The Transformation of Rejection into Resistance: Usha Ganguli’s Selected Plays

Resistance is one kind of protest against the domination and oppression. Usha Ganguli, the renowned theatre director, actor and playwright cum activist walks through the same path and gives voice to the so called “subaltern” who can ultimately resist and speak when they are thrust into neglected world by patriarchy. In this paper, I would like to go through her selected plays (Hum Mukhtara and Rudali). Both are the story of marginalized women who do not cow down to the circumstances, but they raise their voice against exploitation. Ganguli’s plays give a vivid account of the vast human spirit to overcome obstacles and gain economic and political liberation, thus leading to the empowerment of oppressed and marginalized. In this paper, I want to show how the women discover their own way of dominion upon the so called upper classes and how the rejected one transforms into resistant one.&nbsp

Marginality and Violence in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

‘Marginalization’ is a process of segregation of the socio-culturally, economically, politically and religiously underprivileged group. Marginalization is an inequitable behaviour towards the minorities and weaker sections of the society by the majorities or stronger sections. Dalits, untouchables, tribals, muslims, transgenders and female are generally regarded as marginal or peripheral. So, they are vulnerable to exploitation. Arundhati Roy’s latest novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a registered account of violence on the marginals.  The novel incarnates the lynching of thousand minorities in Gujrat riot in 2002, mass slaughtering of three dalit men on the rumour of cow slaughtering, the disrespectful demolition and humiliation of an untouchable soldier S. Murugesan’s statue for the audacious erection on the edge of touchable’s village, the eviction and execution of tribal in Operation Green Hunt in 2009, and humiliation, rejection and segregated life of Transgenders. The novel unfolds the upliftment of Hindutva and their atrocities on the non- Hindus. The objective of this paper is to portray the plight of marginal people in caste ridden India and the violence coming into their life physically and mentally

Potential Approach Of Mushrooms In Bioremediation –A Short Review

One of the biggest environmental problems facing the world today is the soil contamination caused by industrialization and the widespread use of chemicals. "Bioremediation" is an affordable and ecologically beneficial cleanup method that employs microorganisms to swiftly and efficiently break down dangerous pollutants. Substances that are toxic are changed into less harmful forms. The ability of fungi to change a variety of hazardous compounds has led to the possibility of using them in bioremediation. Mushroom-foring fungi, mostly basidiomycetes, are some of the natural most powerful decomposers due to their quick development and huge biomass output. They also emit strong extracellular enzymes. Among these enzymes are lignin peroxidases, laccase, and manganese peroxidase. Several mushrooms have been used to remove contaminants from contaminated environments, including Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Phanerochaete chrysosporium Trametes versicolor. Bioremediation has made use of Lentinus squarrosulus, Pleurotus tuber-regium, P. ostreatus, and P. pulmonarius. This paper highlights the use of mushrooms for bioremediation as well as applying fungal mycelia in bioremediation, in general referred to as myco-remediation. A brief summary of the future of using mushrooms for bioremediation is also provided

Aquatic Plants in phytoremediation of contaminated water: Recent knowledge and future prospects

The increase of heavy metals in natural resources, including land and water has been rapidly raised due to a variety of natural methods, higher agricultural activities, contaminated irrigation water, speedy industrial development, amplified industrial wastes and mining. Heavy metals (HM) are able to remain in the environment longer time and go in the food chain, and ultimately accumulate in humans for biomagnification since they are not biodegradable. HMs contamination is extremely dangerous for humans and the ecology due to its poisonous nature. Traditional methods of cleanup are expensive and could harm the environment. Therefore, phytoremediation is an alternate method via plants to eliminate toxic HMs from the atmosphere as well as to avoid additional contamination, due to its environment-friendly, economic, efficient, exclusive and cost-effective approach. Aquatic plants can be utilized to decontaminate the contaminated sites as they are not food crops, thus reducing the danger of food chain contamination. Here, sources of HMs and their impact on human health have been briefly discussed. Several phytoremediation techniques and factors affecting the phytoremediation methods are also described. In addition, different strategies to decontaminate the metal-polluted water using aquatic plants are also reviewed. Finally, future perspectives for usages of aquatic plants in phytoremediation techniques were briefly summarised

A review on phytoremediation capability of Tagetes erecta Linn. against heavy metals

