eChapters

Previous year questions

1. Introduction?

2. Role of private? Introduction

• The Indian seed industry used to be dominated by public sector seed companies. However, following the easing of government regulations and the implementation of a new seed policy in 1988, the private sector seed companies have started playing a major role in seed development and marketing.

• More recently, the government’s decision to embrace biotechnology as a means of achieving food security has attracted several leading biotechnology-focused multinational seed companies to India.

• The composition of the seed industry, by volume of turnover, has reportedly reached a ratio of 60:40 between the private and public sectors.

Introduction
Nanomedicine, utilizing nanoparticles for therapeutic purposes, has captured significant interest in both research and industry. Numerous FDA-approved products demonstrate its clinical potential. Liposomes, spherical vesicles with phospholipid bilayers, have emerged as a prominent platform for drug delivery. They offer a versatile carrier system for a wide range of therapeutics, including the successful encapsulation of doxorubicin, an anticancer agent, leading to improved efficacy and reduced side effects. Additionally, liposomes have been explored extensively for nucleic acid delivery, such as siRNA and DNA, enhancing cellular penetration and protecting drugs from degradation. Liposomes were among the first nanotechnologies to reach the market in 1995 and remain a major platform today. Notably, the first FDA-approved mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 (2020) utilizes lipidic/liposomal nanocarriers for delivery. However, despite their advantages, formulating, developing, and manufacturing liposomes presents significant challenges.
The complexity of nano formulations and nanomanufacturing stems from the unique physicochemical properties at the nanoscale. A greater number of variables need to be understood and optimized compared to traditional drug delivery systems. This lack of comprehensive understanding often leads to sensitivity and poor reproducibility in nano-preparations and manufacturing. For such complex systems, experimental approaches that identify critical parameters and their influence on the final product are crucial. Quality by Design (QbD) offers a solution, advocated for by various industries and regulatory bodies. QbD begins with defining the Quality Target Product Profile (QTPP), outlining the essential quality attributes (QA) of the final product for safety and efficacy. These QAs are influenced by critical material attributes (CMA) and process parameters (CPP). QbD then focuses on optimizing CMA and CPP by setting target specifications that ensure the desired QAs and ultimately achieve the QTPP (Alshaer et al., 2022).
A proper experimental design is employed to link CMA and CPP to QA. This facilitates establishing targeted specifications for materials, processes, and the final product. Furthermore, QbD enables the evaluation of multiple factors simultaneously and prioritizes QA through risk assessments. Given the success of liposomal-based drugs in clinical use and their diverse pre-clinical applications, a strategic and systematic approach to liposome development is necessary. QbD offers a framework to create better drug delivery systems for enhanced therapeutic efficacy. While previous research has explored QbD for liposomal drug delivery, there is a growing need to understand and describe the latest advancements in using QbD for liposomal formulations. This will pave the way for liposomalbased drug delivery systems with superior therapeutic outcomes and potential for industrial development (Alshweiat et al., 2019).

Introduction

Food is any substance or a product obtained from nature, which contains nutritive and non-nutritive components that help to maintain or improve the health of an individual if consumed in optimal amount (Sukhneet and Malhotra, 2014). Globalization of food production and procurement makes food chains longer and more complex and increases the risk of food safety incidents. Infections and diseases arising from contaminated/adulterated food remain threats to global public health (Havelaar et al., 2015; Luo et al., 2019). The WHO reports shows that every year foodborne diseases cause the death of 33 million people including many children (WHO, 2019). Food safety is linked to the presence of foodborne hazards in food at the point of consumption. Since food safety hazards can occur at any stage in the food chain it is essential that adequate control be in place. Therefore, a combined effort of all parties in the food chain is required to deliver safe food products to the final consumer. Effective and harmonized food safety systems shall manage and ensure the safety and suitability of food in each link of the supply chain.

