'South-South' Remittance - Poverty reduction nexus. The Case of 'Hadiya' immigrants in South Africa, as Agents of 'Constituence development' in Ethiopia, and the policy implications of their 'remittance instrument'

This thesis explores the link between South-South remittance and development. It attempts to establish improved understanding about the role of immigrants as agents of constituency growth and development. By doing so, it illuminates the dark corners of the policy implications that the unconventional development agency of immigrants might have for countries in the Organization ft Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The thesis problematises the existence of state-centric international cooperation as providing the recipe for failed Aid in the face of global poverty menace. In the last half a century, the relative shi' of focus to non-state actors brought about the proliferation of NGOs. That, intrun, helped improve international access to crisis situations; however, their long-term remedial impacts on poverty and development have been contested. Major misgivings for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are, on one hand, low level goal-bound expenditures and lack of independence from influence of the state, on the other. Therefore, the thesis enterprises to empirically verify its fundamental question whether remitting immigrants constitute an alternative development agency to the traditional players: the State and NGOs. Its main arguments are: due to state's failures in bringing sustainable development in many countries of the South, the future of poverty reduction and development also rests in immigrants' remittances. Nonetheless, in the last decade, remittance security-nexus dominated its discourse. Because of that remittance was viewed as something requiring global regime and restrictions. These temptations to tightly regulate remittance flows carry the danger of overlooking its trans-boundary nature and its strong link with livelihood of the poor. Therefore, to avoid unintended consequences of interventions, there need to be clear policy that bases itself on a discursive knowledge on the issues of North-South and South-South remittances The study involved both literature based and empirical research. It employed Discourse Analysis (C as main method for the former and snow-balling as its approach for the latter. For the first part the thesis constructed three conceptual models, these are: metrological model, police model and ecological model on remittance development-nexus. Through this modeling, the thesis achieved better deconstruction on the concepts remittance, immigrants and development agency. The protagonists of each model, the values and interests they represent, and their main arguments along various lines of dichotomies have been discussed. For instance, the main treats of meteorological model include: it sees remittance as transitional economic variable which require constant speculations and global management; it acts as meteorological station for following up or predicting the level, direction, flow and movement of global remittance. It focuses on official lines and considers the state as legitimate recipient of advic and positive consequence of remittance. On the other hand, police model views remittance as beir at best, development neutral or as an illicit activity requiring global regulations and tight control. Both immigrants and remittance viewed as subversive to establishments. It gives primacy to state stable agent of development and a partner for international cooperation. The anti-thesis to the police model is supplied by ecological model, which this thesis is a part. Ecological model on remittance and immigrants argues that, tight global regulations alone cannot be a panacea for possible abuse of informal remittance system. Ecological model, not only links remittance to poverty reduction, the main trust of development, but also considers the development agency of immigrants as critical factor for 21st century north-south development intervention. It sees immigrants as development conscious and their remittance instrument as most stable flow of finance to the developing countries. Besides, it sees remittance as effective poverty solutions than Foreign Direct Investment and international AID. This thesis focuses on the significance of South-South remittance and investigates the South Africa - Ethiopia remittance corridor, as case study; and empirically verifies the role of Ethiopian (Kembata and Hadiya) immigrants in South Africa as agents of local development back home. The study involved techniques of interview, group discussions, observations and investigative study. It also looked into the determinants of their migration to South Africa, and their remittance to Ethiopia. The theoretical models in the first part of the thesis have been operationalised throughout the empirical part to verify if the Kembata and Hadiya immigrants played the crucial role in their household poverty and local development in comparison with the Ethiopian state and the NGOs involved in the system. As evidenced by the research the thesis has made three distinct contributions to the discourse of remittance development-nexus. Fist, it systematized the debate about linkages between remittance, immigrants, development agency and policy of international cooperation by creating three conceptual models (school of thoughts); second, it singled out remitting immigrants as new agents of development in the South; third, it deconstructed concept of remittance and established South¬South remittance as additional sphere of academic investigation. In addition to the above contributions, the thesis finds that Kembata and Hadiya immigrants have engaged in various developmental activities in their locality than usually anticipated. Hence, it concludes that Ethiopian immigrants constitute an alternative development agency to the state and other non-state actors in their country, and the lesson can be applied to poverty reduction strategies in most developing countries.

