This study assessed the demand for internet services by middle-aged adults in Mankweng township in Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study was conducted in two parts of the township (Units B & F). The aim of the study was to assess the demand for internet services by middle-aged adults and to establish the underlying challenges faced by these adults related to accessing the internet during the Covid-19 pandemic era. The research was conducted by assessing the level of internet access, and evaluating socio-economic aspects influencing the use of the internet by the sampled people. Qualitative research was used to conduct the study and interviews were the data collection method. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was executed to analyse data. The findings revealed that most middle-aged adults are aware of internet services but experienced digital divide challenges of internet access and use. Internet access and usage are still low in Mankweng. This study offers recommendations for improving the awareness, adoption and use of internet services by these adults to enable them to work from home (WFH), access e-health and e-learning services.

This paper analyses the historical events of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and an effort has been taken to identify the root causes of the prevailing tensions. The key argument is the fabricated history which is creating disparities in the understanding of the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) and the tribal communities of CHT. Some vested corners and feudal classes always tried to do politics by exploiting the emotion of the general tribal populations of CHT. It has been observed that the tribal populations badly suffered in different times of history due to inappropriate decisions of their leaders; maximum times they moved against the flow and the course of actions they have decided was not welcomed by their counterparts. Sometimes personal interest of the feudal classes got priority instead of community well-being. In the early 1960s, the enormous sufferings of the mass tribal populationscaused by ‘Kaptai Dam’ was acceptable to Chakma Circle Chief Tridiv Roy. Although Bangladesh as a country was not responsible for any of the sufferings of the tribal communities in CHT, they started an armed insurgency movement against the GOB in 1976. After the peace accord in 1997, the insurgents did not deposit maximum of their illegal arms to the GOB as promised, rather there are four different fractions of tribal regional parties at present. All the parties are maintaining armed groups for area domination and easy illegal tax collections. Besides these challenges, there are enormous potentialities in CHT; if those are well-nurtured, there likely to have effective changes in the socio-economic and political sectors. In the upcoming days, the development and economic solvency of the general people might become a situation changer in CHT.

In Lebanon, even though the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) released a decre law number 9091, which details the public schools in Lebanon should be built upon, the decree doesn’t mention the criteria required for accessibility of learner with special needs. Thus, there is a need to come up with several criteria which meet the necessities of learners with special needs, which will help the responsible people while building inclusive pilot schools. This study is concerned with helping overcome the physical barriers by suggesting different criteria for inclusive schools. The data for this study was collected from private schools in Lebanon. In this study, the researchers analyzed the data quantitatively and qualitatively, which is used in the resource facilities. The results of this study cannot be generalized to all schools in Lebanon. Findings reveal that most private schools are not fully equipped with the essential criteria to meet the necessities of the learners with special needs. They still lack the significant criteria of building facilities and specially adapted rooms. The study is concluded by several significant criteria to be considered based on the previous literature obtained from different resources.

In the past seven decades, the Indian government has given more importance to agricultural production and food security than the income of farmers. Most significantly, during the last half-century, India’s production of food crops multiplied 4.7 fold. However, the strategies could not identify the need to increase the farmers’ income, and there was no direct relation to support farmers’ welfare. The cropping pattern is also monotonically biased towards limited crops, especially rice and wheat in the green revolution period. Of the Indian total cultivated area, more than 30 percent of the area was under wheat and rice. Demand for high-value foodstuffs is on the rise in the 1990s due to increasing population, high-income growth, changing food consumption habits, awareness of the high nutritional value, and great emphasis on value addition and change in export policy. In this problem of background, the central government set an objective to double farmers’ income by 2022-23 to promote farmers’ livelihood, reduce farming distress and fetch parity between farmers’ income and non-agricultural professions. According to Niti Aayog, doubling real farmers’ income till 2022-23 as the base year of 2015-16 requires a 10.41% annual growth rate in farmers’ income. Therefore, strong methods are needed to harness all potential sources of growth in farmers’ income. To attain doubling the farmers’ income, there are three possible ways available (i) new development initiatives, (ii) new technology adoption, and (iii) policy reforms in agriculture. This research study is one of the possible ways to examine the divers of crop diversification and its impact on farmers’ income

