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In the Gang Canal region of Rajasthan, the cropping pattern changed from a labour intensive crop, cotton, to a mechanized crop, cluster beans. The shift in cropping pattern not only displaced workers from farm wage work but also brought changes in labour hiring contracts with large scale conversion of daily wage rate contracts to piece‐rate contracts. Drawing on a primary survey in a village from Gang Canal region, the paper examines the change in the agrarian relations in rural Rajasthan by analysing the emerging development in the rural labour relations. For piece‐rate work in farm wage work in some parts of Rajasthan, the wage rate is unilaterally decided by the landlords and large capitalist farmers and is denoted as the ‘village rate’. The manual workers have negligible bargaining power vis‐à‐vis the village rate. The conversion of daily wage rate contracts to piece‐rate contracts has enhanced the duration of working day that involves a rise in the rate of surplus value. Access and availability of low wage labour facilitates the accumulation of capital. With the limited availability of employment in the non‐farm sector (in both public and private sectors), workers are compelled to sell their labour power at wages that do not exceed the level of subsistence. The paper concludes with a brief examination of continuum of coercion and varied degree of unfreedom among worker in the village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the diffusion of drip irrigation technology, state subsidy programs to encourage its adoption by farmers, and gendered labor dynamics. Drip irrigation is promoted globally as a water conserving agricultural innovation that enhances water-use and productive efficiency by increasing yields with less water, while freeing up "saved" water for other uses. India leads the world in its rate of expansion and in total area. Relying on analyses of government drip irrigation policies and ethnographic field research conducted between 2015 and 2020 in the Indian state of Rajasthan, I find the successful diffusion of drip irrigation is dependent upon state subsidies, farmer adoption decisions and the availability of female labor. I engage conceptual work on water conservation technologies, and from feminist political ecology and infrastructure studies to argue: (1) the diffusion of drip irrigation is better understood as a gendered process of infrastructuring; which (2) is an ongoing process of the assembly of state subsidies, the aggregation of decentralized individual farmer adoption decisions, and the availability of on-demand, underpaid female labor; where (3) female laborers provide a "feminine labor subsidy" that produces productive efficiency gains and lends drip irrigation infrastructure its durability. Conceptualizing drip irrigation as a gendered process of infrastructuring, renders visible its emergent and gendered material politics. The conclusion discusses prospects for reassembling drip irrigation infrastructure in more materially just ways and its implications for the political ecology of water infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes to the growing literature highlighting the significance of assessing risk and vulnerability, micro-level perceptions and adaptation decision-making in building resilience of farm communities to climate change in dryland region of India. To select a region for grassroots enquiry, spatial differential in risk to climate change was assessed in Rajasthan, using IPCC AR5 framework. Among the highly vulnerable and risky districts, Bikaner district was selected for elicitation of micro-level imperatives. Rising atmospheric temperature, inter-seasonal displacements of rainfall and recurrence of extreme events were perceived by the farmers resulting in resource degradation, production risks and erosion of households' socio-economic dynamics. As risk preventive measures, suitable adjustment in agricultural practices, natural resource management, shift to off-farm activities and other relief measures were adopted by the farmers. Farmer's choice of adaptation was influenced by several climatic, socio-economic and infrastructural & institutional factors in varying degree. Moreover, several financial, economic, infrastructural and informational bottlenecks to adaptations were reported during household survey and FGDs. The results suggest that capturing grassroots evidence is crucial for directing locally tailored adaptation strategies, along with the improving deficiencies in the developmental pathways for climate-resilient agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The workfare scheme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), and the direct food subsidy programme, the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (TPDS), represent two social safety nets instituted in India as anti-poverty measures. This paper examines whether from the point of view of individual households the two programmes are substitutes or complements, as this will shed light on the appropriateness of the design of the two programmes. Based on primary household data collected for the Indian states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (MP), we show that, in Rajasthan, a large percentage of households consider TPDS and NREGS programmes to be substitutes for each other, while in MP the households often perceive the two programmes as complements. Thus it appears that the two programmes are better designed in MP since an incentive for participation in one programme has desirable side effects on participation in the other. Correlates of participation in the two states are identified and the paper advances several policy conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose — Small farmers in developing countries have very little means of managing the weather-risk to their agricultural produce. Weather derivatives could provide a solution, but the demand for such instruments and the willingness to invest in them needs to be researched. The purpose of this paper is to assess weather-risk hedging by farmers, focusing on the willingness to pay in Rajasthan, India. Design/methodology/approach — The paper presents results of a contingent valuation study done on the findings of a survey carried out in six villages in the state of Rajasthan. The survey was done on over 500 farmers after explaining the concept of weather derivatives and how they would work to help them hedge their weather-related yield risk. The survey included questions on factors, which could have a bearing on the farmers' willingness to pay, and a bidding game where responses were solicited to premiums in a hypothetical market. Probit and logit models are used to determine probabilities of "Yes" responses to various bids and the mean willingness-to-pay. Findings — The paper brings out a