eChapters

Abstract

Bioinformatics is an important interdisciplinary field that brings together several areas of science, including molecular biology, biostatistics, and computer science (vis-a-vis information technology). With the rapid increase in the sequencing of DNA/RNA/protein molecules, as well as the growing understanding of the interconnections between different areas of biological science, the importance of bioinformatics is only increasing. This chapter seems to provide a thorough introduction to the definition, concept, and importance of bioinformatics. It also appears to highlight the relevance and potential scope of the subject for students interested in pursuing a career in the field. As bioinformatics continues to evolve and expand, it is likely to become an increasingly important area of research and development in the life sciences.

Introduction

Rural development focuses on development of rural man, woman and all things. Rural development influences the growth of economy in rural areas. Rural development mainly depends on agriculture. This agriculture reduces hunger in rural areas and increases food security. Bondad-Reantaso et al., (2009) showed for rural development aquaculture act as a indicator. Brummett and Williams (2000) showed rural development of aquaculture in Africa.

Role of poverty alleviation by aquaculture

(a) Aquaculture creates employment in rural area

(b) Aquaculture gives nutrition to infants and women

(c) Vale of aquaculture is comparatively high.

(d) Rural people may income by selling the fish seed.

(e) Landless people can cage culture, mollusks culture in very short place.

History of human civilization initiated with the struggle against hunger, it flourishes with the fight against poverty and turns oblivious with absence of voices being raised against these two bio-social lethal. If hunger is a pain, poverty is an agony, then, keeping silent against this carcinoma of civilization is no doubt a crime. Is it that poor people are put to an insurmountable silence by the ruthless hegemonies of political economy, or, they are silent, that’s why they remain poor? Silence has been the lethal enzyme in transforming poverty into hunger, and, offers to a socio- chemical bond, poverty-hunger-silence; the bond that remains non-breakable as on date. Economists lament for poverty, nutritionists regret hunger, but the issues of silence and its cohesion to both hunger and poverty has seldom been scholastically delved into or dealt with. We can hope, a desperation of wishful thinking as it may be, shall drench the researchers who think and feel to explore a missing link between hunger and poverty, the silence or the social anemia of voices.

Introduction

A population is the set of all objects we wish to study. A sample is part of the population we study to learn about the population. A census may be defined as an enumeration or evaluation of every member of a population. A parameter is any measurement that describes an entire population. A statistic is any measurement computed from a sample of the individual observations made. As per Best (1977), "Research is considered to be more formal, systematic, and intensive process of carrying on a scientific method of analysis."

Introduction

Agriculture and allied sectors contributing significantly to rural employment generation. It also contributes almost 18% of GVA (Gross Value Added) in Indian Economy at current prices (Economic Survey of India 2016-17). It remains sustaining livelihood security with nutritional security and help in social transformation of the country. Second half of 20th century witnessed the change of traditional and subsistence Indian agriculture into a commercial activity. Green revolution of sixties paved the way for entry of agribusiness companies selling seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and farm machineries. Agriculture today faces many challenges which include globalization and market liberalization, food price crises, natural resource depletion, climate change, rapid urbanization, changing production and consumption patterns, demographic changes etc. Market driven agriculture production is need of the hour since marketing has become a challenge for small farmers. Agri- preneurship development can be key in this scenario.

Introduction

Agricultural and Animal husbandry extension continues to be in transition worldwide. Governments and international agencies are advancing structural, financial and managerial reforms to improve extension. Decentralization, pluralism, cost sharing, cost recovery, participation of stakeholders in development initiatives and the decisions and resources that affect them - these are some of the elements in extension’s current transition.

Public sector extension was severely attacked in the 1980s for not being relevant, for insufficient impact, for not being adequately effective, for not being efficient and, sometimes, for not pursuing programmes that foster equity. In the context of meeting the holistic needs of increasing agricultural production in a sustainable manner in India, agricultural extension has a crucial role to play. Reforms in the system envisaged an extension service which is more broad-based and holistic in content and scope and beyond agricultural technology transfer.

Any kind of developmental programme needs a proper integration of different parts of the society i.e. stakeholders of that programme. Apart from the nodal body, many implementing agencies take part in the implementation, monitoring of those programmes. Non-Government Organizations are one of those who actively participated in developmental activities not only as an implementing agency but also in mobilizing the resources, proper utilizing that and also effectively utilizing the resource towards development. NonGovernment Organization is an organization that is independent in nature, politically, socially unbiased and has a proper legal stand with developmental orientation.

