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The present study was conducted at Atreypuramu, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India during June-August, 2022 with the preparation of paper sweet variants followed by fuzzy logic sensory analysis. Initially, polished/milled Jaya variety rice soaked, ground with water and made into batter. The batter without any coarse particles diluted in separate flat containers. Then, a thin cotton cloth was dipped in the diluted batter and spread over the hot curved surface of inverted pot almost maintained at 120-135°C. This structures the paper-thin external front of the sweet. The size of produced rice starch edible film was about 41×30 cm2 and thickness in the range of 0.02-0.05 cm. The four paper sweet variants were prepared by rolling the rice starch film stuffed with various fillings including jaggery/sugar and nuts & jaggery/sugar alone. Fuzzy logic sensory study was conducted for analysis of paper sweets and to compare the acceptability of these paper sweet variants. Ranking was assigned to each sample by calculating fuzzy membership unction, normalized fuzzy membership function, normalized fuzzy membership function matrix, judgment membership function matrix, judgment subset and quality ranking subset. Finally, the weightage average was compared with quality ranking of all paper sweet variants. The results concluded that all four samples were quite comparable; however, paper sweet with jaggery and nuts received the best response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Puttaparthi is a birthplace of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and is a small town situated in the district of Anantapur, in Andhra Pradesh. Chitravathi River is the main water-body in Puttaparthi. The river remained dry for many years. Only in the recent years, rainfall events fed water to the river. Last year in 2019 a check-dam was also constructed in Puttaparthi due to which the river water has been stagnant. This review paper aims to assess the surface water quality of the Chitravati River in Puttaparthi after the establishment of the check-dam. In this regard, literature reviews were performed and the paragraphs in the literature reviews were arranged as per three major themes, which are: 1. check-dams, 2. water-quality assessment and monitoring, and 3. non-perennial river systems. By examining these three themes through the literature reviews, key inferences were made. For instance, it can be understood that the check-dam in Puttaparthi is an important water-storage structure, which is likely to have both positive and negative impacts upon the nearby region. Secondly, in order to examine water-bodies like the Chitravati River in Puttaparthi, we have to perform water quality assessment and monitoring. To perform water quality assessment and monitoring for the Chitravati River in Puttaparthi; we have to use important tools like the Water Quality Index (WQI), Water Pollution Index (WPI), and Water Poverty Index (WPI). Thirdly, non-perennial river systems such as intermittent rivers, ephemeral rivers and their key features have been stressed upon by several readings. These are river systems where a river ceases to flow for some months or for several years. The Chitravati River in Puttaparthi can be appropriately classified as a non-perennial river system and as an intermittent river. Finally, this review paper concludes through a personal reflection, which stresses upon studying the Chitravati River in Puttaparthi and how the literature reviews will help in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the financial performance of the paper industry in Andhra Pradesh, India. History of growth of paper mills in the 1830s; Financing methods and practices of paper mills; Investment patterns of utilization of fixed assets.

This paper assesses the social environment required for enhancing social sustainability in a social housing project in India, with a case study of Ajith Singh nagar, social housing project of Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh, India. Social sustainability is less thought off out of Three pillars of sustainability (Environment, social and economic). Social sustainability is quality of life in a neighborhood with its social environment. This paper studies the Informal social spaces such as informal meeting places, eating, sitting places, religious places and other activities of informal enterprise and trades which add to sustainable neighborhood environment. These spaces generate psychological comfort, enable to establish social relationships, that creates opportunity for informal interactions and social cohesion. Provision of these places in a neighborhood will address the social sustainability. This research arrives at what social spaces and activities required in a neighborhood by analysing existing housing layout which is otherwise just series of buildings and roads. The interactions between people and their surroundings strengthen community building and social bonding. This paper finds out that adding these places and activities enhance the social interactions and in turn establish social Capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Tribal entrepreneurship can be understood as infusing the knowledge of commerce and trade into the tribal groups and thereby exploring their products and known for their economic betterment and social advancement. An accumulating body of research has demonstrated that artificial intelligence (AI) is an indistinguishable feature of the fourth industrial revolution. This study integrates the literature on AI and new technologies to examine the constraining and facilitating forces for developing and scaling-up AI-enabling technologies in Africa. This article proposes an integrated conceptual model to elucidate the range of external drivers encompassing global competitive drivers, and market and industry drivers. The internal drivers include the potential to enhance product development speed, improve quality, drive production cost down, and minimise errors and manual processes in organisations. OBJECTIVES: In this study, socio-economic status of tribal population has been taken as a reference in order to see whether there is any impact of economic wellbeing on their livelihood [1]. The study is an endeavour to examine the role of micro enterprises for social and economic empowerment of tribal community in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and role of AI. RESULTS: The main results obtained in this paper are the following SEM identified that there is a lower degree of positive impact of "Tribal entrepreneurship" on "Economic Empowerment" and "women Empowerment" and lower degree of negative impact on "Social Empowerment". It is also concluded that Economic Empowerment of tribal entrepreneurs through micro-enterprises has reduced the dependency on private money lenders the most. Women Empowerment of tribal entrepreneurs has helped the women to achieve gender equality and the social Empowerment aids in the development of competency and technical skills through micro-enterprises. CONCLUSION: The tribal communities in Odisha are regarded as the most disadvantageous group of people in terms of their socio-economic status. The present research makes some pivotal contributions to the current AI literature. First, in spite of the growing recognition that development of new industries and new-business development is increasingly predicated on the adoption of new technologies (Krasniqi and Hajrizi Citation2016), there is a paucity of studies examining contemporary challenges faced by developing