Northwestern Provinces Research Articles

Impact of Service Quality Dimension on Customer Satisfaction of Domestic Electricity Consumers in Sri Lanka

Electricity is becoming an essential part of life considering the increasing needs and wants of human beings. In Sri Lanka, Electricity is widely used for domestic purposes by Domestic Consumers. Customers are always expected to get the new connections within a short period of time, un-interrupted service at any time, affordable tariff system, easy payment facilities and customer-oriented attitudes of employees etc. Evidences do not prove that Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has been able to meet the above customer expectations fully. The problem was the gap between expected service and perceived service delivered to domestic electricity consumers by CEB. In some extent CEB is lacking behind of understanding about the customer expectations and thereby encountering difficulties in transforming customer expectations in to superior service quality specifications that employees can understand and execute. This study is an effort to come up with the solution to the major research problem that was identified by the authors as service quality identification through customer satisfaction. Current study desires to develop an empirical model of service quality in terms of electricity services that may form a basis for a better understanding of its determinants. Specifically, this study aims to identify the dimensions of service quality of electricity services provided by the Ceylon Electricity Board in North Western Province. Accordingly, scope of the present research is confined to service marketing concept: customer satisfaction. Customers are not only buying the product or arriving at the organization but including industry owners outside agencies, other outside personnel who are beneficiaries in the service offered by CEB. This study is based on the domestic electricity consumers in North Western Province in Sri Lanka. The North western province is divided in to seven areas. These seven areas are subdivided into twenty five consumer service centers. There were 863,581 consumers at the end of 2016.Using Johnson & Kuby (2007) simple sampling technique, sample size was found as 300. Therefore, 300 respondents were selected for 25 consumer service centers proportionate to the population of each consumer service center. Data were collected using a questionnaire, from 300 respondents. Customer satisfaction is measured with service quality dimensions of tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, reliability, assurance. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The model framework developed based on the SERVQUAL model invented by Parasuraman, Zeithamal and Berry (1988). The results showed that tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, reliability and assurance had significant positive relationships on customer satisfaction. Based on the findings some suggestions for electricity utility were discussed. Findings will be useful to CEB for enhancing its effectiveness and to build up the high level of customer satisfaction. Moreover, findings of the study enrich the empirical literature and provide important messages for the policy makers and enlightening substantial scope for future research.

Lithium Might Hold the Key to our Clean Energy Future, but Will this Star Metal Fully Deliver on its Green Potential?

Salinas Grandes is a vast salt flat in the high-altitude Puna region of Salta and Jujuy, two north-western provinces of Argentina. It is situated in one of the world’s driest regions, with an extremely fragile ecosystem. Salinas Grandes is so iconic and beautiful that Argentinians voted it amongst the country’s top seven natural wonders in May 2019.1 In addition to its beauty, this stunning desert of salt also holds one of the largest reserves of lithium in the world. Lithium is a light and versatile metal used to produce, among other things, the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EV). As global efforts to phase out fossil fuels from our transport systems and adopt clean energy alternatives increase, lithium is becoming increasingly critical. It is no wonder, therefore, that industry has coined it the ‘white gold’.2 Salinas Grandes is only one of many salt lakes in North West Argentina which, together with Bolivia and Chile, form what is known as the ‘lithium triangle’. It is estimated that these three countries alone account for more than half of the world’s lithium.3 Global demand for lithium to produce EV is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decade. To meet this demand, the lithium industry will require significant investment to ramp up additional supply.4 As a result, all eyes have turned to the ‘lithium triangle’ and investment in the region has soared in recent years.5 For the three developing countries, this represents a unique opportunity to attract much-needed foreign investment and boost economic growth.6

Holiday Advertising in the Borderland: The Specificity of Perception in Latgale Region (Latvia) and Pskov Region (Russia)

Holiday advertising is a rather topical object of research that nowadays attracts attention of specialists in various branches opening new perspectives of investigating this phenomenon. One of them is the analysis of the specificity of functioning and perception of holiday advertising in various European and world countries including a comparative perspective of the border zone. The present paper reveals the specificity of the perception of holiday advertising by the example of the south-eastern region of Latvia – Latgale (the major object of the research) and Pskov region that is a part of the north-western federal province of Russia (the minor object of the research) on the basis of interviews carried out in 2018 with the participation of 906 residents of this border area. During the survey, respondents had an opportunity to express their opinion on holiday advertising in general as well as note the positive and negative impacts on a common present-day consumer. Processing of the survey data leads to the conclusion that the notion of holiday advertising in Latgale has been generally crystallized as it is rather often used in daily life, including for the selection of gifts for festive occasions, whereas in Pskov region there is no unified opinion on the essence and significance of holiday advertising yet as, in the respondents’ opinion, its potential is not used to a full extent.