Introduction

In India, the concept of commercialization of technology from R&D is relatively new in most sectors; especially in agriculture & animal Husbandry. The Government of India has recently announced the “National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy (GOI, 2016a). The policy advocates promotion of a holistic and conducive ecosystem for catalyzing the intellectual property for economic, socio-cultural development and protecting public interest. The policy document put forth seven objectives namely i) IPR awareness: outreach and promotion, ii) generation of IPRs, iii) legal and legislative framework, iv) administrative management, v) commercialization of IPR, vi) enforcement and adjudication and vii) human capital development. The policy aims at strengthening the national initiatives such as- Make in India, Skill India, Startup India, Smart Cities, Digital India (GOI, 2016). The flagship program of the Government like Startup India aims at building a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovations and Start-ups in the country (GOI, 2016). Under this, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the action plan envisaged with the focus on promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation in sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, health and education (GOI, 2016).

Being a Health Extension Practitioner, one should have a clear idea regarding some fundamental aspects like the nature of health, health education, health promotion and some related concepts. This will help them to understand the social, psychological and physical components of health and enable them to be a better health educator by considering these basic ideas while planning and carrying out a health education session.

Definition & concepts of health

As a Health Extension Practitioner, one’s main target will be to prevent health problems in a community rather than to treat them. Malaria, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and many harmful traditional practices are among the different health problems we generally see within our community setting.

Introduction

In agriculture, Knowledge and decision-making capacity determine how production factors like soil water and capital are utilized in judicious manner. Agricultural Extension System remains in central position for formulating and disseminating knowledge including hands on training to the farmers. Realizing the scope and importance of integrated working of inter relationship between research, education and extension functions, the ICAR established a section of extension education at its head quarter in 1971 which was later on strengthen and renamed as Division of Agricultural Extension. Extension Education plays an important role in most of the Agricultural Development project. Moreover, Agricultural Extension is part of system of factors which influence farmer’s decision. It includes agricultural researchers, political authorities, farmer’s organization, non-govt. organizations, farmers training centre and media. These actors assume the functions of research, information dissemination, training and so on. The primary goal of agricultural extension is to assist farming families in adopting their production and marketing strategies to rapidly changing social, political and economic condition so that they can, in the long term, shape their lives according to their personal preferences and those of community.

Miles to go for uplifting the entire population above the poverty line. But the picture was different in ancient times. As life style was simple, all amenities required in daily life were available within the villages. In need social system used to spread its helping hand towards the distressed. But the stability of the system becomes disturbed by invasion of foreigners and exploitation of foreign rulers.

In the British period series of famines from 1875 to 1901, numbering 18 out of a total 3 3 during the whole 19^th Century, the Government was compelled to appoint some Commissions and imposed some acts and established Development Departments like Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary irrigation etc. The journey for rural development stated from here by Government.

Milk, meat, eggs and their products have been the important part of the human diet in almost all countries of the world. These are highly nutritious and provide vital nutrients absent in typical starchy staples which dominate poor people’s diets. On global scale, animal meat, egg and milk provide 80% of animal protein intake.

The livestock sector requires a significant amount of natural resources and is responsible for about 14.5% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (7.1 Gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents for the year 2005). Methane, mainly produced by enteric fermentation and manure storage, is a gas which has an effect on global warming 28 times higher than carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide, arising from manure storage and the use of organic/inorganic fertilizers, is a molecule with a global warming potential 265 times higher than carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide equivalent is a standard unit used to account for the global warming potential. Mitigation strategies aimed at reducing emissions of this sector are needed to limit the environmental burden from food production while ensuring a sufficient supply of food for a growing world population.

Executive summary

The ITK system had been developed by the indigenous communities based on their experiences, continuous improvement through informal experimentation and transfer of such knowledge to next generations. The tried and tested rich ITK pertaining to agriculture, livestock and other allied sectors had been interwoven with the socio-cultural and traditional practices followed by them. Since time immemorial indigenous communities had been applying ITK in animal husbandry to increase milk production, fertility, retention of placenta, breeding, prolapsed, care for the young stock and preparation of indigenous livestock products. ITKs are often adapted according to the local culture and traditions, needs, and environment; they are very dynamic and continuously changing, and lay emphasis on minimizing the risks rather than maximizing profits. Indigenous knowledge of livestock rearing is often “tacit” and not necessarily expressed in the conventional form of scientific documentation. The origin and evolution of indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) in India has been reported since time immemorial. Since then, the knowledge, belief, skills and practices pertaining to diagnosis, treatment and management of animal and human diseases are imprinted and carried to future generations. In the light of evolution, the practice has come to limelight as an alternative low cost solution to conventional western medicine and readily practiced by ordinary farmers. 

Value Addition in Livestock Product

Mankind has been utilizing different animal species from the dawn of civilization for a variety of purposes viz. production of milk, meat, wool, egg and leather etc. These products are either useful in raw form or in value added form. Value-addition describes economically adding value to the product by changing its place, time and form to characteristics that are more preferred in the market place. Another way of explaining is that what happens when you take a basic product and increase the value of that product, usually the price by adding extras in the manufacturing process, or by tacking on extra products and/or services.

