Search results for: post-colonial India

Authors: Rohan M. Dalal, Elena Pirondini, Shanu Somvanshi

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Introduction: The current state of reproductive health outcomes in lower-income countries is poor, with inadequate knowledge and culture among adolescent boys. Moreover, boys have traditionally not been a priority target. To explore the opportunity to educate adolescent boys in the developing world regarding accurate reproductive health information, the purpose of this study is to investigate how adolescent boys in the developing world engage and use technology, utilizing cell phones. This electronic survey and video interview study were conducted to determine the feasibility of a mobile phone platform for an educational video game specifically designed for boys that will improve health knowledge, influence behavior, and change health outcomes, namely teen pregnancies. Methods: With the assistance of Plan India, a subsidiary of Plan International, informed consent was obtained from parents of adolescent males who participated in an electronic survey and video interviews via Microsoft Teams. An electronic survey was created with 27 questions, including topics of mobile phone usage, gaming preferences, and sexual and reproductive health, with a sample size of 181 adolescents, ages 11-25, near New Delhi, India. The interview questions were written to explore more in-depth topics after the completion of the electronic survey. Eight boys, aged 15, were interviewed for 40 minutes about gaming and usage of mobile phones as well as sexual and reproductive health. Data/Results. 154 boys and 27 girls completed the survey. They rated their English fluency as relatively high. 97% of boys (149/154) had access to mobile phones. The majority of phones were smartphones (97%, 143/148). 48% (71/149) of boys borrowed cell phones. The most popular phone platform was Samsung (22%, 33/148). 36% (54/148) of adolescent males looked at their phones 1-10 times per day for 1-2 hours. 55% (81/149) of the boys had parental restrictions. 51% (76/148) had 32 GB of storage on their phone. 78% (117/150) of the boys had wifi access. 80% (120/150) of respondents reported ease in downloading apps. 97% (145/150) of male adolescents had social media, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube. 58% (87/150) played video games. Favorite video games included Free Fire, PubG, and other shooting games. In the video interviews, the boys revealed what made games fun and engaging, including customized avatars, progression to higher levels, realistic interactive platforms, shooting/guns, the ability to perform multiple actions, and a variety of worlds/settings/adventures. Ideas to improve engagement in sexual and reproductive health classes included open discussions in the community, enhanced access to information, and posting on social media. Conclusion: This study involving an electronic survey and video interviews provides an initial foray into understanding mobile phone usage among adolescent males and understanding sexual and reproductive health education in New Delhi, India. The data gathered from this study support using mobile phone platforms, and this will be used to create a serious video game to educate adolescent males about sexual and reproductive health in an attempt to lower the rate of unwanted pregnancies in the world.

Keywords: adolescent males, India, mobile phone, sexual and reproductive health

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Authors: Kalandi Charan Pradhan

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In this study, we investigate does weather variation determine temporary labour migration using 210 sample households from six Semi-Arid Tropic (SAT) villages for the period of 2005-2014 in India. The study has made an attempt to examine how households use temporary labour migration as a coping mechanism to minimise the risk rather than maximize the utility of the households. The study employs panel Logit regression model to predict the probability of household having at least one temporary labour migrant. As per as econometrics result, it is found that along with demographic and socioeconomic factors; weather variation plays an important role to determine the decision of migration at household level. In order to capture the weather variation, the study uses mean crop yield deviation over the study periods. Based on the random effect logit regression result, the study found that there is a concave relationship between weather variation and decision of temporary labour migration. This argument supports the theory of New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM), which highlights the decision of labour migration not only maximise the households’ utility but it helps to minimise the risks.

Keywords: temporary migration, socioeconomic factors, weather variation, crop yield, logit estimation

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Authors: Burhan Khan

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Objective: This study aims to enhance the body of knowledge about the vulnerabilities of child waste pickers in solid waste management. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the occupational menaces and their potential harm to the health of child waste pickers. Material and Methods: The present study design is descriptive in nature and involves children aged 5 through 14, who were rummaging through garbage in the roads and streets of Aligarh city, Uttar Pradesh. The researcher adopted an empirical approach to interview 65 participants (27 boys and 38 girls) across Aligarh city, Uttar Pradesh. The majority of the participants are Muslims (76.9 %), scheduled Castes (13.8 %), and Hindus (9.2 %). Out of 65 participants, 73.8% of children were migrated within the last five years. The primary data were analysed by utilising descriptive statistics, including frequencies, cross-tabs, means, and percentages. Results: The results show that the vast majority of children (87.7%) have experienced superficial injuries or open wound at their work. More than 32% were suffering from respiratory problems such as coughing, wheezing and short of breath, close to 37% reported skin problems like allergy, irritation and bruising and 4.6% had eye problems such as pain and irritation in eyes. Nearly 78% of children lift and carry a heavy load like large garbage bags. Over 83% informed that they sort through refuse in a filthy environment such as open dumpsites, effluents, and runnels. Conclusion: This research provides pieces of evidence of how children are being tormented in the rag-picking sector. It has been observed that child rag pickers are susceptible to injuries or illnesses due to work-related risks and toxic environment. In India, there is no robust policy to address the concerns of waste pickers and laws to protect their rights. Consequently, these deprived communities of rag pickers, especially children, have become more vulnerable over time in India. Hence, this research paper calls for a quick response to the exigencies of child rag picker by developing a holistic approach that deals with education, medical care, sanitation, and nutrition for child rag pickers.

Keywords: child rag pickers, health impairments, occupational hazards, toxic environment

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Authors: Rasikha Ramanand, Priyanka Dixit

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Background: Continuum of maternal care which includes antenatal care, delivery care and postnatal care aids in averting maternal deaths. The objective of this paper is to identify the association between previous experiences of child death on Continuum of Care (CoC) of recent child. Further, the study aimed at understanding where the drop-out rate was high in the continuum. Methods: The study was based on the Nation-wide District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS-4) conducted during 2012-13, which provides information on antenatal care, delivery care, percentage of women who received JSY benefits, percentage of women who had any pregnancy, delivery, the place of delivery etc. The sample included women who were selected from the non-EAG states who delivered at least two children. The data were analyzed using SPSS 20.Binary Logistic regression was applied to the data in which the Continuum of Care (CoC) was the dependent variable while the independent variables were entered as the covariates. Results: A major finding of the study was the antenatal to delivery care period where the drop-out rates were high. Also, it was found that a large proportion of women did not receive any of the services along the continuum. Conclusions: This study has clearly established the relationship between previous history of child loss and continuum of maternal care.

