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Restoration and improvement of soil quality is the prerequisite for ensuring agricultural productivity and food security in India. Although intensification enhanced food production, it led to a decline in factor productivity, health of environment, and an impairment in soil quality. The declined soil quality is manifested through impaired ecosystem services and also loss in yield and profitability. Soil organic C (SOC) is considered as the panacea for maintaining the soil quality through improved microbial activities, water availability and nutrient use efficiency. The present review emphasizes the need for maintenance of SOC content in Indian soils challenged with high oxidative loss out of high temperature, good moisture and cultivation led soil perturbations. Importance of balanced fertilization through soil test, integrated nutrient management, and adoption of innovative farming practices such as conservation agriculture for enhancement of SOC storage and consequent improvement in soil quality even under intensive cultivation in various agro-climatic regions of the country is emphasized.

This paper presents some findings of Indian manufacturing sectors viz. automobile (especially two-wheeler), tractor and general manufacturing industry. Various manufacturing strategy issues such as competitive priorities, improvement activities, and performance measures, have been identified and assessed in Indian context. Sector wise comparison of competitive priorities, improvement activities i.e. advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), integrated information systems (IIS), and advanced management systems (AMS), and performance measure, is provided. Our results show that most of the Indian companies are still emphasizing on quality. However, automobile sector has set to compete globally with high innovation rate, faster new product development, and continuous improvement. It is also observed that Indian companies are investing more in AMS as compared to IIS and AMT. Manufacturing competence index is also computed for each sector.

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Globally, soil degradation is an important issue for sustainable crop production. Soil quality indicators are the soil attributes that address the ecological functions of soil. Therefore, indicator-based soil quality assessment has been emphasized for quantifying the relative soil quality changes in different nutrient management systems. Soil quality underthe rice (Oryza sativa L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivam L.) cropping system was assessed using a modified “Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF)” model. Soil’s physical, chemical, nutritional, and biological indices were analyzed for different nutrient management strategies, viz., inorganic fertilizer (NPK), NPK + 7.5 Mg ha−1 farmyard manure (NPKF), NPK + 10.0 Mg ha−1 paddy straw (NPKP) and NPK + 8.0 Mg ha−1 Sesbania sesban L. green manure (NPKG). Nutrient management strategies significantly influenced soil quality indices. NPKF showed the highest SMAF score for soil physical quality index followed by NPKP > NPKG > NPK and control; whereas the score of soil chemical quality was greater in NPKP followed by NPKF/NPKG > NPK > control (p > 0.05). Overall, the soil nutritional quality index was greater in NPKF (0.96) followed by NPKG > NPKP > NPK, and the least was in control. The SMAF score of soil biological quality index was highest in NPKF compared to NPKG > NPKP > NPK > control. The wholesome index of SMAF (SQI) was developed withthehighest score in NPKF (0.94) followed by NPKG (0.90) > NPKP (0.89) > NPK (0.79) > control (0.71). The β-glucosidase activity, mineralizable C, KMnO4 oxidizable N, microbial biomass C, and total water-stable aggregates explained 82% variability in the dataset and represented a good agreement with system yield (R2 = 0.89, p < 0.05). This study concludes that the conjunctive application of NPK with manures restores the overall soil quality more than other management practices, and thatthe SQ indices can be utilized for screening the best management practices for rice-wheat and other similar cropping systems.