Dr. Amit Kumar | Maharaja Agrasen Institute Of Management Studies (original) (raw)

Papers by Dr. Amit Kumar

ICSSR sponsored National Conference on Indian Approaches to Human Resource and Community Development, Department of Social Work, Central University of Kerala, Kasargod, 2022

The World Inequality Report 2022, places India in the category of extreme income inequalities, wi... more The World Inequality Report 2022, places India in the category of extreme income inequalities, with the top 1% holding 22% of national wealth in comparison to 13% of wealth owned by the bottom 50%. The national income is largely an outcome of continuous hard labor of peasants, workers, and professionals, however, it has not been distributed uniformly creating humongous disparity. India stands at 131 out of 189 countries according to Human Development Index, resulting in poverty, unemployment, and forced migration, especially in rural areas where approximately 70% of the population lives. India has a Power Distance score of 77 in the Hofstede dimension for the culture, compared to a world average of 56.5, indicating a high level of inequality of power and wealth within the society. The score also suggests the high acceptance of discrimination by the less powerful members of institutions and organizations in the country. To address this age-old problem of Indian society, the idea of the self-reliant village, Gram Swaraj, was proposed by Mahatma Gandhi. The manifestation of this timeless wisdom was evident in one of the poorest regions of India, the district of West Champaran in Bihar, during a pandemic-induced lockdown due to COVID-19. With the district’s per capita average GDP standing at meager 24,223 rupees, the region is infamous for labor export for centuries to Mauritius, Fiji, and West Indian islands during the colonial period to the Gulf countries, and bigger Indian cities in recent times. However, a unique initiative of skill-mapping-program of 80,000 migrant workers by the district administration suggested the availability of abundant expertise in garment manufacturing, resulting in the launching of the Chanpatia start-up zone in the abandoned Bihar State Food Corporation building. Today WC, Champaran Creation, Bihar Garment, ADR Shirts, and Lisso are a few brands that are exporting garments from Nepal to Spain. This paper is a case study of “Chanpatia Start-up Zone” to critically analyze the possible Indian models of community development initiatives to further strengthen the concept of Gram Swaraj.

Journal of Content, Community & Communication, 2016

Sikkim; a northeastern Himalayan state of India was recognized by Lonely Planet as the top region... more Sikkim; a northeastern Himalayan state of India was recognized by Lonely Planet as the top region to visit in the year 2014. In the Sikkim's Tourism Policy 2015, it was recognized by the Government of Sikkim to create a strong online presence for Sikkim Tourism through websites, mobile applications and social media with well researched and up to date information. A total of 21 pages and 12 groups which correspond to Sikkim were found in Facebook when searched with the keyword "Sikkim Tourism" or Sikkim Ecotourism" as of June 16, 2016. The findings of the study underscore the wide diversity of groups in range of videos, photos and members. The results suggest that neither "Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation" nor "Sikkim Government Official Tourism Website" had a link for social network, in order to promote their brand. The Official Government Tourism Website didn't maximize the utility of Facebook as an important marketing tool. Implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided. In this context, this paper aims to provide valuable insights regarding brand building elements in tourism destination management through Facebook groups and pages. This paper will also evaluate the possibilities to maximize the utility of Facebook groups and pages related to tourism as potent marketing tools.

International Journal of Research in Social Sciences, 2019

This study was a part of a research work with primary intention to explore the relation among the... more This study was a part of a research work with primary intention to explore the relation among the demographic profile of tourists, their preference of media platforms to receive the ecotourism-related promotion, and their primary motivation to participate in ecotourism. Further, this study attempted to dive deep into the media platforms' choice of tourists to recommend the most preferred medium for ecotourism promotion in the state of Sikkim. The primary data was collected during the field survey through a set of questionnaires and cross-tabulation analysis was performed to analyze the data. The findings of this study suggested that the most preferred medium for getting the ecotourism-related promotion about a destination to travel to was Facebook, while television ranked the last. Further, demographic factors showed a noticeable influence in the choice of the media platform. Lastly, motivation to participate in tourism was significantly different in domestic and foreign tourists‟ which is another important indication that needs to be considered by those who are responsible to promote ecotourism in Sikkim as it is a major contributing factor in the selection of destination. The findings of this study are expected to provide valuable information to better utilize the media as a marketing tool for ecotourism promotion in the state of Sikkim.

