Agriculture In India

Types of Agriculture in India  Subsistence Farming: • In this type of agriculture, farmers work hard to grow enough food to survive only. • In this type of farming the produce is consumed mainly by farmer and his family.  There remains no surplus to sell in the market.

^{Mixed Farming: 
• The combination of agriculture and pastoral farming is called mixed farming.
• In this type of farming, cultivation of crops and rearing of animals are done together on the same farm.}

Shifting Cultivation: • This is a primitive form of agriculture, in which a plot of land is cultivated for a few years and then is deserted. • This slash and burn method of farming is carried on in jungles of northeastern part of India. • A plot of land is cleared for cultivation. As the yield decreases after two or three years, the plot is abandoned and a fresh clearing is made. Intensive Farming: • This is a system of farming in which the cultivator uses large amount of labour and capital on a relatively small area. • In countries where the size of population is big but land is less, this type of farming is done. • Annually two or three crops are grown due to the demand of food for the large size of population. • Agriculture is done with the help of manual labour.

Extensive Farming: • This is a system of farming in which the cultivator uses a limited amount of labour and capital on relatively large area. This type of agriculture is practised in countries where population size is small and land is enough. • Here, per acre yield is low but overall production is in surplus due to less population. • Agriculture is done with the help of machines.  Planation Agriculture: • In this type of agriculture, trees or bushes are planted on huge estates. • A single crop like rubber, sugarcane, coffee, tea or banana is grown. These crops are major items of export. Problems of Indian Agriculture • The low productivity of our agriculture is mainly due to the difficulties faced by our peasants. • Deforestation, overgrazing and heavy rainfall have led to soil erosion. • Divisions of land have led to fragmentation.

^{A major part of the Indian soil has been impoverished because it has been under plough for the last 4000 or 5000 years.
• Indian agriculture is chiefly of subsistence type where a large manual labour is employed to work on farms to grow just enough food for the needs of the family and very little is left for marketing.}

• The size of land holding is very small and uneconomic. • The farmers are poor, illiterate and ignorant. • They use primitive tools and out-dated method. • They lack financial credit and investment.

^{•  Good seeds, fertilizers and improved technology are not available to them. They lack irrigation facilities and are still on the mercy of nature. Most of the farmers have no security against crop failure or loss caused by nature.
•  Generally farmers are uneducated and have no scientific approaches.}

^{Different Crop Seasons in India
•  There are three crop seasons in India: (i) Rabi    (ii) Kharif    (iii) Zayad.}

^{Rabi
•  This season starts after the rainy season.
•  Sowing begins in September-October and harvesting takes place in February- March.
•  Rabi season is cooler and drier than the Kharif season.
•  Wheat, barley, pulses and some oil seeds are grown in the Rabi season.}

Kharif •  The Kharif season begins with the onset of the monsoons in June-July. • The crop grows in the rainy season and harvesting takes place after the retreat of monsoon in September-October. Rice, maize, millets, groundnuts, cotton and jute are grown in the Kharif season.

^{Zayad
•  This is the summer season for growing crops which remain till April, May and June.
•  Products are mainly vegetables and fruits.}

^{Green Revolution}

•  The increase in agriculture productivity of cereals that has taken place since the 1960s mainly as a result of introduction of high yielding varieties of wheat and rice and use of fertilizers, machines and irrigation etc., is known as green revolution.

^{•  Green revolution has made us self-sufficient in food production.
•  This has not only saved our much precious foreign exchange but has also made us self-reliant.}

^{Land use Patern of India
•  The total geographical area of India is 32.88 crore hectares.
•  Of this, data is available for only 92.5% land area. Though land is put to different uses, but cultivation of land is its most important use.
Uses of land                                            % put to use of land
Cultivated land                                                  43.41
Forested area                                                    22.57
Wasteland (arid, rocky and sandy areas)                             6.29}

