Environmental sustainability of increasing silk demand in India

Author(s):  
Livia Ricciardi ◽  
Seda Karatas ◽  
Davide Danilo Chiarelli ◽  
Maria Cristina Rulli

<p>Natural resources competition between food and cash crops is a current challenge in many developing countries that are experiencing both lack of food availability and a fast growing economy, such as India. Silk industry has always been significant for the Indian economy since it provides high profits and employment. Almost 90% of the world commercial silk production is mulberry silk. Recently, to the aim of increasing silk production in the Country, the Central Silk Board of the Indian Ministry of Textile and the Indian Space Research Organization have identified potential suitable areas for mulberry cultivation through horizontal expansion in wastelands. Here, taking India as a case study, we analyse if the current cultivation of mulberry silk and the horizontal expansion of moriculture is environmentally sustainable. To this end, using the present land cover, we use a dynamic spatially distributed crop water balance model evaluating mulberry water requirement, the green and blue water provision and analysing both water scarcity at pixel scale and the impact of present and future moriculture on its increase.</p><p>Results show in the baseline scenario some States (e.g. West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana) suitable for mulberry horizontal expansion already experiencing water scarcity conditions and high prevalence of malnutrition that will be exacerbated, both on yearly and monthly scale, by increasing moriculture. Other States (i.e. Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland) show Mulberry expansion as the triggering factor of water scarcity condition. Particularly affected by water scarcity will be the North-Eastern Indian districts where potential mulberry areas are clustered.</p><p>The analysis of the population exposure to water scarcity due to mulberry horizontal expansion shows 11 million people potentially affected in India, where more than 65% living in the North-Eastern States. Compared to the total North-Eastern Region inhabitants, affected population accounts for more than the 15%.</p>

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moirangthem Hemanta Meitei ◽  
Haobijam Bonny Singh

PurposeThe paper aims to analyze the coverage of health insurance and its correlates in the north-eastern region of India.Design/methodology/approachThe study accessed the raw data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) (2015–16), which was an extensive, multiround survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India, which included socioeconomic, demographic and information on coverage of health insurance of any member of the household. The multivariate analysis of logistic regression was adopted to find the correlates of health insurance for all the eight (8) north-eastern states of India.FindingsThe results observed that among the north-eastern states, the coverage of health insurance was highest in Arunachal Pradesh (59%) followed by Tripura (58%), Mizoram (47%) surpassing the all India level of 27%, whereas the lowest was in Manipur (4%) followed by Nagaland (6%) and Assam (10%). The multivariate analysis of logistic regression found that the socioeconomic and demographic factors, households with a bank account and below poverty line (BPL) cardholders played a significant role in the coverage of health insurance in the north-eastern states of India.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focuses only on the coverage and correlates of health insurance. Further evaluation studies on each scheme of the social health insurance are needed for proper assessment of the health insurance schemes in the region.Practical implicationsThere has been evidence around the world (South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand) that health insurance could be a protective shield from the entrapment into poverty due to high health expenditure. The NFHS-4 put up the finding that in the north-eastern part of India, the coverage of health insurance had been low. This implied that the region could fall into poverty due to high medical expenses on health. Taking account of multiple health insurance providers, risk pooling and consolidation of health insurance providers have become the need of the hour.Originality/valueThe study is different from other studies of health insurance since it covered all the eight (8) north-eastern states of India, which are ethnically, culturally and historically distinct from the rest of India in general and within the region and states in particular and examines the impact of each of the independent variables with the dependent variables. The study has shown that the variation in health insurance coverage associated with socioeconomic and other household-level demographic attributes (although not very strong).


2020 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 167-185
Author(s):  
M Di Bacco ◽  
AR Scorzini

The present study is an analysis of recent changes (1981-2016) in air temperature across the north-eastern region of Italy (NERI), located in a transition zone influenced by the Mediterranean and continental climatological regimes. Annual and seasonal trends in mean maximum and minimum temperatures as well as in selected extreme indices are investigated using high-quality and homogenised daily data deriving from a distributed network of 50 weather stations. The results reveal an overall widespread warming, particularly intense in spring and summer, with significant positive trends in mean and daytime (maximum-related) temperature extremes, especially at lower altitudes. No substantial elevation dependency is observed for trends in minimum-related temperature indices, which are generally characterised by lower spatial variability. Comparable positive and negative trends are identified in the frequency and duration of warm- and cold-related extremes indices. Finally, the influence on temperature extremes of dominant large-scale circulation modes in southern Europe (North Atlantic Oscillation [NAO] and East-Atlantic [EA] pattern) is examined. The results indicate that especially NAO-induced changes can explain observed temperature trends over the NERI, while the impact of the EA pattern is slightly weaker.


