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Poverty and Social Insecurity Among the Unorganized Workers of Garment Industry: A Qualitative Study through the Lens of Human Security Approach
Poverty and social insecurities cause alarming inequalities. Employment is a secure mechanism to overcome these instabilities. However, formal and informal industrial sectors have insecure employment conditions affecting workers' well-b eing. Inequality is worse in the garment industrial sector as it has more unorganized workers. This is evident in developing countries like India and Bangladesh, which are demanding a human- centered security approach. This chapter explores, using qualitative methodology's semi- structured interview method, poverty and social insecurities of the unorganized garment workers in the Bommanahalli area of Urban Bangalore, India. The chapter also uses empirical study data from the Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies (2023) to critically evaluate the garment sectors of Bangalore and Bangladesh through the lens of the human security paradigm. The study reveals that the unorganized garment workers of these developing countries face severe poverty and social insecurities. It requires urgent action from both governments using a human security approach. 2026, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Navigating Global Poverty in the midst of Rising Income Inequality: A Human Security Approach
From the dawn of civilization, poverty has been a predominant concern. Among them, the post-Second World War welfare state policies and economic development had a significant effect. Scientific and technological advancements and economic growth increased the GDP of almost all countries. However, it also widened the gap between the rich and the poor. This became evident with neoliberalism, privatization, and deregulation of the economy. The private assets increased enormously, losing the public sector's control over the economic interactions. As a result, income and wealth inequality increased rapidly. The World Inequality Report (2022) affirms the massive concentration of income and wealth in the hands of a few individuals. It adversely affects poverty alleviation strategies as poverty increases along with the rising income inequality. The World Bank (2024) affirms this precarious situation. From this perspective, this chapter examines the significance of the human security approach in addressing these human insecurities. 2026, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Gender equality: A catalyst for global sustainable future
The paradox between inborn sexual identity and socially constructed gender identity existed throughout history. Unfortunately, gender identity got predominance over sexual identity in the context of patriarchy and religious beliefs. Even when all religions affirm the equality of both sexes, they demand the subordination of women. This continues to exist even in modern society. From the 19th century onwards, there were various efforts to address gender disparity that took place under the initiatives of feminism, human rights and women's rights movements. The United Nations in the second half of the 20th century advanced many attempts for the realization of gender equality. However, the present data shows that it will still take another 131 years to achieve gender equality. In this perspective, the chapter critically examines the attempts for gender equality and proposes certain policy changes and essential requirements for its true realization in view of sustainable future. 2025, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Digital Communication Ethics: A Critical Analysis Through the Lens of Virtue Ethics
Communication is the cornerstone of human survival. All fields of human existence flourish in and through communication. Scientific and technological advancements have broadened the scope of communication and increased the speed and efficiency of communication, covering the globe within seconds. Distance is no longer a communication barrier as more people communicate in the digital world. The amount of information conveyed in communication also increased along with these changes. However, it also raises ethical questions like privacy, unaccountability, irresponsibility, opacity, and intolerance confronted by various growing challenges like information overload, fake news, misinformation, identity crisis, cultural barriers, and cybercrimes. This necessitates a systematic ethical perspective in communication. Given the above, the chapter critically examines various ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, deontological ethics, and virtue ethics. It underlines virtue ethics as the most suitable ethical theory for a meaningful communication process. 2026, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Kerala's Haritha Karma Sena model of waste management: A critical analysis through the lens of sustainability
Urbanization had a glacial pace in India for a good period of time. It became active only in the 21st century. However, compared to national average, Kerala's percentage of urban population was very high during the 1980-1990s. But along with urbanization, Kerala also faces many challenges like environmental degradation caused mainly through unsystematic waste management system. With the support of the Clean India Mission and in response to the Supreme Court verdicts, Kerala initiated the Suchitva Mission and Haritha Keralam Mission with the tagline of 'Clean Kerala' by effectively managing the waste. This mission functioned with the field work of Haritha Karma Sena (Green Task Force), mostly employed by uneducated women. They have provided awareness among the public and systematically managed waste with their committed work. However, it also has many drawbacks and failures with regard to its implementation. In line of above, this chapter tries to critically analyze the Haritha Karma Sena model of waste management in order to examine whether it is a suitable model of waste management. 2026, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. -
