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This study examines the continuum of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies, and analyzes broad patterns that have emerged with respect to monitoring and evaluation practices in the CSR programs of Indian companies under new CSR regulations
. Under these regulations, the Indian firms are mandated to spend at least 2% of their profits on social and development sectors. We specifically analyze (i) how Indian companies have conceptualized the idea of sustainability in their annual sustainability reports, and how these ideas get reflected in their CSR policies, and (ii) the monitoring and evaluation practices in CSR interventions. The study uses both primary and secondary data sources, and employs text network analysis and narratives-based content analysis to analyze the data. We find that the conceptualization of sustainability is a largely rhetoric and customary exercise that does not take into account variations in firms’ businesses. This approach toward sustainability initiatives presents serious challenges to sustainability, including social sustainability. The study also finds that there is lack of ‘willingness’ and ‘readiness’ among Indian companies to measure and monitor the outcomes of CSR interventions, which is arguably one of the most robust ways to signal their commitment toward corporate sustainability. Although mandatory CSR spending is a recent phenomenon in India, our study establishes that it is only through the design of effective CSR policies that the best practices for Indian business community can emerge in the near future
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The Higher Himalayan Crystallines (HHC), in western Garhwal, Uttarakhand are located in a regional - scale intracontinental ductile shear zone (15–20 km wide) bounded by the Main Central Thrust at the base, and the South Tibetan Detachment System at the top
. The migmatite zone in the centre has the highest grade of metamorphism in the NW Himalayas and show evidence of flowage. Zircons extracted from samples of metasediment, migmatite, biotite granite and in situ partial melt (tourmaline - bearing leucogranite) along the Bhagirathi Valley, preserve U–Pb isotopic evidence of magmatic history, magma source and effects of the Himalayan orogeny in the region. Three distinct periods of zircon growth in the leucogranite record the episodic influx of magma between 46 Ma and 20 Ma indicating a time span of more than 25 Ma between the onset of fluid-fluxed partial melting in the mid-crustal intracontinental shear zone and the emplacement of the magma into the upper crust in a post-collisional extensional setting. Metamorphic zircon growth was initiated about 46 Ma, when the partial melts were generated as the migmatite zone was exhumed
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To date, there is a gap in the data about the state and mass balance of glaciers in the climate-sensitive subtropical regions during the Little Ice Age (LIA)
. Here, based on an unprecedented tree-ring sampling coverage, we present the longest reconstructed mass balance record for the Western Himalayan glaciers, dating to 1615. Our results confirm that the later phase of LIA was substantially briefer and weaker in the Himalaya than in the Arctic and subarctic regions. Furthermore, analysis of the time-series of the mass-balance against other time-series shows clear evidence of the existence of (i) a significant glacial decay and a significantly weaker magnitude of glaciation during the latter half of the LIA; (ii) a weak regional mass balance dependence on either the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) taken in isolation, but a considerable combined influence of both of them during the LIA; and (iii) in addition to anthropogenic climate change, the strong effect from the increased yearly concurrence of extremely high TSI with El Niño over the past five decades, resulting in severe glacial mass loss. The generated mass balance time-series can serve as a source of reliable reconstructed data to the scientific community
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The Ganga (Ganges) is a transboundary river with headwaters in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region (Figure 1)
. It begins at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda at Devaprayag in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand in India and flows for almost 2,500 kilometres through India and Bangladesh before emptying into the Bay of Bengal (NIH/GOI 2015). The Alaknanda itself has five confluences before joining the Bhagirathi, the last of which is the confluence with the Mandakini at Rudraprayag. The river has many major tributaries, with the Tons (Tamsa), Gandaki, Yamuna, and Koshi among the most important. The Ganga river emerges from the mountains at Rishikesh and enters the plains at Haridwar, also in Uttarakhand
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Dandekhya, S.; England, M.; Ghate, R.; Goodrich, C. G.; Nepal, S.; Prakash, A.; Shrestha, A.; Singh, S.; Shrestha, M. S.; Udas, P. B.