2021 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 01023
Author(s):  
Sibel Ahmedova

The primary objective of the present paper is to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the economy of the North-Eastern Region (NER) of the Republic of Bulgaria in an effort to systematize the appropriate mitigation measures to minimize the effects of COVID-19 outbreak. Determining the probable impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the NER economy is extremely difficult due to the pandemic dynamics and the constant shifts or changes in the forecasts related to its effects on the global economy and the development of the individual countries and regions in particular. The pandemic’s impact on the NER economy is carefully considered in terms of regional GDP per capita analysis; the key indicators of the labour resources; the development of travel and tourism industry, information and communication technologies (ICT), manufacturing industry, trade industry, maritime industry, cultural and creative industries, the level of foreign direct investment (FDI).


Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-192
Author(s):  
Dr. Oinam Ranjit Singh ◽  
Dr. Nushar Bargayary

The Bodo of the North Eastern region of India have their own kinship system to maintain social relationship since ancient periods. Kinship is the expression of social relationship. Kinship may be defined as connection or relationships between persons based on marriage or blood. In each and every society of the world, social relationship is considered to be the more important than the biological bond. The relationship is not socially recognized, it fall outside the realm of kinship. Since kinship is considered as universal, it plays a vital role in the socialization of individuals and the maintenance of social cohesion of the group. Thus, kinship is considered to be the study of the sum total of these relations. The kinship of the Bodo is bilateral. The kin related through the father is known as Bahagi in Bodo whereas the kin to the mother is called Kurma. The nature of social relationships, the kinship terms, kinship behaviours and prescriptive and proscriptive rules are the important themes of the present study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 264-273
Author(s):  
Syeda Sabiha Salam ◽  
Pankaj Chetia ◽  
Devid Kardong

Background: Malaria is endemic in various parts of India particularly in the North- Eastern states with Plasmodium falciparum-the most prevalent human malaria parasite. Plantderived compounds have always received tremendous importance in the area of drug discovery and development and scientific study of traditional medicinal plants are of great importance to mankind. Objective: The present work deals with the computational study of some antimalarial compounds obtained from a few medicinal plants used by the tribal inhabitants of the North-Eastern region of India for treating malaria. Methods: In silico methodologies were performed to study the ligand-receptor interactions. Target was identified based on the pharmacophore mapping approach. A total of 18 plant-derived compounds were investigated in order to estimate the binding energies of the compounds with their drug target through molecular docking using Autodock 4.2. ADMET filtering for determining the pharmacokinetic properties of the compounds was done using Mobyle@RPBS server. Subsequent Quantitative-Structure Activity Relationship analysis for bioactivity prediction (IC50) of the compounds was done using Easy QSAR 1.0. Results: The docking result identified Salannin to be the most potent Plasmepsin II inhibitor while the QSAR analysis identified Lupeol to have the least IC50 value. Most of the compounds have passed the ADME/Tox filtration. Conclusion: Salannin and Lupeol were found to be the most potent antimalarial compounds that can act as successful inhibitors against Plasmepsin II of P. falciparum. The compounds Salannin and Lupeol are found in Azadirachta indica and Swertia chirata plants respectively, abundantly available in the North-Eastern region of India and used by many inhabiting tribes for the treatment of malaria and its symptoms.


2021 ◽  
pp. 001955612110065
Author(s):  
Rita Jain ◽  
Sanjay Kumar

To the North Eastern Region (NER) of India, lie the unexplored states of the Indian Union. This region holds a unique place in the federal structure of India. This article attempts to scrutinise the diversity of NER, along with the potential of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) as a medium to change, uplift and assimilate it with pan India. The article aims to comprehend how NER can accommodate the regional identities and cultural affinities with Indian mainstream identity through the intervention of NCC at college and university level. The methodology of this article is based on secondary resources such as published books, journals, web pages, reports, newspapers and online sources. The article is analytical and descriptive in nature based on thematic approach.


1945 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.P. Geyer ◽  
I.W. Rupel ◽  
E.B. Hart

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
S Mondal ◽  
L Akter ◽  
HJ Hiya ◽  
MA Farukh

The Sunamganj district is covered by major Haor systems in the north-eastern region of Bangladesh. Flash flood is the most commonly occurring water related disaster in the Haor areas. During the flash flood it is very common that people lost their primary agricultural productions which are the only source of their livelihood. The present study focuses on the effects of 2017 early flash flooding on rice and fish production of Sunamganj Haor areas. The flood caused enormous damage to agriculture such as rice especially Boro rice and fish production on which the Haor dwellers rely upon for their livelihood. The total affected land of Boro rice cultivation in Haors of Sunamganj was 149,224 hectare and the total amount of damaged rice was 393,855 metric ton (MT). The total number of affected farmers was 315,084. The early flash flood also affects the quality of Haor water which caused the death of fishes. The total amount of damaged fish was 49.75 MT and the loss was 158.70 lakh taka. The total number of affected fishermen was 44,445. This findings could be very useful for the environmental scientists to predict the probable future effects on agricultural production due to early flash flood events in Sunamganj Haors areas. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 12(1&2): 117-125, 2019


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