eChapters

Farming System Development (FSD) is better perceived as a means of facilitating interactive links between the actors (Table-1) who play significant roles in the process. A system perspective is needed in designing and evaluating suitable technologies as well as in designing policy / support system that improve both productivity and sustainability. Considerable challenges do exist in modifying the conventional top-down orientation characteristics of extension services. This requires the fundamental principle of FSD i.e. interactive mode of operation.

Introduction

Farming system conceptually is an integrated set of activities that farmers perform in their farm with available resources and circumstances to maximise productivity and net farm income on a sustainable basis. The system approach suggest a judicious mix of enterprises and activities based on the cardinal principle of minimising the competition and maximising complimentarity taking into account the components of soil, water, crops, livestock, labour, capital, energy and other resources. With all the resources, enterprises and external forces interacting in the system, the farmer operate at the centre of the farm household to take decisions observing variability, profitability, stability and sustainability. It is not the technology alone, but a set of social, political, institutional and economical forces influence the decision making process in a farming system leading to a model or acceptable combination of enterprises for overall development of the farm household.

Though science and technology have played a vital role in finding out innovations in the farming system approach through addition of new enterprise leading to profitability; new technologies ensuring stability and sustainability, the basic philosophy of the approach based on set principles is being pursued since initiation of agriculture in the civilisation.

In general farming system approach is more of a thought, a movement, a philosophy than simply choosing enterprise or combination of so to improve upon the standard of living. The interaction of bio-physical and socio-economic values plays an important role in up-scaling farming system approach and the adoption behaviour largely depend on the human values rather than material gain.

With the changing scenario, several factors like increasing instability in production, market price, high cost of production inputs, labour and negative impact of climate change, degradation of natural resources directly or indirectly warrants the use of sustainable rather regenerating technologies, compatible and noncompetitive farm enterprises to bring in sustainability and enhancement in production and income. For more than a century, programmes and activities have been designed to address the vulnerability of rural poor and are often targeted towards improving agricultural practices as means of increasing productivity, efficiency and ultimately income. In majority of the TOT cases technology has taken the centre stage even though the basic fundamental question like ‘whether the farmer adopt the offered technology and, if they do, whether they do it in ideal combination and for a considerable length of time needed to produce designed result remains unanswered. More importantly, in general the technology in isolation can not be recommended to all categories of farmers operating under varying situations. On the other hand acceptance and continuity of the technology is a dynamic process and varies both with the quality of the technology being promoted and the adoption behaviour of the individual farmer.

Introduction

The animals which man has domesticated over the years to meet his own needs for food, clothing, power or companionship include cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, cats, dogs and poultry. Domestic animals like most other animal forms existing on earth including human beings, are the result of a long evolution and therefore each other and indeed to all living beings. Much has been learned or better understood about the physiology of these animals through comparative study on the other animal forms, though many a time these animals have served as experimental models for studies designed to gain knowledge about human physiology. Dog and goat for a long time yielded to such experimentation. The domestic animals have been used for obtaining information on their physiology per se only recently and most experiments have been designed to understand better the mechanisms related to production potential of these animals in terms of meat, milk and wool. Knowledge is also gained by the study of sick and abnormal individuals or through surgery. Animal ethology (study of behaviour) is a comparatively recent discipline which has contributed abundantly to our understanding of the behaviour of animals in relation to their productivity.

The place of domestic animals in nature is objectively described by placing them along with other living organisms in the accepted scheme of classification as formulated by the biologists. The domestic animals belong to the Animal Kingdom, which like the plant kingdom, is divided into a number of major categories, the Phyla. The animal Phyla range from the relatively simple protozoa mostly single celled forms, to the chordata which encompasses backboned animals, including domestic animals and human beings. This scheme of classification is based on the concept of evolution of life and the animals are classified on the basis of closeness or the distance of their relationship. The life cycle of the animal (Ontogeny) is said to repeat the evolutionary development of the animal (Phylogeny).

The domestic animals belong to the phylum Chordata, sub phylum Vertebrata, characterised by the presence of a back bone or vertebral column. They are further classified to belong to class Mammalia and sub class Eutheria. The cow, buffaloes, goat, sheep etc. belong to order Ungulata in sub class Eutheria. The horse and asses belong to order Perissodactyla. The cats and dogs belong to order Carnivora. The poultry belong to the order Galliformes in Class Aves.

Water : Importance of Water in Physiological Functions of the Body

A large proportion of the body of mammals including domestic animals, is made up of water. This water is an essential attributes for the life of the animals. Animals deprived of food but provided water will survive much longer than the animals provided with food but deprived of water. Water is the basis of the liquid environment of the cells, which Claude Bernard called the milieur interieur, and Cannon the fluid matrix. Its most important biophysical qualities are its solvent properties, its ionization and its heat of vaporization. Water is essential for metabolic processes, as most of these reactions must occur in aquatic environment. Water provides the medium for the transport of nutrients from their sites of absorption to the site of metabolism. Water also provides the medium for the transport of waste products from their sites of production to their sites of final excretion. Together with the main electrolytes, water forms an excellent buffering medium. Moreover, water is an essential substrate or end product of many biological reactions. Water due to its high latent heat of evaporation or fusion is an excellent insulator for the loss of body heat and is essentially required for the loss of heat to maintain body temperature, through the evaporation of water from the skin and the respiratory tract. Water also acts as a vehicle for the transportation of nutrients, hormones, waste products and gases etc.

Body water is derived from several sources which include the water drunk, intake of water through food and metabolic body water. Water is lost from the body through several routes which include loss of water through the feces and urine, evaporation of water from the skin and respiratory tract.

The concentration of water in the body varies from one tissue to another, being least in the dentine of teeth and greatest in the grey matter of the brain. The amount of water in the body also varies considerably with the age of the animal. The younger animals contain considerably more water than the older animals. This effect is mostly due to increase in the fatty tissues in the body, which contains relatively much less water, as the relative composition of tissues of the body other than fat remains relatively constant. The proportion of water in ruminants is higher as compared to nonruminants.

Body needs oxygen to oxidise the food nutrients and derive energy. In this process carbon dioxide is produced in the body, which is toxic and must be removed quickly and efficiently. The oxygen utilization & carbon dioxide production takes place within the mitochondrion of cells of the various tissues. The transport of O2 and CO2 to and from the cells of various tissue is done by the blood. But the actual uptake of oxygen from the air and discharge of CO2 into the environment takes place at the level of lungs. This exchange of O2 and CO2 between the organism and the environment is defined as respiration. Air is moved in and out of the lungs by their bellows action (ventilation). It is then distributed within each lung, so that alveoli are adequately ventilated and also perfused by the blood.

Oxygen and carbon dioxide are then exchanged between the gas mixture in the alveoli and the blood in the pulmonary capillaries (gas transfer). The gases are then transported in the blood to the tissue.