Keywords: antenatal care, continuum of care, child loss, delivery care, India, maternal health care, postnatal care

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Authors: Munruchi Kaur

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Agarics are the fruiting bodies of the fungi falling under Phylum Basidiomycota of class Agaricomycetes. North Western parts of India which comprises of mighty Himalayas decorated with snow cap mountains, forested areas, grassland and the Gangetic plains with the altitude varying between 196m to 3600m have a huge potential of naturally growing wild agarics. These mushrooms lavishly grow in wet humid weather conditions that prevail in these parts of India during the monsoon which hits in the early June and continue up to mid-October. In this area, a diverse form of mixed vegetation is available which is represented by coniferous and angiospermic trees, shrubs, herbs, epiphytes, parasites, climbers etc. The vegetation, topography and climate of this area is quite favorable for the growth of agarics. Cedrus deodara, Pinus longifolia, P. roxburghii, P. wallichiana, Abies pindrow, A. spectabilis, Picea smithiana, Taxus sp., Rhododendron sp. and Quercus sp. occur in pure formations or as scattered patches or as mixed forests, whereas the Gangetic plains are dominated by the angiospermic trees and shrubs, they commonly occur along roadsides or in conserved areas or are the avenues plantations, common amongst these are Shorea robusta, Dalbergia sissoo, Melia azadirachta, Acacia sp., Ficus benghalensis, Eucalyptus sp. and Butea monosperma. These agarics can be categorized on the basis of the habitat in which they grow they are usually foliocolous, lignicolous, humicolous, coprophilous or termitophilous. A number of fungal forays were undertaken to different parts of North West India from time to time during the monsoon season with an aim to decipher the agarics diversity of this part of India. Along with collecting the various agarics from diverse habitat, the ethnomycological data was also collected along with by interacting with the local inhabitants of those areas. Based upon the ethnomycological data collected over the years, cataloging of the edible and inedible agarics has been done and cultures of such potential edible agarics were raised with an aim to domesticate these selected taxa. With an aim to reduce the local pressure on these natural resources, a low-cost technology was developed to make it available to the public for cultivation. As a result, 104 taxa were found edible such as Amanita hemibapha var. ochracea, A. chepangiana, A. banningiana, A. vaginata, Agrocybe parasitica, Author: Professor & Dean Faculty of Life Sciences Punjabi University, Patiala. Punjab, India [email protected] Agaricus bisporus, A. andrewii, A. campestris var. campestris, A. silvicola, A. subrutilescens, A. bernardii, A. abruptibulbus, A. fuscovelatus, A. brunnescens, A. augustus, A. silvaticus, A. arvensis, Volvariella bakeri, V. terastia, V. bombycina, V. diplasia, Psathyrella candolleana, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus, Russula cyanoxantha, R. atropurpurea, R. aurea, Clitocybe gibba,Lentinus transitus, L. kashmirinus, L. crinitus, L. ligrinus, Lactarius rubrilacteus, Pleurotus sapidus, Pluteus subcervinus, Macrocybe gigantea, etc. Cultures of various taxa viz. Pleurotus sajor-caju, Macrocybe gigantea, Pluteus petasatus and Lentinus tigrinus were raised and a proper protocol for the domestication of Pleurotus sajor-caju, Macrocybe gigantea, and Lentinus tigrinus has been developed using the locally available agro-wastes.

Keywords: Agaric, culture, domestication, edible

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Authors: Raj Mukta Sundaram

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The location of Ayodhya is distinctly described along river Sarayu in the epic Ramayan. On the contrary, even elaborate descriptions of Lanka and its environs are still proving elusive to human ingenuity to find a direct correlation on the ground. His-torically, there were hardly any attempts to locate Lanka, but some speculations have been made very recently, of which Sri Lanka has gained widespread public ac-ceptance for obvious reasons, such as Sri and Lanka. This belief is almost secured by the impression of Ram Setu on the satellite images, which has led the government to initiate a scientific mission to determine its age. In fact, other viewpoints believe Lanka to be somewhere far-flung along the equator, and another has long proclaimed it to be in central regions of India, but both are diminished by contemporary belief. This study emanates from the fact that Sri Lanka has no correlation to epic, and more importantly, satellite images are deceptive. So the objectives are twofold - firstly, to interpret the text from a holistic approach by analyzing the ecosystem, settlements, geological as-pects, and most importantly, the timeline of key events. Secondly, it explains the pit-falls in the rationale behind contemporary belief. At the outset, it categorically rejects the notion of Ram Setu, which, in geological terms, is merely a part of the continental shelf developed millions of years ago. It also refutes the misconception created by the word “Sri,” which is, in fact, an official name adopted by the country in the seventies with no correlation whatsoever with the events of Ramayana. Likewise, the study ar-gues for the establishment of a prosperous kingdom on a remote island with adverse climatic conditions for any civilization at that time. Eventually, the study demonstrates that travel time for the distances covered by Lord Rama does not corroborate with the description in the epic. It all leads to one conclusion that Lanka cannot be in Sri Lanka. Rather, it needs to be somewhere in the central-eastern parts of India. That region jus-tifies the environs and timelines for the journeys undertaken by Lord Rama, besides the fact that the tribes of the region show strong allegiance to Ravana. The study strongly recommends looking into the central-east region of India for the golden abode of a demon king and rejuvenating tourism of a scenic and culturally rich region hitherto marred by disturbances.

Keywords: spatial analysis, Ramayan, heritage, tourism

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Authors: Keisham Ingocha Singh, Mayanglambam Mani Babu, Lorho Mary Maheo

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Background: The tradition of the development of pottery through the handling of clay is one of the earliest skills known to the Chakpas of Manipur. Nongpok Sekmai, a Chakpa village in Thoubal district of Manipur, India, is strictly associated with making pots of red ochre colour called uyan. In the past, pottery was in great demand, each family needed them in rituals, festive occasions and also for day to day use. The whole village was engaged in the occupation of pot making. However the tradition of pottery making is fast declining. People have switched over to other economic activities which can provide them a better socioeconomic life leaving behind the age-old tradition of pottery occupation. The present study was carried out to find out the social life of the potters of Nongpok Sekmai. Materials and Method: In-depth interviews, household survey and observation were conducted to collect information on the pottery trend in the village. Results: The total population of the surveyed village is 1194 persons out of which 582 are male and 612 are female, distributed through 252 households. At present 4.94 % of the total population are still engaged in this profession. The study recorded 19 occupations other than pottery among women indicating decline of the traditional occupation. Conclusion: The study has revealed the changing life of the potters due to technological development, globalization and social network.

