The Green Revolution bypassed the state in its first wave in the 1960s and 1970s. Subsequently, during a short interval in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the agricultural growth rate reached almost 3 percent per year, one of the highest in the country, though over a smaller base. Even this modest growth was short-lived, and stagnation has set in again. This report explores why. Although the overall agricultural scenario of Bihar reflects slow growth and even stagnation, some regions in the state (like the Sone command area in south Bihar) and some crops (like maize) and allied activities (like the dairy and the livestock sector) show reasonable growth and dynamism. This report also explores such nascent sources of growth and discusses policies and investments that will put agriculture in Bihar on the takeoff trajectory.

This open access book provides an evidence-based roadmap for revitalising Indian agriculture while ensuring that the growth process is efficient, inclusive, and sustainable, and results in sustained growth of farmers’ incomes. The book, instead of looking for global best practices and evaluating them to assess the possibility of replicating these domestically, looks inward at the best practices and experiences within Indian states, to answer questions such as -- how the agricultural growth process can be speeded up and made more inclusive, and financially viable; are there any best practices that can be studied and replicated to bring about faster growth in agriculture; does the prior hypothesis that rapid agricultural growth can alleviate poverty faster, reduce malnutrition, and augment farmers’ incomes stand? To answer these questions, the book follows four broad threads -- i) Linkage between agricultural performance, poverty and malnutrition; ii) Analysing the historical growth performance of agricultural sector in selected Indian states; iii) Will higher agricultural GDP necessarily result in higher incomes for farmers; iv) Analysing the current agricultural policy environment to evaluate its efficiency and efficacy, and consolidate all analysis to create a roadmap. These are discussed in 12 chapters, which provide a building block for the concluding chapter that presents a roadmap for revitalising Indian agriculture while ensuring growth in farmers’ incomes.

Groundwater is invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere. Everything around us relies on groundwater, our drinking water and sanitation, our food supply and our natural environment. Yet because it is invisible, information, management and governance of groundwater is often poor and inadequate. This book contributes to UN Water Groundwater year (2022), and to the effort of “making the invisible, visible”. Through worldwide case studies ranging from the Americas (California, Brazil), to Asia (India, Iran, Lao PDR, Nepal), Africa (Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa) and the MENA region (Lebanon, Morocco, Yemen), including cases of transboundary aquifers, the chapters in this edited volume reflect important recent advances in interdisciplinary knowledge on the governance, management, practice and science-policy interfaces of groundwater. An insightful resource for researchers and planners in the field of environmental policies, water laws, climate change and groundwater governance, this book comes with a new Introduction. The other chapters were originally published in Water International.

The Ganges is one of the most complex yet fascinating river systems in the world. The basin is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity from climatic, hydrological, geomorphological, cultural, environmental and socio-economic perspectives. More than 500 million people are directly or indirectly dependent upon the Ganges River Basin, which spans China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. While there are many books covering one aspect of the Ganges, ranging from hydrology to cultural significance, this book is unique in presenting a comprehensive inter-disciplinary overview of the key issues and challenges facing the region. Contributors from the three main riparian nations assess the status and trends of water resources, including the Himalayas, groundwater, pollution, floods, drought and climate change. They describe livelihood systems in the basin, and the social, economic, geopolitical and institutional constraints, including transboundary disputes, to achieving productive, sustainable and equitable water access. Management of the main water-use sectors and their inter-linkages are reviewed, as well as the sustainability and trade-offs in conservation of natural systems and resource development such as for hydropower or agriculture.

Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Farmer Incomes in Bihar discusses the performance of Bihar's agriculture sector in recent times and the multifarious challenges it is facing. The book explores future possibilities from the perspectives of raising agricultural productivity and farmer incomes and attaining inclusive growth. Given that doubling farmers' incomes in India is the declared agenda of the central and state governments, the insights to be gained from this book would be invaluable for researchers and policymakers. With more than 90 per cent of the operational holdings in Bihar falling under the 'marginal' category and the average size of a holding being a meagre 0.39 hectares, the viability of the small-farming regime in the state is a serious issue. This book will help readers to understand the developmental challenges not only in Bihar but also in other agriculturally backward regions that are largely dominated by small farmers. It will also help researchers to locate areas in which more research needs to be undertaken if accelerated growth of the agriculture sector and sustainable improvement of farmers' incomes are to be ensured.

Food security is one of the primary themes of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard, agricultural engineering is considered the backbone of agriculture, and agricultural mechanization is considered a helpful way to enhance crop yield and farmers’ profitability. Technology in Agriculture presents research in the field of agricultural engineering technologies and applications in agricultural equipment engineering, biosystem engineering, energy systems engineering, and computers in agriculture. It provides an overview of recent advancements in agricultural engineering and examines key aspects of emerging technologies and their applications. In addition, the book explores modern methodologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning for agricultural mechanization.

Covering the design, development, operation and mission profiles of unmanned aircraft systems, this single, comprehensive volume forms a complete, stand-alone reference on the topic. The volume integrates with the online Wiley Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, providing many new and updated articles for existing subscribers to that work.

This book examines the nexus of cities and oceans and the interrelations between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11 and 14, just after the first two critical years following the milestone year of hope in 2015. It advocates for actions both for sustainable cities, the largest interconnected and only human ecosystem, and for the global ocean that is the largest physical ecosystem. Cutting-edge concepts and actions are presented by and for cities and oceans, following the global engagements during the years 2015-2017. In the era of global geopolitics, cities offer major democratic spaces between the micro-regulations of the local communities and the governance of the global commons. The role of education, trust, and citizen empowerment cannot be stressed enough. This book offers an evidence-based, holistic and integrated view of key urban and ocean sustainability issues at the horizon of 2030 and of 2050. The chapters cover the most prominent issues at the heart of the matter, and highlight systemic multi-stakeholder eco-responses towards sustainability with economic, social, environmental dimensions, including political and cultural aspects. This book offers a full exploration of cities and seas with an emphasis on vigorous paradigm shifts, redesigning human systems, and reconciling them with nature. Building on robust evidence, and transformational cases, it provides structured advice for world leaders, stakeholders and scholars.

With North Atlantic post-World War II transatlantic dynamics as the subject, this volume inquires if its theoretical tenets hold in other epochs and Atlantic arenas. Both case and comparative studies of such historical cases as the silver, slave, and commodity trades, and whether ideas, such as faith and democracy, have as much impact as these merchandise flows, simultaneously challenge and strengthen the transatlantic paradigm. They permit transatlantic relations to be stretched as far back as to the 8th Century, in turn exposing transatlantic flows hugging global threads, while revealing the strength and size of several unaccounted types of transatlantic transactions, such as the north-south varieties.