CONTENTS

Effort has been made in this paper to examine the impact of SHGs on the basis of occupation, income and benefits both at pre-SHG and post-SHG stages. It has been evident that 25 per cent of the respondents had no occupation in the pre-SHG stage whereas cent per cent is occupied at the post-SHG stage. The occupation chosen by the SHG members depends on the availability of skill and resources. It has been also observed that the income of the members of the SHG has increased substantially after joining SHG. Increase in income had helped to reduce the levels of poverty to a great extent in several families.

Food labels are not only an essential component of a comprehensive public health and nutrition strategy, but also marketing. Food labels help consumers to make informed decisions about what they chose to consume. Food labels help consumers to make informed decisions about what they chose to consume. This study was conducted among the population of twin-island Caribbean nation, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago with a sample of 320. The objectives of the study are: to examine the extent to which consumers use various components of the food label; and to study the influence of socio-demographic and health related factors on the degree of use of nutrition labels. The study found that the aggregate degree of importance attributed to food labels far outweighed their actual usage. Of the explanatory variables included in the model to determine the influence on the degree of usage of food labels, six explanatory variables, viz., (i) diabetes; (ii) allergies; (iii) gender-male; (iv) level of schooling; (v) fast food consumption and (vi) fiber consumption had significant impact on the use of food label information. Although Trinidadians may have an appreciation for the information provided on food labels, they lack the incentive to actually incorporate it in their daily lives which could be achieved through proper health education campaigns.

The Central Business District (CBD) developed as the market square in ancient cities. On market days, farmers, merchants and consumers would gather in the center of the city to exchange, buy, and sell goods. This ancient market is the forerunner to the Central Business District (CBD). As cities grew and developed, Central Business District (CBD) became fixed location where retail and commerce took place. The Central Business District (CBD) is typically at or near the oldest part of the city. A variety of goods are sold in the different markets of Jammu city. However, some goods are sold in some markets. This leads to functional specialization of the different market centers. The number of establishments present and the types of goods sold, help in determining the intra- city hierarchy of markets. In this paper an attempt has been made to identify the types of functions which are further ranked by applying Kendall’s method.

The paper examines the values of having sons and daughters as perceived by mothers and how these values change with the socio-economic status of the respondents by analyzing data from Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. The sample comprised of 417 mothers in the age range of 30-49 years. The respondent’s perceptions of the value of children were measured by means of open ended questions. The great variety of mother’s responses were coded and clubbed into three main categories: economic/utilitarian values, socio-cultural values and psychological values. Some very interesting findings emerged from the present investigation. Results indicated that the values of having children in the state of Himachal Pradesh are multi-dimensional. However, sons were desired or valued primarily for economic and socio-cultural reasons such as old age security and continuity of family name regardless of the mother’s education, work status and household income. The instrumental value of sons, especially expected economic help, is inversely related to socio-economic levels and the opposite pattern was noted for most measures of psychological appreciation which becomes important at higher levels of development. On the other hand, daughters were desired for utilitarian reasons by unemployed mothers with fewer years of schooling whereas the employed mothers with higher educational attainment value daughters for emotional support.

Phytoextraction, is an effective and promising means to cure soil contamination with heavy metals. The present study investigates the ability of three vegetables plants for removal of heavy metals from the contaminated soil and metal mobilization to different plant parts. The three plants selected for the study, Momordica charantia, Vigna unguiculata and Solanum melongena were grown for 90 days in soil artificially contaminated with cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) (50mg metal/kg of soil). The concentrations of the two metals were observed to be higher in roots of Momordica charantia and Vigna unguiculata than in soil, but root Cd level of Solanum melongena was slightly lower than that of soil after 90 days. Translocation potential of the heavy metals indicated higher accumulation of Cd in roots of Momordica charantia and Solanum melongena than in leaves while the pattern was completely opposite in Vigna unguiculata. Lead accumulation was higher in roots than in leaves for all the three plant species studied. The Translocation Factor (TF) of Cd for the three plants was in the range of 1.16 to 2.29 whereas, TF values of Pb remained <1, indicating that only small amount of Pb was translocated from roots to aerial parts.

