(SoHSS) School of Humanities and Social Sciences

<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

Center for Public Affairs and Critical Theory

We examine among- and within-catchment variability in century-long patterns of phytoplankton abundance and sedimentary C and N isotopic content in two temperate oligotrophic estuaries of the Eastern Canadian Coast. Two upstream sites are compared with one downstream site within a large, relatively unimpacted catchment. The downstream site is compared to another site situated in an adjacent catchment that experienced more urban development. Variations in δ13C, δ15N, and organic content in downstream sites coincided with either water flow restriction events following bridge construction in the 1950s, or wastewater treatment plant startup in the 1960s. Furthermore, downstream sites showed algal abundance peaks between the 1920s and 1990s, in contrast to the upstream site where algal abundance increased throughout the twentieth century. We then quantified the relative importance of two sets of environmental factors as correlates of phytoplankton abundance and composition. We show that downstream algal communities (especially cryptophytes and cyanobacteria) were influenced by land-use factors. In contrast, upstream algal communities were more influenced by climatic variables, namely August air temperature rather than land-use change (e.g., pig farm, golf course). We propose that sand-bar built estuaries tend to be more sensitive to land transformation events at downstream reaches, where land-derived materials tend to accumulate. In contrast, upstream reaches of estuaries drain relatively smaller surface areas, making them potentially more sensitive to climatic signals. © 2021, Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.

World University root node

Estuaries and Coasts

Differential Impacts of Climate and Land-use on Twentieth-century Phytoplankton Composition among and within Two Temperate Coastal Estuaries of Atlantic Canada

Economic and Political Weekly

Poetic Trends Fetishising Nature and Pathologising the City

Pollen and diatom assemblages from well-dated sediment cores from three lakes forming a west-to-east transect across the boreal forest in northwest Ontario (Canada) were used to evaluate the timing and nature of the movement of the prairie-forest ecotone (PFE) across the Holocene. Changes in vegetation, temperature, and effective moisture were inferred from pollen and pollen-based transfer functions. Analyses indicated site-specific vegetational and climate changes across short spatial distances, with prolonged prairie-like conditions during the middle Holocene at the westernmost site. Increased reconstructed temperatures at this westernmost site occurred from ~9000 to 3000 cal yr BP, alongside increases in diatom-inferred lake levels beginning at ~6000 cal yr BP. The abundance of Quercus peaked concurrently with rising lake levels before declining to trace levels by ~3000 cal yr BP. Increases in the abundance of non-arboreal pollen between ~8500 and ~4500 cal yr BP at the more eastern lakes suggest relatively delayed and truncated PFE influence, before the reestablishment of primarily boreal taxa by ~4500 cal yr BP, coincident with diatom-inferred increases in lake levels. This study shows that the PFE moved both farther east and north than previously determined, but generally agrees with established patterns in vegetation from other studied regions along the PFE. Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Quaternary Research (United States)

Changes in the prairie-forest ecotone in northwest Ontario (Canada) across the Holocene

With growing recognition of the increasingly destructive impacts of the Green Revolution (GR) the world over, heightened further by COVID-19, there is an urgent need to scale up alternative approaches embedded within the paradigm of agro-ecology. Even so, actual progress on the ground in this direction has been extremely slow. I argue that this is because the entire policy framework governing agriculture continues to be located within the GR paradigm and acts as a multi-pronged impediment to upscaling agro-ecological farming. The paper proposes key policy reforms that could help dismantle these barriers and facilitate, support, and accelerate movement towards agro-ecological farming in India. © Shah 2022.

