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Purpose: With the help of the newly developed Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) index, this paper attempts to find the influence if any, of the EPU on stock markets and certain key economic indicators in India. Methodology /Approach: The focus is on the influence of EPU on the stock markets, industrial production, new capital issues, exports and bank credit to commercial sector. Monthly data of economic indicators is collected for 66 months from January 2014 and tested with OLS and Quantile regression. Findings: It is observed that stock market, Industrial Production, new capital issues and bank credit are negatively related to EPU. Also, that impact of EPU is more on higher quantiles. Limitations / Implications: The study examines and proves the overall impact of EPU on selected economic indicators and the impact at different quartiles. This opens up vistas for further exploration of the findings to prove / disprove the same in other economic indicators and against certain specific events that spur the EPU index. Practical Implications: The paper has strong theoretical foundations. The methodology adopted has been research tested. There is a need to look at the EPU index closely and frequently to feel the pulse of the EPU and how it affects the economy. Originality Value: This is one of the attempts to evaluate the behavior of EPU and its implication on certain economic indicators. As EPU index is newly developed, this paper adds to the existing literature, especially in the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regime complexes have been discussed in international literature as an intervening variable which bring about policy coherence at national levels. There is a dearth of literature which examines aspects related to the link between global biodiversity regime, national policy coherence and sustainable development goals (SDGs) reporting. By taking the case study of India and using liberal institutional approaches and critical appraisal, this paper seeks to analyse the role of SDGs reporting for promoting coherence between the international biodiversity regime complex and country level planning. This paper will have implications for praxis on biodiversity and sustainable development policy as well as have implications for theory related to liberal institutional scholarship. This paper argues that while the normative scope of the global biodiversity regime has evolved to encompass principles such as scientific enquiry as well as sustainable development, national level reporting on biodiversity related SDGs have to still catch up to facilitate better policy coherence at all levels. Further the paper also calls for a greater science-policy interface to supplement SDG reporting framework towards better understanding of conservation and ecosystem services aspects of biodiversity in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern urban economies, in struggle to keep up with the pace of economic growth are suffering from issues of sustainability in transportation, imposing huge costs on the economy. Major reasons for the unsustainability in transportations can be listed as, a) issue of accessibility, b) lack of efficiency and c) diminishing air quality. This paper tries to evaluate these issues for megacities of India from dimensional principles of sustainability. The paper tried to evaluate the indicators of sustainability by adopting the famous three-dimensional principles to the major mega cities of the country. The findings from this paper are quite interesting to note that, the major mega cities are suffering from unsustainable transport system. To have a deeper look, Bengaluru, emerging mega city of Karnataka, is analysed by bringing new dimension called, institutional sustainability. By evaluating, economic, social, environmental and institutional sustainability with relevant benchmarks, the result showed that, in all respect mega cities of India and more specifically, Bengaluru city is experiencing unsustainable growth of transport sector which needs urgent attention of the policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majestic River Ganga is a sacred environment which nurtures more than 650 million people in her large watershed. The Ganga has proved resilient despite the multiple, enormous, environmental stressors placed on her. The Laurentian Great Lakes have also faced severe environmental degradation and the lessons learned there over the past 50 years can provide guidance for the remediation and restoration of the Ganga. One of the more important lessons is defining Beneficial Use Impairments to focus remediation efforts in degraded Areas of Concern. This paper provides a case study of one such impairment, Eutrophication or Undesirable Algae, and shows how it can be applied as part of a broader Ecosystem Approach towards the identification and selection of Ganga Areas of Concern. The 10 proposed Ganga Areas of Concern are intended to provide guidance to all stakeholders on how and where to focus remediation efforts on the Ganga, and similar ecosystems throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India being a dynamic emerging economy, with religious and cultural diversity, is home to 0.172 billion Muslims, that is 14.2 percent of the population at all India level living as the financially excluded minority community in the country. The Indian Muslims according to Sachar Committee Report (2005) are the financially 'excluded' community and are not the major beneficiary of Govt. schemes." The Reports/Commissions such as Ranganathan Misra Committee (2007); Mahmoodur Rahman Committee (2008); Sudhir Commission Report (2016) and Commission of Inquiry (Telangana 2016), reveal that Muslims in India, are living in