The Reluctant Fundamentalist Exploring the Ideological Basis and Bicultural Consciousness in Pakistani Diasporic Anglophone Fiction

This paper explores the religious ideological basis, cultural ambivalence and a bicultural identity issues in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. This Pakistani Anglophone novel carries different diasporic sensibilities. Issues related to culture, religion and its association with ideological grounds are very prominent. Elements of immigrant feelings and loss of identity are very vibrant. The writer shares migrant experience and the influence of a new culture of the host country, United States. While migrants from some of the Asian states, mainly those characterized by most recent immigrant waves, have really worse socio-economic situation than average immigrants; Pakistani people are among minorities. This research is qualitative in nature. Theories presented by Arjun Appadurai, Homi K Bhabha, and James Clifford about culture and diaspora support this research. This research is helpful to know about the concerns associated with the liminal space and issues related to identity loss, strong affiliation and recognition on the basis of religion and living with a bicultural identity.

Ectopic Expression of Dreb1a Transcription Factor to Improve Drought and Salt Tolerance in Wheat

Drought and salt stress are major abiotic constraints affecting crop productivity in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). These are thought to be the most promising traits to improve and stabilize crop yield to meet the demand of increasing population. Wheat like other cereals is recalcitrant to in vitro manipulation. Keeping in view the above mentioned facts, present studies were aimed to develop an efficient reproducible regeneration protocol for gene delivery to develop transgenic wheat lines with improved tolerance against drought and salinity. Different combinations of phytohormones, carbon sources and calli age were evaluated to maximize regeneration. DREB1A transcription factor was isolated from rice and transferred to wheat through Agrobacterium mediate transformation. The ectopic expression of DREB1A in transgenic plants did not result in growth retardation or visible phenotypic alterations. T0 progeny of four transgenic events were exposed to progressive drought and salinity trials in pots and hydroponics respectively. Transgenic lines showed improved tolerance to these stresses as compared to control.