Traversing Racial Distance in Hip-hop Culture: The Ethics and Politics of Listening

Hip-hop is often studied as a ‘political’ culture. Listeners, however, often contest the attachment of a political nature to hip-hop. After the ‘dilution’ of “real” hip-hop by record labels seeking to package the sound for mainstream consumption, is it fair to say that hip-hop retains political relevance? To address this question I make two moves. In the first, I approach hip-hop from a perspective that moves beyond lyrics, seeking to understand what the music ‘does’ rather than what it represents. In the second, I take this approach to the study of race in hip-hop culture, examining how phenotypical variation affects the affordances and subject-positions available to a given body in hip-hop culture. In approaching hip-hop through the materiality of racial difference, I find that the “political” in hip-hop emerges in moments of creative and ethical experimentation in the face of alterity

Strengthening Pluralistic Agricultural Information Delivery Systems in India

The study on agricultural information flow has revealed that only 40 per cent farm households access information from one or the other source. The popular information sources among farmers have been reported to be fellow progressive farmers and input dealers, followed by mass media. The public extension system has been found to be accessed by only 5.7 per cent households. Only 4.8 per cent of the small farmers have access to public extension workers as compared to 12.4 per cent of large farmers. The sector-wise study on the type of information, sought has revealed that a majority of the farmers have sought information on seed (32-55%) in the cultivation sector; on health care (26-54 %) in animal husbandry; and on management and marketing (8-46 %) in fisheries. Regarding adoption of information by farmers, input dealers and other progressive farmers have depicted greater influence mainly due to easy and convenient access to these sources. The study has suggested promotion of farmers-led extension and strengthening of public extension services to improve coverage and efficiency of agricultural information delivery systems.Agricultural and Food Policy,

The Economic Reality of Underutilised Crops for Climate Resilience, Food Security and Nutrition: Assessing Finger Millet Productivity in India

In spite of the considerable potential contribution of neglected and underutilised crops to climate resilience, food security and nutrition; widespread adoption of these crops remains a challenge. Uptake is inhibited by poor economic performance due to low yields, compounded further by various social factors. Using farm survey data and aggregated time-series data from four states in southern India, this study examines factors influencing productivity in finger millet cultivation. A farm-level yield gap analysis is complemented by an analysis of total factor productivity (TFP) growth between 1999 and 2014 to better understand the role of research and innovation. Results suggest that there is considerable potential for improved growing practices to achieve better yields, but also education levels and technical support emerge as crucial factors for boosting finger millet productivity. The TFP analysis indicates a moderate level of growth, with a high variability and conflicting trends between states, suggesting a need to invest more in research and development, extension and infrastructure. Sustained productivity gains will require research efforts that respond to the needs expressed by farmers and that finger millet forms part of an overall strategy for sustainable intensification

An Assessment of Economic Losses due to Avian Flu in Manipur State

The impact of 2007 outbreak of avian flu in the state of Manipur has been reported. The loss due to the disease has been found to be 14 per cent of the total value of livestock outputs in the entire state. More than 3 lakh birds were culled and 24 tonnes of poultry feed was destroyed post-flu. It has been found that the more affected were the producers and the input industry than traders and retailers. In dealing with such eventualities, compensation should be adequate and timely so as to ensure better compliance for effective control and stamping out of the disease. The study has suggested that the compensation rates may be fixed as per the prevailing economic condition of less-developed states like in the North-Eastern region, taking into consideration flock size, family size of farmers, proportion of income from poultry to total family income, level of nutritional security achieved from family poultry and border status of the state.Livestock Production/Industries,

Plentiful magnetic moments in oxygen deficient SrTiO3

Correlated band theory is employed to investigate the magnetic and electronic properties of different arrangements of oxygen di- and tri-vacancy clusters in SrTiO$_3$. Hole and electron doping of oxygen deficient SrTiO$_3$ yields various degrees of magnetization as a result of the interaction between localized magnetic moments at the defected sites. Different kinds of Ti atomic orbital hybridization are described as a function of the doping level and defect geometry. We find that magnetism in SrTiO$_{3-\delta}$ is sensitive to the arrangement of neighbouring vacancy sites, charge carrier density, and vacancy-vacancy interaction. Permanent magnetic moments in the absence of vacancy doping electrons are observed. Our description of the charged clusters of oxygen vacancies widens the previous descriptions of mono and multi-vacancies and points out the importance of the controled formation at the atomic level of defects for the realization of transition metal oxide based devices with a desirable magnetic performance.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, continuation of arXiv:1408.310