showkat shah

Various natural resources like lakes, rivers, forests and national parks ubiquitously act as sources of amenity services and perform life support functions. National parks perform two-fold functions: in situ preservation of wildlife and recreational use. From the last century a comprehensible concern has outpoured regarding the management of national parks including biodiversity enhancement and on site facilities. In present study Travel Cost Method (TCM) has been strictly adhered to estimate the ecotourism value of the Dachigam National Park which becomes the most modus operandi to the development of the park acquisition and its management policies. Results show that consumer surplus per visitor per visit in present study is equal to Rs. 23809 (US$377) which translates into an annual aggregate value of Rs. 10, 39, 82,349 (US$16, 50,513).

PurposePoor sleep and cognitive deficits are often associated with increased drug use. However, no study has addressed the relationship between poor sleep, substance dependence, and metacognitive deficit in polysubstance users.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study with a simple random sampling involving community-dwelling polysubstance users (n = 326, age = 18–43 years) in Mizan, Ethiopia. Participants completed a brief sleep questionnaire, severity of dependence on khat (SDS-Khat), a brief meta-cognition questionnaire, and a socio-demographic survey.ResultsMajority (56.4%) of the polysubstance users had sleep disturbance. Chronic health conditions [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.31–4.85], chronic conditions in the family (AOR = 2.69, 95% CI 1.40–5.20), illiterate-primary level of educational status (AOR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.30–4.04), higher SDS-Khat score (AOR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.13–1.72), and lower meta-cognition score (AOR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.84–0.97) pr...

Purpose A wetland is a place of tourist attraction, and tourism values play a key role in economic development. Among various services provided by a wetland, recreational services are increasingly valuable in the tourism sector. This paper aims to unfold the potential recreational values of the Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Design/methodology/approach The study uses individual travel cost methods (TCMs) and assesses its impact on regional development in terms of income and employment generation. A sample of 200 tourists is selected through an on-site survey on Dal Lake, and the demand for recreational visits and its value is estimated by employing the truncated Poisson regression model (TPRM) and un-truncated Poisson regression model (UTPRM). The consumers' surplus is estimated and tourists' benefit to visiting the wetland is explored. Findings On average, estimated consumers' surplus per visitor is Rs 6,250 (US$96.15) and Rs 25,000 (US$384.61) from respective mo...

The present study estimates the economic value of preserving biodiversity of Pongdam Wetland in Himachal Pradesh, a Ramsar Wetland in Western- Himalayas. A Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to estimate Willingness to Pay (WTP) of 208 randomly selected respondents from the vicinities of Pongdam. Using single-bounded dichotomous choice format the mean Willingness to Pay worked out Rs. 75 per year. The mean open-ended WTP was estimated as Rs.368 per year. The results showed that the local people prefer to preserve the wetland biodiversity and are willing to pay for the Joint Management of the Pongdam biodiversity. This in turn can help policy makers to design a right mix of policy instruments and ensure sustainable use of Western Himalaya wetlands.

Adoption of modern varieties of maize, characterised by higher genetic potential, is desirable from the viewpoint of increasing the maize yield level. At present, there is no well-structured and organised system for documenting the popular crop varieties and their area coverage in India. The present study attempts to fill such knowledge gaps by documenting the major maize varieties and estimating the adoption rates under the same, using the expert elicitation methodology. The study finds that maize cultivation in the traditional growing states and tribal belts is mainly dominated by the cultivation of local varieties and composites with a low seed replacement rate, especially during kharif season. Most widely cultivated maize varieties in India were P-3501, NK-6240, P-3396 and N-K30. Among the public sector varieties JM-216, JVM-421, African Tall, Narmada Moti and GM-6 were widely cultivated. The private sector maize varieties are dominating in those states where maize is mainly cultivated for commercial purpose such as feed and other industries. General resistance to diseases, lodging tolerance, grain colour, high shelling recovery and good storage life are some of the preferred attributes of the popular varieties. Several promising varieties from the public sector have not reached the farmers’ fields due to non-availability of seed. On the other hand, private sector maize hybrids have successfully diffused to farmers’ fields owning to strong marketing initiatives. Public sector varieties need to be brought under an efficient seed production system along with an effective transfer of hybrid maize cultivation technology to boost the maize yield levels and production in India.