eChapters

Introduction

The importance of food security and its management world over has been recognized long back. The World Food Summit in 1974, called in response to the persistent and widespread under-nutrition and the future role of agriculture, stressed upon establishment of committee to review and recommend location specific action plan in sensitive areas. Asserting that every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop their physical and mental faculties, an international undertaking on world food security was set up in which member nations committed to maintain food stocks to ensure routine and emergency food supplies (in case of crop failure, natural disaster, etc.). Monitoring the implementation of such undertaking has since then become the responsibility of the Committee on World Food Security.

Introduction

Food security means access by all people at all times to enough food for an active healthy life (Reuntlinger, 1985; World bank, 1986; FAO, 1989). But now-a-days, food security is used differently at national, regional and household level. At regional and national levels, it is related to regional and national balances between availability and need whereas at household level, it is related with food production resources, income available for purchases and assistance sufficient to meet the aggregate needs of all household members.

Availability of food alone may not guarantee access due to poor distribution or lack of purchasing power as co-existence of aggregate food self sufficiency and widespread malnutrition and hunger do exist. As per Chen and Kates, 1994, food security includes combination of criteria as:

Pulses are widely acknowledged as superfoods, three times the protein in rice and double in wheat. Besides, they are also rich in complex carbohydrates, micronutrients, protein and B-vitamins and minerals like folate, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium. High iron content in some pulses also minimizes the risk of anaemia. Long storability without loss of nutritional value, low prices, and broader availability make pulses an affordable source of minerals, and protein, thus contributing to food security at all levels of society in India. Besides human nutrition, pulse crops are also utilized as fodder and fuel for farm households.

Introduction

No revolution occurs without disruption. Its effects break down traditions, behavior, relationships, ways of thinking, and methods of education. (Barreiro, 2021) throughout history, from the hunter-gatherer era to the present day humanity has experienced multiple industrial revolutions impacting both social and economic domains. The latest industrial revolution, which has ushered in digital transformation and enhanced productivity at reduced costs, introduces a new lifestyle distinct from our traditional daily routines. It also aims to foster a more sustainable overall environment. (Javaid et al., 2022).

The rise of Industry 4.0 is fueled by both rapid technological advancements and various social and economic factors. Central technologies propelling Industry 4.0 include wearable, augmented reality, simulation, autonomous vehicles and robots, additive manufacturing, distributed ledger systems like block chain, big data analytic, mobile computing, and cloud computing. These technologies influence and facilitate the development of new and innovative business models. (Industry 4.0 Implications for Higher Education Institutions 2019)

The advent of Industry 4.0, characterized by the integration of advanced technologies has revolutionized various sectors, including higher education. As these technologies reshape industries, they also redefine educational paradigms, creating a more interconnected, efficient, and personalized learning environment. This transformation, known as Education 4.0, responds to the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution by preparing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in an increasingly digital and automated world.

Temperate horticulture in Himalayan States forms the backbone of states economy by providing livelihood to more than 10 million people and draws about 60% of its Gross Domestic product (GDP) from the surrounding ecological resources. Being an important sector it has been given priority in recent years through various developmental programmes to harness the vast potential of natural resources, the topography, soil, climate and horticulture crop diversity. The outburst in climate and over population have become a major concern challenging natural resources of the Himalayan region for sustainable development of agriculture and improving livelihood of the local inhabitants. Depleting natural resources and vagaries of weather are negatively affecting long-term sustainability of Himalayan agri-horti production system. In spite of several chal-lenges the horticulture in temperate region has made some progress. The area, production productivity, availability and export of horticulture products have increased manifolds leading to improvement in employment and farm income. But still the temperate fruit industry is far behind and is facing the problem of low productivity and high cost production due to lack of elite planting material, old and senile orchards, rainfed farming, lack of efficient water, nutrient and canopy management, high infestation of insect and pests, poor transport and communication coupled with weak post harvest infrastructure. The modern new high yielding varieties and technological interventions developed especially the high density plantations; canopy & pollination management; fertigation, INM and water harvesting; cost effective and eco-friendly protection technologies and post harvest management and value addition have shown great potential to revolutionize the horticulture sector to bring paradigm shift from existing low quality lower productivity sector to high quality-higher productivity sector. The farmers have an opportunity and can take the advantage of emerging technologies in temperate horticulture to improve their nutritional and livelihood security.

Method: To check the performance of these pans, prepare 3 besan chillas on each type of pan by using equal quantity of oil and batter. Then compare and evaluate prepared dishes on 5 parameters i.e. Appearance, Texture, Aroma, Color and Taste by using 9-point hedonic scale.

The functioning of the Women Dairy Cooperative Societies depends upon the variations in managerial capacity leading to profit and loss of different WDCS. To make an in-depth analysis, the study was undertaken in undivided Cuttack and Dhenkanal district of Odisha covering 22 randomized WDCS with a sample of 110 women respondents.

