Organic Farming in India: Evolution, Current Status and Policy Perspectives

The performance of the agricultural sector is key for the development of the economy, especially for developing economies. It helps the economy in various ways, such as increased income for farmers, employment in rural areas, and, most importantly, food security. With the growing demand for food, farmers use extensive fertilisers and pesticides to increase productivity. This irrational use of fertilisers reduces soil fertility, pollutes rivers, kills plants and animals, and is linked to many human diseases. Thus, conventional farming raises many concerns related to the environment as well as human health. The emergence of organic farming is because of certain limitations of conventional farming. In our country, organic farming practices are taking a new shape. India has 1.59 million organic producers with 2.7 million hectares of agricultural land under organic agriculture. The current paper aims to describe the evolution and status of organic agriculture in India. It also seeks to probe the impact of organic agriculture on various aspects of farming and economy. The paper also aims to identify the constraints in the growth of organic agriculture. Further, based on the findings, the paper proposes new development models for the sustainable growth of the agriculture sector in India. Through this, a perspective is provided on the current state and policy alternatives with innovative organic farming models for the welfare of farmers and people at large

Medical symptoms associated with tobacco smoking with and without marijuana abuse among crack cocaine-dependent patients.

Despite the widespread use of tobacco and marijuana by cocaine abusers, it remains unclear whether combined tobacco and marijuana smoking is more harmful than tobacco smoking alone in cocaine abusers. We investigated the differences in medical symptoms reported among 34 crack cocaine abusers who did not smoke tobacco or marijuana (C), 86 crack cocaine abusers who also smoked tobacco (C + T), and 48 crack abusers who smoked both tobacco and marijuana (C + T + M). Medical symptoms were recorded using a 134-item self-report instrument (MILCOM), and drug use was assessed using the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). After controlling for clinical and demographic differences, the C + T + M group reported significantly more total symptoms on the MILCOM as well as on the respiratory, digestive, general, and nose/throat subscales than the C + T or C groups. The C + T group reported higher total and respiratory and nose/throat symptoms than the C group. HOwever, the C group had the highest number of mood symptoms among the three groups. The C + T and C + T + M groups were comparable in number of cigarettes smoked and ASI scores. Although tobacco smoking is associated with higher reports of medical problems in crack abusers, smoking both marijuana and tobacco seems to be associated with greater medical problems than smoking tobacco alone. Tobacco smoking was not related to changes in cocaine use. Also, marijuana smoking does not appear to be associated with a reduction in tobacco or cocaine use

Radiopathological correlation of sellar and suprasellar masses: our experience

Background: The area immediately around the pituitary, the sellar and parasellar region is an anatomically complex area that represents a crucial crossroads for important adjacent structures. A number of diseases that affect the pituitary-hypothalamic axis can have profound clinical, endocrinological as well as neurological consequences. Aim of the study was to identify the MR imaging characteristics of sellar and suprasellar masses, to correlate the MRI findings with histopathological findings and to calculate the diagnostic accuracy of MR imaging.Methods: We reviewed the records of 116 patients with sellar and suprasellar masses for which preoperative MR imaging films or reports were available. Radiological appearances were correlated with intraoperative findings and post-operative histopathology.Results: Majority of patients in this study belonged to the age group 21-40 years. Most common mass lesion operated was pituitary macroadenoma comprising 58% of the total cases. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of MRI in diagnosing macroadenomas are 86%, 88%, and 83% respectively. MR was 93% accurate, 85% sensitive and 95% specific in diagnosing craniopharyngioma. MR was 93% accurate, 80% sensitive and 95% specific in diagnosing meningioma.Conclusions: MRI is the modality for characterizing sellar and suprasellar lesions, morphology of lesions, nature of contrast material enhancement and extent of lesions. Hence MRI is the modality of choice for diagnosing sellar and suprasellar masses with high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity

Alterations in vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) phosphorylation: associations with asthmatic phenotype, airway inflammation and β\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e-agonist use

