmovements(Mahapatra1972;Sinha1968;Singh1983).Thepopulartypologiestheyusedare:reactionary,conservative,revisionaryorrevolutionary,ethnic,agrarianunrestandpoliticalautonomymovements.Thesetypologiesdonotincludetherecentmovementsaroundtheissuesofforest rights and environment, and displacement of the tribals due todevelopmentprogrammesofthestateandthemarket.AsK.S.Singh(1998)observes, in recent years, with the rise of the international movement ofindigenouspeopleinthepost-modernistphase,thefocushasshiftedtoself-determinationor self-managementof the resources, identity andethnicity.Orinotherwords,thetribalmovementsareassuminganewcharacter.Theyare all now becoming more and more identity based movements, withvarious issues concerning control over resources etc. being considered asramificationsof thiscentral issue.Onthisbackground, thispaperexplicitlydealswith two researchquestions: first, to evaluate theoriginof the term‘tribe’inIndiaandsecond,toanalysethereasonsandresultsofthepopulartribal movements in contemporary India. Popular adivasi movementsrepresenting all geographical parts of the country are included in the


analysis.Theanalysisisstrictlybasedonsecondarydata,mostlyonvariousliteratureontribalsociologyandanthropology,casestudiesandreports.

2.OriginofIndigenousPeopleinIndiaIn the early colonial period the term ‘tribe’ was vague and was usedinterchangeablywithothertermssuchas‘caste’and‘race’.However,bytheend of the 19th century it had acquired a specific meaning, designatingcertain kinds of social groups and distinguishing them sharply from thoselabelledas‘castes’.Likeenumerationbycasteandreligioninthecensus,thecategorization of social groups as either castes or tribes was a strategyemployed by colonial anthropology to comprehend and govern complexpopulace(Upadhya1996).In the anthropology of other colonised peoples, the term ‘tribe’, like

‘primitive’,wasusedtodesignatenon-literate, ‘simple’nativesocietiesthatpracticednon-intensiveandusuallymobilemodesof subsistence, and thatwerenotincorporatedintolargertributaryorstatesystems.Thissweepingclassification brought together diverse social groups as the basis of their‘primitiveness’, in opposition to (western) ‘civilisation’. But theanthropological classification of tribes in India was problematic from thestart,preciselybecauseoftheircoexistencewithalarger‘non-tribal’society(unlike in the caseofAfrica, for example).Mostof the Indian ‘tribes’werenever entirely cut off from ‘Hindu’ society, many were similar in termslanguage,cultureorreligiontoneighbouring ‘caste’groupsandmanywereregionallydominant groupsorganised into independent states, belying the‘primitive’ label. Clearly there was no common characteristic uniting thediverse groups labelled as ‘tribes’ that could justify such as classification(Upadhya1996).TheAryan invasiontheoryof Indianhistorysaysthat Indiancivilisation

was formed by the invasion of fair-skinned, civilised Sanskrit-speakingAryans, who conquered and partially absorbed the dark-skinned, savageaborigines. This theory in turnproduced the basic ethnological division oftheIndianpopulationintoAryanandnon-Aryanraces,whichlaterbecomethe‘caste’and‘tribes’(Bayly1995;Trautmann1997).Thewritingsof19thcenturyethnologistsarerepletewithracialcategorising;theDravidians,the‘wild tribes’ and aborigines were seen as racially distinct from the Aryanpopulation and therefore not part of the Brahmanical caste order (Bayly1995). Compbell’s ‘Ethnology of India’ (1866), for instance, divides the“blackaboriginal tribesof the interiorhills and jungles” from the “modernIndians”whocultivatethesoil(quotedinTrautmann1997,162).


The‘tribals’wereunderstoodasremnantsofaboriginalgroupswhowere

notconqueredandabsorbedby the invadingAryans, like the lowercastes,butwerepushedbackintotheremoteforestsandhills.Fundamentally,then,‘tribes’ were defined in opposition to ‘castes’ rather than in terms of anyconcretecommoncharacteristicoftheirown.The racial theory of Indian history continued to provide the basis for

certain formulations about tribes that came to dominate Indiananthropology.Thedominantnotionsareasfollows:

a. Tribes are the indigenous inhabitants of the country who weredisplaced and marginalised by the progressive invasion andexpansionoftheIndo-AryanHindus.

b. Tribeshavebeenprogressively‘absorbed’intothecastesystem(andcontinue to be so) at the bottom end, primarily through theassimilationofHindureligionandvalues.

c. The ‘primitiveness’and ‘backwardness’characterisationof tribes inbothracialtheoryanditspredecessorsocialevolutionism.

d. Tribal societies have always been culturally and politicallyindependentofthelarger‘Hindu’civilisation(exceptthosesegmentsthathavebeenassimilated).

While Pachauau (2000) contended that the creation of tribalism isartificial; it isdonefortheconvenienceoftheadministrativesystemthatisthoroughlyinfluencedbythecastestratificationmindset,andpoliticallyandculturallycontrolledbythecasteHindusociety.Healsoargues,ontopofall,this artificially constructed identity resulted in the intensification of thealreadyexistingidentitycrisisofthepeople.

3.ColonialPeriodSeveral scholars have argued that ‘tribe’ evolved mainly as a politico-administrative category, to designate particularly troublesome andrebellious groups living in inaccessible forested regions (the latterincidentallybeingof great interest to the statebecauseof their rich forestandmineral resources),andwhoneeded tobepacifiedandbroughtundercolonialrule(StansilausandD’Souza2003;Singh2002;Xaxa2008).The increasing marginalisation, impoverishment and exploitation of

tribalpeoplesasaresultofcolonialrule, togetherwith thenotionof tribaldifferenceandprimitivenesspromotedbyanthropology,ledadministratorsoftribalareastoargueinfavourofapolicyofprotectionismfortribalareas.In fact, the central aim of the tribal policies advocated by the Britishadministrators was the preservation of indigenous ‘culture’, and themost


importantmeans throughwhich thiswas to be achievedwas the creationandimplementationofcustomarylaw.Theultimateresultofthesepolicieswas the designation of ‘Excluded’ and ‘Partially Excluded’ areas by theGovernmentofIndiaAct1935andtheconsequentschedulingoftribes.Theclassification process tended to convert what were originally fluid socialsystems,withinwhichindividualswereincorporatedatmultiplelevels,into‘tribalsocieties’withfixedidentitiesandrigidboundaries.The scheduling of tribes gave rise to the well-known debate between

official anthropologists (mostlyBritish ICSofficers),who favouredapolicyofisolationorprotection,andthe(mostlyIndian)nationalists,whosawitasyetanotherattemptto‘divideandrule’.Themostvisiblespokesmanfortheprotectionist side was the anthropologist Verrier Elwin, who advocatedpreservationofthe‘tribalwayoflife’throughstate-enforcedisolationfromHindusociety.Hewrites:

The aboriginals are the real swadeshi products of India, inwhose presence everyone is foreign. These are the ancientpeople with moral claims and rights thousands of years old.They were here first: they should come first in our regard[Elwin1943:32,quoted].

Ontheotherside,prominentsociologistG.S.Ghurye(1959)regradedthetribals as ‘imperfectly integrated classes of Hindu society’ or ‘backwardHindus’, rather than aborigines. Further he asserts that Indian civilisationhasbeenconstitutedthroughanongoingprocessof“assimilationofsmallergroups of different cultures into larger ones”, because incompletelyassimilatedgroupsappearedtotheBritishtobedifferentfromtherest,theywere designated as tribals. This, to Ghurye, was the origin of the “tribalproblem”,whosesolutionlayinassimilationor“strengtheningthetiesofthetribals with the other backward classes through their integration” ratherthanthepreservationofculture.

4.StatusofIndigenousPeopleAfterIndependenceTheproblemwithtribalidentityinIndia,whichisanofficialidentityderivedfrom theConstitutionof India, is thatno single feature canbe taken tobenormativeindefiningthe“tribes”.NowhereintheConstitutiondowefindadefinition.Article366 (25)of theConstitutionof India refers toScheduledTribesasthosecommunities,whoarescheduledinaccordancewithArticle342of theConstitution.Article342simplysays that thePresidentof Indiacan“specify the tribesor tribalcommunities….tobeScheduledTribes”andthattheParliamentalsohasthepowertoincludeandexcludegroupstoand


fromthelist.Tojustifytheenlistmentofcommunitiesunderthe“ScheduledTribes”thegovernmentofIndiadidmakeseveralcriteria.Thelistofcriteriaincludes “tribal language, animism, primitivity, hunting and gathering,‘carnivorousinfoodhabits’,‘nakedorsemi-naked’,andfondofdrinkinganddance”. But most of the criteria do not match those enlisted and it alsocoveystheblatantprejudiceofthedominantpeople(Pathy1984).Article342provides for specificationof tribesor tribal communitiesor

partsoforgroupswithintribesortribalcommunitieswhicharedeemedtobe for thepurposesof theConstitution theScheduledTribes in relation tothat State or Union Territory. In pursuance of these provisions, the list ofScheduledTribesarenotifiedforeachStateorUnionTerritoryandarevalidonlywithinthejurisdictionofthatStateorUnionTerritoryandnotoutside.The list of Scheduled Tribes is State/UT specific and a community

declaredasaScheduledTribeinaStateneednotbesoinanotherState.Theinclusion of a community as a ScheduledTribe is an ongoingprocess. Theessential characteristics, first laid down by the Lokur Committee, for acommunity to be identified as Scheduled Tribes are – (a) indications ofprimitive traits; (b)distinctive culture; (c) shyness of contact with thecommunityatlarge;(d)geographicalisolation;and(e)backwardness.Tribalcommunitieslive,invariousecologicalandgeo-climaticconditions

rangingfromplainsandforeststohillsandinaccessibleareas.Tribalgroupsare at different stages of social, economic and educational development.While some tribal communities have adopted amainstreamway of life, atthe other end of the spectrum, there are certain Scheduled Tribes, 75 innumberknownasParticularlyVulnerableTribalGroups (PVTGs),whoarecharacterised by: - (a) pre-agriculture level of technology; (b) stagnant ordecliningpopulation;(c)extremelylowliteracy;and(d)subsistencelevelofeconomy.

