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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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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