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Importance and relevance of formal education continues to be a significant factor in social development and change. This is particularly important in developing countries like India, which has been traditionally and historically driven by the principle of inequality and hierarchy through religion and a caste system. Education has been a monopoly of few upper castes (especially Brahmins) whereas majority masses have been denied access to education. Education underwent significant change only after the advent of British. Although the Britishers’ goal of introducing modern education was limited to their vested interests, it was secular in nature and open to all and therefore it could reach the castes other than Brahmins. Supported by modern system of education, the industrial revolution brought modern values of life, such as equality and humanity, to India. For the first time in the history of India's education, these castes could access formal education.

This chapter probes into what happens to the beneficiaries of special provisions while they are pursuing higher education within the existing structured inequalities of caste, culture and economic diversities in the era of liberalization, globalization and privatization. Structured inequalities cannot be remedied only through corrective measures given the disadvantageous situation. Traditional factors limit the influence of modern factors such as skills, knowledge, competition and performance. Higher education in India fails to equip students to completely overcome the limits and constraints of the caste system that lead to several handicaps in social life as well as in higher education. Still, there is no viable alternative to higher education to this significant section of the Indian population – the scheduled castes – as a means to achieve social mobility in a closed society like India. Hence, it is pertinent also to understand and draw experiences of such supportive mechanisms like the Post Matric Scholarship scheme at the higher education level provided to such section(s) of Indian society.

Hugh Africa returned to South Africa in July 1994 after an absence of 30 years. His deep involvement at all levels of education – from basic to university – covers almost four decades. After obtaining the B.A. and B.A. (Hons) degrees from the University of Natal, he completed the M.A. degree at the University of Leeds and received his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. He also holds a Natal Teacher's Diploma.

Hugh Africa, Council on Higher Education (South Africa)

W.E.B. Du Bois proclaimed the colorline as the problem of the 20th century; in similar fashion, the problem of the 21st century could be characterized as the “wealth divide” or more clearly, the challenge of extreme economic disparity alongside broad socio-cultural diversity. Women-of-color scholars have used various concepts such as “the matrix of domination” (King, 1988), “intersectionality” (Collins, 1991), “borderlands” (Anzaldúa, 1987) and critical race theory (Crenshaw, 1995) to demonstrate that the “problems of the 21st century” are related to rapidly expanding diversity alongside stubbornly persistent economic inequities across race, ethnicity, gender, class, language, citizenship and nation. Extensive technological, economic, political and social changes, along with immigration, have coalesced to produce a global community of great diversity and interpenetration. Unfortunately, this global community continues to be fractured by extreme disparities in wealth, divided into “have” and “have-not” societies (Chua, 2003).

This paper is to contribute to addressing the knowledge gap on the roles of rural cooperatives in disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM).

This study adopts a mixed-methods approach highlighting indigenous strategies of community engagement – the pantatabtaval/tong tongan (brainstorming and dialogs), pan-iestorya/dad-at (storytelling session) and field observations with 50 village-level cooperatives in Benguet, Philippines to understand their contributions to local DRRM.

Rural cooperatives in Benguet have evolved on their context of service from mere rural development to now include DRRM donations and aid for disaster-affected families, credit and loans are the most common services of these rural cooperative extended to their members to deal with risks of disasters.

Most research on cooperatives focuses on their contribution to socio-economic development and only few dealt with DRRM. This paper explores the link of these rural organizations with DRRM drawing evidence from cooperatives in the rural communities of Benguet, Philippines.

The purpose is to assess Industry 4.0 (I4.0) readiness index using fuzzy logic and multi-grade fuzzy approaches in an automotive component manufacturing organization.

I4.0 implies fourth industrial revolution that necessitates vital challenges to be dealt with. In this viewpoint, this article presents the evaluation of I4.0 Readiness Index. The evaluation includes two levels with appropriate criteria and factors. Fuzzy logic approach is used for assessment. Furthermore, the results obtained from fuzzy logic have been benchmarked with multi-grade fuzzy approach.

The proposed assessment model has successfully utilized fuzzy logic approach for assessment of I4.0 readiness index of automotive component manufacturing organization. Based on fuzzy logic approach, readiness index of I4.0 has been found to be (4.74, 6.26, 7.80) which is further benchmarked using multi-grade fuzzy approach. Industry 4.0 readiness index obtained from multi-grade fuzzy approach is 6.258 and thus, validated. Furthermore, 20 weaker areas have been identified and improvement suggestions are provided.

The assessment module include two levels (Six Criteria and 50 Factors). The assessment model could be expanded based on advancements in industrial developments. Therefore, future researchers could utilize findings of the readiness model to further develop multi-level assessment module for Industry 4.0 readiness in organization. The developed readiness model helped researchers in understanding the methodology to assess I4.0 readiness of organization.

The model has been tested with reference to automotive component manufacturing organization and hence the inferences derived have practical relevance. Furthermore, the benchmarking strategy adopted in the present study is simple to understand that makes the model unique and could be applied to other organizations. The results obtained from the study reveal that fuzzy logic-based readiness model is efficient to assess I4.0 readiness of industry.

The development of model for I4.0 readiness assessment and further analysis is the original contribution of the authors. The developed fuzzy logic based I4.0 readiness model indicated the readiness level of an organization using I4RI. Also, the model provided weaker areas based on FPII values which is essential to improve the readiness of organization that already began with the adoption of I4.0 concepts. Further modification in the readiness model would help in enhancing I4.0 readiness of organization. Moreover, the benchmarking strategy adopted in the study i.e. MGF would help to validate the computed I4.0 readiness.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse performance (on efficiency) of agricultural cooperatives in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The empirical investigation is motivated by the dearth of empirical literature on agricultural cooperatives’ performance measurement and its correlates.

The study employed DEA and applied the input minimisation constraint. The authors used the data from 19 agricultural cooperatives which had complied with reporting on their annual financial statements (AFS) in the financial year 2014/2015. The input variables were total assets and total expenses, and the output variables were revenue and profit.

The average technical efficiency was found to be 72 per cent efficient indicating the presence of 28 per cent resource wastages. Of the 19 decision-making units, only 5 (26 per cent) were 100 per cent efficient. It should be noted that the 26 per cent that were technically efficient were also operating at constant returns to scale (optimal resource allocation).

Data limitation was with regard to 19 cooperatives, which means that if more agricultural cooperatives could be analysed, the results will be different.

There are more than 60 agricultural cooperatives in the province, and yet only 19 could report on their AFS. This is an indication that there is a gap in governance, and policy makers and government need to revisit support, over and above funding, and issues of governance have to be strengthened.

Agricultural cooperatives are created as vehicles that can stimulate the economy and contribute towards job creation. If the cooperatives do not perform or are not sustainable, the socio-economic conditions of the communities in which they operate will never realise the economic gains.

The study was necessitated by the continued focus on government based on the cooperatives, as there is a dearth of empirical literature separating managers’ reports and empirically proven studies/results.