Although the food industry has the prime responsibility of ensuring safe foods in most societies, the maintenance of a safe food supply is regarded as a responsibility of the government of that country. This responsibility has, over many years, led governments to adopt legislation, standards and regulations for food processing and to impose penalties when a business fails to meet the expectation. As with any legislation, an effective system for detecting failures to comply with the legal requirements increases compliance and hence, in this case, promotes food safety. Governments have an obligation to protect consumer health and this includes protection against food borne diseases. Food standards are therefore necessary to aid governments in protecting public health. However, the standards can only be effective when they are enforced through an efficient food control system. This therefore requires comprehensive legislation inspection, food monitoring and food borne surveillance. An efficient food control system must be supported by competent staff with good laboratory services. Political and institutional support and stability are also important elements.

Introduction

The Rispana river is a order of stream forming a tributary of Ganga. Its watershed covers an area of approximately 53.6 Km in the northern part of Dehradun city lies between 78^º30’ to 78^º15⁰’ longitude and 30^º15’ to 30^º 30’ latitude in top sheet No is 1/3. The area is covered in IRS - IC Pan of 13 Jan 1998 and LISS-III of 7 March 1997.

The Doon Valley is enriched with numerous seasonal and perennial streams. Which forms the lifetime or the inhabitants . The Rispana river is the part of the Ganga system of Drainage of the valley. The river originates from the Mussoorie hills, which are full of natural springs. The droplets from the springs collect and form numerous streamlets and these streamlets are joined to be these and they form the famous Shekhar Falls (north of Shahanshai Ashram about 5 Km away). Then the Rispana flows along Rajpur road over the Doon Gravels and then river passes through the tiny hamlets Nalapani, Raipur, Chanderroad, Defence colony, Amwala, Tapowan, Dandadhoran Adohiwala, Dalanwala, Gujram, Ajabpur and finally its contribute the water to the suswa River which intern joins the Ganga.

The role of remote sensing in fishery science is one of the established fact. But today remote sensing is used generally everywhere. Success of fishing depends upon capacity for fish detection. Traditional methods like sighting, listening, smelling, locating phosphorescent patches, blue or yellow patches and oily patches in water are absolute now. Application of acoustic devices such as echo sounders, sonar’s started in 1930. Satellite remote sensing technologies have been applied recently since 1980.

In India acoustic fish finder was used in 1946. However its application has remained insignificant. No acoustic survey has been carried out either in the Arabian sea or in the Bay of Bengal. In the Indian Ocean some headway was made in 1977 and there in 1982.

Satellite remote sensing is restricted to the surface of the ocean at present. The Satellite cannot use its sensors to penetrate the column of water. The two important ocean parameters in remote sensing of fish stocks are the colour and surface temperature. Colour is used to assess and map chlorophyll productivity and through fish productivity. Temperature on the other hand helps locating thermal fronts and upwelling Zones. There by assessing nutrient abundance as well as fish abundance.

In the Indian waters, air craft remote sensing has been used for locating shoots of pelagic fish like oil sardines and mackerels in the Arabian sea using colour and bioluminescence only. The signals help distinguish shoals by species and estimate the weight of the schools. Ocean colour map also help in locating tuna schools, which prefer clear oceanic waters as against the turbid.

