t he rapidly emerging knowledge-based society brings with it the sine qua non, particularly for socially disadvantaged communities with limited access to resources, to be able to dynamically respond to the ever-changing trends and demands. Such a situation, therefore, further underscores the need to review the common perception of poverty: moving from one of merely a lack of economic resources towards recognising it as a multifaceted issue that needs to be contextualised by the manner in which various structures and processes perpetuate it.
A closer examination of the present-day scenario seems to indicate a propensity to treat poverty rather as a phenomenon arising from economic factors. The result - a system laden with schemes and programmes (private/State-initiated) that largely mete out sops to communities in the form of learning incentives, income-generation programmes, vocational training initiatives, small savings schemes, etc. MAYA's experiences have enabled the organisation to recognise that while these efforts do spread fast and wide in communities, the overall impact on enhancing the communities' ability to productively utilise these entitlements to address issues faced by them, is almost negligible.