nations and their inability to capitalise on such ample and obvious opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about the collaboration between the Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Odisha (India), and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim (Norway), initiated in 2017. The main objective of the collaboration was to facilitate students through educators to bridge the gap between higher education and the practical skills needed for assessing and advancing sustainable development in local communities. This paper presents the contribution of nine women interns within the framework of partnership among the universities, government, and social enterprises in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. It analyses the role of women interns in activities and experiences in Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), in motivating women farmers to join FPOs to benefit in terms of increasing productivity, value addition for better products, and improving market opportunities. The concluding observations section provides three sets of learnings each for the role of women interns and implications for higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of social movements on the Indian state's developmental paradigm. Adopting from Varigonda's (2020) framework, the paper argues that the impact of social movements on state policy and its implementation is primarily determined by three key factors: the collective action repertoires of social movements; the politicization of the Indian state's developmental paradigm; and the openness of state input structures. This framework is tested through a comparative study of two movements that have emerged against two examples of the Indian state's developmental paradigm: a proposed nuclear plant at Kovvada and a proposed thermal plant at Sompeta, both in Andhra Pradesh. The Sompeta agitation was successful in impeding the thermal plant's inception while the movement in Kovvada eventually petered out. The paper demonstrates how the variation in the impact of the two movements can be attributed to the social movement in Sompeta benefitting from stronger collective action repertoires; greater politicization of the state's developmental paradigm; and more open state input structures, vis-à-vis the movement in Kovvada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is concerned with the contemporary relevance of caste to agrarian capitalism and the relations of dependency and allegiance it fosters in a village of Andhra Pradesh. It deploys the method of village study to examine the two‐way interaction between agrarian class and caste relations and the emerging rural‐based informal nonfarm economy. It elaborates the continuation of relations of debt, dependency, and political allegiance fostered by landlordism despite significant diversification to nonfarm by landlords and labour and identifies the crucial role of land inequality and the working of ritual hierarchy in locking Dalit caste in land‐based relations of dependency. The paper highlights the importance of expanding the definition of landlordism as the use of social power for accumulation by embedding it in the motives and values generated by the Hindu social order. While the new wave of literature focuses attention on global capital and commodity chains to understand differentiation of rural population and ruralities, the paper emphasizes the persistent significance of landholding provincial capital in shaping class/caste relations and rural politics and argues for a course correction in thinking about the processes of globalization and new forms of labour control and stresses the continuing significance of the agrarian question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent past, Andhra Pradesh (AP) has experienced increasing trends in surface air mean temperature (SAT at a height of 2 m) because of climate change. In this paper, we attempt to estimate the SAT using the GFDL-ESM2G (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Model version 2G), available from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase-5 (CMIP5). This model has a mismatch with the India Meteorological Department (IMD)'s observations during April and May, which are the most heat-prone months in the state. Hence, in addition to the SAT from the model, the present paper considers other parameters, such as mean sea level pressure, surface winds, surface relative humidity, and surface solar radiation downwards, that have influenced the SAT. Since all five meteorological parameters from the GFDL-ESM2G model influence the IMD's SAT, an artificial neural network (ANN) technique has been used to predict the SAT using the above five meteorological parameters as predictors (input) and the IMD's SAT as the predictand (output). The model was developed using 1981–2020 data with different time lags, and results were tested for 2021 and 2022 in addition to the random testing conducted for 1981–2020. The statistical parameters between the IMD observations and the ANN estimations using GFDL-ESM2G predictions as input confirm that the SAT can be estimated accurately as described in the analysis section. The analysis conducted for different regions of AP reveals that the diurnal variations of SAT in the IMD observations and the ANN predictions over three regions (North, Central, and South AP) and overall AP compare well, with root mean square error varying between 0.97 °C and 1.33 °C. Thus, the SAT predictions provided in the GFDL-ESM2G model simulations could be improved statistically by using the ANN technique over the AP region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling surface water quality has become crucial in providing better strategies for managing surface water resources, and adequate findings need accurate and geographically dispersed data. Hydrogeological modeling of these data sets is possible using empirically-based models. The other statistical models are also an alternative approach. In this study, a process with maximum probability is considered with the help of machine learning tools (MLT) to have optimized and valid output. The proposed method combines remote sensing and geographic information systems (RS and GIS) and MLT, which are appropriate for the predicament of neither small, large scale, nor long-term simulations. MLT methods such as VAR and ARIMA are developed in the Python programming with Jupyter notebook and tested according to the data in the spatial prediction for surface water quality parameters such as Tr, pH, Ec, TDS, AL, Ca++, NO−3, So, Cl, F−, Fe, and Mg2+ in the Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India—lower delta part. The delta with susceptible zones was identified using RS and GIS as those areas are prone to direct exposure to surface water contaminants from aquaculture, agricultural runoff, small- and medium-scale businesses, and household trash. Achieving effective surface water management for this ecosystem is critical for regional water management. The geographical information about the concentrations acquired via the RS and GIS was compared to the statistical modeling findings and verified using real-time measurements. MLT modeling seems more realistic than the experimental setting; data from the previous 20 years (2000–2020) were used for modeling, and the predicted values presented in the paper are predicted for the year 2021. The computed R2 value of ranges between 0.75 and 0.96% is recorded with ARIMA, and VAR posted range between 0.56 and 0.75% with the trained and tested data. The findings show the potential for MLT of geographically dispersed