August 3, 2025 • 29 mins
First, we talk to The Indian Express’ Jayprakash Naidu about a controversial legal case in Chhattisgarh involving the arrest of two Catholic nuns from Kerala on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion.
Next, we speak to The Indian Express’ Anonna Dutt about ICMR’s announcement of AdFalciVax, a new malaria vaccine candidate and what makes it different from existing options. (11:18)
And in the end, we talk to The Indian Express’ Sukrita Baruah about Kaziranga National Park’s first ever grassland bird census. (20:56)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava, Niharika Nanda and Ichha Sharma
Edited and Mixed by Suresh Pawar
Next, we speak to The Indian Express’ Anonna Dutt about ICMR’s announcement of AdFalciVax, a new malaria vaccine candidate and what makes it different from existing options. (11:18)
And in the end, we talk to The Indian Express’ Sukrita Baruah about Kaziranga National Park’s first ever grassland bird census. (20:56)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava, Niharika Nanda and Ichha Sharma
Edited and Mixed by Suresh Pawar
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode, we talk about the significance of ICMR's
new malaria vaccine candidate and what it could mean for India.
We also discussed the first ever grassland birth senses conducted
in Assam's Kaziranga National Park. But we begin today with
a controversial legal case that has triggered sharp political conversations
(00:20):
across the country. Hi a Micha Sharma and you're listening
to three Things the Indian Express New Show. On Saturday,
a special court in Chattizgar constituted by the National Investigation
Agency granted bail to two Catholic nuns from Kerala, Prithy
(00:44):
Mary and Vandana Francis, who had been arrested on charges
of alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion. When we
spoke to The Indian Express's je Prakash Naidu, he told
us that these two women had first been spotted by
a Badjungal member.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So in the morning on July twenty fifth, Badjangal members
spotted the two nuns and three women at the Durga
railway station in Chattisguard and he suspected that it can
be a case of human trafficking and he called up
other Jule members, then a lot of Budjejungle members and
one Jodi Sharma, who said she works for Hindutua. They
all reached the railway station and based on their allegations,
(01:22):
a fire was registered by the Government Railway Police on
charges of human trafficking and forceful conversion, while the nuns
and a nineteen year old were sent to jail. After
being arrested, the three women were sent to shelter room
and there are several videos of the incident on YouTube
where you know, you can see one of the Budjungle
members pulling the years of the nineteen year old while
Sharma is you know, checking the bags of the victims
(01:45):
and threatening to hit one of the nuns, hake Ohama.
It so, this entire incident, it was, you know, going
(02:13):
on social media and the incident created an outrage with
the opposition Congress Party and the c P I M
members raising in the parliament. Looks of a Leader of Opposition,
Raoul Gani, he alleged that it's a case and it's
like an attack on minorities by the b j P
and the r s S. On the other side, the
Chief Minister he cautioned that this case should not be politicized.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
He tells us that the arrest was carried out by
the Government Railway Palace or g r P and soon
snowballed into a high profile case, drawing responses from leaders,
religious organizations and civil society groups.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So there are two charges. One is of human trafficking
for allegedly taking the three women from a Naxel affected
Naraanpur district to Agra and Uta Pradesh where they were
to work in a hospital. And the second allegation is
they were forcefully converted from tribals to Christians.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
All right, and Jaipraka, speaking about the two nuns, Prithy
Marie and Wandana Francis, tell us what do we know
about them?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, so Preth Marian Wandana Francis. They are both aged
about fifty to fifty five years and each of them
have spent six to seven years working in Chattisgart including
naran Pu district. And both of them have become nuns
somewhere in the nineteen nineties and they have been doing
social work since. While none. Prithy is a registered nurse
and she has worked in Andhra Pradesh. Marashra Uta Pradesh
(03:47):
and Madhradesh. None. Wandana is a BA graduate and she
is a trained pharmacist and she has worked as a
paramedical staff for leprecipations and apart from Chatizska, she has
also worked in Aghara, Uttara, khund And Andhaddesh.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And you earlier mentioned about their associate. So what have
they been accused of and how are they connected to
the nuns.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, so there's just one associate. His name is Sukuman Mandaw.
He's a nineteen year old and he is a tribal
from Naranpur district and he follows Christianity and he was
the one who informed the three women about this job
and he was the one who took them from Naranpur
district to Dur District. The three women and this mister Mundaw,
they met in church and one of the women told
(04:26):
me that he's like a brother to them.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And Jeibracash. We know that both the nuns got bail
on Saturday, So can you talk about what were the
grounds on which the NI court granted bail to them
and the third accused.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, so the biggest reason for granting of bail was
that the custodial interrogation of the accused was not required. However,
the court has made certain observations while giving the order.
One was the AFI is primarily based on a mere
apprehension and suspicion the nuns and the nineteen year old.
They do not have any previous criminal record and they
(04:57):
are not habitual offender and they will not abscorn. Thought
observation was there was if it evids given by the
parents of the victim, who have denied the charges against
the nuns and the nineteen year old. And last observation
was two of the three girls all three follow Christianity,
but the court observation made was that two of the
three girls have given statements that their follows of Christianity
since their childhood. So this also goes against the charge
(05:18):
of a forceful conversion right.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And speaking of the court's order which points out that
the investigation agency made no custodial introgation requisition, how unusual
is that, especially in a case involving such serious charges.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
See usually if it's a serious crime, then the police
tend to take the police custody and you know, interrogate
the hues to get more details. But in this particular case,
the GRP did not seek the police custody. They were
sent to judicial custody. And a reason for that could
be that right now, the investigation is in ancient stage
and maybe they wanted to gather some evidence and then
(05:53):
you know, go for a custoder introgation. And once you
are sent to judicial custody, if the police feel the
need of having your police custody, they can always go
to the court and seek the custody.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And what's also interesting is that the story includes a
counter narrative that the women who were allegedly being trafficked
actually filed a complaint against members of the Badjraung Dell.
