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Scale of outcome-based education: Beyond the knowledge-skill dichotomy
Get PDFThis article fills a notable gap in existing research on outcome-based education (OBE) in India. It reports findings from a multi-sited field-based investigation of OBE across five relatively highly ranked institutions in India. Building on actor–network theory the article argues that attempting to study OBE opens up a range of concerns such as disciplinary dispositions, teacher training, methodological limitations of OBE, concerns of labour, management and the problem of designating the scalar boundaries of OBE. The article argues that OBE allows problematizing the distinction between skill and knowledge and the hierarchy that exists between them. It argues that OBE need not be construed as a degradation of higher education into trade schools, rather this moment provides us an opportunity to rethink the relationship between vocational, technical, and general education. This assumes significance in the current context as the new clientele of higher education do not have the luxury nor often the aspiration for further education but want to use undergraduate education as a take-off to build meaningful careers outside the academia
Peaceful Resolution of Ethnic Conflicts: The Relevance of Gandhian Fraternity and Participatory Democracy
No full textNon-Destructive Allometric Modeling for Tree Volume Estimation in Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests of India Using Terrestrial Laser Scanner
No full textSpatial biomass estimation using remote sensing at a regional or national scale requires ground reference plots for developing calibration models and product validation. The reference plot above-ground biomass (AGB) estimates rely on allometric models, which estimate tree-level AGB through measurements of tree diameter, height, and species information. Recent developments in applying terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to measure 3D canopy structure in great detail have enabled new opportunities for extracting tree volumes non-destructively. In this study, we aim to use 3D point clouds from TLS to model individual trees to extract tree volumes and thereby generate a framework for developing local allometric equations in tropical dry deciduous forests of Betul, Madhya Pradesh, India. We have used TLS scans of 127 individual trees across different species to generate site-level and species-specific allometric models. The generated TLS-based allometric models using diameter and height as predictor variables are validated with an independent destructive sampling dataset (n = 25 trees). Our TLS allometry models indicate superior predictions with lower error estimates (root mean square error (RMSE) of 10.9% (concordance correlation coefficient [CCC] = 0.98) compared to the equivalent traditionally used volume equations over the study site. We have also evaluated the uncertainty due to sample size and found that the prediction error stabilizes when the number of samples exceeds 100 trees. The results imply that TLS data can potentially increase the range and sampling size of allometric equations through non-destructive volume estimation to improve the traditional allometric models and reduce uncertainty in landscape-level biomass estimates
Book Review of Empowering India: Ideas for Action by Scientists and Engineers by Thalappil Pradeep and Krishnan Narayanan (Bengaluru: Indian Academy of Science, 2023)
Get PDFIdeas and Ideology of Maoist Insurgency in India: An Introduction
No full textThe idea of an insurgency is often engaged through the prism of the potential threat it poses to the existing regime or the state. Insurgencies often question the legitimacy of the ruling regime and the very nature of the state, and in response, the latter also question their legitimacy. The Maoist insurgency in India is hardly any exception to this discourse. In its five and half decades, the Maoist insurgency has been engaged through multiple discourses highlighting the security threat it contributes, the (il)legitimacy of the movement, and the subscription, validation, and need for such an alternative ideology parallel to the idea of the Indian state. In engaging through ideological positioning and subscription of statist understandings, many of the vital aspects of the Maoist insurgency movements must be addressed. Two such important aspects of the Maoist insurgency-idea and the ideology-has gained limited attention. This chapter makes an attempt to reason with the idea and the ideology of the Maoist insurgency in India. In doing so, the chapter conceptualizes the idea of an insurgency in a robust democratic state in India. Subsequently, it investigates the ideological framework(s) through which the Maoists have carried out their activities. The issues of adaptation of neo-ideological frameworks (deviations or no deviations) depending upon the specificities of the localities they operate are also examined in this chapter
TREADS: Target Research for Anti-epileptic Drugs Using Data Science
Get PDFEpilepsy is a common neurological disease and is classified into different types based on features such as the kind of seizure, age of onset, part of brain effected, etc. There are nearly 30 approved anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) for treating different epilepsies and each drug targets proteins exhibiting a specific molecular mechanism of action. There are many genes, proteins, and microRNAs known to be associated with different epileptic disorders. This rich information on epilepsy-associated data is not available at one single location and is scattered across multiple publicly available repositories. There is a need to have a single platform integrated with the data, as well as tools required for epilepsy research
Archaeological landscape of Thotlakonda and Bavikonda near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh: insights from remote sensing and GIS analysis
Get PDFA Shift to Solar Irrigation Pump-Sets: A Case Study from Uttar Pradesh, India
No full textRenewable energy technologies are being actively encouraged in India by policies that promote public and private investment in renewable energy. New regulatory and financial incentives to establish the use of renewable energy, especially in irrigation, have created the potential for a shift towards renewable sources in the sector. This paper analyses the differential nature of the impact and dynamics involved in shifting to solar pump-sets in two villages in Hardoi district, Uttar Pradesh, India. The short-term impact of a private solar mini-grid intervention is evaluated using a pre- and post-intervention evaluation of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries across different socio-economic classes. The paper offers a comparative analysis of the irrigation costs associated with various fuels, alongside a comparison of annualised lifecycle cost (ALCC) across varying technological and regulatory configurations, demonstrating that energy-efficient electric pump-sets might still be cheaper than all configurations of solar energy. The study found that grid-connected solar pumps are only viable when operated for less than 500 hours annually, while off-grid solar pumps are more cost-effective at higher usage levels. The paper also outlines a framework for the implementation of a hypothetical scheme aimed at promoting solar irrigation among farmers with landholdings exceeding 6 acres. It provides estimates of the potential district-wide costs associated with such a scheme’s implementation and finds that implementing a shift to solar for farmers operating on less than 4 acres of land is economically unviable, since grid-based electricity is the least-cost option with respect to irrigation for this group at present. This study thus argues for designing schemes for the promotion of solar technologies that target beneficiaries based on the size of land holdings
Fulfilling Domestic Water Demand in Semiarid Regions of North Karnataka: Challenges and Way Forward
Get PDFThe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes Goal 6 (SDG 6): ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’. SDG target 6.1 aims to achieve by 2030 ‘universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all’. The Government of India has also launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide potable tap water to every rural household by 2024. In this context, this article explains the findings of a study to assess the domestic water demand and the availability of water in seven villages in the Ballari and Raichur districts in North Karnataka. This study indicates that groundwater is predominantly used for domestic purposes in these districts due to the lack of adequate and reliable surface water. Only 14% of households in the study area receive adequate water as per the JJM norms and this water stress is projected to worsen due to the increasing supply–demand mismatch in the future. The authors recommend the implementation of the revised configuration of the Krishna (Almatti)–Pennar river interlinking project by 2030 since this alignment is optimised to reduce project-related deforestation, people displacement, project duration and costs. This is critical for the sustainable development of North Karnataka