Suchergebnisse

V. S. Prasad, Higher Education and Open Distance Learning Trajectory in India: Reflections of an Insider. Hyderabad: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, 2018, 125 pp. (paperback). ISBN: 978-18-938160-0-4.

Governance, as the term came to be used since the 1980s and the 1990s under the influence of the neo-liberals, is about a minimalist state. It seeks a state rollback on the ground that state is inherently inefficient when compared with the markets. Apart from this, since then other versions have developed, which led one commentator to say that so numerous are the definitions of governance that it has become analytically an intractable construct. This article presents its subject matter in three sections. The first section focuses on the semantics; it underlines the need to distinguish between the conventional and the neo-liberal usages of the term governance. The second section, which forms the bulk of the present article, discusses the five strands that collectively form the complex whole we call governance. The third and the concluding section contrasts the positivism of the neoclassical economics and new institutional economics, from which the neo-liberal governance paradigm is shaped, with the normative orientation of the classical school of administrative thoughts that dominated the discipline of public administration during the first fifty years (the 1887–1937 period).

Alka Dhameja and Sweta Mishra (Eds) (2016), Public Administration: Approaches and Applications. Delhi, Chennai: Pearson, 53(liii)+394 pp. ISBN 978-93-325-5507-5.

AbstractIn the past two decades, freshwater bodies and their water quality have deteriorated rapidly due to several natural and anthropogenic causes, as well as rapid urbanization and industrialization. Using environmental assessment tools, eight sampling stations were used to assess the water quality of the upper Ganga and its major headstreams between January 2019 and December 2021 and to assess the impact of human‐led activities on the environment and the suitability of the catchment basin to perpetuate aquatic ecological diversity. During the current study period, water quality indices such as the Water Quality Index (WQI), Nemerow Pollution Index (NPI), and the Overall index of pollution (OIP) were employed to assess water quality. Twelve physicochemical parameters were examined using appropriate techniques and then compared to international standards. A small increase was observed in some physicochemical parameters, such as pH, Turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen, and Biological Oxygen Demand, at sampling stations 7 and 8. In the upper Ganga basin, all three indices (WQI, NPI, and OIP) accurately recorded numerous natural and human events at the selected sample sites. The water quality demonstrated that aquatic species were abundant. The water quality at some sample stations was also negatively affected by human activities, such as riverbed mining. However, these types of activities must be monitored and assessed.

AbstractWater quality plays a vital and key role in estimating the diversity and abundance of phytoplankton in freshwater ecosystem. The water quality of freshwater body is rapidly deteriorating by various anthropogenic activities and diverse emancipations from the population growth, urbanization, and industrialization. The aim of present research work was to estimate the anthropogenic influence on water quality and phytoplankton diversity of upper Ganga basin. The water quality and plankton diversity of a Ganga River and its major tributaries was studied between September 2018 and September 2020 in eight sampling stations. Some physico‐chemical parameters like turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and biological oxygen demand showed a slight increase in sampling stations 7 and 8. Multi‐correlation was calculated between physico‐chemical parameters and phytoplankton density. Totally 31 genera of phytoplankton were recorded and represented by five groups, Bacillariophyceae (14 genera), Chlorophyceae (11 genera) Myxophyceae (4 genera), Euglenophyceae (1 genera), and Xanthophyceae (1 genera). Dissolved oxygen showed a direct influence on the distribution of plankton and also showed a positive correlation with phytoplankton diversity. Finally, it can be concluded that human activities including River bed mining, construction of Dam, and barrages had negatively impacted the water quality and phytoplankton diversity. Still, these kinds of activities to be checked regularly and can be controlled.