eChapters

Introduction

In all countries, food is governed by a complexity of laws and regulations, which set out the Government requirements to be met by food chain operators to ensure food safety and quality. Food laws and regulations also govern standards that ensure the safety, quality, composition and suitability of food for consumers. Food laws and regulations of any nation depends on whether a nation adopts International norms developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations as well as the World Health Organization (WHO).

8.1. Food Laws

Food law means legislation that regulates the production, trade and handling of food. It covers the regulation of food control, food safety, quality and relevant aspects of food trade across the entire food chain, from the production to the consumer. Food laws protect the consumers against unsafe, adulterated and misbranded food and facilitate the movement of food across borders to sustain a fair trade.

Each nation administers its own laws, regulations and standards. It is also not static always and is constantly revised and updated in all nations. The food business operators (FBO) must obtain up-to-date information on any changes made in legislation, that are likely to affect the product standards. The regulations of all nations shall be obtained from their respective websites of the national ministries.

8.1.1. International Legislations

8.1.1.1. United States of America (USA)

In USA, the Food and Drug Act (1906) and the Federal Meat Inspection Act (1906) are the first federal food laws passed to protect American consumers. Later, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (1938) regulated the meat and poultry products. At present, Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), 2011 regulates all food products. https://www.fda.gov/food/guidance- regulation- food- and dietary- supplements/ food- safety- modernization- act- fsma. Manufacturers play important role in preventing food borne illness. The Act gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to oversee and enforce supply chains. The Act shifts the focus towards prevention of food borne illness and insists every FBO to register with the FDA.

The full form of ‘ISO’ is the International Organization for Standardization. ISO -QMS was founded in the year 1987. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, operating in 162 plus countries.

• The ISO is an international standard-setting body that consists of the representatives from various national standards organizations.
• The ISO works on formulating the standards and guidelines for a variety of businesses and other purposes and publishes technical reports.
• The word ‘ISO’ is derived from the Latin term ‘isos’ which means ‘Equal for everyone’. It simply means that all the elements of the international std are equally applicable to all types of business.

Like in other crops, international research centres can contribute substantially towards solving the problems that limit ornamentals production because several research constraints are global in nature and need the research support by well staffed and adequately equipped research centres, which can make the work of national research programmes more efficient and accelerate the development of solutions. These international research centres can build a critical mass of scientists that is very important for effective research. It has almost established that successful research in individual crops has usually required the team efforts of specialists working in a range of disciplines like genetics, breeding, agronomy, physiology, pathology, entomology, economics, soils, statistics and chemistry, etc. These research centres are required to 1) Serve as catalyst for change 2) Collect, evaluate, maintain and utilize germplasm, 3) Generate and disseminate information 4) Provide training 5) Stimulate the formation of critical mass for research and 6) Assist national programmes achieving desired goals faster and more efficiently.

Abstract

Describes the genesis, organization and Internet representation of International Patent Classification (IPC). Provides the outline of seventh edition and useful URLs related to it.

Keywords: International Patent Classification, Patent Classification, Classification, Internet representation

Introduction

The International Patent Classification, commonly known as the IPC, is based on an international multi-lateral treaty administered by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This treaty is called the Strasbourg Agreement concerning the IPC, which was concluded in 1971 and came into force on October 7, 1975. The Agreement aimed to overcome the difficulties caused by using diverse national patent classification system. The common classification system defined by the Agreement is applied to patent and utility model documents. The Agreement is open to States party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

IPGRI founded in 1974 is the world’s largest international institute dedicated solely to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. It is located at Rome in Italy. The institute is funded by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIR) which is an informal association of 45 public and private sector donors. CGIAR supports a network of 16 International Agricultural Research Centres. The Group was established in 1971. It is cosponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

There have been lots of international efforts to establish crop based research centres primarily in the developing/under-developed countries to carry out concerted breeding and plant genetic resources management activities pooling germplasm from all over the world and also engaging scientists from different countries to do breeding work on the certain mandate crops of the particular region using all kinds of germplasm and technologies with strong financial support from a central agency known as Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for doing the stipulated work as per programme and deliver the products which can be used by different national plant breeding programmes either to use them directly as cultivars or to use them in their breeding programmes in various ways including parents in the crossing programme.

CGIaR (Consultative Group on International agricultural Research)

CGIAR System Organization headquartered in Montpellier, France is a global agricultural research partnership for a food secure future that was founded in the 1970s in response to the Green Revolution. There are presently 15 CGIAR agricultural research centres employing more than 8,500 researchers and support staff worldwide, with an annual budget of US$ 800 million.

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services. Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Research Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. The CGIAR Fund was established as a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) in 2010. It was subsequently closed and replaced by a new FIF in 2017, following the CGIAR System governance reorganization.

Founded in 1924, with the aim to develop and publish standard procedures in the field of seed testing, with member laboratories in over 70 countries world wide. ISTA membership is truly a global network. ISTA secretariat is located at Zurich, Switzerland.

1. VISION AND MISSION

ISTA members work together to achieve their vision of ‘Uniformity in seed quality evaluation worldwide’. The association produces Internationally agreed rules for seed sampling and testing, accredits laboratories, promotes research, provides International seed analysis certificates and training and disseminates knowledge in Seed Science and Technology. This facilitates seed trading Nationally and Internationally and also contributes to food security.

I. FILL UPS

1. ISTA was founded in _____.
2. ISTA secretariat is located at _____.
3. _____ was founded with the aim to develop and publish standard procedures in the field of seed testing.
4. _____ is one of the leading international journals featuring papers and articles on seed quality and physiology published by ISTA.
5. The technical committees are made up of _____ number of members.

