STR data for the Amp FlSTR Profiler Plus loci among 27 populations of different social hierarchy from southern part of Andhra Pradesh, India

Allele frequency for the 9 STR loci (D3S1358, vWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820) were estimated from a total of 1096 individuals belonging to 27 endogamous populations from the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, covering the entire gamut of socio-economic variation of the linguistic region. These loci are found to be highly polymorphic within the populations with high levels of average heterozygosity (>0.80). However, the allele frequency distributions are fairly uniform across the populations in case of these loci suggesting relatively greater homogeneity among the populations. Regrouping populations into five broad socio-economic categories further reiterated the homogenous pattern of genetic diversity.     

Where is India’s growth headed?

Growth in India declined in the post financial crisis years both due to external and domestic factors. While the slowdown appears to be largely cyclical, it is possible that trend growth may also have been affected, especially by negative shocks from the domestic policy environment. In this article, we analyze the sources of output growth in the past three decades and discuss the outlook going forward. We make projections for the growth of factors of production and the growth of trend gross domestic product (GDP) per worker for the period from 2013–2030. In general, the outlook for factors appears strong. As long as policy reforms support the broad environment for investment in infrastructure and education and eliminate frictions hampering the efficient use of labor and capital, all of which can also boost productivity, it does not appear that trend growth is likely to decline in the future.     

Film and Media Scholarship on Contemporary India: The Assemblage,the Narrative,and “Bollywood”

Reading the work of film scholars Anustup Basu, Amit Rai and Ravi Vasudevan together, this essay discusses contemporary film and media scholarship in India. It highlights the central differences between these works as pivoting on their research methodologies as well as the way each conceptualizes significant terms, namely, identity, ideology, hegemony, and assemblage. The essay shows that this scholarship proceeds along two routes: one eschews the primacy of the narrative and the concept of identity, focusing instead on the “assembling impulse” of the Hindi film, and the second is attentive to the axes that give form and consistency to the loose assemblages that define the Hindi film in India. As such, film scholarship also makes an argument about the shape of the social formation in contemporary India. While one mode assumes the newness of the contemporary period and argues for a looseness to its political assemblages, the other is invested in delineating what is new about the period and in tracing the hegemonic thrust that gives it shape.     

Development of Criticality Index to Assess Water Quality in Major Rivers of Gujarat

Criticality of Surface Water Quality means the value of its physico-chemical parameters exceeding the specified limits and thus becomes of great importance due to their probable environmental impacts. The term was coined for intra-comparison between various parameters that determine the Water Quality. The Concept of Criticality Index is to assess the relative criticality of various parameters for Riverine Systems. These parameters are very many and include notable such as COD, DO, TDS, pH, etc. Normally, in water quality determination for river stretch, equal importance is given to all parameters and often the fact that certain parameters, more critical than others is neglected. This study emphasizes on this fact and works on related known concepts and logics, and developed the Index which is beneficial in identifying the critical parameters for river stretches. This is useful in prioritizing the mitigation measures due to their inherent characteristics.