Browsing by Author "Jayanta Kumar Biswas"

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Arsenic in Rice in a Nutshell: Tell-Tale Toxic Interplay of Chemical Offense and Biochemical Defense
(Apple Academic Press, 2024) Jayanta Kumar Biswas; Rubina Khanam; Sudhakar Srivastava
Arsenic (As) contamination of the environment and crop plants is an issue of global concern. Public and environmental health is threatened by the excess of As in soil, water, and air and crop produce like rice grains. Rice is one of the major grains consumed by people around the world and rice grains have been demonstrated to accumulate As in high amounts in numerous studies. The problem of As accumulation in rice has gained huge attention among researchers. A lot of research on understanding the uptake and transport mechanisms of As in rice plants and on delineating the mechanism of As toxicity in plants has been conducted. The knowledge about As transporters, regulators of gene expressions, enzymes, and metabolites involved, and anatomical and morphological changes is now available. The vast knowledge is summarized in the present chapter 2to provide up-to-date information about the problem of As in rice, the journey of As from roots to grains, and the mechanism of As toxicity in rice plants. © 2024 by Apple Academic Press, Inc.
Formulation of Water Sustainability Index for India as a performance gauge for realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6
(Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2022) Jayanta Kumar Biswas; Bipradeep Mondal; Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash; Soma Biswas; Amit Bhatnagar
Anthropogenic activities targeting economic progress have triggered changes in the Earth system processes causing depletion of resources and degradation of ecosystems. Water is a critical natural resource which has been severely impacted through groundwater depletion, surface water contamination and ocean acidification resulting in repercussions on human health and biodiversity losses. Likewise, India, a mega biodiversity nation has been critically affected by degradation and drawdown of water resources with far-reaching consequences on environmental vitality and socio-economic development. In order to prevent extreme water scarcity in the near future, the country needs to promote sustainable utilisation of water resources by adhering to the targets of Goal 6 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). The present work, therefore, has focussed on the development of a Water Sustainability Index (WSI) for India that would help attaining the targets of SDG 6. A total of 12 indicators categorized under biophysical and social development dimensions and synonymous with the targets of SDG 6 have been used for the formulation of WSI and thereby understanding how much water resources are used annually in a sustainable manner. The study also highlights the interrelationship between the diverse social development and health indicators (SDG 3) of Indian community. The research has the potential to provide guidance for efficient use of water resources in India. Acting as a yardstick and guiding star, the sustainability metric will help the nation to monitor whether it is on the right track and navigate its journey towards achieving water sustainability. It also calls for cautious course correction and restructuring of current Indian policy and operational instruments for effective green governance and sustainable water management. © 2021, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Multi-level impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on agricultural systems in India: The case of Uttar Pradesh
(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Pavan Kumar; S.S. Singh; A.K. Pandey; Ram Kumar Singh; Prashant Kumar Srivastava; Manoj Kumar; Shantanu Kumar Dubey; Uma Sah; Rajiv Nandan; Susheel Kumar Singh; Priyanshi Agrawal; Akanksha Kushwaha; Meenu Rani; Jayanta Kumar Biswas; Martin Drews
When on March 24, 2020 the Government of India ordered a complete lockdown of the country as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had serious unwanted implications for farmers and the supply chains for agricultural produce. This was magnified by the fact that, as typically in developing countries, India's economy is strongly based on farming, industrialization of its agricultural systems being only modest. This paper reports on the various consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown for farming systems in India, including the economy, taking into account the associated emergency responses of state and national governments. Combining quantitative and qualitative sources of information with a focus on the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, including expert elicitation and a survey of farmers, the paper identifies and analyzes the different factors that contributed to the severe disruption of farming systems and the agricultural sector as a whole following the lockdown. Among other issues, our study finds that the lack of migrant labor in some regions and a surplus of workers in others greatly affected the April harvest, leading to a decline in agricultural wages in some communities and an increase in others, as well as to critical losses of produce. Moreover, the partial closure of rural markets and procurement options, combined with the insufficient supply of products, led to shortages of food supplies and dramatically increased prices, which particularly affected urban dwellers and the poor. We argue that the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis could fuel the development of new sustainable agro-policies and decision-making in response not only to future pandemics but also to the sustainable development of agricultural systems in India and in developing countries in general. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Nitrogen dioxide as proxy indicator of air pollution from fossil fuel burning in New Delhi during lockdown phases of COVID-19 pandemic period: impact on weather as revealed by Sentinel-5 precursor (5p) spectrometer sensor
(Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2024) Pavan Kumar; Aishwarya; Prashant Kumar Srivastava; Manish Kumar Pandey; Akash Anand; Jayanta Kumar Biswas; Martin Drews; Manmohan Dobriyal; Ram Kumar Singh; Manuel De la Sen; Sati Shankar Singh; Ajai Kumar Pandey; Manoj Kumar; Meenu Rani
There has been a long-lasting impact of the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 on several fronts. One such front is climate which has seen several implications. The consequences of climate change owing to this lockdown need to be explored taking into consideration various climatic indicators. Further impact on a local and global level would help the policymakers in drafting effective rules for handling challenges of climate change. For in-depth understanding, a temporal study is being conducted in a phased manner in the New Delhi region taking NO2 concentration and utilizing statistical methods to elaborate the quality of air during the lockdown and compared with a pre-lockdown period. In situ mean values of the NO2 concentration were taken for four different dates, viz. 4th February, 4th March, 4th April, and 25th April 2020. These concentrations were then compared with the Sentinel (5p) data across 36 locations in New Delhi which are found to be promising. The results indicated that the air quality has been improved maximum in Eastern Delhi and the NO2 concentrations were reduced by one-fourth than the pre-lockdown period, and thus, reduced activities due to lockdown have had a significant impact. The result also indicates the preciseness of Sentinel (5p) for NO2 concentrations. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023.
Zinc oxide nanoparticles in combination with biochar alleviate arsenic accumulation in field grown rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop
(Elsevier B.V., 2023) Kavita Shukla; Rubina Khanam; Jayanta Kumar Biswas; Sudhakar Srivastava
Plants require zinc (Zn) as an essential micronutrient since Zn plays important roles in metabolism. Arsenic (As) is a toxic metalloid whose accumulation in plants hampers growth of plants. Rice crops are grown under flooded conditions that make them vulnerable to double jeopardy of Zn deficiency and As stress. The goal of this study was to observe the effect of ZnO nanoparticle (NP) and ZnO-NP + biochar on As and Zn accumulation in and growth of rice plants grown under flooded conditions. The study area was Chausa block in Buxar district, Bihar, India. Rice crops were treated with 80 mg L−1 of ZnO-NP and biochar was added to soil at rate of 10 t ha−1. ZnO-NP were sprayed at heading and jointing stage of crop development. The results showed a significant increase in rice growth and yield by 14–26% and 30–33% respectively along with total chlorophyll content in ZnO-NP and ZnO-NP + biochar as compared to control. The level of electrolytic leakage and malondialdihyde (MDA) content was observed to decrease by 48–62% and 14–55%, respectively in treated plants as compared to control. Further, As accumulation was reduced in rice grains by >90% while Zn accumulation was increased by >50% in ZnO-NP and ZnO-NP + biochar treatments than that in control. The enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), and catalase (CAT) showed higher activity in treated crop plants than in control plants. The findings confirm that ZnO-NP and their combined use with biochar in flooded agricultural soil can help to improve growth, yield and reduce As accumulation in rice plants. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.