^{Uses of land                                                        % put to use of land
Cultivable waste                                                              4.41
Fallow land                                                                     10.85
Pastures and meadows(Up and Low lands)                      3.45
Area under non-agricultural use                                        6.29}

^{Water Resources and Their Utilization in India
• Water resources of India can be divided into two parts:
 i) Surface Water     ii) Underground Water Resources.}

Surface Water Resources • According to the estimate, India receives an average of 109 cm of rainfall annually. • This rainfall amounts to 37,000 million cubic metre. Out of this, 12,500 million cubic metres evaporates and another 7,900 million cubic metres is absorbed by land. Only 16,600 million cubic metres water is available in our rivers. Out of this, only 6,600 million cubic metres of water can be used for irrigation.

^{Underground Water Resources}

• Out of total rainfall, only 7900 million cubic metres of water percolates inside/ beneath the earth. • Out of this, only 4300 million cubic metres of water is able to reach the upper layer of the soil. • This water is more important for agricultural production.

^{• Rest 3600 million cubic metres reaches the impervious rocks which can be used by digging wells or tubewells. Out of this only 2250 million cubic metres of water is economically viable.}

^{Sources of Irrigation in India}

There are various sources of irrigation which are : (a) Wells & Tubewells 46% of total irrigation (b) Canals 39% of total irrigation (c) Tanks 8% of total irrigation (d) Other Sources 7% of total irrigation (Dongs, Kuhls, Springs etc.,) Power Resources of India India uses a large amount of fossil fuels as a source of energy alongwith a number of renewable sources of energy, viz., hydroelectric power, thermal power, petroleum, nuclear or atomic power, solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, bio-gas etc.

11:51 AM - By yatra 0

Jainism in India

Lord Mahavira

History of Jainism Religion:

• Founded by Rishabhanath.

• There were 24 tirthankaras (Prophetsor Gurus), all Kshatriyas.First was Rishabhanath (Emblem: Bull). His reference is also 4n Rigveda. But there is no historical basis for the first 22 Tirthankaras. Only the last two Tirthankaras are historical personalities.

• The 23rd Tirthankar Parshwanath (Emblem: Snake) was the son of King Ashvasena of Banaras. His main teachings were: Non-injury, Non-lying, Non-stealing, Non-possession.

• The 24th and the last Tirthankar was Vardhman Mahavira (Emblem: Lion).

Vardhman Mahavira History:

• He was born in Kundagram (Distt Muzafffarpur, Bihar) in 599 BC.

• His father Siddhartha was the head of Jnatrika clan. His mother was Trishla, sister of Lichchavi   Prince Chetak of Vaishali.

• Mahavira was related to Bimbisara.

• Married to Yashoda, had a daughter named Priyadarsena, whose husband Jamali became his first disciple.

• At 30, after the death of his parents, he became an ascetic.

• In the 13th year of his asceticism (on the 10th of Vaishakha), outside the town of Jrimbhikgrama, he attained supreme knowledge (Kaivalya).

• From now on he was called Jaina or Jitendriya and Mahavira, and his followers were named Jains. He also got the title of Arihant, i.e., worthy.

• At the age of 72, he attained death at Pava, near Patna, in 527 BC.

• Mahavira preached almost the same message as Parshvanath and added one more, Brahmcharya (celibacy) to it.

• After the death of Mahavira, during the reign of King Chandragupta Maurya, a severe famine led to a great exodus of Jain monks from the Ganga valley to the Deccan, where they established important centers of their faith.

• This migration led to a great schism in Jainism. Bhadrabahu, who led the emigrants, insisted on the retention of the rule of nudity which Mahavira had established.

• Sthulabhadra, the leader of the monks who remained in the north, allowed his followers to wear white garments, owing to the hardships and confusions of the famine. Hence arose the two sects of the Jains, the Digambaras (sky-clad, i.e., naked) and the Svetambaras (white-clad).

Teachings of Mahavira:

1. Rejected the authority of the Vedas and do not attach any importance to the performance of sacrifices.

2. He believed that every object, even the smallest particle, possesses a soul and is endowed with consciousness. That is why they observe strict non-violence.