model, which uses nine independent variables affecting the probability of a farmer saying "Yes" to a price quoted to him for a weather derivative. Using the results from the probit and logit models, the farmers' mean willingness-to-pay is determined to be around 8.8 per cent of the maximum possible payout of a weather derivative contract. Originality/value — With weather derivatives being accepted as a means of risk management for agriculture in developing countries, the willingness-to-pay figures determined in this paper would provide an insight to the structuring and pricing of weather derivatives, especially in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water-harvesting structures have the potential to increase the productivity of arable lands by enhancing crop yields and by reducing the risk of crop failure in arid and semi-arid regions, where water shortages are common because of scanty rainfall and its uneven distribution. In semi-arid regions of Rajasthan, India, existing practice of harvesting rainwater is through anicut and earthen embankments. Because of higher costs and higher technical skills involved in the construction of these structures, these structures have not been accepted by the resource-poor local people. Therefore, in the present paper, the detailed design of some low-cost water-harvesting structures using locally available materials and adaptable to the socio-economic conditions of the beneficiaries is discussed. Two types of cost-effective water-harvesting structures, which include dry stone masonry and upstream-wall cement masonry of heights 1, 2, and 2.5 m for catchments of less than 10, 10 to 20, and 20 to 30 ha, respectively are proposed and designed. The analysis of costs involved in constructing dry stone masonry and upstream-wall cement masonry water-harvesting structures, emergency spillway, anicuts and earthen embankments revealed that the earthen embankments have the least cost of construction whereas the anicuts have the highest construction costs for all the selected heights. However, based on the past experiences, earthen embankments are not suitable for the semi-arid regions of Rajasthan. The economic evaluation of the proposed structures indicated that the dry stone masonry structures are very cost-effective for the region with a benefit-cost ratio of 3.5:1 and the net present worth value of Rs. 102978. Although the economic indicators ranked the upstream-wall cement masonry structures lower than the dry stone masonry structures, the former has greater stability and strength compared to the latter. In practice, both the cost-effective water-harvesting structures (i.e., dry stone masonry and upstream-wall cement masonry) are gaining wide acceptance and popularity in the region through some nongovernmental organizations, which have adopted the design presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By reference to a multi-caste and tribal village in southern Rajasthan the paper examines the degree to which caste and tribal membership impacts on different aspects of migration, e.g. commencement, form, destination, duration, and types of work undertaken. Using a livelihoods approach, supplemented by other perspectives and concentrating on four migration streams (three domestic, one international), data collected over a period of nearly thirty-five years indicates that patterns of migration are far from random. It is argued that the use of official stratification categories in migration surveys can obscure important differences within caste groupings. Short-term circular migration, underestimated in national surveys, is shown to be substantial, especially for the tribal migrants in the village. While position in the social structure differentially affects aspects of migration across the village hierarchy, examples are given of individual migrant agency overcoming structural constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three bat species have long been considered to occur within the state of Rajasthan--the Lesser Mouse-Eared bat Myotis blythii Tomes, 1857, the Large Barbastelle Barbastella darjelingensis Hodgson, in Horsfield, 1855 and the Serotine Bat Eptesicus serotinus pachyomus Tomes, 1857. Rajasthan is considered the type locality for two of these species--Myotis blythii and Eptesicus serotinus pachyomus. Despite targeted surveys, these bats have not been observed in Rajasthan for more than a century and a half. A chronological review of published literature reveals that the bats were never originally claimed to occur in Rajasthan and their inclusion among bats occurring in Rajasthan was a consequence of assumptions perpetuated as facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to identify, analyze and select the enablers for vertical integration of Aloe vera supply chain (AVSC) so that rural employability will be enhanced in the context of Rajasthan, India. Design/methodology/approach: Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) was proposed to develop a structural model to identify the right enablers for enhancing the rural employability and business prospects. Also, fuzzy-matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to classification (F-MICMAC) was applied to segregate the enablers into four clusters on the basis of their driving and dependence power. Finally, the significant enablers were selected. Findings: Out of identified 13 enablers, three enablers (i.e. institute for training and research, transportation infrastructure and government incentives for value addition) were appearing at the bottom of the ISM structural model and also in the driving quadrant of driver-dependent diagram. Therefore, they are the significant enablers for vertical integration of AVSC to enhance the rural employability in the context of Rajasthan, India. Research limitations/implications: The interactions among enablers are not statistically validated. However, the empirical analysis and total interpretive structural modeling may be used for this purpose. Practical implications: The outcomes of the study will provide the guidelines for implementation of vertical integration at the village level to enhance rural employability in the context of Rajasthan, India in specific. Originality/value: Although a few studies have been reported in the literature related to value-addition process (vertical integration), but the modeling of enablers to segregate and identify the appropriate enablers for vertical integration of AVSC for enhancing employability at the rural areas is unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water scarcity is one of the most critical issues facing agriculture today. To understand how people manage the risk of water scarcity and growing pressures of increased climate variability, exploring perceptions of risk and how these perceptions feed into response behaviour and willingness to