eChapters

Youth are the creative force potential and a strength symbol for every community. One of the hallmarks of the positive youth development movement is that it is built on a foundation of scientific research. In addition, youth development programs typically work through existing social organizations rather than focusing on individual counseling. The rural youth work of FAO over the years has made significant contributions to make the lives of young people from rural areas more productive and meaningful by strengthening the organizations which serve them. The needs and challenges of rural young people today are greater than they have ever been in the past. In most developing countries, youth make up well over one-half of the total rural population. Because of their number and potential impact, rural youth must be a major part of any equation dealing with immediate and long-term solutions to solving problems of food security and sustainable development. Rural youth living in rural areas get limited opportunities for educational attainment in village areas. Opportunities for vocational guidance are also limited causing them diverting towards non creative activities and for merely wastage of time. An investigation was undertaken to study the socio-economic characteristics  and leisure time activities of rural youth. The study was conducted in College Development Block comprising Hatkanangle, Radhanagari & Bhudargad Tahsils of Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. From the Tahsil, 10 villages were selected randomly.  From each village, nine rural youths were selected randomly. Thus in all 90 rural youth were finally selected for the study. 

The efforts to keep pace with the fast life are causing mental and physical tensions. Diversion and relaxation is needed for the revival of spirit and enthusiasm. Leisure is an unimposed free time, after the practical necessities of life have been attended to. It is the time spent in activities chosen by the individual rewarding for its own sake. Choice of leisure time activities may also depend on the regularity of free time. An activity performed during small amounts of free time may be different than the one planned for a large block of free time. The leisure activities have far reaching influence on the personality development of the youth. If these youngsters are trained to make use of their leisure time for productive purpose, their endless energies could be channelised into fruitful development work.

An investigation was carried out involving 120 rural youth from Kapasi and Mardasgaon villages in Gangakhed taluka of Parbhani district from marathwada region of Maharashtra state, to asses the leisure time utilization by rural youth.  The sample included 70 boys and 50 girls.

Profile of Rural Youth

Education : As regards the education of female youth is concerned, 30 percent of them were educated up to H.S.C. and S.S.C, level where as 20 percent of them were educated up to high school level and 10 percent of them were degree holders and educated up to middle school level.

Youth, as a concept, has been generally defined all over the world as a group of human beings who have reached the end of puberty but have not yet acquired the full rights and duties of adult life ( Friedman: 1971).  Undeniably, the youth constitute a vast reservoir of energy especially in underdeveloped countries including India. Out of the 120 crores population of India, those in the 15 to 30 age group constitute 50 per cent which means that 60 crore young people, men and women, are available for handling various tasks of development, local, regional and national.  Progress of the country depends on the participation and full involvement of all sections of people especially youth. Youth can make their constructive contribution to national development and through which society can benefit from the idealism and sense of dedication of youth. At the same time, they also benefit from their active participation in developmental activities. Since such participation increases their self esteem, give them a sense of identity and of being needed by society.  The human life passes through various stage such as infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, adult and old. Out of these stages the youth stage is very crucial and dynamic in the life of an individual as from this stage individual starts assuming responsibilities in the life and learns practically the social rules by coming in contact with world outside the family.  Youth is the time of life marked by growth and development. It is the period between childhood and maturity. United Nation has defined youth as those young people within the age group of 15 to 24 years both inclusive. Youth symbolizes zest, idealism, dynamism, enthusiasm and energy.

2.1. Origin and distribution

• Native to India and Sri Lanka.

• Widely cultivated in tropics and subtropics.

2.2. Economic importance

• Cochin grass or Malabar grass or East Indian or True Lemon grass; perennial and multi cut aromatic grass.

• Lemon like odour due to presence of 70-90% citral, a cyclic monoterpene.

• Other compounds are geraniol, citronellal etc.

Shoot borer: Chilo infuscatellus : Pyralidae

This pyralid is more commonly known as a pest of sugarcane. Eggs are laid in batches on lower side of leaves.  The emerging larvae move down and cut a hole at the ground level and enters the stem.  Due to feeding of larva, the central shoot begins to wilt and dry causing dead heart. The yield of the crop is affected.New tillers may develop but will not have the physiological maturity and oil content at the time of harvest.

