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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading throughout the world along with its strange and frightening mutations, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it as a global pandemic. Objective: The present investigation aims to evaluate the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on mother and newborn outcomes and the vertical transmission potential of this virus. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at a tertiary care dedicated COVID-19 hospital. A total of 40 pregnant females (RT-PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2) and their 41 neonates (including stillbirths and a twin delivery) were included in the present study. Results: All the mothers in the study were SARS-CoV-2 positive on the RT-PCR test, but none had any COVID-19 symptoms (pneumonia-like fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, shortness of breath, and diarrhea). Out of 41 newborns, 38 (92.7%) were healthy, one (2.4%) was a stillbirth, and two newborns (4.9%) could not be revived. All the 41 (100.0%) neonates, including stillborn and preterm were negative for the SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test. Twenty-Six neonates (63.4%) were delivered by caesarean section, whereas 15 cases (36.6%) had a normal vaginal delivery. Conclusion: The present study showed no suggestion of vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in pregnant females. Therefore, the placenta might function as a barrier to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Also, there were no complications come upon during the delivery of any neonate in the present study.

In this paper, a wide dual band compact asymmetrical I-shape patch antenna has been designed and investigated. The proposed antenna is resonating at 2.14 GHz between 1.56 and 2.35 GHz in lower band while at 4.61 GHz between 3.29 and 4.96 GHz in higher band. The asymmetrical I-shape geometry of antenna is obtained by loading two notches of same size and two notches of different dimensions. The bandwidth of proposed antenna is obtained 40.4% (790 MHz) for lower band resonating with −21.77 dB return loss while 40.5% (1670 MHz) for higher band resonating with − 51.07 dB return loss. A parametric investigation is also performed to observe the effect of notches parameter on return loss and resonating frequency. The gain of proposed antenna varies 2.8 dB at 3.5 dB in lower band while 3.1 dB to 5.9 dB in higher band. A good simulated antenna efficiency of 80% to 90% for lower band while 81% to 90% for higher band is also obtained. The lower frequency band 1.56 GHz to 2.35 GHz is suitable for PCS (1.85–1.99 GHz) and UMTS (1.92–2.17 GHz) while higher frequency band 3.29 GHz to 4.96 GHz covers WiMAX (3.4–3.69 GHz) and IMT (3.4–3.6 GHz) bands. Microstrip line fed antenna is designed and simulated by IE3D simulation software.

Poplars play important role in global forestry. Besides being cultivated as an agro-forestry crop, they provide mankind with fuel wood, timber wood, plywood, sports goods, raw material for paper industry and recently, they are being used as a potential biofuel source. However, a number of biotic and abiotic stresses reduce poplar yield and productivity. Further, there is a strong felt need of paper and pulp industries to have reduced lignin content or modified lignin composition of poplar wood, which will assist in manufacturing better quality paper using less environmentally hazardous chemicals. Because of the non-availability of resistance donor sources and long generation period, conventional breeding could achieve success in genetic improvement of poplars. To circumvent these bottlenecks, genetic engineering interventions have been applied for poplar crop improvement. With the availability of Populus trichocarpa genome sequence in public domain, now numerous genes and transcription factors governing various metabolic pathways got identified, which can be targeted for genetic engineering for poplar improvement. Genome editing technology has really expedited the pace of poplar improvement programmes. This review provides an insight into various research efforts focused on poplar genetic engineering for improvement of silviculturally important traits.

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) belonging to the coronavirus family. The primary target of SARS-CoV-2 is peripheral mucosal cells of respiratory tract. Recent days have seen few cases where virus has affected extrapulmonary organ such as nervous system. Materials and Methods The present study was a narrative review done using techniques of systemic review, that is, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Electronic databases such as PubMed (Medline) and Google Scholar were searched systematically for published article from December 1, 2019 to June 5, 2020. A total of 189 articles were initially selected by the authors. A final list of 17 articles was prepared and following information were extracted from selected studies: study design, main result, and limitations of the study. Results Majority of these article were descriptive studies describing spectrum of signs and symptoms among admitted patients. In majority of these studies, patients have developed symptoms suggestive of neurological involvement. Most common central nervous system symptoms reported were headache, followed by dizziness and confusion. Similarly, the most common peripheral nervous system involvement was loss of taste and smell. Conclusion The present study concludes that there are enough evidences to prove that SARS-CoV-2 infection affects both central and peripheral nervous system. Various mechanisms are proposed to explain the pathophysiology of neurological manifestations in COVID-19-positive patients that needs to be established and verified.

