Hyperaccumulation of arsenic (As) by brake fern Pteris vittata has been described as an important genetic trait that provides an option for development of a sustainable phytoremediation process for As mitigation. Accumulation of very high concentration of arsenic in above-ground tissues may be the result of arsenic vacuole compartmentalization, but the mechanism(s) of arsenic uptake and transport by underground tissues are largely unknown. In this study, we made an attempt towards understanding the molecular mechanism of As hyperaccumulation in this plant. A time-dependent As accumulation study indicates an exponential accumulation of As from 7 to 30 days of arsenic exposure in fronds, and day 3-7 in roots. Root transcriptome analysis identified 554,973 transcripts. Further, subsets of 824 transcripts were differentially expressed between treated and control samples. Many of the genes of critical As-stress response, transcription factors and metal transporters, biosynthesis of chelating compounds involved in uptake and accumulation mechanisms were identified. The genes that were highly expressed such as cysteine-rich RLK, and ABC transporter G family member 26 needs further studies along with arsenite transmembrane transporter. The analysis of generated transcriptome dataset has provided valuable information and platform for further functional studies.

The law of comparative advantage forms the basis of international trade, which has been the backbone of the commercial world for long. In a bid to open up the economy and integrate it with the world economy, India has been undertaking a series of economic reforms since 1991, including trade reforms. In this light, this paper attempts to identify the sectors/commodities where India holds comparative advantage. The study also attempts to map the technological structure of India‟s exports, and also analyse the structural changes in the pattern of trade specialisation. The study has been conducted using data relating to exports of all 97 commodities of the Harmonized System (HS-1992) classification for three periods namely average over 1996-98, 2003-05 and 2011-13. The study found that India holds comparative advantage in a variety of products. However, an overall deterioration in India‟s RCA indices over the three periods was also found. The examination of the structural changes in the Revealed Comparative Advantage to find out whether the initial pattern of trade specialisation has strengthened or weakened revealed that India is in the stage of de-specialisation. So, there is a need for India to take steps in order to strengthen its comparative advantage.

The economic reforms that were ushered in during 1991 have greatly contributed to the growth of exports in India. After pursuing, import substitution strategy for nearly four decades, India adopted export led growth strategy in 1991. The new economic policy removed all sorts of restrictions on international trade and investment giving green signal to FDI inflows. Consequently, India experienced significant increase in FDI inflows in the last two decades. This paper has two objectives. First, it investigates the trends of FDI inflows and exports in India during the period 1980 to 2011. Secondly, it attempts to examine the economic relationship between FDI inflows and export growth in India for the same period using the Granger causality test. The study found bi-directional causality between inward FDI and exports. Hence, policies attracting FDI should be implemented to further boost India’ exports.

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