Pay the price
Sir — A trader in Pune is offering Alphonso mangoes on EMIs as the price of the fruit has skyrocketed. This is a novel solution given that the selling price of Alphonso mangoes is now Rs 1,300 and above per dozen. I remember a time when I used to buy these fruits for less than Rs 50 for a dozen. As the prices of essential items like atta, pulses, rice, oil and so on continue to soar, it may not be too long before banks offer loans to purchase our monthly groceries and vegetables since no middle-class, salaried citizen or pensioner would be able to afford daily necessities with their own incomes.
N. Mahadevan,Chennai
Striped success
Sir — India has brought back tigers from the brink of extinction and is seeing their numbers leap forward, thanks to Project Tiger, which completes 50 years in 2023. Yesterday the prime minister, Narendra Modi, released the latest tiger census which has found that with 3,167 tigers in 2022, India is now home to 75% of this big cat’s global population. As India celebrates the recovery of its tiger population, there are two major challenges that it has to grapple with. These should also be the focus of tiger conservation for the coming decade.
There are several tiger reserves, such as Corbett and Kanha that have reached their carrying capacity. At the same time, there are other reserves which are low-density and have the potential to accommodate more tigers. We need to actively manage our tiger population. Second, around 70% of the country’s tigers are found in protected areas. But, over the decades, because the tiger reserves have been cut off from one another, they have become islands of gene pools at the risk of some pandemic-driven wipeout. Diminishing forested areas will also endanger tigers by raising the risks of man-animal conflict.
Surendra Panagariya, Bengaluru
Needless hassles
Sir — India’s obsession with identity cards is disproportionate. Sometimes, weeks after the birth of a baby in India, a ration card is issued in his or her name. To this list is added the admit card for secondary school examination, the voter-identity car, the PAN card, and the latest addition to India’s obsessive tryst with ‘cardocracy’, the Aadhaar, which is supposed to serve as the ultimate proof of identity.
The culture of introducing multiple cards increases the layers of complexity in governance, paving the way for loopholes to foster irregularities and corruption. Privileged classes like the bureaucrats, politicians and so on have high stakes in keeping the system complicated and multi-pronged. It is the poor and the underprivileged who always bear the brunt.
T. Bandyopadhyay, Hounslow, UK
Real feel
Sir — The deepening effects of the climate crisis are throwing traditional models of climate prediction awry and underlining the need for more sensitive mitigation and adaptation plans. The India Meteorological Department responded to this trend this week by announcing plans to issue heat index readings for weather stations by calculating the ‘real feel’ heat index. This is a much-needed step. Understanding the extent of discomfort being felt by individuals needs to factor in relative humidity, wind speed, maximum temperature, and cloud cover.
Measures of heat index and wet-bulb temperature (a combined measure of heat and humidity) provide a more nuanced understanding of the impact of heat than what bald readings of temperatures can manage.
Vidushi Dhawan, Delhi
Stark contrast
Sir — Finland has been the happiest country on earth for the past six years, according to the World Happiness Survey. The reason Finns are happier than others comes down to a number of factors, including lower income inequality (most importantly, the difference between the highest paid and the lowest paid), high social support, freedom to make decisions and low levels of corruption. Given these factors, it is not surprising that India ranks 126 among 137 countries.
Mrinal Kanti Kundu, Howrah
Wings of change
Sir — The metaphor of the butterfly effect — how tiny, almost imperceptible, changes may lead to massive outcomes — is often used in the discussion of chaos theory. It turns out butterflies, along with other pollinators, can cause huge changes not just by their presence but also by their absence. A new modelling study in Environmental Health Perspectives estimates that half a million people — this is a conservative estimate — are dying prematurely every year due to global insect pollinator decline, because of its impact on the availability and the price of healthy food such as nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables.
T.S. Karthik, Chennai
Parting shot
Sir — India is one of the world’s largest egg-producing countries after China and the United States of America. Yet, states in India are currently facing an acute shortage of eggs. This is an ominous sign for the future.
Peter Das, Calcutta
