An upgraded version of the Indian MST radar, called Advanced Indian Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) radar (AIR), has recently been commissioned. The prime objective of constructing the AIR is to make it a more useful instrument for conducting new experiments, which enable us to broaden our knowledge on the dynamical and electrodynamical processes including coupling from the boundary layer to the ionosphere. The AIR works at 53 MHz, and the system has been rebuilt, keeping the original square antenna array consisting of 1,024 Yagi antennae. The AIR is a high-power, fully active phased array system with dedicated 1-kW solid-state transmit-receive units, providing a total peak power of 1,024 kW, and control systems that allow steering the beam with 360°azimuth and 24°zenith agility. Also, the antenna system has been configured with modularity and scalability, which facilitates selection of antenna subarray and aperture for carrying out multireceiver experiments. The antenna radiation pattern tests reveal that the beam width and first side lobe level are close to the designed values of 2.2°and −13.2 dB, respectively. Currently, the system is equipped with 18 receivers to carry out spaced receiver experiments. The transmitters have been designed to transmit very short and long pulses for studying boundary layer to ionosphere. This paper presents the system description of the AIR and sample observations made using the system in Doppler beam swinging mode demonstrating its capabilities for studying neutral atmosphere and ionosphere.

In Indian villages, many households rely for their food security on the government sponsored Public Distribution System (PDS) that offers relatively poor quality rice or wheat at low prices. However, even in the medium term, the cost of public sector grain management to ensure food security is unsustainable. For this reason, central and state authorities in India have encouraged research into policy and practical guidelines for village-level food security. The approach being tested is to develop grain banks with groups of landless women in dryland areas of Andhra Pradesh where the cereal staple is sorghum. These self-help groups are formed with the help of a local NGO. The research partners in this exercise are seeking to understand the situation, characteristics and needs of the village communities, recognising that any initiative in community storage should be developed through a process in which demand is established and the way of working elaborated within the Group. The sustainability of this approach will become apparent over next few years. The strong emphasis on Group formation and the development of appropriate systems by the Group itself should encourage a high degree of 'ownership' and give a greater chance of success than experienced with grain banks in the Sahel since the 1970s.

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