eChapters

Ten Steps in programme evaluation
i. Identify and describe programme you want to evaluate: The first step of the evaluation process is to identify the object or programme of evaluation. For this purpose, a short written description of the object or programme to be evaluated must be drafted. This description must be formulated in a way that is also comprehensible to outsiders. Relevant items to be included in this description are, for example, the name of the object or programme of evaluation, the expert responsible for it, the employees taking part in it, the goals, scientific references, the contents or topics, the elements, methods, scope, available resources, key figures, past developments, etc.
ii. Identify the phase of the programme
• Design
• Start-up
• Ongoing
• Wrap-up
• Follow-up

Introduction

In free India’s tryst with destiny, achieving survival and sustenance through agriculture, was not only an option but an imperative. This led to the remark of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to say in 1947, “everything else can wait but not agriculture.” Green Revolution was indeed one of the major achievements of India in the post independence period. We no longer experience famines, where millions of people were starved to death in the pre independence period. But we still have over 200 million children, women and men who go to bed each night partially hungry. Access to clean drinking water and balanced diet remains a far cry despite substantial Govt expenditure in large number of programmes launched by the Centre and all the States. According to Niti Ayog, the country is far behind in reaching to the objectives of UN millennium development goal of reducing the incidence of hunger and maternal and foetal under- nutrition. 

ABSTRACT

ICT innovations are bringing new information services to rural areas on which, farmers, as users, will have much greater control than ever over current information channels. A greater opportunity to access the services of ICT innovations is crucial requirement for the sustainable development of the farming system, which is the demand of the time. ICT when applied to the rural and agricultural conditions can improve the linkages between research and farmer sub-systems. The variety of new ICT tools for agriculture is impressive, but the tools need to be placed in an overall context of agricultural information and service needs. By looking at the critical information needs of agriculture and farming communities, the focus should be on applicable and relevant ICT tools for the specific purpose to serve the rural community without compromising with their individual applications towards understanding of their overall role in promoting productive, equitable, and sustainable agriculture. Extension workers well equipped with the ICT can prove more efficient in gathering, storage, retrieving, adaptation and dissemination of broad range of information needed by farmers, thus transforming them from extension workers into knowledge workers. Emergence of such knowledge workers will result in the realisation of the much talked about bottom-up, demand driven technology generation, assessment, refinement and transfer.

Introduction

In 2030, 289 MT of food grain production will be needed in India, whereas 349 MT would be needed in 2050. India's agriculture is now facing several problems, including the well-being of farmers, deteriorating soil health, stagnant productivity, a declining water table, soil salinity, a decline in factor productivity, and the need to limit further expansion of irrigated land. The livelihoods of millions of small farmers are in peril because of ecologically destructive and unsustainable agricultural practices. Growing countries must increase their agricultural production systems to boost their economies, food supplies, and food and nutritional security (Gill et al., 2005). Previous research initiatives in Indian agriculture that focused on a single company were inadequate to ensure sustained increases in production. Among the f inest choices for low-income farmers is the integrated agriculture system (IFS). With IFS, several farm operations may be streamlined to increase productivity and income. Agricultural waste and trash are also recycled on the property. It is essential that farmers have a reliable source of income if they want to raise their living standards beyond the poverty level. To deal with the challenges of the current economic, political, and technological environments, it is vital to progress production or consistently raise output.

Indicators for Impact Assessment-meaning and Concept

Indicators for impact assessment: Indicators are common tools to determine the performance and then the result of the technology/extension/communication interventions. They measure the accomplishment of the project’s goals and targets. Criteria of indicators should be defined during the formulation stage, but they often need to be specified in greater detail during implementation. The indicators should measure intangible and non-tangible changes, particularly in projects that value factors such as personal and social development.

