Meghalaya Research Articles

Gynocardia odorata R. Br., a poisonous plant made edible by the Khasi tribe of Meghalaya using traditional knowledge

Traditional knowledge on the use of Gynocardia odorata R. Br. seed as medicine and poison has relatively been well documented, whereas there is still a lack of adequate research on its use as food. The seed of G. odorata is an important wild edible in the state of Meghalaya having well-established market chain and a consumer base. This study reports the traditional knowledge-based depoisoning process of the seed of G. odorata by the Khasi tribe of Meghalaya. The study revealed that the cost/benefit ratio is highly favourable to the collector/producer as well as traders leading to the domestication of the tree in arecanut agroforests. It is concluded that the valuable ethnobotanical knowledge of the people needs to be documented for sustainable utilization of this bioresource.

Marketing Pattern of Tea Enterprise in Meghalaya State: with Special Reference to White Tea Cultivation

The present research work was carried out to analyze the marketing pattern and post harvest management of tea enterprise with the help of primary data pertained to the year 2018-20 of tea enterprise in both district viz; Ri-Bhoi and West Garo hill. As it is well known fact and universally accepted concept that the organic agriculture has triggered a controversial debate in the past two decades; which is most important because it shed light on the darker sides of chemical-intensive conventional farming by offering an alternative due to the dumping off huge quantity of fertilizer and chemical used for enhancing the production and productivity to maximize the profit too. The data were collected from both the selected districts purposively due to the highest production and productivity as compared to the other districts of the Meghalaya state and a multi-stage simple random sampling technique was adopted due to the rationality sample plan of the respondents. Even the statistical frame-work and tabulation was adopted to fulfill the specific objectives of the study.

SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN BISHNUPRIYA MANIPUR

The key purpose of this paper is to investigate the phonological aspect of syllable structure in Bishnupriya Manipuri. The language is spoken in the North-East Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Meghalaya, as well as in the neighbouring country Bangladesh. It is a member of the Eastern form of Indo-Aryan language family. According to India’s 2011 census report, the total population of Bishnupriya speakers is 79,646. The research area focuses on Bishnupriya speakers in the state of Assam. When it comes to nomenclature, the language is surrounded by a lot of controversy. Some people refer to it as Bishnupuriya, while others refer to it as Bishnupriya Manipuri or just Bishnupriya. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently published a list of endangered languages, and Bishnupriya is listed as vulnerable on that list. The language doesn’t have a script of its own, so it uses the Bengali script. Bishnupriya's syllabic structure is V, VV, VC, VCV, VVC, CVC, CV, CVV, and so on. The different types of Bishnupriya syllables are: (i) Mono-Syllabic, (ii) DiSyllabic, (iii) Tri-Syllabic, (iv) Tetra-Syllabic, (v) Penta-Syllabic and (vi) HexaSyllabic.

Utilization Pattern of Bamboo in North Eastern Region of India

The study was conducted in the states of Assam and Meghalaya of India in the year 2020- 21. Total 380 respondents were selected using multistage sampling method. The states Assam and Meghalaya, were selected purposively based on availability of processing units and highest productivity, respectively among the North Eastern states. The utilization pattern was classified into household, construction, handicraft, agricultural purpose, and food and other uses. The results indicated of total of 42062 numbers of bamboo culms were utilized by sample respondents. The construction uses contributed highest number of culms and accounted of 35541 numbers (84.50%), followed by household uses 4001 culms (9.51%) and agricultural uses 1350 culms (3.21%). The food consumption was observed of 2.11 per cent while for making handicraft products use was only 0.62 per cent of the total uses. The least bamboo was utilized in the musical instruments (0.05%). The use of bamboo would remain a vital part of the livelihood of people of the region. Therefore, with advancement of technology, trainings and support from government schemes on bamboo in the region would provide ample scope to develop new products and marketing opportunities and thereby generating employment and income to the youth.

