Search

Christella kendujharensis S.K. Behera & S.K. Barik (family: Thelypteridaceae) is a critically endangered fern endemic to India. We developed its mass propagation protocol through in vitro spore culture in a liquid suspended medium for germination of gametophytes that produced sporophytes subsequently. The spores were monolete, reniform (mean length 36.49 ± 3.6 × breadth 25.67 ± 4.2 μm) to spheroidal with fimbriate and broad‐winged perispore. The maximum germination was in the Parker's and Thompson's (P&TV) medium with 0.1 mg L−1 thiamin, 0.1 mg L−1 riboflavin, 0.1 mg L−1 biotin, 0.1 mg L−1 pyridoxin, 0.5 mg L−1 nicotinic acid, 100 mg L−1 myoinositol, 0.01 mg L−1 folic acid, and 3 mg L−1 glycine. Spore germination was Vittaria type and gametophyte development was Aspidium type. The cordate gametophyte developed archegonia on the 38th day and antheridia on the 42nd day of spore sowing. Both isolate and composite cultures developed sporophytes indicating the presence of intra‐gametophytic selfing. Based on the maximum number of regenerated gametophytes, two combinations, that is, (i) 2 mg L−1 kinetin, and 0.01 mg L−1 2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and (ii) 0.1 mg L−1 naphthaleneacetic acid and 2 mg L−1 kinetin in P&TV media were recommended for mass propagation of C. kendujharensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While authoritarian populism and its relationship to the rural world have gained analytical prominence recently, few have attempted a systematic exploration of how various authoritarian populisms emerge from, and are embedded within, dynamics of capital accumulation, state, and class struggle. Drawing on Poulantzas' approach to "state contradictions," we focus on the ways by which bovine meat figures in Narendra Modi's authoritarian populist project in contemporary India. On the one hand, violent authoritarianism in the country uses beef eating as a powerful tool for subjugating subaltern groups to Hindutva rule. On the other hand, the country houses a rapidly expanding beef meat agro‐industry, accounting for as much as 20% of global exports and based on corporate concentration around dominant class interests. We argue that this points to state contradictions in Modi's India witnessing strained accumulation patterns. These contradictions, we emphasize, have distinct ramifications for India's classes of labour in the countryside, as certain groups experience what we describe as a process of "double victimization." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viral processes in the coastal and offshore regions of the Eastern Arabian Sea (west coast of India) and their contribution of viral lysis to the organic carbon and nitrogen pool was examined. Water samples were collected during the southwest monsoon season at different depths (up to 1000 m) from four transects, with each transect consisting of two sampling points (S1–S8). Abundances of viruses and prokaryotes together with viral mediated prokaryotic mortality (up to 49.7%) were significantly (p < 0.001) higher in eutrophic coastal stations, whereas high percent lysogeny (up to 93%) was observed in the offshore regions. High viral-mediated carbon (Mean ± SD = 67.47 ± 2.0 μM C L−1 d−1) and nitrogen (Mean ± SD = 13.49 ± 14.0 μM N L−1 d−1) release was evident in the surface coastal waters compared to offshore regions. The percentage contributions of carbon and nitrogen released by viral lysis to the total dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen pool were estimated to be 7.4% and 3.9%, respectively, in the coastal surface waters. Our findings suggest that the contribution of viral lysis to DOM production through viral shunt could be crucial for the cycling of major biogeochemical elements and functioning of the studied tropical ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were analysed in the seawater and sediment samples collected from 27 locations along the Southeast coast of India. A first-time assessment was carried out on the distribution of TPH in both water and sediments for the entire coastline of Tamil Nadu. The concentration of TPH in seawater showed large spatial variation ranging from below detection level (BDL) to 47.5 μg/L and 0.01 to 53.12 μg/L in the surface and bottom waters, respectively. TPH levels exceeded the regulatory limits specified by FAO, China's Marine Monitoring Standards and the European Community in the seawater samples of Thoothukudi harbour (S2 station). The results showed that seawaters of southern stations were comparatively more polluted with TPH. TPH values in sediment were between 2.33 and 30.07 μg/g, and their levels remained below the Marine Sediment Quality Standard (500 μg/g). The spatial profile of TPH in sediments were contrasting to that observed for seawater. Higher TPH values were observed in sediments of the northern region than southern. TPH contents are strongly correlated with clay (R 2  = 0.776; P < 0.001) and silt (R 2  = 0.648; P < 0.001); conversely, there is a significant negative correlation between TPH and sand (R 2  = 0.753; P < 0.001). ANOVA analysis demonstrated a significant difference (F = 11.75; p < 0.01) between the TPH concentrations of water and sediments. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) was performed to determine the similarity among sampling stations that formed five crusted groups. Sediment along the southeast coast can be categorised as slightly polluted with respect to TPH as per the ATSDR standards., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

