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Many academic institutions that had previously hesitated to modify their old pedagogical method had to opt for completely online modules due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. This paper provides insight into the perception of students of higher education concerning the online mode of learning. Data was collected from 310 students pursuing different courses. A questionnaire, divided into 7 sections was administered including: general information of students, time management, understanding of course content, view of students on assignments and submissions, ease and comfort of study, skill development and motivation, and course satisfaction. The data was analyzed quantitative analysis. Results showed that 72.4% of students do not prefer the online platform for learning and this view is contributed by parameters like net connectivity, time, overall development of the candidate and evaluation of the course outcomes. Various parameters such as internet connectivity, parallel data users, unwanted anxiety, extra time, comfort, understanding of the concepts, interaction, information absorption and retainment, course evaluation and assignments, expense comparison, skill development, lecture participation and extracurricular growth were mentioned. It is suggested that an alternative to classroom learning must be used to maintain one's academic progress.

In recent years, language games have become a matter of interest for educators not only because of their potential to enhance language learning experiences, but also in the support they give towards creating a multimodal and interactive classroom environment that leads children towards perceptual, behavioural, emotional and cognitive development (Reinders, 2016). The researchers in the present study have used various language games in the EFL classroom to investigate the effectiveness of language games to develop the speaking skill of learners, especially in a vernacular medium school using Action Research Model. The results of the study showed that there is a positive change in the classroom atmosphere where learners get opportunities to speak as well as develop the learners' speaking skill. The result is discussed using action research cycles. This particular study addresses the effectiveness of games to develop the speaking skill of learners in a vernacular medium school, located in Murshidabad, India.

Multiple-choice question (MCQ) plays a significant role in educational assessment. Automatic MCQ generation has been an active research area for years, and many systems have been developed for MCQ generation. Still, we could not find any system that generates accurate MCQs from school-level textbook contents that are useful in real examinations. This observation motivated us to develop a system that generates MCQs to assess the student's recall of factual information. Also, the available systems are often domain, subject, or application-specific in nature. Although the MCQ generation task demands a specific setup, we expect a level of generalization can be achieved. In this development, we also focus on this issue. We propose a pipeline for automatic generation of MCQs from textbooks of middle-school level subjects, and the pipeline is partially subject-independent. The proposed pipeline comprises four core modules: preprocessing, sentence selection, key selection, and distractor generation. Several techniques have been employed to implement individual modules. These include sentence simplification, syntactic and semantic processing of the sentences, entity recognition, semantic relationship extraction among entities, WordNet, neural word embedding, neural sentence embedding, and computation of intersentence similarity. The system is evaluated using the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), India, textbooks for three subjects. The quality of system-generated questions is assessed by human experts using various system-level and individual module-level metrics. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system is capable of generating quality questions that could be useful in a real examination.

Assessment plays an important role in education. Recently proposed machine learning-based systems for answer grading demand a large training data which is not available in many application areas. Creation of sufficient training data is costly and time-consuming. As a result, automatic long answer grading is still a challenge. In this paper, we propose a practical system for long or descriptive answer grading that can assess in a small class scenario. The system uses an expert-written reference answer and computes the similarity of a student answer with it. For the similarity computation, it uses several word level and sentence level similarity measures including TFIDF, Latent Semantic Indexing, Latent Dirichlet Analysis, TextRank summarizer, and neural sentence embedding-based InferSent. The student answer might contain certain facts that do not occur in the model answer. The system identifies such sentences, examine their relevance and correctness, and assigns extra marks accordingly. In the final phase, the system uses a clustering-based confidence analysis. The system is tested on an assessment of school-level social science answer books. The experimental results demonstrate that the system evaluates the answer books with high accuracy, the best root mean square error value is 0.59 on a 0-5 scoring scale.

In this paper, we present a system for automatic evaluation of the quality of a question paper. Question paper plays a major role in educational assessment. The quality of a question paper is crucial to fulfilling the purpose of the assessment. In many education sectors, question papers are prepared manually. A prior analysis of a question paper might help in finding the errors in the question paper, and better achieving the goals of the assessment. In this experiment, we focus on higher education in the technical domain. First, we conducted a student survey to identify the key factors that affect the quality of a question paper. The top factors we identified are question relevance, question difficulty, and time requirement. We explored the strategies to handle these factors and implemented them. We employ various concepts and techniques for the implementation. The system finally assigns a numerical quality score against these factors. The system is evaluated using a set of question papers collected from various sources. The experimental results show that the proposed system is quite promising.

The use of computers in educational assessment is a widely explored territory. Several studies have been performed to show the effectiveness of computer-assisted assessment (CAA) and it has been accepted in various education sectors. However, due to the lack of sufficient infrastructure and other issues, the paper-based examination is still being used for educational assessment in many countries including India. Existing CAA frameworks require the examination to be conducted on a digital platform. So, these do not apply to paper answer books. We propose a two-phase framework for automatic evaluation of handwritten answer books. The first phase converts the answers written on papers to a digital form using a neural network-based handwritten answer recognizer. The second phase evaluates the answer to generate a numerical score. For this evaluation, we use a model answer-based approach where various levels of similarities between the model answer and a student answer are computed. To assess the performance of the developed system, we apply it to the evaluation of class VII Social Science Geography answer books of an Indian school. The experimental result shows that the proposed approach is quite promising.

The role of Environmental education is perceived as one that would generate awareness and provide opportunities to gain knowledge, attitudes and skills which are required to protect and improve the environment. This study examines the role of the newly introduced compulsory Environmental Science course in the undergraduate program in creating a change in the environmental behavior of the students, and the impact of variation in the discipline competency among teachers. The results of the present study reflect that the students with a science background have more interest, knowledge, participation, and contribution towards the environment as compared to students with a non-science background. Similar is the finding where teachers with and without formal training in Environmental Science have been surveyed.

