Current Science

Naresh Kumar ¹, D. D. Khandelwal ¹

Affiliations
1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun 248 001, IN

Abstract

In the present study, the strong motion data of the 4 April 2011 western Nepal earthquake (M 5.7) recorded by a dense network of 24 strong motion accelerograph stations have been used to estimate horizontal and vertical component of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) to better understand its bearing on the seismic hazard scenario of the Central Himalayan region. We assimilated attenuation curves using the observed PGA values and found that the zone is associated with higher H/V ratio in which the attenuation trend remains bimodal with one trend for closer distance up to 100-120 km, while the other trend corresponds to distances extending beyond 1000 km. We infer that the two different PGA trends have close bearing on the major tectonics and structural set-up of the region, which is possibly attributed to subsurface structural variation through which the seismic wave travels, suggesting changes of crustal heterogeneities beneath the source zone. The present work may improve the concept of ground motion model for evaluating seismic hazard for the Himalaya.

Keywords

Earthquakes, Peak Ground Acceleration, Seismic Hazard, Strong Motion Data.

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Tapan Kumar Adhya ¹, Naresh Kumar ², Gopal Reddy ³, Appa Rao Podile ⁴, Hameeda Bee ³, Bindiya Samantaray ⁵

Affiliations
1 School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar 751 024, IN
2 Department of Biochemistry, M.S. University, Vadodara 390 002, IN
3 Department of Microbiology, Osmania University, Hyderabad 500 007, IN
4 School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 046, IN
5 Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack 753 006, IN

Abstract

Phosphorus plays a vital role in maintaining soil fertility and securing global food supply by being crucial for plant, human and animal life. Globally phosphorus is mined from geological sediments and most of the mined P is added to agricultural soils to meet the critical need of crop plants for agronomic productivity. However, recovery of P by plants is abysmally low and major amount of added P is fixed in the soil creating a need for addition of P fertilizer. Microorganisms play a fundamental role in mobilizing inorganic and organic P in the soil and the rhizosphere. Wide variety of bacteria, fungi and endophytes solubilizes insoluble P through the production of organic acids, a feature which is genetically controlled and can be suitably manipulated to produce efficient transgenic strains. Plant inoculations with phosphate solubilizing microorganisms (PSMs) during field studies, however, had inconsistent effect on plant growth and crop yields due to variations in soil, crop and environmental factors affecting the survival and colonization of the rhizosphere. Increasing availability of soil P through microbial inoculation will necessitate identification of the most appropriate strains, preparation of effective formulations, and introduction of efficient agronomic managements to ensure delivery and survival of inoculants and associated improvement of P efficiency.

Keywords

Direct Oxidation Pathway, Genomics of MPS, Microbial Phosphate Solubilization, Sustainable P Management, Transgenic P-Solubilizers.

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S. B. Chavan ¹, A. R. Uthappa ¹, K. B. Sridhar ¹, A. Keerthika ², A. K. Handa ¹, Ram Newaj ¹, Naresh Kumar ¹, Dhiraj Kumar ¹, O. P. Chaturvedi ¹

Affiliations
1 ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi 284 003, IN
2 ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, RRS, Pali-Marwar 306 401, IN

Abstract

Trees have been a part of life for centuries in India for sustainable livelihood security. Under the difficult climatic situations, farmers are forced to adopt tree-based systems to secure their income and livelihood. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) harvesting, collection and processing are creating several employment opportunities in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region of India. This article aims to document the livelihood dependency on trees of farmers, tribals and landless labourers for income generation. Surveys and interviews in Bundelkhand region provided an overview of the dependency of different rural communities on NTFPs such as gum, dona pattal, lac from Butea; brooms, jaggery and baskets from Phoenix; flowers and seeds from mahua; bidi leaves from tendu and sticks from bamboo for sustaining their livelihood. To promote NTFPs-based livelihood enterprises, more emphasis should be given for sustainable harvest, value-addition and marketing.

Keywords

Employment Generation, Sustainable Livelihood, Trees.

