One of the most important issues facing India’s development and governance for a long time has been out-of-pocket health spending (OOPE). The cost of illness continues to force millions of people into poverty year, even in the face of consistent economic development and advancements in health metrics. Launched in 2018, the Ayushman Bharat Programme is the most comprehensive health finance reform in India’s history. It combines financial risk protection through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) with the development of primary healthcare through Health and Wellness Centers. By offering complete primary care and cashless hospitalization for secondary and tertiary diseases, the program seeks to lower OOPE. This research paper assesses whether Ayushman Bharat has succeeded in achieving this goal. The study concludes that Ayushman Bharat has decreased hospitalization-related financial shocks for covered households, but has not substantially changed the overall structure of OOPE in India. It bases this conclusion on official secondary data from the National Health Accounts (NHA), National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), and international benchmarks, as well as evidence from recent academic assessments. Furthermore, uneven state-level implementation and reliance on private providers continue to constrain its impact. The paper concludes that Ayushman Bharat has been a step in the right direction but requires expansion, regulation, and integration with universal health coverage strategies to meaningfully reduce OOPE and protect households from impoverishment.

Keywords: Ayushman Bharat, OOPE, PMJAY, NHA.

The relational dynamics of the early stages of cultural life were established to maintain social harmony, cohesion, solidarity, and social order. The fundamental relational values also played a role in establishing principles for the progression of civilization. This article explains the insight that can be gained by an analysis of humanity’s initial relational values, which prompts a social theory critique of social contract theorists claim regarding human and social ontology. A special emphasis is placed on explaining the connection between normative patterns of social behavior that have been taught and passed down since the emergence of human culture, relationality as a fundamental social dynamic, and contemporary social theory.

Most people will accept that humans are social by nature. However, few recognize the connection between the relational dynamics established at the earliest stages of cultural life and the principles that shaped the progression of civilization. In fact, throughout the history of civilization relational norms have provided social theorists and socio-political philosophers insight into how to transform the complexity of social life, the vast differences in the interests and values of the individuals and competing social groups of society, and the competition for natural resources into nonviolent means of achieving the good of all.

Keywords and phrases: relationality, social theory, the social dynamics at the earliest stages of cultural life, social ontology, primary values.

This paper is based on the conducted field work in the five Kolam a Particurly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) villages of Nanded district of Maharashtra. The major aim of this paper was to explore impacts of advance and modern agriculture on the loss of tribal culture. Tribal Communities like Kolam PVTGs in Maharashtra is losing their culture through the process of advanced and modernization of agriculture. Under the name of development and modernization, state is modernizing tribal agriculture by providing modern and advanced agricultural technologies, High Yielding Varieties and hybrid of seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. As result of this, tribal farmers are adopting modern and advanced agricultural technologies, mono and cash cropping patterns. They are losing their old aged indigenous agricultural systems, multi cropping patterns, subsistence agriculture and indigenous techniques of doing agriculture. State and its agencies are providing and motivating tribal farmers to the mono cropping and cash cropping. In the present context, the Kolam farmers are in dualism between the traditional and modernity. The old generation is worried about the loss of indigenous knowledge, skills and arts of doing agriculture on the one side and on the other side; they are losing their collectivity, social relationship and culture associated with the agriculture. The Kolam has developed spiritual and religious relationships with the land, local deities, trees and animals. On the Certain occasions, such as, land preparations, sowing, weeding and harvesting, the tribal farmers celebrated certain agricultural rituals, festivals and functions. They also worship land in the form of mother earth and Goddess. Thus, these local tribal farmers developed their culture along with the agriculture. But in the present context, due to the outside interventions, modernization and commercialization of agriculture is replacing the old aged indigenous agricultural systems of the tribes based on their own wisdoms, experiences and knowledge.

Keywords: Agriculture, Crops, Commercialization, Culture, Implements, Loss and Modernization.

