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Fruits of banana (Musa spp) cultivar 'Grand Naine' were harvested at physiological green mature stage. The fi rst lot of fruit was exposed to ethylene gas (100 ppm) for 24 h in ripening chamber. The second lot was treated with different concentrations of aqueous solution of ethephon (250, 500, 750, 1000 ppm) each for 5 min. The fruits were packed in plastic crates and stored in ripening chamber maintained at 16-18°C and 90-95% RH. Treatment with ethylene gas (100 ppm) or ethephon (500 ppm) resulted in adequate ripening of fruits after 4 days with uniform colour, pleasant fl avour, desirable fi rmness and acceptable quality and better shelf-life. The untreated control fruits were hard textured and poor in colour and quality. The ripening with ethylene gas or ethephon treatment seems to hold promise in reducing postharvest losses and boosting the economy of banana growers and traders.

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Impact of decentralization on public service delivery is mixed. A meta-analysis of the studies suggests that impact of decentralization on public service delivery is contingent on factors such as the design of the decentralization policy; implementation bottlenecks and diluting the model of decentralization for accommodating the dissenting segments of stakeholders including employees; and participatory governance. In particular decentralization has resulted in improvements in delivery of local services where devolution as a mode of decentralization is accompanied by sound financial resource base of local governments, full autonomy to local governments in HRM matters, regular capacity building of local officials, performance based incentive structures, and participatory governance. In contrast where either truncated model of decentralization is adopted or the original model is diluted in favour of centralisation particularly in the form of imposition of central personnel policies, thus burdening local governments financially and in the process delivery of public services suffered. Rampant corruption and elite capture in the decentralized bodies have also hampered the equitable delivery of services.