Development of Safety and Quality Management System in Shrimp Farming

Shrimp Aquaculture has provided tremendous opportunity for the economic and social upliftment of rural communities in the coastal areas of our country Over a hundred thousand farmers, of whom about 90% belong to the small and marginal category, are engaged in shrimp farming. Penaeus monodon is the most predominant cultured species in India which is mainly exported to highly sophisticated, quality and safety conscious world markets. Food safety has been of concem to humankind since the dawn of history and the concern about food safety resulted in the evolution of a cost effective, food safety assurance method, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Considering the major contribution of cultured Penaeus monodon to the total shrimp production and the economic losses encountered due to disease outbreak and also because traditional methods of quality control and end point inspection cannot guarantee the safety of our cultured seafood products, it is essential that science based preventive approaches like HACCP and Pre requisite Programmes (PRP) be implemented in our shrimp farming operations. PRP is considered as a support system which provides a solid foundation for HACCP. The safety of postlarvae (PL) supplied for brackish water shrimp farming has also become an issue of concern over the past few years. The quality and safety of hatchery produced seeds have been deteriorating and disease outbreaks have become very common in hatcheries. It is in this context that the necessity for following strict quarantine measures with standards and code of practices becomes significant. Though there were a lot of hue and cry on the need for extending the focus of seafood safety assurance from processing and exporting to the pre-harvest and hatchery rearing phases, an experimental move in this direction has been rare or nil. An integrated management system only can assure the effective control of the quality, hygiene and safety related issues. This study therefore aims at designing a safety and quality management system model for implementation in shrimp farming and hatchery operations by linking the concepts of HACCP and PRP.

Emotional Intelligence and Organisational Role Stress — A study among managers in selected industrial organisations in Kerala

Emotional intelligence is very important in organisations and the ability to manage feelings and handle stress is an important aspect of El. Even though a number of studies have been done to prove that E1 is related to organisationally relevant variables like leadership effectiveness, job satisfaction, performance, career success etc., and the theoretical grounding for emotional intelligence-stress-relationship seems sound, only a few studies have been done to establish this linkage. This study is an attempt to measure emotional intelligence and organisational role stress of managers working in industrial organisations and to examine the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Organisational Role Stress. It also attempts to explore the influence of personal and occupational variables viz., age, education, gender, marital status, experience, department, type of organisation and designation on emotional intelligence. The investigator has also examined the difference in the level of role stress experienced by junior, middle and senior-level managers. The main objective of the study is to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and organisational role stress.

Impact of the Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary Agreement on the Exports of Marine Products from India with Special Reference to Kerala

The present study examines the type of NTMs, especially the quality regulations and safety standards encountered by the marine product exports of Kerala in its major import markets of the EU, the US and Japan. An analysis of whether the safety and quality standards prescribed by these developed countries on the imported fish and fishery products are purely based on risk assessment and scientific evidence or are they erected as disguised barriers to trade is attempted

"Profile of Industrial workers in Kerala - A Comparative Study of the Socioeconomic Profile of Workers in Traditional and Modern Industries

The objective of this study is to assess the changes that have been taking place in the socio-economic profile of organized industrial workers of Kerala in the context of the changes that have been taking place in the state's industrial structure. with this object in view, the study seeks to find out the similarities and differences in the profile of workers belonging to two Segments of factory sector industries in Kerala viz., modern and traditional segments. It also seeks to examine the factors leading to the differences in profile, if any, and their consequences. As noted earlier, the profile of workers may be influenced both by external societal factors and by internal factors like the difference in industrial structure and the technologies used. It is proposed to assess the relative importance of these two groups of factors. In drawing up the profile, we seek to find out whether the workers belonging to the organised sector of industry in Kerala particularly the more modern sector have begun to form a ‘select group‘ in the Kerala society and the total work force. Wherever possible, it is proposed to compare the profile of the Kerala workers with those of workers in other states of India. As an incidental objective, it is also proposed to find out to the extent possible, whether trends towards labour embourgeoisement and class shifting have begun to set in among the industrial workers of Kerala, particularly among the workers in the modern industries as a result of their relative affluence and their middle class socioeconomic background. besides, the study seeks to find out whether there is any difference in the class consciousness of workers belonging to these two segments of organized industry, arising from the differences in their economic status and social background.