Repeated drop weight impacts and post-impact ILSS tests on glass-epoxy composite

E glass epoxy laminates of thicknesses in the range 2-5 mm were subjected to repeated impacts. For each thickness the number of hits to cause tup penetration was determined and the value of this number was higher the larger the thickness of the laminate tested. The C-scan, before and after impact, was done to obtain information regarding flaw distribution. Short beam shear test samples were made from locations at fixed distances from impact point and tested. The samples closer to the zone of impact showed lower strength values. Scanning fractography revealed shear deformation features for these samples and brittle fracture features for the region near the zone of impact.

Study of fracture features in foam bearing glass epoxy composites subjected to repeated impacts

The paper reports the failure features observed in low mass repeatedly (pendulum) impacted glass epoxy composites with and without the mid section having either 2-layers or 3-layers of flexible foam. Features such as through width and inclined cracks as well as adhering of foam observed in the experiments are explained. The significance of the foam material in modifying the impact response of the composite is stressed.

Macro-economic analysis of forestry options on carbon sequestration in India

The forestry sector provides a number of climate change mitigation options. Apart from this ecological benefit, it has significant social and economic relevance. Implementation of forestry options requires large investments and sustained long-term planning. Thus there is a need for a detailed analysis of forestry options to understand their implications on stock and flow of carbon, required investments, value of forest wealth, contribution to GNP and livelihood, demand management, employment and foreign trade. There is a need to evaluate the additional spending on forestry by analysing the environmental (particularly carbon abatement), social and economic benefits. The biomass needs for India are expected to increase by two to three times by 2020. Depending upon the forest types, ownership patterns and land use patterns, feasible forestry options are identified. It is found among many supply options to be feasible to meet the 'demand based needs' with a mix of management options, species choices and organisational set up. A comparative static framework is used to analyze the macro-economic impacts. Forestry accounts for 1.84% of GNP in India. It is characterized by significant forward industrial linkages and least backward linkage. Forestry generates about 36 million person years of employment annually. India imports Rs. 15 billion worth of forest based materials annually. Implementation of the demand based forestry options can lead to a number of ecological, economic and institutional changes. The notable ones are: enhancement of C stock from 9578 to 17 094 Mt and a net annual C-sequestration from 73 to 149 Mt after accounting for all emissions; a trebling of the output of forestry sector from Rs. 49 billion to Rs. 146 billion annually; an increase in GDP contribution of forestry from Rs. 32 billion to Rs. 105 billion over a period of 35 years; an increase in annual employment level by 23 million person years, emergence of forestry as a net contributor of foreign exchange through trading of forestry products; and an increase in economic value of forest capital stock by Rs. 7260 billion with a cost benefit analysis showing forestry as a profitable option. Implementation of forestry options calls for an understanding of current forest policies and barriers which are analyzed and a number of policy options are suggested. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

On the integrability and chaotic behavior of an ecological model

A three-species food chain model is studied analytically as well as numerically. Integrability of the model is studied using Painleve analysis while chaotic behavior is studied using numerical techniques, such as calculation of Lyapunov exponents, plotting the bifurcation diagram and phase plots. We correct and critically comment on the wrong results reported recently on this ecological model, in a paper by Rai [1995].

Barriers to plantation activities in different agro-ecological zones of Southern India

This paper analyses environmental and socio-economic barriers for plantation activities on local and regional level and investigates the potential for carbon finance to stimulate the increased rates of forest plantation on wasteland, i.e., degraded lands, in southern India. Building on multidisciplinary field work and results from the model GCOMAP, the aim is to (1) identify and characterize the barriers to plantation activities in four agro-ecological zones in the state of Karnataka and (2) investigate what would be required to overcome these barriers and enhance the plantation rate and productivity. The results show that a rehabilitation of the wasteland based on plantation activities is not only possible but also anticipated by the local population and would lead to positive environmental and socio-economic effects at a local level. However, in many cases, the establishment of plantation activities is hindered by a lack of financial resources, low land productivity and water scarcity. Based on the model used and the results from the field work, it can be concluded that certified emission reductions such as carbon credits or other compensatory systems may help to overcome the financial barrier; however, the price needs to be significantly increased if these measures are to have any large-scale impact.

