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There are ongoing discourses on contract farming across the world. Contract farming is an issue of serious concern in India today, among farmers as well as policymakers. Such farming among small and marginal farmers, who are facing several problems in agriculture, requires special attention. Considering the large presence of small and marginal farmers and PepsiCo's Frito-Lay model of potato contract farming in the state of West Bengal, which is India's second largest producer of potatoes, a study is imperative from the perspective of small and marginal farmers and their participation in potato contract farming. The present paper discusses the nature and extent of participation of small and marginal farmers in potato contract farming in the state. Although participation is qualitative and interpretative in nature, the study considers the attributes which are mainly quantitative or measurable. In order to understand the nature and extent of the participation of small and marginal farmers in contract farming, the study also focuses on the participation of other stakeholders such as vendors and non-marginal and small farmers, and a comparison of socioeconomic conditions between the contract and non-contract farmers is undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aims to examine the accuracy and comparative correlation of three regression equation-based mixed dentition analysis in children of Moradabad city, North Uttar Pradesh.Settings and Design: Tanaka-Johnston, Bernabe-Flores-Mir, and Ling-Wong regression equations were developed from a sample of North European, Peru, and Southern Chinese children population, respectively. Hence, it becomes questionable when applied to children of Moradabad city situated in North Uttar Pradesh, India.Subjects and Methods: The study was conducted on a sample of 100 school going children, age range is 11-14 years with complete permanent teeth except third molars. The mesiodistal crown dimensions of all erupted incisors, canines, premolars, and molars were measured with digital calipers with a calibration accuracy of 0.01 mm. The actual tooth measurements were then compared with predicted values using Tanaka-Johnston, Bernabe-Flores-Mir, and Ling-Wong regression equations, respectively using paired t-test.Results: The mean difference between the actual and estimated values of canines and premolars using Tanaka-Johnston, Bernabe-Flores-Mir, and Ling-Wong were clinically and statistically significant (P< 0.001).Conclusions: Mesiodistal dimensions of male samples are larger than female samples. All the three regression equations are not accurately applicable to this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to address some fundamentally important questions regarding health workforce. Organizational citizenship behavior, a distinct feature of the workforce assumes greater importance in case of health workers because the health workforce needs to have a missionary zeal - selfless service even in the harshest conditions, to serve the people and for this a conducive workplace is also required. Psychological Empowerment and Perceived Organization Support play a key role in motivating employees and influencing their attitudes and behavior towards the organization. The paper addresses the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior, psychological empowerment and perceived organization support and the differences in urban and rural regions. The study is set in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand state which is one of the most difficult terrains in the country and working in such difficult terrain with a high level of organizational citizenship behavior is fundamentally significant. High level of organizational citizenship behavior translated into missionary zeal is the panacea to those who are suffering in the hilly region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The instrumental record of Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) precipitation displays two complete manifestations of an inferred multidecadal cycle. Hitherto, no precipitation-sensitive proxy record from the Indian subcontinent has had the necessary resolution and length to adequately assess whether this observed feature is an inherent aspect of the ISM system on longer timescales. Here we present compelling evidence for persistence of this cycle using a millennial length (AD 600–1550) and sub-annually resolved speleothem oxygen isotope record (δ18O) from Dandak Cave in east-central India. The record displays a high degree of correlation with a speleothem-based Asian monsoon reconstruction from Wanxiang Cave in north-central China on annual to decadal timescales showing the regional significance of these findings. The observed period in our monsoon reconstruction is similar to that associated with the Gleissberg solar cycle and multidecadal sea surface temperature variability in the north Atlantic (AMO), both of which are often cited as the prominent pacemakers of ISM variability on multidecadal timescales. We document transient coherence between ISM precipitation amount and solar variability that persists exclusively in the century prior to and during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (nominally, AD 950–1300). The non-stationary nature of the SFV–monsoon relationship presented here may be evidence of the time-varying influence of tropical ocean–atmosphere dynamics on the solar–monsoon link; however, it is not possible to show with significance that this period of coherence is anything more than an artifact of two timeseries with similar spectra. We therefore, are inclined to interpret our record as evidence of a minimal role of solar variability in driving persistent multidecadal variability of the ISM. Multidecadal SST variability in the North Atlantic remains as the likely alternative driver for persistence of this cycle. Regardless of the causative mechanism(s), the amplitude and regional signature of the observed cycle in ISM precipitation highlight its societal importance with respect to forecasting ISM precipitation on multidecadal timescales. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We have generated a higher-solution (<20 yr) 230Th-dated stalagmite oxygen isotope record from Timta Cave in the western Himalaya in India that documents Southwest Indian summer monsoon (ISM) precipitation variations during the Bølling-Ållerød interstadial from 15.2 to 11.7 ka. Compared with the glacial and Younger Dryas, ISM precipitation was enhanced during the Bølling-Ållerød. ISM precipitation was apparently coupled to variations in the East Asian monsoon and North Atlantic climate on millennial and multicentennial time scales during the deglaciation. Analyses of a high growth rate interval (<2.5 yr resolution) encompassing the late Bølling-early Ållerød suggest that multidecadal monsoon variability was an important aspect of ISM behavior at that time. The frequency spectrum of ISM precipitation during this time interval is similar to that of the Δ14C record and other ISM precipitation records during the latest Holocene. This raises the hypothesis that multidecadal climate dynamics during the late Bølling-early Ållerød may have been similar to those that operated during the last several millennia, even though the boundary conditions of these two time intervals were very different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protracted droughts lasting years to decades constitute severe threats to human welfare across the Indian subcontinent. Such events are, however, rare during the instrumental period ( ca . since 1871 CE). In contrast, the historic documentary evidence indicates the repeated occurrences of protracted droughts in the region during the preinstrumental period implying that either the instrumental observations underestimate the full spectrum of monsoon variability or the historic accounts overestimate the severity and duration of the past droughts. Here we present a temporally precise speleothem-based oxygen isotope reconstruction of the Indian summer monsoon precipitation variability from Mawmluh cave located in northeast India. Our data reveal that protracted droughts, embedded within multidecadal intervals of reduced monsoon rainfall, frequently occurred over the past millennium. These extreme events are in striking temporal synchrony with the historically documented droughts, famines, mass mortality events, and geopolitical changes in the Indian subcontinent. Our findings necessitate reconsideration of the region's current water resources, sustainability, and mitigation policies that discount the possibility of protracted droughts in the future.

The vast Indo-Gangetic Plain in South Asia has been home to some of the world's oldest civilizations, whose fortunes ebbed and flowed with time-plausibly driven in part by shifts in the spatiotemporal patterns of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. We use speleothem oxygen isotope records from North India to reconstruct the monsoon's variability on socially relevant time scales, allowing us to examine the history of civilization changes in the context of varying hydroclimatic conditions over the past 5700 years. Our data suggest that significant shifts in monsoon rainfall have occurred in concert with changes in the Northern Hemisphere temperatures and the discharges of the Himalayan rivers. The close temporal relationship between these large-scale hydroclimatic changes and the intervals marking the significant sociopolitical developments of the Indus Valley and Vedic civilizations suggests a plausible role of climate change in shaping the important chapters of the history of human civilization in the Indian subcontinent.

Background and Aim: The aim of the present study is to compare the effect of corticotomy versus prostaglandin E1 injection in human subjects on rate of tooth movement, anchorage loss and their effect on crest bone height and root length., Settings and Design: Clinical interventional study. Split mouth design was used., Materials and Methods: Study was done on 32 regular orthodontic patients. A volume of 100 mcg of prostaglandin E1 was injected on the right side once in 2 weeks and on the left side corticotomy was performed, and canine retraction was started on both sides simultaneously. The rate of space closure and anchorage loss was assessed with casts. The root length and crestal bone height changes were assed with IOPAs. The comparison of rate of tooth movement, anchorage loss, crestal bone height and root length changes between the sides were statistically analyzed using paired t-test., Results: The average rate of space closure on right side was 0.36 mm/week with a standard deviation of 0.05 mm/week and on the left side average rate of space closure was 0.40 mm/week with a standard deviation of 0.04 mm/week. The difference between the rate of closure between the right side and left where found to be statistically significant (P=0.003). The anchorage loss, the crestal bone height changes and root length changes were not statistically significant., Conclusion: The rate of tooth movement was significantly more with corticotomies when compared with given dose of prostaglandin injection.