Informatics Publishing Limited

S. P. Singh ¹, Vijay Kumar ¹, Asha Khanna ¹

Affiliations
1 Indian Institute of Forest Management, P. Box-357, Nehru Nagar, Bhopal (M.P.), IN

Abstract

This paper is an outcome of NAEB, GoI, New Delhi sponsored Project "Women Empowerment through Forest Development Activities for Sustainable Livelihood in Tribal Districts of M. P.". This study is based on primary data collected from four tribal districts of Madhya Pradesh. The in-depth study was carried out in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. The primary data was collected through organizing, group discussion and structured questionnaire. The detailed house hold interviews of 200 women were conducted in the presence of Forest department officials to understand the insights of the problem. From Betul district five villages were selected namely Kolhudhana, Karanjidol, Sihari, Dharakhoh and Bansbodi, to assess the impact of the problem on various dimensions of Women Empowerment in Forest villages. During scanning of literature the first author has not found any adequate literature which can focus on the impact of domestic violence on women empowerment and how the different intensities of domestic violence different levels of women empowerment. Thus, this affects study is undertaken to assess the impact of domestic violence on women empowerment.The basic objective of this study is to assess the impact of domestic violence on Women Empowerment from different dimensions related to agricultural resource management, livestock resource management, livelihood, forest resource management. Secondly, this paper examines the impact of different intensities of domestic violence categorized as high, medium and low on above resources. The third objective of this paper is to assess how women empowerment can be weaken and how women empowerment could be strengthened. The association of correlation between impact of domestic violence and women empowerment has been found closely associated. At last, the paper reveals that there is a significant impact of domestic violence and its different intensities on women empowerment in forest villages which affects the natural Resource Management. It is highly recommended that a separate study need to be sponsored by Planning Commission for assessing the impact of domestic violence on women empowerment in rural areas, where the natural resources are the main source of livelihood.

Keywords

Domestic Violence, Intensity of Domestic Violence, Women Empowerment, Livelihood.

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Asha Khanna , Daya Shankar Gautam , Mamta Gokhale , Salil Kumar Jain

Abstract

Context: To explore genotoxicity in bidi rollers occupationally exposed to bidi tobacco dust. Aims: To assess the extent of genotoxicity of tobacco dust to bidi rollers of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India and cytotoxicity of bidi tobacco extract. Settings and Design: Blood samples from 31 bidi rollers and 30 controls taken after written informed consent were analyzed for chromosome aberrations (CA) and comet assay. Materials and Methods: Genotoxicity was studied by CA in cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes of bidi rollers and the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage studies were done by comet assay of their blood. The toxicity of bidi tobacco extract to normal human lymphocytes was studied by MMT (3‑[4,5‑dimethylthiazol‑2‑yl]‑2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay as drop in viability. Statistical Analysis Used: Student’s t‑test and DMRT. Results: There is a general trend of increase in CA% of both in exposed and control groups with age, but in every group the bidi rollers have a significantly higher CA% than the controls. The CA % is also directly related to exposure. The comet assay findings reveal that the mean comet length and tail length increases with exposure time. The toxicity of bidi tobacco extract (TE) to normal human lymphocytes was tested in vitro by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay at 2 h of incubation. The trend of drop in viability with increasing concentrations of TE was clearly evident from the data from four donors in spite of their individual differences in viability. Conclusions: The results obtained in this investigation indicate that bidi rollers seem to be facing the occupational hazard of genotoxicity due to handling bidi tobacco and inhalation of tobacco dust. They should be advised to work under well‑ventilated conditions.

Keywords

Chromosome aberration, comet assay, genotoxicity in bidi rollers, MTT assay, tobacco dust

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Asha Khanna ¹, Poonam Shukla ², Shajiya Tabassum ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Zoology and Biotechnology, St. Aloysius’ College, IN
2 Government Science College, Pachpedi, Jabalpur, MP, IN
3 Mata Gujri Women’s College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, IN

Abstract

Protective effect of Ocimum sanctum was evaluated on chlorpyrifos-induced genotoxicity in in vivo and in vitro models. Two different concentrations of pesticide were taken, i.e., 1/5 and 1/15 of LD₅₀ of chlorpyrifos for the in vivo study. Rats were pre-treated orally with O. sanctum extract (OE) at 50 mg/kg b.wt. For thein vitro studies, human lymphocyte cultures were exposed to 75 μg/ml chlorpyrifos with and without OE. Structural and numerical (both aneuploidy and euploidy types) chromosomal aberrations (CAs) were scored for the assessment of induced genotoxic effects, while the variation in mitotic index (MI) was considered as a monitor for induced cellular toxicity. The same concentration of the pesticide (75 μg/ml) was taken to study the DNA damage by comet assay. Results showed that lymphocytes treated with the pesticide exhibited increased DNA damage but the increase was statistically insignificant (P>0.05). In rats pretreated with OE, a significant (P<0.01) increase in MI was observed and there was a significant decrease in the frequency of aberrant cells as compared to the rats treated with chlorpyrifos alone. A significant (P<0.05) increase in CA was observed in cultures treated with 75 μg/ml chlorpyrifos as compared to controls, which decreased significantly (P<0.05) with OE pretreatment.

Keywords

Chlorpyrifos, chromosomal aberration, comet assay, Ocimum sanctum

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