In this chapter, we will cover the remote sensing of precipitation to understand how precipitation is tracked. Precipitation is considered one of the most important components of the water cycle that drives the availability of water and its management. For example, precipitation leads to runoff and streamflow, irrigates a field of crops and provides the water for crop growth, fills up lakes, reservoirs and ponds that are a key source for water management. The understanding of precipitation remote sensing will pave the way for learning more complex water management applications that are being increasingly carried out around the world today using satellite water data. We will first cover the history of precipitation remote sensing that began with using active sensing and ground radar. Next, we will cover satellite-based sensing where the challenges and complexities are different. The pros and cons of using various electromagnetic wavelengths will be covered. Finally, we will cover the topic of multi-sensor precipitation estimation based on the synergistic use of multiple satellite sensors spanning different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Even if the structural, social, and political dimensions of global crisis could be resolved, the ecological crisis makes it questionable that capitalism can continue to reproduce itself as a global system. The infinite character of capitalist expansion runs up against the finite character of the biosphere. The Capitolocene, or world-ecology, approach seeks to displace the dualist assumptions associated with the Anthropocene approach that identifies humans rather than capital as the cause of ecological crisis. Climate change is a meta-disaster, and there is the onset of irreversible environmental degradation. The loss of biodiversity threatens to undermine the ecosystems needed for agriculture and animal husbandry on a scale needed to feed billions of people. Capital has responded to the ecological crisis with a "green" strategy that seeks to convert this crisis into new accumulation opportunities by expanding its appropriation and capitalization of nature and to shift the blame on to the poor through a neo-Malthusian discourse. Green capitalism is not more benign to the proletariat and surplus humanity just because it claims to be environmentally friendly, and it is no more capable of resolving the crisis of global capitalism, much less the ecological crisis, than is the rest of capitalism.

A film city in business parlance is an enclave dedicated to film work, where infrastructure, labour, and capital organization are oriented towards the production of films. The usage of the term ‘film city’ has transformed with the changing global media landscape. Cities like Bombay with long histories of film production are often referred to as film cities. The financial capital of India, Bombay is a hub of several economic activities. However, due to the symbolic significance of film, it is often characterized as a film city. The second usage is film studios being named as film cities. For example, Y. A. Fazalbhoy's studio operational in the 1930s was called Film City Studio. There is also a third use of the term that amalgamates the first two: a studio, an enclosed space, which simulates the city and incorporates the wide cluster of film-related activities. A film city here is a large enclave almost comparable to a ‘real’ city or district in its area, a peculiar urban formation of planned development.

Film city as an enclave was first imagined in Hyderabad by the Andhra Pradesh state government in the 1960s through the Brahmananda Chitrapuri plan. It was, however, unsuccessful. The second and successful attempt happened with the involvement of the Telugu Kamma capitalist Ramoji Rao with the creation of Ramoji Film City (RFC).

INTRODUCTION

One of the largest manufacturers of gold jewellery in the world, India's jewellery manufacturing sector remains firmly rooted in the informal economy – also known as the unorganised sector. The gems and jewellery sector which contributes an estimated 7 per cent to India's gross domestic product (GDP) is dominated by small, ‘hole in the wall’ workshops, where artisans practise their craft without any formal contract. Meanwhile, the jewellery retailing industry is becoming increasingly organised – registered and state-regulated – in the post-liberalisation period, especially with the entry of corporate retailers. While there is no official estimate of the number of jewellery manufacturers in India, the industry estimates that the country is home to between 20,000 and 30,000 manufacturing units (WGC 2022). In 2022, the World Gold Council (WGC) notes that while in 2017, less than 10 per cent of units operated as organised, large-scale facilities, now around 15–20 per cent of units operate in this manner (WGC 2022). The WGC attributes this rapid transformation in status to three distinct factors: rapid capitalisation, an increase in exports and state-incentivising regulatory measures. However, contradictory processes appear to be operating here.

The historic region of Morang has made a remarkable transition over 200 years from a forested frontier at the fringes of the Mughal empire to a breadbasket and source of natural resources for the emerging state of Nepal. This chapter reviews this historical transformation. It begins by exploring the subordination of the ‘Adivasi mode of production’ to feudalism, particularly following its annexation into the centralised Gorkhali state. Interconnected processes include the imposition of agrarian taxation, stratification within the indigenous peasantry, the clearing of the forest frontier and the distribution of land grants – the precursor to the absentee landlordism of today. The analysis goes on to look at the emergence of imperialism, and how the persistence of rural feudalism went alongside the distorted and uneven development of capitalism, particularly of industry. The final section explores the changes in the rural economy following the downfall of the Rana regime and rise of the monarchical Panchayat system. As the king pursued a developmentalist agenda in the 1960s, the agrarian relations on the ground remained similar, yet the relationship between caste, class and ethnicity shifted – particularly in the wake of the 1960s land reforms. In particular, the chapter charts the declining wealth of the indigenous Tharu landed elite, and the emerging dominance of absentee landlords at the apex of the agrarian structure with close ties to the state. The final part of the chapter charts the emerging articulations with capitalism following the establishment of manufacturing industry in the Morang region and the perpetuation of semi-colonial trade relations.

