The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates 50 million years ago created the Himalaya, along with massive glaciers, intensified monsoon, turbulent rivers, and an efflorescence of ecosystems. Today, the Himalaya is at risk of catastrophic loss of life. Maharaj Pandit outlines the mountain’s past in order to map a way toward a sustainable future.

Contributed articles.

A magisterial history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures, and adventures among the world’s highest mountains. For centuries, the unique and astonishing geography of the Himalaya has attracted those in search of spiritual and literal elevation: pilgrims, adventurers, and mountaineers seeking to test themselves among the world’s most spectacular and challenging peaks. But far from being wild and barren, the Himalaya has been home to a diversity of indigenous and local cultures, a crucible of world religions, a crossroads for trade, and a meeting point and conflict zone for empires past and present. In this landmark work, nearly two decades in the making, Ed Douglas makes a thrilling case for the Himalaya’s importance in global history and offers a soaring account of life at the "roof of the world." Spanning millennia, from the earliest inhabitants to the present conflicts over Tibet and Everest, Himalaya explores history, culture, climate, geography, and politics. Douglas profiles the great kings of Kathmandu and Nepal; he describes the architects who built the towering white Stupas that distinguish Himalayan architecture; and he traces the flourishing evolution of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism that brought Himalayan spirituality to the world. He also depicts with great drama the story of how the East India Company grappled for dominance with China’s emperors, how India fought Mao’s Communists, and how mass tourism and ecological transformation are obscuring the bloody legacy of the Cold War. Himalaya is history written on the grandest yet also the most human scale—encompassing geology and genetics, botany and art, and bursting with stories of courage and resourcefulness.

This edited volume dedicated to late Prof. P.S. Saklani addresses the multidisciplinary themes pertaining to role of tectonism and magmatism in Crustal Evolution and global distribution of metallic and non metallic mineral deposits. It gives valuable information on geodynamic evolution, structural, petrological, isotopic, metamorphic, geochemical and geochronological attributes of continental and oceanic crust and is challenging reassessments of the existing paradigms. It addresses the implication of magmatism, metallogeny and application of geochronological ages (U-Pb SHRIMP age, Lu-Hf isotopic system; detrital zircons). This book also advocates the role of tectonics in contamination of ground water, and control on drainage pattern and geothermal systems. It explores the vulnerability of earth towards natural hazards viz. earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tsunami, volcanism, cyclones and drought. This volume throws light on the applications of remote sensing, GIS (Geographical Information System) and SRTM data for evaluation of the morphometric and morphotectonic parameters and exploring the susceptibility of river basins toward erosion and flood. It will be beneficial to graduate and post-graduate students as well as professionals and researchers.

A magisterial history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures, and adventures among the world’s highest mountains. For centuries, the unique and astonishing geography of the Himalaya has attracted those in search of spiritual and literal elevation: pilgrims, adventurers, and mountaineers seeking to test themselves among the world’s most spectacular and challenging peaks. But far from being wild and barren, the Himalaya has been home to a diversity of indigenous and local cultures, a crucible of world religions, a crossroads for trade, and a meeting point and conflict zone for empires past and present. In this landmark work, nearly two decades in the making, Ed Douglas makes a thrilling case for the Himalaya’s importance in global history and offers a soaring account of life at the "roof of the world." Spanning millennia, from the earliest inhabitants to the present conflicts over Tibet and Everest, Himalaya explores history, culture, climate, geography, and politics. Douglas profiles the great kings of Kathmandu and Nepal; he describes the architects who built the towering white Stupas that distinguish Himalayan architecture; and he traces the flourishing evolution of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism that brought Himalayan spirituality to the world. He also depicts with great drama the story of how the East India Company grappled for dominance with China’s emperors, how India fought Mao’s Communists, and how mass tourism and ecological transformation are obscuring the bloody legacy of the Cold War. Himalaya is history written on the grandest yet also the most human scale—encompassing geology and genetics, botany and art, and bursting with stories of courage and resourcefulness.

HIMALAYA - NUTURE (Indus)

Plant science is a vast arena in the sphere of life science dealing with many facets of traditional and modern biology. The subject encompasses botany and allied subject matters including taxonomy, phycology, mycology, pathology, microbiology, genetics, pharmacology, paleo studies, ethnobotany, ecology, anatomy, physiology as different diversified braches. Beside these traditional subjects modern research includes biochemistry, biotechnology, molecular biology, nanotechnology, herbal drugs, etc. Though majority of the research and studies of the plant science focus on the land plant, but the economic importance of plant species present in waterbodies cannot be neglected due to the huge growing demands and necessity as well. Moreover, air born microbes are also significant as potential pathogens of different diseases. From the beginning of the twenty‐first century, it has become evident that the environmental issues are posing threat to mankind, mainly due to loss of forest plants. This also results in the biodiversity loss in a broad sense. This book is an effort to cover many modern aspects of plant science as many as possible, in the light of recent trends of researches. Here, the authors expressed their views in different corners of plant science and focused on the recent researches going on in this direction. We hope this book will be helpful for the readers to generate knowledge in the subject area.

To Address Issues Like Integration Process, Development Interventions, Social Change, Strategic Volatility And Environmental Agenda, This Special Volume On Sikkim Has Been Brought Out.