Social Work Bulletin

Social Work

University of Kashmir

Online ISSN: 2582-7790

The article "Embracing Sociality: A Holistic Approach to Social Work Practice and Social Change" provides a comprehensive examination of the concept of "sociality" as a fundamental aspect of human existence and its critical role in social work practice. Through a qualitative, conceptual analysis, the study explores how sociality encompassing the interplay between individuals, communities, and societal structures shapes human behavior and informs social work interventions. This discussion evaluates the article’s contributions, strengths, limitations, and implications for social work theory and practice, situating it within the broader scientific discourse on social work and sociology.

Freebies have become an integral part of the Indian political landscape. Parties have been wooing voters with freebies for decades. From free electricity, water, and Wi-Fi to bicycles, laptops, PCs, and televisions. Freebie politics have grown to be a major factor in Indian elections over the years, and this was evident in the 2014 assembly elections in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, and Manipur. This article examines the socio-economic costs of freebies by differentiating them from the concept of "expenditure on the public good with overall benefits." The present paper highlights how these freebies have come at a great cost to the exchequer and have often been criticized for being populist measures that do not address the root causes of the problems they aim to solve.

Background: Muscular Dystrophy (MD) poses significant psychosocial challenges for both individuals and families, impacting emotional well-being, social interactions, and family dynamics. Despite these profound implications, a systematic understanding of its psychosocial dimensions remains limited. Objective: This systematic review examines literature on the psychosocial impact of MD, focusing on themes such as bereavement, uncertainty, social isolation, body image, and family dynamics while exploring coping mechanisms and resilience factors. Methods: A systematic search of databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, and JSTOR was conducted for peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2023. Inclusion criteria encompassed studies investigating the psychosocial dimensions of MD using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches. Thematic analysis was performed to synthesize findings. Results: Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria. Key themes identified included emotional distress, social withdrawal, and strained family relationships. The review also highlighted coping strategies, such as strong social support networks and psychological interventions, as vital for managing challenges. Conclusion: Addressing the psychosocial impact of MD requires integrated healthcare approaches that prioritize mental health support, awareness, and targeted interventions. Future research should focus on developing specialized programs for both patients and their caregivers.

The networks of institutional mechanisms that were established under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) facilitate child protection in India. These institutions include Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) and other related structures that maintain the rights and welfare of children. The paper is a systematic literature review, as it follows the PRISMA framework to examine works published between 2010 and 2025 and investigate the roles, challenges, and best practices of these institutional mechanisms. Relevant literature has been identified using Google Scholar, Scopus, and official government and NGO reports. The review presents three main findings: (1) institution plays a central role in case management, rehabilitation, and inter-agency coordination; (2) a lack of enough resources, training, and weak monitoring systems are recurrent challenges; and (3) promising results are obtained by innovative practices, including community-based protection, rights-based models. The paper concludes that though India has developed an elaborate child protection system, its effectiveness is dependent on capacity building, better coordination and increased involvement of social work professionals. The review is highly informative to policy makers, practitioners and researchers who want to enhance the institutional child protection systems in India.

School Social Work and Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) are closely connected fields within social work education and Practice. The aim is to improve children well-being, build their critical and emotional strength, harmonious, peaceful, supportive and inclusive school environment. While school social work is still growing as a profession in India, it holds great promise for addressing various psychosocial issues of personal and social level. In context of children in school setting it can be related to student behavior, peer conflicts, sense of exclusion and deeper inequalities. At the school system CRE helps students learn life skills that allow them to manage interpersonal and social conflicts in healthy manner through non-violent and creative approaches. In this context this paper explores how school social workers, who work at the crossroads of education, mental health, and community life, can play a key role in bringing CRE within Indian schools. The paper draws inspiration from the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and the four CRE approaches given by Bodine and Crawford’s to offer practical insights on how to implements CRE. Combining the approaches together offers a framework on how social workers can include peer mediation, teach life skills, improve classroom environments, and coordinate also whole-school well-being programs. Through a culturally grounded lens, the study argues for a multi-pronged strategy of combining policy advocacy, collaboration, and traditional Indian conflict resolution practices to institutionalize CRE and build conflict-resilient school ecosystems. This research reinforces the transformative potential of integrating social work within educational ecosystems.

Substance abuse among youth has emerged as a serious global concern, contributing to socio-legal challenges. The World Drug Report 2023 reports a 23 percent increase in global drug use, rising from 240 million in 2011 to 296 million in 2021. In India, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that about 13 percent of individuals below 20 years are affected by illicit substance use. Such youth often become double victims, facing addiction-related harms and involvement in the criminal justice system. Despite their vulnerability and need for detoxification and rehabilitation, they are frequently treated as offenders rather than victims within social and criminal justice systems. This paper argues for a shift from criminalization to decriminalization in responding to substance-related offences. It examines the relationship between substance abuse and criminality, analyses crime patterns and substances used, and explores ethical challenges faced by professionals in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh, in practice.