Whenever we get a cut, a red fluid comes out of the wound. This red fluid is called blood. Blood is very important for the body as is evident from the fact that the loss of blood from the body makes it weak and may even cause death. Physiologically the blood is a red tissue composed of cells suspended in a pale yellow fluid, plasma. Unicellular organisms that live in immediate contact with the external environment obtain nutrients directly from that environment and eliminate unused or unwanted materials. Blood and lymph are important connecting fluids among the diverse anatomical structures of the mammalian organisms. Thus blood is the liquid vehicle by which the major organic nutrients are transported from the intestine where they are absorbed, to the liver where they are processed and thence to other organs. Similarly blood is the liquid vehicle for the transport of waste materials from various organs to the kidney and gastrointestinal tract from where they are eliminated. Thus the blood is the major transport carrier of nutrients, metabolites, oxygen, hormones, waste products etc. inside the body. Blood is an important medium to maintain homeostasis of various electrolytes in the body. Besides blood provides the army against any external attack on the body by harmful microorganisms. This army is in the form of cells, called white blood or corpuscles or leucocytes.

In a normal adult human being, about 5 to 6 litre of blood is present which is about 8 percent of the body weight. In domestic animals generally 5 to 8 per cent of the body weight is blood (say 30-40 litre in a cow). The blood is composed of two parts, the cells and the fluid part or plasma. The cellular constituents of blood include erythrocytes or red blood corpuscles, leucocytes or white blood corpuscles and thrombocytes or platelets. The cellular constituents of blood varies with the species as well as with the age and physiological stage of the animal.

The extracellular constituents or plasma is composed of water, electrolytes, proteins, lipids, glucose, enzymes and hormones etc. The blood undergoes coagulation on exposure to air leaving clear watery fluid, called serum. The serum is nothing but plasma minus fibrinogen and other clotting factors. The serum is a clear yellowish fluid. The yellow colour is due to the presence of small quantities of bilirubin, a bile pigment and of carotenoids. The blood serum of cattle is yellow due to presence of more of carotenoids whereas that of buffalo is white due to the absence of carotenoids. The blood clot consists of a network of fibrous strands of fibrin in which are enmeshed the cellular elements of the blood. Blood clotting is a protective mechanism against excessive loss of blood from the body. The lymph also clots, although, somewhat more slowly than blood.

The circulatory system includes the heart, blood and lymph vessels, blood, lymph, cerebrospinal and tissue fluids. Circulation of blood in the body is important for the transport of nutrients to all parts of the body and for the transport of gases and waste products. In fact most of the functions of blood could not have been possible, if there were no circulation of blood.

In order to constantly circulate the blood to all parts of the body and back, the body needs the services of an efficient pump. The pump or heart is based on the ability of muscle to contract or shorten. The blood is carried in a system of elastic tubes of pipes (arteries, capillaries and veins). The circulation of blood in the domestic animals or mammals is referred to as closed circulation because the blood returns to the heart without leaving this system of tubes.

The heartbeat frequency or pulse rate is usually given as the number of heart beats per minute. The heart rate increases several times during exercise or thermal stress. The average pulse rate of various domestic animals is given in Table 1.

Kidney is one of the main excretory organs of the body. By secreting urine the kidney serves as the outstanding guardian of the milieu interieur. The main functions of the kidney in the maintenance of body homeostasis are listed below.

1. Maintenance of proper osmotic concentrations.
2. Maintenance of blood volume.
3. Maintenance of ion concentration.
4. Removal of nitrogenous end products of protein metabolism primarily urea, creatinine and ammonia.
5. Removal of foreign substances and/or their metabolic end products.

Thus, kidney control the concentration of most of the constituents of body fluids. In case of birds, the primary end product of protein metabolism is uric acid instead of urea. So, the major excretory product through urine in case of birds is uric acid.

Briefly, the kidney form urine in the following way. Endowed with a relatively huge blood supply, the renal glomeruli filter about 200 litres per 24 hours of protein free fluid from the blood in human being ( ie 50-60 times the plasma volume). This filtrate, which contains the soluble non protein components of the plasma, is submitted to extensive reabsorption by the renal tubules. The relative control on the reabsorption process by the kidney, is the key mechanism by which the kidney is able to maintain the composition of the milieu interieur.

Kidney also releases several hormones like renin, erythropoietin and prostaglandins, which have the capacity to influence cells and alter their physiological processes.

Ruminants have evolved to consume and subsist on roughage - grasses and shrubs built predominantly of cellulose.The rumen is a fermentation vat par excellance, providing an anaerobic environment, constant temperature and pH, and good mixing. Well-masticated substrates are delivered through the esophagus on a regular schedule, and fermentation products are either absorbed in the rumen itself or flow out for further digestion and absorption downstream. Rumen gases, particularly methane, are increasingly in the news because of their contribution to greenhouse gas and climate change.

The ruminant stomach is composed of four parts; the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. These compartments gives the cow and other ruminants a decided advantage in digesting and utilizing those parts of the plants and other compounds which are practically useless to animals with simple stomach. Substances such as cellulose, a major constituent of plant tissues and urea, a non protein nitrogen compound, are of limited use of non ruminants. However ruminants through fermenting and synthesizing action of microorganisms in their complex stomach, can efficiently utilize these substances for productive purposes. The dairy cow converts this feed into milk and meat, two highly nutritious and palatable food for humans. This ability to make use of feed which otherwise would go waste because it is not directly consumable for humans is one of the most compelling justifications for the existence of cattle and buffaloes, in a world which must make use of all possible food resources.

Body needs energy for the functioning of various processes for the nutrition and repair of damage tissue. This energy comes from the food nutrients. The food nutrients undergo a series of chemical reactions in the body to release the necessary energy.

The higher animals are dependent on plants and other animals for their nutrients. They can classified into two groups.

Carnivores : Those animals which obtain most of their food by eating other animals are carnivores in these species digestion is mainly enzymatic in nature and microbial digestion is minimal.

Herbivores : These animals obtain most of their food nutrients from herbage and other plant parts. In the herbivores, microbial digestion is of great significance and allows utilization of plant materials that are not broken down by the enzymes present in the digestive secretions.

Most of the domesticated animals except cat & dog fall in the category of herbivores. The domesticated herbivores can be divided into three groups:

1. Ruminants : Those possessing a rumen (cow, buffalo, sheep, goat, camel etc.) in which there is extensive microbial fermentation of the herbage diet in a specialized region of the digestive tract, prior to its digestion by the alimentary enzymes.
2. Psedoruminants eg members of the camelidae family eg camel, Ilama, alpaca, vicuna etc. In pseudoruminants animal third compartment of the compound stomach is absent.
3. Non-Ruminant : The second group is those with simple stomachs (Horse, Pig) in which fermentation takes place in the posterior part of the digestive tract.

Before the turn of present century, it was considered that carbohydrates, fats, proteins and minerals were sufficient for fulfilling the nutritional needs of animals. Later it was recognised that several other factors also need to be provided in the diet in small quantities, the absence of which resulted in diseases like beriberi, scurvy, pellagra and rickets. Funk in 1912 proposed the term vitamine for such factors, vita for being essential and amine because these factors were thought to be amines in chemical structure. Later it was discovered that not all such factors were amines, hence the last ‘e’ from the word vitamine was dropped.