Local self-government in India: A critical analysis through the lens of democratic decentralization
Local Self-Government (LSG) existed in a variety of forms throughout India. LSG was seen as an effective form of day-to-day management and administration in rural areas in India. This ensured a democratic form of administration even during the time of monarchs. Although it had a setback during the Muslim and British rulers period, it continued to exist. Gandhi raised his voice for increased decentralization and self-rule of the villages. Although the Constitution did not provide such an option, many committees opined that the local governance should be entrusted to the local people. Accordingly, LSG got constitutional recognition through the 73rd and 74th Amendments in 1992. It provided a three-tier system of governance at the regional level as well. Using analytical and critical lenses, this chapter examines the functioning of the constitutionally established LSG model through the lens of democratic decentralization to expose how far it has achieved its objective. 2026 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Persons With Disabilities: A Critical Analysis of India's Right-Based Approach
Disability is a challenging issue across the globe, as almost 16% of the global population has some kind of disability. India, the most populous country in the world, also faces the severity of disability issues as 2.2% of its population belongs to that group. For a good period, Indian society considered disability as a curse in the context of karma theory. Accordingly, the disabled faced discrimination, marginalization, and social exclusion. Though the Constitution guaranteed equal rights, India's approach towards disabled was mostly based on charitable contributions for their rehabilitation rather than a rights-based approach. But in line with the paradigm shift in the global approach, the Indian perspective also changed, underlining the rights of the disabled. Many policies were designed to give them access to the mainstream of the society, but India lacks adequate strategies for implementing these policies. 2026 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Well- being and Happiness in the Garment Industrial Sector in Bangalore: A Qualitative Study
Well- being and happiness are essential attributes for a meaningful life. Well- being is the sum total of all positive emotions and satisfactions, whereas happiness is an emotional expression of a pleasant mental state. Well- being and happiness depend on many factors like education, skills, working space, interpersonal relationships, and family interactions. This chapter critically analyzes the parameters of well- being and happiness among the garment industrial workers in Bangalore Urban. Bangalore is the garment capital of India, which has many garment units and employs almost 0.3- 0.5 million people. Most of them are women and less educated, and come under the category of unorganized workers. The chapter follows the unstructured interview method of qualitative methodology for exploring the experiences of garment industry workers in relation to their well- being and happiness. Based on their narratives, the chapter enlists the drawbacks in the sector and gives specific policy guidelines to ensure their well- being and better productivity. 2025 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. -
Green industrialization for the sustainable future of developing countries: A critical study
The 2015 United Nations conference on sustainable development advanced seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are essential for a sustainable future. Most of these goals either directly or indirectly affirm the importance of environmental protection. They also emphasize the need for social and economic sustainability. The various UN conferences stated that sustainable development has three essential elements such as economic, social and environmental sustainability and they are interconnected. Economic sustainability is achievable only through economic growth and the developed counties are in that high position. But the developing countries are still trying to make a potential stand. In the absence of economic growth, social inequalities are predominant in the Global South. Besides, they also face severe environmental insecurities. In order to achieve all these essentials, green industrialization was suggested. In this perspective, this chapter critically analyzes the feasibility of green industrialization to achieve sustainable future for the developing countries. 2025, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Human-AI collaborative intelligence: Ethical and legal considerations
The present globe benefits from the unprecedented growth of science and technology. The invention of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has opened a vast horizon of possibilities, choices, and capabilities for humans and society. AI-powered human-like systems provide substantial interaction and collaboration for better results in many fields. The speed, efficiency, and effectiveness of AI systems prompted almost all sectors, like healthcare, education, transport, and communication to invest in them. This resulted in shifting attention from human-human collective intelligence to human-AI collaborative intelligence. This shift has significantly contributed to many fields and reduces the security risks to humans. However, there are also many ethical and legal concerns in this innovative area, like data privacy, transparency issues, liability, and accountability. This chapter, using analytical and critical methods, examines the functioning of collaborative intelligence and suggests the required ethical and legal principles for incorporation into national and international policy design. 2025, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. -
