Suchergebnisse

This paper tries to measure the level of empowerment of elected women representatives (EWRs) at the Gram Panchayat level in the light of Prof. Amartya Sen's 'Capability Approach.' In this paper, the level of empowerment of EWRs or "agency" has been measured through Women Empowerment Index (WEI) on the basis of five types of 'instrumental freedoms' like, Social Opportunities, Economic Facilities, Political Freedoms, Transparency Guarantees and Protective Security. On the other hand, the 'capability set' or the "alternative combinations of functioning" of EWRs or "agency" has been assessed through Gram Panchayat Performance Index (GPPI). By comparing WEI and GPPI, the paper has assessed the level of empowerment of EWRs during the last two boards (2003-08) and (2008-2013) in West Bengal.

Amartya Sen's capability approach redefined development in terms of people and their quality of life. Since development suggests the idea of positive change, it highlights what is worth changing, the desirable outcome and the desirable way to achieve it. This influential framework has succeeded in engaging different disciplines in constructive debate. There is a growing, and dispersed, literature adding and critiquing it. Hence, providing a current conceptual account of the approach, on its own terms, to assess its contribution to the project it undertakes, address its alleged shortcomings, and point to avenues to further the debate seems warranted. This is particularly timely given its 30 years of influence over public policy, as evidenced by the United Nations' Human Development Reports

Migration is a form of spatial and social transplant from one local and national context to another. Migration trajectories often expose the underlying intersections of social relations and social hierarchies that underpin cultural and social national environments. Migrants who encounter those complex structural inequalities must learn to negotiate classed, gendered and racialised social relations and seek the most suitable social positions within new systems. This article builds on Amartya Sen's capability approach to conceptualise migrants' embeddedness in the framework of social inequalities and explores the relationship between individual choices, resources and entitlements. It points towards patterns of advantage and disadvantage that frame migrants' opportunities and draws tacit analytical, theoretical and methodological links that have the innovative potential for the study of migration. Building on the parallels between studies in the fields of social inequalities and migration, this article argues that Sen's analytical and conceptual approach provides innovative insights into migration experiences, and Sen's unique reasoning opens up new avenues for the discussion of migrants' social justice.