The analysis of the findings after statistical treatment have been presented objective-wise as follows;

Socio-economic profile of the members of WDCS involved in dairy production activities.

Gap between procedures prescribed and followed in formation and functioning of WDCS.

Identification and analysis of key performance areas in the WDCS.

Determination of management practices and milk production profiles of WDCS members.

Extent of participation of women members in dairy activities.

Entrepreneurial characteristics of members of Women Dairy Cooperative Society.

Impact of WDCS on socio-economic status of the members.

Correlating variables and their interrelationship in predicting smooth functioning of WDCS.

Constraints faced by the WDCS members.

Suggestions of members for improvement in functioning of WDCS

This chapter explores how ergonomics is evolving in response to technological innovation, demographic change, globalization and sustainability. It traces the discipline’s progression from classical physical ergonomics to cognitive, organizational, integrated and smart ergonomics. Emerging applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, wearable sensors, virtual systems and real-time data analytics are examined. The chapter also considers adaptive workspaces, human–robot collaboration, remote work and inclusive design for an ageing and increasingly diverse workforce. Future ergonomists are presented as strategic contributors to human–technology integration rather than only assessors of posture and physical risk. Ethical, economic and accessibility challenges accompanying technological transformation are also considered

Introduction

The successful combination of technology and finance, commonly referred to as Financial Technology (henceforth, FinTech), can be understood as “technology enabled financial innovation” that may result in new business applications, models, products and/or processes, that create manifold material impact on f inancial markets and provision of financial services (Schueffel, 2016).

FinTech presents a promising prospective of bettering the situation of financial inclusion in developing countries like India by leveraging on technology in an innovative manner. Inclusive growth can be achieved through FinTech by means of broad-based prosperity, reduction in transaction costs and better access to financial services to the underserved (Sahay et al., 2020). In this context, Fintech companies are institutions applying technological innovations to increase efficiency and create enhanced access to the finance industry. There has been tremendous growth of such companies in recent years and it has also captured the interest of investors alike.

1. The selection of more number of relevance variables could have added better understanding and comprehensive of the research.

2. Mathematical optimization and simulations could have been much effective in integrating as well as co-integrates the apparently different aspect of yield, income, livelihood and ecological resilience in the form of a common valley of management of a land.

3. Application of ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving average) and SEM (structural equation modeling) as instruments of interpretation and analysis can be more effective.

4. Ecological resilience metritis more active and dummy variable including outliers can be future research towards modelling with hard evidences

5. A pull of chronological data distribution over 30 years can undergo simulation and decision ecology for promulgating micro sociological policy and application.

6. Social resilience has been the predicament for perceiving ecology resilience and organic diode can help to make the entire thing strongly place on the foundation of ecological research at least.

Future Scope of the Research

The present study has been conducted by driving the insights deeper into the nature, intensity and character of the problems creating barrier against the Entrepreneurial communication. Entrepreneurial communication nowadays is a need in these days of unemployment and stands to be both the means and method of sustaining life process in terms both assets and capital, it needs more comprehensive study. Attaining Entrepreneurial communication among the upcoming and motivating entrepreneurs, anywhere is an endless process by itself. The present study thus leaves behind the following domains to be researched out in future:

The study can be extrapolated to other domains of entrepreneurship.

1) Modeling of Entrepreneurial communication including the positive motivation, can be achieved through further studies.

2) The future study of this particular topic has a scope to include several contextual and realistic variables other than the variables included in this study.

3) The structure and the function of Entrepreneurial communication behavior and process, can well be understood from further study of the similar topic.

4) There is a scope of methodological innovation in future and application of artificial intelligence in this study

5) Policy research on Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial communication as to monitor or rationalize the magnitude of rural entrepreneurship, for keeping the pace of growth unabated can be achieved.

11.1. Introduction

Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) is a powerful soft computing technique that integrates elements of fuzzy logic and cognitive mapping to model complex systems. It allows for the representation of causal relationships between variables in an interpretable and flexible manner, making it particularly valuable for analyzing and simulating real-world dynamic systems. FCM has its roots in cognitive science, systems thinking, and artificial intelligence, enabling researchers and practitioners to model uncertainties and interdependencies effectively (Tyrovolas et al., 2023). The approach is particularly advantageous when dealing with complex, ill-structured problems where traditional mathematical modeling techniques fall short. By capturing expert knowledge and combining it with computational techniques, FCM helps in making informed predictions and policy decisions.

It is widely applied across multiple domains, including environmental management for sustainability assessments (Özesmi and Özesmi, 2004), decision support systems in business and governance, healthcare for medical diagnostics and treatment planning (Apostolopoulos et al., 2024), and socio economic planning for policy analysis and forecasting (Gray et al., 2015). Furthermore, its adaptability has led to its increasing integration with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics, making it a promising approach for tackling contemporary challenges.