hydrogeological data to be used for pollution-free surface water management. From the surface water management perspective, combining RS and GIS and MLT offers an alternate data analysis approach for obtaining quick results utilizing a less laborious process that produces acceptable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green hydrogen can be the transitional solution required to reduce anthropogenic emissions and enhance energy independency from fossil fuel. To improve green hydrogen adoption, a cluster-based infrastructure, called a hydrogen hub, is devised taking into account the demand-supply interplay coupled with transport ease. In this paper, we have identified sites across states that are conducive for hydrogen hubs. It involves a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) framework deployed to assign priorities within competing set of criteria. A comprehensive analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to rank criteria that are connected to establish a functioning hydrogen hub. These criteria include, but not limited to, proximity to refineries, fertilizer plants, substations, chlor-alkali units, steel manufacturing plants, water availability, access to gas pipelines, railway line access, and finally distance to highways. Our analyses indicate that proximity to refineries and fertilizers scored higher (scores directly proportional to importance) while railway line access scored the least. These prioritised scores are used to spatially locate sites using geographical information system. In a total of thirteen states identified, Gujarat had the largest parcel of most suitable land for setting up hydrogen hub followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. For India to set up a functioning hydrogen economy and achieve green hydrogen goals, it is important to identify states that can drive the agenda forward. This paper illustrates a way (amongst many available ways) to identify states based on their strength and capability to fulfil the national goal of 5 million tons of green hydrogen by 2030. • The paper addresses setting up of green hydrogen hubs in India based on a multi-criteria site selection framework. • Nine selection criteria covering aspects of hydrogen ecosystem proposed to identify site(s) suitable for hydrogen hubs. • Integration of AHP and GIS is used to ascertain land parcels where hydrogen economy can sustain across states in India. • Zones in 13 states were identified as potential hydrogen hubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sesame is an important oil seed crop affected by toxigenic fungal pathogens viz., Alternaria, Fusarium and Aspergillus. Among these, Alternaria sesami is seed borne and most destructive pathogen causing yield loss to an extent of 28.9 per cent. Hence the effect of artificial infection with A. sesami on seed quality of various samples of sesame was investigated during 2017-2018. Methods: A total of 28 samples were collected from different sesame growing areas of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and inoculated with A. sesami. The inoculated and uninoculated seeds were tested for germination and seedling growth by rolled paper towel method. Result: Significant differences in seed germination, seedling length and seedling vigour index were observed among the uninoculated as well as inoculated sesame seed samples. The results indicated that Alternaria sesami caused 15.13% to 49.68%, 12.77% to 46.14% and 28.28% to 72.87% reduction in seed germination, seedling length and vigour index, respectively, of inoculated seed over uninoculated seeds. The per cent reduction was highest in the seed samples of YLM-17 collected from farmers' saved seed samples of Prakasam district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents cases of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Bardhaman district in West Bengal (WB) that we argue have the potential to demonstrate alternatives to capitalist development by strengthening the community economies of women belonging to marginal groups. SHGs in Kotha Indlu village in Chittoor district have provided the Dalit and backward women an alternative to earn their livelihood from practicing sericulture with local resources, indigenous knowledge and training. In Paarhaati and Ganti, villages of Bardhaman district, some SHGs have benefitted while some others have failed to cater to the economic needs of women from marginalized communities. With the help of empirical evidence from fieldwork, the paper aims to understand in what ways SHGs have helped or hindered the Dalit and tribal communities to enhance their self-reliance in the study areas. In regions where community participation and local self-government is proactive, SHGs are seen as strong sustainability initiatives for the rural marginalised groups. However, it is also seen that implementing SHGs as a sustainability program has been difficult in certain regions due to social inequality, financial dependence on local landowners and inadequate community participation. Thus, the paper puts forth both the successes and failures of SHGs as an important sustainability program at the grassroots level in rural India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: Credit is an essential element in the production process in agriculture. There are two sources from which farm households can access credit: institutional sources and non-institutional or informal sources of credit. The informal sources of credit, such as moneylenders, charge exorbitant rates of interest, which further puts a financial burden on the farmers. Hence, to increase the flow of credit from institutional sources, a policy known as the interest subvention scheme (ISS) was introduced in the year 2006. This paper aims to find the effect of the ISS on the behaviour of farm households. Design/methodology/approach: The author has used difference-in-difference analysis for estimation. In the analysis, the author has taken Madhya Pradesh as the treatment state and Andhra Pradesh as the controlled state. The author has used the Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) dataset of ICRISAT for analysis. The author has used data from 2009 to 2014 for the two states. Findings: The author has found that the difference between the average interest rate of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is significant for both pre-treatment and post-treatment periods and this gap has increased after the intervention period. The results suggest that the share of informal sector borrowings has reduced in the treatment group (Madhya Pradesh) as compared to the control group (Andhra Pradesh) in the post-treatment period. Originality/value: This paper is particularly important because of the dearth of literature on the impact of this scheme in India and may shed light on the much-needed policy implications of this particular policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Publicly Funded Health Insurance Schemes (PFHIS) are intended to play a role in achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). In countries like India, PFHISs have low penetrance and provide limited coverage of services and of family members within households, which can mean that women lose out. Gender inequities in relation to financial risk protection are understudied. Given the emphasis being placed on achieving UHC for all in India, this paper examined intersecting gender inequalities and changes in PFHIS coverage in southern India, where its penetrance is greater and of longer duration. Data and methods: This study used the fourth (NFHS-4, 2015–16) and fifth (NFHS-5, 