A decline in pollinator dependent vegetable crop productivity in India indicates pollination limitation and consequent agro-economic crises.

Approximately 70% of the tropical crop species depend on pollinators for optimum yields (Roubik, 1995, Klein 2007). The economic value of such pollinated crops to India is $726 million and India is the world's second largest vegetable producer (Sidhu, 2005). This status has been underpinned by large-scale changes in land-use and pesticide dependency (Fazal, 2000; Shaw & Satish, 2007). A method (c.f. Aizen et al. 2008) that partitions crops into categories depending on their relative pollinator dependence (Index of pollinator dependence, DI) was applied to analysis of vegetable yields for India over 45 years (1963-2008) using FAO data. This has revealed that since 1993, relative yields of crop production has either flattened or declined, while pollinator non dependent crops show no similar decline. This pattern of yield limitation may be due to several factors, among which pollinator limitation would be a major factor (Kearns et al. 1998) and this risk is discussed. Pollinator decline will have serious socio-economic consequences for countries like India, which host a large population of small and marginal farms for whom falling yield level would be critical for subsistence (Kearns et al. 1998; Kremen et al., 2002; Klein et al., 2007; Potts et al., 2010). We show here for the first time any indication of pollination limitation in India, an emerging economy that is still predominantly agrarian. Detailed land use and ecological surveys are urgently required to assess the ecology of pollinating insects within and around agricultural systems in India

Indications of caesarean section in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: The rising trend of caesarean deliveries is noticed across the globe. The caesarean deliveries are associated with costlier health care, increased risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity as compared to vaginal deliveries. This study was aimed to find out the rate and various indications of caesarean deliveries and to amend the current protocols based on these findings to reduce the incidence of caesarean in our institute in future.Methods: A cross sectional observational study was done to find the caesarean delivery rate and various indications contributing to it for a period of one year. All pregnant women with period of gestation more than 28 weeks who delivered in hospital were included in the study. All women with period of gestation less than 28 weeks and in labour irrespective to mode of delivery and foetal outcome were excluded from the study.Results: The overall Caesarean section (CS) rate was 34.23% out of 2676 deliveries. The commonest indication was repeat CS (45.09%) followed by foetal distress (12.66%), failed induction (12.34%) and arrest of labour (10.26%). The commonest cause for the repeat CS was patient refusal for trial of labour 195 (47.22%).Conclusions: The common indications of CS found are repeat CS, Foetal distress, NPOL and failed induction. Foetal distress, NPOL and failed induction are amenable to intervention and needs to be introspected at institutional levels. Trial of labour after CS (TOLAC) should be encouraged to control the rising trend of CS.

Wild insect diversity increases inter-annual stability in global crop pollinator communities.

While an increasing number of studies indicate that range, diversity and abundance of many wild pollinators has declined, the global area of pollinator-dependent crops has significantly increased over the last few decades. Crop pollination studies to date, have mainly focused on either identifying different guilds pollinating various crops, or on factors driving spatial changes and turnover observed in these communities. The mechanisms driving temporal stability for ecosystem functioning and services, however, remain poorly understood. Our study quantifies temporal variability observed in crop pollinators in 21 different crops across multiple years at a global scale. Using data from 43 studies from six continents, we show that (i) higher pollinator diversity confers greater inter-annual stability in pollinator communities, (ii) temporal variation observed in pollinator abundance is primarily driven by the three most dominant species, and (iii) crops in tropical regions demonstrate higher inter-annual variability in pollinator species richness than crops in temperate regions. We highlight the importance of recognising wild pollinator diversity in agricultural landscapes to stabilize pollinator persistence across years to protect both biodiversity and crop pollination services. Short-term agricultural management practices aimed at dominant species for stabilising pollination services need to be considered alongside longer-term conservation goals focussed on maintaining and facilitating biodiversity to confer ecological stability

Abstracts of National Conference on Research and Developments in Material Processing, Modelling and Characterization 2020

This book presents the abstracts of the papers presented to the Online National Conference on Research and Developments in Material Processing, Modelling and Characterization 2020 (RDMPMC-2020) held on 26th and 27th August 2020 organized by the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Science in Association with the Department of Production and Industrial Engineering, National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India. Conference Title: National Conference on Research and Developments in Material Processing, Modelling and Characterization 2020Conference Acronym: RDMPMC-2020Conference Date: 26–27 August 2020Conference Location: Online (Virtual Mode)Conference Organizer: Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology JamshedpurCo-organizer: Department of Production and Industrial Engineering, National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, IndiaConference Sponsor: TEQIP-