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Open Access
Socio-economic aspects of migration from rural India: study of West Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2019) Das, Yasodhara; Roy Mukherjee, Sanchari; Ramachandran, V. K.
This thesis is concerned with short term/seasonal/circular migration for work from rural India. It attempts to describe and critically analyse the magnitude of such migration from the available secondary and primary sources of data and will try to bring out the relevance of such migration from rural West Bengal. According to the 64th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on Employment, Unemployment and Migration (2007-8) there were 324 million internal migrants in India, which is almost 29 per cent of the total population, 140 million of whom were workers. On the remittance front, the NSS estimates reveal that international remittances received in India comprised about half of the domestic remittances received. The results also indicate that ninety-one per cent of migrants in rural areas and 59 per cent of migrants in urban areas in India had migrated from a rural region. Rural migrants thus constitute a large proportion of short-term /seasonal/circularmigrants who move for work/employment related reasons.The 55th (1999-2000) and the 64th rounds (2007-8) of the NSSO tried to quantify short duration migration.Estimates of short-term migrants vary from 15 million (NSSO 2007–8) to 40 million (Srivastava, 2011) to 100 million (Deshingkar and Akter 2009). Research on the socio-economic characteristics of this stream of migrant workers and the impact of migrant earnings on the rural household incomes, is thus necessary for an understanding of this crucial segment of India‘s labour force. A brief overview of the chapters of this thesis is given below: The first chapter introduces the research topic; reviews the available literature relevant to the study, states the research questions and the research methodology followed during study.The second chapter is intended to describe and critically evaluate the results obtained from the secondary database available i.e. the Census and the NSS surveys and compare their methodology with that of various primary surveys on internal migration. The third chapter is intended to describe and critically evaluate the results obtained from the secondary database i.e. the NSS survey with special focus on West Bengal. The fourth chapter introduces the villages which will be studied as the origin of the migrant worker. For this purpose I study the villages of West Bengal which were surveyed by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies as part of the 2010 West Bengal Round survey of the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI). The fifth chapter is intended to compare the socio-economic conditions of migrant and non-migrant households in the study villages. The sixth chapter analyses the difference between migrant and non-migrant households with respect to rural household incomes. The seventh chapter studies the migrant worker at the destination. The samples for this study are the migrant construction workers from West Bengal who migrate to the Ernakulam district of Kerala. The demographic and socio-economic characteristicsof migrant workers is studied in this chapter. The final chapter summarizes the specific findings of the chapters of the thesis.
Open Access
Cytogenetic Divergence in the Indian Pygmy Field Mice Mus terricolor, Blyth of The Dooars and Terai regions of West Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2013) Rudra, Mahua; Min, Bahadur
The Indian pygmy field mouse Mus terricolor, a chromosomal complex, is the indigenous Mus species of India with chromosome complement, 2n=40. It consists of three distinct karyotypic forms which are designated as Mus terricolor chromosome types I, II and III due to presence of variable number of heterochromatic short arms in homozygous condition. However, all the three chromosomal types invariably possess a large submetacentric X and large acrocentric Y chromosomes. In the light of karyotype divergence with respect to constitutive heterochromatin, only a limited work has been done in this species based on molecular techniques. Therefore, due to lack of substantial data the position of the Indian pygmy field mice is still in controversy in the phylogenetic relationship of the genus Mus. In the present study, a multidimensional investigation based on chromosomal, allozyme and mitochondrial DNA analyses have been carried out on ten populations of M. terricolor from Terai and the Dooars regions of West Bengal, India. The M. terricolor specimens were collected from Alipurduar (APD), Rahimabad (RBD), Kumargram (KGM), Cooch Behar (CBH), Maynaguri (MNG), Malbazar (MLB) and Nagrakata (NGK) in the Dooars and Naxalbari (NXL), Bidhan Nagar (BDN) and Garidhura (GDH) in Terai. The populations were designated with three letter abbreviation based on the place of collection shown in parentheses. A total of 1600 specimens were collected from ten populations and were chromosomally analysed to confirm the karyotype. Chromosomes in the karyotype have been grouped into A,B,C and D. Out of 1600 specimens, 12 were Mus booduga and rest of the specimens were found to be M. terricolor type I. Cytogenetic Study Heterochromatin and C-banding Cytogenetic analyses using C and NOR-banding techniques showed intra and interpopulation variation of C-positive heterochromatin and Ag-NORs. Centromere of autosomes, short arm and distal telomere of X-chromosomes and the entire Y were found to be C-banded. Variations have been recorded in the size of the C-band positive centromeric heterochromatin ranging from very large to minute and even absent in some cases. Very large blocks of centromeric C-bands were found in few D group chromosomes either in homozygous or in heterozygous condition in all populations. Individuals of BDN, GDH, MLB, NGK and MNG had large blocks of centromeric heterochromatin in most of the autosomes, while NXL, RBD, APD, KGM and CBH populations have prominent large blocks of C-bands in few autosomes only. A few autosomes in RBD, MLB and NXL populations were found to have hardly detectable centromeric C-bands. In NXL autosome 16 was found to be C-band negative in homozygous condition. Short arm of X-chromosomes revealed intense C-banding in the individuals of RBD, KGM, NGK, CBH and APD populations, whereas, it was faintly stained in individuals of MNG, MLB, NXL and BDN. X-chromosome in one female individual of GDH showed telomeric C- band in heterozygous condition. Interestingly, a few individuals of NXL and BDN showed a discrete localization of heterochromatin on the short arms of X-chromosomes showing segmental localization. The entire Y chromosome was found to be C-banded in all populations with variation in the banding intensity. Besides variation in size of centromeric heterochromatin the results also suggest that M. terricolor has a trend of accumulation of heterochromatin in both autosomes and sex chromosomes which is a recently evolved trait in rodents and specifically in the genus Mus. Intra and inter population variation in size of Cpositive heterochromatin suggests that heterochromatin play a significant role in genetic differentiation and karyotype evolution of these populations. Nucleolar Organizing Regions (NORs) and Ag-NOR banding M. terricolor possesses large number of Ag-NOR sites distributed in different chromosomes. The NOR bands were categorized as major, minor and diffused NORs according to the size of band and characteristic of silver deposition. Major