Pages: 1403-1405
Zohra Khatoon and Akbar Husain (Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh)

Every individual faces mental health problems during his life span. Mental health problems affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps to determine how we handle our stresses, relate to others, and make choices. There are four factors, namely, biological factors, life experiences, environmental aspects, and social influences which contribute to mental health problems. This article focuses on Islamic practices, counseling and cultivation of values as interventions for helping and alleviating mental health problems of people. For alleviating mental health problems, Islamic counselling is missing with regard to the need for soul food. It is adherence to ethics that will enable fulfillment of spiritual needs or a feeling of a deep sense of self-satisfaction in life. People with mental health problems are generally dissatisfied with their life, feel alienated, poor relationships with others and blame others on their failure. Self-satisfaction emanating out of internalizing Islamic values and observing Islamic practices is the main concern of being more integrated with religiosity, more at one with the world, more connectedness with God, and being more spiritually disciplined.

Pages: 1411-1416
Rozy Malik (Department of Political Science, University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir)

Since the colonial period, the special rights and representation of religious minorities as a positive discrimination has been a debatable issue. However, the Constituent Assembly period was a crucial period in deciding the pattern through, which what types of rights and representation should be given to them in order to protect their interest in the future form of government. Initially, the Constituent Assembly of India granted group rights to the religious minorities in the legislature, quotas in the civil service, and collective cultural and educational rights in order to provide their representation and to protect their rights and interests. During the initial period of framing a constitution, both the rights and representation were enjoyed by the religious minorities. However, after partition of India, criteria on the basis of which groups' rights enjoyed by the religious minorities in the representation, service came to be fundamentally redefined, which exclude religious minorities from its scope and include the Schedule caste and Schedule tribe to avail such protection. In spite of demanding of their representation through proportional representation or reserved seats in the law making body, the nationalist opinion had decided to address the religious minority's problem on the basis of secularism, educational and cultural rights only. It raises many questions that despite the group's rights to the religious minorities in the law making body, government service etc. in the first draft of the constitution, what happened in India that made the Constituent Assembly to exclude them from its purview? This paper finds out the reasons of why the religious minorities have the rights only, not the representation in the form of reserved seats or proportionate representation in the post-partition period that was enjoyed since the colonial period.

Pages: 1429-1432
Manvi Raina (Department of Strategic and Regional Studies (DSRS), University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir)

The disintegration of the Soviet Union led to the independence of Central Asia which comprises of five states namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan that remained a part of Soviet Union till its disintegration. Uzbekistan as one of the Central Asian states adopted democracy and established political institutions in the post-Soviet period. The new constitution was enacted which contains the provisions for fulfilling the essential conditions of democracy but in reality, Uzbekistan has been keeping many features of previous Soviet regime such as one party dominance in which president expanded his personal power. However, Islam Karimov who became the first president of Uzbekistan declared his commitment to democratization but his path of development served as an obstacle in the actualization of democracy. He banned the opposition parties and allows only pro-government parties to participate in elections. Judiciary operates according to the will of the president. Many developments in the post-Soviet period lead to a series of questions regarding the nature of democracy and political institutions in Uzbekistan under Islam Karimov regime. How democracy and political institutions undermined by Islam Karimov in the post-Soviet period? Why opposition parties unable to assert their presence in mainstream politics? Why the extra-regional players unable to succeed in establishing democracy in the state? Therefore, in this paper, an attempt has been made to find out the reasons why democracy is not institutionalized yet and political institutions are controlled and regulated by one party. Further, an attempt is also made to analyze the factors that helped Karimov to strengthen his rule in Uzbekistan and why there is an absence of political culture in spite of having political institutions.

Pages: 1439-1444
Menka Pathria (I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University Kapurthala, Punjab)
Ramandeep Saini (Chandigarh Group of Colleges Landran, Mohali, Punjab)

The purpose of the study to synthesize a conceptual model for the factors affecting choice of retail banks based upon an established theory. In this study, expert survey based upon Delphi Study is conducted to arrive at the factors affecting consumer choice of a retail bank and in the end comes up with a theory based conceptual model. The study throws important factors basis the expert survey and proposes a conceptual model based upon prospect theory. The study has come across certain important variables from practitioner point of view, which have not been studied yet in the literature for context under study. The present research studies the factors affecting the choice of bank by retail customers which will help the policy and strategy makers in banking to review their marketing strategy for products and services and hence can better serve the customers enabling them to know what drives a potential consumer to choose a particular retail bank. This is probably the first study that creates arguments from expert survey to arrive at the repertoire of Choice Factors affecting a Retail Bank Customer while choosing a Bank thereby postulating a conceptual model considering both perceived switching cost and perceived trust as a moderators for intention to choose a retail bank.

