eChapters

Abstract

Agroforestry is an ancient practice that farmers have adopted throughout the world. There are innumerable examples of traditional land use practices combining production of trees and agriculture crops on the same piece of land. In India, the organized agroforestry research began in 1979 when a Seminar on Agroforestry was organized at Imphal by the ICAR, New Delhi. As a follow up to this, ICAR launched an All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Agroforestry (AICRPAF) was started in 1983. The diagnostic survey and appraisal revealed that there are enumerable agroforestry practices prevalent in different agro- ecological zones of India occupying sizeable areas. However, spatial technologies like Geographical Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Positioning System (GPS) have yet to be implemented extensively in this field in India. The spatial technologies have shown great potential in natural resource management through out the world, especially in developed countries in the fields like forest cover mapping, agricultural planning, watershed management, land use planning, etc. In India the agroforestry land use occupy large areas but use of these technologies to estimate area has been initiated in year 2007 with DST sponsored project entitled ‘Spatial and Temporal analysis of agroforestry interventions in North-western India using GIS and Remote Sensing’ The area under agroforestry systems has been estimated/ mapped in two districts viz., Yamunanagar (Haryana) and Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), where intensive commercial agroforestry was predominant. Besides, the methodology developed as an out come of this study may be replicated for agroforestry systems existing in other parts of the country.

Keywords: Agroforestry, Geo-spatial, Mapping, Natural Resources, Remote Sensing.

During his visit to India, President Barak Obama pointed out that our country is fortunate to have a youthful population with over half of the total population of 1.2 billion being under the age of 30. Out of the 600 million young persons, over 60 per cent live in villages. Most of them are educated. Gandhiji considered the migration of educated youth from villages to towns and cities as the most serious form of brain drain adversely affecting rural India’s development. He therefore stressed that we should take steps to end the divorce between intellect and labour in rural professions.

The National Commission on Farmers (NCF)(2004-06) emphasised the need for attracting and retaining educated youth in farming. The National Policy for Farmers, placed in Parliament in November 2007, includes the following goal of the new policy:

To introduce measures which can help to attract and retain youth in farming and processing of farm products for higher value addition, by making farming intellectually stimulating and economically rewarding.

The paper deals with the historical perspective of the tsunamis, much widely discussed Kumari Kandam and Lemuria continent and the palaeo-time series changes on the past continents and oceans, disastrous tsunamis since 16^th century and archeological evidences indicating shore line changes along Tamil Nadu coast.

Keywords: Ancient tsunamis in history, Kumari Kandam and Lemuria, Past shore line changes.

INTRODUCTION

A tsunami is a natural phenomenon consisting of a series of waves generated when water in a lake or the sea is rapidly displaced on a massive scale. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and large meteorite impacts all have the potential to generate a tsunami. The effects of a tsunami can range from unnoticeable phenomenon to large scale devastation.

The term “tsunami” is derived from the Japanese language meaning harbour (“tsu”) and wave (“nami”). The term was coined by fishermen who returned to port to find the area surrounding the harbour devastated, although they had not been aware of any wave on the high seas. A tsunami is not a sub-surface event in the deep ocean; it simply has a much smaller amplitude (wave heights) offshore, and a very long wavelength (often hundreds of kilometers long), which is why they generally pass unnoticed at sea, forming only a passing “hump” in the ocean.

Tsunamis were historically referred to as tidal waves because when they approach land they take on the characteristics of a violent onrushing tide rather than the sort of cresting waves that are formed by wind action upon the ocean (with which people are more familiar). However, since they are not actually related to tides the term is considered misleading and its usage is discouraged by oceanographers.

Abstract

Overall geological histories of the Quaternary deltas of all over the world have been studied considerably, to understand the evolution, eustatic – isostatic changes, land – ocean interactive phenomenon, resources, environment etc. But tectonic signatures of these deltas have been less studied, though these have significance in understanding the natural resources, environment and evaluation of natural disasters. In this context, as the state of Tamil Nadu is a low easterly gradient plain, all the easterly flowing rivers have developed well evolved geomorphic features related to youthful, mature and old stages. Such old stages of the rivers are marked by the spectacular development of deltas. These deltas of Tamil Nadu have been studied in detail for understanding the tectonics with the help of visibly seen tectonic and geomorphic features in satellite based remote sensing and ground based data sets. The study has revealed that the upper age limit / ages of these deltas are probably of Middle to Late Holocene and the various tectonic and geomorphic anomalies observed in these deltas obviously indicate the tectonic processes/ phenomena that prevailed during Middle Holocene - till date. The Proto Cauvery delta of Chennai region is witnessing ongoing NE–SW sinistral, NW–SE dextral and E–W vertical tectonic activities. The streams in Ponnaiyar delta are showing persistent southerly migration due to the probable ongoing land subsidence along NE–SW faults in the southern part of the delta. The Cauvery river which has originally developed a broad bird-foot shaped – arcuate delta, has undergone a phase of anticlockwise rotational migration and stabilized in the northern rim of the delta as Coleroon river during 2300–750 Y.B.P. due to the ongoing tectonic emergence in the south of the delta almost since the last 6000 years or so. The Vellar river, in deltaic regime, shows northerly migration due to E–W grabening in the northern part of the delta. Vaigai and Manimuttar rivers are again migrating northerly in their deltaic regions due to the probable land arching to the south of their present day flow. Thus, the paper discusses the post deltaic / Middle -Late Holocene geological processes of Tamil Nadu deltas which are predominated by tectonic activities.

Key words : Horticultural Resource Information System. INARIS.

Introduction

Wide ranging Indian climatic conditions are well suited for boosting production of a variety of horticultural crops (fruits, vegetables, flower/ornamental/medicinal and aromatic crops) which presently hold an important position in the global scenario. Development was at a very low ebb till the Third Five-Year Plan and increased significantly since the Seventh Five Year Plan (Rs.10,000 millions plan outlay). Government of India established National Horticultural Board (NHB) in 1984 and Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in 1986 to facilitate its larger development. The outlay is expected to increase even more in the Tenth Plan. Significant progress has been made in area expansion of different horticultural crops resulting in higher production. Besides, use of modern technologies has also brought about improvement in productivity. More than 50 per cent increase in production is seen in many of the horticulture crops during last one decade.

The efficient planning and implementation of different developmental programs on horticultural crops depends on production parameters like soil suitability, varietals dominance, marketable surplus, marketing channels, post harvest handling practices, cost of cultivation and market availability for sustained production. In addition, information on latest technologies developed by various research organizations on horticultural improvement, production, protection and post-harvest technologies are needed to be collected and made available to the scientists, planners and managers working in the related fields. But the available information on this aspect is scattered and the database is too weak to provide adequate support for developmental strategies. The digitization of comprehensive database on horticultural crops will definitely enhance the pace of increasing the area, production, productivity and promoting industry of horticultural crops that have taken lead in the new millennium with reference to nutritional quality of food and export potential. A strong, well-knit database to support need-based, market-driven and cost-effective horticultural development is imperative. Therefore, under National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) a Mission Mode Sub-project on “Integrated National Agricultural Resources Information System (INARIS)” has been taken up to evolve a comprehensive computerized data management system on various agricultural resources like crops, animals, fishes and natural resources by harnessing RDBMS and GIS. The Co-operating Center at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore has developed the “Horticultural Resources Information System” with the objectives of (i) integrating existing databases in horticulture, (ii) designing and developing a comprehensive database in horticulture and (iii) developing resource maps of major horticultural crops in the country by integrating attribute and spatial data through GIS. In addition to simple storage and retrieval it will include other functions such as manipulation and dissemination of information to various users. This database will be integrated with 13 other Co-operating Centers dealing with different agricultural resources through a virtual private network (VPN). The Lead Center at Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi provide warehouse facility with a capability to analyze the data variously and provide report as cubes, tables and graphs to form a national database to cater to the needs of the users through a website. The facility of retrieving information as value-added maps using GIS will also be built in.

