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Sunita Narain, Shazneen Cyrus Gazdar, Avantika Goswami, and Tarun Gopalakrishnan (edited by Souparno Banerjee). 2021. Climate Change: Science and Politics. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment. x + 198 pp. Figures, illustrations, maps, notes, references, tables. ₹750 (paperback)

The present study is an attempt to examine the differential expression of genes in longissimus thoracis muscles between meat and wool type Indian goat breeds. Barbari goat is considered the best meat breed while Changthangi is famous for its fine fibre quality. RNA sequencing data was generated from four biological replicates of longissimus thoracis muscles of Barbari and Changthangi goats. A clear demarcation could be observed between the breeds in terms of expression of genes associated with lipid metabolism (FASN, SCD, THRSP, DGAT2 and FABP3). Most significant genes with high connectivity identified by gene co-expression network analysis were associated with triacylglycerol biosynthesis pathway in Barbari goat. Highly interactive genes identified in Changthangi goat were mainly associated with muscle fibre type. This study provides an insight into the differential expression of genes in longissimus thoracis muscles between Barbari and Changthangi goats that are adapted to and reared in different agro-climatic regions.

In this paper, a systematic literature review was conducted to synthesize understanding on farmers’ perception on climate change. Farmers’ perception of climate change is conceptualized as comprising of three dimensions—first, as farmers’ “awareness”; second, “conceptual understanding”; and third, the “experience” of climate change. The review included 162 papers published during the period January 2000 to July 2019. The highest number of studies was conducted in Africa, followed by Asia. A large majority of farmers report being aware of climate change. However, only a few studies elicit the difference between climate variability and climate change from farmers. A negligible number of studies attempt to identify the role of agricultural activities in greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Furthermore, authors compare farmers’ perception with meteorological evidence, which is more aligned in terms of change in “temperature” rather than “precipitation.” The insights from the review provide guidance on conceptualization and operationalization of the variable “farmers’ perception of climate change” for future studies.

Pashmina, the world’s finest natural fiber is derived from secondary hair follicles of Changthangi goats which are domesticated in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir by nomadic pastoralists. Complex epithelial-mesenchymal interactions involving numerous signal molecules and signaling pathways govern hair follicle morphogenesis and mitosis across different species. The present study involved transcriptome profiling of skin from fiber type Changthangi goats and meat type Barbari goats to unravel gene networks and metabolic pathways that might contribute to Pashmina development. In Changthangi goats, 525 genes were expressed at significantly higher levels and 54 at significantly lower levels with fold change >2 (padj

There is mounting evidence that ancestral life experiences and environment can influence phenotypes in descendants. The parental environment regulates offspring phenotypes potentially via modulating epigenetic marks in the gametes. Here, we review examples of across-generational inheritance of paternal environmental effects and the current understanding of the role of small RNAs in such inheritance. We discuss recent advances in revealing the small RNA payload of sperm and how environmental conditions modulate sperm small RNAs. Further, we discuss the potential mechanism of inheritance of paternal environmental effects by focusing on sperm small RNA-mediated regulation of early embryonic gene expression and its role in influencing offspring phenotypes.

Phone-based short message applications (also called SMS in common parlance) as a medium of sending agricultural information to farmers is considered important in the context of a developing country as it makes information accessible to a large number of farmers economically. However, the empirical evidence on the effect of agricultural information sent through SMS on varied farm outcomes is divided. Using a randomized control trial study design, the present study focuses on a particular agricultural information viz. agri-met advisories, and a particular channel of dissemination viz. SMS to understand the role of information and the medium of information in compliance with recommended information and improvement in farm outcomes. This paper asks two main questions: i) does provision of agri-met advisory via SMS lead to greater compliance with advisory recommendations by the farmers? and ii) Do farm outcomes such as yield differ for those who received the agri-met advisory via SMS? The study is based on six districts in Haryana divided across three agro-climatic zones focusing on the wheat crop. The results showed positive and significant impact of SMS agri-met advisories on the farmers’ compliance with advisory for the treatment group—particularly when the advisory was about agricultural cycles and processes with which they are familiar. However, for weather-related advisory, the results did not show a significant impact of SMS-based agri-met advice on the farmers’ compliance, which was unexpected. The likely reasons for such a finding could be many—including unfamiliarity of the farmers with acting on weather advice, which suggests that future research is needed on factors affecting the uptake of SMS-based agri-met advice by farmers in developing country context., Climate Risk Management, 33, ISSN:2212-0963

