Incubating Change in India: WE Hub’s Role in Advancing Women-Led Startups in Telangana State

The article is devoted to the study of both theoretical aspects of tax stimulation of the development of entrepreneurship in rural areas, as well as the preferential norms for taxation of enterprises that carry out their economic activities in rural areas, provided for in the current legislation of Ukraine, as one of the effective ways of stimulating their development. The relevance of this issue, especially in the conditions of the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, is confirmed both in scientific circles and by the survey of business representatives, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, conducted after the start of the full-scale invasion. The norms of the current legislation of Ukraine on such main directions of tax stimulation of the development of enterprises in rural areas, which were characteristic of the domestic legislation in different periods of its development, were separately studied, such as: write-off and restructuring of tax debt; reduction of the taxation rate by separate taxes; exemption from payment of certain types of taxes and fees (mandatory payments), introduction of special taxation regimes. On the basis of the conducted research, the advantages and disadvantages of each of these mechanisms of tax incentives were analyzed. It was revealed that, as of today, one of the main preferential tax regimes inherent in enterprises carrying out their economic activities in rural areas is a simplified system of taxation, accounting and reporting. Taking this into account, and in the context of government initiatives to impose an additional fiscal burden in the form of a military levy, in particular, on taxpayers of the third group of single taxes, a proposal is made to balance such a burden at least for a part of taxpayers who carry out their activities in the least favorable rural areas, including the territories affected by the consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, by reducing the taxation rate with a single tax to 2 percent for the period of martial law and for several years after its termination.

Depressive nature of the rural areas development increases the risks of economic security of Ukraine in the space-regional dimension. The diversify economic activity is a strategic tool for min-imization of these risks. The purpose of research is the development of priority areas of the diversi-fication of economic activities in rural areas in the context of minimizing the economic security risks. The methodology of research is formed on the basis of such methods as system analysis, syn-thesis, scientific abstraction, statistical classification, project and organizational method. In the pa-per the correlation between the diversification of economic activities in rural areas and minimiza-tion of economic security risks is analyzed. The author estimates the level of diversification of agri-cultural production. The growth of rural employment, increase of revenues to local budgets, the formation of added value, improvement and development of human capital, reducing human pres-sure on natural ecosystems are considered to be the incentives to promote diversification of eco-nomic activity. The author proposes the priority areas for diversification of economic activities in rural areas, including the development of rural ecotourism, timber and woodwork industry, fishery, services and trade, alternative energy.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to verify the development of economic activities in rural areas in terms of their public infrastructural equipment.Design/methodology/approachAs a case study, the Polish rural areas were selected. A two-stage survey was conducted in 2015. The first stage involved entrepreneurs from rural areas. The second stage of survey was data collection for rural areas regarding economic activity and infrastructural equipment. In total, 121 objects (communes) were selected. The multicriteria analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used for the analysis.FindingsThe results demonstrate that for each kind of business, communication accessibility is the most important criterion. By contrast, environmental awareness and concern for the environment is the least important element for pursuit of the economic activity in rural areas.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations are connected mainly with the applied AHP method. The number of the comparable elements at the same hierarchy level is limited due to practical purposes. In addition, an assumption of full comparability of elements (criteria and alternatives) in the hierarchy model can be discussed. Furthermore, data quality and availability limit the scope of the empirical work. This study is a major simplification of reality modeling, but it gives practical benefits by simplifying the decision support procedure.Practical implicationsThe findings of this paper contribute to the advancing theory of local development, with public infrastructure being one of its basic elements (factor of production). This paper explores the importance of physical infrastructure for different economic activities, and thus offers theoretical insights in two areas. First, this paper indicates the uneven weight of each infrastructure element for the various business sectors. Second, based on the collected data, this study also contributes to the literature, by using the AHP method to explore the relationships between infrastructural equipment and economic activity in rural areas. As the practical implication for local and regional development policies, this study indicates, that the most important criterion for each kind of economic activity is communication accessibility. This kind of public investment should be undertaken primarily to support entrepreneurship, especially in rural areas.Originality/valueThe uniqueness of the method lies in assumption about the uneven weights of infrastructure elements and therefore their impact on the process of ranking the objects (rural areas). The weight of individual infrastructure elements will vary depending on the kind of economic activity; therefore, the way of ordering will also be different for each economic activity.

