With the development of globalization, exchanges and cooperation between countries sub-regions have been promoted day by day. China and India are not only the most populous countries in the world, but also the largest developing countries in Asia. Strengthening exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the political, economic, social and cultural fields will not only make outstanding contributions to peace and development in Asia and the world at large. However, due to historical and practical reasons, the exchanges and cooperation between China and India need to be improved in terms of both depth and breadth. In the 21st century, as an effective response to the impact of globalization, the development of transnational education cooperation has increasingly become an important aspect of Sino-Indian exchanges and cooperation. However, due to the problems left over from history, political mutual trust, social and cultural differences, inadequate economic exchanges and other problems, Sino-Indian exchanges and cooperation have shown inadequate and imperfect and other problems. In 2013, after the “BRI” put forward, India, a big country in South Asia known for its “inclusiveness”, showed a “skeptical” and “negative” attitude towards it. “Civilizations communicate because of diversity, learn from each other, and develop because of mutual learning”, while “people are the best carrier for civilization exchanges.” Therefore, in this context, China and India need to strengthen education cooperation in order to better realize the exchanges and mutual learning between the civilizations of the two countries.

이 논문은 1980년대 이전부터 일어나기 시작한 남인도의 “교회 밖 기독교” 현상을 선구적으로 연구한 허버트 호퍼의 연구 내용을 소개한다. 그리고 힌두교 내에서의 내부자 운동이라고 할 수 있는 이 현상에 대한 선교학적 평가와 교회의 과제를 다룬다. 인도 선교사였 던 호퍼는 예수에게 헌신했지만 교회에 가지 않고 세례도 받지 않는 사람들, 그러면서도 힌두 공동체에 그대로 남아 있는 사람들을 연구했 다. 호퍼는 그들을 “비세례 신자들”이라고 지칭하면서(후에는 예수 박타, Jesu Bhakta라고 함), 그 원인을 정치 경제적인 측면(하위 카스트, 즉 달릿의 경우)에서 그리고 사회, 문화적인 측면(상위 카스트 의 경우)에서 찾아낸다. 호퍼는 비세례 신자들을 그대로 인정하면서 오히려 그들이 선교 전략적인 측면에서 높이 평가될 수 있다고 말한다. 왜냐하면 예수를 믿으면서도 그가 속한 힌두 공동체 안에 있기 때문에 그 내부에서 그리스도를 소개할 수 있기 때문이다. 호퍼의 연구로부터 약 40년이 지난 현재 인도에는 예수 박타들의 공동체들이 많이 있고, 교회의 또 다른 형태 혹은 새로운 표현으로서 교회적 역할을 하고 있는 것으로 보인다.

소프트 파워는 국제 교류 및 지역 협력에서 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 방글라데시·중국·인도·미얀마 지역은 지리적으로 보면 서로 인접되어 있으며 역사적으로왕래가빈번한다. 2013년중·인양국이방글라데시·중국·인도·미얀마 경제회랑 건설을 제의한 후에, 방글라데시와 미얀마가 이 제안에 적극적으로 호응하면서 4국 간의 교류는 더욱 밀접해진다. 방·중·인·미 경제회랑 지역은 중국 서남과 방글라데시·인도·미얀마를 연결하는 중요한 통로 될 것이고, 이를 통해 관련지역의 문화교류도 많아질 것이다. 하지만 4국 간에는 문화교류는 중국과 인도의 소프트 파워에 의해 불균형한 상태로 보인다. 중국·인도는 방글라데시·미얀마에 대해 문화 제품이 더 많이 수출하고 있고, 이는 많은 분야에서 방글라데시와 미얀마에게 영향을 주고 있다. 향후에 이 경제회랑은 문화교류 및 협력 가속화하는 배경 하에, 지속가능한 발전 체제를 구축해 나가야하며, 이를 통해 4국의 소프트 파워 영향력을 균형화시켜서 지역문화의 백화제방（百花齐放）를 달성할 것이다.