The quantities of vitamins needed by the body are small, in the range of milligrams or micrograms. For this reason these compounds are also known as accessory foodstuffs. Thus vitamins came to be regarded as essential dietary factors which are required by an organism in small quantities and whose absence results in deficiency diseases. Many of these vitamins acts as coenzymes in important metabolic reactions of the body.

The vitamins have been broadly classified on the basis of their solubility. Fat soluble vitamins - A, D, E and K. Water soluble vitamins- B complex and C. This classification has proved useful from the functional point of view also for an extended period of time and is now an established classification scheme. The water soluble vitamins cannot be stored in the body over extended periods of time during periods of opulence and used during periods of scarcity.

Most vitamins cannot be synthesized by the body hence the need for dietary supplement. However, ruminants, have an advantage in that the rumen microorganisms can manufacture most of the B-complex vitamins which are utilized and required by the animal. Vitamin C is required only by human beings and guinea pig, hence is not of importance as a dietary ingredient for the domestic animals. Most other animals are able to synthesize adequate amounts of vitamin C required by them. The site of synthesis of vitamin C is not well established but it seems that the intestinal tract, liver and adrenal glands are actively involved.

At this stage it should be clarified about the dietary and physiological requirements. All vitamins are physiologically required by the domestic animals but only a few are required to be a essential dietary ingredient.

Endocrine glands are organs which secrete chemical substances called hormones into the blood stream. Hormones are substances produced by specific glands, secreted directly into the blood and transported to various organs and tissues where they exert their effects. The term hormone is derived from the Greek root meaning to excite. The organs/cells where there hormones bring about their actions are called target organs/cells. The target organs (hormone binding receptors) posses specific receptors for bringing about the action of these substances. The term neurosecretion signifies the production and reiose of hormones by nerve cells that have the cytological characteristics of secretory cells.

Several hormones are the product of nervous mechanisms hence the term neurosecretion is used and neurohumour for such substances.

Hormones act as a mode of transmitting information in the body in addition to the nervous system. Their mode of action is slow but more prolonged. Chemically the hormones are either proteins or steroids. Hormones are secreted in very small amount but their actions are profound. Early investigators were hampered by the non availability of suitable methods for their estimation. The availability of radioimmunoassay, radio-receptor assay, enzyme linked immunological assay have greatly facilitates researches in the field of endocrinology.

The mode of action of these hormones has been elucidated in several instances. Involvement of membrane permeability and cyclic AMP has been implicated in several cases.

Most of these hormones have been of therapeutic interest for several decades. The mode of administration of steroid hormones can be both oral or parenteral while protein hormones are active only when injected. Several of these hormones are used for increasing the production potential of meat animal, for improving the reproductive efficiency of domestic animal, hence are of direct economic importance to the farmers. Chemical characterization and their synthesis including their more potent analogues in several cases, have greatly facilitated their widespread application in the animal production and animal health strategies.

Endocrinology is the study of the structure and function of the endocrine glands and their secretory products, including the consequences of excessive or deficient production of these hormones.

Reproduction in the males culminates in the production of semen containing fertile spermatozoa and deposition of these in the female reproductive tract at an opportune time.

Male Reproductive Organs

The reproductive organs in male domestic animals comprise the testes, epididymides, and accessory glands. The testes produce the spermatozoa and the male sex hormones (androgens). The spermatozoa pass from the testis into the epididymis where they acquire motility and attributes essential for fertilization and are then stored there. At ejaculation they are squeezed along the ductus deferens into the urethra and mixed with the secretions of the accessory glands to constitute the ejaculated semen.

Testis

The testis are composed of long tubes called seminiferous tubules and interstitial tissue. The spermatozoa are produced within the seminiferous tubules. This process is known as spermatogenesis. The interstitial tissue contains Leydig cells which are responsible for the production of the male hormone called androgens. The androgens are produced under the influence of hormones from the anterior pituitary namely ICSH (LH) and FSH. The principal androgens produced by the testis are testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.

The testis are suspended from the body in the loose sacs called scrotum, present in the inguinal region. The scrotum in addition to its container function, also acts as a regulator of temperature required for spermatogenesis.

The reproductive system of female domestic animals consists of (1) A pair of ovaries attached with ligaments to the uterus (2) A pair of fallopian tubes the distal ends of which (infundibula) serve to receive ova expelled from the ovary and the proximal ends enter the uterus (3) The uterus proper with its outer smooth myometrium and inner mucous endometrium which either sloughs off periodically or develops in part into a placenta, depending on whether pregnancy occurs (4) Vagina which serves to receive sperm.

Ovaries

The two ovaries are connected to the back of the female with ligaments inside the main body cavity. When puberty, or sexual maturity is reached, the ovaries begin to function with a rhythm or cycle of activity, the most evident manifestation of which is estrus or heat. The estrus period or heat is the period when the female is receptive to the male. The duration of heat in cattle is around 19 hours. The interval between heats in 19½ to 20 days in cattle. The duration of estrus and cycle is variable in different individuals and in different seasons of the year.

The ovarian parenchyma contains a large number of potential egg forming cells. There are many more of these than are required for the breeding life of female. New follicles begin to grow each estrus cycle one of which finally ovulates.

The ovary is covered by the peritoneum except the attached border where the vessels and nerves enter. In most animals the ovary is some what divided into a cortex, in which the follicles with the developing ova are located and a medulla which is rich in blood vessels, lymphaticus and nerves.

Each Graafian follicle normally contains only one developing ovum. The follicle vary in size according to their stage of development, the more advanced project the surface of the ovary slightly.

Lactation is the process of milk secretion by the mammary gland. Milk is one of the most fascinating biological fluid whose role as a nearly complete food in sustaining life processes is well known. Milk provides an essential and highly digestible form of nutrients for the mammalian young during the critical period after birth. Milk also forms the first meal of the mammalian youngs.

Most mammals produce milk according to the requirements for their young one’s. However, man for centuries have selectively bred several animals, so that they produce milk, far in excess of the requirements of their youngs. The excess milk is harvested by man for his own and his children’s nurture. The physiology of the mammary gland or the mechanism of milk secretion forms an important part of the man’s strategy to manipulate it to its own advantage. Milk forms the raw material for the multi million dollar dairy industry all over the world. In India, dairying is the second largest agriculture based industry.

The most important animal domesticated by man for production of milk is undoubtedly the cow. Buffalo as a milk producer is important only in Asia & parts of Africa. In India its importance is as much or even more as compared to the cow in milk production ability. The other important milk producing animals are goat, sheep, camel, yak, and mithun.