pathetic conditions with underdeveloped socio-economic and educational setup. In this context, the current paper aims to-explore through qualitative analysis the possible dimensions of social finance and to evaluate the current socio-economic conditions of Muslims in India. This study will be an attempt to assess the potential of Islamic social finance institutions, namely the zakat and the waqf, for community upliftment in a much broader national context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The waste from healthcare facilities (HCFs) is most devastating as they induce health hazards and pollute the environment. The effective management of biomedical waste is an essential function of the state governments, depending on state policies and facilities in HCFs. The performance assessment at the state level provides explanatory information for the decision-makers to dispose of biomedical waste. Therefore, this paper aims to establish an effectiveness index for assessing the performance of biomedical waste management for the Indian states. The designed conceptual framework, which acts as the building block for the index, interlinks the technical, managerial, and sustainability dimensions. To assess the existing waste management practices, significant sub-indicators are analyzed for India's northern and southern states. The indicators are transformed into comparable units using the proportionate normalization technique. The weight to the respective indicators follows the entropy method and additive aggregation to form the indices for various states. The developed index allows comparing management practices among the states and highlights the alarming situation. Based on the magnitude of indices values, states are categorized as red, yellow, and green zones. The robustness of the model is validated by performing sensitivity analysis and the cluster analysis tests the reliability of indicators and categorization of states with the existing methodology. The analysis will be useful to the decision-makers of state pollution boards by providing special attention to capacity building and waste prevention technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data is useful in setting benchmarks and examining the progress of various health indicators over time. The main objective of the present paper is to critically review the findings of NFHS-5 and NFHS-4 regarding the trends on maternal health indicators and implications for India. Data from NFHS-5 (First round 2019-2020) and NFHS-4 (2015-16) for 17 states and five Union territories (UTs) pertaining to maternal health indicators was extracted from the factsheets. Trends and implications in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 have been critically appraised. Substantial improvement in maternal health indicators in NFHS-5 over NFHS-4 is noted; however, there is a lot of interstate variation. NFHS-5 findings indicate that the percentage of women in the age group 15-19 years, already mothers or pregnant, has increased in four states while the percentage of mothers who had antenatal checkup in first trimester has increased in 12 states. Percentage of those with anaemia during pregnancy has increased from 15 to 17 states in NFHS-5 as compared to NFHS-4. Institutional births are over 90% in 14 states while only three states have below 79%. Out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) per delivery at public health facilities has increased in 12 states over the time period and it is above 5000 INR in 8 states. In India, improvement in maternal health indicators can be achieved by increasing quality of care, strengthening the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), skilled birth attendants training program, reduction of anaemia among pregnant women and reduction in OOPEper delivery at public health facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a system of preventing/reducing the onset of NCDs in communities of employees across different world class companies in India. The system comprises a description of indicators which endeavor to measure the extent of health care initiatives, in the area of NCDs, practiced by these organizations. These are the Input indicators. The system also includes output indicators to assess the effectiveness of the initiatives. Analyzing the data obtained from 12 companies, with the help of a questionnaire, the research comes up with the finding that the linkages between Input Indicators and Output Indicators are mostly statistically significant, valid at 10% level of significance in some cases and 17% significance in other cases. Also, the trend analysis on output indicators over last two years shows substantial improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majestic River Ganga is a sacred environment which nurtures more than 650 million people in her large watershed. The Ganga has proved resilient despite the multiple, enormous, environmental stressors placed on her. The Laurentian Great Lakes have also faced severe environmental degradation and the lessons learned there over the past 50 years can provide guidance for the remediation and restoration of the Ganga. One of the more important lessons is defining Beneficial Use Impairments to focus remediation efforts in degraded Areas of Concern. This paper provides a case study of one such impairment, Eutrophication or Undesirable Algae, and shows how it can be applied as part of a broader Ecosystem Approach towards the identification and selection of Ganga Areas of Concern. The 10 proposed Ganga Areas of Concern are intended to provide guidance to all stakeholders on how and where to focus remediation efforts on the Ganga, and similar ecosystems throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The variation in bird variety over geography