Impact of Muga Silk (&lt;i&gt;Antheraea assamensis&lt;/i&gt;) on Community Livelihood in the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam-India

The Muga silk (Antheraea assamensis) rearing is confined to the North-East India, particularly, the Brahmaputra valley of Assam. This is perhaps, due to pleasant climatic conditions and distribution of wide range of muga host plants in this region. In Assam ‘Som’ tree provides the principal food for muga silkworms which produce the golden coloured silk that is very specific and prestigious to north-eastern states of India and found nowhere else on the globe. The north-eastern region of India, with total geographical area of 3,04,426 sq km, is situated in eastern part of India. It lies between 21.33 to 29.28° N. latitudes and 89.42 to 97.24° E. longitudes. The region is a part of eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot in the world hence endow with endemic flora and fauna. In this paper the researcher tries to the possibility of traditional way of rearing of muga, rural livelihood and conservation effort among the indigenous communities of the Brahmaputra valley in Assam.

Download Full-text

Brahmaputra valley pushing 'glacier-melting pollutants' into Himalayas

Nature India ◽

10.1038/nindia.2012.71 ◽

2012 ◽

Keyword(s):

Brahmaputra Valley ◽

Glacier Melting

Download Full-text

Assessment of genetic variability amongst cultivated populations of Khasi mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) detected by ISSR

Plant Genetic Resources ◽

10.1017/s1479262121000162 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Karishma Kashyap ◽

Rasika M. Bhagwat ◽

Sofia Banu

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Genetic Variability ◽

Inter Simple Sequence Repeat ◽

Northeast India ◽

Issr Markers ◽

Citrus Reticulata ◽

Brahmaputra Valley ◽

Indian Food ◽

Cultivated Populations ◽

High Level

Abstract Khasi mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is a commercial mandarin variety grown in northeast India and one of the 175 Indian food items included in the global first food atlas. The cultivated plantations of Khasi mandarin grown prominently in the lower Brahmaputra valley of Assam, northeast India, have been genetically eroded. The lack in the efforts for conservation of genetic variability in this mandarin variety prompted diversity analysis of Khasi mandarin germplasm across the region. Thus, the study aimed to investigate genetic diversity and partitioning of the genetic variations within and among 92 populations of Khasi mandarin collected from 10 cultivated sites in Kamrup and Kamrup (M) districts of Assam, India, using Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. The amplification of genomic DNA with 17 ISSR primers yielded 216 scorable DNA amplicons of which 177 (81.94%) were polymorphic. The average polymorphism information content was 0.39 per primer. The total genetic diversity (HT = 0.28 ± 0.03) was close to the diversity within the population (HS = 0.20 ± 0.01). A high mean coefficient of gene differentiation (GST = 0.29) reflected a high level of gene flow (Nm = 1.22), indicating high genetic differentiation among the populations. Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) showed 78% of intra-population differentiation, 21% among the population and 1% among the districts. The obtained results indicate the existence of a high level of genetic diversity in the cultivated Khasi mandarin populations, indicating the need for preservation of each existing population to revive the dying out orchards in northeast India.

Download Full-text

Do the Heterogeneous Determinants of Repayment Affect Differently across Borrowers of Diverse Credit Sources in Rural Assam? A Double Hurdle Approach

Journal of Development Policy and Practice ◽

10.1177/24551333211031667 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 245513332110316

Author(s):

Tiken Das ◽

Pradyut Guha ◽

Diganta Das

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Probit Model ◽

Original Data ◽

Community Based ◽

Data Set ◽

Brahmaputra Valley ◽

Double Hurdle ◽

Instrumental Variable Probit ◽

Instrumental Variable Probit Model

This study made an attempt to answer the question: Do the heterogeneous determinants of repayment affect the borrowers of diverse credit sources differently? The study is based on data collected from 240 households from three districts in the lower Brahmaputra valley of Assam through a carefully designed primary survey. Besides, the study uses the double hurdle approach and the instrumental variable probit model to reduce possible selection bias. It observes better repayment performance among formal borrowers, followed by semiformal borrowers, while occupation wise it is prominent among organised employees. It has been found that in general, the household characteristics, loan characteristics and location-specific characteristics significantly affect repayment performance of borrowers. However, the nature of impact of the factors influencing repayment performance is remarkably different across credit sources. It ignores the role of traditional community-based organisations in rural Assam while analysing the determinants of repayment performance. The study also recommends for ensuring productive opportunities and efficient market linkages in rural areas of Assam. The study is based on an original data set that has specially been collected to examine question that—do the heterogeneous determinants of repayment affect the borrowers of diverse credit sources differently in the lower Brahmaputra valley of Assam—which has not been studied before.

Download Full-text