Fruit crop productivity is greatly impacted by rootstocks in a number of areas, including canopy structure, fruit quality, yield, blooming, and nutritional absorption. Furthermore, they are an essential line of defence against biotic and abiotic stressors such salt, heat stress, soil pathogens, and nutritional imbalances. Because there is a shortage of arable land and a growing market for fruit crops, production frequently takes place in unfavourable environments with high temperatures, little precipitation, floods, salt, and exposure to organic contaminants. The strategic use of appropriate rootstocks is crucial to reducing output losses under these conditions because they can lessen the effect of outside pressures on the scion (Bhandari & Bhattacharya, 2019) Rootstocks are essential to orchard management because they provide anchoring and facilitate the uptake of water and minerals. They also affect the growth of the trees, and they help create “three-piece” trees when they are employed as interstems, placed between the scion and the rootstock during propagation. Interstems assist regulate excessive vigour in desirable rootstocks and handle compatibility difficulties between stock and scion (Singh & Kumar, 2021).
Soils that are too dry or too moist can be made tolerable by rootstocks. The potential of rootstocks in commercial fruit crops has not yet been completely utilised in India, despite substantial research internationally on the discovery and use of appropriate rootstocks in crops including apple, pear, citrus, mango, and grapes. Therefore, the crucial next step involves identifying rootstocks with optimal characteristics tailored to specific environmental conditions, acknowledging that the best rootstock for one variety and set of conditions may not be suitable for another (Sahu & Patra, 2018).
Presently seedlings from open-pollinated seeds are used to propagate guava instead of homogenous clonal rootstocks. It was determined that many rootstocks, such as P. cattleianum, P. guinesee, P. molle, and Philippine guava, were appropriate. Plants using P. cattleianum rootstock had the best yield and the tallest trees. P. pumilum produced fruits with the largest total sugar content, total soluble solids (TSS), and quantity of seeds possible, exhibiting a dwarfing effect. Despite having uneven and rough skin, P. cujavillis rootstock produced

Perennial fruit crops are largely cultivated under borderline conditions leading to various physiological disarrays. An environment-friendly technique for escaping or reducing losses in production due to biotic and abiotic stresses is their propagation onto rootstocks, which can reduce the adverse effects of external stresses. The scion and rootstock grow together, although genetically different but working infusion and grow as a single entity. The rootstock provides the root system, thus anchoring the tree and acts as an absorbing organ for water and mineral nutrients. The rootstock also influences the tree size, precocity in bearing, fruit quality and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Introduction

Women constitute half of the Indian population. Around 80 % of the total female population lives in rural and out of 31 million women work force of the country, 20 million are living in rural areas. The role played by women in agriculture is more enormous and fully recognized. Women accounted for more than 76 per cent of the marginal workers and about 16 per cent of them are main workers. Among main workers as well as marginal workers more women belong to the category of agricultural labourers. The role of women and their involvement is more in production, processing and storage of grains. In general, 60-70 per cent of labour input is provided by womenfolk which increases upto 80 per cent in rice. Women formed part of a highly valuable human resources which with appropriate training and education, can bring about phenomenal changes in the desirable direction. By keeping this view, the main focus of this paper was, to find out the role played by the farm women in farming, allied and off-farm activities.

Agriculture is the main stay of Indian economy as more than 70 per cent of the people of India are dependent upon this avocation and allied disciplines for their livelihood. Even today, at the dawn of 21st century, the Indian agriculture has continued to be the backbone of our national economy, representing country’s one third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Thus, farming families consisting of men, women, boys and girls known as the pillars of our agriculture, constitute backbone of the nation. The support and contributions made by the rural women in agriculture, constituting 55-66 percent of farm work force (Singh et al., 2012) are, however, not less than those performed by the men, and therefore they become spine of the rural economy. In fact, women’s role in the economy has been underestimated and their work in agriculture has long been invisible and unappreciated, if we compare the women’s work participation rate of some of the selected countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh, China. Pakistan and Sri Lanka, we find that India ranks second in position (22.7 %) after Indonesia (33.4%).

The backwardness and underdevelopment of our rural areas have drawn the attention of not only the planners but also those who are interested in the overall development of the India. The numerous schemes have not appreciably raised the living standard of the rural masses. Adoption of traditional agricultural technologies, lack of knowledge of improved practices, in sanitary conditions, inadequate housing and educational facilities are serious challenges faced by the rural masses. Unless we devote our efforts towards this cause, the chances of improvement of rural areas are remote in the near future.  The youth, who are the citizens of tomorrow have a vital role to play.  Youth reflect the national potentiality and represent the life blood of a nation.  Development of youth determines the future of the community and the country as a whole. As psychologists say, youth possess dynamic energy, creative activity and adventurous spirit and undergo physiological and psychological changes as they grow. In agriculture, due to small holdings, erratic rainfall, unrealistic market and price for the produce and meager income from crops, youth farmers are taking up dairying and sericulture as subsidiary enterprises which provide additional income and gainful employment to them as members of farm families throughout the year.  Young members of farm families play an important role in managing these enterprises. A study was  undertaken to know the role of youth in milk and silk farming.