Blended learning is one of the leading trends in education. Blended learning combines computer-assisted learning with traditional classroom learning. The literature shows that the blended learning often helps the students to achieve better learning outcome. However, a majority of the existing learning platforms do not focus on the problems of weak students. Here our objective is to develop a computer-assisted learning platform that focuses on performance improvement of weak students and study the efficacy of the system. This paper presents the proposed system, "RemedialTutor", that assists the weak students in effective preparation for an examination. The learning platform performs several tasks on demand; for example, providing the meaning of unknown words, sentence simplification, identification of questionable sentences, extraction of summarized content on a specific topic, preparation of question paper and automatic evaluation, identification of less confident sections, etc. To study the effectiveness of the proposed system, it is tested using a blended learning framework. The system is provided to the students as a supplement to the traditional classroom activities and resources. During the comparative study, the experiment group students used this system during their exam preparation but the control group students relied only on their regular resources. It is found that the experiment group students perform better than the control group. The t-value is 2.3466 and p-value is 0.0243. These values indicate that the difference is statistically significant.

This paper discusses the effects of COVID-19-induced pandemic on tea plantation workers during lockdown phases in India. The tea industry, being a labour-intensive, employs around 1.2 million permanent workers who usually reside within the plantations along with their families, making the largest employer in the formal private sector. Drawing from secondary data and narratives from in-depth telephonic interviews with various key informants during and post-lockdown, this study shows that plantation workers faced livelihood crisis due to subsequent lockdowns during both the waves of COVID-19 health crisis. Poor health infrastructure in the tea estates, weak trade union and existing wage determination methods are responsible for livelihood crisis for plantation workers during pandemic. Except state-assisted social assistance benefits in terms of ration, unlike permanent workers of other sectors and industries, regular plantation workers did not even receive compensated wages from the employer during lockdown, following 'no-wage for no-work' clause. Ineffective labour market institutions and rigid managementality failed to protect tea plantation workers during the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbula indica (Westwood, 1837) (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) re-described with illustrations based on the material collected from the Himalayan hills of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. New characters are included, along with both male and female genitalia and morphometric measurements to facilitate easy species determination. A key to the Indian species of Carbula Stål, 1865 is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Livelihood diversification is a sound alternative for higher economic growth and its success or failure is conditioned by the interplay of a multitude of factors. The study of the profile of the farmers in which they operate is important to highlight the factors leading to success in diversified livelihoods. Design/Methodology/Approach: A total of 160 households of farmers were selected randomly and were interviewed to collect primary data for the study. To measure the success of diversified occupation a success-failure scale was developed following the steps used by Singh et al., "t" statistics was used to compare the two groups. Discriminant function analysis was used to identify the factors determining success and failure in diversified occupation. Findings: The study revealed that 53% of the diversifiers were successful in their diversified activities. Around 62.50% diversifiers under the high success category were adopted non-farming nature of diversification along with farm diversification. Number of livestock holding, resource mobilisation potentiality, contact with extension personnel, distance from market, share of non-farm income, credit-seeking behaviour and dependency ratio were major characters discriminating successful diversifiers from unsuccessful diversifiers. Practical Implications: The paper would be useful for the researchers and policy-makers to assess and compare the livelihood security of different rural communities in the country. Originality/Value: The study was originally conducted by the authors. Nothing similar has been previously published or is currently under consideration for publication by another journal.

Mitochondrial dysfunction has long been associated with the pathogenesis of lung cancer (LC). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups have been reported to modify the risk of LC in a few different populations; however, no study has been done among the Indians. Here, we explore the relationship between mtDNA haplogroups and LC in a representative eastern Indian sample set. Different combinations of six mtDNA SNPs, which define the major Asian mtDNA haplogroups M and N, and their sub-haplogroups D, G, M7, R, and F were genotyped via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) – restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) – sequencing approach in 94 smoker LC patients and 100 healthy smoker controls from an eastern Indian cohort. The distribution of 7 mtDNA haplogroups did not show any significant differences between patients and controls (p<0.05). We did not find sub-haplogroup M7 in our study population. Our study is the first to indicate that the major Asian mtDNA haplogroups have no significant (p<0.05) association with LC in East Indian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal and child healthcare (MCH) has always been regarded as one of the important issues globally. The aim of this article is to find out all frequently occurring healthcare service elements along with their availability conditions and their interactions with other health system (HS) elements, when coverage of priority MCH intervention was either poor or moderate or good in any region. Association rule mining technique has been used to understand the probability of occurrences of different healthcare service elements among regions. Along with the proposed analytical framework, an interactive decision support system (DSS) has also been developed on a web platform, which would help healthcare policymakers to integrate the analytical framework easily in their processes of decision-making. The system has been developed by using Shiny package on R software. Data for all variables are collected for 584 Indian districts from the third phase of district-level household and facility survey. From results, it is observed that community healthcare services, sub-centre (SC)-level healthcare services and PHC-level healthcare services of a region are very much interlinked with each other, and their relationships define the healthcare condition of that region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study returns to academic specialisation for Indian corporate sector workers by analysing cross-sectional data on male employees randomly selected from six large firms. Our analysis shows that going to college pays off, as it brings significant incremental returns over and above school education. However, the increase in returns is more pronounced in the specialisations of management and engineering, and less so in the specialisations of science, arts and commerce. Some of the less attractive specialisations, such as commerce and science, tend to make up by rewarding progression from Bachelors to Masters. Short-course diplomas are also rewarding. (Contains 5 tables and 16 notes.)