Influence of land use changes in river basins on diversity and distribution of amphibians

Land-use changes influence local biodiversity directly, and also cumulatively, contribute to regional and global changes in natural systems and quality of life. Consequent to these, direct impacts on the natural resources that support the health and integrity of living beings are evident in recent times. The Western Ghats being one of the global biodiversity hotspots, is reeling under a tremendous pressure from human induced changes in terms of developmental projects like hydel or thermal power plants, big dams, mining activities, unplanned agricultural practices,monoculture plantations, illegal timber logging, etc. This has led to the once contiguous forest habitats to be fragmented in patches, which in turn has led to the shrinkage of original habitat for the wildlife, change in the hydrological regime of the catchment, decreased inflow in streams,human-animal conflicts, etc. Under such circumstances, a proper management practice is called for requiring suitable biological indicators to show the impact of these changes, set priority regions and in developing models for conservation planning. Amphibians are regarded as one of the best biological indicators due to their sensitivity to even the slightest changes in the environment and hence they could be used as surrogates in conservation and management practices. They are the predominating vertebrates with a high degree of endemism (78%) in Western Ghats. The present study is an attempt to bring in the impacts of various land-uses on anuran distribution in three river basins. Sampling was carried out for amphibians during all seasons of 2003-2006 in basins of Sharavathi, Aghanashini and Bedthi. There are as many as 46 species in the region, one of which is new to science and nearly 59% of them are endemic to the Western Ghats. They belong to nine families, Dicroglossidae being represented by 14 species,followed by Rhacophoridae (9 species) and Ranidae (5 species). Species richness is high in Sharavathi river basin, with 36 species, followed by Bedthi 33 and Aghanashini 27. The impact of land-use changes, was investigated in the upper catchment of Sharavathi river basin. Species diversity indices, relative abundance values, percentage endemics gave clear indication of differences in each sub-catchment. Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was calculated between species richness, endemics, environmental descriptors, land-use classes and fragmentation metrics. Principal component analysis was performed to depict the influence of these variables. Results show that sub-catchments with lesser percentage of forest, low canopy cover, higher amount of agricultural area, low rainfall have low species richness, less endemic species and abundant non-endemic species, whereas endemism, species richness and abundance of endemic species are more in the sub-catchments with high tree density, endemic trees, canopy cover, rainfall and lower amount of agriculture fields. This analysis aided in prioritising regions in the Sharavathi river basin for further conservation measures.

Albedo enhancement of marine clouds to counteract global warming: impacts on the hydrological cycle

Recent studies have shown that changes in solar radiation affect the hydrological cycle more strongly than equivalent CO(2) changes for the same change in global mean surface temperature. Thus, solar radiation management ``geoengineering'' proposals to completely offset global mean temperature increases by reducing the amount of absorbed sunlight might be expected to slow the global water cycle and reduce runoff over land. However, proposed countering of global warming by increasing the albedo of marine clouds would reduce surface solar radiation only over the oceans. Here, for an idealized scenario, we analyze the response of temperature and the hydrological cycle to increased reflection by clouds over the ocean using an atmospheric general circulation model coupled to a mixed layer ocean model. When cloud droplets are reduced in size over all oceans uniformly to offset the temperature increase from a doubling of atmospheric CO(2), the global-mean precipitation and evaporation decreases by about 1.3% but runoff over land increases by 7.5% primarily due to increases over tropical land. In the model, more reflective marine clouds cool the atmospheric column over ocean. The result is a sinking motion over oceans and upward motion over land. We attribute the increased runoff over land to this increased upward motion over land when marine clouds are made more reflective. Our results suggest that, in contrast to other proposals to increase planetary albedo, offsetting mean global warming by reducing marine cloud droplet size does not necessarily lead to a drying, on average, of the continents. However, we note that the changes in precipitation, evaporation and P-E are dominated by small but significant areas, and given the highly idealized nature of this study, a more thorough and broader assessment would be required for proposals of altering marine cloud properties on a large scale.