Introduction

Farmers work hard to earn a living. However, not all farmers make money, especially small family farmers. There is very little leftover after they pay for all their inputs (seeds, livestock breeds, fertilizers, pesticides, energy, feed, labour, etc.). However, the Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) has enabled farmers to develop a framework for an alternative development model to improve the feasibility of small sized farming operations. The ‘’modern’’ technologies have been widely used to enhance the productivity per acre of land to ensure that there is enough food for the increased global population. Due to the indiscriminate and erratic use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, our food and ecosystems have been poisoned. On the contrary, the integrated farming system uses the integrated approach to farming compared to monoculture approaches. It refers to agricultural systems that integrate agriculture with horticulture, livestock, fishery, agro-forestry, etc. and known as integrated bio-systems. In this system, an inter-related set of enterprises is used so that the “waste” from one component becomes an input for another part of the system. This reduces costs and improves production and/or income. 

Homestead is a small scale, supplementary food production system; it has the potential to produce high value crops including various spices condiments by and large for the household members. A typical home garden is an adjunct to the house, where selected trees, shrubs are grown, not only edible fruits / vegetables, but also for medicinal, ornamental, socioeconomic and ecological benefits. Homestead exhibit a multi tired canopy structure somewhat identical to the tropical evergreen forest formations. The vertical stratification provides a gradient in light and relative humidity, which creates different niches for enabling various spices/groups to exploit them .Mostly shade tolerant crops constitute the lower stratum, the shade intolerant trees the layer and spices with varying degree of shade tolerance in the intermediate strata .These multi strata system are structurally and functionally the closest mimics of natural forests yet attained The structural and floristic diversity of tropical home gardens are perhaps aided by the biophysical environment, socio-culture factors and economic consideration. 

Panchayati Raj is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent. Panchayati Raj Institutions have been in existence in India for a long time. In the old Sanskrit scriptures, word 'Panchayatan' has been mentioned which means a group of five persons, including a spiritual man. In the Rigveda, there is a mention of Sabha, Samiti and Vidatha as local selfunits. These were the democratic bodies at the local level. The king used to get the approval of these bodies regarding certain functions and decisions.

After independence, as a development initiative, India had implemented the Community Development Programmes (CDP) on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, the 2nd October, 1952.The National Extension Service followed the Community Development Programme as the vehicle through which idea of Community Development would be worked and to build up an administrative system which can tackle the welfare problems of growth at the local level. The Balvantray Mehta Study Team was appointed in January 1957 to study and to make report on the Community Development Projects and National Extension Service .The Team brought to focus the areas mentioned below:

Over the time, the concept of extension education transformed from an educational system to an empowerment tool. It is a programme and a process of helping village people to help themselves in view to increase production and raise their general standard of living. As a science, Extension education deals with the creation, transmission and application of knowledge designed to bring about planned changes in the behaviour-complex of people. This particular branch of agricultural science is devoted to bring changes in perception and attitude towards scientific farming techniques, adoption of hi-tech horticulture, precision farming, improved machineries of pre and post-harvest management etc. through vocational training, capacity building, participatory approaches and through many other approaches. A proper planning of extension strategy will help to popularize livestock-based system of production, processing and economics associated with it.

Climate change refers to a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods (FCCC).

Overall, climate change could result in a variety of impacts on agriculture. Some of these effects are biophysical, some are ecological, and some are economic, including:

• A shift in climate and agricultural zones towards the poles
• Changes in production patterns due to higher temperatures
• A boost in agricultural productivity due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• Changing precipitation patterns
• Increased vulnerability of the landless and the poor

India is one of the few countries in the world, which has contributed richly to the international livestock gene pool. Small animal particularly sheep and goat biodiversity in India is characterized by high degree of endemism in different agro climatic regions, and has led to the development of various breeds/strains that are well adapted to specific set of environmental conditions. These breeds have generally been named after their place of origin and some based on their prominent characteristics. Indigenous sheep and goat contribute greatly to the agrarian economy, especially in areas where crop and dairy farming are not economical, and play an important role in the livelihood of a large proportion of small and marginal farmers and landless laborers. Sheep and Goat rearing and production has been the important source for sustainable livelihood of the rural people mainly in arid, semi-arid and temperate regions of India as it serves their various needs and provides an unceasing source of income round the year.

Monitoring and Evaluation are the two management tools that help in keeping a control on the extension programmes as well as raising the level of performance. Monitoring refers to an organized process of overseeing and checking the activities undertaken in a project, to ascertain whether it is capable of achieving the planned results or not. Conversely, evaluation is a scientific process that gauges the success of the projector programme in meeting the objectives. The primary difference between monitoring and evaluation is that while monitoring is a continuous activity, performed at the functional level of management, evaluation is a periodic activity, performed at the business level.