Forests are becoming increasingly vulnerable to a range of climatic and non-climatic stressors. Thus, the forest vulnerability assessment is crucial for identifying potential risks and enhancing forest resilience. The present study attempts to explore the forest vulnerability in the protected area of Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR), India. A forest ecosystem vulnerability index (FEVI) was constructed using its three components (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) and site-specific indicators. Exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity indices were integrated to prepare the forest vulnerability map. The map was validated through the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and confusion metrics and found reliable. The results revealed that of the total area of the Reserve, the largest area was found under moderate vulnerability (48.36%), followed by high vulnerability (32.28%) and low vulnerability (19.36%). Madanpur , Raghia , and the lower part of Harnatanr and Chiutaha were identified as the most vulnerable ranges in the VTR. High exposure, high sensitivity and low adaptive capacity were attributed to high forest vulnerability in the VTR. Thus, continuous monitoring and devising effective forest management strategies are essential for reducing vulnerability and enhancing the resilience of the VTR. Urgent policy interventions are also required for promoting ecotourism and minimizing the dependency of communities on forest. The systematic framework employed in the present study may be applied to diverse geographical regions for identifying vulnerable sites and suggesting effective conservation and restoration strategies. • Vulnerability assessment prioritizes ecosystems for conservation and management. • Forest ecosystem vulnerability was assessed using IPCC holistic framework. • Site-specific indicators were integrated for each component of vulnerability. • Analysis identified the most and least vulnerable sites in the forest reserve. • Effective policy measures are essential to safeguard forests from risks and threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study assessed the trophic status of a medium-sized microtidal estuary, Rushikulya, India using a combination of mutimetric trophic indices (TRIX, TRBIX) and a machine learning approach (Random Forest). A total of 108 samples were considered to build a predictive model for chlorophyll a (Chl a) and 17 response water variables by observing two annual periods (2021−2023) at six sampling sites. Mean values of TRIX (5.04 ± 0.72) and TRBIX (0.17 ± 0.08) reflected that the estuary has a moderate degree of eutrophication with 'good' water quality and 'biomass saturated'. However, the threshold of TRIX represents a transition state from 'moderate' to 'high' eutrophic. Random Forest model reflected that no apparent association between Chl a and water turbidity above 30 NTU and eutrophication in the estuary fluctuated mainly due to PO 4 3−–P along with electrical conductivity. Linear statistical correlations showed high correlation between Chl a and conductivity and a negative correlation between Chl a and dissolved oxygen, unlike PO 4 3−–P. [Display omitted] • Assessed the trophic status of a microtidal estuary using multivariate approaches • Mean values of multimetric indices classified Rushikulya as moderately eutrophic • The extent of eutrophication was seasonal mainly related to river water runoff. • RF model shows the key predictors (EC, turbidity, DO, PO 4 -P) that explain Chl a. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to assess the water quality dynamics (physicochemical properties, nutrient and chlorophyll–a) in the Netravathi-Gurupur estuary, India across the space and seasons and to simplify the complex water quality dataset through a chemometric approach. The results indicated that pH, EC, temperature, alkalinity, salinity, TDS, hardness, chloride and intense mixing of suspended solids, driven by the semidiurnal tides, are the major factors affecting water quality. Spatial heterogeneity and monsoon have profound impact on nutrient distribution revealing the following values (mg l−1): phosphate-P (0.015–0.105), nitrate-N (0.016–0.094), nitrite-N (0.001–0.012), and silicate (1.83–14.50). The estuary was evaluated for suitability for brackish water fisheries. The results indicated fair water quality during pre- and post-monsoon but marginal quality in monsoon, primarily due to dilution associated with reduced salinity. The outcome of this study can be suitably utilized for the sustainable development of estuaries and their feasibility for brackish water fisheries. [Display omitted] • Surface water quality was investigated for Netravathi-Gurupur estuary, India. • Chemometric analysis indicated higher pollution load in Gurupur stretch. • Water quality index suggested fair to marginal quality for brackish water fisheries. • Study is useful to develop sustainable environmental and fisheries management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the Health and Child Welfare Exhibition held in colonial Calcutta in 1920. Despite a few scholarly references, however, there has been no detailed study till date. The vicereines of India launched child welfare exhibitions motivated by the transnational exhibitory baby health week propaganda initiative to curb infant mortality. These exhibitions were also locally organised and collaborative in nature with an urgent nationalist appeal. The study critically engages with select Exhibition lectures about so-called 'clean' midwifery and 'scientific' motherhood given by famous Bengali medical practitioners and other prominent professionals, predominantly men and a few women. These drew intimate sociobiological connections between the problems of 'dirty' midwifery, ritual pollution, improper confinement, insanitary childbirth, insufficient lactation and the excessive maternal and infant deaths in Calcutta. The central argument is that these public lectures primarily focused on the very making of the 'ideal' Indian nursing mother, often imagined as the traditional yet modern bhadramahila mother figure, for rejuvenating community and national health and vigour. Correspondingly, it highlights the transnational resonance of famous Frederic Truby King's 'mothercraft' popularised as childcare by the clock. The paper is, therefore, guided by the twin purposes of filling the gap in our knowledge about child welfare exhibitions in colonial India and illuminating extant scholarship on the global infant welfare movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing paradigm of dental education in India has led its way to the development of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). This article describes the process of developing CBC in the specialty of Pediatric Dentistry under the initiative of Dental Council of India. Rationale behind CBC development is to bring uniform system of education for improving oral health outcomes of the society in long term. The process of CBC development was a collaborative teamwork, planned meticulously with predefined outline, tasks and timelines. Workflow involved identification of curricular content, defining program goals, outlining competencies, assigning them domains / levels of clinical competence, priority, educational strategies, assessment practices, integration and numbers needed for certification in selected competencies. Early clinical exposure was introduced in CBC. The final content was validated and submitted to the Council. CBC output can be summarized as competencies with fair share of all domains, levels, prioritization and integration. It is characterized by flexibility for choosing educational strategies and assessment practices. It opens up ways for global competition. However, it still has some inherent weaknesses like diverging learning paths, time constraints and number chasing. CBC can further have more academic flexibility and develop toward an outcome-based approach. Faculty preparedness and acceptability shall be the biggest challenges in CBC implementation besides resources' availability, support from leadership and acceptability from our primary stakeholders, our learners. CBC is the beginning of evidence-based delivery of education in dentistry. An effective implementation of CBC in current form would result in increased numbers of competent oral healthcare professionals for the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various environmental indicators were used to evaluate the water and sediment quality of the Netravathi-Gurupur