2019–21) rounds of India's National Family Health Survey for five southern states: namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The World Health Organization's Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) Plus and Stata were used to analyse PFHIS coverage disaggregated by seven dimensions of inequality. Ratios and differences for binary dimensions; Between Group Variance and Theil Index for unordered dimensions; Absolute and Relative Concentration Index (RCI) for ordered dimensions were computed separately for women and men. Results: Overall, PFHIS coverage increased significantly (p < 0.001) among women and men in Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5. Overall, men had higher PFHIS coverage than women, especially in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana in both surveys. In both absolute and relative terms, PFHIS coverage was concentrated among older women and men across all states; age-related inequalities were higher among women than men in both surveys in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telengana. The magnitude of education-related inequalities was twice as high as among women in Telangana (RCINFHS-4: -12.23; RCINFHS-5: -9.98) and Andhra Pradesh (RCINFHS-4: -8.05; RCINFHS-5: -7.84) as compared to men in Telangana (RCINFHS-4: -5.58; RCINFHS-5: -2.30) and Andhra Pradesh (RCINFHS-4: -4.40; RCINFHS-5: -3.12) and these inequalities remained in NFHS-5, suggesting that lower education level women had greater coverage. In the latter survey, a high magnitude of wealth-related inequality was observed in women (RCINFHS-4: -15.78; RCINFHS-5: -14.36) and men (RCINFHS-4: -20.42; RCINFHS-5: -13.84) belonging to Kerala, whereas this inequality has decreased from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5., again suggestive of greater coverage among poorer populations. Caste-related inequalities were higher in women than men in both surveys, the magnitude of inequalities decreased between 2015–16 and 2019–20. Conclusions: We found gender inequalities in self-reported enrolment in southern states with long-standing PFHIS. Inequalities favoured the poor, uneducated and elderly, which is to some extend desirable when rolling out a PFHIS intended for harder to reach populations. However, religion and caste-based inequalities, while reducing, were still prevalent among women. If PFHIS are to truly offer financial risk protection, they must address the intersecting marginalization faced by women and men, while meeting eventual goals of risk pooling, indicated by high coverage and low inequality across population sub-groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital identity platforms are a recent e-governance innovation for improving social assistance programming in the development context, the most well-known of which is India's Aadhaar. While a significant number of studies have accumulated on Aadhaar, so far under-researched is the importance of local government practices and processes in shaping usage of the platform to support social assistance programming. In this paper we theorize how local government intermediation on digital identity platforms can improve social assistance programming through a case study of the Aadhaar-enabled Fertilizer Distribution System (AeFDS) in Andhra Pradesh. Our findings show how the relevance of the platform for low-income farmers depends crucially on the proactive adaptation of the technology by key local government intermediaries. From a policy perspective, this result emphasizes the importance of supporting efforts to acknowledge the role of responsive local government agencies in ensuring that centralized digital identity platforms remain relevant for implementing social assistance programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper makes a comparative study on Public Schools and Government Schools in the contemporary social and cultural scenario with the importance of the parental care and how they are maintained by private owners and government officials respectively. The paper also discusses the role and responsibility of the important individuals-the father, the mother and the teacher - towards the spiritual and moral development of their children. Public schools, which are called 'Private schools' in our country, are symbols of modern feudalism. Public schools can also be described as 'private factories'. Teachers in private schools and colleges are under compulsion to show results to managements. Teachers campaign for admissions. When a teacher fails to secure admission, his job or his salary is under threat. There are popular Public (Private) schools but unfortunately there is no such popular government school. Under these circumstances, the question arises is how to create a good government teacher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years now, a variety of studies have proven the strong relationship between productivity and profitability. However, simply earning a profit does not necessarily mean that the firm is productive. Many highly productive firms face financial losses, whereas less productive ones’ experience significant profits. This paper examines the dynamics of how productivity really matters for profitability. The paper uses a non-parametric index number approach to estimate the productivity, profitability, and price performance of a publicly owned, once world’s largest, bus transport corporation operating in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to examine these dynamics. The paper finds that when public organizations are constrained from raising the prices of their services, productivity gains may not be adequate to counterbalance the impact of rising prices of major inputs. Moreover, loss-making organizations, even if they are publicly owned, would find it hard to improve both the quality and quantity of their services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River bank filtration (RBF), as one of the sustainable natural treatment techniques, can provide risk-free drinking water supply to rural villages where piped water supply through conventional treatment schemes is very expensive. The main purpose of this paper is to report the results of a RBF production well implemented in a complex hydrogeological setting under the ephemeral Varaha river influenced by the saline coastal aquifer in the Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh (India) for the supply of drinking water to the nearby rural habitats that have no organized water supply. To understand and identify the hydraulics of the river–aquifer exchanged water, particle tracking analysis to determine the travel times of river water path lines, capture zones, the proportion of bank filtrate and river water, and groundwater into RBF production well consequent to pumping were carried out using modular finite difference groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) in conjunction with a particle-tracking model for MODFLOW (MODPATH). The river–aquifer and well field interaction were studied by developing a two-dimensional two-layer groundwater flow model with a partially penetrating well in an unconfined aquifer. The flow modeling simulation results together with MODPATH particle tracking analyses revealed that the installed RBF production well could yield about 61% river water through bank filtration and the remainder from the groundwater. The flow model was also used to optimize the pumping duration from the RBF production well without compromising the water quality of the bank filtrate water. The optimum pumping duration was estimated to be 5 h a day at the rate of 31.2 m3/h from