Introduction

A community radio station is characterized by its ownership and programming and the community it is authorized to serve. It is owned and controlled by anon- profit organization whose structure provides for membership, management, operation and programming primarily by members of the community at large. Its programming should be based on community access and participation and should reflect the special interests and needs of the listenership it is licensed to serve.

While community radio is a form of public-service broadcasting, it has an approach that is different from conventional broadcasting. Its specific focus is to make its audience the main protagonists, by their involvement in all aspects of its management and programme production, and by providing them with programming that will help them in the development and social advancement of their community.

The ICAR / Agriculture Universities are playing key role in addressing the gender issues in agriculture as a whole through development of women friendly technologies, efficient extension system and technical backstopping because of the fact that women are the backbone of as nearly contribute 33% of agriculture workforce and silently adorning myriad roles in agriculture sector from home maker to cultivator and even entrepreneur. Traditionally, managing the home, nurturing and grooming children have been considered to be the primary responsibility of women. Besides attending the household chores, they attend to arduous agricultural operations like sowing, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, threshing, agro processing in crop production and cutting and transportation of fodder, milking, cleaning of cattle shed and making of cow dung cakes in livestock rearing. The role of Indian rural women is increasing evidently due to migration of males to urban areas which is having profound and far-reaching effects.

Our emotions play quite a significant role in guiding and directing our behavior. Many a times they are seen to dominate our behavior in such a way that we have no solution other than behaving as per their wish. On the other hand, if a person has no emotional current then he becomes crippled in terms of living his life in a normal way. Hence, emotions play a key role in providing a particular direction to our behavior and thus shaping our personality according to their development.

Etymologically, the word emotion is derived from the Latin word ‘emovere’ which means ‘to stir up’ or ‘to excite’. Emotion implies a state of being stirred up or aroused in one way or another. Therefore, emotion may be understood as an agitated or excited state of our mind and body. It involves extensive visual disturbance and includes many feeling tones or varying degrees of satisfaction or annoyance. Feeling may be a simple degree of emotional experience. Psychologists and physiologists are in agreement that emotion involves feelings, impulses and physiological reactions.

Thus, whatever may be the terminology used by different psychologists, their definition tends to describe “emotions as some sort of feelings or affective experiences which are characterized by some physiological changes that generally lead them to perform some or the other type of behavioral act”.

Emerging Paradigm of Extension Plus:

This is now widely recognized that Animal Husbandry extension needs to reform in ways that allow it to fulfill a diverse set of objectives in worldwide. This ranges from better linking of farmers to input and output markets, to reducing the vulnerability and enhancing voice of the rural poor, development of micro-enterprises, poverty reduction and environmental conservation and strengthening and support of farmer organizations’. So while technology transfer is important, what is also required is the strengthening of locally relevant innovation processes and knowledge systems. Extension is being forced to embrace a broadened mandate that while in reality has always existed, has rarely been addressed. The limitations of a single model of extension for all kinds of situations are now well recognized and there is an increasing realization that new extension approaches need to emerge locally, based on experimentation, learning and adaptation to prevailing circumstances. The need for this new and expanded view of extension is clearly emerging in the case of Indian agriculture, which is characterized by declining land and water availability, degradation of natural resources, an unfavorable price regime, low value addition, particularly in rural areas and increasing competition from import of agricultural commodities. Farmers thus find themselves in an ever more complex production and market environment, with an expanding need for information and services.

Motivation of staff both in private and public organizations, leads to greater effectively leading to higher productivity and better performance. Motivation is the performance or procedure of presenting an intention that leads a person to capture some accomplishment (Quratul, 2011). Veterinary institutions like other organizations also seek to achieve better performance level. This requires providing motivation as an incentive or within the veterinarian as an individual to be self-motivated. There is a good scope for veterinarians to be more committed to work. McGregor argued that management has the responsibility to ensure that the productive elements of the enterprises are organized, such as money, materials and people with the purpose of meeting economic ends. People have an inborn dislike to work and tend to avoid it whenever an opportunity arises. It is also observed that people are born selfish; indifferent to the needs of the organization; hence people’s efforts need to be directed through coercion, controlling their action and modification of their behaviors to attain organizational goals. Hence, people in the organization need to be directed to take responsibility. To achieve organizational objectives, people need to be persuaded, rewarded, coerced, controlled, directed or threatened with punishment. While another theory is opposable to it. It is believed that if vets are motivated they would reach greatest potential. As extension specialist we need to motivate our peer and farmers aiming to improve performance and increased satisfaction.

