Northeast Region Of India Research Articles

Rainfall extremes on the rise: Observations during 1951–2020 and bias-corrected CMIP6 projections for near- and late 21st century over Indian landmass

In this study, we provide a comprehensive analysis to identify and quantify spatial patterns of heavy, very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall and their trends that have emerged during the last seven decades (1951 to 2020) of monsoon months (June to September) under warming scenario as well as to project these extreme rainfall counts during the near- (2036–2060) and late-21st century (2075–2099) w.r.t. historical period (1990–2014) using bias-corrected Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-6 (CMIP6) multi-model ensemble method. On the basis of daily maximum rainfall occurrences, the Central India, North-East India, Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats are found to be susceptible to extreme rainfall zones over the Indian landmass. The trend distribution during 1951–2020 suggests an increase of 42–63 heavy rainfall events over Orissa, Chattisgarh and parts of Madhya Pradesh and a declination over Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and hilly regions of North-East India. Our study suggests the causal theory for the rise of monsoon rainfall extremes in terms of both dynamics and local-scale thermodynamics over the sub-continent. Moreover, the bias-corrected dataset is developed using Empirical Quantile Mapping (EQM) for historic and projected climate for the three scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5) using output from 20 General Circulation Models (GCMs) from CMIP6. Hence, the bias-corrected projections suggest that most susceptible places for increasing heavy rainfall extremes likely to be Mumbai, Pune, Panaji in the Western coasts of India (Western Ghats), Itanagar and Shillong in the North-East India, Raipur and Bhopal in the Central India in near- and late-21st century under all scenarios in a warming climate. Thus, the bias-corrected projections from CMIP6-GCMs can be used for hydroclimate impact assessment in Indian region under the changing atmospheric circulation dynamics and warming induced by greenhouse gases.

Development and On-Field Deployment of a Mobile-Based Application 'MoSQuIT' for Malaria Surveillance in International Border Districts of Northeast India-Challenges and Opportunities.

The conventional paper-based system for malaria surveillance is time-consuming, difficult to track and resource-intensive. Few digital platforms are in use but wide-scale deployment and acceptability remain to be seen. To address this issue, we created a malaria surveillance mobile app that offers real-time data to stakeholders and establishes a centralised data repository. The MoSQuIT app was designed to collect data from the field and was integrated with a web-based platform for data integration and analysis. The MoSQuIT app was deployed on mobile phones of accredited social health activists (ASHA) working in international border villages in the northeast (NE) Indian states of Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh for 20 months in a phased manner. This paper shares the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of MoSQuIT for malaria surveillance. MoSQuIT employs the same data entry formats as the NVBDCP’s malaria surveillance programme. Using this app, a total of 8221 fever cases were recorded, which included 1192 (14.5%) cases of P. falciparum malaria, 280 (3.4%) cases of P. vivax malaria and 52 (0.6%) mixed infection cases. Depending on network availability, GPS coordinates of the fever cases were acquired by the app. The present study demonstrated that mobile-phone-based malaria surveillance facilitates the quick transmission of data from the field to decision makers. Geospatial tagging of cases helped with easy visualisation of the case distribution for the identification of malaria-prone areas and potential outbreaks, especially in hilly and remote regions of Northeast India. However, to achieve the full operational potential of the system, operational challenges have to be overcome.

Occurrence of Fall Army Worm Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith) in Assam

The fall army worm (FAW) has spread to locations at 1222 masl in the northeast region of India. In Assam, its incidence was first noticed on the two banks of the Brahmaputra. In Biswanath district, infestation on maize was observed to be of 15.2-64.3% at farmers’ field and 2.15% in Biswanath College of Agriculture campus of the Assam Agricultural University. This variation might be attributed to the rich avian diversity in the college campus. No larval parasite was observed in the field collected larvae. A large section of farmers observed high pest incidence in maize as compared to previous years.