Keywords: Chakpas, Nongpok Sekmai, pottery, uyan

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Authors: Shirin Zubair

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Keeping in view the segregation of space(s) experienced by young women and men at puberty in Pakistan and the socially constructed and performative aspect of gender identity by Western theorists of gender and self, this paper will explore Pakistani youth’s differential, gendered performances. Specifically focused on Pakistani youth’s perceptions and experiences of sexuality, extramarital and same-sex relationships in constructing and performing gendered identities as manifested through their talk, the research will also draw upon recent theories of space in cultural studies and postcolonial discourses. The data cited has been culled from two different studies conducted at universities in the city of Multan. Informal, unstructured group discussions of women and men aged between twenty and twenty nine years of age were recorded separately among groups of friends and cohorts studying at two different universities. The findings clearly show both young women and men doing the boundary work in identity construction in private and public spaces: talking of sexuality, sexual desire and sexual relationships, women tend to safely couch their articulations in euphemisms: distance themselves from the Western concepts of sexual liberation ; while young men’s exhibitionism in boasting of their sexual prowess and sexual encounters as well as the use of sexually explicit and tabooed words frequently in their intimate conversations shows a clear departure from and a contestation of the normative public discourses. Further the findings illustrate that young men conform to the patriarchal ideologies by constructing heterosexual identities whereas young women initiate discourse on same-sex relationships. The data also reveals that the private identities of these young Pakistanis are different from their public identities, as it is in their intimate conversations and private (or safe) spaces that they talk about their pre-marital sexual activities and love affairs. These intimate and safe spaces thus emerge as subversion and contestation of their public identity, as sex and sexuality are tabooed subjects in public discourses.

Keywords: sexuality, gender, identity, performance

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Authors: Ayushi Arora

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Solar photocatalysis has the potential to treat drinking water in a sustainable and cost effective manner. According to WHO, there should not be any colony forming units (CFU) per 100 mL present in drinking water, and as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India, the bathing water should have less than 500 CFU/100 mL and the maximum permissible limit is 2500 CFU/100 mL. In this study, 8 water sources near our collaborators, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, were analysed, and it was found that 6 out of 8 sources of water had significant coliform count in them. Two of them were chosen to be treated by solar photocatalysis a) well water which had a count of 4800 CFU/100 mL for total coliforms and was used by people for drinking purposes, and b) pond water which had a count of 92000 CFU/100 mL for total coliforms and 3000 CFU/mL for E.Coli and was used by people for washing and bathing purposes. In this study, a semiconductor-semiconductor, composite BTO-TiO2-RMSG & TiO2-SiO2 were tested for their ability to be activated under solar light and to reduce Total Coliforms and E.Coli bacteria in real world contaminated water, and it was found that both catalysts were both able to reduce the total coliform count in water by 99.7% and 98.2 % in 2 hrs respectively. They have also shown promising results in reusability tests. This study demonstrates the ability of solar photocatalysis to be used in real world drinking water treatment and will promote future advancements in this field.

Keywords: sustainable water treatment, waterpurification technologies, water policies, water pollution and environmental engineering

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Authors: Ashok Kumar Lonavath, V. Sathish Kumar

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Urban sprawl is the uncontrolled and uncoordinated outgrowth of towns and cities. The process of urban sprawl can be described by change in pattern over time, like proportional increase in built-up surface to population leading to rapid urban spatial expansion. Significant economic and livelihood opportunities in the urban areas results in lack of basic amenities due to the unplanned growth The patterns, processes, dynamic causes and consequences of sprawl can be explored and designed with the help of spatial planning support system. In India context the urban area is defined as the population more than 5000, density more than 400 persons per sq. km and 75% of the population is involved in non-agricultural occupations. India’s urban population is increasing at the rate of 2.35% pa. The class I town’s population of India according to 2011 census is 18.8% that accounts for 60.4% of total unban population. Similarly in Erstwhile Andhra Pradesh it is 22.9% which accounts for 68.8% of total urban population. Suryapet town has historical recognition as ‘Gate Way of Telangana’ in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh. The Municipality was constituted in 1952 as Grade-III, later upgraded into Grade-II in 1984 and to Grade-I in 1998. The area is 35 Sq.kms. Three major tanks located in three different directions and Musi River is flowing from a distance of 8 kms. The average ground water table is about 50m below ground. It is a fast growing town with a population of 1, 06,805 and 25,448 households. Density is 3051pp sq km, It is a Class I city as per population census. It secured the ISO 14001-2004 certificate for establishing and maintaining an environment-friendly system for solid waste disposal. It is the first municipality in the country to receive such a certificate. It won HUDCO award under environment management, award of appreciation and cash from Ministry of Housing and Poverty Elevation from Government of India and undivided Andhra Pradesh under UN Human Settlement Programme, Greentech Excellance award, Supreme Courts appreciation for solid waste management. Foreign delegates from different countries and also from various other states of India visited Suryapet municipality for study tour and training programs as part of their official visit Suryapet is located at 17°5’ North Latitude and 79°37’ East Longitude. The average elevation is 266m, annual mean temperature is 36°C and average rainfall is 821.0 mm. The people of this town are engaged in Commercial and agriculture activities hence the town has become a centre for marketing and stocking agricultural produce. It is also educational centre in this region. The present paper on urban sprawl is a theoretical framework to analyze the interaction of planning and governance on the extent of outgrowth and level of services. The GIS techniques, SOI Toposheet, satellite imageries and image analysis techniques are extensively used to explore the sprawl and measure the urban land-use. This paper concludes outlining the challenges in addressing urban sprawl while ensuring adequate level of services that planning and governance have to ensure towards achieving sustainable urbanization.

Keywords: remote sensing, GIS, urban sprawl, urbanization

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Authors: Abhishikta Ghosh Roy

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Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women globally, including India. Human breast cancer results from the genetic and environmental interaction. The present study attempts to understand the molecular heterogeneity of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, as well as to understand the association of various lifestyle and reproductive variables for the Breast Cancer risk. The study was conducted amongst 110 patients and 128 controls with total DNA sequencing of flanking and coding regions of BRCA1 BRCA2 genes that revealed ten Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) (6 novels). The controls selected for the study were age, sex and ethnic group matched. After written and informed consent biological samples were collected from the subjects. After detailed molecular analysis, significant (p < 0.005) molecular heterogeneity is revealed in terms of SNPs in BRCA1 (4 Exonic & 1 Intronic) and BRCA2 (2exonic and 3 Intronic) genes. The augmentation study investigated significant (p < 0.05) association with positive family history, early age at menarche, irregular menstrual periods, menopause, prolong contraceptive use, nulliparity, history of abortions, consumption of alcohol and smoking for breast cancer risk. To the best of authors knowledge, this study is the first of its kind, envisaged that the identification of the SNPs and modification of the lifestyle factors might aid to minimize the risk among the Bengalee Hindu females.