Capacity Building is the improvement in an individual or organization’s facility or capability to produce and perform. Since the year 1950s, international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations and communities use the concept of capacity building as part of “social and economic development “ in states and national plans. The Agriculture Sector in India occupies the centre stage to promote inclusive growth, enhance rural income and sustain food and nutritional security. To spur growth in this sector Government of India intends to follow massive Agricultural Production, reduction in wastage of produce, credit support to farmers and a thrust to the food processing sector. Indeed, Agriculture continues to be a way of life in our Country, it provides employment to around 60% of the work force and contributes almost 18% to our Gross Domestic Products (GDP). With more than 6 lakh villages, home to millions of farmers and farm workers, it is very difficult to visualize a prosperous India without Agriculture and Rural Development.

Managerial skills and performance appraisal system is the right instrument that plays a vital role directly or indirectly in achieving the goals of an organization. It improves the interpersonal relationship among the employees and employers in the organization. It reflects an evaluative judgment of the traits, characteristics and the work performance of the employees on jobs. Management skills are also known as leadership skills and involve planning, decision making, delegation, time management and time management to ensure optimum organization in focus and the technical of how and why of accomplishing tasks. Managers who are expected to carry out performance appraisal should have some appropriate training. This should include the reasons the organization carries out appraisals, and the skills of performance appraisal. Managers need to appreciate how the process fits into the wider strategic process of performance management, and how the data collected contributes to an analysis of the organization’s human resources, and its capability to contribute to business strategy and value.

Introduction

As India was struggling to feed her population through “ship-to-mouth” strategy, the agricultural scientists focused on the enhancing the food grain production of India so that the country became self-sufficient. Through tireless efforts our country ushered into Green Revolution which marked the beginning of the era of self-sufficiency for India. The efforts of researchers were seamlessly taken to fields and communicated to masses by the efficient extension professionals of our country. The focus of extension was “Production Led”. But as time passed, India became self-sufficient in major food crops, the farmers started facing problems of marketing their surplus produce. Market gluts, non-remunerative prices, distress sales and emergence of exploitative middle men made farmers all the more helpless. It was at this time when the concept of “Production Led Extension” was thought of being reformed to “Market Led Extension” (MLE). As of today, MLE has helped many farmers market their produce easily and fetch remunerative prices of the produce. Agricultural, livestock, fisheries and all allied sectors have received benefit from this approach of extension.

Negotiation is a communication and problem-solving process built on a broad foundation of skills and knowledge. It is also one of the most popular and effective means of resolving conflicts and misunderstandings. Negotiation is back and forth communication designed to reach agreement while leaving the other side intact and positive.

Basic principle, without which negotiation is impossible

Successful negotiation requires compromise from both sides. Both parties must gain something, and both parties must lose something. You must be prepared to give something up to which you believe you are entitled. You cannot expect to defeat your opponent or “win” a negotiation by either the power of your negotiating skills or the compelling force of your logic. This is not to say that good negotiating ability is irrelevant. In most cases, a range of possible outcomes exists. A skilled negotiator often can achieve a settlement near the top of the range.

A conflict is a fight or a clash of interest, opinion, or even principles. Conflict can never be eliminated from the society; as there are different reasons of conflict. It may vary from personal, racial, class, caste, political, international and many more.

Conflict in a group often follows a specific course. Routine group interaction is first disrupted by an initial conflict within the group. It is often caused by internal differences of opinion, disagreements between its members, or scarcity of resources available to the group. Some of the common sorts of conflicts are:

• Inter-group conflict is conflict between two or more groups.
• Organization conflict is discord caused by opposition of needs, values, and interests between people working together.
• Role conflict involves incompatible demands placed upon a person in a manner that makes accomplishing both troublesome.
• Social conflict is the struggle for supremacy or autonomy between social classes.
• Conflict of interest is involvement in multiple interests which could possibly corrupt the motivation or decision-making.

The Management tools are very useful to achieve the objectives of any extension organization. There are number of management tools, which extensively used for better personal and organizational effectiveness, such as follows: Johari window, SWOT analysis, Agro-Ecosystem analysis, PRA, Transaction Analysis, etc.

• Personal Effectiveness-Johari Window:

The personal effectiveness is very useful for success of management in any extension organization. In Extension organization, the manager or leader has to deal with human beings to obtain the objectives’ of the organization through better personal effectiveness. The basic precondition for personal effectiveness is better self-awareness but understanding one does not alone make a person effective.

The Johari Window: The simple and widely used model of self-awareness is the Johari window, developed by Joseph Luft& Harry Ingham in 1973. In this model, there are two main dimensions for understanding the self: Those aspects of a person’s behavior and style that known to him(Self) and those aspects of his behavior known to those with whom he interacts(Others). A combination of these two dimensions reveals fur areas of knowledge about the self.

