Demand Versus Supply of Foodgrains in India: Implications to Food Security

The present paper addresses the issues namely (i) the present food supply and the trend for future, (ii) shift in food consumption pattern over years and (iii) food demand projection for the next three decades in the context of food security. The analysis reveals that increase in cereal production (mainly rice and wheat) but decline in the percentage share of coarse grains and pulses in total foodgrains production is witnessed since 1960s. India’s total foodgrain production has increased at an annual growth rate of 2.68 per cent since 1960-61. The increase in foodgrain production is mainly due to increase in yield (growth rate being 2.44 per cent as against growth rate of area being 0.17 per cent per annum during 1960-61 to 1998-99). To project the future foodgrains supply, past growth trend has been extrapolated. Based on this assumption, the foodgrain supply is expected to be about 245, 291 and 342 million tonnes by 2010, 2020 and 2030 AD, respectively. Shift in consumption pattern and future demand for food is analyzed for both rural and urban India. Per capita cereal consumption exhibited a declining trend over years in both rural and urban India. This decline is larger in rural India (12.19 %) than in urban India (5.43%) during the period under study. Increase in per capita income and urbanization has led to changes in the composition of the food basket, with consumers moving from coarse cereals to superior cereals (rice and wheat). The allocation of monthly per capita expenditure on food items showed structural shift in dietary pattern in favour of non-cereal food items such as fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, eggs and fish in both the areas. Future food demand is also projected which is based on factors such as growth in population, growth in per capita income, urbanization and consumption behaviour. For projecting population, it is assumed that the growth in population will decline by 0.05 per cent per year in future and urbanization will increase by 0.3 per cent per annum. However, production at the assumed growth rate may not increase in future because the past production growth factors in future may not work well in future also. Hence, in the absence of favorable past growth factors, the food supply to match the demand in future may be a matter of great concern for food security. To meet the demand, the increased production will have to be brought about mainly through increases in productivity as the possibility of area expansion is very minimal.Food Security and Poverty, Productivity Analysis,

A State of the Art of Self Help Groups in India

This paper considers the strategies of self help group for micro-enterprise development in rural areas. It seeks to answer the question of whether and under which conditions self help groups are an effective vehicle for organizing and representing local people in the development of community based micro-enterprises. Focusing particularly on examples from India in the context of food as a local resource, special attention is paid to success and failure factors of self help groups. While self help group strategies have been applied in the past as a blind replication of success models without considering the intricacies involved in group formation, success of self help groups is based on a thorough understanding of local conditions and possibilities to intervene

Rainwater harvesting, alternative to the water supply in Indian urban areas : The case of Ahmedabad in Gujarat

Water scarcity is a characteristic of north-western states of India, such as Gujarat. Over time, the continuous increase of the population as well as the financial, administrative and technical deficiencies of the new supply system have lead to the deterioration of the water service in the city. In the meantime, the water demand has considerably increased due to the improvement of standards of living. This has resulted in an increasing pressure on underground water resources, which has lead to an alarming depletion of aquifers. From this overall situation arises the question of the use of complementary alternative sources of water in Ahmedabad and more particularly of the rehabilitation of the rainwater harvesting structures still existing in its old city area. The objective of the research is to evaluate to what extent this traditional system may constitute an additional source of water within the Old city of Ahmedabad and may locally reduce the pressure on water demand, assuming that the existing supply system does not fulfil the needs of the users. The results of an exploratory field study conducted in the Old city in 2001-02, which combined quantitative and qualitative aspects, give an outlook on people's opinions and behaviors regarding both systems. Finally, the rehabilitation of rainwater harvesting structures in the Old city of Ahmedabad suggests the necessity of empowering local structures of water management (households, non governmental association) in semi-arid urban areas to create the conditions for a sustainable implementation.rainwater harvesting ; water supply ; water scarcity ; water management ; Ahmedabad Old City ; Pol ; Gujarat ; India

On the Flow of a Dusty Fluid

The present paper deals with the flow of a fluid with uniform distribution of dust particles in two parts. In part A, the motion induced in the dusty fluid is considered in the case when the plane moves parallel to itself impulsively from rest with uniform velocity; for this case, the velocity profiles of fluid as well as dust particles are obtained. In part B, the flow is produced by the motion of cylinders. Two cases are taken : (i) cylinders moving exponentially with time and, (ii) cylinders moving in simple harmonic motion