“The problem in India [or the task of the anthropologists] was toidentify rather than define tribes, and scientific or theoreticalconsiderationswereneverallowtodisplaceadministrativeorpoliticalones….”(AndreBeteille1992)

AclosescrutinyoftheConstitutionrevealsthattheterm‘tribe’isusedtodesignateawholeclusterofdiversenon-Indiccommunitieswhoaremostlynon-Aryan and remained outside the Hindu Varna. Furthermore, one alsonotices that wherever a section on “Scheduled Tribes” appear in theConstitution,a “ScheduledCaste”sectionappearswithsimilardescriptionsandprivilegesbestowed(Pachauau2000).


5.AdivasiMovementsinIndia-ARetrospectNumerousuprisingsoftribalshavetakenplacebeginningwithoneinBiharin1772,followedbymanyrevoltsinAndhraPradesh,AndamanandNicobarIslands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Mizoram andNagaland. Some scholarslike Desai (1979), Gough (1974) and Guha (1983) have treated tribalmovements after independence as peasant movements, but K.S. Singh(1985)hascriticisedsuchapproachbecauseof thenatureof tribal’s socialand political organisation, their relative social isolation from themainstream, their leadership pattern and the modus operandi of theirpoliticalmobilisation.Tribal’scommunityconsciousnessisstrong.Tribalmovementswerenot

only agrarianbut also forest-based. Some revoltswere ethnic innature astheseweredirectedagainstzamindars,moneylendersandpettygovernmentofficials who were not only their exploiters but aliens too (Singh 1978).Whentribalswereunabletopaytheirloanortheinterestthereon,money-lendersandlandlordsusurpedtheirlands.Thetribalsthusbecametenantsontheirownlandandsometimesevenbondedlabourers.Thepoliceandtherevenue officers never helped them. On the contrary, they also used thetribalsforpersonalandgovernmentworkwithoutanypayment.The courts were not only ignorant of the tribal agrarian system and

customsbutalsowereunawareoftheplightofthetribals(Verma1995).Allthesefactorsoflandalienation,usurpation,forcedlabour,minimumwages,and land grabbing compelledmany tribes likeMunda, Santhals, Kol, Bhils,Warli,etc., inmanyregionslikeAssam,Orissa,Rajasthan,MadhyaPradesh,AndhraPradesh,Bihar,andMaharashtratorevolt.Themanagement of forests also led some tribes to revolt, as forests in

some regions are themain sources of their livelihood. TheBritish govern-ment had introduced certain legislations permitting merchants andcontractors to cut the forests. These rules not only deprived the tribals ofseveral forest products but alsomade them victims of harassment by theforestofficials(Sharma2002).ThisledtribesinAndhraPradesh,Orissaandsomeotherareastolaunchmovements(Rout2015).After independence, the tribal movements may be classified into three

groups: (1)movements due to exploitation by outsiders (like those of theSanthals and Mundas), (2) movements due to economic deprivation (likethoseoftheGondsinMadhyaPradeshandtheMaharsinAndhraPradesh),and(3)movementsduetoseparatisttendencies(likethoseoftheNagasandMizos).The tribal movements may also be classified on the basis of their ori-

entation into four types: (1) movements seeking political autonomy and


formationofastate(Nagas,Mizos,Jharkhand),(2)agrarianmovements,(3)forest-based movements, and (4) socio-religious or socio-cultural move-ments (the Bhagat movement among Bhils of Rajasthan and MadhyaPradesh,movementamong tribalsof southGujaratorRaghunathMurmu’smovementamongtheSanthals).Mahapatra (1972) has classified tribal movements in three groups: re-

actionary,conservativeandrevolutionary.Thereactionarymovement triestobringback‘thegoodolddays’,whereastheconservativemovementtriestomaintainthestatusquo.Therevolutionaryortherevisionarymovementsare those which are organised for ‘improvement’ or ‘purification’ of theculturalorsocialorderbyeliminatingevilcustoms,beliefsorinstitutions.SurajitSinha(1968and1972)hasclassifiedmovementsintofivegroups:

(i) Ethnic rebellion, (ii) Reform movements, (iii) Political autonomymovementswithin the IndianUnion, (iv) Secessionistmovements, and (v)Agrarianunrest.K.S. Singh (1983)has also classified them inmoreor lessthesameway,exceptthathehasusedtheword ‘sanskritisation’ insteadofreformmovement and ‘cultural’ instead of ‘ethnic’. S.M. Dubey (1982) hasclassified them in four categories: (a) Religious and social reformmovements(b)Movementsforseparatestatehood(c)Insurgentmovementsand(d)Culturalrightsmovements.The rest of the paper discusses four of the popular struggles by the

AdivasisinIndiainvariousperiodsafterindependence.

6.PoliticalMovementsforaSeparateState:JharkhandMuktiMorcha,JharkhandThemoderntribalmovementforregionalautonomyisaphenomenonafterindependence. Jharkhandmovement too is such a phenomenon. Themainaim of the Jharkhand movement was the creation of a separate “Adivasistate”.The Jharkhand movement has a long years of legacy. Their movement

cameacrossvariousphases; theperiodofbloodyrevoltsof the tribals, theperiod of moderate socio-economic movements and the politicalmovements. The period of bloody revolts of the Adivasis to protect theirJharkhand land took place from 1771 to 1900 AD. The 20th centuryJharkhandmovementmaybeseenasmoderateascomparedtothebloodyrevolts of the 19th century. It was after 1939 that Jharkhand movementturnedtoitspoliticalphasewiththeformationoftheJharkhandParty.The tribal political awakening reached its culmination point with the

formationof the JharkhandParty. Itwasexclusivelydeclaredasa ‘political


party’notasocial,economic,religiousorganizationliketheearlierone.Forthe first time, non-tribals were invited in the ongoing movement forautonomy and there was a shift from ethinicity to regionalism in theobjectives of the movement. The Jharkhand Party declared to establish aseparatestatecomprisingofmineralbeltsofBihar,Orissa,WestBengalandMadhyaPradesh. The demand for a separate state includes autonomy andpreservation of tribal culture and language. The Jharkhand Party failed tomake Jharkhand a separate state. As there were a lot of contradictionswithintheparty(Sharma1976;Horo2013).AnewpartyJharkhandMuktiMorcha(JMM)undertheleadershipofSibu

Soren came into prominence in 1973. With lot of non-christian tribalssupporting this party, it readily transmitted a rays of hope in themind ofpeople.ItenlargedtheirrootstotheSantalPargnaandHazaribaghplateauareaandsoonitwasfoundthatthecenterofthemovementhasshiftedfromRanchiareatoSanthalPargnaregion.ThemovementgearedupinamilitantwaywhentheyformedanAllJharkhandStudentsUnion(AJSU),whosemainaim was to include youth of the region in the ongoing movement (Horo2013).The Parliament refused several proposals for the formation of the

separatestatehood.Alotofreasonsweregivenandthemostimportantwas“lack of common language” across the region. As most of the states wereformed by taking a common language criterion, this was insignificant inproposedJharkhandstate.Besides, therewasa lackof“unifiedmovement”amongdifferentparties.Thisfurthercontributedsignificantlyinweakeningthemovementforstatehood.The political dominance of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was upon 1984.

BhartiyaJanataParty(BJP)wasthefirstnationalnon-Jharkhandpartywhosupported the issue of Jharkhand. Thus in the 1996 general election, BJPmadealmostacleansweepbywinning14seatsoutof16LokSabha fromthis region. Aspirations of Jharkhand tribes came to fruition when theJharkhandisgottheirseparateJharkhandstateon15thNovember,2000.The Jharkhand movement is primarily autonomous mobilization. The

assertions of their identities were and still are made in the context of aregionoraprovincialarena.Althoughthecontextisprovincial,themodeoftheirassertionandtheargumentsformorepowerandeconomicresourcesaithinthearenaareoftencouchedinacollectivemould.TheanalysisoftheJharkhandmovementsuggeststhat,landalienationof

tribals, forest cultivation, immigration and unemployment of tribals,submergence of tribal culture and unbalanced development of Jharkhand


region etc. together contributed to the emergence of the Jharkhandmovement(Sharma1976).

7.EthnicMovementsforCultural/ReligiousIdentity:NagaPeople’sMovement,NagalandItwouldnotbeanexaggerationtostatethatalmostallthecountriesoftheworld havewitnessed some formof unrest relating to identity issues. Thewave of ethnicity and ethnic political mobilization took such a pervasivecharacter that its challenges were felt equally by both developed anddevelopingstates.Forexample,Srilanka,Bangladesh,Iraq,Turkey,Somalia,Australia,Canada,Germanyetc.aresomeofthecountrieswhichhavefacedand are still facing theproblemethnicity and ethnic identity conflict. Suchpattern of conflicts has been described as ‘internal’ or ‘civil’ war largelybecause it involves a clash of identities based on ethnicity (Hagg andKagwanja2007).Ethnicty is the manifestation of sentiments and emotions of a group

which is inpursuit topreserve its separate identity. Such senseofdistinctidentitygenerallyrestsonthebelefofuniquenessaboutone’sowncultureandtradition.Therearedifferentviewpoints:1. Forminstrumentalviewpoint,ethnicityisthecreationofeliteswho

inordertomaintaintheirstatusquoortogainpoliticalandeconomicadvantageinduceandmobilizeidentityconsciousnesswithinagroup(Brass1999).