India is the world's largest milk producing country because of massive contribution made by cattle and buffaloes. In the present investigation, comprehensive comparative profiling of transcriptomic landscape of milk somatic cells of Sahiwal cattle and Murrah buffaloes was carried out. Genes with highest transcript abundance in both species were enriched for biological processes such as lactation, immune response, cellular oxidant detoxification and response to hormones. Analysis of differential expression identified 377 significantly up-regulated and 847 significantly down-regulated genes with fold change >1.5 in Murrah buffaloes as compared to Sahiwal cattle (padj

Following testicular spermatogenesis, mammalian sperm continue to mature in a long epithelial tube known as the epididymis, which plays key roles in remodeling sperm protein, lipid, and RNA composition. To understand the roles for the epididymis in reproductive biology, we generated a single-cell atlas of the murine epididymis and vas deferens. We recovered key epithelial cell types including principal cells, clear cells, and basal cells, along with associated support cells that include fibroblasts, smooth muscle, macrophages and other immune cells. Moreover, our data illuminate extensive regional specialization of principal cell populations across the length of the epididymis. In addition to region-specific specialization of principal cells, we find evidence for functionally specialized subpopulations of stromal cells, and, most notably, two distinct populations of clear cells. Our dataset extends on existing knowledge of epididymal biology, and provides a wealth of information on potential regulatory and signaling factors that bear future investigation.

Following spermatogenesis in the testis, mammalian sperm continue to mature over the course of approximately 10 days as they transit a long epithelial tube known as the epididymis. The epididymis is comprised of multiple segments/compartments that, in addition to concentrating sperm and preventing their premature activation, play key roles in remodeling the protein, lipid, and RNA composition of maturing sperm. In order to understand the complex roles for the epididymis in reproductive biology, we generated a single cell atlas of gene expression from the murine epididymis and vas deferens. We recovered all the key cell types of the epididymal epithelium, including principal cells, clear cells, and basal cells, along with associated support cells that include fibroblasts, smooth muscle, macrophages and other immune cells. Moreover, our data illuminate extensive regional specialization of principal cell populations across the length of the epididymis, with a substantial fraction of segment-specific genes localized in genomic clusters of functionally-related genes. In addition to the extensive region-specific specialization of principal cells, we find evidence for functionally-specialized subpopulations of stromal cells, and, most notably, two distinct populations of clear cells. Analysis of ligand/receptor expression reveals a network of potential cellular signaling connections, with several predicted interactions between cell types that may play roles in immune cell recruitment and other aspects of epididymal function. Our dataset extends on existing knowledge of epididymal biology, and provides a wealth of information on potential regulatory and signaling factors that bear future investigation.

The accuracy of selection for sire’s merit depends upon the number of daughters born to the sire and also the correctness of performance records. The accuracy of records depends on confirmed paternity of the daughters. In this paper, we report paternity confirmation of a large progeny testing program in buffaloes. The work was undertaken in collaboration with BAIF, Pune under National Agricultural Innovation Project. Murrah bulls (12) were selected and around 120,000 buffaloes were inseminated at farmers’ doorsteps. The area of operation was 52 districts of Uttar Pradesh. We targeted 1,000 female calves to be born to each of the 12 sires. The experiment was an effort to develop a reference population for identification of quantitative trait loci for various economic traits in buffaloes using halfsib design. Owing to financial constraints, we targeted 10,000 daughters born to these 12 sires. The DNA was isolated from these daughters. The DNA of sires was also isolated. Since there was no parentage verification kit commercially available for buffaloes, we developed a multiplex PCR reaction consisting of 11 microsatellite markers to confirm the paternity. The correctness of the paternity was established using microsatellite DNA markers and comparison of daughters’ genotype with genotype of sires. The paper reports paternity testing of large reference family. We also developed a software ‘Confirm Paternity’ for comparing the genotypes of daughters with the respective sire. We report paternity correctness of 90.48% in buffaloes under field conditions.