The ability to produce milk is dependent on several factors including breed, season, feed etc. Majority of our animals do not conform to any descript type, some 20 per cent of them belong to 26 cattle breeds and 7 buffalo breeds. The major milk producing breed of buffaloes are Murrah and Nili Ravi. The season affects the milk producing ability of domestic animals. In Northern India, cow’s milk production is highest during March and lowest during September. However, the buffalo milk production is highest during October and lowest during June.

All animals, including domestic animals and humans, depend entirely on their sense organs and nervous system for information about external environment and the internal status of their bodies. Sensory inputs, together with the genetically inherited organization and properties of the nervous system is responsible for the all knowledge and determines how each animal behaves.

Nervous system may be viewed as an anatomical arrangement of neurons with a large number of different kinds of synapses through which sensory information from the periphery of the body is transmitted through numerous sensory neurons to a set of neurons in a central region of the body, where the information is integrated and from which impulses are then directed out through numerous motor neurons to effectors.

The central nervous system is distinguished from the peripheral nervous system in that it is made up of a concentration of tracts, ganglia and nuclei. Thus nervous system is a structural and functional mechanism involved in the coordination of an animals responses to internal and external environment.

Neurons : The central and peripheral portion of the nervous system are comprised of nerve cells (neurons) and supporting tissues.

Supporting tissues : The supportive tissues of the peripheral nervous elements consist primarily of connective tissue and specialized cells called neurolemma or Schwann cells. The supportive tissues of central nervous system are glia cells or neuroglia. These cells have functional and nutritive roles in addition to their roles as supportive tissue.

Bone

Bones provide the rigid framework of the body of animals and man. The skeletal system serves three main functions. (1) It supports and protects the soft tissues and organs of the body. (2) It helps to maintain, through homeostatic regulation, the constancy of the ionic environment within the organism. (3) It helps in locomotion with the help of muscles and tendons.

The ends of long bone is called the epiphysis: the long, compact shaft, the diaphysis where it joins the epiphysis, the metaphysis. The diaphysis is composed of a hollow cylinder which contained the medullary cavity and bone marrow. During postnatal life, erythropoiesis occurs mainly in the bone marrow. In the adult, bone contains on wet weight basis approximately 25% water, 45 Percent ash and 30 percent organic matter. With increasing age, the ash content progressively increases as the water content decreases; the organic fraction remains relatively constant. Calcium constitutes about 37% of the ash content, and phosphorus about 18.5%.

Domestic animals including chicken and mammals, belong to the category of homeotherms, as opposed to poikilotherms. Homeotherms or warm blooded animals are those which are able to maintain constant body temperature in the face of varying environmental temperature. The poikilotherms or the cold blooded animals change their body temperature according to the temperature of the surroundings. Most invertebrates and lower vertebrates belong to the category of poikilotherms.

Why do animals have to maintain constant body temperature? As we are aware that enzymatic reactions in the body are temperature sensitive. In fact, a 10 degree centigrade increase in temperature can result in doubling of the reaction rates. In order to maintain optimum functioning of the enzymatic reactions in the body a constant temperature is required. This constant body temperature is not very constant in the sense that it varies somewhat during exercise and also when the animal is exposed to extremes of temperature of the surroundings. That means that the temperature regulation mechanisms in the body are not 100 percent perfect.

At this stage it is desirable to clarify the distinction between surface temperature and core temperature. The surface temperature, in contrast to the core temperature rises and falls with the temperature of the surroundings. It is the temperature of the deep tissues or internal organs which remains constant. The temperature of the rectum is usually taken as a useful indicator of core temperature because of the ease of measurement. The rectal temperature of several domestic animals is given in Table 1.

I. PUBLIC POLICY CONCERNS

The working of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) Agreement, 1995 along with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the jurisprudence developed for the last twenty years is a testimony to the fact that although TRIPS is geared to promote the protection of intellectual property rights internationally, yet some controversial public policy issues need to be addressed and solutions devised for addressing these public policy issues otherwise there is a possibility of seeing the demise of TRIPS Agreement or sidetracking it by some other methods which may not be conducive for maximizing the welfare of the international trading community. As all of us know that intellectual property and international trade are mutually inclusive and the minimum standards set forth in the TRIPS Agreement are economically value oriented. The trade offs among and between the members of the WTO need to be balanced on an even keel, otherwise the possibility of camaflouging the TRIPS Agreement and the attendant jurisprudence becomes real. The TRIPS Agreement addresses seven categories of IP rights such as; Copyright and related rights; Patents; Trademarks and Service marks; Geographical Indications; Undisclosed Information or Trade Secrets; Industrial Designs ; and Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits and read with other WIPO Treaties obligates the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade by taking into account the effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights as well as the procedures for the enforcement should not become barriers to international trade. The TRIPS Agreement also recognizes the need to cater to the special needs of the developing and least developed countries.

I. ROLE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The international community has set itself the target of reducing the proportion of people below poverty line to half by 2015, along with associated specific targets for improving health and education and environmental sustainability. The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at various international fora, recognize the crucial importance of reducing poverty and hunger, improving health and education, and ensuring environmental sustainability. It is important to know whether and how intellectual property rights (IPRs) could play a role in helping the world meet these targets — in particular by reducing poverty, helping to combat diseases, enhancing access to education and contributing to sustainable development, protecting our cultural heritage, safeguarding the food security for the country. It is also necessary to deliberate whether and how they create obstacles to meeting those targets and, if so, how those obstacles can be removed.

There are strong views from both sides on the protection and enforcement of IPRs though there is no data to check these views objectively. Some argue strongly that IPRs are necessary to stimulate economic growth, which in turn, helps in poverty reduction. By stimulating invention and new technologies, IPRs help to increase agricultural or industrial production, promote domestic and foreign investment, facilitate technology transfer and improve the availability of medicines necessary to combat diseases. They are also of the view that there is no reason why a system that has worked for developed countries would not work for developing countries. Others argue equally vehemently the opposite. IPRs do little to stimulate invention in developing countries, because the necessary human and technical capacity may be absent there. In assessing these opposing arguments, it is important to remember the technological disparity between developed and developing countries as a group. What role the intellectual property can play to plug this gap is a serious subject for every developing nation? For this, it is also pertinent to know about the IPRs, the challenges they pose to the legal system in general and to the Indian legal system in particular, and their basic rationale to take a considered approach in their implementation.

I. INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

Intellectual property rights may be defined as the legal relationships that arise out of an individual’s creative gifts and the communication to society of his or her intellectual creations. Intellectual property is challenging as well as rapidly widening horizon of law. The purpose of law is to encourage and reward creativity and intellectual effort. The prominence of this branch of law in India is partly due to India’s economic structure and its geographical position in the world. Many international companies operate in India either directly or through licensees or agents. Numerous goods, services, and technological developments have overseas origins. Foreign companies often control their interests through contract but they invariably do so by means of copyright law, obtaining of patents or by registration of trade-marks and designs. It follows that in particular circumstances intellectual property remedies are most convenient method of maintaining control, or at least a useful adjunct to other remedies based on contract. Another important factor is the upsurge in “piracy” that is occurring not only in India but also in almost every other part of the world. Piracy may originate outside India, or, it may also originate in lndia. While devising legal apparatus for the welfare and protection of creative people, we must not lose sight of the public interest in the greatest measure of access to information and culture. Intellectual property rights are significant wealth- creating assets and their protection and commercialization are of increasing economic significance. In past the value of such rights was often overlooked and it is only in recent years that the economic potential of intellectual property has started receiving greater recognition. The dawn of the third millennium which has led to the emergence of knowledge capitalism with emphasis on intangible assets such as knowledge, competencies and intellectual property is a defining movement in the history of mankind. It is a defining moment in the history of mankind because the historical forces set in motion by the digital revolution has spawned a new civilization characterized by path breaking inventions and technological innovations and the opening up of the electronic frontier. It is an age of digital renaissance which combines the marvels of the Age of Discovery and the excellence of medieval Renaissance rolled into one. As a result of the information technology revolution there is a transition from industrial society to information society. Convergence of computer networks and communication technologies facilitated by the digital revolution has given birth to Cyberspace which in turn has ushered in knowledge economy. Hence, the intellectual property law faces challenges. In this background the concept, nature and development of intellectual property rights are proposed to be examined. The paper will be divided into V more parts. Part II of the paper will outline the meaning concept of intellectual property and range of subject matter protected by law, part III will examine the jurisprudential justifications of intellectual property protection, part-IV will explore the evolution and development of intellectual property rights under international law, part-V will demonstrate the evolution and development of intellectual property rights under Indian law. And part-VI will conclude the subject.

I. INTRODUCTION

Nations are growing with pace in technology and technological advancements. Till the end of 20th century development was the priority of entire planet earth but in the ending of the 20th century it was realized by almost all countries that development cannot go alone but it has to have the social, economic and environmental concerns. It was realized by the United Nations in Rio Conference on Environment and Development, 1992 that there is need of sustainable development. Now in 21st century the technological advancements are needed to be utilized for saving the planet earth from the curse of climate change and global warming reducing the carbon emissions across the entire planet earth. The argument in this paper is based on, how far technological advancements and technology transfer, by developed countries to developing countries can be facilitated in reduction of the carbon emission and greenhouse gases, through legally binding norms? How there should be synergy in between technologies reducing carbon emission and IPR issues?

I. MANDATE OF COPYRIGHT LAW

The importance of intellectual property rights has arisen in recent years to a great extent. The law of copyrights protects original forms of expression i.e. Novels, Movies, Musical compositions and computer software etc. Earlier it was mainly confined to the -published Work and owner of it could prevent others from getting it published in the form of books or articles in order to get benefit in terms of money or goodwill or reputation. In case of such undue enrichment, the owner had a valid cause of action. The owner of the copyright has a valid cause of action against the violator. At present even in case of its adoption and translation or abridgement, it is obligatory to have consent of author. The main purpose and object of copyright law is to protect the expression in any other form from unauthorized use. Since 1847, the copyrights law is in developing stage so, many legislations has been enacted.1 With the changing of times, the meaning of expression also changes and the style of exhibit the things also changed. The right of author who gives expression in any form is protected from unauthorized use.

I. INTRODUCTORY OUTLINE

The post-Vienna legal phase is remarkably known for revolutionary changes across the global wherein the third generation of human rights became the hallmark for the comity of nations and a liberational instrument to come out of nightmarish experiences of poverty and hunger.1 On the other hand the post-GATTised legal ordering is known for much publicized and debatable conclusion of Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and creation of World Trade Organisation (WTO).2 This new jurisprudential polemics soon evoked fierce scrutiny from the stand point of human right and poverty among third world countries.3 At home, it is dubbed as ‘bleeding operation with the dubious promise of benign global competition’, ‘de facto nullity of constitutional goal of social welfare’ and ‘contra- constitutional coup.4 Since India has become a member of WTO it indulged into massive rehabilitation and fundamental mutation of IPR regime. Despite the fact that it has a stark distinction of being a grain- surplus and food and livelihood insecure country. An inventory of over forty five million tonnes of wheat and rice in granaries remains ready for consumption. On the other hand over two hundred fifty million people generally go to bed partially hungry every day. There is a near consensus on the need to banish hunger but the realities on the ground remain that even at the risk of raising hopes the goal of food security may not be realized for generations.5 At home under the cover of food security the government is keeping millions of tonnes of food out of reach of the poor people.6 In fact India’s record breaking 200 plus million tonnes harvest is the result of steep fall in purchasing power of poor. The myth of surplus is based on sending hundreds of millions of human being hungry to their beds.7 Taken to its logical end we have abundance of food, surplus of hunger and scarcity of vision under the garb of food security.8

I. INTRODUCTION

Procedural remedies for the infringement of one’s right are not enough by themselves unless they result in some reliefs of substantive nature whereby it can reasonably be said that these reliefs, temporary or permanent, as the case may be, are enough in the circumstance to make good or, say, compensate the genuine loss of the aggrieved party to an infringement suit. The substantive remedies available to a successful plaintiff at any stage in any suit for patent infringement could, however, be derived from the express as well as by necessary implication of the provisions of the Patents Act, 1970 dealing with the “Reliefs in suit for infringement”. Its Sec. 108 declares in terms quoted below:

I. INTRODUCTION

Over the last few decades, protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) has become a global issue. The existing international intellectual property rights regime has been governed by the Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.1 Inspite of maturity of intellectual property laws in post TRIPS era it still desiderate to established coherence with human rights laws particularly right to health and maintain a distance with the socio-economic dimension of intellectual property protection. On the other hand the international human rights instruments from the very beginning appear to be considerable to make certain links with intellectual property rights.2 The issue that is now debated that the adoption of the TRIPS Agreement provisions have serious impact on the realization of certain basic human rights such as the right to health because of non availability and affordability of much needed medicines for the poorer populations of the world particularly in majority of developing countries. Meanwhile TRIPS flexibilities as confirmed by the Doha Declaration on Public Health were adopted in 2001 by the global community to address medicines as public health issue.3 Keeping in view the above developments the problem of right to health and the relationship between medical patents and access to medicine in the case of the HIV/ AIDS and T.B epidemics is complex challenge in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 adopted by Member States of the United Nations in Sep, 2015. One of the aims of the agenda is to ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being of people of ages.4 In such a situation it is high time to revisit the existing intellectual property regime in the broader context to protect everyone who is likely to be negatively affected by intellectual property standards imposed by developed nations. Under this backdrop the present paper wishes to examine the various kinds of potential impacts of intellectual property regime on the realization of access to medicine as part of human right to health as universal entitlements amongst the most disadvantaged and marginalized peoples and communities in the broader context of sustainable development goals.