Pages: 1449-1451
Sangeeta and Rajesh Kumar (Department of Psychology, Pt. CLS Government PG College, Karnal, Haryana)

The present study was conducted to find out the relationship between burnout and personality among bank personnel. The sample of 200 bank personnel were selected from four different banks of Haryana State. Maslach Burnout Inventory, Maslach and Jackson (1996) and Personality Test, Costa and McCrae (1992) were used to study burnout and personality respectively. The obtained data was statistically analysed by employing product moment method and t-test.Results indicate that neuroticism is significant positively correlated with burnout and extroversion, openness, agreeable and conscientiousness are significantly negative correlated with burnout. Results also indicate that high and low groups of burnout are significantly differ on personality.

Pages: 1455-1458
Divya Gupta (Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, Delhi)

In popular usage, karma is understood as destiny, or at best, a term condensing 'as you sow, so shall you reap'. While the former is obviously inaccurate, even the latter is crude and inadequate enough to be inaccurate. Karma is, in fact, a concept that is central to several strands of ancient thoughts and spiritual praxis. If we are to attempt to understand the world through the possibilities available to us within Yoga and allied systems, the full implications of karma as it appears in this system must be delineated comprehensively. This includes what karma means in this specific context, including the way it has been understood in the Bhagavad Gita; what its effects are and how it functions, including in terms of the human mind; and how it is related to spiritual praxis, including what attitudes are to be cultivated with reference to karma. This paper attempts to do this in the context of the modern times, and argues that a comprehensive understanding of the doctrine of karma, far from leading to fatalism, might offer the great insights into most satisfying possibilities for understanding current dilemmas of humanity and resolving them through the systems of praxis within which it is embedded. This paper seeks to expand on and deepen the existing understanding of the Karma doctrine in our interactions a) with the world and b) within ourselves, in such a manner that is essentially freeing. Psychological applications thereof will be multifold with respect to how one deals with their i) past: reducing subjective experience of pain caused due to circumstances, letting go off the attachments and expectations, learning from the past experiences ii) present: Behavior Modification, Attitude change, emotional mindfulness, cultivating positive qualities such as empathy, kindness, sensitivity, gratitude, fearlessness, etc., and iii) future: volitionally creating one's own destiny.

Pages: 1463-1470
Dhriti Mittal and Megha Dhillon (Department of Psychology, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, Delhi)

This study explored Indian doctors' views about their use of humour with patients, the benefits served by it and the factors determining its use. The Humour Styles Questionnaire was administered to 66 doctors working in various hospitals and clinics. Ten doctors who reported the frequent use of humour with patients were subsequently interviewed. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Doctors reported the use of humour to be beneficial for patients in various ways. Some benefits included enhanced communication between doctors and patients, reduction in patients' pain levels and better adherence to treatment. Benefits of humour were also identified for the patients' families and the doctors themselves. Various factors influenced the use of humour. Patient-related factors were most frequently discussed. Some of these included the condition of the patient, patients' receptivity to humour and their personality characteristics. The apprehension that their humour may be misunderstood was a concern shared by several doctors. Use of humour by the doctors was reported to have changed over time. Implications of the study and directions for future research have been identified.

Pages: 1474-1477
Malabika Tripathi and Anwesha Guha (Department of Applied Psychology, Amity University, Kolkata, West Bengal)

The purpose of the present study is to assess the difference in the level of perceived stress and coping among about to retire and newly joined employees. Convenience sampling technique was used to select 100 participants, 50= about to retire (within 6-8 months), 50= Newly Joined (6-8months ). The Perceived Stress Scale developed by Sheldon (1983) and Coping Scale developed by Hamby et al. (2013) were used to measure their level of perceived stress and coping respectively. After the scores were obtained, Independent sample t test was performed to find whether there exists any significant difference in terms of stress and coping levels in both the groups. The results revealed that, the mean scores of stress of newly joined employee is significantly higher than that of about to retire employees. However, there exists no significant difference in the mean scores of coping between newly joined and about to retire employees. Both the findings are in line with the existence body of literature.

