a b s t r a c tTwo independent experiments were performed to determine the effects of salinity on survival and growth of juvenile Macrobrachium rosenbergii, first one was to determine the median lethal salinity (MLS-50 96 h ) and second one was to assess the survival and growth at different sub-lethal salinities under field condition. In MLS-50 96 h study 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 ppt salinities were used to initially find out the salinity tolerance range. Accordingly, a definitive salinity tolerance test was done in next phase to find out exact median lethal salinity by directly transferring the test species to 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 ppt salinity for 96 h. The median lethal salinity of M. rosenbergii was estimated at 24.6 ppt. In the second experiment, survival and growth performances of the prawn were recorded at different sub-lethal salinities viz., 5, 10, 15 and 20 ppt along with 0 ppt as control during 60 days culture period. The prawn exhibited lowest final average weight at 20 ppt salinity and significantly highest at 10 ppt salinity. Highest SGR and weight gain were obtained at 10 ppt followed by 5 ppt, 15 ppt and 0 ppt salinity but differences among treatment were not significant (P > 0.05). Survival rate of prawn varied between 91% (at 0 ppt) and 78% (at 20 ppt). The prawn grew and survived satisfactorily at 0-15 ppt salinities, implying that the species can be cultured commercially at wide salinity range. M. rosenbergii can be considered as an ideal species to promote, in view of current and future climate variables as more and more coastal areas of India are going to be vulnerable to saline water inundation.

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The formation of the BRICS Group was aimed at, among others, developing parallel economic power house of the highly emerging nations and generating additional shock absorbing capacity. Maintaining equitable distribution of income and wealth among the group members, thus, was one of the top most priorities of the group. Under this backdrop, the present study examines whether the countries are converging in income leading to overall development in the group. Applying the neoclassical growth and panel unit roots models on the quarterly data from 2006Q1–2017Q2 to 2009Q1–2017Q2, the study reveals that there is no significant catching up of the countries in both the periods, but there is conditional convergence in the first period. The variables which played conditional roles are net FDI inflow and crude oil production. Further, the study observes sigma convergence among the group members in both the periods, signifying that the cross-country income differences have been going down over time.

Tripura is a land of high hills, hillocks, interspersed with rivers and valleys having moderately warm and humid climate, well distributed annual rainfall of 2500 mm. The terrain soil and climate of Tripura are ideally suited for rain-fed Horticulture. Tripura, being endowed with fertile soils, abundant moisture and sub-tropical climate offer immense scope for production of a wide variety of tropical and sub-tropical fruits. The climatic conditions of the state suitable for production of a large variety of horticultural crops chief among which include ‘Queen’ and ‘Kew’; varieties of Pineapple. Pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) is a monoecious, monocotyledonous, monocarpic and xerophytic herbaceous perennial plant and its perennial in nature is propitiated through suckers. ‘Queen’ and ‘Kew’ (‘Smooth Cayenne’) are the main cultivars grown in different parts of Tripura. Among the states of north east India Assam is leading in terms of area and production and Tripura is just behind the Assam both in terms of area and production. Tripura produces 178.45 thousand MT from 12.57 thousand ha area (Anonymous, 2017), which is India’s fifth leading state of in pineapple production and Tripura is also share 9.30 per cent of India’s total pineapple production. The variety ‘Queen’ being the most popular for fresh consumption and occupying the largest area. These varieties are well known in the rest of the country. These Fruit products are free of any chemical residue thus making the fruits of Tripura products of organic farming. Pineapple production for export market is a realistic for organic cultivation for small scale organic farmers. The positive effects of organic pineapple production by default in Tripura competing on the global export market for pineapple.

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