and time is a common indicator for assessing environmental changes. Traditionally, such data was gathered by experienced observers, but passively collect acoustic data is quickly developing as a viable alternative survey technique. Now-a-days, avifaunal diversity has been decline due to the demolition of natural habitation. The aim of the study to identify avifaunal diversity of Rawanwadi reservoir, Rawamwadi District Bhandara, investigation period was from month of November 2020 to October 2022, in and around of Rawanwadi Reservoir. In the present investigation, a total of 39 species of birds were spotted during the current inquiry near the Rawanwadi reservoir. Based on their habitat, such as Residential Common, Winter Visitor, and Uncommon, the birds were divided into different groups. The Avifaunal diversity have been categories in diverse group’s position on their regular migratory habitat residential are as migratory winter traveler, internal migratory visitor, external migratory visitors and external emigratory visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic chemistry as a research area contributes to more than one percent of world publication output. The present paper attempts to draw a detailed, in-depth bibliometric analysis of organic chemistry research activity during the last decade (2004 to 2013) with special emphasis on the Indian contribution. The Indian output is compared with that of world's leading countries using exergy, an indicator which combines quantity and quality of publications. A three-dimensional approach combining quantity, quality and consistency is used for analysing the performance of various institutions and authors. It is found that organic chemistry research activity in India during 2004-2013 is equal to the world average and its growth pattern is positive and similar to the worldwide research growth. India ranks at the 9th position based on the Exergy(X), the performance indicator while USA, Germany and China occupy first, second and third positions.Among others, the most productive organisations and authors are also identified using h-index and z-index. The paper identifies countries, international organisations and journals that cite the Indian contributions in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian village ecosystems are diverse with respect to population pressures, agricultural activities and production, livestock composition, energy sources, economics and infrastructural capabilities. Natural resource degradation is a major global concern and the factors and processes leading to degradation are regional and scale up from the micro levels such as village ecosystems. There is need for integrated multidisciplinary approaches for monitoring the resource status and environmental issues at the decentralized level. This paper presents an approach to assess village ecosystems using a set of key indicators developed and tested across fourteen diverse village ecosystems of the Southern India. The concept of ecosystem services associated with village ecosystems of India has been described and adopted to identify indicators and assess issues and trends. Comparison across villages has been demonstrated and the indicators successfully reflected the key environmental issues at each village level as well as differences across villages. We also report unique cases of stabilized land use and 'desakota-like' trends from village ecosystem studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's tourism sector is growing rapidly but has many challenges to tackle. To achieve and sustain the projected growth levels, the tourism sector in India needs to seriously look at sustainability. Many popular tourism destinations in the country are situated in ecologically sensitive areas with a very high footprint. Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve (GOMBR) is the first established Marine Biosphere in the country. Several tourism destinations situated closely to the GOMBR have greater negative influence on biodiversity, social and economic fabric of local communities. Rameswaram Island ranks top among them. Present tourism in the island threatens biodiversity and sustainable development of the destination areas. As there is no established mechanism to regulate tourism in the ecologically sensitive buffer zones of India, the research attempted to define sustainability for the destination and creates indicators for monitoring tourism using the pressure-state-response (PSR) model. The paper elaborates the process involved in defining indicators with justifications. As pointed out by the study, objectively verifiable indicators could be used to monitor tourism in many Protected Areas (PA) and ecologically sensitive areas in the country to pave a way for regulation of tourism. However improvements are needed in selecting and evaluating the effectiveness of indicators to suit site specific conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel demand measures on short-term and long-term basis are very much required for handling the vehicular growth and travel demand. This leads to the idea of developing sustainable societies, where the need of the present generation is met without exploiting the resources of future generations. Sustainability has got worldwide importance in this era. Sustainable cities cannot survive without sustainable mobility. Researchers and policy decision makers, all over the world, are employing policies to promote the use of sustainable modes and to increase the shift towards public transport. The selection and implementation of effective policies are a difficult job. The existing level of sustainability has to be assessed in order to make this task effective. Level of sustainability of a city can be assessed using sustainable indicators. This