Keywords: breast cancer, BRCA, lifestyle, India

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Authors: Henry Venter, Murali Thyloth, Alceu Casseb

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Historically, mental and substance use disorders were not a global health priority. Since the 1993 World Development Report, the importance of the contribution of mental health and substance abuse on the relative global burden associated with disease morbidity has been recognized with 300 million people worldwide suffering from depression alone. This led to an international effort to improve the mental health of populations around the world. Despite these efforts some countries remain at the top of the list of countries with the highest rate of mental illness. Important research questions were asked: Would there be commonalities regarding mental health between these countries; would there be common factors leading to the high prevalence of mental illness; and how prepared are these countries with mental health delivery? Findings from this research can aid organizations and institutions preparing mental health service providers to focus training and preparation to address specific needs revealed by the study. Methods: Researchers decided to compare three distinctly different countries at the top of the list of countries with the highest rate of mental illness, the USA, India and Brazil, situated on three different continents with different economies and lifestyles. Data were collected using archival research methodology, reviewing records and findings of international and national health and mental health studies to subtract and compare data and findings. Results: The findings indicated that India is the most depressed country in the world, followed by the USA (and China) with Brazil in Latin America with the greatest number of depressed individuals. By 2020 roughly 20% of India, acountry of over one billion citizens, will suffer from some form of mental illnees, yet there are less than 4,000 experts available. In the USA 164.8 million people were substance abusers and an estimate of 47.6 million adults, 18 or older, had any mental illness in 2018. That means that about one in five adults in the USA experiences some form of mental illness each year, but only 41% of those affected received mental health care or services in the past year. Brazil has the greatest number of depressed individuals, in Latin America. Adults living in Sao Paulo megacity has prevalence of mental disorders at greater levels than similar surveys conducted in other areas of the world with more than one million adults with serious impairment levels. Discussion: The results show that, despite the vast socioeconomic differences between the three countries, there are correlations regarding mental health prevalence and difficulty to provide adequate services including a lack of awareness of how serious mental illness is, stigma for seeking mental illness, with comorbidity a common phenomenon, and a lack of partnership between different levels of service providers, which weakens mental health service delivery. The findings also indicate that mental health training institutions have a monumental task to prepare personnel to address the future mental health needs in each of the countries compared, which will constitute the next phase of the research.

Keywords: mental health epidemiology, mental health disorder, mental health prevalence, mental health treatment

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Authors: Gudakesh Yadav

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Uttar Pradesh is one of the poorest performing states of India in terms of child health. Using data from the three round of NFHS and two rounds of DLHS, this paper attempts to examine tempo-spatial change in child health and care practices in Uttar Pradesh and its regions. Rate-ratio, CI, multivariate, and decomposition analysis has been used for the study. Findings demonstrate that child health care practices have improved over the time in all regions of the state. However; western and southern region registered the lowest progress in child immunization. Nevertheless, there is no decline in prevalence of diarrhea and ARI over the period, and it remains critically high in the western and southern region. These regions also poorly performed in giving ORS, diarrhoea and ARI treatment. Public health services are least preferred for diarrhoea and ARI treatment. Results from decomposition analysis reveal that rural area, mother’s illiteracy and wealth contributed highest to the low utilization of the child health care practices consistently over the period of time. The study calls for targeted intervention for vulnerable children to accelerate child health care service utilization. Poor performing regions should be targeted and routinely monitored on poor child health indicators.

Keywords: Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), decomposition, diarrhea, inequality, immunization

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Authors: Arpita Saha, Satish Chandra, Indrajit Ghosh

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Delay implicates the time loss of a traveler while crossing an intersection. Efficiency of traffic operation at signalized intersections is assessed in terms of delay caused to an individual vehicle. Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) method and Webster’s method are the most widely used in India for delay estimation purpose. However, in India, traffic is highly heterogeneous in nature with extremely poor lane discipline. Therefore, to explore best delay estimation technique for Indian condition, a comparison was made. In this study, seven signalized intersections from three different cities where chosen. Data was collected for both during morning and evening peak hours. Only under saturated cycles were considered for this study. Delay was estimated based on the field data. With the help of Simpson’s 1/3 rd rule, delay of under saturated cycles was estimated by measuring the area under the curve of queue length and cycle time. Moreover, the field observed delay was compared with the delay estimated using HCM, Webster, Probabilistic, Taylor’s expansion and Regression methods. The drawbacks of the existing delay estimation methods to be use in Indian heterogeneous traffic conditions were figured out, and best method was proposed. It was observed that direct estimation of delay using field measured data is more accurate than existing conventional and modified methods.

Keywords: delay estimation technique, field delay, heterogeneous traffic, signalised intersection

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Authors: Narayanappa Devakumar, Chengalappa Seenappa

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The field experiments were conducted during Rabi 2013 and summer 2014 at College of Sericulture, Chintamani, Chickaballapur district, Karnataka, India to find out the response of mulberry to different methods, levels of irrigation and mulching. The results showed that leaf yield and water productivity of mulberry were significantly influenced by different methods, levels of irrigation and mulching. Subsurface drip with lower level of irrigation at 0.8 CPE (Cumulative Pan Evaporation) recorded higher leaf yield and water productivity (42857 kg ha-1 yr-1and 364.41 kg hacm-1) than surface drip with higher level of irrigation at 1.0 CPE (38809 kg ha-1 yr-1 and 264.10 kg hacm-1) and micro spray jet (39931 kg ha-1 yr-1 and 271.83 kg hacm-1). Further, subsurface drip recorded minimum water used to produce one kg of leaf and to earn one rupee of profit (283 L and 113 L) compared to surface drip (390 L and 156 L) and micro spray jet (379 L and 152 L) irrigation methods. Mulberry leaf yield increased and water productivity decreased with increased levels of irrigation. However, these results indicated that irrigation of mulberry with subsurface drip increased leaf yield and water productivity by saving 20% of irrigation water than surface drip and micro spray jet irrigation methods in Eastern Dry Zone (EDZ) of Karnataka.