Present status of Gottigere Tank : Indicator of Decision maker’s apathy

Gottigere lake with a water spread area of about 14.98 ha is located in the Bellandur Lake catchment of the South Pennar River basin. In recent years, this lake catchment has been subjected to environmental stress mainly due to the rampant unplanned developmental activities in the catchment. The functional ability of the ecosystem is impaired due to structural changes in the ecosystem. This is evident from poor water quality, breeding of disease vectors, contamination of groundwater in the catchment, frequent flooding in the catchment due to topography alteration, decline in groundwater table, erosion in lake bed, etc. The development plans of the region (current as well as the proposed) ignore the integrated planning approaches considering all components of the ecosystem. Serious threats to the sustainability of the region due to lack of holistic approaches in aquatic resources management are land use changes (removal of vegetation cover, etc.), point and non-point sources of pollution impairing water quality, dumping of solid waste (building waste, etc.). Conservation of lake ecosystem is possible only when the physical and chemical integrity of its catchment is maintained. Alteration in the catchment either due to land use changes (leading to paved surface area from vegetation cover), alteration in topography, construction of roads in the immediate vicinity are detrimental to water yield in the catchment and hence, the sustenance of the lake. Open spaces in the form of lakes and parks aid as kidney and lung in an urban ecosystem, which maintain the health of the people residing in the locality. Identification of core buffer zones and conservation of buffer zones (500 to 1000 m from shore) is to be taken up on priority for conservation and sustainable management of Bangalore lakes. Bangalore is located over a ridge delineating four watersheds, viz. Hebbal, Koramangala, Challaghatta and Vrishabhavathi. Lakes and tanks are an integral part of natural drainage and help in retaining water during rainfall, which otherwise get drained off as flash floods. Each lake harvests rainwater from its catchment and surplus flows downstream spilling into the next lake in the chain. The topography of Bangalore has uniquely supported the creation of a large number of lakes. These lakes form chains, being a series of impoundments across streams. This emphasises the interconnectivity among Bangalore lakes, which has to be retained to prevent Bangalore from flooding or from water scarcity. The main source of replenishment of groundwater is the rainfall. The slope of the terrain allows most of the rainwater to flow as run-off. With the steep gradients available in the major valleys of Bangalore, the rainwater will flow out of the city within four to five hours. Only a small fraction of the rainwater infiltrates into the soil. The infiltration of water into the subsoil has declined with more and more buildings and paved road being constructed in the city. Thus the natural drainage of Bangalore is governed by flows from the central ridge to all lower contours and is connected with various tanks and ponds. There are no major rivers flowing in Bangalore and there is an urgent need to sustain these vital ecosystems through proper conservation and management measures. The proposed peripheral ring road connecting Hosur Road (NH 7) and Mysore Road (SH 17) at Gottigere lake falls within the buffer zone of the lake. This would alter the catchment integrity and hence water yield affecting flora, fauna and local people, and ultimately lead to the disappearance of Gottigere lake. Developmental activities in lake catchments, which has altered lake’s ecological integrity is in violation of the Indian Fisheries Act – 1857, the Indian Forest Act – 1927, Wildlife (Protection) Act – 1972, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act – 1974, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act – 1977, Forest (Conservation Act) – 1980, Environmental (Protection) Act – 1986, Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act – 1991 and National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development – 1992. Considering 65% decline of waterbodies in Bangalore (during last three decades), decision makers should immediately take preventive measures to ensure that lake ecosystems are not affected. This report discusses the impacts due to the proposed infrastructure developmental activities in the vicinity of Gottigere tank.