Though it goes against the common conception of Schoenberg as a no-nonsense adherent to high art and modernism, popular music played an important role in the composer’s life and work. This chapter will survey Schoenberg’s engagement with the popular music and popular-music culture by focusing on four dimensions of that engagement: Schoenberg’s early-period cabaret songs; the use of popular music in his mature works before 1933; his relationship to popular music while living in Los Angeles; and the role of popular music in Schoenberg’s theories.

Collections of objects of Sikh history and Sikh art exist in the hands of both private individuals and institutions. The most famous examples of private collections include those of the maharajas of Patiala and Nabha in India, the Kapany Collection and the Khanuja Family Collection in the USA (Taylor and Dhami 2017) and the Toor Collection in the United Kingdom (UK). A selection from the Khanuja family's private collection is now displayed in a dedicated gallery in the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona, USA (Taylor 2022), and, similarly, a part of the Kapany Collection is housed in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Canada. Recently, in 2022, the Lahore Museum in Pakistan inaugurated a Sikh Gallery with objects from the time of Ranjit Singh (Ahmed 2022). The items in these collections range from handwritten and illustrated manuscripts (including of the Guru Granth Sahib), miniature paintings, sculptures, clothes, weapons, jewellery, coins, pieces of furniture—mostly associated with the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the colonial period, including paintings done or commissioned by colonial officials and early photographs of the Sikhs and their shrines (c. mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries). The Sikh Gallery at Lahore Museum, for example, displays portraits of the members of the royal family (of Ranjit Singh), administrative records of the court and even personal items like prayer beads of the maharaja. Illustrated folios of a nineteenth-century Janamsakhi are among the paintings available in the Kapany Collection. Some collections also include modern art by Sikh artists such as the UK-based Singh Twins and some of the artists whose works were discussed earlier in the book (such as Sobha Singh, Jarnail Singh, R. M. Singh and Devender Singh).

Starting from the Russo-Japanese War until the height of the Cold War era, Schoenberg’s adult life coincided with various wars during the turbulent first half of the twentieth century. This chapter explores how Schoenberg navigated these events by surveying his correspondences with friends and pupils, his own writings and brief analyses of two overtly political compositions, Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, op. 41 (1942) and A Survivor from Warsaw, op. 46 (1947). This chapter ends by considering the two war compositions as the composer’s statement and restatement against fascistic tendencies in Germany during World War II and, again, in the United States during the Cold War era.

This chapter explores the characteristics, success factors, and contributions of vibrant streets to sustainable development. Vibrant streets are dynamic, energetic urban spaces where pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles coexist, supporting both movement and place functions. These streets are essential for fostering community interaction, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability. The chapter identifies key characteristics of vibrant streets, including active use, diverse functions, and successful businesses, which contribute to their lively atmosphere. Successful vibrant streets balance three functions: movement (efficient transportation of people and goods), place (providing areas for social interaction), and environmental functions (climate adaptation and water management). Key factors contributing to their success include walkability, well-designed public spaces, and mixed land use, which enhance both pedestrian volumes and the quality of place-based activities. The chapter also highlights broader contributions of vibrant streets to sustainable urban development. By promoting walking, cycling, and public transport, vibrant streets reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve public health, and foster social inclusion. Furthermore, they enhance the urban environment by integrating green spaces and promoting resource efficiency. Ultimately, vibrant streets are vital components of sustainable urbanism, supporting the goals of accessibility, environmental stewardship, and social equity, all while enhancing the quality of urban life and promoting long-term resilience.

Years before British India contained any political unit called Bihar, the people living there already referred to it as a province. A convenient shorthand is one thing, however, and political reality is another. Though Bihar had been a province of the Mughal Empire before being absorbed into the Bengal Presidency in the eighteenth century, administrative boundaries had not produced a strong Bihari social or political identity. The region was diverse in language and in other respects; the Bhojpuri-speaking region in western Bihar was linked to eastern UP, Maithili-speaking northern Bihar had ties with Bengal and southern Nepal, and the Magahi-speaking region around Patna edged into the Chota Nagpur Plateau. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, though, some middle-class men began to see themselves as Biharis. More and more, they objected to the dominant role played by the Bengalis with whom they shared a province. The political demands they made as Biharis ultimately led to the creation of the new province of Bihar and Orissa in 1912, with Patna as its capital.

Patna was at the center of these transformations in middle-class subjectivity and political expression. Especially crucial were the city's English-medium schools and colleges. Many of these had been founded and nurtured with support from the aristocrats of Patna City, but by the turn of the century, they were thoroughly tied to the fortunes of Bihar's emerging white-collar elite.

This chapter explores logbooks by non-elite seafarers as a hybrid mode that combines the model of the ship’s official log with the practice of the ordinary terrestrial diary – a form that flourished throughout the nineteenth century. Bringing together original archival research into sea journals with critical approaches to the diary stemming from life writing studies, the analysis reframes the logbook beyond its traditional categorisation as a document of work, in order to position it as a more personal text that allowed for the maintenance of bonds of family and kinship across oceans. The chapter proposes that logbooks were linked to the terrestrial world in other ways too, emerging as a popular literary motif from Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, through to fictions by Robert Louis Stevenson and Joseph Conrad in the late Victorian period. Tracing their evidentiary and narrative potential, logbooks – both real and fictive – are positioned as circulating objects that travelled across social, spatial, and generic borders.