Issue: Sep-Oct 2020 The story of the Indian economy as it unfolds under the impact of COVID-19 is disquieting. Had the economy been strong to start with, the situation would have been different. We have analysed the sharp decline in growth rate since 2011-12 and traced the causes for the slowdown to such factors as unsustainable expansion of credit followed by sharp increase in non-performing assets, and decline in savings and investment rates. We have also noted that centre’s gross tax revenues declined sharply on trend basis because of the fall in nominal GDP growth. This led to a squeezing of available fiscal policy space for the central government. Disruptions caused by such decisions as demonetisation also played an adverse role on both income and employment. The lockdown imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 has put a brake on the economy. The need to kick start the economy and move it forward has become urgent. We have in this context discussed the roles of monetary and fiscal policies. Maintenance of government expenditure at a high level is unavoidable and monetisation of debt is also unavoidable. But policy makers must also be conscious of the fact that there is a limit to monetisation. Wisdom lies in striking the appropriate balance. JEL: E5, H2, H5, H6

An attempt is made to improve the impedance bandwidth (S11) of a microstrip antenna by means of the gap-coupling method, yielding a bandwidth of 97.88% for the gap-coupled rectangular microstrip antenna (GC-RMSA) compared with 7.67% for the direct-coupled rectangular microstrip antenna with all dimensions the same. The maximum gain of the proposed (GC-RMSA) design is 6.725 dB with antenna efficiency of 99.86%. The proposed antenna design is analyzed using the IE3D simulator. The microstrip line feed technique is used to energize the antenna, and its performance as a function of the gap between the elements (g) and the width of the feed strip (W) is investigated. The results show that the impedance bandwidth of the gap-coupled antenna depends on the coupling gap between the elements; indeed, as the gap (g) is increased up to a certain level, the bandwidth of the proposed antenna increases, resulting in a wideband characteristic. However, after a certain value of the gap (g), the bandwidth decreases due to spurious radiation, and the antenna characteristic changes from wide to dual band with a corresponding decrease in the bandwidth. The proposed antenna design covers the frequency range from 2.093 to 6.105 GHz, including the C-band, S-band uplink and downlink frequencies, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WLAN, and IEEE (a/b/g) standard applications.

This paper illustrates optimization and comparative analysis for rectangular microstrip patch antenna loaded with ‘T’-shape slot utilizing manual (conventional) optimization and particle swarm optimization (PSO) with curve fitting. Initially, a conventional antenna has been designed by cutting ‘T’-shape slot in rectangular radiating patch and manually optimized by selecting some parameters of patch as variable. The bandwidth and resonant frequency data obtained from IE3D simulation tool by varying distinct parameters of the conventional ‘T’-shape slot loaded antenna have been used for generating the curve in Graphmatica (curve fitting software) and developing the PSO program in MATLAB for optimization purpose. Finally, the PSO-optimized antenna has been attained and its performance has been compared with both initial conventional ‘T’-shape slot loaded antenna and manually optimized antenna. Fragmentary bandwidth of PSO-optimized ‘T’-shape slot loaded antenna has been increased by 16.86% as compared to initial conventional ‘T’-shape slot loaded antenna and kept the resonant frequency at 2.477 GHz near the desired frequency of 2.45 GHz.

Ragging has become a serious social evil. Millions of university students are ragged in India every year. While a perpetrator can be sued by the victim; it has not dented the escalation of ragging....

The role of project leaders is critical in the success of any project. Understanding the project leadership dimensions in the unique Indian context would be beneficial for both scholars and...