This research paper presents a comprehensive analysis of crime patterns in the Kashmir valley from 2016 to 2021, using geospatial data analysis techniques. The study categorizes crimes into various types and provides statistical measures such as mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range, and interquartile range to analyze the distribution of each crime type. The findings reveal that thefts, molestation, and rioting are the most commonly reported crimes in Kashmir, with 969.17, 1083.5, and 1046.5 cases per year on average, respectively. In contrast, dowry death is the least reported crime type, with an average of only 0.5 cases per year. The study highlights significant consistent rise in crime in the valley, with the exception of a slight decline in growth rate between 2017 and 2019. The district of Srinagar, Kulgam, and Shopian had the highest rate of crime in the valley on the other hand, Anantnag, Baramulla, Kupwara, and Bandipora districts all saw a considerable decrease in crime, with Bandipora having the lowest crime rate. Moreover, the differences in the frequency of certain crimes, such as rape, dacoity, and eve-teasing, between the mean and median values, indicating the presence of extreme cases. Moreover, the analysis identifies rioting and kidnapping/abduction as high variance crimes with a wide range and high interquartile range values. These findings provide valuable insights for law enforcement agencies and policymakers to develop targeted crime prevention strategies. Overall, the research underscores the importance of using geospatial data analysis techniques to better understand crime patterns and improve crime prevention measures.

The ever-evolving scenarios in school education necessitate teachers to recognise the significance of lifelong learning for their Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Among several ways of CPD, Mentorship is one of the approaches. According to the United Nations (UN) 2020, mentoring is a collaborative learning relationship between two individuals that leads to insights, decision making, planning and action, and facilitates professional and personal development. This paper focuses on exploring the role of mentoring in the CPD of school teachers by critically examining the prevalent practices and mapping ways to develop an organic connection between mentor and mentee. This exploratory study was conducted with in-service and pre-service teachers. The study highlights two major field-based realities. Firstly, the pre-service teachers had not given any thought to the idea of CPD as this component was not discussed as part of the course syllabi, and there were few opportunities within the overall curriculum to discuss the lived experiences of a school teacher. The in-service teachers, on the other hand, shared scepticism about the need and effectiveness of a teacher mentoring another teacher. Their lack of readiness for mentoring was evidently noticeable. Firmly grounded in a meticulous understanding of the field, acquired through this study, the researchers proposed a ‘VSP Model of Mentorship’ which advocates designing the mentoring process based on interlinkages across the three dynamic aspects of mentorship: Values, Skills and Process for optimising the outcome of the programme.

This article explores the combined effects of intimate interactions occurring in digitally mediated spaces and structural vulnerabilities with a particular focus on systems of inequality and oppression that contribute to risk of acquiring STDs among youth and sexual minorities. Based on original fieldwork completed during 2024–2025 in Kerala, India, the research explores how digital partner seeking modalities are reshaping sexual networks, risk perceptions and prevention pathways. To contextualize individual practices, this analysis combines original primary field survey data with epidemiological profiles and clinical evidence on a district level. Results show an increase in the density of critical networks, replacement of partners, and decreased regulation of relationships as functions of dating and social networking applications, especially in the young, MSM and transgender women. Although sexual health risks and preventive measures are well known, self-protective practices are inconsistent, indicating a persistent gap between knowledge and behaviour. It is determined less by ignorance than by the social conditions of precarity, stigma, and differential access to youth- and minority-affirming services that make gap worse. Contemporary STD risk, the study contends, should be understood not as a consequence of individual marginality, but rather as a consequence of the changing regimes of digitally mediated intimacy operating in the context of structural inequality. The article makes a case for situating digital sexuality in a sociological understanding of risk accumulation and vulnerability, to contribute to discussions on youth, sexuality and digitalisation and to develop avenues of sociologically grounded prevention.

Sericulture is a vital traditional livelihood in the Kashmir Valley, supporting approximately 27,000 families, rural industrialization, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study presents a district-level empirical analysis across ten districts, anchored in the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. Using secondary data (2019-20), it applies descriptive statistics, a composite performance index, and Pearson correlation analysis to map infrastructure and examine linkages to livelihood outcomes. Findings reveal strong positive correlations (r= 0.85-0.87, p < 0.01) between sericulture infrastructure endowments and outcomes. Spatial disparities exist, with districts like Kupwara, Baramulla, and Budgam outperforming others, while Shopian and Kulgam lag primarily due to processing deficits. The sector generated approximately ₹81.6 million for 7,576 registered rearers, averaging ₹10,772 per household. The results highlight associations suggesting that targeted infrastructure investment and decentralized governance can enhance the sector's contributions. Policy interventions should focus on value addition, gender-responsive planning, and reducing spatial inequalities to concurrently advance poverty reduction (SDG 1), sustainable agriculture (SDG 2), women’s empowerment (SDG 5), and decent work (SDG 8).