Expansion of BRICS Countries Stimulating Multipolar World Order: A Critical Study in the Context of Russia-Ukraine Crisis
The 21st century formation of BRICs grouping, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, provided a platform for emerging economies to collectively work for the required position in international scenario. With the two expansions in 2011 and 2023 more developing countries became its members. Such a coalition devised a strategical move from unipolarity to multipolarity in global order. However, no proper attention is given to this grouping considering it as a "loose association. " The main objective of this chapter is thus to explore the evolution of BRICS+ countries, its various interactions within the group and with other international bodies, and its role in the context of conflicts of interests and Russia-Ukraine Crisis. Using doctrinal methodology's analytical and critical methods, the chapter explains the significance of this grouping. The study finds that BRICS+ is an effective body for the Global South in order to make a strong stance in the global scenario. 2025, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Democracy in the age of AI: Ethical and legal considerations
Democracy is an age-old idea. Although it originated in Ancient Greek Polis Athens, it took almost 20 centuries to become a globally preferred political system of governance. In the aftermath of the Second World War, many countries became independent and democratic affirming the role and strength of people in the governance of country. Democracy revolves around the values like human rights, free choice, freedom, equality, and decision-making. However, with the latest technological advancements in the area of artificial intelligence (AI), there are serious concerns with regard to the smooth functioning of democracy as many biased involvements are officially reported. The virtual world and AI systems are used for targeting the efficiency of democracy. The chapter, in this perspective, critically examines the role of AI in democracy and enlists certain ethical values and legal principles for AI's effective incorporation into the dynamics of politics and democracy. 2025 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Cybercrimes in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: A Critical Study on Indian Legal Scenario
Cybersecurity is a significant concern in the present digital world. The increase in cybercrimes attracts attention of the whole globe. India is one of the top countries on the list of cybercrimes and cyberattacks. More than 1 billion people use smartphones in India and the focus on digital economy has also attracted many cyberattacks. This necessitates the need for a specific legal framework. Indias Penal Code was almost 160 years old, and its provisions were not adequate to address the growing nature of cybercrime. Though the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000 can be applied, India needed a criminal code addressing the latest trends of crimes. Many considered that the enactment of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) will provide this required framework. In making a critical analysis the chapter tries to evaluate the provisions of BNS to examine whether it provided due protection to Indias cyberspace. 2026 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Globalization, Transnational Actors, and Questions on State Sovereignty: Prospects and Challenges
The two consecutive world wars and the subsequent economic recession significantly challenged the global socioeconomic and political landscape. The postwar society thus concentrated on improving economic growth. To energize this inspirational project, the globe promoted the widespread development of transnational actors. They include international institutions such as the UN, multinational and transnational corporations, Nongovernmental Organizations, and private actors. They are supposed to prioritize human rights, human security, and sustainable development. However, experiences affirm that they prioritize profit over protection and personal gains over sustainability. Furthermore, the unnecessary involvement of international organizations and corporations from developed countries in the affairs of developing countries creates complications and confusion regarding state sovereignty. From this perspective, this chapter uses qualitative methodology's analytical and critical methods to examine and evaluate the impact of globalization and transnational actors on state sovereignty. 2026 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved. -
Effect of personality, psychological capital, institutional support on job satisfaction and affective commitment among private school teachers on South Karnataka
A teacher's personality traits are important to create and maintain a