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Naresh Kumar ¹

Affiliations
1 CSIR-National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies, K. S. Krishnan Marg, Pusa Gate, New Delhi 110 012, IN

Abstract

Impact of socio-economic factors (SEFs) on the academic performance of students has always been a matter of debate. Some studies have argued that students from low socio-economic background lagged behind those from well-to-do families. However, there are also others which rule out this notion. Therefore, this article analyses the impact of parental SEFs on the performance of students in IIT-JEE, which is considered to be one of the most difficult examinations for engineering admission in India. However, there are some limitations of the study due to paucity of time-series data on the relevant attributes.

Keywords

Academic Performance, Coaching Institutions, Socio-Economic Factors.

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Naresh Kumar ¹, Vishal Chauhan ¹, S. Dhamodharan ¹, Gautam Rawat ¹, Devajit Hazarika ¹, P. K. R. Gautam ¹

Affiliations
1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun 248 001, IN

Abstract

A devastating earthquake (M 7.8) occurred in the central part of the Nepal Himalaya on 25 April 2015 at 06:11:26.27 (UTC). USGS reported the epicentre location at 28.147°N and 84.708°E, and focal depth 15 km. The earthquake strongly hit Nepal causing over 7500 deaths and widespread destruction. A historical temple of 19th century was reduced to ruins within a few seconds.

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Nusrat Masood ¹, Akhilesh Kumar Yadav ¹, Naresh Kumar ², Madan Mohan Gupta ¹, Suaib Luqman ¹

Affiliations
1 CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow 226 015, IN
2 Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology, Lucknow 226 008, IN

Abstract

Four flavones (chrysin, baicalein, oroxylin A and hispidulin) characterized from ethanolic ischolar_main extract of Oroxylum indicum (a traditional dietary nutraceutical supplement), were compared with both experimental (radical scavenging action and osmotic fragility test on human erythrocytes) and theoretical (Density functional theory (DFT) (B3LYP/6-31G*) calculations and in silico docking with haemoglobin and albumin) for their redox properties. Raman spectra were examined specifically between 2900 and 3700 cm^–1 and the corresponding peaks were identified for hydroxyl group stretching vibrations. Baicalein and hispidulin had the highest and lowest binding energy respectively for oxyhaemoglobin (oxyHb) and vice versa for deoxyhaemoglobin (deoxyHb), which was one of the major findings revealed in their superposed docked structures where the position of baicalein was not changed unlike hispidulin. On the whole, baicalein is the preeminent flavone as it revealed maximum activity in various antioxidant assays, protection against osmotic fragility and binding energy with oxyHb which can be reasoned out by its least HOMO–LUMO energy gap.

Keywords

Flavones, HOMO–LUMO, Oroxylum indium, Osmotic Fragility, Raman Spectra.

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Pradeep Srivastava ¹, Anil Kumar ¹, Randheer Singh ², Oshin Deepak ³, Arjit M. Kumar ³, Yogesh Ray ⁴, R. Jayangondaperumal ¹, Binita Phartiyal ², Poonam Chahal ¹, Pankaj Sharma ¹, Rupa Ghosh ¹, Naresh Kumar ⁵, Rajesh Agnihotri ²

Affiliations
1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 248 001, IN
2 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, IN
3 Department of Geology, Lucknow University, Lucknow 226 007, IN
4 National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa 403 802, IN
5 Department of Geology, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar 249 161, IN

Abstract

Pangong Tso is a brackish water lake that lies along Pangong strand of the Karakoram strike–slip fault in arid Trans Himalayan region. The geomorphic mapping along the periphery of the lake suggested the presence of four palaeolake level strands located at 6, 4.8, 3.8 and 1.25 m above the present lake level. The gullied periphery expose relict deltaic sediments where sedimentological study enabled us to identify four deltaic lobes that make a classic Gilbert-type delta with well-developed top-set, fore-set and bottom-set. The top-set of the stratigraphically oldest delta lobe that corresponds to the highest lake level shows the presence of freshwater molluscs identified as Radix and a burnt sediment layer (hearth). The charcoal derived from this layer yielded 14C date as 1.7 ka BP and six luminescence ages from different delta lobes suggested that delta evolution and lake level fall of ~6 m took place between ~2–1 ka. Review of palaeoclimate record available from NW Himalaya and Pangong Tso suggests that late Holocene aridity might be responsible for this rapid lake level fall. Sclerochronological analysis carried out on 54 subsamples from three Radix specimens suggested that the modern type of seasonal conditions may have prevailed at ~1.7 ka BP.