Act East through India’s Northeast: Limits of Neoliberal Strategies towards Developing an Underdeveloped Region

One of the major objectives of the Look East, now rechristened as Act East Policy, of India is to develop the geographically and economically isolated region of Northeast India by economically integrating it with the neighbouring regions of South East Asia through neoliberal economic intervention. In view of this, the present article tries to analyse the rationale of such neoliberal-centric development model for the Northeast India as envisaged under the Look (Act) East Policy, existing gaps in the present policy framework and its impact. It argues that so far, such a strategy has brought very little dividend for the Northeast and may be at odds with some of the existing political, economic and social realities of the region. The article finally concludes by arguing that resources and interests of the region must be protected while trying to expose the region to global market economy for greater economic prosperity.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS: NORTH-EAST INDIA IN CONTEXT

The impact of climate change upon the basic human rights of the people is emerging as a frontline research area particularly in the North East region of India- the region which is more prone to the gushing impacts of global climate change due to its geo-ecological delicateness, shared international boundaries, rugged mountain terrains and the regions’ high dependency on climate sensitive livelihood such as agriculture, tea and forestry. Profound impacts of climate change in the region are being seen already in the form of rise in average temperature, slight changes in rainfall patterns, changes in the biodiversity, decrease of air quality which has ultimately threatened an array of human rights of the people in the region such as their Right to Life, Right to Food, Right to health and so on. Although Climate change has a cascading effect upon the people of the North East region of India, this area has been under-acknowledged and under-researched. Therefore, the paper purports to explore and evaluate the threats that anthropogenic climate change has imposed upon the human rights of the people of North-East India along albeit interrogating the measures that have been undertaken to address the issue and their efficacy.

Can the nation-wide COVID-19 lockdown help India identify region-specific strategies for air pollution?

Air pollution is a serious concern with the developing economics in India and gets more severe when it has major cities ranked among the top 30 polluted cities worldwide. To find a solution, different programs and/or policies have been launched for air quality management country-wide. Unfortunately, no such plan could effectively solve the purpose rather than an unexpected COVID-19 pandemic situation in India. Our study focused on the air pollution status and air quality index (AQI) in 42 cities (that includes 6 metros) representing North, South, East, West, Central, and North-East region of India during the pre-lockdown, four lockdowns and unlock phases. The results depict most of the pollutants except ozone (O3) were significantly reduced in the lockdown-1, and marginally increased in subsequent lockdown phases. Regarding the average AQI, its value was highest in North Indian cities (227), followed by East India (172), Central India (141), North-East India (130), West India (124), and South India (83) during the pre-lockdown. Due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, North Indian cities observed the highest dip in average AQI (108), followed by Central India (113), East India (82), West India (73), South India (55), and North-East India (49) in the lockdown and unlock phases. Thus, the study gave a conspicuous vision on mitigation of air pollution under this pandemic; and, if strategic centralized policies are sensibly implemented and by involving the participation of people of India, then there is a feasibility of air pollution issue management.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41324-021-00426-1.

Inter State Border Disputes in North East Region of India: Special focus on Assam and its Bordering States

Inter State Border Disputes in North East Region of India: Special focus on Assam and its Bordering States

Canine ocular thelaziosis from North East India.

Thelazia callipaeda is a vector borne zoonotic nematode transmitted by drosophilid flies of Phortica genus. It has been reported in humans from different parts of India including North Eastern region. Only one case of canine ocular thelaziosis has been reported from southern India while no case has yet been reported from the rest of the country. This communication reports the first case of canine ocular thelaziosis from Nagaland and the entire North East region of India along with the morphological characters and treatment.

Environmental Movements in North-East India: Political Opportunity Structure and Movement Success

Since the last two decades, the North-East region of India witnessed many environmental movements with similar goals and forms of mobilisation that challenged government policies and actions. Many of them achieved their goals or objectives whereas others failed. This study is an attempt to understand the factors that determined the success and failure of those movements and protests by employing rich details of four case studies from the North-East to make a systematic comparison. This study uses political opportunity structure as a theoretical construct to understand relative success and failure of environmental movements in the North-East.

Problems and Prospects of Women Entrepreneurship in India with Special Reference to the North- East region

In 21st century, women have come forward to make their contribution in economic development of India. Many women are running enterprises successfully through their managerial qualities, commitment and creativities. Women entrepreneurs have overcome the economic and social restrictions. Entrepreneurial activities have helped them to be financially independent and confident. But still women participation in entrepreneurship is very low in India. There are numerous social, economic and cultural restrictions which women entrepreneurs have to face. The paper examines the status of women entrepreneurship in North- East India. It also highlights the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in North-East region of India.