Keywords: cumulative pan evaporation, mulaberry, subsurface drip irrigation, water productivity

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Authors: Bhawna Verma

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Looking at the contraceptive use and unmet need specific to the different age groups would help to understand various determinants and characteristics of women from different age groups, which are often being neglected. The study explores contraceptive behavior, unmet need for family planning and its correlates among young nulliparous women aged 15-29, using data from NFHS-4 (2015-16), India. Method: The study utilized information from 26,924 currently married women, who has no child or who have had first terminated pregnancy and was aged 15-29 at the time of the survey. Chi-Square and logistic regression analysis have been used to assess the effects of socio-economic characteristics. Results: Of all the considered explanatory variables religion, caste, education, current age, age at marriage, media exposure and regional differences were found to be significantly affecting the behavior of contraceptive use. Women of the 25-29 age group are 0.6 percent less likely to have an unmet need than women of 12-19 age group. Unmet need is increasing with the increased level of education. Muslim women are 0.3 percent less likely to have an unmet need than women of Hindu category. Conclusion: Separate considerations must be given to the needs for family planning formation among nulliparous women along with the factors associated with the use and non-use of contraceptives among them. Separate considerations must be given for effective promotion of FP knowledge through print, electronic media, towards the unequal access to the contraceptives among nulliparous women. Marriages after legal minimum age and encouraging women for higher education may address existing socio-economic barriers.

Keywords: contraceptive use, unmet need, family planning, contraceptive behavior

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Authors: A. Irudaya Veni Mary, M. Victor Louis Anthuvan, P. Christie, A. Indira

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In India, social enterprises are working to create social value in various fields including education; health; women and child development; environment protection and community development. Although social enterprises have brought about tremendous changes in the lives of beneficiaries, the importance of their works is not understood thoroughly. One of the ways to prove themselves is to measure the impact, which in recent times has received much attention. This paper focuses on the study of social value created by the social enterprises in the field of community development. It also aims to put forth a research tool for measuring the social value created by the social enterprises in the field of community development. A close-ended interview schedule was prepared to measure the social value creation and it was administered among 60 beneficiaries of two social enterprises who work in the field of community development. The study results show that the social enterprises have brought four types of impact in the life of their beneficiaries; economic impact, social impact, political impact and cultural impact. This study is limited to the social enterprises those who work towards community development. This empirical finding will enable the reader to understand various types of social value created by the social enterprises working in the field of community development. This study will also serve as guide for social enterprises in community development activities to measure their impact and thereby improve their operation towards the betterment of the society. This paper is derived from an empirical research carried out to describe the different types of social value created by the social enterprises in India.

Keywords: social enterprise, social entrepreneurs, social impact, social value, tool for social impact measurement

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Authors: Mamta Jat

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Background: The increased longevity has resulted in the increase in the percentage of the global population aged 60 years or over. With this “demographic transition” towards ageing, “epidemiologic transition” is also taking place characterised by growing share of non-communicable diseases in the overall disease burden. So, many of the older adults are ageing with chronic disease and high levels of frailty which often results in lower levels of quality of life. Although frailty may be increasingly common in older adults, prevention or, at least, delay the onset of late-life adverse health outcomes and disability is necessary to maintain the health and functional status of the ageing population. This is an effort using SAGE data to assess levels of frailty and its socio-demographic correlates and its relation with quality of life in LMICs of India, China, Ghana, Mexico, Russia and South Africa in a comparative perspective. Methods: The data comes from multi-country Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE), consists of nationally representative samples of older adults in six low and middle-income countries (LMICs): China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa. For our study purpose, we will consider only 50+ year’s respondents. The logistic regression model has been used to assess the correlates of frailty. Multinomial logistic regression has been used to study the effect of frailty on QOL (quality of life), controlling for the effect of socio-economic and demographic correlates. Results: Among all the countries India is having highest mean frailty in males (0.22) and females (0.26) and China with the lowest mean frailty in males (0.12) and females (0.14). The odds of being frail are more likely with the increase in age across all the countries. In India, China and Russia the chances of frailty are more among rural older adults; whereas, in Ghana, South Africa and Mexico rural residence is protecting against frailty. Among all countries china has high percentage (71.46) of frail people in low QOL; whereas Mexico has lowest percentage (36.13) of frail people in low QOL.s The risk of having low and middle QOL is significantly (p<0.001) higher among frail elderly as compared to non–frail elderly across all countries with controlling socio-demographic correlates. Conclusion: Women and older age groups are having higher frailty levels than men and younger aged adults in LMICs. The mean frailty scores demonstrated a strong inverse relationship with education and income gradients, while lower levels of education and wealth are showing higher levels of frailty. These patterns are consistent across all LMICs. These data support a significant role of frailty with all other influences controlled, in having low QOL as measured by WHOQOL index. Future research needs to be built on this evolving concept of frailty in an effort to improve quality of life for frail elderly population, in LMICs setting.

Keywords: Keywords: Ageing, elderly, frailty, quality of life

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Authors: Rajat Kapoor

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Indian Real Estate sector is the second largest employer after agriculture and is slated to grow at 30 percent over the next decade. Indian cities have shown tumultuous growth since last two decades. With the growing need of infrastructure, it has become inevitable for real estate sector to adopt more organized and transparent system of investment. SPVs such as REITs ensure transparency facilitating accessibility to invest in real estate for those who find it difficult to purchase real estate as an investment option with a realistic income expectation from their investment. RIETs or real estate investment trusts is an instrument of pooling funds similar to that of mutual funds. In a simpler term REIT is an Investment Vehicle in the form a trust which holds & manages large commercial rent¬ earning properties on behalf of investors and distributes most of its profit as dividends. REIT enables individual investors to invest their money in commercial real estate assets in a diversified portfolio and on the other hand provides fiscal liquidity to developers as easy exit option and channel funds for new projects. However, the success REIT is very much dependent on the taxation structure making such models attractive and adaptive enough for both developers and investors to opt for such investment option. This paper is intended to capture an overview of REITs with context to Indian real estate scenario.

