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We investigated the nature and extent of human-wild pig conflict in northern and central India. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) surviving in disturbed and fragmented habitats were responsible for many human casualties and extensive damage to agricultural crops. Information on human causalities, place of attack, sex of victims, and agricultural crop raiding was collected from the records of the forest department and by interviewing villagers and ocular estimation of crop damage in 11 states. In total, there were 927 human casualties by wild pigs in these states during 1990-2010; out of which 4.2% were death cases and 95.8% injury cases. Male causalities were more (81.2%) than females (18.8%). Maximum cases (77.9%) occurred in forests, followed by 18.3% cases in crop fields and 3.8% cases in the vicinity of villages. Damage to agricultural crops by wild pigs was enormous and widespread. They fed on all phenological stages, but tender stages and matured crops were highly susceptible to damage. Damage to Triticum vulgare, Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Pennisetum typhoides, Saccharum officinarum, Arachis hypogea, Cicer arietinum, Hordeum vulgare, Sorghum vulgare and Brassica compestris was 5-20%, 5-15%, 10-30%, 5-15%, 5-20%, 10-30%, 5-15%, 5-15%, 5-10% and 5-10% respectively in these states. Eleusine coracona, Phaseolus mungo, Glycine max, Sesamum indicum, Lens esculenta, Ipomoea batatas and Lythyrus sativum showed damage to varying extent (5-10%). In some areas, pulses and vegetables were damaged to 5-25%. Damage was very high in crop fields close to wildlife areas. Today, these problems have aggravated beyond tolerable limits and have resulted into direct conflict between people and wild pigs. This has also adversely affected the conservation ideals. Mitigation strategies for mitigation of these conflicts have been suggested.

We investigated the incidences of human casualties and cattle-lifting by tigers and circumstances of attacks and suggested mitigation strategies. In India, tigers mostly survive in small numbers in protected areas which are isolated due to habitat fragmentation and disturbances. Man-killing behaviour and predation on cattle are the main issues of confrontation, and as a result, the conservation efforts are adversely affected. In the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal, tigers have caused 161, 51, 7, 133, 25 and 445 human casualties respectively during 1990-2009. In Madhya Pradesh, 133 human casualties occurred in and around 6 national parks, 14 sanctuaries and 20 forest divisions. Male casualties were more (n=656) than female casualties (n=166). Out of 822 human casualties, most human casualties (n=376) occurred in the age group of 25-30 years. Most tiger casualties of humans (51%) occurred between 16:00-20:00h. Tigers in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal killed 511, 1938, 1899 and 733 cattle, respectively, during this period. In Madhya Pradesh, tiger and leopard killed 18736 cattle and a majority of cattle kills occurred within protected areas and reserve forests (92.6%) than in cattle sheds and outside the forests (7.4%). This has led to a strong resentment among people and they showed increased apathy and antagonism towards tiger conservation. Recommendations for reducing the human-tiger conflict include are suggested.

In India, problems associated with locally overabundant wildlife species have emerged as important management issues for reason of some species losing their natural habitat and adapting themselves to the man-altered situation. Crop-raiding by locally overabundant populations of nilgai antelopes (Boselaphus tragocamelus) has been widely reported in many parts of the country. Due to prolonged breeding activity and lacks of potential predators, numbers of nilgai have increased considerably and become locally overabundant in the states of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The extent of human-nilgai conflict varied from place to place within these states. Nilgai were found to be capable of causing extensive damage to most agricultural crops. Damage to wheat (Triticum aestivum), gram (Cicer arietinum) and mustard (Brassica campestris) crops was caused not only by foraging but also through trampling, resting in field and daily movement of the animals. In low density nilgai areas, losses to wheat, gram and moong (Phaseolus mungo) crops were 20-30%, 40-55% and 40-45%, respectively. Damage to guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) and cotton (Gossypium arboretum) was 20-35% and 25-40%, respectively. Whereas in high density nilgai areas, damage to wheat, gram and moong was 35-60%, 50-70% and 45-60%, respectively. Mustard was seldom eaten by nilgai but it was damaged by trampling. There were also increased incidences of road mishaps (7-12 cases/state/year) due to vehicular collisions. Though people considered nilgai as a sacred animal, conflict between nilgai and farmers is on the increase, and which is adversely affecting the conservation ideals. Options for damage control and managing nilgai populations are available but each of them has their advantages and limitations. Possible management strategies to reduce crop damage are suggested.

The main aim of this paper is, to obtain the analytical solution of the Riemann problem for a quasi-linear system of equations, which describe the one-dimensional unsteady flow of an ideal polytropic dusty gas in magnetogasdynamics without any restriction on the initial data. By using the Rankine-Hugoniot (R-H) and Lax conditions, the explicit expressions of elementary wave solutions (i. e., shock waves, simple waves and contact discontinuities) are derived. In the flow field, the velocity and density distributions for the compressive and rarefaction waves are discussed and shown graphically. It is also shown how the presence of small solid particles and magnetic field affect the velocity and density across the elementary waves. It is an interesting fact about this study that the results obtained for the Riemann problem are in closed form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article forges a connection between knowledge asymmetry and intercultural communication to challenge extant understandings of knowledge asymmetry as a static and stable condition that infl uences the processes and outcomes of interactive encounters that promote learning. The article draws its empirical material from ethnographic fieldwork at a training course on climate change that involved the participation of development practitioners, policy makers and civil servants working in broad professional arenas such as engineering, agriculture, water management and urban development in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Egypt, Bangladesh, Uganda, Tanzania, Vietnam and Denmark. The material is represented in the form of ethnographic vignettes to demonstrate knowledge asymmetry ‘in action’: how knowledge asymmetry is far from a static and stable condition, but rather how it emerges and disappears as participants summon, articulate, dismiss, ridicule, ignore or explore the rich pools of their culture/knowledge differences during the training course interaction. The article aligns itself to Barth’s (2002) conceptualization of culture as knowledge and to contemporary understandings of intercultural communication that privilege sensitivities to the webs of geo-historical relations and macro power and economic asymmetries that structure and inform intercultural relationships. The article also emphasizes the relevance of seeing knowledge asymmetry as a concept-metaphor (Moore 2004).

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