So what did they say in their complaint and how
does that complicate the original case.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, so they did approach the Narayanpur police back home
with a complaint against the Badjangdal and Wan Jodi Sharma,
and one of the victims that told the Indian Express
that she was assaulted by Jodi Sharma and caused to
give a statement that they were being taken forcefully by
the nuns. So we also spoke to Sharma who denied
the claims. She did not assault them and she did
not cause them to change a statement. And now the
(06:43):
complaint will go to dur police because the offense has
taken place in the jurisdiction of dur Grp and not Narayanburg.
So no offense was registered in Narayanburg, but the complaint
may come to dur VRP.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Right, and you mentioned that you also spoke to one
of the three women, So what did she have to
say say about the incident?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So the woman I spoke to was a twenty one
year old and she has studied up to ten standard
and she was working as a laborer earning rupees to
fifty a day and she used to cycle nine kilometers
every day to Naraanpu town from.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Our village for work purpose.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And she was happy with this new job because she
was getting some ten thousand rupees and she had to
work as a cook and look after patients in the hospital.
And she has four more sisters. And she said that
she was very angry with the right wing group because
one of them assaulted her and they were forcing her
to change a statement.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And so how have the right wing groups responded to
this case so far?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So I also reached out to Badjanga's state coordinator, Mister
Rishi Mishra, and he said that they still stand by
their statement. They're saying that that should be a thorough
investigation into this case. And they are saying that, I mean,
it's the allegations. They are saying that this has been
happening for a very long time, that girls from bar
are being taken outside for work purpose and then they
do not know what happens to them. So mister Mischel
(07:59):
still stands by the allocations. That's the case of human
trafficking and the thorough investiation needs to be done in
the case. As far as Jodish Chermai is concerned, she
was denying allegations that she touched any of the three
women because the three women were already inside the police
station when she had reached there, and she said that,
you know, she found a six to seven passport size
photograph of girls and she saw that one of the
nineteen year old boy was arrested. He had some three
(08:21):
AHAR cards. So this were the allegations made by Judih
Hrmai cannot verify it. But the sherman as well as
the Badjaranga, they still stand by what the allegations they
have made and they're also gone their lawyers are also
gone to the Ani Court to oppose the bill, but
it did not go in their favor and Jebrakash.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
In the past, we've seen quite a bit of tension
between right wing groups like the buzzjung Dal and Christian
leaders and organizations. So could we talk a bit about
those incidents.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So this is not the first controversial case from bust
the region. Whether minority community have faced atrocities over allegations
of forceful conversion. Such cases or instances have been going
on at least for the last four to five years,
including during the Congress ruling Chatiz Gird. So the first
big case that comes to my mind is from January
twenty twenty three when a mob led by tribal leaders
(09:11):
including BJB had vandalized a church in Naranpur district and
they had desecreated statues of Jesus and Mother Marie. Back then,
the superintendent of police was assaulted by the mob and
he was left bleeding from his head. At the same time,
hundreds of tribals who had started following Christianity, they were
socially boycotted from the villages and over one hundred of
them were forced to stay in an indoor stadium in Narayanpur.
(09:33):
It was a major political issue back then and Christian
groups were unhappy with the then ruling Congress party and
Arun Panarala of the Chattiz God Christian Forum had made
their own party named Serva Adidal, which had entered the
Congress votes and which led to Congress losing a seat
or two in the Assembly polls. Similarly, Raven Natham, a
former Union minister who is from Chatiz Gerd and a
(09:56):
senior tribal leader from the Serai Samach this year he
had approached the RSS seeking their help to stop forceful
conversions in buster. The BJP government in Chatis is also
planning to bring a stringent law to deal with the
issue of forceful conversion. Apart from this issue, another major
issue in the Chatiz God is the tribals who following Christianity.
They are not allowed to bury bodies of their family
(10:17):
members in the village graveyards. They have to take the
bodies to Christian graveyards which are you know, many kilometers
away from the village. And this issue still persists and
a big example of this was one Ramesh Bagail from
the se community who had approached the Supreme Court after
the villagers in Busta District did not allow him to
use the common burial ground to bury his father, who
(10:38):
was a pastor. So Ramesha argued that two of his
relatives were buried in the same common graveyard in two
seven and two on fifteen as for Christian rituals, and
the villagers had no issue with it. Back then, at
that time, the Epics Court had ruled against Bugail in
the favor of the government and Bugail was forced to
bury his father's body in a Christian graveyard after keeping
it in a mortuary for twenty odd days.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
When we talk about this particular case, what happens next?
Is there a timeline for the investigation or the trial?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
See right now, there is no timeline for investigation and
the trial will begin after the GRP file a chart sheet.
In this case, the nuns lawyers, they told me that
they are having a discussion and may approach the High
Court for quashing their fire.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And next we turn to ICMR's new malaria vaccine candidate.