Several programmes for the genetic improvement and conservation Indian buffalo breeds have been implemented by various agencies since 1970. These programmes may have shaped the present genetic diversity and thereby the evolutionary potential of buffalo populations across India. In this study, we attempted to provide an insight into the contemporary genetic structure of buffaloes by simultaneously analyzing the genetic and geospatial data. A battery of 100 microsatellite markers was genotyped across 1055 buffalo samples representing different geographical regions of the country. Bayesian and multivariate approaches were used for analyses. Although the clustering results from the different approaches were not convergent, these methods were able to identify sub-structuring within the UP buffalo population. In our study BAPS was able to distinguish most of the buffalo breeds with better spatial distribution. The genetic structuring detected in our study is mainly characterised by isolation by distance and also reflects the effect of improvement programmes. Our analysis suggested genetic connectivity of Murrah and Nili-Ravi with several buffalo breeds, as they have been used for breed improvement. The information may be useful in identifying ecologically distinct or connected populations for future improvement and conservation programmes.

Buffalo is an integral part of dairy industry in India. Improvement of buffalo productivity shall require usage of high genetic merit bulls evaluated on the basis of progeny testing. Marker assisted selection of bulls shall enhance the accuracy of selection but require large number of daughters of the sires to be produced for the identification of Quantitative Trait Loci. In this paper we present creation of a large reference family (members with known genotype and phenotype). We created 12 large half sib families each with approximately 1,000 daughters per sire. The economic traits of interest like body weights at different ages, age at first heat, age at first calving, milk yield, fat and protein percentage in milk along with somatic cell count during the first lactation were recorded. The conception rate of bulls under field conditions was recorded and found to be 48.64% for the 12 bulls. There was huge loss of data attributable to different reasons however sale being the most important reason for non-recording of performance data. Only 25% of the daughters born to the 12 sires could be recorded for first lactation milk yield. 8027 daughters with confirm paternity were genotyped for 79 microsatellite markers located on 8 chromosomes, thus 6.34 lakh genotypes were generated. The information of this reference family has been compiled into a Buffalo Reference Family Germplasm Catalogue and published by National Agricultural Innovation Project, ICAR.

A number of molecular pathways play key roles in transmitting information in addition to the genomic sequence-epigenetic information-from one generation to the next. However, so-called epigenetic marks also impact an enormous variety of physiological processes, even under circumstances that do not result in heritable consequences. Perhaps inevitably, the epigenetic regulatory machinery is highly responsive to metabolic cues, as, for example, central metabolites are the substrates for the enzymes that catalyze the deposition of covalent modifications on histones, DNA, and RNA. Interestingly, in addition to the effects that metabolites exert over biological regulation in somatic cells, over the past decade multiple studies have shown that ancestral nutrition can alter the metabolic phenotype of offspring, raising the question of how metabolism regulates the epigenome of germ cells. Here, we review the widespread links between metabolism and epigenetic modifications, both in somatic cells and in the germline.

Influential node identification could soon become a key practice to define the flow of information throughout any network. It has already been frequently attempted using graph theory approaches and optimization techniques approaches such as node centrality measures, label propagation, Naive-Bayes approaches and a lot more. In this paper, we try to use the generalised Bayesian Belief Networks to classify data from an open source data repository using the basic probability distribution of multiple variables. The intent is to accurately predict influential repositories from a collection of repositories after data cleaning, data processing and modeled semi-supervised learning. We also use Naive Bayes algorithm and and Simple Logistic Regression on the same data and found that the underlying mask of Belief functions in Bayesian Belief Networks predicts the influence of a given new data more accurately than the other two algorithms.

