eChapters

According to Planning Commission Report (2014), India generates about 62 million tons of municipal solid wastes (MSW) every year from urban cities. There has been a significant increase in municipal solid waste generation in India in the last few decades. This is largely due to rapid population growth and economic development in the country (Annepu, 2012). Solid waste management (SWM) has become a major environmental issue because of serious environmental implications like global warming (through green house gases emission) and contamination of toxic pollutants (like heavy metals) in surface and groundwater bodies. Solid waste management is one of the essential services to be provided by municipal authorities in the country to keep urban areas clean. Out of total waste generated in India, only 12.45% waste is scientifically processed and rest is disposed in open dumps (CPCB Report, 2013). Although, incineration of solid wastes is being followed in many places for energy production, composting is considered most environment friendly method of SWM as it promotes recycling of nutrients in crop production.

A new analytical technique called inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy has been used for simultaneous multi element analysis of biological materials and soils (Hou and Jones 2000; Wikipedia, 2010; Bradford and Cook, 1997). This technique offers advantages over AAS and other multi-element methods because matrix problems are eliminated or minimized through use of the high temperature argon plasma. Apart from multi- element capability at all concentration levels, plasmas are noted for relative freedom from chemical and ionization interferences that are common with AAS, and detection limits are equal to or better than AAS, depending on the element to be analyzed. Elements such as Al, P, S and B, which are either poorly measured at low concentrations or not possible by AAS, are readily determined with higher sensitivity by ICP.

Atmosphere serves as the medium through which pollutants are transported and dispersed. While being transported, the pollutants undergo chemical reactions, which may be lethal or scavenged by chemical or physical process/method. But it all exclusively depends upon the meteorological conditions (Lee et .al, 1994). Historic air pollution episodes reveal that atmospheric conditions influence the pollutant concentrations as well as their toxicity (Goldsmith & Friberg, 1976; Wichmann et.al, 1989 and Pope et.al, 1992). However, the location, duration of release, height as well as the pollutant concentrations are also important, which effect the secondary pollutant transformation under the influence of meteorological conditions, but the atmospheric behavior is independent of their sources (Holzworth, 1974).

Through the sharing of experience of developed countries, which faced the massive health problem due to vehicular pollution in the past and remedial measures adopted by them, it is needed to avoid mistakes made in the past and instead introduce effective measures for the future to reduce or confine the damage that has already been incurred. A progressive policy of motor vehicle emission control strategy, which may be more feasible/affordable, has to be adopted for solving immediate air pollution problems. Uncontrolled growth of vehicular fleet and its emission is taking place in the urban areas, which must be controlled/regulated in order to prevent future disaster. Because of economic development and speed of motorization expected over next decades this problem will become more vulnerable and even greater, If control measure are not adopted timely. It is suggested that planning must begin to provide alternatives to the motor vehicles and to reduce emission of the vehicles. The country without high capital resources will face challenging problems for evolving control strategy that will be acceptable both economically and socially.

Pollution is continuously increasing in India. To control ambient air pollution CPCB has prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standards

True/False

Q.1.    Statistics in singular is used to denote a subject (branch) of science.
Q.2.    Statistics in plural is used to denote “data or methods”
Q.3.    Statistics is defined as a science of collection, compilation, analysis and interpretation of numerical data.
Q.4.    Statistics can be used for two major purposes: descriptive and infe-rential.

True/False

Q.1.    A set containing all possible outcome of a trial in a study is known as “Sample space”.
Q.2.    If we are interested in observing the blood type of a child born in a hospital then sample space may be a set S is of the form S = {A, B, AB, O}.
Q.3.    If outcomes are continuous in nature, the sample space is specified as an interval that contains all possible outcome values.
Q.4.    When the occurrence of one event excludes the occurrence of other events, the events are said to be “Mutually exclusive events”.
Q.5.    In case of testing the type of blood of a newly born baby in a hospital, the blood types A, B, AB, O or gender (male, female) are exclusive events.