For years now, malaria has remained one of the deadliest
infectious diseases in the world. In fact, in twenty twenty three,
despite numerous global efforts to tackle it. The disease caused
nearly six lack debts, with around three thousand, five hundred
of those reported from India according to the World Health Organization.
(11:48):
But for India, that number actually marks significant progress, because
back in twenty fifteen, the toll stood a little over
fourteen thousand. Now, in a bit to bring down malaria
debts even further, the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR,
last week announced the development of ad faalcy wax, a
promising new vaccine candidate against the mosquito bond disease. The
(12:11):
announcement is especially notable because scientists have been working for
decades to develop an effective malaria vaccine. So to better
understand this new development and what it means for India's
malaria burden, Michelleague Neharik Nanda speaks to the Indian expresses
an nadad Anona.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
We know that typically symptoms of malaria include fevertuills, nausea,
vomiting and diarrhea, and in some severe cases, it can
also lead to seizures, fluid and lungs, organ damage.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And even death.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Now, before we talk about this new vaccine candidate can
you tell us how malaria has been typically treated.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
So malaria has a particular medicines that have to be
given to patients and it has to be you know,
as soon as possible, because when left unreated, it can
cause severe complications such as brain swelling et cetera, so
that can lead to death. So this medicine has to
(13:10):
be given soon after diagnosis. When it comes to vaccines,
there are currently two vaccines that the WHOSS can be
used for preventing malaria infections. It's RTSs and R twenty one.
These are the two vaccines that are available.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
So far and ant of what would you say makes
this latest announcement of ad faalcy wax so significant.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
So here I want to sort of put in a
note that this is a vaccine candidate. It is not
yet a vaccine because it still has to undergo human trials,
but there have been very positive indications that the researchers
have found in the animal studies that have already been completed.
And now ICMR is planning to be in partnership with
(13:58):
private companies to take the development forward and conduct these
human trials then commercialize the vaccine.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So in the animal.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Trials, the researchers also found like I mentioned by positive indications,
which is that the vaccine candidate provided more than ninety
percent protection against the infection in the mice for an
extended period of three months. So three months in mice
lifespan is about say a decade in human life span.
(14:29):
So that's another positive indication that has come from the
pre clinical animal trials of this vaccine candidate.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And could you tell us how exactly add falcy wax works.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
So it is essentially called something chimeric recominant vaccine. What
this means is that the scientists take different parts of
the plasmodium genetic material and they combine them and infect
certain cell lines in the laboratory to then generate the
antigenic proteins. These are proteins which sort of cause the
(15:06):
infection in the humans and against which the human body
develops antibodies. So these proteins are then extracted and that
is utilized to generate the immune response in people.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
And just to be clear, malaria spreads through the bite
of the infected female and a fleece mosquito. And these mosquitoes,
of course get infected when they feed on a person
who already has malaria, which is caused by Plasmodium malaria.
So you write that this vaccine uses two types of
proteins to prevent this spread.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So talk about what these proteins are.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
So one is known as the circumsporocite protein.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
It is mainly utilized during two stages of the classmodium's
life cycle.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
One is called the porrozoid stage.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
This is essentially when a person is infected in an
infective state and can be passing on this infection to
the others. And the second stage is called the liver stage,
and this is when these porrozoates actually enter the liver cells.
They multiply there and then infect the red blood cells.
Then there is also something called pro six C protein,
(16:17):
which is made up of parts of two other proteins.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
So these two other proteins are.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
A key for the replication of this plastodium in the
malaria midgut. So what happens is when a person is infected,
the mosquito bites them, takes in the malaria plastodium and
then that sort of develops within the mosquito's midgut and
this protein, so if people have this antibody, the development
(16:43):
will not happen in the mosquito, meaning even if a
person gets infected and they have taken this vaccine, they
cannot further transmit the disease to another person.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
So basically, this vaccine not only prevents the infection in
the person who has been immunized, but also people around
them because they also have the antibody to prevent the
development of the infection in the mosquito.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
So that's a big plus.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
But are there other ways in which this vaccine stands out?
Speaker 5 (17:13):
So one thing I mentioned is the use of these
two different types of proteins for making the vaccine to
generate the antibody response. The other two vaccines that are
currently available only use the first one, the CSP.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Protein, which I mentioned.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Another thing is that the CSP protein that they use
is not the complete protein, so they use parts of
it to generate the antibody response, but the ICMR vaccine
candidate uses a full length CSP meaning any sort of
immune response.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Is likely to be more with this vaccine.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Other than that, one of the benefits of this vaccine
is also that it uses a very common adjuvant called
alum so. Adjuvants are essentially comparns that are added to
vaccines to increase its efficacy, and both RTSs and R
twenty one do use adduants, but these are more complex
(18:09):
adjuants which sometimes can lead to sort of inflammation, et
cetera in the body, which does not happen with this very.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Simple alum adduent.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
And we know that because this is also used in
a lot of the vaccines that are used for the
childhood mumunization program. Another thing that the researchers found, of
course in the laboratory data is that this alum micro
particle adjuent is stable at room temperature. What that means
is the vaccine is also likely to be resistant to
(18:42):
the temperature, which means that you don't need to maintain
a very good cold chain to transport these vaccines. That's
the indication that the researchers have from the preliminary studies.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
And Anona, you mentioned that the ICMR is planning to
partner with private companies for qu trials, So can you
tell us how they are planning to go about it?