Production of Medicinal Herbs, an Approach to Sustain the Rural Economy (Case Study: Villages in Ghochan County)

Economic policy in India is governed by the neoclassical growth theory as growth being an answer to all problems. This has led to the design of policies that focuses on the expansion of economic activity in urban areas. The underlying assumption is that economic activity in rural areas will gear up with trickling down of benefits sourced in urban areas. This oversimplified understanding of the economy has led to a lopsided development where the gap between rural and urban areas has been widening. Employment of rural women is one of the biggest casualties of this growth policy. Rural women in Punjab, one of the most developed states, have been bearing the brunt of current economic policies. The prevailing gender norms restrict women from travelling outside their villages for work. While men migrate or travel to urban areas for work, women in rural areas have largely become unemployed or underemployed, given the dearth of employment in rural areas. Findings of the primary survey, conducted in rural areas of Punjab, show that the majority of women are willing to work if work is available within the village. The growth policies focussed on urban areas has not only led to adverse employment outcome for these women, but also has kept a large share of workforce out of productive employment. COVID-19 pandemic has further hurt the employment prospect of women. The initial trends suggest that women’s employment is more severely hit than their male counterparts. The governments are increasingly using the same set of policies to fight the economic fallout of the pandemic. Such policies are unlikely to benefit women in rural areas. The pandemic has further increased their cost of travel. In addition to the cost of breaking social norms, they have to risk the infection to reach urban areas for work. The increased restrictions on public transport have increased the monetary cost of travel. In such a scenario, women are likely to find the cost of travelling to urban areas for work more than the expected earnings. The economic policy, for an inclusive development, must focus on creating infrastructure and businesses, especially those which can employ women, to create jobs in rural areas. Such a policy will not only create better employment opportunities in rural areas but will also lead to higher growth and faster recovery.

The research in Donohardjo, Ngaglik, Sleman, has two objects: 1) to know the effect of the economic crisis on the women’s economic activities in rural areas, 2) to know the differences between the incomes from the women’s economic activities in the rural area before and after the economic crisis. The result of the research shows that the wide of the area or land is up to 660.9 ha. Most of the areas which have been used for the agricultural activities, are up to 63%. The ownership of the small field is indicated by the fact that 72.5% village respondents have the land or field less than 0.25 ha. The economic crisis which has begun since 1997 has influenced most of the farmers in the research areas in retaining the continuity of their agricultural activities, because of the delay in getting the facilities of the agricultural production, marketing the product and providing the facilities of the agricultural production, marketing the product and providing the capital, work place, competed ability and workforce are only done by62.5% of the women. Te economic crisis influences the quality of rural women’s income Keywords: economic crisis, economic activities of women’s rural

In the modern conditions of transformation of entrepreneurship in rural areas, management of financial and economic activities of enterprises is a dynamic process that requires the use of modern methods and concepts that could increase competitiveness and efficiency of activity, as well as neutralize possible negative consequences of the influence of external environmental factors. The lack of their clear classification makes it difficult to choose the appropriate methods, taking into account the needs and goals of a particular enterprise. Based on the literature review and the implementation of the method of decomposition, the article defines the nature of the term «management methods for the enterprises’ financial and economic activities in rural areas». It also describes the management methods for an enterprise and the financial and economic activities of business entities. Taking into account the methods of comparative assessment, a set of management methods has been created. Business entities located in rural areas of Ukraine can use it to manage their financial and economic activities. The article has focused on the comparative assessment of special methods (change management methods) in the context of their implementation to manage the enterprises’ financial and economic activities in rural areas of the country. It is clarified that the set of concepts presented in the article should be aimed at optimizing business processes and improving the quality of production activities and form separate cycles of improving the mechanism of managing the financial and economic activities of the enterprise, as a result, the improvement process itself becomes permanent.

The development of economic activity is carried out in rural areas in two directions. The first and main direction is the functioning of the agricultural economy with the use of land, water, forest and other natural resources. The main task of agricultural activity is the production of agricultural products, raw materials and food. This helps to ensure food security as well as jobs for rural people. Unfortunately, the organizational and legal forms of farming in the countryside have changed in the context of socio-economic transformations caused by modern land and agrarian reforms. In addition, the number of economic entities dropped sharply. Many rural settlements do not have agricultural organizations and an agrarian economy today – for the above reasons. The issue of employment of the rural population and the provision of its well-being is relevant especially in connection with the same reasons. The development of non-agricultural activities in rural areas can be a solution to these problems. The authors consider in the article precisely the second direction of development of economic activity in rural areas – non-agricultural activities. The authors of the article investigate how the legal regulation of various types of activities that are not related to agricultural production affects the well-being of the rural population.

Integrated rural development is one of the most important strategic objectives of regional policy. One of the promising types of economic activity in rural areas is tourism. According to statistics, the main flows of tourist arrivals in the Novgorod region are in several key areas, while the potential of other areas remains unused. The article provides an overview of the current state of tourist and recreational activities in rural areas in the region, analyzes the importance of rural tourism, and reveals the possibilities of its organization.