Biomonitoring of Lotic habitats through Diatoms

Freshwater ecosystems vary in size and composition and contain a wide range of organisms which interact with each other and with the environment. These interactions are between organisms and the environment as nutrient cycling, biomass formation and transfer, maintenance of internal environment and interactions with the external environment. The range of organisms present in aquatic communities decides the generation and transfer function of biomass, which defines and characterises the system. These organisms have distinct roles as they occupy particular trophic levels, forming an interconnected system in a food chain. Availability of resources and competition would primarily determine the balance of individual species within the food web, which in turn influences the variety and proportions of the different organisms, with important implications for the overall functioning of the system. This dynamic and diverse relationship decides the physical, chemical and biological elements across spatial and temporal scales in the aquatic ecosystem, which can be recorded by regular inventorying and monitoring to maintain the integrity and conserve the ecosystem. Regular environmental monitoring, particularly water quality monitoring allows us to detect, assess and manage the overall impacts on the rivers. The appreciation of water quality is in constant flux. Water quality assessments derived through the biotic indices, i.e. assessments based on observations of the resident floral and faunal communities has gained importance in recent years. Biological evaluations provide a description of the water quality that is often not achievable from elemental analyses alone. A biological indicator (or bioindicator) is a taxon or taxa selected based on its sensitivity to a particular attribute, and then assessed to make inferences about that attribute. In other words, they are a substitute for directly measuring abiotic features or other biota. Bioindicators are evaluated through presence or absence, condition, relative abundance, reproductive success, community structure (i.e. composition and diversity), community function (i.e. trophic structure), or any combination thereof.Biological communities reflect the overall ecological integrity by integrating various stresses, thus providing a broad measure of their synergistic impacts. Aquatic communities, both plants and animals, integrate and reflect the effects of chemical and physical disturbances that occur over extended periods of time. Monitoring procedures based on the biota measure the health of a river and the ability of aquatic ecosystems to support life as opposed to simply characterising the chemical and physical components of a particular system. This is the central purpose of assessing the biological condition of aquatic communities of a river.Diatoms (Bacillariophyceae), blue green algae (Cyanophyceae), green algae (Chlorophyceae), and red algae (Rhodphyceae) are the main groups of algae in flowing water. These organisms are widely used as biological indicators of environmental health in the aquatic ecosystem because algae occupy the most basic level in the transfer of energy through natural aquatic systems. The distribution of algae in an aquatic ecosystem is directly related to the fundamental factors such as physical, chemical and biological constituents. Soft algae (all the algal groups except diatoms) have also been used as indicators of biological integrity, but they may have less efficiency than diatoms in this respect due to their highly variable morphology. The diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) comprise a ubiquitous, highly successful and distinctive group of unicellular algae with the most obvious distinguishing characteristic feature being siliceous cell walls (frustules). The photosynthetic organisms living within its photic zone are responsible for about one-half of global primary productivity. The most successful organisms are thought to be photosynthetic prokaryotes (cyanobacteria and prochlorophytes) and a class of eukaryotic unicellular algae known as diatoms. Diatoms are likely to have arisen around 240 million years ago following an endosymbiotic event between a red eukaryotic alga and a heterotrophic flagellate related to the Oomycetes.The importance of algae to riverine ecology is easily appreciated when one considers that they are primary producers that convert inorganic nutrients into biologically active organic compounds while providing physical habitat for other organisms. As primary producers, algae transform solar energy into food from which many invertebrates obtain their energy. Algae also transform inorganic nutrients, such as atmospheric nitrogen into organic forms such as ammonia and amino acids that can be used by other organisms. Algae stabilises the substrate and creates mats that form structural habitats for fish and invertebrates. Algae are a source of organic matter and provide habitat for other organisms such as non-photosynthetic bacteria, protists, invertebrates, and fish. Algae's crucial role in stream ecosystems and their excellent indicator properties make them an important component of environmental studies to assess the effects of human activities on stream health. Diatoms are used as biological indicators for a number of reasons: 1. They occur in all types of aquatic ecosystems. 2. They collectively show a broad range of tolerance along a gradient of aquatic productivity, individual species have specific water chemistry requirements. 3. They have one of the shortest generation times of all biological indicators (~2 weeks). They reproduce and respond rapidly to environmental change and provide early measures of both pollution impacts and habitat restoration. 4. It takes two to three weeks before changes are reflected to a measurable extent in the assemblage composition.