Mass Communicator, 2017

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has defined sustainable tourism as; "Tourism th... more United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has defined sustainable tourism as; "Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities".
For successful implementation of sustainable tourism practices, it is important to deliver the message to all the stakeholders in a way, that captures their imagination. In the context of travel and tourism, the memorable travel experiences are all about stories - stories of the local communities and their cultural traditions, stories told by the guides, and stories by the travelers themselves, become part of the travel experiences.
In early human history, there was an oral tradition when people used to sit together to hear the experiences of those who have traveled far and wide, witnessed something new or, simply wanted to pass their legacy to their successors. Those who heard the story owned the idea.
In the broadcast era, ideas became the exclusive property of their creator. Communication became monologue instead of dialogue. The audience was open and receptive in the oral tradition when stories were dominated. A story engages its listeners at many levels, so when the storyteller makes the point, it sticks, because it evokes both visual image and emotion. In the broadcast era that turns to a captive audience. However, again with the advent of social media, now we’re getting back into the initial stage where everybody owns an idea. What is different today is we are in an era where stories dominate again. Social media and storytelling are helping to communicate with the audience in a more humane way. It’s simply people sharing stories with other people. The technology facilitates and accelerates the process.

The paper aims to explore the role of social media in storytelling for sustainable tourism practices, which ultimately leads to sustainability.

Keywords: social media marketing, storytelling practices, sustainable tourism, destination management

Indian Streams Research Journal, 2014

Sikkim has been named as the best region to visit in 2014 by a leading global travel guide, Lonel... more Sikkim has been named as the best region to visit in 2014 by a leading global travel guide, Lonely Planet. It is the largest travel guide book publisher in the world. Lonely planet caters the travel fraternity worldwide and its recommendations are received by heart by numerous travel enthusiasts, seasonal backpackers and vacationers. Lonely Planet describes Sikkim as "It's clean (plastic bags are banned) and the mountain air is fresh. Best of all the people are among India's most friendly, with a charming manner that's unobtrusive and slightly shy". This recommendation could be the big boost for Sikkim and its ecotourism policy. This research paper aims to critically analyze the eco-tourism policy of Sikkim, which endeavors to create a responsible and sustainable tourism, the reasons behind Lonely Planet recommendation and the impact of eco-tourism policy on biodiversity and well being of local population.

The Researcher- International Journal of Management Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016

Appropriate information and message, being the source of knowledge, could have impact on the atti... more Appropriate information and message, being the source of knowledge, could have impact on the attitude to access resources available to the target people over a period of time. Development communication, in this context, is considered to be an important means for spreading the message of development to the rural masses. The Ecotourism Directorate of Sikkim runs appropriate multimedia campaigns to promote ecotourism through mass media.

Jyotirmay Research Journal of Education, 2017

Tourism is a potent tool for economic development, poverty elimination and for the preservation o... more Tourism is a potent tool for economic development, poverty elimination and for the preservation of natural and cultural resources. However it is witnessed in past few decades that the development opportunities presented by tourism comes at a cost of some serious negative impacts like altering social norms and structure, changing the cultural authenticity of host communities, and disrupting natural habitat. Therefore, the choices made for tourism must be sustainable. Communication plays a binding role in supporting as well managing sustainable tourism development and keeping different stakeholders constructively engaged. To protect the natural and cultural heritage and to curb the negative impact of mass tourism the government of Sikkim has stressed on creating an ecotourism pathway to ensure the benefits of tourism to local communities. The Directorate of Ecotourism (SED) is mandated with the promotion and overall execution of ecotourism. The SED has notified 11 ecotourism zones, to showcase their natural and culture based tourism products and to build capacity among stakeholders. These ecotourism zones are marketed through big festival. For the success of ecotourism festivals the promotional campaigns are done in mass media. The objective of this research paper is to find out the appropriateness of communication campaign in terms of campaign design and creatives as per the objectives of the sustainable tourism development by doing the content analysis of print advertisements related to ecotourism promotion in Sikkim. The methodology for content analysis was taken from a similar study which was conducted by Indian Institute of Mass Communication for the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), entrusted to carry out the Plan Scheme Publicity activities of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting relating to Bharat Nirman Campaign during 2009-13. The field work conducted during research followed by subsequent interview of officials of SED reveals that there was no pre-testing of the advertisement which gets reflected in the creative interpretation. Also no specialized outside agency was involved in media planning and buying and these were done internally at SED level. Conclusion and recommendations are made in this study to meet the TA expectation level through strategic campaign planning.

