For the last few years, both of us have grappled with difficult and complex issues of empowerment and disempowerment in relation to our respective research projects on women's grassroots organizations in several states of India, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. As we exchanged notes over time, we noticed some recurring themes in our concerns-for example: the ways in which co-option of feminist and empowerment discourse(s) by the mainstream forces have become increasingly vexed questions for the women's movement in India; the problematics associated with "doing" empowerment on the ground at a time when "Southern" women's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are becoming increasingly professionalized and globalized; the entanglement of empowerment and disempowerment in poor women's lives; and the political complexities associated with engaging in critiques of NGOs that are trying to empower marginalized women.We thought it would be productive to co-author a paper on these issues, largely because of the striking silence in academic circles on these questions at a time when they are being felt and discussed so urgently within women's NGO networks. However, as we began to put our thoughts on paper, we were struck by the enormous contradictions these projects are fraught with, as well as by the ways in which our own sociopolitical locations as researchers and our ethical and political commitments to different kinds of groups made it impossible

No abstract

The impact of predatory, agroecosystem-nesting ant species on the larval stages of the two major lepidopteran pests, the diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella and the black cutworm (BC), Agrotis ipsilon, in cauliflower agroecosystem in Uttar Pradesh, India, was investigated in farmersÕ fields. Field observations revealed that six ant species, the most important being Pheidole sp., preyed on the crop-damaging stages of DBM and BC. Bait experiments with larvae of DBM and BC, placed randomly on the ground, demonstrated significant active retrieval by Pheidole sp. Investigations on larval density of both the insect pests on cauliflower crops, located within 1-5 m distances from nests of Pheidole sp., revealed a significant increase in the level of infestation of the crop plants with increasing distance from the ant nests. While a significant negative correlation was found between infested plants with low larval densities, a positive correlation was found between plants with high larval densities with regard to the distance of crop plant location from the ant nest. Ant-inclusion and -exclusion experiments under field conditions further confirmed the role of predatory ants, with Pheidole sp. having the major impact in the direct retrieval of the lepidopteran larvae from the crop plants. A significant difference was found in the leaf area damaged by BC larvae between the ant-included andexcluded potted plants during the 6-h observation period. Thus, this study provides direct evidence of the role of ants in actively searching and directly preying on the larval stages of DBM and BC, on cauliflower plants. Moreover, we demonstrate that in ephemeral, annual cropping agroecosystems, predatory ants are important natural enemies of lepidopteran pests, playing a significant role in plant protection.

No abstract

Mortality patterns of two Zebu cattle breeds, Sahiwal and Tharparkar, and two crossbred strains, Karan Swiss and Karan Fries, maintained at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal were studied. Nine-year (1989--90 to 1997--98) data on mortality were analysed for year, season, age and cause effects on mortality rate. The overall mortality was 14.17%. The mortality in Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Karan Swiss and Karan Fries averaged 14.35%, 7.21%, 17.12% and 13.46%, respectively. The breed mortality rate did not vary significantly between years, seasons, age categories and causes of disease. However, the trends indicated appreciable difference in mortality rates. The mortality was highest in the year 1994--95 (19.53%) and lowest in 1991--92 (8.56%). There was very little variation in seasonal mortality rate and mortality rate averaged 4.53%, 4.81% and 4.84% in hot-dry (March-June), hot-humid (July-October) and cold (November-February) seasons, respectively. The mortality up to 2 months of age accounted for a major share (50-60% or higher) in different breed groups. Digestive problems followed by respiratory disorders together accounted for 70-80% of total deaths.