TY  - SER
AU  - Bal, Gurpreet
TI  - Dalit Empowerment through Entrepreneurship
PY  - 2007///
KW  - Dalit Empowerment
KW  - Tribal Entrepreneurship
KW  - Dalit Entrepreneurship
KW  - Sustainable Entrepreneurship
KW  - Microfinance
KW  - Microenterprises
KW  - Micro-Enterprises, Micro-Finance And Sus
KW  - Entrepreneurshipip
KW  - Seventh Biennial Conference On The New F
KW  - Biennial Conference Papers
N2  - This paper is based on an empirical research conducted in the Jalandhar city of Punjab. Punjab has the highest proportion of the scheduled castes among the states of India. They constitute 28.85 percent as per 2001 census while Jalandhar has second highest concentration, i.e., 37.69 percent. The study reveals that 23.75 percent to the total respondents in Jalandhar have become entrepreneurs. However, their process  of modernization has not broken the bond of caste-occupation, but certainly the modernization of their traditional hereditary occupations is taking place. The scheduled caste groups have found opportunities of mobility not only in their age old occupations but have also ventured into some other entrepreneurial activities which earlier were in the reserve of higher castes. Therefore, it is predominantly the better off amongst the scheduled castes who have become business and industrial entrepreneurs. The explorations into their background reveal that they are young, educated and largely the natives of the place. The  study reveals that through entrepreneurship the scheduled castes have empowered themselves in the political and social spheres. The Jalandhar city under
ER  -