The “THAR DESERT” region of Rajasthan in north-west India is one of the most inhospitable landscapes on earth. The DESERT has sparse vegetation and the ground surface is exposed to sun, atmosphere and associated physical forces. Ever increasing human and livestock population have put heavy demands for plant products, resulting in over exploitation of well adapted plants. Plants like species of Ceropegia, Caralluma, Calotropis, Leptadenia, Tylophora, Pueraria, Mucuna, Vitex and Sarcostemma are valuable sources of fuel, fodder, timber, medicine, biofertilizer (Endophytic rizobia) and vegetables for sustaining life in the DESERT. These plants are well adapted to the environment and contribute to the productivity, and keep the system photosynthetically active under all seasons. Attempt has also been made beside tissue culture, to isolate and purify the rhizobacteria associated with important native legumes of this region. These studies are important for sustainable agriculture practices.

Prosopis cineraria is a very significant tree of the THAR DESERT of India, contributing to ecological stability of the region and providing extensive support to human beings, livestock and the nutrient deficient soils. Since last one decade, problem of drying and mortality of this species has been noticed in some parts of the DESERT. Factors responsible for this drying phenomenon and research efforts undertaken by Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur, India for various aspects related to the species has been discussed in the paper.

In the last decade, there has been a lot of focus on sustainable development in the electrical power industry to meet the growing energy demand. This has led to an increase in the integration of renewable energy sources (RES). In addition to being abundantly available, the RES offers advantages such as low environmental impact and increased social development of rural communities which are imperative for a sustainable society. However, the selection of a particular generating resource or resource mix (RM) for an autonomous micro-grid is a complex problem that involves multiple conflicting factors. In this paper, a planning strategy for selecting an appropriate RM has been proposed. Seven RMs comprising different combinations of four generation/storage technologies such as solar photovoltaic array (SPVA), wind turbine (WT), diesel generator (DG) and battery storage (BS) have been considered. The planning is initiated with the determination of optimal component sizing for all seven RMs. The RMs are then analyzed with respect to four primary sustainability parameters i.e. economic, social, technical and environmental. The analysis is further enhanced by investigation of 13 sub-parameters as well. Thereafter, prioritization of RMs is carried out using two MCDM methods: Best worst method (BWM) and PROMETHEE II. Finally, to assert the importance of weight assignment on RM ranking, sensitivity analysis is performed. In order to impart the practical aspect to analysis, the planning formulation is applied to a case study of the THAR DESERT, India. The results suggest that a combination of SPVA and BS provides the most optimum RM solution.

Background: Malaria is the most important tropical and parasitic disease in the world. Endophagy of many malaria vectors­­­­­­­­­­­ advocates that impeding their entry into houses and preventing their contact with the occupants from infective bites could protect them against malaria. Methods: The study was carried out in Jaisalmer District, India and three villages were selected as test villages and three as control. Cross-sectional malaria prevalence surveys and mosquito collections were conducted in all the study villages. Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) were tied below the beds for personal protection against the mosquito bite. Door and window curtains along with partition curtains were treated with insecticide for baring the entry of mosquito vectors. Results: Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum were reported from the study villages. Higher malaria cases were detect­ed in the control villages than the insecticide-treated bed net-distributed villages. The percentages of reduction of mos­quito density in the houses of the ITNs distributed villages were significantly higher than the control villages. The insec­ticide activity was decreased slowly, and the knockdown time (KD50) values were found to be increased with the dura­tion of usage of net. The KD50 of Anopheles subpictus s. l. was found to be more than the An. stephensi. Rooms where the ITNs were found to be significantly lower per man-hour density of mosquitoes. Conclusion: The use of alternative forms of ITNs shows a potential for preventing malaria and are making a significant contribution to the mosquito control. Effective use of ITNs could be helpful in the malaria elimination in India by 2030.

The basement rocks encountered in exploratory boreholes drilled for exploration and evaluation of coal deposits in THAR Parkar district, Sindh Pakistan have formed the basis for present studies. The basement complex was penetrated through eighteen boreholes at drill depth range from 112 to 279 meters. These rocks were identified in field as Pink and Grey Granites.. The basement rocks are of Igneous as well as metamorphic origin. The Igneous rocks identified petrographically are Alkali-feldspar Granite, Granodiorite, Rhyolite, Rhyodacite and Aplite while that of metamorphic origin is Plagioclase Hornblende Gneiss. These rocks are termed as THAR Granitoids. The chemical data plotted in various binary and ternary diagrams suggests that the THAR Granitoids are (1) in general peraluminous in nature (2) restricted to psuedoternary minimum at moderate water pressure.

Background: Transmission of malaria and dengue in the DESERT part of India is mainly caused by Anopheles ste-phensi and Aedes aegypti respectively. The maintenance and transmission of the pathogens that cause malaria and dengue are dependent on the physiology of the mosquito vectors. We aimed to measure the energy contents in the mosquitoes transmitting malaria and dengue in the DESERT part of the country. Methods: Immature stages of mosquitoes were collected from six different larval habitats situated in Jodhpur City of Rajasthan state, India. The immature stages of both the mosquitoes were collected once in fortnightly from each loca-tion. Quantitative estimations of the lipid, glucose, and glycogen of the laboratory-reared and field collected An. stephensi and Ae. aegypti were made by spectrophotometric method. The energy contents of the larvae, pupae, fe-males, and males were estimated in triplicates on six different occasions. Results: The lipid content of laboratory-reared larvae, pupae and female mosquitoes of An. stephensi and Ae. aegypti was found to be lower than their conspecific field-collected specimens. Whereas, the glycogen content in the la-boratory-reared larvae, pupae and female mosquitoes of An. stephensi and Ae. aegypti was higher than that of their conspecific field-collected specimens. The glucose content in all the stages of the laboratory-reared An. stephensi was lower than their conspecific field-collected specimens except in few cases. Conclusion: The higher amount of lipid in field-collected mosquitoes may be because of the availability of food in the natural habitat and adaptation of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes living in DESERT climate are physiologically better equipped to survive in the DESERT environment.

The paper is concerned with the hydrogeological appraisal of the proposed mining operations in the THAR lignite field in Sindh, Pakistan. The THAR coalfield covers an area of approximately 9000km2 and contains three lignite seams lying at depth of 130m to 250 m. In the THAR lignite field, the presence of three main aquifers induces pore pressure in the rock mass surrounding the lignite seams and makes high wall slopes potentially unsafe. It is, therefore, necessary to dewater the rock mass before commencing mining excavations. The paper describes the proposed mine dewatering scheme to facilitate depressurising of the rock mass surrounding the mining excavations. Inflow prediction of groundwater to the surface mining excavation was carried out using a SEEP/W finite element software package. The simulation results show that the ground water inflow from the Top aquifer is 114m3/d, from the Intermediate confined aquifer is 141m3/d and from the Bottom confined aquifer is 1.28´105 m3 /d. These results were compared with the analytical solutions which indicated that the relative error of estimation of inflow quantities varies from 3.4 % to 6.4%.