Ag-NORs were found to be present in centromeric or pericentromeric region on most of the autosomes in APD, RBD, in some individuals of NXL and MNG populations. Other populations showed major Ag-NORs on few autosomes only, while it was absent in GDH population. Excessively large and broad Ag-NOR band was found in some individual of RBD and in one individual of NGK in the autosome 9 in heterozygous condition. The minor NOR bands were found to be present only on few pairs of autosomes of APD, KGM, NXL, BDN, and GDH populations, while NGK population consistently showed minor NORs in all autosomes including one individual with excessively large NOR on autosome 9. Other populations showed minor NORs in most of their autosomes except MNG where minor NORs were not detected. Both X and Y chromosomes consistently showed minor NORs in all populations. Diffused NORs were present in most of the autosome in all population except MNG, NGK and RBD. Ag-NOR banding revealed polymorphism both at intra and inter-population level. The intra-population variation showed that the homologs of the pairs differed not only in the deposition of silver but also showed differences in position and number of Ag-NOR sites in the same individual. Though variations exist among populations in distribution of Ag-NORs, however, multichromosomal location of NORs was found to be a common feature in all population. Genetic polymorphism in Mus terricolor Genetic analyses were carried out on ten allozyme/ protein loci, i.e. Alb-1, Prealb-B, Est-5, Trf, LDH-A, LDH-B, Mdh-1, Mod-1, GOT-1 and Idh-1. A total of 30 alleles were delineated for ten loci studied, out of which 15 were found to be shared by all populations in different frequencies and the rest were fixed in one or other populations. The Terai populations showed uniformity in allele frequeny, with a high rate of fixation of specific alleles such as Trfb, Est-5b, Ldh-bf, Mdh-1a and GOT-1b. Genetic polymorphism was estimated based on percent polymorphic loci (P), heterozygosity (H) and effective number of alleles (AE). All populations were highly polymorphic in terms of P ranging from 60 to 100% with slight differences of mean effective number of alleles (AE) between Terai and the Dooars regions. Alb-1, Mdh-1, Mod-1 and Idh-1 showed higher observed heterozygosity (HO) in most of the populations. The mean HO have been found to be spread over a lowest value of 0.2950 ± 0.4020 to a highest value of 0.4917 ± 0.2732. Moreover, Terai populations showed higher mean HO compared to the Dooars populations, however, HO is less than expected in all population except APD. Genetic structure of population was also determined by estimating FST, FIT and FIS values. Mean FST for the Dooars, Terai and total population (Terai and Dooars together) were 0.1552, 0.0295 and 0.1246, respectively which indicates that at least 12% of the total variability of all populations is attributable to divergence between populations. A positive FIT value in the Dooars populations at most of the loci indicated the dominancy of homozygotes, while Terai populations showed excess of heterozygote at least at four loci i.e. Alb-1, Prealb-B, Mdh-1 and Idh-1. FIS, a measure of random mating, was positive for most the loci of Terai and the Dooars populations indicating slight heterozygote deficiency. Gene flow is another factor to measure genetic structure. The average gene flow among different populations of Terai, Dooars and all population (Terai and Dooars together) were estimated to be 8.2197, 1.3607 and 1.7563, respectively. The values revealed that the gene flow is operating but cannot be considered sufficient to homogenize all population. Therefore, variability exists in sufficient degree. Allele frequencies were used to estimate the Nei’s Genetic Identity (I) and Genetic Distance (D). M. terricolor MLB and NGK from Dooars and NXL and BDN of Terai showed 99% and 97.4% similarity (I), respectively. Out of 45 pair wise comparisons, 62% of total I-values were found to be ranging from 0.9 to 1.0, 24.4% were between I values 0.76 to 0.9 and 13% were between 0.61 to 0.75. The genetic distance values ranged from a minimum, D=0.0139 between MLB and NGK to the maximum D=0.5023 between RBD and APD in the Dooars populations, while a minimum D=0.0266 was found between BDN and NXL populations from Terai which was slightly higher than the minimum genetic distance value for Dooars population (D=0.0139). The RBD population showed a lower D values 0.0916 and 0.0940 with two distantly situated populations NXL and BDN, respectively while KGM relatively closer population to RBD showed genetic distance value within the same range, 0.0975 as shown by distantly situated populations. The geographic distances and genetic distances do not show any correlation. Dendrogram based on genetic distance matrices showed three major groups of cluster. The populations MLB, NGK, MNG and CBH formed group I, the populations NXL, BDN and GDH of Terai were clustered in group II and RBD and KGM were in group III. APD appeared as an outgroup. Moreover, a high level of heterozygosity indicating greater genetic polymorphism in the populations of terricolor may be due to different evolutionary factors acting separately or in combination. Study of mitochondrial DNA Control region and flanking tRNA genes of mtDNA were PCR amplified and sequenced for analysis. The total sequences were analysed in two parts i) The sequence spanning 15338-15577 (CR I) is the part of control region comprising Hypervariable Region I (HVR I) with flanking Proline tRNA gene and the intermediate region and ii) The sequence spanning 16132-00066 (CR II) of the control region which contains the part of Hypervariable Region II (HVR II) and the Phenylalanine tRNA gene. The mtDNA sequences representing from all populations of M. terricolor were compared with the mtDNA sequence of M. m. domesticus (#AY172335) as reference. Comparisons were done on the basis of transition, transversion and insertion-deletion. HVR II was found to be more polymorphic than HVR I in terms of base substitution. Transversions were more frequent in interspecific comparison than interpopulation comparison of M. terricolor. In comparisons with other populations of M. terricolor the mtDNA sequence of MLB, NGK and GDH showed a higher rate of transversion type of base substitution, which reflects that these populations are more diverged than other populations. Overall nucleotide diversity (π) ranges from 0.011 to 0.566 among terricolor populations. A comparison between M. m. domesticus and NGK, MLB and GDH populations showed comparatively higher nucleotide diversity, π = 0.494, 0.467, 0.347, respectively. The level of inter population sequence (nucleotide) divergence between Terai and Dooars populations revealed that MLB-NGK and MLB-GDH are highly diverged showing π = 0.566 and 0.428, respectively. Dendrograms were constructed based on mtDNA sequence data using UPGMA, Neighbour joining (NJ) and Maximum Parsimony (MP) methods. Out of the three phylogenetic trees, the tree obtained by UPGMA showed higher bootstrap value for maximum branches than NJ and MP dendrograms and was considered for analysis of the result. The dendrogram revealed that APD was clustered with CBH, a nearby population and the RBD with BDN, geographically distant populations with a high bootstrap value of 75%. NGK and MLB appeared as out groups. The clustering of populations based on mtDNA showed limited concordance between dendrograms and geographical distance. This discontinuity in the distribution of mtDNA may be explained in terms of ancestral polymorphism and gene flow.