The face of a news room in India has been changed radically with the ever growing popularity of s... more The face of a news room in India has been changed radically with the ever growing popularity of social media, where it sets agenda for the news organizations to follow. The #Lalitgate is a classical example, where the Ex IPL Commissioner, Lalit Modi, who has gained a notorious image due to his controversies, broke news on twitter, from there it has been picked up by 24x7 news channels, subsequently online portals do a piece on it, again there is a prime time discussion on that news, followed
by a morning coverage by the news papers.
As a person gain ability to create sensationalism, he utilizes the ability of social media to create some dialogues, with a larger worldwide audience, which was earlier not possible due to the monologue
approach of traditional media. The ability of that piece of information to get retweeted by followers allows it to trend high on twitter. As the number become astonishing some time, it automatically qualifies
for the attention of the editors of media organizations and eventually sets the agenda of the day.
The social media platforms; Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp etc. have become the essential tool of news gathering of a modern news room. Twitter with its 302 million followers worldwide, eventually became a
credible online source of news gathering as the tweets are usually came through a first person, citing his/her views or, opinion on a subject matter.
This research paper aims to critically analyze the role of twitter as an agenda setting tool in #Lalitgate, where, the cricket administrator turned whistleblower, Lalit Modi, used twitter effectively for his revelations, and he not only trolled successfully on twitter but news media as well. The scope of this paper is limited to the media coverage by English medium news channels and papers only.

News Media; especially the 24*7 TV news channels in India are facing constant criticism for pract... more News Media; especially the 24*7 TV news channels in India are facing constant criticism for practicing favoritism as a standard operating procedure, since 2014 general election. 2014 witnessed republican India’s first intensively televised elections. As of March 2014, statistics released by I & B Ministry suggests that there are 792 TV channels in India in which 392 are the
news and current affairs channels. These channels left no stone unturned in order to get scoop, breaking news, surveys and special programs during elections. However the intent as well
content of coverage was always under deep scrutiny by one or other section of the society. This paper aims to presents facts behind such a disturbing perception. Is the influence of corporate ownership are eating the scope of objective reporting? Or, our society is functioning in such a
way that they would like to see everything in white or, black and there is no scope for grey? That means either you are in support of a popular sentiment or you may face the threat to be labeled as anti-social or worst anti-national. However, there are sections who just want news to be back without any aggravated views. This paper aims to critically analyze all these aspect of contemporary electronic news channels.

Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Jul 1, 2013

The Hindi film industry of India a.k.a. Bollywood is the world’s largest film producer. It pr... more The Hindi film industry of India a.k.a. Bollywood is the world’s largest film producer. It produces close to 1000 movies a year. For that approximately 14 million viewers swarm the theaters each day and it sold more than four billion cinema tickets every year. According to FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and
Entertainment Industry Report 2013 the Indian film industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.5 percent to touch INR 193.3 Billion in 2017. The growth of Indian film industry in 2012 over 2011 is 21 % and the estimated size of film industry in 2013 would be 122.4 INR billion. With the growing competition on domestic as well international market Bollywood has started to spend a fortune towards movie marketing in order to drive the business.
Film marketing activities have progressed beyond posters and promos with the aggressive use of new marketing tools like social media, portals, search engines and mobile devices. Use of social media has become an important component of pre-release marketing strategy for any movie. The recent trend is to develop mobile apps for promotion of movies. For instance, Disney UTV’s marketing team developed a mobile app for movie ‘Barfi’ which was used to create a strong connect between the central character and the audience.
In 2012, the average film marketing costs ranged anywhere between INR 80 -120 million. For high budget films, this went up to INR 150 million and for low budget films, in some cases, it exceeded their production cost. As per industry estimates, for a low budget film, a minimum budget of INR 35 to 50 million is required to ensure a decent commercial release for the film. It is anticipated that as media clutter grows, marketing budgets for films will continue to climb in order for products to get noticed.

Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College, Ujire, D.K. District, Karnataka – 574240, India, Mar 8, 2014

This paper aims to develop an in-depth perspective on the role of new media in the wake of Delhi ... more This paper aims to develop an in-depth perspective on the role of new media in the wake of Delhi gang rape case involving a rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl, which occurred on 16 December 2012 in Delhi. The girl, died from her injuries 13 days later while undergoing emergency treatment in Singapore.
The paper will provide insights into the incident that generated widespread national and international coverage and was widely condemned, both in India and abroad. Subsequently, public protests against the central and state Government for not providing adequate security for women took place in Delhi, where thousands of protesters clashed with security forces. The entire protest was self-motivated, and organized through social media platform like Facebook and Twitter. This established a tremendous and untapped potential of new-media in front of Indian people. The paper will discussed all these aspects of role of social media in mass movements.

Journal of Indian Research, Vol.1, No.3, July-September, 2013 (ISSN No. : 2321-4155), Jul 31, 2013

This paper aims to develop an in-depth perspective on what went wrong on the night of June 16, 20... more This paper aims to develop an in-depth perspective on what went wrong on the night of June 16, 2013 in
the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand: whether it was the “fury of nature” or a “man-made disaster”. The
paper will also provide insights into preventive measures that may help in preparing a roadmap towards
sustainable development. It will unravel the reasons behind previous disasters and study the relationship
between man- made obstacles and nature’s response to it. The paper will demonstrate mutually inclusive
relationship between sustainability and development and the ways to integrate the improvement of the
community and environment into core development strategies. Indian state machinery’s response and
preparedness vis-a-vis such disasters have also been critically analyzed.

"The Indian Hindi film industry a.k.a. Bollywood is world’s largest film producer. It produces cl... more "The Indian Hindi film industry a.k.a. Bollywood is world’s largest film producer. It produces close to 1000 movies a year, for that approximately 14 million viewers swarm the theaters each day and it sold more than four billion cinema tickets every year. With the growing competition on domestic as well international market Bollywood has started to spend a fortune towards movie marketing in order to drive the business. Around 30 percent of production cost is assigned for the marketing in which approximately 20-30 percent is allocated for e-marketing.
The reason to choose this topic for research project was based on the utmost desire to understand the confluence of latest technology and one of the oldest and most loved forms of entertainment. "

Conference Presentations by Dr. Amit Kumar

ICSSR Sponsored National Seminar on “Journalism and Freedom Movement”, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Gopal Narayan Singh University, Bihar, 2022

Nationalism, as a political phenomenon, is a concept invented in modern Europe. The origin of Eur... more Nationalism, as a political phenomenon, is a concept invented in modern Europe. The origin of European nations in the 18th and 19th centuries was due to the removal of feudalism and the advancement of capitalism, led by the entrepreneur class to protect the domestic market within the national boundaries. The market became the driving force for the movement and its ideological manifestation was 'nationalism'. In the Indian context, the question of 'Indian identity or, 'national self-definition emerged during the anti-colonial struggle. Historically being a polyethnic and multilingual country, the regional consciousness was beginning to emerge parallel with the national consciousness in India. Nationalism was developed at two levels: First, at the all-India level; based on cultural homogeneities and common anti-imperialism views, and second at the regional level; based on regional cultural homogeneity (Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, etc.). This solidarity that arises out of a sense of identification with a belief in a common past, shared culture, and linguistic similarity, manifested itself with the longing for the creation of and control over a political-administrative unit, which resulted in subsequent socio-economic development. In the Indian context, this phenomenon developed as strong sub-nationalism in non-Hindi linguistic areas but unfolded differently in the Hindi-speaking belt between Punjab and Bengal, particularly in Bihar, an administrative unit of the Bengal Presidency during the colonial period. The regional sub-nationalistic identity in Bihar was never developed as strongly to cut above the class and caste divide for a widespread state-centric movement for its development, and it remains weak to date if not absent. This study is an attempt to understand the non-development of sub-nationalism in Bihar which is one of the strong factors of the economic backwardness of the state.