Looking for asymmetries and nonlinearities: The nexus between renewable energy and environmental degradation in the Northwestern provinces of China

Recent industrial surge in the Northwestern provinces of China resulted in substantial energy consumption and adverse effect on the environment. Despite being less established, the Northwestern region of China has strategic importance and the use of renewable energy can potentially promote sustainable development in this region. Considering this aspect, this study aims to investigate the impact of renewable energy on environmental pollution in five Northwestern provinces of China during 1995–2014. This study uses the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag bounds testing approach with the structural break unit root and other specifications tests. The results indicate that renewable energy positive shock has an adverse impact on the CO2 emissions of the Northwestern provinces of China. The effect of renewable energy use varies in five provinces, i.e. it is more significant in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang than in Ningxia and Shaanxi. However, reduction in renewable energy consumption leads to higher level of CO2 emissions and this effect is more significant for Ningxia and Shaanxi in the long run. Furthermore, the positive shockwaves in nonrenewable energy, GDP and transportation are associated with environmental pollution in these provinces both in short run and long run. Nevertheless, the impact of negative shockwaves in nonrenewable energy consumption on environmental pollution is more significant than economic development for all provinces. Our findings suggest that: cutting down fossil fuels use can substantially improve environmental quality in these provinces; depending on the provincial geographies and government strategies, the intensity of positive impact of renewable energy towards CO2 emissions reduction differs among five provinces. Likewise, renewable energy development has abundant potential to increase the economic and ecological sustainability in the Northwestern provinces of China in the long run.

Comprehensive Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Travel Climate Comfort Degree and Rainstorm-Flood Disaster Risk in the China–Russia Border Region

Infrastructure and tourism is gradually increasing along the China–Russia border with the development of the China–Mongolia–Russia economic corridor. Facing the issues of thermal comfort and rainstorm-flood risk in the neighborhood area between China and Russia, we constructed homologous evaluation models to analyze spatial regularity and internal variations of their effect. Among the results, approximately 55% of the area was classified into the categories of “comfort” and “high comfort” in summer. Oppositely, the situation of most areas in winter corresponds to physical discomfort. On the other hand, the high-risk area of rainstorm-flood in spring and summer is principally located in the northern and southern regions, respectively, while this is further expanded in autumn. After that, the risk level turns to medium and low. Subsequently, a comprehensive assessment coordinate system of the two results was constructed to identify the distribution pattern of a seasonal suitable area for traveling in binary ways. The evaluation shows that Great Khingan Range in the north-western Heilongjiang province is the preferable place among most of seasons, especially in summer. While on the Russian side, the corresponding area is mainly spread over its southern coastal cities. The study is expected to provide recommendations for reasonable year-round travel time, space selection, and risk decision support for millions of people traveling between China and Russia.

Are industrial carbon emissions allocations in developing regions equitable? A case study of the northwestern provinces in China

The difficulty for developing regions to fulfil their industrial carbon emission control target commitments is to take into account the socio-economic and environmental governance. It is necessary not only to accelerate the process of industrialization, but also to rationally allocate carbon emission reduction tasks. This paper takes the northwestern provinces of China as a case study based on the calculation of the industrial carbon emissions of each province from 2006 to 2017. The Gini coefficients such as the industrial economy contribution coefficient, industrial employment contribution coefficient, and carbon carrying coefficient are constructed to evaluate the equity of regional industrial carbon emissions. The results show that the carbon pressure index in the northwestern provinces is increasing, carbon emissions are growing much faster than the carbon carrying capacity, and the differences among the provinces are obvious. The industrial economy contribution, the industrial employment contribution, and the carbon carrying Gini coefficients fluctuate significantly. Carbon emissions inequity has not been suppressed with the socio-economic development, and the “Matthew effect” is even more prominent. Evaluating the equity of carbon emissions allocation will help to rationally allocate carbon emission reduction tasks among provinces and achieve national emission reduction targets. Accordingly, recommendations are provided for formulating a differentiated carbon management policy, strengthening provincial cooperation, determining the provincial ecological function position, and improving the equity of regional carbon emissions allocation.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Investigating the effects of drought on the environment in northwestern province of Iran, Ardabil, using combined indices, Iran

