Abiotic stresses including water deficit severely limits crop yields in the semi-arid tropics. In chickpea, annual losses of over 3.7 million tones have been estimated to be due to water deficit conditions alone. Therefore, major efforts are needed to improve its tolerance to water deficit, and genetic engineering approaches provide an increasing hope for this possibility. We have used transgenic technology for the introduction of an osmoregulatory gene P5CSF129A encoding the mutagenized D 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) for the overproduction of proline. A total of 49 transgenic events of chickpea were produced with the 35S:P5CSF129A gene through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene transfer through the use of axillary meristem explants. Eleven transgenic events that accumulated high proline (2-6 folds) were further evaluated in greenhouse experiments based on their transpiration efficiency (TE), photosynthetic activity, stomatal conductance, and root length under water stress. Almost all the transgenic events showed a decline in transpiration at lower values of the fraction of transpirable soil water (dryer soil), and extracted more water than their untransformed parents. The accumulation of proline in the selected events was more pronounced that increased significantly in the leaves when exposed to water stress. However, the overexpression of P5CSF129A gene resulted only in a modest increase in TE, thereby indicating that the enhanced proline had little bearing on the components of yield architecture that are significant in overcoming the negative effects of drought stress in chickpea.

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Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) was launched by the Government of India to serve many objectives including empowerment of women and marginalized communities of the society and reducing the ever-increasing flow of rural labour to urban centres. This paper has looked into the extent of participation of male and female workers, marginalized sections of the society and workers of different age groups in MGNREGP, by conducting a study in Markabbinahalli village of Bijapur district in Karnataka, characterized with distinct migration pattern, during the agricultural year 2012-13. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. Analytical tools used were z-test, t-test, Fisher's Exact Probability Test and one way ANOVA. The study has found no bias of cast, gender and age in providing employment to the participants of programme. The female workers received gainful employment in the programme. The higher non-farm wage rates constrained MGNREGP in reducing migration of workers to urban centres in the study village. The programme empowered the women workers, at least on a modest scale.

Background: Pulses have been very curial in many aspects like; rich source of protein, economy aspect and contribute to agricultural and environmental sustainability. In this investigation an attempt has been made to evaluate the dynamics of area substitution between pulses and other crops, extent of spatial shift among pulses producing states and some policy measures have been suggested to stabilize the area under pulses across states. Methods: Secondary data on area of principal crops for the period 1966-2016 was used in this article. By computing quartile values, all states and groups of states were clubbed into four different quartiles for each decade. Area substitution among principal field crops including pulses has been analyzed using first order Markov transition probability matrix (TPM). Result: This TPM was further used to evaluate the mobility of membership status of states under pulses production. It was found that period 1986-2006 happened to be the golden period for area under pulses in India. Mean area under pulses had increased for first three decades and in the subsequent two decades mean area (quartile values) had declined substantially.

Pulses are source of protein for Indians, production of which has not kept with increasing demand of the nation. Among efforts to enhance pulses production, role of irrigation as a critical input has not been given due importance. In present investigation attempt is to find out importance and contribution of irrigation in growth of pulses production in India. The time series data on area, production, productivity and area irrigated of pulses was obtained from DES Official website. The regression analysis and linear decomposition analysis were used as tools to carry out analysis. It was found that yield and area not-irrigated effect accounts for 52 per cent of growth of pulses which is not suitable for sustainability of pulses production system. Area not-irrigated effect contribution was 13.69 percent on pulses production. This also shows that irrigation has not been able to influence the production of pulses to desired level. The area irrigated accounted for 69 percent of variation in pulses yield. The result of present investigation is helpful to researcher as well as policymaker in attaining sustainable increases in pulses production in India.