Ecological Assessment of Lentic Water Bodies of Bangalore

The restoration, conservation and management of water resources require a thorough understanding of what constitutes a healthy ecosystem. Monitoring and assessment provides the basic information on the condition of our waterbodies. The present work details the study carried out at two waterbodies, namely, the Chamarajasagar reservoir and the Madiwala Lake. The waterbodies were selected on the basis of their current use and locations. Chamarajasagar reservoir serves the purpose of supplying drinking water to Bangalore city and is located on the outskirts of the city surrounded by agricultural and forest land. On the other hand, Madiwala lake is situated in the heart of Bangalore city receiving an influx of pollutants from domestic and industrial sewage. Comparative assessment of the surface water quality of both were carried out by instituting the various physico–chemical and biological parameters. The physico-chemical analyses included temperature, transparency, pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness, nitrates, phosphates, sodium, potassium and COD measurements of the given waterbody. The analysis was done based on the standard methods prescribed (or recommended) by (APHA) and NEERI. The biological parameter included phytoplankton analysis. The detailed investigations of the parameters, which are well within the tolerance limits in Chamarajasagar reservoir, indicate that it is fairly unpolluted, except for the pH values, which indicate greater alkalinity. This may be attributed to the natural causes and the agricultural runoff from the catchment. On the contrary, the limnology of Madiwala lake is greatly influenced by the inflow of sewage that contributes significantly to the dissolved solids of the lake water, total hardness, alkalinity and a low DO level. Although, the two study areas differ in age, physiography, chemistry and type of inflows, they still maintain a phytoplankton distribution overwhelmingly dominated by Cyanophyceae members,specifically Microcystis aeruginosa. These blue green algae apparently enter the waterbodies from soil, which are known to harbour a rich diversity of blue green flora with several species common to limnoplankton, a feature reported to be unique to the south Indian lakes.Chamarajasagar water samples revealed five classes of phytoplankton, of which Cyanophyceae (92.15 percent) that dominated other algal forms comprised of one single species of Microcystis aeruginosa. The next major class of algae was Chlorophyceae (3.752 percent) followed by Dinophyceae (3.51 percent), Bacillariophyceae (0.47 percent) and a sparsely available and unidentified class (0.12 percent).Madiwala Lake phytoplankton, in addition to Cyanophyceae (26.20 percent), revealed a high density of Chlorophyceae members (73.44 percent) dominated by Scenedesmus sp.,Pediastrum sp., and Euglena sp.,which are considered to be indicators of organic pollution. The domestic and industrial sewage, which finds its way into the lake, is a factor causing organic pollution. As compared to the other classes, Euglenophyceae and Bacillariophyceae members were the lowest in number. Thus, the analysis of various parameters indicates that Chamarajasagar reservoir is relatively unpolluted except for the high percentage of Microcystis aeruginosa, and a slightly alkaline nature of water. Madiwala lake samples revealed eutrophication and high levels of pollution, which is clarified by the physico–chemical analysis, whose values are way above the tolerance limits. Also, the phytoplankton analysis in Madiwala lake reveals the dominance of Chlorophyceae members, which indicate organic pollution (sewage being the causative factor).