The expression of genes and their regulation during lactation in buffaloes remains less understood. To understand the interplay of various genes and pathways, the milk transcriptome from three lactation stages of Murrah buffalo was analyzed by RNA sequencing. The filtered reads were mapped to the Bubalus bubalis as well as Bos taurus reference assemblies. The average mapping rate to water buffalo and Btau 4.6 reference sequence, was 75.5% and 75.7% respectively. Highly expressed genes (RPKM > 3000), throughout lactation included CSN2, CSN1S1, CSN3, LALBA, SPP1 and TPT1. A total of 12833 transcripts were common across all the stages, while 271, 205 and 418 were unique to early, mid and late lactation respectively. Majority of the genes throughout lactation were linked to biological functions like protein metabolism, transport and immune response. A discernible shift from metabolism in early stage to metabolism and immune response in mid stage, and an increase in immune response functions in late lactation was observed. The results provide information of candidate genes and pathways involved in the different stages of lactation in buffalo. The study also identified 14 differentially expressed and highly connected genes across the three lactation stages, which can be used as candidates for future research.

Influential node detection in social networks has become a vital approach to defining some key players in a network. Many approaches have developed applications of such social network analyses for viral marketing, law enforcement, and collaborative support systems for communities using clustering algorithms or centrality measures. One of the most efficient ways to identify influential nodes in a network is to find centralities of the nodes based on their information gain, which takes into account the information gains of their neighbouring nodes as weu In this paper, we propose a hybrid model of influential node search based on such centralities like the degree centrality, betweenness centrality and information gain of the nodes to provide a more precise measure of influence in any network.

Climate change impacts in the mountains of the HKH are already substantive. Increased climate variability is already affecting water availability, ecosystem services, and agricultural production, and extreme weather is causing flash floods, landslides, and debris flow. Climate change is likely to have serious effects in the next decades in the mountains of the HKH (well established). By 2050, mountain temperatures across the region are projected to increase beyond 2 °C on average, and more at higher elevations. Mountain communities—especially remote ones—are more vulnerable to climate change impacts than non-mountain areas (established but incomplete). The high mountains are poorly served by life-saving and livelihood-supporting infrastructure. Access to climate information and support services is limited, as is the presence of government extension agencies. Weak institutional links hinder farmers from adopting technology that can contribute to adaptive capacity. For poor and marginalized groups, deep and pervasive structural inequalities make climate change adaptation even more difficult. Although the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Working Group 2 had four chapters on adaptation, literature on mountain specifics was not prioritized. However, although still insufficient, scientific literature in the region is rapidly emerging, and there is a wealth of information emerging from ongoing adaptation action driven by HKH countries.

SummaryRNAs present in mature mammalian sperm are delivered to the zygote at fertilization, where they have the potential to affect early development. The biogenesis of the small RNA payload of mature sperm is therefore of great interest, as it may be a target of signaling pathways linking paternal conditions to offspring phenotype. Recent studies have suggested the surprising hypothesis that the small RNA payload carried by mature sperm may include RNAs that were not synthesized during testicular spermatogenesis, but that are instead delivered to sperm during the process of post-testicular maturation in the epididymis. To further test this hypothesis, we characterized small RNA dynamics during testicular and post-testicular germ cell maturation in mice. We show that purified testicular germ cell populations, including mature testicular spermatozoa, carry extremely low levels of tRNA fragments (tRFs), and that tRFs become highly abundant only after sperm have entered the epididiymis. The process of small RNA delivery to sperm can be recapitulated in vitro, as caput epididymosomes deliver small RNAs including tRFs and microRNAs to mature testicular spermatozoa. Finally, to definitively identify the tissue of origin for small RNAs in sperm, we carried out tissue-specific metabolic labeling of RNAs in intact mice, finding that mature sperm carry small RNAs that were originally synthesized in the somatic cells of the epididymis. Taken together, our data demonstrates that soma-germline small RNA transfer occurs in male mammals, most likely via vesicular transport from the epididymis to maturing sperm.