Uranium Mill Trailings Geotechnical Investigations - A Case History

Uranium mill tailings at Union Carbide Corporation\u27s mining and mill complex at Uravan, Colorado, are deposited in two tailings piles along a steep hillside. The tailings are deposited in slurry form, allowed to decant, and the decant liquid removed for recycling in the milling operation. The impoundment dikes are raised using the coarser portion of the tailings in an upstream method of construction. At the time of the study, the height of the tailings piles was in excess of 100 feet. Continued use of these piles necessitated a detailed geotechnical stability evaluation and design of stabilizing measures in order to maintain safety factors and meet regulatory requirements. Any failure of these slopes could have serious consequences. This paper discusses the geotechnical evaluation of the tailings piles, design and construction of the stabilizing measures, and the performance of the tailings pile slopes. The work was performed to meet the requirements set by the Colorado Department of Health, a State of Colorado agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the United States, which acted as consultant and reviewer to the Department of Health. These regulatory agencies conducted a detailed review of the design and construction activities. Since the construction of the stabilizing berms, a regular monitoring program has been in effect. The data collected to date indicate that the performance of the slopes has been satisfactory

Comparative clinical study of Alambushadi Churna and Dwipanchmuladya Tail Basti in the management of Amavata vis-a–vis Rheumatoid Arthritis

In Ayurvedic text book, Amavata symptom is mentioned as swelling, joint pain, numbness, appetite loss, indigestion and fever. In Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita, Amavata is mentioned as a syndrome called Vatavyadhi, a diverse group of symptoms that are organized according to the systemic and local manifestations of Vata Dosha. According to the Charaka Samhita of Vatavyadhi, when Vata affects the Asthi and Majja there is painful swelling and immobility of the joints. Hence clinical study is planned to evaluate effect of Alambushadi Churna and in the Management of Amavata for that 60 Patients having classical symptomatology of Amavata have been selected from Kayachikitsa OPD and IPD of Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and divided in two groups. Results of study shows that the sign and symptoms e.g., Loss of appetite, Angamarda, Alasya etc. due to derangement of Aam are observed to be improved in by Alambushadi Churna oral dose compared to Methotrexate

North American Symposium on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: Introduction to the feature issue

This feature issue highlights the topics presented at the 2009 North American Symposium on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, in New Orleans, Louisiana, held 13-15 July 2009. © 2010 Optical Society of America

Effects of Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique on Mental Skills of Volleyball Players

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of progressive muscle relaxation technique on mental skills of volleyball players. To obtain data for this study, the investigators had selected 20 male subjects were selected randomly from L.N.U.P.E volleyball match practice group in which 10 subjects were in experimental group and 10 subjects acted as control group. The purposive sampling technique was used to obtain the required data. To measure the level of mental skills of the subjects, the mental skills questionnaire constructed by Hardy and Nelson was administered. Analysis of covariance was used to determine significant differences for dependent variables within the two groups. When a significant difference among the group was observed, a pair wise comparison of the groups was done by using post-hoc test to indentify direction and significant differences between the groups. The level of significance was set at 0.05 in order to test the differences to be considered significant. The results revealed that progressive muscular relaxation technique was effective in improving the imagery ability, mental preparation and concentration ability and mental skill of subjects. Though the pre-test and post-test mean difference between control groups has shown marginal improvement as mean difference was found respectively

Sentiment analysis of products’ reviews containing English and Hindi texts

YesThe online shopping is increasing rapidly because of its convenience to buy from home and comparing products from their reviews written by other purchasers. When people buy a product, they express their emotions about that product in the form of review. In Indian context, it is found that the reviews contain Hindi text along with English. It is also found that most of the Hindi text contains opinionated words like bahut achha, bakbas, pesa wasool etc. We have tried to find out different Hindi texts appearing in product reviews written on Indian E-commerce portals. We have also developed a system which takes all those reviews containing Hindi as well as English texts and find out the sentiment expressed in that review for each attribute of the product as well as a final review of the product

Effects of high-temperature environments on flaw generation and fracture behavior of SiC/SiC composites

Flaw generation and fracture behavior of Nicalon-fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composites are influenced by high temperatures. Therefore, the authors evaluated the effects of temperature by measuring the strength of these composites at several temperatures ranging from 800 to 1,300 C, and by characterizing their microstructure. While composite strength increased from {approx}400 MPa at room temperature to {approx}532 MPa at 800 C, it decreased to {approx}270 MPa at 1,300 C. Such degradation of composite strength at high temperature is believed to be partly due to fiber degradation. In-situ fiber strength of composites tested at room and elevated temperatures was estimated by fractographic techniques. The in-situ strength of fibers in composites was significantly lower than that of as-received fibers. This decrease is believed to be related to flaws that develop during processing and to exposure to elevated-temperature service environments