After the launch of the National Malaria Control Programme in 1953, the number of malaria cases reported in India fell to an all-time low of 0·1 million in 1965. However, the initial success could not be maintained and a resurgence of malaria began in the late 1960s. Resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine was first reported in 1973 and increases in antimalarial resistance, along with rapid urbanisation and labour migration, complicated the challenge that India's large geographical area and population size already pose for malaria control. Although several institutions have done drug-resistance monitoring in India, a complete analysis of countrywide data across institutions does not exist. We did a systematic review of P falciparum malaria drugefficacy studies in India to summarise drug-resistance data and describe changes over the past 30 years to inform future policy. Continued use of chloroquine for treatment of P falciparum malaria in India will likely be ineffective. Resistance to sulfa-pyrimethamine should be closely monitored to protect the effectiveness of treatment with artesunate plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, which is the new first-line treatment for P falciparum malaria. Strategies to reduce the emergence and spread of future drug resistance need to be proactive and supported by intensive monitoring.

It is unequivocal that climate change is happening and is likely to expand the geographical distribution of several vector-borne diseases, including malaria and dengue etc. to higher altitudes and latitudes. India is endemic for six major vector-borne diseases (VBD) namely malaria, dengue, chikungunya, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis and visceral leishmaniasis. Over the years, there has been reduction in the incidence of almost all the diseases except chikungunya which has re-emerged since 2005. The upcoming issue of climate change has surfaced as a new threat and challenge for ongoing efforts to contain vector-borne diseases. There is greater awareness about the potential impacts of climate change on VBDs in India and research institutions and national authorities have initiated actions to assess the impacts. Studies undertaken in India on malaria in the context of climate change impact reveal that transmission windows in Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern states are likely to extend temporally by 2-3 months and in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu there may be reduction in transmission windows. Using PRECIS model (driven by HadRM2) at the resolution of 50 x 50 Km for daily temperature and relative humidity for year 2050, it was found that Orissa, West Bengal and southern parts of Assam will still remain malarious and transmission windows will open up in Himachal Pradesh and north-eastern states etc. Impact of climate change on dengue also reveals increase in transmission with 2 C rise in temperature in northern India. Re-emergence of kala-azar in northern parts of India and reappearance of chikungunya mainly in southern states of India has also been discussed. The possible need to address the threat and efforts made in India have also been highlighted. The paper concludes with a positive lead that with better preparedness threat of climate change on vector-borne diseases may be negated.

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Results from clonal trials of Populus deltoides conducted in two distinct agroclimatic regions of Punjab in northwestern India are reported and discussed. Sixteen clones were evaluated at Hambran and Bathinda where commonly grown clone ‘G-48’ was considered as control. Significant differences among clones (P < 0.001) were observed for diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height and volume at the age of four and six years under both the site conditions. Clone ‘L-48’ ranked first for volume at six year age at both sites and was followed by clone ‘Ranikhet’. The respective superiority for volume of these clones over control was 44.8 and 23.2 per cent at Hambran and 72.5 and 30.7 per cent at Bathinda. All growth traits registered significantly higher values at Hambran in comparison to those at Bathinda. Clone x site interaction was also significant (P < 0.001). The clones ‘L-168’, ‘154/86’, ‘Solan-z’ and ‘170/88’ experienced huge fluctuation in ranking between sites for volume at 6-year age. The DBH and height showed significant and positive correlation with each other and with tree volume at all the age combinations. The clonal mean heritability was quite high both at Hambran (0.73-0.86) and Bathinda (0.80-0.95). The genetic advance were the highest for volume (33.34-64.26%) and the lowest (10.65-22.79%) in case of height.

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