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Women living in rural areas are very close to the natural environment. Most poor families are dependent on nature for their survival, grazing cattle, collecting water and fuelwood and similar tasks, which are considered inferior and suitable for women and children, are not remunerative. Adult males and some women work outside for a livelihood. The life of rural women, particularly tribal women, is so much intertwined with the environment, that the whole ecosystem revolves around them and they cannot even think of their survival without it. However, significant intra-household differences in the distribution of such activities between male and female members of the families exist, varying with socioeconomic background, cultural and religious beliefs and underlying attitudes towards women and children. This article examines to what extent women in rural Jharkhand are involved in such natural resource collection and management activities. We tried to unearth the impact of cultural and economic factors on women's role in different economic sections and social groups. The analysis reveals that income, occupation and status of the families have a significant inverse link with the involvement of women and also of girl children at the cost of their educational prospects. Religious and cultural beliefs also determine the extent of women and children's involvement in resource collection. The study indicates the low empowerment level of rural women in the area.

This volume includes fourteen essays by eminent sociologists in memory of Ramkrishna Mukherjee (1919-2017), the last of the founding architects of sociology in India. It also includes two interviews with Ramkrishna Mukherjee by senior sociologists. The essays cover a variety of themes and topics close to the works of Ramkrishna Mukherjee: the idea of unitary social science, methodology of social research, the question of facts and values, rural society and social change, social mobility, family and gender, and nationalism. In the two interviews included here Mukherjee clarifies his intellectual trajectory as well as issues of methodology and methods in social research. Overall, this volume endorses his emphasis on the need for social researchers to transcend the 'what' and 'how' to 'why' in the pursuit of sociological knowledge. The volume is a valuable addition to the history of sociology in India. Students of sociology and other social sciences will find it useful as a book of substantive readings on social dynamics; those researching the social world will find in it a useful guide to issues in designing and execution of social research projects