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Development of index or tool for measuring social parameters has been a key area of research. This research was carried out during the year 2021 for the measurement and quantification of several variables warrants availability of valid tools. In aquaculture sector, gender mainstreaming efforts has been undertaken by several stakeholders. However, measuring the level of empowerment as a consequence of interventions could not be done in absence of such tools. The article describes the process of development of Women Empowerment in Aquaculture Index (WEAI) - selection of domains, assessing content validity through expert rating, screening of the domains using 't' value and assigning relative weights. The instrument, so developed, has 30 items under 6 domains (access to and control over resources and services, ability to decide independently, attitude towards aquaculture, control over use of income, knowledge on aquaculture, participation in social and economic activities). Using the index, comparison was made between three women SHGs from Odisha with level of empowerment varying between 69-80 per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-economic profile of women in agriculture in the seven coastal districts of Odisha was studied, and the livelihood avenues available for them were analyzed. The socio-economic status were analyzed for the coastal districts as a whole and in rural areas separately and compared with the state average using a set of parameters. The coastal districts of Odisha have 16% of the geographical area and 33% of the human population (2011) of the state. In the coastal districts, the overall work participation ratio (WPR) was lower than the state average (37.9% vs 43.2%). In the coastal districts, 25.8% of the population were engaged in agriculture for employment which is lesser than the state average (31.5%). Female Agricultural WPR (FAWPR) was lower in the coastal districts by 9.2% (13.4 vs 22.6%) when compared with the state average. In the coastal districts, the female literacy was above 60% being as high as 80.6% in Jagatsinghpur. The gender gap in literacy in the coastal districts was 14.5% against the state average of 17.6%. Nutritional status of children in the coastal districts was better than the state average in all the three indicators (stunting, wasting and underweight) as compared to the state average. The household ownership of different livestock species was lower than the average for the state. A vast majority (82.3%) of the households in coastal areas drew a monthly income of less than ₹ 5,000 followed by 11.5% in 5,000-10,000 category and 6.1% of the households drew more than 10,000 as monthly income. This calls for concerted efforts for gender mainstreaming through better livelihood options. A better understanding of the present status of women can help in identifying the points of intervention and devising methodologies for better outcome of the projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thoron exhalation from earth's surface is the most important source of environmental thoron. The High Background Radiation Areas (HBRAs) of Kerala and Odisha in India have beaches with sands enriched with monazite, an ore of thorium, making it unique for study of thoron exhalation. In the present study, in situ measurement of thoron exhalation was carried out to map the thoron exhalation rate over complete coastline of the known HBRAs. New experimental setups for measurement of thoron surface exhalation and thoron mass emanation were developed and validated. The exhalation measurements were carried out on beaches of Chavara-Neendakara (CN) area of Kerala and Chatrapur (CH) region of Odisha. The beaches of the Kerala region showed an average thoron exhalation rate of 5.95 ± 2.98 Bq ms, which for the beaches of Chatrapur area of Odisha was 2.77 ± 0.96 Bq ms. The external gamma exposure rate was also measured at these locations, and it was observed to be well correlated with in situ thoron exhalation rate. Sand samples were collected from ten of the measurement locations and analyzed in the laboratory for a further understanding of thoron exhalation process in the beach sand. Measurement of specific thoron mass emanation rate, specific 224Ra content and thoron emanation coefficient was taken for the samples. A good correlation was found between in situ thoron exhalation rate and specific thoron mass emanation rate. The effective thoron diffusion length was determined by using the measured parameters in the UNSCEAR radon exhalation model and was found to be nearly constant with a value of 2.2 ± 0.36 cm. This study shows that in spite of very high thorium content (500-1000 times) as compared to normal fine soils, the thoron exhalation from the HBRA beach sands was only 4-12 times higher due to very low emanation coefficient, about 1000 times smaller than that for normal soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field investigation was conducted to evaluate the cultivars of onion for bulb yield and reactions to pests and diseases during kharif season at AINRP on Onion & Garlic, College of Horticulture (OUAT), Sambalpur, and Odisha, India. Twenty two cultivars of onion including five national check varieties supplied by Directorate of Onion & Garlic Research, Rajgurunagar, Pune were evaluated by adopting RBD with three replications. Results revealed significantly better leaves plant-1 (8.87), collar thickness (1.44 cm), average bulb weight (70.44 g), polar diameter (6.44 cm), equatorial diameter (4.53 cm) having better TSS (10.76%), tolerance to thrips infestation (2.36 thripsplant-1), marketable bulb yield ( 223.65 q ha-1) and total bulb yield (276.96 q ha-1) were recorded for NRCWO-3, closely followed by Bhima Super, NRCRO-1, NRCWO-4 and the check, Bhima Red than rest of the entries tested. However, significantly heaviest bulb weight of 78.68g was recorded in entry, VG-18. Similarly during kharif season more than 200 q ha-1 marketable bulb yield was recorded in the entries like NRCWO-3 (223.65 q ha-1), Bhima Red (215.04 q ha-1), NRCWO-1 (212.58 q ha-1), NRCWO-4 (208.60 q ha-1) and NRCWO-2 (205.54 q ha-1). On the other hand, total bulb yield of more than 200 q ha-1 was recorded in entry, NRCWO-3 (276.94 q ha-1), Bhima Red (268.09 q ha-1), NRCWO-4 (259.66 q ha-1), NRCWO-2 (249.63 q ha-1), Bhima Super (249.35 q ha-1), NRCWO-1 (248.61 q ha-1) and NRCRO-3 (242.96 q ha-1). Thus, the varieties like NRCWO-1, NRCWO-3. NRCWO-4, Bhima Super, Bhima Red and NRCRO-3 may be recommended for karif season cultivation to obtain maximum bulb yield. Similarly cultivars like Bhima Kiran, Bhima Super, NRCRO-2 and Col-652 may be recommended for better tolerance to both Purple Blotch and Thrips infestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]