Review of skilled manpower forecasts and changes in occupational structures of India

Skilled manpower forecasts are considered the essence of national or regional manpower planning. A variety of such forecasts in such a vast and complex country as India is not unexpected. Skilled manpower was and continues to be considered an essential building block for nation-building in most developing countries including India. Indeed, it has been difficult to rationalise expenditure on most new educational institutions — technical or non-technical — in India with its vast problems of high illiteracy and low per capita income without some manpower demand forecasts.Given this setting, this paper has attempted to take a close and dispassionate look at the experience of India in manpower planning, especially since Independence. The paper has reviewed the methodology used in the various exercises made for such forecasts — sometimes done right up to matriculation level — and attempted many realisation comparisons. Even for the high professional categories such as engineers, scientists and doctors it has found serious discrepancies. While it has tried to rationalise them and assessed their actual impact on educational decision-making, it had to take note of very serious data constraints which make both supply and demand estimates difficult. The data situation in the predominantly agrarian Indian economy has therefore been carefully reviewed and suggestions for adjustments and improvements of data made.Since occupational structures and their evolution are almost a sine qua non of a classical manpower requirements approach, the paper takes a close look at the latest available data from the Census and other sources. It certainly found growth in occupational divisions 0, 1 and 2, but sometimes cannot separate the genuine growth from that due to the ‘supply’ effect. Despite all these limitations the paper notices that manpower planning activity continues to be favoured at practically all levels — national, State, regional or industrial.     

Some effects of curriculum innovation on the racial attitudes of adolescents

The paper reports results of one aspect (assessment of racial prejudice) of a large-scale British curriculum research project concerned with the problems and effects of exposure to three different race-oriented teaching strategies. Over 1,500 14–16 year olds from 39 British schools of varying multiracial composition participated in this research which was also concerned with gaining some insight into the relevance of teaching about race relations in schools. The conclusions point to the possible benefit of such teaching but also draw attention to the constraints operating against curriculum innovation in this area and to the need to consider other contributory factors before definitive answers can be given.     

Using learning principles as a theoretical framework for instructional consultations

Learning theory provides a powerful framework for analyzing instructional consultations and increasing their effectiveness. In this paper, the authors review the main tenets of learning theory, apply them to consultation scenarios, and present a complex case study to show how they can guide analysis and problem solving around challenging consultations.     

Appropriateness of recommended agricultural water-management technologies as perceived by the personnel of research and extension system: A study in the eastern region of India

The key to agricultural development in the eastern region of India, where problems of excess water and water scarcity coexist, is the scientific management of water resources with the adoption of recommended water-management technologies. A vast networking of infrastructure for the development and dissemination of water- management technologies have been designed since the very inception of planned economic change. Despite these concerted efforts, a large number of recommended technologies are either being adopted in piece-meal or not at all. The research and extension systems have been generating and disseminating technologies, therefore, it was felt worthwhile to assess the feasibility and appropriateness of recommended tecnologies as perceived in the first instance by the personnel of the research system and followed by the extension personnel. These steps were felt to be a precursor to screen the recommended technologies for their dissemination and evaluation in different farming systems. The assessment of recommended water-management technologies was performed after their documentation from different organisations working in the field of water management in two eastern India states viz. Orissa and West Bengal. The perception of 30 personnel members of the research system regarding the feasibility of these technologies elucidated that out of 86 documented recommended water-management technologies, 40 were having feasibility scores of ≥ 4.0; 8 technologies with score £ 3.0 and the rest of the 38 technologies with a score between 3.0 and 4.0 on a feasibility continuum range from 1.0 (not feasible) to 5.0 (highly feasible). Out of 40 recommended technologies (already assessed as highly feasible by the research personnel), extension personnel have perceived 16 and 10 technologies as highly appropriate and feasible, respectively. While six and four technologies were found to be less appropriate and feasible, respectively. Correlation of all nine indicators of appropriateness with feasibility of technologies was significant. Five indicators of appropriateness viz. simplicity, physical compatibility, production sustainability, cultural compatibility and cost together constituted 36.8 per cent of the total variation in feasibility with the ‘t’ values and ‘F’ values being significant. It indicates that not appropriateness of technologies alone but other factors influence the feasibility of technologies.     

Productive Usability: Fostering Civic Engagement and Creating More Useful Online Spaces for Public Deliberation

This article offers productive usability as a usability approach that focuses on the usefulness of civic Web sites. Although some sites meet traditional usability standards, civic sites might fail to support technical literacy, productive inquiry, collaboration, and a multidimensional perspective—all essential ingredients for citizen-initiated change online. In this article, we map productive usability onto broader philosophies of usability and offer a framework for rethinking usability in civic settings and for teaching productive usability.