Open Access
Geographical analysis of urban growth in Siliguri planning area, West Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2023) Saha, Arjun; Roy, Ranjan
Title: A Geospatial Analysis of Urban Growth in Siliguri Planning Area, West Bengal Introduction: Urban growth is a universal phenomenon. It takes place in almost all the cities in the world. In developed countries, this growth had taken place much before than the developing and underdeveloped countries respectively. In developed countries, this has been taken place in a planned and efficient way, whereas in the developing and underdeveloped countries, it does not follow any rules and regulations, though in maximum cities of developing world there has some certain rules. Due to this unplanned nature of growth of urban built-up features, several productive lands that surround the city are going to extinct which creates an adverse effect on that city. India is a country which falls still in the developing world is facing this same situation in many cities. Some megacities which lie at the top of the table are comparatively follow better regulations and extending themselves in a sustainable way, but maximum cities which have an great economic importance in the country does not follow those rules. Growths in these cities are taking place due to the excessive increase of population mainly for the migration from rural areas primarily for better economic opportunities. Siliguri is a city that lies in the northern part of West Bengal is facing this same problem after its formation. From the beginning this area had been exploited for different purposes and besides this, as this urban centre playing a role of primate city for the entire North Bengal after independence, maximum people had shifted to this place for better livelihood, which makes the growth in a faster rate comparing to other. This faster growth of population and simultaneously urban built-up often captures the productive lands, like forests and agricultural land that surround this city in all sides. So, for this reason, this city with its surrounding area, known as Siliguri Planning Area (SPA) that demarcated by Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) has been taken to find out the land use and land cover changes from 1992 to 2021, to identify the growth of urban built-up in this region, to identify the sustainably suitable places for new development, to analyze the relation between infrastructural development and urban growth and lastly to identify and analyze the possible problems that are occurring in this area due to unplanned and limitless urban growth. Database and Methodology: For this entire work, researcher has used different secondary data that are openly available in different repositories. For the analysis of land use and land cover and to analyze the urban built-up growth from 1992 to 2021, land surface temperature, vegetation index, Landsat satellite images for the year 1992, 2001, 2011 and 2021 have been used in this work. Beside this, for the identification of suitable places for new built-up development and for the analyze of infrastructural development, Census data of 2001 and 2011, Google earth data, data from different government sources, like department of food supply and distribution, department of mass education extension and library services, govt. of West Bengal, department of posts, govt. of India, Bank master data for West Bengal, etc. have been considered. Primary data has also been collected for the analysis of water quality of major two rivers of this region, Mahananda and Balason from total 17 sites. Beside these, some ground verification data has also been collected from using handheld Global Positioning System. First objective that is land use and land cover change analysis from 1992 to 2021 has been performed by using maximum likelihood classification technique after different processing of images in the GIS platform. Urban growth pattern has been analyzed by taking Shannon’s entropy in two ways; first by direction-wise and second by distance-wise and beside this, trends of urban growth and its speed of expansion has been identified by urban density analysis and Urban Expansion Intensity Index (UEII). Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been taken for the identification of new preferable built-up locations. To analyze the relation between different infrastructural facilities and urban built-up growth Borda rule has been used in this work. Unplanned urban growth has some negative impacts on the natural surroundings. For this, in this work, impacts on river water, vegetation and in local temperature have been calculated and identified. Water Quality Index (WQI) has been used to monitor the river water quality, Vegetation index, such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been performed for the vegetation density analysis and Land Surface Temperature (LST) has been used for analysing temperature fluctuation from 1992 to 2021. Different correlations have been performed for the analysis of relation between different indices and parameters. Brief Outline of the Study: This whole work has been completed by making total seven chapters. First chapter has been divided into two sections. Section A mainly deals with the overview of the whole thesis, problem of the statement, objectives that are taken, hypotheses that has been framed, rigorous literature surveys, about the study area, chapter details, scopes and etc. and Section B describes the general characteristics of the study area, like its different socio-physical characteristics. Second chapter is about the land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics in this study area and it has been done from the year 1992 with a ten year interval and up to 2021. Third chapter is the heart of this thesis that deals with the pattern, trends and speed of urban built-up growth in this region. Urban built-up growth has been calculated by using the extracted built-up features from the satellite images from 1992 with a ten year interval and up to 2021. Like this the trend and speed also has been analyzed and calculated from 1992 to 2021. Fourth chapter has tried to identify the perfect or suitable patches of land for new urban built-up area. This has been done using the data for the year 2021. Fifth chapter is about to study the relation between different infrastructural developments that has taken place in this region with population growth. This study has been carried out for the two years due to the availability of the data and these are, 2001 and 2011. Sixth chapter has tried to identify the problems or negative impacts on different parts of the environment due to the unplanned and fast built-up development. Negative impacts on river water, local temperature and on vegetation have been analyzed by using primary and secondary sources. Lastly, seventh chapter has summarized the major findings of this work and also put some remedial suggestions with concluding remarks to overcome different problems that this area has been facing. Major Findings: This study area lies in the piedmont of Darjeeling Himalaya and that is why the overall gradient maintains from the north and north-west to the south and south-eastern portion with an average height is about more than 150 metres. Connectivity is good in this region with three major railway stations and one airport and some national and international highways are also present here. Population growth due to the natural and migration is huge in this whole region. As this area lies in the piedmont of the Darjeeling Himalaya and Terai tract, so this area from very