Dr. Sumana Sarkar | The University of Burdwan (original) (raw)

Papers by Dr. Sumana Sarkar

Space and Culture, India, 2017

Space and Culture, India, 2018

Space and Culture, India, 2021

Adolescence in girls is a crucial transition phase during which they experience biological and ps... more Adolescence in girls is a crucial transition phase during which they experience biological and psychological changes along with changes in social outlook. This phase provides an opportunity to lay the foundation for their future health. But, in rural areas, adolescent girls are often deprived of better nutrition and proper health care guide, resulting in serious health issues like malnutrition, stunting, wasting, and anaemia. Moreover, their access to health care services is subjected to various constraints as infrastructural and societal barriers such as regressive norms, social stigma, gendered family structure, etc. Thus, the present study attempts to explore the perceived barriers that prevent rural adolescent girls from accessing health care services at the micro-level. A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out after randomly selecting 120 adolescent girls in the age cohort of 10-19 years in the Raina-I block of Purba Bardhaman district. The results suggested that...

Seasonal migration is a common livelihood strategy among marginal and landless people of the west... more Seasonal migration is a common livelihood strategy among marginal and landless people of the western part of West Bengal. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and Census data have failed to provide information on seasonal migration and livelihoods at the micro-level. The present study focuses on the nature, characteristics and factors of seasonal migration with its importance as a livelihood strategy among women agricultural labourers (WALs) in Soul Ponamara mouza of Hirbandh block at the micro-level. The study is based on primary data collection using a purposive sampling method and a semi-structured questionnaire, personal interview and focus group discussion. This study reveals that seasonal migration from Soul Ponamara to the adjacent agriculturally prosperous districts viz. Purba Bardhaman and Hooghly (4 to 6 times in a year) is a common livelihood strategy among WALs in the study area, and its proportion is almost equal to when compared to male migrants. The small size of agricultural land holding, existing monoculture system, lack of irrigation facilities, a limited job opportunity in the Soul Ponamara mouza and its surrounding area (Amjhuri, Bijardihi, Chaka Doba, Moshiara, Bamni and Rangametia) provoke women labourers to move out in searching of works. In contrast, high wage and massive demand for skilled and semiskilled agricultural labourers during sowing and harvesting season in the destination area, that is, paddy and potato fields of Purba Bardhaman and Hooghly districts acted as a magnet to absorb these immigrants into the workforce. This study concludes that seasonal migration opted for employment and income generation is the primary livelihood strategy adopted by the rural WALs of this mouza to cope up with the existing poverty and food insecurity.

Maps are often used as a media of expression to portray details of spatial entities with location... more Maps are often used as a media of expression to portray details of spatial entities with locational specificity. While maps can clearly depict objects, the cartographical techniques are employed to represent the high-volume information content of datasets. But in modern GIS, the map is replaced by a database accessed through a software system; the software simply reproduces graphic products that look like traditional maps, but with added visual representations. In present paper an attempt has been made to generate a spatial database using geospatial tools and techniques, to understand the pattern of socioeconomic development in Bankura district of West Bengal. For this purpose, thematic layers for each selected indicator have been generated with encoding numerical values for attribute information and analysis have been done by weighing z-score of each indicator and finally, an integrated composite index has been prepared under the domain of MapInfo Professional Software with version 8.5. Analysis of various attributes of socioeconomic sector reveals that the spatial patterns of development are not uniform throughout the district. The study shows contrasting picture of development from one block to the other.

Advancement in geospatial techniques like remote sensing and GIS have facilitated the development... more Advancement in geospatial techniques like remote sensing and GIS have facilitated the
development and planning processes using spatial database approach. Database are generated following
bottom to top hierarchy at different spatial scales i.e., micro level -village unit to meso level- state unit and
up to macro level of country unit. Spatial database (SDA) with its unique characteristic of integrated map
layouts with attributes tables has provided a better platform in framing the planning strategies with quick up
gradation from time to time which facilitates to bring out both spatial as well as temporal variations in an
easy and cost effective way. In present paper, an attempt has been made to generate SDA for assessing the
existing spatial pattern of infrastructural development at inter-block level after selecting Chandauli district
of Uttar Pradesh as a case study which is found helpful in rural infrastructure planning process.

