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Considering the linkages between climate change and water management, a lack of effort has been observed in analyzing the imprints of climate change over the transboundary Teesta river basin, where the changing climatic conditions can trigger substantial changes in eco-hydrological and socio-politico-economic setups. Therefore, to stimulate effective basin management, we investigated the trends in temperature, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and water availability under 1.5 and 2 °C warming levels across the transboundary Teesta river basin. The ensemble median of five bias-corrected model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) was used for this purpose. The results indicate that the temperature is expected to significantly increase (decrease) in the near (far) future, along with an overall significant increasing trend in monsoon precipitation. The evaporation paradox is found in the near future, and the water availability is likely to increase, with some exceptions for the pre-monsoon season. The perpetuation of such changes might result in environmental degradation through snow melting, glacial recession, and floods. Anticipating the changing climatic scenarios and their possible impacts, in this study, we recommend a variety of short- and long-term strategies for the concerned stakeholders to implement the Sustainable Development Goal 13, i.e., “Climate Action”, over the Teesta river basin.

Access to reliable and affordable energy is crucial for women to carry out household duties efficiently, including cooking and cleaning. However, many women in developing countries still lack access to modern energy sources, which strains their time, health, and overall well-being. This study investigates the relationship between women’s economic empowerment and energy choices among rural households in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples region of Ethiopia. Utilizing a multi-stage cluster sampling design, 569 households were selected from six randomly chosen woredas (districts). Employing a multinomial model, the research explores factors influencing energy source selection. The findings reveal that a majority of households rely on traditional energy sources, with a positive correlation observed between women’s economic empowerment, as measured by the CWEEI, and the adoption of modern energy sources. Additionally, household size and income significantly predict energy source choices. This study underscores the pivotal role of women’s economic empowerment in promoting cleaner energy use in rural settings. Policymakers and program implementers are urged to consider household size and income levels when formulating effective energy programs and interventions.

The agricultural situation in India has gone through several distresses occurring from both natural and socio-politico-economic stressors. Though an emphasis has been given in the country to develop and promote adaptation strategies, it requires precise, comprehensive, and generalized knowledge regarding agricultural risks and vulnerabilities. With this motive, the present study systematically reviews the current state of research on India’s agricultural risk and vulnerabilities (n = 97), its progress, and prospects over the past two decades. The review explicitly focuses on the trends, characteristics, practices, outcomes, and policy significance to broaden the potential course. Results suggest that there are significant spatial, temporal, and thematic differences in agricultural vulnerability and risk researches. Considering the exposures, most of the studies prioritize climate-induced external stressors over the internal ones. Studies are still being practiced traditionally by neglecting the nexus of various physical and socio-politico-economic attributes of agriculture. Consequently, the inherent structural drivers, such as class, caste, gender, and economic disparity, still stimulate agricultural risks and vulnerabilities. Considering the future adversities and the heterogeneity of India’s biophysical and environmental conditions along with diversified socio-politico-economic aspects, we emphasize the process-based systemic, multi-scalar, and multi-stressor agricultural vulnerability and risk research through cohesive theoretical, conceptual, and analytical approaches. Additionally, we developed a combined vulnerability and risk assessment framework, which can generally be applied to any system, including agriculture.

Understanding climate variability and trends is crucial for managing a host of sectors. Everything from water availability to agricultural productivity is affected by variability and trends in temperature, rainfall, evapotranspiration, and solar radiation. Nevertheless, their dynamics have seldom been explored together, especially in India. To address this gap, the present study investigates the variability, trend, and magnitude of those parameters individually and concurrently using fractal dimension and non-parametric statistics over the Indian state of West Bengal from 1951 to 2020. The results show a south–north gradient in overall climate variability. The Gangetic West Bengal (GWB) is experiencing higher variability, along with a rising minimum temperature (≥0.008 °C year−1) and declining rainfall (≥− 1 mm year−1). Though the Sub-Himalayan West Bengal as a whole shows less variability, its foothills reveal modest variation coupled with increasing maximum temperature (≥0.005 °C year−1), reference evapotranspiration (≥0.4 mm year−1), and decreasing rainfall in the post-monsoon and winter seasons. Based on the results, we identified the western GWB, the Sundarbans, and the sub-Himalayan foothills as the most vulnerable areas and recommended proactive crop and water management strategies. Finally, we underline the need to analyze climate dynamics holistically to manage climate-sensitive sectors efficiently and sustainably.