3. The Jains reject the concept of a Universal Soul or a Supreme Power as the creator or Sustainer of the universe.

4. Jainism does not deny the existence of gods but refuses to give gods any important part in die universe scheme. Gods are placed lower than the Jina.

5. Attainment of salvation (moksha) by believing in penance and dying of starvation (Main difference between Jainism and Buddhism).

6. Universal brotherhood (non-belief in caste system).

Note: In Jainism, three Ratnas (Triratnas) are given and they are called the way to Nirvana. They are Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct.

History of Jain Councils:

First Council : Held at Pataliputra by Sthulabhadra in the beginning of third century BC. It resulted in the compilation of 12 Angas to replace 14 Purvas.

Second Council : It was held at Vallabhi (Gujarat) in the fifth century AD under the leadership of Devridhigani. It resulted in final compilation of 12 Angas and 12 Upangas.

Causes of Decline of Jainism:

• Jainism reached the highest point in Chandragupta Maurya’s time. In Kalinga, it was greatly patronized by Kharavela in the first century AD.

• Various factors were responsible for the decline of Jainism in India. They took the concept of Ahimsa too far. They advised that one should not take medicine when one fell sick because the medicine killed germs.

• They believed that there was life in trees and vegetables and so refrained from harming them. Such practices could not become popular with common man. There was moreover no patronage from the later kings.

6:01 PM - By yatra 1

Buddhism in India

Ancient Buddhism in India:

Buddhism stands for 3 pillars:

• Buddha : Its Founder.

• Dhamma : His Teachings.

• Sangha : Order of Buddhist monks and nuns.

The Buddha History :

• Also known as Sakyamuni or Tathagata.

• Born in 563 BC on the Vaishakha Poornima Day at Lumbini (near Kapilavastu) in Nepal.

• His father Suddhodana was the Saka ruler.His mother (Mahamaya, of Kosala dynasty) died after 7 days of his birth. Brought up by stepmother Gautami.

• Married at 16 to Yoshodhara. Enjoyed the married life for 13 years and had a son named Rahula.

• After seeing an old man, a sick man, a corpse and an ascetic, he decided to become a wanderer.

• Left his palace at the age of 29 (with Channa, the charioteer and his favourite horse, Kanthaka) in search of truth (also called ‘Mahabhinishkramana’ or The Great Renunciation) and wandered for 6 years.

• He first meditated with Alara Kalama. But he was not convinced that man could obtain liberation from sorrow by mental discipline and knowledge. His next teacher was Udraka Ramputra. He then joined forces with five ascetics- Kondana, Vappa, Bhadiya, Mahanama and Assagi, who were practicing the most rigorous self mortification in the hope of wearing away their karma and obtaining final bliss.

• For six years he tortured himself until he was nothing but a walking skeleton. But after six years, he felt that his fasts and penance had been useless. So he abandoned these things. The five disciples also left him.

• Attained ‘Nirvana’ or ‘Enlightenment’ at 35 at Gaya in Magadha (Bihar) under the Pipal tree.

• Delivered the first sermon at Sarnath where his five disciples had settled. His first sermon is called ‘Dharmachakrapravartan’ or ‘Turning of the Wheel of Law’.

• Attained Mahaparinirvana at Kushinagar (identical with village Kasia in Deoria district of UP) in 483 BC at the ageof 80 in the Malla republic.

The Dhamma Indian History:

1. The Four Great Truths:

• The world is full of sorrow and misery.

• The cause of all pain and misery is desire.

• Pain and misery can be ended by killing or controlling desire.

• Desire can be controlled by following the Eight Fold Path.

2. The Eight Fold Path: It consists of Right Faith, Right Thought, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Efforts, Right Speech, Right Remembrance and Right Concentration.

3. Belief in Nirvana:

• When desire ceases, rebirth ceases and nirvana is attained i.e. freedom from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth is gained by following the 8-fold path.