Pages: 1481-1484
Nisha Joseph (PG Department of History, Henry Baker College, Melukavumattom, Kottayam, Kerala)

The Central and State Government had formulated number of development programmes for the uplift of tribal and other backward communities. As regards State's responsibility, the government periodically monitors the working of its Development Programmes to ascertain their progress. Also, the Government considers that it is the time to reassess the situation as to how far these programmes reached the objectives or whether the development plans really benefited the people. It is very clear that from the early period particularly from the time of the beginning of the British rule, these people were under the control of the administrators who introduced a number of development programmes for them. But still there are number of tribes who are leading a nomadic life, living in the interior of the forests, away from all development concepts. Hence, it needs a critical analysis to find out why the development programmes did not reach them? In addition, it is also necessary to know how far the government's policies succeeded in bringing them out from their primitive life to take up to modern living.

Pages: 1492-1494
Lovleena Sharma, Manpreet Ola and Vikas Sharma (Amity Institute of Clinical Psychology, Amity University, Gurugram, Haryana)

Mental health professionals play a major role in dealing with various psychiatric disorders. Their role is significant in improving the mental health of people. Various practitioners fall under the category of mental health professionals including social workers, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, counsellors, mental health nurses, family the rapists etc. Their scope of practice, however, often differs. But they do face burnouts in a sense that they are exposed to continuous stress, such as being faced with suicidal and often aggressive patients which in turn negatively influences both their work life and personal life. The aim of this study is to throw light on the level of job satisfaction among the mental health professionals and highlight the level of anxiety they face at workplace. It would also emphasize the various coping mechanism they use to deal with the stressful aspects work life and how they can adapt better to their workplace environment to bring about maximum job satisfaction.

Pages: 1497-1504
Gurkamalpreet Pal Singh (Centre for Womens Studies and Development, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

The study discusses the rights guaranteed to women in the Constitution with prominent cases. It further focuses on the fundamental rights and directive principle of state policy enshrined in the Constitution. The study concludes that Constitution does attempt to protect the rights of women in numerous ways. These rights are further strengthened through numerous laws and judicial pronouncements. However, women continue to labour under various cultural proscriptions which inhibit their enjoyment of fundamental human rights, leading to the conclusion of 'becharinari'. The application of these rights is further limited by the lack of awareness among women about their rights.

Pages: 1510-1514
Archana Kamble and Gautam Gawali (Department of Applied Psychology, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, Maharashtra)

Many customs and traditions (CTs) from patriarchal societies are women-targeted, like in India. Following such CTs under the religious influence, the societies form the rigid gender roles for women often restricting their independence to prove themselves in outside world with a large burden of domestic responsibilities. Women also seem to accept and comply with these gender roles ritualistically with almost no complaints. Developing the Gender Roles Expectations Scale (GRES) is an attempt by the authors to identify some major gender roles expected from women. It is a 7-point rating scale intended to study the extent to which women accept and internalize these expectations. On the basis of findings of earlier research conducted in the field, book references, and observations; total eight important domains were identified and total 75 items were developed, pertaining to gender roles. The GRES was divided into three subscales: Societal Expectations (SE), Personal Expectations (PE), and Expectations from Self (ES).Total 25 items were assigned to each subscale allied with eight domains. The GRES was further subject to experts' comments followed by a pilot study.

Pages: 1519-1524
Ranjita Kumari and Masroor Jahan (Department of Clinical Psychology, Ranchi Institute of Neuro-psychiatry and Allied Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand)

Alcoholism has been a major issue to be addressed. Emotional intelligence and impulsivity play important role in decision making. Cognitive distortions and defense mechanisms shape the way towards decisions the person might make. The present study aimed at studying the relationship of Emotional Intelligence, Impulsivity, Cognitive Distortion and Defense Mechanism to alcohol dependence. For the study purpose, 30 Alcohol dependent and 30 healthy individuals were selected. Barrat Impulsiveness scale (BIS-11), Mangal Emotional Intelligence Inventory, Cognitive Distortion Scale, Defense Mechanism Inventory and General Health questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) were used for the assessment purpose in the present study. Independent sample t- test and Pearson correlation was used to analyze the data. Result showed that alcohol dependent lacked in Emotional Intelligence, had high impulsiveness, showed tendency to use cognitive distortion and immature defense mechanism more often. Emotional intelligence, impulsivity, cognitive distortion and defense mechanism plays important role in alcohol dependence.