Rural service centre acts a as stimuli for the development of a region. These centres have taken ... more Rural service centre acts a as stimuli for the development of a region. These centres have taken a shape of hierarchical formation which is framed as first order or superior functionality to lower order based on weightage of functions in regional space. Each and every centre has its own sphere of influence i.e. hinterland in spatial context. In present study, Composite Functional Index (CFI) is computed after compiling three indices viz., Functional Centrality Index (FCI), Worker Index (WI) and Non Worker Index (NWI) to identify the hierarchy of service centres and spatial database are generated for further analysis after taking Chandauli District as a case study. The output results reflect spatial distribution of these service centres with their functional gaps. INTRODUCTION Rural Service centres are the growth points or settlements with relatively high intensity of fu nctional magnitude and distinctiveness. The fundamental trait of these centres is to serve their surrounding territory in terms of cultural, commercial, administrative and other requirements (Khan, 1995). In regional space,growth does not occur everywhere and all alone, it appears in points or development poles, with variable intensities. It spreads along diverse channels with varying terminal effects to the whole of economy (Perroux, 1955). Each centre being the centre of attraction and repulsion has its own field which influence the field of other centres. These centres act as growth foci by generating two types of forces viz., centripetal and centrifugal forces. It is well recognized fact that the location of services and availability of infrastructure facilities such as health, education, connectivity, economic institution, administrative functional bodies etc. play an extremely important role in promoting development in rural areas. Therefore, in present study emphasis is given to understand the network of service centres with their functional hierarchy, extent of zone of influence and functional gaps in rural context. For the development of any area in general and specifically in rural regional counterpart such centres are vital for a developing country like India with its almost seventy percentage share of rural population. Due to accessibility of limited resources, it is better to provide certain services and facilities related to health, education, economic institution and administrative offices etc. at some determined points in space rather than to dissipate the resources in providing them to each and every village. There is certainly a strong need for data and information base for the successful planning and development operations at different levels. The rapid growth and quick development of information technology in developed nations have created awareness in developing world to have such a database system at the district level on various planning issues and problems needed for the multifaceted development programs (Mallick, 1998). During last few decades, India has undertaken a few measures towards globalization, liberalization and decentralization at micro level to achieve vibrant economy, growth and development. The ongoing decentralization process initiated by the 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Indian Constitution, provided greater responsibilities and powers to the local bodies as a third tier of governance after offering a new era of opportunity for local planning, effective implementation and monitoring of various socioeconomic developmental programmes. This would be helpful for the weaker section of the society to share the responsibility of governance at least at the lower level (Yadav and Singh, 2009).

Gender disparity in the level of literacy and educational attainment of scheduled and non-schedul... more Gender disparity in the level of literacy and educational attainment of scheduled and non-scheduled population may be the 'cause and the effect' of the differentials between their levels of socioeconomic conditions and cultural orientation. In Bankura district, educational development has taken place unevenly in terms of gender and social groups. Even within the same segments of population, varying socioeconomic status make a difference which gets further influenced by local regional characteristics at different level. Bankura district ranks at 11 th among 19 district of West Bengal (Human Development Report, 2006) with a high concentration of socioeconomically backward social groups i.e., scheduled population comprising the Scheduled Caste (SC) and the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population with 32.65 per cent and 10.25 per cent respectively. Though the overall literacy rate of the district stands at 70.26 per cent but literacy rate among SC is just 53.30 per cent and the proportion is 59.18 per cent in case of STs. In comparison to national average of gender disparity in literacy (16.3 per cent, 2011 census), the district scores high i.e., 20 per cent gender gap with male and female literacy rate of 80.05 and 60.05 per cent respectively. This gender-gap is far more widening among SCs (23.82 percent) and STs (26.98 per cent). In this context, present study deals with the detailed overview of female literacy and gender gaps in educational attainment among scheduled and non-scheduled communities in a comparative framework.