Fulltext

Ecology, Economy and Society

Dismantling Barriers to Upscaling Agro-ecological Farming in India

An argument for twin propositions is presented in this two-part paper: (i) that solving India's water problem requires a paradigm shift in agriculture (Part I), and (ii) that the crisis in Indian agriculture cannot be resolved without a paradigm shift in water management and governance (Part II). If farming takes up 90% of India's water and just three water-intensive crops continue to use 80% of agricultural water, the basic water needs of millions of people, for drinking water or protective irrigation, cannot be met. This first part argues that the paradigm shift in agriculture requires a shift in cropping patterns suited to each agroecological region, a movement from monoculture to polycultural crop biodiversity, a decisive move towards agroecological farming, and greater emphasis on soil rejuvenation. © 2021 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

Water and agricultural transformation in India: A symbiotic relationship-I

An argument for twin propositions is presented in this two-part paper: (i) that solving India’s water problem requires a paradigm shift in agriculture (Part I), and (ii) that the crisis in Indian agriculture cannot be resolved without a paradigm shift in water management and governance (Part II). The second part describes the paradigm shift needed in water, which includes rejuvenation of catchment areas of rivers, a shift towards participatory approaches to water management, focus on green water and protective irrigation, and widespread adoption of water-saving seeds and technologies, while building transdisciplinarity and overcoming hydro-schizophrenia in water governance. © 2021 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

Water and agricultural transformation in India: A symbiotic relationship—II

Despite a recent proliferation of bridges in coastal zones, little is known of the long-term impacts of bridge construction on phytoplankton abundance and community composition in nearshore waters. Here, we used high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis to quantify historical changes in phytoplankton using fossils from cores on either side of a 57-year-old bridge that reduced fetch by 76\% and created a discrete enclosed inner embayment. We hypothesized that phytoplankton abundance should be greater in the inner bay after bridge construction due to reduced hydrological flow and increased nutrient influx associated with terrestrial development and more profound anoxia in the enclosed basin. As expected, primary producer abundance, especially cryptophytes, increased in the inner bay during the 1950–1960s, although the effect was transient despite continuous fourfold elevation in sediment organic matter content (\%C, \%N) after ca. 1960 in response to wastewater influx. The pulse in cryptophytes appeared to correspond to influx of humic-rich waters derived from locally exploited peatlands, whereas the phytoplankton community of the outer basin largely reflected historical variations in climate, with warmer April months associated with increased abundance of diatoms and cryptophytes. Overall, sediment stable isotope values in the inner basin varied in response to a complex combination of changes in wastewater treatment (δ 15 N), release of untreated fish plant effluents (δ 15 N), and connectivity with the open ocean (δ 13 C). Taken together, these findings suggest that the effects of bridge construction on coastal phytoplankton production and community composition operated through multiple pathways, rather than just via modifications of basin hydrology. © 2018, Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.

Effects of Bridge Construction and Wastewater Effluent on Phytoplankton Abundance and Sediment Geochemistry in an Atlantic Temperate Coastal Bay Since 1930

Some of the critical facets of medical practice by unqualified medical practitioners in India are explored: their role in treating acute medical conditions, and the responses of poor households eager to recover quickly with minimal spending. The study reveals how a wide range of associated actors are connected to the UMPs, including lawmakers, regulators, health managers, and those who benefit from the UMPs, that is, mainly qualified doctors. © 2019 Economic and Political Weekly. All Rights Reserved.

Unqualified medical practitioners their illegal but indispensable role in primary healthcare

The trajectory of “things” that are declared obsolete is mapped to argue that a junkyard is not merely a repository of the redundant, but also a liminal space between waste and trash, as well as use and reuse. An exploration of a junkyard in the Mayapuri neighbourhood of Delhi reveals how value is extracted from waste, bypassing the imposed norms of planned obsolescence in order to induce life into the lifeless. A complex set of relationships between the imposed rules of obsolescence and actual practices of a junkyard are observed to argue that “waste” is not merely matter out of place or matter without place, but it is essentially matter on the move. © 2018 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.

The afterlife of things in a Delhi Junkyard: Liminal debris of consumer culture

A study in two districts recording high numbers of farmer suicide-Yavatmal in Maharashtra and Sangrur in Punjab-explores the tipping point for this desperate act and finds that in addition to the shame of indebtedness, especially when borrowing from members of the family, several other factors contribute to farmer suicides. These include faulty cropping patterns, rising input costs, aspirational consumption, and the absence of non-farm sources of income.