Health Risk Perceptions, Awareness and Handling Behaviour of Pesticides by Farm Workers

The level of awareness regarding pesticide use/ handling has been reported in the farms of Kerala and the same has been compared with the adoption pattern and experiences of health risk episodes, in a society with high level of literacy. The understanding on various aspects of pesticide-use has revealed better awareness in certain aspects and poor understanding in certain others. The workers have not been given adequate training to understand the toxicity level by looking at the colour code on the packet, though they have been found aware about the different options available in the market. Often their perceptions of toxicity level of chemicals they handle are not in conformity with the actual situation; they have been found handling toxic chemicals considering them to be safe ones. Despite a high literacy level, most of them do not care to read the instructions and follow them. The study has found that a majority of the respondents are of satisfactory health status by the body mass index values. The short-term health risk upon occupational exposure has been reported very common; its frequency increases as one gets more years of experience in the work. It has been attributed to their inadequate understanding of the toxicity levels, unscientific handling practices and poor personal protective mechanism. The study has highlighted the need for targeted trainings to farm labourers besides farmers on the scientific management of pesticides and undertaking of massive awareness generation programmes.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Is Irrigation Water only Used for Irrigation? An Enquiry into the Alternative Uses and an Attempt on Valuation

Irrigation sector investments in Kerala have been mounting since Independence, but the financial performance of these investments has been far from satisfactory. In an era of growing divergence in water supply and demand, the emergence of water markets is imminent. This calls for a realistic pricing strategy for water use, whether in agriculture or other sectors. The canal water though targeted at the agriculture sector, is often put to non-irrigation uses. This paper has discussed a method to quantify the non-irrigation uses of canal water and has assessed the value of the same, based on a sample study in Peechi Irrigation Command Area in Thrissur district of Kerala, India . The value has been assessed for the water used directly for irrigation from the canal system, water used through the recharge facility from the canal and non-irrigation uses (domestic).Agricultural and Food Policy,

Los recursos de los refugiados tamiles de Sri Lanka en la India

Un grupo de refugiados de Sri Lanka ha ofrecido ayuda espontánea y continuada a su comunidad de acogida india cuando ésta la ha necesitado

Pesticide Use in the Rice Bowl of Kerala: Health Costs and Policy Options

This study examines pesticide use in Kuttanad, India, an economically sensitive area often referred to as the rice bowl of Kerala. Using primary data collected from pesticide applicators and farm labor, the study assesses short-term health costs associated with pesticide exposure. The study finds that the toxicity level and dose of pesticides can exert a significant effect on the health of pesticide applicators. The average expected health costs from pesticide exposure are Rs. 38 (US $ 0.86) per day or 24% approximately a quarter of the average daily earnings of the applicator. // The study finds that health costs can be mitigated considerably by reducing the dose of pesticides used. For examples, a 25% reduction in either the does of the most toxic chemical used, or in all pesticide doses, results in a 16% and 24% reduction in health costs respectively. A 24% reduction in costs can be realized if all pesticide doses are reduced by 25%. Dose reduction is a desirable and feasible strategy that can be achieved either by restricting the quantity of pesticide used or by diluting the amount sprayed with the recommended levels of water. Less than 2% of the applicators understood the toxicity levels of the pesticides they used. Thus, there is ample scope for reducing pesticide exposure through training and agricultural extension services

An unusual bilateral variation of musculocutaneous nerve.

Musculocutaneous nerve arises from the lateral cord (C5,6,7) of brachial plexus. Communications between the branches of brachial plexus are not so common. During routine dissection, we observed bilateral variation in 60-year-old female cadaver. In the present case, median nerve represented as a musculocutaneous nerve which supplied biceps brachii and brachialis, further continued into forearm as lateral cutaneous nerve of forearm on the right arm. This branch did not pass through coracobrachialis muscle but the coracobrachialis was innervated by a branch from lateral cord of brachial plexus. We also observed an abnormal communicating branch between the musculocutaneous and median nerve on left side of the arm. These kinds of variations are important for surgeons while performing surgeries of axilla and upperlimb

How well do India's social service programs serve the poor?