Almost two third of India’s population does not have access to formal financial services. The women self help movement emerged as an important strategy for achieving financial inclusion, contributing to inclusive growth and generating social capital in order to address larger issues like poverty eradication and women empowerment. Self Help Group (S.H.G.) are proving to be the most effective instruments for financial inclusion. The experiments started some thirty years ago with N.G.O.s Piloting S.H.G. promotion, which has evolved into a national movement with the proactive role of the state governments- gaining recognition from all the major stakeholders. S.H.G.s are also helping to optimize the utilization of the India’s vast formal financial institutional structure of 160,000 institutions in the rural areas through linkages with banks and acting as business correspondents for the banks.

Introduction

Semiochemicals, which can refer to both intraspecies and interspecies communication chemicals, was first coined by Law and Regnier in 1971 (simeon-marker or signal). Semiochemicals are chemical signals that cause different behavioral reactions in organisms. In most groups of animals, chemical communication seems to be the main means of information transfer. Since 1971, the term "semiochemical" has been in use. It is derived from the Greek word "semeon," which meaning "sign" or "signal. Semiochemicals are communication agents that alter the behaviour of living things by carrying information between them (Dicke M and Sabelis M W, 1988).

The action of the sex hormone is not confined to the growth and development of the sex organ alone, but the normal body growth as well as the growth of the skeleton are to a great extent influenced by these hormones. It is well documented that following oopherectomy, female experience a “rapid phase” of bone loss for the next few years. Of the female gonadial hormones, the action of estrogen on skeletal growth has been studies by various workers and shows that estrogen replacement therapy can help to prevent the postmenopausal stage of accelerated rate of bone loss. The effects of progesterone on bone healing or bone growth has not yet been studies in detail. The objective in this chapter is thus undertaken to investigate the effects of progesterone supplement on cortical bone healing in spayed rabbits.

The study is conducted on ten clinically healthy female adult New Zealand White rabbits divided into two equal groups (A and B) consisting of five animals each. All animals are spayed and kept in standard diet and management throughout the experiment. In all animals, midshaft simple transverse fractures are created in both the ulnae under thiopental (2.5%) anaesthesia. In test group (gr A), 1mg (=1ml) of progesterone is injected subcutaneously in alternate days for upto 35 post fracture days. Lateral and anterio-posterior radiographs are taken on days 0, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 post-fracture. These radiographs are observed for progress of fracture healing and complications, if any, at different intervals.

Women empowerment refers to the process of enabling women to increase their control over their lives, resources, and decision-making power. It involves promoting gender equality, challenging gender stereotypes, and addressing the social, economic, and political barriers that prevent women from reaching their full potential.

The Government of India declared 2001 as the ‘Year of Women’s Empowerment and the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women came into force from 2001. The policy approaches that were underlined in this policy concerned gender equality. The policy proposed that the legal system be made responsive and gender sensitive to women’s needs. It stated that women should be economically and socially empowered through focused efforts.

Women Empowerment has Several Dimensions

1. Economic Empowerment: Access to education, employment, credit, and other economic resources.

2. Political Empowerment: Participation in decision-making processes, leadership positions, and political representation.

3. Social Empowerment: Challenging gender stereotypes, promoting gender equality, and addressing social norms that limit women’s potential.