beginning is dominated by different forest cover and as this area was facing huge population growth due to its locational importance, so drastic positive and negative changes in different categories of LULC has been seen. Vegetation cover has been lost about 56 sq. km. from 1992 to 2021. Agricultural land has been changed into built-up land in Chandmuni tea estate area. Built up land has occupied the core zone of this study area almost entirely. A significant growth of built up land has seen along the highways that radiated from the core city centre. In case of built-up pattern, the whole area from the 1992 is showing dispersed pattern of development instead of compact one. Though in the last calculated year, it is moving towards the compact pattern just because for the restrain of available lands. In first three years, Shannon’s entropy value lies close to the logn value and for that it can be said that this area has experienced an urban sprawl that destructs different productive lands. The analysis revealed that the urban growth in Siliguri Planning Area follow a regular radial pattern. Ribbon pattern of sprawl is observed along the highways and leapfrog pattern towards southern and northern direction due to working opportunities, educational facility and because of tea planted areas of the study area. This study has identified that the maximum suitable area for new built-up development has seen in between the 5 km. to 9 km. from the core of the city and after this, suitable area decreases. Very little amount of lands has been identified as highly suitable area that is 4.58 sq. km. that denotes this study area presently stays at its well condition in case of built-up categories. Further construction will harm the nature. This study area is mainly dominated by medium suitable area and mostly lies along the accessible roads. Maximum areas of highly suitable area and moderate suitable areas come from wasteland and the vegetated land has been preserved. The core area that is Siliguri city is highly dominated by different infrastructural facilities with the highest score in both two years from the beginning as this area holds more than half of the population of the total study area. Other old centres like Bagdogra, Bairatisal also shows comparatively better infrastructural condition in this region. Dabgram and Binnaguri that are very close to Siliguri city have shown a higher score of infrastructural facilities. Analysis of water quality reveals that Balason River is much better than the river Mahananda as Balason mainly flows from the outer periphery of the core area and population pressure is much lower than that of river Mahananda. Water quality is worst in the Airview sampling site of Mahananda in both seasons due to the pressure of population and their different activities. It has been seen that, a significant change of river water quality between upstream and urban and also urban and downstream. In the southern portion of the study area a fresh water canal has mixed up with river Mahananda which makes is better quality in the downstream portion. Land surface temperature has been calculated for the year 1992 and 2021 and it has been seen that about 0.5⁰C temperature has risen in the highest temperature. Maximum temperature has been recorded in the core of the study area and this is due to the highest density of population, maximum traffic movements, absence of thick vegetation cover etc. Vegetation density has also been analyzed in this region from 1992 to 2021 by using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or NDVI. Results reveal that highest value of NDVI was 0.75 in the year 1992 which has reduced in to 0.43 in the year 2021 due to the expansion of impervious surfaces on the study area. Values of NDVI also suggest that in the year 1992, high dense vegetation was there which has come in the medium dense category in the year 2021. Conclusion: Development and destruction goes in the similar way. If any area has seen any major developmental projects then it is obvious that, same place has faced some kind of destruction in the natural environment. Urban built-up growth and successive population growth is now a natural phenomenon and this will happen and increase its magnitude in near future. Developed countries has faced this situation much before than present developing and underdeveloped countries and that is why they had faced different problems in earlier and now they are in a stable condition due to low and even zero population growth. India falls on the developing one and that is why most of the cities in this country are facing tremendous population growth, unplanned urban built-up growth, shortages of suitable lands for new built-up places, and also problems on different parts of natural environment. Siliguri Planning Area is also facing this same problem mainly after the partition at the time of independence. That is why this work has tried to identify the built-up growth, urban sprawling, and different problems of this growth on natural environment, like on water, forest, and also in the local temperature. Overall study in this region reveals that unplanned and haphazard built-up growth and urban sprawling and huge population growth has taken place and due to this local temperature has risen in this area, high dense and thick vegetation cover has almost lost in thirty years, water quality degrades when river enters in the core urban and highly populated area. Outcomes and findings of this study will help to the locals, planners, government officials, policy makers to take necessary and suitable steps for the proper planning and betterment for this area
Open Access
The economics of pond fishery : a study of North Bengal region of West Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2023) Agarwalla, Kishan; Majumdar, Tamash Ranjan
Fishing is one of the oldest avocations of man, older than even hunting and farming. In the beginning, man used his bare hands to collect/capture fish and other aquatic animals found along the shores of lakes, rivers, and seas. But, as time passed, many changes occurred in the mode and pattern of fishing. Planned fishing operations are believed to have come into force with the emergence of tribal units from family units. The evolution of fishing gears proceeded step by step from the capture of individual fish to catching them in bulk. Subsequently gears progressively larger in size and sophistication came to be introduced. Fish is considered to be exceptionally nutritious as it is rich in easily digestible animal protein for which there exists hardly any substitute. Nutritionists consider fish as a valuable and effective supplement to a high cereal diet. Empirical findings also attest that fish consumption can reduce disability and the incidence of heart diseases (Sen Gupta, 1984). Fishing characteristically enjoys some added advantages over agriculture. As an economic activity, fishing is quick yielding as compared to agriculture, since the former involves a lesser time lag between efforts and results. In the case of most agricultural crops, it takes at least three months to reap the harvest after sowing. By contrast, in fishing output is instantaneous with effort. Further fishing resources unlike agriculture are renewable and replenishable year by year, which therefore forms a self-sustaining "fund" of resources that can be harvested continuously within maximum limits of exploitation (James, 1972). Productivity is also found to be appreciably higher in fishing when compared to agriculture or animal husbandry. As an industry with wide backward and forward linkages, the employment and income generation potential of fisheries has increased unprecedently in recent decades. Technological innovations in fishing, processing, and marketing have given rise to a host of subsidiary occupations related to boat building, net making, fish processing so on; all these leading to industrial diversification and further strengthening of the economy. In recent times, of all, what has particularly enhanced the economic importance of fisheries is its potential in earning foreign exchange. The fishing sector occupies an important place in West Bengal’s economy as a source of cheap but nutritious food, means of livelihood for thousands of the poor, and an important source of foreign exchange earnings. West Bengal ranks as the second-largest fish producer state in the country after Andhra Pradesh. The state also has the distinction of being a pioneer state in India in terms of fish seed production. The fisheries in West Bengal are comprised of both marine and inland fisheries. However, the state is well known for inland fisheries being made up of freshwater as well as brackish water fisheries. Despite having uninterrupted growth of inland fisheries over the years, there is a gross imbalance between the supply and demand of fish to a considerable extent within the state. The shortfall of supply relative to demand is made up by the import of fish from other states, especially from Andhra Pradesh. This necessitates developing and extending fisheries' economic activities in different directions and locations to increase production further to mitigate the shortfall. In the state, about 78% of the fish caught is sold as fresh or chilled food for the population and inland landing centers. About 6% of the catch is used for drying and curing, 13% to produce frozen fish, and 4% to reduce the yield into fish meals. In the wake of changing lifestyles, valueadded fishery products of different descriptions as convenience food are also gaining popularity in the markets. So it can be said that the fishery sector has an important role in the development of the state’s economy. The fisheries sector constitutes an important component of the regional rural economy of North Bengal. As the fishery resource can re-generate itself naturally in a time frame that is relevant for human exploitation, its commercial production and harvesting can provide massive scope for regional economic development on a sustainable basis. The development of the fisheries' economic activities in different directions can lead to income and employment generation for the rural population on a significant scale. The North Bengal fishery is mainly comprised of inland fishery resources - the pond fisheries are the more dominating form among all of them. The region is rich in water resources. The total water area available for the fishery sector is at present 41752 hectares. The fishery sector of the region registered 199277 metric tons of fish production in 2017-18, which is 12.8 percent of the total fish production in West Bengal during this period. The Fish production in North Bengal has grown moderately well from 1443 metric tons in 2010-11 to 1742 metric tons in 2017-18. This is perhaps due to the expansion of the area under the pond. The fishery sector of the region has also been undergoing a steady transformation from traditional fishing activity to commercial activity over the years. Despite these facts, the level of production and productivity are far from adequate, leaving a large gap between actual and potential output. The region is yet to tap the vast growth potentials of the production of fish, mainly from pisciculture. Also, the fish marketing system in North Bengal has been discussed here. This study has been conducted here to assess the market efficiencies indicators such as gross marketing margin (GMM) and percentage share of fishermen in the consumer rupee (PSFCR) among other indicators. The highest price spread is supposed to be observed in the longest marketing channel due to the involvement of the highest number of marketing intermediaries. In our sample, Darjeeling has a higher price spread when compared to other districts for most of the species. Thus, the marketing efficiency in terms of GMM is relatively lower in Darjeeling in comparison to other districts of North Bengal. Besides GMM, the percentage share of fishermen in the consumer rupee (PSFCR) has been calculated for the different species at the district level with the objective to make an assessment of the level of marketing efficiency across the districts. Efficiency in production is a way to ensure that the products of firms are produced in the best and most profitable way. To prevent the wastage of resources, efficiency is of great importance for every sector of the economy. The study is to examine the technical efficiency of pond fishery using the stochastic frontier model in the northern region of West Bengal. The estimated stochastic frontier model reveals that investment in labour, organic fertilizers, fish fingerling, and land area can increase the return from fish production. The result shows that technical efficiency ranges from 83 to 100 percent with a mean efficiency of 94 percent implying that average fish farmers in the study area are performing below the maximum possible production level by a shortfall of about 6 percent. The study recommends that the use of labour and organic fertilizers (i.e. cow dung) should be made available, to transform traditional rearing practices into more productive scientific methods. Also, the land area should be extended and more fish fingerling should be used to increase the production of fish in the study area. Aquaculture needs to be integrated with agriculture, piggery, duckery, etc. Nowadays, pisciculture activity is mixed with piggery or duckery activity for better viability of the pisciculture scheme. The product of the piggery or poultry may be utilized for manuring the water of the ponds or tanks. These will provide basic nutrients to the water, which also helps in maintaining the food chain of the fish. No extra expenditure for manure or supplementary feed will be required. In this study, the level of technical efficiency of the pond fishery in North Bengal has been estimated using the CCR and BCC DEA models. In the Uttar Dinajpur district, the minimum and maximum TE scores were estimated as 37.50 percent and 100 percent, respectively. On average, the TE score of the sample fish farmers in this district was estimated at 85 percent
Open Access
Impact of hydrological changes and adaptation practices of the rural people in the lower teesta river basin of West Bengal, India
(University of North Bengal, 2023) Das, Dipankar; Roy, Ranjan
