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The paper develops a Mixed Mode Solar Crop Dryer (MMSCD) using blackcoated pebbles. The experiments were conducted in Ujire, Karnataka, India. Potato slices were used for test sample with an air speed of 4 m/s. Open Sun Drying (OSD) was used and the working temperature range of MMSCD was 36-64 o C, which is suitable for drying a wide variety of fruits and vegetables like green peas, cauliflower, chillies, apples, sweet potatoes and grapes. The dryer was able to provide hot air from 9:00 to 19:00 hours in a day. The overall maximum efficiency of the dryer was 56%. To reduce the moisture content from initial (75%) to storable level (below 10%), MMSCD took 6 h. However, 24 h (3 days of sunshine) were taken under OSD to attain the safe moisture content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Banking Units (DBUs) are established to enable the digital ecosystem, which improves customer experience by facilitating seamless banking transactions and ensuring that banking services reach the last mile. The very purpose of DBUs is to benefit people in small towns and villages with digital infrastructure for banking services. 75 DBUs (four in Karnataka) were proposed in the Union Budget 2022-23. The success of DBUs depends on the rural customers’ digital literacy and preparedness for using digital banking services. The study aims to assess the perception of rural customers and evaluate their preparedness for adopting DBU services. Primary data was collected from 200 respondents using a structured questionnaire. Secondary sources include annual reports, RBI publications, research papers, journals, magazines, and newspapers. Descriptive analysis and factor analysis, using SPSS version 24, of the collected data were done. The study finds that the rural population is more accustomed to branch banking and their dependency on face-to-face banking is high, but the respondents’ education, occupation, and digital literacy level, their association with the bank, usage of debit cards, mobile banking, and Internet banking indicate their receptiveness to digital banking services. Though it is not their first banking choice, the respondents do use technologybased bank applications for certain transactions. Adequate digital infrastructure and awareness will encourage them to avail all digital banking services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amartya Sen has been talking about wide socioeconomic injustice particularly in developing countries. Unequal and unjust distribution of infrastructure has been the cause of socioeconomic imbalances in rural and urban areas. In India only 40% of the urban and semi-urban population is provided with good infrastructure. Rural India is largely deprived of adequate infrastructure. Despite continuous efforts at the center and state for providing infrastructure, the achievement has not been rewarding. It is high time to think over the Gandhian model of sustained rural economy and A P J Abdul Kalam's model of Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), regarding the provision of infrastructure to achieve faster economic development. The Gandhian model stressed on rural development for which infrastructure is a must. Kalam's model talks about physical, electronic, knowledge and economic connectivities, which go a long way in the development of Indian villages and unplanned cities. The present paper is an evaluation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in Karnataka. The paper stresses more on physical connectivity and offers a few suggestions depending on the secondary sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of selected art historical and archaeometallurgical aspects in the study of Jaina bronzes from Karnataka. Despite the relative paucity of studies on Jaina bronzes from the Deccan region and Karnataka it is pointed out that these form a significant body of bronzes for study also from an archaeometallurgical perspective. This is partly because they are often inscribed (unlike most Hindu images) which provides some sounder basis for chronological attributions. It is illustrated here that archaeometallurgical studies and lead isotope finger-printing in particular, have potential for throwing further insights into the questions of dates, stylistic attribution and provenance of Jaina bronzes and those from the Deccan and Karnataka. In particular, the case of certain bronzes which show affiliation with Chola and western Indian bronzes are touched upon, as well as the case of an inscribed Jaina image from Karnataka which may represent Ambika or Saraswati, for which the 9th-10th century attribution is also supported from lead isotope fingerprinting studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training is essential for producing an able corps of entrepreneurs who not only survive and thrive, but also contribute to the local and ultimately the global economy. Becoming an entrepreneur is a process of encountering, assessing, and reacting to a series of experiences, situations, and events produced by political, economic, social and cultural changes. This paper studies the training and development programs followed by AWAKE, SISI, MDTC, RVIT and KASSIA in educating potential and existing women entrepreneurs in Karnataka State, and evaluates the impact of the programs. Within the context of research proposal, hypotheses were propounded. While primary analytical research methodology was adopted to carry out the research, cluster random sampling methodology was adopted to select the sample women entrepreneurship training centers in Karnataka. Five institutes were considered for the study, and out of the 1,000 trained women entrepreneurs from each institute, 100 samples were selected for collecting the data. The study reveals the impact of training and development on potential and existing women entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In banking, quality of customer service plays a crucial role in the context of sustained business growth. The relationship between a bank and its customers must be a permanent and enduring one, which needs to be maintained with good quality of services. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to ascertain the level of satisfaction of customers as regards banking services in Belgaum District in Karnataka. It highlights the banks' marketing strategies. The satisfaction level of the customers has been measured and the varieties of new services which influence the satisfaction level of the customers have been analyzed. The level of customer service and satisfaction has been determined with the varieties of services provided by the banks in Belgaum District. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on access to resources and resource use efficiency and productivity of ragi cultivators in the Drought-Prone Area Program (DPAP)-watershed and non-watershed areas in Chitradurga District of Karnataka. The results reveal that the production elasticity of expenditure on seed, Farmyard Manure (FYM), chemical fertilizer, human labor and bullock labor is higher in the DPAP-watershed areas than in non-watershed areas. The gross return of ragi cultivators in the DPAP-watershed areas is comparatively higher than those in the non-watershed areas. The geometric mean level of gross return is higher in the case of beneficiaries (4,295.61) as compared to the non-beneficiaries (3,867.86). The gross return of the beneficiaries through the technical efficiency is 6.06% higher than that of non-beneficiaries. The ratios of value of marginal product to marginal fixed cost of seed, FYM, chemical fertilizer, human labor and bullock labor are higher in the DPAP-watershed areas than in the non-watershed areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates the perceived level of job involvement among the university teachers working at the postgraduate departments in the Karnataka State. The sample consists of 152 teachers-60 Lecturers, 47 Readers, and 45 Professors-whose average age ranged between 36 and 49 years. Job involvement scale (Lodahal and Kejner 1965) was administered. Analysis of the data indicated that around 60% of the university teachers perceived and reported to have moderately involved in the job (Mean 75.06 and SD 6.05). There is no significant difference in the levels of job involvement among the university teachers, irrespective of their cadre. All the teachers are perceived to have more or less the same level of job involvement. Job involvement of the university teachers is determined by three sets of variables, namely organizational, demographic, and career-related aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study seeks to examine the application of Self-Help Group (SHG)-Bank Linkage Schemes (BLP) and their impact on the empowerment of women in the study area and also attempts to evaluate if SHGs can be change agents in influencing women empowerment. The data has been collected from a total of 120 selected members and 25 SHGs which were organized under the Stree Shakti Scheme of Belagavi district of Karnataka. Both structural and behavioral approaches have been used for the study through a questionnaire. The data was analyzed through different statistical tests like reliability test, multiple regression analysis and paired t-test. The study reveals that microfinance-related loan and its productive utilization cause a significant difference in women empowerment level. As per the study, the main reason behind the progress of SHG is credit linkage with poor and vulnerable people and its ability to help members of SHG build financial status, enable members to become self-reliant, build confidence among poor and rural women and eventually help them earn a better livelihood. Besides the above findings, the study also revealed some of the constraints faced by rural women in the journey of their empowerment. SHG program could well be the catalyst to achieve inclusive growth across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanded scope of supply chain has found wide applications, one of the prominent being the area of waste management. Many municipalities are adopting modern supply chain practices to manage Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), as it has become a major problem for developing countries. There are many established models for supply chain networks, but they cannot be mirrored for reverse logistics networks, as in the case of waste management. The randomness at the point of collection poses a major challenge. Inclusion of stochastic component to the existing model helps in overcoming this problem. The model is revised and applied to waste management network of Belagavi city, Karnataka, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field trial was conducted for two consecutive years from 2007 to 2008 in kharif season at the Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Shimoga, Karnataka, under rainfed conditions with a popular hybrid DCH-32 against cotton pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechidae) with 13 insecticides/biopesticides alone or alternated with any one of these accounting to 11 treatments and a control. At initial stages, plant protection was given against sucking pests and other bollworms. Ninety days after germination, ETLbased sprays of these treatments were imposed after assessing 10% damage in fruiting bodies (squares, flowers and bolls). Among the treatments, significantly lower number of larval population/20 bolls was recorded in novaluron (4.15) and thiodicarb (4.35), whereas spinosad (12.31%) and thiodicarb (12.96%) recorded less green boll damage. With respect to yield and yield attributing parameters, spinosad (38.00) and indoxacarb (37.37) recorded maximum good opened bolls per plant. However, spinosad continued its supremacy by recording the lowest number of bad opened bolls, 5.60 per plant with minimum locule damage (14.20%). Significantly, maximum seed cotton yield was recorded in spinosad (2,123.06 kg/ha), followed by thiodicarb (2,012.77 kg/ha), emamectin benzoate (1,453.52 kg/ha), novaluron (1,908.82 kg/ha) and indoxacarb (1,891.58 kg/ha) than untreated control (475.00 kg/ha). The highest B/C ratio was recorded in thiodicarb (1:10.05), alternated with spray application of lamba cyhalothrin 5 EC-endosulfan 35 EC-chlorpyriphos 20 EC-thiodicarb 75 WP-thiodicarb 75 (1:9.83) and endosulfan (1:8.22). Interestingly, additional yield over control was high in spinosad (1,148.06 kg/ha), where the cost of additional treatment ( 14,716.79) was also high in this treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to capture entrepreneurs' perceptions on information sourcing from various sources that include internet usage. The study being exploratory in nature follows broader themes such as electronic and traditional sources of information, which are considered to be means for strategy formulation in small-scale manufacturing firms. The basic questions that arise in an industry while formulating a strategy are: what are the types of information required? And what are their plausible sources? To explore the perceptions on these research questions, a field survey was carried out, covering 24 manufacturing small-scale firms, in three industrial estates of Udupi District, Karnataka. An in-depth interview method was used to gather the data, and the data were analyzed using a broader thematic descriptive framework. The study mainly identifies two propositions based on the entrepreneurs' perceptions: (a) Traditional sources of information are perceived to be predominant in strategy formulation for small-scale firms; and (b) Usage of internet and other electronic modes of communication have not been popular sources of information among small-scale firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]