Exploring Correlations of COVID-19 Mortality Rates with Development Variables: The Case of Northeast India

Aim: This paper explores the correlation of the Covid-19 mortality rate with some other developmental variables. This study also attempts to highlight the state-wise variability in mortality rate in the Northeastern region of India.
 Study Design: The study focuses on eight Northeastern states, correlating the Covid-19 mortality rate and other development (or socio-economic) variables. This study focuses on the region of North East India because there have been few investigations on Covid-19 in the region. This study follows a cross-sectional study design.
 Duration of the Study: The study was conducted and completed around three months.
 Methodology: The nature of the correlation between the mortality rate of Covid-19 and the other variables is determined by using the Karl Pearson correlation approach. We began by performing a correlation study and calculating the correlation coefficients.
 Results: The results demonstrate that all independent variables adversely correlate with the Covid-19 mortality rate. Except for the number of doctors in district hospitals and health spending per capita, which have a moderate negative correlation with the predicted variable, all explanatory factors have a weak negative connection with the death rate. Surprisingly, both the NSDP per Capita and the case positivity rate have negative findings. Another major issue in the findings is that none of the factors statistically link with mortality.
 Conclusion: This research shows that the more a state's socio-economic infrastructures, notably its health infrastructures, are developed, the lower the mortality rate in a pandemic will be.

Morphometric analysis of relative tectonic activity in the upper parts of Tlawng river watershed in Lunglei, Mizoram, India

The State of Mizoram in India is geologically located within the Indo Burmese Wedge (IBW) of the Indo Burmese Arc (IBA). The state is a landlocked state domestically bordered by Tripura in the north-west, Assam in the north and Manipur to its north-east. It shares international boundaries with Bangladesh to its west and Myanmar in the east. This region is amongst the most seismically active regions of the world and numerous seismic activities had occurred in the past. The high seismicity of the region of North East India is attributed to plate tectonics and is lying in the plate boundary region where numerous active faults are present. To assess the tectonic activities in the upper parts of the Tlawng river watershed in Lunglei of Mizoram, morphotectonic parameters including Basin elongation ratio (Re), Drainage basin asymmetry factor (Af), Transverse topographic symmetry factor (T), Bifurcation ratio (Rb), Hypsometry integral (HI), Mountain front sinuosity (Smf), Channel sinuosity (S), Ratio of valley floor width to valley height (Vf) and Stream length gradient index (SL) were used and the study revealed that the present Lunglei is tectonically active.

A Review on Some Medicinal Plants of North- East India Region Used in the Treatment of Central Nervous System Disorders

Background: Central nervous system (CNS) disorders are a group of neurological disorders concerned with behaviour, coordination and functioning of the brain and the spinal cord. The CNS is the site of processing various informations. It interprets and evaluates the information and as result, the CNS responds accordingly and controls the body. Any defects or disorders of the Central nervous system may cause degeneration of the organs and tissues associated with it, loss of coordination, paralysis, etc. These disorders may be hereditary or due to injuries to the brain and spinal cord. Although, these disorders are being cured with medicaments, many plant species are also seen to be effective in its treatment. Objective: the main objective of this article is to underline the potentials and the needs for the documentation of the ecological knowledge of herbal medicines of the north east India region, necessary for the greater well-being of mankind in the prevention and cure of CNS disorders. Methods: an extensive literature survey was carried out through various databases like Google Scholar, Pubmed, Sciencedirect etc to support this review. All the collected information was analyzed accordingly and the plants were enlisted based on the classes of CNS disorders for which they are used. Result and discussion: from the survey of the database being collected, it was found that many traditional and local plants of the northeast India region are therapeutically effective in the treatment and cure of many Central nervous system disorders. Conclusion:-It is now an accepted fact that many traditional plants found in the Northeast India have been acceptable within the human body and hence these can be used to replace many expensive medications available in the market.
 Keywords: Medicinal plants; Central Nervous System; CNS disorders; Northeast India; Plant extract

Molecular epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus among children and adults in India 2016 to 2018