The Teesta River, which is regarded as a source of sustenance in the landscape, is situated in the Himalayan and Sub-Himalayan region and has hydrological characteristics that are frequently significantly altering. In this regard, morphometric analysis has been created for the Teesta River basin area, and different morphometric data have been produced utilizing topographical maps released by the Survey of India as well as Remote Sensing and GIS platforms. The examination of physical characteristics and human interference allows for the identification of numerous hydrological changes. Anthropogenic activities have created adjustments along the Teesta, which change the hydro-morphological properties across the basin area. These changes are manifested in a variety of dangerous circumstances, primarily flooding across the concerned river's flood plain, while concurrently, for most portions of the basin, agriculture denotes a leading role in this regard. Agriculture in the study area has advanced significantly in recent years. But lately, it has been struggling with issues including tiny land holdings, traditional agriculture with poor infrastructure, a lack of surface water, and rising climatic and hydrological variability. The River Teesta's flood plain is a significant source of natural resources that provide high economic and livelihood values to the locals who live along the river's banks in the study region. Local rural residents are currently dealing with a different kind of issue as a result of hydrological and hydro-morphological changes. Due to the high demand for agricultural products, smart agriculture and appropriate adaptation strategies are required to ensure agricultural output. As a result, this is a reform of the agricultural system to increase productivity and reduce its impact on the environment. An effort has been made to uncover some little-known information about the restoration, conservation, and management of the floodplain through sustainable agricultural adaptation practices that closely resemble hydrological changes, which are more beneficial to socioeconomic development as well as serve to lower the risk of human habitation and promote sustainable use of the land in the nearby riparian areas. The current research aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of the Teesta River's hydrological processes, including any changes or issues they may have, and to add value to assessments of the socioeconomic resilience of the areas around the channels by offering some suggestions for long-term adaptation and management and The supposition of this research is that the adoption of climate-smart agriculture results in increased agricultural output as well as field-level water and energy savings. Smart agriculture is one example of an adaptation practice that can lessen many of the negative effects of hydrological variability and hydrological change. These practices can also improve socioeconomic situations and many other advantages. The peasants are less vulnerable due to inadequate infrastructure, scarce economic resources, insufficient water supply, and traditional agriculture. However, adaptation techniques like mulching, zero tillage, solar-powered irrigation pumps (SPIP), etc. tend to benefit the villages on several levels, including energy and water savings, as well as production increases. Our research demonstrates that smart agriculture is a framework to integrate its use at the national, state, and local level strategies for wide-scale and long-term support of it in developing nations, such as India. Overall, adaptation practices such as smart agriculture play a key role in preserving agricultural sustainability in the face of increasing hydrological risk and variability. The methods employed in this study are to evaluate a conceptual framework of vulnerability and adaptability in agriculture using various indicators related to the study's central issue. It is based on the integration of numerous climate risks and hazards, environmental elements, and socioeconomic aspects that generate evaluations using the multi-criteria decision-making technique and the association between hydrological, socioeconomic, economic governance, biophysical, and coping mechanisms of locals in the research area was examined using the binary logistic regression model. Consequently, it suggests that policymakers incorporate smart agriculture into their development planning which is essential for lowering agricultural susceptibility to the hydrological risk and flood occurrences that have a devastating impact.
Open Access
Limnochemistry, diversity of plankton and ichthyofauna of some rivers of the Dooars region, West Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2022) Sarkar Tapan; Pal Joydeb
The present study, entitled “Limnochemistry, diversity of plankton and ichthyofauna of some rivers of the Dooars region, West Bengal”, was conducted for a period of two years from March 2014 to February 2016. Three rivers, such as the Teesta, Jaldhaka, and Torsa, and two sites for each river, were selected for study. The study was conducted in three sections, such as physico-chemical parameters of river water, plankton diversity, and ichthyofaunal diversity. Temperature, pH, TS, TDS, TSS, DO, free CO2, chloride, TA, and TH were determined by standard methods. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient matrix, two-way ANOVA among seasons and sites, and one-way ANOVA between the two years were calculated using SPSS 16.0 and PAST 3.0 software. PCA was done by PAST 3.0 software. The air temperature, water temperature, depth of water, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, total suspended solid, total solid, total alkalinity, total hardness and chloride showed seasonal variation in the three investigated rivers. The water temperature, pH, TDS, TSS, TS, total alkalinity, total hardness, and chloride did not show any significant differences among the six sites of the three investigated rivers, but the depth of water, DO, and FC showed significant differences among the six sites. Water temperature is the most important parameter that controls other physico-chemical parameters of water. The pH, electrical conductivity, DO, TA, and TH of the three investigated rivers are within the optimum range, making them suitable for fish and other organisms. The DO and FC of the three investigated rivers indicate the good quality of water. Total alkalinity and total hardness indicate that the water of the three investigated rivers is soft in nature. The PCA concentrates variances of the original data of physico-chemical parameters into two principal components (PC1 and PC2) in the case of rivers Jaldhaka and Torsa and three principal components (PC1, PC2 and PC3) in the case of the river Teesta. PC1 represents more physical and less chemical, while PC2 represents more chemical and less physical. WT, TDS, TH, and TA are the most influential factors. A total of 24, 26, and 25 genera of phytoplankton belonging to five groups were recorded during the study period from the rivers Teesta, Jaldhaka, and Torsa, respectively. A total of 28 genera of phytoplankton were recorded from the three investigated rivers. Chlorophyceae was the most dominant group in all the three rivers. Phytoplankton density, numbers of phytoplankton genera, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and Margalef’s species richness index are positively correlated with pH, TDS, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, total hardness, and chloride but negatively correlated with air temperature, water temperature, depth of water, TSS, and free CO2. Similar relations have been suggested by PCA. A total of 17, 16, and 16 genera of zooplankton were obtained from the rivers Teesta, Jaldhaka, and Torsa, made up of protozoa, rotifera, cladocera, and copepoda. A total of 18 genera of zooplankton were recorded from the three investigated rivers. The density, number of genera, Shanon diversity index, and Margalef’s richness index of phytoplankton and zooplankton also showed seasonal variation in the three investigated rivers. The density and number of phytoplankton and zooplankton genera, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and Margalef’s species richness index are positively correlated with pH, TDS, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, total hardness, and chloride but inversely correlated with air temperature, water temperature, depth of water, TSS, free CO2. Similar relations have been suggested by PCA. The density, number of