📰 New gin berry species discovered in southern Western Ghats
Glycosmis albicarpa bears distinct large white fruit
•A team of scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has discovered a new gin berry species from the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. The species, named Glycosmis albicarpa with a distinct large white fruit, is endemic to the southern Western Ghats. The species belongs to the Orange family, Rutaceae.
•The findings have been published in the latest issue of Nordic Journal of Botany, published from Sweden .
•Many of the related plants of these taxonomic groups are being utilised for their medicinal values and food. Most commonly related species of these plants are collected from the wild, mainly for local use as food and medicine.
•Berries of Glycosmis species have the unique characteristic of ‘gin aroma’ and has gained in popularity as an edible fruit. The species is also a larval host plant for butterflies like other species of Glycosmis, said K. A. Sujana, the leader of the scientific team said.
•The species, an evergreen small tree, was found as undergrowth in Tirunelveli semi-evergreen forests at the Panagudi forest section of the wildlife sanctuary as a single population that covers an area of approximately 2 sq.km., said Dr. Sujana.
•“While exploring the study site, four sub-populations of the species were located in the valley between two hillocks, with each having three–seven mature individuals in groups,” she said. Though flowering, natural regeneration and seedling recruitment of this taxon is found to be fairly good within the locality, while habitat modification causes a major threat to the survival of this species, she added.
•“A special conservation effort for this particular region is the need of the hour”, said Dr. Sujana.
•The discovery not only re-emphasises the uniqueness and endemism in Western Ghats’ flora but also add to the growing inventory of the region’s flora, said Ragesh Gopala Vadhyar, co-author.
•“Since the world is losing precious habitats that are home to many unique and endemic species, it is high time we protected the Western Ghats to conserve such species before they are lost forever,” said Dr. Vadhyar.
Vaccination was shown to have been a life saver during the third wave of the pandemic
•The COVID-19 pandemic is on a discernible wane. Just a month ago, India was reporting around 1,70,000 cases a day and the latest numbers suggest it has plummeted to around 6,000. India is now contributing to only 0.7% of global cases. Last year this time, cases were below 5,000 a day, encouraging several States and the Centre to claim that the pandemic was over, though within a matter of weeks there was a resurgence fuelled by the Delta variant which birthed a summer of catastrophe. There is, however, a crucial distinction between then and now in that over 75% of those over 15 years are now fully vaccinated in India. A small and growing number of those over 60 have had the third dose. Reports suggest that over 90% of Indians have been exposed to the virus over the last two years and, therefore, combined with the vaccination, are sufficiently protected against disease — but not infection — for many more months ahead. What bears emphasis is that avoiding vaccination makes one, particularly the elderly, vulnerable to serious infection. Balram Bhargava, Director-General, ICMR, said at a press conference this week that 92% of those who died of COVID-19 since January this year were unvaccinated, and underlined that vaccines and the wide vaccination coverage had played an important role in protecting hundreds of lives.
•India is fortunate in that it does not have to battle vaccine hesitancy in a large measure. The initial scepticism regarding the vaccines not having passed the typical stages of vaccine approval saw a certain degree of hesitation, but very soon it emerged, in April and May last year, that India’s main problem was an insufficient number of vaccines. Though India today has administered nearly 178 crore vaccine doses and has several indigenously developed vaccines that have been approved in emergency mode by authorities, there are still serious questions on supply. Currently, vaccine demand is low and the vaccination drive is in ‘mop up mode’ and administering second doses. But were the pandemic situation to suddenly turn for a fourth wave to take shape, there would be a spike in demand for vaccinations for children, particularly those below 15, as well as booster doses for adults. The experience of Covaxin’s manufacturer being unable to ramp up vaccinations in time during the crisis months ought to be a persistent reminder to other biotechnology companies that having vaccines is very different from being ready with a seamless supply chain. The Indian government has still not made public a timeline for when vaccines from Biological E, Gennova and Zydus Cadila will be practically available for mass use. Though the world is occupied with a different crisis, India must not let its guard down and should insist on companies being ready with a measurable timeline.
📰 Capital verdict: On A.P. High Court judgment on Amaravati
A.P. High Court judgment on Amaravati protects governance from political whimsy
•That policies change with governments may appear acceptable in a democracy, but no court will allow a transformation so fundamental that rights and entitlements that accrued during an earlier regime are abandoned or frustrated. In 2014, the Amaravati region was chosen as the site of the capital of Andhra Pradesh, the residuary State left after the creation of Telangana, but work was stopped after the present YSRCP regime took over. Instead, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy mooted the idea of ‘decentralised’ development, by which he meant that the State will have Amaravati as the legislative capital, while Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital, and Kurnool the seat of the High Court. In a stern rebuff to the ‘three capitals’ idea of the present regime, a Full Bench of the State’s High Court has ruled that it cannot abandon the project to develop Amaravati as the capital city after over 33,000 acres had been given up by farmers and ₹15,000 crore sunk in it over development expenditure. Holding the State government to its promise of developing the region into the capital city, it has directed the government to complete the required developmental work in Amaravati within six months. As a consequential relief to the farmers who had given up their land for the specific purpose, the court has asked the State and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority to develop the surrendered land and deliver reconstituted plots to them within three months.
•In political terms, the decision to locate the three organs in different cities was possibly motivated by a wish to undo a key policy measure of the previous TDP regime, as well as negate speculative gains the erstwhile rulers may have allegedly made by choosing Amaravati. However, it was projected as a measure to decentralise governance and take the fruits of development to all parts of the State. After farmers approached the court, the government sought to render the matter infructuous by repealing its decentralisation law, the one that it enacted in 2020 for spreading the capital city and proposing ‘inclusive development’ of all regions. However, the Bench took note of the government’s intention to pursue its multiple capital cities plan and decided that it will adjudicate on the petitioners’ grievances. It held that the State legislature lacked the competency to shift the organs of the State. The verdict, if undisturbed by the Supreme Court, may put an end to attempts to shift the capital city out of Amaravati. A welcome feature of the verdict is that it has invoked the doctrines of constitutional trust and promissory estoppel to prevent a regime from going back on its promises to citizens. It sends out a message that governance should not be buffeted by winds of political change or be held hostage to the passing whimsy of a particular regime.