Wild Edible Plants of Meghalaya State in India: Assessment of Nutritional and Toxicological Potential

Wild edible plants (WEPs) have long been recommended as a functional food and played a vital role in meeting food and nutritional needs, as well as improving the health of underprivileged communities in many rural areas around the world. This study aims to investigate the dietary value, micronutrients, and toxicological status of five WEPs such as Herpetospermum pedunculosum, Coix lacryma-jobi, Sonchus asper, Plukenetia corniculata, and Streptolirion volubile, consumed b

Capturing Community Participation in Rural Tourism through PRA: A Study in Meghalaya

Rural tourism as an agri-business enterprise has potential for socio-economic development of rural area and yields numerous benefits to strengthen culture, livelihood and technological outlook of communities, for which sustainability in the development venture depends on community participation. The study was taken up in two popular rural tourism centers viz., Mawlynnong (cleanest village of Asia) and Sohliya (Strawberry village) of Meghalaya state that has heavy tourist traffic; to carry out community stakeholder analysis of rural tourism. Through key informant technique, personal interview and observation, 15 categories of community stakeholders were identified. This was followed by a community level meeting of the key stakeholders and few residents in each tourism center where PRA exercises were conducted for information generation and discussion. It was found that community stakeholders organize rural tourism for various reasons through various means The village council (Dorbar Shong) performed multiple roles and had high influence in village. Efforts in mobilizing community to undertake homestays and dhabas, emphasis on creation of exclusive tourism cooperatives within village to coordinate vital activities between stakeholders may ensure effective and sustainable participation by community members.

A Comparative Study of Women’s Participation through MGNREGA Programme in India’s North-eastern States of Assam and Meghalaya

This research paper highlights women’s participation, various policies, and strategies in MGNREGA’s implementation. Gender is an indispensable push factor, and women have always played a critical role in growth and development. The Indian government pursued several initiatives to empower women, and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) is one of them –indeed, a women-friendly enactment because of the provisions it incorporates for the females. Along with providing social security, rural employment, and eradicating poverty, the scheme has played a significant role in rural women’s upliftment. The paper is based on secondary data. The qualitative-quantitative mixed-model method is used and explores women’s participation in India’s North-eastern states through the programme. It analyses the implementation of MGNREGS with a comparative view of Assam and Meghalaya. The study also highlights the current status in Assam, which, despite having the highest number of job cardholders, failed to achieve the desired level of outcomes in the programme and also lagged in women participation. The paper offers inputs for better outcomes in Meghalaya and also suggests measures to overcome the lacunas of the scheme in Assam.

Lifestyle behaviour of future medical professionals in a tertiary care institute in north-eastern India: a cross-sectional descriptive study

Background: The incidences of some non communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases have been rising in the country since last few decades due to the unhealthy lifestyle of the people. Researches conducted among medical and nursing students shown that even though they are aware about the consequences of practicing unhealthy lifestyle but still they do not follow the suggested guidelines for healthy lifestyle. To assess lifestyle behaviour related to dietary pattern, physical activity, substance use, sleep, stress management, among MBBS and nursing students. NEIGRIHMS, a tertiary care institute in the capital city of the north-eastern state of Meghalaya, Shillong.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 313 participants by using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. The data was analyzed using the software Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 21 version.Results: In this study, 189 (60.4%) students reported sedentary activity of spending ≥2 hours per day on phone, tablets, laptops, television, computers, etc and majority of them (59.7% and 57.2%) use the gadgets for social and whatsapp messaging respectively. Only 18 (5.8%) participants had reported regular physical activity (5 times a week) when asked about the previous month.Conclusions: Sedentary lifestyle, lack of any physical activity, use of gadgets like mobiles, laptops, etc for activities like social media, Whatsapp, unhealthy eating habits were found to be prevalent among the medical students.

An Economic Analysis of PM Kisan Scheme in Ri-Bhoi District of Meghalaya State

"The PM Kisan scheme enables to support the financial needs of all land holding farmers in order to purchase various inputs timely and ensure proper crop health and adequate yields. Keeping this in view, a study was conducted to analyse the economics of PM Kisan scheme for the 2020-21 Kharif season in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya. Primary data on cost and returns of the paddy crop (main crop) were collected by interviewing the farmers through personal visits with the help of an especially structured and pre-tested schedule. From the cost and returns calculated, it was found that there was an increase of 2.14 per cent, 4.74 per cent and 8.71 per cent on the cost of cultivation, gross returns and net returns, respectively for beneficiaries than that of the non-beneficiaries in Kharif 2020-21. This shows farmer distress has reduced to extent and beneficiary farmers are willing to spend more for better returns. From the study it can be concluded that the beneficiary farmers are somewhat benefited from the PM-Kisan scheme"

Description of eleven new species of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Meghalaya state, north eastern India

A survey was done in the state of Meghalaya, India covering East Khasi Hills, West Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi districts during May to July, 2019. During the survey 350 specimens were collected from which 11 new species are describedAmblyseius azaliae sp. nov., Amblyseius meghalayensis sp. nov., Euseius fascae sp. nov., Euseius dwakiensis sp. nov., Okiseius jainticus sp. nov., Okiseius unisetatus sp. nov., Phytoseius clavus sp. nov., Phytoseius aonlae sp. nov., Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) barapanicus sp. nov., Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) campana sp. nov., and Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) cherrapunjiensis sp. nov.

