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1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
“There is a woman at the beginning of all great things” – Lamartine
“Woman is the Builder and Moulder and a Nation’s Destiny” - Rabindranath
Tagore
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The socio-economic development of a nation is primarily based on the
utilisation of its human, physical and financial resources. The objective of any
form of planned development is to develop human resources to their full utilisation
because if the human factor is not taken care of, even an abundance of natural
resources, infrastructure and capital may go blatantly underutilised or misused. In
this perspective, we cannot forget the glaring truth that women not only constitute
half of the human population of the world but also sway the growth of the
remaining half. Taking this factor into account, allround development of women
has been assigned top priority in the modern world through the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) as well as through various policy measures of the
Government.
As long as women are confined to the four walls of the house, restricted to
sub-ordinate positions and their talents remain unexplored, the socio-economic
advancement of a region cannot be fully realised. Women by all means can be very
effective agents for a better home, a better society and ultimately a better economy.
2
The present research work is an attempt in this direction to analyse how women
can engage themselves in economic activities through self-employment, the
various benefits in the form of empowerment that they may derive in the process,
the common hurdles they face in their day-to-day lives and also throw light on the
different policies and programmes of the Government through which women can
make significant contributions by their productive engagements.
The entry of women in organized business enterprises is a fairly recent
phenomenon. In reality, however, women have been associated with unorganised
economic activities since ages. Women have all along participated in outdoor
occupations, in the fields and on the farms tending to the cattle. They have also
played an important part in the production process by working in cottage industries
such as handloom, handicrafts, pottery, embroidery etc. This economic
participation of women went unacknowledged and their labour almost
unremunerated. They toiled very hard even for the domestic chores but these are
not counted in the G.D.P. However, this has taught women the art of
entrepreneurship. Though their entry was mainly in small businesses and trade
activities, today they have proudly forayed multi-dimensionally in micro, small,
medium and large enterprises.
Having considered the productive engagement of women in economic
activities within their reach, it is noteworthy that in the process they themselves
become self-employed without being burden on others. In the course of self-
employment, they inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship inherent within
themselves.
3
SELF EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
We know that entrepreneurship is a venture towards undertaking innovation
and risks. An entrepreneur is a person who undertakes projects involving risks. He
tries to introduce new products, new methods of production, and new styles of
marketing. He bears the risk of uncertainty in the hope of profit. Greater is the risk
involved, greater may be the profit.
Self-employment, on the other hand, refers to full-time involvement in an
occupation and working for one’s own self without being under any other entity.
Self-employment may or may not involve risk. A tailor, for example, may start a
business by purchasing a sewing machine with his own resources at his own
residence. It involves very less risk. But if he expands his business by employing
many people using modern machines, it may be riskier to invest his own savings or
borrow money for that purpose. If he decides to take the risk, there may be an
element of entrepreneurship in that venture. If he is continuously engaged in
expanding his business by innovating new products, he will be engaging in
entrepreneurial activities. However, strictly speaking, an entrepreneur does not
continue to run the same business for a long period of time.
Self-employment, thus, does not mean the same thing as entrepreneurship
in totality. But self-employment promotes entrepreneurship. A self-employed
person has to be innovative in his/her economic activities in one way or the other,
to be able to prosper and must take risks wherever necessary, directly or indirectly,
in his/her own interest. In such a situation, it resembles entrepreneurship.
Moreover, different legislations and policy documents of both the Central and
4
State Governments use the term entrepreneurship at par with self-employment
without emphasising on difference between the two.
Taking the above factors into consideration, in the entire research work, the
terms self-employment and entrepreneurship have been used interchangeably with
the underlying fact that self-employment is the foundation of entrepreneurship.
EMPHASIS ON SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AMONG WOMEN
The past few decades have seen an increase in the number of women
starting their own enterprises in many countries. For example, in Canada nearly
65% of the new businesses were started by women (Cooper, 1981)1.