Speaker 5 (19:04):
So that is usually how it happens. It's the same
that happened with covid as well. So the initial COVID
virus that was isolated by ICMA that was used in
the biotech vaccine. So this happens with almost all vaccine
candidates that come out of research laboratories. It is just
(19:25):
easier to partner with a commercial company to get these
trials done. It's just that they have the resources to
do those trials. They have the networks where these trials
can be conducted, and it's easier to do that instead
of just one research lab you know, doing these big
clinical trials. So usually you would see the research companies
(19:49):
participate with commercial partners who also have the capability to
then actually manufacture these vaccines when needed and have everything
in place to market these products as well. So that
is how it is being done for this vaccine candidate too.
The human trials will be in collaboration with the company
and after that, once approved, it will also be the
(20:11):
same company that would manufacture and distribute it. And there
are certain, of course parameters that have to be fulfilled.
There are certain agreements in place, such as MR will
continue to get two percent royalty from.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
The sales of any of this vaccine.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
It will also continue to hold the intellectual property right, unless,
of course, there are some developments that the company does
on its own to the candidate and then there will
be a.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Joint sharing of IPR.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
The papers that come out of this will also be
with joint authorship with MR and the company, So these
sort of agreements will be in place. But yes, usually
you would see a vaccine being trialed and scaled up
in collaboration with the companies.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And in the end we shift our focus to an
important conservation effort that recently took place inside Assam's Kaziranga
National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that's home to
two thirds of the world's Indian rhinoceroses. Now. While these
unique looking mammals, known for their single horn, are the
main attraction, the park is also home to hundreds of
(21:23):
bird species, including ten species that are either globally threatened
or endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains, such as Bengal Florican
swamp Francolin swamp grass babbler, and black breasted parrot bell
and it was these birds that became the focus of
the park's first ever comprehensive grassland Bird Senses. The survey
(21:44):
basically aimed to map the presence and population of rare
and threatened avian species living in one of India's most
fragile ecosystems.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Kaziranga National Park, of course, is of the most well
known national park in Assam and it's most famous for
its mega herbivores, especially the one horn rhinoceros, as well
as its elephants.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
This is the Indian expressive Sukrita who reports on Asam
for the paper.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Now, around seventy percent of the total area of Kaziranga
National Park is comprised of grasslands.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So you know, this survey all began when.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
You know, this particular doctoral student Chirenjibora, who is studying
one particular grassland birds piecies called the black breasted parrot bill.
He received an inspired fellowship as part of his research
and to conduct this he was given access to acoustic
monitoring tools. So when he got permissioned to conduct this
research and when he approached the Kaziranga National Park authorities.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You know, they discussed this and they decided, you know, why.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
Don't we broaden the ambit of the you know, scope
of what we can be done with these tools and
conduct a comprehensive survey of grassland birds in Kajianga. And
when he spoke to the Kazirranga National Park director. She
said that, you know, one reason they were really interested
in this is because the presence and the number and
the diversity of grass and birds in the national Park
(23:09):
is also a very strong indicator of the health of
this ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So that's how it all began.
Speaker 6 (23:15):
This survey was conducted earlier this year, between March eighteenth
and May twenty fifths.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
She tells us that the study recorded the presence of
forty three grassland bird species, including one critically endangered, two
endangered and six vulnerable species as per the IUCN Red List.
So to understand how this census was conducted and what
it reveals about the national park, we speak to Skrita
in this segment.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Zakurta.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
For those who might not be familiar with the process,
how are birth senses usually conducted?
Speaker 6 (23:48):
So you know, there are different ways, so I mean
not just birth but any kind of you know, a
survey of wildlife that at least that I have followed
in my time of covering the Northeast is that you know,
there are camera tracks that are set or you know
this visual count of you know, the various species available,
but you know when they approach this bird survey, they
(24:08):
found that these tools are not going to be adequate
because these grassland birds are really small birds. They telegal birds,
they're highly camouflaged and you know, according to the director
of Kazaranga National Park, Sonaligos, they're quite shy, they're quite
evasive and elusive. So because of the acoustic tools that
children you've got, they followed this methodology called.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Passive acoustic monitoring.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
So what they did was place these acoustic monitoring tools
in various locations near the grasslands.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
At the tops of trees, and for a period of
three days, these.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
Recorded the sounds around and these picked up the songs
of these birds. These bird songs are amongst the sounds
recorded by these tools. And after a period of three days,
the scientists and the researchers they analyzed the sounds and
on the basis of the bird songs that were recorded
by these devices, they were able to identify and count
(25:04):
enumerate the grassland birds which are there in Kazinana.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Right, and you earlier mentioned that the survey saw a
shift from traditional bird counting methods to passive acoustic monitoring.
For instance, so can you talk about what other technology
or tools were used during the process.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Right, So of course the monitoring devices do their job
pick up the sounds, but then the next challenge is
identifying the birds through their bird songs. So of course
some birds they identified just by hearing the sounds, but
(25:51):
that's not always adequate. So then in some cases when
they weren't able to do so, they converted the sound
waves into you know, graphical representation called a spectrogram, so
on the basis of that they were able to analyze
these more closely, which helped them to identify them better.