genera, diversity index, and Margalef’s species richness index of phytoplankton and zooplankton are positively influenced by PC2, meaning affected by the chemical properties of water such as DO, TDS, TA, TH, and CL. The number of genera, diversity index, and Margalef’s species richness index of phytoplankton and zooplankton are negatively influenced by PC1. They are also negatively affected by the physical properties of water such as water temperature, TSS, TS, and free carbon dioxide. PCA biplots confirmed that phytoplankton and zooplankton density and/or number were the most influential factors which influenced the diversity indices. A total of 147 fish species of ichthyoauna with remarkable variations in Teesta (140 species), Jaldhaka (119 species) and Torsa (131 species) were recorded. A total of 147 species belonging to 11 orders and 31 families were recorded over the study period from the three rivers. Out of 147 recorded species, 1 is Critically Endangered (0.68%), 20 (13.60%) are Endangered (EN) and 42 (28.57%) are Vulnerable (VU) (according to CAMP-NBFGR). But according to IUCN conservation status, 2 (1.36%) species are Endangered (EN) and 1 (0.68%) species is Vulnerable (VU). Out of 147 recorded species, 1 (0.68%) is Critically Endangered, 12 (8.16%) species are Endangered (EN), 23 (15.6%) species are Vulnerable (VU) and 33 (22.45%) species are near threatened (NT) (according to Barman). Of the total of fish species, only 10.20% (15 species) are endemic fish species recorded from the three rivers. Two endemic fish species are found only in North Bengal. CPUE, number of ichthyofauna genera, Shanon diversity index, and Margalef’s species richness index of ichthyofauna showed seasonal variation in the three investigated rivers. CPUE, density, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and Margalef’s species richness index exhibited significant and positive correlation with air temperature, water temperature, depth of water, TSS, TS, and free carbon dioxide but a significant and negative correlation with TDS, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, total alkalinity, total hardness, and chloride. Similar relations have been suggested by PCA. CPUE, NF, and DVF are influenced by PC1, meaning more physical parameters such as water temperature and depth of water, but negatively influenced by DO, TDS, TA, TH, and CL. PCA biplots revealed that CPUE and the number of fish genera were the most influential factors that influenced diversity indices. Use of fine mesh size nets for fishing; river bed as an agricultural field; disposal of municipal waste; river embankment; presence of invasive fish species; mining of sand, gravel, and boulders from riverbed flood etc. are all threats to fish diversity.
Open Access
Studies on antioxidant, antimicrobial and antidiabetic activities of some ethnomedicinal plants collected from Darjeeling Himalayan region, West Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 2023) Das Vaskar; Ghosh Shilpi
Since the dawn of human civilization, plants and plant-derived natural remedies have been a vital part of traditional healing. With advances in development of synthetic drug, their usage has dominated over natural products. However, with several examples of synthetic drug side effects in recent decades, there has been a huge increase in the hunt for natural and safer pharmaceuticals. Plants derived phytochemicals or bioactive substances are safer and more cost-effective resource for drug development. The rate of development of numerous devastating oxidative stress-related disorders such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurological disorders has grown as people's lifestyles have changed. Plant phytochemicals have been described as effective free radical scavengers or quenchers, making them a rich source of natural antioxidants. Herbal medications have been utilized for antibacterial, antiviral, antiinflammatory, anti-rheumatid, antiallergic and other purposes. The use of ethnomedicinal herbs in traditional medicine dates back over 2000 years; and many more beneficial therapeutic metabolites are expected to be discovered during later years. Despite being abundantly available and offering economic, ecological and therapeutic values, ethnic plants have received very little attention. The aim of this study was to screen and quantify different phytochemicals present in specific ethnomedicinal plants of Darjeeling district, West Bengal, Pin 734101, in light of the importance of natural products and their application as pharmaceuticals. The plant extracts were investigated for antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antidiabetic activities. Further, the cone extract of Thuja orientalis was fractionated by column chromatography for the isolation of active compound followed by characterization of the compound as Octacosanol. The antidiabetic potential of the compound was evaluated in streptozotocin (STZ) induced rat model. A systematic review of the literature has been assembled to provide the details of previous studies on the several bioactive substances found in plants and their antioxidant, antimicrobial and antidiabetic potential. For present investigation Thuja orientalis (THU), Tupistra nutans (TUP), Astilbe rivularis (AST), Calamus erectus (CAL), Zanthoxylum oxyphyllum (ZAN) and Artemisia vulgaris (ART) were collected from various locations of Darjeeling district. The plant materials were shed dried, powdered and extracted with various solvents. With the different solvents utilized, a difference in extraction yield was noticed. The yield percent was least with hot water and ethanol, while methanolic extracts produced the highest percentage of yield and therefore used for further studies. The plant methanolic extracts were examined qualitatively and quantitatively for the presence of phytochemicals. Among various secondary metabolites phenol, flavonoid, tannin, carbohydrate and reducing sugar were found to be present in all the extracts. The quantitative analysis showed THU cones having the highest quantity of phenol, flavonoid, tannin and total carbohydrate whereas ART leaf exhibited all these phytochemicals in least quantity. The plant extracts showed different degrees of antioxidant activities as measured by DPPH radical, H2O2, NO and ABTS scavenging assays. AST rhizome exhibited maximum antioxidant activity in assay based on DPPH, NO and ABTS assay, whereas THU cone showed highest activity with H2O2. The antibacterial potential of the plant extracts was tested against two gram positive (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis) and two gram negative (Flexibacter sp. and Aeromonas liquefaciens) bacteria. While comparing antibacterial effect of various plant extracts, the THU cone exhibited highest antibacterial activity against Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus subtilis and Aeromonas liquefaciens whereas AST rhizome showed highest activity against Flexibacter sp. The plant extracts were effective in limiting the growth of tested fungi, namely, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer, and Fusarium oxysporum, as measured by radial growth bioassay. The extracts of THU cone and THU leaf effectively suppressed radial growth of all of the fungi examined, but TUP flower and CAL fruit extracts only partially inhibited the radial growth. Depending upon phytochemical constituents, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, THU cone was found to exhibit the highest possible avenue for profiting from their use in pharmaceuticals. Hence THU cone was used for isolation and purification of bioactive molecule