Women are
increasingly turning to entrepreneurship and self-employment as a way of coping
with the “glass ceiling” that seems to prevent them from reaching top managerial
levels in organizations (Morrison, et al, 1987)2. Others find that entrepreneurship
provides them with greater satisfaction and flexibility (Belcourt, et al, 1991)3. The
trend also has been seen in several Asian countries such as Indonesia and
Singapore (Lieuanan, 1992)4. However, as Patel (1987)
5 notes, the entry of women
into business is a “recent development in the orthodox, traditional socio-cultural
environment” of Indian society. While exact statistics are hard to come by, a
decade ago, the proportion of businesses set up and operated by women was only
around 1 per cent (Patel, 1987)6. This is much lower than the figures found in
western nations. Several studies in Canada and the United States indicate that the
problems facing male and female entrepreneurs are different. As Naik (1992)7
notes, while general models of entrepreneurship (such as the one proposed by
5
Cooper, 1981) may hold true for both men and women but entrepreneurship is an
activity that is situational and culturally bound. The role of women has
traditionally been seen (by both men and women) to be that of wife and mother.
This, combined with the lack of prior employment and managerial experience
faced by many women [Hisrich & Brush(1994)8; Fisher, et al (1993)
9], may result
in differing market entry choices in the case of female entrepreneurs. Women also
bear most of the responsibilities for childcare and home management and these
responsibilities often lead to work-family conflicts. Identifying the constraints and
limitations which prevent women with entrepreneurial skills from starting their
own businesses is an important aspect of economic development especially in
countries such as India. While there have been several studies on women managers
in India [Kishore(1992)10
; Mishra(1986)11
; Vaz(1987)12
] ,there have been very few
on self-employed women entrepreneurs.
Thus, women self-employment through entrepreneurship is highly
emphasised. But before focussing light on the rationale of the study, it would be
pertinent to examine the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of United
Nations and also analyse the employment and unemployment scenario in India.
6
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs) OF UNITED NATIONS
ORGANISATION FOR WOMEN
Goal 1. Eradicate extreme
poverty and
hunger
• Equal access for women to basic transport and energy
infrastructure can lead to greater economic activity
• Investment in women’s health and nutritional status reduces
chronic hunger and malnourishment, which increases productivity
and wellbeing.
Goal 2. Achieve universal
primary
education
• Educated girls and women have greater control over their
fertility and participate more in public life.
•A mother’s education is a strong, consistent determinant of her
children’s school enrolment and attainment and their health and
nutrition outcomes.
Goal 3. Promote gender
equality &
empower
women
• This central goal dedicated to gender equality and women’s
empowerment depends on the achievement of all other goals for
its success.
Goal 4. Reduce child
mortality
• A mother’s education, income, and empowerment have a
significant impact on lowering child mortality.
Goal 5. Improve maternal
health
• A mother’s education, income, and empowerment have a
significant impact on lowering maternal mortality.
Goal 6. Combat
HIV/AIDS,
malaria, and
other diseases
• Greater economic independence for women, increased ability to
negotiate safe sex, and more awareness of challenges around
traditional norms in sexual relations are essential for preventing
the spread of HIV/AIDS and other epidemics.
Goal 7. Ensure
environmental
Sustainability
• Gender-equitable property and resource ownership policies
enable women (often as primary users of these resources) to
manage them in a more sustainable manner.
Goal 8. Develop a global
partnership
for
development
• Greater gender equality in the political sphere may lead to higher
investments in development cooperation.
Source: Adapted from Grown, et al. (2005)13
7
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT SCENARIO IN INDIA
In the perspective of development of women, as stated in the MDGs, the
employment and unemployment scenario in India has to be analysed inorder to
assess how self-employment fits the bill along with wage-employment to solve the
unemployment problem in our country and help in poverty alleviation.