In this article, I argue that the ecologies of urban India are constitutively casteist, by which I mean that caste is sedimented into the land, water, and waste of India's cities, with their outcaste bodies of Dalits often providing the critical infrastructural labor necessary for the social reproduction. The casteist ecologies of urban India were cast into sharp relief in 2016 when vigilante Hindu Right cow protectors ruthlessly flogged four Dalit youths as they were doing the stigmatized outcaste labor of disposing of dead cows. The focus of this article is the Dalit struggle that emerged in the wake of this flogging incident to annihilate the casteist logics that undergird India's urban metabolic flows. This struggle nurtures confrontational Dalit subjects who mobilize annihilation as a force of justice to enact urban abolition ecologies that refuse the treatment of Dalits as less‐than‐human while also cultivating ethical relations with the other, including the more‐than‐human other. In this article I build on the abolitionist imaginaries of Dalit struggles to argue that everyday processes of subjectification must be at the analytical center of urban political ecology, and of urban theory more broadly, because subjects, through their everyday incremental and imaginative acts, play a vital role in shaping urban futures. By paying attention to the everyday praxis of refusal and responsibility that constitutes Dalit subjects as planetary subjects who embody a relational ethics of planetarity, I conclude the article by suggesting that the urban theory that we need for our time—a time of the planetary turn in urban studies—is one that approaches the urban through the topos of planetarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper posits that the varied legacies of colonial rule and decolonisation can explain interstate variation in the institutionalisation of corruption in post-independence India. It concludes that the relative freedom from state capture after independence depended on two conditions: (1) the institutionalisation of bureaucratic autonomy prior to independence and (2) the survival of the disruption of decolonisation by an autonomous bureaucracy to be utilised by new representative governments following independence. These conditions were generally not met across India with the exception of the southern state of Kerala. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fifty two surface sediment samples collected from the region off Goa, central west coast of India from water depths of 15-3300 m were analyzed with special emphasis on foraminiferal content. Rectilinear benthic foraminiferal morphogroup shows a high relative abundance within Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ), both shallow marine (50-60 m water depth) and intermediate to deep water (150-1500 m water depth). We gave special emphasis on four rectilinear foraminiferal genera, namely Fursenkoina, Bolivina, Bulimina and Uvigerina to observe their individual distribution among OMZ. We found genus Fursenkoina predominates at the shallow water OMZ, within the water depth zone of 50-60 m. Within 150-1500 m water depth, which is considered as intermediate to deep water OMZ in this region, genus Uvigerina shows its highest abundance above 1000 m water depth, whereas genus Bulimina shows its affinity with deeper water environment (>1000 m water depth). Genus Bolivina does not show any such depth preference, except its higher abundance in only intermediate to deep water OMZ. This depth differentiation among four rectilinear benthic foraminiferal genera presents the basic data for palaeoclimatic study based on the extent and intensity of OMZ along with the palaeobathymetry study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the position of interoperability of government and corporate portals in technological adoption space in India in terms of three critical dimensions: data integration, process integration and communication integration. Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory study was conducted through a survey questionnaire from 300 portals of government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) in India. Data were also collected from portals of Indian companies and the results have been compared with those of the government portals. Findings – The results show that the majority of government portals in India have initiated integration. Second, the portals of Indian companies are performing better than the portals of government and PSUs for achieving an interoperable position. Third, there is high dispersion in level of integration of government portals in India. Practical implications – The portals with the lowest level of integration in government in India will determine when government will actually attain full horizontal integration and hence achieve an interoperable portal as there is high dispersion in level of integration of government portals in India. Also, for achieving an interoperable government portal, an organization needs to focus on the weakest factors of each dimension. Originality/value – This study is the first to examine the position of interoperability in technological adoption space in India. The results lead to a number of recommendations for achieving interoperability for government portals in India. The study also highlights the weakest factors of each dimension that require more improvement than other factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuity trumps change: in essential respects the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) remains as it was 30 years ago. Thirty years hence the IAS should continue much as it is, albeit with gradually waning influence. Pressures from below and above will increasingly constrict the zone of discretion enjoyed by IAS officials. But in the foreseeable future the basic structure of the IAS will remain substantially unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How was it that the Indian Civil Service (ICS), involved as it was in various activities to secure the British Raj against the pressures of Indian nationalism, was able to survive and flourish in the new political order after independence? This article argues that part of the explanation lies in the fact that it was, and was seen to be, a 'politically neutral' institution. In the course of making this argument, it surveys the changing role of the ICS vis-a-vis the nationalist movement before independence, and also considers the theoretical question of what is meant by the claim that bureaucratic work is 'apolitical' or 'neutral' with respect to politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in the muscle tissue of marine fishes like Lates calcarifer, Nemipterus japonicus, Caranx melampygus, Rastrelliger kanagurta, and Cyanoglossus macrostomus was estimated from samples collected in the continental shelf waters off Kochi and Mangalore on southwest coast of India. Species-specific and spatially heterogeneous patterns of tissue metals loads were apparent within the pelagic and demersal fish species for the two regions. The concentration ranges of Fe (541.60 to 649.60 ppm), Ni (12.12 to 13.92 ppm), and Cu (3.09 to 3.62 ppm) were higher in the demersal species C. melampygus, whereas Co (9.10 to 11.80 ppm) and Zn (79.30 to 84.30 ppm) were higher in the pelagic species L. calcarifer and Cd (4.35 to 6.38 ppm) were higher in the demersal species N. japonicus, possibly due to enhanced bioavailability of these metals from ecological processes associated with upwelling during the summer monsoon. The fish species showed a great capacity to accumulate metals, with highest bioaccumulation for the essential element iron and lowest bioaccumulation for the non-essential element lead. Among the demersal species, C. melampygus and N. japonicus had high concentration factors for the metals Fe (280,268 to 322,808), Ni (88,252 to 96,891), Cu (2,351 to 2,600), and Cd (29,637 to 32,404). In contrast, the pelagic species L. calcarifer and R. kanagurta had high concentration factors for the metals Zn (40,812 to 46,892), Co (280,285 to 423,037), and Pb (854 to 1,404). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive observations during the late Southwest Monsoon of 2004 over the Indian and Omani shelves, and along an east-west transect reveal a mosaic of biogeochemical provinces including an unexpected high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll condition off the southern Omani coast. This feature, coupled with other characteristics of the system, suggest a close similarity between the Omani upwelling system and the Peruvian and California upwelling systems, where primary production (PP) is limited by iron. An intensification of upwelling, reported to have been caused by the decline in the winter/ spring Eurasian snow cover since 1997, is not supported by in situ hydrographic and chlorophyll measurements as well as a reanalysis of ocean colour data extending to 2009. Iron limitation of PP may complicate simple relationship between upwelling and PP assumed by previous workers, and contribute to the anomalous offshore occurrence of the most severe oxygen (O2) depletion in the region. Over the Indian shelf, affected by very shallow O2-deficient zone, high PP is restricted to a thin, oxygenated surface layer probably due to unsuitability of the O2-depleted environment for the growth of oxygenic photosynthesizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arabian Sea contains one of the three major open-ocean denitrification zones in the world. In addition, pelagic denitrification also occurs over the inner and mid-shelf off the west coast of India. The major differences between the two environments are highlighted using the available data. The perennial open-ocean system occupies two orders of magnitude larger volume than the seasonal coastal system, however, the latter offers more extreme conditions (greater nitrate consumption leading to complete anoxia). Unlike the open-ocean system, the coastal system seems to have undergone a change (i.e., it has intensified) over the past few decades presumably due to enhanced nutrient loading from land. The two systems also differ from each other with regard to the modes of nitrous oxide (N2O) production: in the open-ocean suboxic zone, an accumulation of secondary nitrite (NO2-) is invariably accompanied by depletion of N2O whereas in the coastal suboxic zone high NO2- and very high N2O concentrations frequently co-occur, indicating, respectively, net consumption and net production of N2O by denitrifiers. The extents of heavier isotope enrichment in the combined nitrate and nitrite (NO3-+NO2-) pool and in N2O in reducing waters appear to be considerably smaller in the coastal region, reflecting more varied sources/sinks and/or different isotopic fractionation factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) were studied in southern India to assess their ability to discriminate non-venomous, venomous and predatory snakes. Realistic snake models were presented to eight troops of bonnet macaques at feeding stations and their behavior was video-recorded 3 min before and 3 min after snake exposure. Snakes presented were: (1) venomous Indian cobra (Naja naja) displaying an open hood with‘eyespots’; (2) venomous common Indian krait (Bungarus caeruleus); (3) non-venomous green keelback (Macropisthodan plumbicolor); (4) non-venomous rat snake (Ptyas mucosus); and (5) Indian python (Python molurus) which preys on macaques. Latencies to detect and react to the snakes were evaluated to determine initial responsiveness. Longer-term assessment was measured as the percentage of time individuals looked at the snakes and monitored the activity of nearby individuals before and after snake detection. All snake models engendered caution and maintenance of a safe distance. Alarm calling occurred only during python presentations. The cobra engendered a startle response or running in the largest percentage of individuals after its detection, whereas the rat snake and python elicited bipedal standing or ambulating to monitor the snakes. We also examined the influence of age on snake recognition. Juveniles and subadults looked at the cobra, krait, and python for a larger percentage of time than adults did; albeit, adults looked at the python substantially longer than at the other snakes. Age differences in behavior suggest that, with the exception of the python, repeated experience with snakes in the wild moderates excitability, consistent with the likely threat of envenomation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a discussion on some design principles of local collective action institutions, using a case study from India. Various potential conflicts in the functioning of such institutions are explored. Does group homogeneity and social capital foster collective action? This is explored using female literacy rate in the neighbourhood. The regression results suggest that individual characteristics may be more important than group homogeneity to explain whether an individual joins a collective action organization. An exploration of conjectures from Koremanos et al. study of design of international organizations to the context of local collective action suggests some differences and a need for further exploration. It appears that local collective action institutions can be better designed by ‘thinking globally’. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]