eChapters

8.1. Kisan Credit Card (KCC)

Credit scheme introduced in August 1998 by Indian Banks.

Prepared by NABARD on recommendations of R.V.Gupta committee to provide term loans and agricultural needs.

KCC holders are covered under personal accident insurance up to Rs.50,000 for death and permanent disability and up to Rs.25,000 for other risk.

Premium is borne by both bank and borrower in a 2:1 ratio.

Validity period is five years with an option to extend for up to three more years.

Kitchen garden

Growing of vegetable crops in the backyard of residential houses to meet the requirements of the family all the year round. It is most ancient type of vegetable farming. Such type of gardening is practiced in cities where land is the limiting factor. Vegetables can also be grown on the roof of buildings if land is not available.

Aim of kitchen garden

The main aim is a kitchen garden in the maximum output and a continuous supply of vegetables for the table throughout the year.

To learn the design and arrangement of space in the kitchen which is the key in the pattern of living, the number of people to be served in the area, the size of the house and the equipment and furnishing in the kitchen. To know the most important aspect to consider in planning a kitchen i.e., the nature of the primary and secondary activities to be performed in the kitchen.

Home cooking is all about simple, tasty and healthy food brought from the kitchen to the dining table. But oftentimes, preparing the food can be timeconsuming and tedious. With the right list of basic kitchen tools, utensils and appliances, we can make cooking more enjoyable and a lot easier. These appliances can also motivate us to think of creative new recipes to delight our loved ones.

Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi outside Australia and New Zealand), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia (Lucas, 2003 and Stirk, 2005). The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa ‘Hayward’) is oval, about the size of a large hen’s egg: 5–8 cm (2.0–3.1 in) in length and 4.5–5.5 cm (1.8–2.2 in) in diameter. In 2017, China produced 50% of the world total of kiwifruit.

Kiwi is among the very few recent introductions which have surpassed in popularity due to its tremendous commercial potential in the Sub Himalayan region of India. In fact, no other fruit has attracted so much attention in such a short period in history of commercial fruit production since 1960s. In India, Kiwi was first planted in the Lal Bagh Garden (1960) at Bangalore as an ornamental tree where bud bursting didn’t take place. Later on for cultivation purpose it was planted at IARI, Regional Station, Shimla (H.P.)

Kiwifruit or Chinese gooseberry (Actinidia deliciosa) is known as ‘China’s miracle fruit, and ‘the horticultural wonder of New Zealand’. From China it spread to New Zealand where it was recognized as a potential fruit and became a popular backyard vine. The name “Kiwifruit” comes from the Kiwi, a brown flightless bird and New Zealand’s national symbol. It has a fibrous, dull brown-green skin and bright green or golden flesh with rows of tiny, black, edible seeds. The fruit has a soft texture and a unique flavour and today it is a commercial crop in countries like Italy, China, and New Zealand. It is native to Southern China, where it was known as Yang Tao (sunny peach). It is known as “Chinese Gooseberry”, because of its visual resemblance to gooseberry.

1. Introduction

Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa Chev.) is among the most recently domesticated of all fruit plants. The kiwifruit of international commerce are large – fruited selections of Actinidia deliciosa Planch and Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C F Liang et A. R. Ferguson, belongs to family Acitinidiaceae. A. chinensis has been cultivated commercially for little more than 20 years, however, A. deliciosa for about 70 years. This is known as “China’s miracle fruit” and “Horticulture wonder of New Zealand”. Although this fruit vine originated in China, yet its full economic potential was exploited by the New Zealanders, which accounts for over 70 per cent of world trade (Franco, 1990). Kiwifruit has completely replaced the older name of ‘Chinese gooseberry’. In China, ‘Mihoutao’ (monkey peach) is used for all Actinidia species, but as A. chinensis and A. deliciosa are by far the most important economically of the various Actinidia species in China, they are often simply referred to together as Mithoutao. More explicitly, the two species are sometimes referred to together as Zhonghua (Chinese) Mihoutao. In other countries of the world, its cultivation gained momentum after 1960s and now is cultivated on a commercial scale in USA, Italy China, Japan, France, Germany and Australia.