The post-independence history of our agriculture can be broadly grouped into four periods. Before describing them, I should mention that during the colonial era famines were frequent and Famine Commissions were abundant. The growth rate in food production from 1900 to 1947 was hardly 0.1 per cent. Most of the important institutional developments in agriculture emanated from the recommendations of Famine Commissions. The great Bengal Famine of 1942-43 provided the backdrop to India’s independence. It is to the credit of Independent India that famines of this kind have not been allowed to occur, although our population has grown from 350 million in 1947 to over a billion now.

Abstract

The Mesozoic sediments contribute around 54% of the oil and 44% of the gas reserves of the world (Bois et al. 1982). Indian Mesozoic basins occupy an area of about 400 x 103 sq. km and are characterized as frontier basins under category II - IV. These basins are mostly overlain by the Deccan Traps of Late Cretaceous age and are least explored. Deccan Syneclise is one of the largest Mesozoic basins in India, covering an area of ~ 273 x 103 sq. km. Geophysical studies have inferred hidden sub-trappean Mesozoic sediments with thickness up to 2.5 km. It is considered that requisite heat generation due to Deccan Trap volcanism soon after the Cretaceous sedimentation may have acted as a catalyst in hydrocarbon generation. Surface geochemical prospecting surveys along with carbon isotopic studies have been used to assess hydrocarbon generation potential of this part of the basin. The area adjoining Nandurbar beneath Narmada-Tapti region of Deccan Syneclise was selected for geochemical studies where geophysical studies have shown considerable sediment thickness. Surface geochemical studies indicate the generation of light gaseous hydrocarbons, C1 and SC2+ in the range of 3 to 1187 ppb and 1 to 1449 ppb, respectively. The carbon isotopic signatures of selected soil gas samples dC13 CH4 in the range of - 24 to -39.4‰ PDB) suggest thermogenic origin

Common groundwater investigations include necessary considerations of the system’s influx sources, flow regime, discharge points and geomorphological characteristics of the area. Often, hydrogeomorphological mapping of an area is required as to determine these characteristics. The primary data can be acquired from the survey of India toposheet map and the satellite images. The secondary data set includes the satellite imageries, the preparation of digital elevation model (DEM) and digitized precipitation maps.

The first step in the procedure of hydrogeomorphological mapping is to calculate the watershed/basin area, which serves as a mask to define the area of interest. The watershed/basin calculation relies on the digital elevation data and assumes that topographic aspect (dip direction of the cell surface) completely controls the extent to which surface flow emanating from each point in the study area can reach the low point in the valley. The calculation of the potential annual recharge of the aquifer combines techniques described above with data for recharge areas, DEM aspect, and precipitation. First, the catchment area of the recharge zones must be calculated in a process similar to the watershed analysis, returning the area associated with the catchment coded as “1”. A simple multiplication overlay with the precipitation data and the catchment areas yields a result giving the amount of precipitation for each catchment cell. Before using the precipitation data, we converted it to meters so as to keep units consistent. The precipitation amounts within the catchment area (i.e. each cell value) are to be summed, yielding the amount of water available for influx into the groundwater system. Finally precipitation per year data can be acquired.

Identifying surface areas of groundwater discharge is based on the observation that such areas provide a relatively constant source of moisture, which is readily exploited by vegetation in semi-arid region. Thus areas with year-round green vegetation are assumed to be indicators of discharge. The relative amount of vegetation in a scene can be estimated by calculating a vegetation index (Reddy et al, 1989 and Tucker 1979).

The world is head98ing towards a water crisis. Africa and West Asia are likely to be worst affected by water scarcity, but with increasing population, water may fall short even in the other parts of the world. According to the recent UN report, the supply of clean and fresh water is depleting at such an alarming rate in some regions, that within 30 years, about two third of population will suffer moderate to severe water stress.

In hydrogeomorphological context of social environment the water is an essential natural resource for sustaining life. The available water resources are under tremendous pressure due to increased demands. The time is not far when water, which is the free gift of nature, will become a scare commodity. Therefore, conservation and preservation of water resources are urgently required to be done at priority basis. Water management has always been practiced in our communities since ancient times. But such practices have faded away during the past few decades mainly due to lack awareness. Hydrogeologists feel that the water harvesting practices must be urgently implemented to overcome the problem of water crises. In India the Ministry of water Resources is endeavouring to make rainwater harvesting a part of every day life in villages and cities as a people’s movement. Hydrogeomorphological aspect of social environment include (a) Social - Cultural -Administrative Consideration (b) Education and Training in Hydrogeology for Professionals and Technicians (c) Education for Farmers and Women (d) Education for Masses. These are described as below:

The beginning of the 20^th century was heralded by methodological revolution in geomorphological studies brought in by Davis (1899). His classical model of geographical cycle defined by him ‘ as a period of time during which and uplifted landmass undergoes its transformation by the process of land sculpture ending into a low featureless plain (peneplain)’ dominated the geomorphological investigations all over the world throughout 1^st half of the 20^th century.

The statistical techniques by Horton (1932 and 1945) brought quantitative revolution in the field of geomorphology when he presented quantitative analysis of morphometric characteristics of fluvially originated drainage basin. Post 1950 geomorphology has undergone vast change in the methods and approaches to the study of landforms, conceptual framework, paradigm and thrust areas of study. The most outstanding contribution to the advancement of geomorphological knowledge in this period is the adoption of quantitative approach based on deductive scientific method to the study of landforms and processes at short spatial and temporal scales (Strahler, 1956 and Schumm, 1956).

Several attempts have been made in the world in past to classify large territories and landforms into morpho-units. Valuable contributions pertaining to landform analysis have been summarized below: Joerg (1914) subdivided North America into natural regions, Fenneman (1914) established physiographic boundaries and gave physiographic divisions of the United States, whereas Anderson (1941) gave physiographic divisions of Columbia plateau. Howard and Spock (1940) and Weaver (1965) presented the excellent ways of classification of the landforms while Wood and Snell (1960) applied the quantitative systems for the classification of the landforms. However, Linton (1951) and Hammond (1954 and 1965) gave techniques for mapping delineating small scale and large-scale landforms.