Drought is a spreading phenomenon, and it has caused a lot of damages in different parts of the country in recent years. Therefore, we evaluated and monitored the drought and its indicators in this study. We used rainfall and temperature data [in a period 26 years (1993–2018)] from five synoptic stations of Ardabil province obtained from the Meteorological Organization, and then, the droughts of this province were investigated using the four indices of CZI, SPI, ZSI and MCZI in DIP software. The results showed that very severity droughts at 12-month scale occurred lower than the 6-month scale, and, the medium droughts were more than severe and very severe droughts in the 5 stations. The severity of the drought was more at the 12-month scale than the 6-month scale in the TOPSIS model, but the VIKOR model showed more severe drought at 6-month scale than the 12-month scale. Therefore, we can prevent the critical consequences of the drought and probable problems in different parts such as meteorology, agriculture, and water basins with precise and efficient schedules for the stations that are more exposed to drought.

Multi-model synthesis of future extreme temperature indices over Zambia

Although temperature is one of the most important climate variables to be considered in adapting systems to climate change, its study over Zambia has until recently been largely ignored. A dearth of the literature on future temperature extremes is especially apparent. For the first time, future extreme temperature variability is analysed in Zambia for the period 1961–2100. The nonparametric Mann–Kendall test statistic is used at 5% significant level to compute trends. Sen’s slope estimator is used to give the magnitude of the observed trends. A two-tailed Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistical test is used to calculate the significance of the observed changes. What stands out from the findings is that warm days and nights become warmer while cool days and nights are projected to become non-existent by 2100. Additionally, an increase in radiative forcing and time is seen to intensify extreme temperature events. Notably, much of southern Zambia is projected to experience ~ 30% increment in TX90p while the northern half will experience ~ 40% under RCP4.5 by the middle of the century (2021–2050). If the business-as-usual trajectory (RCP8.5) is followed, an intensification of TX90p is observed with ~ 40% in the southern half of the country and ~ 50% in the northern half. These projections are observed to almost double towards the end of the century (2071–2100). The projected increase in warm nights (TN90p) is more over Luapula and Northwestern province while the lowest is observed over the Livingstone/Magoye region. These results provide a foundation for strategic planning purposes to avert losses related to extreme temperature.

Provincializing the International: Communist Print Worlds in Colonial India

Abstract This paper charts communist print worlds in colonial India during the interwar period. Beginning in the early 1920s, self-declared ‘Communist’ and ‘Bolshevik’ publications began surfacing across India. Through the example of the Kirti Kisan Sabha (Workers and Peasants Party: a communist group in the north-western province of Punjab), and its associated publications, this paper will provide a glimpse into the rich, diverse and imaginative print worlds of Indian communism. From 1926 onwards, Kirti publications became a part of a thriving print culture in which a dizzying variety of revolutionary, socialist and communist publications competed and conversed with the equally prolific and rich print worlds of their political and ideological rivals. Removed on the one hand from the ivory towers of party intellectuals, dense treatises and officious theses, and on the other hand from the framing of sedition, rebellion and fanaticism in the colonial archive, Kirti publications show how the global project of communist internationalism became distinctly provincialized and vernacularized in British India.

Multi-region comparisons of energy-related CO2 emissions and production water use during energy development in northwestern China

This paper analyzes energy-related CO2 emissions and production water use as the constrictions for energy development in northwestern China. By two period division methods such as one-year one-period and multi-year phased period, CO2 emissions per unit of GDP and production water use are decomposed with a temporal decomposition technique. By compared with the average national level, carbon intensity and water intensity in 2016 are decomposed with a cross-regional decomposition technique. After a pairwise comparison of each influence factor between studied regions, what causes the variations in both intensity indicators among these five northwestern provinces is distinguished. Then the restrictions of energy development could be studied within an integrated framework of decomposing CO2 emissions and water use in two dimensions such as time and space. Besides, the secondary industry is divided into non-energy industry and energy industry for the analysis of the effects of energy industry development. Moreover, renewable energy substitution factor is newly added to the decomposition of CO2 emissions per unit of GDP, which is acted as an influence factor for the reduction of CO2 emissions by the change of energy consumption structure. Finally, policy suggestions for sustainable development of energy industry in northwestern China are proposed.