study analyzed the current transportation scenario of a satellite city, Kazhakuttom, in the State of Kerala in southern India using sustainability indicators identified from the literature. The study contributes to the literature by suggesting a methodology in which areas of intervention were identified by analytical hierarchy process (AHP) based on the users' ranking of indicators. The methodology developed in the study can be applied to other cities, since the results from the study are found to be realistic and close to the existing scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using deep learning with satellite images enhances our understanding of human development at a granular spatial and temporal level. Most studies have focused on Africa and on a narrow set of asset-based indicators. This article leverages georeferenced village-level census data from across 40% of the population of India to train deep models that predicts 16 indicators of human well-being from Landsat 7 imagery. Based on the principles of transfer learning, the census-based model is used as a feature extractor to train another model that predicts an even larger set of developmental variables—over 90 variables—included in two rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The census-based-feature-extractor model outperforms the current standard in the literature for most of these NFHS variables. Overall, the results show that combining satellite data with Indian Census data unlocks rich information for training deep models that track human development at an unprecedented geographical and temporal resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finance has always been considered as one of the important parameter of the growth for any economic activity. The economic growth of a country can be enlarged by using financial inclusion as a bridge that would facilitate fuller participation by weaker sections of the country. Financial inclusion is a system through which a developing country like India can attain inclusive growth by connecting the contribution of weaker or rural population of the country with the main stream. If there is an easy access of weaker section to the financial system of the country, country can move towards higher economic growth. In the available literature, it has been found that one or the other indicator is absent for different reasons. However, since each of the indicator is important for calculating the more comprehensive financial inclusion index. The main objective of this paper is to introduce an index that allows for a general overview of India in terms of financial inclusion. The index is calculated using three dimensions related to the measurement of the levels of access and usage of financial services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Traditional focus of transportation planning has been to improve mobility of motorized vehicles measuring benefits as increased speed and saved travel time. Since 1950s, indicators are being developed to evaluate accessibility and safety of different types of road users like non-motorized transport (NMT) and public transport (PT) users. However, the application of the indicators is still limited to evaluate the impacts on one type of road user only. The paper proposes indicators to evaluate the impact of a transport project on all types of road users and on the society as a whole. Both conventional and proposed indicators are applied to evaluate the Delhi-BRT corridor stretch of 5.8km. The conventional approach showed reduced personal vehicular speed and delays at junctions. Whereas, the proposed indicators of accessibility measured number of relevant destinations that are within reach of different types of road users which were not within the reach before and the number and type of road users for whom the accessibility has increased. The safety indicators evaluated the change in interaction between different road users and safety of different types of road users. The indicators also evaluated the change in competitive position of different modes that may result in causing modal shift. The proposed indicators are suggested to be used along with the traditional indicators for complete evaluation of transport projects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The manufacturing sector is now facing the challenge of complying with strict environmental regulations due to global warming, lack of natural resources, and waste management issues. Increased environmental problems and awareness lead to the implementation of green production practices by manufacturers worldwide. Green manufacturing (GM) activities form the basis of green and environmentally friendly goods production. There are, however, several possible indicators for GM implementation. There has been some good research on GM indicators, but little research in the Indian automotive industry has to date been undertaken on GM. In this analysis, the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy (F-AHP) method is incorporated into the Elimination Et Choix Traduisant La Realite (ELECTRE-I) procedure to define and rank the six main indicators as well as rank the case company's three plants for GM implementation. The proposed framework is accredited by a leading factory manufacturer of steering systems in India. This study shows that Efficiency of Environmental Management System and Hazardous Waste Management are the leading indicators for GM, and plant P1 is the best alternative for the six indicators among the three plants. Our research will support the priority setting of key indicators influencing green manufacturing practices in the automotive industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an urgent and growing need for local/regional/national/international peace and security. This