International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) are standards adopted by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), which is the governing body of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). The first International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) was adopted in 1993.

As of March 2021, there are 44 adopted ISPMs (ISPM 30 being revoked), 29 Diagnostic Protocols and 39 Phytosanitary Treatments. These international standards protect sustainable agriculture and enhance global food security, protect the environment, forests and biodiversity and facilitate economic and trade development. International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures are prepared by the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention as part of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s global programme of policy and technical assistance in plant quarantine. 

1. International trade contributes and increases the world _________

a) Population

b) Inflation

c) Economy

d) Trade Barriers

2. Free international trade maximizes world output through________.

a) Countries reducing various taxes imposed.

b) Countries specializing in production of goods they are best suited for.

c) Perfect competition between countries and other special regions

d) The diluting the international business laws & conditions between countries.

3. Domestic company limits it’s operations to ___________ political boundaries.

a) International

b) National

c) Transnational

d) Global

20.1. Introduction
• The exchange of goods and services (trade) among countries across national boundaries is called as international trade.
• No Country can be self-sufficient in producing all the goods and services required by it.
• Thus, Countries need to trade to obtain commodities, they cannot produce themselves or they can purchase elsewhere at a lower price.
• The act of selling domestically produced goods to international consumer is known as exportation. India Export Refined Petroleum, Jewellery, Rice, etc.
• The act of purchasing goods from foreigne country in order to sell them domestically is known as importation. India import Crude oil, Coal, Gold, Electronics item etc.
20.2. Why International Trade?
• Countries cannot domestically produced all the goods and services that each individual consumer wants and needs.
• Because each country has different factor of production (Land, Labour, and Capital).
• Each country is endowed with different combination of these factors and therefore each country is capable of producing different combination of goods and services.
• When domestic production is greater than domestic demand for a good, excess production is traded on the international market

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.

Till twentieth century information technology was restricted to European and American countries but entering in twenty first century witnessed passage of this technology with a vast speed in all other countries making a spectrum of changes in communication and transmission of knowledge that has altogether changed scenario of whole world. Earlier communication to international scientists was costly, time consuming while now its only a click away. So is of transmitting reprints of research papers – earlier they were dispatched by mail, now these reprints and other matters are available in soft copy and are attached with e-mail that is transmitted instantly.

The integration of Internet of Things technologies with artificial intelligence is creating increasingly connected and data-driven agricultural systems. This chapter examines how IoT and AI can support smart farming through continuous data collection, analysis and decision-making. It discusses technological infrastructure for advanced agriculture and improvements in field operations enabled by connected sensors and intelligent systems. Applications in precision farming, including orchard and vineyard management, are considered alongside emerging technologies and high-throughput phenotyping. IoT devices can provide information about environmental and crop conditions, while AI methods transform these data into useful management insights. The chapter concludes by examining future directions and research challenges associated with integrated smart farming systems.

The Internet of Things supports continuous monitoring of soil, crops, weather and other field conditions through distributed sensors and connected devices. This chapter proposes an edge-cloud architecture designed to address scalability, heterogeneous data, communication latency and energy requirements. Edge nodes conduct local processing and anomaly detection, while cloud platforms provide storage and run advanced machine-learning models. Applications include crop-status evaluation, irrigation scheduling, pest and disease detection and yield forecasting. Explainable artificial intelligence improves transparency by helping users understand model recommendations. The integrated architecture can reduce response time compared with conventional centralized systems and provides a foundation for scalable, efficient and responsive next-generation smart-farming operations.

Internet of Things (IoT) is networking of physical objects, devices, machines, systems etc to interconnect each other for exchanging data through standard internet protocols. The IoT is also termed as Machine-to-Machine (M-to-M) communication. The term ‘Things’ in IoT includes objects embedded with sensors, actuators, mobile phones, routers, hubs, computers, wearable’s and smart devices 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.

The Internet is a worldwide network of networks connecting millions of users, spread across continents, exchanging thousands of gigabytes of information, accessing numerous databases that cover everything from cooking to astronomy, all relatively inexpensively. The Internet offers virtually unlimited amounts of information related to animal medicine and provides all the tools to access it. ‘www’ is probably the most famous three letters of the last century, signifying a series of servers that are interconnected with each other through hypertext transfer protocol or ‘http’. A significant part of the credit for increasing the popularity of the Internet belongs to the World Wide Web. It is always better to use evaluated web resources as the quality of websites is a problem in cyberspace.

ABSTRACT
  
The present study was conducted with 100 internet users in Lahowal CIC and Barbaruah CIC in Dibrugarh district of Assam to critically analyze the various aspects of internet utilization pattern. Results showed that majority (66%) of the respondents were between 18 to 26 years of age and were students (50%). Education qualification of majority of the respondents (32%) was above seventh standard and below graduation and seventy per cent were above graduation and below post graduation and also undergone training in computer.

11.1 Concept of Internet

The internet is not a computer network. It is a network of networks, linking computer to computers. Each runs software to provide access and view information.

In other words, internet is the connection of two or more networks so that a computer on one network can communicate with a computer on another network. The communication between two computers takes place such that the user does not have to worry about the technology used by the networks. The router, also called gateway, acts as an interface between two networks. The internet covers the entire globe and includes large, international networks as well as many smaller, local area networks (LANs). A user can access data, graphics, sound, software, text and people through a variety of services and tools for communication and data exchange. To get, provide and compile information, internet is the cheapest and fastest medium. Some of the popular tools and services available for communication and data exchange are as follows: