A Discourse on Gender Disparity: A Study on Taluks of Belagavi District

The modern period witnessed the increased gender disparity reflected in sex-ratio, literacy and education, employment and wage-rates and several other sociocultural and behavioral indicators of empowerment (Nangia, 2005). Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenges of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance - Kofi Annan (Personal, Archive, Mahanta, & Nayak, 2013). The present paper examines the extent of gender disparity in Belagavi District based on literacy and sex ratio using secondary data. We found that literacy rate in study area was 76.93% in 2001 which is increased to 82.90% in 2011 and sex ratio in the study area was 960 in 2001 which is increased to 973 in 2011. There are wide disparities from rural to urban sex ratio as well as rural to urban literacy rate. The urban sex ratio is higher than rural sex ratio in study area. The rural sex ratio is 970 and urban sex ratio is 979 females per thousand males in the 2011. We found that in Belagavi district, there is reduction in gender disparities from 2001 to 2011 but the reduction rate is very slow

Trends and Levels of Female Literacy in Belagavi District

Women education plays a very important role in the overall growth of the country. It does not only help in the development of half of the human capital but also improves the standard of living. The progress of the nation or region is shown by the level of education and literacy of its population. Education, particularly among women has been considered as one of the major aspects for socio-economic development of the people of a region. Belagavi district is among the rapidly developing districts in Karnataka with respect to socio-economic and agricultural development. According to 2011 census, average literacy rate of Belagavi district (73.48%) is lower than the average literacy rate of Karnataka state (75.60%).(Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, 2011) This can be attributed to greater regional disparities throughout Belagavi district in literacy. In this paper, we present Provisional Population Totals of census 2001 and 2011 and examine the extent of literacy disparities at the taluk level. Here, we found that literacy rate in the study area was 64.21 % in 2001 which has increased to 73.48% in 2011. We also found that the urban literacy (85.56%) is significantly greater than the rural literacy (69.28%) which is concurrent to the wider gender disparities from the rural to the urban population

Molecular detection and characterization of phytoplasma associated with China aster (Callistephus chinensis) phyllody in India

China aster (Callistephus chinensis L.) is one of the most popular annual flowering plant grown through-out the world. Phyllody disease of China aster is a phytoplasma associated disease that induces severe economic losses. Phytoplasmal disease in China aster was assessed for phytoplasma by direct polymerase chain reaction primed by using phytoplasma universal primer pairs PI/P7. A 1.8 Kb DNA fragments encoding the portion of phyto-plasma 16SrDNA amplified by PCR was cloned and sequenced. Sequencing of the PCR product and BLAST analy-sis indicated that China aster phyllody phytoplasma strain shared maximum sequence identity (99%) with strains of Peanut Witches’ broom (16SrII) phytoplasma group. Phylogenetic relationship of 16SrDNA sequence of China aster phyllody phytoplasma strain in the present study confirmed association of Peanut Witches’ broom (16SrII) group of phytoplasmas with China aster phyllody disease in India

Molecular detection and characterization of phytoplasma associated with China aster (Callistephus chinensis) phyllody in India

China aster (Callistephus chinensis L.) is one of the most popular annual flowering plant grown through-out the world. Phyllody disease of China aster is a phytoplasma associated disease that induces severe economic losses. Phytoplasmal disease in China aster was assessed for phytoplasma by direct polymerase chain reaction primed by using phytoplasma universal primer pairs PI/P7. A 1.8 Kb DNA fragments encoding the portion of phyto-plasma 16SrDNA amplified by PCR was cloned and sequenced. Sequencing of the PCR product and BLAST analy-sis indicated that China aster phyllody phytoplasma strain shared maximum sequence identity (99%) with strains of Peanut Witches’ broom (16SrII) phytoplasma group. Phylogenetic relationship of 16SrDNA sequence of China aster phyllody phytoplasma strain in the present study confirmed association of Peanut Witches’ broom (16SrII) group of phytoplasmas with China aster phyllody disease in India