1. APPROACH TO EMPLOYMENT IN ECONOMIC PLANNING.
Planning in India focused at realizing a high rate of growth of output in the
long term. A basic assumption was that shortage of capital goods in relation to
employable persons constituted a fundamental constraint on growth in the
economy. Therefore, the planning process made no attempt to define an
independent employment strategy; the focus on economic growth was viewed as
essential for improving the employment situation. Initially, labour force expansion
was not seen as a problem to be contented with. Thus, in the Five Year Plans, the
generation of employment was viewed as part of the process of development and
not as a goal in conflict with, or to be pursued independently of economic
development.
2. EMPLOYMENT PLANNING IN INDIA
The approaches to tackle the task of unemployment have varied from time
to time. In the initial years of planning, reliance was placed primarily on the
expectations of rapid industrial development and control of population. These
expectations did not materialise and it was observed that the rate of growth of
employment was generally much lower than the GDP rate of growth of the
8
economy. Seasons of severe drought and failure of monsoons exposed large
sections of population to extensive deprivations. Successive plans, strategies,
policies and programmes were, therefore, re-designed to bring about a special
focus on employment generation as a specific objective. The seventies and eighties
saw the emergence of special schemes like NREP, RLEGP to provide wage
employment through public works programmes and schemes to promote self-
employment and entrepreneurship through provision of assets, skills and other
support to the unemployed and the poor. While employment levels expanded
steadily during the seventies and eighties, the rate of growth of employment
continued to lag behind that of the labour force. Unemployment among the
educated showed a rising trend. Another feature of the employment situation is the
sizeable proportion of the employed working at low levels of the productivity and
income. The eighties exposed the weakness in the then ongoing strategies of
expanding public sector irrespective of competition.
3. POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND EMPLOYMENT
GENERATION PROGRAMMES
Anti-poverty strategy comprises of a wide range of poverty alleviation and
employment generation programmes, many of which have been in operation for
several years and have been strengthened to generate more employment, create
productive assets, impart technical and entrepreneurial skills and raise the income
level of the poor. Under these schemes, both wage employment and self-
employment are provided to the people below the poverty line. Various poverty
alleviation and employment generation programmes are grouped under two broad
9
categories of Self-Employment Schemes and Wage Employment Schemes.
Funding and organisational patterns are also rationalised to achieve better impact.
These programmes are primarily meant for poverty alleviation and have generally
not been helpful in sustainable employment generation.
It is noteworthy that besides the National Employment Policy and
Economic Planning, the issues related to women workers have been specially
emphasized upon in the Employment Policy for Assam too.
WOMEN WORKERS AND THEIR SPECIAL CONCERNS IN THE
EMPLOYMENT POLICY FOR ASSAM, 2010
In order to guide the existing and emerging workforce in the state ensuring
inclusive and equitable engagement, a Policy Guideline for Employment
generation was envisaged by the Department of Labour, Government of Assam in
2010. Thus, the First Employment Policy for Assam was evolved. The theme of
the Employment Policy is rooted in the current global and national perspectives in
the labour market to optimise the economic outcomes associated with employment.
Moreover, employment generation or creation is expected to be inclusive and
targeted towards perceptible improvements in quality of life, rather than
engagement in the labour market at sub optimal levels. Thus, the labour market can
no longer be viewed as a naturally evolving phenomenon. In order to ascertain the
avowed objectives of equity and inclusiveness, appropriate guidance and policy
support is necessary. The Employment Policy delineates clear guiding principles
pertaining to an inclusive framework wherein the marginal section of the society,
10
the poorest of the poor and women are appropriately mainstreamed within the
labour market. The bottom line is not limited to access employment or work but to
create adequate income generation so that the quality of life of the incumbent is
improved in a significant manner.
The Employment Policy recognises the severe constraints faced by women
workers in terms of (a) lack of recognition of their contribution in many economic
activities that are not adequately measured, (b) discrimination specially heightened
by social disadvantages and (c) wide gap in opportunities, wages and security as
compared to men workers (d) lack of supportive structures to facilitate their
employment.
In order to do away with the above constraints, the state Government
contemplates to bring provisions in the Employment Policy which are specifically
concentrated on women.