Using the assessment of satisfaction of patients of labour room services, the caregiver or policymakers can identify the gaps in the implemented programmes and health policies. This study was aimed to design a valid and reliable satisfaction questionnaire that will help in identifying the aspects of gaps that need improvement.A facility and community-based observational cross-sectional study was conducted in the district of western Uttar Pradesh (India) between January 2019 and August 2020. Validation of the structured questionnaire with 34 dichotomous questions categorized under five subscales was performed by evaluating its validity and reliability. A total of 380 beneficiaries were selected from 48 government health facilities.The calculated Content validity index was calculated to be 9.5 which was adequate as per the guidelines. The reliability analysis of the questionnaire showed that the internal consistency was high with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.710. The variation in Cronbach's alpha on the elimination of any question from the questionnaire ranged from 0.676 to 0.767. The mean patient satisfaction score in the total surveyed population was 24.39±4.684 (total score=34) and there was a greater variation in the satisfaction score of infrastructure when compared with other subscales.The findings from this study support the reliability and validity of the patient satisfaction questionnaire as it is capable of evaluating the satisfaction in terms of delivery services provided in labour rooms as a whole.

Coronavirus is known to cause various systemic infections both in human and animal which are mostly mild in nature. However, recent years have seen major pandemics caused by coronavirus which are very invasive and virulent in nature. The recent SARS-CoV2 is a new addition to this list of coronavirus pandemics. So the present study was done to systematically review the CNS involvement and its manifestations in SARS-CoV2 positive patients. Systemic review of article published between 1st Dec 2019 to 31st July 2020 searched through web-based database of MEDLINE (Pubmed) and Google scholar using following keywords “COVID -19” OR “CORONAVIRUS” OR “SARS-CoV2” AND “NEUROLOGICAL” OR “CNS” OR “BRAIN”. Using the steps of systemic review eight article were selected for qualitative analysis. Majority of these article were reporting neurological symptoms among patients admitted in different wards along with others general symptoms. None of the study was specifically devoted to study the neurological manifestations and complications in SARS-CoV2 positive patients. The present study concludes that there is a scarcity of good quality research which attempts to establish the role of SARS-CoV2 infection in CNS and its manifestations. However, there are evidences that CNS involvement is present in majority of the patients. Proper documentation of theses involvement and indentification of these into mild, moderate and severe infection will help in early identification and treatment of these patients.

In this paper, a surface plasmon resonance sensor based on MXene and antimonene with an adhesive layer of TiO2 is numerically analyzed, using the transfer matrix method (TMM). First, the Au thickness is optimized at 48 nm. Then, antimonene and MXene layers are optimized to achieve high sensitivity with minimum reflectance. The sensitivity of the proposed SPR biosensor without using the TiO2 layer is 178.76°/RIU, which shows 6.34% sensitivity improvement than conventional SPR. The use of TiO2 as an adhesive layer between prism and gold (Au) enhances the sensitivity up to 224.26°/RIU, which is 33.7 and 25.77% better than conventional and proposed SPR biosensor without using TiO2, respectively. This is due to the attractive optical sensing properties of MXene (highly metallic conductivity) and antimonene (high carrier mobility, strong spin–orbit coupling, and stability). Here, antimonene is used as a biomolecular recognition element (BRE) layer, as it absorbs more biomolecules stably due to higher binding energies and larger surface area, even better than graphene.

Medicinal herbs and plants are the major reservoirs for new drug formulations. Owing to pharmaceutical demands and limited wild resources, it is vital to conserve genetic diversity, which is continuously under the risk of extinction due to its overexploitation which resulted in natural habitat abolition and unmonitored medicinal plant trade. To deal with this major havoc, plant biotechnological techniques and approaches such as plant tissue culture and micropropagation hold promise for conservation and rapid mass multiplication to obtain genetically elite (true to type) populations under in vitro conditions. The most critical factor that has an effect on in vitro plant propagation success is the choice and selection of plant growth regulators (i.e., auxins and cytokinins). Plant growth regulators are often supplemented in the nutrient medium to harness the totipotent potential such as development of shoots, roots and whole plants. Most commonly used cytokinin in plant tissue culture micropropagation protocols is N6-benzyladenine (BA), but nowadays meta-topolin as highly active aromatic cytokinin along with its derivatives have been largely investigated and proved as an effective alternative to BA in micropropagation protocols of medicinal plants. This chapter addresses the biotechnological application of meta-topolins such as their effect on in vitro plant regeneration, micropropagation and hardening, countering micropropagation troubles and its influences on secondary metabolite production.

In this paper, we demonstrate a graphene oxide (GO) based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor for desalination of sea water. Gold layer is used as a plasmonic layer for the sensor. The thickness of gold layer is optimized at different wavelengths, i.e., 632.8 nm, 643.8 nm and 700 nm to achieve best possible sensing performance parameters like sensitivity, quality factor, and detection accuracy. The performance of the sensor with and without using graphene oxide is compared. Finally, it is observed that the higher sensitivity of proposed SPR sensor is about 3.33 times than that of a SPR sensor, without grapheme oxide.