Groundwater exists at many places beneath the surface of the earth. It is normally hidden from view but, on occasion, can be seen flowing from springs and wells or seeping into tunnels. Certain properties of the various geologic materials control the ability of groundwater to enter into, move through, be stored in, or be extracted from the ground. Therefore, an understanding of geology is necessary in order to gain an understanding of groundwater found within a particular area of investigation. A basic part of the study of the geology of an area includes the preparation of a map showing surfacial exposures of each rock type. Interpretation of the map facilitates the study of the underground configuration, characteristics, and physical properties of these materials. This, in turn, enables the evaluation of groundwater storage, movement, and yield, as well as the identification of areas of ground water quality problems, recharge, and extraction.

The fundamental unit of a geologic study is the geologic formation. A formation has been defined as any assemblage of rocks, which have some character in common, whether of origin, age, or composition. In this sense, the term “rock” is defined as any naturally occurring part of the earth’s crust, made up of aggregate of minerals and includes hard, dense granite, lava ash, clay, sand, and even loose-uncohesive soil.

Hypothesis testing provides a statistical framework for making inferences about populations from sample observations obtained through random experiments. This chapter introduces the scientific logic underlying statistical hypotheses and explains the formulation of null and alternative hypotheses. It discusses one-tailed and two-tailed tests, levels of significance, Type I and Type II errors, sampling distributions, test statistics, critical regions, p-values, and decision-making. The chapter also explains statistical significance and the interpretation of test results. Applications of Student’s t-test and related procedures are illustrated through forestry and biological examples, enabling researchers to determine whether observed differences between means can reasonably be attributed to treatments rather than random sampling variation.

The sensors present over remote sensing satellites are designed to collect energy or radiance from the varied surface features having wide range of radiance i.e. from features like water bodies having very low radiance to features like sand or snow having very high radiance. But, most of the time, the study area may not have all these features; therefore, radiance values may remain confined to a narrow range. This reduces the contrast of the image, thereby decreases its visual quality. In this context, image contrast enhancement techniques are used for effective visualization and display of remote sensing image on computer screens or hard copy so that maximum amount of information can be derived through its visual interpretation.

Contrast enhancement of a digital image is a technique to modify the original grey levels of input image to the entire available range of the grey levels. This increases the contrast between various features in the image which improves the visual quality of original image. Contrast enhancement can be done by both linear and non-linear methods. Some of the commonly used contrast enhancement techniques with their implementation in R software are discussed in this chapter.

We need following packages for performing this exercise in R. raster package is required for importing of raster image and for performing contrast enhancement. RStoolbox package is also required for contrast enhancement as well as for visualization of raster data with ggplot2 package. rasterVis package is mainly used in this exercise for plotting histogram of the raster data.

1. Introduction
Global food security threatened by climate change is one of the most important challenges in the 21st century to supply sufficient food for the increasing population on diminishing agricultural land while sustaining the already stressed environment. Global agricultural production is highly vulnerable as key crops such as maize, wheat, rice, and legumes will be negatively affected by climate change. The study showed that each degree Celsius increase in global mean temperature is estimated to reduce the average global yield of cereal crops by 6-15%. Further, predicted changes in climate may affect water availability and key soil processes such as respiration and nitrogen (N) mineralization, thus key ecosystem functions such as carbon (C) storage, nutrients, and water availability. Although crop growth simulation models are being utilized to understand the impact of climate change scenarios on aboveground biomass, the roots and their architecture, which are essential for plant adaptation and productivity, need to be studied more due to the difficulty of observing them during the plant life cycle. The root system and its architecture are highly responsive to external environmental conditions such as soil moisture, nutrients, temperature, pH and microbial communities; therefore, it is high time to study below-ground responses to future climate scenarios. The study of plant roots represents a highly promising yet underexplored area of research related to plant growth. While the aerial parts of plants have received significant attention due to their visibility and accessibility, the underground portions have been largely overlooked due to the challenges in observing and sampling them and the disruption caused when roots are removed from the soil. Plants’ efficiency of water and mineral nutrient uptake largely depends on how effectively new root tips penetrate soil horizons and how these roots eventually die and decompose. The plant’s ability to access soil resources depends on the size of its root system and the activity of its growing root tips. Root growth is influenced by both genetic factors and environmental conditions. For example, fine root dynamics vary with the seasons, with increased vegetative growth and nutrient release occurring during the monsoon months. (Kumar et al., 2020). Further research is needed to assess how different tillage and water management practices affect rooting behaviours, soil water extraction, and nutrient uptake.

Abstract

The major subduction of the Indian plate and the related high magnitude earthquake (>9M) occurred in Sumatra region, triggered a major tsunami on 26, Dec 2004 which caused massive disasters in many coastal regions of South Asian countries including India, killing tens of thousands of life and causing property loss of several million rupees. Duly realizing the credentials of Geospatial / Geomatics technology and the expertise of NRDMS, an all India coordinated programme was conceived by NRDMS on tsunami disaster assessment and got it executed through six specialized institutions working on geomatics technology in the country. In the programme, the tsunami disaster in terms of natural, physical and human resources were assessed using geomatics technology and village wise digital databases were generated which will form a potential baseline information in coastal area.

Keywords: Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004, DST Initiatives, Disaster Assessment, Mitigation.

Introduction

Spatial datasets always exhibit two common features (i) the occurrence of a few very large concentrations (hot-spots) and (ii) the presence of data below the detection limit (black spots). Extreme values can strongly affect the characterization of spatial patterns, and subsequently the prediction. Several approaches exist to handle strongly positively skewed histograms (Saito and Goovaerts 2000). One common approach is to first transform the data (e.g. normal, Box Cox or lognormal), perform the analysis in the transformed space, and back-transform the resulting estimates. Such transform, however, does not solve problems created by the presence of numerous black spot data, since either it yields a spike of similar transformed values or, in the case of the normal-score transform, it requires a necessarily subjective ordering of all equally-valued observations. Moreover, except for the normal score transform (Deutsch and Journel 1998), it does not guarantee the normality of the transformed histogram, which is required to compute confidence intervals for the estimates. Last, the back-transform of estimated moments is not straightforward and can introduce bias if not done properly (Saito and Goovaerts 2000); for example, lognormal kriging estimates cannot simply be exponentiated. Another way to attenuate the impact of extreme values is to use more robust statistics and estimators. The non-parametric approach of indicator kriging (IK) falls within that category (Journel 1983, Goovaerts 2001). The basic idea is to discretize the range of variation of the environmental attribute by a set of thresholds (e.g. deciles of sample histogram, detection limit, regulatory threshold) and to transform each observation into a vector of indicators of non-exceedence of each threshold. Kriging is then applied to the set of indicators and estimated values are assembled to form a conditional cumulative distribution function (ccdf). The mean or median of the probability distribution can be used as an estimate of the concentration of the material in question (Barabas et al. 2001, Cattle et al. 2002, Goovaerts et al. 2005).