2. Primordialists,ontheotherhand,believethatethnicity isanaturalandgivenphenomenon.According to them, every individual carrieswith him some “attachments derived from his/her place of birth,kinshiprelationship,religion,languageandsocialpracticeswhicharenaturaltohim,spiritualinnatureandthatprovideabasisforaneasyaffinity with other people from the same background” (Brass1999:69).

Thus,therearedifferentmeaningsattachedtoidentity:1. Schaeferinhisstudyconsiders‘relativedeprivation’asthepotential

cause of ethnic conflicts leading to extreme situation such as riots,insurgency,civilwarandotherinstancesofsocialdeviationssuchascrime(Schaefer2008).

2. Rationalchoice theory,on theotherhand,considersethnic identitymovement as a product of human choice and decision (HutchinsonandSmith2009).


3. Similarly, constructivist approach considers ethnic identity of

individuals as a dynamic concept. Individual, according to thisapproach, go on changing their ethnic identity on the basis of theirneeds. Very often, hey identify themselveswith that identitywhichgivesthemmoreadvantages-socially,politicallyoreconomically.

Whatevermaybe the reason, conflicts andmovementsbasedon ethnicidentityareincreasingthroughouttheworldanditsforcesarefeltmoreinmulti-ethnic and multi-cultural societies like India. In northeast India,different ethnic groups which represent both tribal and non-tribalcommunities have been struggling long either for special constitutionalsafeguard or for the creation of separate political entities on the basis oftheirlingo-culturalidentities.WhentheNagasfirstorganisedamovementforindependencefromIndia

in the 1940s and the 1950s, they clearly understood themselves as a“nation”, and named their organisation the “Naga National Council”.Similarly,theindependencemovementinMizoramfromthemid1960salsoemployedtheconceptofMizonationtocallthemselves“national”.Pachauau(2000)arguesthattheNagasaswellastheMizosunderstandthemselvesasnation in the sense of ‘ethnonationality’ and he defines it as the self-understandingoftheethnicgroups inNortheast India inthevariousformsof their struggle for identity. It is simply the phenomenon of politicalmovementslaunchedonthebasisofethnicidentity.InthecaseoftheNagas,the Mizos and others in the Northeast, the very notion as well as themovementofethno-nationalismclearlyreflectsacrisisofidentity.Geographically and racially, the region of Northeast India is situated

between the twogreat traditionsof the IndicAsiaand theMangoloidAsia.This geographical-cultural condition of “in-between-ness” is an importantfactor forthecrisisof identity. ItwasonlysincetheBritishperiodthattheentireregioncametobeassociatedwithIndiapolitically.Thelawofculturalrelatedness, especially of the tribal culture, weakens the new politicalassociation, and the racial and cultural difference, thus, came to play vitalrole indefining the self-identity.Theproblemof acceptanceon thepartofIndic culture with its caste-ridden social system, and the problem ofidentificationonthepartof theNortheasternersbecauseof theunderlyingculturaldifferenceunderpinstheidentityproblem(AliandDas2003).Since independence,we have not seen a single decade of calm political

atmosphere in theNortheastern region in India. Instead, each decade sawnew movements of political unrest, most of which turned to violentrevolutions. Insurgency, an extreme form of ethno-political upsurge, hasrockedfiveofthesevenstatesatonetimeoranother,andtheremainingtwo


states are highly poised for a similar movement (Lacina 2009; Bhaumik2007).TheNagaNationalCouncil’soriginaldemandwas somesortof regional

autonomy. In the course of their interaction with the “non-tribals” theydevelopedthefearof‘losingtheiridentityinthemidstofHindurule’leadingto a demand for ‘outright sovereign independent Nagaland state’ (Kumar2017;Nag2002).The new state of Nagaland came into being in December 1963. With

statehoodNagalandhas entered the Indianpolitical arenawhich is knownfor corruption and the amassing of riches by unscrupulous politicians.However, the struggle of theNagas for independence is still going on. Buttheir claim was put aside with the argument that the Naga nation couldnever be economically viable. The Naga people have developed a strongsense of nationalism which is shared even by those seeking someaccommodationwithIndia.

8.MovementsagainstInvoluntaryDisplacementsandRehabilitation:NarmadaBachaooAndolan,GujaratAll available evidence shows that the alienation of theAdivasis from theirlands, natural resources and cultures has only accelerated under theneoliberal policies followed in India after 1991 (Das 2016). The bestexample is the case of Adivasis affected by sardar sarovar dam underconstructionatVadagamvillageinGujaratinwesternpartofIndia.Intheearly1980s,peopleofMadhyaPradesh,MaharashtraandGujarat

in the Narmada valley were shocked when the government began toconstruct 3000 small, 135medium and 30major dams and canals on the1313-kmlongNarmadariver,cradleof5000yearsofcontinuouscivilisationand culture.TheState and central governmentswerekeen toobtain loansfromtheWorldbankforlongprojects,andpushthemthrough,regardlessofevenbasicconsiderationsoffeasibility.The brutality of displacement due to the building of dams was

dramaticallyhighlightedduringtheagitationovertheSardarsarovardam.Ithasbeencalled‘India’smostcontroversialdamproject’(Sahooetal.2014).MedhaPatekar,spearheadtheanti-dammovementknownas theNarmadaBachaoo Andolan (NBA). This movement for the first time systematicallyrevealedhowbuildingdamscanresultintotaldislocationoftribalsocieties.Thebeneficiariesofthedamaremeanttobelargelandowners;butthetribalpeople are paying the price. The official figure indicates that about 42000familiesweredisplacedbutthenon-governmentalorganisationssuchasthe


Narmada Bachaoo Andolan puts the figure to about 85000 families or500000people.TheNarmadaValleyDevelopmentProjectaffectedthelivesof25millionpeoplewhowereinthevalleyandwerealtertheecologyofanentireriverbasin.Thedamalonedisplacesmorethan41000families(over200000people)

in the three statesofGujarat,MaharashtraandMadhyaPradesh (Peterson2010).Over56percentofthepeopleaffectedbythedamareAdivasis.Dueto many reasons, most importantly due to the struggles of the peopleaffectedbytheprojectunderthebannerofNarmadaBachaooAndolan, theprojecthasadmittedly thebest ever resettlementand rehabilitationpolicyinIndia.

9.AgrarianMovementsforLand:MuthangaLandStruggle,KeralaThe human struggle for ownership of a plot of land is perhaps as old ashumanityitself,andthesituationisnotanydifferentinKerala;astateoftenextolledforitshighliteracyrate(93.91percent,Census2011),radicallandreformpoliciesandthehighestHumanDevelopmentIndexinIndia(0.7117,HDI2015).Kerala isalsoglorifiedas theholy landof tourismoras “God’sown country”- a slogan advertised for exploiting tourism potentials in thestate.However,ifonemovesawayfromtheglamorousworldoftourismandother extolling factors, and penetrates deeper into the socio-political andeconomicstructures thatdriveKerala’ssociety,whatonegets tosee is theexclusionandmarginalisationoftheAdivasisandtheDalits,especiallywhenitcomestotheissueoflandownership.TheAdivasis inKerala,mostly inhabiting themountains of theWestern

Ghats, constitute around 1.45 percent of the total population, while theDalitsformabout9.1percent(Census2011).Marginalizedandoppressedbysocial and economic factors, the Adivasis have never been the realbeneficiaries of the government schemes implemented to reducelandlessness among them. Instead, they have been deprived of theircustomary rights over their natural resources and traditional knowledgesystems, leadingtoseveralstrugglesfor landacrossatimeframeofseveraldecades. Some of the key struggles are: Adivasi land struggles in Kannur(1999), Muthanga land struggle (2001), Aralam farm protest (2006),Chengara land struggle (2007), Arippa bhoosamaram (2012), Puyamkuttilandstruggle(2012),Perichamkuttylandstruggle(2012),etc.TheChengaraLand Struggle deserves a specialmention among all because of its uniquewayofagitation,popularsupportandsuccess.


TheagitationatChengara inPathanamthittadistrictbeganonAugust4,

2007,when300 families fromvariousparts of the state convergedon therubberestateownedbyHarrisonMalayalamPlantationsLtd.Theagitatorsalleged that the company was in possession of much more land than theactualextentunderthegovernment’slease.Theirdemandwasfiveacresofland for cultivation (later reduced toone acre) andRs. 50,000as financialassistancesper family.Duringthemorethantwo-year longprotest, lackoffood, scarcity of water, absence of medical facilities and hostile weatherconditions led to the death of 13 people. After 790 grueling days, theagitationwassettledduringadiscussionbetweenthethenChiefMinister,VSAchutanandan,LahaGopalan(leaderof theChengaraLandStruggle)andothers of the Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi (SJVSV) - theorganizationthatledthelandstruggle.Asapartofthesettlement,1,432outof the1,738 families thathadstarted livingon the rubberplantationwereenlisted for receiving financial assistance to build houses. However, thedistributionoflandamongstthevarioustribesandcasteswasuneven.Somereceived one acre of land,while others received only 25 cents. The SJVSValsoalleged that theChengaraPackagehadbeenacceptedunderpressure,as CPI (M) (Communist Party of India- Marxist) leaders had beenintimidating and paying off their activists. Despite bitter allegations ofbetrayalandconspiracybytherulingandoppositionparties, theChengaralandstrugglewasasuccess.Although theAdivasis and Dalits form the backbone of the agricultural

economyofKerala,theyhavenotyetbenefittedfromthelandreformsthattheKeralaGovernment initiated in the1950s (Aneesh2014).Various landdistribution schemes and programmes that were meant to minimiselandlessnessamongtheAdivasisandtheDalits,didnotactuallyrelievethem.AsfarasthelandlessnessinKeralaisconcerned,theDalitsandtheAdivasisform around 85 per cent of the landless in the state. The state has beenwitnessing a steady decline in food production and farming. Sinceagriculturalactivityhashit abottom low thestate is largelydependentontheneighbouringstatesforitsfoodrequirements.Assuch,theGovernmentofKerala,insteadofbringingbacktheAdivasisandtheDalitstoagricultureandfarming,hasthrownthemtothefringesofthesocietyandhasreducedthem to living in colonies. A close look at the way the state has fared inimplementingvariousreformsandhowithasimpactedtheAdivasisandtheDalitsrevealsthat:

• There was a lack of will among the successive governments thatcame to power in Kerala to properly implement various land


legislation policies and to honestly redistribute land among theAdivasis.

