Search

The world is facing extraordinary challenges. Policymakers are attempting to develop institutions that are able to cope with rapid changes in demographics, the environment, and the economy. Policymakers are part of the system in which governments operate. Numerous external and internal pressures continuously attack this structure. Exogenous changes or fresh knowledge caused policies to be reversed or revised more frequently than necessary. In India, policymakers are confronted with an increasing number of issues caused by various types of complexity. In this complex environment, the demand for good policy making is steadily increasing. The objective of this paper is to study various facets and dimensions of good governance from public policy perspective. The paper also explores the public policy alternatives and methods to address the issues and challenges of good governance in India. During the discussion, the authors found that corruption and poor capacity building are main impediments in establishing good governance which in turn hampers the efficiency and equity in the provision of public services, thereby weakening the enforcement mechanism of public policy management principles. The paper also revealed that for effective public policy management and administration, there is a dire need to formulate and implement stringent rules and regulations against the menaces like illegal use of force, corruption, bureaucratic bungling, criminalisation of politics and other constraints hampering good governance. Therefore, to create checks and balances across tiers of government and to correct the existing distortions, the paper suggests reform strategies such as decentralisation of public services through participation of private sector, involvement of poor people in state sponsored development programmes, outcome orientation and having women representation in democratic institutions for ensuring good governance. In order to accomplish these desired social changes, enacting strong legislation with severe penalties and its rigorous execution is the need of the hour.

Lasioglossum marginatum sp. is the most efficient pollinator of stone fruit crops (such as peach, plum, and cherry). Its proportional contribution to the total visitation is significantly higher than the conventional visitation. This species is polylectic, polyandrous, and an efficient pollinator that is endogeic in nature. Its nesting behavior has been studied earlier. Various nest soil physical characteristics like tumulus length, turret height, nest depth, nest density, nest diameter, nest length, and the height from the plane have been determined across the experimental sites and found to be statistically significantly higher than the normal range. Various parameters were found to be most significant in Budgam (Experiment location-I) located at an altitude of 1700 m above sea level (a. s. l.) higher than Srinagar (Experiment location-II) which is situated at an altitude of 1400 m a. s. l. The current study investigated some of the parameters like the total number of individuals per nest, cell length, cell diameter, cell area, sex ratio per nest, and the weight of pollen mass. Based on the Kolmogorov–Smirnov analysis outcomes, it was found that the species prefers clay loam soil. Further, various soil gravimetrical characteristics such as gravel/sand, slit, and clay in soils at different locations were significantly higher than the normal range. In addition to these, the Chi-square results regarding various nest soil chemical characteristics like the hydrogen ion concentration (pH), electric conductivity (dSm−1), organic matter (%), organic carbon (%), nitrogen (kg/ha), porosity (%) and soil moisture (%) content at different locations were significantly higher than the normal range. The maximum number of males emerged from the final brood in the 2nd—4th week of April ; followed by the emergence of other workers and gynes, till the 4th week of May. The maximum fight activity was recorded from 15th April till the 1st week of May. The number of individuals per nest varied from 6 to 27 with a sex ratio in the range of 0.24 to 0.5. The minimum number of males and females per nest was found to be 1.0 and 5 respectively ; while the maximum numbers were 9 and 18, respectively. The pollen masses were found in short-side tunnels that were terminated with cells, in which the eggs were present and it sustained in the brood cells during the long overwintering periods. The current study helps in the conservation of bees by preserving their foraging plants and providing them with suitable and pollution-free breeding and nesting habitats