16.1. Introduction

Game theory is a mathematical framework designed for understanding and analyzing strategic interactions among rational decision-makers. It has applications in various fields such as economics, political science, psychology, biology, and computer science. The foundational premise of game theory is that the outcome of a decision made by one agent depends on the decisions made by others. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of game theory, covering its fundamental concepts, types of games, solution concepts, and applications.

16.2. Fundamental Concepts

16.2.1. Players

In game theory, a player is any individual or entity that makes decisions within the context of the game. Players are assumed to be rational, meaning they aim to maximize their own utility or payoff based on their preferences and the information available to them.

Garment defects are undesirable variations in the appearance, fit, construction or functionality of a finished garment. They range from minor cosmetic imperfections to serious faults that make a product unsuitable for sale. Defects can cause customer dissatisfaction, returns, loss of loyalty and reputational damage. Manufacturers may also experience rework costs, production delays, material waste, buyer rejection and financial penalties. Problems can originate during material sourcing, cutting, sewing, finishing or packaging and frequently arise from unsuitable materials, operator mistakes, machine malfunction or inadequate controls. Preventing recurrence requires trained workers, standardized procedures, effective inspections and root-cause techniques such as the Five Whys, fishbone analysis and FMEA.

1. Introduction

There is a global evidence of deterioration of nutrition and food security condition following the Pandemic and subsequent economiclockdown (Summerton, 2020; Laborde et al., 2020). In India, the status of nutrition and food security has been a matter of concern for decades. India scored an alarming rankof 102 out of 116 countries in Global Hunger Index (IFPRI, 2019). The problem has also been a gendered one, with an abysmally higher proportion of malnourishment and hunger in women and children in India. As per NFHS 4 (2015-16), every second woman in reproductive age in India was suffering from anaemia, two in five children were suffering from stunting and every tenth child in India was suffering from acute malnourishment (IIPS, 2017). It is not difficult to imagine that this existing malnutrition-crisis has only worsened in the post-lockdown period. There is a consensus among academicians, policy makers and planners that the nutrition crisis needs to be linked to gender-based exclusions & vulnerabilities (Quisumbing et al., 2020). This chapter attempts to discuss some of these complicacies of food-nutrition-gender linkages to put forth gender advocacy for food & nutrition policies.

Evidence of linkages between gender and nutrition are there althoughit is difficult to establish precise empirical connect. Also, the pathways through which gender influences nutrition and food security are multiple and complex. Food/nutrition-policy, therefore, has a long way to go till it is gender-informed. To begin with, the understanding of the concept of gender is limited at the policy-level. Moreover, most of the nutrition-food related policies in India have not mainstreamed gender or are working ina gender-specific manner rather than redistributive manner¹.

It is in this pretext the chapter reviewed the available evidence on gender-nutrition linkages to put forth an argument not only in favour of gender-aware nutrition policies, but also to guide as to how Gender should be integrated. The chapter is structured in five sections with sections that discusses the concept, i.e., importance of context in policy-level for conceptualising gender-needs. This is followed by a review of existing work from a Gender Needs framework and selected empirical evidence from recent primary study of the author are also presented as another separate section. The relevance of reviewing gender-nutrition linkage after COVID19 Pandemic also find place in the chapter. Finally the summary concludes the discussion on gender advocacy in nutrition.

1. Introduction

The gender gap in agriculture is perceived worldwide. It signifies that farm women have less access to resources, finance, capital and advisory services compared to men (FAO, 2011a). Further, women own only 1 per cent of the world’s property in spite they dominate in world food production (50 to 80 per cent) and they own less than 10 per cent of land globally (Huyer et al., 2015). But, in a healthy society, both men and women should enjoy the equal right, opportunity, accessibility and also should shoulder the equal responsibility in family building, society building or nation building. But till date, the equal status and opportunities of men and women has remained a desired goal. It happens so, as the livelihood needs of men and women are different due to their different roles, responsibilities, accessibility to resources and cultural norms. However, of late the researchers and policy makers have realized the importance of gender equality for national development and it has been one of the avowed targets in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030. This has led to the recognition and conceptualization of the concept of ‘gender analysis’ in development research. Gender analysis frameworks provide a step-by-step methodology for conducting gender analysis (Ochola et al., 2010). Gender analysis is relevant to education, although the frameworks used for development projects must be adapted to meet the needs of educational projects (Leach, 2003).

The chapter discusses the concept of Gender Analysis along with the tools and frameworks available in undertaking gender analysis. Each method is discussed in detail covering the context of use, merits and limitations. The data collection formats are also discussed.