They also use different softwares which use machine learning, and
(26:12):
you know, once you feed the sounds into these they
try and identify the birds. So there's extensive use of
technology and different means. And at the end of this
period of the survey, they identified a total of forty
three grassland bird species in Kasianga, and ten of these
are either globally threatened or endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains,
(26:34):
and one of these is critically endangered and two of
them are endangered endangered birds.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
So it was quite an interesting takeaway that they had
from this survey. Great and one of the other key
findings from the study was the discovery of a breeding
colony of finnsweaver. So talk about why this was significant.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Yeah, so this is one of those birds which are
endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains, so that means they're not
found anywhere else in the world except here.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
So again this bird.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
You know, what doctor Ghosh was saying is that they
knew that the bird was there, and they know that
it nests on top of really high cheese, but till
they they didn't know where it was that these birds
were nesting. So through this survey they identified a nesting
colony of these birds in the Kaziranga National Park.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And you know what she was saying is that like.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
This diversity of birds and knowing that you know, this
really threatened bird has set up a large nesting colli
in Kaziranga National Park is an indicator that tells us
that the ecosystem is healthy, that the grassland is in
good health, which is why they're choosing this space. And also,
you know, Chilingibora had said that you know, these birds
are endangered, are threatened, and so many of them are
(27:45):
endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains, so if you know they
vanished from here, they'll become extinct. And lastly Sukrata.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Apart from the bird's presence and population, how important was
the survey to understand the ecosystem?
Speaker 6 (28:00):
So Bora was also saying that, you know, it's also
important to note these findings because in the past four decades,
as Sam has lost almost seventy percent of its grasslands,
So the ecosystem in which these birds survive and thrive
in has also been diminishing rapidly. And he's named a
number of different factors for this, you know, including overgrazing
(28:22):
and you know, converting grasslins for agricultural purposes. But there's
also a natural phenomenon called ecological succession, so there's an
instinct for grasslands to gradually transition into forests, so.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know, this ecosystem is also diminishing.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
But he did mention that different national parks such as
Manus and Kasianga have been including grassland protection as part
of its broader policy.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
You were listening to Three Things by the Indian Express.
Today's show was edited and mixed by Savar and produced
by Nihara Kananda and me Itshasharma. If you like the show,
do subscribe to us. Wherever you get your podcast, You
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You can also tweet us at Express podcast or write
(29:09):
to us at podcast at Indian Express dot com
In this episode, we talk about the significance of ICMR's
new malaria vaccine candidate and what it could mean for India.
We also discussed the first ever grassland birth senses conducted
in Assam's Kaziranga National Park. But we begin today with
a controversial legal case that has triggered sharp political conversations
(00:20):
across the country. Hi a Micha Sharma and you're listening
to three Things the Indian Express New Show. On Saturday,
a special court in Chattizgar constituted by the National Investigation
Agency granted bail to two Catholic nuns from Kerala, Prithy
(00:44):
Mary and Vandana Francis, who had been arrested on charges
of alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion. When we
spoke to The Indian Express's je Prakash Naidu, he told
us that these two women had first been spotted by
a Badjungal member.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So in the morning on July twenty fifth, Badjangal members
spotted the two nuns and three women at the Durga
railway station in Chattisguard and he suspected that it can
be a case of human trafficking and he called up
other Jule members, then a lot of Budjejungle members and
one Jodi Sharma, who said she works for Hindutua. They
all reached the railway station and based on their allegations,
(01:22):
a fire was registered by the Government Railway Police on
charges of human trafficking and forceful conversion, while the nuns
and a nineteen year old were sent to jail. After
being arrested, the three women were sent to shelter room
and there are several videos of the incident on YouTube
where you know, you can see one of the Budjungle
members pulling the years of the nineteen year old while
Sharma is you know, checking the bags of the victims
(01:45):
and threatening to hit one of the nuns, hake Ohama.
It so, this entire incident, it was, you know, going
(02:13):
on social media and the incident created an outrage with
the opposition Congress Party and the c P I M
members raising in the parliament. Looks of a Leader of Opposition,
Raoul Gani, he alleged that it's a case and it's
like an attack on minorities by the b j P
and the r s S. On the other side, the
Chief Minister he cautioned that this case should not be politicized.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
He tells us that the arrest was carried out by
the Government Railway Palace or g r P and soon
snowballed into a high profile case, drawing responses from leaders,
religious organizations and civil society groups.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So there are two charges. One is of human trafficking
for allegedly taking the three women from a Naxel affected
Naraanpur district to Agra and Uta Pradesh where they were
to work in a hospital. And the second allegation is
they were forcefully converted from tribals to Christians.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
All right, and Jaipraka, speaking about the two nuns, Prithy
Marie and Wandana Francis, tell us what do we know
about them?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, so Preth Marian Wandana Francis. They are both aged
about fifty to fifty five years and each of them
have spent six to seven years working in Chattisgart including
naran Pu district. And both of them have become nuns
somewhere in the nineteen nineties and they have been doing
social work since. While none. Prithy is a registered nurse
and she has worked in Andhra Pradesh. Marashra Uta Pradesh
(03:47):
and Madhradesh. None. Wandana is a BA graduate and she
is a trained pharmacist and she has worked as a
paramedical staff for leprecipations and apart from Chatizska, she has
also worked in Aghara, Uttara, khund And Andhaddesh.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And you earlier mentioned about their associate. So what have
they been accused of and how are they connected to
the nuns.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, so there's just one associate. His name is Sukuman Mandaw.
He's a nineteen year old and he is a tribal
from Naranpur district and he follows Christianity and he was
the one who informed the three women about this job
and he was the one who took them from Naranpur
district to Dur District. The three women and this mister Mundaw,
they met in church and one of the women told
(04:26):
me that he's like a brother to them.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And Jeibracash. We know that both the nuns got bail
on Saturday, So can you talk about what were the
grounds on which the NI court granted bail to them
and the third accused.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, so the biggest reason for granting of bail was
that the custodial interrogation of the accused was not required. However,
the court has made certain observations while giving the order.
One was the AFI is primarily based on a mere
apprehension and suspicion the nuns and the nineteen year old.
They do not have any previous criminal record and they
(04:57):
are not habitual offender and they will not abscorn. Thought
observation was there was if it evids given by the
parents of the victim, who have denied the charges against
the nuns and the nineteen year old. And last observation
was two of the three girls all three follow Christianity,
but the court observation made was that two of the
three girls have given statements that their follows of Christianity
since their childhood. So this also goes against the charge
(05:18):
of a forceful conversion right.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And speaking of the court's order which points out that
the investigation agency made no custodial introgation requisition, how unusual
is that, especially in a case involving such serious charges.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
See usually if it's a serious crime, then the police
tend to take the police custody and you know, interrogate
the hues to get more details. But in this particular case,
the GRP did not seek the police custody. They were
sent to judicial custody. And a reason for that could
be that right now, the investigation is in ancient stage
and maybe they wanted to gather some evidence and then
(05:53):
you know, go for a custoder introgation. And once you
are sent to judicial custody, if the police feel the
need of having your police custody, they can always go
to the court and seek the custody.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And what's also interesting is that the story includes a
counter narrative that the women who were allegedly being trafficked
actually filed a complaint against members of the Badjraung Dell.
So what did they say in their complaint and how
does that complicate the original case.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, so they did approach the Narayanpur police back home
with a complaint against the Badjangdal and Wan Jodi Sharma,
and one of the victims that told the Indian Express
that she was assaulted by Jodi Sharma and caused to
give a statement that they were being taken forcefully by
the nuns. So we also spoke to Sharma who denied
the claims. She did not assault them and she did
not cause them to change a statement. And now the
(06:43):
complaint will go to dur police because the offense has
taken place in the jurisdiction of dur Grp and not Narayanburg.
So no offense was registered in Narayanburg, but the complaint
may come to dur VRP.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Right, and you mentioned that you also spoke to one
of the three women, So what did she have to
say say about the incident?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So the woman I spoke to was a twenty one
year old and she has studied up to ten standard
and she was working as a laborer earning rupees to
fifty a day and she used to cycle nine kilometers
every day to Naraanpu town from.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Our village for work purpose.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And she was happy with this new job because she
was getting some ten thousand rupees and she had to
work as a cook and look after patients in the hospital.
And she has four more sisters. And she said that
she was very angry with the right wing group because
one of them assaulted her and they were forcing her
to change a statement.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And so how have the right wing groups responded to
this case so far?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So I also reached out to Badjanga's state coordinator, Mister
Rishi Mishra, and he said that they still stand by
their statement. They're saying that that should be a thorough
investigation into this case. And they are saying that, I mean,
it's the allegations. They are saying that this has been
happening for a very long time, that girls from bar
are being taken outside for work purpose and then they
do not know what happens to them. So mister Mischel
(07:59):
still stands by the allocations. That's the case of human
trafficking and the thorough investiation needs to be done in
the case. As far as Jodish Chermai is concerned, she
was denying allegations that she touched any of the three
women because the three women were already inside the police
station when she had reached there, and she said that,
you know, she found a six to seven passport size
photograph of girls and she saw that one of the
nineteen year old boy was arrested. He had some three
(08:21):
AHAR cards. So this were the allegations made by Judih
Hrmai cannot verify it. But the sherman as well as
the Badjaranga, they still stand by what the allegations they
have made and they're also gone their lawyers are also
gone to the Ani Court to oppose the bill, but
it did not go in their favor and Jebrakash.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
In the past, we've seen quite a bit of tension
between right wing groups like the buzzjung Dal and Christian
leaders and organizations. So could we talk a bit about
those incidents.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So this is not the first controversial case from bust
the region. Whether minority community have faced atrocities over allegations
of forceful conversion. Such cases or instances have been going
on at least for the last four to five years,
including during the Congress ruling Chatiz Gird. So the first
big case that comes to my mind is from January
twenty twenty three when a mob led by tribal leaders
(09:11):
including BJB had vandalized a church in Naranpur district and
they had desecreated statues of Jesus and Mother Marie. Back then,
the superintendent of police was assaulted by the mob and
he was left bleeding from his head. At the same time,
hundreds of tribals who had started following Christianity, they were
socially boycotted from the villages and over one hundred of
them were forced to stay in an indoor stadium in Narayanpur.
(09:33):
It was a major political issue back then and Christian
groups were unhappy with the then ruling Congress party and
Arun Panarala of the Chattiz God Christian Forum had made
their own party named Serva Adidal, which had entered the
Congress votes and which led to Congress losing a seat
or two in the Assembly polls. Similarly, Raven Natham, a
former Union minister who is from Chatiz Gerd and a
(09:56):
senior tribal leader from the Serai Samach this year he
had approached the RSS seeking their help to stop forceful
conversions in buster. The BJP government in Chatis is also
planning to bring a stringent law to deal with the
issue of forceful conversion. Apart from this issue, another major
issue in the Chatiz God is the tribals who following Christianity.