Reaching India's poor calls for greatly improved social service delivery systems, better targeting of the poor, more coordination between agencies, policies aimed at income generation, and more involvement of the poor and of nongovernmental organizations. The authors of this paper found that India's social services were used relatively little by the poor. The health and education of the poor has improved but not as much for the population as a whole. The reasons that all social service programs did so little to alleviate poverty are similar. Physical access to education and health services has improved but inequalities exist because of biases in locating facilities. The access of the poor to housing, social security, and social welfare services has been limited because these services were inadequate relative to needs and because services leak to the nonpoor. Social service policies are not comprehensive enough and the quality of services is low. Issues common to the social sector delivery systems are weak management, ineffective targeting, and inflexible service delivery systems that result in a mismatch between perceived needs and services delivered. The bureaucracy is inadequate to reach the poor. Existing capacity and resources are inadequate, particularly for education and health.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,Safety Nets and Transfers,Rural Poverty Reduction

Komunikasi dan Publisitas Ditinjau Dalam Komunikasi Massa

Keilmuan komunikasi tidak dapat dipungkiri adalah hasil dari beberapa teori keilmuan sosial. Dimana ilmu sosial adalah induk dari ilmu komunikasi. Kajian dan sumbangan pemikiran Auguste Comte, Durkhein, Talcott Parson dan Robert K. Merton merupakan sumbangan paradigma fungsional bagi lahirnya teori-teori komunikasi yang beraliran struktural-fungsional. Sumbangan-sumbangan pemikiran Karl Marx dan Habermas menyumbangkan paradigma konflik bagi lahirnya teori-teori konflik dan teori kritis dalam kajian ilmu komunikasi. (Burhan Bungin, 2008: 235) Perkembangan ilmu komunikasi di Indonesia saat ini dipengaruhi oleh tiga paradigma besar, yaitu : Pertama, Paradigma Teori Konvensional, Kedua, Paradigma Kritis dan Perspektif Komunikasi, Ketiga, Paradigma Teknologi Media. Tulisan ini akan meninjau komunikasi dalam paradigma komunikasi massa

Pengaruh Kepimpinan Distributif Terhadap Motivasi Guru: Suatu Pemerhatian Awal

Amalan kepimpinan adalah antara salah satu elemen penting yang dalam menentukan kecemerlangan murid dan sekolah. Justeru itu, artikel ini memberi fokus pada ulasan tentang kepimpinan distributif dalam kalangan kepimpinan sekolah. Selain membincangkan konsep kepimpinan, teori-teori yang berkaitan, artikel ini turut membincangkan pengaruh kepimpinan distributif ke atas motivasi guru berdasarkan literatur lepas

Hubungan Karakteristik Dewan Komisaris Dan Perusahaan Terhadap Keberadaan Komite Manajemen Risiko Pada Perusahaan Go Public Indonesia

This study aims to examine the association between board of commisioner and firm characteristics to the existence of risk management committee (RMC) and type of RMC, whether it is combined or separated from audit committee. The board of commisioner and firm characteristics used in this study are independent commisioner, board size, auditor reputation, complexity, financial reporting risk, leverage, and firm size. Population consists of Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI)-listed companies from nonfinancial industry in 2007-2008. Sample was collected based on purposive sampling, and resulted 248 companies as a final sample. Data was collected from the annual report, and was analysed with logistic regression. The results, based on logistic regression analyses, indicated that firm size has a positive and significant association with the existence of RMC and separated RMC. The other variables (independent commisioner, board size, auditor reputation, complexity, financial reporting risk, leverage) have no significant association with the existence of RMC and separated RMC.Keywords: risk management committee, corporate governance, firm characteristics---Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji hubungan karakteristik dewan komisaris dan Perusahaan terhadap keberadaan risk management committee (RMC) dan tipe RMC yang dibentuk, apakah tergabung ataukah terpisah dengan komite audit. Karakteristik dewan komisaris dan Perusahaan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini meliputi komisaris independen, ukuran dewan, reputasi auditor, kompleksitas, risiko pelaporan keuangan, leverage, dan ukuran Perusahaan. Populasi yang digunakan adalah Perusahaan non-finansial yang terdaftar pada Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) tahun 2007-2008. Sampel diambil dengan purposive sampling dan menghasilkan sampel akhir sebanyak 248 Perusahaan. Data diambil dari laporan tahunan Perusahaan dan dianalisis dengan alat analisis regresi logistik. Hasil dari regresi logistik menunjukkan bahwa ukuran Perusahaan secara signifikan berhubungan positif terhadap keberadaan RMC dan tipe RMC yang terpisah (SRMC). Sedangkan variabel lainnya (komisaris independen, ukuran dewan, reputasi auditor, kompleksitas, risiko pelaporan keuangan, leverage) tidak berhubungan signifikan dengan keberadaan RMC dan RMC yang terpisah (SRMC)