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of respiratory tract infections among children less than 5 years of age and the elderly. This study intended to determine the circulating genotypes of RSV among severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) cases during the period 2016–2018 in India, among hospitalized acute febrile illness cases of age ranging from 1 to 65 years. Throat/nasopharyngeal swab samples were subjected for testing RSV and subgroups by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), further sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed for the second hypervariable region of the G gene. RSV-A and B subtypes co-circulated during the years 2016, 2017, and 2018, with RSV-A as the dominant subtype in 2016, and RSV-B as the dominant subgroup in 2017 and 2018. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the circulating genotypes of RSV were GA2 (16/16), of RSV-A, and GB5 (23/23) of RSV-B in the South, North, and Northeast region of India during the period between 2016 and 2018. Here we report the first study comprising the distribution of RSV-A and B genotypes in the different geographic regions of India among children and adults during the year 2016 to 2018. We also report GA2.3.7 lineage of GA2 genotype for the first time in India to the best of our knowledge.

Gendered Violence: A Look at Northeast Women’s Writing as Literary Interventions

There are more than enough writings and debates on political conflict and violence in the Northeast region of India, but violence targeted at women specifically, has not received equal attention. This paper aims to initiate honest and serious critical examinations about sexual abuse and other forms of gendered violence that are inflicted on women in these communities, but which continues to remain like a taboo subject. Violence against women in Northeast has roots deep in cultural and colonial history. Set against this context, the paper is based on a framework of referencing literary studies and intersecting it with empirical evidence from other relevant studies. The literary works are all based on actual lived experiences of women. Hence these writings also intersect with and validate the social reality of our times. It also highlights how Northeast women writers have been voicing and questioning the silence and shame attached to this issue through their writings. The paper contends that these significant literary interventions into gendered violence are noteworthy and point to the need for understanding the experiences of tribal Northeast women from their specific context.

Source apportionment and light absorption properties of black and brown carbon aerosols in the Brahmaputra River valley region

The light absorption due to winter black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) in a complex-terrain region of northeast India was studied. The BC concentrations were measured by using a seven-wavelength Aethalometer. The hourly average BC concentration at 880 nm was 10.02 ± 3.17 μg m−3, with the highest of 30.48 μg m−3 on most foggy days. The mean Angstrom Absorption Exponent (AAE370-880) for the spectrum 370–880 nm was 1.25, and the highest was 1.28 during the winter nighttime. The light absorption of BC dominated at all wavelengths from 370 to 950 nm. Source apportionment using the site-specific spectral properties showed that the average contribution from the fossil fuel (road traffic emissions) was around 70% and 30% from biomass burning. The primary brown carbon (BrCpri) contributed a much higher (17.5%) to the total aerosol light absorption (babs) than secondary brown carbon (BrCsec) (7.8%) at 370 nm. The BrCpri and BrCsec absorption and contribution to babs peaking to 24.9% and 12.4% during winter nights at 370 nm, indicating open biomass burning a dominant source of BrC. Further, the exposure to BC in winter might cause a higher health risk equivalent to 25 passive cigarette smoking per day.

Community health workers: challenges and vulnerabilities of Accredited Social Health Activists working in conflict-affected settings in the state of Assam, India

IntroductionIt is well acknowledged that India’s community health workers known as Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) are the bedrock of its health system. Many ASHAs are currently working in fragile and conflict-affected settings. No efforts have yet been made to understand the challenges and vulnerabilities of these female workers. This paper seeks to address this gap by bringing attention to the situation of ASHAs working in the fragile and conflict settings and how conflict impacts them and their work.MethodsQualitative fieldwork was undertaken in four conflict-affected villages in two conflict-affected districts -Kokrajhar and Karbi Anglong of Assam state situated in the North-East region of India. Detailed account of four ASHAs serving roughly 4000 people is presented. Data transliterated into English were analysed by authors by developing a codebook using grounded theory and thematic organisation of codes.ResultsASHAs reported facing challenges in ensuring access to health services during and immediately after outbreaks of conflict. They experienced difficulty in arranging transport and breakdown of services at remote health facilities. Their physical safety and security were at risk during episodes of conflict. ASHAs reported hostile attitudes of the communities they served due to the breakdown of social relations, trauma due to displacement, and loss of family members, particularly their husbands.ConclusionsConflict must be recognised as an important context within which community health workers operate, with greater policy focus and research devoted to understanding and addressing the barriers they face as workers and as persons affected by conflict.