Notes on a Collection of Order Dermaptera (Insecta) from some States of North East India

Based on the studies of order Dermaptera (Insecta) deposited in the National Zoological Collections of Zoological Survey of India, Shillong, Meghalaya, the current paper deals with 22 species belonging to 11 genera under seven subfamilies, four families and three superfamilies. This study revealed six new records from the state of Meghalaya, three species from Manipur and one each from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The distributional records of each species are also provided.

Pear production trends and characteristics of important pests in India

Pear is one of the most important commercial crops of India. It is grown in northwestern states and hills of the country. India is the 9th largest pear producer in the world. Its cultivation area increased from about 19000 ha in 1991 to 42000 ha in 2019, with 2.2 times of increase over 28 years. In India, pears cultivated from foothills to high hills experience about five hundred to thousand five hundred chilling hours throughout the year. In India, pear occupies the third place for temperate fruits by area of cultivation and production quantity. The area with pear cultivated is steadily increasing in India. It is mainly grown in northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and in south India (Tamilnadu state). The region of north-eastern hills, comprising of states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Sikkim, also grows pear on a limited scale. Although northwestern and eastern hills of India provide a favorable climatic condition for growing a wide range of pears, cultivation and production of pears remain challenging due to pests and diseases. In this article, we discussed the current status of pear production and major common insects and pests in pear-growing regions of India.

First record of Spotted Linsang Prionodon pardicolor (Mammalia: Carnivora: Prionodontidae) with photographic evidence in Meghalaya, India

The record of Spotted Linsang Prionodon pardicolor from Nongpoh, Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya on 29 October 2019 is the first record from the state with photographic evidence, thus extending its distribution range up to the state of Meghalaya, India.

Zooplankton Diversity of a Soft-water and Highly De-mineralized Reservoir of Meghalaya (Northeast India): The Spatio-temporal Variations and Influence of Abiotic Factors

Hydrobiological survey of a ‘soft-water’ and ‘highly de-mineralized’ reservoir of Meghalaya state of northeast India is undertaken to analyze zooplankton diversity with reference to the spatio-temporal variations and influence of abiotic factors. The littoral and limnetic zooplankton assemblages of this subtropical reservoir without aquatic vegetation reveal total 36 species, and record lower abundance, quantitative dominance of Rotifera, sub-dominance of Cladocera and Copepoda and moderate species diversity. Keratella cochlearis, Bosmina longirostris, Polyarthra vulgaris, Mesocyclops leuckarti, Conochilus unicornis and Asplanchna priodonta influence abundance, species diversity, dominance and equitability of zooplankton. We report differential spatial influence of individual abiotic factors with the relatively more importance at the limnetic region, and the canonical correspondence analysis registers 72.5% and 78.8% cumulative influence of 10 abiotic factors on the littoral and limnetic assemblages, respectively. The spatial differences of various diversity aspects and the influence of abiotic factors suggest habitat heterogeneity amongst the two regions. This study is a useful contribution to zooplankton diversity of the subtropical environs, and soft and de-mineralized waters in particular. Our results mark a distinct contrast to the lowest richness and abundance of zooplankton noted from India vide the preliminary 1990-91 survey of this reservoir.

Estimation of milk yield gap and factors associated in local cattle of Meghalaya: Application of ANCOVA model

The per capita availability of milk in India was 375 g/day in contrast to Meghalaya where the per capita availability was 83 g/per day as of 2017. There exists a huge yield gap in the milk yield in Meghalaya. The study was conducted in the West Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills districts of Meghalaya to estimate the milk yield gap and factors associated with it. A sample of 73 respondents was selected and primary data were collected. Standard method for yield gap analysis and ANCOVA model to assess the factors affecting of milk yield gap were employed. Total yield gap (TYG) turned out to be of 244.83% in Meghalaya whereas, 279.75% and 203.03% in West Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills districts of Meghalaya, respectively. The total yield gap (TYG) of milk in Meghalaya for local cattle was observed to be much higher as compared to national average. Study revealed that the experience in dairy farming, presence of scientific cattle shed, routine vaccination of cattle, education of household head and human labour allocated for dairy (hours) were significant factors for milk yield gap of local cow in Meghalaya. Hence, these significant factors need due care by individuals of the state who are involved in dairy business. State line department and other institutions like ICAR RC, Barapani and Central Agricultural University (Imphal), Barapani need to intervene through various awareness programmes on scientific dairy management in the state of Meghalaya.