Introduction
Lemongrass grows widely in many tropical and subtropical parts of Asia, Africa and America. East Indian or true lemongrass (C. flexuosus) is indigenous to India and large variability occurs in the Western Ghats comprising Kerala, Karnataka and T.N., besides Sikkim and A.P. Its cultivation and distillation of oil started first in Kerala and now grown in Assam, Maharashtra and U.P. The strong lemon like odour of the oil of the grass is responsible for its nomenclature. Predominantly, there are two types of lemongrass under cultivation, viz., the East Indian or Cochin or Malabar grass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) with superior oil quality (75-85% citral) and preferred by the industry.
The other West Indian or American lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus (D.C.) Stapf. is mainly cultivated in West Indian islands, Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico and Madagaskar; and comora islands, Thailand, Bangladesh and China. It has lower citral content and lower solubility in 70% alcohol. It is indigenous to India and spread over Western Ghats, comprising Kerala, Karnataka, TN, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.
Besides, a separate culture called Jammu lemongrass (Cymbopogon pendulus) is another indigenous species found wildly growing in West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and M.P. It also has high citral content, but cultivated to a limited extent in parts of Jammu in northern India.

Aim

To know the portion of limb to be covered by P.O.P cast bandage for immobilization of fore limb (Fig 1a) & hind limb ( Fig 2a) bone fracture.

As per general rule, joint below and joint above should be covered.

Lentil is one of the oldest nutritious rabi pulse crop. The whole or splitted seeds are used in preparing dal and delicious namkin commonly called dalmoth. The splitted seeds are also used in making soup and porridge. Green pods are used as vegetables. The leaves and stalks are used as cattle feed.

Abstract

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) is an important rabi leguminous annual herb with rich source of protein and other balanced nutrition. Lentil is susceptible to many insect-pests and diseases which causes significant yield loss which may range from 50 to 100% leading to one of the most important biotic constraints in productivity. The major fungal diseases in lentil are Fusarium wilt, Ascochyta blight and rust which causes severe losses in lentil production. Other minor diseases like botrytis grey mould, anthracnose, alternaria, stem rot, collar rot and some viral diseases also infect the lentil field under condusive environment conditions. Coming to major insect pests of lentil viz. helicoverpa, aphids, leaf weevils and lygus bugs with several noteworthy minor field pests such as thrips and cutworm with few storage pests that infest the crop. With an integrated blueprint of disease management, one can minimize risk of yield loss by following modified package and practices with need based use of pesticides, thus maximizing profit in lentil production.

Lentil is one of the most nutritious cool season food legume and ranks next only to chickpea. It is grown throughout the northern and central India for grains, which are used as dal (wholeor dehulled) andin various otherculinarypreparations. Lentil contains about 25% protein, 0.7% fat, 2.1% mineral, 0.7% fibre and 59% carbohydrate. It is a rich source of phosphorus and carotene. It is generally grown as rainfed crop during rabi season after rice, maize, pearl millet orkharif fallow. It is also grown as intercrop with barley, linseed, mustard and autumn planted sugarcane. In North-eastern parts of the country, lentil is also cultivated as paira crop with rice in which seeds of lentil are broadcast in the standing crop of rice 7-10 days before its harvest. It is grown on a wide range of soils from light loamysand to heavy clay soil in northern parts and moderately deep black soils in central India.

Wilt appears in the fi eld as patches is both seedling stage and developed plants. Symptoms include drooping and wilting of uppermost leaves. Plants become completely yellow and die. Plants are affected during the pod fi lling stages, seeds are often shrivelled. There will be rotting at the basal portion of the plant. Discoloration of vascular bundle are noticed when the stem is spitted
open.

Lentil (Lens culinaris, 2 n = 2 x = 14, family Fabaceae/Leguminosae, subfamily Papilionaceae, essentially self-pollinated annual) has average global area, production and yield during 2015-17 as 5.56 million ha, 6.55 million tons of production and 1178 kg/ha as per FAOSTAT. The top ten lentil producing countries globally are Canada, India, Turkey, USA, Nepal, Australia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, China, and Kazakhstan. India produced 0.94 million tons of lentil from 1.60 million ha with a productivity of 587 kg/ha during 2010-11. The corresponding figures for the year 2018-19 are 1.56 million tons, 1.51 million ha and 1033 kg/ha indicating a significant gain in the productivity over the years (Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2020). The top states in lentil production in India are Madhya Pradesh (40%), UP (30%), West Bengal (11%) and Bihar (9%). Rest of the states is insignificant. The plant was given the scientific name Lens culinaris in 1787 by Medikus, a German botanist and physician.

