A Study of Coir Vyvasaya Co-Operative Societies in Kerala – Performance, Problems and Prospects

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of Coir Vyavasaya Co-operative societies (CVCs) in Kerala. It was also intended to examine the extent of fulfillment of the objectives of Co-operativisation Scheme and the socio-economic betterment of worker members, Further the study was directed to find out the level of participation of members in the affairs of CVCs and to identify the major problems confronting the CVCs and the future prospects of the industry. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the performance of CVCs in Kerala with reference to the objectives of co-operativisation, socio-economic background of the worker members of the CVCs in the state, extent of members participation, major problems etc. Major findings of the study shows that 84% of CVCs surveyed were incurring losses, the long-term solvency position of the CVCS shows very pathetic situation, ration analysis shows and unhealthy state of affaires with respect to short-term solvency position and operating efficiency of all categories of CVS were found to be extremely poor. If CVCs are enabled to increase their quantity of production and there by the volume of business, their amount of loss can be reduced. If this is so, the societies can provide more days of employment to their work members, which will help them to earn more wages and thereby improve their economic and social conditions

Targeted Public Distribution System in Food Grains:Extent of Utlization by the Tribal Population in Kerala

In India, Food Security meant supply of food grains and the medium was Public Distribution System. Public Distribution System (PDS) is a rationing mechanism that entitles households to specified quantities of selected commodities at subsidized prices. The Objectives of PDS are maintaining Price Stability, rationing during times of scarcity, welfare of the poor, and keeping a check on private trade. Kerala has registered remarkable improvement in poverty reduction in general over the years among all social sections, including scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population. As part of the structural adjustment intended to reduce public expenditure, PDS has been modified as Revamped PDS (RPDS) during 1992 and later on as Targeted PDS (TPDS) in 1997, intended to target households on the basis of income criterion, classifying people as Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL). TPDS provides 25Kg. of food gra.ins through the Fair Price Shops per month @ Rs.3/- per Kg. of rice/ wheat to the BPL category and @Rs.8.90 and Rs.6.7O for rice and wheat respectively to the APL category of people. Since TPDS is intended to target the poor people, the subsidy spent by the government for the scheme should be beneficial to the poor people and naturally they should utilize the benefits by purchasing the food grains allotted under the scheme. Several studies have shown that there is underutilization of the allotments under TPDS. Therefore, the extent of utilization of TPDS in food grains, how and why remains as a major hurdle, in improving the structure and system of PDS. Livelihood of the tribal population being under threat due to increasing degradation of the resources, the targeting system ought to be effective among the tribal population. Therefore, performance of the TPDS in food grains, in terms of the utilization by the tribal population in Kerala, impact thereof and the factors, if any, affecting proper utilization were considered as the research problem in this study. The study concentrated on the pattern of consumption of food grains by the tribal people, whether their hunger needs are met by distribution of food grains through the TPDS, extent to which TPDS in food grains reduce their share of expenditure on food in the total household expenditure, and the factors affecting the utilization of the TPDS in food grains by the tribal population. Going through the literature, it has been noted that only few studies concentrated on the utilization of TPDS in food grains among the tribal population in Kerala.The Research Design used in this study is descriptive in nature, but exploratory in some aspects. Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanad have more than 60% of the population of the tribals in the state. Within the three districts mentioned above, 14 villages with scheduled tribe concentration were selected for the study. 95 tribal colonies were selected from among the various tribal settlements. Collection of primary data was made from 1231 households with in the above tribal colonies. Analysis of data on the socio-economic factors of the tribal people, pattern of food consumption, extent of reduction in the share of expenditure on food among the household expenditure of the tribal people and the impact of TPDS on the tribal families etc. and testing of hypotheses to find out the relation/association of each of the six variables, using the data on BPL and APL categories of households separately have resulted in findings such as six percent of the tribal families do not have Ration Cards, average per capita consumption of food grains by the tribal people utilizing TPDS meets 62% of their minimum requirement, whereas the per capita consumption of food grains by the tribal people is higher than the national average per capita consumption, 63% deficiency in food grains may be felt by tribal people in general, if TPDS is withdrawn, and the deficit for BPL tribal people may be 82%, TPDS facilitates a reduction of 9.71% in the food expenditure among the total household expenditure of the tribal people in general, share of food to non-food among BPL category of tribals is 55:45 and 40:60 among the APL, Variables, viz. household income, number of members in the family and distance of FPS from tribal settlements etc. have influence on the quantity of rice being purchased by the tribal people from the Fair Price Shops, and there is influence of household income and distance of FPS from tribal settlements on the quantity of rice being purchased by the tribal people from the open market. Rationing with differential pricing on phased allotments, rectification of errors in targeting, anomalies in norms and procedures for classifying tribal people as BPL/APL, exclusive Income Generation for tribal population, paddy cultivation in the landholdings possessed by the tribal people, special drive for allotment of Ration Cards to the tribal people, especially those belonging to the BPL category, Mobile Fair Price Shops in tribal settlements, ensure quality of the food grains distributed through the TPDS, distribution of wheat flour in packed condition instead of wheat through the Fair Price Shops are recommended to address the shortcomings and weaknesses of the TPDS vis-avis the tribal population in Kerala.