• Alookatthevariouslegislationsinitiatedshowsthatthereisahugegap in the introduction of the policies and their actual effectiveimplementation. For example, The Kerala Scheduled Tribes(Restriction on Transfer of Lands and Restoration of AlienatedLands)Actwasadoptedin1975,butitwasonlyimplementedafter1986,causingahugedelay.

• Adivasi lands have been lost due to encroachments, land grabbing,forest notifications and the formation of private plantationcompanies.

• Alienation of Adivasis from forest and nature, and restriction onaccesstoforestproducehas increasedtheAdivasi’sdependenceonother sources of income, and has forced them to migrate to otherplacesforworksuchascasuallabouretc.

• Frustration among the Adivasis due to gradual land loss over theyears has led to loss of livelihood, hunger, malnutrition andstarvationdeaths.

• Denialoflivelihoodandthestruggleforsheersurvivalhasledtotheformation of severalAdivasi struggle groups for land rights acrossthestateandtheriseofAdivasilandrightsmovements.

• GhettoizationoftheAdivasicommunitiesthroughcreationofAdivasiandHarijancolonies(George2014).

Kerala, a state which implemented the land reforms in a very successshould introspects the real beneficiaries of the reforms. The recent landstruggles in the state by the landless Dalits and Adivasis underlines theobligation to address the issue of land reforms once again. What thegovernment to be focused in the second reform should be the caste andcommunityaspectswhichareleftinthefirstone(Aneesh2014).

10.MilitarisingtheMovementsandRiseofMaoistsandNaxalitesinIndiaTheCommunityPartyofIndia(Maoist),alsoknownas“theNaxalites”,wasfoundedonSeptember2004, followingthemergerof twoof India’s far-leftoutfits: the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (People’sWar) andtheMaoistCommunistCentreofIndia(MCCI).However,thebeginningofthemovementcanbetracedbacktolate1967.


ManyNaxalites see India as a backward, semi-colonial and semi-feudal

state.BasedonMarxism-Leninism-Maoism,theobjectiveofthearmedwingis to wage “protracted people’s war” (PPW) to seize political power andherald a New Democratic Revolution (NDR), under the leadership of theagrarianclass(Singh2010).Citingthegoalsoftheagrarianmovementandthe“landtothetiller”slogan,themainaimoftheNaxalitesistochangethepresent systemof India’s governance, and toestablish socialist-communistrule. In order to succeed in their mission, the Naxalites are reportedlyworking to build a base of popular support, tackling socio-economicproblemssuchasthefailureofgovernance,getting involvedinanti-miningagitation, and fighting land acquisition and discrimination based on caste(Kumar2013;Harriss2010).They establish bases in remote areas, among poor and impoverished

communities. These are usually in the forested andmountainous parts ofsouthern, central and eastern India; home to about 84 million tribal orindigenousAdivasipeople.Theyare subsistence farmers, andmany live inextreme poverty, with a lack of basic services. TheMaoists say they havetaken up the adivasi cause (Harriss 2010; Dubey 2013). The lack of basicamenities, including roads, healthcare, education, drinking water andeffectivegovernanceprovidestheMaoistswithanidealcommunityinwhichto propagate ideas of a “new democratic revolution” (Mohanti 2006). Inmanyofthe“liberatedareas”,theyhaveorganisedtheAdivasiandtakenupcommunityprojectstoprovideservicesthegovernmentdoesnot.Whether they side with the Maoists or not, the most affected by the

ongoingconflictarethe84milliontribespeople.Theydonotallnecessarilyknoworunderstand therealagendabehind the “protractedpeople’swar”.They are victims of violence and counter-violence, and have seenminimalpositivechangeintheirlivingconditions(Marwah2009).DespitethefactthattheIndianConstitutionguaranteesthesafeguarding

of tribalrights,peopleherehavebeendeniedtheirdue.Somehavewaited50 years to be compensated for land they had to give away to thegovernmentforindustrialgrowth,soonafterIndia’sindependencefromtheBritish.Moreover,althoughtheConstitutiongivesthelocalgoverningbodyof villages- Gram Sabha- the right to reject any expropriation of land,displacement of the Adivasi people continues. The villagers living in these“scheduledareas”complainofintimidationbycorporation’sprivatesecurityforces and sometimes even the government’s own security. They say theyarethreatenedwithviolence,andtoldtheymustobeyorderstogiveuptheirland,manyhavebeenprosecutedandimprisonedforassertingtheirrights(Harriss2010).


Maoists, the self-proclaimed saviours of the tribal people, unleash

violenceonanyonetheysuspectofnotsupportingtheircause(Dubey2013).SometribalpeoplefindthemselvesoppressedbythosefightingtheMaoists-languishing in Indian jails, accused of doing basic favours such as givingwater or food to the Maoists. From both sides, tribal people and theeconomicallyunderprivilegedhavebeenthebiggestvictimsofthe40-yearwarbetweentheNaxalitesandtheIndianstate.The government’s fight against Naxalites often seems to be

counterproductive. Several villagers living in central and eastern India,under the circumstances, they preferred the Maoists to the Indiangovernment. Ironically, theMaoists owemuchof their growing support tothegovernment’scounterinsurgencycampaign.Thishaseffectivelyelevatedamovementwithlocalrootsintoonewithanationalpresence.

11.ConclusionOneviewofIndia’sinequalityisthatthisisnothingtobeworriedabout.Thisisthenormalprogressionofeconomicdevelopment.Meanwhile,millionsofIndians do not find themselves a part of the growth story. And there isgrowingresentmentoverthisgapinginequality.InequalityinIndiaoperatesonmultiple axes- of gender, class, caste, region, religion and ethnicity.Butperhaps theworst suffering isof India’s tribalpeople,whosufferadoublewhammy of both disadvantaged region and ethnicity. Official data on allindicatorsofdevelopmentrevealthatIndia’stribalpeoplearetheworstoffin terms of income, health, education, nutrition, infrastructure andgovernance.Theyhavealsobeenunfortunately at the receiving endof theinjustices of the development process itself. Around 40 per cent of the 60millionpeopledisplacedfollowingdevelopmentprojectsinIndiaaretribals,whichisnotasurprisegiventhat90percentofIndia’scoalandmorethan50percentofmostmineralsanddamsitesaremainlyintribalregions.Inequality is important not only because of the acute perception of

injustice it creates. Even economists at the traditionally free-marketfundamentalistInternationalMonetaryFund,AndrewG.BergandJonathanD. Ostry (2011), have argued that “inequality can also be destructive togrowthbyamplifyingtheriskofcrisisormakingitdifficult forthepoortoinvest in education”. They conclude: “reduced inequality and sustainedgrowthmaythusbetwosidesofthesamecoin”.A retrospective analysis of popular struggles by the Adivasis in India

reveals the story of continuous neglect and exploitation of thesecommunities by the changing governments and the mainstream society.


India’s development process should be incomplete without uplifting thedowntroddenandthemarginalisedintothemainstreambyaddressingtheirissuesandproblems.DevelopmentthatdoesnotincludetheAdivasiandthatleavesout thepoorestof thepoor isnotdevelopment,butexploitation.AsAneesh(2013)isrightlystated,“Thevisionofinclusivenessmustgobeyondthe traditional objective of poverty alleviation to encompass equality ofopportunity, as well as economic and social mobility for all sections ofsociety,with affirmative action for SCs, STs, OBCs,minorities andwomen.Theremustbeequalityofopportunitytoallwithfreedomanddignity,andwithout social or political obstacles. This must be accompanied by animprovementintheopportunitiesforeconomicandsocialadvancement.Inparticular, individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups should beprovidedspecialopportunitiestodeveloptheirskillsandparticipateinthegrowthprocess”.Thereweretribalmovementslastedforabriefperiod,varyingfromafew

days to a few years. Many of them disintegrated before attaining theirobjectives. However, a few movements took on the institutional form ofpressure groups, unions or political parties. Several Adivasi groups havedemanded more and more welfare programmes including reservation ofjobs in government departments. They submitted memoranda and issuedpress statements, but there has been nomobilization of tribals on a largescale. These issues attain prominence in elections. However, we have toexamine the reasons why such efforts have not succeeded in sustainingpolitical movements. Similarly, how and why do some selected tribalmovementstakeonaninstitutionalform?Howeffectivearetheyinattainingtheirobjectivesaftertakingoninstitutionalforms?Whatishappeningtothesmalltribalmovementsforlivelihoodoridentity?Herearisesanimportantmethodological question of scaling of themovements.Massmovements intermsof enormousnumerical strengthofparticipants areonlyhighlightedand discussed by the academia. The extent of the participation should belooked into within the context of the time and social milieu in which themovementtakesplace.Similarly,thelevelofthetribalmovementintermsofthegeographicalareaandsectionsoftribalgroupinvolvedisimportantforassessing the intensity and extent of the movement. This would alsofacilitateacomparativestudyofvarioustribalmovementsinIndia.