Indicators for impact assessment
Meaning and concept of Indicator
The term indicator is often used interchangeably with data, targets, standards for evaluation, and even various modes of data collection, which undoubtedly inhibits a productive dialog on the subject. Such confusion is unwarranted, since the term has a precise connotation- in the literature on monitoring and evaluation of development. Simply stated, indicators are variables designed to measure change in a given phenomenon or process. They are analytical tools which facilitate the measurement of change and provide summary data for project design, implementation, and evaluation. Indicators are defined as
“specific (explicit) and objectively verifiable measures of changes or results produced by an activity or intervention” (United Nations: 1985; p. 37). A few observations about indicators can be useful in further clarifying their nature. First, as the above definition implies, indicators provide quantitative data which can be analyzed using statistical techniques to produce estimates of a phenomenon. In cases when only qualitative information is gathered, it should be converted into numerical data for the purposes of analysis and presentation. Second, an indicator can capture one or more dimensions of a phenomenon or process depending upon the purpose of the study. We can, for example, construct an indicator for urbanization based on a wide range of variables such as number of school, higher educational institution, road connectivity, number of financial institution, health infrastructure, income etc. On the other hand, one can use each of the above items as a distinct indicator. Indicators focusing on different dimensions of a subject are difficult and more costly to construct. Third, several indicators can be used to capture the same phenomenon.

Introduction

Developments in both hardware and software sectors of computer science raised high expectations and strong vision to solve number of problems in all sectors of economy. Introduction of personal computers (PC) in 1970’s created vision of paperless offices, simplified computing, automated process control, management information system, expert system etc. Initially, it had greater impact on agricultural research and development in developed countries in the form of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Growth of companies with promises to provide specialist software to farmers and growers during 1980’s is a clear indicator of the high expectation and visualization of ICT in the field agricultural research and development. A review of agricultural software availability and use has been made by an international team in 1997 called FARMSOFT. This review covered on eight countries viz. Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands. It was found that in 1996 out of 1315 software related to agriculture, 39% were in category of management, 26% were in category of animal husbandry, 8.9% in category of crop production, 7.0% in category of machinery and process control, 0.1% in category of irrigation and 19% in others category. Comparison of change in software inventory in 1996 with respect to 1994 revealed that there is around 15% growth in the agricultural software development. The higher positive growth was in the category of management software (38.40%) followed by animal husbandry (10.45%) and others (10.44%). However, highest negative growth was observed in the category of irrigation (-163.15%) followed by crop production (-53.85%) and machinery and process control (-30.95%). This indicates that overall agricultural software inventory was growing but while growth in the software related to agricultural management was sufficiently high, there was sharp decline in categories of irrigation and crop production. This change in pattern may be attributed to saturation of software and bottlenecks due to limitation of related technological innovations, socio-economic adoption and infrastructural facilities.

The thrust of Indian Agriculture in the post green revolution period was an enhancing agricultural productivity through sustainable practices. In order to achieve its, the government of India implemented a national level programme for the development of rainfed areas through the watershed approach. A watershed is a community-based programmes that is organized in a specifically earmarked area with a defined time frame and focuses on a wide range of issues and activities for integrated development of the village. The main focus is laid on water, food and fodder security and employment generation

The watershed approach aimed at augmentation and stabilization of production and productivity, minimizing ecological degradation, reduction in regional disparity, opening up of greater opportunities for employment of rural poor in the rainfed areas. A similar approach has been adopted for developing the more resource poor areas — drought prone, desert and wastelands — and to provide sustainable means of livelihoods to the rural poor in these areas. Promotion on the economic development of the village community, optimum utilization of the watershed’s natural resources like land, water, vegetation, employment generation and development of the human and other economic resources of the village and encourage restoration of ecological balance in the village are the main objectives of watershed development programmes.

Introduction

With the advent of modern agricultural technology, especially during the period of the Green Revolution in the late sixties and early seventies, there was a continuous surge for diversified agriculture, primarily on economic considerations. The changes in cropping pattern, however, are the outcome of interactive effect of many factors which can be broadly categorized into the following five groups-

Resource related factors like irrigation, rainfall and soil fertility.

Technology related factors viz. seed, fertilizer, and water technologies on one hand and marketing, storage and processing on the other.

Household related factors like food and fodder requirement as well as investment capacity of the farmers.

Price related factors covering input and output prices and economic policies that affect these prices.

Institutional and infrastructure related factors pertaining to farm size and tenancy arrangements, research, extension and marketing systems and government regulatory policies.

