Economic Empowerment of Dalit Women Through Entrepreneurship in Coimbatore District

Abstract

Entrepreneurship plays an important role in the discovery of knowledge and the turning newlineof that knowledge into future goods and services through industrial innovations. In today s newlineWorld, women entrepreneurs are playing very vital role and they have become important part newlineof the global business environment and it is really important for the sustained economic newlinedevelopment and social progress. (Amit Kumar and Rahul varma, 2002). Entrepreneurship newlinedevelopment among women can be considered as a possible approach to economic newlineempowerment of women. newlineEntrepreneurship among dalit women is a recent phenomenon and dalit women newlineentrepreneurship has been recognized as an important source of economic growth. By newlineestablishing their new ventures, dalit women entrepreneurs generate new jobs for themselves newlineand others (Vijaya Kumar and Naresh, 2013). However, status of Dalit women entrepreneurs newlinein India is poor. Though these people have commitment to hard work, they have failed to newlineattract the upper caste people or the upper caste people are not ready to accept the economic newlineempowerment of dalit women entrepreneurs. newlineAs per 2011 Census, in Tamil Nadu dalit women constitute 2,02,051 accounting for newline12.5 percent of total population. (Primary Census Abstract, 2011) and there were 18.12 newlinethousands dalit entrepreneurs accounting for 15 percent of the total entrepreneurs (Dalit Indian newlineChamber of Commerce and Industry, 2011). At the District level in Coimbatore there were newline5,58,727 dalit people of which 3,27,791 were men and 2,30,936 were women in 2011 newline(www.coimbatore.nic.in). Dalit women in Coimbatore are involved in various enterprises like newlinemanufacturing, business and service and there were 821 dalit women entrepreneurs registered newlinewith District Industries Centre in 2011-12 (Annual Report of Coimbatore District Industries newlineCentre, 2012) OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY newline To study the socio economic profile of dalit women entrepreneurs; newline To identify the motivating factors of dalit women entrepreneurs; newline To find out the strengths, weakness, opportunities