Search

Based on an empirical study in West Bengal, this paper attempts to examine whether women's involvement in the microcredit programme through SHGs makes any positive change on women's empowerment. From the assessment of various criteria of empowerment(power, autonomy and self-reliance, entitlement, participation and awareness and capacity-building), the study suggests that if women participating in the microcredit programme through SHGs sustain for some longer period (eight years or more), such programme might contribute to higher level of women's empowerment than women's empowerment under all types of control group. This paper also finds that women's earnings from saving and credit have positive and significant effect on nutritional status of the children of women members of SHGs and on the protein-intake for their household compared with that of among control groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on local government in India have so far focused on certain themes such as devolution of power, local government and poverty reduction, organisational dimensions, gender and inclusiveness, etc. What is missing in the literature is an analysis of the innovations brought about local governments themselves in spite of the limited autonomy that is provided to them by Union and State Governments. This paper hopes to initiate a discussion on this aspect of local government in India through a case study of Durgapur Gram Panchayat of Bardhaman district of the state of West Bengal. The paper analyses how the Gram Panchayat developed a successful model of combating tuberculosis within its jurisdictional area. Since tuberculosis is a major health problem in India the case study will also be of interest to the scholars and planners of public health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find the determinants of participation and targeting efficiency of the following safety net programs in West Bengal: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), self-targeted program; National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), subsidy based livelihood program; Indira Awaas Yojona (IAY), targeted cash transfer program and Public Distribution System (PDS), targeted in kind transfer program.Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a household survey comprising 900 households across three Districts: Murshidabad, Nadia and Burdwan.Findings Benefits from MNREGA and PDS are not substantial, whereas financial benefits are substantial from NRLM and IAY. This paper shows that poor people have higher likelihood of participation in MNREGA and PDS. But, non poor get disproportionate benefits from IAY and NRLM both have been designed for the poor. Therefore, targeting cannot remove elite capture altogether. Socially down trodden section have higher participation in MNREGA and PDS, whereas people who are at upper tier of social hierarchy enjoy the benefits of IAY and NRLM. However, it cannot be said that these programs miss their target completely.Practical implications The study suffers from the usual limitations of sampling.Social implications Programs targeted for the poor are being appropriated by the non poor. If there is better targeting money will be channelized to the desired beneficiaries and welfare will be enhanced.Originality/value The study has unearthed the underlying reasons behind why some safety net programs have better targeting and some safety net programs have poor targeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to evaluate at the farm level, in the current millennium, the nature of surpluses and the emerging exchange processes in agrarian West Bengal through the lenses of socio-economic class differentiation. The paper concentrates on the structure and pattern of gross value added, farm labour and farm-disposable surplus that accrue to the peasants along with their repercussions on farm viability. Finally, it addresses the consequences ofstressed commerce(carried out through price shocks) on the ratio of retention of surplus at the farm level as a larger question of farm viability, agrarian transition and conflicts. The study emphasises the region with higher capitalistic1development. The change in this region is found to be more significant in the context of agrarian transition. The same analysis is also followed for the more backward region, but just to put forward the distinction between the processes working in the two regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Journal of International Migration & Integration is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Migration is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Status of growth especially in early childhood is not only the most important determinant of health of a child but also a reflection of the well-being of the entire society. The extent of malnutrition in India is very high, but the exact magnitude varies considerably depending on which indicator is used. Child health in this paper is measured through chronic malnutrition (termed as stunting). Three states were selected, namely Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. These three states represent the three stages of development. Bihar is one of the least and Kerala is one of the most developed states in India. Aim: The present paper aims to investigate the degree of chronic malnutrition in the context of socio-economic, demographic and other characteristics of the children and their households in the three selected states in India. Subjects and methods: The data for this study were taken from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, in 1998-1999. The NFHS-2 sample covers ever-married women in