India has a rich legacy of cultural and linguistic diversity. According to the 2011 census, 121 l... more India has a rich legacy of cultural and linguistic diversity. According to the 2011 census, 121 languages are spoken in India under scheduled and non-scheduled categories. Due to historic reasons, the Indian subcontinent was divided into various empires and varied cultures, which allows the flourishing of multiple languages without allowing the dominance of any particular one. Even after independence, the states in India were demarcated based on linguistic similarities. At the time of independence, the country had recognized the opportunity to unite the many regions of India with a common, universal language and proposed Hindi as its official
language aiming to encourage national unity. However, non-Hindi-speaking states considered it an imposition and a threat to their cultural identity. This led to a major protest in Tamil Nadu in 1965 with 66 death and a few instances of self-immolation. This also became the basis of renewed Dravida movement which has still been continued to date. The current central
government is aiming for national integration by creating partner states to promote each other’s culture and language under the ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat (One India, Great India) scheme. The extension to this policy was the draft of National Education Policy 2019, which in its first version proposed three-language formula throughout the country. It again started a big uproar,
hashtags #StopHindiImposition and especially in Tamil Nadu.
#TNAgainstHindiImposition was the most trendings on Twitter.
In a democratic system of governance, politics plays a crucial role in every aspect of life. The Indian constitutional structure was designed as a quasi-federal structure with two governments in existence, the Union Government and the State Government, aiming for national integration along with regional autonomy to its federal units. This paper aims to analyze the tweets of prominent political leaders and the use of rhetorical means using Twitter
to achieve their respective political agendas. For this study, the selected tweets which were posted from 31st May 2019, the day the HRD Ministry released the draft of the National Education Policy, to 30th September 2019, were critically analyzed from the official Twitter handle of concerned politicians and ministries using popular hashtags. The methodology of this paper includes the Rhetorical Theory and Rhetorical Method as well as the Rhetoric and Metaphor instrument of Critical Discourse Analysis Theory to make a detailed study.

International Conference New Tourism Paradigms in a Changing World: Innovations, Dynamics and Future Perspectives, 2017

The potential of promoting tourism destinations through the Internet is widely accepted and consi... more The potential of promoting tourism destinations through the Internet is widely accepted and considered as an effective marketing tool. Tourism practitioners are increasingly adopting e-business models to strengthen their customer relationships and to gain a larger market share. The objective of this paper is to do a comparative analysis of government-operated tourism websites of Sikkim to understand their present level of effectiveness and to suggest some strategic interventions to improve the websites and turning them into effective destination marketing tools.
The methodology for this study has been drawn from the previous study of Jie Lu and Zi Lu conducted in 2004 to understand the user requirements, behavior, and attitude in visiting the tourism websites and user satisfaction levels and also to identify problems for tourism website development in China. The study observed that the effectiveness of a website is a function of Information Content, Interactive Features, User-friendly Webpage Design, Advertising of Products and Services, Ease of use, Technical Quality, Website Registration, etc. These are the important parameters of the website evaluation implemented in this paper.
The result of this study reveals that the four websites of Sikkim “Forest, Environment & Wildlife Management Department”, “State Tourism Development Corporation”, “Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation” and “Sikkim Ecotourism Directorate” are needed to be improved in terms of content as well visual depiction. Few interactive features like “currency converter” were working on the STDC website but “live-chat”, “inquiry form” and “subscription form” on the STDC website were not working. Availability and accessibility of websites were found to be compromised due to broken web links related to the booking engine. Conclusion and recommendations are made in this study to meet the user expectation level through strategic intervention in order to promote sustainable tourism in the state of Sikkim.