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MONITORING SOCIAL SAFETY NET PROGRAMS: LESSONSFROMBANGLADESHMohammedAnwarHossain1DepartmentofSociology,ShahjalalUniversityofScienceandTechnology,Sylhet,BangladeshE-mail:anwarsociology@gmail.comMohammadNureAlamDeputyProgramManager-ResearchandPolicy,TransparencyInternationalBangladesh(TIB)E-mail:[email protected]

Abstract: This article examines challenges in selected social safety netprograms’—VGD,MA, AWDDW, andOAA—beneficiary selection and benefitdistribution in Bangladesh. Although these programs—cash or goods—easeoffchronichardshipofbeneficiariesandgraduallychangetheirsocioeconomicsituation, many challenges still exist in implementation processes. A samplesurvey method along with in-depth interviews seeks to collect data onbeneficiaries’ inclusion in allowances, their knowledge about selectioncommittee, inconsistencies in selection and distribution of allowances, andtheir levelof satisfactionabout thewholeprocess.Research findings indicatethat beneficiaries still require communicating frequently with committeememberstobeincludedinthelistofallowances.Theuseofbriberemainsthemostinfluentialmechanismtoacquireallowances.Mostbeneficiarieshavenoidea about the selection criteria, committee, and processes to submit andresolveclaimsaboutallowances.Equally,manyelectedrepresentativespossesslittleknowledgeaboutselectioncriteriaandtheirrolesandresponsibilitiesinimplementingtheseprograms.Keywords: safety net programs, poverty reduction, beneficiary selectionprocess,distributionofbenefits,andchallengesinBangladesh

1WerecognizethewholeheartedfinancialandadvisorysupportofManusherJonnoFoundation (MJF), Dhaka, Bangladesh (www.manusherjonno.org) to finish thisresearch. We also recognize the participation of selected safety net programs’beneficiariesinthisresearch.


1.IntroductionPoverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) considers social safety netprograms—transferring cash or goods—as core strategies to satisfy thepoorestandthemostvulnerablepeople’surgentneedsandliftthemoutofpoverty in Bangladesh. These programs aim to mitigate beneficiaries’socioeconomic vulnerability (unemployment, exclusion, illness, disability,and aging) and improve their ability to face that vulnerability. ThegovernmentofBangladeshallocatesasubstantialfundeveryyearforsocialsafety net programs to reduce poverty and vulnerability. For instance, thegovernmentspendsabout2%ofGDPforsocialprotectioninthefiscalyears2010-2015andcontinues tocarryout145safetynetprograms from2016through2020toreduceabsolutepovertyfromBangladesh(GoB2016).ThegovernmentofBangladesh firmly supports SustainableDevelopmentGoals(SDGs)2 that emphasize active poverty reduction and social securityprogramsforeconomicallyvulnerablepeopleindevelopingcountriestoendpoverty by 2030.3The government implements Allowance for Widowed,Distressed, and DesertedWomen (AWDDW), Maternity Allowance for thePoorLactatingMothers (MA),OldAgeAllowance (OAA),VulnerableGroupDevelopment(VGD),andmanyotherprogramstoenablethepoortogetoutofpoverty.Povertyandvulnerabilityaregraduallydeclining inBangladeshas a result of theseprograms. For example, thenumberof extremelypoorpeopledecreases from17.6% in2010 to12.9% in2016(BBS2016),butalargeportionofpoorpeoplearestilloutoftheseprograms.Theseprogramsalso face many challenges (bribery, nepotism, harassment, politicalconsideration, and appropriation) throughout the implementationprocess.It is important to examine barriers to implementing these programs toenhancetheirusefulnessinpovertyreduction.Social safety net programs often fail to reach intended beneficiaries

because of social and political hindrances in selection and distributionprocesses.Many extremely poor anddeservingpeople are deprived of the2 Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform identifies social safety netprogramsasimportantstrategiestoendpovertyanddisparitybyensuringsupportfor kids, lactatingmothers, disabled and elderly publics, and extremely poor andunemployed people. A forty-five percent people receive social benefits in 2016acrosstheglobe.Details:https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg1.3Asworldpovertycontinuestoreduce,continuoussocialsupportsneedtoimprovehardcorepoor’sabilitytoearnandlessenmiseriesindevelopingcountries.Details:https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg1


allowancewhilemanynon-poorandrelativelybetteroffpeopleobtain theallowance(Barkatetal.2013).Theyfindfinancialcorruption(meanbribeforeachbenefit=BDT1074.1),politicalpreference,andpremeditatedselectionof beneficiaries as the main obstacles to implement safety net programs.Local governments electedbodies (UnionParishad,UpazilaParishad) tendto distribute allowances among their relatives and other people whosupportthemintheelection.Theyregularlymisusetheirpowertoinfluencethelistofbeneficiaries(Kiddetal.2014).Also,manyelectedrepresentativespossess littleknowledgeaboutbeneficiaryselectioncriteriaandtheirrolesand responsibilities to implement various programs. Aweak collaborationbetween local government representatives and responsible governmentofficesto identifyrightbeneficiariesandallotbenefits is themajorsetbackto execute safety net programs (Begum et al. 2014). Some people (UnionSecretary,otherselectedcommitteemembers-political leadersorpowerfulpersons and social leaders) in-between local representatives andgovernment officers consider safety net programs as a source to gainreputation and illegal earnings (Masud-All-Kamal and Saha2014).The rateof selection errors increases as a consequence of such unlawful activities.Staffcrisisandinconsistenciesfromallocationtodistributionalsoaffectstheselection of beneficiaries (Sen and Ali 2015). As a whole, a variety ofcorruption (selecting familiar or wrong persons, selling goods, taking aportion of money or goods from beneficiaries) interrupts theimplementationofsafetynetprogramsinBangladesh.Above studies justify the importance of studying challenges in

implementingsocialsafetynetprogramsinBangladesh.

2.ProblemFormulationTheproblemsinbeneficiaryselectionanddistributionofbenefitsandlackoftransparencymainlydegradethestandardofserviceofsafetynetprograms.This article, therefore, aims to assess a few issues that affect theimplementationofsocialsafetynetprogramsinBangladesh.Theseare:(a)to identify major challenges in delivering VGD, AWDDW, MA, and OAAservices; (b) to discover inconsistencies and corruption in selectingbeneficiaries and distributing services; and (c) to assess the satisfactionlevelofVGD,AWDDW,MA,andOAAbeneficiaries.This study conducts thirty in-depth interviews and a sample survey to

examine challenges inVGD,AWDDW,MA, andOAAbeneficiaries’ selectionand the distribution of benefits. The survey follows a two-tiered sampling


(stratified-systematic) method to select 4,8764 (4,515 women and 361men5) respondents from 26, 995 beneficiaries. Twelve Upazilas and fourPourshavas6 are considered as strata from which 231 villages under 60UnionParishadsand12wardsarerandomlyselectedfordatacollection.Thebeneficiaries with at least sixmonths of experience as allowance receiverare proportionately selected from the strata. Every fifth beneficiary isselected as a respondent. The survey administers 4,876 structuredinterviews in sixty Unions and four Pourshavas with prior consent ofrespondents. The lists of beneficiaries are collected from UnionParishads/Pourshavas and Upazila Social Welfare/Women Affairs offices.The in-depth interviews are conducted to supplement survey data. DatacollectionlastsfromApril,2017throughMay,2017.DataareprocessedandanalyzedbyusingSPSS.

4Thesamplingunitsofthesurveyare26,995beneficiariesfromselectedSSNPsinselected Upazilas. The standard error of the mean needs to be calculated firstbecauseitshowshowcloselysamplemeansreflectpopulationmean.S.E.= Here,s=standarddeviationofthevariableunderstudy;n=samplesize

Byinvertingtheaboveformulan= For26,995samplingunits,s2=.72andS.E.=.011,theestimatedsamplesizen= =5,950.413Thentheoptimalsamplesizecanbecalculatedbyn'=

WhereN=populationsize;n=samplesizeandn'=optimalsamplesizeIfN=26,995,thenn'= =4,876(rounded).

5 The sample predominantly consists of women beneficiaries because theseprogramsaremostlyintendedforvulnerableandpoorwomen.6Thespatialdistributionofbeneficiaries:VGD: Kazipur Upazila, Sirajgonj (423); Moheshkhali Upazila, Cox’s Bazar (382);Saghata Upazila, Gaibandha (406); Mithapukur Upazila, Rangpur (404); andBanariparaUpazila,Barisal(403)OAA: Sujanagor Upazila and Pourshava, Pabna (male-166, female-253); RamgotiUpazilaandPourshava,Laksmipur(male-195,female-228)MA: Jamalganj Upazila, Sunamganj (181); Sadar Upazila and Pourshava, Faridpur(606)AWDDW: Kolaroa Upazila, Satkhira (412); Baskhali Upazila and Pourshava,Chittagong(660);BorkolUpazila,Rangamati(157)