Introduction
Following our comprehensive exploration of scientific crop modeling and the rigorous processes of model assessment, we now pivot to an equally vital, yet distinct, realm of understanding weather in agriculture: Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK). This chapter, Indigenous Technical Knowledge for Weather Forecasts and Its Validity,” delves into the profound and often overlooked wisdom embedded within local communities worldwide, knowledge systems accumulated over generations that offer unique insights into anticipating future weather patterns.
In the upcoming sections, we will embark on an in-depth examination of the diverse forms that ITK related to weather forecasting takes. This includes detailed discussions on:
• Observational Indicators: How traditional communities keenly observe subtle changes in the natural world, such as specific patterns in animal behavior (e.g., bird migration patterns, insect activity, animal calls), plant phenology (e.g., early or late flowering, unusual fruiting patterns of wild plants), and the behavior of flora and fauna as harbingers of upcoming weather shifts.
• Atmospheric and Astronomical Signs: The interpretation of sky conditions (e.g., cloud formations, specific colors of sunrise/sunset, halos around the sun or moon), wind patterns, atmospheric pressure changes (often perceived through bodily sensations or changes in local sound travel), and celestial phenomena (e.g., star brightness, moon phases) as indicators for short-term or seasonal forecasts.
• Traditional Ecological Calendars and Proverbs: The role of traditional calendars that map out expected seasonal weather based on historical observations, and folk proverbs or sayings that encapsulate generations of empirical weather wisdom in concise, memorable forms, guiding agricultural practices.

Introduction

Groundwater resources are under stress globally due to various reasons including increasing water demand, impending climate change, industrialization, land use/land cover changes, etc. Adequate sustainable development strategies have to be adopted for the management of groundwater resources. Irrespective of the developmental status of countries all over the world, groundwater serves as a crucial resource for meeting fundamental needs. However, increasing population, water demand, surface water contamination, and recent patterns of climate unpredictability have caused increasing reliance on groundwater as reported by several researchers (Adimalla and Taloor 2020; Aladejana et al. 2020; Cuthbert et al. 2019; Green 2016; Hamed et al. 2018; Jasrotia et al. 2019; Khalaj et al. 2019; Li 2016; McGill et al. 2019; Morsy et al. 2017; Taloor et al. 2020).

Even in India, water scarcity has been reported in many parts, though the country receives relatively higher rainfall. However, the rainfall pattern has changed over the last few years. The country has been experiencing significant spatiotemporal changes in rainfall patterns, leading to fewer rainy days and more extreme rainfall, which many studies have attributed to global climate change and anthropogenic influences. The rainfall variability has substantial impacts on water availability, agricultural productivity, and welfare of the 1.2 billion people in India because agriculture in India feeds about 17.2% of the global population and more than 56% of the agricultural land is rain-fed. Rapid and heavy patterns of rainfall result in the draining of most of the rainfall as surface runoff particularly on higher slopes, and reaches the surface water bodies, thereby reducing the infiltration and subsequent groundwater recharge. These variations in rainfall have ultimately affected the groundwater behavior and availability in many river basins.

Abstract

In the present study an integrated remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology is adopted for demarcating the groundwater prospective zones and identification of artificial recharge sites in the Peddavanka watershed, Andhra Pradesh. In this study Shuttle Radar Topograhic Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) with spatial resolution of 90 m and Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1A), Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS- III) satellite data along with other field and collateral data on geology and well inventory have been utilized to generating the Drainage, Slope, Lineaments and Hydro geomorphology of the study area, which are an essential prerequisites for demarcating water resources and identification of recharge sites. Spatial data integration and analyses are carried out in GIS environment.

Keywords : DEM, Drainage, Hydrogeomorphology, Groundwater prospective zones, Remote sensing, GIS

1.0 Introduction

Groundwater is an important natural resource in arid and semi- arid regions, because most of the places surface water resources are scarce and some places it’s totally absent particularly in hard rock areas. Because in hard rock terrains availability of groundwater is of limited extent and its occurrence is essentially confined to fractured and weathered zones (Saraf and choudhury 1998, Sankar 2002). In these areas groundwater recharge depends on rainfall only. For understanding rainfall recharge mechanism and groundwater management in the watersheds level, first we have to understand the morphometric parameters in the watershed level.

7.1 Importance of Weather Forecast in Agriculture

In India, agriculture is in reality to be a “gamble activity” with the monsoon rain, that means the productivity and profit from agriculture depend upon the goodness of the season. If any malevolent weather situation that happens during a crop season, whether it is at the beginning of the crop season or at the mid of the crop season or at the terminal of the crop season or at the whole of the crop season, the productivity of the crops raised would be under stake. In practice the irrigated crop area is lesser than the area under unirrigated crop in India in any region except the regions where irrigation is routed through perennial rivers. Normally the production from unirrigated crop is 30 to 40 per cent of the same crop grown under irrigated condition in an environment in the same season.

In India, in a region or in a taluk, if the irrigated area is lesser than 30 per cent of total cultivable area, there is every opportunity for the occurrence of food shortage. That means assured production depends upon irrigation rather than managing the crops with seasonal rainfall alone. This clearly indicates that the higher probability of occurrence of crop production risks falls under rainfed/dry land situation. The crop production risk is also common to irrigated area like unirrigated crop but the intensity gets varied. In this context one example that happened in India can be quoted. During December- January of 1982, with the occurrence of heavy rain/snow as a result of prevalence of western disturbance weather system, the wheat crop stood for harvest at Punjab got damaged with a loss of 124 crore of rupees. If this was anticipated earlier through weather forecast development, (which is common in all developed countries) and communicated to the farmers in advance, then the yield loss would have been reduced by following some tactical decisions to be taken either by the farmers or by the concerned Government. At that time, India did not have medium range weather forecast system and hence Indian farmers met with greater losses.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

Web technology revolutionised information technology and GIS of no exception. Analysis of maps available in internet through remote personal computer is called as web GIS. The term web is GIS synonymous with the term internet GIS. Most of the software vendors in the field of GIS have developed their GIS compatible to internet. The advantage of internet GIS is no need to own a GIS software in the personal computer. Maps available in a web site can be analysed for GIS functions as one could do with GIS in standalone personal computer. Applications of web GIS is not limited. Most of the governmental agencies, business people and others put their data in their server and the data could be analysed spatially for the users requirement. Internet mapping is simple, cost effective and reach vast audience.

Internet GIS is useful in field like civil engineering, government organisations, forestry, environment, goescience, utility planning etc.

Introduction

Famous French postmodern philosopher Jean Baudrillard commented on information once. “Information can tell us everything. It has all the answers. But they are answers to questions we have not asked, and which doubtless don’t even arise.” This seemingly paradox observation fits contemporary Internet age perfectly. Internet is a vast repository of information of all kinds and is bursting on its seams. The seeker needs to search with monumental grit and determination to have a full handle on the range of information available for any particular search. A search string for GIS returns more than 1185000 results, in a mere 0.26 seconds. Recommending a comprehensive resource list is not possible as new material gets continually added by way of additions and updates. However for a beginner the list given below will be handy. The flip side is GIS has innumerable resources and a broad range of content. Software vendors, organizations, individuals, universities and companies have provided a wealth of information. The readers are exhorted to make use of the materials to improve their understanding of the subject.

Interpretation of Drainage Patterns Through Aerial Photographs

Aerial photographs can provide a useful tool for interpreting the drainage patterns of a landscape. Drainage patterns are formed by the natural movement of water across the land and the way in which it flows from high to low areas, creating channels and streams that eventually converge into larger rivers and bodies of water. Different types of drainage patterns can be identified through aerial photographs, which can help to understand the underlying geology and topography of the landscape.