continuous pumping during the monsoon period. The performance and quality of the bank filtrate from the well demonstrated that the RBF technique could also be a potential and viable approach for the supply of safe drinking water from an ephemeral river-induced bank filtrate influenced by the saline coastal aquifer. River bank filtration (RBF), a process to extract river water and groundwater through RBF wells, is one of the sustainable natural treatment techniques successfully providing risk-free drinking water supply in many urban, periurban, and rural areas in different countries. In India, it is gaining popularity, particularly in rural clusters where piped water supply through conventional treatment schemes has a remote chance of being effective. RBF wells are very effective in removing suspended particles, pathogenic compounds, and microorganisms present in the source water. The quantity of RBF water depends on the user requirements; for a town with a series of RBF wells or a small village using a single RBF well, RBF techniques can be employed. For establishing RBF wells in coastal regions, extra care would be required to fix the pumping rate and its duration to avoid mixing of saline with fresh water. The present study demonstrates the successful implementation of a RBF well on an ephemeral river (Varaha river in Andhra Pradesh State, India) in a saline coastal aquifer. The RBF technique can be employed to any other river reach or waterbody in the region where there is a need for potable water supply with minimum water treatment cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a semiparametric structural model of school choice to identify the effects of private school during early adolescence on composite measures of self-efficacy and self-esteem in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The average treatment effect of attending private school is an increase in self-efficacy and self-esteem measures of 0.16 and 0.22 standard deviations, respectively, between ages 12 and 15. These results are within the range of credible estimates of private school effects on cognitive outcomes in India, suggesting that private school may play at least as significant a role in early psychosocial development as in cognitive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of a comprehensive property rights system is an issue of pressing concern in most economies in the Global South. Property rights-related issues have important social, economic and environmental consequences. This paper argues that one of the most impactful uses of blockchain in the Global South could be in the creation, implementation and enforcement of property rights. The article provides an in‐depth analysis of a blockchain-based land registry project in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. It also delves into facilitators for and barriers to a large-scale adoption and deployment of blockchain for this purpose. The paper shows that with blockchain, the benefits of digitisation of land records can be amplified and some of the major drawbacks of digitisation can be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The livestock sector plays a crucial role in cushioning the rural economy in general and during agrarian adversaries in particular. The present paper presents the current status of livestock sector in Andhra Pradesh. The study aimed to analyze the population dynamics of major livestock (cattle, buffaloes, sheep & goat) during different LC (Livestock Census) periods, its contribution to State's GVA (Gross Value Added), products from livestock, their per capita availability, budget allocation to the sector, infrastructure and other facilities available for livestock development and enhancing livestock production and productivity etc. The paper further emphasized the major challenges faced by livestock sector in Andhra Pradesh state, with an overall objective of suggesting suitable policy interventions for implementation by the State Government to make the livestock sector, a viable and sustained one with its contribution to rural economy of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cement clay interlocking (CCI) hollow bricks have been used as a construction material in many developed and developing countries. Many emerging and underdeveloped nations have utilised cement clay interlocking (CCI) hollow bricks as building materials. In India, Andhra Pradesh local makers prepare these cement clay interlocking (CCI) hollow bricks by simply mixing clay, cement, and sand in a traditional method, without following strict design criteria or rules. Previous research has demonstrated that the mechanical characteristics of CCI hollow bricks gathered from various locations in detailed manner respect to hand books on Civil Engineering as per Indian Standards. Bricks from one region had compressive strengths that were significantly lower than the other region Indian Community Standards. Various methods were employed in this investigation to enhance the mechanical characteristics of CCI bricks. New mix patterns were created with the use of sand, cement, and fly ash in this research paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of fisheries and shrimp has been twice every 10 years for the previous five decades, making it the most rapidly expanding food industry. This growth is due to intensive farming and the conversion of agriculture into aquaculture in many parts of South Asia. Furthermore, intensive aquaculture generates positive economic growth but leads to environmental degradation without proper monitoring. Unfortunately, technical innovation is less in aquaculture than agricultural and manufacturing industries. The advent of remote sensing and soft computing has expanded various opportunities for utilizing and integrating technological advances in civil and environmental disciplines. This paper presents the aquaculture scenario in the western Godavari delta region of Andhra Pradesh and proposes various novel assessment tools to monitor the aquaculture environment. An experimental investigation was carried out on the physicochemical characteristics of the inland aquaculture ponds to evaluate water quality in the aquaculture ponds. Furthermore, to assess the intensity of inland aquaculture, the current work concentrates on the potential application of remote sensing and soft computing approaches. Geospatial models of kriging and inverse distance weighing (IDW) show higher performance in estimating ammonia levels in the intensive aquaculture groundwaters with coefficient of determination (R2) values of 0.947 and 0.901, respectively. Teaching learning-based optimization (TLBO) and adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO), two of the five soft computing techniques utilized in the study, perform better than the others. Additionally, it was found that remote sensing-based assessment tools and soft computing prediction models were both trustworthy, accurate, and easy to use. Furthermore, these methods could assist in the real-time evaluation of inland aquaculture waters by stakeholders and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 2000s, some Indian states started allowing private traders to buy directly from farmers outside the state-regulated market system. The experience of these states can shed light on the impact of market-oriented reforms and the role of public procurement. Using individual-level National Sample Survey Data on agricultural wages and a new dataset on state-level average real farm income per cultivator for 18 major Indian states between 1987–2012, this paper shows, using both a difference-in-difference