Emotions are universally experienced irrespective of culture and geographical location. They are subject to cultural connotations, intercultural settings, and interpersonal relationships. Emotional Intelligence constitutes of identification, management and judgement of emotions for self and others. This fulfills the purpose of socio-cultural communication. Different paradigms have emphasized varied perspectives to understand emotional development as a result of social setting. Evolutionists were pre-occupied with social roles that emotions facilitated, modern day theorist position on a spectrum of debates (positivist to constructivist). In a world where survival is based on exchange, emotional reciprocity holds connect with status, power, relation, setting, and wider network. Individuals not physically emote but contextually learn to display emotions. The evolutionary process and continuous revisions in academia, medicine, corporate roles and other professions benchmark emotionally competent individuals. According to sociological analysis, geographical locations play a significant role in emotional aspects of an individual’s personality. Therefore, this paper reviews how residing in a particular social environment can affect emotional competence, particularly in children. The scope of this paper remains on the increased awareness about sociological revelations that influence experiences. This implies to bring a change in thinking pattern and in historical definitions of concepts.

Once known for its natural beauty and called as heaven on earth, Kashmir is torn between two nations of India and Pakistan. The verdant green forests, sweet springs, perennial rivers, picturesque, alpines scenery and pleasant climate of Kashmir valley has remained an internationally acclaimed tourist destination. But unfortunately, conflict and instability in Jammu and Kashmir have been a major hindrance to its development and progress levels. Tourism is identified as the engine of growth and Development of Jammu and Kashmir economy in general and Kashmir valley in particular. The development of tourist industry can have a significant impact on the overall growth of the state, because of its ability to create direct and indirect employment, as well as growth in allied industries. Tourism will likely contribute to the growth of secondary sectors such as handicrafts, which have historically benefitted from visitors to the state. As tourism is widely recognized as a major mechanism of employment generation, especially in the service sector, holds significant role for poverty alleviation and unemployment in the state. Kashmir being an important tourist destination in India and elsewhere has witnessed downfall because of the ongoing unrest especially during the last two decades which has hindered the smooth growth of tourism industry. The tourism in the whole state was affected badly due the conflict, tourists stopped to visit Kashmir. All the tourism stakeholders were in loss and the unemployment increased swiftly in the state as a whole due to the turmoil in the Kashmir and created negative image of valley in the minds of tourists. Tourism around the world is considered as a noteworthy device of advancement and in the current past it has demonstrated its potential by rising as the quickest developing Industry contributing around 9% to worldwide Gross Domestic Product 8.7% of aggregate business. The present paper investigates the impact of conflict on the tourism sector in Kashmir and followed by some suggestions and recommendations aimed at optimally exploiting the potentials of Kashmir tourism in the fast improving socio-political scenario.

‘Deprivation’ the term commonly used in social sciences that refers to a situation in which people feel themselves deprived, either in comparison to other people or in comparison to own previous condition. On the other hand, the term ‘oldest old’, generally used to refer to the population aged 85 and older, was coined for a 1984 session on this population in the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). However, in India the term ‘Super Senior Citizen’ is used to designate the elderly people above 80 years of age in case of income tax assessment. The oldest old subpopulation in India is growing much faster than any other age group and due to their physical incapability they fall in peril situation which make them more dependent on others for their needs of financial support, medical assistance and social services etc. Therefore, the ‘oldest-old’ or ‘super senior citizen’ is that group of people who are the sufferer of deprivation. The author of the present paper aims to highlight the deprivation consequence among the oldest old population residing in the rural areas of Medinipur Sadar Block under Paschim Medinipur District. The deprivation consequence has been described on the basis of the first hand data collected by the author on the Financial Support, Living Arrangement, House-hold Chores, Physical Mobility, Main Source of Care and Measurement of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) of the oldest old population under study area.

The Himalayas, which has been customarily regarded as a land of natural sanctity and divine beauty, has not been free from exploitation for centuries. As a part of imperialistic motif of different intruders, the land has experienced years of plunder and destruction of natural resources. The present paper intends to study the ecological history of the Himalayas to examine how the historical events of invasion coupled with exploitation of resources at different levels and in different forms has lead to changing in the natural morphology of the land and brought into a changed pattern in the geo- bio-physical and natural system of the land. In the wake of modern industrial development, due to a steep rise in the demand for natural resources, the exploitation has increased manifold; that has posed threat to local human and non-human living system in the mountain.