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Inequality and Intervention: Community, Family, and Missing Women Vol.5 (NIAS/SSc/IHD/U/RR/09/2024)
No full textAssaying the eight metals of antiquity: Archaeometallurgical perspectives on Indian heritage
Get PDFArchaeometallurgy pertains to the technological study of metallic archaeological artefacts and art objects to gain insights into the manufacturing techniques and history of technology. It can also help in the better classification of archaeological artefacts through studies on provenance and sources of metal. Archaeometallurgy is increasingly becoming a widely inclusive discipline of archaeology that attempts to trace the history of ancient metal production, distribution and usage in antiquity and the related socio-cultural and economic ramifications. The early metals to be exploited were those that were found in the native state, followed by those that could be smelted or reduced easily from ores, while those that were more difficult to smelt were discovered later. The commonly used metals in antiquity included gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, and mercury. In the first lecture, Prof Sharada Srinivasan will explore the broader trajectory of the use of metals, and in Indian and particularly south Indian antiquity. The second two lectures point to some highlights of pre-industrial Indian contributions interspersed with insights from surviving craft traditions. These lectures draw on her archaeometallurgical studies on non-ferrous metallurgy in the skilled early use of high-tin bronzes and the making of statuary bronzes to the unique methods of extraction of metallic zinc, and in ferrous metallurgy in the use of wrought iron and high-carbon Steels and to later innovations such as the use of metal-cased rockets. Thus the lectures would point to the significance with respect to a broader global understanding of the history of science and technology
Quantification and assessment of hazardous mercury emission from industrial process and other unattended sectors in India: A step towards mitigation
No full textHazardous pollutants like Mercury (Hg) have emerged as a pressing challenge in recent times where the expanding industrial sector is regarded as the major source in developing country India. In this study, we are trying to identify all possible industrial sectors at district level to quantify Hg emission load across India for the year 2019 using IPCC methodology where the country-specific technological emission factors are used. We have included 5 major sectors out of which emission from coal combustion in thermal power plants accounts for 186.5 t/yr of Hg emission followed by non-ferrous metal production (88.3 t/yr), captive power plants (65.5 t/yr) and fly ash generation from various manufacturing industries (45.9 t/yr). A total of 459.4 t/yr of Hg is released into the ecosystem in 2019 with an uncertainty of ± 48%. This study also estimated that about 233 million people living in and around 10 km periphery of major industrial zones with as many as 17 million people residing near the 10 major hotspots are susceptible to hazardous Hg emissions directly or indirectly. This information would be quite useful in formulating future Hg emission control strategies in India
Placing well-being: The role of ecology in Āyurveda and Māvilan healing traditions
No full textThe role of ecology in shaping notions of well-being in indigenous healing traditions is often overlooked in contemporary well-being discourse. This study examines how ecological systems contribute to notions of well-being in two Indic healing traditions– Āyurveda and the Māvilan healing traditions. We focus on the ecological place (or eco-place) as a living and dynamic space within which cultures of knowledge emerge, and healing identities become constructed, fostering multiple somatic, psychological, social, and spiritual correspondences between its human and other-than-human members, and through which a variety of well-being experiences emerge. Three lenses are used for this purpose (i) a narrative ecology of healing, (ii) agentic herbs and co-creative healing, and (iii) healing of natural ecological systems. For the first, the concept of narrative ecology is examined, alongside how healing knowledge emerges in both Āyurveda and the Māvilan healing traditions from human and other-than-human understandings of the world; for the second, we examine how, despite significantly differing engagements with forest ecosystems, the notion of plant-agency can recast healing as a co-creative process in both traditions. For the third, we explore ideas regarding other-than-human illness and therapeutics in Āyurveda and the Māvilan healing traditions
Curriculum and change management: Need for reimagining teacher education
No full textThis chapter gives a brief overview of what we understand about curriculum reforms and systemic change in the school education sector through an analysis of international and national trends in curriculum reform efforts and their implementation. It points out the limits to change management through curriculum reforms without empowering teachers as agents of change, in the context of attempts at reforming the school education system in India. Using the case of inclusive education, the chapter will argue for the need for reimagining teacher education to bring in substantive changes in schools, especially during the time of disruptions, such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
Leadership agility in the context of organisational agility: a systematic literature review
No full textOrganisations across the globe are looking to become agile and are seeking leaders to guide their transformation to agility. This paper conducts a systematic literature review across eighty-six papers spanning over 25 years (1999–2023), to develop an overview of how leadership agility is conceptualized in the context of organisational agility in the extant literature. This systematic review was conducted using the PRISMA framework. The databases searched for the review were: EBSCO, Emerald Insight, JStor, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. The data thus collected was organised and integrated using reflective thematic synthesis. Literature suggests that leadership agility is one of the key dimensions to foster organisational agility, though challenging in practice and difficult to implement. Based on the analysis of extant literature, this paper identifies four emergent themes of leadership agility: Leadership Agility Mindsets; Leadership Agility Competencies; Leadership Agility Styles; and Leadership Organisational Agility Functions. This study has conceptualized a framework of leadership agility in the context of organisational agility, anchored in the interplay of the emergent themes and their categories, contributing to leadership agility research, and promoting its adoption by the practitioners
