Sustainable development of a country is closely related to the level of inclusion of the population into the financial net. Financial Inclusion is the issue at global level. Various authors have developed the Financial Inclusion Index based on different dimensions.The present study tries to assess the correlation between the Usage Dimension of Financial Inclusion Index and literacy level in India. Correlation has been statistically tested by using Karl Pearson coefficient of correlation. The results depict a large variation in extent of correlation among the different states of the country with a very low correlation at the national level. Thus, the Government should promote the use of Information Communication Technology models like biometric ATM, telecentres to achieve Financial Inclusion in India as these models does not compulsorily requires high literacy levels.Index Terms-India, financial inclusion, financial exclusion, literacy rate.

Gender gaps in wages are a reflection of inequality and discrimination. This exists across region, sector, type of work and other divisions. Discrimination, is a presence of inequalities between male and female workers with similar skills and in similar occupations. Therefore only understanding wage inequality may be looking at the problem partially. Using the Indian National Sample Survey, the paper examines the facets of gender-based wage inequality and discrimination in regular and casual workers. First, Theil index is calculated to interpret within and between groups inequalities. Then, a Three-fold Oaxaca decomposition method is utilised to divide the wage gaps between explained, unexplained and interaction components. Results show that even though the returns on education are higher for women than men at each level of education, females continue to earn less. Wage gaps largely attributed to unexplained components and more prominent in occupational divisions. Discrimination is greater in regular employment as compared to casual employment; higher in urban as compared to rural areas and gets worse at lower level of occupations. It is also observed that women workers are discriminated against on the basis of age; and gender inequalities are worse than social inequalities.

No abstract

Caste-based wage discrimination can counteract the development process. This article uses two distinct estimation methods to examine earning gaps between forward castes also referred to as ‘general category’ workers and traditionally disadvantaged or ‘backward caste’ workers in the Indian labour market. First, we interpret the inequality indicator of the Theil index and decompose Theil to show within and between-group inequalities. Second, a Threefold Oaxaca Decomposition is employed to break earnings differentials into components of endowment, coefficient and interaction. Earning gaps are examined separately in urban and rural divisions. Within-group inequalities are found larger than between groups across variables, with a higher overall inequality for forward castes. Wage differentials are substantially greater for urban areas and favour FC. A high endowment implies pre-market discrimination in human capital investments such as nutrition and education. Policymakers should first invest in basic quality education and simultaneously expand postgraduate diploma opportunities, subsequently increasing participation in the labour force for traditionally disadvantaged in disciplines and occupations where forward castes have long dominated. JEL Codes: J01, J08, J15, J30, J31, J71

No abstract