Introduction

The advancements in the field of informatics, biology and allied fields of technology led to the emergence of an inter-disciplinary field known as ‘Bioinformatics’ (Kumar 2006, Madhan Mohan 2006). Explosion of knowledge in the field of biology and generation of new information (data) needs collection, storage, organization, integration, analysis, simulation of biological data and a faster distribution among the scientific workers (Mehrotra et al. 2005). The advent of super computers, high speed computing and development of algorithms for data formatting, assists in the storage of data at the site of origin and distributed through the hyperlinks in world wide web (www).

The vast field of Bioinformatics is beyond the scope of this article. However to elucidate the concepts that led to the the development of Bioinformatics vis-à-vis is given in brief before explaining the new and emerging area of ‘fluxomics’.

Introduction

Technological advances of the past two decades have profoundly reshaped and enhanced all aspects of medical research and practice. Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications of medical informatics with the latest technique and approaches are essential for every one pursuing in the medical IT field. Improvements in healthcare delivery in recent years are rooted in the continued industry-wide investment in information technology and the expanding role of medical informatics. The main goal of this chapter is to collate and provide innovative and creative ideas so far published on healthcare in one article for use by the researchers, practitioners and other related with health care system for improving communication environments in health and to explore all new technologies in medical informatics and health care delivery systems.

Medical Informatics can be defined as a discipline concerned with all aspects of understanding and promoting the effective organization, analysis, management, and use of information in health care (American Medical Informatics Association, 2007). In recent years, medical informatics has become a well-recognized branch of medicine.

It is a process by which a act of predetermined activities is carried out in a planned manner, with a view to achieve certain establish objectives.

To implement a project means to carry out activities proposed with the aim to achieve project objectives and deliver results and outputs. It is a highly complex process and it involves a relationship among several system and variables

Loose flowers occupy an important position in Indian floriculture because of their extensive use in garlands, Veni, Rangoli, worship, festivals, weddings, decoration and perfumery. Crops such as marigold, jasmine, chrysanthemum, tuberose, rose, crossandra and gomphrena provide livelihood opportunities for small and marginal farmers and rural workers. This chapter discusses the cultural, economic and employment significance of loose flowers, along with value-addition opportunities in essential oils, natural pigments, floral waters, cosmetics and food products. It also examines the national and international scenario, production constraints, postharvest challenges, market opportunities, emerging technologies and prospects for entrepreneurship in the loose flower sector.

In this chapter we will cover all the basics libraries and some frameworks of machine learning, deep learning and computer vision. We will discuss all about their use with an example and instruction which will states the commands to install to those libraries for building any project in our system. So let’s begin

What is a Library?

Library is an aggregate of features and methods that allow you to take many actions without getting your own code written.

For instance, the libraries that you have to know are if you work with data, numpy, scipy, pandas, etc. They have very simple data processing functions that save you time for small tricks.

Introduction

The cultivation of flowering and attractive plants is referred to as floriculture, sometimes known as flower farming. Even though flowers have long been planted in India for a variety of purposes, including aesthetic, social, and religious purposes, the commercial floriculture sector is a relatively recent development.

The industry of floriculture has a great deal of untapped potential and has quickly become an essential part of modern life. The floriculture industry has developed into a business that is run for profit, has achieved significant market value, and is poised to realise favourable prospects. In India, the cultivation of blooming plants, including garden plants, cut flowers, foliage plants, potted flowering plants, and other types of blooming plants, is referred to as f loriculture. In today's world, flowering or ornamental plants are frequently used as part of several celebrations' decorations or as presents due to their versatility. They are also used as vital raw materials in the sectors of perfume, pharmaceuticals, and oil extraction. So, to start a floriculture firm in India, it is necessary to comprehend how agribusiness is used in its marketing and production.

Introduction

Secondary agriculture is described as an enterprise-level productive activity that uses as raw material the primary product and byproducts of agriculture, as well as other biological resources available locally in its rural agrarian neighbourhood. The Government of India's Committee on Doubling Farmers' Income (DFI, Vol. IX, 2018) raised the issue of food waste and loss and proposed secondary agriculture. The committee classified secondary agriculture into three types: A, B, and C. Type 'A' avenues focus on adding value to primary agriculture production systems, either as input or output; Type B avenues focus on alternative firms that do not compete for resources; and Type C avenues focus on primary agriculture crop residues and wastes (Singh et al., 2022).