I. INTRODUCTION

In a global, knowledge-based economy, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are a key to the international competitiveness of both nations and firms. International competition in the traded goods increasingly contains a high degree of innovation. IPRs have thus; become a trade issue and a major component of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Adequate IP protection at an international scale has become essential for appropriating global revenue streams to support investments in developing state of- the- art technology. Although the concept of intellectual property is very old, there appeared the need to harmonize laws to facilitate international trade and free flow of technology. This became very necessary because it was difficult to obtain sufficient protection in the other countries of the world, in view of the disparity in the laws in each country. As per World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) definition, intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. Broadly, intellectual property is divided into two categories. The first category covers industrial property, which includes patents, industrial designs and trademarks, all of which have industrial applications. The other refers to copyright laws, which are applied to such things as literary, dramatic and artistic works; rights relating to performing artists, the production phonograms and rights of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.¹ Patented inventions have, in fact, pervaded every aspect of human life, from electric lighting and plastic, to ballpoint pens and microprocessors. During a time when the future of many industries seems uncertain, one industry in particular appears to be positioned for expansion and enduring success. This is the biotechnology industry, which according to some analysts will be a major driving force behind the new economy of the 21st century.2 This seemingly lofty prediction is based in large part on the immense promise offered by biotechnology. The innovations developed with biotechnological techniques promise to prolong and improve our lives and the world we live in by achieving advancements in health care, agriculture, food products and production, industrial processes and environmental preservation. Biotechnology is not a new science and it has existed in some form or the other for centuries. Biotechnology in one form or another has been part of human development since the dawn of agriculture. Human ingenuity has led to increased production and greater diversity and quality of livestock and varieties of crops. Today’s food crops and domestic animals embody the benefits of many generations of selection and breeding. However, the advent of genetics has opened exciting opportunities in this sector, because of its numerous applications, which range from improvement of human health and food production to reduction of environmental damage. These opportunities are also coupled with controversies that not only challenge the laws within which society functions, but also our ethical and religious beliefs.

I. INTRODUCTION

Information technology has heralded a new era of Communication System. It has revolutionized the whole commercial world. The mother earth looks like a global village where people sitting thousands of miles away can talk face to face, like people sitting across the table. Business men and consumers are using computer to create, transmit and store information in the electronic form. Traditional form of paper documents are being discarded for the reason that electronic method is Cheaper, easier to store, retrieve and communicate. Though these advantages are obvious but people were reluctant to transact business in electronic form due to lack of legal frame work, validating these transactions. All the paper transactions involved writing and signature to conclude them. These writings and signatures posed a great hurdle for electronic governance and electronic commerce for validating and enforcing them. The law of Evidence is based on paper made documents which should have been signature. Since electronic commerce eliminates the need for paper based transactions, hence to facilitate e-commerce the need for legal change has become an urgent necessity. International trade, though the medium of e-commerce, is growing by leaps and bounds for the past few years. Many countries have switched over from traditional paper based commerce to e-commerce. The instantaneous means of communications through internet have been a great menace to copy right in different areas David Teather from London has reported that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry say that the market in year 2000 was worth $36.9 billion, a fall of 1.3 per cent on the previous year. The biggest decline in the sale of C.D. singles was 39% and globally it fell by 14%. The growth in popularity of Napster and to contain the damage. Napster is in the process of removing copyrighted material from its site.¹ But the powers of the computer are so great that the law enforcement agencies are facing a real challenge to contain its onslaught. Internet telephony is a common sight at cyber cafe, despite the fact that it is illegal.2 B.B. Nanda and R.K.Tewari observe that “ internet paedophilia, computer network break-ins, industrial espionage, Child pornography password sniffling, spoofling, telecommunications fraud, software piracy, e- mail bombing and spamming, and the availability of illicit or unlicensed products and services are offences already making themselves felt. Emerging problems include credit card fraud, cyber terrorism, cyber laundering and criminal use of secure internet communications. The huge growth of internet will breed cyber fraud with great ease especially in the area of share-holdings of companies.3 The present weak electronic system of payment without adequate safeguard is posing a serious risk for unauthorised withdrawals from banks and counter money laundering operations. Software piracy is a boom business and video and phonographic industries are sinking day by day globally.4 The UNCITRAL Model law provides for equal legal treatment of users of electronic communication and paper based communication. In pursuance of a declaration made ‘by Member Countries, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is about to form a work programme to handle its work in this area including the formation of multilateral trade deals through the medium of electronic commerce. The paper discusses, briefly, the meaning of cyber space the origin and development of intemet and e commerce its uses and abuses. Certain provisions relating to Information Technology Act, 2000 have been briefly discussed to apprise oneself about its effectiveness in meeting the challenges posed by e commerce in different areas.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Websites are soaked in information, much of it with varying degrees of copyright protection. In fact, the reality is that almost everything on the Net is protected by copyright law. E-business Websites are a composition of materials, often consisting of words, graphics, audio, and video that are expressed to the consumer as information content. The owners and Website developers carefully select the content to sell the company’s product or service. The subject matter expressed in the site is an electronic publication of this content. Since, designing, producing, and maintaining a sophisticated Website is very expensive, protecting content ownership is extremely important. Electronic commerce will continue to be highly competitive. As Websites become more and more interactive with consumers, their creation, design, and maintenance place enormous demands on innovative marketing techniques that should be legally protected.

Never before has it been so easy to violate a copyright owner’s exclusive right to copy the material. Everyone with a computer and an Internet connection creates his own Web pages and thus become a publisher. Hence the rules that once applied to only a few companies bind million of people now. Imagine having paid a Website developer hundreds of thousands of rupees to launch a killer application and acquiring millions of Rupees from a venture capitalist firm, only to discover that another e—business is using your online material. Or consider a scenario where your Website is linked to an e-business that displayed copyrighted material without the owner’s consent. Could your company be liable under a theory of copyright infringement? This paper highlights the scenario when contents of your Website are exploited by others without your permission or knowledge. The discussion is centered on copyright issues involved in the practices of linking, inlining and framing technologies which are normally being used on the Internet.

I. CHALLENGES TO CYBERSPACE

The problems and prospects of copyright and information technology need to be deliberated in the context of present day jurisprudence. The subject is referable to the extensive use of information technology all over the world which has resulted in enhanced efficiency, effectiveness and optimum use of resources. The copyright law is concerned with the negative right of preventing copying of the physical material in the field of literature and arts. Trade and Merchandise Marks Act protects the patent, trade mark and design giving the registered proprietor an exclusive right to the registered material. The prohibition contained in rights in patent and copyright extend to the unauthorised manufacture or reproduction, so long as the exclusive right rests. Copyright has been held to be not the mere creature of the statute but a natural and civil right. The moral basis of the copyright is that the man is entitled to the fruits of its mental faculties as much as he is entitled to the fruits of his mechanical labour. The law rests on the English Commandment - thou shall not steal. It does not permit one man to make a profit and appropriate himself what has been produced by the labour, skill and capital of another. Blackstone in his commentaries Vol.II at page p.406 has stated:

There is still another aspect of property and this is the right which an author may be supposed to have in his own original literary compositions: so that no other person without his leave may publish or make profit of the copies. When a man by the exertion of his rational powers has produced an original work, he seems to have clearly a right to dispose of that identical work as he pleases and any attempt to vary the disposition he has made to it appears to be an invasion of that right.