Role of academic bodies with special references to the academic programmes in the universities in Kerala

This makes a thorough study of Role of Academic Bodies with Special Reference to the Academic Programmes in the Universities in Kerala. The present study has dealt with the constitution, powers and functions of the authorities of the universities in Kerala, especially the academic bodies which have well-defined powers and function. This thesis gives in detail the role and functions of the academic bodies in the four universities in Kerala, under study: and examines the role-effectiveness of these bodies. To sum up, it can be concluded that the academic bodies in the universities in Kerala do not function as effectively as envisaged in the laws of the universities. They have a maintenance-oriented approach rather than a dynamic one, without thinking in terms of introducing innovations. They need improvement in the various aspects of their constitution, selection of members and their mode of functioning

Isolation of a pathogenic strain of Vibrio alginolyticus from necrotic larvae of Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man)

Giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man), is an important commercial species with considerable export value, ideal for cultivation under low saline conditions and in freshwater zones (Kurup 1994). However, despite more than a decade of research on its larval production systems, vibriosis still hampers seed production resulting in high mortality rates. Among the different species of vibrios, Vibrio alginolyticus has been isolated frequently from diseased shrimp as the aetiological agent of vibriosis and has been described as a principal pathogen of both penaeids and nonpenaeids (Lightner 1988; Baticados, Cruz-Lacierda, de la Cruz, Duremdez-Fernandez, Gacutan, Lavilla- Pitogo & Lio-Po 1990; Mohney, Lightner & Bell 1994; Lee, Yu, Chen, Yang & Liu 1996). Vibrio fluvialis, V. alginolyticus, V. cholerae non-O1 (Fujioka & Greco 1984), Aeromonas liquifaciens and V. anguillarum (Colorni 1985) have been isolated from the larvae of M. rosenbergii. A profound relationship between the abundance of members of the family Vibrionaceae and larval mortality (Singh 1990) and the predominance of Vibrio in eggs, larvae and post-larvae of M. rosenbergii (Hameed, Rahaman, Alagan & Yoganandhan 2003) was reported. The present paper reports the isolation, characterization, pathogenicity and antibiotic sensitivity of V. alginolyticus associated with M. rosenbergii larvae during an occurrence of severe mass mortality at the ninth larval stage.

Mathematical Modelling of the Dynamics of Granular Materials in a Rotating Cylinder

The current study is aimed at the development of a theoretical simulation tool based on Discrete Element Method (DEM) to 'interpret granular dynamics of solid bed in the cross section of the horizontal rotating cylinder at the microscopic level and subsequently apply this model to establish the transition behaviour, mixing and segregation.The simulation of the granular motion developed in this work is based on solving Newton's equation of motion for each particle in the granular bed subjected to the collisional forces, external forces and boundary forces. At every instant of time, the forces are tracked and the positions velocities and accelarations of each partcle is The software code for this simulation is written in VISUAL FORTRAN 90 After checking the validity of the code with special tests, it is used to investigate the transition behaviour of granular solids motion in the cross section of a rotating cylinder for various rotational speeds and fill fraction.This work is hence directed towards a theoretical investigation based on Discrete Element Method (DEM) of the motion of granular solids in the radial direction of the horizontal cylinder to elucidate the relationship between the operating parameters of the rotating cylinder geometry and physical properties ofthe granular solid.The operating parameters of the rotating cylinder include the various rotational velocities of the cylinder and volumetric fill. The physical properties of the granular solids include particle sizes, densities, stiffness coefficients, and coefficient of friction Further the work highlights the fundamental basis for the important phenomena of the system namely; (i) the different modes of solids motion observed in a transverse crosssection of the rotating cylinder for various rotational speeds, (ii) the radial mixing of the granular solid in terms of active layer depth (iii) rate coefficient of mixing as well as the transition behaviour in terms of the bed turnover time and rotational speed and (iv) the segregation mechanisms resulting from differences in the size and density of particles.The transition behaviour involving its six different modes of motion of the granular solid bed is quantified in terms of Froude number and the results obtained are validated with experimental and theoretical results reported in the literature The transition from slumping to rolling mode is quantified using the bed turnover time and a linear relationship is established between the bed turn over time and the inverse of the rotational speed of the cylinder as predicted by Davidson et al. [2000]. The effect of the rotational speed, fill fraction and coefficient of friction on the dynamic angle of repose are presented and discussed. The variation of active layer depth with respect to fill fraction and rotational speed have been investigated. The results obtained through simulation are compared with the experimental results reported by Van Puyvelde et. at. [2000] and Ding et at. [2002].The theoretical model has been further extended, to study the rmxmg and segregation in the transverse direction for different particle sizes and their size ratios. The effect of fill fraction and rotational speed on the transverse mixing behaviour is presented in the form of a mixing index and mixing kinetics curve. The segregation pattern obtained by the simulation of the granular solid bed with respect to the rotational speed of the cylinder is presented both in graphical and numerical forms. The segregation behaviour of the granular solid bed with respect to particle size, density and volume fraction of particle size has been investigated. Several important macro parameters characterising segregation such as mixing index, percolation index and segregation index have been derived from the simulation tool based on first principles developed in this work.

lntemet utilization and academic activities of faculty members in the universities of Kerala : an analytical study

This thesis Entitled Internet Utilization and Academic Activities of Faculty Members in the Universities of kerala: an analytical study. Today, scientific research is throwing up new discoveries, inventions and vistas by the hour. We are witnessing a veritable knowledge explosion. It is important for members of university faculty members to keep abreast of it for giving up-t-date information to their students about the new development in the subject of their study. The internet is an invaluable tool for achieving it. Most of the universities have sufficient internet facility, but the accessibility to all the faculty members is not adequate. University Libraries also provides standard supplementary service in the internet area. This study indicates differential level of awareness and utilization of the internet services by the faculty members in the areas of teaching, research and publication. However the overall impression is that the awareness and utilization is inadequate. This point to the urgent need to devise programs and schemes to promote internet utilization among the faculty members. The suggestions indicate the key areas that deserve attention by policy makers and administrators. Thanks to the internet, every new development in every field of study is just a click away for faculty members, research scholars and students.

A study on the quality of life of the members of self help groups assisted by non-governmental organisations in Kerala

School of Management Studies, CUSAT