India has made significant advancements in agriculture in the last five-six decades, in which the role of the seed sector has been substantial. A superior quality seed increases productivity per unit area and helps produce uniform crops without any admixtures, which is important for obtaining high prices on the market. The majority of the population in Eastern Uttar Pradesh is engaged in agriculture, and it employs a significant share in the workforce and income of the population. The present study was taken with the objectives to study the country’s seed scenario with special emphasis on Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The study is based on secondary data and information collected from various sources. Three generation system of seed multiplication is followed in India. Total quality seed availability in India during 2018-19 was 398.88 lakh quintals. The share of the public and private sector in total seed quantity was 43:57. The data reveals that the increase in quality seed availability has a huge bearing on food grain production. Analysis of Seed replacement rate reflects the incremental trend in nationwide SRR in major crops and is due to combined efforts of varied seed stakeholders and adept policy backing. Eastern Uttar Pradesh has an area of about 8.88 million ha, which is around 35.5 percent of the total geographical area of Uttar Pradesh. The total population of Eastern Uttar Pradesh is around 8.25 crores which is 41.67 percent of the state population. The top five crops i.e., wheat, paddy, maize, lentil, and pigeon pea, occupied around 86 percent of the gross cropped area in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The cropping intensity and irrigation intensity of Eastern Uttar Pradesh are 157.99 and 150.74, respectively. The total certified, foundation, and breeder seed requirement of Eastern Uttar Pradesh is around 5747155 quintals, 162369 quintals, and 5296 quintals, respectively. In total, breeder seed requirement around 97 percent of requirement comes from four crops, namely wheat, paddy, gram and pea. The average annual breeder seed production of major crops under NARES was 1599.15 quintals against indent of 664.22 quintals. The average annual production of all classes of seed by NARES Institute was 17310.71 quintal in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Eastern Uttar Pradesh produces sufficient quantity of breeder seed as per total requirement on the basis of acreage under paddy, Pigeon pea, and Rapeseed & Mustard. The seed production, availability, and supply scenario in Eastern Uttar Pradesh can be improved by strengthening participatory seed production technology, seed village scheme, and seed production under the Public-Private-Farmers partnership. There is also a need to follow the general system of seed multiplication from breeder seed to certified seed. Reduction in cost of seed production and availability of trained manpower in seed production, storage, and processing will further improve seed scenario in the area.

Stress tolerance and Occupational Self-efficacy directly influence the performance of the teachers. Different sources of stress affecting the teacher are time pressure, low salary, workload, being evaluated by others, problems with co-workers, coping with novelty, administrative reasons, conflict of duties, and family problems. Occupational self-efficacy was measured among other groups such as factory workers (Çetin and Aşkun, 2018), doctors (Ramakant et al. 2016), nurses (Mahdizadeh et al. 2016), and legal professions (Teichmann et al. 2015). The present study was conducted on a group of teachers (160) from various types of schools (Govt. N-11, Aided N- 113, Private N-36). The primary objectives of the study were to examine the influence of gender and type of school on stress tolerance and occupational self-efficacy. The results revealed that gender did not have any influence upon both of these factors. But in the case of Occupational self efficacy, a significant group difference was observed. Teachers from the private sector showed a higher level of occupational self-efficacy than teachers from the government sector.

Rice is estimated to contribute about 2.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India. Rice cultivation in Tamil Nadu is done in kuruvai, and samba seasons, Kancheepuram and Tiruvarur districts had a maximum area under CO 51 cultivation; these two districts were purposively selected for the study with a sample size of 300 respondents. The annual income can be sustained and increased through the adoption of high-yielding rice variety CO 51. It is possible through social participation that includes extension agency contact, which leads to undertaking training, and the educational status facilitates the same. The age of a farmer and the educational status will impact social contact, which is essential for moving out and establishing contact with extension agencies. The extension agency contact had a significant relationship with adoption in both the Kancheepuram and Tiruvarur districts. These factors, combined with credit orientation and farm size, plays a significant role in the adoption. Thus, with a limited scope on other fronts, the farmer has to necessarily raise production levels and adopt the latest variety, which has more yields. This study recommends the policies to build initiatives on widespread of an improved package of practices, which results in the adoption of rice variety, CO 51 cultivation.

Veganism is the fastest growing food trend in western countries. It has also started to spread its wings in India. It is essential to ze and understand the nature, scope, advantages, and disadvantages of the system before it flourishes with unanticipated consequences. Limited literature could be seen on this emerging concept with an Indian perspective. Thus; this paper explores all possible impacts of the vegan diet on multiple aspects like agriculture, dairy sector, health, climate and environment, economy, and the emergence of new agro-based industries. Several national and international research and review articles, annual reports and internet contents were collected and reviewed for this paper. Vegan dietary pattern equally has both pros and cons in terms of health, environment, and economy. Thus most in-depth research and proper investigation are required to streamline the emerging concept to reap maximum benefits.

The ‘principles of justice’ very well follow free thinking and problem solving and involve the pre-eminence of fairness and uniformity in society. The tribes, at the recent parameter of development, have lost their lands and livelihood due to rapid, irregular development projects with no outcome and massive displacement without proper and adequate rehabilitation and resettlement process. The Pathalgadi movement is introduced as illegal, anti-national, and Maoist-driven by the state administration led by the depressed tribals on tenacious land alienation as a democratic affirmation for realizing their rights as government negligence towards a balanced form of developmental perspectives. The paper analyzes the issues leading to tribals’ discontent and their struggle for democratic and self-governance based on constitutional provisions.