may be broadly ascribed to the increasing conflicts arising out of social, economic, religious and political factors. Peace and sustainability, considered as the indicators of development are threatened due to a myriad of conflicts and they are more visible than ever before in India. Tourism considered as a Global Peace Industry has greater potentials to reduce these conflicts. This paper analyzes the threats to peace and sustainability and indicates that the newly emerging Heritage Eco-cultural Tourism holds the key for the promotion of peace and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable manufacturing practices are essential for automotive component manufacturing organisations to ensure competitive advantage. The interrelation between sustainability enablers' namely economic prosperity, environment well-being, social well-being, performance management and research and development need to be analysed for deriving practical insights. Theoretical model development of enablers using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) has been statistically verified using measurement models and structural model of partial least square, structural equation modelling (SEM). In this context, this article presents a combined ISM and SEM approach for building the models with the help of experts for automotive component manufacturing organisation. The measurement and structural model are constructed based on survey among 70 practitioners from automotive component manufacturing organisations in Southern India. The research hypotheses have been formulated to verify the relationship and are analysed. The results of the study indicated that the usage of ISM is very powerful to establish structural relationship between sustainable manufacturing enablers and there exist structural relationship between the enablers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A review of global and national energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) investments between 2000 and 2018 reveals that global public energy RD&D and cleaner energy RD&D investments dramatically increased, but then plateaued after 2009. In absolute values, nuclear energy has held steady, fossil energy contracted, and clean energy RD&D quadrupled. As a percentage of overall investments, both fossil fuel and nuclear investments contracted during the period. This review compares the energy innovation priorities of the world's largest economies using the metric of public expenditures on energy RD&D. China and India have become important global public investors in energy innovation, now among the top five globally. Priorities set by the Chinese and Indian governments will thus influence new energy technology breakthroughs in the coming years. The US and Chinese governments are now competing for first place in clean energy RD&D, depending on whether or not nuclear and cross‐cutting technologies are included. India has dedicated substantial funding to indigenizing nuclear power technologies. Energy RD&D by state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) in major emerging economies remains skewed toward fossil fuels and nuclear. Reforming SOE expenditures to move away from fossil fuels could have a major impact on global energy technology trajectories, making a material difference in the quest to decarbonize the energy system. This article is categorized under: TheCarbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Policies, Instruments, Lifestyles,Behavior [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safe structures are the backbone of human coping capacity towards healthy living that can contribute significantly in reducing risk during hazards. However, due to various natural and anthropogenic activities, about 12.6% of land areas (excluding snow-covered area) in India are prone to landslide posing threat to life and property. Moreover, many structures in the hilly terrain of India are non-engineered which results in high vulnerability of buildings. Therefore, assessment of physical vulnerability is a fundamental step in reducing landslide risk. The study aims to present a methodology to assess vulnerability of the buildings using indicator-based approach at site-specific scale. Several studies to assess vulnerability of buildings due to landslides have been carried out by researchers from European countries. But these methodologies cannot be implemented successfully in India because of different geological and climatic condition. The different components of the discussed methodology for physical vulnerability of buildings exposed to landslides such as landslide intensity (a function of landslide velocity and volume) and resistance of buildings (a function of structural and non-structural features) are worked out and suggested by different researchers. However, putting them together, to present as a framework (specifically in Indian scenario) is the novelty of the present work. Further, consideration of the concept of 'proximity of buildings to landslides' in the process of site-specific vulnerability assessment is newly proposed. To address this issue, fifteen potential indicators contributing to vulnerability of buildings have been identified and a systematic form for documentation of data during field survey has also been prepared (keeping in view the construction bye-laws and techniques followed in India). The methodology discussed is further successfully implemented in ward number 10 of Gopeshwar Township (Chamoli District), Uttarakhand, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metapenaeopsis andamanensis , a deep-water penaeid shrimp, plays a significant ecological role in the deep-sea food web. However, studies on its feeding ecology and trophic relationships in the tropical region remain limited. This study