Big Data analytics is an upcoming field in the world of computing. It has much more complex requirements for processing and maintenance and thus it should be dealt using high-end servers. So, in turn, it has a lot more energy requirements. High energy requirements can lead to more energy wastage which is not a sustainable practice. In this paper, the comparison is done between 3 platforms that provide the framework for big data management. The platforms are Hive, Impala, and Spark. Many other platforms are also available but these three have been chosen because they can be easily implemented on even a single node Hadoop cluster. The results have shown that Cloudera Impala outperforms both the other platforms as it takes approximately 90% lesser time to do the same task.

It is important to identify the factors influencing adaptive capacity among households within a community, as doing so will enable effective targeting of government interventions to address the risks posed by climate change. In this chapter the authors study such factors using household survey data collected from a drought prone region of Orissa, India. In the survey respondents were asked about the adaptations that they had engaged in to deal with the risk of drought, as well as a number of indicators for adaptive capacity taken from the literature. The study found many indicators to correlate with one or more adaptations taken. However, many of these indicators, while increasing the likelihood that one adaptation would be taken, also decreased the likelihood that another would be taken, and hence were not unambiguous determinants of greater adaptive capacity in general. Access to crop insurance was found to be particularly effective: it correlated with an increased likelihood of engaging in two separate yield-raising adaptations. The results suggest that further attention to crop insurance may be warranted, as well as further research to determine if the other indicators may be effective in other contextual settings.

The buffalo population of Uttar Pradesh (UP) constitutes 26.1% of the total buffalo population of India, yet this population has not been classified into distinct breeds or subpopulations due to lack of systematic study. Genetic variation at 30 microsatellite loci was examined and statistical analysis was carried out to reveal genetic diversity, demographic parameters of these buffaloes and to investigate the existence of population substructures underlying geographical distribution. The mean number of alleles per locus was 13.26 and mean effective number of alleles was 3.74, whereas mean observed and expected heterozygosities were found to be 0.57 and 0.67 in UP buffaloes. Principal component analysis (PCA) based on allele frequency data revealed subclustering of UP buffalo population. Bayesian analysis result also revealed clear membership of individuals into five clusters indicating a genetic subdivision within the UP buffalo population. The buffaloes of Western and Central regions of UP were subtly separated while buffaloes of Tarai area and Bhadawari buffaloes revealed distinctive population structure. The buffaloes of Mau, Ballia and Ghazipur districts of Eastern region also had a distinctive genetic structure. The analysis of data on buffaloes of Indo-Gangetic plains revealed that population was in mutation drift equilibrium. The observed mean M ratio in the population was above the critical significance value (Mc) suggesting that it has not suffered any severe reduction in effective population size. The statistical tests revealed a historical constancy of size of buffalo in this geographical area. The high level of genetic variability indicates UP buffalo population is a vast reservoir of genetic diversity and this shall help in taking informed conservation decisions and sustainable utilization.

The dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) and the bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) are among the last species that have been domesticated around 3000-6000 years ago. To understand relationship between genetic and phenotypic variations in camel, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers covering the coding part of genome were developed. These gene-associated SNPs can themselves be causative SNPs for traits. The main objective of this work was to identify SNPs from coding regions using high-throughput next generation sequencing. The data was generated on two tissues as 75bp paired end reads by using Illumina platform. These reads were generated were mapped on cattle genes (Ensemble gene version 69.0). The mapping was carried out separately for each tissue and camel species. The mapped reads were analysed for SNP identification based on coverage depth. The 374 SNPs were validated using a set of 672 camels using golden gate assay of Illumina. The SNPs identified in this report provides a much needed resource for genetic studies in camel and shall contribute to the development of a high density SNP array. Validation and testing of these SNPs using SNP arrays will form the material basis for genome association studies and whole genome-based selection in camel.