Here are some of the different drainage patterns that can be identified through aerial photographs:

1. Dendritic pattern

This pattern resembles the branches of a tree and is the most common type of drainage pattern. It occurs in areas where the underlying rock or soil is uniform and has no preferred direction of erosion. The streams converge into larger rivers, which may flow in a particular direction.

Rock

A rock is a solid, naturally occurring substance composed of minerals or mineraloids. It is typically formed through geological processes, such as cooling and solidification of molten lava or magma, or by the deposition and compaction of sediment over time. Rocks are classified into three main types based on their origin: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

Igneous rocks: Formed from the cooling and solidification of molten lava or magma. Examples include granite, basalt, and obsidian.

Sedimentary rocks: Formed from the accumulation and compaction of sediment, such as sand, mud, or organic matter, over long periods. Examples include sandstone, limestone, and shale.

Metamorphic rocks: Formed from the transformation of existing rocks under high temperature and pressure conditions. They undergo changes in mineral composition, texture, and structure. Examples include marble, slate, and gneiss.

Rocks serve as the building blocks of the Earth's crust and are an essential part of the geological processes that shape the planet. They can provide valuable information about Earth's history, including the formation of mountains, the movement of continents, and the presence of ancient life forms. Rocks are also used in various practical applications, such as construction, road building, and the production of minerals and resources.

Structural landforms are landforms that are created due to the underlying geological structures of the earth's crust. These structures can include folds, faults, and other features that have been formed due to the tectonic forces that have shaped the earth's surface over millions of years.

Examples of structural landforms include mountain ranges, plateaus, and rift valleys. Mountain ranges are formed due to the upliftment of the earth's crust along a fault line or due to the folding of the earth's crust. Plateaus are flat-topped landforms that are formed due to the upliftment of a large area of the earth's crust. Rift valleys are formed due to the stretching and pulling apart of the earth's crust along a fault line.

Denudational landforms, on the other hand, are landforms that are created due to the process of erosion and weathering. These landforms are formed due to the gradual wearing down of the earth's surface by natural forces such as wind, water, and ice.

Introduction

Quantum Geographical Information System (QGIS) is an open source GIS environment. The software package is available freely in web https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html) and can be installed in a variety of computer platform e.g. Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android etc. Latest information on QGIS is available inhttp://www.qgis.org/en/site/. Basically, the QGIS GUI is divided into five areas: (i) Menu Bar, (ii) Tool Bar (iii) Map Legend, (iv) Map View and (v) Status Bar. QGIS allows users to define a global and project-wise coordinate reference system (CRS) for layers without a pre-defined CRS. It also allows the user to define custom coordinate reference systems and supports on-the-fly (OTF) projection of vector and raster layers. All of these features allow the user to display layers with different CRSs and have them overlay properly. QGIS has support for approximately 2,700 known CRSs. Definitions for each CRS are stored in a SQLite database that is installed with QGIS. The CRSs available in QGIS are based on those defined by the European Petroleum Search Group (EPSG) and the Institute Geographique National de France (IGNF) and are largely abstracted from the spatial reference tables used in Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL). For Post GIS layers, QGIS use the spatial reference identifier that was specified when the layer was created. For data supported by OGR, QGIS relies on the presence of a recognized means of specifying the CRS. In the following sections, few basic GIS analysis using example spatial data from arid western India is discussed. However, readers are advised to go through different tools and functions available in QGIS after installation of the system in personal computers.

Introduction

A geographic information system or geographical information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data. The acronym GIS is sometimes used for geographic information science (GIScience) to refer to the academic discipline that studies geographic information systems and is a large domain within the broader academic discipline of geoinformatics. What goes beyond a GIS is a spatial data infrastructure, a concept that has no such restrictive boundaries. In a general sense, the term describes any information system that integrates stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information. GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries (user-created searches), analyze spatial information, edit data in maps, and present the results of all these operations. Geographic information science is the science underlying geographic concepts, applications, and systems.

GIS is a broad term that can refer to a number of different technologies, processes, and methods. It is attached to many operations and has many applications related to engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications, and business. For that reason, GIS and location intelligence applications can be the foundation for many location-enabled services that rely on analysis and visualization. GIS can relate unrelated information by using location as the key index variable. Locations or extents in the Earth space–time may be recorded as dates/times of occurrence, and x, y, and z coordinates representing, longitude, latitude, and elevation, respectively. All Earth-based spatial–temporal location and extent references should, ideally, be relatable to one another and ultimately to a “real” physical location or extent. This key characteristic of GIS has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry.

Introduction

R is one of the most popular platforms for data analysis and visualization currently available. It is free, open-source software, with versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems. R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics, similar to the S language originally developed at Bell Labs. It’s an open source solution to data analysis that’s supported by a large and active worldwide research community. But there are many popular statistical and graphing packages available e.g. Microsoft Excel, SAS, IBM SPSS, Stata, and Minitab etc., however R has many interesting features so why it is mostly followed by researchers and academicians. Few of the major features of R are given below:

R has become the world-wide language for statistics, predictive analytics, and data visualization. R is not limited to statistics; it provides a wide range of tools for spectroscopy. It offers a wide range of methodologies for spectral data preprocessing, spectral analysis, multivariate analysis of the spectral data, machine leraning models for prediction of properties, and visualization. As an open source project, it’s freely available for a range of platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An integrated development environment (IDE) for R, R Studio, allows interactive execution of R functions with user interface. RStudio is available in two formats - RStudio Desktop and RStudio Server - both available in free and fee-based (commercial) editions.
1.1. Download and Install R
The R software setup files can be downloaded from any of the widely distributed Comprehensive R Archive Network (CARN). To download R, go to url: https:// www.r-project.org/ and choose your preferred CRAN mirror, a location close to you and follow the steps to download and installation of R and Rtools.
1.2. Download and Install R Studio
Download and Install the R Studio once the base R is installed. Go to https://www. rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/ and click on download R Studio Desktop with Open Source license.
1.3. Updating R
To update the R, we need the package “installr” and use function “updateR( )”

Introduction

The term “Remote Sensing” was coined in 1950s by Ms. Evelyn Pruitt, a geographer with the U.S. Office of Naval Research, and the term is now commonly used to describe as the science and art of identifying, observing, and measuring an object on the earth surface, without having any direct contact. This process involves the detection and measurement of radiation of different wavelengths reflected or emitted from distant objects or materials through which they may be identified and categorized by class/type, substance, and spatial distribution (National Aeronautics and Space Administration—NASA). Remote sensing technology has been widely applied in various applications such as water resources, agriculture, geological studies, forestry, land use, resource exploration, etc.

Elements of Remote Sensing

The remote sensing process involves an interaction between the incident radiation and the targets of interest, exemplified by the use of imaging systems in which the following seven elements are involved; however, remote sensing also involves sensing of emitted energy and using non-imaging sensors

Introduction
Remote sensing is the art and science of recording, measuring, and analyzing information about a phenomenon from a distance. Humans with the aid of their eyes, noses, and ears are constantly seeing, smelling, and hearing things from a distance as they move through an environment. Thus, humans are naturally designed to be remote sensors. In order to study large areas of the Earth’s surface geographers use devices known as remote sensors. These sensors are mounted on platforms such as helicopters, planes, and satellites that make it possible for the sensors to observe the Earth from above.

