Factors affecting the livelihood pattern and growth prospects of women in indigenous small and cottage industries: A study with special reference to Jaipur district, Rajasthan, India

Introduction

"A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets, while not undermining the natural resource base" -Scoones (1998), Carney et al. (1999) The methods that meet one's basic needs for survival are referred to as a livelihood. It can be defined as the resources, pursuits, capacities, and chances that constitute the means of subsistence. Any region's development is greatly influenced by livelihood. A region's economic development is determined by the availability of resources, opportunities, and assets in a variety of industries, which have a direct impact on the level of life of the local communities. The relationship between livelihood and development is closely linked, and the pattern of livelihood has a significant impact on the socioeconomic advancement and general development of the area. The small scale and cottage industries established in Jaipur district of Rajasthan are basically engaged in agrarian community. Majority of the rural population is engaged in agrarian activities which is a subsistence type of agriculture.

In subsistence type farming basically the earning of the communities is very less to meet the increasing demand of daily livelihood. Besides, there are other employment opportunities or business options available in the study area that help local communities to increase their income and thus enhance their standard of living and lift themselves or their community out of the vicious circle of poverty. Therefore, the study was undertaken in Jaipur district of Rajasthan, with the general objective to examine the factors www.extensionjournal.com affecting the livelihood strategies pattern and growth prospects of women in indigenous Small-Scale and Cottage Industries in district Jaipur, Rajasthan. For the purpose of achieving the objectives of the study, the data collected were subjected to statistical analyses.

Factors Affecting Livelihood Pattern of Developmental Prospects

Women struggle to sustain livelihoods by developing various livelihood strategies, whether they succeed in this struggle or not. A livelihood system can be sustainable only if it can cope with and recover from risks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets without depleting the natural resource base. Livelihood patterns are influenced by factors such as age, education, occupation, family status, family size, income pattern, source of income, income distribution, working hours, conservatism, social security, no. of children, etc. Keeping the above issues in mind, a study on the struggle for livelihood strategies by rural women is necessary to understand more about the contribution of rural women in making livelihoods sustainable, especially in view of various risks that threaten rural livelihoods. Therefore, an attempt has been made to analyse the livelihood strategies of women in Jaipur district of Rajasthan and the constraints that hinder their dependence on small and cottage industries.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted in Jaipur District. The district was selected purposively as the study deals with factors affecting the livelihood pattern and growth prospects of women in indigenous small scale and cottage industries and organisations like Human Welfare Association, Lok-Chetna Samiti, E-MITRA, E-Governance and also various developmental programmes by Government of India for welfare of rural women are being carried out to a wide extent in the district. Mixed sampling incorporating both probability and nonprobability sampling techniques were employed for the study. The Jaipur District comprised of 13 blocks. For the current investigation, all blocks were chosen on purpose. And there are 400 women respondents have been taken for this research, who are directly associated with some small scale and cottage industry. The analysis for understanding the status of different developmental and livelihood dimensions in the district is based on the primary data collected from through household survey. Altogether, a total of 400 household survey was conducted and the following analysis are based on the community based collected data.

Resource use Efficiency

For the purpose of achieving the objectives of the study, data were analyzed using tabular presentation, optimization of small scale and cottage industries Regression Analysis Model were worked out to examine the livelihood strategies pattens and growth prospects of the women in the small scale and cottage industries in district Jaipur. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to examine the factors influencing the empowerment status of the women in the research area. Regression analysis describes the change in one variable's value that is correlated with a unit change in another variable's value in the model. With the aid of regression analysis, it is possible to determine the impact of changes in the independent variable on the dependent variable. The specification of the model is as:

Y

Where, Y = empowerment status of the women household (Dependent variable) Xi = the matrix of independent/ explanatory variables β = the regression coefficient ϵ = the error term More specifically, the variables specifically were as follow: Y = empowerment status of the women household Regression analysis was used to identify the variables influencing the income distribution of SSCI employees in Rajasthan's Jaipur district. The results of the Jaipur district's multiple linear regression showed that among the respondents in the study region, the dependent variable of income was highly impacted by marital status, household size, and the number of working people. Given the positive correlation between household income and size, it stands to reason that raising household size will only result in higher income.