The name Lepidoptera derived from the Greek words “lepido” meaning Scale and “ptera” meaning wings refers to the flattened hairs (Scales) that cover the body and wings of most adults. Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies) is the second largest order (1.10 lakh sp.) in the class insecta, characterized by the body, wings and appendages being generally covered densely with pigmented scales which provide the colour pattern of the characteristic of the species and play an important role in courtship and intraspecific recognition.

Adults

• Head: Hypognathus and relatively small.

• Compound eyes are large and set well apart. Ocelli two in number in moths or reduced to Chaetosoma in butterfly.

• Mouthparts form a coiled tube (Proboscis) beneath the head.

• Antennal type:

• Butterflies: Clubbed, clavate, capitate.

• Moths: Pectinate (Uni/Bi).

• Adults have siphoning type mouthparts except in micropterygidae (Mandibulate mouthparts). Front wings large, triangular, hindwings large, fan shaped.

• Body and wings covered with small, overlapping scale.

• Thoracic segments are fused and metathorax is the largest and most prominent.

• Wings covered with scales. Androconia (Plumules) on upper surface of wings in some males serves as outlet for odouriferous glands. are fringed distally with each tip finely divided. • Wing coupling apparatus variable (generally Frenulum and retinaculum or Amplexiform type)

Role of Leptin in Uterine Function

Leptin is a 16 kDa protein consisting of 167 amino acids, encoded by the LEP gene located on chromosome 7q31.3. Structurally, leptin comprises four anti parallel alpha helices (A, B, C, and D), two long loops (AB and CD), and a short loop (BC). It has three binding sites: site I is in the C-terminal region of helix D, site II spans the surface of helices A and C, and site III is located near the N-terminal region of helix D. Its structural similarity to proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor suggests its potential immune-modulatory roles.

Leptin’s effects on uterine contractions have been studied at length. In human uterine smooth muscle, leptin inhibits both spontaneous and oxytocin-induced contractions. Moynihan et al. (2008) reported that leptin caused a 46% reduction in spontaneous and a 42% reduction in oxytocin-induced contractions. A lesser degree of relaxation (36%) was noted in a larger study involving non-laboring human uterine tissue, while rat uterine tissue exhibited a 24% relaxation (Mumtaz et al., 2015). The concentrations used in these studies ranged from 1 nM to 1 µM, which includes the physiological range in pregnant women with normal body mass index (BMI). Leptin levels rise with increasing BMI during pregnancy (Hendler et al., 2005).

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis. According to the occupational groups involved and the nature of the disease presentations, different names have been used, e.g. seven-day fever found commonly in Japan, Cane cutter's disease in Australia, Rice field Leptospirosis in Indonesia and Fort Bragg fever, which appeared as an outbreak in the US. Weil's disease, which is one of the severe forms of this disease, occurs in many countries, including India and other South-East Asian Countries, China, continental Europe and England. Leptospirosis exists in all the five inhabited continents and in a large number of countries. It occurs in tropical, subtropical and temperate zones. Leptospirosis is also an important cause of abortions, stillbirths and reproductive failures in cattle and pigs. Periodic ophthalmia in horse is commonly associated with leptospiral infections. Leptospirosis was first recognized in humans in 1886 by Weil and characterized by icterus. Leptospira have been isolated from a variety of animal species and humans manifesting various clinical syndromes such as mud fever and swine herd disease.

Etiology: The etiologic agent of leptospirosis is Leptospira interrogans. It is a thin spiral organism 0.1mm x 6 -20mm, with tightly set coils, and it is characterized by very active motility, by rotating ("spinning") and bending. Usually one or both ends of this single-cell organism are bent or hooked, but straight forms also occur that rotate and travel more slowly than hooked forms. The cells have pointed ends, either or both of which are usually bent into a distinctive hook. Two axial filaments (periplasmic flagella) with polar insertions are located in the periplasmic space. The structure of the flagellar proteins is complex. Leptospires exhibit two distinct forms of movement, translational and nontranslational. Morphologically, all leptospires are indistinguishable, but the morphology of individual isolates varies with subculture in vitro and can be restored by passage in hamsters. Leptospires have a typical double membrane structure in common with other spirochetes, in which the cytoplasmic membrane and peptidoglycan cell wall are closely associated and are overlain by an outer membrane. Leptospiral lipopolysaccharide has a composition similar to that of other Gram-negative bacteria, but has lower endotoxic activity. Leptospires may be stained using carbol fuchsin counterstain. Leptospires are obligate aerobes with an optimum growth temperature of 28 to 30°C. They produce both catalase and oxidase. They grow in simple media enriched with vitamins (vitamins B₂ and B₁₂ are growth factors), long-chain fatty acids, and ammonium salts. Long-chain fatty acids are utilized as the sole carbon source and are metabolized by b-oxidation. Because of their narrow diameter, the leptospires are best visualized by dark-field illumination or phase contrast microscopy and they do not stain readily with aniline dyes. The free living (L. biflexa) and parasitic leptospires (L. interrogans) are morphologically indistinguishable.