the age group 15-49 years from 26 states in India. Besides collecting information on health, the survey collects data on socio-economic and demographic characteristics at individual and household level. Results: The percentage of stunting of children in Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala was found to be 54, 39 and 23%, respectively. Regression analysis showed that the major factors that significantly influenced the status of health in the children in all three states were women's education and the household condition index. Months of breastfeeding and birth interval also had some association with health status. The effect of the above-mentioned variables was most prominent in Bihar and least in Kerala in terms of statistical significance. Conclusion: There is a close positive link between the nutritional status of pre-school children and the stages of development of the states. Mothers' education and household condition are important influences on children's health status irrespective of the stage of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theatre has always given a platform to the common people to share their emotions, feelings as well as express their discomfort on the happenings around them. There are various forms of theatre which has emerged historically; they can be classified broadly as -- Proscenium theatre i.e. theatre for the stage and flexible theatre for the field and of/for oppressed. Theatre of the oppressed initiated by Augusto Boal has been used in different forms for the development of the community. Different forms of theatre are used to address the social issues in the communities for their development. They are third theatre, street theatre, forum theatre, playback theatre, intimate theatre, invisible theatre and others. These form of theatre play a relevant role in social awareness and community transformation. It is a medium for empowering the communities, a medium to voice their problems and encourage them to solve their problem with the help of their own resources. The present paper presents reflections from case study of Jana Sanskriti, an organization who are using theatre as a method of social intervention and bringing about social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary urbanization in India is in transition and this, along with the continuation of a ‘top heavy’ urban structure and gradual deindustrialization, is characterized by faster growth of informal employment, a declining trend of urban-ward migration of males, the slow down in the growth of cities and towns and the emergence of new urban centres. Given this immediate backdrop, this paper examines the contemporary processes and emerging forms of urban transition in West Bengal, with its longstanding history of ‘mono-centric’ urbanization. It reveals that urbanization in the state is no longer confined to a few pockets, as many new urban centres have emerged away from them and small towns are growing at relatively faster rates compared to the cities. But the underlying factors of this transition are not associated with the dispersal of economic activities and employment opportunities away from the metropolises. Furthermore, the study is sceptical about the significance of this emerging form of urbanization fuelled by the growth of small cities and towns which have a weak economic base, a crisis of urban governance and inadequate access to basic amenities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological and social anthropological studies on the Muslim society in India with particular reference to the Other Backward Class (OBC) Muslims of West Bengal are negligible causing a vast lacuna and immense loophole in our perception and understanding of not only the OBC Muslims of West Bengal, but also the Indian Muslim community as a whole from an empirical point of view. The analysis presented in this paper is a modest attempt to examine the socio-economic characteristics of Muslims in West Bengal, India, through an analysis of available statistics of socio-economic characteristics and resulting social stratification among the Muslims within the context of the larger Indian Society. Muslims constitute a minority community with approximately 13% of the billion strong Indian population, thus they are one of the largest Muslim minority communities in the world. However, they continue to have lower scores on socio-economic indices across all indicators which will be presented and analyzed in this paper. The paper also highlights the socio-economic backwardness of the Muslims with special reference to the Muslim OBCs of West Bengal from a historical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the correlates of work-participation of women cultivators and women agricultural labourers in the districts of West Bengal during the post reform period. It also examines whether there has been any change in the relative significance of the explanatory factors over the first decade of economic reforms. The work-participation function of women cultivators and that of women agricultural labourers are estimated. An inter-temporal cross-section regression method has been used in order to determine the proximate explanatory factors behind the work-participation of women cultivators and that of women agricultural labourers. The econometric analysis regarding the work-participation of women cultivators reveals that 'percentage share of irrigated area in net sown area in a district' and 'urbanization index of a district' are the most significant explanatory factors throughout the whole period. However, the results indicate increase in the significance of 'percentage share of working-age women population