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Sustainable coastal zone management in India
No full textCoastal zone facilitates the exchange of mass and energy between the geosphere, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere, thus creating a unique and productive ecosystem. Coastal regions provide food, protect the shoreline from erosion and natural hazards, host ports for trade and commerce, and facilitate tourism. These goods and services support livelihood for the coastal communities and thus the economy of a country. Therefore, the health of a coastal ecosystem is vital for the well-being of society and needs to be monitored. The advent of satellite remote sensing in the 1970s afforded a unique opportunity to observe the Earth in a multi-frequency and repetitive manner and has been providing since then data on coastal habitats, coastal processes and hazards, and water quality. During the last five decades, the remote sensing data have greatly enhanced our understanding of the spatial characteristics and rate of change of coastal ecosystems. The long duration of data has also allowed us to detect a signal of climate change. The information on coastal and marine ecosystems, such as mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass, has helped to identify boundaries of the marine protected areas to conserve these vital systems. High-resolution satellite data provide coastal topographic details, critical for identifying areas vulnerable to coastal hazards. The high-resolution temporal data on chlorophyllaand suspended sediments have helped to understand changes in productivity and sediment transport, respectively. One of the most important uses of satellite data has been the identification of the high tide line along the entire Indian coastline, which has helped to identify the construction setback line, a vital input for regulating developmental activities and ensuring sustainable coastal management practices. Satellite-based inputs, today, have been mainstay in ensuring the health of coastal systems, providing resilience from coastal hazards and facilitating coastal zone management
Cold War 2.0: Non-Alignment, Multi-Alignment and Internationalism
No full textAs global tensions intensify—China’s assertiveness in South Asia, political flux in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan—many view India’s posture as strategic alignment in response. Simultaneously, Washington’s Indo‑Pacific presence deepens. Yet beyond power‑play, a deeper narrative shapes India’s diplomacy. Drawing on its ancient civilizational ethos—embodied in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (“the world is one family”)—India harmonizes national interest with universalism, championing peace, coexistence, and soft power. Rejecting binary allegiances, it advances a modern iteration of non‑alignment: “non‑alignment 2.0” or multi‑alignment. Rather than opposing blocs, India embraces a pluralistic diplomacy guided by its identity as Viswa Guru and a global family vision. This paper argues that, contrary to Western narratives, India’s choices today stem less from great‑power rivalry and more from its unique blend of civilizational values and strategic pluralism—offering an alternative foreign‑policy model rooted in ancient wisdom and contemporary nuance
Pallava Nataraja Iconography and Cosmic Dance: Explorations of Stellar Connections to Orion and Syrius
No full textThe paper touches on the dating of a few key Nataraja bronzes from archaeometallurgical considertations to the Pallava period (c 7th to 9th century), prior to the Chola period and also explores the connections of the iconography to celestial observations of star positions of Orion and Syriu
Electricity Cost Sensitivity in Green Hydrogen Production: A Comparative Tariff Analysis Across Select Indian States
No full textThe cost of green hydrogen production is significantly sensitive to the cost of renewable energy powering the electrolyzers. Thus, optimizing the renewable energy configurations is key in driving down the cost of green hydrogen production, rendering it competitive in the energy market. This study aims to assess the regional variation in solar and wind tariffs and their effect on the cost of green hydrogen production. A solar and wind tariff analysis is performed on seven Indian states – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha –to understand the relationship between electricity procurement cost and the cost of green hydrogen production. The Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) across all seven states is compared using the available data. The study aims to provide key insights for energy policy and supply chain optimization. The potential of hybrid solar-wind power plants and the possibility of determining the optimal ratio of solar and wind are also explored to make the hydrogen production process economically viable
Predicting habitat suitability of Dalbergia latifolia Roxb. (Indian rosewood) using MaxEnt: implications for conservation and sustainable forest management
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Mapping Minds to Manage the ‘Tiger of Rivers’: A Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping Approach to Understanding Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives on Mahseer Conservation
No full textConservation of mahseers, a group of charismatic freshwater fishes native to the South, East and South-East Asia, situated at the intersection of complex social, ecological and economic landscapes, necessitates the integration of the knowledge, mental models, and expectation of different stakeholders. Using a Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping approach, this study generated collective mental models of mahseer conservation in two Indian states distinct in their geography, ecology and socio-cultural aspects - Assam and Uttarakhand. Although many core system components were similar in the cognitive map generated for the focal states, notable divergences emerged in the drivers, perceived relationships among the components, etc. indicating regional specificity in socio-cultural governance structures and stakeholder priorities. In both states ‘stakeholder communication’ emerged as the most central, and the component with highest outdegree, underscoring its shaping effect on system-wide variable interactions. The other influential components were ‘community fishing (destructive and traditional)’ and ‘human-human conflict’ (in Assam), and ‘illegal destructive fishing’ and ‘community involvement in decision-making’ (in Uttarakhand). The ‘what-if’ scenario analyses simulating potential interventions, demonstrated that enhancing communication, awareness and education, promoting local identity and cultural significance of community fishing, providing subsistence fishing opportunities for the locals, and community involvement in decision-making could help in reducing human-human conflicts, illegal fishing, and strengthen stakeholder collaboration for mahseer conservation in both states. Our results also indicate that these improvements alone are insufficient to result in measurable mahseer conservation outcomes until cultural revitalisation and governance reforms are integrated with habitat restoration, improved hatchery performance, evidence-based policies and strict law enforcement. We discuss various leverage points that emerged from the FCMs of both focal states and their implication for a broader mahseer conservation policy with a scope for integrating region-specific characteristics
Enhancing inclusiveness and sustainability: impact of accessibility and affordability on public transportation in an Indian megacity
No full textSustainable and inclusive transport must incorporate both accessibility and affordability in public transportation planning. This paper integrates these key dimensions into sustainable transportation scenarios using a Multinomial Logit (MNL) modeling framework to simulate travel choices among low and low-middle-income individuals in Bengaluru, India. Our analysis shows that subsidising metro fares, raising private travel costs, and enhancing metro accessibility can significantly increase the metro ridership along with reducin