• According to Buddha, soul is a myth.

4. Belief in Ahimsa: One should not cause injury to any living being, animal or man.

5. Law of Karma: Man reaps the fruits of his past deeds.

The Sangha History:

• Consists of monks (Bhikshus or Shramanas) and nuns.

• Bhikshus acted as a torch bearer of the dhamma.

• Apart from Sangha, the worshippers were called Upasakas.

Buddhist Councils: 

The monks gathered 4 times after the death of Buddha and the effect of these events had their effect on Buddhism.

First Council: At Rajgriha, in 483 BC under the chairman ship of Mehakassaapa (King was Ajatshatru). Divided the teachings of Buddha into two Pitakas – Vihaya Pitaka and Sutta Pitaka. Upali recited the Vinaya Pitaka and Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka.

Second Council: At Vaishali, in 383 BC under Sabakami (King was Kalasoka). Followers divided into Sthavirmadins and Mahasanghikas.

Third Council: At Pataliputra, in 250 BC under Mogaliputta Tissa (King was Ashoka). In this, the third part of the Tripitaka was coded in the Pali language.

Fourth Council: At Kashmir (Kundalvan), in 72 AD under Vasumitra (King was Kanishka). Vice-Chairman was Ashwaghosha. Divided Buddhism into Mahayana and Hinayana sects.

Note:

•  In Mahayana, idol worship is there. It became popular in China, Japan, Korea, Afghanistan, Turkey and other SE countries.
•  Hinayana became popular in Magadha and SriLanka. It believed in individual salvation and not in idol-worship.
•  Apart from these 2, there is a third vehicle, called ‘Vajrayana’, which appeared in 8th century and grew rapidly in Bihar and Bengal. They did not treat meat, fish, wine, etc, as a taboo in dietary habit and freely consumed them.

 Buddist Literature:

• In Pali language.

• Buddhist scriptures in Pali are commonly referred to as Tripitakas, ie ‘Threefold Basket’.

Vinaya Pitaka : Rules of discipline in Buddhist monasteries.

Sutta Pitaka : Largest, contains collection of Buddha’s sermons.

Abhidhamma Pitaka : Explanation of the philosophical principles of the Buddhist religion.

Note:

1.      Mahavansh and Deepvansh are the other Buddhist texts. They provide information about the then SriLanka.

2.      Jataks are the fables about the different births of Buddha.

Causes of decline of Buddhism:

1. It succumbed to the Brahmanic rituals and ceremonies, such as idol worship, etc, which Buddhism had    earlier denounced.

2. Revival of reformed Hinduism with the preaching of Shankaracharya from ninth century onwards.

3. Use of Sanskrit, the language of intellectuals, in place of Pali, the language of the common people.

4. Deterioration in the moral standards among the monks living in Buddhist monasteries.

5. Entry of women into Buddhist monasteries.

6. Attacks of Huna king Mihirkula in the sixth century and the Turkish invaders in the twelfth century AD.

11:32 AM - By yatra 0

How to use WatsApp on your PC

One of the limitations of WhatsApp is that you can only use it on your phone. Wat if you don’t carry your phone, you stuck without WhatsApp. Well it’s not a problem anymore.

WhatsApp has rolled out WhatsApp Web that lets you use WhatsApp inside your PC browser.  Here are instructions on how to setup WhatsApp Web. Read on.

Note that while this guide is for WhatsApp, you can run almost any Android app using this method. Just replace the apk file in step 5 with the apk of the Android app you want to run.

1. You're going to need an Android emulator app to accomplish this. We've tried it with Bluestacks App Player but it should work with any other emulator too. You'll also need a mobile phone to verify the WhatsApp account.

2. Download Bluestacks App Player on your computer.

3. Run the setup file to install it. During installation, Bluestacks will ask for App Store Access and App Notifications. You can uncheck both while installing.