Keywords

Ladakh Himalaya, Lake-Delta, Late Holocene Aridity, Pangong Tso, Sclerochronological Analysis.

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Vishal Chauhan ¹, Naresh Kumar ¹, Vaishali Shukla ¹, Sanjay Kumar Verma ¹

Affiliations
1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 General Mahdeo Singh Road, Dehradun 248 001, IN

Abstract

Various geophysical parameters including soil radon (₂₂₂Rn) are being conT_inuously monitored at Ghuttu, Garhwal Himalaya, India since 2007 as a part of earthquake precursor studies. To analyse the earthquake precursory changes in soil radon, it is essential to clean the soil radon data from other effects. For this, we used data for the period of nine years from 2011 to 2019 and assessed the relationship of soil radon with five other parameters using regression analysis. These parameters are water level, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, air temperature and soil temperature at 10 m depth. We also added one more parameter, i.e. the difference of air temperature (T_out) and soil temperature at 10 m depth (T_in). From the observed six parameters, four showed strong correlation with soil radon. These are (i) water level (correlation coefficient (CC) = –0.9), (ii) atmospheric pressure (CC = 0.6), (iii) air temperature (CC = –0.6) and (iv) temperature difference (T_out – T_in; CC = 0.5). For regression analysis, data during the period 2011–2014 were used for training, while data during 2015–2019 were used for tesT_ing purpose. Based on different models, the one developed using all the six input parameters suggests lowest errors and highest correlation. The observed values of ischolar_main mean square error, mean absolute error and CC were 0.332, 0.281 and 0.931 respectively. The regression coefficients obtained from this model were used to calculate the theoretical radon and residuals. By this approach, the effects of hydrological and atmospheric parameters were found to be reduced to a great extent.

Keywords

Earthquake Precursors, Hydrological Effects, Linear Regression, Soil Radon.

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Vishnu Raju ¹, Ashish Agashe ², Mushineni Ashajyothi ¹, Kunasekaran Rajarajan ¹, Naresh Kumar ¹, Ayyanadar Arunachalam ¹

Affiliations
1 College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur 680 656, IN
2 Bundhelkhand University, Jhansi 284 001, IN

Abstract

Sandal (Santalum album L.) is one of the most valuable hemiparasitic tree species cultivated for its scented heartwood and oil. The economic yield from sandal depends on the hosts associated with it. Previous studies show that the sandal–host interaction is related to certain physiological, genetic and molecular mechanisms that enable them to identify host plants, to grow invasively into the hosts, and to establish connections to withdraw water and other resources from the hosts. However, the understanding of these mechanisms is still very vague. Our observations from the three-month-old sandal seedlings–host interaction study revealed the complex and multifaceted character of the host–parasite signalling mechanism. Besides, we found numerous unsolved questions and a significant knowledge gap in this field. Therefore, this article aims to correlate and contrast our observations with previous findings and to deliver some key questions to bridge the knowledge gap in future research.

Keywords

Haustoria, HIFs, Host–Parasite Interaction, Santalum album.

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Naresh Kumar ¹, Swati Rana ¹, A. Krishnakanta Singh ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Geology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra 136 119, IN
2 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun 240 001, IN

Abstract

In this study, we report a high concentration of cobalt (Co) in the rocks of Ajabgarh Group of Delhi Super-group from Nasibpur and the surrounding areas of Southwest Haryana, India, which forms a part of the North Delhi Fold Belt (NDFB). Metasedimentary and magmatic phases of the rocks contained high cobalt content ranging from 166 to 3657 ppm. The maximum concentration of cobalt (2371–3657 ppm) was observed in quartzite samples from the Nasibpur area. Cobalt enrichment in these rocks can be attributed to magmatic–hydrothermal and metamorphic fluids in relation to geological features such as shear and foliation zones, which provide a high fluid/rock ratio. Overall, the applications of cobalt are numerous and crucial. The present study warrants further extensive exploration efforts in order to assess the abundance of this valuable metal, as the global cobalt market is increasing in response to a low-carbon economy.

Keywords

Cobalt, Low Carbon Economy, Metamorphic Fluids, Quartzite, Sedimentary Rocks.

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