The Gandaki river basin is a transboundary basin lying north-south in the central Himalayan region
. It extends from China in the north, through Nepal, to India in the south and is bounded by the Karnali basin to the west and the Koshi basin to the east (Figure 1). The basin has a total drainage area of 46,300 km2 – 72% in Nepal, 18% in India, and 10% in China – and includes part of Xiagaze prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region in China, 19 districts in Nepal (12 entirely and 7 partially within the basin), and 9 districts in India. The Gandaki river is known as the Narayani in the plains of Nepal and as the Gandak in India, where it joins the Ganges (Ganga) at Hajipur near Patna. It has seven major tributaries (the Kali Gandaki, Seti Gandaki, Madi, Marsyangdi, Daraudi, Budhi Gandaki, and Trishuli), of which all except the Daraudi and Madi have catchment areas with glaciers (Bajracharya and Shrestha 2011). There are 1,710 glaciers in the upstream catchments (as of 2005), with an area of 2,285 km2 and estimated ice reserves of 194 km3 (Bajracharya and Shrestha 2011: 56). Many smaller rivers and rivulets also drain into the Gandaki including, for example, the east Rapti river, which joins the river at Chitwan
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The study area is the Lower Flint River Basin which is at the center of water conflicts in the southeastern USA
. This study focuses on a systematic evaluation and separation of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) induced droughts and irrigation water withdrawal impacts on flow levels using a novel and powerful statistical technique, called JRFit. JRFit procedure was applied to quantify significant differences in streamflows, baseflows, and low flow statistics during non-irrigation (NI) and irrigation (IR) periods associated with ENSO phases. The results indicate that overall streamflow levels have decreased by approximately 20% after the introduction of irrigation in the study area. Lowering of flow levels mainly occur during La Niña phases which gets exacerbated (decreased by 50%) during growing season of IR compared to NI periods. Flow duration curve analysis showed that the frequency of low flows has increased during IR period impairing aquatic ecosystem. This is the first time an elimination approach is used to separate and quantify the impacts of anthropogenic and climate signals on water resources. This approach avoids the need of using complex and data intensive groundwater/surface water models in studying climate-stream-aquifer interactions which can be replicated easily in other data scarce watersheds. This study provides useful information to policymakers to devise irrigation water withdrawal policies during La Niña growing seasons for maintaining flow levels in the study area
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A Class II level field survey is conducted in five naturally ventilated multi-storied apartments in the composite climatic zone of north India
. A total of 984 data-sets were collected for the whole year, involving over 82 subjects and 55 apartment units. This paper highlighted the season-wise behavioral change in the usage pattern of controls and the resultant thermal response of the subjects. It is observed that at extreme weather conditions, subjects are switching to ‘seasonal controls’ (i.e. fans, A/C’s and heaters/hot blowers) as oppose to the ‘designed controls’ (i.e. windows, balcony doors and blinds) or personal controls (i.e. changing ‘clo’ and ‘met’ levels). The study concludes that if designed controls are efficiently incorporated in the building the thermal perception of the residents and the resultant energy consumption can be improved
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Himalayan forests are dominated by different species of oaks (Quercus spp
.) at different altitudes. These oaks are intimately linked with hill agriculture as they protect soil fertility, watershed, and local biodiversity. They also play an important role in maintaining ecosystem stability. This work was carried out to study the diversity and regeneration status of some oak forests in Garhwal Himalaya, India. A total of 18 tree species belonging to 16 genera and 12 families were reported from the study area. Species richness varied for trees (4–7), saplings (3–10), and seedlings (2–6). Seedling and sapling densities (Ind/ha) varied between 1,376 Ind/ha and 9,600 Ind/ha and 167 Ind/ha and 1,296 Ind/ha, respectively. Species diversity varied from 1.27 to 1.86 (trees), from 0.93 to 3.18 (saplings), and from 0.68 to 2.26 (seedlings). Total basal area (m2/ha) of trees and saplings was 2.2–87.07 m2/ha and 0.20–2.24 m2/ha, respectively, whereas that of seedlings varied from 299 cm2/ha to 8,177 cm2/ha. Maximum tree species (20–80%) had “good” regeneration. Quercus floribunda, the dominant tree species in the study area, showed “poor” regeneration, which is a matter of concern, and therefore, proper management and conservation strategies need to be developed for maintenance and sustainability of this oak species along with other tree species that show poor or no regeneration
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Hyderabad as a city started growing when it was declared the capital of Andhra Pradesh
. In 1953, the Andhra state was first created by taking the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras state. Later, during the states reorganization, the Telangana region of the Hyderabad state was merged with this entity [0 form the united Telugu-speaking state of Andhra Pradesh on 1 November 1956. In 1978 Hyderabad district {of Andhra Pradesh state} was split into Hyderabad Urban District and Hyderabad Rural District. Hyderabad Rural District was later renamed Rangareddy district. Rangareddy district consisted of the rural components of Hyderabad district and some portion of Hyderabad urban taluk {an administrative division of some countries of South Asia meaning sub-district}. Being a relatively new district of the state, the population growth of Rangareddy district was 43 per cen
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One of the major changes in the water sector over the last few decades has been the enhanced thrust on institutional reforms, including the increasing recognition of the bottom-up approach to management as against the techno-centric top-down one
. At the heart of this lies the concept of greater inclusiveness of all stakeholders, including women and people lower in socio-economic hierarchies. Hence the greater necessity of understanding their differential needs. A need to integrate gender and equity concerns in the water policy discourse stemmed from two facts: first, that women are the primaty collectors of water and also responsible for health, hygiene, and sanitation at the household level; second, that historically the above work has been seen as non-productive and women have not had adequate representation in decision-making around water. So when water becomes a scarce good, the more privileged inevitably find ways to maintain access
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