classroom learning environment. The behaviour of Teachers depends on the characteristics of the personality. There have been many pieces of research based on the positive aspects of teachers' behaviour through enhancing some psychological states which are based on the positive institutional behaviour. This particular research has its focus on the positive strengths of the teachers, and this construct has an essential influence on job satisfaction. Hence, a satisfied and engaged teacher is very much necessary to strengthen the competitive student base of every School. To explore the fact, the researcher has chosen the constructs such as Personality, Positive psychological capital, Institutional factors (Perceived Institutional support, Work-life policies, Work autonomy), Job satisfaction factors, and Affective commitment to study the impact of the Big five dimensions of personality on job satisfaction and affective commitment of private school teachers in South Karnataka and to investigate the impact of psychological capital on job satisfaction and affective commitment of teachers. The study also attempts to understand the influence of Institutional factors (perceived Institutional support, work-life policies, and work autonomy) on job satisfaction and affective commitment. -
Effect of personality psychological capital institutional support on job satisfaction and affective commitment among private school teachers in south karnataka
A teacher's personality traits are important to create and maintain a classroom learning environment. The behaviour of Teachers depends on the characteristics of the personality. There have been many pieces of research based on the positive aspects of teachers' behaviour through enhancing some psychological states which are based on the positive institutional behaviour. This particular research has its focus on the positive strengths of the teachers, and this construct has an essential influence on job satisfaction. Hence, a satisfied and engaged teacher is very much necessary to strengthen the competitive student base of every School. To explore the fact, the researcher has chosen the constructs such as Personality, Positive psychological capital, Institutional factors (Perceived Institutional support, Work-life policies, Work autonomy), Job satisfaction factors, and Affective commitment to study the impact of the Big five dimensions of personality on job satisfaction and affective commitment of private school teachers in South Karnataka and to investigate the impact of psychological capital on job satisfaction and affective commitment of teachers. The study also attempts to understand the influence of Institutional factors (perceived Institutional support, work-life policies, and work autonomy) on job satisfaction and affective commitment. Also, the study explores the influence of job satisfaction on the outcome factors namely affective commitment among private school teachers. The study used a descriptive research design, and it is observed that the total number of districts in south Karnataka is fifteen. The researcher selected four private schools from each district randomly with the help of the private school list used as a sampling frame. The total sample size for the study estimated were 477 teachers working in private schools. The study has analysed the data using appropriate statistical tools such as (i) frequency analysis, (ii) Factor analysis, (iii) ANOVA with post hoc (v) Regression analysis. The study concludes that when the private school teachers personalities such as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience which will tend to significantly influence Job satisfaction among teachers working in the private schools of South Karnataka. Similarly, private school teachers Psychological capital like resilience, self-efficacy, optimism, and hope which tend to influence job satisfaction at their work significantly. This study also concludes that private school teachers to be given proper work-life balance and work autonomy by the school management, which will significantly influence job satisfaction among the teachers at work. Also, private school teachers who possess personalities such as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience significantly influence the teacher's affective commitment. The study also reveals that the private school teachers have Psychological capital like resilience, Self-efficacy, Hope, and Optimism, which tend to significantly influence their affective commitment which will reflect towards their respective institution. If the private institution gave the school teachers proper work-life balance and work autonomy, then they tend to influence their affective commitment significantly. Also, it is concluded that the affective commitment of teachers significantly influences the job satisfaction level of school teachers. This implies that the school management can enhance the level of teachers' commitment to their schools by creating a more conducive and more satisfying environment in the workplace. Accordingly, schools can decide on pay and other monetary incentives. However, they can enhance teachers' job satisfaction by creating better training and development opportunities, improving leadership and management support, promoting accountability, and involving teachers in decision-making made at the school level. Another important finding of this study is the observed positive relationships between scores of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Some of these findings contradict the existing literature in these fields; others are inconsistent with the prevailing literature. -
A novel discrete slash family of distributions with application to epidemiology informatics data
This study puts forward a new class of discrete distribution that can be used by the epidemiologists and medical scientists to model data relating to epidemiology informatics. The proposed distribution is superior to traditional discrete modeling alternatives, viz., discrete Weibull and geometric distributions in terms of its model fit and flexibility to handle heavy-tailed dataset. It is a flexible three-parameter discrete distribution, grounded in the slash family and can be considered as a refined extension to the geometric distribution. We explored the diverse properties of this novel distribution thoroughly by evaluating the mathematical properties. The models parameters are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation method, where the methodology validity is confirmed through an extensive simulation study. Furthermore, the practical utility of the distribution to model epidemiology informatics was examined with the help of eight different datasets representing three different dimensions of the epidemiology informatics, viz., mortality, infection and medication statistics. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024. -