GENDER SENSITIVE MACRO POLICIES
Gender sensitive employment policies that take into account the special
circumstances and problems of women will be enunciated from time to time. Such
policies aim at shifting women from invisible to visible work, from low productive
employment, especially in agriculture, to high productive employment, and from
low wage and no social security to higher wage with social security work
conditions.
11
i) Complimentary policies such as credit policies result in male bias. This will
be corrected by taking special measures to access credit and such other
facilities for women entrepreneurs and home based workers.
ii) Technology policies often lead to more displacement of women than men
workers. Promotion and innovation of gender sensitive technology will be
undertaken in aiding women workers and enhancing their participation.
iii) Formal credit agencies as well as employment and development institutions
will be guided, and if necessary mandated, to link with the SHGs to provide
a range of services. The models that are currently working in some states
will have to be studied and adapted to the conditions of this state.
IDENTIFYING SECTORS FOR WOMEN
i) Sectors where women’s participation is significant will be identified for
specific focus as, for example, in agriculture, food processing, fishing,
plantations, forestry, horticulture, export intensive manufacturing, tourism
and care services with a view to introduce technology that are drudgery
reducing and/or labour augmenting thereby creating conditions for
employment generation, a decent work and higher productivity.
ii) Policies and programmes for skill training and development for women will
have a specific component of entrepreneurship development for women-
headed micro and small enterprises.
12
GENDER ISSUES
Gender should form an essential dimension in all aspects of labour market
policy. But, in the context of active labour market policies, the following points
need special emphasis:
� Various special employment and poverty reduction programmes should
insist on high participation of women.
� Training of women should aim at mainstreaming their employment rather
than confining them to the stereotyped ‘female occupations’.
� Labour market information and employment service and building of data
base for employment should invariably be gender-specific.
� Special facilities (in the form of committees) will be established in clusters
and large enterprises to ensure that basic conditions of work are provided
for women workers and that no discriminatory practices are allowed. These
relate to (i) sanitary, drinking water, eating and child care facilities, (ii)
ensure the payment of minimum wages wherever applicable, (iii)
enforcement of safety standards and (iv) representation of women in
collective bodies of workers.
ORGANISATION AND EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN
Given the greater deficit in organisation and representation of women
workers, especially in the informal economy, special programmes and enabling
conditions will be created for organizing informal women workers and
strengthening their collective capacity.
13
The Self Help Groups of women have emerged as an innovative form of
organisation for accessing credit (micro financing), marketing as well as other
services. While encouraging the spread of this organisational form to areas where it
is currently either absent or low presence, policies will be put in place to ensure
that micro credit graduates from consumption smoothening to livelihood credit that
will have a focus on the creation of productive employment with backward-
forward linkages. In this connection the Kerala model of ‘stree shakti’ may be
studied and adopted for the state.
Source : Employment Policy for Assam, 2010
BARPETA DISTRICT AT A GLANCE
Amidst a fascinating, diversified and alluvial landscape in lower Assam,
lies the district of Barpeta within a geographical area of 3245 square kms. This
district was an integral part of the epic-famed Kamrupa kingdom of 7th to 9th
Century A.D., Ahom and Koch-Hajo kingdoms of 13th to 16th Century A.D. It
was under Burmese occupation from 1824 to 1826. Barpeta remained as an
administrative area under the British since 1834. It became a full - fledged sub-
division in 1941 and was transferred into a full-fledged district only on 1st July,
1983.
The district of Barpeta is bounded by international border i.e. Bhutan Hills
and Baksa District in the North, Nalbari and Baksa Districts in the East, Kamrup
and Goalpara Districts in the South and Chirang and Bongaigaon Districts in the
West. Topographically, the district varies from low-lying plains to highland having
small hillocks in the south-west corner. The climate of the district remains mild
14
throughout the year. The summer in the district is from March to May followed by
monsoons till September and cool winter from October to February. The river
Brahmaputra flows from east to west across the southern part of the district. The
main tributaries that flow through Barpeta are Beki, Manah, Pohumara, Kaldia,
Palla, Nakhanda, Bhelengi, etc. Barpeta is well linked with both roadways and
railways communication. The nearest Railway Station is Barpeta Road, 21 K.M.
from Barpeta Town (district head quarter). Barpeta Road is connected to all over
Assam by National Highway No.31, which is north of the district head quarter
town of Barpeta. Howly connects Barpeta with the National Highway. The nearest
airport from District Headquarter is Borjhar (149 k.m.)