Synonyms :  Weil’s disease, Stuttgart disease, Infectious jaundice, Haemoglobinuria, Rice field worker’s disease, Swine handler’s disease, Sugarcane worker’s disease, Canine typhus

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis. According to the occupational groups involved and the nature of the disease presentations, different names have been used, e.g. seven-day fever found commonly in Japan, Cane cutter’s disease in Australia, Rice field Leptospirosis in Indonesia and Fort Bragg fever, which appeared as an outbreak in the US. Weil’s disease, which is one of the severe forms of this disease, occurs in many countries, including India and other South-East Asian Countries, China, continental Europe and England. Leptospirosis exists in all the five inhabited continents and in a large number of countries. It occurs in tropical, subtropical and temperate zones.  Leptospirosis is also an important cause of abortions, stillbirths and reproductive failures in cattle and pigs.  Periodic ophthalmia in horse is commonly associated with leptospiral infections. Leptospirosis was first recognized in humans in 1886 by Weil and characterized by icterus.  Leptospira have been isolated from a variety of animal species and humans manifesting various clinical syndromes such as mud fever and swine herd disease.

INTRODUCTION

The genus Pratylenchus was established in 1936. It has a cosmopolitan distribution prevalent in temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions. The species of Pratylenchus are popularly known as lesion nematode or meadow nematode. They are migratory endoparasites. Various pulse crops are damaged by them. P. thornei attacks chickpea,  P.zeae on mungbean (Walia and Seshadri, 1986); P. mulchandani on urdbean (Nanad Kumar et al., 1969) and Pratylenchus sp.on lentil (Mishra and Gaur, 1980) and cowpea (Aung and Prot, 1990).
Besides pulses species of Pratylenchus attack a number of other crops also. The infested plants exhibit various types of symptoms and results in heavy yield losses. Investigations have been made on various aspects of host-nematode relationship, distribution, host range, yield losses, biology, life cycle, disease cycle, interaction with other microorganism and management through cultural, physical, chemical, biological methods and host resistance.

The North East region represents eight states namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Sikkim consisting 7.79% of the Indian national geographical area. The altitude difference (50m-7000m) coupled with varied physio- geographic and agroclimatic conditions; varying intensity of rainfall (800-12000 mm) and topography harbour various vegetation types of tropical, temperate and alpines zones. In India, there are about 800 plant species used as food plants chiefly  by the tribal population (Singh and Arora, 1978). Out of these about 300 species are prevalent in the northeastern region (Khrasati, 1973, Joseph and Murti, 1981, Singh et al. 1981).

Tribals of various ethnic groups like Khasi, Garo, Monpas, Karbis, Jaintia, Naga, Kuki, Manipuri, Mizo, Chakma, Dafla, Adi, Mishing, Apatani and others are predominant in the various habitats of hilly regions also used to practice “Jhumming” or shifting cultivation. Most of wild fruits are used  in day to day diets of tribal people of the region and are often sold in the local markets.

Lesser yam, Lesser Asiaticyam (Dioscorea esculenta) is among the most ancient species of the genus and its centre of origin is stated by various authorities as India, Vietnam or Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. It is domesticated as a staple food in Southern China from 2nd and 3rd centuries. Today, it is widely distributed throughout the tropics, but is little used except in South East Asia, where it is grown to such an extent that it ranks third in production and utilization of yams after D. rotundata,D. cayenensis and D. alata. Wild types of D. esculenta also exist in Malaysia, New Guinea and Philippines.  The wild types have more leaves, large roots, longer stolons, more fibrous tuber flesh and more thorny roots and shoots.

Classification
The wild types of D. esculenta (Family: Dioscoreaceae) exist in Malaysia, New guinea and Philippines. Wild types have more vigorous foliage, larger leaves, longer stolons, more fibrous tuber flesh and more thorny roots and shoots.  On the basis of thorniness, the cultivated types are distinguished into two botanical varieties.