The current studies were carried out in the three experimental locations of Kashmir valley during 2013 to 2016. The species Andrena cineraria formed the dense nest aggregations in plan grounds, barren lands and hilly areas near the fruit orchards and other landscapes with clay loam soil type. The species start flying and foraging in the orchards from April till July. The nests were allodalous, 29–36 cm in depth, with cells located obliquely around the main barrow. The nests were dense with a maximum density of 11.09 nests/m2 observed in landscapes of Budgam. The barrow diameters were found varying with depth from main entrance. The maximum barrow diameter recorded was 2.05 mm. At certain depth, the female constructs the first cell and the upper nest burrow is vertical and lower is oblique. The nest entrance is generally hidden under the tumulus. In the depth of average 30.48 cm, each cell directly opens to main burrow either alternately or unilaterally. The cell number, diameter, and length varied with depth. Foraging behaviour of A. cineraria on various fruit crops and other shrubs and social forestry trees were determined and the abundance, visitation rate, total visits and time spend per flower were found significant, especially on fruit crops. The significance of the studies is important for the melittologists, as it will help in the conservation of bee fauna. The study is also important in using this species for pollination purpose and would also help to detect and understand the possible pre-adaptation of species in temperate region of Kashmir valley.

There are lot of reasons and causes of insect decline. The main causes of insect decline is attributed to habitat destruction, land use changes, deforestation, intensive agriculture, urbanization, pollution, climate change, introduction of invasive insect species, application of pesticides, mass trapping of insects using pheromones and light traps, pathological problems on various insects, and introduction of exotic honey bees in new areas that compete with the native bees for resource portioning and other management techniques for pest management, and even not leaving any pest residue for predators and parasitoids for their survival. The use of chemical insecticides against target or non-target organisms is major cause for insect decline. The diseases and decline of the important pollinators is still a mistry for colony collapse disorder. To overcome the cause of insect decline, various conservation techniques to be adopted and augmentation of artificial nesting and feeding structures, use of green pesticides, maintaining the proper pest defender ratio (P:D), policies and reaching to political audience at global level and other factors already discussed in the chapter may be helpful for mitigating the insect decline and especially for the pollinators, a key insect for life.

Honey bee is vital for pollination and ecological services, boosting crops productivity in terms of quality and quantity and production of colony products: wax, royal jelly, bee venom, honey, pollen and propolis. Honey bees are most important plant pollinators and almost one third of diet depends on bee’s pollination, worth billions of dollars. Hence the role that honey bees have in environment and their economic importance in food production, their health is of dominant significance. Honey bees can be infected by various pathogens like: viruses, bacteria, fungi, or infested by parasitic mites. At least more than 20 viruses have been identified to infect honey bees worldwide, generally from Dicistroviridae as well as Iflaviridae families, like ABPV (Acute Bee Paralysis Virus), BQCV (Black Queen Cell Virus), KBV (Kashmir Bee Virus), SBV (Sacbrood Virus), CBPV (Chronic bee paralysis virus), SBPV (Slow Bee Paralysis Virus) along with IAPV (Israeli acute paralysis virus), and DWV (Deformed Wing Virus) are prominent and cause infections harmful for honey bee colonies health. This issue about honey bee viruses demonstrates remarkably how diverse this field is, and considerable work has to be done to get a comprehensive interpretation of the bee virology.

Corruption is the most widespread endemic and a greatest threat to economic and political development of any nation. Given the high level of corruption in India, this phenomenon has turned into a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of our system. In recent times, the issue is receiving attention of authorities, policy makers, businessmen and civil society organizations. In other words, fight against corruption has emerged as a key developmental issue. As such, this study is an attempt to delve into the current status of corruption in India with a focus on issues and challenges in combating corruption. During the discussion, the authors found that the major scams committed in India since 2009 are a direct result of deficit in governance. This paper also found that lack of competent leadership and management, inherent delays in criminal justice system, hostile witnesses marked with lack of values as key challenges in eliminating corruption. To ensure a corruption free society, the authors strongly suggest simplification of office processes and procedures, filling up of judicial vacancies, civil participation for necessary buy-in and inclusion of private sector under anti-corruption laws, besides strengthening and empowering anti-corruption agencies. To sum up, it is argued that good administration is possible only when corruption is eliminated from society. Individuals who are currently garnering the most attention, such as corrupt politicians, businesspeople, and judges, should be socially shunned and barred from serving in our holy, self-governing country. To accomplish these desired social changes, enacting strong legislation with severe penalties and its rigorous execution is the need of the hour. The study is expected to contribute to the ongoing debate on the link between corruption and anti-corruption campaign, as well as the formation of a broad political consensus on how to deal with it in the future.