Revisiting the PushPull Tourist Motivation Model: A Theoretical and Empirical Justification for a ReflectiveFormative Structure
This study introduces a novel reflectiveformative hierarchical model specification for the classic pushpull tourist motivation construct, aligning its measurement with the theoretical distinction between intrinsic push drives and external pull attributes. Unlike the traditional reflective-reflective structuring of tourist motivation we defied the higher order factors (novelty, knowledge and facilities as formative. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on a purposive sample of 319 international tourists, we empirically validate the reflectiveformative (reflective first-order, formative second-order) model. The reflectiveformative model showed a superior fit and predictive power: it explained substantially more variance in key outcome constructs (social motives (R2 = 53.60) and self-actualization (R2 = 23.10)) than the traditional reflectivereflective specification (social motives (R2 = 49.30) and self-actualization (R2 = 21.70)), which is consistent with best-practice guidelines for theoretically grounded models. In contrast, the incorrectly specified reflectivereflective model showed stronger effects between unrelated constructs, supporting concerns that choosing the wrong type of measurement model can lead to incorrect conclusions. By reconciling the pushpull theory with measurement design, this works main contributions are a theoretically justified reflectiveformative model for tourist motivation, and evidence of its empirical benefits. These findings highlight a methodological innovation in motivation modeling and underscore that modeling pushpull motives formatively yields more accurate insights for theory and practice. 2025 by the authors. -
Alcohol and social drinking norms as a catalyst between tourist motivation and tourist satisfaction
This article aims to understand the influence of alcohol availability, ethnicity, anti-alcohol enforcement at tourist destinations, social norms of drinking among tourists and relationships with tourist motivation and tourist satisfaction. A cross-cultural empirical study was conducted using purposive sampling of 476 tourists with partial least squaresstructural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results suggest that tourists perceive social norms of drinking and the availability of alcohol at destinations, when coupled with ethnicity, influence the dynamics of the relationship between tourist motivation and tourist satisfaction. The availability of alcohol at tourist destinations alone does not have any relationship either with tourist motivation or with tourist satisfaction. Based on the findings, tourist service providers and facilitators can design drinkscapes specifically based on tourists ethnic background and social norms of drinking to rejuvenate tourist destinations and make them more attractive and inclusive. As the current research considers the tourists ethnic background from a general perspective, future research may investigate the impact of subcultures to understand how ethnicity effects drinkscapes and tourist behaviours. 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. -
Curiosity in calamity: How personal schadenfreude shapes disaster-tourism intentions
Tourism to sites of recent disaster, a form of dark tourism has raised questions about whether visitors are driven by typical travel motivations or by morbid impulses. This study examines how conventional tourist motives and the personality trait of benign schadenfreude (pleasure at others misfortune) jointly influence peoples intentions to visit a recent disaster site. By surveying 438 tourists to Kerala, four months after the July 2024 Wayanad landslides, we measured four common travel motives (novelty seeking, fun/entertainment, knowledge/learning, and relationship bonding) alongside a benign schadenfreude scale and visit intention. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed for modeling. The model explained 58.80 percent of the variance in visit intention. Three motives viz., novelty, knowledge, and relationship had significant positive associations with intention, whereas the fun motive showed a negative effect. Schadenfreude emerged as the strongest predictor of disaster-site visit intention. Moreover, schadenfreude significantly moderated the influence of novelty seeking: respondents high in schadenfreude exhibited especially strong curiosity-driven intent to visit. These findings suggest that interest in post-disaster tourism often stems from ordinary travel drivers (curiosity, learning, social bonding), but a disposition to enjoy others misfortune can intensify the appeal when novel experiences are involved. The research highlights the need for ethical considerations to be followed by the destination managers and authorities in managing dark tourism destinations. Key limitations include the use of a cross-sectional data, region-specific sample and the focus on benign dimension (versus malicious) of schadenfreude. Future research should validate these results in other cultural and disaster contexts, establish causal relationships, and examine additional personal factors as well as dimensions of schadenfreude. 2026 Joseph et al.