In India, it was first introduced in 1960 at Lalbagh garden, Bangalore, but the plant did not come into bearing due to lack of chilling requirement during winter for its bud break. Later on, in 1963, it was introduced in Shimla hills, where the plant came into bearing in 1969. In order to assess the performance of kiwifruit cultivation in different agro-climatic conditions of state its plantation were done at different locations. After evaluation, this fruit was recommended for commercial cultivation in mid and low hills of the state. It can also be grown in mid hill of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Nilgiri hills of south India.

Genus : Actinidia 
Species : deliciosa (Plonch)
Family : Actinidiaceae
Chromosome No. : 2n = 58, 170, 174

The remarkable fruit of the previous century Kiwifruit is known by various names like China’s miracle fruit, the wonder fruit of New Zealand, Kiwi berry, Chinese gooseberry, Yangtao, Grosella and Mihoutao. In a short period of about two decades the crop has attracted huge inclination towards its cultivation and has become an established fruit crop of different world markets, which is unparallel in history of commercial fruit culture. In China the fruit has been growing over centuries in its wild form. The name Mihoutao was used for this crop by the Tang dynasty which indicated peach of the Macaque monkey indicating both the presence of fruit in wild stands and the love of the local monkey for this fruit.

• Gender change due to bud mutation in the mature male vine.
• Actinidia arguata is acold tolerant species.
• Commercial propagation - Stem cutting, Softwood cutting
• Flowering time is from the last week of April to 3rd week of May.
• Storage rot, a major disease during storage is caused by Botrytis cinerea
• Hayward is one of the a most popular cultivars in the world.
• It is a deciduous wine.
• It was planted for the first time in the Lal Bagh garden at Bangalore around 1960.
• T-bar or Pergola is adopted for training the vines.
• It is a rich source of Vitamin-C.
• The skin of the fruit is a good source of flavoured antioxidant.

Nitrogen, a key component of organic materials like proteins, is analyzed using the Kjeldahl method, which is the global standard for determining protein content in various substances, including human and animal foods, fertilizers, wastewater, and fossil fuels. The Kjeldahl method involves three main steps:

A. Digestion

B. Distillation

C. Titration

Nitrogen, making up 1-4% of a plant’s dry weight, is vital for synthesizing chlorophyll, proteins, and other key compounds. Plants with high nitrogen levels turn dark green due to increased chlorophyll. Understanding nitrogen content in plant tissues is crucial for diagnosing deficiencies or toxicity and for effective nutrient management to improve crop production.

Determining the nitrogen content in plants is crucial for understanding plant nutrition, assessing the efficiency of fertilizer use, and making informed decisions in agricultural practices. Various methods can be used to determine nitrogen in plant tissues, with the most common ones being the Kjeldahl method, the Dumas method, and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS).

Klebsiella pneumoniae (also known as Friedlander’s bacillus) is a Gramnegative, non-motile, encapsulated, lactose fermenting, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped bacterium found in the normal flora of the mouth, skin, and intestines.
Klebsiella spp. are Gram-negative, nonmotile, usually encapsulated rod-shaped bacteria, belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. These bacteria produce lysine decarboxylase but not ornithine decarboxylase and are generally positive in the Voges-Proskauer test. Members of the Enterobacteriaceae family are generally facultative anaerobic, and range from 0.3 to 1.0 μm in width and 0.6
to 6.0 μm in length. Klebsiella spp. often occurs in mucoid colonies. The genus consists of 77 capsular antigens (K antigens), leading to different serogroups. Morphology of Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae)
• Shape – Klebsiella pneumoniae is a short, plump, straight rod shape (bacillus) bacterium.
• Size – The size of Klebsiella pneumoniae is about 1–2 μm × 0.5–0.8 μm (micrometer).
• Arrangement Of Cells – K. pneumoniae is arranged singly, in pairs, or in short chains and sometimes in clusters.
• Motility – Klebsiella pneumoniae is a non-motile bacterium.
• Flagella – K. pneumoniae is a non-flagellated bacterium.
• Spores – The Klebsiella pneumoniae is a non–sporing bacterium.
• Capsule – Capsules are present in Klebsiella pneumoniae which can easily be demonstrated using India ink preparation, appear as a clear halo in a dark background.
• Gram Staining Reaction – Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram -ve (Negative) bacterium.