1.    I deem it a singular honour to deliver Dr. Sen Memorial Lecture. Dr. Sen, who was both an administrator and a visionary, was instrumental for:

Synopsis

If the human being was born first, he or she needed food immediately to survive. Thereafter, human beings continued to need food and continued to eat food throughout his or her life. Hence, the relationship between human being and food is permanent and the requirement of food for the human being to be alive is everlasting. The paper provides the background, definition of right to food, and adequate food, historical events, legal perspectives, operational guidelines, and advances in its application and derives conclusion.

Bonsai culture is an important branch of Ornamental horticulture. History of Bonsai is very old dating back to many centuries in China where it originated, as most Chinese arts and from there it spread to Japan and became highly specialized.  In fact, bonsai culture is in the present day more known as Japanese than as a Chinese art.  In Japanese homes, there are plants which are hundreds of years old. This treasured art is passed from generation to generation in Japanese society.

The word Bonsai is a combination of two Japanese words, Bon (meaning shallow pan) and Sai (meaning plant) which can be interpreted as ‘Tray planting’.  The idea conveyed is that of a small beautiful tree growing in a container as in nature with all its parts performing their natural functions throughout the times.  The artistic look of plant in a miniature form maintained for many years is the prime criteria.  Bonsais are grown outdoors and are displayed in living room, as and when, needed.  They cannot be treated as house plants.

Though the extension education was originated as a “field approach” aimed to enhance the life quality of rural people, it has evolved into a scientific discipline that relies heavily on empirical research to develop and test its “field-oriented” approaches and methods. Since its birth, the extension research has passed through several phases and a range of research paradigms like community mobilisation, farmer participatory approaches, technology assessment and refinement, impact assessment, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) aided development, etc.

The Revised ATMA Scheme provides for dedicated specialist and functionary support to take up training and extension initiatives at State, District and Block level. Besides this, improvement in extension outreach right down to the village level is expected to be achieved through Farmer Friend. The study mainly focused on farmer friend under ATMA scheme. The FF served as a vital link between extension system and farmers at village level (one for every two villages). The FF should be available in the village to advise on agriculture and allied activities. The FF  mobilized farmers’ groups and facilitate dissemination of information to such groups, individual farmers and farm women directly through one to one interaction individually or in groups and also by accessing information / services  on behalf of farmers as per need through Common Service Centres (CSC) / Kisan Call Centres (KCC). (Government of India, 2010).

Rice is a staple food for millions of people in the world, particularly in developing countries like India. The demand for rice is growing with ever increasing population. In India more than 70 per cent of the ground and surface water is being used for Agriculture and out of this 70 per cent is allocated to rice cultivation. Each kg of rice produced with irrigation requires 3000- 5000 litres of water (Anonymous, 2011). The demand of rice in India is increasing with increase in population and is expected to be 140 m.t. by 2025 (Pandey et al., 2008).

Groundnut is one of the main oilseed crop of India.Unlike many oilseeds, Groundnut can be consumed directly in various farms and hence now it is also being considered a supplementary food crops. In india groundnut is grown in an area of about 6.5 hectares with a production of  about 7 million tones of pods per annum (2007). It is one of the few crops that can be cultivated even on marginal lands under low input conditions. Unfortunately average productivity of groundnut in india is quite low (1000kg) compared to (USA-3000 kg/ha, China- 2600 kg/ha, Argentina-2100 kg/ha  and  Indonesia-1550 kg/ha).

Food security is an essential feature of a country’s independence and sustenance. Rapid growing population and increasing purchase capacity, both play an influential role on food security. The cultivation or agriculture has declined the world over, with India and Kerala being no exceptions mainly due to the lack of human resources to work with the soil. Uneconomic crop pricing, lack of social accreditation, poor and unstable income, insecurity to life and health etc. are the main factors which discourage the youngsters in our country from becoming ‘farmers’.

Distribution channels are behind every product and service that consumers and business buyers purchase everywhere. Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Usually, combination on institutions specializing in manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing and many other areas join force in Distribution channels. A Distribution channels are a set of inter-dependent organization involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption. Distribution channels decisions play a role of Strategic importance in the overall presence and success a company enjoys in the market palace.