adapt is critical. This paper revisits existing frameworks that conceptualise perceptions of environmental risk and decision-making, and uses empirical evidence from an in-depth study conducted in Rajasthan, India, to emphasise how individual and collective memories, and experience of past extreme events shape current definitions and future expectations of climatic risks. In doing so, we demonstrate the value of recognising the role of local perceptions of water scarcity (and how they vary between and within households) in constructing social vulnerability. This expanded understanding of risk perception is critical for incentivising individual adaptation and strengthening local adaptation pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the results of a process and impact evaluation to assess the effects of a project aiming to engage men in changing gender stereotypes and improving health outcomes for women in villages in Rajasthan, India. We conducted seven focus group discussions with participants in the programme and six in-depth interviews with intervention group leaders. We also conducted 137 pre- and 70 post-intervention surveys to assess participant and community knowledge, attitudes and behaviours surrounding gender, violence and sexuality. We used thematic analysis to identify process and impact themes, and hierarchical mixed linear regression for the primary outcome analysis of survey responses. Post-intervention, significant changes in knowledge and attitudes regarding gender, sexuality and violence were made on the individual level by participants, as well as in the community. Moderate behavioural changes were seen in individuals and in the community. Study findings offer a strong model for prevention programmes working with young men to create a community effect in encouraging gender equality in social norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With reference to a village in a predominantly tribal part of Rajasthan, this paper illustrates the increasing heterogeneity of the rural educational landscape and examines different patterns of enrolment within this. While the findings confirm those of more macro-level studies using the four official social categories, intra-category differences are shown to be equally, if not more, important in helping to explain variations in the types and locations of schools chosen by parents. The social composition of government schools in the village has greatly narrowed and the majority of pupils in local private schools now come from tribal households. The expansion in size and number of commutable schools has moved the frontier of private schooling away from the village and provided new and increasingly exclusive contexts for both old and new forms of social division to be manifested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Indian adolescents experience body dissatisfaction. However, empirically supported interventions are lacking, particularly in lower socio-economic regions of India. This paper describes the acceptability testing of a six-session teacher-led comics-based intervention, aiming to improve body image and related outcomes among adolescents in Indian Hindi medium schools. Methods: Thirty-five students (50% girls; M age, girls = 12.3 years; M age, boys = 13 years) and nine teachers (11% women) from Hindi medium schools in Rajasthan, India, completed a quantitative acceptability questionnaire regarding comics that target body dissatisfaction and associated risk factors. They also participated in online or telephone semi-structured interviews to share in-depth feedback, with teachers providing additional feedback on an accompanying teacher guide. The quantitative data were analysed descriptively, with the interviews analysed using qualitative codebook thematic analysis. Results: Quantitative analyses revealed that 73% of students felt the comics made them feel good about themselves. Qualitative analyses revealed four themes: (1) body dissatisfaction is a concern; (2) the comics are powerful; (3) increasing ease of understanding; (4) a teacher guide to aid delivery. Conclusion: This study demonstrates acceptability of a novel teacher-led comics-based body image intervention for adolescents in Indian Hindi medium schools from lower socio-economic settings. These findings are currently informing intervention optimizations, which will be evaluated in a randomized controlled effectiveness trial. If found to be effective, this intervention will be disseminated across eight Indian states by UNICEF. Trial registration. This trial has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov; a database of privately and publicly funded studies conducted around the world. Registration date: 2nd May 2020; Registration ID: (NCT04317755). https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04317755?term=NCT04317755&draw=2&rank=1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of rural economies in developing countries is increasingly recognised, as is the need to tailor poverty reduction policies according to the diversity of rural households and their requirements. By reference to a village in Western India, the paper examines the results of a longitudinal micro-level research approach, employed for the study of livelihood diversification and use of informal finance. Over a 25-year period, livelihoods are shown to have become more complex, in terms of location, types of non-farm activities, and combinations of activities. Moreover, livelihood pathways taken continue to be critically affected by economic and social inequalities implicit in the caste system and tribal economy. A longitudinal micro-level research approach is shown to be one that can effectively identify the many complexities of rural livelihoods and the continued dependence on the informal financial sector, providing important insights into the requirements for rural financial products and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Disruptions during the COVID-19 lockdown caused children to miss immunizations. • Government catch-up efforts substantially reversed these effects. • Yet, children that were due vaccinations during the lockdown remained 10–15% less likely to be immunized 4–5 months later. • Catch-up was more likely to be incomplete among children of low socioeconomic status. • Ensuring all children are fully immunized requires careful tracking and disaggregated data. Governments around the world suspended immunization outreach to control COVID-19 spread. Many have since resumed services with an emphasis on catch-up vaccinations. This paper evaluated immunization disruptions during India's March-May 2020 lockdown and the extent to which subsequent catch-up efforts reversed them in Rajasthan, India. In this retrospective observational study, we conducted phone surveys to collect immunization details for 2,144 children that turned