4. Legal Empowerment: Access to justice, legal rights, and protection from discrimination and violence.

5. Psychological Empowerment: Building self-esteem, confidence, and self-reliance.

Introduction

Microbial diversity is one of the main factors characterizing natural ecosystems; soil is considered one of the best storehouses of useful microorganisms in the world. Although the role of most of these microorganisms is still unknown, scientific progress is providing a better comprehension of the specific ecological functions of soil microorganisms (Ahmad, I.et al., 2008). Microorganisms in the rhizosphere soil play a key role in maintaining the soil fertility (Yadav et al. 2015), which is key for successful natural crop production to meet the increasing global organic food demand. Soil acts as a reservoir of air, water, and nutrients that is essential for plant growth. Only a few grams of soil contain hundred million to billion microorganisms. Bacteria are the most abundant microbes in soil followed by fungi; however, the actinomycetes are ranges in between bacteria and fungi. Other microbes that are found in smaller numbers are algae, cyanobacteria, protozoa, and nematodes. Soil gives the necessary support for anchorage to plant roots (Yadav et al. 2012; Bhaduri et al. 2015).

INTRODUCTION

Soil is a very important component of the earth’s biosphere. It is the basis of agricultural production and also in the maintenance of local, regional and global environmental quality (Glanz 1995). The thin layer of soil covering the surface of the earth represents the difference between survival and extinction for most land-based life (Doran and Parkin 1996). Analysis of soil productive capacity point out human-induced degradation on nearly 40% of the world’s agricultural land as a result of soil erosion, atmospheric pollution, widespread soil cultivation, over-grazing, land clearing, salinization and desertification (Oldeman 1994). Degradation and loss of productive agricultural land is definitely one of our most pressing ecological concerns, similar to the other human caused environmental problems like global climate change, depletion of the protective ozone layer and serious reduction in biodiversity (Lal 1998).

Abstract

This study evaluates the potential of remote sensing techniques for assessing the relationship between land degradation and poverty in Pali development block of Rajasthan. Due to climatic conditions that prevail in this area of the country, less facilities and management practices to conserve land and its fertility becomes an important factor for intensifying poverty. The other countenance of this is that it is poverty which leads to land degradation. This paper assesses the impact of poverty and land degradation on each other. The desertification intensity and BPL density is calculated and relation is seen using Chi square test. The goodness of fit is seen up to 5 per cent level of significance for land degradation and demographic data.  The desertification in agricultural area is also considered. The total degradation in the block calculated is 8.39 per cent. It is found that village with highest BPL density has more degradation intensity particularly in agricultural area, proving the agricultural based economy of the dry lands in Rajasthan. An example study is also done at village level.  Using cadastral map and satellite image classification, fields that require immediate attention have been identified. Demographic and degradation maps are also prepared.

True/False

Q.1.    Statistics in singular is used to denote a subject (branch) of science.
Q.2.    Statistics in plural is used to denote “data or methods”
Q.3.    Statistics is defined as a science of collection, compilation, analysis and interpretation of numerical data.
Q.4.    Statistics can be used for two major purposes: descriptive and infe-rential.

Establishment of databases and data warehouse; knowledge discovery from database/data warehouse (KDD) and development of the mechanism of dissemination of knowledge on information networks as per requirements of user groups is gaining importance now a days. Since there is a large number of data collection agencies and equally diverse resources for which the information is collected, it is easy to visualize the heterogeneity of information. The problem is compounded by the fact that there are no common standards that are applied in data collection. Designing data warehouses to integrate the collected information poses a formidable challenge to any data warehouses architect. In order to use the information for planning and decision-making level, data have to be integrated and aggregated properly.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the third most important pulse crop grown all over the world. Chickpea is infested by an average of about 60 insectspests, of which gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae) is known to be the key pest. Helicoverpa is responsible for causing up to 90 % damage in chickpea due to its regular occurrences. In order to manage this problem, growers are tempted to increase the amounts of pesticides, but indiscriminate or injudicious use of pesticides has resulted in residues in the food chain, pesticide resistance, and pest resurgence, in addition to causing harm to non-targeted beneficial organisms and the environment. Here, we reviewed the sustain- able approaches to reduce the incidence of pod borer and achieve sustainability in chickpea production systems through the adoption of an integrated approach involving host plant resistance, good agronomic practices, and judicious use of chemical and biological methods.