Agricultural sector worldwide is faced with several serious challenges as follows the spiralling demand of food, declining agricultural productivity due to natural resources degradation and increasing competition in international markets. The new millennium throws up new challenges in the Indian agriculture sector that are different from those in the past. Continuous pressure of producing more food from the same land with shrinking natural resources and marketing the product is a tough task for farmers. Public agricultural extension system with a mandate and mission, beyond transfer of technology, is needed to develop the capacities of the farming community.

Climate change is a complex problem involving varied interactions between the environment, natural resources (land, crops, animals and water) and people. These interactions are likely to change the ecological and agricultural landscape, and therefore influence agricultural and animal production. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has dictated that global warming/climate change could lead to many environmental problems i.e., Drought, floods, crop and animal farming, food production, and health hazards etc. Agriculture is closely dependent on the endowment of natural resources and environmental conditions of soil and climate. India is divided into many agro—climatic zones depending upon rainfall, agriculture and soil fertility. The agro climatic conditions of India and the various other factors that largely determine the cropping patterns vary throughout the country. Warangal district falls into two agro climatic regions namely Southern Telangana Zone and North Telangana Zone.

The ICT enabled extension systems act as a key agent for changing current agrarian situation by improving access to information, sharing knowledge, providing incredible opportunities and enabling the empowerment of farming communities. In order to extend the benefits of ICT’s to the disorganized and disadvantaged farming sector, one of the road maps to achieve them are access of ICT’s to villagers through Mobile telephony.

Web-education Technology

“Educating the people through web” this process is called web-education. The World Wide Web provides new opportunities and hopeful future for distance education over the Internet and the distance education is becoming a widespread used for quite a long time through Newspapers, Radio and TV. Now-a-days mostly the World Wide Web (WWW) getting vital role in distance education, e-learning and distance learning since the networking technologies are emerging very rapidly in the media dominant era. The connectivity of the internet to different kind of people around the world is increasing steadily, like TV and Radio. The World Wide Web and other Internet–based collaborative modern communication technology tools have significantly enhanced the ability to train and educate people electronically.

Sustainability issues have infused sanity in utilizing interventions without much damage to the environment. The wisdom of the practitioners, who had over generations developed their own eco-friendly practices, is being appreciated. Recent researches have aimed at documenting, rationalizing, and blending the Indigenous Knowledge with the so called Scientific or Western knowledge so as to take care of the sustainability issues. Many researchers have contributed to this pool of knowledge by documenting many of the technologies, crop wise, area wise and operation wise and so on.

The agricultural production is inherently a risky business characterized by seasonality; perishability and variability which make it susceptible to vagaries of climate and markets and thus farmers face a variety of agricultural risks. In response to these risks over a period of time, several risk management mechanisms have been evolved. Risk management strategies refer to ex-ante measures taken before such an event has taken place, whereas risk coping strategies are, ex-post strategies dealing with the consequences of the event (World Bank Report, 2005). Invariably, farmers use both ex-ante and ex-post strategies. It is interesting to note that so far agriculture risk management has been in terms of risk avoidance and risk reduction and mostly these risks are addressed at farm or production level. Currently there has been a shift in agriculture risk management from risk avoidance and risk reduction strategies to risk mitigation strategies. Similarly, there exist shifts from production to market orientation in agriculture. To understand this phenomenon involved, it is felt necessary to study the agricultural risk management behaviour farmers. Keeping this discussion as focal point, the study was conducted with an objective to assess risk management behaviour of farmers.

Plant mineral nutrition is a sub branch of plant physiology which addresses issues on uptake of elements that plant needs to absorb from air or water or soil to grow and to live. Besides function of nutrient elements in plants, it also includes deficiency symptoms and how to address deficiency symptoms in a plant. Plant mineral nutrition and mechanism of uptake has two major aspects:

Indian agriculture has grown over past 50 years from subsistence type of farming to a market surplus one with the present food grain production above 250 million tones (Fig. 1) which was only 50 million tones in 1950. At the same time the country has struggled over the years to meet the fertilizer requirement. More than 50 per cent fertilizer consumption is imported.