Sustainable development goals want to link primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors by using idle factors of production like land and labour. Promoting secondary agriculture can help reach these goals by increasing production in primary agriculture, capturing "value" in primary agricultural activities, and making businesses more money (Financial Express, 2019).

In this chapter, four opportunities for income augmentation in secondary agriculture, viz. plant nursery enterprise, herbal gulal farming, mushroom farming and beekeeping, have been explained.

ABSTRACT

Income generating activities are considered as those initiatives that affect the economic aspects of rural youth’s lives through the use of economic tools such as credit and subsidy. If the youth in farming is not economically free and self-earning, he has to depend on others or migrate to the urban cities in search of jobs. Agriculture, self-employment and wage employment are the basic tools to fulfill the desire of economic independence. In the past, agriculture was placed on the top position as an income generation option and self-employment and wage employment to rural youth was the 2^nd and 3^rd priority respectively. Income generating activities such as dairy activities, goat and sheep rearing, poultry unit, bamboo products making, pickle making, leaf plate making, keeping powertiller, husking mill cum wheat grinding machine, tractor etc. Further, there are various self employment and wage employment opportunities through rural development programmes like Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana (PMRY), Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), Pradhan Manthri Gram SadakYojana(PMGSY), Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Training of Rural Youth for Self -Employment (TRYSEM) etc. These are the best programmes especially for the upliftment of the rural youth to enhancing their income level. Some of these programmes are now helping rural youths to become more and more independent and free from economic dependence.

Indicators are the natural or synthetic chemical compounds that are used to detect the equivalence point in a volumetric analysis where unknown compound in a solution form is quantitatively estimated with the help of a known standard solution. The equivalence point, also known as the stoichiometric end point, is the point or stage of a titration reaction where the equivalent amount of the reacting substances are mixed together, and this point is identified by monitoring the rate of change in pH, conductivity, flow of current, adsorption, fluorescence, changing of solution colour, occurrence or disappearance of turbidity, flocculation or deflocculation, etc.

In general, an unwell entity is one that fails to regularly create a surplus and frequently relies on outside funds to exist. The Sick Industrial Enterprises (Special Provision) Act 1985 characterized sickness as “a financial loss over two successive accounting periods and a total loss that is equal to or exceeds the net assets of the enterprise at the conclusion of the second accounting period”.

Revised Definition of Sick Smallscale Industry “A small scale industrial unit is deemed sick if it has incurred losses at the conclusion of the accounting year that are equal to or exceed 50% of the highest level of its net assets in the immediately preceding five f inancial years”.

Symptoms of Sickness

The continuation of many signals for a long time is called a symptom of a disease, and the various symptoms are ultimately reflected in the operation of the facility (capacity utilization rate, financial capital ratio, stock market value practice in various financial areas, production, marketing and labor relations in the industry).

Among the key signs are

• Deterioration of financial relations

• Review delay

• Lack of constant cash flow

• Continued decline in stock prices

• late payment obligations

Policy research plays a critical role in influencing policy change by generating robust evidence that can guide decision-making processes. The use of evidence is crucial in ensuring that policies are both effective and appropriate to address specific issues. Evidence-based policy-making relies on credible, relevant and timely research that helps identify problems, evaluate potential solutions and
forecast the impacts of various policy options.
Role of Policy Research in Generating Evidence
1. Identification of issues: Policy research begins with identifying key issues or challenges that require policy intervention. This involves conducting systematic research to understand the scope, scale and
nature of the problem. For example, research on gender disparities in agricultural labor in India may highlight specific barriers women face, such as lack of access to resources or discriminatory practices.
2. Data collection and analysis: Gathering quantitative and qualitative data is essential for building a comprehensive understanding of the issue. For instance, data collection may involve surveys, interviews,
case studies and secondary data analysis to capture diverse perspectives and experiences. This data provides a solid foundation for analyzing the problem’s root causes and identifying the affected population.