Network Past Issues

Abstracts of IRMA Publications

 WP-186

EVALUATING SOCIAL FORESTRY IN THE AMBALA DISTRICT OF HARYANA: A REMOTE SENSING AND GIS APPROACH

Pramod K Singh, B. K. Singh &Ajeet Singh

This paper demonstrates the use of LISS III and PAN merged data in evaluating social forestry scheme of Ambala district of Haryana state. The study also evaluates the joint forest management programme of the study area. In the technical front, LISS III and PAN data were digitally fused using principal component analysis technique in Geomatica software. Prior to that, geometric corrections were done for data of both the sensors. After classifying the data using the maximum likelihood algorithm, it was imported into ArcGIS for further analysis. Ground truth information was incorporated in refinement of training sites selection during final classification of image. About 95 percent accuracy level was achieved through intensive fieldwork. Detailed consultations with forest officials and beneficiary farmers were made for proper evaluation of the social forestry programme. It was found that LISS III and PAN merged data are very useful in the delineation of tree cover and assessment of social forestry. The study revealed that Ambala district has only 8.95 percent of tree cover of the total geographical area. Over 96 percent of them lie outside the recorded forest area. Tree cover in the district shows a mix of farm forestry, agro-forestry and strip plantations.

There is a wide gap between what is and what ought to be essentially because economic motives have overridden environmental concerns, the rich have benefited more than the poor and the landless who were targeted. Farm Forestry has scored over community forestry because it has become entrepreneur oriented rather than people oriented programme. The exotic plant species became more common than the indigenous ones. The programme under process of implementation has suffered serious distortions and needs to be reoriented so as to be more meaningful. Effective policy and legal framework should not only be made but also enforced along with various incentives and awareness campaigns with more and more community involvement.

WP-187

HUMAN RESOURCE NEEDS OF THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT NGOS IN INDIA

S. N. Biswas and Upasana Aggarwal

This study made an attempt to understand the nature of work of NGOs and their profile through a mailed survey. The survey focused broadly on four interrelated domains: (a) nature and profile of these NGOs, (b) human resources size, capability and nature of human resource management, (c) governance structure, and (d) relationship with IRMA in terms of their service utilisation.

A questionnaire was mailed to about 630 NGOs out of which 54 completed questionnaires were received. The organisational profile was assessed in terms of its age, nature of legal existence, mission, activities undertaken, governance structure, availability and the nature of human resource deployment within these organisations; financial issues like annual budget and sources of funding. The survey also focused on the human resource management issues particularly the extent and nature of transparency. The study explored the growing role of Human Resources as well as institutionalisation of HR mechanisms in these organisations

(NGOs). An attempt was made to estimate the future manpower requirements of development NGO sector in general and these organisations in specific.

Results suggested that there are different types of NGOs, but one unifying pattern has been their focus on rural development. Though many NGOs engage in multiple activities, most of them have a dominant focus. Based on their dominant focus these NGOs can be broadly classified into four groups: (a) agriculture and livestock focused, (b) natural resource management focused, (c) credit-linked enterprise focused, and (d) education and health focused NGOs. It was revealed that these NGOs have a considerable size of human resources and the need for professional managers is growing. The total estimated size of employment in these 54 respondent organisations is about 55,000 and the estimated size of the technical and managerial professionals employed is about 15,000. Managerial professionals constituted about 6.5% of the total employment in the NGO’s surveyed. The implications of the findings are discussed in the paper.

WP188

 THREE-COMPONENT MODEL OF ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT: REEXAMINATION OF PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT SCALE

Nivedita Kothiyal

In the literature on organisational commitment, most of the conceptualisations are based on either the notion of social exchange (i.e., affective commitment and normative commitment, or value commitment/ moral commitment) or the notion of instrumental exchange (i.e., continuance commitment or calculative commitment). It is also well recognised now that organisational commitment is a multi-dimensional construct. Though three-component conceptualisation given by Allen and Meyer (1990) has found acceptance in the literature, there has been a debate on multidimensionality of their continuance commitment scale and its reliability, given the mixed evidences obtained from various research studies in North American context as well out of it. The objective of this paper is to report the findings on dimensionality and reliability of continuance commitment.

The findings are based on data collected for a larger study by the researcher as part of her doctoral thesis, and they suggest that there are more than one dimension underlying continuance commitment scale. Also, there is a need to examine if the construct requires refinement both in terms of operationalisation as well as its generalisation across cultures.

Keywords: Organisational Commitment, Continuance Commitment, Factor Analysis

WP-189

 CIVIL SOCIETY IN AN OVERTLY PARTISAN POLITICAL CONTEXT: WHAT ENABLES/CONSTRAINS THE KERALA SASTRA SAHITYA PARISHAD (KSSP)?

NC Narayanan and G. Sajan

This study focuses on the efforts of the most prominent development movement in the South Indian state of Kerala—the Kerala Satstra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP)—and its efforts to take forward the achievements of Kerala’s unique development trajectory hinged on social justice and equity. The major objective of the paper is to dwell into the concepts of civil society to examine what it is and what is outside it and to see the scope and constraints of KSSP as a civil society organisation. One major question that we raise is whether the state and political society4 are overgrown in Kerala and hence crowd-out the civil society initiatives to the extent that it is difficult to function without the patronage of both. To examine this we take the case of a large and visible organisation like KSSP, which has a track record of more than 40 years. The inquiry in this paper is on the movement’s relationship with the State and party-political realm, over-grown and important in the Kerala context. It closely examines the strategic shift of the organisation from the role of a social critic to collaborator in an attempt to scale-up its impact by mainstreaming certain micro models evolved over a period. Lately, the organisation was criticised as having coopted within the mainstream left politics in Kerala. Our focus is on the case rather than in the amorphous debates on civil society. We take concepts from some pertinent earlier work as a background to the question raised and reflect on the conceptual understanding at the end. The idea is to bring in some clarity to this contested debate that will help the organisation to position itself better to face the emerging challenges in Kerala society.