4. Wait for the installation to finish (it takes several minutes). During the final stages of installation, Bluestacks will run in full-screen mode. Tap the diagonal line icon on the top-right to run it in windowed mode. This makes the next few steps easy.

5. Leave Bluestacks App Player running and go to your browser. Download the WhatsApp apk file.

6. Double-click the WhatsApp.apk file that's saved on your PC. The app will automatically install itself in Bluestacks App Player.

7. In Bluestacks, you'll find a grid of apps you've installed. Find and launch WhatsApp.

8. Enter your phone number and click Verify.

9. Now wait for 5 minutes as WhatsApp tries, and fails, to automatically verify using SMS.

10. After 5 minutes, WhatsApp will offer you an option for voice verification. Click Call me.

11. You'll get a phone call. Answer it and you'll hear the verification code being spoken in loop.

12. Enter the verification in WhatsApp.

13. None of your existing contacts will show up in WhatsApp if you use this method. You can still reply to any messages you receive.

14. You can add contacts individually to WhatsApp by clicking on the three dots icon on the top-right Contacts. Click the contact icon on the top-right, next to search. These contacts will be saved locally and will not show up on other devices. You can then start sending messages to these contacts as well.

15. Any groups you're a part of will also not show up on the PC. You will have to ask the group admin to add you to the group again.

8:01 PM - By yatra 0

How to Activate calling Feature in Whatsapp?

The only way to get the calling feature is you have to get a call from a user having Whatsapp with calling feature. Once he called, your WhatsApp will ask you to get update to the latest version. Once you got updated, you’ll get the calling feature. Hurray!!!

Note:
·         The WhatsApp calling feature doesn’t requires Android Lollipop. It also works on Android Kitkat.
·    The least Version for getting this feature is WhatsApp 2.11.528. But this is Buggy. Hence The     WhatsApp version 2.11.531 is Perfect.
·         Use 3G or 4G LTE for better Performance in Voice calling.

12:17 PM - By yatra 0

Facebook rolls out 'embed video' feature

Facebook has finally patched a long-awaited feature into it's code: embedding videos from the website onto other media. While the feature was originally "somewhat" available, it was quite a task to access. The new design is based off YouTube, allowing for easy embed code grabbing and pasting. 

Besides actually being embedded properly now, the Facebook videos appear in a new and fully functional player. As part of the website's push to draw in advertisers, this new feature could really go a long way, not to mention making things much simpler for everyday users. 

In addition, Facebook has also announced that it will soon offer 360-degree videos in its new player, allowing users to pan around a video and look in all directions while it's playing. This is pretty cool for PC, but the gem lies in its functionality for VR, specifically, the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift VR headset. The announcement comes close on the heels of Youtube rolling out 360-degree videos. 

11:39 AM - By yatra 0

Making the carbon nanotube brain electrode

Carbon Nanotube Fibers

The materials used in artificial joints, like knees or hips, not only determine what you will be able to do with the joint, but ultimately for how long. If you’re lucky, you will be a central part in deciding what goes inside you. The same considerations apply when it comes time to visit your local brain interface outfitter. As in the joint business, it now appears that we can do much better than the metal.

Researchers at Rice University have perfected a technique they call ‘wet spinning’ to bundle millions of nanometer-sized carbon nanotubes into micron-sized threads. Depending on the precise mix used, they can tailor these threads for optimal strength, stiffness and conductivity. Group leader Matteo Pasquale had previously created nanotubes that have a higher ratio of both strength and conductivity, to weight, then copper. He made a name for himself in coming up with ways to measure and demonstrate the raw physical prowess of these composite nanotubes. A scaled-up carbon nanotube factory, if it existed, could provide cable that could replace the need for steel-reinforced copper in transmission lines. On smaller scales however, there are already applications that the current supply chain can meet.