3.SelectionandDistributionProcessesofVGD,AWDDW,MA,andOAAThesocialsafetynetprogramsinvolvevariousinstitutionalrepresentativesin selecting beneficiaries and distributing their services. This chapternarrates diverse roles of respective government and non-governmentpersonnel and local government representatives in implementing VGD,AWDDW,MA,andOAAbasedonatotalof30in-depthinterviewsfromfourUpazilaandtwoPourshava.Theinsightsfromthefieldrevealsthatthepoorand vulnerable are often excluded from their entitlement because of themisuseofrulesbytheresponsiblepersons.3.1SelectingBeneficiariesandDistributingAllowancesCurrently a two-stage selection and distribution process is in use frompreparingtheprimarylistofbeneficiariesofVGD,AWDDW,MA,andOAAtofinalizing it. The Union committee—the chairman as president, all electedmembers,UPsecretary,NGO,andotherrepresentatives—requiresverifyingtheprimarylistofbeneficiariesselectedbythewardcommitteetosubmitalisttoUpazila/Pourshavacommittee.TheUpazilacommittee,eitherchairedbyUpazilaNirbahiOfficer (UNO)orUpazilachairman7 further investigatesthelistwiththeassistanceofrespectiveofficesbeforefinalizingitaccordingtoallocations.Theunioncommitteedoesthekey function inpreparingthelist. Although the criteria set by the government target the poorest of thepopulation, both committees regularly miss out many of them. Bothcommittees have the responsibility to ensure fairness and justice in theselection and distribution process of the allowance. An Upazila NirbahiOfficer(UNO)explainstheselectionprocessofsocialsafetynetprograms:

Actually all allowance committees are formedaccordingto government circular. I don’t see any problem incommittee formation. UP chairmen, Upazilachairman/Mayor, and selected representativeswe all sittogethertoselectthebeneficiaries.UnionParishadshavethe main responsibility. It is hard for us to verify thewholelist.Theyshouldprioritizetheabsolutepoorinthelist. In many cases inconsistency occurs at the UP level.Theyincludewrongpeopleinthelistignoringthecriteria.ManytimesIsuspendedallowanceforselectingincorrectpeople.(InterviewedonApril18,2017)

7UNOchairsUpazilaCommitteesofMAandVGD;UpazilachairmanchairsUpazilacommitteesofOAAandAWDDW.


The committees are formed properly, but allowances aredistributedimproperly.Eventhoughtheformationofallowancecommitteesismoreorlessfair,

the selection of beneficiaries in some cases is challenging. Another UNOreiteratestheloopholesoftheselectionprocess.Shedescribes:

Both Union and Upazila committees are createdaccordingly. I select a tag officer in the Upazilacommittee. I regularly hear complaints about theselection of wrong beneficiaries. Sometimes I myself gothefieldandifIfinditincorrectthentellthechairmantocorrectit.Ipostponetheunduecardbeforecorrectingtheproblem.(InterviewedonMay4,2017)

Itisevidentthatinconsistenciesexistintheselectionprocess.Thechairmenof theUnionParishadstate theselectionanddistribution

processoftheallowanceatUPlevelasfairandtransparent.Theyattempttosolve irregularities locally. Several chairmen (three from three differentUpazila)andtwoMayorstalkabouttheselectionprocessinasimilartone:

We follow government regulation and direction of UNOandUpazila chairman tomake committees for selectingbeneficiaries. All members of the committee includingwomen representatives of reserved seats present in themeetingtodecideonallowance.TheUPsecretaryinformscommittee members about the meeting. We tell UPmembers tomake a list of beneficiaries from theirwardby visiting the area. We finalize the primary list in theUnion committee meeting and submit it to the Upazilacommitteewiththesignatureofallmembers.Thereisnocorruption in this process. When the list is declared weinformthebeneficiariesbymobileorgram(Bengaliwordfor village) police. Sometimes people complain aboutUPmembers for taking illegalmoney or bribe to include inthe list. If anyone complainswe solve it. (InterviewedonApril17,April26;April27andMay3,2017)

While chairmen neither notify loudly nor admit corruption inselection and distribution processes of safety net programs,manybeneficiariesreporttheuseofunfairmeanstoachievetheallowance.The chairmen and mayors claim to perform their duties properly in

selectingbeneficiariesaftergovernmentdirections.Afewchairmenexplain


their experience about VGD, MA, AWDDW, and OAA differently. A UPchairmancomplains:

Some members on the OAA committee particularly theselected ones are politically recruited. The MP/Upazilachairman selects representatives from their party. Theselected members try to influence the decision of thecommittee. They want to select beneficiaries from theirown groups, relatives or party. They tend to use theallowance as a platform to satisfy their own people forreputation, support or vote. (Interviewed on April 27,2017)

Chairmen/mayors accuse selected committee members ofcorruption;theydenyallallegationsagainstthem.The unnecessary interruption in the selection process initiates

corruption.AnotherUP chairman shareshis experience in response to thequestionaboutpoliticalinterventionintheselectionprocessofVGD:

UNO or Upazila chairman discusses with ruling partyleaders before finalizing the VGD list. Political leadersfrequentlyinterfereintheselectionprocess.(InterviewedonMay3,2017)

Political interference appears as a barrier to preparing the list ofbeneficiaries.Most of the members or councilors from six Union Parishads and two

Pourshava (16 members or councilors including 7 male members and 2councilors, and 6 female members and 1 councilor) deny any kind ofdeviation in the selectionprocess. Fewmembers admit discrepancy in theselectionprocess:

Themembers nominated byMP/UNO/Upazila chairmanprefertoincludetheirpeopleinthelist.Inmanycasesthechosen people are not eligible to receive the allowance.Manyofthemarebetterofforcanearn. If theirselectedpeoplearenotincludedinthelisttheydon’twanttosignthe resolution. Socially influential people also request toinclude people in the list. The poor don’t always get theallowance. Sometimes committee members demand forbribe.WeasaresultrecommendexcludingthedelegatesofMP/Upazilachairmantoimprovetheusefulnessofthesocialsafetynetprograms.UnionParishadincooperationwith Upazila committee and respective governmentdepartments can jointly monitor the programs. Again,


many members are signatory such as women members.They never raise their voice. People don’t want tocomplain due to fear. Many don’t even know how tocomplain.(InterviewedonApril17andMay3,2017)

Like UP chairmen/Pourshava mayors, UP members orPourshava councilors reject corruption in implementing socialsafetynetprograms.The controversial activities of the few members defame the entire

committee.Awomanandchildaffairsofficerreiteratesabovefacts:MembersandChairmengivetheirpeopletheVGDandMAallowance.Chairmentakethemostofthem.Theselectionprocessisinfluencedbybothsocialandpoliticalpressure.Manywelloffandworkablepeoplereceivetheallowancebecauseofnepotismand sociopolitical pressure. In somecases the committee members demand bribe for givingthe allowance. We can check few cases for severe staffcrisis and the absence of logistic support (transport andother costs). Most people don’t know how to make acomplaint. Also, they are afraid of making complaints.(InterviewedonMay15,2017)

Corruption in various steps reflects the mismanagement ofsocialsafetynetprograms.The error in the selection excludes many extremely poor from social

safetynetprograms.Asocialwelfareofficeralsorecognizesthevariationintheselectionprocess:

There are many problems in the selection of OAA andAWDDW beneficiaries. It is evident that the relatives ofmembers or chairmen, married and well off womenreceiveallowance.(InterviewedonApril26,2017)

Eligible people are often deprived whereas non-eligible people frequentlyreceivetheallowance.Theselectionofbeneficiariesoverlooking thecriteriahampers theaims

ofthesocialprotectionprograms.AUPsecretarydescribes:Thecorruptionintheselectionprocessisintentional.Themembers sometimes cleverly allocate dead person andexpatriatestoappropriatetheallowance.Theyalsofavortheirneighborsandrelatives.Financialcorruption isnotvisiblebuthappens.Onemember listed twobeneficiariesfromthesamefamilybytakingmoney.NowthetrainingforVGDisnotinaction.(InterviewedonMay14,2017)


Premeditatedselectiondeprivesmanybeneficiariesoftheirrights.Corruptpracticesaffect the implementationofsafetynetprograms.The

corruption in the selection process is a common and widespreadphenomenon.Anevaluationof the fewNGOofficialscanbesummarized inthisregard:

Thereisacommitteeinblackandwhite,butthechairmenare all in all. The selection process is not transparent.Influentialpersonsandlocalpoliticalleaderspressurethecommittee to select their people. The chairmen andmembers select their relatives and supporter. In somecases they don’t give full address of the beneficiaries.Sometimestheytakemoneyforgivingallowance.Politicalconsiderationandinterferenceisthebiggestfactorintheselection process. We place complaints in the Upazilacommittee.Themembersandchairmeninterferewithourwork and attack personally. (Interviewed on April 18,April27,andMay14,2017)

Lack of accountability of the Union Parishad is an obstacle to selectappropriate beneficiaries. The success of the social safety net programslargelydependsontheactiveparticipationofthechairmenandmembersintheselectionofbeneficiariesasperrules.3.2LackofAwarenessofLocalGovernmentRepresentativesManyelectedlocalgovernmentrepresentativessuchasmembers,chairmenor even Upazila chairman possess little knowledge about social safety netprograms.AnUNOexplicates:

Lotsofmembers,chairmen,andUpazilachairmandonotknow about government circulars and theirresponsibilities. The elected representatives should betrainedsothattheyunderstandgovernmentcircularsandcan select beneficiaries according to those circulars.(InterviewedonApril18,2017)

Ignorance of elected representatives hampers the distributionofsafetynetprograms.Lack of ability to collect beneficiaries according to government

regulationsemergesasamajorsetbacktoexecutesafetynetprograms.OneUPmemberrepliedinresponsetoaquestionabouttheselectionprocessofAWDDW:

Idon’tknowaboutthecriteriatoselectthebeneficiariesofAWDDW.Iknowalittleabouttheselectioncommittee.


Generallythechairmanmaintainseverything.Iregularlyattend meetings in the Union Parishad. The chairmandiscusses about AWDDW, and other allowance in themeetingand instructsus to selectAWDDWbeneficiaries.(InterviewedonMay14,2017)

Selecting beneficiaries ignoring government rules underminestheobjectiveofsafetynetprograms.