Female puberty rituals, centered on menarche, function as critical rites of passage that mark the transition from girlhood to womanhood across diverse societies. These ceremonies recognize physiological maturation while imbuing it with cultural meanings, often framing menstrual blood paradoxically as a symbol of vigour (fertility, spiritual potency) and impurity (pollution, danger to manhood), leading to taboos that enforce seclusion, restrictions, and exclusion from power domains. Drawing on Arnold van Gennep’s tripartite model (separation, liminality, incorporation) and Victor Turner’s concepts of liminality and communitas, this article analyzes global indigenous and tribal examples—from transformative African (Krobo Dipo, Bemba Chisungu) and American (Navajo Kinaaldá, Apache Na’ii’ees) rituals celebrating renewal to restrictive Asian practices mediated by caste hierarchies. Findings reveal universal structures but varied liminal experiences: empowering communitas in supportive contexts versus oppressive control in pollution-framed ones. Socially, rituals foster identity, solidarity, and resilience, yet often reproduce gender and intersectional inequalities. Transformations amid globalization integrate health education while preserving the essence. Critically, menstruation taboos serve as exclusionary mechanisms, amplified by caste in India, highlighting rituals as contested arenas. The study advocates for reframing vigour narratives to promote equity and indigenous-led adaptations.

Keywords: Caste mediation; Communitas; Female initiation; Intersectionality; Liminality; Menstruation taboos; Rites of passage.

This paper provides a thorough historical and intersectional examination of Dalit feminist discussions within the geopolitical landscape of Uttarakhand. Utilizing critical historical analysis, it explores the intricate and interrelated social hierarchies of caste, class, and patriarchy that have historically influenced the lived realities of Dalit women in this region. The research establishes a framework for understanding the historical differences in vulnerability and sexual autonomy among Dalit women, comparing their experiences to prevailing socio-political narratives. It critically uncovers the lingering impact of social exclusion and systemic harassment ingrained in historical structures, emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive recognition and reparative justice for these marginalized individuals.

By closely analyzing significant local struggles—particularly the Dola-Palki movement and the Kaflta Hatyakand—the paper contextualizes the rise of intersectional resistance against gendered and caste-related violence. These events act as historical case studies that demonstrate the active negotiation of power and the assertion of agency by Dalit women. Ultimately, the analysis positions key ideological frameworks and influential figures within the specific historical and cultural context of Uttarakhand, offering scholarly insights into the ongoing struggles, resilience, and intellectual contributions of Dalit women’s movements toward achieving a more equitable future.

Keywords: Dalit Feminism, Intersectionality, Shilpkar Women, Uttarakhand, Caste-Based Violence, Triple Oppression.

Trade and the environment have symbiotic relations having the negative and positive impact on each other. It is the post industrialisation phase of trade and that has a detrimental impact on environment in fact many studies suggests that uninterrupted growth of traditional form of trade has resulted into global warming posing a serious challenge to environment. Therefore one may ask is trade good or bad for the environment? The answer is not obvious. One of the potential responses to this challenge has come in form of web of national and international laws regulating the trade for protection and promotion of environment. The past two decades have seen a proliferation of national environmental laws and international environmental agreements along with a rapid expansion of international trade and investment. For the most part, the two regimes environmental protection and international trade have developed independently. Many of the rules for trade were put in place before the environment was widely viewed as a matter for global concern. A number of environmental laws and agreements, including some of the most far-reaching, might conflict with current trade rules. The environmental implications of efforts to liberalize trade are poorly understood, and efforts by governments and international bodies to determine how different trade patterns and policies affect the environment are still in their infancy. Generalizations about whether the net environmental effects from liberalizing trade will be positive or negative are usually too simplistic to be much use for policymaking. The actual effects depend on the specific context, including different nations’ capabilities to implement effective environmental protection regimes. The trade community is concerned about the trade impacts of measures taken in the name of the environment. These measures include both domestic environmental regulations, which can have side effects on trade, and explicit trade restrictions taken in the name of environmental concerns. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) from last two decades taking it seriously and try to creating balance between the environment and trade. To meeting the challenges of nature conservation the governments of the countries must state their policies without any ambiguity with clear perception and implement them wisely and create the collective responsibility with the duty of individual. The state’s government must focus on the sustainable development and reduce the carbon emissions in this regard the trade communities must help the developing countries. This research papers makes a modest approach to study the symbiotic relationship between trade regulating laws and their impact on the environment with specific reference to India.

Keywords: Trade, Environment, Global Warming, World Trade Organisation, governance