Clumped isotope geochemistry of carbonatites in the north-western Deccan igneous province: Aspects of evolution, post-depositional alteration and mineralisation

Carbonatites crystallise along a wide range of solidus temperatures and are commonly affected by post-magmatic textural re-equilibration and diagenesis. Further insights into the formation and modification of carbonatites are provided using carbon, oxygen and clumped isotope (Δ47) data of rocks from spatially associated Amba Dongar and Siriwasan alkaline complexes in the north-western Deccan igneous province, India. We derive apparent equilibrium blocking temperatures to help constrain the thermal evolution of the different rock types found within the alkaline complexes in a petrographic context. The apparent temperatures for the carbonatites are significantly low but are consistent with reports on other global carbonatites and model predictions. Rapidly cooled Oldoinyo Lengai natrocarbonatite yielded similar low temperatures, even in the absence of bulk isotopic alteration. The isotopic proxies and petrographic observations favour both isotopic exchange reactions and diagenesis in altering Δ47 values in calciocarbonatites. Diagenetic reactions are however strongly favoured, as secondary calcites in nephelinites and ferrocarbonatites record much lower temperatures than in the calciocarbonatites, highlighting the effect of fluids and diagenetic reactions in 13C18O bond ordering in carbonatites. Variations in the CO isotope data reveal the coupling of fractional crystallisation and post-magmatic fluid-rock interactions on bulk rock composition. After emplacement, the resetting of clumped isotope signatures in carbonatites is facilitated by post-magmatic processes in both open and closed systems.

Evolution of Virtual Water Transfers in China’s Provincial Grids and Its Driving Analysis

In China, electricity transmission has increased rapidly over the past decades, and a large amount of virtual water is delivered from power generation provinces to load hubs. Understanding the evolution of the virtual water network embodied in electricity transmission is vital for mitigating water scarcity. However, previous studies mainly calculated the virtual water transferred in short periods in low-spatial resolution and failed to reveal driving forces of the evolution of virtual water. To solve this problem, we investigated the historical evolution of the virtual water network and virtual scarce water network embodied in interprovincial electricity transmission between 2005 and 2014. The driving forces of the evolution of virtual (scarce) water networks were analyzed at both national level and provincial level. The results show that the overall virtual water transmission and virtual scarce water transmission increased by five times, and the direction was mainly from southwest and northwest provinces to eastern provinces. Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou played an increasingly important role in virtual water exporting, and northwestern provinces had dominated the virtual scarce water exporting in the decade. At the national level, the increase of virtual water is mainly driven by the change of power generation mix and power transmission. At the provincial level, the increase of virtual water transmission in the largest virtual water exporter (Sichuan) is driven by the power generation mix and the power transmission, between 2005 and 2010, and 2010 and 2014, respectively. Considering the expanding of electricity transmission, the development of hydropower in the southwestern provinces and other renewable energies (solar and wind) in the northeastern provinces would overall mitigate the water scarcity in China.

Митрополит Иосиф (Семашко) и реформы народной школы в Северо-Западном крае

Митрополит Иосиф (Семашко) и реформы народной школы в Северо-Западном крае

An Air Operated Domestic Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Plant: Economically Sustainable Solution for Safe Drinking Water Supply for Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology Affected Areas in Sri Lanka

Chronic Kidney Disease with unknown etiology (CKDu) is one of the crucial health issues in North Central, Uva, North Western, North, Central, and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka and incapacitates the kidney function. The main source for the CKDu has not yet been identified, though many scientists believed that the number of certain drinking water quality parameters is changed due to the contamination of water sources by agricultural activities. Hence, the government of Sri Lanka introduces electrically driven Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (BWRO) plants with a capacity of 10 tones/day to supply safe drinking water for the impacted community though it is an energy-intensive process. Concurrently, a smaller version of an electrically driven BWRO plant was introduced to the rural farming community for their domestic use. However, it was not practically worked out due to various reasons such as high cost, unavailability of electrical power supply for those villages. In this study, an economical air operated domestic use BWRO plant with zero-emission was designed. This anticipated system significantly reduces the government expenditures to subsidize the water purification cost by 50% of the existing expenses. Besides, simple payback time was found to be 2.5 years, and the benefit-cost ratio to be more than 1. Evaluating the performance with the conventional values, it comprehends with more sustainable and economically viable system compared to the existing method of water purification.