Itishardlypossibletoidentifytherightbeneficiarieswithoutproperknowledge about the selection process. A coordinator of anNGO similarlyreflectsontheabovefindings:

Most of the elected local government representativesdon’t know about the circular of the government. Also,they lack of efficiency to complete their duties.Particularly, the majority of the women representativesare illiterate and ignorant of the activities of the UnionParishad.Theyhavepartialknowledgeaboutthecriteriaof the allowance. Although women representatives areelected, they still remain as housewives. They alwaysagree with the chairman because of their lack ofknowledge.(InterviewedonMay14,2017)

Inefficiency of local representatives disrupts theimplementationofsecurityprograms.

The minimum information and competence about safety netprogramscanhighlyimprovetheirqualityofimplementation.AmonitoringofficerofanNGOexplains:

Allwomenmembers do not always attendmeetings andthe other members who attend don’t get equalopportunity.Theyare insomecasesunderemphasizedaswomenmembers andmany decisions are imposed uponthem. They just implement the imposed decisions.(InterviewedonApril27,2017)

The equal participation of women representatives in the safety netprograms like males would enhance the possibility to achieve expectedoutcomes.Lack of public awareness equally affects the quality of selection and

distributionprocessoftheallowance.Asolidknowledgeabouttheselectioncriteriamustkeep thecommitteemembersaccountable to thecommunity.Thepeople shouldunderstand their rightsandprivileges. In caseof issuesrelatedtoallowance,theyhavetheopportunitytolodgecomplainttotheUPchairmanor theUpazilacommittee. In fact,peoplerarelycomplainagainst


theallegedperson(s).Thecommunityconsciousnessisthereforeimperativetoescapefromcorruption.4.ResearchFindingsLocalgovernmentinstitutionsandtheirelectedrepresentativesperformkeyroles inselectingbeneficiariesanddistributingbenefitsofsocialsafetynetprograms except cash or conditional cash transfers. Union or Pourshavacommittee prepares the primary list of beneficiaries while Upazilacommittee consisting of UP chairmen, Upazila administration, and Upazilasocialwelfareofficer/WomenandChildaffairsofficerverifiesand finalizesthelistofbeneficiaries.

4.1PrimarySelectionofBeneficiariesThe government instructs strictly local institutions to publicize widelythroughloudspeaker(locallyknownasmiking)orothermediumstoinformpeople across the union before preparing the primary list of beneficiaries.But bothUnion andUpazila committee select beneficiaries arbitrarily. Themembersallocatebenefitstotheirrelativesandpoliticalsupporters(Kiddetal. 2014). Ara et al. (2015) compute that half the OAA recipients are notselectedaccordingtosetcriteria.Thesurveydatadescribesthat43.4percentbeneficiarylearnsaboutthe

allowanceviamaleUnionParishad(UP)MembersorPourshavaCouncilors,23.4 percent via neighbors, and 10.4 percent via female UP Members orPourshavaCouncilors.


Table1:Beneficiaries’mediumoflearningabouttheallowance

Source:Own

The committee members wholly manipulate the list of beneficiaries(AlamandHossain2016;Begumetal.2014;Kidd,Freeland,andKhondker2014). Beneficiaries as a result run through different channels to includetheirnames in the list. The survey reveals that15percent of beneficiariescommunicated with Chairmen or Mayors, 65.2 percent beneficiariescommunicated with male UP Members or Pourshava Councilors, 15.2percentbeneficiariescommunicatedwithfemaleUPMembersorPourshavaCouncilors, and 4.6 percent communicated with political leaders to beincluded in the list. Although Union Parishad or other respectivegovernment institutions should verify the primary list, 75.6 percentbeneficiaries inform thatnobodyvisits themafter theyhavebeen selectedforbenefits.

4.2 Awareness about the Committee and Participation in theVerificationProcess

Thisarticlefindsthatoverall74.7percentbeneficiarieshavenoconceptionabout committees for VGD, AWDDW, MA, and OAA, and 12.2 percentbeneficiaries tells there is no committee. Only 13.1 percent beneficiariesknow about the selection committee, of whom 65.3 percent have no ideaaboutcommitteemembers.


Table2:Awarenessaboutthecommittee

Source:Own

Athoroughinvestigationmustbemadetofinalizebeneficiariesfromthe

primary list in their presence in an open field. Althoughmany committeemembershardlyunderstand their roles in theselectionprocess (Begumetal. 2014), they deliberately exclude many eligible beneficiaries and selectwrongones(SenandAli2015;Araetal.2015).Theyoccasionallycompletebeneficiary selection in the open field. In the survey, overall 82.1 percentbeneficiarieshavenotnoticedanypublicitytoverifythelistofbeneficiariesin the open field, while 17.9 percent tell advertisement occurs. Thebeneficiaries who know about verification process in the open field, 49percent learn about the process and date from yard meeting, 41 percentfromwardmeeting,and10percentfromloudspeakerannouncement.Some beneficiaries (17.3%) state that the list was verified in the open

fieldandmostofthem(72.8%)werepresentthere,whereas16percenttelltheselectionprocesswasnotcompletedintheopenfield;and66.7percentarenotawareabouttheselectionprocess.Thecommitteemakesthelistofbeneficiariesattheirconvenience(KamalandSaha2014;Siddikietal.2014;Kidd, Freeland, and Khondker 2014; and Raihan 2013). A 26.7 percentbeneficiaries reports that selection process takes place at UPChairmen’s/PourshavaMayors’/UPMembers’/PourshavaCouncilors’house,26.6 percent respondents report that the process completes at UnionParishad, 7.2 percent report at local political leaders’ house, 0.5 percentreportothers,and39percentreportthattheyhavenoideaabouttheplace.


Table3:Placeswhereselectionprocessoccurred

Source:Own

4.3InconsistenciesandCorruptionintheEnlistmentAWDDW beneficiaries fulfill age requirements, whereas VGD beneficiarieshavethehighestdeviation(11.2%)fromgovernmentrequiredagelimit.Table4:Agelimitofthebeneficiaries*

* Minimum age of AWDDW beneficiaries should be 18 years, 20 years for MAbeneficiaries, 65 years for male OAA beneficiaries and 62 years for femalebeneficiaries,andbetween18-45yearsforVGDbeneficiariesSource:OwnA 92.8 percent MA beneficiaries meets up monthly minimum income

limitwhereas66.2%AWDDWbeneficiariesmaintainincomerequirement.


Table5:Monthlyincomelimitofthebeneficiaries*

*Monthly incomeofAWDDWbeneficiaries shouldbe less thanBDT1,000 (less thanBDT12,000yearly), lessthanBDT1,500forMAbeneficiaries,andlessthanBDT833(lessthanBDT10,000yearly)forOAAbeneficiariesSource:OwnMA beneficiaries have the minimum (1.4%) deviation from the

government required land limit (homestead and agricultural land), andAWDDW beneficiaries show the maximum (28.1%) deviation from landlimit.Table6:Beneficiaries'landlimit*

* Maximum amount of land (without homestead land) for selecting AWDDWbeneficiariesshouldbelessthan0.5acre,noagriculturallandforMAbeneficiaries,0.5acreforOAAbeneficiaries,andlessthan0.15acreforVGDbeneficiaries.Source:Own


Beneficiariesfacevariousinconsistenciesintheselectionprocess.Barkat

et al. (2013) synthesize that countless well off people receive allowanceswhile many eligible beneficiaries are deprived of them for political andindividual partiality and discrimination. Alam and Hossain (2016) andMannan and Ahmed (2012) inform that many people give bribe to bebeneficiaries. Local political leaders or elected entities use safety netprogramsasameanstogainnameandfameintheirareas.The 88.8 percent participants in the survey tell that they face no

harassment to be included in the list, whereas 15.9 percent VGDbeneficiaries, 13 percent AWDDW, 4.8 percent MA, and 3 percent OAAbeneficiariesfacedharassmentandirregularities.

Table7:Harassmentintheselectionprocess

Source:Own

Overall11.2percentbeneficiariesexperienceharassmentofwhom39.1

percent paid bribe ormoney illegally, 10.2 percent noticed long delay, 9.6percent noticed nepotism, 6.9 percent alleged that the selection occurswithout verification, 21.9 percent alleged frequent communication, 8.5percentnoticedpoliticalconsideration,1.7percentnoticedtheunpublishedlist, 1.8 percent reported the interference of powerful relatives, and 0.6percent mentioned that there were other reasons to be enlisted. Theseprograms often fail to serve the most vulnerable. A loose and weakcollaboration because of political and personal interruptions (from MP,Union Parishad, Upazila Parishad, and government officials) leads tomismanagementoftheprogram(Khan2012).Thebeneficiariespay averageBDT2,311 asbribe tobe included in the

list.Inmostofthecases,thebeneficiariesgivebribetomaleUPMembersorPourshavaCouncilors(overall48%).Amongthebeneficiaries,59.6percentmanagethemoneyforbribefromtheirpersonalorfamilysavings.