The Barpeta district, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, has two sub-
divisions – Barpeta and Bajali. The Barpeta sub-division, with headquarter at
Barpeta town is divided into total six revenue circles while the Bajali sub-division
circle has three revenue circles. Further, the Barpeta sub-division has total 10 Rural
Development Blocks to cater to the needs of total 857 villages, and the Bajali sub-
division has only two Rural Development Blocks with 301 villages. The total
number of Gaon Panchayat in the district is 150.
Barpeta has total eight towns including Bahori (Census town) and (Sarupeta
Revenue) town. While Barpeta and Barpeta Road, the two small but important
towns of the district, are governed by Municipal Boards, the remaining small
towns have Town Committees.
15
RESOURCE BASE OF THE DISTRICT
(a) Population and its Composition:
Barpeta ranks fourth in overall ranking among the districts population size
in Assam. The present population of the district is 1,647,201 (Census 2001) with a
density of population 508 per sq. KM. The total male population is 848,578 and
total female population is 798,623. The sex ratio is 1000:941. The literacy rate in
the district is 61.25%. Population density of the region is 506 per sq.km.
The district witnessed constantly higher decadal percentage variation in
population than that of the state of Assam as a whole from 1901 to 1941. Though it
was lower than the state as a whole in the subsequent decades (except 1961-1971),
the same for the decade 1991-2001 is 18.87. Witnessing quite a sluggish process of
urbanization, the overwhelming majority of people in Barpeta live in the villages.
More than 92 % of the total population in the district is rural as shown in Table1.2.
In terms of religious composition, a little more than 40% of the total population in
the district is Hindu while the Muslim, the numerically strongest minority religious
group in the district, alone constitutes more than 59 % of the total population. Due
to historical reasons, the overwhelming majority of the urban population, however
small it is, in the district, is Hindu while the Muslims constitute more than 58% of
the total rural population. As the table below reveals, the other minority
communities constitute less than 1% of the total population in the urban areas of
the district.
16
Table 1.1: Religion Wise Distribution of Population in Barpeta
Religion Residence Persons As percentage of total
population
All Religions Total 1647201 100.00
All Religions Rural 1520333 92.30
All Religions Urban 126868 7.70
Hindus Total 662066 40.19
Hindus Rural 552932 33.57
Hindus Urban 10913 46.63
Muslims Total 977943 59.37
Muslims Rural 961421 58.37
Muslims Urban 16522 1.00
Christians Total 5267 0.32
Christians Rural 4918 0.30
Christians Urban 349 0.02
Sikhs Total 258 0.02
Sikhs Rural 116 0.01
Sikhs Urban 142 0.01
Buddhists Total 194 0.01
Buddhists Rural 178 0.01
Buddhists Urban 16 0.001
Jains Total 690 0.04
Jains Rural 36 0.002
Jains Urban 654 0.04
Others Total 106 0.01
Others Rural 104 0.01
Others Urban 2 .0001
Religion not stated Total 677 0.04
Religion not stated Rural 628 0.04
Religion not stated Urban 49 .0030
Source: Census of India 2001
17
Total workforce participation in the district as per 2001 census, is 31.4% of
which 47.8% are males and 14.0% are females. While more urban males belong to
the workforce (50.6%) fewer urban females (9.1%) belong to that category. In
terms of the total population of Assam, 24.87% of the workforce comes from
Barpeta. While men dominate the main worker category both in rural and urban
areas, women outweigh men in marginal workers category. The working females
in rural Barpeta are mostly marginal workers.