The article analyzes the conditions for establishing and implementing activities in the field of rural (green) tourism at the regional level. The concept of "rural (green) tourism" has been investigated and the author's own definition of "rural (green) tourism" has been proposed. It is stated that running a tourism business in rural areas is a socially significant type of entrepreneurial activity that contributes to the sustainable development of rural areas: infrastructure development, improvement of the quality of life, increase of local population's income, creation of jobs, support and preservation of traditions and culture, environmental protection. During the investigation, it was found that entrepreneurial activity in the field of rural (green) tourism is an important area of territorial development of Ukraine and an alternative type of economic activity in rural areas. The analysis of the conditions for the development of rural (green) tourism at the micro and macro levels has made it possible to state the fact of the dynamic development of this type of tourism activity. After conducting a territorial analysis of the development of rural (green) tourism in Ukraine, there have been identified the regions (oblasts) where this type of tourism activity has become particularly prevalent. It is mentioned that rural (green) tourism can act as an innovative form of entrepreneurial activity in rural areas, which can be a solution to many problems for the rural population. The results of the marketing analysis regarding the specifiсity of doing business in the field of rural (green) tourism in Cherkasy region made it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the tourism business environment and to outline the advantages and disadvantages of the territory. The factors of development of rural (green) tourism in Cherkasy region are defined and considered. It is summarized that Cherkasy region possesses a significant natural and material resource for the development of rural (green) tourism. Nevertheless, there are complex problems that impede the development of a given type of tourism. The awareness of existing problems, reduction of problematic aspects and strengthening of competitive advantages will allow the development of rural (green) tourism in the region.

The impact of human activity on the environment is becoming increasingly evident in the modern world. Growing industrialization, the use of natural resources, and environmental pollution lead to serious environmental problems at the global level. In this context, preserving natural resources in rural areas is particularly important. Villages and rural areas, an essential component of society, also play a crucial role in ensuring environmental and economic sustainability. Balanced environmental and economic sustainability in rural areas is a task that requires a comprehensive approach and interaction between different actors, including local authorities, communities, businesses, and civil society organizations. Environmental sustainability involves preserving the diversity of nature, maintaining ecosystems, and using resources rationally without harming the environment. Economic sustainability is the development of agriculture and enterprises that provide vital goods and services while preserving the region's ecological integrity. The study aims to analyze the ecological and economic sustainability of rural areas and provide recommendations on preserving natural resources and ensuring their sustainable development. This article analyzes various aspects of the environmental and economic sustainability of rural areas in Ukraine. The importance of preserving natural resources, the possibility of using new technologies for sustainable agriculture, and the role of communities and the state in achieving these goals are considered. The trends and critical issues are assessed across dimensions like natural resource management, pollution in rural areas, etc., drawing upon data from national statistics, government reports, academic studies, and field surveys. It is determined that it is necessary to implement measures aimed at conserving natural resources to ensure the sustainable development of rural areas. This is achieved by introducing resource-saving and environmentally friendly technologies, developing alternative energy sources, promoting environmental culture, and improving the socio-economic situation in rural areas. This is achieved by creating new jobs, developing infrastructure, and providing social services. An essential condition for ensuring the sustainable development of rural areas is an integrated approach that considers all these factors. Rural areas play an essential role in ensuring food security and sustainable development of the country. However, in the process of economic activity in rural areas, significant environmental and economic problems arise that threaten the sustainability of these areas. Particular attention should be focused on integrated approaches that enhance synergies between the economic, environmental, and social spheres rather than individual initiatives. The importance of involving rural residents is emphasized to implement sustainability principles in rural lifestyles and institutions. Keywords: sustainable development, rural areas of Ukraine, theoretical aspects, practical aspects, environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, natural resource conservation, agriculture, communities.

The study is oriented to the need to strengthen economic activities in rural areas through team entrepreneurship. This is against the need to address structural inequalities and poverty levels in rural communities within the Eastern Cape Province. The perspective that team and collective entrepreneurial effort may be a relevant strategy to accelerate entrepreneurial activity in rural areas given the general position that the philosophy of collectivism is firmly entrenched in the South African rural society and team ventures may be more resilient and relevant as it allows the sharing use of material, intellectual and financial resources. The study adoption a qualitative research approach where data was collected through focus group discussions with some entrepreneurs in the Eastern Cape Province and data was analysed to establish central themes that inform prospects for team entrepreneurship. The results of the study showed that the prospects for the adoption of team entrepreneurship are weak due to institutional and structural entrepreneurial policies and strategies that are aligned to the sole entrepreneur perspective. Improving team entrepreneurship calls for context specific and community driven policies in entrepreneurship development. This would imply significant transformation of the South Africa entrepreneurial policy strategy. It is recommended that the South African entrepreneurial strategy should be reformed towards context focus and the promotion of localised values and culture systems such as ubuntu and collectivism in support of team entrepreneurship.