Seroprevalence of toxoplasma gondii infection in goats in the five northwestern provinces of China

Seroprevalence of toxoplasma gondii infection in goats in the five northwestern provinces of China

Iran's Forgotten Kurds

Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 43, No.2, Winter 2020 Iran’s Forgotten Kurds Michael M. Gunter* Introduction Although the approximately 8 million Kurds in Iran are second in numbers only to those in Turkey and constitute maybe 11 percent of Iran’s entire population, they have become all but forgotten. Unlike the Arabs and the Turks, the Persians are closely related to the Kurds. This ethnic affinity at times has possibly served to moderate Kurdish national demands in Iran. Nevertheless, the Kurds in Iran at the least have long pursued their separate cultural and social identity in one form or another. In addition, most of the Kurds in Iran are Sunnis, which creates problems with the Shiite Iranian government. The purpose of this paper is to explain why the Iranian Kurds (Eastern Kurdistan or Rojhelat) are largely forgotten compared to their kin in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, but in so doing also analyze their current situation. This will be done against the backdrop of change and continuity in Kurdish-Iranian relations. A significant number of Iranian Kurds live in the northwestern province of Kordestan, the only province in all pan-Kurdistan that bears this Kurdish ethnic name, which in the past has often been banned from being used in the other states in which the Kurds live. The Kurds in Iran also live in four other Iranian provinces: Western Azerbaijan, Kirmanshah, Hamadin, and Ilam. In addition, there is a community of Kurds in the northern part of Khorasan province in northeastern Iran that was forcefully relocated there during the eighteenth century to disperse and thus better control the ethnic and religious composition of the Persian Empire. Finally, in recent decades many Kurds have also moved to Tehran to seek better employment and living opportunities. Kurds (unlike the Turkic Azeris) have been barred from high levels of power in Iran, and human rights violations are systematically carried out 54 *Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN. He is an authority on Kurds in Turkey and Iraq, has written eleven books on the Kurdish struggle, and has co-edited eight books. Gunter is a board member of the Center for Eurasian Studies. He is frequently consulted by media members for analysis and comment on breaking news in the Middle East. 55 against them. In January 2009, for example, Human Rights Watch documented how Iranian authorities use security laws, press laws, and other legislation to arrest and prosecute Iranian Kurds solely for trying to exercise their right to freedom of expression and association. The government has closed Persian- and Kurdish-language newspapers and journals, banned books, and punished publishers, journalists, and writers for opposing and criticizing government policies.1 Amnesty International also expressed concern over the treatment of ethnic Kurdish prisoners of conscience. Kurdish representatives have testified how ethnic Kurds are denied education in their own language. Kurds are not allowed to give their children certain Kurdish names; Sunni Muslim Kurds face discrimination because of their religion; women’s rights are denied; and economic opportunities are bleak.2 In June 2012, US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor Michael Posner denounced continuing negative trends in Iran toward its Kurdish population: “Intolerance, of dissent…; free speech restricted; internet freedom restricted; political participation severely circumscribed; unfair trials; amputations; floggings; lots of death penalty…. So, it is a very grim picture.”3 History of the Kurds during the Ottoman period. Sheikh Ubeydullah In 1880, Sheikh Ubeydullah of Nehri—a devout and highly revered religious leader—led possibly the most significant Kurdish revolt of the nineteenth century in the area along the Ottoman-Persian border. This ultimately unsuccessful uprising is sometimes said to have been the prototype for subsequent Kurdish revolts in the twentieth century. Explaining his actions, Sheikh Ubeydullah famously wrote the consulgeneral of Great Britain in Tabriz that “the Kurdish nation…is a people apart…. We also are a nation apart. We want our affairs to be in our own hands.”4 Indeed, in his seminal work on Kurdish studies, Wadie Jwaideh concluded concerning the sheikh that “as the old parochial interests of a local leader gave...