The artificial joint business now recognizes that metal grinding on metal doesn’t last very long. It also generates a steady stream undesirable element that deposits themselves, courtesy of the bloodstream, in unfortunate places. Elements like cobalt used to fortify stainless steel, or the vanadium and other goodies used to alloy titanium. Supple plastics like PEEK, sliding on ultra-smooth ceramics have much more to offer. The reason we have gone on here about metals at interfaces in joints, is to set in our heads the fact that herein lies much the same problem we have with implanted electrodes.

In other words, despite their great properties of strength and intrinsic conductivity, they tend to fail at the boundaries. Traditional precious metals used in implants, like platinum and silver, hand off electrons with no problem when the neighbor is another metal. However the impedance shift across the gap to brain is not so smooth — over time there is generally both loss of material in some spots and buildup in others that eventually compromises the whole works. Impedance is a better way to characterize electrode performance than resistance for several reasons. Whereas resistance is only a measure of opposition to a DC current flow, we might imagine impedance as resistance to everything — resistance under different frequencies or waveforms of AC, to pulses, and across sundry materials, conditions, and charge carriers.

In making bidirectional electrodes (those capable of stimulating and recording) it can be difficult to do both well. We should point out that with metals, like the medieval-looking pincushion array to the right, a duty cycle where current is delivered by the electrode alternately in both directions might have some cleaning effect for a while. However when it is time to record, there will eventually be some significant performance loss. While there is no single best impedance, to isolate just a single nearby neuron from the background chatter, you want fairly high electrode impedance — especially if you have a dense array of other neighbor electrodes that can potentially sample the same field. In order to deliver current only where you intend to, the bulk of the electrode body is covered with insulating material. For metal electrodes, glass is often used for the coating, while the nanotubes here used a 3-micron layer of flexible biocompatible polymer.

On the other hand, to deliver current for stimulating neurons you want a low impedance for your electrode sources or sinks. The researchers found that their nanotubes could stimulate neurons using a much lower voltage than traditional electrodes. Nanotubes aren’t just a one-trick pony, though. Even more important to a viable implant technology is the ability to mechanically match the brain. Again the joint provides the perfect analogy: If the stem on your ceramic-coated titanium implant does not bend, i.e. has similar modulus of elasticity and/or geometry as the surrounding bone, you will quickly degrade the bond and the implant will fail.

For stiff electrodes, stiff enough to press down through the cortex anyway, it won’t necessarily be the implant that eventually fails, but rather your soft brain. Consider an average trip to the cross-fit gym. As you clean and jerk even modest weight about, your brain moves too. It’s not just the quickened beat of a pounding heart, but also any number of accelerations, impacts, and gravitational anomalies that you willfully subject your delicately suspended neural tissue to. The ensuing dehydration itself produces significant shrinkage effects, as even does the natural sleep-wake cycle — up to 10% by volume according to some measurements. All this can and would wreak havoc using a stiff implant, even if it is not rigidly bound to any internal or external fixation points.

The researchers demonstrated proof of principle using rats that had the rodent equivalent of Parkinson’s disease. While not qualified to discuss the more subtle points of what that means for the rat, we can report that the softer gentler electrodes stimulated neurons as effectively as metal electrodes that required 10 times the amount of current-delivering area. All without any detectable inflammatory response.

As with joints, electrode arrays cannot be a one-size-fits-all affair. Perhaps the first sign we will know these products will be ready for prime time is when researchers figure out not only where they want to put them, but also what stimulation protocols to use. Things like that are critical to determining the ideal electrode geometry and also how much ‘effective stimulation lifetime’ needs to built into it. As for location, we would suggest that a gray matter array cannot possibly be the same one you want to use for the white matter. Within gray itself you want different properties for unmyelinated versus the myelinated axons, and in the white — as in the cortex for example — you want a different style for the deep layer neuron bodies than you would want for the surface layer neurites.

There are also other promising materials on the horizon to use in these kinds of arrays. Graphene is one that already has shown potential not just in the electrical and optical interface environment, but also in the larger clinical setting. While many of the things raised here are issues for tomorrow, when we eventually start to see them being commonly discussed, we might know it is almost time to shop.

11:28 AM - By yatra 0