Definition
Remote sensing can be defined as any process whereby information is gathered about an object, area or phenomenon without being in contact with it. Our eyes are an excellent example of a remote sensing device. We are able to gather information about our surroundings by gauging the amount and nature of the reflectance of visible light energy from some external source (such as the sun or a light bulb) as it reflects off objects in our field of view. Contrast this with a thermometer, which must be in contact with the phenomenon it measures, and thus is not a remote sensing device.

The term hydrogeomorphology can be divided into three terms hydro- means water including both surface and groundwater; geo- means the earth and morphology- is the surface expression of the features in the form of landforms. This means that the hydrogeomorphology is dealing with the aspects of water, rocks and earth’s morphological features (land). Of these water and land are most important natural resources for human beings.

Water is synonymous with life. This is a natural resource and an absolute necessity for the survival of the living beings. Human beings have an organic relationship with water. For living and livelihood, human beings solely depend upon the availability of water. They have an inalienable right on water. This is a community resource and cannot be made a tradable commodity, violating normative law of nature. Water is among the most precious gifts of nature to mankind. Most of the ancient towns of the world grew on the banks of the river, and some of the ancient civilizations are known by the names of rivers. Rivers have always been important sources of drinking water and the means of sustaining human, animal and plant life. Whenever one is dealing with water resources development and utilization, it has to be kept in mind that not only quantity of water but also quality of water is very important. The well being and development of our society is dependent on the availability of water.

1.0 Overview

Natural resources sustain life and are critical for economic development of nations. In developing countries like India where more than half the population is rural, economic development is inextricably linked with agricultural development. In these countries, the food and livelihoods security of the poor are critically associated with access to the services provided by the natural resources - land, soil, water, biodiversity and climate resources. The natural resources are finite, and with increasing population, economic growth, urbanization, and demands for food and other agricultural commodities, these are being increasingly strained. As a result, the productive capacity of the natural resource base is shrinking and deteriorating. Sustaining the productive capacity of natural resources for future generations, while meeting the food and other demands of the growing populations, is the major development challenge of the twenty first century.

In India, during the last forty years the net sown area under agriculture has remained nearly constant at 141 million ha. In the same period, the population has more than doubled (from 541 million in 1970 to 1186 million in 2010) and per capita income grew by more than 3.5 times (from Rs 14824 in 1970 to Rs 53331 in 2010). As available land resources for agriculture are finite, increases in agricultural production to meet the growing demands of the population have to come from intensification of agriculture on the same lands. As a result, the quality of soils on these lands is gradually deteriorating both at the farm and ecosystem levels. The major threats to soil quality come from loss of organic carbon, erosion, nutrient imbalance, compaction, salinization, water-logging, decline in soil bio-diversity, urbanization, and contamination with heavy metals. More than 100 million ha of the total cultivated land of 141 million ha is stated to be under some form of soil degradation.

Similarly, utilizable fresh water resources of India are finite at about 1123 billion cubic meters (BSM), of which about 690 BCM are from surface water resources and 433 BCM are from groundwater. This supply is shared among multiple uses: human and animal consumption, agriculture, urban uses, industry and for provision of environmental services. The total water demand in 2010 is estimated at 710 BCM and is projected to increase to 1180 BCM by 2050. Several parts of India are already facing severe water shortages as a result of the growing demand for water. The quality of water resources is also impacted by agricultural intensification and development, and is increasingly a matter of concern. By the year 2050, when population is expected to stabilize, the shortages will only intensify. The country as whole can be on the verge of becoming a water scarce country, with nearly all the presently estimated utilizable water resources being put to use.

Biodiversity natural resources refer to the abundance of different species and ecosystems in nature. These resources are the primary sources of present and future productive agriculture and human well being, as they provide the basic resources for use in breeding crops and livestock, soil formation and structure, soil fertility, nutrient cycling and the provision of water services. India is among the 12 mega diversity regions of the world. It is known to have more than 18,000 species of higher plants including, 160 major and minor crop species and 325 of their wild relatives. Increasing pressure from human population growth, agricultural intensification, urbanization, pollution and degradation of land, soil and water resources are having a negative impact on the plant, animal and microbial biodiversity resources of the country and their productivity.

Experimentation is fundamental to scientific investigation because it provides a systematic basis for studying natural and controlled systems and drawing conclusions from observations. In forestry and horticulture, experiments are often affected by developmental, environmental, genetic, sampling, and experimental variations. This chapter introduces the principles required for planning, conducting, analysing, and interpreting such experiments. It explains comparative experiments, the need for experimentation, experimental units, sampling units, plots, blocks, treatments, factors, levels, and sources of variation. Particular emphasis is given to the basic principles of experimental design—randomisation, replication, and local control—which help improve validity, precision, and coverage of experimental results.

OBSERVATION

The examination of the IRS - 1A imagery under raw and the digitally enhanced modes vividly display heavy concentration of suspended sediments in certain sectors along the east coast of Tamil Nadu. Such pockets of suspended sediments are seen as long and linear bodies trending parallel to the coast to the strike length of 20 - 30 km and width of 5 - 10 km. Such Phenomenon of suspended sediments concentration are strikingly observed in two sectors. One in between Tuticorin harbour and Vaippar river mouth and the other just at the mouth of Ponnaiyar river along Cuddalore-Pondicherry coast. Both of them are observed along conspicuous (Fig.1& 2) concave coasts.

Abstract

Historically, the tiny island katchatheevu located in between Rameshwaram and Srilanka belongs to Ramnad Kingdom and it was handed over to Britishers and during the British’s rule. During that time both Indian and Srilankan fishermen communities were using this for their fishing related activities. On a goodwill, in 1994, the Government of India donated this island to Srilanka. Since then it has become a major issue and a perpetual problem to Indian fishermen that they could neither do fishing around nor berth their boats for drying their fishing nets. Under this scenario, an attempt was made to evaluate the geological setting of Katchatheevu island using E-Topo data which provides the sea bottom topography/morphology. The study revealed that the Katchatheevu island is the north eastern extension of the Pisasumunai of the Rameshwaram island and such arcuate nature of the land between the Pisasumunai and Katchatheevu is attributed to anticlockwisly spiralling littoral currents which would have dumped the sands and developed the island. Thus the study brings some newer information that the Katchatheevu is geologically a part of Indian land mass.

Studies and Findings

The boundary problems within the nations and amongst the nations, especially amongst the territorial nations, have started emerging as major issues of global concern. Katchatheevu Theevu located between India and Sri Lanka is one such a major issue, as the said island which originally belonged to Ramnad kingdom was handed over to Sri Lanka by India in 1974 and since then, the Indian fishermen community is facing untold miseries in the hands of Sri Lankans and hence it warrents immediate attention.

Introduction

In geographical location, the observations taken in proximity tend to be more alike than observations made at points that are far apart-that is, the values tend to be correlated. An area of study that takes this sort of spatial consideration into account is called geostatistics. A primary motivation for sampling is to make meaningful estimates of values at nearby positions in space and time. When values are assumed independent, the best estimate for an unmeasured point will be the mean. However, for correlated values nearby values are estimated by interpolation. The simplest interpolation scheme is a nearest neighbor estimate for which the unknown values are based on the closest measured location. Inverse distance is another sort of interpolation technique where weights are estimated based on the inverse distance squared. Kriging is a geostatistical interpolation technique that considers both the distance and the degree of variation between known data points when estimating values in unknown areas.