John H. Davis of Harvard University first used the term agribusiness in 1955. In 1980s it was given three connotations: (1) synonymous with term agriculture, (2) synonymous with agricultural economics and (3) a modified concept of agriculture, excluding farming, or the off-farm aspects of agriculture.

Agribusiness is defined as all business enterprises or sells to farmers/traders/consumers. The transaction may involve either an input or a produce or service and encompasses items such as:

• Productive resources (feed, seed, fertilizer, equipment, energy, pesticides, machinery, etc.)
• Agricultural commodities –(raw and processed commodities of food and fiber)
• Facilitative services (credit, insurance, marketing, storage, processing, transportation, packing, distribution, consultancy, soil testing etc.).

The Committee on Economic Development has defined small business as one which satisfies two or more of the following criteria.

• Management is independent (usually the managers are owners).
• Capital is supplied and ownership is held by an individual or small group.
• The area of operation is mainly local. Workers and owners are in one home community. Markets need not be local.
• Relative size within the industry – the business is small when compared to the biggest in its field. The size of the top bracket varies greatly so that what might seem large in field would be definitely small in another.

Management can be viewed as a group effort towards a common goal in which team behaviour plays the important role. According to this view, the material resources and external environment are common to all management; what makes for effectiveness and success of one group relative others is management - that is, the human element - behaving in group and leading the business to its determined goal.

Management may in short be called a science of decision-making or a science of choice. A farmer has to make judicious decisions on the use of scarce resources, having alternative uses to obtain the maximum profit and family satisfaction on a continuous basis from the farm as a whole. In other words, management seeks to help the producer in deciding problems like what to produce, how much to produce and when to buy and sell and organization and managerial problems relating to these decisions.

Management – Definition

According to Lawrence A. Appley, management is an art of getting things done through the efforts of other people.

Planning is the beginning of all the other processes of management, namely, organizing, staffing, directing, communicating and controlling.

Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do, when to do and who is to do it. Planning bridges the gap from ‘where we are’ to ‘where we want to go’ (Koontz and O’Donnell).

In the words of Theo Haimann, “Planning is the function that determines in advance what should be done". It consists of selecting the objectives, policies, programmes and procedures of the enterprise and also the means of achieving their objectives.

As a part of planning process, the manager has to ensure that his team members understand the purposes and objectives of his enterprise and also methods to achieve them.

Organization means a system with parts which work together, or system with parts dependent upon each other. According to Louis Allen, organization is a process of identifying and grouping the works to be performed, defining and delegating responsibility and authority, and establishing relationships for the purpose of enabling people to work most effectively together in accomplishing objectives.

There is a difference between the words "Organizing" and "organization". Organizing refers to i) the identification and classification of required activities, ii) the grouping of activities necessary to attain objectives, iii) the assignment of each grouping to a manager with the authority (delegation) necessary to sepervise it, and iv) the provision for co-ordination, horizontally and vertically, in the oganization structure.

Organization implies a formalized intentional structure of roles or positions. The "intentional structure of roles" would refer to the roles people are asked to fill should be intentionally designed to ensure that required activities are done and that activities fit together so that people can work smoothly, effectively and efficiently in groups.

Directing is concerned with telling subordinates what to do and ensuring that they do it as best as they can. It includes assigning tasks and duties, explaining procedures, issuing orders, providing on-the-job instructions, monitoring performance, and correcting deviations.

Directing must have two dimensions, namely, i) magnitude and ii) aim or direction.

The directing function includes the following:

1. Supervising
2. Guiding
3. Leading
4. Motivating, and
5. Communicating

Control means the power or authority to direct and order or restrain. In the context of an entrepreneurial function, control may be defined as “comparing operating results with the plans, and taking corrective action when results deviate from the plans”.

Control requires two things: first, there is a clear – cut and specific plan according to which any work is to proceed and second, it is possible to measure the results of operations with a view to detecting deviations.

Functional Areas

In any business organization, the commonly identified functional areas are production, marketing and finance. In recent years, the personnel and materials that go into the production process, packing process and marketing process have gained importance and given due importance by treating them separately as personnel and materials management.

Organization functional areas are

• Production Management
• Marketing Management
• Financial Management
• Personnel Management
• Materials Management

The above functional areas are not watertight compartments. The decisions/actions taken in one functional area affect the other functional area. The decisions in production and marketing are influenced by the actions on such matters as volume, terms and conditions of loan. The quantity, quality and timely availability of materials also has a bearing on production and marketing decisions. The labour motivation towards work and supervising ability/skill of supervising personnel also affects production and marketing.

Materials Management deals with purchasing and controlling of the materials used in the production process.

Materials (Goods) Planning and Control

Decisions to be taken in this are:

• Amount of materials needed for output desired
• Amount of inventory and its storage and reordering
• Vendor relations
• Quality materials and price per unit
• Quantity and time of order
• Methods of receiving and transporting
• Handling of defective materials and stock

Policies and procedures should be established so that most of these decisions become routine in nature. When exceptions occur, the concerned authority should correct them.

Marketing management refers to distribution of the firm’s product or service to the customers in order to satisfy their needs and to accomplish the firm’s objectives.

Marketing includes developing the product or service, pricing, distribution, advertisement, merchandising, doing personal selling, promoting and directing sales and service to customers.

Marketing is an essential function because unless the firm has a market, or can develop a market for its product or service, other functions of staffing, producing and financing are futile. Marketing functions are schematically given below :

Every small business manager is a personnel manager in the sense that work is done through people, with people and for the people. Consequently, the owner-manager should be personally capable of handling employee relations until the company becomes large enough to afford a personnel manager. Planning personnel requirement, developing sources from which new employees can be recruited, choosing (recruiting) the needed people, training and developing them into productive workers, evaluating their performance, compensating them and dealing with various personnel relationship, including industrial relation are included under personnel management.

Staffing

Staffing is a critical function of organizing and managing a successful business. All companies, whether large or small, are involved in the staffing process. All businesses run the same risk every time they hire a new employee. The staffing function is generally divided into four major categories (1) staffing needs, (2) acquisition, (3) motivation, and (4) retention.

Financing the Business

The capital of a business consists of those funds used to start and run the business. Capital may be of two types: fixed and working.

Fixed capital refers to items bought once and used for a long period of time. This includes such things as building, fixtures and equipment. Fixed Capital does not vary with the level of output.

Working capital is the type of funds, which is needed for carrying out day-to-day operations of the business smoothly. The management of working capital is no less important than the management of ‘long term‘ financial investment. Working Capital varies with the level of output.