In this paper, a graphene-coated surface plasmon resonance sensor is designed for the examination of Rodent urine which is responsible for Leptospirosis bacteria. Rodent urine is considered as sensing medium. Graphene surface is activated by phosphate-buffered saline solution for better attachment of Leptospirosis bacteria on its surface. Oliguria and Polyuria are the Rodent urine with high and low concentrations of Leptospirosis bacteria, respectively. The transfer matrix method is used for the formulation of reflection intensity of p-polarized light. The reflectance curves for angular interrogation are plotted and the results are obtained in terms of sensitivity, detection accuracy, and quality factor. The significantly high sensitivity and detection accuracy for Oliguria distinguishes it from Polyuria having lower sensitivity.

Brassica oleracea cv. Pride of India is one of the most promising vegetable cultivars commercially grown as cash crop in Himachal Pradesh, India. However, its overall production is severely hampered by diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), a notorious pest. To avoid yield losses caused by this pest, cryIAa gene was introduced into cabbage cv. Pride of India using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. In an attempt to maximize the transformation frequency, critical determinant factors such as explant type, pre-incubation and co-cultivation period, and acetosyringone effect were successfully optimized. The highest transformation frequency (4.67% and 14.50%) in cotyledon and hypocotyl explant was achieved with a pre-incubation period of 72 h and co-cultivation period of 48 h. Furthermore, transformation frequency was enhanced in cotyledon (18.66%) and hypocotyl (32.00%) explants, when selective regeneration medium was fortified with 100 µM acetosyringone, respectively. The transgene (cryIAa) integration and copy number were confirmed using PCR and Southern blotting. Reverse transcriptase PCR and quantitative real-time PCR analyses were performed that proved transcriptional expression of cryIAa gene in PCR-positive transgenic events. Transgenic cabbage-fed diamondback moth larvae showed significantly higher mortality, thereby proving transgene effectiveness against insect pest control.

A low profile modified e-slotted microstrip antenna is proposed for multiple wireless communication applications. The performance of antenna is measured in terms of return loss, current distribution. The effect of variation of height of substrate on antenna impedance bandwidth is also studied. The antenna with overall size 30×50×.8m.m.3 resonates at eight frequencies which covers some important applications like GPS, wireless local area network (WLAN), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax), Satellite communication etc. The proposed antenna structure offers great advantages due to compact size, simple structure and multiple applications. The multi band antenna was designed and optimized using ansoft HFSS v13 simulator. The simulated result is good agreement with measured result.

Brassica genus recognized worldwide as economic important genus, nutritionally rich (vegetables, oilseed crops, forage crops) and having medicinally important phytochemical compounds. Furthermore, Brassica genus has diverse crop species considered as model species for plants scientific community due to remarkable metabolite potential. However, different biotic and abiotic stresses limit the productivity as well as quality of produce worldwide. Among different productivity constraints, abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, heavy metals, submergence, elevated temperature and nutrient deficiencies are the major limiting factors resulted in approximately 80% of crop yield reduction. Global climatic disruption and unsustainable growth of world population mounted huge pressure on agricultural land to increase agricultural productivity per unit area. Under such scenario, scientific interventions based on modern biotechnological approaches to breed abiotic stress tolerant crops with increased productivity and improved qualities are urgently needed. Advancement in modern molecular biology and biotechnological techniques during past two decades such as molecular breeding, crop genetic engineering, identification of genes (gene discovery) that serve as valuable candidates or targets for crop improvement and “omics” based approaches (functional genomics, proteomics and metabolomics) have revealed innumerable mechanisms which confer improved productivity and adaptation to abiotic stresses. Significant advancement has been accomplished in the cellular and molecular biology of Brassica species by utilizing biotechnological interventions. This chapter provides insight towards the cited literature on abiotic stress tolerance in Brassica crops that possibly will be valuable for researchers working on this economically important Brassica group for its genetic advancement.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the most scientifically investigated and proved cellular organism that has a natural capability to transfer genetic material between the kingdoms of life, from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. Recent advancement in biotechnological tools and techniques helps us to understand plant-microbe interactions because plants are closely associated with microorganisms that influence plants’ overall fitness. With the rapid decline of natural resources and continuous increase in the population of developing countries, there is an utmost need for new tools and technologies that supplement the agriculture system and provide novel opportunities for ensuring global food and nutritional security. Till now, Agrobacterium has been widely used as a vector to genetically transform the plants with agronomically important traits. Apart from the role of Agrobacterium tumefaciens in plant genetic engineering, it also served plant biologist to scientifically investigate and reveal basic biological processes such as regulation of gene expression, gene identification and mapping, cell-cell recognition, cell-to-cell transport mechanism, nuclear import, and recombination mechanism and to study mutagenesis within plant cells. In this chapter, we mainly emphasized on importance of a systems understanding of plant-microbe interactions, with a special reference to Agrobacterium tumefaciens—as natural plant genetic engineer, signal transduction and host immune response, quorum sensing and quenching, plant genes involved in susceptibility/resistance, factor affecting Agrobacterium plant transformation, recent advances/application in plant biology research, and omics approaches for better understanding plant-microbe interaction complexity.