Diversity of beneficial microorganisms and their functionalities in community-specific ethnic fermented foods of the Eastern Himalayas

The Eastern Himalayan regions of India, Nepal and Bhutan have more than 200 varieties of unsurpassed ethnic fermented foods and alcoholic beverages, which are lesser known outside the world. However, these ethnic foods are region- and community-specific, unique and some are exotic and rare, which include fermented vegetables, bamboo shoots, soybeans, cereals, milk (cow and yak), meats, fishes, and cereal-based alcoholic beverages and drinks. Ethnic communities living in the Eastern Himalayas have invented the indigenous knowledge of utilization of unseen microorganisms present in and around the environment for preservation and fermentation of perishable plant or animal substrates to obtain organoleptically desirable and culturally acceptable ethnic fermented food and alcoholic beverages. Some ethnic fermented products and traditionally prepared dry starters for production of alcoholic beverages of North Eastern states of India and Nepal were scientifically studied and reported till date, and however, limited publications are available on microbiological and nutritional aspects of ethnic fermented foods of Bhutan except on few products. Most of the beneficial microorganisms isolated from some ethnic fermented foods of the EH are listed in microbial food cultures (MFC) safe inventory. This study is aimed to review the updates on the beneficial importance of abundant microbiota and health-promoting benefits and functionalities of some ethnic fermented foods of the Eastern Himalayan regions of North East India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Living with Earthquakes: Educating masses through earthquake awareness: North East (NE) India perspective

Earthquake is one of the most frightening and destructive phenomena of nature. The northeast India region, as well as its adjoining South-Asian neighbours including Myanmar and Bangladesh, is tectonically and seismically most active. The region categorized under the highest level of seismic hazard potential: Zone V, of the seismic zonation map of India, has experienced nearly 22 large (M ≥7.0) and two great earthquakes (M S ∼ 8.7) in the past 130 years. All these earthquakes caused wide-spread damage over the region. In the recent past, with rapid urbanization combined with a significant population rise as compared to those times when these great/large earthquakes occurred, the seismic vulnerability index has increased manifold. The situation demands widespread dissemination of seismic hazard and preparedness information via community engagement and highlighting on potentially tragic consequences of earthquakes by conducting extensive mock drill exercises & earthquake awareness programmes. In this paper, the role and efforts of the statuary bodies in the region, such as National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and CSIR – Northeast Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST) and societal program of Academy of Scientific and Innovative research, to mitigate and minimize seismic hazard by extensive dissemination of earthquake information, via scientific scenario and impact assessment, is holistically compiled.

Interaction of multiple risk factors and population attributable fraction for type 2 diabetes and hypertension among adults aged 15–49 years in Northeast India

AimsThe aim is to assess the association and population attributable fraction (PAF) of multiple risk factors combination for diabetes and hypertension among adults in the Northeast region of India. MethodsData used is from the Indian Demographic Health Survey conducted in 2015–16. The study comprised 107, 766 respondents (95,153 females and 12, 613 males) aged 15–49 years. We examined four modifiable risk factors: smoking, alcohol consumption, aerated drinks consumption, and overweight or obesity. PAF was calculated using the relative risk from the multivariable logistic regression models. ResultsOverweight or obesity in conjunction with smoking was associated with 43.9 % of patients with diabetes. Smoking in conjunction with alcohol and overweight or obesity contributed to 53% of patients with diabetes (PAF = 53 %). The three risk factors combination (i.e., smoking, alcohol, and overweight or obesity) is associated with the most hypertension cases (PAF = 50.7 %). Experiencing all four risk factors is associated with 50.3 % of patients with hypertension. In women, the four-risk combination contributed the most hypertension cases (PAF = 46.8 %). ConclusionsOverweight or obesity was the single most significant factor leading to hypertension and diabetes among the study population. Also, smoking, alcohol, and overweight or obesity together are prominent risk factors for hypertension and diabetes.