Groundwater Management in India:Physical, Institutional and Policy Alternatives

Groundwater constitutes a vital natural resource for sustaining India’s agricultural economy and meeting the country’s social, ecological and environmental goals. It is a unique resource, widely available, providing security against droughts and yet it is closely linked to surface-water resources and the hydrological cycle. Its availability depends on geo-hydrological conditions and characteristics of aquifers, from deep to alluvium, sediment crystalline rocks to basalt formations; and agro-climate from humid to subhumid and semi-arid to arid. Its reliable supply, uniform quality and temperature, relative turbidity, pollution-safe, minimal evaporation losses, and low cost of development are attributes making groundwater more attractive compared to other resources. It plays a key role in the provision of safe drinking water to rural populations. For example, already almost 80% of domestic water use in rural areas in India is groundwater-supplied, and much of it is being supplied to farms, villages and small towns. Inadequate control of the use of groundwater, indiscriminate application of agrochemicals and unrestrained pollution of the rural environment by other human activities make groundwater usage unsustainable, necessitating proper management in the face of the twin demand for water of good quality for domestic supply and adequate supply for irrigation, ensuring equity, efficiency and sustainability of the resource. Groundwater irrigation has overtaken surface irrigation in the early 1980s, supported by well energization. It is estimated that there are about 24 million energised wells and tube wells now and it is driven by demand rather than availability, evident through the greater occurrence of wells in districts with high population densities. Apart from aquifer characteristics, land fragmentation and landholding size are the factors that decide the density of wells. The ‘rise and fall’ of local economies dependent on groundwater can be summarized as: the green revolution of 1980s, groundwaterbased agrarian boom, early symptoms of groundwater overdraft, and decline of the groundwater socio-ecology. The social characteristics and policy interventions typical of each stage provide a fascinating insight into the human-resource dynamics. This book is a compilation of nine research papers discussing various aspects of groundwater management. It attempts to integrate knowledge about the physical system, the socio-economic system, the institutional set-up and the policy environment to come out with a more realistic analysis of the situation with regard to the nature, characteristics and intensity of resource use, the size of the economy the use generates, and the negative socioeconomic consequences. Complex variables addressed in this regard focusing on northern Gujarat are the stock of groundwater available in the region, its hydrodynamics, its net outflows against inflows, the economics of its intensive use (particularly irrigation in semi-arid and arid regions), its criticality in the regional hydroecological regime, ethical aspects and social aspects of its use. The first chapter by Dinesh Kumar and Singh, dwells on complex groundwater socio-ecology of India, while emphasizing the need for policy measures to address indiscriminate over-exploitation of dwindling resources. The chapter also explores the nature of groundwater economy and the role of electricity prices on it. The next chapter on groundwater issue in north Gujarat provides a description of groundwater resource characteristics followed by a detailed analysis of the groundwater depletion and quality deterioration problems in the region and their undesirable consequences on the economy, ecosystem health and the society. Considering water-buyers and wellowning farmers individually, a methodology for economic valuation of groundwater in regions where its primary usage is in agriculture, and as assessment of the groundwater economy based on case studies from north Gujarat is presented in the fourth chapter. The next chapter focuses on the extent of dependency of milk production on groundwater, which includes the water embedded in green and dry fodder and animal feed. The study made a realistic estimate of irrigation water productivity in terms of the physics and economics of milk production. The sixth chapter analyses the extent of reduction in water usage, increase in yield and overall increase in physical productivity of alfalfa with the use of the drip irrigation system. The chapter also provides a detailed synthesis of the costs and benefits associated with the use of drip irrigation systems. A linear programmingbased optimization model with the objective to minimize groundwater use taking into account the interaction between two distinct components – farming and dairying under the constraints of food security and income stability for different scenarios, including shift in cropping pattern, introduction of water-efficient crops, water- saving technologies in addition to the ‘business as usual’ scenario is presented in the seventh chapter. The results show that sustaining dairy production in the region with reduced groundwater draft requires crop shifts and adoption of water-saving technologies. The eighth chapter provides evidences to prove that the presence of adequate economic incentive would encourage farmers to adopt water-saving irrigation devices, based on the findings of market research with reference to the level of awareness among farmers of technologies and the factors that decide the adoption of water-saving technologies. However, now the marginal cost of using electricity for agricultural pumping is almost zero. The economic incentives are strong and visible only when the farmers are either water-buyers or have to manage irrigation with limited water from tube-well partnerships. The ninth chapter explores the socio-economic viability of increasing the power tariff and inducing groundwater rationing as a tool for managing energy and groundwater demand, considering the current estimate of the country’s annual economic loss of Rs 320 billion towards electricity subsidy in the farm sector. The tenth chapter suggests private tradable property rights and development of water markets as the institutional tool for achieving equity, efficiency and sustainability of groundwater use. It identifies the externalities for local groundwater management and emphasizes the need for managing groundwater by local user groups, supported by a thorough analysis of groundwater socio-ecology in India. An institutional framework for managing the resource based on participatory approach that is capable of internalizing the externalities, comprising implementation of institutional and technical alternatives for resource management is also presented. Major findings of the analyses and key arguments in each chapter are summarized in the concluding chapter. Case studies of the social and economic benefits of groundwater use, where that use could be described as unsustainable, are interesting. The benefits of groundwater use are outlined and described with examples of social and economic impacts of groundwater and the negative aspects of groundwater development with the compilation of environmental problems based on up-to-date research results. This publication with a well-edited compilation of case studies is informative and constitutes a useful publication for students and professionals.

Fusion of multi resolution remote sensing data for urban sprawl analysis

Urban population is growing at around 2.3 percent per annum in India. This is leading to urbanisation and often fuelling the dispersed development in the outskirts of urban and village centres with impacts such as loss of agricultural land, open space, and ecologically sensitive habitats. This type of upsurge is very much prevalent and persistent in most places, often inferred as sprawl. The direct implication of such urban sprawl is the change in land use and land cover of the region and lack of basic amenities, since planners are unable to visualise this type of growth patterns. This growth is normally left out in all government surveys (even in national population census), as this cannot be grouped under either urban or rural centre. The investigation of patterns of growth is very crucial from regional planning point of view to provide basic amenities in the region. The growth patterns of urban sprawl can be analysed and understood with the availability of temporal multi-sensor, multi-resolution spatial data. In order to optimise these spectral and spatial resolutions, image fusion techniques are required. This aids in integrating a lower spatial resolution multispectral (MSS) image (for example, IKONOS MSS bands of 4m spatial resolution) with a higher spatial resolution panchromatic (PAN) image (IKONOS PAN band of 1m spatial resolution) based on a simple spectral preservation fusion technique - the Smoothing Filter-based Intensity Modulation (SFIM). Spatial details are modulated to a co-registered lower resolution MSS image without altering its spectral properties and contrast by using a ratio between a higher resolution image and its low pass filtered (smoothing filter) image. The visual evaluation and statistical analysis confirms that SFIM is a superior fusion technique for improving spatial detail of MSS images with the preservation of spectral properties.