Agricultural risks are exacerbated by a variety of factors ranging from climatevariability and change, frequent natural disasters, uncertainties in yields and prices, weakrural infrastructure, imperfect markets and lack of financial services including limited spanand design of risk mitigation instruments such as credit and insurance. Indian agriculture has little more than half (53%) of its area still rainfed and this makes it highly sensitive to vagaries of climate causing unstable output. Besides adverse climatic factors, there are man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, adulteration of pesticides and fertilizers etc., and all these severely affect farmers through loss in production and farm income, and are beyond the control of farmers. Hence, crop insurance’ is considered to be the promising tool to insulate the farmers from risks faced by them and to sustain them in the agri-business. This paper critically evaluates the performance of recent crop insurance scheme viz., Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) and its comparative performance with earlier agricultural insurance schemes implemented in the country. It is heartening that, the comparative performance of PMFBY with earlier schemes revealed that, the Government has definitely taken a leap forward in covering more number of farmers and bringing more area under crop insurance with the execution of this new scheme and on this front, it deserves the appreciation in fulfilling the objective for bringing more number of farmers under insurance cover. The use of mobile based technology, reduced number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) and smart CCEs, digitization of land record and linking them to farmers' account for faster assessment/settlement of claims are some of the steps that contributed for effective implementation of this new crop insurance scheme. However, inadequate claim payments, errors in loss/yield assessment, delayed claim payment, no direct linkage between insurance companies and farmers are the major shortcomings of this scheme. This calls for revamping the crop insurance program in India from time to time in tune with the dynamic changes in climatic factors on one hand and to provide a safety-net for farmers to mitigate losses arising from climatic shocks on the other. The future research avenues include: insuring the revenue of the farmer (Price x Yield) as in USA and more and more tenant farmers should be brought under insurance by doling out discounts for group coverage of farmers like in Philippines where 20 per cent discount in premium is given for a group of 5-10 farmers, 30 per cent for a group of 10-20 and 40 per cent for a group of >20 farmers.

The global mushroom industry has grown rapidly in recent years in terms of beneficial effects, market value, and demand. India has a wide range of agro-climatic conditions and is largely an agricultural country with a cultivated area of about 4.37 %, generating about 620 million tons of agro waste annually. Mushroom cultivation not only helps recycle agro wastes, but also fills the nutritional gap prevalent among a large population of India. Recently, government industrial policy and creative innovation has promoted research and other endeavors aiming towards the cultivation of mushrooms. Mushroom cultivation in India was initiated in Solan, in the mid-sixties. Mushroom cultivation has been successful in temperate regions of the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, and the hills of northeast India. Recently, many unemployed people have begun to adopt mushroom cultivation as a means of self-employment. It is high time that Indian mushroom cultivators and consumers became aware of the nutritional and medicinal values of cultivated and wild species of mushrooms. The total mushroom production in India between 2010 and 2017 was approximately 0.13 million tons, accounting for a 4.3% increase in the average growth rate of mushrooms per annum. In particular, the total production of white button mushrooms is the highest, with a share of about 73% of total mushroom production. In this review article, we have analyzed the current scenario of the Indian mushroom industry and its contribution to the economic growth of the country.

In the present day context of changing information needs of the farmers and diversified production systems there is an urgent need to look for the effective extension support system for the small and marginal farmers in the developing countries like India. The rapid developments in the collection and analysis of field data by using the spatial technologies like GPS&GIS were made available for the extension functionaries and clientele for the diversified information needs. This article describes the GIS and GPS based decision support system in precision agriculture for the resource poor farmers. Precision farming techniques are employed to increase yield, reduce production costs, and minimize negative impacts to the environment. The parameters those can affect the crop yields, anomalous factors and variations in management practices can be evaluated through this GPS and GIS based applications. The spatial visualisation capabilities of GIS technology interfaced with a relational database provide an effective method for analysing and displaying the impacts of Extension education and outreach projects for small and marginal farmers in precision agriculture. This approach mainly benefits from the emergence and convergence of several technologies, including the Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), miniaturised computer components, automatic control, in-field and remote sensing, mobile computing, advanced information processing, and telecommunications. The PPP convergence of person (farmer), project (the operational field) and pixel (the digital images related to the field and the crop grown in the field) will better be addressed by this decision support model. So the convergence and emergence of such information will further pave the way for categorisation and grouping of the production systems for the better extension delivery. In a big country like India where the farmers and holdings are many in number and diversified categorically such grouping is inevitable and also economical. With this premise an attempt has been made to develop a precision farming model suitable for the developing countries like India.

