Articles

First report of Pink Disease of Ficus benghalensis L. caused by Erythricium salmonicolor (Berk. & Broome) Burds. (Corticiaceae) from India.

/in /by

Erythricium salmonicolor (Berk. & Broome) Burds. causes a canker and die-back disease, commonly known as pink disease,  on  many  tree  species.  During the field survey, typical symptoms of pink disease were observed on the dead branches of Ficus benghalensis L. trees. The pathogen isolated from host tree and identified as Erythricium salmonicolor (Berk. & Broome) Burds. was confirmed on the basis of macro-micro morphological analysis. To our knowledge, this is First report of Pink Disease of Ficus benghalensis L. caused by Erythricium salmonicolor (Berk. & Broome) Burds. from India.

An Updates on Genus Gisekia L. Found in India

/in /by

Gisekia L. is a common ephemeral genus found in India. There is only one species recorded in all over India namely G. pharnaceoides and have two varieties namely var. pharnaceoides and var. pseudopaniculata. Currently according to plants of the world online database the var. pseudopaniculata has been considered as synonym of G. diffusa.   Hence present investigation was done to check out the updating status of genus Gisekia L. in India and author has experienced that the var. pseudopaniculata found in India must be treated as G. diffusa. Since there are mere differences in both species hence in present investigation the new keys are introduced along with the digital photos of each plant parts for easy identification.

 

Taxonomic Notes on an Endemic Variety of Portulaca oleracea [Portulacaceae] Found in India is suppose to Promote as Separate Species Portulaca linearifolia

/in /by

Santapau & Hennery reported  four species of Portulaca found in all over India namely P. oleracea, P. pilosa, P. quadrifida and P. wightiana, among these P. oleracea and P. pilosa further divided in  variety and sub species or race by Sivarajan & Manilal and Geesink respectively. In the present investigation author has experienced that P. oleracea var. linearifloia proposed by Sivarajan & Manilal has adequate amount of different characters right now from habit, morphology, shape and size of leaf, shape of operculum and seed testa characteristics hence, assumed to promote the variety as a separate species under name Portulaca linearifolia (Sivarajan & Manilal) Dheeren Panwar com. nov., rather than the variety of type species.

Burden of Income Tax and Health Care Inequalities in India- An Empirical Analysis

/in /by

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the burden of income tax and health care inequalities in India.

Materials and Method: The data retrieved from various electronic databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Cochrane library and other sources regarding individual income tax, allocation of GDP for health sector and the out-of-pocket expenditure of the public for the health sector among top ten GDP countries. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis.

Results: Though India ranks the fifth place in GDP, it spends only 1.4% of GDP on the health sector, which was very low when compared to top GDP countries, so the public spends more out of pocket for the health sector (67.78%), which forcibly pushes them into poverty.

Conclusion: The Government should make more effort and should allot more amount of GDP for the health sector in future for the beneficiaries of people.

Allelopathic Potential of Rice Straw Incorporation on Weed Emergence in Rice Cultivars

/in /by

Laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of in corporation of rice straw on the germination of different rice cultivars viz: ADT 36,ADT 38,ADT49,CO43.Further the allelopathic impact of crop residues on weed count and weed biomass was also registered. Different rates of incorporation was tried and higher the rate of incorporation, higher the inhibitions on rice and weed observations. Reduction in the performance of rice seed germination and growth parameters was observed with increased rice straw incorporation in all the four rice cultivars tried. Perhaps the rice straw incorporation had an influence on the biomass of rice cultivars too. Supporting research evidences also reveals that allelopathic effect of rice straw on rice and weed performance can stand as a remarkable achievement for recycling rice straw in rice producing countries.

Phase Wise Variation of Criteria Pollutants across India during COVID-19 Lockdown

/in /by

The COVID-19 epidemic forced many countries around the world to lockdown completely. This occlusion influenced the atmospheric composition positively due to reduced anthropogenic activities. Recently, many studies across India have shown how the COVID-19 lockdown has affected air quality in different cities. However, these studies did not examine the phased percentage variation in air pollutant concentrations across different states of India. In this study, percentage variation in the concentration of five criteria pollutant, PM10, PM2.5, NO2, CO and Ozone were studied for 13 states across India during four phases of COVID-19 lockdown. A significant decrease in air pollutant levels was observed in all four phases, with phase 1 and phase 2 reporting a maximum decrease. PM10 and PM2.5, CO and NO2 showed a decrease in concentration in all states. Ozone showed a mixed response, with both increase and decrease recorded across states. During the COVID-19 lockdown period in India, AOD levels were reduced by 10.25%. This study will certainly help regulators set the guidelines and mitigation measures for appropriate control of air pollutants in different states in future.

Improving India’s Pandemic Response through a Health Information System Reform

/in /by

Despite stringent lockdown measures to curb the spread of the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), India remains vulnerable to an uncontrolled rise in the number of cases and deaths. Furthermore, in spite of the high number of recorded cases, the actual case counts may be much higher due to poor data reporting of probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19 from all of India’s states. Being a populous country with the potential to become the world’s COVID-19 epicenter, it should be the Indian government’s top priority to strengthen India’s health information system (HIS) to support their infectious disease response.

To ensure that this paper is guided by current research on India’s HIS performance, a search strategy was developed on Ovid MEDLINE using database-specific subject headings and text words. The search terms used included: “health information systems” AND “India” AND “COVID-19” OR “Coronavirus.”

Most district level COVID-19 information management is still paper-based, and with India’s vast terrain, this approach is prone to data compilation errors. Furthermore, India’s fragmented HIS has led to ineffective collaboration between COVID-19 response agencies at the central, state, and district levels, thereby creating barriers pertaining to the compilation and coordination of COVID-19 data.

Investing in the use of technology is a viable approach to strengthen the country’s HIS performance during an infectious disease pandemic. To address the challenges associated with India’s fragmented HIS, the government is encouraged to implement a national regulatory body to monitor health information inputs and outputs.