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Volume XVI |

Monitoring drought status using precipitation factor: a case study of Jaisalmer Meteorological Station in Raja-sthan, India

Abstract: Drought is a climatic phenomenon induced by a deficiency in moisture due to the decrease in precipitation amount over of a region for a given time period. Thus for evaluating drought, long-time data series are necessary. In the present study on the basis of precipitation amounts registered at Jaisalmer station in Rajasthan state India, meteorological drought indices such as the Standard Index of Annual Precipi-tation (SIAP), Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Precipi-tation Anomaly Index (RAI) and Deciles Index (DI) have been computed in order to monitor the drought status. Then Kol-mogorov-Smirnova and Shapiro-Wilk tests were applied to examine the normality of raw data. Sequential Mann–Kendall test (SQ-MK test) was applied for determining trends. The results show no statistically significant trend, but there were points of negative mutation in annual precipitation. Drought monitoring, based on the four mentioned indices, indicate SIAP index as the most appropriate for the study area as its coefficient of correlation is close to 1.

Volume XV |

Assessment of Nutritional Status and Deficiency Disease through Geographical Survey: A Case Study of Varanasi District in India

Abstract: Identifying the role of the diet at the start of many diseases and evaluating the nutritional status of an individual, family and community is significant for public health. The main objective of this paper is to geographically evaluate the nutritional status and deficiency disease in the development blocks of Varanasi district, India. Primary data are collected from 800 respondents of 16 selected villages (2 villages from each development block) in the rural part of Varanasi district and their results are analyzed with the help of SPSS statistical software. The study involved geographical survey based interviews using a questionnaire, measurement of nutrient intake and assessment of their general knowledge and awareness about nutrition and deficiency diseases on the basis of their occupational structure, house type and income status. The findings of this paper also show that the socio-economic status of the respondents is closely related with nutritional status of people living in the rural areas of Varanasi district. It is interesting to note that about 15% of household’s intake is still less than 1500 calories per capita per day, which leads to malnutrition and deficiency diseases. More than half of the respondents of the study area are found to be suffering from nutritional deficiency diseases.