Indian agriculture and food security: problem and prospects

Agriculture plays an important role in the process of economic development of less developed countries like India. Besides providing food to nation, agriculture releases labour, provides saving, contributes to market of industrial goods and earns foreign exchange. Agricultural development is an integral part of overall economic development. In India, agriculture was the main source of national income and occupation at the time of Independence. Agriculture and allied activities contributed nearly 50 per cent to India’s national income. Around 72 percent of total working population was engaged in agriculture. Though Indian agriculture is very important, but it largely depends on the climate and weather conditions. India has Monsoon climate in which a year has been divided into two distinct seasons of summer and winter. Rainfall occurs mainly in summer. Solar radiation, temperature, and precipitation are the main drive of crop growth; therefore, agriculture has always been highly dependent on climate patterns and variations. It is clear that India’s agricultural sector has made huge strides in developing its potential. The green revolution massively increased the production of vital food grains and introduced technological innovations into agriculture. This progress is manifested in India’s net trade position. Where once India had to depend on imports to feed its people, since 1990 it is a net exporter of agri-food products. Its agriculture is large and diverse and its sheer size means that even slight changes in its trade have significant effects on world agricultural markets.Agriculture, Climate, Foodgrains, Agricultural Finance, Agricultural Exports and Imports

Making People Employable: Reforming Secondary Education in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s education system has been the focus of various reforms every few years, and a new exercise has been initiated recently through the National Education Policy, 2009. While the problems are generally well documented and stress on universal primary education fully justified, the role of economic relevance of education and training as a factor discouraging completion is not sufficiently emphasised. Studies from developing and developed countries highlight the strong linkage between education and training and employment, and the economic and social returns of employability of trained workers. It is argued that if one or more career based occupational tracks (vocationalisation of upper-secondary education) is offered at the upper secondary level (Class 8-10) as supplements to general education, dropout can be reduced. This will result in increased employability, productivity and competitiveness in the work environment. Co-financing with the private sector of a Rs 48 billion programme for practical on-the-job training is examined in the light of international experiences. JEL classification: J24, O33, H52 Keywords: Human Capital, Skill Bias, Labour Productivity, Education Expenditure

Maskless lithography for versatile and low cost fabrication of polymer based micro optical structures

For applications in optical communication, sensing or information projection in automotive lighting, polymer based optical devices are of keen interest. Optical structures such as waveguides and gratings are basic blocks for these devices. We report on a simple, versatile, and yet low-cost fabrication method suited for both binary and multilevel diffractive microstructures as well as multimode optical waveguides in polymers. The fabrication of the diffractive structures, i.e. gratings, with two and multiple levels, is achieved by using a maskless optical lithography system employing a spatial light modulator. With the same system, waveguide cladding structures are realized by stitching of multiple single exposure patterns. For replication of these structures on polymer, e.g. polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), a lab-made hot embossing machine is used. We then employ UV curable material and doctor blading to realize the waveguide cores. The created diffractive and waveguide structures are characterized in terms of diffraction efficiency and optical propagation loss, respectively, showing good optical quality and performance. With our fabrication system we have demonstrated a diffraction efficiency of 71% for multilevel grating structure and a propagation loss for stitched waveguides of 2.07 dB/cm at a wavelength of 638 nm. These basic elements will be employed to realize entire optical measurement systems for applications in sensing and integrated photonics in the next step

Risk factor stratification of peripheral arterial disease in the United Kingdom

Objective: To document the patient characteristics, primary care and hospital management and QoL in patients with intermittent claudication in the United Kingdom. Also to determine the appropriate use of prophylactic therapy, to determine markers of high and low risk and to suggest approaches to optimise the management of peripheral arterial disease. Methods: 474 patients were recruited from 23 centres across the United Kingdom. Data was collected at baseline and at six months and risk factors profile was analysed. Results: Symptomatic disease is more prevalent in men and those above 60. A high proportion of patients were hypertensive and control of blood pressure was not optimal. Use of antiplatelet agents and lipid lowering therapy was less than satisfactory though it improved following hospital referral. Life style modification advice was patchy and not uniform and intensive support for such programmes was lacking. Majority of patients improved not only on clinical parameters but also their QoL over a six month period. 35% underwent peripheral imaging and 7.8% had an interventional procedure. 14% had a vascular event over six months. Low ABPI, high systolic pressure and prior CHD were significantly associated with development of all vascular events. Conclusions: Use of appropriate therapy to reduce the risk factor profile is less than optimal. There is a need for uniform national guidelines for appropriate management of peripheral arterial disease patients in the United Kingdom.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF “THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINERâ€

If a specimen of literary art is seen as a fine tapestry of words made by the skilled seamstress—the poet, then the lexis and structure of a language are the raw materials—the fabric and the thread—by weaving which into specific patterns the finished product is achieved. The choice of materials and their arrangement into unique patterns always bear an image of their creator, or the artist; thus, a close view of them reveals the artist’s identity and brings out the meaningful message that underlies the ornate running threads. Mostly, the students of literary studies cannot appreciate the beauty of the literary classics on their own. Consequently, they simply mimic the ideas, and sometimes even the words, of famous professional critics when asked to give their own critical judgment on the aesthetic merit or the thematic quality of a literary work in the shape of a home assignment, classroom presentation or an annual assessment test. Now, the researcher has got the inspiration for carrying out this study from an idea expounded in Widdowson (1975) that this mimicry can be replaced by genuine individual opinion if the students, or even those people who have non-academic concerns with literature, are brought to a standpoint from where they can have a closer view of the raw materials, the language resources, which are involved in the making of a literary product. And, if the product in its finished form cannot elicit a desired response from them then making them sensitive to the process of its making can be quite effective in this regard. Through the present study, an attempt has been made to show an easy access to the outlandish world of verse by means of the linguistic route which is laid with the familiar flagstones of grammar and vocabulary. Meaning thereby that in this study the elusiveness of poetry will be dealt with the precision of a social scientist, the linguist. The approach which serves as the basis of this study is not an invention of the researcher; rather, it is a well-known twentieth century approach known as stylistics (Jeffries McIntyre, 2010, p. 30). Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous ballad, “The Rime of the Ancient Marinerâ€, being a widely read poem and bearing various stylistics features, offered itself as an ideal object for this study. The poet’s aesthetic message is explored by analyzing the finest details of his linguistic expression. And, careful considerations have been made throughout the study to prevent the overlooking of any instance of deviant linguistic units or recurring patterns for interpretation because such elements contribute largely to the meaning of any literary product. The study is descriptive in its nature therefore qualitative data has been integrated with and substantiated by the quantitative one.  Keywords: stylistics, literature, lexical, semantic and graphological deviation