Introduction

Land serves as storage for water and nutrients for plants and other living organisms, but the land resources are limited. India has about 18% of world’s population and 15% of livestock population to be supported from only 2% geographical area and 1.5% of forest and pasture lands (Rao et al., 2015). The per capita availability of agricultural land has declined from 0.48 hectare in 1951 to 0.16 hectare in 1991 and is likely to decline further to 0.08 hectare in 2035. This decline in per capita land availability in the country is mostly on account of rising population (GOI, 2010). 

Trees rise towards the sky, beautiful symbol of Nature’s aspiration for light. Sri Aurobindo writes “When the sun sets and all become silent, sit down under a tree for a moment and put yourself into communication with Nature: you will feel rising from the earth, from below roots of the trees and mounting upwards and coursing through their fibres upto the highest outstretching branches, the aspiration of an intense love and longing, - a longing for something that brings light and gives happiness. There is a yearning so pure and intense that if you can feel the movement in the trees, your own being too will go up in an ardent prayer for the peace and light and love that are unmanifested here”.

The cultural history of India is associated with religious believes and any emphasis on arguments dealing with plant-man-God relationship appeals to people even today. This attitude prevails throughout India and many places of worship have continued to preserve in situ biodiversity of specific species of plants.

The present era is rightly termed as an “Information era”. Therefore, information and wide access to it is considered as wealth. People want adequate and authentic information as early as possible. In recent years, information delivery system has been changed from old ways to the modern ways. At the present time information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly being used as effective tool for reaching and delivering professional services among urban and rural communities. Yet the benefits of the information revolution are still much debated, particularly, in case of developing countries like India. There is a growing concern about the gap between the information “haves and have not’s”, which will continue to grow unless the developing countries acquire the infrastructure and resources to access these new ICTs.

What is Computer Network?

A computer network is a collection of computers and devices connected to each other. The network allows computers to communicate with each other and share resources and information. The Advance Research Projects Agency (ARPA) designed “Advanced Research Projects Agency Network” (ARPANET) for the United States Department of Defence. It was the first computer network in the world in late 1960’s and early 1970’s

U    :    Units.

U&L    :    Upper and lower.

U&MNP    :    Ulnar and median nerve palsy.

U/O    :    Under observation for.
  
U/WB    :    Unit of whole blood.

UA    :    Umbilical artery; uric acid; urinalysis.
   
UC    :    Ulcerative colitis; unchanged; unconscious. 

W    :    Watt.

W&D    :    Warm and dry.

W/A    :    Weakness atrophy.
    
W/C    :    Wheelchair.
    
W/E    :    Wound of entry.
    
W/U    :    Workup. 

X    :    Times; power; multiplied by.

Xenobiotic    :    Compound foreign to biological systems. Often refers to humanmade compounds that are resistant or recalcitrant to biodegradation and decomposition.

1. Introduction

Cold-Arid areas are unique eco-systems lying in the north-western Himalaya. The Himalayan mountain ranges can broadly be grouped in two categories 1) the Himalayan ranges extending to the south of the main range including the greater Himalaya and 2) the trans-Himalayan ranges to the north of it. The cold-arid areas are situated in the Trans-Himalayan ranges which comprise of the Zanskar Range, the Ladakh Range and the Karakoram Range. The Ladakh region is situated in the rain shadow of the Himalaya and is dry and arid. To its south lie the Himalayan mountains, in west lies the Kashmir, in east lies the Tibet and the northern boundaries are flanked by the Karakoram ranges.

Abstract

Soils of various depth ranges were identified at the experimental farm of Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Kukma-Bhuj, Gujarat. Different depth range of soils included in this study were shallow soil (effective soil depth <15 cm), moderately deep soil (effective soil depth15- 25 cm), deep (effective soil depth 25-70 cm), and very deep (effective soil depth 70 to >1m). The soils are developed from calcareous and ferruginous sand stone and mud stone. A field experiment was carried out to study the performance of different crops and grasses under variable soil depths. Crops namely, clusterbean (Maruguar), greengram (K 851), sesame (GT2), groundnut (GG2) and pearl millet (Pusa 23) and grasses C .ciliaris (CAZRI-75) and L. sindicus (CAZRI 30-5) were grown in these four different soil depths.