one year old between January and October 2020. We used logistic regressions to compare differences in immunization timeliness and completed first-year immunization status among children that were due immunizations just before (unexposed), during (heavily exposed), and after (post-exposure) the lockdown. Relative to unexposed children, heavily exposed children were significantly less likely to be immunized at or before 9 months (OR 0.550; 95% CI 0.367–0.824; p = 0.004), but more likely to be immunized at 10–12 months (OR 1.761; 95% CI 1.196–2.591; p = 0.004). They were also less likely to have completed their key first-year immunizations (OR 0.624; 95% CI 0.478–0.816; p = 0.001) by the time of survey. In contrast, post-exposure children showed no difference in timeliness or completed first-year immunizations relative to unexposed children, despite their younger age. First-year immunization coverage among heavily exposed children decreased by 6.9 pp to 10.4 pp (9.7% to 14.0%). Declines in immunization coverage were larger among children in households that were poorer, less educated, lower caste, and residing in COVID red zones, although subgroup comparisons were not statistically significant. Disruptions to immunization services resulted in children missing immunization during the lockdown, but catch-up efforts after it was eased ensured many children were reached at later ages. Nevertheless, catch-up was incomplete and children due their immunizations during the lockdown remained less likely to be fully immunized 4–5 months after it lifted, even as younger cohorts due immunizations in June or later returned to pre-lockdown schedules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: The psychological well-being of school teachers is a growing concern in the post-pandemic era. Many initiatives are undertaken by individual school authorities and government agencies to address this issue. In this study, we examine the impact of energy management, thriving, and stress on the psychological well-being of school teachers in India. Method: Data was collected from 356 school teachers in Rajasthan, India, through a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. These teachers were working both in rural and urban areas. The relationship among energy management, thriving, stress, and psychological well-being was analyzed using hierarchical regression. Results: The findings suggest that energy management positively impacts psychological well-being. A mediating effect of thriving and stress on the relationship between energy management and psychological well-being was also found. The results support that psychological well-being can be enhanced by investing in managing school teachers' energy levels. Discussion: These results contribute to our theoretical and practical understanding of factors that can enhance the psychological well-being of school teachers and improve the quality of education. Institutes may design and implement interventions on energy management to enhance the psychological well-being of school teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first ever systematic study of trace fossils from the Badhaura Formation, the authors described a nesting burrow, which they ascribed to a stomatopod. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: primarily, to document ichnofauna from (post-glacial marine late Palaeozoic rocks of peninsular India) the Badhaura Formation (Sterlitmakian) representing marine rocks deposited following the Late Palaeozoic glaciation and secondly to contribute to the data on post-glacial ichnofauna from constituent continents of the Gondwanaland. Trace fossils described here are from the Harbans Bed, the topmost lithounit of the Badhaura Formation. The ichnofauna includes Arenicolites tenuis, Beaconites isp., Curvolithus isp., Cylindrichnus concentricus, Didymaulichnus lyelli, Ophiomorpha isp., Palaeophycus tubularis, Planolites beverleyensis, P. montanus, Rosselia chonoides, R. socialis, Skolithos linearis, Taenidium cameronensis, Thalassinoides paradoxicus, Thalassinoides isp. and a flask-shaped brood chamber assigned to a stomatopod crustacean. This mixed assemblage is assigned to distal Skolithos ichnofacies and is suggestive of a period of relatively quiet, shallow water conditions of deposition. The ichnofauna, when viewed in context of peri-gondwanic ichnofaunas, mainly consisting of simple tracks and trails, from late Palaeozoic post-glacial deposits of other Gondwanan continents, is interesting due to dominance of domichnia. Profusion of brood chambers along with Thalassinoides in the Badhaura Formation validates the concept of pre-Mesozoic Thalassinoides being non-decapod in origin and suggestive of adaptive convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper critically examines the impact of the ‘Guidelines for Hariyali’ – a rural watershed development policy launched in Rajasthan, Western India which has been implemented through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) – for local communities. In 2003, the Government of India launched the ‘Guidelines’ (a comprehensive Integrated Wastelands Development Programme and Drought Prone Areas Programme and Desert Development Programme), the purpose of which is to restore ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing natural resources in drought-prone and arid rural areas for the benefit of villages. In the particular case-study area, the policy has been implemented through institutional linkages between a corporation and the government with the aim of sharing responsibilities for finances, planning, implementation and monitoring, the end goal being to enhance the livelihoods of rural households. The analysis focuses specifically on how the ‘Guidelines’ have affected the livelihoods of Rajasthani women, drawing upon findings from focus groups with men and women in the project catchment area, as well as interviews with key actors at public and private sector institutions. Findings reveal that there are significant gaps between policy objectives and the realities on the ground, particularly in the context of women's accessibilities and entitlements. The paper also broadens understanding of how PPPs, if implemented properly, could empower women in the area of watershed management across rural South Asia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have become the epicenters of ‘land wars’ across India, with farmers resisting the state's forcible transfer of their land to capitalists. Based on 18 months of research focused on an SEZ in Rajasthan, this paper illuminates the role of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ (ABD) in Indian capitalism today and its consequences for rural India. It argues that the existing theories of land grabs do not adequately explain why dispossession becomes necessary to accumulation at particular times and places, and seeks to reconstruct Harvey's theory of ABD to adequately account for it. It then shows the specific kind of rentier- and IT-driven accumulation that dispossession is making possible in SEZs and the non–labor-absorbing, real-estate–driven agrarian transformation this generates in the surrounding countryside. Land speculation amplifies class and caste inequalities in novel ways, marginalizes women and creates an involutionary dynamic of agrarian change that is ultimately impoverishing for the rural poor. Given the minimal benefits for rural India in this model of development, farmer resistance to land dispossession is likely to continue and pose the most serious obstacle to capitalist growth in India. The agrarian questions of labor and capital are, consequently, now rejoined in ‘the land question.’ [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper argues for the development of ‘network political ecology’, drawing on the insights from regional political ecology and recent advancements in network theories of scale, to meet the challenges of investigating the meso-scale problem of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change. ‘Network political ecology’, attentive to scale as socio-ecologically produced and grounded in a regional resource use system, is one such approach that fills this gap in middle-range theory necessary to understand the complex processes through which vulnerability manifests and adaptive capacity is produced. This method is exemplified through the case of groundwater-dependent irrigating farmers in Rajasthan, India. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper examines a Rajasthan (India) drinking water supply project that relied on hybrid governance reforms in its original design. Decentralization and marketization, combined with a participatory approach, were intended to facilitate an empowering shift in state-citizen relationships. Paying citizens were expected to make quantity and quality demands of the state as consumers, not welfare beneficiaries. Research on the project 3years after its completion revealed that although payment for water and community participation were intended to compel the state to provide clean water, they failed in this regard. The problem of an unreliable state supply was solved through small scale privatization, a decision ‘independently’ reached at the local scale, but one that served to further undermine the state’s ability to provide clean water. In this paper, we trace the shifts in regulation that evolved in the post-project phase at both the state and village scale that resulted in the delivery of contaminated water. Ethnographic research indicates that community participation was introduced as a set of institutions that would govern how villagers interacted with the state and its water supply, but villagers altered community participation by introducing reforms in water governance as a way of coping with an unresponsive state and increased work burden. Community participation evolved in contradictory ways as the impacts of neoliberal environmental governance were felt. The paper contributes to understandings of neoliberalization processes’ local impacts by analyzing their ongoing hybridization at multiple scales. It further calls into question foundational notions that community participation in resource governance is the appropriate solution to drinking water supply. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Does decentralisation promote clientelism? If yes, through which mechanisms? We answer these questions through an analysis of India's (and the world's) largest workfare programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), in two Indian states: Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh (AP). The two states adopted radically different implementation models: Rajasthan's decentralised one stands in contrast with Andhra Pradesh's centralised and bureaucracy-led model. Using a mixed method approach, we find that in both states local implementers have incentives to distribute MGNREGA work in a clientelistic fashion. However, in Rajasthan, these incentives are stronger, because of the decentralised implementation model. Accordingly, our quantitative evidence shows that clientelism is more serious a problem in Rajasthan than in AP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, decentralisation has become the dominant paradigm for environmental governance. This paper explores the linkages between green governmentality approaches to subjectivity and Gramscian notions of hegemony to examine recent efforts in Rajasthan, India to decentralise groundwater governance through targeted formal regulations and outreach activities, such as water awareness campaigns ( Jal Abhiyaan). The latter seeks to alter the beliefs and practices of farmers by institutionalising their support for state groundwater conservation efforts, including privatisation. The paper draws on household surveys and interviews with farmers and government agents to examine the relationship between the political economic motivations for and practices of state subject-making and differential resistance to these efforts based on farmers’ multiple subject positions. Findings suggest, first, that the state is motivated through its monetary and advisory relationship with donor agencies, such as the World Bank. Through both outreach activities and coercion, it attempts to gain ‘consent’ for its proposals, which devolve state control rather than truly decentralising decision-making, to make self-conducting and willing subjects of specifically neoliberal groundwater conservation. But, second, these attempts are being resisted by some farmers through protests, informal discussions, non-participation, and the collectivisation of access to groundwater and irrigation through irrigation partnerships. Third, resistance to these efforts, or support for them, is different between farmers based on their multiple subjectivities (caste, class and ecological conditions). The paper advances both our understanding of the processes of environmental subject-making and of the devolution of environmental governance, by integrating the lessons from governmentality and Gramscian approaches to social power and subjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant segment of internal migration in India at large, and in the states of Rajasthan and Orissa in particular, continues to be distress-led. Colossal collapse of rural employment generation, the economic setbacks at cultivation, and, the largely deficient employment opportunities in urban centres among others, are believed to be the driving force bebind the rise of a more insecure type of movement now. Paradoxically however, this movement occurs in a world supplemented by a renewed belief in sanctioning equality of opportunity as a way of life, propagating fuller economic