특정분야의 자격 취득 또는 산업현장 기술 습득 등의 목적으로 이루어지는 현장실습은 학교 교육을 벗어나 학생들이 실무중심의 교육과정에 참여할 수 있는 장점을 가지고 있다. 그러나 최근에 발생된 실습생들의 안전사고 들을 보면 과도한 노동을 요구하는 현장실습의 악습과 함께 산업현장에 위탁으로 이루어지는 현장실습 제도의 미비점들이 지적되고 있다. 특히, 선박의 해기사 면허취득을 위해서는 IMO STCW협약에 따라 반드시 일정기간 승선실습을 하도록 규정하고 있다. 이러한 승선실습은 해양계 지정교육기관이 보유한 실습선에서도 이루어지지만 일반 상선 및 어선에서 운항되는 선박에서도 이루지고 있다. 특히, 선박이라는 특수한 환경에 노출된 실습생들이 선원들과 같이 생활하면서 승선실습이 진행되기 때문에 노동과 훈련이 공존하는 형태를 보이고 있다. 또한, 이들의 법적 지위 그리고 관리 제도도 국가마다 상이한 양태를 보이고 있다. 이 연구에서는 승선실습에 참여하는 해기사 실습생의 제도적 개선을 위한 목적으로서 영국, 미국 및 인도의 실습선 및 상선 현장실습 제도를 고찰해 보고자 한다. 특히, 실습생에 대한 법적 지위와 이들에 대한 관리제도 분석을 통해서 실습생이 조사대상 국가에서 법적으로 어떠한 신분을 보장받고 있는지를 조사하고 지속적 해기사 육성 및 관리를 위한 정책적 시사점을 도출하고자 한다.

