Food Supply and Security

India's total food grain production in 1950-1951 was low at 50.8 million tonnes, with a population of 361 million. Thus, the food grain production in 1950-1951 was 140.7 kg per person per annum or 0.39 kg per day. Thanks to Indian farmers and agricultural scientists who worked hard to increase the food grain production through new crop varieties and production technologies, along with the supportive policies of the governments that paved the way for the Green Revolution in Indian Agriculture. Achievements of the green revolution further led to achievements in other agricultural and allied sectors like the white revolution with substantial gains from milk production, followed by the yellow revolution with a significant increase in edible oilseed production, and the pink revolution with an increase in meat and poultry production to a significant extent. This chapter mainly discusses where does India stand today in terms of its agriculture when compared to its independence in 1947? As the data for 1947 for most of the indicators is not available, 1951 is considered the base year and compared the various indicators for the year 2021

Improvement in Quality of Wine by Blending White and Coloured Grapes

Blending of juices from four white grape varieties viz., Thompson Seedless, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Italia with three coloured varieties, viz., Shiraz, Ruby Red and Bangalore Blue, was done in 2:1 and 3:1 ratios to assess the effect of blending on wine quality. White varieties blended with Bangalore Blue recorded maximum titratable acidity (1.23%), while those blended with Ruby Red showed the least acidity (0.42%), Alcohol content in the wine ranged from 8.11% (Italia + Ruby Red, 2:1) to 12.04% (Chenin Blanc + Shiraz, 2:1). The range of values for tannin content (0.007% to 0.044 %) and total phenol content (228mg/l to 571mg/l) indicated that white varieties blended with the coloured cv. Shiraz had the lowest content of tannins and total phenols in wine, while, those blended with cv. Ruby Red showed highest content of these in the blended wines. Hence, among different blends, Chenin Blanc, Thompson Seedless, Sauvignon Blanc and Italia blended with the coloured variety Shiraz, in 2:1 ratio, produced good quality wine

Aerial Vehicle Trajectory Design for Spatio-Temporal Task Aggregation

An optimal design method for generating a flight path passing through specified waypoints while satisfying the task points sent by the ground operators is proposed in this paper. Each specified waypoint is reached exactly at the specified location and time while intermediate waypoints are generated in such a way that they satisfy the task points, with highest benefit measure, i.e., satisfying tasks with higher task priority and QoS desired. Generated waypoints are points from where imagery data associated with the tasks are collected, and these task points are aggregated by the TABUM (Task Aggregation Based on Utility Metric) approach by considering the factors such as task points\u27 priorities, image sensors capabilities and the deviation required from the shortest path from the waypoint. We generate a flight trajectory, which is a collection of predefined waypoints and generated waypoints by taking the velocities and maneuverability of the aerial vehicle into consideration while ensuring that the vehicle avoids the no-fly zones. We finally frame the problem of trajectory generation in a constrained environment as an optimization problem and solve it by increasing the benefit measure and decreasing the cost measure (i.e., deviation). We performed simulation based experiments to show the effect of the utility metric threshold value and compared the performance of the vehicles\u27 trajectory with fixed-wing flight maneuverability and quad-copter maneuverability capabilities

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Not AvailableDiscriminant function analysis technique using Bayesian approach has been attempted for wheat forecasting in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India both qualitatively and quantitatively. Crop yield data and weekly weather data on temperature (maximum and minimum), relative humidity (maximum and minimum), rainfall for 16 weeks of the crop cultivation have been used in the study. These data have been utilized for model fitting and validation. Crop years were divided into two and three groups based on the de-trended yield. Crop yield forecast models have been developed using posterior probabilities calculated through Bayesian approach in stepwise discriminant function analysis along with year as regressors for different weeks. Suitable strategy has been used to solve the problem of number of variables more than number of data points. Performance of the models obtained at different weeks was compared using Adjusted R2, PRESS (Predicted error sum of square), number of misclassifications. Forecasts were evaluated using RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) and MAPE (Mean absolute percentage error) of forecast. The result shows that the model based on three groups case perform better. The performance of the proposed Bayesian discriminant function analysis technique approach was better as compared to existing discriminant function analysis score based approach both qualitatively and quantitatively.Not Availabl

