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Study on The Ecological Consequences of Food Wastage
Get PDFThe present study focusses on evaluating the ecological impacts due to food wastage which has been either food loss or due to food wastage. Food production and consumption are resource oriented that consumes nearly 70% of available fresh water and 30% of energy, that is impacted by population growth, urbanization, growing demand, climate change and resource degradation. Globally, average water and food availability indicates sufficiency to meet demands of 7.7 billion population (UN, 2018). Still, nearly 1.2 billion people face acute water scarcity and 870 billion people go hungry every day, of which majority are from India (~194.6 million) which is much low in global hunger index. India produces about 270 million tons of food a year against the demand of 225-230 million. Paradoxically, despite adequacy, food security is not ensured and nearly 40% food is wasted at all levels from harvesting till consumption as all the produce fail to reach the consumer. Such wastage adversely affects the economy, environment, and society. Even with several attempts to reduce food waste by individuals, organizations and authorities, India trails in reducing food crisis and needs innovative technological and entrepreneurial solutions and some policy changes. In order to lay out a road map for achieving sustainable development goals (SDG) 2,6 and 12 (which stipulates “zero hunger”, “clean water and sanitation” and responsible consumption and production respectively), it is important to explicate the resources utilization as well as their reparations to the environment.
The concept of footprints especially the water and the carbon footprints, that are good proxies to measure the pressure of human actions on the environment have been utilized in this study to estimate the impacts of food wastage. Available estimation of water and carbon footprints for various food products have been recorded from the literature and interpreted in terms of resource utilization as well as damages caused to the environment when wasted. Outcome of the study would be helpful in deriving strategies for sustainable resources management as well as for preparing agenda that could scale down the vulnerable impacts on environment.
Food, water and energy underpin are inextricably linked to environment sustainability contributing to a variety of ecological disasters culminating in food and resource in security
Water Harvesting Systems of the Past- A Case Study of Badami, India
No full textThis is paper published in the Proceedings of the National Seminar on Recent Advances in Geospatial Technology & Applications held on March 2, 2020 (For Postgraduate Students and Research Scholars). This was Jointly organised by Indian Institute of Remote Sensing & Indian Society of Remote Sensing Dehradu
Farmers' suicides in India (NIAS Policy Brief No. NIAS/SSc/IHD/U/PB/16/2020)
Get PDFWith three lakh farmers committing suicide over the two
decades between 1995 and 2014, this phenomenon has
emerged as a symbol of the crisis in Indian agriculture.
There have been a large number of academic efforts to
understand farmers’ suicides in great depth, but they have
tended to be divided by the regions they have studied,
the methods they have used, and the questions they have
raised, with most remaining loyal to their disciplines and
ideologies. There have been fewer attempts to piece together
a picture that is both comprehensive and sensitive to the
complexity of the processes that lead to farmers’ suicides.
The Inequality and Human Development Programme at
the National Institute of Advanced Studies has tried to
develop such a larger picture. The study, supported by Tata
Consultancy Services and involving a multidisciplinary
team of researchers, linked theory to the empirical picture,
using mixed methods from ethnography to primary data,
and secondary data
Evolution of novel activation functions in neural network training of astronomy data: habitability classification of exoplanets
Get PDFBranding an ‘Inter’national school: Fusing ‘Indian values’ with a global diploma
No full textThis paper offers an ethnographic account of how Golden
Harvest International School in Bengaluru branded itself as
both ‘International’ and ‘Indian’, by elaborating discursive
practices within the school. Drawing upon scholarship that
has sought to delineate the ways in which globally hypermobile
Indians construct a distinctive cultural identity, the
paper shows how a fusion of national and international
allowed the school to cater to a particular set of elite parents,
who were globally hyper-mobile even as they sought to be
‘appropriately Indian’. The paper pays attention to how cultural
practices and resources in the school operated within
a forward caste-Hindu ethos that was presented as ‘Indian’,
while also responsibilising teachers, students, and even parents
to ensure the school acquired and retained globally
valued credentials such as accreditation for the Middle
Years Program of the International Baccalaureate
Grabbing the Bull by the Tusks: Behavioural Ecology of the Male Asian Elephant in a Human-Dominated Landscape
No full textScholarship thus far suggests that mature male Asian elephants are mostly solitary. Through my research, however, I show that male Asian elephants in human-dominated landscapes can be highly social. I begin by examining the proximate mechanisms that determine sociality in male elephants living in a human-modified production landscape of southern India and demonstrate that anthropogenic, rather than biological, factors determine the association of males in large and stable all-male groups. I then analyse the group dynamics and the nature of social interactions between males that associate in these novel social groups. The study male elephants appear to have an extensive social network with some individuals occupying 'key' positions within this network. Finally, I discuss the role of these individuals in a bull elephant society and its implications for human-elephant conflict, with a particular focus on the conservation of the increasingly threatened mature male Asian elephant of the Anthropocene
JRD Tata and the Ethics of Philanthropy
Get PDFThis book introduces readers to the ethics of philanthropy, particularly in the Indian context. Drawing on JRD Tata’s philosophy and approach to business, it shows how business and philanthropy were intrinsically related for him. JRD Tata was arguably one of the most influential businessmen in post-Independence India. He was instrumental in not only expanding the Tata businesses but was also known for his impact on the conduct of business as well as his support for various national projects including research and education. He introduced key labour laws in his factories, which later became the model for the Indian government. He was also part of government institutions such as Air India.
By discussing ideas such as trusteeship, the notion of profit, the relation between public and private, and social welfare, the book offers an intellectual map of JRD’s thoughts and an original perspective on their significance for an ethics of philanthropy in general. It provides new insights into the nature of ethical problems in the Indian context as well as ways to negotiate with them based on JRD’s work and reflections. It further creates a more meaningful understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility in the present global economy.
Lucid and comprehensive, this book will be useful to scholars, researchers and faculty in departments of management and business studies, social work, sociology, economics and philosophy, as well as across social sciences. It will be of great interest to philanthropy organisations, non-governmental organisations, business schools, industry bodies, corporates, and those in leadership and management
Complex Analysis with Applications to Number Theory
No full textThe book discusses major topics in complex analysis with applications to number theory. This book is intended as a text for graduate students of mathematics and undergraduate students of engineering, as well as to researchers in complex analysis and number theory. This theory is a prerequisite for the study of many areas of mathematics, including the theory of several finitely and infinitely many complex variables, hyperbolic geometry, two and three manifolds and number theory. In additional to solved examples and problems, the book covers most of the topics of current interest, such as Cauchy theorems, Picard’s theorems, Riemann–Zeta function, Dirichlet theorem, gamma function and harmonic functions
The Ephemeral Cataract of Badami: An Early Chalukyan Artificial Waterfall?
Get PDFThe ancient city of Vatapi (modern Badami, in Bagalkot District of Karnataka) was founded by Polekeshi I in the year 543CE. As part of the fortification scheme of the city, a bund was constructed to contain stormwater and create a reservoir. A waterfall, which is basically the stormwater runoff from a cliff in the east, is the most obvious contributor to the reservoir. In this paper, I present the discovery that this is an artificially created waterfall, with a semi-circular basin cut out of the top of the cliff to the east of the reservoir, at a point where a large number of the stormwater streams converge. I also examine the possibility that this rock-cut feature was created by the Early Chalukyan builders