Introduction Business event are much important to economies of many destinations all over the world (Jago, Mair, Deery, & Bergin-Seers, 2008). As the term, “business events” is referred to be the MICE industry, encompassing with Meeting, Incentive, Conference/Convention, and Exhibition. The MICE industry underpins tourist visitation for many destinations. Such destinations have transferred into making substantial investments to provide the meeting/exhibition facilities and hotel needed for business events. Announced in the 5th of MICE and Luxury Travel Conference, India will generate 6.5 million outbound incentive tourists by 2030. Especially in these years, the number of MICE outbound tourists has been more than 1.5 million and the number of Luxury travel tourists has been up to 3.6 million (India Infoline Housing Finance Limited [IIFL], 2017). Research for one of the business events that remains in minority is incentives. Incentive travel, also known as IT, is defined as one of worldwide management tools which uses special travel experiences or recognizes participants who exceed the expectation on performance (Society of Incentive Travel Executives [SITE], 2013). According to the Incentive Federation, the number of U.S. business using non-cash rewards has raised dramatically from just 26% in 1996 to 84% of all U.S. businesses in 2016 (Incentive Federation, 2017). Incentive travel is becoming a field in which not only attractions and venues matter, but also the organization of parallel training activities and conferences around an incentive activity is possible (Celuch, 2014). The United States remains a primary destination for 82% of U.S. planners choosing U.S. in 2017 (Incentive Federation, 2017). Another popular incentive destination, Australia is also viewed as one of ideal destinations for incentive travel. Tourism Australia in 2008 indicated that 34% of incentive travelers is from China, 12% is from New Zealand, and 10% is from Japan. Taiwan has received over 10 million travelers from abroad in 2016. However, tourists from India traveling to Taiwan are only 33,000 passengers. According to report in 2016, International Congress & Conference Association [ICCA] announced that Taipei City has held 83 international conference and become top 10 destinations in Asia for The Best Stop to Meet Asia. However, is Taiwan a good incentive travel destination for India? Despite a limited amount of information on expenditure and the number of incentive programs, numerous gaps remain in our understanding of this sector of business events and cross-culture marketing, including how incentive travel organizers in India select their travel destination? And how this process may differ in source markets? This exploratory study aims to examine these site selection factors in the incentive travel context and identify any similarities and differences in how incentive travel is conceptualized, planned, and organized in India. Literature review Incentive Travel The incentive market has seldom been studied in great depth as an individual segmentation. Lewis (1983) carried out a concept that incentive travel represents a sizable market segment for hotel companies in many destination areas. Sheldon (1995) highlighted that travel was regarded as a motivating reward or incentive among America’s Fortune 100 companies, and that travel incentives were mostly used by companies in the service sector. Shinew and Backman (1995) identified the “trophy value” of travel incentives, and proposed that incentive travel allows long-lasting positive engagement in staffs’ job performance. Xiang and Formica (2007) used cognitive mapping to understand how incentive travel managers view the business environment, concluding with fast-pacing of incentive travel market, and global structural changes presenting challenges to incentive planners. Budget and cost, uniqueness of the destination, and availability of suitable facilities were thought to be factors influencing the choice of destination for incentive travel (Mair, 2005); however, this has not yet been demonstrated in empirical research. Convention Site Selection According to Crouch and Ritchie (1997) “the choice of destination can make or break the convention”. The first research by Fortin and Ritchie (1977) was considered the process undertaken by meeting planners when deciding on which location to choose for annual meeting or convention. The nine factors identified by Crouch and Ritchie (1997) are accessibility, local support, extra-conference opportunities, accommodation, meeting facilities, information, site environment and other criteria. Despite knowledge of the convention site selection process, very little research has considered how different types of meetings choose their destinations. In one of the few studies to consider the site selection process of incentive planners, Del Chiappa (2012) suggests a certain degree of “destination inaccessibility” could make incentive location being more extraordinary and exclusive. Mair, Jin, and Yoo (2016) indicated that incentive travel planners across three market- China, Australia, and America, shares similar perceptions on what characterizes incentive trips but differ slightly in the planning and operational phase pertinent to varying company characteristics and requirements. However, little is known about the cultural differences in incentive programs from one nation to the next. Methodology This research is an exploratory qualitative research, using in-depth interviews with incentive travel organizers, public relations professionals, company and staff who has participated in incentive travel to Taiwan and other Asian countries. Eight in-depth interviews (between 30 and 60 minutes) were carried out in India. The data collecting method is snowball sampling and 11 interviewees were invited by incentive organizers’ recommendations, while a list of qualified tour operators/specialists authorized by national tourism bureaus and organization (e.g., Ministry of Tourism Government of India or Travel Agents Association of India Active Member) are consulted as a sample frame, shown as table 1. Further, all interviewees were senior managers in their companies. For in-depth interviews, researcher has traveled to Mumbai, New Delhi and Jamshedpur in India between 12th and 26th Jan, 2018. Interviewees were asked to give some background on their incentive business. They were also asked to give information on how their incentive programs were structured and how they cooperate both with their incentive clients and with local suppliers of their incentive trips. Finally, they were asked in open-ended questions about their views on site selection, with eight site selection factors identified by Crouch and Ritchie (1997) and the outline designed by Mair, et al (2016). Findings This study explored site selection of incentive travel from the perspective of incentive planners, company, and participants. The finding suggests that the most popular incentive travel destination for Indian is Thailand with low expense and luxury hospitality. Most important part for choosing a destination is considering about food and beverage since there are a lot of vegetarian and chef should be familiar with Indian cuisine, for instance, foods in Singapore is more likely to be accepted by Indian. Both the operators and staffs from the company indicate that Indian travelers would like to have Indian cuisine and Bollywood show during the incentive trips, instead of local and cultural performance from the destination. Conference and accommodation facilities in China is well-prepared for MICE but expense is too high. Accessibility to Taiwan or to any countries won’t be a problem for incentive travel planners; nevertheless, there is still few direct flight from India to Taiwan which will influence the budget on overseas transportation. In addition, unfamiliarity with destination image of Taiwan reduces intention of visiting. However, since a new destination will be a motivator for encouraging employees to work hard, novelty destination for incentive trip is still important. One incentive travel planners suggest that enhancing the destination image by story-telling would help attracting Indian’s interests. Perceived risk will be reduces depending on local support (DMC). Incentive planners in India illustrate although decision maker is the representatives from companies, however, planners would give several packages of different countries, depending on budgets, basing on destination information from public relations professionals. It is obvious that public relations professionals and travel agencies are critical characters for site selection in India. F&B and budget are major considerations differing from other markets- China, Australia, and America. Conclusions This article interviewed incentive operators, public relations professionals, and company purchase incentive travel, and examined how incentive travel is conceptualized, planned, and organized in India. The study suggests government and bureau relating to MICE should get well prepared for cross-cultural incentive traveler, according to Indian culture. In addition, destination imagine promotion would be another effort for planners to select a site for incentive program. Since incentive planners in India are not familiar with Taiwan, local support/ DMC could look for public relations professionals from India as a connection, and put more focus on India as a potential market. Further study should explore the site selection in different countries, and marketing strategies. A limitation of this research that should be acknowledged is the small sample size. However, the initial conclusions from this research suggest that, while the site selection factors identified in other markets provide a useful place to start, incentive travel organizers do not rely on same factors. The findings from this project will provide a basis for future research in the area of incentive, and useful information for incentive planners/organizers in Taiwan and worldwide.

