Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) (Hindi: जेवियर समाज सेवा संस्थान (एक्सआईएसएस)) is a Jesuit-run business school in Ranchi, India. It was established as an extension department of St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, in 1955 by Michael A. Windey with the objective of training young men and women in Rural Development, Personnel Management and Industrial Relations.In 1963, Micheal Van Den Bogaert was appointed as the director of XISS and rendered his service to the institute for 23 years. In 1973 the institute was registered as a separate educational society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. In 1978, it moved to its present site.Xavier Institute of Social Service was established in 1955 as a center for social service at St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi. It was named after the Francis Xavier.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education presents a transformative opportunity to enhance teaching and learning processes. This study aims to explore the multifaceted impacts of AI on Management education. The following are the purposes of this study:- To assess the awareness regarding AI tools and their usage in management education among faculty members.To identify the repetitive and tedious works of academicians (MBA Faculty) which the faculty are desirous of offloading to AI.To study whether AI is considered as a threat to Management Faculties?To study how Management Faculties perceive and anticipate AI will change their Job Description.To forecast the anticipated future roles of AI in EducationTo analyze the apprehensions and expectations of faculty members as to how AI will affect Job opportunities in the education sector?. The study employs qualitative and exploratory research design. Qualitative data analysis was done using the software - ATLAS.ti to generate word clouds, perform sentiment analysis and also for generating themes through the codes generated by the software. The analysis of data collected through interviews of academicians and faculty members from Management institutes in India gives conclusive sentiments about each of the objectives mentioned (sentiment analysis) and the themes and codes generated as a result of content analysis give useful insights on all the 6 research objectives mentioned above. The interpretations based on the themes and codes generated by the software gave valuable and interesting insights and findings about the perceived threats and opportunities posed by Artificial Intelligence in Management Education in India and some very important blind spots and contradictions have emerged in this study.
Droughts have intensified in frequency and severity across South Asia, particularly impacting regions like Odisha, India, where agriculture remains highly dependent on monsoon rainfall. The objective of this study was to analyze drought dynamics and their relationship with climate teleconnections over a 120-year period (1901–2020) in Odisha, India. This study used Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at multiple timescales (SPI-3 to SPI-48), leveraging high-resolution gridded rainfall data. Long-term trends were evaluated using the Modified Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator. Drought hotspots and spatial shifts were identified through Global Moran’s I and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA). To understand climatic drivers, bivariate wavelet coherence analysis and Pearson correlation were applied between SPI-12 and major ocean-atmospheric teleconnection indices—ONI, IOD, SOI, and AMO. Findings reveal a spatial shift in drought severity from the eastern and southern regions in the early twentieth century to western and northwestern Odisha in recent decades. Decadal maps of drought characteristics (duration, severity, frequency, and intensity) show that districts such as Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, and Sundargarh experienced increasingly severe and frequent droughts since the 1970s. Strong coherence and correlation were observed between drought episodes and positive ONI and negative SOI/IOD phases, especially during significant drought years like 1965–66, 1974–75, 1987, 1999–2000, and 2009–2010. Spatial autocorrelation analysis confirmed clustering of drought-prone areas in western Odisha, while wavelet analysis highlighted dynamic, scale-specific linkages between SPI and teleconnection indices. These results underscore the non-linear and evolving nature of climate-drought interactions in Odisha. The study highlights the importance of integrating long-term drought diagnostics with teleconnection signals for proactive regional planning, improved early warning systems, and climate-adaptive policies.
Consumers' increasing interest in traditional handicraft products is driven by their cultural, social, environmental, and economic importance. Urbanisation and globalisation have increased the demand for traditional handicrafts due to consumers' interest in authentic, heritage-rich, and sustainable items. Artisans, marketers, and other stakeholders must comprehend the reasons behind urban consumer behaviour to explore customers' preferences for sustainable products. This research endeavours to explore the motivations propelling urban consumers to embrace traditional handicraft products. These motivations encompass sustainability, support for local artisans, preference for eco-friendly materials, promotion of tourism through local crafts, reverence for culture and heritage, connection to roots, and appreciation of uniqueness and aesthetic values, among others. This study aims to gather insightful perspectives on urban consumer behaviour within the traditional handicraft marketplace by delving into the factors that shape purchasing decisions.
BACKGROUND:The Indian Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched in 2014 with the goal to make India open defecation (OD) free by October 2019. Although it is known that the ambitious goal was not achieved, the nature of the sanitation change brought about by the SBM in different parts of India is poorly understood. One reason is a dearth of case studies that would shed light on the performance of the SBM simultaneously across its different domains. This article provides an example of such study. Employing a Process, Outcomes, Context approach, the objective is to understand the process and outcomes of the SBM-induced sanitation change in a specific context of rural Jharkhand.METHODS:The study utilizes data collected through field research conducted in the rural areas of Ranchi district, Jharkhand, a state in east-central India. This data was obtained via repeated cross-sectional household surveys conducted at the beginning and at the end of the SBM, supplemented by key informant interviews with SBM stakeholders.FINDINGS:We identified political support of SBM implementation and its acceptance amongst the population. Female community workers became key agents of SBM implementation at local level. The SBM increased toilet coverage in the study area from 15% to 85% and lowered the OD rate from 93% to 26%. It substantially reduced structural inequalities in access to toilets, furthered social sanitation norms, improved some of the attitudes towards toilet use, but impacted less on hygiene and sanitation knowledge. The implementation mainly concentrated on the construction of subsidized toilets but less on improving public understanding of safe sanitation practices.CONCLUSIONS:Although the SBM reduced sanitation inequalities in access to toilets in the study area, the behaviour change component was underplayed, focusing more on spreading normative sanitation messages and less on public education. Sustainability of the observed sanitation change remains a key question for the future. This article calls for more systematic production of geographically situated knowledge on the performance of sanitation interventions.
The non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) sector in India has undergone a significant transformation and are playing a critical role for the development of core infrastructure and financing economically weaker sections. Social media plays a multifaceted role in this industry in building trust, shaping brand identity, educating stakeholders and connecting with broader audiences through media channels. This study delves into how social media presence in five major NBFCs of India differs. The data is collected from the company's official social media handles and social media monitoring tools. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research combines quantitative data analysis of social media engagement with qualitative insights gleaned from social media coverage themes. The paper analyses the wide set of strategies to find the competitive strategies which would be helpful for competitive advantage to the companies. Strategies focused on content, engagement and platform specific strategies could be used to gain a competitive edge in the non-banking financial sector.