Simple design of patch antenna has been introduced in this paper for bandwidth enhancement. Slotted technique is used for designing of this antenna. The antenna patch has been cut with two rectangular holes and four notches for better results. In proposed work, the bandwidth of antenna has been increased upto 60.16% at 5.194GHz resonant frequency with -33.29dB return loss. In the entire process, the achieved bandwidth lies between 3.147GHz to 5.855GHz. This frequency is suitable for wireless devices. This designed antenna removes maximum limitations of the patch antenna. It also provides a low profile, high gain and compact antenna design. The achieved antenna gain is 5.73dB and antenna efficiency is 99.95% at 5.194GHz resonant frequency. The software using for simulation is IE3D.

A T-shape patch antenna loaded with a rectangular slot and fed directly by a 50-Ω microstrip line was optimized using the IE3D simulation tool to improve its bandwidth at a frequency of 2.45 GHz by varying each of four parameters while keeping the other three constant. The impedance bandwidth of the optimized antenna was increased from 40.05 to 81.34 % in the frequency range of 1.682–3.988 GHz. The optimized antenna resonates at 2.181 GHz with high return loss of −47.47 dB. This frequency band is suitable for use in Bluetooth, wireless local area network (WLAN), and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) applications.

This article examines asymmetry in the pattern of seasonality in revenues and expenditures of central government, highlighting the scope of improving efficiency in the management of government finances. Asymmetry is conceptualized as consisting of three inter-related aspects: (a) monthly pattern of unevenness measured against a norm of equally distributed monthly shares of revenues and expenditures, (b) non-synchronization between the pattern of unevenness for expenditures as compared to that for revenues and (c) fiscal year start–end (April and March) extreme variations. We have defined and applied an index of seasonal unevenness to individual revenue and expenditure aggregates. A prominent feature of asymmetry in revenue receipts emanates from the bunching of corporate and income tax revenues in the months of September, December and March. Non-tax revenues peak prominently in August and March. Mismatches in expenditures and revenues due to different patterns of unevenness necessitate financing by borrowing, which involve fiscal costs. In addition, non-synchronization of expenditures that invite injecting demand into the system and revenues that involve withdrawal of resources have macro implications that affect aggregate demand. This also has a monetary cost affecting availability of liquidity. In making comparisons, we have examined monthly revenue and expenditure data over the period from 2000–2001 to 2015–2016, which was divided into four periods with respect to political economy regimes relating to NDA1, UPA1, UPA2 and NDA2. We also take note of undue adjustments in expenditures and revenues for ostensibly meeting fiscal and revenue deficit targets by postponing expenditures to the next fiscal year and obtaining advance payments of taxes.

The dynamic interactions of an individual matrix metalloproteinase-1 were imaged and monitored in the presence of either triple-helical or non-triple-helical, partially-structured collagen-mimic substrates. The enzyme exhibited ten-fold increased catalytic turnover rates with the structurally modified substrate by skipping the triple-helix unwinding step during the catalytic pathway.