in total rural women population in a district' and decrease in the significance of 'percentage share of area under marginal landholding in total operational landholding in a district', 'cropping intensity of a district' and 'rate of rural male out- migration from a district' as explanatory factors from 1991 to 2001. Again, the econometric analysis regarding the work-participation of women agricultural labourers shows that 'percentage share of working- age women population in total rural women population in a district', 'cropping intensity of a district' and 'percentage share of irrigated area in net sown area in a district' are the most significant explanatory factors throughout the whole period. However, the results indicate increase in the significance of 'percentage share of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women in total women population the rural areas of a district' and 'percentage share of area under foodgrain cultivation in net sown area of a district' and decrease in the significance of 'rate of rural male out- migration from a district' as explanatory factors from 1991 to 2001. Key Words: West Bengal; Rural; Women; Agricultural Labourer; Cultivator; Work-Participation; Cross-Section Regression Model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into the dynamics and performatives of Tagore's school which was established in 1901 at Bolpur in West Bengal. He called it Santiniketan. The paper critiques Tagore's notions of pedagogy in relation to the pregnant network linking the students, teachers and their natural environment; further, it investigates how the school has manifested itself as a green discourse and worked itself out within the dialectic of space and place, giving Tagore's ideas and the pragmatics of execution a fresh circulation of understanding. Here, for the first time, Tagore's ideas on education and nature (eco-pedagogy) are elaborately problematised through the intersections of a variety of thoughts and concepts drawn from contemporary ecocritical studies, ecosophy, discourses on nature, culture, and ethics of humane holism and bioegalitarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and modeling are becoming powerful tools in agricultural research and natural resource management. This study proposes an empirical methodology for modeling and mapping of the monthly and annual air temperature using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The study area is Gangetic West Bengal and its neighborhood in the eastern India, where a number of weather systems occur throughout the year. Gangetic West Bengal is a region of strong heterogeneous surface with several weather disturbances. This paper also examines statistical approaches for interpolating climatic data over large regions, providing different interpolation techniques for climate variables' use in agricultural research. Three interpolation approaches, like inverse distance weighted averaging, thin-plate smoothing splines, and co-kriging are evaluated for 4° × 4° area, covering the eastern part of India. The land use/land cover, soil texture, and digital elevation model are used as the independent variables for temperature modeling. Multiple regression analysis with standard method is used to add dependent variables into regression equation. Prediction of mean temperature for monsoon season is better than winter season. Finally standard deviation errors are evaluated after comparing the predicted temperature and observed temperature of the area. For better improvement, distance from the coastline and seasonal wind pattern are stressed to be included as independent variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. Based on data from 327 households comprising at least one child labourer in 2008, this paper investigates the effects of different socio-economic and demographic variables on the relationship between child labour and schooling. The results show that the socio-demographic variables, capturing the 'enlightenment' of the parents (e.g. education) do not have much influence on children's school attendance, whereas the economic variables, capturing the standard of living of the households, have a strong influence on whether the children go to school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with capitalist agricultural development in West Bengal, India. Based on a field study of two regions at different ends of the development spectrum, it shows the class-specific nature of agrarian development. Farms based on hired labour adopt more capital-intensive techniques, operate on a much larger scale and have higher yields in comparison to farms based on family labour, regardless of their size. Differentiation of the peasantry is intense where the adoption of capital-intensive technology is high. The paper concludes that the arguments of A.V. Chayanov and A.K. Sen, which seek to explain the inverse relation between farm size and productivity in terms of the superior efficiency of farms based on family labour compared to capitalist farms, are not borne out by our findings. Moreover, in the advanced region of Bardhaman, farmers of all economic classes are found to be subject to a form of compulsive exchange or stressed commerce brought about by traders external to the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate whether access to microfinance loans and jobs under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has any significant impact on the life satisfaction as well as happiness, an important well-being indicator, of the villagers of West Bengal. Here we consider microfinance system under individual liability loan contract and joint liability loan contract separately. This