K.D.Sharma: Emerging Trends and Structure of Urbanization in India: Issues and Challenges.
Few socio-economic institutions have been evaluated by social scientists in such a contradictory manner as cities and the incumbent process of urbanization which these represent. Cities have been heralded as the harbingers of human achievement and at the same time as the root cause of decline in social and cultural values, degradation of environment and increasing social and economic disparities.
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Vishwa B.S. Chandel, Karanjot Kaur Brar:Multi-disaster Risk and Vulnerability in Western Himalayan State of Himachal Pradesh.
Natural disasters occur when natural forces come into contact with a vulnerable population/situation. It is not possible to eliminate hazards though their impacts may be minimized by anticipating the risk and vulnerability and ensuring preparedness. This requires an understanding of physical as well as human vulnerability. An amalgamation of these two shall portray disaster zones. This concept forms the basis for assessing and analysing multi-disaster risk and associated human vulnerability in Himachal Pradesh, a Himalayan state that is physically vulnerable to several disasters. The cool temperate zone of the area is susceptible to hydro-meteorological and geo-physical disasters. The human vulnerability is very high in certain pockets of high population potential; the valley of the river Beas is amongst the most vulnerable zone. The mechanism behind these disaster events is predominantly natural; however, the triggering agent and conditions that lead to destruction are created by humans. The encroachments upon unsuitable landscapes for several developmental activities have increased the vulnerability of people residing in these areas and infrastructure developed over it. The management efforts must attempt to identify and map these aspects of disasters at a sufficiently large scale to visualise how and why a landscape becomes hazardous and people become vulnerable.
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Anuja Tigga, B. Hema Malini: Temperature Trends in Ranchi City, Jharkhand.
The present study aimed at analyzing the temporal variations in temperature over Ranchi city, Jharkhand, India, during the period 1901-2010. To achieve the objective the linear and moving average of an eleven year trend are being used to understand the temperature trends. The study of linear trend indicated increasing trends in mean and maximum temperatures and decreasing trends in minimum temperatures, thus showing increasing trends in diurnal temperature range. The analysis of moving average indicated two periods when annual mean temperature increased significantly. These periods are closely associated with the post-independence period of industrialization (1955-1965) and recent phase of urbanization (after 2000). The analysis also indicates that the rate of change in temperatures brought by post independence period of industrial activities were of higher magnitude than that of recent years urbanization. Again, the monthly and seasonal analysis of temperature revealed a sharp decline in minimum temperature during winter season and especially in the coldest month (January) than any other seasons or months.
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Rajeshwari, Pritika Jakhar: Women Nutrition and its Correlates in Rural Haryana.
Health status of population is a broader concept which encompasses longevity of life, absence of diseases and nutritional intake. Nutritional status of a person depends upon food consumption and not merely availability of food. Women nutrition occupies greater significance because of her role in child bearing and due to having central role in various household activities. In the present paper an attempt has been made to find out the nutritional status of women and extent of its socio-economic disparities in rural Haryana. The study is based on primary data collected through household survey from eight villages of eight districts in Haryana. A total of 620 women in 15-49 age groups from 487 households, selected by stratified random sampling method, have been surveyed. Nutritional status of women is measured by body mass index and their dietary intake in terms of consumption of milk and green vegetables. The analysis has been attempted in relation to socio-economic characteristics of the households. The paper also attempts to analyze various correlates of women nutrition.
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Manish Kumar, D.K. Tripathi: Monitoring Urban Sprawl Using Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study of Gurgaon City, Haryana.
The present study is an attempt to identify and monitor urban sprawl in and around Gurgaon city using remote sensing technique. The multi-spectral high resolution Landsat satellite images of TM (year 1992) and ETM+ sensors ( years 2000 and 2006) have been processed in remote sensing software ERDAS Imagine version 9.1 to map and analyze the dominant changes that occurred in land use/land cover features (specially in the built-up area) during the past fifteen years (1992 to 2006).To study the urban sprawl on the fringe of Gurgaon city, development plan of Gurgaon- Manesar Master Plan -2021, encompassing an area of 446.66 km² has been chosen as a case study. It is found that the built-up area is spreading in a ribbon shaped linear pattern mainly along the transport network into the fringe of the Gurgaon city. The study reveals that the built-up area in and around Gurgaon city has increased from 2969.37 ha. to 9129.27 ha. (455.63 per cent) during past fifteen years (1992 to 2006). The analysis was possible by using remote sensing techniques that established its effectiveness in monitoring urban land use/ land cover changes and urban sprawl.