In the present scenario, team formation is the key enabler for getting all sorts of benefit in organizational perspective as well as benefit sharing perspective. So, in any organizational atmosphere team plays a pivotal role in performance of human resources in organization through contributing to the organizational goal. Successful organizations today know that teams make a big difference in achieving strategic goals. Teams that are strong, flexible, and productive can be the competitive edge needed to produce better results, achieve higher quality, lower costs for the organization and the customer. With active involvement, high-performing teams can help promote employees bottom line results, as well as their adaptability, quality, service, and safety. To achieve these objectives, teams have to start doing things differently. Team members and leaders need to communicate more effectively with each other, encourage more involvement, tap into one another’s creativity, overcome the group’s resistance to change, and renew team spirit. But this change can also create difficulty for some who may lack the knowledge, understanding, or a mindset that is conducive to teamwork. Team Building for high performance teams is designed to provide skills and promote high levels of team performance and team member satisfaction. Consequently, team building is required for knowing each other within the organizational team, boosting morale, improving communication and relationships, making the workplace more enjoyable, motivating a team, getting everyone “onto the same page” including goal setting, teaching the team self-regulation strategies, helping participants to learn more about themselves (strengths and weaknesses), identifying and utilizing the strengths of team members, improving team productivity, identifying and developing leadership skills and practicing effective collaboration with team members. Group is a collection of two or more interacting individuals with a stable pattern of relationships among them, who share common goals and who perceive themselves as being a group. Group essentially consists of social interaction, stable structure, common interests, perceive themselves as part of group.

“Mostpeople spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”
 

- Henry Ford

A problem can be defined as a situation that prevents us from achieving the goals we have set for ourselves. It can be anything from financial, personal to work-related. Problems can arise anywhere, and any activity that helps to end our problem results in problem-solving. Being a part of an extension organization we have to come across different kinds of problems. Every job role has its problems. But how well do we cope up with the everyday problems that we often face? Some people are good at problem-solving. Others may think they are not. Most are somewhere in between.

Good problem solving skills empower managers in their professional and personal lives. Good problem solving skills seldom come naturally; they are consciously learnt and nurtured. The selection of good problem solving skills includes:

Abstract

In any extension organization, performance appraisal is critical for human resource management. Extension professionals or employees will have a better grasp of their roles and obligations, as well as recommendations on how to improve their performance, if the performance appraisal process is formal and well-structured. The Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) is also described as the project-planning matrix, is a planning, monitoring and evaluation technique for extension projects. The steps in the performance appraisal process are as follows: setting performance benchmarks, communicating standards to employees, evaluating actual performance, comparing actual to desired performance, discussing the results and making a conclusion. Critical Incidence Technique, confidential report, weighted checklists, visual rating scales, behaviorally anchored rating scales, forced choice approach, Management by Objectives (MBO) etc. are commonly used performance appraisal methods. The essential components of Logical Framework Analysis, on the other hand, comprise of hierarchy of objectives, objectively verifiable indicators, verification means and critical assumptions and risks. The logical framework isn’t a universal remedy for all development project problems, but it can help policymakers and financial agencies/donors to understand what a project is trying to achieve. Not only that, LFA may also describe in simple terms how the project will achieve its goal.

Interpersonal Behavior is the study of one’s own perception, knowledge, attitude & motivation and how these affect one’s behavior to the self & with others. It is characterized mainly by 3 factors. A. Communication skill (Knowledge / literacy / intelligence, Listening skill, Verbal skill and Active listening/feedback). B. Emotional intelligence (Self-awareness and Emotional maturity) C. Social skill (Good eye contact, Body language and Empathy/ understanding & assimilating ability). For Understanding Interpersonal Behaviors, Behavioral scientists recommend the use of Johari Window & Transactional Analysis (TA).

Johari Window is a psychological too created by Joseph Luft& Harry Ingham in 1955 in USA.. It helps people to understand their better interpersonal relations & communication. The Johari Window model is also referred to as a ‘disclosure/feedback model of self-awareness’, and by some people an ‘information processing tool’. The Johari Window actually represents information - feelings, experience, views, attitudes, skills, intentions, motivation, etc - within or about a person - in relation to their group, from four perspectives. Johari window four quadrants: 1. what is known by the person about him/herself and is also known by others - open area, open self, free area, free self, or ‘the arena’. 2. what is unknown by the person about him/herself but which others know - blind area, blind self, or ‘blind spot‘. 3. what the person knows about him/herself that others do not know - hidden area, hidden self, avoided area, avoided self or ‘facade‘. 4. What is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others - unknown area or unknown self.

Introduction

Recently the terms “governance” and “good governance” are being increasingly used in development literature. Bad governance is being increasingly regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within our societies. Major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly basing their aid and loans on the condition that reforms that ensure “good governance” are undertaken.