A New Record of Bivalve Species, Gari elongata (Lamark, 1818) (Family: Psammobiidae) in Puttlam Estuary, North Western Province, Sri Lanka

The Puttlam estuary located in North Western Province Sri Lanka is well known for its marine diversity of different bivalve species. During recent surveys a species not recorded from the estuary previously was encountered and it was important to identify and report the species for conservation and management purposes. Although this species has been reported from Koggala and Trincomalee estuaries, it had not been recorded from this part of the country (North western region) The objective of this paper is to report the finding of this species from the Puttalam estuary. During a lagoon survey some shells of a species not seen previously was observed from two areas of the Puttalam lagoon. Therefore, a survey in the using a 1 m2 quadrate was carried out in around lagoon shore areas. 5 samples along a 50 m transect was taken at each sampling point. Sampling in locations closer to human habitats did not provide any specimens. Live specimens of the species were collected from two areas visited only by seasonal fishermen, and identified using identification guides and available information as well as from experts on the distribution of the species. With these results occurrence of bivalve, Gari elongata (Lamark, 1818), is reported from the Puttalam estuary for the first time. The study indicated a population density of 20±2 individuals in the upper layers of sediment in one location while it was 8±1 individual in the other location. The species inhabited undisturbed areas with a water depth less than 50 cm. Both locations Kumburawa and Mohotthuwarama, were away from human habitats and were used only for fishing by seasonal lagoon fisher folk. The Shell characteristics were used to identify the species as G. elongata (Lamark, 1818) using identification guides. The distribution records within Sri Lanka were accessed with help of mollusc expert and it was found that the species was not known to occur in this part of the country previously. These shells were not among the edible varieties collected from the lagoon. Occurrence of this species will be important in future lagoon management activities of the Puttalam estuary.Keywords: Bivalve, Gari elongata, Puttlam estuary

Heritage stones in India

Abstract India has a great variety of natural stones that have been extensively used as dimension, ornamental and sculptural stone for numerous temples and monuments over many centuries. These temples and monuments, now heritage sites, have a major role in showcasing India's natural stone resources that occur in diverse geological formations of different geological systems across the Indian subcontinent. The formations contain a variety of stone, with colours and textures produced by varied geological processes thus providing a storehouse of diverse stone resources. This paper outlines four potential Global Heritage Stone Provinces where natural stones have been used in heritage monuments: the North and Northwestern Province, the Central and Western Peninsular Province, the Southern Peninsular Province and the Eastern and Northeastern Province. The geotechnical and aesthetic characteristics of the stones, and their response to weathering are discussed.

The rural moneylender, 1888: The Dufferin Report for west UP

The published volume of the Dufferin enquiries (1888) reproduces the district reports in the case of only one province, namely the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (now Uttar Pradesh). From this volume, whose copies have become very rare, much information can be obtained about how rural credit was organised at the time. This article extracts information on this subject from three detailed reports based on actual information obtained from the debtors and some moneylenders. Interest rates as high as 37.5 per cent per annum prevailed, except in the forested areas where low rents seem to have brought down the interest rates. It also turns out that usury was a profession which zamindars and other relatively prosperous rural strata, including upper peasants and successful artisans, could also take to, though the central figure remained the village ‘banya’.

Some biological aspects and molecular variations in frigate tuna, Auxis thazard of the coastal waters around Sri Lanka

Auxis thazard (frigate tuna), is a commercially important fish species in Sri Lanka. Although Sri Lanka is fortunate to have a large resource of tuna, little information is available on the biology, genetics and stock structure of A. thazard. Hence, the present study was conducted to study the biology, genetics and stock structure of A. thazard in coastal waters around Sri Lanka. The fish samples were collected from October 2015 to September 2017 from day-boats operating in the Western, North Western, Eastern and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka. For this period, the length-weight relationship and Fulton’s condition factor (K) calculated for A. thazard using standard length measured in centimetres and weight measured in grams were shown as W = 0.1091L 3.3385 and 1.93, respectively, indicating a relatively healthy growth pattern and a comparatively unpolluted habitat. Studies on the stomach contents revealed that A. thazard are non-selective carnivors, feeding on diverse animal prey items such as small fish species, shrimps and cephalopods available in the surrounding waters. The fecundity of female A. thazard was shown to be 48,056 to 267,000 eggs. The calculated GSI values showed that the peak spawning period for male A. thazard extends from May to August and for the females from May to July. The phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial D-loop region sequences of 75 selected samples representing all the geographical regions studied showed that the fish of different regions are clustering together. Hence, for fisheries management strategies, A. thazard found in the coastal waters of the Western, North Western, Eastern and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka could be considered as a single stock.