It makes the best use of existing knowledge by taking account of the way that a property varies in space through the variogram model. In its original formulation a kriged estimate at a place was simply a linear sum or weighted average of the data in its neighbourhood. Weights are based on the distance between the measured points, the prediction locations, and the overall spatial arrangement among the measured points. Since then kriging has been elaborated to tackle increasingly complex problems in mining, petroleum engineering, pollution control and abatement, and public health. The term is now generic, embracing several distinct kinds of kriging, both linear and non-linear.

Abstract

Land degradation is defined as human induced or natural process that negatively affects the lands to function effectively. It is temporary or permanent lowering of the productive capacity of land (UNEP, 1992). Several definitions of land degradation have been suggested by different authorities to express the degree of deterioration in potential of land in terms of physical, chemical and biological aspects. It has both environmental and economic consequences. The information on land degradation is needed for a variety of purposes such as to improve productivity levels in degraded lands through reclamation programmes, rational land use planning and also to bring more areas under cultivation.

On the basis of a proposal I had made three years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) launched a Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation at a Multi-stakeholder Conference held in Rome in September 2011. Even with all the advances made in capture and culture fisheries, nearly 90 per cent of human food requirements will have to come from the soil. Land is becoming a diminishing resource for agriculture, inspite of the growing understanding that the future of food security will depend upon the sustainable management of land resources as well as the conservation of prime farm land for agriculture. The National Commission on Farmers emphasised in its report submitted in 2006 the urgent need for replacing the 1894 Land Acquisition Law with a twenty-first century legislation that safeguards the interests of farmers and farming.  Jairam Ramesh is to be complemented for introducing in Parliament a National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill which pays attention not only to acquisition, but also to the rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected families.

Abstract

The landslides of the hill ecosystems are either due to the natural morphotectonic and morphodynamics processes of the planet earth or due to the anthropogenic effects or due to the combinations of the both. In the Indian subcontinent, the landslides are reported from three major provinces viz: Himalayas, Westernghats and The Nilgiris. While the landslides of the Himalayas are demonstrated to be predominantly due to active tectonics, the landslides of the Westernghats are attributed to excessive weathering and rock fall. On the contrary the landslides of the Nilgiris have been thought to be due to extensive deforestation and the related increase in the pore pressure during rainy seasons. But the studies carried out in the recent years show that not only in the Nilgiris but also in other hill systems of Tamil Nadu, the landslides seem to be related to the recent earth movements. This is very significant in the context of fastly recurring seismicities in South India and hence this aspect warrants detailed studies for landslide mitigation.

Abstract

Subsequent to December 26^th 2004 historical Tsunami, The Government of India has conceived a master plan for setting up Tsunami Warning System (TWS) similar to Pacific Ocean Tsunami Warning System. Concurrently, the union Govt has also initiated scientific studies through Department of Science and Technology and the significant amongst these are the

• All India Co-ordinated Programme on Tsunami disaster and risk assessment using GIS technology and
• Bilateral programme with Norway to know the know – how and capacity building in the fields of Landslides and Tsunami

As a part of this bilateral mission, the authors visited institutions connected to Geohazards and Tsunami affected areas of Norway. The article briefly narrates the salient inferences on the Tsunami scenario and the related studies in Norway.

Keywords: Landslides triggered tsunamis, Norway

Abstract

The Cauvery delta is a major bird-foot shaped delta with its apex located east of Tiruchirappalli with the mother channel Cauvery flowing along Thanjavur– Kumbakonam – Kaveripoompattinam. The distributary drainages are radiating over an arc towards east from its apex with a fan shape and finally debouch into the sea from south of Tiruthuraipoondi in the south to Kaveripoompattinam in the north. All these distributary drainages are now seen as palaeochannels including the mother channel Cauvery, which is now called as “Palam Cauvery”. The present day flow of Cauvery river is confined to the northernmost rim of the delta as river Coleroon. On the basis of the archaeological, epigraphic and historical data analysed earlier and the14C dating carried out recently, the present authors infer that the age of the delta may vary from 2300 Y.B.P. ( Years Before Present) to 750 Y.B.P. and the age of the palaeochannels are also younging from 2300 Y.B.P. in the south to 750 Y.B.P. in the north. In the southern part of the Cauvery delta, the Mio-Pliocene Sandstone of Pattukottai-Mannargudi area is undergoing upliftment along N-S faults. On the basis of the rapid land progradation during 6085±233 Y.B.P. - 1020±80 Y.B.P. in Vedaranniyam coast, it is visualized that the Mio-Pliocene Sandstone must be undergoing upliftment significantly since 6100 Y.B.P. onwards. On the basis of the occurrence of older palaeochannels in the south, the gradual younging palaeochannels towards the north and the land emergence in the south of the Cauvery delta in Pattukottai – Mannargudi area, it is concluded that the distributary drainages of river Cauvery would have become sequentially defunct / shifted from south to north and finally the mother channel Cauvery also would have been pushed towards north to reach the present tract of Coleroon river. The thinner palaeochannels in the south and the gradual wider palaeochannels in the north of the delta further indicate that as the land was already undergoing emergence in the south even before river Cauvery has entered into Thanjavur plains, the river could not comfortably spread its distributaries in the south. Hence, the southern distributaries, after a brief flow, would have started drying sequentially from south to north during 2300–750 Y.B.P. thereby the floodwater of each of the southern distributary channel would have been pushed to its successive northern counterpart, i.e. the southern distributary (say 1), pushing its water to its immediate northern counterpart (say 2), then the combined flow of 1 and 2 pushing the water to 3 and so on. The anomalous eyed drainage and its modifications during the last 50–60 years and compressed meanders in Coleroon river, deflected drainages in Palam Cauvery, truncation and punctuation of beach ridges by the E – W faults along the N – S coast and such faults acting as pathways for the sub parallel creeks indicate vibrant Late Holocene geological history predominated by the tectonic movements in Cauvery delta.

The National Food Security Bill 2011, which is now on the website of the Union Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs for public comments, aims to make the Right to Food a legal right. During the last seven years, the country has witnessed a transition from political patronage to legal entitlements in the case of education, information, work and land rights in tribal areas. When finally enacted, the Food Security Bill will be the brightest jewel in the crown of Indian democracy. Therefore, public scrutiny of the draft Bill is important. The draft Bill mentions that its aim is “to provide for food and nutritional security in human life-cycle approach by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices, for people to live a life with dignity”. Unfortunately the Bill is its present form will not be able to fulfill this inspiring objective.

The legal commitment contained in the Bill implies that every child, woman and man should have physical and economic access to balanced diet on the basis of a life-cycle approach, i.e., from conception to cremation. Nutrition security involves access not only to the needed calories and protein, but also to micro-nutrients like iron, iodine, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin B12. In addition, clean drinking water, sanitation and primary health care are essential for ensuring that food is properly assimilated in the body.

