Rural masses in India view English as the language of socio-economic empowerment through education. Education could be either in English or in regional languages, but children should learn English, because it is seen ...Rural masses in India view English as the language of socio-economic empowerment through education. Education could be either in English or in regional languages, but children should learn English, because it is seen as the key to the world of opportunities in higher education and employment. The governments need to politically respond to the aspirations of the common masses keeping aside both politicised language policies and theoretical linguistic inputs that encourage one＇s mother tongue as the ideal medium of instruction. Onerous responsibility lays on men, methods, and materials over which government have the least say, but the practising teachers of English and academics who help bureaucrats in framing language policies in India are solely responsible for non-realization of dreams of the masses. There is something terribly rotten in the state of English-teaching enterprise in India. This paper proposes to examine the present state of affairs in the teaching of English to rural students and to offer constructive alternatives to the existing package of men, materials, and methods.展开更多
India is the fifth major soybean growing country in the world. Soybean is a major kharif（monsoon season） oilseed crop grown by the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, the ＇Soy State＇. This golden bean of 21st century is su...India is the fifth major soybean growing country in the world. Soybean is a major kharif（monsoon season） oilseed crop grown by the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, the ＇Soy State＇. This golden bean of 21st century is successfully being grown by the farmers of this ＂Soy State＂ since its resurrection in India during late sixties. This venture not only revolutionized the socio-economic status of soybean farmers but also provided them with an apt cropping： system of soybean-wheat/chickpea as soybean occupied monsoon fallows in initial years of its establishment. Presently, the crop covers more than 9.67 million hectares in India with major contribution from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The likely production from this area during 2009-2010 is 9.72 million tones. The concerted technological back up support from the Research and Development system （ICAW AICRPS/SAUs） along with State owned extension agencies and private sector has been instrumental in narrowing the yield gap II of soybean from above 1000 kg/ha in 1970 to 390 kg/ha by 2008. Mitigating the loss in productivity by refining the existing management practices to deal with the biotic and abiotie stresses and to take the technology so developed effectively to farmers by the extension agencies constitute a priority to boost up the production of this crop. An investigation to identify the felt needs and problems of soybean growers of Madhya Pradesh was carried out in order to formulate the technological interventions to increase the national productivity which is hovering around 1000 kg/ha since last few years. The data were collected employing pre-designed questionnaire as well as interview schedule which were administered on the respondents at two different stages. The study brought out that non-availability of quality seed of improved varieties of soybean is the major problem experienced by the farmers. The problems associated with management of insect-pests and disease complex followed the suit. Among the pests, girdle beetle, tobacco caterpillar and the green semilooper were found to be more responsible for the yield erosion in farmers＇ field. Resorting to imbalanced fertilization and timely unavailability of needed fertilizers ranked third while the delayed and erratic monsoon causing moisture stress, poor infrastructural facilities including lacunae in input supply system are observed to be the major problems identified in this study.展开更多
文摘Rural masses in India view English as the language of socio-economic empowerment through education. Education could be either in English or in regional languages, but children should learn English, because it is seen as the key to the world of opportunities in higher education and employment. The governments need to politically respond to the aspirations of the common masses keeping aside both politicised language policies and theoretical linguistic inputs that encourage one＇s mother tongue as the ideal medium of instruction. Onerous responsibility lays on men, methods, and materials over which government have the least say, but the practising teachers of English and academics who help bureaucrats in framing language policies in India are solely responsible for non-realization of dreams of the masses. There is something terribly rotten in the state of English-teaching enterprise in India. This paper proposes to examine the present state of affairs in the teaching of English to rural students and to offer constructive alternatives to the existing package of men, materials, and methods.
文摘India is the fifth major soybean growing country in the world. Soybean is a major kharif（monsoon season） oilseed crop grown by the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, the ＇Soy State＇. This golden bean of 21st century is successfully being grown by the farmers of this ＂Soy State＂ since its resurrection in India during late sixties. This venture not only revolutionized the socio-economic status of soybean farmers but also provided them with an apt cropping： system of soybean-wheat/chickpea as soybean occupied monsoon fallows in initial years of its establishment. Presently, the crop covers more than 9.67 million hectares in India with major contribution from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The likely production from this area during 2009-2010 is 9.72 million tones. The concerted technological back up support from the Research and Development system （ICAW AICRPS/SAUs） along with State owned extension agencies and private sector has been instrumental in narrowing the yield gap II of soybean from above 1000 kg/ha in 1970 to 390 kg/ha by 2008. Mitigating the loss in productivity by refining the existing management practices to deal with the biotic and abiotie stresses and to take the technology so developed effectively to farmers by the extension agencies constitute a priority to boost up the production of this crop. An investigation to identify the felt needs and problems of soybean growers of Madhya Pradesh was carried out in order to formulate the technological interventions to increase the national productivity which is hovering around 1000 kg/ha since last few years. The data were collected employing pre-designed questionnaire as well as interview schedule which were administered on the respondents at two different stages. The study brought out that non-availability of quality seed of improved varieties of soybean is the major problem experienced by the farmers. The problems associated with management of insect-pests and disease complex followed the suit. Among the pests, girdle beetle, tobacco caterpillar and the green semilooper were found to be more responsible for the yield erosion in farmers＇ field. Resorting to imbalanced fertilization and timely unavailability of needed fertilizers ranked third while the delayed and erratic monsoon causing moisture stress, poor infrastructural facilities including lacunae in input supply system are observed to be the major problems identified in this study.