Screening for drought tolerance requires precise techniques like phonemics, which is an emerging science aimed at non-destructive methods allowing large-scale screening of genotypes. Large-scale screening complements genomic efforts to identify genes relevant for crop improvement. Thirty maize inbred lines from various sources (exotic and indigenous) maintained at Dryland Agriculture Research Station were used in the current study. In the automated plant transport and imaging systems (LemnaTec Scanalyzer system for large plants), top and side view images were taken of the VIS (visible) and NIR (near infrared) range of the light spectrum to capture phenes. All images were obtained with a thermal imager. All sensors were used to collect images one day after shifting the pots from the greenhouse for 11 days. Image processing was done using pre-processing, segmentation and flowered by features’ extraction. Different surrogate traits such as pixel area, plant aspect ratio, convex hull ratio and calliper length were estimated. A strong association was found between canopy temperature and above ground biomass under stress conditions. Promising lines in different surrogates will be utilized in breeding programmes to develop mapping populations for traits of interest related to drought resilience, in terms of improved tissue water status and mapping of genes/QTLs for drought traits.

This study of nesting and associated behavior patterns of Andrena patella was carried out at 27 locations with different landscape categories, from 2013 to 2016. The research areas chosen were generally flat or marshy areas. A total of 15 major nest aggregations were spotted and 120 nests were excavated. This species nests in soil, males emerge earlier than females, and mating occurred on flowers during the foraging season, in the 3rd week of May. The various nest and cell parameters showed low variability in the different years and different sites, but nest cell length, diameter and number varied significantly, as well as depth even at the same site. The nests were multi-cellular, oblique to horizontal, and cell shape was oval. The mating attempts of the pairs and copulatory behavior involved various steps which were completed in a very few seconds. The males appeared first on the flowers, near to the nesting site, and lived shorter than the females. The females started foraging in the 2nd to 3rd weeks of May and laid eggs in the 1st week of June. The adult phenology, egg placement, cell provision and larval feeding are described., Istraživanje gniježđenja i povezanih obrazaca ponašanja pčele Andrena patella provedeno je na 27 lokacija različitih krajobraznih kategorija, od 2013. do 2016. godine. Odabrana područja istraživanja općenito su bila ravna i vlažna. Uočeno je 15 velikih agregacija gnijezda, a iskopano je 120 gnijezda. U vrsta koje su bile ugniježđene na glinenom zemljištu mužjaci su se razvili prije ženki, a parenje se zbilo na cvijeću za vrijeme sezone paše, treći tjedan u svibnju. Različiti pokazatelji gnijezda i stanica pokazali su nisku varijabilnost u različitim godinama i na različitim lokacijama, no dužina stanica saća, njihov promjer i broj statistički su se znakovito razlikovali čak i na istom mjestu. Gnijezda su bila multistanična, kosa do vodoravna, a oblik stanica ovalan. Pokušaj parenja i kopulacijsko ponašanje uključili su različite faze koje su završene u nekoliko sekunda. Mužjaci su se prvi pojavili na cvijeću, blizu mjesta za gniježđenje, i živjeli su kraće od ženki. Ženke su počele s pašom drugi i treći tjedan svibnja, a jajašca su položile prvi tjedan u lipnju. Opisani su oblici odraslih jedinki, polaganje jaja, opskrba stanica i hranjenje ličinki.

