This document outlines a proposed study on the competencies, opportunities, and constraints faced by Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs in rural Karnataka. The study aims to understand how entrepreneurship impacts the economic empowerment of Scheduled Castes. It will survey 3000 Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs across 30 districts to assess their socioeconomic conditions, involvement in business activities, and effectiveness of government programs. The study seeks to identify competencies, opportunities, and constraints, and provide recommendations to improve the status of Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs in rural Karnataka. This research addresses gaps in previous studies and employs mixed methods and triangulation to provide novel insights.

1. COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS, OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE AND
CONSTRAINTS FACED BY THE ENTREPRENEURS OF SCHEDULED
CASTE COMMUNITIES IN RURAL KARNATAKA
DR. MUNIRAJU M.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPT. OF STUDIES AND RESEARCH IN ECONOMICS
TUMKUR UNIVERSITY, TUMAKURU, KARNATAKA.

2. INTRODUCTION
 Development of economy of any nation or that of any community depends
primarily on the important role played by entrepreneurs.
 Various studies have revealed that Enterprises owned by members of
Scheduled Castes tend to be smaller, employ fewer labourers from outside
the family, and belong to the informal or unorganized sector.
 In spite of the earnest and consecutive efforts by the governments over a
period of two decades, the share of Scheduled Castes in firm ownership and
employment generation has not been satisfactory.

3.  There are about 101 communities recognized as Scheduled Castes in
Karnataka.
 Most of them live in the rural parts of the state and lack ownership rights and
access to means of production and distribution even to this day.
 Promotion of self-reliance by promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship is seen
as the best way to tackle issues pertaining to poverty and usher in an era of
development.
 It is in this context that the present study hopes to make a valuable
contribution by trying to identify the competencies required, opportunities
available and constraints faced by these communities living in rural parts of
Karnataka.

4. RESEARCH WORKS REVIEWED
 Surinder S. Jodhka (2010) in his research paper focuses on self-employed Dalits in
business and small-scale entrepreneurship. Apart from reflecting on the consequences of
expanding private sector, the paper addresses unsought questions of collective prejudiced
emanating from tradition which has not crippled their prospects in the markets but are known
to share self-image and identification. It is argued that while the available data provides
indications of the employment patterns, yet questions related to the patterns of their social
and economic mobility, kinds of barriers encountered in the process of setting up their
enterprise remain unanswered.
 D. Babu Shyam (2004) in his research paper discusses the means by which liberlisation can
be tied to social justice, and argues that the extension of reservation policy to government
purchases, dealerships and contracts would encourage entrepreneurship among Dalits.

5.  Gopal Guru’s (2012) study analyses the Dalit millionaire as a spectacle within the context of
caste, corporate sector and the state using Debords framework of the ideology of spectacle
as false consciousness which forges a fake association between a person or a social
collectivity and the spectacle.
 Paramasivan et al. (2013) in their research paper show how entrepreneurship is the only
way to improve the sustainable development of the country which brings fruitful results in
employment, flow of capital, innovation, utilization of resources and overall socio-economic
conditions of the people particularly those who are downtrodden in the society Dalit in
business is an emerging area in the socio-economic issues of the country; members of Dalit
entrepreneurs involving themselves in entrepreneurship have gradually increased due to
changing attitude of the educated Dalit youth, Government policies encouraging
entrepreneurship and so on

6. IDENTIFICATION OF RESEARCH GAP
 In all the studies reviewed, the researcher has found that the existing studies
focus on entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste communities only on a
small scale.
 Most of these studies have analysed the performance of women
entrepreneurs only.
 Also, so far, no attempt has been made to analyse the experiences of
Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs in Karnataka.
 As such the current study is unique as it hopes to find out how far the
involvement in entrepreneurship by Scheduled Castes helps to improve their
economic empowerment.

7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Objectives of the Study:
 To study the socio–economic condition of Scheduled Caste
entrepreneurs in the rural parts of Karnataka.
 To understand the involvement of Scheduled Caste communities in
various entrepreneurial activities in rural parts of Karnataka.
 To analyse the effectiveness of Government entrepreneurial
programmes available for the upliftment of Scheduled Castes in
Karnataka.

8.  To assess the competency types and levels of Scheduled Caste
entrepreneurs in the rural parts of Karnataka.
 To study the opportunities available to Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs in rural
parts of Karnataka.
 To identify the constraints faced by Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs in rural
parts of Karnataka.
 To come out with pragmatic suggestions to improve status of Scheduled
Caste entrepreneurs in rural parts of Karnataka.

9.  Research Design: Descriptive as well as analytical research design will be adopted
for the research work.
 Study Population: All the Scheduled Caste persons who have involved themselves
in small scale entrepreneurship in the rural parts of Karnataka state will be
considered for the Study.
 Sampling Method: Purposive Sampling Technique Method will be used for the
Study.
 Sample Size: 100 Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs living in the rural parts of each
the 30 Districts will be selected for the study based on an inclusion and exclusion
criteria developed for the purpose of sample selection. Thus, there will be a total of
3,000 participants included in the Study.

10.  Tools of Data Collection: The major tool of data collection will be Interview
Schedule prepared in keeping with the objectives of the Study. This will be followed
by Focus Group Discussion with the important stake holders such as Administrators,
Bank Officials, NGO personnel and Subject Experts.
 Sources of Data: The secondary data will be gathered from different type of sources
like economic surveys, yojana, books, journals, magazines, reports, bulletins and
from leading news paper reports.
 Data Analysis: The data collected from the respondents will be fed to the computer
and processed by SPSS statistics version of 25. Karl Pearson’s chi-square,
goodness of fit, factor analysis and such other statistical techniques will be mainly
used to find out the statistical differences in the present study.

11. IMPORTANCE FOR SOCIETY AND POLICY
 The findings and recommendations of the study are expected to be useful to
governmental and non-governmental agencies which may be interested in
enhancing the entrepreneurial competencies, identifying opportunities and
developing strategies for overcoming the constraints faced by Scheduled
Caste entrepreneurs in the rural parts of Karnataka.
 The findings of the study are also expected to be useful to Scheduled Caste
entrepreneurs and Development Organizations in rural Karnataka to develop
appropriate strategies and to take corrective measures for making the most of
the opportunities for entrepreneurship and to overcome the constraints,
especially in small scale enterprises.

12. NOVELTY OF THE IDEA / RESEARCH
The following are some of the prominent innovations to be adopted in the
proposed research:
 Mixed Methods approach;
 Triangulation method;
 Region-specific and caste-specific approach in sample selection and data
collection; and
 Focus Group Discussion with important stakeholders such as the
administrators and NGO personnel.