followed by its characterization by UV, IR and NMR spectroscopy and LC-ESI-MS analysis. The active compound in THU cone was characterized as Octacosanol with molecular formula C28H56O and molecular weight of 408. Octacosanol was found to inhibit the in vitro α-amylase activity, and its inhibitory effect was about two fold lesser than that of the positive control acarbose. In an in vivo antidiabetic assay on streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, Octacosanol was found to be effective in restoring various blood parameters that had been altered by the induction of diabetes. Variable parameters evaluated was change in body weights, fasting blood sugar level, cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol content, SGPT and SGOT activities and serum urea and creatinine level. Higher concentration of compound revealed higher reduction in the tested blood parameters than the lower concentration used in the study. Treatment with Octacosanol significantly improved and restored the histological structure of both liver and pancreas in STZ-induced diabetes rat. The molecule Octacosanol has potential application in pharmaceuticals due to its hypoglycemic, antimicrobial and antioxidant effects
Open Access
Effectiveness of digital marketing in attracting tourists in national parks of West Bengal : An empirical study
(University of North Bengal, 2023) Saha, Mukesh; Bhattacharya, Debasis
Tourist Satisfaction is one of the crucial aspects of any National park operator inviting mass tourists to their destinations. This study explores the website dimensions of National parks and tour operator websites and examines their effects on Tourists Satisfaction. For this study, the data has been collected from tourists who visited the National park through National park websites or tour operator websites. Convenience sampling has been used to select the places, and a total of 445 responses (369 are from tourists who visited through the National Park website and 76 are from tourists who visited through the tour operator website) have been collected using the snowball sampling method. The study considers demographic parameters such as age, gender, academic qualification, and income to analyse the demographic profile of the National park visitors. The study found that young adults (age groups between 26 and 40) are more inclined towards visiting National parks compared to other age groups. The study findings revealed that males are very keen to visit National parks compared to their female counterparts. Likewise, the study shows that National park visitors are well educated and have knowledge of the Internet and online booking. The National Park visitors fall under the upper middle-class income groups. Multiple regression analysis has been employed to examine the effects of the Website Usefulness (WU), Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF), and Reliability (REL). Design Quality (DQ) Information Quality (IQ) on Tourists Satisfaction(TS). The scale developed for the study has been adopted from previous literature and modified as per the needs of the study. The scales developed have been tested for reliability and validity, which are prerequisites for any scientific study. The reliability has been studied by employing Cronbach's alpha, which is a widely accepted measure for the reliability coefficient. This study reveals that the reliability values are quite acceptable in the sense that they are higher than the threshold level. To test the content and construct validity, a factor analysis is employed to examine the factor structure. The KMO values suggest that the fit of the model is adequate, as revealed by the Chi-Square value, which is significant beyond p<0.000. The constuct validity is established by the fact that the dimensions emerged quite distinct and there is no overlap among the various dimensions. The study's findings from data collected from tourists visiting the National Park website revealed that the Website Usefulness (WU). Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF). Reliability (REL), Design Quality (DQ) affect Tourists' Satisfaction (TS). The study has observed that the Website Usefulness (WU) of the National park website has a more substantial influence on Tourists' Satisfaction (due to the highest beta coefficient β = 0.377) followed by the other dimensions such as Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF), Reliability (REL), and Design Quality (DQ), based on their respective beta coefficients [(β=0.212, β=0.094, β=0.086, β=0.082)] on Tourist's Satisfaction (TS). However, Information Quality (IQ) does not influence the tourists satisfaction. Whereas findings of data collected from tourists visiting tour operators websites revealed that the Website Friendliness (WF), Website Usefulness (WU), Reliability (REL) affects Tourists Satisfaction (TS). The study has observed that the Website Friendliness (WF) has the greatest beta value (β = 0.334). compared to the other website aspects. Thus, the study revealed that the Website Friendliness (WF) aspect of National park websites has a more significant impact on Tourists Satisfaction (TS). The effects of National park website aspects including Website Usefulness (WU) and Reliability (REL) on Tourists Satisfaction are also found to be significant, with respective beta coefficients of 0.329, and 0.204. However, Tangibility (TA), Design Quality (DQ), and Information Quality (IQ) does not influence the Tourists Satisfaction. The findings of this study will help National park operators and tour operators understand the various dimensions of a National park website and tour operator's website. Moreover, the study's results will allow them to strategically focus on the relative importance of National park website and tour operator's website dimensions to satisfy tourists. The website media content providers will be able to know the various factors influencing tourists satisfaction, and they will develop their content so that it influences tourists satisfaction. Also, the findings of the study will enable operators of National parks and Tour operators to strategically concentrate on the relative significance of website dimensions to please tourists. This study provides a model for accessing tourists satisfaction based on the website dimensions of National parks and tour operators. However, this study has some limitations. The study considers only the West Bengal State National Park website and only seven website dimensions for the National Park and tour operator. Therefore, the study can be extended by an upcoming researcher by incorporating other National Park websites across the nation. In addition, other website dimensions of National Parks and tour operators can be accommodated to extend this research. The study findings will help National park managers understand the impact of various website dimensions on tourist satisfaction. In addition, this study provides useful information to tour operators to make their tourists satisfied. Key Words: Tourists Satisfaction (TS), Website Usefulness (WU), Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF), Reliability (REL), Design Quality (DQ), and Information Quality (IQ)
Open Access
Women Legislators of West Bengal: A Study of Political Leadership Since 1990s
(University of North Bengal, 2022-01) Roy, Aloka; Chakraborty, Ranjita
Open Access
Enquiry into the causes and consequences of rural urban migration in West Bengal with special reference to Coochbehar District
(University of North Bengal, 2022-11) Majumdar, Sujit; Bagchi, Kanak Kanti

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