Good governance is an essential complement to sound economic policies. Efficient and accountable management by the public sector and a predictable and transparent policy framework are critical to the efficiency of markets and governments, and hence to economic development. Good governance, for the World Bank, is synonymous with sound development management The Bank’s experience has shown that the programs and projects it helps finance may be technically sound, but fail to deliver anticipated results for reasons connected to the quality of government action. Legal reforms, however urgent, may come to naught if the new laws are not enforced consistently or there are severe delays in implementation. Efforts to develop privatized production and encourage market-led growth may not succeed unless investors face dear rules and institutions that reduce uncertainty about future government action.

Abstract

Extension education as a subject field as well as extending services to clients is found to be associated with the bio-production system and some service areas where the actual stakeholders are not a part of the specified field of knowledge and technology. Taking the example of a bio-production system like agriculture, horticulture, fishery, animal and veterinary science, sericulture, forestry, etc. - paradoxically contrasting to an industrial production system, in which actual practitioners (farmers) do not come to respective institutions where the S & T inputs in the respective fields are generated and disseminated. There lies the necessity and importance of extension in order to reach them with appropriate S & T inputs which can boost up the production and productivity of crops and lands. This is particularly necessary for meeting the food, feed, fiber requirement of the ever-increasing human and animal population as well as to maintain seed reserve. Improvement of bio-production systems in terms of their production and productivity is largely dependent on public (government) funds and efforts are being made to improve these sectors through a different extension program. Since independence through different projects and programme, like, IAAP, IADP, HYVP, IRDP, Training & Visit, IVLP, NAIP, NATP, and many others have been launched. But there was criticism that these projects were not managed efficiently to yield the expected outcome.

Abstract

Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) are delivered by millions of extension professionals representing the public, private and civil society located across the globe and have been helping in addressing farmers’ needs over the years. However, public sector has been a major agency dealing with EAS in India and is facing several challenges and constraints to fulfill the demands of farmers on timely basis. The challenge today is to change the organizational culture to incorporate innovation as a core value and to institutionalize the emerging paradigms. Further, different strategies and measures need to be taken to ensure timely and quality EAS by reorienting extension priorities. This paper has highlighted on strengthening extension and feedback mechanism, improving research- extension linkages, capacity building, public-private partnership (PPP), developing infrastructure, mass media support and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) etc. to improve the efficiency as the time demands. The paper concludes that reorienting extension priorities is very essential with a vast network of various stakeholders by adapting effective approaches like utilization of social media, human resource development, PPP, farmer groups etc. during and post pandemic scenario. Further, empirical efforts are also needed to develop reliable, location-specific, participatory, gender-sensitive and inexpensive extension methodologies and materials to meet the emerging demands. Further, developing countries like India have to invest in terms of various resources like financial, human resource etc. for promoting higher productivity and sustainability through EAS.

Abstract

Livestock remain a lifeline for many of the world’s poorest people. Cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens and other farm animals form part of the livelihood portfolios of an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s rural poor women and men. For many smallholder farmers, livestock are essentially four-legged bank accounts, allowing hundreds of millions of unbanked poor to build assets and to insure themselves against shocks such crop failures, accidents and illnesses. Such assets and insurance are particularly important to women, who remain the backbone of global smallholder agriculture and who are one of the best hopes for ensuring future global food security. Across the world’s varied livestock production systems, women are main actors in poultry, small ruminant and micro livestock production as well as in dairying including the processing and marketing of milk and milk products. But women are often still excluded from household decision-making processes, especially regarding the disposal of animals and animal products. This lack of female control over livestock assets and income impinges on family welfare as well as economic growth.

Key words: Economic growth, Livestock assets, Insurance, Women.

Abstract

Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extended term for information technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

The term ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of audio-visual and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large CoymeBoang incentives (huge cost savings due to elimination of the telephone network) to merge the telephone network with the computer network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution and management.

However, ICT has no universal definition, as “the concepts, methods and applications involved in ICT are constantly evolving on an almost daily basis.” The broadness of ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form, e.g. personal computers, digital television, email, robots. For clarity, Zuppo provided an ICT hierarchy where all levels of the hierarchy “contain some degree of commonality in that they are related to technologies that facilitate the transfer of information and various types of electronically mediated communications.” Skills Framework for the Information Age is one of many models for describing and managing competencies for ICT professionals for the 21st century.

Keywords: ICT Tools, Gadgets, Software, Apps, Networking Technologies.

Introduction

Enough literature is available to understand the concept of extension. But are there any efforts to understand the in-tensions of ex-tension? Why should we emphasize on inner tensions of extension? to be a successful extension professional for bringing about the desirable changes in the behaviour of stakeholders, we need to understand the inner-tensions of extension in addition to the concept of extension.

Since inception of extension services, the model adopted for transfer of technology was dominated Technology, wherein the core emphasis was on the transfer of technology. The end product was the partial adoption of the technology or non-adoption of the technology. Learning from the experiences, modifications were made in the model and came out with extension mediated technology transfer system, wherein the technology is inseparable component of extension, which was combined with the human element or the societal element. The approaches adopted by different models of extension service delivery were also diverse.