Research on agrarian extractivism has rapidly expanded, encompassing diverse empirical investigations and conceptual frameworks. This paper centers its examination on agrarian commercialization in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, analyzing the intricacies of this theoretical framework. We explore agrarian extractivism through an empirical lens, investigating its relation to smallholder farming development and the role of the state within Kashmir's unique conflict setting, which influences both agricultural practices and the livelihoods of farmers. We argue that the rise of agricultural commercialization, driven by export-oriented apple monoculture and resource-intensive practices, presents a set of multifaceted challenges. Our empirical model uses a regression with an endogenous treatment effect to evaluate the impact of state-promoted extension services on smallholder farm incomes. Our findings reveal that while agro-extractivism increases land use and value extraction, it does not lead to substantial income growth for smallholders. Instead, it contributes to their marginalization and displacement in the region. Furthermore, we argue that the state strategically promotes agrarian extractivism to consolidate power and sovereignty while seeking to maintain legitimacy. Thus, creating an effective agrarian transition necessitates addressing the participation and rights of smallholder farmers rather than merely facilitating the extractivist tendencies of the dominant neoliberal agricultural development models.

Wild apple ( Docynia indica ) is an ethnomedicinal plant consumed by ethnic groups in Northeast India. This wild apple possesses various medicinal properties, including antidiabetic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory effects. Considering its ethnomedicinal value, the present study aims to enrich genetic resources and explore D. indica for potential antidiabetic drug discovery. We performed transcriptome analysis using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and generated approximately 4.2 GB of data for both leaf and fruit tissue. A total of 134,376 transcripts were generated through de novo assembly. After removing redundant sequences, 108,857 unique transcripts were identified, leading to the detection of 61,122 coding DNA sequences (CDS). Functional annotation revealed 57,554 transcripts with significant database hits, while 3,568 transcripts did not match any known sequences. This indicates involvement in species-specific pathways, potentially linked to metabolite biosynthesis for ethnic medicinal practices, including diabetes treatment. Additionally, 3,402 newly identified microsatellite markers from this study could be utilized for future program development. Differentially expressed transcripts between leaves and fruits revealed 10 downregulated genes in fruits and 2 in leaves, providing a platform for exploring novel metabolic pathways specific to D. indica .

This paper attempts to develop a few measures or scales of entrepreneurial motives of women, given the socio-cultural factors in developing economies. Within the push-pull theory of entrepreneurial motivation, we use exploratory factor analysis with an orthogonal varimax rotation technique to examine entrepreneurial motivation, integrating it with socio-cultural beliefs. We identify five entrepreneurial motives-self-dependence, preserving handloom culture, providing monetary support, formal job environment, and work-flexibility. Within socially constructed gender roles, generic desires of women are crucial for entrepreneurial behavior. Contrary to existing findings, we found that women with a higher desire to provide monetary support to their family were found to be less likely to become micro-entrepreneurs, which can be accounted for their poor economic conditions, a significant risk-averse attitude, and credit constraints. The scales constructed could be used across cultures, especially in developing economies. Their replication should provide an understanding of why women micro-entrepreneurs tend to be concentrated in specific sectors, resulting in gender segregation. Given the context specific measurement items, scholars interested in studying socio-cultural attributes in entrepreneurial motivation can further develop and validate the multi-item constructs that distinguish women's motivations for specific activities.