As it is well understood, food and drinking water are the first among the hierarchical needs of a human being. Growing population, expanding ecological footprint, diminishing per capita land and water availability, increasing biotic and abiotic stresses, and, above all, the prospects for adverse changes in temperature, precipitation and sea level as a result of climate change, emphasise the need for keeping issues relating to agriculture high on the professional, political and public agenda. The multiple roles of agriculture in food production, improving nutrition and health, and climate change mitigation are now well recognised scientifically, but are yet be integrated into coherent national policies and strategies. Opportunities for generating synergy among agriculture, nutrition and health are great and this conference is therefore a timely one.

Abstract

The frequently recurring earth tremors / Seismicities in parts of Tamil Nadu & Kerala and the earthquakes of higher magnitude in Central India in the recent years have gradually dissolved the concept of shield area stability for the South India and the concept of mid-plate seismicity has emerged in the minds of geoscientists, Hence, the geoscientists have embarked into a number of studies to bringout seismotectonic maps for South India. In this context, a detailed studies have been carried out by the authors in parts of westernghats (Kodaikkanal and Varushanad hills) in Tamil Nadu. In the said study lineaments were interpreted using high resolution IRS satellite data and from the lineament pattern, isofracture, lineament density and lineament interaction intensity the strain maxima axes were drawn. Such strain maximas were observed to fall in N- S, E – W and NE –SW directions. These strain maximas were found to coincide with various drainage anomalies, like radial, compressed meandering and eyed drainages indicating that these lineaments are prone for seismicity/ earth tremors.

Livestock population meet the protein requirement of humans in addition to meeting from plants. The food chain starts from fodder crops to animals and from animals to humans. In human physiology, digestion of plant protein is much easier than animal protein, but however the digestion depends on climate (temperate climate, sub-tropical climate, tropical climate etc.,) wherein human kind live. Similar to crops, there is strong interaction between livestock and meteorological weather elements (temperature, relative humidity, wind etc.). But detailed study has not been published elaborately in scientific journals in the past. The weather elements have greater influence on livestock productivity in terms of milk, meat, skin, wool etc., pest and disease infestation and their housing needs. In this chapter how weather elements influence shed management, pest and disease problem and animals’ productivity and are discussed. In majority of the Veterinary and Animal Science University in India, they have one division on animal climatology, wherein both research and extension aspects are being attended. However, in depth research is the need of the present decade, since little works have been done in the past on animal climatology.

Irrespective of weather elements, the heat stress due to the combination of temperature and relative humidity plays important role in affecting the productivity of animals. There is a range of thermal conditions within which animals are able to maintain a relatively stable body temperature by means of behavioral and physiological means. Heat stress results from the animal’s inability to dissipate sufficient heat to maintain homeothermy (Sejian et al., 2017). High ambient temperature, relative humidity and radiant energy compromise the ability of the animals to dissipate heat. As a result, there is an increase in body temperature, which in turn initiates compensatory and adaptive mechanisms to re-establish homeothermy and homeostasis. Homeostasis refers to the tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state that is optimal for functioning. Animals have a specific balanced or normal body temperature. When there is a problem with the internal functioning of animal body, this temperature may increase, signaling imbalance. As a result, body attempts to solve the problem and restore homeostasis for normal body temperature. These readjustments generally referred as adaptations and this is essential for survival of the animals.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has alerted developing countries about possible steep rises in food prices during 2011, if steps are not taken immediately to significantly increase the production of major food crops. According to FAO, ‘with the pressure on world prices of most commodities not abating, the international community must remain vigilant against further supply shocks in 2011’. World cereal production is likely to contract by 2 per cent and global cereal stocks may decline sharply. The price of sugar has reached a 30-year high, while international prices of wheat have increased by 12 per cent in the first week of December 2010 as compared to their November average.

The quantitative and qualitative dimensions of under- and malnutrition prevailing in our country are well known.  The Steering Committee of a high level panel of experts on food and nutrition set up under my chairmanship to advise the UN Committee on Food Security (CFS) has recently concluded that what we need urgently is a comprehensive, coordinated approach to tackling chronic, hidden and transitory hunger, and not piecemeal approaches.

The resources on the land have started showing sign of faster depletion owing to the population explosion, over exploitation of mineral and water resources and also the improper exploitation and the related wasting of the natural resources. Hence a time has come to search for more and more newer natural resources amongst which the ocean resources gain supreme importance as this treasure is yet to be hunted due to the non - availability of suitable technology for the same.

Such ocean resources mainly include the mineralogical and biological resources. The ocean biological resources, their birth, growth, population and migration greatly depend as chlorophyll content, total dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, salinity etc. These parameters which constitute the marine environment drastically change in a quick span of time owing to the dynamically changing marine forces.

Abstract

GIS in marine fisheries has taken off much later than its application in land. But the strides made in this field since 1990’s has been quite significant, as many serious mapping studies and modeling initiatives have been recorded. With the third dimension added to the 2D spatial data, the marine GIS have all the ingredients of making it a fertile domain for research for decades to come. Most of the studies and products pertaining to GIS in fishery management had been revolving around mapping of habitats, geo-referencing of catch and effort data and modeling linking oceanographic and biogeochemical factors with living resources. Satellite remotely sensed information like ocean colour can act as a surrogate to fish biomass. Further remotely sensed SST, wind and other parameters can be effectively modeled to predict fish abundance, their habitat and related aspects. This manuscript pours into the various products and outputs based on GIS in marine fisheries around the world and the Indian initiatives.

Key words: GIS, marine resources, oceanography, primary productivity and climate change

1.0 Introduction

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been one of the most prolific scientific enhancements in recent past, which by virtue of out of box expansion of traditional database concept have opened up an entirely new vista of knowledge and opportunities. It’s probably one such unique application where information collation and analysis happen hand in hand resulting in palpable mining of data in perspective. A formal introduction to GIS would define it as a collection of computer hardware, software, data and personnel designed to collect, store, update, manipulate, analyze and display geographically referenced information. By virtue of its conceptualizations, there are no single GIS; systems can be assembled in an infinite number of ways. This is one such field, which probably always seeks the frontiers of innovations in the fields of ICT and modeling.

A climate-resilient agriculture, which we need urgently, will have to be based on a two-pronged strategy: maximising farm productivity and production during a normal monsoon period, and minimising the adverse impact of unfavourable weather as witnessed during 2009.  Unfortunately, we are yet to develop an anticipatory research and extension programme to minimise damage during unfavourable monsoon periods.  For example, the deficiency in rainfall during the southwest monsoon of 2009 was 23 per cent.  The growth in agriculture and allied sector GDP was minus 0.2.  The highest growth rate in agriculture GDP of 5.2 per cent was observed during 2005-06 when the growth in total GDP was 9.5 per cent.  Had we had a scientific monsoon management strategy, we could have minimised the loss in 2009-10.  Similarly, if we have a strategy for maximising the benefits of a good monsoon, we can hope to achieve at least 5 per cent growth rate during 2010-11 in agriculture and allied sectors.  In parts of China like the Yunnan province, which has experienced 60 per cent less rainfall than normal, there is a move to grow different crops together in the same field, thereby distributing the risk arising from monoculture. It is time to develop a pro-active monsoon management strategy.