Interannual Variability of Upwelling Indices in the Southeastern Arabian Sea: A Satellite Based Study

Increase in sea surface temperature with global warming has an impact on coastal upwelling. Past two decades (1988 to 2007) of satellite observed sea surface temperatures and space borne scatterometer measured winds have provided an insight into the dynamics of coastal upwelling in the southeastern Arabian Sea, in the global warming scenario. These high resolution data products have shown inconsistent variability with a rapid rise in sea surface temperature between 1992 and 1998 and again from 2004 to 2007. The upwelling indices derived from both sea surface temperature and wind have shown that there is an increase in the intensity of upwelling during the period 1998 to 2004 than the previous decade. These indices have been modulated by the extreme climatic events like El–Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole that happened during 1991–92 and 1997–98. A considerable drop in the intensity of upwelling was observed concurrent with these events. Apart from the impact of global warming on the upwelling, the present study also provides an insight into spatial variability of upwelling along the coast. Noticeable fact is that the intensity of offshore Ekman transport off 8oN during the winter monsoon is as high as that during the usual upwelling season in summer monsoon. A drop in the meridional wind speed during the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 has resulted in extreme decrease in upwelling though the zonal wind and the total wind magnitude are a notch higher than the previous years. This decrease in upwelling strength has resulted in reduced productivity too.

Development Planning at the State Level in India - A Case Study with Reference to Kerala, 1957-'84

This thesis entitled “Development planning at the state level in india a case study with reference to kerala1957-84.Planning in India is a concurrent subject with the Centre and the States having well-defined domains of jurisdiction with regard to planning functions and sources of resource mobilisation.The genesis of the lack of academic interest in state level planning is in the widely held belief that in the extent scheme of Centre-State economic relations, the states have little scope for initiative in planning.Both at the theoretical and empirical levels, Kerala has attached very great importance to planning.It has been the localeof wide and deep discussions on the various dimensions of planning.In Kerala's development process, the leading sector consists of social services such as education and public healthOne point that needs special emphasis in this regard is that the high demand for education in Kerala cannot be attributed to the Keralites' ‘unique urge‘ for education. Rather, it is related to the very high level of unemployment in the state (Kerala has the highest level of unemployment in the country.In resource allocation under the Five Year Plans, Kerala attached the highest weightage to power generation, hydro-electric projects being the major source of power in the state. Nearly one-fourth of the plan resources has been claimed by hydro-electric projects.In the agricultural sector, Kera1a's level of productive use of electric power is one of the lowest.As is evident.from above, planning in Kerala has not enabled us to solve the basic problems of the state. More 'scientific' planning in the sense of applying mre sophisticated planning techniques is obviously not the answer. It, on the contrary, consists of more fundamental changes some of which can be brought about through an effective use of measures well within the power of the State Government.

Legal Control of Industrial Pollution

Industries constitute the main spring of development. Without industrial development no country could reach a stage in which a decent living for its citizens would be achieved. Increasing production to meet the basic needs of society augmented scientific invention and machine oriented industrial order.Environmental pollution ls a burning global issue. It is more serious and dangerous than terrorism. Started with the discovery of fire and development of civilization. Pollution went unnoticed throughout the centuries of human growth until its adverse effects on human environment become explicit.National concern tor environment started in our country only atter the cause of protection of environment received global attention. At present legal control ot industrial pollution is in a scattered framework of piece meal processes with overlapping provisions and authorities.Environmental protection- should be an item not only in the concurrent list of schedule 7 to the Constitution but also in the list of matters entrusted to the panchayati institutions in the Schedule 11. It is heartening to note that so far as municipalities are concerned the Constitution of India lives up to the expectation. In the wake of New Industrial Policy based on liberalisation a long list of small scale industries fall outside the purview of environmental clearance. The Indian concept of environmental im»act assessment introduced under the Environment Act by notification excludes the entire gamut of small scale industries and r.elates only to scheduled industries covered by the notifica~ion. Most of them are subjected to ETA only it the investment goes above ~.50 crores. This provision dilutes the impact assessment considerably A mandatory impact assessment with public partiCipation and with provision for a review by specialized environmental courts will eliminate the possible evils of this judicial passiveness.