Many paddy cultivating farmers in the country are forced to use their limited resources to produce adequate food for their family, leading to the degradation and reduction in potential of these resources. The yield levels of paddy at the farmers’ level and in the Front Line Demonstrations (FLDs) conducted in the farmers’ fields is not at par with potential yield of the paddy variety. The gap between potential yield of crop variety and yield realized in FLDs refers to Research gap and the yield gap between FLDs and due to farmers’ practice refers to Extension gap. The earlier studies conducted in India in general and in Andhra Pradesh in particular highlighted the existence of both research and extension gaps with reference to paddy. It is essential that, the narrowing of both research and extension gaps is not static, but dynamic considering the influence of technological interventions in boosting paddy yields at FLDs level and at farmers’ level and also with the improvement of the yield potential of paddy varieties. This calls for integrated and holistic approaches to address these two gaps and with this background, the researcher aimed at this in depth study. The findings revealed that, research gaps are high with reference to weed management and pest management and extension gaps are high with reference to farm mechanization followed by fertilizer management. Reliable source of seed, capital use and frequency of meetings with Scientists or Agricultural Officers significantly influence the extension gaps in paddy. Farmers also prioritized socio-economic and technical constraints and the analysis infers that, it is high time now for the farmers to adopt the planned technological interventions on scientific scale to minimize the extension gaps to the extent possible. As the enabling environment in the State of Andhra Pradesh is highly encouraging for the farmers with relevant policy instruments in the form of subsidized inputs, free power, credit at concessional rates of interest, constructing irrigation projects etc., the adoption of the proposed technological interventions significantly contribute to minimizing both research and extension gaps in paddy cultivation in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.

Introduction: To analyze the impact of marketing losses on efficiency in transacting banana in Kurnool district of SRZ in Andhra Pradesh and to assess the opinions of the farmers on the constraints in transacting banana. Research back ground, Materials and Methods: The study relies exclusively on primary information obtained from the banana farmers of Kurnool District. Purposive sampling procedure was followed for the selection of the study area. Top two mandals in the district and top two villages in each mandal are selected in accordance with the area under cultivation of banana. Probability proportion to size was followed regarding the selection of sample farmers and accordingly 60 marginal, 37 small and 23 other farmers were selected and thereby, the total sample size was 120. Result and Discussion: Three marketing channels were identified in the marketing of banana in Kurnool district viz., Producer → Local-exporter → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer (Channel-I), Producer → Wholesaler → Cart-vendor → Consumer (Channel-II) and Producer → Juice-holder → Consumer (Channel-III). With the inclusion of marketing losses in the price spread analysis of banana in all the three channels, the marketing costs of all the intermediaries were increased and thereby, the farmer’s share in consumer’s rupee and Net Marketing Margins of the agencies are on the decline. So, without inclusion of marketing losses, the farmer’s share in consumer’s rupee and Net Marketing Margins of all the agencies are overvalued. The higher the marketing losses, the more is the negative impact on farmer’s net selling price, net marketing margins of the intermediaries and marketing efficiency. The sample farmers are facing major problems in marketing of banana like frequent price fluctuations, unorganized marketing and lack of transportation facilities on priority basis. Suggestions: It is suggested to educate the farmers regarding the optimum maturity index for harvest, use of mechanical harvesters, proper placement of fruits during storage and ripening, better packaging and cushioning technologies to absorb shocks during transportation, strengthening of storage facilities and transport facilities, encourage co-operative marketing etc., to promote marketing efficiency of banana in the study area.

