This book discusses the important issue of the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of agricultural residue burning, common in agricultural practices in many parts of the world. In particular, it focuses on the pollution caused by rice residue burning using primary survey data from Punjab, India. It discusses emerging solutions to agricultural waste burning that are cost-effective in terms of both money and time. The burning of agricultural residue causes severe pollution in land, water...

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was enacted in India with the multiple objectives of providing employment in a rights-based framework, addressing rural poverty, checking migration, and building rural infrastructure. As such, every year around 15–20 per cent of households in India overall and 30 per cent in rural India receive some form of employment share under the MGNREGA programme.This volume looks at various aspect of the scheme, its linkage ...

Coffee is a major commodity of export in developing countries. In India, it generates significant revenues besides providing employment to many. This book critically looks into various aspects of the coffee production and marketing industry and its potential for promoting sustainable development, poverty alleviation and providing decent work.The small-holder dominated coffee sector is under unprecedented crisis attributed to a host of factors like declining productivity, incidences...

This book provides an overview of the applications of ion beam techniques in oxide materials. Oxide materials exhibit defect-induced physical properties relevant to applications in sensing, optoelectronics and spintronics. Defects in these oxide materials also lead to magnetism in non-magnetic materials or to a change of magnetic ordering in magnetic materials. Thus, an understanding of defects is of immense importance. To date, ion beam tools are considered the most effective techniques f...

This volume examines the transitions in Indian agriculture since the 1980s, and emphasizes upon the role of neoliberal policies and their impact. The essays presented here deal with a range of pertinent and contemporary issues, including global food security, livelihoods of agricultural labourers, and public and private investment. These weave together glimpses of the impasse faced by petty commodity producers (marginal and small farmers) and their subsequent economic distress and social e...