Legislative conflicts in india

The subject-wise distribtion of legislative competence among the three legislative jurisdictions, union, state and concurrent, gives rise to a problem of legislative conflicts in India. There does not seem to have been any study exclusively devoted to this aspect of Indian federalism. This study is an attempt in that direction. The study has been broadly divided into three parts after an historical introduction in chapter I. Chapters II to VIII deal with conflicts between the exclusive fields, chapters IX and X with conflicts in the concurrent field, and chapter XI with conflicts between the exclusive and concurrent fields. In the last chapter, i.e, chapter XII, has been collected together some conclusions which in most cases have also been noted in the course of the study

Ecobiology of helminth parasites of finfishes and shellfishes of Cochin waters with special reference to Digenetic trematodes

The great number of parasitic species of marine and brackishwater animals that have been described indicates that parasites play an important part in the ecology of the oceans and brackishwaters. Jnspite of their importance, marine and brackish parasites are probably the least known group of organisms. Considering the large number of marine and brackishwater hosts, especially in the tropics, it is no exaggeration to say that the description of marine and brackishwater parasites has hardly begun (Rohde, 1982). With this view in mind, an attempt has been made to study the ecobiology of the helminth parasites of finfishes and shellfishes of eochin waters with special reference to digenetic trematodes. The work is broadly divided into three chapters, Chapter 1 consists of a description of the study area, prevalence of infection and concurrent infections with helminth parasites, seasonal variation, host specificity> and zoogeography of digenetic trematodes; Chapter II deals with the systematics of digenetic trematodes; and Chapter III deals with studies on larval trematodes from molluscs and crustacea, adult from a molluscan host, life-cycle, biology and histopathology

Higher Education Sector in India: Issues and Imperatives

The 21st century is marked by a paradigm shift in education that has resulted both in threats and opportunities. It has brought new challenges and an opportunity for higher education. Higher education in India is undergoing rapid changes. The challenges ahead are multifaceted and multidimensional. Though the data show a massive growth in the number of students' enrollment in colleges/universities, holistic view reveals that still only a meager of the total population has access to higher education. Globalization and privatization are imposing new challenges but the nations are still entangled in solving the basic problems of accessibility to higher education for all. In the wake of the transition from elitist to mass education, universities worldwide are under pressure to enhance access and equity, on the one hand, and to maintain high standards of quality and excellence, on the other. Today the notion of equity not only implies greater access to higher education, but also opportunities for progress. In recent debates on higher education, the notions of equity and access go beyond minority to diversity. Affirmative action, too, has become raceexclusive and gender-neutral.1

Nutrient dynamics in the two lakes of Kerala, India

Distribution and chemistry of major inorganic forms of nutrients along with physico-chemical parameters were investigated. Surface sediments and overlying waters of the Ashtamudi and Vembanad Lakes were taken for the study, which is situated in the southwest coast of India. High concentrations of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus compounds carried by the river leads to oxygen depletion in the water column. A concurrent increase in the bottom waters along with decrease in dissolved oxygen was noticed. This support to nitrification process operating in the sediment-water interface of the Ashtamudi and Vembanad Lake. Estuarine sediments are clayey sand to silty sand both in Ashtamudi and Vembanad in January and May. Present study indicates that the sediment texture is the major controlling factor in the distribution of these nutrient forms. For water samples nitrite, inorganic phosphate was high in Vembanad in January and May compared to Ashtamudi. For sediments, enhanced level of inorganic phosphate and nitrite was found in Vembanad during January and May. It had been observed that the level of N and P is more in sediments. A comparative assessment of the Ashtamudi and Vembanad Lake reveals that the Vembanad wetland is more deteriorated compared to the Ashtamudi wetland system