Keywords: Indian real estate, real estate infrastructure trusts, urban finance, infrastructure investment trusts

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Authors: Vidya Yadav

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In every society, males and females are expected to behave in certain ways, and in every culture, those expectation, values and norms are different and vary accordingly. Many of the inequalities between men and women are rooted in institutional structure such as in educational field, labour market, wages, decision-making power, access to services as well as in accessing the health and well-being care also. The marriage and kinship pattern shape both men’s and women’s lives. Earlier many studies have highlighted the gender disparities which vary tremendously between regions, social classes, and communities. This study will try to explore the prominent indicators to show the status of women and well-being condition in Indian society. Primarily this paper concern with firstly identification of indicators related to gender in each area like education, work status, mobility, women participation in public and private decision making, autonomy and domestic violence etc. And once the indicators are identified next task is to define them. The indicators which are selected here are for a comparison of women’s status across Indian states. Recent Indian Human Development Survey, 2011-12 has been procured to show the current situation of women. Result shows that in spite of rising levels of education and images of growing westernization in India, love marriages remain in rarity even among urban elite. In India marriage is universal, and most of the men and women marry at relatively young age. Even though the legal age of marriage is 18, but more than 60 percent are married before the legal age. Not surprisingly, but Bihar and Rajasthan are the states with earliest age at marriage. Most of them reported that they have very limited contact with their husband before marriages. Around 69 percent of women met their husbands on the day of the wedding or shortly before. In spite of decline in fertility, still childbearing remains essential to women’s lives. Mostly women aged 25 and older had at least one child. Women’s control over household resources, physical space and mobility is also limited. Indian women’s, mostly rely on men to purchase day to day necessities, as well as medicines, as well as other necessary items. This ultimately reduces the likelihood that women have cash in hand for such purchases. The story is quite different when it comes to have control over decision over purchasing household assets such as TVs or refrigerator, names on the bank account, and home ownership papers. However, the likelihood of ownership rises among urbanite educated women’s. Women’s still have to the cultural norms and the practice of purdah or ghunghat, familial control over women’s physical movement. Wife beating and domestic violence still remain pervasive, and beaten for minor transgression like going out without permission. Development of India cannot be realized without the very significant component of gender. Therefore detailed examinations of different indicators are required to understand, strategize, plan and formulate programmes.

Keywords: autonomy, empowerment, gender, violence

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Authors: Mukesh Lal Das, Muthukumar Muthuchamy

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Climate change Adaptation strategy (AS) is a scientific approach to dealing with the impacts of climate change (CC). Efforts are being made to contain the global emission of greenhouse gas within threshold limits, thereby limiting the rise of global temperature to an optimal level. Global Climate change is a spontaneous process; therefore, reversing the damage would take decades. The climate change adaptation strategy recommended by various stakeholders could be a key to resilience for biodiversity. The Indian Government has constituted the panel to synthesize the climate change action report at the federal and state levels. This review scavenged the published literature on the Western Ghats hotspots. And highlight the adaptation strategy recommended by diverse scientific actors to conserve biodiversity. It also reviews the grey literature adopted by state and federal governments and its effectiveness in mitigating the impacts on biodiversity. We have narrowed the scope of interest to the state action report by 6 Indian states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which host Western Ghats global biodiversity hotspot. Western Ghats(WGs) act as the water tower to the peninsular part of India, and its extensive watershed caters to the water demand of the Industry sector, Agriculture and urban community. Conservation of WGs is the key to the prosperity of Peninsular India. The global scientific community suggested more than 600+ Climate change adaptation strategies for the policymakers, stakeholders, and other state actors to take proactive actions. The preliminary analysis of the federal and the state action plan on climate change in the wake of CC indicate inadequacy in motion as per recommended scientific adaptation strategies. Tamil Nadu and Kerala state constitute nine effective adaptation strategies out of the 40+ recommended for Western Ghats conservation. And other four states' adaptation strategies are deficient, confusing and vague. Western Ghats' resilience capacity will soon or might have reached its threshold, and the frequency of severe drought and flash floods might upsurge manifold in the decades to come. The lack of a clear roadmap to climate change adaptation strategies in the federal and state action stirred us to identify the gap and address it by offering a holistic approach to WGs biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: adaptation strategy, biodiversity conservation, climate change, resilience, Western Ghats

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Authors: Vijay Meena, Arup Kumar Sarma, Chandan Mahanta

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The environment has been getting contaminated by anthropogenic processes including those that discharge heavy metals to air, soil and water. The present work emphasizes the spatial distribution and vertical profile of six heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cr) in three layers of mid sand bars (bed surface layer, 50 cm and 100 cm depth) at 42 sampling stations covering around 600 km stretch of the Brahmaputra River, India. Heavy metal analysis was conducted on the sample collected from mid-sand bars in the river stretch to examine the impact of dredging for various hydrological operations in the future. Sediment quality was assessed by calculating six different indices viz., EF, CF, CD, PLI, Igeo, and PERI. In all sediment layers, heavy metal concentrations have been observed to be the same as listed, Fe > Mn > Zn > Ni > Cr > Cu in μg/g. The average concentration of Cu, Mn, and Fe was found in the middle layer while Zn, Ni, and Cr were in the Surface layer. EF indicates higher enrichment in reach 2 which is likely to be due to anthropogenic sources of industrial and urbanized effluents. The sediment of the mid-sand bar was generally found moderately polluted possessing low risk to aquatic lives and the environment. Suggesting, Dredging can be possible in the future. An examination of correlation matrices, principal components analysis, and cluster analyses indicated that these heavy metals possess similar anthropogenic origins for their enrichment.

Keywords: heavy metal contamination, risk assessment, anthropogenic impacts, sediment

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Authors: Anusmita Das

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In the post-industrial scenario, cities in India have become critical sites of negotiation and are expected to become some of the largest urban agglomeration of the twenty-first century. This has created a pluralist identity resulting in a new multifarious urbanism pervading throughout the entire urban landscape. There is an ambiguity regarding the character of present day Indian cities with new meanings emerging and no methodical study to understand them. More than an abstract diagram, the present day cities can be looked at as an ensemble of meanings. One of the ways in which the meaning is reflected is through events. Festivals such as Diwali, Dussera, Durga Puja, Ganesh Chaturthi, etc have transpired as the phenomenon of the city, and their presence in the everyday landscape weaves itself through the urban fabric dominating the popular visual culture of Indian cities. Festivals influence people’s idea of a city. Ritual, festival, celebrations are important in shaping of the urban environment and in their influence on the intangible aspect of the urban setting. These festivals pertaining to the city in motion have emerged as the symbolic image of the emerging urban Indian condition giving birth to new urban identities. The study undertaken to understand the present context of temporality of Indian cities is important in analyzing the process of its formation and transformation. This study aims to review the evolution of new dimensions of urbanism in India as well as its implication on the identity of cities.