Now a days, Phytoremediation is treated as a set of emerging techniques that use several selected plants to contain, eradicate, immobilize or degrade contaminants from water and soil in order to clean the contaminated sites. Recent researches have directed to the application of non-edible floriculture plants having the capability to erase the toxic metals from polluted environment including their aesthetic value as a good proposal for phytoremediation. The plant Tagetes erecta Linn., locally recognized as Ganda Phul (Marigold) that belongs to the family of Asteraceae can grow widely in heavy metal stress of Cd, Cr, Pb etc. The plant species can absorb and accumulate varieties of contaminated heavy metals like Pb, Cr, As, Cd, Co, Hg etc. This article includes a brief overview about the toxic impact of the Cr, Cd, and Pb on the plant. In addition, the discussion highlights recent progress on the application of phytoremediation competence of the plant, Tagetes erecta Linn. concerning with the heavy metals

Ornamental Plant in phytoremediation of contaminated soils: Recent progress and future directions

Increasing anthropogenic practices for industrialization and rapid gloalization have contributed to problems of metal – induced toxicity, results in severe environmental deterioration. In the current scenario, heavy- metals contamination is a major threat to living beings of the world because of these toxic metals persist in the environment for a prolong time.   The phytoremediation is considered as a suitable process in present days to eliminate heavy-metals from environment as its cost- effectiveness, eco-friendliness etc. In the field of phytoremediation, the ornamental plants can be used for dual purpose – cleaning the environment and bringing the aesthetic value to the site. The ornamental plant is used as a test plant because of their high biomass and accumulate more heavy metal concentration from the soil. Moreover, as ornamental plants are not edible, so the risk of biomagnifications and bioaccumulation into the food web is reduced. This comprehensive review highlights recent progress on the applicability and advantages of ornamental plant for the phytoremediation potential in heavy- metals contaminated soil. In addition, briefly discuss on several factors that affecting the phytoremediation techniques of heavy metals and addressed their future directions for sustainable treatment of heavy metals. &nbsp

Quantum noise limited microwave amplification using a graphene Josephson junction

Josephson junctions (JJ) and their tunable properties, including their nonlinearities, form the core of superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED). In quantum circuits, low-noise amplification of feeble microwave signals is essential and the Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPA) are the widely used devices. The existing JPAs are based on Al-AlOx-Al tunnel junctions realized in a superconducting quantum interference device geometry, where magnetic flux is the knob for tuning the frequency. Recent experimental realizations of 2D van der Waals JJs provide an opportunity to implement various cQED devices with the added advantage of tuning the junction properties and the operating point using a gate potential. While other components of a possible 2D van der Waals cQED architecture have been demonstrated -- quantum noise limited amplifier, an essential component, has not been realized. Here we implement a quantum noise limited JPA, using a graphene JJ, that has linear resonance gate tunability of 3.5 GHz. We report 24 dB amplification with 10 MHz bandwidth and -130 dBm saturation power; performance on par with the best single-junction JPAs. Importantly, our gate tunable JPA works in the quantum-limited noise regime which makes it an attractive option for highly sensitive signal processing. Our work has implications for novel bolometers -- the low heat capacity of graphene together with JJ nonlinearity can result in an extremely sensitive microwave bolometer embedded inside a quantum noise-limited amplifier. In general, our work will open up exploration of scalable device architecture of 2D van der Waals materials by integrating a sensor with the quantum amplifier.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, and supplementary informatio

Preliminary studies of surface water quality in Damodar River basin (West Bengal, India)

The purpose of the research was to study the main parameters of the chemical composition of surface water and its quality in the Damodar River basin near the Durgapur city where the surface water is used for water supply of the local community. During fieldwork water of the Damodar River, its tributaries (Tamla River and small streams - receivers of industrial wastewater and drainage water) and the Maithon Reservoir was sampled from the layer 0.1-0.5 m. Preliminary studies have shown that the main pollutants in the study area are organic compounds, ammonium, phosphate and fluoride ions. Deterioration of water quality in some sampling points is connected with a low content of dissolved oxygen and high concentrations of nitrite, chloride and sulfate ions

Preliminary studies of surface water quality in Damodar River basin (West Bengal, India)

The purpose of the research was to study the main parameters of the chemical composition of surface water and its quality in the Damodar River basin near the Durgapur city where the surface water is used for water supply of the local community. During fieldwork water of the Damodar River, its tributaries (Tamla River and small streams - receivers of industrial wastewater and drainage water) and the Maithon Reservoir was sampled from the layer 0.1-0.5 m. Preliminary studies have shown that the main pollutants in the study area are organic compounds, ammonium, phosphate and fluoride ions. Deterioration of water quality in some sampling points is connected with a low content of dissolved oxygen and high concentrations of nitrite, chloride and sulfate ions