Abstract

The experiment, conducted at research farm of Central Arid Zone Research Station, Bikaner during 2009 on sandy loam soil. The study revealed that in agri-horti system different irrigation levels significantly affected the growth parameters (plant height, stem girth and tree canopy) of fruit trees which was highest at 80% ETc irrigation level in intercropping of moth bean and cluster bean and it was significantly higher over no intercropping. Intercropping of sonamukhi gave 24.8% lower plant height of citrus over no intercropping. Highest fruit yield of citrus was recorded (40% fruiting) with intercropping of moth bean at 80% ETc irrigation level which was 51% higher over intercropping of sonamukhi.

Abstract
 
Pop sorghum, apart from popping qualities has also shown the potential fodder yielding abilities. A field experiment was conducted at University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka during kharif 2001 under rainfed situation.

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Mechanized Commercial Farm, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh (Gujarat) during the Kharif-Rabi seasons of 2006, 2007 and 2008 to study the effect of tillage practices on yield of rainfed castor (Ricinus communis). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four replications. The six treatments comprised viz., T_1- Conventional tillage (Cultivator + blade harrowing), T_2-Ploughing followed by cultivator and blade harrowing, T_3-Tillage through rotavator, T_4-Furrow opening through sub-soiling, T_5-Furrow opening through V-notch cultivator and T_6-Zero tillage (pre and post emergence herbicides + 2 hand weeding). Among the different treatments, the different growth and yield attributing parameters viz., plant height, number of spikes per plant, length of main spike, number of capsules per spike and test weight, seed and stalk yields, higher gross and net returns were recorded when field was prepared by ploughing followed by cultivator and blade harrowing. It also improved soil moisture content which was closely followed by tillage through rotavator (T₃) and furrow opening through sub-soiling (T₄).

Abstract

India’s livestock sector is one of the largest in the world. It has 56.7% of world’s buffaloes, 12.5% cattle, 20.4% small ruminants, 2.4% camel, 1.4 % equine, 1.5% pigs and 3.1% poultry. Dairy Entrepreneurship can be one of the important subsidiary occupations for farmers in rural areas. Since agriculture happens to be mostly seasonal in nature, thereby providing employment opportunities for the people on seasonal basis, there is a possibility of finding employment for many persons throughout the year through dairy farming. The farm income can be enhanced through this subsidiary activity.

Abstract

The paper presents the innovation of solar tunnel dryer; it is a walk in type semi-cylindrical poly house framed structure with UV-stabilized polythene sheet, where products on large scale could be dried under controlled environment. Chilly drying in solar tunnel dryer to reduce the moisture content from 83.4 % (w.b.) to about 9 % (w.b.) and Aonla pulp from moisture content of 81 %(w.b.) to safe moisture content 9.5 %(w.b.) successfully dried. 20-30^ºC of higher temperature was obtained in solar tunnel dryer over the ambient temperature, depends on product. In comparison to open sun drying to obtain the same level of moisture contents resulting in a net saving in drying time of 40-50% for solar tunnel dryer over open sun drying.

Introduction

Modern libraries have evolved from paper-based storehouse of books and journals into network of digitized information and knowledge, now known as digital libraries. Libraries these days have consortia, and use electronic resources and databases so that they can provide better services to the users. Librarianship has shifted from use of printed and manually operated system to world wide access to information. Modern academic library is a conglomeration of printed books and journals as well as electronic resources where both forms of the documents can be stored, retrieved and delivered as and when required.

Introduction

Cloud computing is now evolving like never before, with all types of establishments irrespective of shapes and sizes adapting to this new technology. The experts believe that this trend will continue to grow and develop even further in the coming years. While cloud computing is undoubtedly beneficial for mid-size to large establishments, it is not without its downsides, especially for smaller establishment.

Introduction

The innovative use of web technologies enables us to reach both local and distant users much more easily and effectively. Technologies such as email and Web provide tremendous opportunities for library & Information Scientists to deliver the information to the desktops of users. Web offers significant advantage by integrating different library & information services with a common user interface offered by Web browsers.