International Conference Media, Language and Literature: Changing Concepts & Dimensions, 2018

Language is a dominant tool, especially when used for political rhetoric. Political leaders use l... more Language is a dominant tool, especially when used for political rhetoric. Political leaders use linguistic strategies along with persuasion as a dominant mechanism to influence the audience for the desired outcome. The Gujarat Legislative Assembly election was conducted on 9th & 14th December 2017 and the result came out on 18th December. The election was won by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) though with a reduced margin in comparison to an election conducted in 2012. The election once considered as a cakewalk for incumbent BJP turned into a face-saving battle as they used all their might to turn voters’ perception in their favor. It is often said that politics is a game of perception. The statements made by political leaders during the Gujarat Election to win over the voters; be it the Neech word used by Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) termed as Gabbar Singh Tax by Rahul Gandhi, or citing a political conspiracy of the opposition party in collusion with Pakistan by Mr. Modi, were considered as having a big impact on the election outcome. The aim of this paper is to analyze how Prime Minister Modi persuades the people of Gujarat as well as gets across their supporters through rhetorical means using Twitter so that he successfully overcome the anti-incumbency of two decades. For the purpose of this study, all the tweets which were posted from December 1, 2017, to December 18, 2017, using Mr. Modi’s official Twitter handle (@narendramodi) were analyzed. The methodology of this paper includes the Rhetorical Theory and Rhetorical Method as well as the Rhetoric and Metaphor instrument of Critical Discourse Analysis Theory to make a detailed study.

National Conference on Sustainable Development, 2017

Tourism is one of the world’s largest economic sectors and a powerful tool for economic growth, p... more Tourism is one of the world’s largest economic sectors and a powerful tool for economic growth, poverty reduction, and the conservation of natural and cultural resources. On one side it provides an important development opportunity but on the other side, it can have very negative impacts, such as disrupting natural and cultural heritage, altering the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, and threatening social structures. Moreover, it is often observed that the benefit of tourism doesn’t pass through the host communities. “Rio Declaration” (1992) states that “In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it”. Ecotourism emerged as an outcome of the world’s acknowledgment of nature-based tourism requirements and global sustainable practices. Communication has a huge role in supporting ecotourism development and managing its multiple dimensions.
Sikkim is blessed with unparalleled natural beauty and distinctive culture, customs, and traditions. To counter the negative impact of mass tourism and to ensure that the economic benefits of tourism reach the host community, Sikkim pioneered creating an ecotourism pathway based on rural homestay and nature conservation. The Directorate of Ecotourism in Sikkim has notified 11 ecotourism zones to showcase their nature and culture-based tourism products. These ecotourism zones are marketed through big festivals. Mass-media communication is a key factor to the required success of ecotourism festivals.
The objective of this research paper is to find out the appropriateness of communication campaigns in terms of campaign design and creatives as per the objectives of sustainable tourism development by doing the content analysis of audio-visual advertisements related to ecotourism promotion in Sikkim. It includes finding the target audience (TA), the efficacy of the media vehicle, emotions the ad is conveying, and creative interpretation of the advertisements in accordance with the objective of the ecotourism promotion in Sikkim.
The interview conducted during fieldwork reveals that there was no pre-testing of the advertisement which gets reflected in the creative interpretation. Conclusion and recommendations are made in this study to meet the user expectation level through strategic campaign planning to ensure inclusive and equitable growth for the host communities in Sikkim.

Keywords: ecotourism, development communication, content analysis, destination management, sustainable development

Thesis Chapters by Dr. Amit Kumar

Leadership Program on Himalayan Ecosystems (LPHECO), IGNOU, 2013

The study aims to provide a clear picture of what went wrong on the night of June 16, 2013, in th... more The study aims to provide a clear picture of what went wrong on the night of June 16, 2013, in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand; when an unprecedented disaster caused thousands of death. The study critically analyzes the ongoing problems due to several unsustainable activities in the Himalayan region. It also offers a detailed insight into the previous disaster and a correlation between man-made obstacles and nature’s response to it. Further, this report points out how sustainability and development are mutually inclusive, and why the development work can't ignore the sustainability of the region. This project report was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Certificate of "Leadership Program on Himalayan Ecosystems (LPHECO)" from IGNOU, New Delhi.