Background Vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) mediates focal adhesion, actin filament binding and polymerization in a variety of cells, thereby inhibiting cell movement. Phosphorylation of VASP via cAMP and cGMP dependent protein kinases releases this brake on cell motility. Thus, phosphorylation of VASP may be necessary for epithelial cell repair of damage from allergen-induced inflammation. Two hypotheses were examined: (1) injury from segmental allergen challenge increases VASP phosphorylation in airway epithelium in asthmatic but not nonasthmatic normal subjects, (2) regular in vivo β2-agonist use increases VASP phosphorylation in asthmatic epithelium, altering cell adhesion. Methods Bronchial epithelium was obtained from asthmatic and non-asthmatic normal subjects before and after segmental allergen challenge, and after regularly inhaled albuterol, in three separate protocols. VASP phosphorylation was examined in Western blots of epithelial samples. DNA was obtained for β2-adrenergic receptor haplotype determination. Results Although VASP phosphorylation increased, it was not significantly greater after allergen challenge in asthmatics or normals. However, VASP phosphorylation in epithelium of nonasthmatic normal subjects was double that observed in asthmatic subjects, both at baseline and after challenge. Regularly inhaled albuterol significantly increased VASP phosphorylation in asthmatic subjects in both unchallenged and antigen challenged lung segment epithelium. There was also a significant increase in epithelial cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage of the unchallenged lung segment after regular inhalation of albuterol but not of placebo. The haplotypes of the β2-adrenergic receptor did not appear to associate with increased or decreased phosphorylation of VASP. Conclusion Decreased VASP phosphorylation was observed in epithelial cells of asthmatics compared to nonasthmatic normals, despite response to β-agonist. The decreased phosphorylation does not appear to be associated with a particular β2-adrenergic receptor haplotype. The observed decrease in VASP phosphorylation suggests greater inhibition of actin reorganization which is necessary for altering attachment and migration required during epithelial repair

Myco-Biocontrol of Insect Pests: Factors Involved, Mechanism, and Regulation

The growing demand for reducing chemical inputs in agriculture and increased resistance to insecticides have provided great impetus to the development of alternative forms of insect-pest control. Myco-biocontrol offers an attractive alternative to the use of chemical pesticides. Myco-biocontrol agents are naturally occurring organisms which are perceived as less damaging to the environment. Their mode of action appears little complex which makes it highly unlikely that resistance could be developed to a biopesticide. Past research has shown some promise of the use of fungi as a selective pesticide. The current paper updates us about the recent progress in the field of myco-biocontrol of insect pests and their possible mechanism of action to further enhance our understanding about the biological control of insect pests

A blockchain and deep neural networks-based secure framework for enhanced crop protection

The problem faced by one farmer can also be the problem of some other farmer in other regions. Providing information to farmers and connecting them has always been a challenge. Crowdsourcing and community building are considered as useful solutions to these challenges. However, privacy concerns and inactivity of users can make these models inefficient. To tackle these challenges, we present a cost-efficient and blockchain-based secure framework for building a community of farmers and crowdsourcing the data generated by them to help the farmers’ community. Apart from ensuring privacy and security of data, a revenue model is also incorporated to provide incentives to farmers. These incentives would act as a motivating factor for the farmers to willingly participate in the process. Through integration of a deep neural network-based model to our proposed framework, prediction of any abnormalities present within the crops and their predicted possible solutions would be much more coherent. The simulation results demonstrate that the prediction of plant pathology model is highly accurate

The State of Microfinance in India: Emergence, Delivery Models and Issues

In the recent time microfinance has received increased attention among the researchers and financial service providers, as a good alternative in the rural credit market. Various studies revealed that microfinance is a powerful instrument for poverty alleviation, enabling the poor to accumulate the assets, boost their incomes, and reduce their economic vulnerability. There are various opinions about the micro credit demand in India. M-CRIL, a leading micro-credit rating agency provides a conservative estimate for the annual demand at Rs. 480 billion based on 60-70 million poor families with an average household credit demand of Rs. 8,000 (less than $160). In the growing market, to meet this huge demand we require the systems and approaches with comprehensive financial inclusiveness. Within this context, the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) movement in India and particularly the SGSY, SHG-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP) of the National Bank of Rural and Agriculture Development (NABARD), various MFIs and community based organizations present the rich experience. The present paper explores the role of and performance of various delivery models of microfinance in India. Further the paper explores some issues like outreach, impact, efficiency, sustainability and financial inclusions.

A Framework of Mobile Banking Adoption in India

Mobile banking is now an important and evolving medium for executing banking transactions. It has a huge potential in a developing country such as India. Our study explores the important antecedents of the mobile banking adoption intention of Indian customers and proposes a comprehensive framework by extending the traditional technology acceptance model (TAM). Along with the two constructs provided by TAM, four customer-oriented constructs have also been measured for this purpose. The conceptual model has been verified empirically, with the data mobilized with the help of a survey from 203 future mobile banking service users. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique has been undertaken to establish the effect of the antecedents on mobile banking adoption intention. The results demonstrate that, together with the constructs of TAM, viz. perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, as well as all other relevant behavioral factors, namely subjective norms, personal innovativeness, trust, and self-efficacy have exerted a statistically significant positive effect on the mobile banking adoption intention of customers. The study provides an empirical foundation, which can be useful to banking and mobile services by helping companies to formulate their marketing strategies