Arghadeep Bose

In recent years, there has been a surge in research pertaining to sustainable urban development. Importance–performance analysis (IPA) has emerged as one of the most widely used methods. However, few studies have combined IPA with structural equation modelling (SEM). This study introduces and evaluates an integrated IPA–SEM approach to assess the impact of perceived importance and performance of sustainable city dimensions on residents’ satisfaction and loyalty. The data for this study were collected from 425 survey respondents residing in Siliguri City of West Bengal, India. The results indicate that the ‘Keep Up the Good Work’ quadrant, consisting of social quality, connectivity conditions, and environmental quality, significantly and positively affected satisfaction. On the other hand, the ‘Concentrate Here’ quadrant concerning environmental pollution presented a negative yet insignificant relationship with satisfaction while both the ‘Low Priority’ and ‘Potential Overkill’ quadr...

Urban environmental quality consisting of ecological, physical, and socio-economic components, often deteriorates due to rapid urbanization. Therefore, using Remote sensing and GIS environment, a composite measure is applied to quantify the spatial heterogeneity of urban environmental quality for the Class-1 Indian city (Siliguri). In this study, the Urban Environmental Quality Index was constructed using 15 indicators and three interconnected dimensions (eco-environment, landscape and built-up, and socio-economy). The three domains and Urban Environmental Quality Index were computed utilizing Principal Component Analysis with average aggregation techniques. Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis includes Moran’s I and Local indicator of spatial auto-correlation, were used to leverage the information of spatial clusters, spatial heterogeneity, and outliers based on the Urban Environmental Quality Index. The results show that Siliguri’s northern, north-western, and southern parts experience good environmental quality. The effectiveness of the employed model was checked using R2 (0.832), providing a good fit for the model. Moreover, the spatial pattern of urban environmental quality and the constructed domains (except socio-economy) revealed that the Low-Low values were predominantly clustered in the city centre, while High-High patterns are concentrated towards the periphery. Also, the value of Moran’s I indicated the existence of spatial autocorrelation and non-randomness pattern in Siliguri City. The results obtained from the analysis indicate spatial heterogeneity and spatial differentiation across the study area. The study’s outcome is relevant for urban planning, frequent monitoring of urban environmental quality, urban governance, and the well-being of urban inhabitants for a sustainable urban space.

Irrigation is considered as an important input for increasing agriculturalproduction as well as the socio-economic development of the farmers.Water is natural but scarce input available to the farmers. Therefore, itis necessary to use it judiciously and efficiently. In order to increase themaximum use of irrigation, an efficient water resource management isnecessary efficient. Water resource management technique in agriculturesignifies the utilization of available water resources to the maximumpossible advantage for crop production and there by resulting in overallsocio-economic development of the farmers. It is of immense importanceto know the extent of utilization of canal irrigation water for increasingcrop production. So, the present study deals with tracing the temporalchanges in development of Canal Irrigation, finding out socio-economicstatus of the farmers in the district and to measure the impact on Canalirrigation on socio-economic status of the farmers. There has been asi...

Regional disparity is an integral feature of India's socio-economic development. As the extent of our country is so large that equal developments in every corner of the country in terms of economic, social, infrastructural etc. quite challenging and far from the reality. The district Uttar Dinajpur located in the eastern part of the country and like other district of North Bengal (including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda) has been poorly placed in comparison to the state of West Bengal, in terms of Human Development Indicators: low literacy level, poor condition in sanitation, and partly availability of electricity and safe drinking water etc. Research on regional disparity is essential for addressing the lacuna in the planning process of development (Sen, 2001). In the present study, an analysis has been made in terms of the interblock inequality in socio-economic and infrastructural development of Uttar Dinajpur district. For thi...

Novel Corona Virus or COVID-19 a highly infectious disease was originated in Wuhan city of Hubei province of China and rapidly spread across the world. This global pandemic creates a major challenge in respect to public health infrastructures around the world. This study has prepared on West Bengal, which is located in the eastern part of India. The aim of the study is to analyze the trends of outbreak and spatial distribution of COVID-19 pandemic with the help of spatial analysis tools of GIS software. Monitoring active ties using GIS spatial analysis is very important to control such as a COVID-19 virus spreading problem. Currently 2377 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the state. Out of which 1394 are active patients, 768 patients have cured and discharged, 143 patients died and 72 patients died due to Comorbidity. There has been increasing trends found in all the attributes, i.e. confirmed cases, Cases load, recovery, death and test per million etc. of COVID-19 in last 8 weeks. Only the delta rates have declined over the last few weeks, which indicate that the cases of COVID-19 will be declined as compared to cured or recovered cases in near future. The prediction IDW maps of COVID-19 have shown that the area under extremely affected and dangerous lies in few districts namely Kolkata, Howrah, part of Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas in case confirmed cases, active cases and deaths. These areas are also under the highly healing zone in respect to number of cured patients. Keywords COVID-19, Pandemic, Trends of outbreak, Delta, IDW maps.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal is a rapidly expanding sector that caters to the rising demand for disposal facilities; as a result, MSW treatment is becoming a significant challenge in concern to environmental and public health. The by-products of solid waste dumped in landfills have negative consequences on the environment and people living near disposal sites. This research aimed to assess whether the disposal of garbage in landfills affected the people who live near them. Consequently, residents living near MSW disposal facilities are exposed to various risks. A systematic questionnaire was devised and disseminated in this research to examine the adjacent people's concerns and attitudes around the landfill of the rapidly expanding Siliguri city of West Bengal. It was accomplished by assessing the opinions of persons living within the 1000m of the landfill site and how it impacts their life. The novelty of the research includes geographical analysis of physical impressio...

Agriculture is the primary source of income in the Sub-Himalayan Jalpaiguri District; therefore, identifying the optimal use of existing agricultural land is crucial. The primary objective of this study is to identify potential agricultural sites in the Jalpaiguri District for the sustainable development of the region. About eleven parameters have been considered using the multi-influencing technique in combination with remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system to delineate and model potential agriculture sites. The final agriculture suitability map was created using the ‘Weighted Overlay technique,’ and the final output can be categorized into five classes, i.e., highly suitability (424.3 km2), moderately suitability (1191.8 km2), marginally suitable (1141.4 km2), currently not suitable (567.1 km2), and permanently not suitable (60.8 km2). Besides, the results have been thoroughly verified using Google Earth images, in comparison with Landsat 8 output, and field visits using GPS to increase the reliability of the results. The finding reveals potential outcomes for agricultural activity; however, building a sustainable management strategy and resilient farming practices should be adopted to boost the region’s agricultural output. Farmers, regional planners, and government officials can use the current agriculture suitability map to make comprehensive judgments for the region, such as determining the potential for agriculture sites, improving agricultural growth, and promoting self-reliant local economies.

During the last three decades, Delhi has witnessed extensive and rapid urban expansion in all directions, especially in the East South East zone. The total built-up area has risen dramatically, from 195.3 sq. km to 435.1 sq. km, during 1989–2020, which has led to habitat fragmentation, deforestation, and difficulties in running urban utility services effectively in the new extensions. This research aimed to simulate urban expansion in Delhi based on various driving factors using a logistic regression model. The recent urban expansion of Delhi was mapped using LANDSAT images of 1989, 2000, 2010, and 2020. The urban expansion was analyzed using concentric rings to show the urban expansion intensity in each direction. Nine driving factors were analyzed to detect the influence of each factor on the urban expansion process. The results revealed that the proximity to urban areas, proximity to main roads, and proximity to medical facilities were the most significant factors in Delhi during...