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Barrovian-grade pelites in the Greater Himalayan Crystallines and Lesser Himalayan Formations exposed in the Himalayan core are separated by the Main Central Thrust (MCT). This fault system accommo...

The landslides are natural hazards, which cause damage to both property and life every year, especially in the Himalayas. Detailed studies of landslide susceptible areas are instrumental in getting fast and safe mitigation actions and doing future planning for any construction work. The study area lies under the Lesser Himalaya in the Tehri-Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India. This area consists of weak and unstable lithology, highly fragile rocks due to the complicated tectonic settings; consequently, landslide movement is a common phenomenon in the area. We have used several landslide controlling factors such as slope, lithology, thrust buffers, relative relief, land use land cover, lineaments, and stream buffer in order to generate a susceptibility map. We have prepared these parameters from geological (structural and lithological) maps, Landsat TM, and ASTER GDEM data and field investigation data. We have integrated the data based on the ordinal scale weightage rating technique to generate the landslide susceptibility index (LSI) values. The LSI frequency distribution is divided into five zones (i.e., very low, low, moderate, high, and very high susceptibility) based on the geometric interval as well as the standard deviation to enhance the classes with minimal frequency. These zones account for 3.30%, 20.88%, 47.99%, 41.13%, and 1.83% of total area respectively. Furthermore, the final susceptibility map is validated using the field data of landslide occurrences, which depicts that more than 50% of landslides occur in very high and high zones. These zones lie in the north-eastern side of the Tehri reservoir, which is traversed by North Almora Thrust (NAT), while just 16% of landslides have fallen in low and very low susceptible zones.

The Sutlej River basin of the western Himalaya (study area), owing to its unique geographical disposition, receives precipitation from both the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and the Westerlies. The characteristic timing and intensity of the ISM and Westerlies, leaves a distinct footprint on the sediment load of the River. Analysis with the last forty years data, shows an increasing trend for temperature. While for precipitation during the same period, the Spiti watershed on the west has highest monthly accumulated precipitation with long term declining trend, in contrast to the other areas where an increasing trend has been observed. Thus, to probe the hydrological variability and the seasonal attributes, governed by the Westerlies and ISM in the study area, we analyzed precipitation, temperature, snow cover area (in % ), discharge, suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and suspended sediment load (SSL) for the period 2004 - 2008 . To accomplish the task, we used the available data of five hydrological stations located in the study area. Inter-annual shift in peak discharge during the monsoon period is controlled by the variation in precipitation, snow melt, glacier melt and temperature. Besides seasonal variability has been observed in generation of the sediments and its delivery to the river. Our analysis indicates, dominance of the Westerlies footprints in the hydrological parameters of the Spiti region, towards western part of the study area. While, it is observed that the hydrology of the Khab towards eastern part of the study area shows dominance of ISM. Further downstream, the hydrology of Nathpa station also shows dominance of ISM. It also emerged out that the snowmelt contribution to the River flow is mostly during the initial part, at the onset of the monsoon, while for rest and major part of the summer monsoon season, the River flow is augmented by the precipitation, glacial melt and some snow melt. We observed, that the SSC increases exponentially in response to increase in temperature and correlates positively with River discharge. The average daily SSL in the summer monsoon is many times more than that in the winter monsoon. The downstream decrease in steepness of the sediment rating curve is attributed to either a change in the River-sediment dynamics or on account of the anthropogenic forcing. The top 1 % of the extreme summer monsoon events (only 4 events) in our study area contribute up to 45 % of SSL to the total sediment load budget. It has also been observed that the River-sediment dynamics in the upstream catchments are more vulnerable and sensitive to the extreme events in comparison to the downstream catchments. The present study for the first time gives a holistic insight in to the complex dynamics of the hydrological processes operational in the study area. The research findings would be crucial for managing the water resources of the region and the linked water and food security.

Background: Cancer is on rise. WHO estimates that by 2030, the incidence of cancer will increase by 68% as compared to 2012. This study evaluates epidemiological profile of Cancer in the Vindhya region. Design of this study was combination of retrospective and prospective study. Methods: All cancer patients admitted in surgery ward of S. S. medical college, Rewa between 2010 to 2014 were included in the study. Data regarding age, gender, religion, socio-economic status, residence, dietary habits, addiction and site of cancer as well as mortality pattern of cancer was tabulate, analyzed and compared. Results: 1186 cases were included in this study which constituted 3.02% of total admissions in surgical ward. 50.25% were males, 49.75% were females. Most common age groups were middle age group i.e. 35-64 years (25.30% males, 32.29% females, total 57.59%) and geriatric (19.48% males, 11.38% females, total 30.86%). 95.78% were Hindus, 4.22% were Muslims. 70.40% were BPL, 29.60% were APL. 67.20% belonged to rural areas, 32.80% were from urban areas. 75.89% were vegetarians, 24.11% were non-vegetarians. 25.97% were addicted to tobacco alone, 1.52% to alcohol alone and 18.63% to both tobacco and alcohol. Breast cancer was the most prevalent cancer (19.06%), followed by cancer gall bladder (10.55%). Among males, colorectal cancer was the commonest (11.24%), gall bladder was the 4 th commonest (8.22%). Among females, breast was the commonest (37.12%) and gall bladder was the 2 nd commonest (12.88%). Gall bladder cancer was the commonest (13.93%) in geriatric age group, 2 nd commonest (9.37%) in the middle age group and 5 th commonest in the young age group (7.63%). 18.38% of all and 46.40% of gall bladder cancer presented with metastasis. 91 cancer deaths were recorded accounting for 3.64% of all deaths and the case fatality rate of cancer was 7.67%. Gall bladder cancer was the commonest cause of Cancer deaths overall (14.29%) and in females (20.00%) and 2nd commonest among males (10.70%) after Ca stomach (12.50%). Cancer gall bladder was the commonest cause of death in middle age (16.34%) and 2 nd commonest in geriatric age group (15.63%). Conclusions: Cancer affects all genders, ages and demographic profiles. Cancer of gall bladder has emerged as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in this study.

Kalidas’s plays are replete with descriptive details of flora and fauna and vivid pictures of naturedrawn from diverse sources and rich imagery. His works particularly “Ritusambharam’’, “Meghdutam’’ and ‘’Abhijnanashakuntalam’’ also show a symbiotic relationship between man and nature. Though there are many works on his plays and epicscritiquingnature,its grandeur and other related aspects. This paper attempts to critique the Ecocritical concept of Romantic sublime in “Abhijnanashakuntalam “. This paper examines the ecosystem presented in this play by Kalidas, which endorses the emotional experiences of the wonder of nature. It also critiques the text with reference to Lee Rozelle’s concept of ‘ ecosublime’ which suggests that sublime encounter with nature inspires awe which further invites ecological catastrophe as well as environmental responsibility. This paper further discusses the profundity of thought, emotion and spirit represented by spectacular landscapes, characters and living and non-living objects in the forest. It further interrogates the ecocentric setting of the play which extends an egalitarian perspective with respect to all elements of nature and acknowledges the intrinsic value of all living beings. The paper concludes that ‘Abhjjnashakuntalam’ presents the ecocritical perspective of society, culture and gender,which highlight nature and evoke emotional experiences with awe and wonder in postmodern world faced with danger of environmental catastrophe.