estuary, India, for trace metals and pesticide pollution. The descended order of studied metal concentrations (μg/L) in the water was Fe (592.71) > Mn (98.35) > Zn (54.69) > Cu (6.64) > Cd (3.24) > Pb (2.38) > Cr (0.82) and in sediment (mg/kg) was Fe (11,396.53) > Mn (100.61) > Cr (75.41) > Zn (20.04) > Cu (12.77) > Pb (3.46) > Cd (0.02). However, pesticide residues were not detected in this estuarine environment. The various metal indexes categorised the water as uncontaminated, whereas contamination factor, enrichment factor, geo-accumulation index, degree of contamination and pollution load index indicated low to moderate sediment contamination. Multivariate statistics showed that the dominance of natural sources of trace metals with little anthropogenic impact. Improvement in water/sediment quality during the study period might be due to COVID-19 imposed lockdown. [Display omitted] • Assessed trace metal and pesticides in water -sediment of Netravathi-Gurupur estuary. • Monsoon season exhibited higher metal concentration than non-monsoon. • Sediment was low to moderately contaminated with reference to pollution indices. • Pesticide was not detected in this estuary, suggesting no new pollution input. • Decreased metal concentration attributing to COVID-19 imposed lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2016, a cruise vessel was grounded in the Mormugao Port, resulting in unnoticed oil spill. The surface water and sediment samples were collected from the vicinity of the ship, and also an oil sample from the ship (OIL). These samples were subject to petroleum biomarker such as pentacyclic triterpenes (hopanes) and compound specific carbon isotopic (δ13C) analyses to assess the source of hydrocarbon pollution in the Mormugao Port. While no clear trend was observed in water samples, the bottom surface sediments did show an identical pattern of hopanes with the oil. The chemometric analyses of hopane Diagnostic Ratios (DRs) and δ13C ratios confirmed the ship oil as the source of oil pollution in sediments. Whereas the water is comparatively more dynamic than the sediment, the physical processes arising out of winds, waves, tides and currents might have dispersed the oil away from the grounded ship. • The oil pollution in sediment and water of MPT was induced by different sources. • The spilled oil from the ship has sank to bottom and deposited in the sediments. • The hopane profiles of sediments match well with the MV Qing oil sample. • The isotope ratios and their chemometric analysis also support the hopane results. • First study in India that dealt with the oil fingerprinting in sediments and water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an investigation on the adequacy of one of the major performance indicators for two-lane highways, the percent-time-spent-following (PTSF) under changing driver's behavior in choosing headways. Field study was conducted on a two-lane highway in India that exhibits heterogeneity in its traffic composition and a wide range of flow levels was covered while collecting data. The appropriate headway distributions were selected based on goodness-of-fit test. Exponential or Erlang distributions exhibit their aptness in describing headways up to a volume to capacity ratio of 0.3 and gamma and exponential distributions were compatible for headway data corresponding to a volume to capacity ratio of 0.4 and above. Around 40% drivers were observed to adopt headways 2 s or less at heavy flow when a car-following situation prevails; these headways are considered unsafe in several instances. Further, speed-headway relationships were established to assess a headway threshold beyond which vehicles could be considered free. Empirical investigation indicates a value of about 6 s under such traffic unlike 3 s as considered in PTSF estimation. Another major implication on PTSF is a few drivers move in a platoon by choice even if they have a gap of more than 6 s and passing opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce inequity in maternal and child health care indicators among socio-economically different regions, strategic location-specific policies should be designed. In this research work, a knowledge-discovery-based interactive decision support system has been developed on a web platform which would assist health care policymakers to design evidence-based decisions. Two modules have been prepared under this system to find out key influential Maternal and Child Healthcare (MCH) interventions for socio-economically different regions which had high impact on health care indicators. Data of 284 districts of nine high-focus states of India have been provided into the system to find out the efficiency of the system. Those data have been collected from district- level household survey part three (DLHS-3). The first module of the system has segregated all 284 districts into three segments based on their educational, social and economic conditions, and the second module has found out key influential health care interventions for all three segments separately which had high impact on health care indicators. It has been observed that adolescent health care intervention like female sterilization and childhood health care interventions such as DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) vaccine and measles vaccine were key influential health care interventions. The improvement of coverage of these interventions would help to reduce inequity and improve health care indicators of regions. Further research should be done to understand how the coverage of these interventions can be improved, especially in socio-economically poor regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural employment generation was initiated in India through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005 and related NREGS schemes, to provide better social and food security to socially and economically depressed rural workers. By now, the implementation of this scheme is known to be not equally satisfactory throughout India, with significant variations in different states and localities. This article, based on intensive fieldwork over 1 year in remote villages of Deogarh and Bhim blocks of Rajasamand district, explores the functioning of the scheme in rural Rajasthan. It identifies three important roadblocks to effective NREGA implementation and analyses their impact: persistence of caste-based inequalities and social interactions among different groups of rural people, differential occupational interests of potential workers and lack of initiative of the respective panchayats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dragon fruit (red skin and red fleshed, Hylocereus polyrhizus), newly introduced cactus plant in Mizoram, India, exhibited stem rot (35.38%) disease in established orchards during 2017–2018. Recorded symptoms included small red-brown spots encircled with yellowish halos. The size of the spots gradually enlarged and later the tissues turned completely watery and rotten. Fusarium species were consistently isolated from the stem rot tissues of red-fleshed dragon fruit. The pathogen associated with the stem rot disease was identified as Fusarium equiseti based on the morphological characters (production of abundant macroconidia, single-celled microconidia, and solitary and intercalary chlamydospores) and multigene phylogenetic analysis of internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA (ITS-rDNA), translation elongation factor 1α (TEF-1) and beta-tubulin (TUB2). The phylogenetic trees showed that all isolates belonged to the F. equiseti, a member of Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC). Four isolates were tested for pathogenicity that produced the symptoms of stem rots (up to 57.64% severity) at 15 days after inoculation. Koch's postulate was further established by re-isolating the F. equiseti from artificially infected plants. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of F. equiseti as a pathogen causing the stem rot of dragon fruit (red-fleshed) in India. • A disease with stem rot symptoms was observed on dragon fruit in Mizoram, India. • Fusarium equiseti was the causal pathogen of the disease. • Identity of the pathogen was confirmed through morphology and molecular. • This is the first report of F. equiseti causing stem rot of red flesh dragon fruit in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ganga river surface sediment was sampled from 11 locations, which revealed average concentrations (mg/kg) of metals in the order Mn (296.93) > Zn (61.94) > Cr (54.82) > Cu (30.19) > Pb (24.42) > Cd (0.36). Sediment quality guidelines showed metals rarely to occasionally exhibit adverse biological effects. Indices like potential ecological risk, contamination security index, hazard quotients, multiple probable effect concentrations quality, mean probable effects level quotients, mean effects range median quotient suggest nil to a very low level of pollution with low ecological risk. Contamination factor, geo accumulation index, enrichment factor, quantification of contamination revealed that Pb and Cd originated from anthropogenic activities. APCS-MLR model revealed that metals contributed from natural sources (Zn, Mn, Cr; 20.18 %), industrial-agricultural (Cd; 21.35 %); and discharge of paints, Pb batteries, fossil fuel (Pb; 8.49 %). Present findings will serve as an effective guideline for managing and ameliorating pollution in the river system. [Display omitted] • The mean values of all metals except Pb and Cd are lower than the background value. • CF, I geo , PCI showed sediment was moderately contaminated due to Cd and Pb. • Ecological risk indices suggest metals did not pose any ecological risk/toxicity. • EF and QoC showed Cd and Pb are probably anthropogenic in nature. • PCA-APCS-MLR model was used for source apportionment of metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the behaviour of pedestrians when they cross at signalized intersection under mixed traffic situations. Based on a field study at a typical signalized intersection in the commercial hub in the city of Kolkata, the paper describes various characteristics of pedestrian movements. Several attributes like width of the road, age and gender of the pedestrian and if they are carrying any baggage were considered at the time of performing such analysis. The age and gender of pedestrians were found to have an impact on their speeds; however, children were observed to walk faster since they are accompanied by their parents in most occasions. The speed of panic-stricken pedestrians who prefer to run on the zebra marking while crossing the road at intersection was observed to be quite high. Interestingly, the effect of carrying baggage on walking speeds was found to be insignificant at the study site. Accordingly, the current study made an attempt to further investigate the fact by conducting an informal opinion poll. The poll of about 50 road users revealed that since most of them walk towards their office or business centre, they usually carry lighter baggage and quite often they are compelled to walk fast. Further, at crosswalk, speed does not vary to a considerable extent with the increase of flow; this attributes to the absence of confined flow. The observed flow parameters were plotted and the scattered diagrams indicate widespread data points that largely follow the Greenberg’s logarithmic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micronutrient deficiencies, majorly iron, iodine, vitamin-A, pose a serious threat to public health in many developing countries, including India. A surfeit of nutrition and health programs was developed to address micronutrient malnutrition in India, covering many aspects of lifecycle. The importance of nutrition education and communication is emphasized in public health nutrition policies. Concomitantly, there is a surge in various interventional studies with the integration of nutrition education and communication. However, there is a lack of clarity on the overall impact of community level nutrition education/communication interventions on micronutrient (mal)nutrition in India, which may be due to the lack of critical evaluation of the nutrition education/communication components in these studies. Given this background, this article reviews the studies conducted in the last two decades in India. This systematic review identified and analyzed the studies that aimed to use nutrition education and communication as intervention methods to promote micronutrients’ intake and status among various age groups. Using four online databases and systematic library search, research articles published from 1994 to 2016 were collected based on pre-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Data on general information, intervention, and key outcome measures were extracted. Inferences from findings of studies were drawn; factors that contributed to the success or failure of the interventions were analyzed by developing a framework. Systematic internet and library search resulted in 1250 published papers. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 19 research papers (with five studies covering nutrition education + supplementation; one study with nutrition education + supplementation + psychosocial intervention and the rest only education/communication) were selected for the review. This paper discusses the contextual factors in the area of intervention, audience targeted, methods of communication used, messages delivered, and outcomes thereof. It suggests that integrated multiple strategies may work and a critical examination is needed to address macro and micro issues of micronutrient-related communication for developing sustainable communication interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rice (Oryza sativa L.), the staple food for much of the world, requires gallons of water during its growth phase from tillage to harvest through conventional farming and emits significant greenhouse gases. Hence, modified cultivation techniques are felt to be needed to increase rice productivity, minimize water and fertilizer consumption effectively, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions to a certain extent. The present experiment was based on the Purulia district, identified as a drought-prone zone through the RS-GIS technique. Two methods, the conventional method (CVN) and the system of rice intensification (SRI), were studied with four varieties of rice, viz. var. MTU 1010, var. IET 4786, var. IET 17430 and var. IET 9947 on water resource vulnerability, associated greenhouse gas emissions (CH 4 , N 2 O) and global warming potential (GWP). The results indicated that SRI cultivation is the smart method compared to CVN in the drought-prone Purulia District due to its lower water requirements and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There was higher CH 4 flux among the CVN plots than in the SRI plots (p < 0.05). The N 2 O flux in the rice field plots of CVN (Rabi-1.54 ± 0.04 kg ha−1, Kharif 1.51 ± 0.10 kg ha−1) was lower than the SRI (Rabi-2.08 ± 0.07, Kharif- 1.83 ± 0.02 kg ha−1) during Rabi season. The CH 4 flux for CVN (Rabi-94.32 ± 2.71 kg ha−1; Kharif 110.33 ± 3.90 kg ha−1) was higher than the SRI (Rabi-68.16 ± 2.37, Kharif- 61.72 ± 2.41 kg ha−1) during Rabi season. The CO 2 -eq emission (pGWP) and yield-scaled CO 2 -eq emission (YpGWP) from the SRI were significantly lower when compared with CVN (p < 0.05). The result shows that the SRI technique is an effective agricultural method that farmers should be encouraged to follow in the drought-prone region to ensure less water consumption and a sustainable future for generations. • SRI technique was applied in a drought-prone region and GHG emissions were measured. • AHP was used to assess the intensity and areal extension of the drought-prone zone. • CH 4 emission was reduced by 26% and 45% during Rabi and Kharif seasons. • N 2 O emission was 2.08 kg ha−1 and 1.80 kg ha−1 during the Rabi and Kharif seasons. • SRI showed 61% and 72% less CO 2 -eq emissions to the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral vasculitis is a serious complication of meningitis with Streptococcus pneumoniae. We report a 5 yr old girl who was admitted in May 2015 at Fortis Hospital, Kolkata, India and was diagnosed to have pneumococcal meningitis with vasculitis on DWMRI within a week of onset of fever. She was given high dose of methyl-prednisolone simultaneously with antibiotics and successfully treated without any neuro-sequelae. Although vasculitis has been documented to develop as sequelae to bacterial meningitis usually in the second week, our patient had an early presentation. Treatment with high dose steroid along with antibiotics resulted in dramatic improvement with no neurodeficit. DWMRI is an important investigation to pick up early, evidence of vasculitis in a patient with meningitis who is showing neurological deteriorations despite improvement in blood parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on effects of mixed traffic on capacity of two-lane roads. On the basis of field data collected on Indian highways, the present paper