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Scholars of disaster politics debate how far natural hazards cause or catalyse political change. This paper builds on recent scholarship on tipping points and social contracts to argue that two case studies of historical earthquakes in 1930s British‐colonised India invite a focus on the dynamics of cooperation and conflict between state and non‐state actors. Officials of the colonial state and its nationalist rivals cooperated after one earthquake even though they otherwise bitterly opposed each other. Cooperation broke down after the second event, just one year later. Yet, in both cases, officials and nationalist leaders shared a broad vision for Indian society, which pushed both sides actively to seek to recover the social and economic status quo ante, preventing potential tipping points from crystallising. These case studies reveal how and why highly fraught social contracts can survive major disasters. The colonial state's transient and reactive approach to disaster governance continued to impact on post‐independence India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Pattern of kidney diseases varies across geographies due to multiple factors. There is a paucity of information from South Asia due to the absence of nationwide/regional biopsy registries. This study aimed to delineate the spectrum of renal parenchymal diseases in our region. Methods: Records of kidney biopsies done in our nephrology department between 2006 and 2016 were analysed. Clinico‐pathological correlation was done from the available records. Results: Of the 3275 biopsy evaluated, 61.9% were males, and mean age was 33.2 ± 14.2 years. 6.2% patients were elderly (age ≥ 60 years). Nephrotic syndrome (60.3%) was the commonest indication for biopsy. On histology, 73.0% patients had primary glomerulonephritis (GN), 15.5% secondary GN, 5.3% tubulo‐interstitial and 3.7% vascular disease. Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) was the commonest primary GN accounting for 18.2% of all GNs, followed by minimal change disease (16.8%), membranous nephropathy (MN) (16.0%) and IgA nephropathy (10.4%). Lupus nephritis (10.6%) and amyloidosis (3.7%) were the commonest secondary GN. The commonest cause of nephrotic syndrome was minimal change disease (22.9%), acute nephritic syndrome was lupus nephritis (30.6%), rapidly progressive renal failure was pauci‐immune crescentic GN (24.5%). IgA nephropathy was the commonest etiology of asymptomatic urinary abnormalities (26.3%) and gross haematuria (50%). About 60.9% patients of undetermined chronic kidney disease had glomerular diseases, and 13.6% had chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis. Lupus nephritis and acute cortical necrosis were significantly more common in females compared with males. Conclusion: This is one of the largest cohorts of kidney biopsies from India, and it delineates the unique features and differences in the pattern of kidney disease in our population. SUMMARY AT A GLANCE: This paper documents biopsy‐proven glomerulonephritis in a metropolitan centre in Northern India. The majority of cases were <40 years old, with nephrotic syndrome being the commonest indication for biopsy. Over 50% of the cases were due to FSGS, minimal change disease or membranous nephropathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India being the second largest populated nation has always been energy deficit. In the run, several alternate sources of energy have been tested and utilized to compensate the energy deficiency; these sources include solar, wind, nuclear, hydro, and bioenergy. This paper focuses on the technical, social, and economic aspects of biodiesels produced from various nonpopular sources available in India, which at present are not been practiced on the commercial scale, but their viability has been tested successfully. The study has been made on biodiesels from neem oil, rubber seed oil, karanja seed oil, sal seed oil, kusum oil, simarauba oil, mahua oil, thumba oil, tobacco seed oil, cherua oil, pilu oil, jojoba wax, and tung oil. The paper also discusses the future and setbacks of biodiesel keeping Indian subcontinent in the vision and even throws light on various biofuel policies being implemented by the government. As the study concludes, we have identified that India's diverse flora, as well as agriculture pattern, has potential to boost the discovery, production process, technology transfer, and usage of various unsung nonedible oil‐based biodiesels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic is a toxic carcinogen mostly found in subsurface environments. It is released into groundwater mostly via natural geological and hydrological processes. Consumption of such contaminated water leads to serious health crises for mankind. Developing countries in South Asia, particularly the rural regions, have been severely affected by this environmental phenomenon. In India, government authorities have implemented several remedial measures to provide safe drinking water to the rural habitations, ranging from utilization of surface water bodies (e.g., rivers, ponds, etc.) for piped water supply schemes and establishment of groundwater treatment units. This article attempts to review the scientific literature describing the critical situation in India's fourth most populous state of West Bengal and the engineering advances made in the mitigation. The issue of safe disposal or stabilization of arsenic wastewaters generated from the treatment units is often not emphasized in policy discussions. In a concluding note, this article proposes innovations necessary for achieving effective arsenic mitigation in the region that involve both groundwater remediation and waste management in tandem for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status of India as the world's largest democracy is often lauded, but the re‐election of the overtly Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 has increased concerns about the threat to India's multinational democracy and the rule of law. India is not the only democracy facing challenges related to majoritarian nationalism; there has been a worldwide rise in the language of majority 'rights' in democratic systems. The importance of analysing the extent to which the rights of majorities are being increasingly institutionalized within democratic systems has therefore increased. It is vitally important to identify whether tendencies toward ethnic democracy are increasing (and the conditions under which they do so). There may well be red flags that emerge in democratic systems, heralding the potential direction of travel. This article proposes a methodology to identify degrees of ethnic democracy using a combination of formal and informal measures and illustrates it by assessing India through an examination of anti‐Muslim policies and rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present examples from four research projects in India that were influenced by the values and ethics of decolonized and participatory research, and shaped by engendered perspectives. Each project built on earlier experiences that forced us to critically examine the ways we engaged with participants, crafted our field identities, and formed relationships. Using insights from linguistic anthropology and attending to intersectional inequalities and the construction of epistemic authority, we showcase how conducting an ethnography of communication and employing tactics of intersubjectivity influenced archaeological outcomes. We argue that close attention to context of communication, identity expression, and intersectional inequality enhances intersubjectivity, a necessary ingredient for successful participatory archaeology projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes cluster analysis to produce sets of weather patterns for the Indian subcontinent. These patterns have been developed with future applications in mind; specifically relating to the occurrence of high‐impact weather and meteorologically induced hazards such as landslides. The weather patterns are also suited for use within probabilistic medium‐ to long‐range weather pattern forecasting tools driven by ensemble prediction systems. A total of 192 sets of weather patterns have been generated by varying the parameter which is clustered, the spatial domain and the number of weather patterns. Non‐hierarchical k‐means clustering was applied to daily 1200 UTC ERA‐Interim reanalysis data between 1979 and 2016 using pressure at mean sea level (PMSL) and u‐ and v‐component winds at 10‐m, 925‐hPa and 850‐hPa. The resultant weather pattern sets (clusters) were analysed for their ability to represent the main climatic precipitation patterns over India using the explained variation score. Weather patterns generated using 850‐hPa winds are among the most representative, with 30 patterns being enough to represent variability within different phases of the Indian climate. For example, several weather pattern variants are evident within the active monsoon, break monsoon and retreating monsoon. There are also several variants of weather patterns susceptible to western disturbances. These weather pattern variants are useful when it comes to identifying periods most susceptible to high‐impact weather within a large‐scale regime, such as identifying the most flood prone periods within the active monsoon. They hence have potentially many forecasting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]