aimed to investigate the diet composition of M. andamanensis from the southwest coast of India, focusing on intrinsic factors (size, sex, maturity) and extrinsic factors (seasons), as well as the fatty acid profile. Our findings revealed that M. andamanensis is an active feeder, with females exhibiting higher feeding intensity than males, while immature individuals of both sexes showed minimal feeding activity. Additionally, females displayed a more pronounced carnivorous feeding behavior compared to males. Gut somatic index ranged between 1.1 and 1.42. Feeding conditions varied significantly with seasons, maturity stages, and ontogenetic classes. The primary diet components comprised detritus, foraminifera, and crustaceans, followed by gastropods and fish. Statistical analysis using PERMANOVA indicated significant differences in diet components between sexes and seasons (p < 0.05), sexes and size (p < 0.1), and sexes and maturity stages (p < 0.05). Notably, the percentage composition of diet components exhibited substantial variation with seasons, sex, ontogenetic classes, and maturity stages. Fatty acid analysis revealed an omnivorous-carnivorous feeding strategy of M. andamanensis , characterized by high proportions of essential fatty acids such as 20:5n-3, 22:6n-3, and 18:1n-9, indicating bentho-pelagic feeding activity. The shrimp exhibited notable levels of palmitic acid, oleic acid, EPA, and DHA, which are nutritionally valuable. Seasonal variations in fatty acid profiles were associated with the availability of different food sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) performed on the fatty acid profiles explained 72.4% of the total cumulative variance using the first two dimensions, highlighting the distinct dietary patterns of M. andamanensis based on its stomach contents. • Metapenaeopsis andamanensis plays a significant ecological role in the deep-sea food web. • M. andamanensis exhibit higher feeding intensity with pronounced carnivorous feeding behavior. • Fatty acid profiling of stomach contents provides insights into the trophic relationships. • Feeding intensity varied significantly with seasons, maturity stages, and ontogenetic classes. • Fatty acid analysis of stomach contents serve as trophic markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to review the various biodiversity related parameters envisaged in the current national forest inventory (NFI) of India in comparison to those used worldwide as indicators of forest biodiversity. The study reveals that a good amount of biodiversity related parameters are available, covering the structural attribute of biodiversity, tree species composition, and other important functional attributes like deadwood and litter. In spite of this timber-based approach, a number of variables are available to talk on biodiversity aspects of Indian forests. However, the comparison with the parameters found in literature shows that the scope of further improvement does exist in current NFI’s ability to contribute towards a documentation and management of biodiversity. Our gap analysis indicates that enhancing the capacity of the current NFI to generate overall biodiversity information urgently required for safeguarding and conserving the natural wealth of India is strongly needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measured financial inclusion levels across rural areas of all the 14 districts of Kerala state, one of the most developed state of India, by constructing a comprehensive Financial Inclusion Index (FII) incorporating nine indicators representing three different facets of financial inclusion i.e. bank branches, deposits and credit covering both geographical and demographic penetration. The extent of variations amongst these areas in terms of selected indicators has also been examined. The results depicted presence of low level of financial inclusion across different districts as only five districts were found to be in above average category. Huge variations were also found to be present in the indicators representing usage of formal financial services in terms of money deposited and credit taken as well as in availability of banking services measured through presence of branch network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Odonate diversity of All Saints’ College campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, was documented for 1 year from June 2020 to May2021. The rich source of water bodies on the campus provided an excellent habitat for odonates. Overall, 36 species (26 dragonflies and ten damselflies) belonging to 29 genera and five families were documented. The diversity of odonates was recorded to the maximum in the monsoon season. A comparison of odonate diversity reported from different locations across the state signifies the importance of conserving freshwater ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sentinel toys are increasingly used as a method of assessing young children's exposure to faecal pathogens in households in low-income settings. However, there is no consensus on the suitability of different approaches. Methods: We evaluated three types of toy balls with different surfaces (plastic, rubber, urethane) in the laboratory to compare the uptake of faecal indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli) on their surface. We performed bacteria survival analysis under different environmental conditions and tested laboratory methods for bacteria removal and recovery. In a field study we distributed sterile urethane balls to children <5 from 360 households in rural India. After 24 hours, we collected and rinsed the toys in sterile water, assayed for thermotolerant coliforms (TTC) and explored associations between the level of contamination and household characteristics. Results: In the laboratory, urethane foam balls took up more indicator bacteria than the other balls. Bacteria recovery did not differ based on mechanic vs no agitation. Higher temperatures and moisture levels increased bacterial yield. In the field, the only factor associated with a decreased recovery of TTC from the balls was having a soil (unpaved) floor. Conclusions: Sentinel toys may be an effective tool for assessing young children's exposure to faecal pathogens. However, even using methods designed to increase bacterial recovery, limited sensitivity may require larger sample sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Small Industries Development Bank of India being the apex bank of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises sector was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Industrial Development Bank of India by a separate act of parliament in 1990. After being completed 10 years of dedicated services to small scale sectors, SIDBI was delinked from IDBI with effect from March 27, 2000 after the enforcement of SIDBI (Amendment) Act 2000. As at March 31, 2012, SIDBI has made a journey of 12 years after being delinked from IDBI. As DFIs faced competition from banks as well as capital market, they ended up financing riskier industrial projects and large-scale industrial projects carrying low returns and long gestation periods. During 1990s the share of debt decreased while equity increased. The share of DFIs in total loan finance declined during 1990s while the share of banks rose from the low level during 1985-90 by more than double during 1995-2001 thereby overtaking the position of DFIs in project finance. By 2007-08 only SIDBI was functional. This study makes an appraisal of performance of SIDBI in terms of selected physical and financial indicators with the help of year-on-year growth percentage. During the course of the 22-years of its operation, the Bank has been fairly successful in facing the challenges while assisting the sector and, in the process, has emerged as a strong and vibrant institution. The sector to fully utilize its potential, it is essential that the entrepreneurs along with the Government support take necessary steps for their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Certain parts of the State of Nagaland situated in the northeastern region of India have been experiencing rainfall deficit over the past few years leading to severe drought-like conditions, which is likely to be aggravated under a climate change scenario. The state has already incurred considerable losses in the agricultural sector. Regional vulnerability assessments need to be carried out in order to help policy makers and planners formulate and implement effective drought management strategies. The present study uses an 'index-based approach' to quantify the climate variability-induced vulnerability of farmers in five villages of Dimapur district, Nagaland. Indicators, which are reflective of the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the farmers to drought, were quantified on the basis of primary data generated through household surveys and participatory rural appraisal supplemented by secondary data in order to calculate a composite vulnerability index. The composite vulnerability index of village New Showba was found to be the least, while Zutovi, the highest. The overall results reveal that biophysical characteristics contribute the most to overall vulnerability. Some potential adaptation strategies were also identified based on observations and discussions with the villagers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variation in metal contamination in six species of birds, namely the Cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo), Cattle Egret ( Bubulcus ibis), Little Egret ( Egretta garzetta), Pond Heron ( Ardeola grayii), Common Myna ( Acridotheres tristis) and Jungle Babbler ( Turdoides striatus) in Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu, India. The accumulation of heavy metals differed among the species studied. On an average, Little Egret accumulated high concentrations of copper (53.31 ± 23.19 ppm) followed by Cattle Egret (16.27 ± 9.83 ppm) in liver. Of all the species, Jungle Babbler recorded the maximum concentrations (20.59 ± 9.07 ppm) in muscle. The Pond Heron recorded the maximum concentration (35.38 ± 11.14 ppm) in brain. On an average the maximum level was in the kidney of Common Myna (7.76 ± 1.80 ppm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seasonal and spatial phytoplankton distribution in relation to environmental factors was investigated in New Mangalore Port, a major port along the west coast of India. A well-mixed water column characterized the non-monsoon seasons, whereas it was weakly stratified during monsoon. Water quality index (TRIX) scores indicated good water quality except during pre-monsoon (inner zone surface) and monsoon (near bottom waters). Surface abundance of tychopelagic diatoms (Paralia sulcata, Melosira nummuloides, Cylindrotheca closterium, and Nitzschia sigma) was higher during non-monsoon seasons. Certain centric diatoms, e.g., Leptocylindrus danicus, P. sulcata, and Rhizosolenia imbricata, dominated during pre-monsoon (inner zone) and positively correlated with TRIX. High Skeletonema costatum and dinoflagellate abundance during the monsoon season coincided with high nutrient concentrations. Five potential toxic and fourteen harmful/bloom forming algal species were encountered at abundances below the level that can be considered as harmful to the ecosystem. In addition to a baseline database, this study highlights the potential use of certain diatom species as indicators of hydrography and water quality for monitoring dynamic coastal marine ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]