H2A.Z is a highly conserved variant of histone H2A with well-characterized roles in transcriptional regulation. We previously reported that H2A.Z and Mcd1, a subunit of the cohesin complex, regulate the establishment of transcriptional silencing at telomeres in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and that H2A.Z broadly dissociated from chromatin during the anaphase-to-telophase transition, coincident with the dissociation of Mcd1 from chromosomes and dissolution of cohesion. In this study, we show that depletion of H2A.Z causes precocious loss of sister chromatid cohesion in yeast without loss of Mcd1 from chromosomes. H2A.Z is deposited into chromatin by the SWR1 complex and is subject to acetylation of its four N-terminal tail lysine residues by the NuA4 and SAGA histone acetyltransferase complexes. We found that cells compromised for function of the SWR1 complex were defective in cohesion, as were cells expressing a form of H2A.Z not subject to acetylation. Finally, inactivation of H2A.Z in metaphase-blocked cells led immediately to cohesion defects, suggesting a direct role for H2A.Z in the maintenance of sister chromatid cohesion.

Understanding the factors that give rise to greater or lesser adaptive capacity among households with in a community could allow government interventions to target the right groups of people. In this paper we study such factors, making use of a household survey administered in the Indian state of Odisha. In the survey, we queried respondents for the adaptations that they had engaged in to deal with the risk of drought, as well as a number of indicators for adaptive capacity taken from the literature. We found a large number of indicators of adaptive capacity to correlate with one or more adaptations taken. However, many of these indicators, while increasing the likelihood that one adaptation would be taken, also decreased the likelihood that another would be taken, and hence were not unambiguous determinants of greater adaptive capacity in general. One indicator, access to crop insurance, stood out as particularly effective: it correlated with an increased likelihood of engaging in two separate yield-raising adaptations, and correlated with a decreased likelihood of engaging in two additional adaptations that would have the effect of reducing yields. The results suggest that further attention to crop insurance may be warranted, as well as further research to determine if the other indicators may be effective in other contextual settings. � 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Offspring affected by sperm small RNAs Paternal dietary conditions in mammals influence the metabolic phenotypes of offspring. Although prior work suggests the involvement of epigenetic pathways, the mechanisms remains unclear. Two studies now show that altered paternal diet affects the level of small RNAs in mouse sperm. Chen et al. injected sperm transfer RNA (tRNA) fragments from males that had been kept on a high-fat diet into normal oocytes. The progeny displayed metabolic disorders and concomitant alteration of genes in metabolic pathways. Sharma et al. observed the biogenesis and function of small tRNA-derived fragments during sperm maturation. Further understanding of the mechanisms by which progeny are affected by parental exposure may affect human diseases such as diet-induced metabolic disorders. Science , this issue p. 397 , p. 391

In this paper, we seek to resolve the conflicting findings in literature about the effect of past hazard experience on response to warning. We find that different definitions of past experience in different studies are at the root of these conflicting findings. We disaggregate past experience into different types, identifying three types of past experiences that are most relevant in terms of affecting response. We test the relevance and importance of these three proposed types of past experience in an empirical context of warnings issued and response to these warning for two cyclonic events in India. We then provide the implications of the most relevant aspects of past hazard experience for emergency managers seeking to improve target audiences’ response to warning.

The establishment of transcriptional silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires progression through the cell cycle. We have previously found that transit through M-phase is necessary and sufficient to establish silencing at telomeres following induction of the Sir3 silencing factor. In this study we find that halting cell-cycle progression in either G1 or at the beginning of M-phase limits the ability of Sir3 to associate with a telomere-linked reporter gene and prevents the changes in histone modifications associated with gene repression. Deletion of genes coding for the histone variant H2A.Z (Htz1 in yeast) and histone acetyltransferase Sas2 abolish the cell-cycle progression requirement for the establishment of silencing. Cells blocked in telophase (but not at metaphase) are also able to establish silencing. We show that H2A.Z binds to the promoter of our telomere-linked reporter gene and that this binding diminishes in silenced cells. Finally, we observe a specific displacement of H2A.Z from chromatin in telophase-blocked cells, regardless of the silencing status of the reporter gene. These results suggest that the requirement for M-phase in the establishment of silencing may reflect a cell-cycle regulated relaxation of heterochromatin barriers.