paper shows that participation in microfinance programme, size of microcredit and more number of man-days of job under NREGS bring more happiness to the village people. It is also established that members of Self-Help Group (SHG) under Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) scheme are happier, compared to members of Vivekananda Sevakendra-O-Sishu Udyan (VSSU), a microfinance system, operating on the basis of individual liability loan contract. This is because, most of the members under SGSY scheme are women and that of VSSU are men, and the members of SHG under SGSY scheme feel much more empowered after joining the microfinance programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a knowledge-based model for supplementary irrigation assessment in rainfed agricultural watersheds is presented. The supplementary irrigation assessment problem is divided into different components and is modeled separately. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to aggregate spatially varying attributes required for the modeling. A graphical user interface is developed in a GIS platform by using the ERDAS macro language tools. The model was applied to two case study areas in India: a subwatershed of Gandheshwari area (West Bengal), and Harsul watershed (Maharashtra). In the Gandheshwari subwatershed, the water availability was found to be inadequate to meet the irrigation requirement and hence the model identified the areas that can be irrigated with different outsource water supply. On the other hand, surface runoff generated in the Harsul watershed was found to be sufficient to meet the supplementary irrigation requirement, thereby showing the feasibility for supplementary irrigation in the area. Using the model, the effect of any rainfall condition can be simulated and hence appropriate measures can be taken in advance to reduce the risk of crop failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the case of a recent H5N1virus (avian influenza) outbreak in West Bengal, an eastern state of India, and argues that poorly executed pandemic management may be viewed as a moral lapse. It further argues that pandemic management initiatives are intimately related to the concept of health as a social ‘good’ and to the moral responsibility of protection from foreseeable social harm from an infectious disease. The initiatives, therefore, have to be guided by special moral obligations towards biorisk reduction, obligations which remain unfulfilled when a public body entrusted with the responsibility fails to manage satisfactorily the prevention and control of the infection. The overall conclusion is that pandemic management has a moral dimension. The gravity of the threat that fatal infectious diseases pose for public health creates special moral obligations for public bodies in pandemic situations. However, the paper views the West Bengal case as a learning opportunity, and considers the lapses cited as challenges that better, more effectively conducted pandemic management can prepare for. It is hoped that this paper will provoke constructive bioethical deliberations, particularly pertinent to the developing world, on how to ensure that the obligations towards health are fulfilled ethically and more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the development of a neurocomputingbased model for estimating the potential evapotranspiration over Gangetic West Bengal, India during the summer monsoon months of June, July and August. An artificial neural network is implemented in the form of multilayer perceptron to generate the model. Three weather variables, surface temperature, vapour pressure and rainfall are used as the independent variables in generating the model. The performance of the model is judged statistically against nonlinear regression in the form of asymptotic regression. The study reveals that an artificial neural network is more efficient than the regression approach to estimate the potential evapotranspiration in the summer monsoon months. Furthermore, it is established that the artificial neural network and nonlinear regression have almost equal efficiency in the previously mentioned estimation in the month of June. However, in July and August the higher values of correlation and Willmotts indices, and lower values of estimation error, indicate that the artificial neural network is more reliable than the nonlinear regression approach. Since evapotranspiration is one of the basic components of the hydrological cycle and is essential for estimating irrigation water requirement, an efficient estimation procedure may help in agrometeorological modelling and irrigation scheduling in the summer monsoon months, which are of high importance for agriculture in the study zone. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts a sub-state level analysis of health system efficiency, focusing on West Bengal, a low income Indian state. Using a stochastic frontier model, it provides an idealized yardstick for evaluation. Our results suggest that overall efficiency of the public health delivery system remains low due to considerable disparities across districts. This is owing to differentials in availability and utilization of inputs such as the per capita availability of hospitals, beds, and manpower, and adversely affects life expectancy. Overcoming these factoral disparities may help the deficient districts to improve life expectancy. It may require a considerable increase in medical and public health expenditure in rural areas in the state and especially calls for resource mobilization to improve infrastructure facilities and maintain essential supplies at primary health centers. This could