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Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa

In the imperial Gazetteer of India 1878, Pusa was recorded as a government estate of about 1350 acres in Darbhanba. It was acquired by East India Company for running a stud farm to supply better breed of horses mainly for the army. Frequent incidence of glanders disease (swelling of glands), mostly affecting the valuable imported bloodstock made the civil veterinary department to shift the entire stock out of Pusa. A British tobacco concern Beg Sutherland & co. got the estate on lease but it also left in 1897 abandoning the government estate of Pusa. Lord Mayo, The Viceroy and Governor General, had been repeatedly trying to get through his proposal for setting up a directorate general of Agriculture that would take care of the soil and its productivity, formulate newer techniques of cultivation, improve the quality of seeds and livestock and also arrange for imparting agricultural education. The government of India had invited a British expert. Dr. J. A. Voelcker who had submitted as report on the development of Indian agriculture. As a follow-up action, three experts in different fields were appointed for the first time during 1885 to 1895 namely, agricultural chemist (Dr. J. W. Leafer), cryptogamic botanist (Dr. R. A. Butler) and entomologist (Dr. H. Maxwell Lefroy) with headquarters at Dehradun (U.P.) in the forest Research Institute complex. Surprisingly, until now Pusa, which was destined to become the centre of agricultural revolution in the country, was lying as before an abandoned government estate. In 1898. Lord Curzon took over as the viceroy. A widely traveled person and an administrator, he salvaged out the earlier proposal and got London’s approval for the appointment of the inspector General of Agriculture to which the first incumbent Mr. J. Mollison (Dy. Director of Agriculture, Bombay) joined in 1901 with headquarters at Nagpur The then government of Bengal had mooted in 1902 a proposal to the centre for setting up a model cattle farm for improving the dilapidated condition of the livestock at Pusa estate where plenty of land, water and feed would be available, and with Mr. Mollison’s support this was accepted in principle. Around Pusa, there were many British planters and also an indigo research centre Dalsing Sarai (near Pusa). Mr. Mollison’s visits to this mini British kingdom and his strong recommendations. In favour of Pusa as the most ideal place for the Bengal government project obviously caught the attention for the viceroy.

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Subject: Extension Education × Author: BASUMATARY, ALONGBER × End date: 2024 × Start date: 2020 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    SCOPING ANALYSIS OF VULNERABILITY AND COPING MECHANISMS OF FARMERS IN FLOOD PRONE AREAS OF ASSAM
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2022) BASUMATARY, ALONGBER; BASUMATARY, ALONGBER; Lal, Sudhanand Prasad; Lal, Sudhanand Prasad
    India is an agrarian country but its states are largely affected by natural disasters and among such disaster is Flood. The frequency and intensity of floods have only increased and their effects are aggravated due to changes in climate. Floods have resulted in the loss of lives, property, and huge reserves of tax money. This study has been carried out in the Barpeta and Morigaon districts of Assam to examine the vulnerability and coping mechanisms of farmers who are constantly affected by floods every year. Both the districts were purposively selected according to the report of ISRO. Barpeta was selected as it has the highest cropped area (91380 ha) affected by flood and Morigaon was selected as it has the highest flood inundation percentage area (70.43%). A revenue circle from both districts was selected randomly. A total of eight villages, four each from a revenue circle, and a total of 160 respondents, 20 each from the selected village were taken for investigation through the computer-based research randomizer technique. The vulnerability index was developed by following Analytical Hierarchy Process by Saaty (2008). To know about the use and adoption of different coping mechanisms followed by respondents, a schedule was developed and was divided into 3 broad categories i.e., individual, community, and institution level. Data were collected by the researcher through a personal interview, direct observation methods, and a well-structured interview schedule validated by experts. Collected data were analyzed with the help of descriptive as well as inferential statistical methods: Mean, Range, Standard deviation, Standard Error, Percentage, Frequency, Analytical hierarchy process (AHP), ANOVA, Binomial Logit Regression using Analytical software (Microsoft excel 2007, SPSS version 26). In terms of „extent of vulnerability‟ majority of the respondents (59.37%) were moderately vulnerable followed by less vulnerable households (22.50%) and vulnerable households (18.13 %). While comparing the districts, the Morigaon district was found to be more vulnerable than the Barpeta district with a Mean + SE value of (-0.506 + 0.014) and (0.074 + 0.017) respectively. It was evident that among the respondents, “Availing food grains under social safety net (PDS)” with global priority (GP-0.12) was found to be the most responsible sub-component for adaptive capacity while “Extent of use of Training received” and “Veterinary institutions” with (GP-0.02) each were found to be the least responsible for adaptive capacity. To determine the relationship between independent variables and the vulnerability level, Binary logistic regression model was used. The model was significant at P<0.001 with Nagelkerke R Square value of 0.927 and 96.3% accuracy level. Age, Caste, Housing type, Genuine Indebtedness, and Mass media exposure were found to be negatively significant at P<0.10 and Family type negatively significant at P<0.05 while Experience in farming, Debt source was found to be positively significant at P<0.10 and Operational landholding, Cropping intensity, Dependency ratio, Contact with Extension Personnel were positively significant at P<0.05. An odds ratio of [OR=0.000] for Family type, Housing type indicated that a unit change from nuclear to joint family and from kutcha to semi-pucca to pucca housing structure would decrease the vulnerability of respondents by (100%). One-Way ANOVA was used to compare the coping mechanisms adopted at three different levels. Among the coping mechanisms adopted by the farmers, coping mechanisms adopted at the Community level (.66667) was found to be highest indicating that coping mechanisms employed at the community level are highly adopted and have been more than the other two viz., Individual level (.56303) followed by the Institution level (.49427). Welch test, Brown-Forsythe test were found to be significant at P<0.001 and Dunnet T3 test and was found to be significant at P<0.05. During the time of data collection, some interesting findings were noticed viz., Residents who live in the char areas uses transportable housing structures and also dig up part of their land and uses that dugged soil to heighten their houses. People in villages of the Morigaon district plant a specific banana species (Musa balbisiana colla) vernacularly known as Athiya/Bheemkol in the local language for making makeshift rafts during floods. The practice of growing traditional flood tolerant long duration rice, Bao rice (Deepwater rice) varieties i.e., Kekoabao, Tulsibao, and Negharibao was still followed in Kacharigaon village as climate change adaptive strategies. Women members of households, mainly of Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) brew rice wine and do business to earn money to improve the conditions of their families. Increasing mass media exposure, involving the NGO‟s, regular counselling through religious institutions and medical professionals, popularizing the high yielding varieties of commercial crops i.e., Mustard and Toria are the few policies that are suggested from the findings of the study.