Comparison of Interferon-Gamma Release Assay and Tuberculin Skin Test for the Screening of Latent Tuberculosis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: Indian Scenario

Background. In a country like India, where the prevalence of tuberculosis is very high, the role of screening tools for detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) like TST and IGRA is still unclear, especially in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Our study is aimed at comparing the interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) and tuberculin skin test (TST) to determine the prevalence of LTBI in IBD patients in the Indian subset of the population. Methods. It was a prospective observational analysis. A total of 257 participants were included in the study. Both TST and IGRA were performed in consecutive patients diagnosed with IBD (131 patients) and in 126 healthy individuals. Both tests were performed on the same day. LTBI diagnosis was considered if any one of TST or IGRA was found to be positive. Results. Out of 131 IBD patients, 121 patients had ulcerative colitis and 10 patients had Crohn’s disease. 29% of the IBD patients and 22% of the control subjects had LTBI. The study demonstrated concordance between TST and IGRA. Agreement test kappa value for IBD patients was 0.656 (CI 0.50-0.81), with a p value of <0.001, suggestive of a fair agreement. Mean IFN-γ release was lower in the immunosuppressed group as compared to non-immunosuppressed individuals (0.26±0.17 vs. 0.45±0.07, p=0.02). Cohen’s kappa coefficient values in IBD cases and control subjects were 0.66 and 0.79, respectively. TST was found to be negatively correlated to BMI. Conclusion. Agreement between TST and IGRA was fair in IBD patients. For LTBI screening in IBD patients, TST and IGRA are complementary methods

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Not AvailableSoil sodicity is a major problem in arid and semi-arid regions of Indo-Gangetic plains in India. A large proportion of sodicity-affected soils in Indo-Gangetic areas occur on land inhibited by resource poor farmers. Several efforts have been made by the Central and State governments to check soil degradation and increase agricultural productivity through land reclamation programmes in salt-affected regions of India. The present study is an attempt to measure the impact of land reclamation on reduction in farm income losses. The study sourced data from published records and survey from farm households in Uttar Pradesh, India. Analysis revealed that land reclamation has contributed substantially to improve the soil health, crop productivity and farm income. All uncultivated degraded lands in pre-reclamation period have been put under cultivation in post-reclamation period and cropping intensity has significantly increased. The farm income losses were reduced substantially in post-reclamation period. The study has concluded that sodic land reclamation technology has made a significant contribution to livelihood security of resource-poor farmers in salt-affected regions. The study has suggested that a large part of agricultural land is being abandoned in India due to severe sodicity related problems and need to be reclaimed on priority basis to improve land productivity and farm income of resource poor farmers.Not Availabl

Incidentally detected asymptomatic hepatitis C virus infection with significant fibrosis: Possible impacts on management

Background and Aims: Liver biopsy may be considered in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection to assess the severity of liver injury and stage of fibrosis, thereby guiding therapeutic decisions. In addition, advanced stage also necessitates surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to assess whether transaminase (alanine transaminase [ALT]) levels and RNA titers correlate with the histological activity index (HAI) and fibrosis (F) stage in asymptomatic patients with incidentally detected HCV (IDHCV). Patients and Methods: Retrospective evaluation of liver biopsies was done in 113 patients with IDHCV, diagnosed during routine screening. Decision of liver biopsy was made on the basis of age, genotype, acceptable clinical, hematological, and biochemical profiles, and willingness of the patients to undergo treatment. Serum ALT levels, HCV RNA titers, and genotypes were correlated with HAI and F stage. Results: Genotyping was done in 77 of the 113 patients, of which genotype 3 was seen in 43 and genotype 1 in 25 patients. A higher fibrosis stage (Ishak's >F2) was noted in 23.8% of the biopsies. Serum ALT showed a significant correlation with the HAI score on liver biopsy (P = 0.01) but not with the stage of fibrosis (P = 0.52). HCV RNA titers did not reveal any correlation with HAI score or fibrosis stage. Conclusion: Serum transaminases and HCV RNA titers are poor predictors of disease severity and fibrosis. Since HCV shows a slow disease progression, higher stage may predict a worse prognosis irrespective of the low viral RNA load. Liver biopsy may help guide therapeutic decisions in IDHCV infection