A management information system (MIS) is an organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases, and devices used to provide routine information to managers and decision makers. The focus of an MIS is primarily on operational efficiency. Marketing, production, finance, and other functional areas are supported by MIS and linked through a common database. MIS typically provides standard reports generated with data and information from the transaction processing system (Fig. 13.1)

Government Programmes for Agribusiness

Both the central and state governments have devised programmes to luve the entrepreneurs for setting up agribusiness in India. They may be classified as programmes falling under small-scale industries, Khadi and village industries, small and medium industries, large industries based on the finance required for investment. Apart from these many efforts were taken especially after signing, the WTO agreement to harness the export market. They include conversion of Export Processing Zones (EPZ) into Special Economic Zones (SEZ), establishment of Agri-export zones for which government is attracting private investors to make investment in infrastructure development of cold storage chains, improvement in road, rail, sea and air transport systems.

The Ministry of Small Scale Industries & Agro and Rural Industries designs and implements the policies through its field organizations for promotion and growth of small and tiny enterprises, including the coir industries.

The Ministry also coordinates with other Ministries/ Departments on behalf the Small Scale Industries (SSI) sector.

The implementation of policies and various programmes/schemes for providing infrastructure and support services to small enterprises is undertaken through its attached office, namely the Small Industry Development Organization (SIDO), statutory bodies/other organizations likely Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) & Coir Board a Public Sector Undertaking -National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and three training institutes -National Institute of Small Industry Extension Training (NISIET), Hyderabad, National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), New Delhi and Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati.

Agro-inputs are either biological or chemical or inorganic compounds used in the production of agricultural and allied products. Some of the agro-inputs used in India are :

• In-organic fertilizers
• Pesticides which include insecticide, fungicide, nematicide and herbicide
• Seeds which include varieties, hybrids and genetically modified plant materials
• Vegetatively propagated planting materials
• Bio-fertilizers
• Organic inputs which include compost, vermicompost, enriched farm yard manure, oil meals and farm yard manure
• Bio-pesticides
• Bio-control agents
• Plant Growth regulators
• Micro-nutrients
• Farm machinery and agricultural tools and implements
• Animal feed
• Poultry feed.

The production and distribution of above mentioned agricultural inputs create agri-business opportunities. The agricultural input production inputs and distribution firms may be big companies like Madras Fertilizers, SPIC, FACT, EID Parry, Monsanto, Syngenta or MAHYCO and the like. They may also be small business firms like vermicomposting, coir pith decomposing.

There is sufficient support to view that foreign trade plays has a vital role in the economic development of a country. Its contribution to the growth of National Income can be quite substantial. If a country is pulled into world trade, then the country can and should maximize its real income by specializing along lines of comparative advantage. The volume and composition of foreign trade have a profound influence on the character and the extent of development of a country. From the point of view of economic development, both import and export are important. It is through import that a country could obtain plant, machinery and equipment, components, raw materials, technical know-how, etc., which are indispensable for accelerating economic development.

India’s share in world exports was 0.54 per cent in 1970s, which has risen to 0.81 per cent in 2000s and exports has grown 700 times and imports more than thousand times during the course of economic development. It is clearly observed from Table 16.1 that import is greater than export. The rate of growth of export between 2001-02 and 2007-08 was 90 per cent, whereas import growth rate was 150 per cent in the corresponding period.

Organized retailing is spreading and making its presence felt in different parts of the country. The share of organized retailing in the total retail sector is set to increase from about 2 % to 8 -10 % by 2010. The retail sector generates 6 % of total employment in India. The reasons behind the increase in growth of retailing is changing life styles of Indian consumers. The key factors that drive the growth of organized retailing are:

• Rising urbanization
• Growing economy
• Higher disposable incomes
• Growing consumerism
• Entry of national/international business houses into retailing
• Increasing nuclear families
• Changing number of educated and employed women population
• Media proliferation and rising awareness level
• Brand proliferation
• Traveling by the working groups of the society
• Popularity within working and studying bachelors for convenience food.

The largest category of retail businesses are specialized retailers selling food, and beverages from fixed retail outlets. The major formats of retailing are furnished in Table17.1.

For the prospective small business owner who possesses the necessary personal qualities, managerial ability, and capital , and who is not inheriting a family enterprise, there are two ways to get the business started: buy out an existing establishment or start from scratch with a new firm.

Buying an Existing Business

There are both advantages and disadvantages in buying an existing business. If the small business entrepreneur decides to buy an existing business, there are many things (s)he must investigate and analyze the business if (s) he is to make a good purchase decision.

The science of Meteorology is defined as the science that deals with physical and chemical processes of the lower atmosphere. The physical and chemical changes in the lower atmosphere produce weather and popularly known as the weather science. The weather science concerns the study of structure, state and behaviour of the lower atmosphere. It is essentially an observational science dealing with different atmospheric variables such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind, humidity, density, cloud amount, radiation, precipitation and related variables at a given moment and attempts to predict the behaviour of atmosphere over a period of few hours to few days ahead and disseminate the same in time to the users? community. The statistical approach of weather phenomena deals with the mean state of the physical properties of atmosphere. This branch of science is popularly known as Climatology. The weather science can be categorized into several branches based on method of approach, purpose and function, scale and region. Based on the purpose and function, it can be divided into several branches like Livestock Meteorology, Agro Meteorology, Forest Meteorology, Hydro Meteorology and Bio-Meteorology (Fig 1.1).

Output of dairy products from animals, output from the poultry, goats, sheep, exotic birds, animal growth, their living environments and diseases affecting them, are known to be governed by weather conditions. Development of quantitative climate-animal relationships and efficient utilization of daily weather data for monitoring the various aspects, continues to be a significant research priority. Traditionally the major climatic factors on which attention has been focused are: temperature, humidity, solar radiation and length of day. The effects of these climatic elements on reaction of animal physiological parameters have been studied by measurements of (a) animal?s ability to prevent heat loss by such means as increased evaporative cooling from the body surface, (b) its ability to reduce heat production by lowering its metabolic rate through more efficient energy utilization (c) its ability to put up with a rise in body temperature or with the consequences of compensatory reactions. Experiments are usually done in climate chambers since field measurements often involve difficulties of interpretation in separating out the effects of climate from those of nutrition. Water consumption, water intake, insensible perspiration (diffusion moisture, different from the moisture which is actively secreted), protein intake, intra- and extra cellular volumes, plasma and blood volumes, body temperature, respiratory activity etc., of animals are all known to be affected in relation to changes in air temperature and humidity. Airflow also is an adjutant factor since it affects temperature and humidity. Significant seasonal changes have also been frequently recorded. These in turn, have profound effect on output of milk yield and several other animal products. Development of predictive techniques for assessment of milk yield or other products had been recognized as a thrust area, so as to develop suitable and viable strategies for storage; transport, marketing and distribution of several livestock products. Several gross relationships between climate and its influence on physiological and biochemical aspects of animal behaviour have been worked out in the past on seasonal basis but a more intensive study on short period stress effects on the output products in relation to prediction of output is the need of the hour. For pursuing research on these aspects, an appropriate understanding of the specific meaning and use of terminology such as ?thresholds?, ?optima?, ?normal?, ?extreme events? in more detail is considered appropriate. Methods of analysis also need to be addressed and evolved.