Published Paper Details:

Women empowerment has attracted the attention of the researchers as an active area of research since 1980�s. It can be viewed as an ultimate as well as a mean to achieve other developmental goals. This study assesses the impacts of Kishori Sakti Yojana for the empowerment of Scheduled Caste women in Kerala. The present study was an attempt to investigate how decision-making ability, educational background, socio-economic conditions, social awareness, self-confidence, self-esteem, leadership qualities are in a way to achieve the goals of women�s empowerment. The researcher undertook the study to explore the impact of Kishori Sakti Yojana upon the Scheduled Caste and general beneficiaries of the programme concerned. Impact has been measured by comparing the participants of the programme among Scheduled Caste and general categories. The comparison is based on the primary data collected from the field. For measuring the impact of the Kishori Sakti Yojana women empowerment scale is constructed.Women empowerment was measured by nine dimensions of empowerment i.e. Household decision making ability, Self-confidence,Education, Self-esteem, Health awareness Political decision making, Economic decision making, Legal awareness and Leadership.The study reveals that Kishori Sakti Yojana has been found successful for the emancipation and upliftment of the beneficiaries of the programme. The present study also discusses the limitations of the existing functioning of the programme as well. The study dealt with the challenges and prospects of the empowering programme. On the basis of the findings of the study some suggestions have been given to improve the programme effectiveness and to remove various problems associated with the design and implementation of the programme concerned.