Management of Agricultural Irrigation and Non-Farm Economic Activities in Rural Areas - Preliminary Studies

The European Commission has paid and is paying particular attention to rural development by increasing the measures and the resources available in order to enhance the environment, the quality of life in rural areas and also provides incentives to diversify economic activities in rural areas. The current European delimitation of rural areas is the result of the application of OECD methodology. According to this methodology, the level of population density is the common and only criterion adopted. This indicator can be interpreted as a direct function of attractiveness: the higher the population, the more attractive an area and vice versa. However, the concept of rural can have different definitions, influenced by the economic, social, political needs or contexts, added to which the application of the OEDC methodology tends to flatten different situations. The most important processes of change that the methodology is not able to identify are the urbanisation trend which entices population and economic activity out of more remote rural areas into urban and accessible rural areas and the counter-urbanisation flow from urban regions into accessible rural areas. The final aim of the Chapter is to evaluate whether both current and new strategies are coherent with territorial needs and whether the inherent territorial disparities require a tailored definition and policy. Consequently, the analysis takes into consideration the different European socio-economic situation, the agricultural and forestry sectors, the levels of diversification and the quality of life and the state of the environment.

Rural and urban spaces are usually regarded as separate in both development theory and practice. Yet there are myriad links between them. Urban areas, including regional urban centers such as local market towns, provide households with new opportunities to sell goods and services. These opportunities increase household income by employing previously unemployed household resources or because households reallocate household resources so as to take advantage of new, more profitable activities. Links to market towns improve the prices received by rural households because households can benefit from increased demand for their goods or because the larger market is better able to absorb production from rural areas without causing prices to decline. These links allow households access to a wider variety of productive inputs and services, to better quality inputs or to inputs that are available on a timely basis. Benefits in terms of price, variety, and quality also apply to the purchase of goods for consumption. Despite the many potential benefits, the importance of local and regional urban centers (towns and small- and medium-size cities, as opposed to large cities and metropolitan areas) to rural livelihoods remains largely under-researched. Knowing more about the nature of links of rural households to market towns is important for guiding regional development policies and poverty-reduction strategies. This paper uses longitudinal data from 15 villages in rural Ethiopia to explore the nature and consequences of these links. It addresses the following questions: (1) What are the links between rural households and local urban centers? (2) Does better access to local market towns affect household economic behavior? and (3) Does better access to local market towns make households better off? Three core findings emerge. First, rural households undertake a significant proportion of their economic transactions in local market towns. These localities are the site for about half the purchases of inputs used in agricultural production, from a quarter to three-quarters of sales of crops and livestock. They are the primary location of the sale of artisanal products, particularly by women. More than half of household purchases of consumables and various types of foods occur in these market towns. Strikingly, these are, largely, the only urban localities in which these rural households undertake economic activities. Apart from remittances, there are few direct links with more distant urban centers or the capital city. Second, access to market towns affects economic activity in rural areas. The more remote they are from these towns, the less likely households are to purchase inputs or sell a variety of products. Third, improved access to market towns has positive effects on welfare. Improving the presence of roads and their quality and improved transport increases consumption outcomes: the effects are substantial and strongly significant. Furthermore, communities with better roads have persistently higher growth rates than others. More remote communities in terms of distance to town have a (relatively weak) tendency to grow slower, beyond any of the effects related to infrastructure. Development debates are predicated on the separateness of urban and rural spaces. But while one should be cautious in overinterpreting the results from this study, given the relatively small number of localities, the results suggest that local market towns and cities play a key role in providing space for the economic activities of rural households. Their role in connecting urban and rural areas suggests that drawing too strong a divide between rural and urban localities, and envisioning that economic activities are confined to respective urban and rural areas, are misleading. Rather than seeing the urban and rural sectors as being distinct, a more fruitful approach is to see them as a continuum, running from the capital city, to larger regional centers, to smaller market towns, to the rural spaces in which our respondents live. The extent to which a strategy focusing more on urban or rural localities will ?spill over? onto the other will depend on how closely they are tied together. In our results, market towns and cities are an important source of demand for products produced in rural areas, and rural residents are a source of demand for goods sold in urban areas. Improving the presence of roads, their quality, and improved transport are important factors that will further bind these spaces together and improve rural welfare.