Trade barriers: Implications for Indian Fisheries Sector

The fisheries sector of Indian economy provides livelihood to millions of poor households located in the coastal belt of the country. These households generate income through harvest, marketing and export of marine fishes and fish products. From the point of view of employment and income generation, international trade plays significant role. In many ways, fish as a food commodity is treated as a poor sister to agriculture. In many developing countries including India, prosperity of the fisheries sector relies largely on the international trade. It is the trade aspect of the sector that would be the focus of this paper. Even though India’s trade share in this sector is only 2.64 per cent in 2006–07 to the total global trade (with total global trade amounting to about US$ 70 billion1), in rupee terms it constitute a non trivial amount of Rs 83630 million. The country faces both tariff and non-tariff barriers in fish trade and is imposing high tariff in case of imports. India till now has a restrictive stand as far as fish import is concerned, while countries open up their markets for India. Given such varied economic and political dimensions, it is necessary to take a stock of the present situation. This assumes all the more importance in the light of the proposed trade agreement with many countries and trade blocks. This article makes an attempt to analyse the aspects of international trade in Indian fisheries sector in the light of World Trade Organization (WTO)

Financial analysis of fisheries project analysis - a case study

In the paper, author analyzes the needfol'8 !:letter understanding of financial aspects of project by undergoing a case study in processing plant in Kerala; discuss the various tools used for quantifying the project based on costs and benefits and its key role in estimating actual benefits. This includes Discounted' cash flow methods such as Discounted Payback Period, Discounted Benefit cost ratio, Net Present value (NPV), Internal Rate of returns, etc. It highlights the importance of time value of money, a major factor that must be given adequate attention while analyzing the projects. Since investment decisions are irreversible, poor project analysis will lead to considerable wastage of money, time, and energy. Thus one must invest in any Fisheries project only after thorough and careful analysis using these financial tools, considering the unique characteristics of Fisheries sector

Stellar Dynamics at the Galactic Center with an Extremely Large Telescope

We discuss experiments achievable via monitoring of stellar dynamics near the massive black hole at the Galactic center with a next generation, extremely large telescope (ELT). Given the likely observational capabilities of an ELT and current knowledge of the stellar environment at the Galactic center, we synthesize plausible samples of stellar orbits around the black hole. We use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to evaluate the constraints that orbital monitoring places on the matter content near the black hole. Results are expressed as functions of the number N of stars with detectable orbital motions and the astrometric precision dtheta and spectroscopic precision dv at which stellar proper motions and radial velocities are monitored. For N = 100, dtheta = 0.5 mas, and dv = 10 km/s -- a conservative estimate of the capabilities of a 30 meter telescope -- the extended matter distribution enclosed by the orbits will produce measurable deviations from Keplerian motion if >1000 Msun is enclosed within 0.01 pc. The black hole mass and distance to the Galactic center will be measured to better than ~0.1%. Lowest-order relativistic effects, such as the prograde precession, will be detectable if dtheta < 0.5 mas. Higher-order effects, including frame dragging due to black hole spin, requires dtheta < 0.05 mas, or the favorable discovery of a compact, highly eccentric orbit. Finally, we calculate the rate at which monitored stars undergo detectable nearby encounters with background stars. Such encounters probe the mass function of stellar remnants that accumulate near the black hole. We find that ~30 encounters will be detected over a 10 yr baseline for dtheta = 0.5 mas.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures; discussion no longer aperture-specific (TMT -> ELT), matches ApJ versio

Economic Analysis of Fish Drying Units in Kozhikode, Kerala

A very rapid loss in quality can occur in the case of fish, after catch, as it is an extremely perishable commodity and hence, the proven preservation method of drying which is the least expensive method of food preservation is still being practiced in India. Even though it is a simple and cheap method, it has great significance in the socioeconomic system of fisher folks, as the dried fish is having remunerative market within the country and abroad. In this backdrop, the present study was conducted to analyse the economics of the fish drying process as a value addition method. The study is carried out by using the primary data collected from ten fish drying processors selected randomly from the fish drying yards of Puthiyapa coastal area of Kozhikode district in Kerala. The specific objectives were to assess the overall process of drying, seasonality, species used for drying, quantum of drying, etc along with the analysis of cost and earnings of the process. The study reveals the improper and unscientific conventional drying method followed at the study area which can cause serious health hazards. The study also suggest the need for developing fish drying facility which could augment income during fish surplus by imparting better utilities over time, form and space

Conflict Management

Conflict management is the process of limiting the negative aspects of conflict while increasing the positive aspects of conflict. The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance in organizational setting Conflict happens all the time. It is the part of everyday life and it can happen to anyone on all age groups. Many of us face some form of conflict on a daily basis. It could be something as simple as what to eat for breakfast or much more complicated, like an argument between two co-workers. People have different preferences, habits, and opinions—sometimes those differences create conflict People often feel reluctant to get involved in a conflict situation. Unfortunately, conflicts are rarely self-healing conditions. Because of the increasing diversity of life, we’re seeing more conflict than ever before. Conflict can be a positive or negative experience. What makes the difference is the ability to deal with and resolve conflict which is important in this present world

Decision making in optimal production across farm / firms

Decision making in optimal production across farm / firm

Leadership - Qualities, Skills

An effective leader is generally someone who leads by example and other people just tend to follow because they believe what they do is the right thing. There a lot of ways to lead a team of people; but while not everyone might agree on the most effective type, we can all agree that the performance of the team heavily relies on its leader. On the most basic level, leadership styles can be categorized as being manipulative, authoritative, or attractive. While all of these styles might get the job done

Dynamic mechanical analysis of Dwimatrix Biopolymer from waste oil blended with thermoplastic; LDPE/HDPE

This paper presents results from an experimental study on the dynamic mechanical and viscoelastic properties of Biopolymer (BP) from Waste vegetable oils (WVO) blended with two types of thermoplastic polyethylene (PE) which are Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). BP blended containing 10–30wt.% of BP were injection moulded. MDI were used as crosslinker agent for modifying the matrices. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of the blended were performed over a temperature range of 30–120°C for BL and 30-140°C for BH under frequency of 1 Hz. DMA revealed no noticeable changes in a-transition temperature when the BP content was increased or were added. The BP blended revealed better temperature resistance at higher BP content. However, the increase in storage modulus was negligible at BL10 and BH20; due to the agglomeration of the BP. The results of the damping ratio analysis revealed that higher interfacial bonding was achieved by addition of MDI crosslinker agent