Introduction

Electronic resources represent an increasingly important component of the library collection building. “Electronic resources” refer to those materials that require computer access, whether through a personal computer, mainframe, or handheld mobile device. They may either be accessed remotely via the Internet or locally. Some of the most frequently encountered types are:

Paperless to Paperless Libraries

Ancient Gurus in ancient Gurukulas used to impart knowledge to their pupils through oral teaching. The Gurus themselves were treasure troves of knowledge, without the need to refer to hard and soft copies, and online resources. How interesting it is to note we are right now in a nostalgic phase, that takes us back to those ages, when disciples were taught, learned and accumulated oceans of knowledge through oral and moving libraries, which were in the form of their revered Gurus. It is truly fascinating how history has flair to repeat itself. The long-driven transition from paperless back to paperless, that is, from oral instruction through palm leaves through copper plates through virtual paper through electronic to digital libraries is as arduous as it is fascinating. Hence the million dollars question … where to from here – Digital Library, whither thou goest?

Introduction

Increasing quantum of information being generated and distributed in electronic form and management of these resources has become a real challenge to the library professionals.  How to integrate and handle this information increasing at phenomenal speed and how quickly and effectively it can be accessed and provided is the real concern. This has given rise to the concept of 'poly-media library'. This concept has brought to the front the importance of Information Literacy (IL) for academic pursuits as well as for life-long learning.

Introduction

Studies have indicated that four significant forces viz. IT, Mobile, Cloud and Social Media would create unique work environment in the coming years. Social media presents both opportunities and challenges. It has reached a stage where a single tweet can make or mar an organization. It has emerged as a force to reckon with.

Introduction

Marketing and promotion are important for any organization that provides services to consumers. Marketing and promotion allow an organization to inform, remind, or persuade the consumers by sharing information about goods or services, community involvement, or societal impact. Simply stated, these efforts encompass anything libraries do to let the community know who they are, what they do, and what they offer. The goal of marketing is to keep the product in the minds of the customer: in the case of libraries it is to keep the customer aware of the library, to provide them with knowledge about the library’s physical features, resources, services, programs, and events, and to let them know about the benefits libraries offer. Marketing and promotion benefit the library by increasing usage, educating users, and increasing or at least maintaining a positive perception of the library.

ABSTRACT

Village Resource Centre (VRC) provides information services to the rural population to empower them to face day to day challenges. In this line, the Department of Space, ISRO & RRSSC is bringing its space technology to common man by setting up of Village Resource Centres, with a view to integrate the capabilities of communication and remote sensing satellites to address the changing and critical needs of rural communities. VRC is totally interactive VSAT based network for providing space enabled information related to land records, natural resources, drinking water wells, ground water recharge, soil types, alternate cropping pattern, waste lands, etc. VRCs also provide  variety of services in its tele-education and tele-medicine programmes, online decision support, weather forecasting, water management, interactive farmers advisory services (video conferencing) etc.

ABSTRACT

India’s North-East is predominantly hill agriculture based and endowed with rich natural resources for the development. The average rainfall in the region is the highest in the country. However, low agricultural productivity and food in-security are largely prevalent in the North- East India. Lack of adequate information on advanced farm technologies, market intelligence and rural development schemes led to the income poverty in the region. The limited technical manpower, lack of transport and communication facilities, inadequate financial support to the technology transfer and less infrastructure facility creates huge technological gap among  rural tribal farming community.

ABSTRACT

The Cellular technology (mobile phone) is becoming popular day by day with companies up with low price handsets and nearly one-fourth of the India’s population possess a mobile phone even in the rural areas. The Indian government has set a target of 500 million users by 2010; half of this, 250 million, has reached till 2007 (IANS). Keeping in view the scenario, messaging agricultural information through computers to the end users on mobile phone is a means, which will go a long way for the farmers to receive timely information. There are different media platforms through which farmer’s access information in India. This includes radios, television, print, person to person and so many others. However, with the rapid growth in technology, there is a strong belief that there is a need to extend the mobile phones’ use to agriculture sector.