Education plays multifarious instrumental roles in the realisation of certain ends both at indivi... more Education plays multifarious instrumental roles in the realisation of certain ends both at individual and societal level. A large number of research works carried out in and outside India have identified and established a whole range of externalities produced by education such as raising human capital beyond individual level. Despite debates on economic returns to education, most scholars agreed about the positive impact of education upon economic return. The present study has mainly focused on a comparative analysis in attainment of education among three different social groups that is, scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and other non-scheduled castes at school level. This is a micro-level empirical study focusing on one of the least developed Community Development Block (CDB) of Bankura district in West Bengal. The analysis of the study reveals that disadvantaged social groups—SCs and STs are the marginalised depressed classes experiencing high level of educational deprivation compared to that of other communities. One has to note that affiliation to a particular caste can no longer be tagged as a sole determinant of relative backwardness. So what is called for is a careful stratification of the community on the basis of socioeconomic attributes so as to diagnose the problem of the community at hand properly. The study uses logistic regression as an analytical tool to probe net effects of the predictor variables including castes on enrolment and discontinuation rates for the study area as a whole as well as for boys and girls separately. It is important to note that when other variables are controlled, the net effect of caste factor becomes statistically inconsequential either on enrolment or on discontinuation or dropouts. Rather, it is the combination of several socioeconomic factors that are taken together which pulls down the enrolment of ST and SC children visa -vis those belonging to others non-scheduled castes.

In rural space, industrialization acts as a supporting sector which minimizes pressure upon agric... more In rural space, industrialization acts as a supporting sector which minimizes pressure upon agriculture and promotes economy of rural mass. Each and every space is unique in terms of its own historical, physical and socio-cultural background, which in turn influence the economic personality of a region. Keeping this view in mind, in present paper, an attempt has been made to generate a spatial database (SD) to measure the level of industrial development and to propose potential sectors for the development of rural industry in Chandauli district. The study area has agriculture based economy and not so well-developed industrial sector but there is enough scope for the development of industries in near future specially form the point of view of agro-based, Coal, livestock industries etc. For present study, ten indices are selected under two broad categories i.e., Direct and Supportive indicators. Finally, the combined raking values are divided by number of chosen indices and composite index values for level of industrial development are computed. The output results are stored as database and represented as map layout with attribute table in GIS software domain. INTRODUCTION Rural industries have a major aspect in Indian economy due to scarcity of capital; increasing unemployment; regional imbalances and disparities; inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth; and over-utilization and or under-utilization of rural resources (Kumari and Devadas, 2014). Although agriculture and allied sectors with its almost 65-70 percentages share of the workforce are considered as the mainstay of the Indian economy with their contribution of about 22 per cent to GDP but it also supports industrial activities by generating important source of raw material as well as demand for many industrial products, such as fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural implements etc. In rural economic space, industrialization acts as a supporting sector to minimize the pressure upon agriculture and it helps to promote economy of local people. Some of the common features which adversely affected rural economy of India and ultimately resulted into regional disparity are viz. a large share of primary workers, high man– land ratio, concentrated unskilled labours, unemployment, under employment, low productivity, limited utilization and less mobility of resources, less job opportunity for young folk at local level, emigration, poor infrastructure, low capital expenditure etc. In post independence phase, Government of India took several initiatives to promote rural entrepreneurship like

The level of education and its response to different educational opportunities vary from one spat... more The level of education and its response to different educational opportunities vary from one spatial unit to another depending on various factors like social, economic, cultural, and institutional. It is understood that certain regions acquire relative advancements over others in terms of human resource development and human capital formation. The key purpose of this research is to examine the intra-district disparities in primary education in Bankura District one of the districts of West Bengal. It ranks 11 th among the 19 districts of West Bengal (Human Development Report, 2007). Overall literacy rate of the district stands at 70.26% but the district scores low in terms of female literacy rates, which is 60.05%,whereas the male literacy rate is 80.05%, which is a huge gender literacy gap of 20%. There are also regional inequalities existing at block level. Kotulpur ranks first with a literacy rate of 78.01% while Saltora occupies the bottom position with literacy rate of just 61.45% (Census of India, 2011). The level of educational development is dependent on several factors—enrolment ratio, dropout and repetition rates, pupil-teacher ratio, habitations covered by educational institutions, space-student ratio, drinking water and sanitation facilities in school, etc. In this context, the present study aims at examining the issues of intra-district disparities in educational attainment with regard to various educational amenities of Bankura district, West Bengal. Ten attributes have been selected to examine the level of development in primary education. It is clear from the study that the level of development in eastern part of the district is relatively better in comparison to other regions. Economic backwardness and physical bottlenecks continue to be major issues in western blocks.

Space and Culture, India, 2017

Space and Culture, India, 2018

Space and Culture, India, 2021