Description of five new species of Amblyseiinae (Acari: Phytoseiidae) associated with medicinal plants from the Northern Himalayan Zone of West Bengal, India

Five new species of phytoseiid mites in the subfamily Amblyseiinae are described from specimens collected from princess flower (Tibouchina urvilleana Cogn.: Melastomataceae), datura (Datura metel L.: Solanaceae), rose (Rosa chinensis Jacq.: Rosaceae), and cinchona (Cinchona officinalis L.: Rubiaceae) from the northern hill zone of West Bengal in the Central Himalayan Mountain region, namely Amblyseiulella tibouchina sp. nov., Amblyseius rishyapensis sp. nov., Okiseius ramdhuracus sp. nov., Okiseius roseus sp. nov., and Typhlodromips cinchonai sp. nov.

Responsible travel to and within India during the COVID-19 pandemic

Following the ‘second wave’ of COVID-19 in India, there has been an upsurge of domestic travel to holiday destinations, particularly Himalayan mountain towns. Modelling suggests that such travel could enhance the peak of a third wave in these states by almost 50%. Principles of ‘responsible travel’ should be adhered to.

Common-Source Outbreak of Hepatitis A in an Indian Himalayan Mountain Camp

Background: Hepatitis A is an emerging public health problem worldwide, with alerts issued in developed countries, although it remains under-reported, under-diagnosed, and under-investigated in the developing world. Prolonged epidemics can occur due to person-to-person transmission. The ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A reported in the United States is one of its largest-ever outbreaks of the disease. A public health emergency for hepatitis A was declared in Florida, with over 2000 cases across several regions of The United States, in the year 2019. Methods: The outbreak investigation was carried out on 30 travelers in an Indian Himalayan mountain camp. Clinical features were correlated with laboratory parameters for establishing diagnosis by standard case definition. Line listing and epidemic curve were plotted to corroborate outbreak variables. Clinicodemographic, clinical, laboratory, and outbreak variables were descriptively analyzed. Results: Most of the 30 patients with hepatitis A were young male patients within the age range of 20 - 30 years. The most common clinical features among the case-patients were anorexia and vomiting. The epidemic curve revealed a peak of 15 case-patients from June 22 to July 5, 2019. Liver function tests showed mild derangement in all the case-patients. All the patients required hospitalization, with a mean duration of hospital stay reported as 11.86 ± 2.53 days. All the patients fully recovered with no fatalities. Conclusions: Hepatitis A outbreaks can occur through the consumption of untreated mountain stream/river water due to upstream contamination with human/animal excrements. Strengthening surveillance systems, traveler education, vaccination, and intersectoral coordination for safe water supply remains a necessary public health measure.

Problems and Prospects of Himalayan Farmers and Farming: A Case Study of District Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir

Agriculture is one of the fundamental features of the Indian economy. Agriculture along with its allied activities employs near about half of the population of India. The Himalayas form the major mountain ranges of the country and covers the northern and northeastern parts of the country. The Himalayan mountain region covers around 10 states of India including Jammu and Kashmir (J & K). The main source of livelihood of these regions is agriculture but the nature of agriculture is still traditional and is of subsistence type. The productivity is also low and unsatisfactory. This paper is an attempt to highlight some of the main problems faced by the farmers and to analyze prospects for the future growth of Himalayan agriculture. It also focused on analyzing the present status of farmers in the region. This paper is focused on district Kishtwar of J & K, a major Himalayan territory. The paper is based on primary data and a sample of 400 farmers has been taken for the study. The finding of the study shows that farmers in the region are mostly marginal and the area still lacks the irrigation facility. Still, the traditional mode of farming is practiced in the region. It also revealed that illiteracy, lack of information, lack of credit, lack of irrigation facilities, soil erosion, traditional mode of agriculture, etc. are some of the major problems faced by the farmers in the district. The area needs some immediate steps to be taken for the growth of agriculture in a real and much better way.