Table8:Briberyforbeneficiaryenlistment

Source:Own4.4DistributionofVGD,AWDDW,MA,andOAAAllowancesThe money of the allowances is deposited to beneficiaries’ bank accountopened by ten-taka fee according to government declaration for AWDDW,MA, and OAA. On the other hand, beneficiaries withdraw rice (30kg permonth) under the VGD program. The beneficiaries or their nominees cantakeoutcashorricefromthespecifiedbankorUPwithinaperiodoftime.Among the beneficiaries, 94.6 percent tell they withdrew their money bythemselves, while 65.3 percent of the other 5.4 percent cash out theallowance or receive rice from UPs by their nominees, 19.6 percent bymembersorcouncilors,11.3percentbychairmen,and3.8percentbyotherrelatives/neighbors.Beneficiaries receive allowances except for VGD in their own bank

accounts every three months (monthly 500 BDT). They spend significantamountofmoneyandtimetoobtainbenefits.Keyaetal.(2014)identifythedistance from the bank and transportation costs are major obstacles toreceivetheallowanceandavailmaternalandchildcareservicesduringandafter pregnancy in Bangladesh. Beneficiaries travel 5.2 kilometers onaveragetowithdrawmoneyfromthebankorricefromtheUPs.TheaveragetraveldistanceforVGD,AWDWD,MA,andOAAare2.5km,7.5km,3.5km,and 3.5 km respectively. In order to withdraw money from the bank, 15percent beneficiaries arrive in the bank on foot, 42.4 percent takeRickshaw/Van,34.7percenttakebusorhumanhollerorautorickshaw,and5.1percentreachbyboatorlaunch.Only8.7%beneficiariesreportthattheyneednotspendmoneyforcomingtothebank/UPastheyliveinawalkingdistance. A 91.3 percent beneficiary spends an average of BDT 48 fortravellingandBDT41forfood.


4.5CorruptionintheDistributionofAllowances

Kamal and Saha (2014) suggest that some committeemembers and otherpeople(politicalleaders,powerfulpersons,andrelatives)takemoneyfrombeneficiariestohelpthemwithdrawbenefits.

Table9:Harassmentfornotwithdrawingmoneywithinthestipulatedtime.

Source:Own

Somebeneficiaries(4.9%)facedifficultiesandharassmentfornottakingout the money from the bank within the stipulated time, but they werereluctanttodescribethetypeofharassment.A number of beneficiaries (18.2%)mention that a portion (BDT 57 on

average)oftheirallowancewasdeductedatthetimeofwithdrawal

Table10:Deductedallowanceatthetimeofwithdrawal

Source:OwnThesurveydatasuggests that13.9%beneficiariespaybribetomaleUP

members/Pourshavacouncilors,50.9%paytobankofficials,andrestofthebeneficiaries pay to others (chairmen/ mayors, female UP members, UPsecretaryandVillagePolice).


4.6LevelofSatisfaction

A small amount of allowance (30kg rice or BDT 500 permonth) partiallyensuresrecipients’socioeconomicsecurity(AlamandHossain2016;Raihan2013).Asawhole,41.1percentbeneficiariesshowsatisfactionatdifferentstagesofVGD,AWDDW,MA,andOAAallowance.Thestudyalsomeasuresthat 38.6 percent beneficiaries are satisfied with the advertisement forbeneficiary selection; 40.1 percent are satisfied with beneficiary selectionprocess;35.7percentwiththenumberofbeneficiaries;48percentwiththeamountofallowance,50.1percentwiththebehavioroftheemployeeofthebank or other institutions; and 34.3 percentwith the process of resolvingcomplaints. ForVGD,43percentbeneficiariesare satisfiedwithqualityofrice and 32 percent beneficiaries are satisfied with the training forgeneratingincomeandsavings.Table11:LevelofSatisfactionforselectedprograms

Source:Own

4.7UtilizationofAllowancesandCurrentSocioeconomicCondition

Beneficiariescurrentlyreceivenoothergrantsorallowancesfromanyotherorganizations,but1percentoftheirfamilymembersobtaintheallowanceofgovernmentsocialprotectionprograms.Likewise,1percentofbeneficiaries’family members attain regular grant or allowance from private socialwelfare institutions orNGOs.Barkat et al. (2013) report that bribery and


politicalandpersonalbiasness inbeneficiaryselectionrestrain thesuccessof safety net programs in poverty reduction. A 39.8 percent beneficiaryutilizestheirwholeallowanceorapartofittobearmedicalexpenses,while40.8percentspendsittobuyfood,and14.2percentforeducation.

Table12:Utilizationofallowance

Source:OwnAn insignificant number (5 percent) of beneficiaries fail to change theirsocioeconomicconditionafterattainingallowances,whereas95percentsucceedinchanging their lives. Allowances improve medical facility for 36 percentbeneficiaries, food security for 48 percent, formal education of children for 3percent,andchildnutritionfor13percent.5.ConcludingRemarksThis article investigates challenges in VGD, AWDDW, MA, and OAAbeneficiaries’ selection and distribution processes and their level ofsatisfaction. These programs address primary shocks of poverty and shedlightonavenuestocombatpoverty.Manybeneficiariesutilizetheallowanceto satisfy immediate needs and be self-dependent after the program. Forexample, skills training on income-generating activities enable many VGDbeneficiaries to earnmoney tomaintain life. Although themajority of thebeneficiariesperceivenotablesuccessinfoodsecurity,nutritionforchildrenand other family members, health care and children’s education, asignificant number of beneficiaries face difficulties in accessing theallowance.Many beneficiaries experience diverse problems in selection and

distribution processes. The major obstacles to achieving the allowanceincludebribery,nepotism,repeatedcommunication,premeditatedselection,politicalconsideration,andtheinterventionofsociallyestablishedpersons.Thebriberyor theexchangeofmoneyoutof the ruleappearsas themost


significant barrier to obtaining the allowance. Both male and female UPMembersandPourshavaCouncilorstakebribetoenlistthebeneficiariesinmostofthecases.Somebeneficiariesencounterahardtimetomanagethemoneytogivethebribe.ThepoorandvulnerablealwayskeepintouchwithUP Chairmen, Members or the other influential persons to avail theallowance.Inmanycases,theresponsiblepersonsunnecessarilydelaytheirentrance to theprogram. Sometimes,well off orworkablepersons receivetheallowance.Thecommitteemembersoccasionallyrecommendthedead,expatriatedpeopleormoremembersfromthesamefamilyasbeneficiariestoappropriatetheallowance.Furthermore, an insignificant number of beneficiaries know about the

process to complain officially against inconsistencies concerning theallowance. Similarly, a small number of beneficiaries are familiarwith theprocesstosolveallegationsabouttheallowance.Manybeneficiariesendureproblems in case of receiving the allowance after the specified timeframe.Thedatashowsthatalargenumberofbeneficiariespaymoneyatthetimeof receiving theallowance.Asawhole, a largenumberof thebeneficiariesareinsomewaynothappywiththeselectionanddistributionofallowances.An ineffective coordination between Union committee, Upazila committee,and relevant government offices allows the committee members to selectbeneficiaries arbitrarily. For instance, nobody from Union or Upazilacommitteecomestoverifybeneficiariesbeforefinalizingthelist.Mostofthepeople have no idea about the existence of beneficiaries’ selectioncommitteeintheUnionParishad.Safetynetprograms servemostof theirbeneficiaries;however, various

problemsstill exist in selectionanddistributionprocesses.Manypoorandvulnerablepeopleareoftenexcludedfromthe listofbeneficiarieswhereaslots of relatively well-off people receive the allowance in collusion withcommitteemembers. Future studies about social safety net programsmayfocus on awareness building of beneficiaries and committee members toremedythebarrierstoimplementingtheseprograms.References

Alam,MdAshraful, andSheikhAbirHossain.2016. "Effectivenessof SocialSafety Net Programs for Poor People in the Government Level ofBangladesh."International Journal of Social Sciences andManagement3(3):153-158.


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from rural Bangladesh."International quarterly of community healtheducation35(1):37-51.Khan, Nilufar Jesmin. 2012. "An Assessment of Widow AllowanceProgramme in Bangladesh–the Supply Side Perspectives."Master in PublicPolicy and Governance Program Department of General and ContinuingEducation,NorthSouthUniversity,Bangladesh.Kidd,Stephen,NicholasFreeland,andBazlulKhondker.2014."InternationalBestPracticeinSocialProtection:implicationsforBangladesh."BackgroundPaper for National Social Security Strategy. Dhaka: Bangladesh PlanningCommission.Kidd,Stephen,andBazlulKhondker.2013. "Scopingreportonpovertyandsocial protection in Bangladesh."Unpublished manuscript. This report hasbeen commissioned by theAustralian government to provide an overviewandanalysisofBangladesh’ssocialprotectionsystem.Mannan, M. A., and Badrun Nessa Ahmed. 2012. "Impact evaluation ofvulnerable groupdevelopment (VGD)program inBangladesh."Reported toMinistry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs, Government of the People’sRepublicofBangladesh.BangladeshInstituteofDevelopmentStudies:Dhaka.Masud-All-Kamal, Md, and Choyon Kumar Saha. 2014. "Targeting SocialPolicy and Poverty Reduction: The Case of Social Safety Nets inBangladesh."Poverty&PublicPolicy6(2):195-211.Raihan, Selim. 2013. "Social protection for inclusive growth: the case ofBangladesh."South Asian Network on Economic Modeling. Dhaka,Bangladesh.Sen,Binayak,andZulfiqarAli.2015."EndingextremepovertyinBangladeshduringtheSeventhFiveYearPlan:trends,driversandpolicies."Backgroundpaper for the preparation of the Seventh Five Year Plan. General EconomicsDivision,PlanningCommission.Siddiki, Omar Faruque, Rebecca Holmes, Ferdous Jahan, Fahim SubhanChowdhury, and Jessica Hagen-Zanker. 2014. "How do social safety netscontributetosocialinclusioninBangladesh?."


The government of Bangladesh. 2015. Seventh Five Year Plan Fy2016 –Fy2020.http://plancomm.gov.bd/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/7FYP_after-NEC_11_11_2015.pdfUddin,Md.2013.SocialsafetynetsinBangladesh:ananalysisofimpactofoldageallowanceprogram.PhDdiss.BRACUniversity.UnitedNations.2017.Sustainabledevelopmentknowledgeplatform.https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg1


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rsc volume 9, issue 2, may 2017

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