SYNOPSIS

We lag in nutritional awareness. The therapeutic values of plant foods, such as vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices and other foods like dairy products, fluids and meats are to be brought to light. The values of important nutrients, may lead to the basis for nutritional education lacking at present. There is need to bring awareness and add to the knowledge of the younger generation. A food is something that provides nutrients. Nutrients are substances that provide: energy for activity, growth, and all functions of the body such as breathing, digesting food, and keeping warm; materials for the growth and repair of the body, and for keeping the immune system healthy.

In this chapter we will look at the Expert system which can guide and assist an individual once it is provided with the enough Knowledge to do so. Here we will discuss about expert system and its architecture with proper steps of making an expert system in any field by several tools which are available to do so. For expert systems the most important is Knowledge Engineering which is the collection of Knowledge from an expert and Engineering it in such a form that a machine could understand it.

Introduction

One of the pioneering fields of AI study is Expert Systems (ES). It is proposed by researchers in the computer science department of Stanford University. An expert system is a computer system which emulates a human expert’s decision-making skills. Expert systems are developed by reasoning through information structures, representing laws, rather than through traditional procedural code, in order to overcome complex problems.

Expert Programs use professional expertise systematically to address human expert problems. An expert is an individual with experience in a specific field. The expert has expertise or special credentials which most people do not learn or care about. An expert can solve or solve problems more effectively than people can solve. Expert System actually emulates all these qualities of expert and solve the problem in a better way and fast.

Today, Expert System (ES) is used in the fields of finance, research, engineering, technology, medicine and many others where there is a well-defined problem area. The fundamental principle is that an expert method should also define the steps to illustrate why a problem can be solved. Unless an individual can justify his reasoning for Expert System.

Financial inclusion, which is the process of accessing and properly utilizing formal financial services, is an important factor in powering economic development and poverty reduction. Study undertakes a broad cross- country analysis of financial inclusion and its impact on social and economic factors. Applying data from respectable bodies like World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Eurostat and United Nations Development Programme, the study applies regression analysis and fixed effects models to determine how income, employment, income inequality, urbanization and human development affect financial inclusion. The outcomes show the complicated interplay between these actors and financial inclusion over various national situations.Financial inclusion is becoming a key component of equitable economic development and poverty alleviation worldwide. The importance of financial inclusion is undisputed, but its causes must be identified. This research article uses a comprehensive cross- country analysis to explain how various civilizations utilize financial services. The study will examine the relationship between financial inclusion and its key socio-economic factors— income levels, employment dynamics, income inequality, urbanization trends, and human development—to inform inclusive economic development policymakers, researchers, and practitioners. The data demonstrates that financial inclusion promotes economic development by helping people save, invest, and manage risk. Additionally, academics have focused on socio-economic issues including income distribution, urban-rural divide, and education level in shaping financial inclusion patterns within and within nations. These characteristics’ effects on financial literacy are yet unknown, thus more empirical study is needed to develop evidence-based policy.

Now days, in every walk of our life, we deal with a lot of information. It can be for personal use or family matters or for official or business matters. We store, process and retrieve variety of information. Information is basically the collection of various facts, records, statistics, formula or methods, which we use for our official work, for our research or for other use. When all these (information, we keep/ accumulate, for possible future use) are put in an organized manner, we find it convenient to use and easy to remember/ apply. Today, as it is rightly said, information is power; information is our knowledge-strength. It is thus important to organize and manage this knowledge that mostly depends on (and derived from) an information pool.

INTRODUCTION

In the current climate of rapid change, whether political, economical, social or technological, the importance of knowledge cannot be ignored. Knowledge plays a crucial role in the development of the society which is based on the development of the individual person of that society. Once society is developed automatically the nation will develop. Developed countries have already realized the importance of knowledge and accordingly collected and organized properly. The developing countries like India are now realizing its importance. It has been felt that without knowledge society and then nation cannot be developed.