be attempted partly through funds from the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and by improving rural sanitation in poorer districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an empirical investigation into alternative forms of organisation of rural industries and their dynamics in the post-reform period of India by means of a field survey carried out in the state of West Bengal in 2001-02. The selected industries (handloom, brassware, hornware, clay works, conchshell and lac works) all belong to traditional crafts. The major organisational forms are 'independent units' and 'tied units', the latter being tied to traders and/or master enterprises for raw materials and work-orders, each of which account for more than 40% of our sample units. The third form, 'cooperative units', is clearly in the decline. Tied units appear to define the upcoming trend bringing the forces released by 'liberalisation', e.g., the growth of exports, drawn to the level of village-artisans. In particular, the system appears to be a vehicle for product-differentiation and innovation, both of which are very much evident in our study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with two issues that are important areas of concern in the recent literature on water management in less-developed countries: forms of ownership of groundwater resources and alternatives to anarchy in the exploitation and use of groundwater. The emergence of a market for irrigation water has been argued to have the potential to provide irrigation water to large numbers of small cultivators in developing countries. The development of free markets for water, however, has also been shown to be associated with the emergence of 'water-lords' and with contracts for the purchase and sale of water that are biased against the poor. By contrast, this paper presents two examples of viable non-market interventions in water-sharing - regulation of water markets by village councils and cooperative tubewell groups - from villages in West Bengal, India. These interventions both improved the efficiency of water-use and represented relatively equitable arrangements for water-sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses two main questions: Are the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and non-banking institutions of West Bengal performing well in the remotest part of rural areas? If so, how pervasive are they in priority sector lending? To address these questions, a study was undertaken by selecting a sample of 125 respondents from different remotest rural areas of West Bengal and the responses collected for each of the five different priority sectors, viz., agriculture, micro and small-scale enterprises, education, housing and others (includes Self-Help Groups (SHGs), joint liability groups, other backward classes, women, etc.), were analyzed. The study involved a two-step empirical procedure: exploratory factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings of this study provide that apart from ‘others’ sector, none of the remaining priority sectors gives a positive indication about the effect of the performance of RRBs and non-banking institutions in priority sector lending. Due to the rising cost of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), in the near future, operations of RRBs can only be improved if they are merged with sponsor banks or by going through the privatization route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the estimation of overall technical efficiency of farm which is the product of its scale efficiency and its pure technical efficiency, using Data Envelopment Analysis. Further, we attempt to identify the factors which have influenced the technical efficiency. The present study is based on farm-level cross-section primary data pertaining to the year 2008-2009 for Jungalmahal area (Paschim Medinipore, Bankura and Purulia districts) in West Bengal, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Developing countries like India, accounts for about 40 percent of undernourished children in the World and it is largely due to the result of dietary inadequacy in relation to their needs. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the changes in the nutritional status of the children, from their preschool days to the present primary school days.Design/methodology/approach – The present investigation was conducted at 20 Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) centers (Center-A) and 15 primary schools (Center-B) in Bali Gram Panchayat, Arambag, Hooghly District of West Bengal, India, at an interval of three to four years. A total of 1,012 children (boys=498; girls=514) aged two to six years old enrolled in these ICDS centers and a total of 603 children (boys=300, girls=303), aged five to ten years were studied from the 15 primary schools who were the beneficiaries of ICDS centers. Underweight (weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ)) and wasting (weight-for height Z-score (WHZ)) were used to assess the nutritional status. Findings – The nutritional situation (both in case of underweight and wasting) was better in Center B as compared with Center A. In general, the nutritional condition of boys was better than girls. Center had a very significant effect on both WAZ as well as WHZ, irrespective of age and sex. Sex has a significant impact only on WAZ. Interestingly, there was no significant sex-center interaction for both WAZ as well as WHZ. The children of the area were getting Mid Day Meal supplied through the school authorities which was comparatively better than the ICDS centers’ food supplementation. Better monitoring of nutritional supplementation