Agriculture is an important sector for Indian economy where around 70 per cent of rural population depends on farming and allied activities for the livelihood and majority (86%) are small and marginal. Though these farmers produce food of sufficient amount, the output receive isn’t worth satisfying due to various factors like lack of facilities-transportation, storage, processing. To empower the farming community and making them more stable and improving their conditions to make the agriculture selfsufficient, the concept of doubling the farmers income by 2022 was introduced. Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) is one of the strategies through which aim of doubling farmers income by 2022 is to achieve. 15-20 farmers interest groups (FIGs) at village level collectively form an organization which not only focus on developing socio-economic status of their farmers but also providing better market linkages and developing entrepreneurial skill and business plans of the farmers through strategic planning.

Fishery is an important sector in Indian economy, provides employment to millions of people and ensures the country’s food security. At present India is contributing about 4 per cent share among the major marine capture producing countries in the world. The production quantity of Indian fish and fish products through inland and marine has increased over the years due to technological developments in production, captures, processing, distribution, transportation, and storage. This study assesses the export performance at basic level of fish and fish products from India. The global and national level data on marine products production, utilization and trade were collected from Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) websites respectively. The results show that production of world fisheries & aquaculture, utilization of world fisheries and aquaculture products by human over the period from 1986 to 2018 has increased and the trade value of the export of fish at global level during the year 2018 is about 164.1 billion US dollars. China, holds the major share in marine capture production, followed by Peru and Indonesia. In India, Frozen shrimp remained the major export item followed by frozen fish. At present India is contributing about 4 per cent among the major marine capture producing countries in the world. India export majority of the marine products to United States of America, followed by China, South East Asia and European countries. Among Indian states, Andhra Pradesh is the leading exporter, followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Kerala. Thus, the performance in production of fish and fish products export shows an increasing trend at national level.

Realizing the great importance of bringing improvement in children and women’s health and nutritional status, Integrated Child Development Services (ICSD) Scheme was launched on 2nd October 1975. The objective of present study is to evaluate the community participation in ICDS programme in Punjab and Rajasthan Sates of India. In order to achieve the objective of the present study, a total 80 Village Sarpanches comprising 40 Village Sarpanches from Punjab and 80 Village Sarpanches from Rajasthan

selected for this study. It was found that near half 47.50% of the village Sarpanches in Punjab and half 50% of the Sarpanches in Rajasthan did not make any contribution to the AWWs due to various petty reasons like AWWs did not ask them for help, lack of time of Sarpanches and they did not know in what way they could contribute to the different activities of AWCs. It was extremely disappointing to find that a majority 57.50% of the village Sarpanches in Punjab and 60% of the Sarpanches in Rajasthan did not make any visit at all to the AWCs. A high majority 97.50% village Sarpanches in Punjab and all sarpanches in Rajasthan answered that they did not form any local committee to help the AWWs to conduct different activities and again a high majority 97.50% village Sarpanches in Punjab and 92.50% of the Sarpanches in Rajasthan admitted that there was no organization like youth club or village school teachers or voluntary organizations at the village level to help the AWWs.

Empowerment involves control and choice in power structures that exist in household communities, nations, and worldwide. Women empowerment involves their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home, and the ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order nationally and internationally. Employment can be a source of empowerment for women as it provides financial independence and thereby identity in the society and power structure in the family. This study reveals the employment of women in Barmer concerning other districts of Rajasthan and various districts of Rajasthan. The demographic study gives us data about sex ratio too. The sex ratio indicates the status of women in society. The education of women is the most powerful tool to get a respectful position in society. This study noticed that the female literacy rate is lesser than the male literacy rate. The literacy rate of women also varies in different districts of Rajasthan. Although initiatives are undertaken for the development of education, employment status of women, there is a need to create awareness to achieve the desired goal of empowerment in the state.

The cost of cultivation of crops is vital economic indicator being taken into consideration for framing the agricultural strategies by Government of India. The study used the cost of cultivation data for the period from 2000-01 to 2015-16 compiled from various sources and publications for profitability analysis of wheat crop. The study used the “Cost of Cultivation of Principal Crops in Rajasthan” by DES, New Delhi uses different cost concepts for estimating costs and returns. In the present study, the cost C2 was considered for computing profitability. Cost C2 in CCPC data covers all the variables and fixed costs. Net income and return per rupee invested on wheat crop had increased during the period TE 2003 to TE 2015. Farmers received 2.05 rupee extra after spending 1rupee cost on wheat crop in TE 2015. Total cost per hectare at cost C2 was found to be ` 20293.80 in TE 2003 and ` 50404.18 in TE 2013, it showed 148.37 per cent increase. Cost C1 had the highest percentage change of 149.79 per cent over the period. Cost A1 and cost A2 showed 129.05 and 125.58 per cent increase, respectively during TE 2003 to TE 2015. Gross income from wheat increased from ` 27378.01/hectare to ` 67796.52/hectare between TE 2003 to TE 2015 with 147.63 per cent increase in gross return.