The study examines the trend, pattern, and composition of public health expenditure in India from 2004–05 to 2019–20, both at the national and state levels. The findings indicate that per capita public health expenditure recorded a significant positive growth rate of 15.64 percent during the study period. Simultaneously, key health outcome indicators such as the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) exhibited a consistent decline, reflecting notable improvements in public health. The analysis further reveals a negative correlation between public health expenditure and both IMR and MMR, suggesting that higher levels of public spending are associated with better health outcomes. In terms of composition, revenue expenditure consistently exceeded capital expenditure across both levels, indicating a greater emphasis on operational and maintenance costs relative to infrastructure development. Moreover, the distribution of public health expenditure by level of care displays significant inter-state disparities, pointing to unequal allocation and prioritization of health resources among Indian states. The study highlights the need for increased and well-balanced investment in the public health sector to ensure equitable and sustainable improvements in health outcomes across the country.

Keywords: High Focused States, IMR, MMR, Non-High Focused States, Public health expenditure.

Over the past four decades, Indian society has been more concerned with children’s physical and mental disabilities as one of the main societal issues. Nonetheless, most individuals in this nation are still unable to distinguish between mental illness and special educational needs. Research in this field has advanced significantly in the social and medical sciences. It has been noted that awareness of the issue of physical and mental disability is increasing quickly. Such rapid growth in interest is involving more and more researchers doing studies on mental retardation which is in terms of producing a large accumulation of data on the general condition with which individuals with special educational needs are associated. The results show that there was a significant difference between the two groups with regard to class and type of school and shows that age at first recognised, among the psychosocial variables there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the domains of family burden. There is a difference between the two groups in other psychosocial variables like self-esteem, marital life, social support and social stigma but they are not statistically significant. Children with conditions like cerebral palsy or Down’s syndrome need to be assisted in feeding. Children with mental health issues cannot comprehend the messages. At the same time, Children with disabilities have a higher risk of conditions such as diabetes and hypertension which are high-risk factors for COVID-19 mortality. Therefore study observes that children with disabilities need much more support than the rest of the population in the face of a pandemic. It can be concluded from the study that the parental psychosocial problems are found to be much severe during the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic.

Keywords: Family burden, social support, pandemic, social stigma, self-esteem, intellectual disability.

Natural water springs (Baolis) of Jammu region are unique examples where ecological and environment considerations have led to sanctifying of perennial water sources since ancient times. Natural water springs of Jammu region, therefore hold a special significance, especially when the history and culture of the region still has some unexplained areas for want of historical, religious, and artistic material evidences. The images sculpted on the baoli reliefs, not only reflect on the development of religious beliefs that held sway in Jammu region from time to time but also the development of different architectural styles as seen in the niches and pillars which enclose the main images. The water of these baolis was used for both drinking and bathing. People usually took bath in the baoli and this is still in use. Village Panchyat is the main caretaker of these baolis in the present time.

Keywords: Baolis, Chopal, Devta, Meil, Shivalyas, Maro-Kandi, Naun.

The study examined how contact with environmental pollution affects economic productivity in Adamawa state, Nigeria. Primary data was collected across 10 Local Government Areas in Adamawa state by administering questionnaire to 440 respondents. The LGAs were chosen by Probability Proportional to Sampling technique (PPS) and the sampling size was determined by the Taro Yamane formular. In the study, males constitute 50.68% while females 49.32%. Ages 26-44 years constitute 65.68% representing the most productive categories of the population studied. In the survey, 52.27% were married, while 28.86% were single. 70.69% have acquired formal education ranging from basic level to tertiary level, only 12.73% have no formal education. In the months preceding the survey, 25.91% have earned between 21, 000 – 40, 000 naira, while 4.77% earned above 100, 000 naira. Only 37.95% have earned below 20, 000. To analyze the effect of pollution on productivity, Ordered Logistic Regression approach was used. Result of interaction between worker productivity per hour (Dependent Variable) and key independent variable (Environmental Pollution) has shown an inverse relationship with a negative coefficient of -0.429. Specifically, a one-unit increase in environmental pollution decreases the log odds of being in a higher productive category by 35% (OR: 1-0.651) at 5% level of significance. This means that an increase in environmental pollution significantly reduces worker productivity per hour. The study therefore calls on business owners, government institutions and citizens to initiate and implement concrete measures to stem the rising environmental pollution in the local environment, business places and government buildings by providing functional sanitation facilities and encourage citizens to make use of it in order to achieve a clean environment and reduce the effect of pollution on citizens’ productivity.

Keywords: Adamawa state, Economic productivity, Environmental pollution, Nigeria, Ordered Logistic Regression.

English and Bangla, while distinct in their linguistic structures, share numerous similarities that invite comparative analysis across phonemics, morphology, and syntax. Articulatory phonetics, a crucial aspect of phonemics, provides a gateway to exploring the vowels and consonant sounds in both languages. In English, nuances such as vowel length and reduced vowels significantly influence word meanings, highlighting the precision required in pronunciation. Conversely, Bangla showcases unique features like vowel doubling and nasalization, underscoring its own phonemic intricacies.

Morphology, the study of word forms and their structure, unveils further insights into how English and Bangla construct words. While English leans towards analytic forms with distinct morphemes for grammatical roles, Bangla employs a more synthetic approach, combining morphemes within words to convey complex grammatical information efficiently.

By comparing and contrasting these linguistic elements, this study aims to deepen our understanding of how language functions as a unique feature of human communication. Despite the mysteries surrounding its origin, comparative linguistics offers insights that may contribute to unraveling the ancient puzzle of language emergence.

Keywords: comparative linguistics, phonetics, morphology, vowels, consonants.