and a triple difference framework, that marketing reforms alone did not contribute to higher farm incomes and agricultural wages. However, when these reforms were coupled with public procurement at the minimum support price, farm incomes and agricultural wages significantly improved. Our results suggest that market-reforms and public procurement at minimum support prices were complements which together contributed to raising rural incomes in states like Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expectation of a huge number of Electric Vehicles (EVs) into the market creates multiple technical problems. The power system is at risk due to the unsecured and unreliable operation resulting from unplanned charging and discharging. The unplanned EV charging and discharging change the load profile of the electric grid. Hence, it is required to develop an effective scheduling scheme for charging and discharging EVs. This research focuses on the minimization of the charging cost of a large number of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in a residential area and parking station. When a huge number of EVs are aggregated in the residential and parking stations, charging and discharging power should be a significant and viable contributor to the power grid. V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) technology offers additional potential benefits to improve power quality and also system reliability. EVs can also supply G2V (Grid-to-Vehicle) power through the discharge of the battery, which benefits both EV owners and electric utilities. It is very difficult to schedule the configurations of EV charging and discharging in an optimized way so as to decrease the charging cost of EVs. The usage of renewable energy sources like solar Photovoltaic (PV) power, reduces the burden on the grid. The solar PV systems are likely to have significant surplus power during the daytime. In this research, optimal charging and discharging scheduling schemes for EVs are developed and the proposed work is carried out under the MATLAB environment with and without Photovoltaic (PV) systems. The realistic load data is collected from Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTRANSCO), India and the solar data is taken from the Indian Solar Resource Data website. The effectiveness of the scheduling scheme is rated according to its capability to reduce the total cost. Extensive simulation studies have been performed on the distribution system under consideration and the results have been presented. The results demonstrate that the charging cost of EVs can be reduced significantly with the use of solar PV power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainwater harvesting is the method of collection, store and use of rainwater where ever it falls. Tropical climatic conditions will receive extreme precipitation, i.e. in form of rain. Water stress and scarcity is happening around the world especially in urban areas as the demand is more because of density of population. As the infrastructure of basic needs at urban areas are almost up to the level, the paved areas will be present in most of the areas. The gap between supply and demand is varying much essentially in urban areas. Thus, the rainwater harvesting at plot level as well as at community level is becoming very much essential so as to minimize the gap between demand and supply. The harvested water lead to supplement the main supply of water and lessens the pressure on main source of water for the existing urban settlement. The present paper deals with the frame work for sustainable rainwater harvesting at a town level. The paper deals with correlating the selected eight study pockets in Guntur town, Andhra Pradesh, India by making the grouping of plots based on the area of the plots with regard to dwelling units related to occupants. The correlation analysis directed to establish strong relation between different study pockets with respect to LPCDs to workout settlement level Sustainable harvestable rainwater frame work with due consideration to density of population, slope, topography and meteorological parameters etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance for organic and chemical free food consumption is growing rapidly. Consumers are ready to pay more money to get a quality food. Farmers need to hold this entrepreneurial opportunity to fasten economic empowerment. One such efforts done by a farmers' interest group was studied in this perspective. Formation and conduct of the group along with the group dynamics of the group members was studied and presented in this paper. Adopting case study method first hand information was collected with the help of well prepared interview schedule along with thorough discussions with the group members and by critical observations of the researcher. Group dynamics index (GDI) was developed to measure the group dynamics of the group members. This paper attempts to expose a better farming practice for the poor and marginal land holders to fetch more income to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations worldwide have realized the importance of customer experience management in order to survive in the present day highly competitive business environment. Shopping in India has witnessed a revolution with significant change in customer buying behaviour and the whole format of shopping has been altering. The retailers in the modern format have been trying to find sustainable focus on customer experience management. A good customer experience implies the individual's experience in all points of contact that matches the individual's expectations. The main aim of this paper is to throw a light on key antecedents impacting the customer experience in the Indian Retail Sector. Overall, the study covers the different dimensions of customer experience management in retail sector by taking into consideration select retail formats. In accordance with the objective of this paper an empirical analysis was carried out based on primary data derived from survey with valid questionnaires. The study recommends that retail firms have to be more active in managing customer experience through innovative strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid growth in dairy consumption and food scandals in India in the 2000s increased awareness of food safety issues among consumers and policymakers. This led to the introduction of new standards. However, there is li ttle information about how they affected farm-level activities and whether value chains played any role. Our paper addresses these questions using a two-round panel survey of dairy farms in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. We find significant improvements in adoption of farm-level hygienic practices, especially in Punjab. Value chain innovations do not play a significant role in stimulating safety and quality improvements among dairy smallholders in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Liver cancer is the third most common cause of cancer mortality. Artificial intelligence, as a diagnostic tool, can reduce physicians’ working load. However, the main fear is that due to the existence of many causes and factors, liver diseases are not easily diagnosed. This study analyzes liver disease intelligently. Various decision tree models were used in this research. Methods: The records of 583 patients in the North East of Andhra Pradesh, India, registered at the University of California in 2012, were collected. Decision tree models were compared by three measures of sensitivity, accuracy, and area under the ROC curve. Results: In this