On this backdrop someone has to come forward and act as a broker between those who have knowledge and those who may use it. No doubt, knowledge cannot be well managed until some organization or professional takes the clear responsibility of it. Library professionals are the right persons to shoulder this responsibility.

Knowledge is action. It is a value-added behavior and activity. It provides the ability to respond to a novel situation. The person having knowledge can take right decision at right time in any critical situation. Such decisions will definitely get fruitful results. Therefore it should not be neglected. It must be focused and shared.

Abstract

Currently, computers are changing from single, isolated devices into entry points to a worldwide network of information exchange and business transactions called the World Wide Web (WWW).Current web contains billions of documents and has many administrative problems and limitations; in addition to that the web content is still accessible only to humans. For this reason, support in data, information, and knowledge exchange has become a key issue in current computer technology. The success of the WWW has made it increasingly difficult to find, access, present, and maintain the information required by a wide variety of users. In response to this problem, many new research initiatives and commercial enterprises have been set up to enrich available information with machine processable semantics.

Introduction

Knowledge and Knowledge management are concepts, which are debated extensively by managers, analyst and academicians. When we refer to knowledge, most of us mainly tend to think of codified and documented knowledge like patents, databases, manuals, white papers etc. knowledge is intuitive, contextual, linked to experience, past memories and difficult to codify, document and communicate. Unfortunately, there is no universal definition of Knowledge Management (KM), just as there’s no agreement as to what constitutes knowledge in the first place. In broadest context KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. It is the practice of harnessing and exploiting intellectual capital to gain competitive advantage and customer commitment through efficiency, innovation and faster and more effective decision-making. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices.

Today, knowledge is still considered power - an enormous power in fact - but the understanding has changed considerably, particularly from the perspective of organizations. The new paradigm is that within the organization knowledge must be shared in order for it to grow. It has been shown that the organization that shares knowledge among its management and staff grows stronger and becomes more competitive. This is the core of knowledge management - the sharing of knowledge. Knowledge management (KM) is all about managing organization’s knowledge effectively by sharing and having a systematic activity for creation of knowledge and exploiting it for the market and benefit of the organization. KM techniques and processes provide such a structured approach to explicate a significant part of this tactic knowledge document in knowledge repositories and also share in teams, through intensive dialogue and discussions. KM refers to the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival and competence against discontinuous environmental change.

Introduction

The world is said to be a global village organizations and people must learn, unlearn and relearn to expand their capacities and survive in the highly competitive market place. In view of rapidly changing socio–economic circumstance, it is a challenge to survive, excel and grow. It is knowledge which can make difference in getting the competitive edge. Thus, organizations need to pool their internal knowledge and find ways to update, enhance, share and create value. Organizations need to analyze their collective knowledge and use them most efficiently. Need for new and new technology is driving people to innovate in every sphere.

Introduction

A woman is the nucleus of a family, particularly in rural India. For the rural women, the day starts early in the morning with the responsibilities of fetching water, fodder and fuel, cooking food and looking after the livestock and children. Promila et al. (2003) revealed that farm women spent 15:64 hrs/day and 16:58 hrs/ day for productive work during the slack and peak period, respectively. The time saved by farm women from farm activities during the slack period was diverted towards care of children, family members and household works. Still, there is no recognition for their hard work; just because their work is not evaluated in terms of money.

The contribution of women in agriculture is estimated to be about 50 to 60 per cent. In many places, the entire livestock management is looked after by women only. They help in farm operation, take their animals on distant lands for grazing, washing, milking, fodder, breeding management, sale of milk, if necessary by taking it to the market and so on in addition, perform the functions related to house management. Even though, women are playing a very important role in innovation decision process, they are not allowed to try and see whether they are capable of managing farm and family affairs independently or with the help of family members.Adequate attention is also not being paid for the social and economic development of farm women and to encourage them to avail training facilities on farm and dairy management practices for supplementing their family income through development of occupational skills and proficiency.