They are not allowed to bury bodies of their family
(10:17):
members in the village graveyards. They have to take the
bodies to Christian graveyards which are you know, many kilometers
away from the village. And this issue still persists and
a big example of this was one Ramesh Bagail from
the se community who had approached the Supreme Court after
the villagers in Busta District did not allow him to
use the common burial ground to bury his father, who
(10:38):
was a pastor. So Ramesha argued that two of his
relatives were buried in the same common graveyard in two
seven and two on fifteen as for Christian rituals, and
the villagers had no issue with it. Back then, at
that time, the Epics Court had ruled against Bugail in
the favor of the government and Bugail was forced to
bury his father's body in a Christian graveyard after keeping
it in a mortuary for twenty odd days.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
When we talk about this particular case, what happens next?
Is there a timeline for the investigation or the trial?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
See right now, there is no timeline for investigation and
the trial will begin after the GRP file a chart sheet.
In this case, the nuns lawyers, they told me that
they are having a discussion and may approach the High
Court for quashing their fire.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And next we turn to ICMR's new malaria vaccine candidate.
For years now, malaria has remained one of the deadliest
infectious diseases in the world. In fact, in twenty twenty three,
despite numerous global efforts to tackle it. The disease caused
nearly six lack debts, with around three thousand, five hundred
of those reported from India according to the World Health Organization.
(11:48):
But for India, that number actually marks significant progress, because
back in twenty fifteen, the toll stood a little over
fourteen thousand. Now, in a bit to bring down malaria
debts even further, the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR,
last week announced the development of ad faalcy wax, a
promising new vaccine candidate against the mosquito bond disease. The
(12:11):
announcement is especially notable because scientists have been working for
decades to develop an effective malaria vaccine. So to better
understand this new development and what it means for India's
malaria burden, Michelleague Neharik Nanda speaks to the Indian expresses
an nadad Anona.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
We know that typically symptoms of malaria include fevertuills, nausea,
vomiting and diarrhea, and in some severe cases, it can
also lead to seizures, fluid and lungs, organ damage.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And even death.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Now, before we talk about this new vaccine candidate can
you tell us how malaria has been typically treated.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
So malaria has a particular medicines that have to be
given to patients and it has to be you know,
as soon as possible, because when left unreated, it can
cause severe complications such as brain swelling et cetera, so
that can lead to death. So this medicine has to
(13:10):
be given soon after diagnosis. When it comes to vaccines,
there are currently two vaccines that the WHOSS can be
used for preventing malaria infections. It's RTSs and R twenty one.
These are the two vaccines that are available.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
So far and ant of what would you say makes
this latest announcement of ad faalcy wax so significant.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
So here I want to sort of put in a
note that this is a vaccine candidate. It is not
yet a vaccine because it still has to undergo human trials,
but there have been very positive indications that the researchers
have found in the animal studies that have already been completed.
And now ICMR is planning to be in partnership with
(13:58):
private companies to take the development forward and conduct these
human trials then commercialize the vaccine.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So in the animal.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Trials, the researchers also found like I mentioned by positive indications,
which is that the vaccine candidate provided more than ninety
percent protection against the infection in the mice for an
extended period of three months. So three months in mice
lifespan is about say a decade in human life span.
(14:29):
So that's another positive indication that has come from the
pre clinical animal trials of this vaccine candidate.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And could you tell us how exactly add falcy wax works.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
So it is essentially called something chimeric recominant vaccine. What
this means is that the scientists take different parts of
the plasmodium genetic material and they combine them and infect
certain cell lines in the laboratory to then generate the
antigenic proteins. These are proteins which sort of cause the
(15:06):
infection in the humans and against which the human body
develops antibodies. So these proteins are then extracted and that
is utilized to generate the immune response in people.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
And just to be clear, malaria spreads through the bite
of the infected female and a fleece mosquito. And these mosquitoes,
of course get infected when they feed on a person
who already has malaria, which is caused by Plasmodium malaria.
So you write that this vaccine uses two types of
proteins to prevent this spread.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So talk about what these proteins are.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
So one is known as the circumsporocite protein.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
It is mainly utilized during two stages of the classmodium's
life cycle.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
One is called the porrozoid stage.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
This is essentially when a person is infected in an
infective state and can be passing on this infection to
the others. And the second stage is called the liver stage,
and this is when these porrozoates actually enter the liver cells.
They multiply there and then infect the red blood cells.
Then there is also something called pro six C protein,
(16:17):
which is made up of parts of two other proteins.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
So these two other proteins are.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
A key for the replication of this plastodium in the
malaria midgut. So what happens is when a person is infected,
the mosquito bites them, takes in the malaria plastodium and
then that sort of develops within the mosquito's midgut and
this protein, so if people have this antibody, the development
(16:43):
will not happen in the mosquito, meaning even if a
person gets infected and they have taken this vaccine, they
cannot further transmit the disease to another person.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
So basically, this vaccine not only prevents the infection in
the person who has been immunized, but also people around
them because they also have the antibody to prevent the
development of the infection in the mosquito.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
So that's a big plus.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
But are there other ways in which this vaccine stands out?