at primary schools may be an important factor. Practical implications – In ICDS centers, only the Anganwari worker is responsible in running and implementing the programs offered by the Government. However, at primary schools, the active involvement of all the teachers to run the program may have effectively led to have better results. Furthermore, the Government's focus should not be only on the increase the area covered by the ICDS program, but focus should be to increase the quality of food supplied, proper monitoring of the implementation and increase the allocation of funds. Appropriate measures may be taken by the authorities regarding this. Originality/value – The results of the study will help in policy making in reducing the prevalence of undernutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Croatian Journal of Fisheries is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Transitioning child labourers from work to education is a key component of global efforts to eliminate child labour. In India, the National Child Labour Project is the central programme aimed at achieving this goal. This paper examines the operation of the project in the state of West Bengal using original survey data collected in 2008. The survey reveals a number of promising findings, including high rates of provision of both midday meals and free learning materials to students, as well as evidence of adequate schooling quality and availability. However, areas of concern were also identified, including irregularities in stipend payments to parents of child labourers who send their children to school and inadequate provision of free health services to children who attend school rather than work. These operational short-comings revealed by the survey reduce the incentive and ability parents have to send their children to school rather than work and, accordingly, undermine the effectiveness of the project. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses the factors influencing adoption behaviour of fish farmers towards scientific fish culture practices in North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal for the data pertaining to the years 2005 to 2008. The data were collected through interview method following a structured schedule from 120 fish farmers selected randomly. Both qualitative and quantitative variables were used for getting results on adoption technique. The findings revealed that the majority of the farmers have obtained medium adoption score (76.57). Twelve variables were found positively and significantly related to adoption level of fish farmers and only two variables (age and caste) were negatively and significantly related. All the psychological variables (except credit orientation), communication variables, occupation, land holding (socio-economic) and size of water body and duration of water availability (situational variables) had positive significant correlation. Most of the socio-personal, socio-economic and situational variables have no bearings with adoption. Technique of Path analysis showed that extension agency contact exhibited highest positive direct effect on adoption behaviour followed by innovative proneness, occupation, economic motivation, knowledge about scientific fish culture. Among the total indirect effects, the highest and lowest impacts were received from the variables cosmopoliteness and caste respectively. Majority of the substantial indirect effects were channelized through economic motivation, family type, occupation, extension agency contact, knowledge and innovative proneness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charisma has undergone waves of contextualization and in the contemporary period it is the democratic connotation of charisma that draws interest, and in this strain the paper focuses on West Bengal during the Chiefministership of Comrade Jyoti Basu. The assumption in the paper is that charisma is most exemplified in a democracy when there is a return to order after manifest chaos. The allegiance to and the attribution of democracy are both acceptable since there is an intermingling of the two in the acceptable but little discussed Weberian 'charisma of reason'. The subsections of the paper are: (1) The Weberian notions on democracy and charisma of reason examined; (2) the charisma of Basu and (3) the representation of charisma of reason and democracy in Bengal. The larger question explored is: what happens to parliamentary democracy with charisma of this type? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the institution of caste and its operation in a micro-level village setting of West Bengal, an Indian state, where state politics at grass roots level is vibrant with functioning local self-government and entrenched political parties. This ethnographic study reveals that caste relations and caste identities have overarching dimensions in the day-to-day politics of the study villages. Though caste almost ceases to operate in relation to strict religious strictures, under economic compulsion the division of labour largely coincides with caste division. In the cultural–ideological field, the concept of caste-hierarchy seems to continue as an influencing factor, even in the operation of leftist politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Macrofungi are broad in diversity and play an important role in sustaining ecosystems. However, the quantity and quality of their habitat is decreasing and the threat of extinction looms over the remaining 95% of the world's undiscovered fungal species. There is an urgent need for inventorisation, monitoring and conservation of macrofungi and the habitats supporting their growth. This paper