makes it clear that capacity reduces if the proportion of slower vehicles increases in the traffic stream. Since such vehicles are responsible for the formation of platoons, their increasing proportion in traffic would accordingly increase the equivalency factor of vehicles, thereby, resulting in variation in capacity. The present study therefore explicates the need of introducing the concept of dynamic passenger car unit and anticipates that this would alleviate the current implication on capacity standards of such roads under mixed traffic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt has been adopted to predict the As and NO 3 − concentration in groundwater (GW) in fast-growing coastal Ramsar region in eastern India. This study is focused to evaluate the As and NO 3 − vulnerable areas of coastal belts of the Indo-Bangladesh Ramsar site a hydro-geostrategic region of the world by using advanced ensemble ML techniques including NB-RF, NB-SVM and NB-Bagging. A total of 199 samples were collected from the entire study area for utilizing the 12 GWQ conditioning factors. The predicted results are certified that NB-Bagging the most suitable and preferable model in this current research. The vulnerability of As and NO 3 − concentration shows that most of the areas are highly vulnerable to As and low to moderately vulnerable to NO 3. The reliable findings of this present study will help the management authorities and policymakers in taking preventive measures in reducing the vulnerability of water resources and corresponding health risks. [Display omitted] • Most important factors influencing As and NO 3 - concentration are Mg 2 , pH and depth. • Sundarban islands regions have been identified as As and NO 3 - pollution hotspot. • NB-Bagging was the best model for achieving high prediction precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estuaries are the most productive transition ecosystem and phosphorus (P) plays an important role in these ecosystems. Therefore, in the present study, sequential extraction method was used to determine the abundance of five sediment P fractions (calcium (Ca- P), Iron (Fe P), aluminum (Al P), exchangeable (Ex-P) and organic (Org P) bound P) in Netravathi-Gurupur estuary, India. Total phosphorus (TP) content varied from 435-810 mg/kg (non-monsoon) and 258–699 mg/kg (monsoon). Inorganic P was dominant part. Different P fractions followed similar order (Fe-P > Ca-P > Al-P > Org-P > Ex-P) with respect to seasons. Fe P was dominant fraction, indicating probable anthropogenic stress. Sediment may act as source of P as bioavailable P constituted 40–69.2 % of TP. Molar ratio of OC to Org-P in sediment indicated terrestrial sources of organic matter. However, the estimated phosphorus pollution index were lower than one except a few cases indicating less ecological risk with respect to sedimentary TP load. [Display omitted] • Sediment P speciation in the Netravathi-Gurupur estuary was studied firstly. • Sedimentary total P is dominated by inorganic pool. • Fe-bound P was dominant chemical forms of P indicating probable anthropogenic stress. • A significant proportion of the sedimentary P pool can be potentially bioavailable. • Average phosphorus pollution index was lower than one indicating less ecological risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of occupancy status, as well as projection of suitable habitats and connectivity of wetland indicator species, and thereby identification of potential conservation umbrella and projection of conservation priority areas are often considered important for wetland conservation. Kingfishers are wetland indicators and suffer from habitat degradation due to world-wide destruction of wetlands. Therefore, they can be considered potential candidates for conservation intervention. The present knowledge about the spatial distribution of suitable areas and habitat connectivity of kingfishers at a landscape level is non-existent. We conducted extensive surveys and recorded four kingfisher species in East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW; Ramsar site No. 1208; ∼125 km2). The occupancy estimates were highest for White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis , WTK), followed by common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis , CK), stork-billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis , SBK) and lowest for pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis , PK). WTK has the highest amount of suitable areas followed by CK, PK and SBK. The spatial overlap of suitable habitats showed that SBK is the potential umbrella species and therefore provides conservation benefits to other kingfisher species and eventually to the EKW. In addition to water areas, emergent vegetation, crop lands and tree cover are other important habitats for kingfishers. The connectivity analyses revealed that suitable habitats were disjunct and are under various anthropogenic threats. Therefore, we need to protect suitable habitats and connectivity between them. Finally, we identified conservation priority areas. Conservation intervention on these high priority zones will not only be beneficial for kingfishers, but also for other avifauna having similar resource requirements as well as the wetland parse. • The occupancy estimate and suitable areas of White-throated kingfisher were highest. • Connectivity analyses revealed suitable habitats were disjunct and are under various anthropogenic threats. • We found Stork-billed kingfisher is an umbrella species. • In addition to water areas, emergent vegetation, crop lands and tree cover are other important habitats for kingfishers. • We prepared a conservation priority rank map which might be useful in optimizing conservation resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the fundamental sustainable development goals has been recognized as having access to clean water for drinking purposes. In the Anthropocene era, rapid urbanization put further stress on water resources, and associated groundwater contamination expanded into a significant global environmental issue. Natural arsenic and related water pollution have already caused a burden issue on groundwater vulnerability and corresponding health hazard in and around the Ganges delta. A field based hydrogeochemical analysis has been carried out in the elevated arsenic prone areas of moribund Ganges delta, West Bengal, a part of western Ganga- Brahmaputra delta (GBD). New data driven heuristic algorithms are rarely used in groundwater vulnerability studies, specifically not yet used in the elevated arsenic prone areas of Ganges delta, India. Therefore, in the current study, emphasis has been given on integration of heuristic algorithms and random forest (RF) i.e., "RF-particle swarm optimization (PSO)", "RF-grey wolf optimizer (GWO)" and "RF-grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA)", to identify groundwater vulnerable zones on the basis of field based hydrogeochemical parameters. In addition, correspondence health hazard of this area was assessed through human health hazard index. The spatial distribution of groundwater vulnerability revealed that middle-eastern and north-western part of the study area covered by very high and high, whereas central, western and south-western part are covered by very low and low vulnerability zones in outcomes of all the applied models. The evaluation result indicates that RF-GOA (AUC = 0.911) model performed the best considering testing dataset, and thereafter RF-GWO, RF-PSO and RF with AUC value is 0.901, 0.892 and 0.812 respectively. Findings also revealed the groundwater in this study region is quite unfavorable for drinking and irrigation purposes. The suggested models demonstrate their usefulness in foretelling sustainable groundwater resource management in various deltaic regions of the world through taking appropriate measures by policy-makers. [Display omitted] • Groundwater is vulnerable in Holocene aquifers of moribund Ganges delta, India. • Infusing RF and nature-inspired algorithms to assess groundwater vulnerability. • F‾, Na+ and As act as noteworthy risk factors for groundwater vulnerability. • Significant human health hazard is present due to high toxic contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background To find association between prostate gland volume to components of the metabolic syndrome. Methods Cross-sectional, observational study in a tertiary care hospital of the Armed Forces of India. A total of 115 male patients aged 50–65 years attending the Urology OPD between Jan 2014 and July 2015 with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) were included. Men with known malignant disease including carcinoma prostate, those on medical management for BPH and individuals with previous history of surgery related to urinary bladder/prostate were excluded. Blood Pressure (BP), weight in kgs, height, waist and hip circumference to nearest cm were recorded. Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist/Hip ratio (WHR) were calculated. Fresh serum was analysed for lipid profile and glycaemic levels. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) – 2005 guideline for metabolic syndrome was used for the diagnosis. The total prostate volume and the severity of LUTS as per AUA Symptom index were considered as the primary and secondary outcome measure respectively. Statistical software SPSS version 20 was used for analysis. Mean prostate volume was compared with the components of MetS. An alpha level of 5% was considered significant. Results The study showed positive association between prostate volume with metabolic syndrome and its four components – raised blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and triglycerides and HDL ≤ 40 mg/dl. No correlation was found with waist circumference. Conclusion Our study indicates that metabolic syndrome and its individual components may predispose patients to a higher risk of prostatic enlargement/LUTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration from a linear to a circular economy (CE) has become inevitable to reduce waste by making reusable products and materials. The present health care waste (HCW) management development has also been reformed due to this change. Since there is a strong connection between HCW management and CE, in this study, the HCW recycling technology selection problem has been addressed, modeled, and solved using the MCDM technique for the first time. In this paper, we present a new group decision-making process (GDMP) by combining the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) under a fuzzy environment. LR fuzzy numbers (LRFNs) are employed to convey and model the linguistic judgments made by decision-makers (DMs). Novel LR fuzzy geometric mean, defuzzification method for the LRFNs, and LR fuzzy consistency checking method have been introduced here. The proposed technique is then applied to select optimal HCW recycling technology by considering nine selection criteria and four recycling alternatives based on the expert's judgment. The proposed approach elicits an effective way of reusing the disposable HCW in conjunction with CE with the help of GDMP. To confirm the reasonableness, practicality, and applicability of the proposed methodology, an illustrative case study on several district hospitals in Tripura, India, has been performed. The validity, consistency, and robustness of the proposed approach have been checked through comparative and sensitivity analyses. The computational complexity of the proposed method has also been investigated and compared with some existing techniques. The research findings show that the proposed model has identified Red2Green as the best HCW recycling technology in the socio-economic perspective of Tripura, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses sociological structures and psychological changes that pave the way for neo political politics in India, bifurcation of Communist Party of India into the Communist Party of India (Marxist) political party and debates on the Land-Acquisition Bill and secularism.

Prediction of Indian monsoon is a challenging task due to complex dynamics and variability over the years. Skills of statistical predictors that perform well in a set of years are not as good for others. In this paper, we attempt to identify a set of predictors that have high skills for a cluster of years. A co-clustering algorithm, which extracts groups of years, paired with good predictor sets for those years, is used for this purpose. Weighted ensemble of these predictors are used in final prediction. Results on past 65 years data show that the approach is competitive with state of art techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) is one of the most popular and widely grown vegetable crops in India. Yield and white color of curd are most important characters of cauliflower determining the economics of cultivation of the crop. Six generation of cauliflower (P1, P2, F1, F2, B1 and B2) were raised by crossing 2 popular varieties and 2 lines (Pusa Himjyoti x BR-161, Pusa Himjyoti x BR-207, Pusa Sharad x BR-161, Pusa Sharad x BR-207, BR-161 x BR-207 and Pusa Himjyoti x Pusa Sharad). Over-dominance had predominant role for marketable curd weight, curd diameter and curd depth. In marketable curd weight, the presence of dominance (h) and dominance x dominance (l) component of genetic variation along with duplicate type of epistasis were present. Curd color was determined by single gene with white being recessive. So, the genetics of characters studied will provide information in the improvement of yield and quality parameters of cauliflower. Besides these, the developed elite hybrids or breeding lines may be tested for yield and quality traits under different agro-climatic conditions for commercial exploitation of hybrid vigor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of land degradation is a serious environmental issue that affects many countries worldwide, particularly in the developing countries of sub-tropical regions like India. The assessment of land degradation is necessary for designing a mitigation plan that will reduce the adverse effects of land degradation. Recently, sensitivity models for analyzing land degradation have become a popular scientific tool for determining the spatial characteristics of this complicated environmental phenomenon. The objective of the current study is to prepare land degradation susceptibility maps for the gravely undulating red and lateritic agro-climatic zones (ACZ) of the Eastern plateau, India using hybrid techniques, i.e., integration of K-Fold cross-validation (CV) and machine learning algorithms of Reduced Error Pruning Tree (REPTree) and the ensemble of Bagging-REPTree and Boosting-REPTree. For the modelling purpose, sixteen independent land degradation conditioning factors were selected based on a multi-collinearity test, and dependent factors, i.e., gully and ravine points, were collected from published reports and field investigations. The evaluation result of the models indicates that Boosting-REPTree is the most optimal in prediction analysis, as the area under the curve (AUC) of training and validation is 0.944 and 0.928, respectively, in K-Fold 1 followed by Bagging-REPTree and REPTree. As a result, this study suggested that the ensemble of the Boosting-REPTree model can be applied as a new potential method for spatial prediction of land degradation in future research. The study also revealed that ex-situ plant species had been adopted to control soil erosion. Still, it is considered a false measure as ex-situ plant species cannot prevent erosion to an optimal level. Overall, a land degradation prevention planning map has also been suggested to measure soil erosion. [Display omitted] • Water induced land degradation probability was derived using data mining approach. • Resampling method of K-Fold cross validation was used for splitting input dataset. • Implementation of false ex-situ plant species is responsible for land degradation. • Proposed optimum land degradation prevention planning map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the attitudes of students towards marriage in the 21st century. It also focuses on attitudes towards a wide range of marriage related issues like dowry, caste and love marriage. The Factor Analysis suggests that the young generation prefer spouses with well-paying jobs. Any type of marriage, love or arranged, is acceptable to them. According to them the success of marriage does not depend on astrological prediction, but on the couple's mutual understanding, co-operation and trust. They give less importance to the 'caste' of a spouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the political activity in India to support the creation of a new state of Telangana, from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It mentions that the proposed new state corresponds to the Telugu -speaking region of the state of Hyderabad. It adds the concern due to less developed economy of the new state. It also mentions that the movement led to violence and death of people of Telangana region.