Ability to respond positively to climate hazards (also called adaptive capacity) first requires a perception of the risk due to that hazard and then formulation, evaluation and implementation of response by the exposed units with the view to reducing impacts. From a policy perspective, facilitating the process of perception of risk (and sometimes formulation, evaluation and implementation of response) often requires some kind of generation and communication of information for use by the exposed units. For example, the cyclone early warning system is a policy intervention which aims to generate and communicate information to the people about a possible cyclone occurrence, so as to facilitate timely and appropriate response such as evacuating the risk prone areas and/or taking refuge in a cyclone shelter by the people in danger. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many a time the cyclone warning message is not able to generate the desired response from the target audience. An understanding of the factors underlying the process of perception, formulation, evaluation and response by the exposed units to manage cyclone risk is required to close the gap between the desired response and the actual response by the exposed units to the warning information. In this paper we attempt to identify such factors in the Indian context. We conducted an exploratory study on the East coast of India to identify the factors that affect the perceptual and evaluative processes underlying the ‘warning-response’ process i.e. evacuation behavior of the exposed units once they have received the cyclone warning. The findings highlight some important factors that could be addressed to improve the warning-response process and hence enhance the ability of people to respond to cyclone risk.

Differences in impacts of climate hazards across exposed units are determined by many factors including the severity of the hazard itself, the population that is exposed to the hazard and the coping capacity of the exposed units to the hazard. Coping capacity or adaptive capacity results from a combination of development status (generic capacity) and interventions pertinent to the hazard (specific capacity). This paper explores the extent to which the generic adaptive capacity may explain the variation in tropical cyclone impacts. Therefore this paper offers an empirical approach by which adaptive capacity may be measured and validated against actual outcomes. Results not only validate the role of generic adaptive capacity in explaining variations in impact but also reveal that general development indicators are not very important as far as predicting outcomes is concerned. Those indicators of development that can be linked to the impact process are significant in explaining and predicting impact. This can help identify those aspects of generic adaptive capacity which are important from the perspective of policy action for enhancing adaptive capacity to a particular climate hazard.

Vulnerability indices are commonly used for characterizing the impacts on a region or comparing relative vulnerability across regions. Such indices are usually computed as a composite/aggregate across different components of vulnerability. Though such a single numerical value can be useful in many situations, a major disadvantage is that it leads to loss of information about how the different factors that went into making the composite index interact with each other, and contribute to making a place vulnerable. In this paper we develop an alternative approach for identifying hotspots, based on cluster analysis that seeks to address this problem by considering the different components of vulnerability separately. We compute different indices for each of the components of vulnerability. Cluster analysis helps in identifying the most vulnerable districts based on different combinations of the components of vulnerability. In addition to being methodologically more robust than the index approach, the clustering approach may have greater policy-relevance as it provides information about which aspects of vulnerability, policy needs to address in the most vulnerable districts.

The impacts of natural hazards such as cyclones have been conventionally measured through changes in human, social and economic capital, typically represented by stock variables such as population, built property and public infrastructure, livestock, agricultural land, etc. This paper develops an alternative approach that seeks to detect and quantify impacts as changes in flow variables. In particular, we explore whether changes in annual agricultural output, when measured at an appropriate spatial level, could be used to measure impacts associated with tropical cyclones in coastal regions of India. We believe that such an approach may have a number of benefits from a policy perspective, particularly with regard to the debate between relief versus recovery as disaster management strategies. A focus on flow variables is also likely to be more relevant and useful in developing countries; the maintenance of economic activity directly affects livelihood and is perhaps of greater importance than loss of built property or other physical capital.