1. The Context

Poverty continues to be a major issue the world over. Over the last decade there has been a significant reduction in the number of the extremely poor. Extreme poverty rates fell from 10.1 per cent in 2015 to 9.2 per cent in 2017 (https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/global-poverty-reduction-slowing-regionaltrends-help-understanding-why). However, despite these achievements, we still have 689 million people living on less than two dollars a day and estimates by the World Bank in 2020 indicate that if one takes an account of higher poverty lines we have 24.1 percent of the world living on less than $3.20 a day and 43.6 percent on less than $5.50 a day in 2017 (http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview). The disturbing aspect of this analysis are the facts that half of this poor are children and in most areas where poverty is encountered women represent a sizeable chunk of them. Poverty in real life is translated into lack of access to education and consumption of diets that are both quantitatively and qualitatively deficient in crucial micro nutrients and vitamins, placing them at higher risks on account of protein energy malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency and the all pervading problem of anaemia. The social consequences of such diets and implications for human capital of the world in the later part of this century would be devastating.

Poverty among women has huge repercussions for the citizens of tomorrow. It is in this context that the role of livestock products assumes crucial importance. Milk, eggs and meat have some of the highest bio-availabilities of crucial protein, iron and vitamin A. Berrazaga et al. (2019) observed that though plant proteins are beneficial in terms of the advantages that they offer from environmental and health points of view, the anabolic effect of plant proteins is generally lower than that of animal proteins. This is on account of their lower digestibility, relatively lower contents of essential amino acids such as leucine and the lack of sulphur amino acids such as lysine. The authors further observed that food protein quality was assessed by digestibility, net protein utilisation and biological value and these

Teaching, Research and Extension are interrelated and interwoven in development. It may be in any field, like agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry etc. Whenever we talk of extension, it implies the participation of clients in the program. Extension can never be defined without inclusion of participation of people. Extension approach means application of tools and methods by which we can reach people. The participation is the core value of extension but its use differs from situation to situation bringing out a degree of differences leading to variation in result. In extension the farmers are advised and the blue print prepared for them are recommended to be adopted. Such approach did not yield desirable result, as result regarding realization was under question the impact of extension on farming communities. The studies conducted on extension approaches tend to reveal poor result as the participants failed to own and shape the program designed for them.

1. Introduction

Women empowerment is critical to the process of community development as well as for economic growth. Gender budgeting is recognized as a distinctive technique of women empowerment that directly upholds women development through allocation of budgetary fund. It aims at bringing gender equality through allocation of public funds and affirmative action for under-privileged sections. In fact, the term gender budgeting has been explained differently by various authors. A comprehensive definition states “gender budgeting as a dissection of the government funds to establish its gender differential impacts and to translate gender commitments into budgetary commitments” (Sharp, Rhonda, 1999). It can be viewed as a mainstream application of gender in the budgeting process. It ensures gender assessment of the budget, including reorganization of revenue and expenditure to incorporate gender perspective at all levels of the budget process. Gender budgeting therefore deals with gender specific formulation of laws, policies, plans, schemes and programs by allocation of resources; implementation and execution; monitoring, review and its impact assessment. It analyses the government budget from a gender perspective to assess how it addresses the needs of women in the areas of health, education, employment etc. It uses the budget as an entry point and apply the gender lens to the entire process of programme implementation.

Public budgets have different effects on women and men, and describe the unequal distribution of power in society in terms of economic disparities, differences in living conditions and ascribed social roles. Gender budgeting aims to visualize the gender impact of budgets and to transmute them into an instrument for increasing gender equality. Gender budgets basically includes all types of governments at the national, regional and local levels.

1. Introduction

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed”

Mahatma Gandhi

Natural resources form the core of ecology that is put to economic use. It is usually defined in terms of materials created in nature that are used to satisfy human needs. Soil, water and energy supplies (eg. coal, natural gas) that serve to satisfy human needs and wants comprise the major natural resources (Barsch and Burger, 1996). Based on the impact on an environment, cost of extraction and rate of exhaustion, natural resources are broadly categorized into renewable and non-renewable resources. Major renewable sources comprise of wind, solar energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy, forest etc. which have the potential to be renewed or replaced through natural processes over time, once consumed. Unlike this, nonrenewable resources such as coal, petroleum, natural gas and similar types have finite reserves that cannot be regained once consumed. However, environmental degradation, aggravated by the growing population and climate change vagaries, has intensified the competition for these scarce resources in recent years. This has necessitated sustainable natural resource management strategies and advanced experimentations to convert nonrenewable energy sources to renewable forms as they form the basis of all present day development and economic growth. Increasing demands on natural resources have warranted a more prudent and diligent efforts in ensuring sustainable natural resource management. The dichotomy of unlimited human wants and limited resource availability is at the heart of all natural resource management principles that guide economics of resource allocation and optimum utilization.