Iron-Enriched Fish Powder Improved Haemoglobin Levels in Adolescent Girls of West Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya, India

This study was carried out to assess the efficacy of sodium iron EDTA (NaFeEDTA) salt-enriched fish powder in addressing iron deficiency in adolescent anaemic girls. This was a 60-day randomised double-blinded, controlled intervention trial involving 123 girls age ranging from 10 to 19years in three villages of West JaintiaHills District of State of Meghalaya in India using soup made out of sodium iron EDTA (NaFeEDTA)-enriched fish powder (250mg/100g). The influence of the iron-enriched powder on blood haemoglobin levels and serum iron was determined. The research also analysed the food consumed by the study subjects during the study period and it was found that there were no significant differences between the iron-enriched and control groups. The results indicated that the girls predominantly consumed cereals with little fruits, vegetables and meat. On an average, 100ml of soup prepared out of 10g of fish powder per day was consumed that theoretically provided about 25mg of iron each day. Following intervention, all the participants in the group that consumed soup made out of NaFeEDTA-enriched fish powder had significantly higher haemoglobin levels and serum iron and a lower prevalence of anaemia than the control group. The effects of NaFeEDTA salt-enriched fish powder were statistically significant and it can be inferred that NaFeEDTA-enriched fish powder was highly effective in controlling iron deficiency and reducing the prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia among the adolescent girls.

A new species of Bent-toed gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827) from the Garo Hills, Meghalaya State, north-east India, and discussion of morphological variation for C. urbanus

Recent taxonomic and systematic research on Cyrtodactylus khasiensis has found that this nomen comprises a large number of superficially similar but deeply divergent species-level taxa from throughout north-east India and surrounding countries. In this study we focus on the taxonomic status of recently surveyed populations from the East Garo Hills and West Garo Hills districts and a single specimen collected from Ri Bhoi District in Meghalaya State, north-east India. Based on a combination of morphological and molecular data we found that the Ri Bhoi specimen is conspecific with the recently described C. urbanus, and that the Garo Hills populations represent a new species of Cyrtodactylus described herein. Molecular analyses (using the NADH dehydrogenase 2, nd2 and adjoining tRNA genes) demonstrate that the new species is nested within the khasiensis group of the Indo-Burma radiation of Cyrtodactylus, and is well-supported as sister to a clade that comprises C. septentrionalis and C. guwahatiensis. We morphologically compare the new C. urbanus specimen with the original description of the species, identify a number of errors and ambiguities in the original description, and notably expand the known morphological variation for the species based on 23 characters. The discovery of an endemic new species of lizards from the Garo Hills further highlights the region as an overlooked centre of biodiversity importance. We discuss several misidentifications in the literature of other reptile species from the region emphasising the need for further attention by taxonomists to review the herpetofauna of the Garo Hills.

Tribal’s Perception on Governance of Village Council (Dorbar) System: A Case Study of West Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya State

The traditional local governance system is as old as the history of humanity but only recently it has entered into the broad academic discourse due to different societal setting exist in different societies. The author tries to argue that due to the presence of illiteracy, poverty, inaccessibility of communication facilities, the so called tribal elites are governing the society as according to their own will and at the same devoid of traditional customary laws. Therefore, the author tries to address the issues and at the same time provide the suggestive measures for reform in order to have a better governance at the Village council (Dorbar) system in the State of Meghalaya.

Four new Bent-toed geckos (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeast India.

Based on morphology and ND2 gene sequences, four new species of Cyrtodactylus, two each from the Indian states of Meghalaya and Mizoram are described herein. The new species are a part of the Cyrtodactylus khasiensis group. The species from Meghalaya represent the lowland clade whereas the species from Mizoram represent the highland clade within the south of Brahmaputra clade of Indo-Burmese Cyrtodactylus. The two distinct populations from Meghalaya are sister to one another, differing from each by an uncorrected p-distance 0.065 and collectively are sister to Cyrtodactylus septentrionalis. The species from Mizoram differ from each other by an uncorrected p-distance of 0.0850.121 and collectively are sister to Cyrtodactylus montanus.

Another new species of Oedothorax Bertkau, 1883 from India (Araneae, Linyphiidae)

A new species, Oedothorax khasi sp. nov., is described from the Indian state of Meghalaya on the basis of a single male. The species is similar to the Oriental O. myanmarTanasevitch, 2017, different in some details of palpal structure.