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Omvir Singh, Poonam Arya, Bhagwan Singh Chaudhary: A Climatological Study of Minimum Temperature at Dehradun in Doon Valley.
Climate change is one of the major global challenges and has gathered the interest of researchers, scientists, planners, and politicians. Interest in climate change has increased over the last three decades due to a persistent increase in global warming associated with the greenhouse effect. Agriculture is highly exposed to climatic changes, as farming activities directly depend on its prevailing conditions. The effect of these changes will be on crop production, water availability, heat stress in plants and incidences of flood and drought risks. Knowledge of the extent of such change and of related phenomena will help to answer the questions posed by society about adaptation strategies. In this study, forty one years of daily data (1967-2007) on minimum temperatures at Dehradun, located in Doon valley of Uttarakhand at an altitude of 640 m above mean sea level were collected. The collected data were analyzed and interpreted to find trends and anomalies in minimum temperature, extreme values of minimum temperature, events having zero or negative minimum temperature, the daily departure of minimum temperatures from the normal, persistence of minimum temperature for number of days, frequency of cold waves and frost severity index.
Results from the analysis revealed that the total numbers of events when minimum temperature recorded either zero or negative were counted as 52 out of total 3700 observations during 1967-2007 and out of which maximum number of such events (37) occurred in the month of January. The magnitude of minimum temperature indicated an increasing trend both seasonally and annually. The summers and winters at Dehradun were found to be warmed at the rate of 1.7°C/100 year and 1.46°C/100 year, respectively. Coefficient of variability in minimum temperature varied from 17 to 26 per cent. Markedly below normal temperature were found to be rare at Dehradun. Persistence in minimum temperature for one day was found to be maximum for the month of January. Also, maximum number of cold waves at Dehradun occurred during January and decadal frost severity index was more during 1967-76. The results of this study may be extremely beneficial for farmers, agricultural research workers and the planners of the Doon Valley.
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Kelelew Addisu, G.V. Narasimha Rao: The Changing Pattern of Spatial Structures of the Urban Periphery in Adama City, Central Ethiopia: Recent Trends and Driving Forces.
This study aims to investigate the factors shaping the contemporary patterns in the development of spatial (land use) structures of the peripheral areas in Adama city, one of the principal urban centres of Ethiopia experiencing rapid growth. The study involved quantitative and qualitative analysis of primary data collected through household survey, and intensive field observation which were conducted during the months of October and November 2010. Besides, secondary data obtained from Housing Development Project Office were consulted and analyzed. The study revealed that the pattern of spatial structures in the peripheral zones of the study area in recent periods is likely to be explained by the increased prevalence of homogeneous structures of predominantly residential functions. The development of such patterns tends to be triggered by government actions on urban land management which led to increased investment on private housing development, and urban administrative restructuring.
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Haroon Sajjad: Food Security Situation among Vulnerable Rural Households: A Case Study of Bijnor District, Uttar Pradesh.
This paper investigates the food security situation among rural households in Bijnor District of Uttar Pradesh in India. The specific objectives of the study are to ascertain the level of food security among rural households, to identify the coping strategies utilized by the rural households in ensuring food security and to identify the constraints faced by rural households in ensuring food availability. The study is based on the primary data collected through field work of 275 households. The results reveal that the level of food insecurity varied according to socio-economic characteristics of the households. The severity of food insecurity was higher among marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and landless agricultural labourers. To become food secure and in response to food deficit condition, respondents were found to be engaged in multiple employments and adopted a number of other coping strategies. The major constraints militating against food security in the study area are unemployment, finance, debt and number of dependents in the family.
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Abha Lakshmi Singh, Mohd Kaish: An Enumeration and Mapping of Slums in Aligarh City.
In this paper an attempt has been made to prepare a working definition of slums and on that basis slums were enumerated and mapped. The problem of slums has become so massive and vital not only in large / metropolitan cities, but also in small / medium sized cities that it has attracted the attention of social scientists, researchers and local authorities. For this reason Aligarh, a medium sized city located in the fertile Gangetic tract was selected as study area. On the basis of working definition prepared by the researchers, 77 slum spots (having 5 and > 5 households) located within the city municipal boundary were identified and mapped. This was the first map of its kind showing the distribution of slums in Aligarh city. Further in-depth investigations were carried out to collect information regarding the place of location, ownership of land, duration, area, population and number of households living in the slums. The result shows that enumeration and mapping of slums provided the information base for slum up-gradation programmmes.