Abstract2)Agricultural water management has gained enormous attention in the developing world to alleviate poverty, reduce hunger and conserve ecosystems in small-scale production systems of resource-poor farmers. The story of food security in the 21stcentury in India is likely t o be closely linked to the story of water security. Today, the water resource is under severe threat. The past experiences in India in general and in Andhra Pradesh in particular, indicated inappropriate management of irrigation has led to severe problems like excessive water depletion, reduction in water quality, water logging, salinization, marked reduction in the annual discharge of some of the rivers, lowering of ground water tables due to pumping at unsustainable rates, intrusion of salt water in some coastal areas etc. Considering the importance of irrigation water resource efficiency, Krishna Western Delta (KWD) of Andhra Pradesh was purposively selected for this in depth study, as the farming community in this area are severely affected due to severe soil salinity and water logging problems and hence, adoption of different water saving crop production technologies deserve special mention. It is quite disappointing that, canals, tube wells and filter points and other wells could not contribute much to the irrigated area in KWD. Due to less contribution from these sources, the net area irrigated also showed declining growth at a rate of –6.15 per cent. Regarding paddy production, both SRI and semi-dry cultivation technologies involves less irrigation cost (Rs. 2475.21/ha and Rs. 3248.15/ha respectively) when compared to transplanted technology (Rs. 4321.58/ha). The share of irrigation cost in Total Operational Cost (TOC) was highest for transplanted technology of paddy (11.06%) followed by semi-dry technology (10.85%) and SRI technology (6.21%). The increased yield and declined cost of cultivation of paddy in SRI and semi-dry production technologies respectively were mainly responsible for the low cost of production of paddy in SRI (Rs. 495.22/qtl) and semi-dry (Rs. 532.81/qtl) technologies over transplanted technology (Rs. 574.93/qtl). This clearly indicates that, by less water usage, paddy returns can be boosted by adopting SRI and semi-dry production technologies. Both the system-level and field-level interventions should be addressed to solve the issues/problems of water management. The enabling environment, institutional roles and functions and management instruments are posing favourable picture for executing the water management interventions in the State of Andhra Pradesh in general and in KWD in particular. This facilitates the farming community to harvest good crop per unit of water resource used in the production programme. To achieve better results, the Farmers’ Organizations, Water Users Associations, Department of Irrigation etc., will have to aim at improving productivity per unit of water drop used and this must be supported through system-wide enhancement of water delivery systems and decision support tools to assist farmers in optimizing the allocation of limited water among crops, selection of crops based on farming situations, and adoption of appropriate alternative crops in drought years.

본 연구는 인도의 서남부에 위치한 께랄라(Kerala)주와 동남부에 위치한 안드라프라데쉬(AndhraPradesh) 주에 분포하는 지석묘유적에 대한 고고학적 조사 및 분석결과이다. 인도와 한국의 지정학적 위치는 외 부의 선진문화를 수용할 수 있는 이점과 함께 외세의 문화와 사회적 변동에 크게 영향을 받을 수 있는 반도지역이라는 공통점은 있지만 면적, 기후, 생활양식 등은 큰 차이가 있다. 따라서 인도 지석묘를 중심으로 지석묘의 분포, 입지, 형태, 구조 등에 대한 기초적인 고고자료를 확보하고 이를 검토·분석하여 그 특징을 파악하는데 목적이 있다. 또한 한국 지석묘와의 상이한 점을 살펴봄으로서 세계사적인 거석문화의 흐름을 파악하고자 한다. 인도의 지석묘는 주로 남부지역에 집중되어 있다. 입지적인 특징은 대부분 구릉 정상부와 완사면에 분포하며, 열상 및 소군집을 이룬다. 형식은 대부분 탁자식 지석묘 이며, 일부 개석식도 확인된다. 축조방식은 암반 위에 축조되기 때문에 암반에 홈을 내거나 석축형태의 장방형 묘역시설을 설치하여 벽석을 고정시킨다. 경우에 따라서 상석 아래까지 묘역을 높게 쌓아올 린 형태도 확인된다. 소군집은 하나의 묘역내에 3-6기 정도가 배치된다. 장축방향은 대부분 같지만 일부 다른 것도 있다. 남인도 탁자식지석묘의 특징은 석실의 평면형태를 ‘卍자형’으로 조립한 점, 한쪽 벽석에 원형의 ‘혼구멍(Port-hole)’을 설치한 점, 주변으로 대형의 판석을 기대어 놓거나 세워 묘역을 설치한 점 등이다. 이는 지석묘의 기본적인 기능인 무덤의 역할은 같지만 축조과정이나 장송의례, 지 석묘의 기능적 의미, 내세관 등에서 많은 차이가 있는 것으로 생각된다. 인도는 유럽과 아시아의 중간 지역에 해당하는 곳으로 각 지역의 지석묘 형태나 구조, 출토유물, 분포 등을 비교한다면 대지석묘 분포권을 설정할 수 있으며, 또한 각 지역의 독특한 지석묘문화를 살필 수 있을 것이다. 이는 한국의 지석묘문화를 세계사적 관점에서 살펴볼 수 있는 것으로 양 지역 간 거석문화의 비교연구는 매우 중요 하다고 할 것이다.