focuses on the species richness, assemblage and spatial ecology of the macrofungi whose lifecycles are intricately woven with natural Shorea robusta forests in the lateritic region of West Bengal, India. Decreasing soil productivity, poor regeneration of Shorea seedlings and subsequent habitat degradation for macrofungi are a prime cause of concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present paper deals 90 genera with 283 Orchid species reported from Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India from Flora of Bhutan, the Orchids of Bhutan. Of them, 42 genera with 167 species are epiphytic, 44 genera and 107 species are terrestrial, 3 genera with 4 species are saprophytic and the rest 3 genera with 5 species are partial/semi saprophytic in habitat. Of them, the genus Cymbidium and Liparis fall both in epiphytic and terrestrial habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian subcontinent is highly prone to the detrimental impacts of hazards viz. cyclones, floods and storm surges. Of late, these events have become extreme in nature and intensity. While occurrence and severity of the events is being linked to the phenomenon of climate change, their devastating potentialities are also getting triggered due to lack of resilience and coping capacity of the human community. That in turn depends on distribution of activities over the land i.e. land use pattern, affecting the socio -economic conditions directly. A coastal village often lacks infrastructural support, administrative attention and planning standards compared to a coastal city, thereby making it more vulnerable to disasters like flood. In a coastal city it is easy to govern and manage livelihood as land use depends highly on anthropogenic decisions. While in a coastal village, activities would highly depend on its natural characteristics viz. coastal geomorphology, soil, vegetation cover i.e. governance of livelihood by the eco-system. Hence, managing disaster through in-situ pro-active or developmental measures in a rural planning unit though imperative, is a challenging task. This paper focuses on spatial planning techniques for Restoration of ecological buffers and livelihood enhancement that would sustainably combat the impact of flood at village level in a coastal area. Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques have been used extensively in this study as application tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the find of a new non-mammalian cynodont from the Lower Triassic Panchet Formation of the Damodar valley, West Bengal, India. The fossil, recovered from a clay pellet rich calcareous sandstone bed, is a part of left lower jaw having five post canines that are damaged to various extents. A combination of mammal-like advanced characters such as much enlarged dentary, reduced post dentary bones, high coronoid process, large masseteric fossa, each post canine with a large central cusp flanked by a distal and a mesial accessory cusps with two additional lingually positioned cingular cusps, incipient root division and clearly demarcated crown-root juncture prompted to erect a new taxon Panchetocynodon damodarensis gen. et sp. nov. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the species richnesses, Bray-Curtis similarities, species diversities, evennesses, and the results of various analyses (multivariate, logarithmic series, and lognormal distribution analyses) of insects from four orders (viz., Hemiptera, Orthoptera, aculeate Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera) inhabiting a medicinal plant, Calotropis procera among eight sites within industrial and nonindustrial zones in the Purba Medinipur district (erstwhile Midnapore), West Bengal, India. Both cluster analysis and principal component analysis indicate an effect of industrialization on the diversity of the four insect orders. The species community at each site exhibits an almost pure lognormal distribution. Bootstrap estimation of species diversity also points to the effect of industrialization. A comparison of the values of x and N/ S of the logarithmic series indicates a typical relationship between the species community and its diversity. The number of unique species among the eight study sites is 6 according to jackknife estimation. Beta-diversity analysis of the samples shows the impact of industrialization on the abundances and species richness of the insects. Altogether, 16 types of analytical procedure are applied for this purpose, and their suitabilities for this kind of data set are assessed. Disturbance, probably due to industrial emissions, has changed the compositions and structures of the insect communities out to a distance of at least 6 km from the core industrial area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes on members' attitudes towards library facilities and information resources in some selected Engineering colleges in West Bengal. An attempt has been made in this study to know the frequency of library visit, to know the use of types of resources, to study the lending procedure of documents, to providing of Library Services etc. Questionnaires were distributed to some selected government and private engineering colleges in the West Bengal. INSET: 0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reports on the physical nature of the fly ash sample of the Kolaghat Thermal Power Plant, India with an emphasis on its ultrafine nature. This paper also deals with the measurement of the magnetic properties of the fine particles of the fly ash sample. Particle sizes of this fly ash sample estimated from the SEM images lie within 0.16–5.50μm, and the EDX spectral analysis indicates the