The study of psycho-social barriers in equal participation of women in national development has always been an area of interest to psychologists and sociologists. In recent years on multiple aspects related to poor all round performance of women have started gaining academic grounds. Over the decades, in spite of the facilities provided by the governmental agencies, women have remained as a backward section of society. This book probe in to the factors responsible for the under representation of women in every sphere of life, in spite of the equal opportunities provided to them. The author has focused on the effects of socialisation on performance and problem solving behaviour of women. The study focuses on three interrelated aspects, personality, and fear of success and motivation, which may affect problem solving behaviour of women. Students and researchers of psychology, sociology and women studies may find the book useful.

Though India has been number second in terms of population in the world, there are many aspects which make it vulnerable. Socio-economic issues pertaining to Indian population do reveal many multifarious vulnerability. Demographic indicators also give us frightening score. People living below poverty line do catch special attention. The plight of millions of landless agriculture and unorganized labourers speak fire and tell agonizing stories of human exploitations and injustice. Though the Scheduled castes scheduled tribes and other backward classes, population from majority, yet they have received very negligible share of development fruits. Policy and programmes which have been designed, formulated and implemented to comply constitutional provisions have yet to achieve the goals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Social work and social justice for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe, children, women, marginal farmers and other backward classes have become the most relevant at the drawn of new country and millennium which holds the rationale of our academic attempt in the form of this book.

The commitment to the objective of economic growth with social justice has raised our curiosity to know more on the conditions of habitat, society, economy and pace of change among the lagging social strata of Indian Union. The aboriginal communities which are more popularly known as Tribes constitute an important section of the lagging strata of Indian Society. This book is a novel attempt to present the fresh information on the societal diagnosis of tribal communities in India. It makes a wider reference to tribes of the world and their traits. Indian tribes have been taken for discussion at length on their alarming challenges. The field-based case studies have been done with reference to tribes of U.P. Himalaya namely; Tharu, Boksha, Bhotia, Raji and Jaunsaris. A detailed account of the socio-economic, cultural political and geographic constraints of tribals against the background of a competitive bid for development with rest of the communities has been presented in a lucid style drawing the support of empirical data. Study of Kolta, Rawainee, and Tharu is very revealing as well as exciting. Comparative pace of social and economic growth of Boksha, Bhotia and Raji communities suggest clues for policy making. The book is likely to benefit sociologists anthropologists, economists as well as the general readers enormously.

'Empowerment of Women' is a much debated issue. Various programs were introduced under different names starting from Community Development (CD) to Integrated Rural Development (IRD) and Area Development. Social Welfare as a plan component has acquired great significance, as evidence by its widening interface with Government and increasing participation by voluntary agencies. From the Fifth Plan onwards, emphasis has been on the promotion of preventive and developmental services. As a result, several programmes in the areas of women and child welfare, namely: nutrition, health, education and recreation for children have launched by the Government. Developmental efforts, through successive Five Year Plans, have attributed a great deal towards commendable improvements in the women's status. Even the community development programme accorded an important role to the organization of women, who constitute nearly half of our population, so that their participation in various rural development activities could be effectively ensured. These organizations of women, known as Women's Group or Mahila Mandals came to be established in a phased manner in different states. All these issues in the context of Empowerment of Women have been discussed in the present book in detail. Certainly, this will be a very useful volume for all concerned.