Assessment of Natural Hazard in the Himalayas: A Case Study of the Seti River Flash Flood 2012

The Himalayan mountain ranges have been commonly known as one of the most vulnerable places on earth for natural hazards like landslides and flash floods. A catastrophic flash flood was witnessed in the Seti River on 5 May 2012, which exemplified how destructive it can be not just for the physical and economical loss, but also it was the loss of environment and cultural heritage sites. This paper aims to assess the flash flood event for future implications. The field study was conducted aftermath of the event, where interviews were conducted with the victims' families. It also reviewed the studies conducted by various research groups regarding this disaster. It revealed that the result of mass failure from the Annapurna IV created a temporary dam, and the sudden burst of collected water resulted in the flash flood. Overall, it took 72 lives and huge destruction of physical properties like houses, bridges, vehicles and agricultural land. The existing settlements around the Seti basin are at high risk, where it is highlighted that the concerned authority should take initiatives to minimize the possible impact by promoting awareness, installing an early warning system and building better community-based preparedness.

Avian Diversity in the Himalayas

The Indian Himalayan mountain region is globally renowned for biological diversity. The Himalayan mountain system contributes 10% of the world bird’s species and about 8% of the world’s bird species breed in this region. However, bird species are not evenly distributed from East to West Himalayan region; various factors are responsible for bird’s diversity gradient seen in this mountain chain. The present article is briefing on the bird’s species diversity patterns in the Indian Himalayan region and is largely based on the work carried out under Wildlife Institute of India and University of Chicago collaborative research work titled ‘Study of bird species numbers and densities in east and west Himalayas’ and has already been published in many research papers.

Lithospheric Deformation and Active Tectonics of the NW Himalayas, Hindukush, and Tibet

The Himalayan Mountain System (HMS) and the Tibetan Plateau (TP) represent an active mountain belt, with continent-continent collision. Geological and geophysical (seismological modeling, seismic reflection, and gravity) data is reviewed herein for an overview of the lithospheric deformation and active tectonics of this orogen. Shallow crustal deformation with dominance of thrusting along the margins of the TP is interpreted with normal faulting in the center and strike-slip deformation with the lateral translation of blocks, over a wedge of ductile deformation. The seismicity is the linear concentration over the margins of the orogen to ~20 km depth with exception of the Hindukush and Pamir having seismicity to 300 km depth with an interpretation of sinking Indian and Asian lithospheres. The lithospheric structure is represented by mechanically weak surfaces representing décollement to 15 km depth over the basement, low-velocity zone (LVZ) at ~20 km, the Moho at ~40-82 km, and the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) at 130-200 km depth. The décollement, termed as the Himalayan Mountain Thrust (HMT), is inferred to be rooted at the base of the Moho in central Tibet. Along this fault, brittle crustal deformation is interpreted to ~15-20 km depth, with brittle-ductile deformation along LVZ and ductile slip with crustal duplexing along the lower crust. The mantle lithosphere of the Indian plate is inferred as duplicated with the wedging of the Asian mantle lithosphere. The active tectonics of the TP is proposed to follow the mechanics of thrusting, similar to the foreland deformation of the mountain belts and accretionary prisms.

Understanding tourists’ motivations to launch a boycott on social media: A case study of the #BoycottMurree campaign in Pakistan

This research paper studies the domestic tourism destination boycott of Murree, the most popular tourist spot in Pakistan. Murree, a hill spot in the footsteps of the Himalayan mountain ranges, attracts millions of tourists from all over Pakistan every year due to its natural scenery and easy accessibility. However, weak regulation and unmanageable demand have made the local hospitality industry quixotic, prompting affiliated businesses in Murree to exploit tourists. Subsequently, the #BoycottMurree campaign was launched on social media at the beginning of 2018; this campaign gained quickly momentum, and Murree reported declines in business for the first time during the summer season of 2018. Using a netnographic case study approach of the #BoycottMurree campaign it found that the communication revolved around instrumental boycott motives and non-instrumental boycott motives. Moreover, the tourist ethnocentrism theme naturally emerged from the data, advocating anti-boycott. Overall, the results theoretically inform the literature by extrapolating tourist boycott notions in terms of domestic tourism and pointing out the ways in which domestic tourism boycotts may be different from international tourism boycotts. The results also guide domestic tourism organizations and businesses about the importance of developing competing destinations.