Contemporary Voice of Dalit entrepreneurship: An Empirical Evidences (A compilation of case studies with reference to Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), Tamil Nadu.

Research in collaboration with

Dr.S.Lalitha, Assistant Professor, Department Social Work,
Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur and
Dr. Selvaraj Arulnathan S.J., Director, Indian Social Institute, Banglore.

In India, entrepreneurship is given considerable significance since ages as it enhances country’s economic growth and generates employment opportunities. For promoting entrepreneurship among Dalit community, there are various institutions like Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, National Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation (NSCFDC), Ministry of Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME) and Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) are some of the institutions which encourage skill development and entrepreneurship among the Dalit community in general. Of them, DICCI is a unique institution and a resource hub, to instil the spirit of entrepreneurship among Dalit youth to make them contribute to the nation’s economy through wealth creation. Further it expanding its objectives to bring all the Dalit Entrepreneurs under one umbrella and become a one-stop resource centre for existing and aspiring Dalit entrepreneurs. It creates platform to develop their business leadership for empowerment. Further it brings all Dalit entrepreneurs together to promote entrepreneurship and realise it as a solution to their socio-economic problems. Encouraging Dalit Entrepreneurs and providing venture support are the salient features of DICCI. The present study aims to analyse the role and function of DICCI in Tamil Nadu, in promoting Dalit Entrepreneurship, to ascertain the impact created by DICCI among ten successful Dalits entrepreneurs and to study the challenges faced by DICCI in executing its activities. As a qualitative study, by using purposive sampling for in-depth interviews with office bearers and key officials from of DICCI and Case studies, FGD will be considered to obtain data from the successful youth entrepreneurs from the Dalit communities.

Dr.S.Ilavarasi

Research Associate of Centre for Social Justice and Equity of Madras School of Social Work has completed her master’s and M.Phil. degrees in women’s studies. She did her doctoral research on ‘Women and Water: Problems and Possibilities of Water Governance – AMicrostudy in Tamil Nadu’ and awarded her Ph.D. in 2019. She has two years of experience as a Research Associate at the State Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (SIRD & PR) of Government of Tamil Nadu in the period of 2018–2020, in which she has engaged with action research projects primarily focusing on gender and Sustainable Development Goals. She has been engaging in gender sensitization training programmes, menstrual hygiene management trainings, and sexual harassment against women. She had teaching experience as guest lecturer in women’s studies at Bharathidasan University and University of Madras for two years. She has published research papers and journals on gender and water governance. She has also produced documentaries on the themes of marginalised communities includes dalits, tribes, and women. She has participated and organised various national and international conferences.