The present study has aimed at analyzing the technical and scale efficiencies of credit utilization by the farmer-borrowers in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. DEA approach was followed to analyze the credit utilization efficiency and to analyze the factors influencing the credit utilization efficiency, log-linear regression analysis was attempted. DEA analysis revealed that, the number of farmers operating at CRS are more in number in marginal farms (40%) followed by other (35%) and small (17.5%) farms. Regarding the number of farmers operating at VRS, small farmers dominate the scenario with 72.5 per cent followed by other (67.5%) and marginal (42.5%) farmers. With reference to scale efficiency, marginal farmers are in majority (52.5%) followed by other (47.5%) and small (25%) farmers. At the pooled level, 26.7 per cent of the farmers are being operated at CRS, 63 per cent at VRS and 32.5 per cent of the farmers are either performed at the optimum scale or were close to the optimum scale (farms having scale efficiency values equal to or more than 0.90). Nearly 58, 15 and 28 percents of the farmers in the marginal farms category were found operating in the region of increasing, decreasing and constant returns respectively. Compared to marginal farmers category, there are less number of farmers operating at CRS both in small farmers category (15%) and other farmers category (22.5%). At the pooled level, only 5 per cent of the farmers are operating at DRS, majority of the farmers (73%) are operating at IRS and only 22 per cent of the farmers are operating at CRS indicating efficient utilization of credit. The log-linear regression model fitted to analyze the major determinants of credit utilization (technical) efficiency of farmer- borrowers revealed that, the three variables viz., cost of cultivation and family expenditure (both negatively influencing at 1% significant level) and family income (positively influencing at 1% significant level) are the major determinants of credit utilization efficiency across all the selected farmers categories and at pooled level. The analysis further indicate that, escalation in the cost of cultivation of crop enterprises in the region, rise in family expenditure and prior indebtedness of the farmers are showing adverse influence on the credit utilization efficiency of the farmer-borrowers.

Prior research in the U.S. documents the interaction between societal changes, money meanings, and family dynamics in the U.S. (Commuri & Gentry, 2005; Rose & Orr, 2007) and India (Merchant, Rose, & Gour, 2015). The present study extends this line of inquiry by examining and contrasting the money attitudes of couples, money meanings, and dynamics of money management within families of two horizontal collectivist nations (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998): India and South Korea. Twelve and six married couples were interviewed in India and Korea respectively. Both nations are horizontal collectivist nations that place a high value on the perceptions and respect of others. Thus, respondents from both nations emphasize the importance of consuming to convey status and keeping up with their neighbors. Indians frequently discuss religious and mythological texts related to money, doing one’s duty, and prosperity’s fickle nature. In contrast, Koreans are less apt to explicitly discuss religious and mythological texts. They appear to be somewhat more present oriented regarding their attitudes toward money and spending. Findings reveal that Koreans focus on security, respect money’s positive utility and necessity, and greed’s potential pitfalls. Koreans seem less concerned about on saving and focus more on enjoying life. Indians link saving to dharma (doing their duty) and supporting their children. Koreans also place a high value on family and supporting their children, but they appear less concerned about the success of future generations than Indians. These differences appear consistent with cultural values and reflect differences in economic development. For example, the homemaker is highly revered in the Hindu religion and Indian culture (Bharat, 2012) where the role is tied to doing one’s dharmatic duty. Korean and other cultures also revere nurturance within the family, but this reverence tends to be expressed within the culture’s specific economic and historical circumstances. Compared to Korea, Indian culture seems less egalitarian and more conservative in attitudes toward woman.