Agricultural production is affected by the threats of climate change, such as changes in the frequency of extreme events (such as flood and drought), changes in rainfall patterns, and increased pest attacks and diseases. As a result, the farmers face huge socio-economic losses in the form of loss of lives, loss of cultivable lands, loss in crop yield, and loss to infrastructure. The smallholder farmers who primarily depend on rainfed agriculture for a living bear major crop losses and threats to food security due to climate change. In order to enable the farmers to cope with the challenges associated with climate change, climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices were introduced. It must be noted that CSA practices depend on economic, environmental, and social attributes; hence, location-specific studies are required to identify the determinants of CSA adoption. The present study aims to identify the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption of CSA strategies in the highly vulnerable Nagaon district of India. Our study has incorporated six forms of capital: physical capital, social capital, human capital, financial capital, natural capital, and institutional capital in its analytical framework. The influence of these capitals is examined on the farmers’ adoption decision. We use a mixed-method approach to conduct the analysis. A multivariate probit model is used for the quantitative analysis, and excerpts from focus group discussions are presented as qualitative information gathered from field surveys. Three unique variables are included in the present study: the use of agricultural applications by smallholder farmers, the application of indigenous technical knowledge, and access to government-provided seeds. Each of the three variables was found to be statistically significant. Further, the study found the variables under social capital, physical capital, and institutional capital to be critical determinants affecting CSA adoption by smallholder farmers.

Access to income through home-based activities is important for empowering disadvantaged groups of society, especially women. The present paper seeks to analyze the extent of empowerment of women engaged in the handloom sector in Assam in North Eastern India. Our study refines five empowerment indicators of economic, social, and cultural relevance, such as decision-making ability, freedom of movement, ownership of assets and income, male preference, and domestic violence. This is based on primary survey data collected from 328 married women from six districts of Assam to examine how engagement in handloom activities empowers them. Results indicate the existence of spatial variations as well as gaps in women's empowerment. The parsimonious regression results show that age, educational attainment, income from handloom activities, and government support have had positive influences. Engagement in the handloom activities improves intra-household power relations significantly in favor of women and thereby reduces preference for males and domestic violence. The study urges that there should be better policies to facilitate women in accessing productive resources, especially financial ones. Micro-finance institutions can be encouraged to promote women's active participation in home-based activities, which in turn should improve the overall empowerment of women.

Purpose Securing a job in an industry is a boon for most of the slum dwellers. When the primary earner of a slum household suffers from occupational illness and injuries, without insurance coverage or partial coverage of insurance, this boon may become a curse in the long run. The occupational security and safety along with the fact that whether such workers are insured is an important aspect and has a close link with the expenditure on illness. Thus, the accessibility to employees’ insurance in the risky industrial occupation, particularly for slum dwellers, is crucial to protect them from falling into poverty. Studies on occupational health of the poor workers are either limited to informal sectors or remain industry specific and the analysis of their accessibility to job insurance is rarely done. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The research questions are framed to analyze the types of insurance accessible to workers across various industries; the accessibility to insurance, however, varying across risk intensities of various industries; and the determinants of insurance accessibility of the industrial workers living in slums. The determinants of accessibility of job insurance are analyzed with a binary Logit model. A multi-stage random sampling technique is used to collect the primary data from 320 industrial workers living in the slums of the Indian state of West Bengal. Findings The industrial workers, irrespective of the types of industries, are exposed to a high-risk category without proper job insurance. The higher industrial income is not adequate to prevent financial hardships. Access to insurance is more likely for the respondents with job tenure of more than two years and less likely for the workers who are working for more than eight hours per day. Social implications This study provides a significant insight to the policymakers concerning health dynamics of the slum dwellers, which can improve their livelihood. Originality/value The analysis of the industry-specific risk intensities with accessibility to insurance contributes to understanding the coverage of the insurance scheme for the workers in slums.