Impact of Rural Development Scheme on Availability of Agricultural Labour — A Study of Dairy Farmers in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu

This study conducted in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, has indentified the problems being faced by dairy farmers due to scarcity of farm labour for agricultural and livestock production. The study is based on the data collected from 40 selected respondents involved in crop production and dairying in the study area during the year 2008-09 through primary survey. The study has revealed that the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has provided employment opportunities to rural workers and has checked the migration of farm labour from villages to cities and nearby industrial townships. All the eligible family member of landless dairy farmers had the job cards, but medium and large dairy farmers possessing agricultural land, prefer to work at their own farms. These farmers have reported that they were facing acute shortage of labourers during peak paddy planting and harvesting due to MGNREGS. The labour wages have increased significantly from Rs 60 to Rs110 per day since the implementation of MGNREG scheme. It has been observed that milch animals of some landless/ small dairy farmers are being maintained by the children or aged family members, as majority of adult family members prefer the MGNREGS jobs to earn wages. These adult members have complained about not getting 100-day wage employment as per provisions of scheme. The wage payments are also delayed after completion of work and they face problems in getting the job cards. The study has concluded that the minimum wages under MGNREGS should be increased cautiously keeping in view its impact on agricultural/ livestock activities.MGNREGS, Agricultural labour, Labour demand, Labour wage rates, Rural – urban migration, Agricultural and Food Policy, J22, J23, J38, J39,

Dynamics of Team Teaching and Research in a Management School: Learning and Imperatives

This paper discusses the experience of team teaching to address the issues of integration of academic inputs by bringing multi-disciplinary perspective together and thereby enhance learning experience of participants. The paper delves on the process, events and outcome of team teaching by four faculty members at IIM Ahmedabad who collaborated in teaching, writing cases, and doing research for a period of more than three years. The experience has been summarized using the following dimensions: need for team-teaching, existing mechanisms and barriers, opportunities and potential, imperatives, fall-outs and challenges experienced in the process. The cohesion, trust and mutual respect are key imperatives. The other factors contributing to the success of team-teaching are strong felt need by the members for integration in programmes, complementary skills and experiences of team members, frequent programmes with integrated components that provided continuous opportunities for learning, co-location of the instructors, and off-site programmes that provided opportunities for close get-togethers. The autonomy granted by the institution to instructors and co-coordinators to design and execute learning opportunities was also instrumental in the success. In an environment where the rule of the game is individualism, forming teams creates fears of loss of importance and recognition. The experience shows that the competency of the members and the overall effectiveness of the tasks are strengthened if the team believes in “reciprocating interdependence”. This can be possible only if members allow themselves opportunities to experiment, improvise and review

The effect of rate design on power distribution reliability considering adoption of distributed energy resources

Electricity rates are a main driver for adoption of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) by private consumers. In turn, DERs are a major component of the reliability of energy access in the long run. Defining reliability indices in a paradigm where energy is generated both behind and in front of the meter is part of an ongoing discussion about the future role of utilities and system operators with many regulatory implications. This paper contributes to that discussion by analyzing the effect of rate design on the long term reliability indices of power distribution. A methodology to quantify this effect is proposed and a case study involving photovoltaic (PV) and storage technology adoption in California is presented. Several numerical simulations illustrate how electricity rates affect the grid reliability by altering dispatch and adoption of the DERs. We further document that the impact of rate design on reliability can be very different from the perspective of the utility versus that of the consumers. Our model affirms the positive connection between investments in DERs and the grid reliability and provides an additional tool to policy-makers for improving the reliability of the grid in the long term

Profiles of Cortisol, Triiodothyronine, Thyroxine and Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio as Stress Indicators in Swamp Buffaloes 15 Days Post-Transportation

Transportation may cause stress that affects livestock\u27s health. This research was conducted to observe the effect of transportation on the profiles of blood cortisol, triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and neutrophil/lymphocyte (N/L) ratio as stress indicators during 15 days post-transportation. Four females swamp buffaloes, 2-yr-old were used in this research. The animals were transported using an open truck, along 15 kilometers distance for 2 h. During acclimatization, the animals were fed grass twice a day and access to water ad libitum. Blood was collected at the time of arrival and everyday for 15 d post-transportation. Cortisol, T3 and T4were analyzed using Radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. Blood smears were also prepared and stained with Giemsa for leukocyte differential counts. Results showed a significant relation (P<0.05) between transport and an increase in cortisol and T4 level on day-1 post-transportation compared to the normal levels. The level of T3 was also increased on day-3 post-transportation. Total leukocyte counts were 8.91-18.83×10³/μL. Neutrophil, eosinophil, monocyte, and lymphocyte counts were 4.87-10.41×10³/μL, 0.66-1.75×10³/μL, 0.11-0.58×10³/μL, and 2.98-6.21×10³/μL, respectively. N/L ratio was 1.23-3.49 with >1.5 in average throughout the period of the research. It is concluded that transportation causes stress and therefore changes metabolic process

Utilization of Coconut Shell Liquid Smoke on Quail Performance at Grower Period

Antioxidants from coconut shell liquid smoke can overcome oxidative stress in quail. This study aims to analyze the effect of coconut shell liquid smoke (ACTK) on the performance of quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) during the grower period. The research method used a completely randomized designconsisting of 5 treatment levels with 3 replications, namely P0 (control), P1 (0.25 mL/L ACTK), P2 (0.50 mL/L ACTK), P3 (0.75 mL/L ACTK) and P4 (1 mL/L ACTK). Variables measured included initial body weight, final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, water intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR),morbidity, mortality, and income over feed quail cost (IOFQC). The results showed that giving ACTK had no significant effect (P>0.05) on feed intake, water intake, and body weight gain. The morbidity and mortality rates in this study were 0%. The best FCR value was obtained at P4 (4.28). The highest IOFQC value was at P4 (Rp 1.578,92). This study concludes that giving coconut shell liquid smoke to female quails during the grower period through drinking water had no significant effect on feed intake, water intake, and body weight gain. A dose of 1 mL/L of ACTK produced the best FCR and IOFQC values

Ethics in Organizations: The Case of Tata Steel

The concern for ethical decision-making among the regulators, social groups and managers has substantially increased since failure of some of the prominent business organizations like Shell and Enron owing to strong social condemn of some of their business practices. This paper reviews literature to address this concern by examining and discussing significant issues of ethical decision making in organizations. Literature shows that authors have frequently used ethics, morality and values interchangeably in the context of organizational behavior. Simultaneously, the research to examine the linkage of ethical decision-making with other organizational construct is inadequate. This paper tries to fill these gaps by distinguishing ethics, morality and values in organizational context and by developing a comprehensive framework of organizational ethical decision-making and behavior in organizations. The framework identifies three groups of variables, which significantly influence the ethical decision-making and behavior of individuals in organizations: a) moral intensity, b) intrinsic factors and c) extrinsic factors. The framework is used to analyze the implementation of Code of Conduct at Tata Steel. Based on the case and literature review few propositions are suggested. They explain the linkages of these variables with ethical decision-making could guide future research in this field. The framework will also help practicing managers to concentrate on key organizational issues to sustain long-term interests of the organizations.