study, Decision-Stump showed better results than other models. Accuracy, sensitivity, and ROC curve of Decision-Stump were 71.3058, 1, and 0.646, respectively. Conclusion: The superior model with the highest precision is the Decision-Stump model. Therefore, the Decision-Stump model is recommended for liver disease diagnosis. This paper is invaluable for the allocation of health resources for risky people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Green Revolution" (GR) technology-induced agricultural intensification has transformed India from food scarcity to a food surplus country. However, this has also resulted into several adverse repercussions. Increased application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with stagnating/declining crop productivity has dovetailed with uncertain market conditions and climate change effects which has resulted in un-remunerative agriculture. Consequently, farmers have fallen into the debt trap due to the rising cost of crop production apart from health hazards due to serious exposure to harmful chemical pesticides. Natural Farming (NF), an agro-ecological approach to farming is believed to be an effective way to counter some of these challenges. The present paper presents field-level farmers' experiences of NF adoption in three states of India—Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. The study was conducted during February–March 2019 by surveying 295 NF adopted and 170 non-NF adopted farmers. It was found that NF practice has been followed by some farmers for more than 10 years but others have adopted during the recent past. There is variation in the practice followed by the NF farmers. There are farmers who are using Farm Yard Manure (FYM). A solid form of jeevamritha (liquid concoction of microbial inoculants) called as ghanajeevamritha was also found to be used by farmers in Andhra Pradesh. It was observed that non-NF yields are superior to NF yield without FYM. In most crops, however, NF with FYM had a greater yield than NF without FYM and non-NF farms. There has been a decrease in the variable cost and a marginal increase in the market price of NF produce. The study suggests that natural farming may be seen as one of the alternative practices which has potential to rejuvenate the agro-ecosystem, besides cost saving for the individual farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of climate change and its impact on agriculture, the paper analyses the trend of monsoon rainfall and its correlation with crop yield in Andhra Pradesh. The summer monsoon is the main rainy source of water for the state of Andhra Pradesh. The Kharif crops depend on the southwest monsoon rains to the extent that its adverse variability may lead to water stress and agrarian crisis. It has been observed from the study that in recent years the contribution of monsoon rainfall during September is increasing, and any harvest during the month is correspondingly affected, leading to a decline in the crop yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews a range of global aquaculture health and safety literature to inform and contribute to the development of a socio-economic profile of Indian shrimp farm workers including the occupational hazards and injuries they face. In addition, 60 shrimp farm workers were interviewed from each of the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The study revealed that all shrimp farm workers were male, 58% were migrants, and ages ranged from 23 to 53 years with work experience of 5 to 24 years. Few workers (14%) had no formal schooling and many had secondary-level education. Reported physical hazards were high (93%) followed by biological (82%), chemical (77%), ergonomic (71%) and psycho-social (71%) hazards. The majority of physical injuries reported related to slips, falls and cuts (51%), electric shocks (44%), sunburn (41%), dehydration/ headaches (40%) and fractures (27%). Approximately 30%-39% had some chemical injury with skin infections/breathing problems. Indian shrimp farm workers face similar occupational hazards and injuries to shrimp farm workers in other countries. The occupational health and safety of shrimp farm workers should be integrated into the concept of 'One Health' to ensure aquaculture sustainability and safe, meaningful and good quality employment to workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural and food system transformation helps increase farm productivity and encourages farmers to participate in updated value chains, adopt newer technologies, thereby helping farmers transform their livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Relatedly, value chain innovations depend on multiple decisions farmers make at various stages of the value chain, adequate participation being a primary factor. In this paper, we integrate farmers' adoption decision of a new variety of chilli crop ("Teja") along with their electronic market participation decision and e-market participation intensity, based on data from the chilli farming sector in India, where agricultural markets have been modernized through digitization (Kalgudi e-Market). Thus, the employed Triple-Hurdle Model (THM) integrates adoption decision of "Teja" variety of chilli, e-Market Participation Decision and e-market participation intensity thereby, allowing us to make inferences relating to chilli farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India. Our results, showed that the drivers of "Teja" variety adoption, e-market participation, and e-participation intensity include education, reliable extension services, access to seeds of high yielding varieties, market information, and membership in farmer-producer organizations. Added to these, personnel training visits, prompt deliveries of inputs, and prompt payment of sales proceeds are also important in influencing participation and intensities. Results show that the three stochastic decisions of THM are strongly correlated implying that the adoption decision of "Teja" variety of chilli by the farmers influences the e-market participation decision and consequently, e-market participation intensity and these three decisions are sequential. On the contrary, the decisions viz., e-market participation decision and e-market participation intensity as input buyers and consequent adoption of "Teja" variety of chilli are simultaneous. So, the policy measures that promote production technology interventions (say, "Teja" variety of chilli) will definitely enhance better e-market access of chilli farmers. Accordingly, the breeding programs of the agricultural research stations should enhance the uptake of improved varieties in tune with modern marketing (e-market) technologies. Future farm policy and agricultural-research and innovations must recognize the potential that the digital marketing systems have to offer. Such considerations coupled with the provision of market infrastructure including assaying, grading, storage, and market information will promote digital transformation in agricultural value chains in developing countries like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and Thyroid are the major coexistent autoimmune disorders affecting people globally. Due to prolonged chronic mental stress in the modern lifestyle, Thyroid disorder is affecting all age groups and people with Thyroid disorder have an increased risk of developing DM complications. Because, abnormal Thyroid dysfunction can have dreadful effects on blood glucose control and can affect the course of DM. This paper proposes a Medical Expert system to assist clinicians in predicting the prevalence of developing autoimmune DM more