Rural markets, especially in countries like India hold strong potential as emerging markets. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse factors acting as drivers for companies to enter and serve rural markets and also to identify interrelationships among them along with their driver and dependence power, with special reference to India. A total of 13 enablers were identified on the basis of focused group discussions and interviews with experts from academics and industry. An interpretative structural modelling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC analysis were used to identify levels of hierarchical relationship among the drivers. The findings show that government policies and regulations are some of the most important drivers in rural markets.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have always mattered in agriculture too. In day-to-day practices of agriculture and allied sectors, the farmers often share their information. Changing weather patterns, soil conditions, pests and diseases always throw challenges to small and marginal farmers. So, the farmer needs up-dated information to cope with and even benefit from these changes. In the developing countries like India, where agriculture still plays a crucial role (over 58% of the rural households depend on agriculture as their livelihood) and the rising population from 1027 million to 1419 million during 2001-16 (a total rise of 38 percent or 1.3 percent per year) pose a lot of pressure on land and other resources to meet the food security needs on one hand and to meet the challenges of globalization on the other. Understanding and addressing these challenges are very crucial, in which ICT can play a major role. With the booming mobile, wireless, and Internet industries, ICT has found a foothold even in poor marginal and smallholder farms and in their activities. The survey conducted among the 120 farmers in Srikakulam district in India revealed that, ICT has revolutionized the agriculture in the modern days. Production and marketing information is accessed by 91% of the sample farmers through mobile in 2015, where it was only 5% in 2005. The extent of use of mobile phones by the farmers varied with the decision to be taken by them like Harvesting, packing, and storing (94%), Selling Decision (91%), Seed purchase (89%), Application of fertilizers and pesticides (88%) and Land preparation and planting (84%), other package of practices (77%). The farmers further opined that, ‘Voice’ was the dominating source of communication (96%) compared to Short Message Service (SMS) (only 27%) and Internet access (10%), as majority are illiterate. The use of camera (71%), Bluetooth (33%), Radio (61%) TV (41%) are the other means of sharing the information. In this context of importance of ICTs in Indian agriculture, greater attention justifies about the applications of ICT’s to alleviate poverty and promote economic growth of the farming population.

In India, astronomy has been studied from the beginning of civilization. The word amateur means involvement in work for pleasure rather than as a profesion. So, amateur astronomers, in many places, prefer to be called non-professional astronomers. In India, the history of amateur astronomy is quite bright. From the Puranic age astronomy was studied for peoples' daily life. In Ramayana, Mahabharata, there is a lot of evidence of astronomical knowledge. Veda is the main source for studying the history of Indian astronomy. Today astronomy education, consciousness of astronomy education, sky observation, etc. are dependent on non-professional astronomers. Vigyan Prasar, an Indian Govt. organization, is trying to popularize astronomy throughout the country.

In modern Astronomy the vernal equinoctial (VE) point is taken as the starting point for measuring celestial longitudes. Due to the precession of equinoxes, the above point is receding back along the ecliptic. As a result, the longitudes of xed stars are increasing every year. In ancient India, the Hindu astronomers did not favour the idea of fixed stars changing their longitudes. In order to stabilize the zodiac, they had taken as the origin a point which is fixed on the ecliptic and as such is quite different from the VE point. This initial point being a fixed one, the longitude of stars measured from this origin remain invariable for all time. There was an epoch in the past when this initial point coincided with the VE point and thus the epoch may be called the zero-year. There is controversy over the determination of the zero-year. The reasons for the choice for the fixed zodiacal system by the Hindu astronomers as well as the epoch of zero-year have been found out on the basis of information available in various astronomical treatises of ancient India written in Sanskrit.