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Map Series-IV: R.C. Chandna:Sex Ratio in Punjab-Haryana Region, 2011.
The cat is out of the bag. Provisional data for 2011 census stand released. Hopes on the most sensitive issue of declining sex ratio have not been belied even in the most vulnerable region-Northwestern India. However, Punjab(893), Haryana (877) still continue to be the part of acute female paucity belt even while the country as a whole improved its sex ratio from 933 in 2001 to 940 in 2011 despite visible signs of improvement in their child (0-6) sex ratio. The child sex ratio of Haryana improved from 818 to 830 while that of Punjab improved from 798 to 846 during 2001-11.
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Doctoral Abstract: Safdar Ali Shirazi: Urban Development and its Impact on the Vegetation of Lahore.
At present, out of the world's total population of 6.8 billion, one half (3.4 billion people) lives in urban centres or in cities. Therefore, present century is truly called the Urban Century. In comparison to the world scenario, Asia is having about 42 per cent of its total population living in defined urban territories. The situation in Pakistan is also alarming with more than 35 per cent of its population living in cities and towns. The urban population of Lahore is 82 per cent of its 8.4 million people as projected through recentestimates.
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Doctoral Abstract: Awol Akmel Yesuf: A Study on the Changing Urban Environment of Addis Ababa City, Ethiopia, Through Remote Sensing and GIS.
The present study is an attempt to understand the environmental changes that occurred due to spatial variations in land use/land cover due to urbanization in Addis Ababa city, Ethiopia. The study examined the changing trends of climate and its implications in relation to urban activities. Further, an attempt has also been made to assess the agricultural patterns of the region as per the climatic conditions. Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and water balance techniques are the principal tools used in the present study. The thesis comprises six chapters.
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Doctoral Abstract: Mohd Kaish: Livelihoods and Health Status of Slum Dwellers in Aligarh city.
'Slum is a dirty and overcrowded area of a city or town inhabited by poor people' (Oxford Dictionary, 2005). Rapid urbanization has brought in its wake an alarming, inevitable and persistent problem of 'slums'. The world's population has doubled in only two decades and in India, the share of urban population is continuously increasing from 17.3 per cent in 1951 to 27.8 per cent in 2001. By 2021 the share of urban population will be about 40 per cent. Slums are created mainly because of poverty, social backwardness and unemployment of people living in the countryside who subsequently move to urban areas with the main objective of eking out their livelihood.
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Doctoral Abstract: Sanjeev Goel: Spatial Patterns of Population Change in Haryana: 1971- 2001.
Haryana has made a significant progress in all spheres of life since its inception as a separate state in 1966. Due to its strategic location in north-western India, Haryana plays a crucial role in connecting the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and union territory of Chandigarh with the national capital of Delhi and the rest of the country. Under the influence of the National Capital Region in south-east and Chandigarh Inter-State Region in the north, the state made a tremendous progress in urbanization, industrial development, agricultural transformation, socio-economic setup, transport and communication network and infra-structural facilities during 1971- 2001.
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Doctoral Abstract: Jaspal Singh: State of Urbanization in Punjab: A Geographical Analysis.
The focus of this study is to analyze geographically the state of urbanization in terms of quality of living conditions in urban areas of Punjab in 2001 as well as to highlight the change in quality of urban living in the state during 1991-2001. This study also reveals inter-town and inter-district spatial variations among various components of quality of urban living like civic amenities, infrastructural facilities, social and financial status in the state. Thus, the major objectives of the study are to analyze the spatial distribution of urban amenities, utilities and facilities in Punjab; to understand the financial health of local bodies and to find out the levels of quality of life in urban Punjab.
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Research Project: Rajeshwari: Health Transition in Haryana: A Spatial Analysis.
The present study is an attempt to study the spatial variations in health transition in the state of Haryana. Health transition refers to the change in health status of population due to changes in demographic characteristics and changes in life style which affect pattern of diseases, changes in access to resources, affecting nutritional status of population and changes in access to health care infrastructure. Hence, health transition encompasses a whole gamut of interaction due to changes in economy.
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Book Review: H.S.Bhatt: Geography of Tribal Agriculture.
The physical insularity supports large number of tribal communities in the world which are racially – culturally diverse and their survival successes are also not identical. The tribal people are believed to be the earliest colonizers of the country particularly, in central, southern, northern and north eastern parts of India. Continuous attempts have been made to answer the two basic questions; who are the tribals? and what is Tribalism? It is very difficult if not impossible to find answer to these questions.
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