growth, and endorsing greater social cohesion (Aldridge 2001), across the socio-political spectrum. As a result, migratory processes and their subsequent impacts thereof, attains critical significance in the present times. It is in the above context that the proposed paper contextualizes migration debates within historiography, policy, and economy of the states of Orissa and Rajasthan in India, and seeks to elucidate the formidable challenges it represents for the Indian social fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bhats are low-status bards from the Indian state of Rajasthan. This paper explores a Bhat puppet drama sponsored by a state-run bank meant to teach Indians an ethic of saving and planning for the future. Specifically, it examines the manner in which Bhats sabotage their work for the bank, mocking the values they are hired to promote and thus 'resisting' modernist ideologies that purportedly allow for the rational management of time. Still, Bhat dramas are not only conventional political weapons that turn the world upside-down, but also poetic devices that potentially raise the consciousness of audience members so that they themselves might resist. In fact, this play, in the manner it speaks truth to power and thus teaches others to resist in thought or action, resembles the Bhats' traditional praise-work for their formerly Untouchable patrons. I therefore suggest that the Bhats' 'subaltern consciousness,' like their insights into the discursive construction of modern authority, is tightly intertwined with local performance traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent has chronic poverty increased during the pandemic? In July and August 2021, we revisited seven villages of southern Rajasthan (India), where we had studied household poverty dynamics in 2002. We find that in the two decades before the pandemic (2002–2020), people's structural positions improved vastly, chronic poverty fell from nearly half to less than 20% of households. These gains in resilience helped people cope with the pandemic. The majority suffered deep income losses between February 2020 and August 2021, but there is no evidence of any substantive rise in chronic poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Though Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is successful in increasing antenatal and natal care services, little is known on the cost coverage of out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on maternal care services post-NRHM period.Methods: Using data from a community-based study of 424 recently delivered women in Rajasthan, this paper examined the variation in OOPE in accessing maternal health services and the extent to which JSY incentives covered the burden of cost incurred. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses are used to understand the differential and determinants of OOPE.Results: The mean OOPE for antenatal care was US$26 at public health centres and US$64 at private health centres. The OOPE (antenatal and natal) per delivery was US$32 if delivery was conducted at home, US$78 at public facility and US$154 at private facility. The OOPE varied by the type of delivery, delivery with complications and place of ANC. The OOPE in public health centre was US$44 and US$145 for normal and complicated delivery, respectively. The share of JSY was 44 % of the total cost per delivery, 77 % in case of normal delivery and 23 % for complicated delivery. Results from the log linear model suggest that economic status, educational level and pregnancy complications are significant predictors of OOPE.Conclusions: Our results suggest that JSY has increased the coverage of institutional delivery and reduced financial stress to household and families but not sufficient for complicated delivery. Provisioning of providing sonography/other test and treating complicated cases in public health centres need to be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we compare the key attributes and experiences of a sample of 413 young women, who attended government versus private schools at the primary and secondary level. Study participation was limited to those whose parents had completed only upper primary education or less. At the time of the study, participants were in their second year of undergraduate study in government colleges across Rajasthan, the largest state in India. We found, among this socially narrow sample, that caste more than income or years of parental education was the biggest predictor of school type attended at the primary and secondary level. We found other significant differences. Private schools had better infrastructural provisions (including girls’ toilets), marginally higher rates of reported peer bullying and better 10th standard exam outcomes. Those who attended private schools reported substantially elevated educational costs (direct fees but also disqualification from government schemes). Paradoxically, a larger portion of participants who attended government schools reported their families had fallen into debt to support their education. These finding support the theory that the most disadvantaged continue to rely on a public education system that yields poor exam results. Reports of teacher violence and teacher absenteeism were largely consistent across institution types. While overall rates of teacher violence were low, those whose parents had the lowest rates of educational attainment were the most likely to report having been victimized in both government and private schools. We explore the implications of these findings for the achievement of gender equality at the post-primary level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Based on a study of how rural land brokers mediate the arrival of a Special Economic Zone in rural Rajasthan, this paper argues that theories of collective social capital cannot explain how networks, norms, and trust interact in a process of economic change. It then reconstructs Bourdieu’s distinct theory of individual social capital by showing how better-connected farmers are able to broker land and capture profits at the expense of fellow villagers, undermining trust, norms, and collective action. It argues that social capital is most plausibly seen as an aspect of social inequality that hinders inclusive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) infections are among the most common and widespread infections in developing countries where sanitation facilities are inadequate. Aims: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of STH infections in prenatal mothers in two states in India. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Maharashtra and Rajasthan state of India. We randomly selected one municipal corporation and one rural block from a selected district in each state. Methods and Material: Out of 2400 contacted, 2206 pregnant women gave stool samples for microscopy for parasitological study. The response rate was 89.91%. Stool specimens were transported to an accredited lab and examined microscopically within 24 hrs. Results: Prevalence of STH was 8.34 (95%CI 7.22–9.57). The prevalence in rural and urban areas was 10.01% (95%CI 8.51–11.74) and 5.76% (95%CI 4.39–7.52), respectively. Ascaris lumbricoides (34.7%) were the most common, followed by Entamoeba histolytica (30.43%), and 20.1% were mixed infections. Higher age, walking barefoot, weight gain during pregnancy were significantly associated with STH (p < 0.05). The mean hemoglobin value in women with STH was significantly less (8.75 gm%; SD 4.04) compared to those without STH (10.23 gm%; SD 1.23) (p < 0.05), and average weight gain during pregnancy was significantly less among women with STH (3.80 kg; 4.11) compared to women without STH (8.45 kg; 2.83); (p = 0.000). Conclusion: The study provides valuable insights into the burden and intensity of STH in pregnant women that may support the policy recommendation for deworming during pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the Dādūpanth, a religious community centered on the teachings of Dādū Dayāl (1544–1603), a Sant poet of Rajasthan. The aim of the text is to analyze how various forms of patronage affected the formation of the ideology and identity of this community. The article examines especially the Dādūpanthī ideology of patronage by focusing on the Dādū Janma Līlā (c. 1620), which contains an account of the supposed meeting between Dādū and the emperor Akbar, during which Dādū rejects all offers of patronage. His position needs elucidation as it stands in contrast with the later tendency of the post-17th century Dādūpanth to accept royal and merchant patronage. After analyzing how the hagiography establishes Dādū's authority and having considered in what types of manuscripts the hagiography was distributed by itinerant preachers, it is suggested that this work is driven by a strong proselytic agenda and that it employs a 'pedagogical strategy'—represented by the topos of rejected royal support—to establish relationships with merchant patrons. The article concludes with the observation that the increase in royal patronage from the 17th to the 19th century led to changes in the Dādūpanthī ideology that entailed a shift toward a Vaishnava identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To qualitatively assess the barriers and facilitators to uptake of referral services amongst high-risk pregnant women in rural Rajasthan.Methods: A purposive sample of pregnant women with high-risk conditions requiring referral follow-up care (severe hypertension, moderate anemia, and severe anemia) were considered for inclusion. In-depth individual interviews were conducted in the local dialect, Mewari. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and organized for thematic generation as per the analytical framework described in the socio-ecological model.Results: 19 high risk pregnant women of low socioeconomic backgrounds across 15 villages were interviewed. Barriers to referral care included lack of transportation, household responsibilities, and limited awareness, education, and social support. The most prominent barrier was lack of accompaniment to the referral center by a family member or health worker. Facilitators included available husbands, engaged heath workers, supportive neighbors, and other female family members who shared past experiences.Conclusions: Social support at the interpersonal and community level was key to overcoming referral care barriers faced by high-risk pregnant women in rural Rajasthan. Interventions that enhance social support may improve uptake of referral care services by high-risk pregnant women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global community is in panic with fear of changing climate. Though it is very difficult to experience phenomenon of climate change but we can say that the climate is showing huge variability. To understand the impact of human on climate and vice-versa the knowledge of climate variability is necessary and moreover it helps in prediction of future trends of climate. In this paper spatio-temporal analysis of climate variation has been done by using interpolation technique. About 61 % of total area of India has dry climate and its typical example is western part of Rajasthan. In the Western Rajasthan during last 31 years the temperature has shown a great variability with an average rise of about 0.5 °C for the month of June and 0.8 °C for the month of January. During the same period the average annual rainfall has shown a decrease of 50 mm. With an overall rise in temperature over the region and changing precipitation trends the humidity provinces as defined by Thornthwaite, have shifted eastward. The climate variability studies can help to identify vulnerability of a region towards climate change which further helps in formulation of mitigation and adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the changing dynamics of development in India, focusing on partnerships between civil society organisations (CSOs)1 and the state in the area of rural health. Drawing on ethnographic perspectives of CSO work, we examine the shifting meaning of these partnerships for the institutions involved and how they function given their differing institutional cultures and values. We argue that the adoption by the state of a global language of rights and its efforts to integrate civil society language, practices and representatives in the policy and implementation of health programmes point to collaborationist models which support the creation of an ‘activist’ state, as they simultaneously strengthen as well as weaken the role of CSOs as mediators in development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Traditional irrigation, as part of the ancient agricultural practices in India has persisted for long time since the past. The main objective of this paper is thus to investigate the peculiarities pertinent to traditional irrigation management in Rajasthan, India. The experience gained from such areas can definitely help make irrigation management system of new irrigation schemes sustainable. Based on the study case of Thanagazi region, Rajasthan, the article seeks to demostrate that this form of traditional knowledge has been determinant in enhancing the conservation of the local ecosystem and also the development of rural communities dwelling in that area. The article develops this understanding through the examination of the johads and their impact on local communities. It shows how this traditional water harvesting tradition fits into the local ecological, socio-economic and cultural system present in the Thanagazi region. The main peculiarities that contributed to the persistence of traditional irrigation system are also