precisely in patients suffering from Thyroid and further helps to investigate better in the line of improving public health. In this work, Fuzzy logic based inference system and unsupervised machine learning algorithms are used to discover associations and dependencies between Thyroid and DM. The inferred knowledge base is used to design Fuzzy based Expert system. To develop a more realistic expert system, blood sample reports of people affected by DM and Thyroid disorder have been collected from various Endocrine centres in Andhra Pradesh, India. Specificity, Sensitivity, Predictive Values, and Likelihood Ratios of the proposed system are promising in support of system functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a hyper game analysis of the Krishna waters dispute and demonstrates its potential to yield an equilibrium solution even in the face of uncertainty that may be plausible in the intent behind the apparent position taken by contending parties. The approach can accommodate the real-world conflict situation in which players conceal their negotiating strategies and develop perceptions about apparent positions that may be misperceived. The hypergame model of the conflict formulated to resolve the water-sharing dispute amongst the riparian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, India. The paper demonstrates the potential of hypergame-based conflict resolution model to yield an equilibrium solution elegantly and which appears to have attributes of a "Fair and Equitable"" allocation. Hypergame is formulated by considering the perception of one player about the other 'players' game. All the possible perceptions are taken, and the stability analysis is carried out. The results of the stability analysis show that Fair and equitable allocation is part of the equilibrium solution. Our analysis demonstrates that the game-theoretic technique can be applied to solve any real-world conflict. Any allocation made based on "Fairness and Equity" undoubtedly lead to the equilibrium solution as seen in the present work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern Telugu literature, the Dalit literature has been a great wave during 1990-2010. It has been the navigating light for the existential fight of Dalits. But in fact, Dalit literature can be traced in Telugu from a long time back nearly ninety years ago. The problem of casteism and the fight against it are as ancient as the civilization in the history of India. India is the nation in which the society has been configured based on the occupation/professions of the people especially caste wise occupations. Any of these occupations is dependent on the physiological work. In the Indian caste system there are four main castes, and apart from that, there is a fifth group - the Dalits treated as the untouchables in the society. Even some decades back Dalits were considered as the insignificant part of the society. These people have been remained as second class citizens who are severely exploited, and downtrodden. There has been no significant difference in these circumstances anywhere in the Indian subcontinent. But it can be remarked that where ever there are fertile lands and fruitful resources there is a possibility for exploitation of the working class population. And simultaneously there is possibility for revolution through ways. In Andhra Pradesh, East Godavari district is the richest in agricultural prosperity. The same is the place well known for the prolific writers in Telugu Dalit literature. Kusuma Dharmanna, Boyi Bhemanna, Savera (Sarella Venkata Ratnam) are the warriors with pen to fight against the social evil of casteism. This paper focuses on the literary work of the contemporary poet SAVERA who has been considered as the mighty poet with a great impact on the existential fight of Telugu Dalits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic is the most recent—and most severe—crisis to face the microfinance/financial inclusion sector, but it was far from the first. From its earliest years, crises have appeared throughout the modern history of microfinance, and the responses they engendered have included some of the most significant reforms and innovations in the sector. In this paper, we describe selected historical crises—Peru in the 1980s, Grameen in the 1990s, and Andhra Pradesh and others in the 2007–2010 period—through their legacy and impact on the sector's activities and priorities. We then examine some of the pressures on institutions during the pandemic, through interview data with MFI leaders from the Sentinel Project conducted during 2021–22. We argue that the resilience of the sector to the unprecedented pressures of the pandemic can be traced to many of these historical post-crisis reforms—and consider what this means for future crisis responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports child mortality and associated factors among tribal (indigenous) populations from a South Indian district. In India, 104 million people belonged to 705 tribal groups, constituting 8.6% of India's population. Of the 705 tribal groups, 75 were classified as particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG). The present study aims to report the under-five child mortality among the tribal (both PVTG and non-PVTG) population in Visakhapatnam district, a district with a higher concentration of tribes in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Four sub-districts were selected to conduct a cross-sectional study to understand health and health-seeking behavior, including maternal and child health. Socio-demographic details and obstetric history were collected through a pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire from mothers with a child aged up to one year. These 277 mothers gave birth to 632 liveborn children, out of which 56 children died within 12 months. Multiple logistic regression revealed that living in villages with no health facility, woman-headed households, younger age at first childbirth and mother' aged 30 years or above were significantly associated with mothers experiencing child death. Implementation of home-based neonatal care is crucial in the vulnerability context of the tribes due to socioeconomic conditions and remote habitation. Health educational interventions to address early marriages leading to teenage pregnancies are needed immediately. This disaggregated analysis of under-five mortality and associated factors among the tribes highlights the need for population-specific interventions and improving infrastructural facilities like all-weather roads and improved access to quality healthcare services in addition to the overall socio-economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the link between decentralisation in school management and student achievement levels in secondary schools in India. It employs observational data from two school surveys conducted as part of the Young Lives project in the southern Indian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to create a measure of decentralisation as a latent construct. The relationship between decentralisation and students' abilities in mathematics and English is measured using linear mixed effects models. Contrary to the expectations in much literature, we find a negative association between decentralisation and students' scores on Maths and English assessments, even when controlling for a variety of individual and school characteristics. The results from the analysis therefore problematises decentralisation initiatives such as school-based management to improve student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]