Ijaz Hussain, Political and Legal Dimensions of Indus Water Treaty (Book Reviews)

Of the many issues that the partition of India in 1947 did not address in time, and were left to worsen the relations between India and Pakistan, the issue of riparian rights was only next in importance to the issue of Kashmir. In many respects the two issues have direct bearing on each other as well, as some important rivers emanate from Indian-held Kashmir. As the time passes more and more historians are coming to the conclusion that the massacre at the time of partition, the uprooting of more than 12 million people from their native homes, horrendous violence against women, burning and looting, etc, all owe mainly to the colonial administration that failed to ensure peaceful transition to two independent countries. No less than a person than a former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, described the attitude of the then British government as the ‘biggest escape of human history’. In its urge to get rid of Indian responsibility, the government of Prime Minister Clement Atlee, showed extraordinary haste in relinquishing its responsibilities without ascertaining that the partition of a country of a subcontinental size would involve a huge amount of work. It required taking into consideration all administrative and security aspects so that the two countries could move along their independent journey as good neighbours. Unfortunately, the failure of the British government, both in London and, through its viceroy, in Delhi, left a number of issues unsettled, which the two independent countries have been trying to resolve for the last seven decades. Moreover, with the passage of time, new factors emerged which further complicated the original issues.

Screening of Tomato Cultivars Against Root Knot Nematodes and Their Biological Management

Research was done on two important groups of nematodes plant parasitic nematodes and insect parasitic nematodes (entomopathogenic nematodes). Among plant parasitic nematodes root knot nematodes are the most important. It has a wide host range. Tomatoes are the most seriously affected by Meloidogyne incognita. Different varieties were tested against M. incognita for susceptibility, invasion and development of M. incognita. Moneymaker, Titano, California, Peelo, Nagina, Riogranade and Pakit were highly susceptible while Fonto, Tarnab, Lima, VF-400, PETO-86 and Samrutti were susceptible. Calmart VFN proved resistant. There was a positive relationship between the inoculum level of M. incognita and root weights and inverse relationship with shoot weights. Effect of plant age on plant susceptibility to nematode infection was also studied. Plant extract of neem, onion, garlic, tobacco, aloevera, cloves and chili was investigated for larval mortality and egg hatching of M. incognita. Mortality of nematodes increased with exposure time and extract concentration. Effect of plant extracts on root knot nematodes applied after root knot nematodes and bare dip root treatment was also studied on plant growth parameters plant height, fresh shoot weight, dry shoot weight and fresh root weight. Among all the plant extracts tested neem proved effective followed by onion and tobacco while chili proved less effective as compared to the other plant extracts.In the second part of thesis, effect of entomopathogenic nematodes S. asiaticum, S. glaseri, H. indica and H. bacteriophora on the development of M. incognita, effect of different inoculum levels, and time of application, live and dead EPN on RKN in addition to the persistence in soil was also studied. Suppression of M. incognita varied with application rate. The high application rates of EPN reduced M. incognita infestation as compared to low rates. Reduction in root knot nematode invasion and development was recorded. Numbers of EPN were reduced in non-sterilized soil. Both dead as well as live entomopathogenic nematodes and their material were responsible for lower invasion by M. incognita in tomato.