Keywords: urban identities, urban design, festivals, rituals, celebrations, inter-disciplinary study

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Authors: Navneet Kalia, Lalit Mohan Verma, Vinay Guleria

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Introduction: Design Flood studies are essential for effective planning and functioning of water resource projects. Design flood estimation for Sunni Dam Hydro Electric Project located in State of Himachal Pradesh, India, on the river Satluj, was a big challenge in view of the river flowing in the Himalayan region from Tibet to India, having a large catchment area of varying topography, climate, and vegetation. No Discharge data was available for the part of the river in Tibet, whereas, for India, it was available only at Khab, Rampur, and Luhri. The estimation of Design Flood using standard methods was not possible. This challenge was met using two different approaches for upper (snow-fed) and lower (rainfed) catchment using Flood Frequency Approach and Hydro-metrological approach. i) For catchment up to Khab Gauging site (Sub-Catchment, C1), Flood Frequency approach was used. Around 90% of the catchment area (46300 sqkm) up to Khab is snow-fed which lies above 4200m. In view of the predominant area being snow-fed area, 1 in 10000 years return period flood estimated using Flood Frequency analysis at Khab was considered as Probable Maximum Flood (PMF). The flood peaks were taken from daily observed discharges at Khab, which were increased by 10% to make them instantaneous. Design Flood of 4184 cumec thus obtained was considered as PMF at Khab. ii) For catchment between Khab and Sunni Dam (Sub-Catchment, C2), Hydro-metrological approach was used. This method is based upon the catchment response to the rainfall pattern observed (Probable Maximum Precipitation - PMP) in a particular catchment area. The design flood computation mainly involves the estimation of a design storm hyetograph and derivation of the catchment response function. A unit hydrograph is assumed to represent the response of the entire catchment area to a unit rainfall. The main advantage of the hydro-metrological approach is that it gives a complete flood hydrograph which allows us to make a realistic determination of its moderation effect while passing through a reservoir or a river reach. These studies were carried out to derive PMF for the catchment area between Khab and Sunni Dam site using a 1-day and 2-day PMP values of 232 and 416 cm respectively. The PMF so obtained was 12920.60 cumec. Final Result: As the Catchment area up to Sunni Dam has been divided into 2 sub-catchments, the Flood Hydrograph for the Catchment C1 has been routed through the connecting channel reach (River Satluj) using Muskingum method and accordingly, the Design Flood was computed after adding the routed flood ordinates with flood ordinates of catchment C2. The total Design Flood (i.e. 2-Day PMF) with a peak of 15473 cumec was obtained. Conclusion: Even though, several factors are relevant while deciding the method to be used for design flood estimation, data availability and the purpose of study are the most important factors. Since, generally, we cannot wait for the hydrological data of adequate quality and quantity to be available, flood estimation has to be done using whatever data is available. Depending upon the type of data available for a particular catchment, the method to be used is to be selected.

Keywords: design flood, design storm, flood frequency, PMF, PMP, unit hydrograph

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Authors: Maria de Nazaré Moraes Soares, Silvia Maria Dias Pedro Rebouças, José Carlos Lázaro

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The Solidarity Economy (SE) acts in the re-articulation of the economic field to the other spheres of social action. The significant participation of women in SE resulted in the formation of a national network of self-managed enterprises in Brazil: The Solidarity and Feminist Economy Network (SFEN). The objective of the research is to identify factors of gender justice and feminist self-management practices that adhere to the reality of women in SE enterprises. The conceptual apparatus related to feminist studies in this research covers Nancy Fraser approaches on gender justice, and Patricia Yancey Martin approaches on feminist management practices, and authors of postcolonial feminism such as Mohanty and Maria Lugones, who lead the discussion to peripheral contexts, a necessary perspective when observing the women’s movement in SE. The research has a quantitative nature in the phases of data collection and analysis. The data collection was performed through two data sources: the database mapped in Brazil in 2010-2013 by the National Information System in Solidary Economy and 150 questionnaires with women from 16 enterprises in SFEN, in a state of Brazilian northeast. The data were analyzed using the multivariate statistical technique of Factor Analysis. The results show that the factors that define gender justice and feminist self-management practices in SE are interrelated in several levels, proving statistically the intersectional condition of the issue of women. The evidence from the quantitative analysis allowed us to understand the dimensions of gender justice and feminist management practices intersectionality; in this sense, the non-distribution of domestic work interferes in non-representation of women in public spaces, especially in peripheral contexts. The study contributes with important reflections to the studies of this area and can be complemented in the future with a qualitative research that approaches the perspective of women in the context of the SE self-management paradigm.

Keywords: feminist management practices, gender justice, self-management, solidarity economy

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Authors: Suparna Roy, P. Anantharaman

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The aim of this work is to estimate some in-vitro antioxidant activities and total phenols of various extracts such as aqueous, acetone, ethanol, methanol extract of seaweeds and pigments content by Spectrophotometric method. The seaweeds were collected during 2016 from Rameshwaram, southeast coast of India. Among four different extracts, aqueous extracts from all seaweeds had minimum activity than acetone, methanol and ethanol. The Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta had high antioxidant activity in comparing to Chlorophyta. The highest total antioxidant activity was found in acetone extract fromTurbinaria decurrens (98.97±0.00%), followed by its methanol extract (98.81±0.60%) and ethanol extract (98.58±0.53%). The highest reducing power and H2O2 scavenging activity were found in acetone extract of Caulerpa racemosa (383.25±1.04%), and methanol extract from Caulerpa racemosa var. macrophysa (24.91±0.49%). The methanol extract from Caulerpa scalpelliformis contained the highest total phenol (85.23±0.12%). The Chloro-a and Chloro-b contents were the highest in Gracilaria foliifera (13.69±0.38% mg/gm dry wt.) and Caulerpa racemosa var. macrophysa (9.12 ±0.12% mg/gm dry wt.) likewise carotenoid was also the highest in Gracilaria foliifera (0.054±0.0003% mg/gm dry wt.) and Caulerpa racemosa var. macrophysa (0.04 ±0.002% mg/gm dry wt.). It can be concluded from this study that some seaweed extract can be used for natural antioxidant production, after further characterization to negotiate the side effect of synthetic, market available antioxidants.

