Macroeconomic Instability and Terrorism Nexus: Empirical Evidence in Case of Pakistan

The current study is an attempt to analyze the association between macroeconomic instability and terrorism in Pakistan over the period of 1970 to 2020. Six important variables are taken as a proxy to measure macroeconomic instability which includes external debt, budget deficit, trade deficit, real effective exchange rate (REER), inflation and unemployment. Results indicate that there exists a long run cointegration relationship between the indictors of macroeconomic instability and terrorism. FMOLS is employed to obtain the estimates and it reveals that budget deficit and external debt is negatively associated with terrorism. It indicates that government expenditures on different project such as infrastructure create economic opportunities, therefore, reduces terrorism. Furthermore, welfare programmes also improve the performance of socioeconomic variables that translates into harmonized environment which lessens violence. The variable of trade deficit, inflation and unemployment has positive impact on terrorism while REER is insignificant. In context of trade deficit, higher imports results in job loss of domestic industries, hence, it hits the vulnerable groups. Therefore, the opportunity cost of life of these groups reduces and it increases the probability to become a part of terrorist activities. Inflation also pushes the vulnerable groups in poverty by reduces the purchasing power and unemployed individuals are also easy target to get involve themselves in acts of aggression. This study also constructs the macroeconomic instability index including the six variables through principal component analysis (PCA). Results of this model show that macroeconomic instability index and GDP has positive effect on terrorism. In case of GDP, the plausible reason could be uneven income distribution that increases terrorist activities. For the policy implications, government need to divert the resources from non-productive to productive uses through the investment in such projects which has direct and indirect impact on the welfare. In this way deprived group will enjoy economic perks and engage themselves in productive activities rather than becoming a helping hand in terrorism.

Substrate Dependent Microbial Biosynthesis of Auxins and Their Effect on Growth and Yield of Mung Bean Vigna Radiata L.

Rhizobia are capable of promoting the growth of legumes through a number of mechanisms of action including phytohormone production. Auxin being a plant hormone is produced by rhizobia and this ability increases many folds in supplementation with some suitable physiological precursor like L-tryptophan. Substrate-derived auxins have the ability to promote plant growth by supplementing sub-optimal auxin levels in legume plants like mung bean. So, this project was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of rhizobia under axenic conditions in supplementation with L-tryptophan on the growth and yield of mung bean crop. To test this hypothesis, a series of laboratory, wire house and field experiments were conducted. Rhizobium phaseoli were isolated from different locations of Faisalabad from nodules of mung bean crop. Forty four rhizobial cultures were isolated from mung bean nodules and tested for auxins biosynthesis in vitro colorimetrically and confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Rhizobial isolates varied in auxin biosynthesis ranging from 8.8 μg IAA equivalents mL -1 to 38.3 μg IAA equivalents mL -1 without L-tryptophan. Auxin biosynthesis by rhizobial isolates in supplementation with L-tyrptophan, increased many folds (1.1 to 7.9 folds) and N42 produced maximum auxins in L-tryptophan supplemented media. Different environmental factors like substrate (L-Trp) and C-source (glucose), pH, incubation temperature, incubation time and aeration (static vs. shaking) significantly affected auxin production. Growth pouch experiments were conducted in the laboratory using 34 rhizobial isolates for improving growth of mung bean seedlings using three mung bean cultivars i.e. NM-92, NM-98 and NM-2006 under axenic conditions. Fifteen isolates were selected through screening in jars using principal component scoring method. Three most efficient rhizobial isolates i. e. A23, N12 and N42 were tested alone and in combination with different L-TRP concentrations (10 -3 , 10 -4 and 10 -5 M) to test the hypothesis of substrate dependent auxin production for improving the growth of mung bean (var: NM-92, NM-98 and NM-2006) under axenic conditions. These isolates were further tested alone and in combination with 10 -3 , 10 -4 and 10 -5 M L-Trp for improving growth and nodulation of mung bean. Finally these three rhizobial isolates i.e. A23, N12 and N42 along with 10 -3 , 10 -4 , 10 -5 M L-Trp concentrations were further used in pot and field experiments using mung bean variety NM-2006. Rhizobial isolates A23, N12 and N42 alone and in combination with 10 -3 , 10 -4 and 10 -5 M L-Trp concentrations were tested in pots at the wirehouse, Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Results of pot experiments revealed that separate application of rhizobia significantly increased growth parameters but the combined application of rhizobia and L-tryptophan further significantly increased yield and nodulation. Field trials were conducted at two sites these rhizobial isolates A23, N12 and N42 alone and in combination with 10 -3 , 10 -4 and 10 -5 M L-Trp concentrations were tested at two N levels i. e. half and full recommended dose of N fertilizer. Results revealed that rhizobial inoculation alone significantly increased growth parameters (fresh biomass, grain yield, shoot length, root length, number of pods plant -1 , and number of grains pod -1 , 1000-grain weight, number of nodules plant -1 , fresh and dry weight of nodules, NPK contents in grain) of mung bean variety NM-2006. But the combined application of rhizobia along with L-Trp (10 -4 and 10 -5 M) further increased the mung bean yield and nodulation. This implies that substrate dependent microbial biosynthesis of auxins as a result of precursor (L-Trp)-inoculum (rhizobia) interactions can be successfully used for improving the growth and yield of legumes.