Agricultural Land Market Transactions in Chhattisgarh : A Case Study

In the newly born state of Chhattisgarh a large number of land buyers have become actively engaged in the villages located along the national highway and at the periphery of Raipur city, the capital of Chhattisgarh to purchase prime agricultural land. In view of the fast emerging land markets after the formation of the state, it is imperative to understand the role of market and non-market forces in transaction of prime agricultural land for non-agricultural uses and transactions within the agriculture sector. This study is an attempt in this direction. The study has been conducted in the Jora, Labhandi, Serikhedi and Dharampura villages of Dharsiwa block in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh state. These villages are located on both sides of Mumbai-Raipur-Kolkatta National Highway No.6 and are in the close periphery of the Raipur city. Two-stage least square technique of simultaneous equation system has been used to estimate demand and supply relationship in land market. Total owned land of seller and the price of land have been reported as the two important determinants of supply relations in land sale market. Similarly, the ownership of total owned land of buyers and non-farm income of buyer are major determinants of demand for agriculture land. Also, distances from National Highway, revenue grades and land sold under distress have been found important factors. The linear trends in land sale and land prices have indicated that area of the land for sale has increased year after year. Prices of land have also increased year after year. The most important factors which have forced the farmers to sell out their lands have been identified as functioning of aggressive land market forces, extremely poor capital base of the farmers, desire to construct their houses, increasing addiction to alcohol and inclination towards starting non-agricultural enterprises or professions, landhunger tendency of urban businessmen and colonizers. The study has suggested that certain effective legislations and institutional measures will have to be introduced and enforced for non-transfer of agricultural land.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Gcn4p and novel upstream activating sequences regulate targets of the unfolded protein response.

Eukaryotic cells respond to accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by activating the unfolded protein response (UPR), a signal transduction pathway that communicates between the ER and the nucleus. In yeast, a large set of UPR target genes has been experimentally determined, but the previously characterized unfolded protein response element (UPRE), an upstream activating sequence (UAS) found in the promoter of the UPR target gene KAR2, cannot account for the transcriptional regulation of most genes in this set. To address this puzzle, we analyzed the promoters of UPR target genes computationally, identifying as candidate UASs short sequences that are statistically overrepresented. We tested the most promising of these candidate UASs for biological activity, and identified two novel UPREs, which are necessary and sufficient for UPR activation of promoters. A genetic screen for activators of the novel motifs revealed that the transcription factor Gcn4p plays an essential and previously unrecognized role in the UPR: Gcn4p and its activator Gcn2p are required for induction of a majority of UPR target genes during ER stress. Both Hac1p and Gcn4p bind target gene promoters to stimulate transcriptional induction. Regulation of Gcn4p levels in response to changing physiological conditions may function as an additional means to modulate the UPR. The discovery of a role for Gcn4p in the yeast UPR reveals an additional level of complexity and demonstrates a surprising conservation of the signaling circuit between yeast and metazoan cells

A uracil nitroso amine based colorimetric sensor for the detection of Cu²⁺ ions from aqueous environment and its practical applications

A simple uracil nitroso amine based colorimetric chemosensor (UNA-1) has been synthesized and screened for its cation recognition ability. Sensor UNA-1 exhibited a high sensitivity and selectivity towards Cu²⁺ ions in aqueous medium in the presence of a wide range of other competing cations (Ag⁺, Al³⁺, Ba²⁺+, Ca²⁺, Cd²⁺, Co²⁺, Cr³⁺, Cs⁺, Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, Li⁺, Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺, Na⁺, Ni²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺, Hg²⁺ and Sr²⁺). With Cu²⁺, the sensor UNA-1 gave a distinct color change from colorless to dark yellow by forming a complex of 1:1 stoichiometry. Furthermore, sensor UNA-1 was successfully utilized in the preparation of test strips and supported silica for the detection of Cu²⁺ ions from aqueous environment

AGN driven perturbations in the intra-cluster medium of cool core cluster ZwCl 2701

We present the results obtained from a total of 123 ks X-ray (Chandra) and 8 hrs of 1.4 GHz radio (Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope - GMRT) observations of the cool core cluster ZwCl 2701 (z = 0.214). These observations of ZwCl 2701 showed the presence of an extensive pair of ellipsoidal cavities along the East and West directions within the central region < 20 kpc. Detection of bright rims around the cavities suggested that the radio lobes displaced X-ray emitting hot gas forming shell-like structures. The total cavity power (mechanical power) that directly heated the surrounding gas and cooling luminosity of the cluster were estimated to be ~2.27 x 10^{45} erg\s and 3.5 x 10^{44} erg\s, respectively. Comparable values of cavity power and cooling luminosity of ZwCL 2701 suggested that the mechanical power of the AGN outburst is large enough to balance the radiative cooling in the system. The star formation rate derived from the H_alpha luminosity was found to be ~0.60 M_sun yr^{-1} which is about three orders of magnitude lower than the cooling rate of ~196 M_sun yr^{-1}. Detection of the floor in entropy profile of ZwCl 2701 suggested the presence of an alternative heating mechanism at the centre of the cluster. Lower value of the ratio (~10^{-2}) between black hole mass accretion rate and Eddington mass accretion rate suggested that launching of jet from the super massive black hole is efficient in ZwCl 2701. However, higher value of ratio (~10^{3}) between black hole mass accretion rate and Bondi accretion rate indicated that the accretion rate required to create cavities is well above the Bondi accretion rate.Comment: 13 Pages, 11 Figures, 2 Tables, Accepted for publication in MNRA