identified, and they are: the presence of a system which is easily mastered by the local members of communities, the presence of communally constructed local rules, locally designed hydraulic control structures, ownership feeling of the irrigators and equity in water distributions, the culture for mobilizing communal resources and the culture of self-initiating local water management strategies. Lessons on the role of traditional water harvesting system and their role in promoting conservation and sustainable development are finally drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Community forests/rangelands, called Orans and Gauchars in the western arid part of India, constitute a significant proportion of the total geographical area of the region. Given the economic importance of these areas from time immemorial, the local people took special care to protect and sustainably utilize these common property resources. However, these forests and rangelands have suffered severe degradation in the recent past. Rehabilitation of Orans and Gauchars needs proper planning and execution of a technically feasible package, tailored to suit their unique edaphic, climatic, vegetation, social and legal status. Keeping in view the vast potential of these areas to sustain large scale livestock farming for overall economic upliftment of the local population, there is an urgent need to rehabilitate these degraded areas in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Salient problems faced by these natural assets of western Rajasthan and strategies for their rehabilitation have been discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I examine a birth ritual practised by a community of low-status entertainers from the Indian state of Rajasthan known as Bhats . On the birth of sons, but not daughters, Bhats offer gifts to the Hindu god Bhaironji , a pan-Indian boss of the underworld. Specifically, they sacrifice a goat, extract its stomach, slice it open so that it forms a gaping slit, and pass their wailing newborn through the dripping opening seven times. This ritual, which I interpret as a symbolic child sacrifice, would seem to exemplify 'Sanskritisation'--the low caste copying of elite life-styles--in the way Bhats imitate dominant Hindu ideals implicit to a kingly tradition of blood sacrifice. However, I contend that this feast is unique in the way that Bhats simultaneously mimic and appropriate, subvert and contest, as well as rework and combine ritual traditions associated with both kings and priests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the introduction of a scheme promoting institutional deliveries in India, dai-mas (traditional midwives) have not become obsolete, but remain integral to institutional caregiving in rural areas in ways that are not always recognized. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in rural Rajasthan, I discuss two institutional contexts in which dai-mas were encountered – traditional midwife training event and hospital births. By examining how dai-mas' authoritative knowledge is reconfigured within institutions, I suggest that the polysemic Hindi term jugaad – a phrase describing the kinds of improvisation required in resource-poor settings – captures different aspects of dai-mas' relationships with and within institutions and the state of maternal caregiving in rural India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small vertebrate faunal assemblage of late Middle Eocene (Bartonian) age is described from the Bandah Formation, a shallow marine deposit in the Jaisalmer Basin of Rajasthan state, Western India. The Bandah assemblage comprises representatives of selachians (sharks, rays), crocodilians, turtles and archaeocete cetaceans (archaic whales). The mammalian component of this fauna, though represented by fragmentary specimens, allows identification of two archaeocete taxa for the first time from the Palaeogene of Rajasthan: an unnamed protocetid close to Babiacetus and an andrewsiphiine remingtonocetid (Kutchicetus sp.). Occurrence of Eocene cetaceans in the Jaisalmer Basin brings to light a new, potentially rich cetacean-yielding horizon in India, and has the potential to allow a better understanding of early whale evolution in the Indian subcontinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-19 presents great challenges for virus control and social security in rural areas of developing countries. • We examine the role of elected village governments in coordinating state response in Rajasthan, Odisha, and Kerala, India. • Urgent needs have galvanized new cross-sectoral and multi-scalar interactions that link state action with local realities. • Evidence from Kerala illustrates how long-term support for local governments improves public trust and effectiveness of response. • Governance is as important to understanding COVID-19 impacts and recovery as biology, demography, and economy. Countries around the world have undertaken a wide range of strategies to halt the spread of COVID-19 and control the economic fallout left in its wake. Rural areas of developing countries pose particular difficulties for developing and implementing effective responses owing to underdeveloped health infrastructure, uneven state capacity for infection control, and endemic poverty. This paper makes the case for the critical role of local governance in coordinating pandemic response by examining how state authorities are attempting to bridge the gap between the need for rapid, vigorous response to the pandemic and local realities in three Indian states – Rajasthan, Odisha, and Kerala. Through a combination of interviews with mid and low-level bureaucrats and a review of policy documents, we show how the urgency of COVID-19 response has galvanized new kinds of cross-sectoral and multi-scalar interaction between administrative units involved in coordinating responses, as local governments have assumed central responsibility in the implementation of disease control and social security mechanisms. Evidence from Kerala in particular suggests that the state's long term investment in democratic local government and arrangements for incorporating women within grassroots state functions (through its Kudumbashree program) has built a high degree of public trust and cooperation with state actors, while local authorities embrace an ethic of care in the implementation of state responses. These observations, from the early months of the pandemic in South Asia, can serve as a foundation for future studies of how existing institutional arrangements and their histories pattern the long-term success of disease control and livelihood support as the pandemic proceeds. Governance, we argue, will be as important to understanding the trajectory of COVID-19 impacts and recovery as biology, demography, and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]