presence of O, Al, Si, C, Fe, Mg, Na, K and Ti in this sample. From the XRD study, it is found that physical nature of conglomeration in the fly ash is crystalline and the major components are mullite (Al6Si2O13) and quartz (SiO2). Additionally, the presence of hematite, microcline, magnetite, maghemite and free iron in smaller fractions cannot be ruled out. A large magnetization observed at 5K indicates the presence of magnetic components possibly due to superparamagnetism owing to very fine magnetic particles present. The hyperfine parameters obtained from the 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, in general, support the observations made from the XRD analysis and in particular, provides the quantitative estimation of the different iron ions present in the sample. Precisely, this report presents experimental data on physical aspects of the fly ash sample of a thermal power plant which consists of coarse, fine and ultrafine magnetic particulate materials (PMs) and deals with an in-depth analysis of it. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act has entrusted Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) (Third Tier) with a wide range of responsibilities. Discharging these responsibilities requires an adequate tax administration. But even prior to this amendment, tax administration of the panchayat bodies were not strong enough to implement the functions they were expected to perform. They are heavily dependent on the grants from Central Government (First Tier) and State Governments (Second Tier). The taxation powers given to PRIs are wide, but doubts have been raised whether they can fully utilise these powers in an effective manner. Panchayats at all the three levels are found to be reluctant to impose taxes due to various reasons. This paper makes an attempt to review the lacunae in the existing tax administration system of collection of revenues by PRIs in West Bengal and suggests measures to rectify the loopholes. Further, it focuses on some problems in tax administration and also examines whether the PRIs at Gram Panchayat (GP) level are able to fully exploit the sources assigned to them or do they face any constraints towards fuller utilisation of present sources of revenue. This analysis mostly deals with the lowest tier of the PRIs, viz., the Gram Panchayats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the measurement of radon concentration in well water at the site of Jalpaiguri (26°32′N, 88°46′E) near the active fault zone of West Bengal, India. Radon concentration has been measured in well water with the help of solid-state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD). The study indicates a positive correlation between radon anomaly and earthquake. The data of radon content in well water have been compared with that in soil gas at the same site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As media reports of political movements from various locations have shown, mobile technology can be a powerful political instrument. This paper examines how political activists in West Bengal, India use mobile phones for their daily political work. I seek ways to recognize the disruptive and political potential of mobile technology without ignoring its social and cultural rootedness. I illustrate how riots and protests relate to the increase in translocal communication enabled by phones. I also demonstrate how the political use of mobile technology for extra ordinary events is grounded in the social and political processes of ordinary everyday life and draws from the local understanding of politics by emphasizing certain aspects of it. My article confirms the cultural continuity amidst the increase in translocal relationships but it also pinpoints how cultures harbour conflicts and alternative discourses which translocal communication helps to amplify. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Government social protection schemes and conventional microfinance interventions have struggled to reach the poorest and help them escape the confines of extreme poverty. In response, BRAC in Bangladesh experimented with an innovative approach that combined livelihood creation, financial services, and social safety nets in order to 'graduate' participants out of extreme poverty and toward a sustainable livelihood. Inspired by BRAC's success, CGAP and the Ford Foundation launched an initiative to test and adapt BRAC's approach in a variety of countries and contexts through their Graduation Programme. This paper focuses on the Graduation Programme implementation in West Bengal, India. By using a qualitative life history approach, we found that prior to joining the programme, participants had different 'idiosyncratic resources and risks' that defined their starting points. Programme performance among participants was largely based on a combination of these starting points, programme functioning, and the use of personal agency. Where the programmes were implemented as designed, they succeeded in strengthening participants' individual and household resources, and access to social networks, and expanding certain spheres of influence. However, some constraints were too deeply established to influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the nature of the variation of refractive index of atmospheric medium with time and altitude before, during and after the onset of thunderstorms over Gangetic West Bengal during the pre-monsoon period. A critical analysis shows that sharp depletion of the refractive index takes place before the onset of Nor'westers and possible explanations are also offered for the said occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]