Keywords: seaweeds, antioxidant, total phenol, pigment, Olaikuda, Vadakkadu, Rameshwaram

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Authors: Sunil Arora, Anitya Kumar Jena, S. A. Ravi

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India is at the cusp of major reforms in the hydrocarbon sector. Oil and gas sector is highly liberalised to attract private investment and to increase domestic production. Major hydrocarbon Exploration & Production (E&P) activity here have been undertaken by Government owned companies but with easing up and reworking of hydro carbon exploration licensing policies private players have also joined the fray towards achieving energy security for India. Government of India has come up with policy and administrative reforms including Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), Sagarmala (port-led development with coastal connectivity), and Development of Small Discovered Fields, etc. with the intention to make industry friendly conditions for investment, ease of doing business and reduce gestation period. To harness the potential resources of Deep water and Ultra deep water, High Pressure – High Temperature (HP-HT) regions, Coal Bed Methane (CBM), Shale Hydrocarbons besides Gas Hydrates, participation shall be required from both domestic and international players. Companies engaged in E&P activities in India have traditionally been managing through their captive supply base, but with crude prices under hammer, the need is being felt to outsource non-core activities. This necessitates establishment of a robust support services to cater to E&P Industry, which is currently non-existent to meet the bourgeon challenges. This paper outlines an agenda for creating an Integrated Services Hub (ISH) under Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to facilitate complete gamut of non-core support activities of E&P industry. This responsive and proficient multi-usage facility becomes viable with better resource utilization, economies of scale to offer cost effective services. The concept envisages companies to bring-in their core technical expertise leaving complete hardware peripherals outsourced to this ISH. The Integrated Services Hub, complying with the best in class global standards, shall typically provide following Services under Single Window Solution, but not limited to: a) Logistics including supply base operations, transport of manpower and material, helicopters, offshore supply vessels, warehousing, inventory management, sourcing and procurement activities, international freight forwarding, domestic trucking, customs clearance service etc. b) Trained/Experienced pool of competent Manpower (Technical, Security etc.) will be available for engagement by companies on either short or long term basis depending upon the requirements with provisions of meeting any training requirements. c) Specialized Services through tie-up with global best companies for Crisis Management, Mud/Cement, Fishing, Floating Dry-dock besides provision of Workshop, Repair and Testing facilities, etc. d) Tools and Tackles including drill strings, etc. A pre-established Integrated Services Hub shall facilitate an early start-up of activities with substantial savings in time lines. This model can be replicated at other parts of the world to expedite E&P activities.

Keywords: integrated service hub, India, oil gas, offshore supply base

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Authors: Satinder Bhatia

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Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) was a concept introduced in India in 2009. Ever since then, there has been a fierce growth in the number of organizations registered as LLPs outpacing the number of registrations as private companies. Among other benefits extended to LLPs, the audit being mandated only for LLPs having a turnover of at least Rs 40 lakhs or capital contribution of Rs 25 lakhs, has been a major attraction. This has resulted in only about 10 per cent of LLPs coming under mandatory audit. Even for such companies, the accounting standards to be followed in the preparation of financial statements have not been specified. The Revised Indian Accounting Standards (Revised IndAS) which are aligned with IFRS to a great extent, may apply to LLPs only under limited conditions. Thus, the veracity of even the audited financial statements of LLPs can be questioned. If in future, these LLPs would like to list on a stock exchange to raise capital, there can be serious hurdles if investors do not find the financial statements to be reliable and consistent. LLPs are generally governed by country-specific rules in the area of accounts and audit. Thus, such rules vary across UK, EU and the USA. Some countries have adopted the IFRS for SMEs and since LLPs can be referred to as SMEs; they would come under the ambit of these IFRS provisions. Besides, as the scope of audit widens to cover qualitative information in addition to quantitative data, audit of LLPs has now acquired a new meaning and a new urgency as demands for at least limited purpose audits are arising from different stakeholders including lenders, suppliers, customers and joint venture partners.

Keywords: audit disclosures, audit quality, guidance for SMEs, non-audit services

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Authors: M. P. Raju, P. D. Safai, P. S. P. Rao, P. C. S. Devara, C. V. Naidu

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In order to study the Physical and chemical characteristics of aerosols, samples of Total Suspended Particulates (TSP) were collected using a high volume sampler at Pune, a semi-urban location in SW India during March 2009 to February 2010. TSP samples were analyzed for water soluble components like F, Cl, NO3, SO4, NH4, Na, K, Ca, and Mg and acid soluble components like Al, Zn, Fe and Cu using Ion-Chromatograph and Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. Analysis of the data revealed that the monthly mean TSP concentrations varied between 471.3 µg/m3 and 30.5 µg/m3 with an annual mean value of 159.8 µg/m3. TSP concentrations were found to be less during post-monsoon and winter (October through February), compared to those in summer and monsoon (March through September). Anthropogenic activities like vehicular emissions and dust particles originated from urban activities were the major sources for TSP. TSP showed good correlation with all the major ionic components, especially with SO4 (R= 0.62) and NO3 (R= 0.67) indicating the impact of anthropogenic sources over the aerosols at Pune. However, the overall aerosol nature was alkaline (Ave pH = 6.17) mainly due to the neutralizing effects of Ca and NH4. SO4 contributed more (58.8%) to the total acidity as compared to NO3 (41.1%) where as, Ca contributed more (66.5%) to the total alkalinity than NH4 (33.5%). Seasonality of acid soluble component Al, Fe and Cu showed remarkable increase, indicating the dominance of soil source over the man-made activities. Overall study on TSP indicated that aerosols at Pune were mainly affected by the local sources.

Keywords: chemical composition, acidic and neutralization potential, radiative forcing, urban station

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Authors: G. Gnanachandrasamy, Y. Zhou, S. Venkatramanan, T. Ramkumar, S. Wang

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The natural resources of groundwater are the most precious resources around the world that balances are shrinking day by day. In connection, there is an urgency need for demarcation of potential groundwater zone. For these rationale integration of geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques (RS) for the hydrological studies have become a dramatic change in the field of hydrological research. These techniques are provided to locate the potential zone of groundwater. This research has been made to indent groundwater potential zone in Ariyalur of the southern part of India with help of GIS and remote sensing techniques. To identify the groundwater potential zone used by different thematic layers of geology, geomorphology, drainage, drainage density, lineaments, lineaments density, soil and slope with inverse distance weighting (IDW) methods. From the overall result reveals that the potential zone of groundwater in the study area classified into five classes named as very good (12.18 %), good (22.74 %), moderate (32.28 %), poor (27.7 %) and very poor (5.08 %). This technique suggested that very good potential zone of groundwater occurred in patches of northern and central parts of Jayamkondam, Andimadam and Palur regions in Ariyalur district. The result exhibited that inverse distance weighting method offered in this research is an effective tool for interpreting groundwater potential zones for suitable development and management of groundwater resources in different hydrogeological environments.

Keywords: GIS, groundwater potential zone, hydrology, remote sensing

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