Village Knowledge Centers and the Use of GIS-derived Products in Enhancing Micro-level Drought Preparedness: a Case study from South Central India

Drought affects hundreds of millions of people in the developing world and causes serious disruption of social and economic activities. Preparedness is better than relief and information is the backbone of drought preparedness. In this paper we report the results from a study in the use of GIS- derived products to assess micro-level drought vulnerability, taking a cluster of 17 villages in the South Central India as the study area. An internet-connected rural information center, linked to village knowledge centers, played a key role in testing the utility of this product, and the associated local-level predictions for seasonal rainfall

Rural Knowledge Centers: Partners in Promoting a New ODL Paradigm

It is called a Rural Knowledge Center (RKC), Village Information Center (VIC) or a Community Learning and Information Center (CLIC). It is a new institution in the Indian rural milieu. It is a one-stop center of the village where community members can be assisted with information ranging from how to manage pod borer infestation in their pigeonpea crop to what are the government schemes currently in operation his/her village. These are increasingly seen as vehicles of capacity building and educational change in rural India. Home to nearly 65% of the countr

Contemporary Information and Knowledge Management: Impact on Farming in India

Farming is an important part of Indian economy and it involves a wide range of stakeholders, of whom the small holder farmers are the largest group. Information sharing on new production processes with farmers was prominent in the ‘sixties which was key to the success of the Green Revolution. Agricultural extension, the process of enabling farmers and experts to exchange information with each other, has since been institutionalized to a high degree and is assessed to be not as effective as it had been a generation back. The advent of digital, technology-mediated information and knowledge management was thought to offer significant new opportunities for knowledge exchange in Indian farming as a whole. These hopes led to the launching of a number of initiatives in different parts of India, which has emerged as the host of the largest number of rural development projects where contemporary information and communication technology (ICT) play a pivotal role. While analyzing the outputs of such initiatives, many studies have pointed out that farming is not a priority concern of most of them. On the other hand, we can notice a non-complimentary strand of ICT in agriculture projects operated by a number of institutions with ICT resources playing a key role in some of them. These efforts, generally speaking, do not promote user participation in information flows quite unlike the contemporary trends

Improved livelihoods and building resilience in the semi-arid tropics: science-led, knowledge-based watershed management

Rainfed agriculture (1.25 billion hectares out of 1.55 billion hectares arable area) plays an important role globally in improving livelihoods and food security as it covers 63 per cent of total agriculture in Asia and 97 per cent in Africa. These areas are not only the hotspots of poverty but are also food insecure, hotspots of malnutrition, water scarcity, prone to severe land degradation and more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.1 With increasing demand for food production to meet the needs of the growing population (9 billion by 2050), growing incomes and changing food habits, water scarcity will also intensify. The per-capita availability of water has declined considerably; for example, in India water availability was 1,820 cubic metres per person in 2001 compared to 5,177 cubic metres in 1951, and it is expected to decrease further to 1,341 cubic metres by 2025 and 1140 cubic metres by 2050

White Paper: Shifting the goal post - from high impact journals to high impact data

The purpose of this white paper is to provide an overview of the ongoing initiatives at center level to respond to changing public expectations and to the challenge of improving the conduct of science by making research data widely available. We also attempt to provide a framework for implementing open access for research data to maximize CGIAR’s impact on development. The remainder of this paper proceeds as follows; firstly a summary of the diversity of research data produced by the centers is given, followed by an overview of the existing infrastructure for data management for each Center. Secondly, some of the limitations and barriers faced by the centers in their process to mainstream research data publishing are addressed. The paper concludes with recommendations for how these limitations and barriers can be tackled

Chemical oceanographic studies on the Bay of Bengal - North of Visakhapatnam

Data on hydrography, nutrients, fluoride, primary productivity and trace metals were obtained from 16 stations during the 128 cruise of R.V. Gaveshani in Bay of Bengal - North of Visakhapatnam. The mixed surface layer (0-50m) was associated with high dissolved oxygen and low nutricnt concentrations. The intermediate layer (100-500m) was marked by a steep raise in nutrient concentration and oxygen minimum indicating an active zone of decomposition of organic matter. N:P ratio in the upper 100m was considerably lower than that in the depth range of 1000-2000m where it was almost constant (6.0 to 7.0). The overall concentration of fluoride and F/Cl ratio obtained in the present study are some what lower than those reported (could be attributed to the dilution and removal of F by settling particles). Primary productivity was relatively lower than reported earlier for the Bay of Bengal which was attributed to the seasonal changes in productivity

Development of a High Pressure Ratio Axial Fan Stage with Non-metallic Rotor Blads

This project proposal is submitted to GATET at GTf :E for funding. The research programme envisages the Development of a high Pressure Ratio Axial Fan Stage with Non-metallic Rotor Blades for Small Gas Turbine Engine". The novelty of the Project is to demonstrate a 2: 1 pressure ratio in single stage fan with tip diameter of 316mm, rotor tip speed of 470 m/s and rotational speed of 28400 rpm