Table 1.2: Workforce Participation Rate in Barpeta (per 1000 person)
Total Rural Urban
Person
s
Male
s
Female
s
Person
s
Male
s
Female
s
Person
s
Male
s
Female
s
314 478 140 351 476 144 305 506 91
Source: Assam Human Development Report, 2003
So far as the literate population is concerned, with 56.24 percent of total
literate population, including 64.83 percent literate males and only 49.07 percent
literate females, the district bears the burden of a huge illiterate population. The
rural urban differential indicated by higher literacy for urban males (90.40 percent)
and urban females (77.04 percent) highlight a wide disparity in literacy of rural and
urban population, especially the deprivation of the rural women with only 45.54
percent literacy rate. The disparity between Hindu (72.21 percent) and Muslim
(41.92 percent) literacy rates is as high as 30.29 percent. The educational level of
the population of the district is also abysmally low with 21.56, 17.64, 21.80 and
4.43 percent attaining primary, middle, Matric/ higher secondary/ diploma and
graduate and above levels.
18
Table 1.3: Workers as a Percentage of Total Population in Barpeta District
Worker
s
Total Rural Urban
Populati
on
Perso
ns
Mal
es
Femal
es
Perso
ns
Mal
es
Femal
es
Perso
ns
Mal
es
Femal
es
Main
Workers
24.87 24.9
1
5.70 24.64 42.5
2
5.66 27.61 47.7
1
6.19
Assam 26.59 42.3
5
9.68 26.15 41.4
6
9.86 29.62 48.2
6
8.40
Margina
l
Workers
20.86 10.2
5
59.33 21.76 10.6
5
60.74 9.50 5.66 32.17
Assam 9.29 7.58 11.12 10.30 8.31 12.42 2.36 2.77 1.89
Source: Assam Human Development Report, 2003
Infrastructure
The National Highway No 31 in the district covers a total length of 67
k.ms. The length covered by the PWD roads is 1400 k.m. The total length of
railway lines is 47 k.m. and there are six railway stations in the district. The district
has 1841 Primary (LP) schools, 225 Middle schools, 131 M.E. Madrassa, 40 M.V.
schools, 160 high schools, 41 higher secondary schools, 18 government aided
colleges and one each of Fakhruddin Ali Medical College and Hospital Jawahar
Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vocational (ITI) and Law College.
Total number of Banks in the district is 65. There are 371 SSI units, 371 Handicraft
19
units, 81 Agro industries, 1 Industrial estate, 1 Growth centre, and 3 commercial
estates. The district also has fisheries, handloom units and sericulture villages.
Basic Amenities
As per the 2001 Census, 99.52 % of the villages have access to safe
drinking water. However, 26.2 % of the villages are yet to be covered by electric
power supply and only 3.9% of villages use electricity for agricultural purposes.
While 92.09% of the villages have primary schools, 57.43% have middle schools
and 30.47% and 3.42% of villages have secondary/senior secondary schools and
colleges respectively. Altogether there are 5 hospitals,6 Community Health Centres
(CHC), 9 Primary Health Centres (PHC) including MCH, 28 Mini PHC, 8
Dispensary, 1 TB chest clinic, 1 Leprosy centre and 327 sub centres in the district
of Barpeta. The number of hospital beds per 10,000 population is as low as 2 in the
district. A close look at the villages indicates that Primary Health Centres exist in 3
percent of villages while 13.14% of villages have Primary Health Sub Centres.
26.19% of villages have post, telegraph and telephone facilities. Only 35.23% of
the villages are connected through bus services. While approach roads are
primarily mud roads, 44.66 percent of villages have paved approach roads.
Human Development Index and Related Variables
With the Human Development Index of 0.396, which is below the HDI
value for the state as a whole (0.407), Barpeta ranks 9th among the 23 districts in
terms of capabilities to lead productive and satisfying lives. Although high in
income index (6th rank), compared to the state average, its performance in
20
education and health is abysmally low, ranking 20th and 15th among the districts.