The first model of extension service delivery the Public extension system or the Ministry of Agriculture, which delivers the extension services in the form of a systems approach. The relationship with the farmers or the end users is ‘take it or leave it’. Whether the receivers are gaining it or not, whether they do understand it or not, ultimately we are transferring it, and are ending it with the target oriented approach.

Extension organizations are highly sociable organizations with a definite purpose of using the grass root principle and democratic leadership in bringing transience in the organization and society. In this direction the communication styles most suited for these extension functionaries in bringing these transitions need to be studied and understood and developed for effective functioning of these organizations as nucleus of change in transforming societies for development

Learning to identify the different communication styles - and recognizing which one we use most often in our daily interactions with friends, family and colleagues - is essential if we want to develop effective, assertive communication skills. But how can we tell the difference between the styles, and is there a time and place for each one in certain situations?

Being assertive means respecting yourself and other people. It is the ability to clearly express your thoughts and feelings through open, honest and direct communication.

Becoming more assertive does not mean that you will always get what you want - but, it can help you achieve a compromise. And even if you don’t get the outcome you want, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you handled the situation well, and that there are no ill feelings between you and the other person or people involved in the discussion.

Training: The Concept

For any kind ofdevelopment, resource is the basic condition and necessity. Every resource should undergo a process of refinement, up gradation, and integration for being able to contribute to a proper functioning and accomplishment. No exception to human resources, the most splendid and creative resource of the earth. While human resources are unique? The following are the reason:

(a) It can think and create

(b) It can integrate and coordinate

(c) It can ideate and communication

(d) It can support and sustain

The essential database for all skin diseases consists skin scrapings. Skin scrapings fall into two main categories: superficial and deep. Superficial scrapings give information from the epidermis’s surface without causing capillary bleeding. Capillary haemorrhage is a sign that the sampling was deep enough to gather material from the hair follicle. Deep skin scrapings are used for this purpose. The main purpose of skin scrapings is to detect the presence or absence of mites. A skin-scraping spatula, which is a thin metal weighing spatula, is recommended for use while scraping the skin. These spatulas are safe and can be used again. Scrapings from active lesions at several places are to be submitted. Scraping from active lesions at several places is to be submitted. Generally, the periphery of the lesion contains more parasites than the centre. Skin scrapings are used to identify ectoparasites and fungal diseases.

A. Intestinal protozoa Fresh faeces must be used as a sample. The sample must be examined immediately and without refrigeration. Methods of examination 1. Direct smear examination A thin smear of faeces mixed with either water or normal saline (recommended for Trophozoites since they stay intact and motile longer). Select blood-tinged mucus or tiny tissue bits if the faeces are dysenteric. One to two percent of an aqueous eosin solution can be used in place of saline or water, but the oocyst still resist the stain. The viability is examined using the eosin solution. It is possible to employ an iodine solution (which kills protozoa), which allows for the identification and differentiation of the protozoa. It is possible

Purpose of study An essential component of the diagnostic process in the evaluation of the disease process is the laboratory diagnosis of any parasitic infection. Sometimes, this confirms the presumptive clinical diagnosis, and other times, it provides evidence that the clinician may have ignored. A sufficient specimen must be used for the examination to achieve a satisfactory diagnosis. Internal parasite testing needs to be done often. Regular inspection typically enables early parasitism identification, preventing gross infection. The majority of the parasites can be accurately identified by doing a detailed examination of the faeces. Faecal sample collection and delivery for parasite identificatio

Collections of blood To collect blood for different haematological analyses, an animal’s vein are punctured with a syringe and needle. Requirements • Hypodermic needle • Syringe • Collection vials or tubes containing anticoagulantsProcedure • The place of blood collection should always be cleaned with alcohol and hairs trimmed. • Press on the vein to raise it. • Free-flowing blood can be collected directly into the vial containing anticoagulant after the needle is inserted into the vein. • 5 ml of blood from large animals and 2.0 ml of blood from small animals like dogs and cats are sufficient for normal haematological investigations. • Rotational motions in the vials are used to mix the blood

Urinnalysis An essential laboratory test that is easily conducted in veterinary settings and is included in a basic database is urinalysis. Documenting diverse urogenital tract conditions is helpful, because it could reveal details about other systemic conditions including hemolysis and liver failure. Cystocentesis, urethral catheterization, or simply voiding can all be used to collect urine. Urine should be examined within 30 minutes, but if this is not possible, it can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours or sent to a outside diagnostic lab; this, however, may cause crystal precipitation. The pH or specific gravity of urine are unaffected by refrigeration. Preservative should be added if cytologic analysis is necessary and a delay in slide preparation is anticipated. A few drops of 10% formalin (exact concentration not necessary) are better than boric acid