This paper represents an attempt to investigate the mating behaviour of Symmorphus allobrogus, explaining the willingness of male to mount and copulate. The male displays including mode and frequency of antennation and position while copulating, the displays further comprises of intensity and frequency of rejecting behaviour. The presence of the male’s copulatory and postcopulatory courtship studies, understands the maintenance of monandry. The wasp has numerous secondary sexual characters, and the mating behaviour follows a phyletic and the specific sexual mating characters in context of sexual selection. The duration of mating phases and the number of male antennation series during precopulatory, copulatory and postcopulatory phases of mounting, differs significantly. Mating success depends mostly on the activities of male in the premounting phase and the behaviour of both sexes has a roughly equal importance for it in precopulatory phase. While during copulation, activity of male has little influence on its duration; however, behaviour of female has crucial effect, inducing its earlier termination.

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous and persistent pollutants, and have been detected in a wide variety of media, from soils to aquatic systems. MPs, consisting primarily of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyacrylamide polymers, have recently been found in 12% of samples of honey collected in Ecuador. Recently, MPs have also been identified in honey bees collected from apiaries in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as nearby semiurban and rural areas. Given these documented exposures, assessment of their effects is critical for understanding the risks of MP exposure to honey bees. Exposure to polystyrene (PS)-MPs decreased diversity of the honey bee gut microbiota, followed by changes in gene expression related to oxidative damage, detoxification, and immunity. As a result, the aim of this perspective was to investigate whether wide-spread prevalence of MPs might have unintended negative effects on health and fitness of honey bees, as well as to draw the scientific community’s attention to the possible risks of MPs to the fitness of honey bees. Several research questions must be answered before MPs can be considered a potential threat to bees.

Micro hardness research studies on various non oxide ceramics will be carried out. These ceramics include silicon nitride and the composites of silicon nitride. Micro hardness measurement of these ceramics i.e. vicker will be carried out using diamond indenters. Various influences of load and time of indentation on hardness values of these ceramics will be carried out in detail. Fracture toughness of these ceramics was also studied using vicker indentation. The vicker hardness of these ceramics decreases with increasing load, similar influence was observed by increasing time of indentation. Showket Hussain Dar | Er. Arashdeep Singh "Microhardness of Silicon Nitride Ceramic and Its Composites" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-1 , December 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29664.pdf

The present study on biochemical basis of resistance against Leucinodes orbonalis infestation was conducted during the year 2011-2012. The results revealed that highest chlorophyll-‘a’- content of 0.497 mg/gfw was recorded in the susceptible genotype SHB-1.The lowest amount of 0.319 and 0.381 mg/gfw was observed in the resistant genotypes Brinjal-85 and Local long respectively, which were significantly different from other evaluated genotypes. The chlorophyll ‘a’content was positively correlated with the brinjal shoot and fruit borer infestation. Thehighest chlorophyll -‘b’- content of 0.442 mg/gfw was recorded at 70 DAT (days after transplanting). The amount of chlorophyll -‘b’- varied significantly among the genotypes at different ages and decreased with the age of crop. The average highest amount of chlorophyll -‘b’- was estimated in the genotype SBH-1 which was significantly at par with hybrid SBH-2. The lowest chlorophyll -‘b’- content was recorded at 40 DAT in the genotype Brinjal-85 followed by Local Long. The lowest amount of total chlorophyll was estimated in the resistant variety as compared to susceptible therefore exhibiting lowest level of infestation.

We report the first record of Hemilea malaisei Hering in India from Kashmir. In August 2015, one female specimen was found on a wild cherry plant (Prunus avium L.: Rosales: Rosaceae) at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir; the actual host plant is unknown. Information on the morphology and distribution of this species is provided.

A study was undertaken to estimate the combining ability in brown sarson through diallel analysis involving ten diverse genotypes. The combining ability analysis revealed significant mean squares for general and specific combining ability for all the traits studied. The estimates of variance due to dominance deviation () were much higher than the corresponding additive genetic variance () for all the traits. The predictability ratio was less than unity for all the traits which indicated that performance on general combining ability of parents alone would not be advisable to select materials in segregating generations, but a combination involving both general and specific combining ability of the parents and particular crosses along with their per seperformance would be more useful in selecting materials in the segregating generations. None of the parents revealed significant and desirable general combining ability effects for all the traits. The study of specific combining ability effects revealed that none of the crosses was a desirable specific combiner for all the traits under study. However, several cross combinations were observed to have highest desirable significant sca effects for these traits. Key words: Combining ability, general combining ability (gca), specific combining ability (sca), brown sarson.