In terms of income index too, the variation between the highest income district and
Barpeta is 0.179. The Human Poverty Index (22.83) calculated in the year 1999
indicates that a substantial number of people of this district are in human poverty,
being deprived of opportunities to live a healthy and creative life. The Gender
related Development Index for Barpeta in 2001 is estimated to be 0.448, which is
below the state average of 0.537, ranking 10th in the state. The HDIGDI rank (-1
rank) disparities indicate that women in this district suffer the double deprivation
of low overall achievement in human development and lower achievement than
men.
Economy
The economy of the district is agrarian in nature with about 75 % of the
work force engaged in agriculture. The sectoral income share of the district shows
that 71% of the income share accrues from agriculture. Around 67.2 % of the total
net cropped area is occupied by small and marginal farmers (SF/MF). The agro-
climatic condition of the district is conducive for growing various types of cereals,
pulses, oil seeds, fibre crops, tuber crops and various types of summer and winter
vegetables. Paddy, the main crop in the district, is grown in about 2.011 lakh ha
area followed by mustard, pulses, wheat jute and various type of summer and
winter vegetables and spices (chilli, onion, etc.). The average area under HYV is
about 1.343 lakh ha, which forms only 43% of the gross cropped area and the rate
of fertilizer consumption is 34 kg/ha. This district ranks first in the state in the
production of potatoes and enjoys a virtual monopoly in production of rabi
21
vegetables. Barpeta is also one of the major producers of fruits in the state. The
secondary sector contributes 12% of the Gross District Domestic Product. The
secondary sector comprises mainly the SSIs. The total number of SSIs in the
district as is 1582. The district has been designated as an ‘industrial growth centre,.
However, the pace of progress has been rather tardy. 82% of the SSI units are
under handicraft while 18% are agro based. The district is industrially backward
due to deplorable communication system, shortage in power supply, lack in
marketing infrastructure, flood problem, etc. The district also has a fair amount of
sericulture units. The district has a rich tradition of household industry comprising
of bell and brass metal, pottery, wood craft, mask making, ivory carving, and
traditional Assamese jewellery making which provides livelihood opportunities to
some 5% of the working population in the district. The tertiary sector accounts for
17% of the Gross District Domestic Product. The comparative low share of the
sector also indicates that the work force in other workers category in the district is
also lower (38 %).
With 56.24% of total literate population, including 64.83 % literate males
and only 49.07% literate females, the district bears the burden of a sizeable
proportion of illiterate population. The rural urban differential indicated by higher
literacy for urban males (90.40) and urban women (77.04) highlight disparity in
literacy of rural and urban population, especially the deprivation of the rural
women with only 45.54 literacy rate. The educational level of the population of the
district is also low with 21.56, 17.64, 21.80 and 4.43 percent attaining primary,
middle, Matric/ higher secondary/ diploma and graduate and above levels.
Source: National Informatics Cetntre, Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Barpeta
22
CONCLUSION
Self-employed women are an important part of the society and economy
today. They are instrumental in forwarding the philosophy of overall socio-
economic development. It may go a long way in giving women the status and
empowerment which they deserve. When a woman is empowered it does not mean
that another individual becomes powerless or is having less power. On the
contrary, if a woman is empowered her competencies towards decision-making
will surely influence her family's and neighbour's behaviour. The presence of these
spillover effects will thus create a ‘social multiplier', where aggregate power will
be greater than individual power. Based on this, it may be concluded that self-
employment of women can help to develop the social as well as economic status of
women which will not only benefit them but also their families, their societies and
ultimately their nations. Although rich in culture, the district of Barpeta is still
lagging behind in economic front due to non-existence of organized industrial
growth and absence of systematic efforts for infrastructural development. The
avenues of employment opportunities are to a large extent restricted to
Government jobs and small scale business of transportation, grocery shops, stores,
etc. The district has enough scope for development to attain self sufficiency in the
field of agriculture, jute production, pisciculture, sericulture, handloom and textile,
cottage industries, khadi and gramudyog, etc. In this process, the women
population of the district also needs to be encouraged for self-employment that will
help in boosting the economy of Barpeta.
23
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