The current study focuses on the various kinds of external and interior hydrological and morphological modifications of wetlands in the lower Atreyee river basin of India and Bangladesh. The relevant eight diverse causes were carefully investigated adopting various approaches such as consistency scaling, change detection, landscape fragmentation, and 2D floodplain modelling. As per the results, only 274.79 km2 (2019) of wetland area is now available. A total of 650.04 km2 of wetland area has been changed to other land uses in last 30 years and 106.97 km2 of consistent wetland area has been turned into inconsistent. Reduction of the depth of water (77.09%) can be easily identified by NDWI intensity. Integrated large core wetlands have become fragmented into small patches increasing edge area ratio. Agricultural and built-up area expansions have been identified as the most important causes contributing to wetland conversion. According to the findings, 292.51 km2 of wetlands have been replaced by agricultural land, with an additional 99.44 km2 taken up by built-up area. Besides that, the construction of a dam across the Atreyee river has decreased maximum and average flow by 37% and 66.86%, respectively, which in turn has reduced overall flood frequency and the lateral flood extent of inundation areas (1627.3 km2 or 15.97%). As a result, 231.23 km2 wetland area in stress state is now left beyond the present active flood limit. Disconnection of drainage networks, groundwater-lowering, embankment of rivers, extension of infrastructure etc. are some of the other crucial causes of wetland transformation and loss. This study will undoubtedly be beneficial to decision-makers in their efforts to take a significant step towards conserving the wetland landscape, as well as to environmental preservation. [Display omitted] • After installation of dam overall flood frequency reduced up to 90%. • Perennial and seasonal wetland areas reduced 68.96km2 and 512.35 km2 respectively. • In last 30 years, 650.04 km2 wetland area converted and presently 274.79 km2 exists. • Extension of agriculture, built-up, squeezing floodplain enforce wetland conversion. • >50% wetland area is beyond present active flood limit and state stress condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of anti-viral activity of synthesized molecules on Influenza A pandemic H1N1 strains circulating in eastern India during 2017-2019 Effective concentrations [EC SB 50 sb ] ranging from 4 to 39nM while NA inhibition assay showed its inhibitory concentrations [IC SB 50 sb ] around 17.6 M. NA enzyme-kinetic assay showed non-competitive inhibition of NA suggesting alternate mode of antiviral action. B Background: b Influenza A viruses (IAV) are major causative agent of lower respiratory-tract illness causing 650,000 deaths worldwide. [Extracted from the article]

A small-scale research/intervention project that aimed to develop and test an integrated package of communication campaign on health awareness among women belonging to the marginalized community was implemented in an underdeveloped setting of West Bengal, India during 2010–11. A quasi-experimental research design, with cross-sectional surveys conducted in six intervention and control villages at the baseline and endline, was used to evaluate the outcome of intervention among 1,196 respondents. This article examines the impact of behaviour change communication intervention on knowledge, reporting of illnesses and treatment-seeking of symptoms of general and gynaecological morbidity. Analyses included multiple, binary logistic and multinomial logistic regressions using a Difference-in-Difference estimator. Results of the evaluation suggest that the net effect of exposure to the intervention had a positive and significant impact on most of the indicators reflecting an increased level of awareness about signs and symptoms of general and reproductive complications. However, the net effect of exposure was mixed for the indicators of reporting of illnesses, pattern and sources of seeking treatment. The experience of implementing the project demonstrates that it is possible to improve women’s general and reproductive health awareness and practices which could have resulted in positive health outcomes in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Substantial part of the northern margin of Indian plate is subducted beneath the Eurasian plate during the Caenozoic Himalayan orogeny, obscuring older tectonic events in the Lesser Himalaya known to host Proterozoic sedimentary successions and granitic bodies. Tectonostratigraphic units of the Proterozoic Lesser Himalayan sequence (LHS) of Eastern Himalaya, namely the Daling Group in Sikkim and the Bomdila Group in Arunachal Pradesh, provide clues to the nature and extent of Proterozoic passive margin sedimentation, their involvement in pre-Himalayan orogeny and implications for supercontinent reconstruction. The Daling Group, consisting of flaggy quartzite, meta-greywacke and metapelite with minor mafic dyke and sill, and the overlying Buxa Formation with stromatolitic carbonate-quartzite-slate, represent shallow marine, passive margin platformal association. Similar lithostratigraphy and broad depositional framework, and available geochronological data from intrusive granites in Eastern Himalaya indicate strikewise continuity of a shallow marine Paleoproterozoic platformal sequence up to Arunachal Pradesh through Bhutan. Multiple fold sets and tectonic foliations in LHS formed during partial or complete closure of the sea/ocean along the northern margin of Paleoproterozoic India. Such deformation fabrics are absent in the upper Palaeozoic–Mesozoic Gondwana formations in the Lesser Himalaya of Darjeeling-Sikkim indicating influence of older orogeny. Kinematic analysis based on microstructure, and garnet composition suggest Paleoproterozoic deformation and metamorphism of LHS to be distinct from those associated with the foreland propagating thrust systems of the Caenozoic Himalayan collisional belt. Two possibilities are argued here: (1) the low greenschist facies domain in the LHS enveloped the amphibolite to granulite facies domains, which were later tectonically severed; (2) the older deformation and metamorphism relate to a Pacific type accretionary orogen which affected the northern margin of greater India. Better understanding of geodynamic evolution of the northern margin of India in the Paleoproterozoic has additional bearing on more refined model of reconstruction of Columbia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]