Successful plant transformation requires an efficient regeneration protocol and a suitable selection method. A genetically engineered, disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain containing a binary vector pBin-1Aa with cry1Aa (insect resistance) and npt-II (neomycin phosphotransferase-II) genes was used for genetic transformation studies. Effects of antibiotics kanamycin and cefotaxime were studied to determine the aptness of kanamycin resistance as a selectable marker and for cefotaxime in controlling excessive bacterial growth during genetic transformation studies using cultured hypocotyl, cotyledon, leaf, and petiole tissues of Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L var. italica). Leaf and petiole explants exhibited decreased fresh weight as kanamycin concentration increased, resulting in full or partial inhibition of shoot regeneration. A significant or nonsignificant negative correlation occurred between kanamycin concentration and explant fresh weight over the time. Cefotaxime had little effect on reg...

Using single-molecule approaches, we directly observed the dynamic interaction between HDAC8 and various ligands as well as conformational interconversions during the catalytic reaction. Statistical analysis identified key kinetic parameters, demonstrating that the enzymatic activity is highly sensitive to both minor variations in the ligand structures and small synthetic molecules.

Genus Populus comprises about 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae which are widely distributed in temperate climates of the Northern Hemisphere. Populus species are important resources in certain branches of industry and have a special role for the scientific study of biological and agricultural systems. The poplar is known for its remarkable significance among the commercially propagated tree species such as teak, eucalyptus, wild cherry, red wood, and radiata pine. In vitro regeneration refers to growing and multiplications of cells, tissues and organs on defined liquid/solid media under aseptic and controlled environments. In vitro clonal propagation of forest trees, due to the high multiplication rate, is an attractive alternative for rapid propagation of elite genotypes of those species that could not easily be propagated through conventional methods. Owing to their widespread uses at the industrial level and for meeting the ever-increasing global demand for biomass production and wood industry, tissue culture techniques can be exploited for rapid cloning and large-scale production of planting material of various poplar species. Recent progress in the field of plant tissue culture determined this area to be one of the most dynamic and promising for experimental biology. Much work has been carried out on in vitro plant regeneration studies in Populus spp. including direct organogenesis, indirect organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis. These reviews provide an insight for in vitro plant regeneration studies in poplar species and their potential in its improvement.

With the advent of molecular biotechnology, plant genetic engineering techniques have opened an avenue for the genetic improvement of important vegetable crops. Vegetable crop productivity and quality are seriously affected by various biotic and abiotic stresses which destabilize rural economies in many countries. Moreover, absence of proper post-harvest storage and processing facilities leads to qualitative and quantitative losses. In the past four decades, conventional breeding has significantly contributed to the improvement of vegetable yields, quality, post-harvest life, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, there are many constraints in conventional breeding, which can only be overcome by advancements made in modern biology. Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) is an important vegetable crop, of the family Brassicaceae; however, various biotic and abiotic stresses cause enormous crop yield losses during the commercial cultivation of broccoli. Thus, genetic engineering can be used as a tool to add specific characteristics to existing cultivars. However, a pre-requisite for transferring genes into plants is the availability of efficient regeneration and transformation techniques. Recent advances in plant genetic engineering provide an opportunity to improve broccoli in many aspects. The goal of this review is to summarize genetic transformation studies on broccoli to draw the attention of researchers and scientists for its further genetic advancement.

Background: More than 90% of deaths from diarrhoea in under five children is caused by unsafe WASH practices. Adequate hygiene practices have been recognised to decrease the diarrhoeal incidence by 30–40 percent. 748 million people still depend on unimproved sources of drinking water almost a quarter of which depend on untreated surface water, and 2.5 billion people need to improve sanitation, including one billion who practice open defecation. Yet to date, the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) element has received minute attention and the potential to link efforts on WASH and NTDs has been mostly untouched. This study was planned to identify current levels of community access to and practices related to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. Methods: Cross sectional survey of 200 households conducted in selected villages of chargawa block through multistage sampling. Data were collected using pre-designed questionnaire. Results: 66% of our responder’s were female, 86% of household are male-headed. The burden of collecting water is mostly with women & girls (89%). 51% of people still rely on the unprotected hand pump as a source of water for drinking. Majority of the population defecates in the bush/backyard/field (79%). Hand washing with soap and water during key times is practiced by 21% of the respondents, and hand washing with water only is practiced by 67%. Conclusions: The study shows that access to safe drinking water & WASH practices in the rural villages is still a big everyday challenge. This study provides baseline information’s for future interventions in this community.