The positive relationship between small scale and cottage industries and livelihood pattern income indicates that female respondents need to be fearless in working in small scale and cottage industries to increase the household income. Because for increasing livelihood, it is very important for women to be self-reliant, educated and capable of taking their own decisions, as well as for women's social status to reach a higher level, etc. The R2 value of multiple regression analysis of women engaged in small scale and cottage industries in Jaipur district is 0.3414 which indicates that 34% of the variation in the income of female respondents is due to the explanatory variables included in the model. The finding of the result in Table 1.1 also shows the regression result of factors affecting income distribution among Small Scale and Cottage Industries women respondents in Jaipur district. The regression analysis result reveal that education, age, experience, household size, occupation and marital status have significant effect on the distribution of income among the respondents in the study area. The positive relationship that exists between education and household income implies that increase in the level of education will bring about an increase and more equitable distribution of income the Small Scale and Cottage Industries respondents. Similarly, as number of work rotation and age, total household income will also increase in the study area. This implies that a number of working rotations increase there will be more production of variety of Small Scale and Cottage Industries that fetches different price elasticity that increases the income of the respondent. The R2 value of the women worker respondent's multiple regression analysis is 0.064 which indicates that 64% of the variation of women respondent's income are accounted for by the explanatory variables. The study of livelihood pattern and development based on the analysis of different factors and measures in the tables given above shows a clear picture of the status of livelihood of the different industries and the level of livelihood pattern of socio-economic development. The basic stand of demographic status and educational status comprises the essential instruments in understanding the population. The small scale and cottage industries whose villages are in close proximity to the urban centres, market and other services are comparatively more developed and have a broader range of livelihood options than the ones that are located far from the services. The government scheme coverage and awareness to avail the same is also another important factor to livelihood sustainability and socioeconomic progress. Overall, according to the tables given above, the Jaipuri Razai industry shows better condition in all aspects of the analysis and so the livelihood of the women is better than the other small scale and cottage industries. The blue pottery also comparatively performed better than the leather work industry. The geographical factors of the location of cottage industries and the distance from the service centres are the reasons for comparatively good below the two small scale and cottage industries.

Policy Implication

Based on the findings of the study, the necessary recommendations are forwarded to existing and Potential Entrepreneurs, to MSEs, Micro Finances Institutes Development Authority and Various Handicrafts Institutions. Based on the findings of this research, the following suggestion are offered. 1. Diversification of businesses, particularly the incorporation of cottage and small-scale labor and other activities in the best plan, contributes to the creation of jobs in the industrial sector as well as an increase in household income. Create policies that support women in diversifying their sources of income, especially for rural women who work in cottage industries and handicrafts. The growth of cottage and small-scale industries should be the main focus of policies in order to encourage rural women to engage in handicrafts and cottage industries on a commercial basis. To lower risk and uncertainty in small-scale and cottage industries, extension agents must be trained in a variety of business ventures in order to recommend an appropriate enterprise mix to cottage and handicrafts. 2. Models of effective cottage work systems have suggested the possibility of higher income. To persuade rural women that the intended models are better than the ones that are currently in use, they must be shown in their communities. In order to make the developed models more widely used, suitable extension strategies should be found at the same time. 3. It is crucial that rural women workers communicate with Lok-Mitra, SHGs, village representatives, and members of the village panchayat. These individuals are typically aware of the many government initiatives as well as the regular updates on money allocation and www.extensionjournal.com procedures. Rural women will be more equipped to engage in government programs as a result. 4. The main factor influencing incomes in rural women's homes will be policy initiatives targeted at raising the net income of these households from small-scale and cottage enterprises. Additionally, we must better understand the factors limiting household income growth from cottage and small-scale businesses.

Author Contribution

Pratibha Bhaskar: Investigation, methodology, formal analysis, writing-original draft. Dheeraj Kumar Verma: Validation, writing-review and editing. Saket Kushwaha: Validation, methodology-reviewing and editing. Tomo Riba: Investigation, writing-reviewing.

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Conclusion

In this study, such women workers (specially) have been taken who are engaged in small and cottage industries in Jaipur district or are associated with any work related to them. In this research work, only those women have been selected who are belong to urban or rural areas of Jaipur district, work in small or cottage industries or do any business of their own. In this research work, those factors have been discussed which affect or hinder the work performance of any woman. It also includes women who seek to address the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in MSEs and their enterprises and the support received from various private support groups or institutions.

The following conclusions can be drawn from the results of the present study: 1. Rural Women in India face a number of issues on a regular basis, all states have their own struggles to confront. The condition of Rural women in Rajasthan is pitiable in comparison to other states. 2. The income pattern of most of the rural women workers aimed at meeting their food security needs of the households and requirements of livelihood through their own work production. The priority in small scale and cottage work decisions was to provide for these needs along with a safety net cover for production risks and uncertainties. This was clearly indicated in the existing income pattern pursued by the sample women workers in the areas under study. 3. An enriched women entrepreneurship does not only prove to be an economic solution but becomes solution to various social retardations like crime against women (human trafficking, domestic violence, glass ceiling and varied discriminatory practices etc.) and engenders personal autonomy and empowerment.

On the basis of the parameters used to study the livelihood pattern and development prospects of the indigenous industries of the Jaipur district of Rajasthan, it was found that the small scale and cottage industries and the villages who are in close proximity to the urban centres gets more privileges and are more developed than the other industries who resides far from the service centres. Also, the cottage industries' women livelihood avenues could be broadened with introduction of more socio-economic infrastructures and commercialization of traditional cottage industries.

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