The study was carried out in temperate conditions of Kashmir valley during 2013–2015. The patches of cherry crop were located in different landscape categories, and the maximum insect pollinator species richness of 45 was observed in Budgam, belonging to 5 orders, 31 families and 20 genera. Amongst these, the genus Lasioglossum was the most abundant flower visitor followed by the less abundant genera Xylocopa spp., Andrena spp., Megachile spp., Syrphus spp. and Musca spp. The maximum Simpson and Shannon diversity indices and Simpson's dominance were observed to be 8.319, 6.506 and 0.879, respectively in district Srinagar. The equitability index, Pielou's evenness, Nakamaru's richness, Menhinick's and Margalef's varied significantly across the landscapes studied. Species richness showed a corresponding and parallel increase with various indices estimated. The unequal distribution of species abundance on cherry allow the use of dominance index of Berger-Parker to express the proportion of individuals accounted for by the most abundant species (Lasioglossum marginatum) in each site. The mean dissimilarity coefficients of species richness were 6.57-halictid species (Lasioglossum spp.) exhibited hourly abundance commencing from early morning, but generally the pollinators increased in course of day, becoming maximum at mid day (÷2=0.97, p-valued”0.05%), and decrease in afternoon (1400-1500hr) and the least was observed late afternoon (1500-1600hr). Hymenoptera was the most abundant of all the insect orders with rank (K) one and K-dominance of 0.683 followed by Diptera with rank value 2 and K-dominance value-0.958.

Introduction: This randomized, double-blind, prospective study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of magnesium sulphate in attenuating the stress responses associated with laparoscopic abdominal surgeries. Methods: 62 patients who underwent laparoscopic abdominal surgery were randomly divided in to two groups, group I and group II. 5 minutes after intubation but before creation of pneumoperitoneum, the magnesium group (group I) received magnesium sulphate 50 mg/kg diluted in normal saline to total volume of 20 ml at 240 ml/hour over 5 minutes. The control group (group II) received same amount of normal saline. Results: Heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure were significantly less in group I with p

Examples from perennial and annual crops in temperate and tropical conditions illustrate the research and development approaches that have contributed to use and integration of host plant resistance and biological, cultural, physical and chemical control. The evidence shows how successes in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) have depended upon classical experimental approaches continually responding to changing constraints and to novel discoveries. There are many recent developments that could help revolutionize management of some vegetable pests, in particular use of sex pheromones, judicious use of chemicals, biological and mechanical control. There have been some outstanding developments in practical application of IPM in many developed countries where the ultimate goal is to decrease over reliance on conventional insecticides. Evidence shows that in many developing countries, where the goal is an ecologically sound mix of non-chemical and chemical methods, there remains a crucial need for much more appropriate research and implementation, especially in small farm conditions. This paper reviews the management practices of the brinjal shoot and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee).

In this study blood biochemistry and immune status of male and female Vanraja chickens were recorded under cold stress. Birds were acclimated two weeks prior to the start of experiment and later divided into two groups. Control group (n=12 with equal number from each sex) was maintained at an environmental temperature of 27-30 °C and Test group (n=12 with equal number from each sex) was housed in a designed chamber were the temperature (10±1°C) remained stable at least for 5-6 hours in a day. After 3 consecutive days (72 hours) of temperature treatment Phytohaemagglutinin-P (PHA-P) at the dose rate of 0.5 mg in 0.1 ml PBS were injected to the patagium of both control and test group of birds to study the cell mediated immune response by measuring the dermal swelling in response to inflammatory reaction after 24 hours of injection of Phytohaemagglutinin-P (PHA-P). After 96 hours of cold treatment the blood samples were collected from the wing vein to analyze the blood biochemical parameters using standard protocols. Significant difference (p