Speaker 5 (17:13):
So one thing I mentioned is the use of these
two different types of proteins for making the vaccine to
generate the antibody response. The other two vaccines that are
currently available only use the first one, the CSP.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Protein, which I mentioned.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Another thing is that the CSP protein that they use
is not the complete protein, so they use parts of
it to generate the antibody response, but the ICMR vaccine
candidate uses a full length CSP meaning any sort of
immune response.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Is likely to be more with this vaccine.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Other than that, one of the benefits of this vaccine
is also that it uses a very common adjuvant called
alum so. Adjuvants are essentially comparns that are added to
vaccines to increase its efficacy, and both RTSs and R
twenty one do use adduants, but these are more complex
(18:09):
adjuants which sometimes can lead to sort of inflammation, et
cetera in the body, which does not happen with this very.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Simple alum adduent.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
And we know that because this is also used in
a lot of the vaccines that are used for the
childhood mumunization program. Another thing that the researchers found, of
course in the laboratory data is that this alum micro
particle adjuent is stable at room temperature. What that means
is the vaccine is also likely to be resistant to
(18:42):
the temperature, which means that you don't need to maintain
a very good cold chain to transport these vaccines. That's
the indication that the researchers have from the preliminary studies.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
And Anona, you mentioned that the ICMR is planning to
partner with private companies for qu trials, So can you
tell us how they are planning to go about it?
Speaker 5 (19:04):
So that is usually how it happens. It's the same
that happened with covid as well. So the initial COVID
virus that was isolated by ICMA that was used in
the biotech vaccine. So this happens with almost all vaccine
candidates that come out of research laboratories. It is just
(19:25):
easier to partner with a commercial company to get these
trials done. It's just that they have the resources to
do those trials. They have the networks where these trials
can be conducted, and it's easier to do that instead
of just one research lab you know, doing these big
clinical trials. So usually you would see the research companies
(19:49):
participate with commercial partners who also have the capability to
then actually manufacture these vaccines when needed and have everything
in place to market these products as well. So that
is how it is being done for this vaccine candidate too.
The human trials will be in collaboration with the company
and after that, once approved, it will also be the
(20:11):
same company that would manufacture and distribute it. And there
are certain, of course parameters that have to be fulfilled.
There are certain agreements in place, such as MR will
continue to get two percent royalty from.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
The sales of any of this vaccine.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
It will also continue to hold the intellectual property right, unless,
of course, there are some developments that the company does
on its own to the candidate and then there will
be a.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Joint sharing of IPR.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
The papers that come out of this will also be
with joint authorship with MR and the company, So these
sort of agreements will be in place. But yes, usually
you would see a vaccine being trialed and scaled up
in collaboration with the companies.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And in the end we shift our focus to an
important conservation effort that recently took place inside Assam's Kaziranga
National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that's home to
two thirds of the world's Indian rhinoceroses. Now. While these
unique looking mammals, known for their single horn, are the
main attraction, the park is also home to hundreds of
(21:23):
bird species, including ten species that are either globally threatened
or endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains, such as Bengal Florican
swamp Francolin swamp grass babbler, and black breasted parrot bell
and it was these birds that became the focus of
the park's first ever comprehensive grassland Bird Senses. The survey
(21:44):
basically aimed to map the presence and population of rare
and threatened avian species living in one of India's most
fragile ecosystems.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Kaziranga National Park, of course, is of the most well
known national park in Assam and it's most famous for
its mega herbivores, especially the one horn rhinoceros, as well
as its elephants.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
This is the Indian expressive Sukrita who reports on Asam
for the paper.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Now, around seventy percent of the total area of Kaziranga
National Park is comprised of grasslands.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
So you know, this survey all began when.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
You know, this particular doctoral student Chirenjibora, who is studying
one particular grassland birds piecies called the black breasted parrot bill.
He received an inspired fellowship as part of his research
and to conduct this he was given access to acoustic
monitoring tools. So when he got permissioned to conduct this
research and when he approached the Kaziranga National Park authorities.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
You know, they discussed this and they decided, you know, why.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
Don't we broaden the ambit of the you know, scope
of what we can be done with these tools and
conduct a comprehensive survey of grassland birds in Kajianga. And
when he spoke to the Kazirranga National Park director. She
said that, you know, one reason they were really interested
in this is because the presence and the number and
the diversity of grass and birds in the national Park
(23:09):
is also a very strong indicator of the health of
this ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So that's how it all began.
Speaker 6 (23:15):
This survey was conducted earlier this year, between March eighteenth
and May twenty fifths.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
She tells us that the study recorded the presence of
forty three grassland bird species, including one critically endangered, two
endangered and six vulnerable species as per the IUCN Red List.
So to understand how this census was conducted and what
it reveals about the national park, we speak to Skrita
in this segment.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Zakurta.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
For those who might not be familiar with the process,
how are birth senses usually conducted?
Speaker 6 (23:48):
So you know, there are different ways, so I mean
not just birth but any kind of you know, a
survey of wildlife that at least that I have followed
in my time of covering the Northeast is that you know,
there are camera tracks that are set or you know
this visual count of you know, the various species available,
but you know when they approach this bird survey, they
(24:08):
found that these tools are not going to be adequate
because these grassland birds are really small birds. They telegal birds,
they're highly camouflaged and you know, according to the director
of Kazaranga National Park, Sonaligos, they're quite shy, they're quite
evasive and elusive. So because of the acoustic tools that
children you've got, they followed this methodology called.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Passive acoustic monitoring.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
So what they did was place these acoustic monitoring tools
in various locations near the grasslands.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
At the tops of trees, and for a period of
three days, these.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
Recorded the sounds around and these picked up the songs
of these birds. These bird songs are amongst the sounds
recorded by these tools. And after a period of three days,
the scientists and the researchers they analyzed the sounds and
on the basis of the bird songs that were recorded
by these devices, they were able to identify and count
(25:04):
enumerate the grassland birds which are there in Kazinana.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Right, and you earlier mentioned that the survey saw a
shift from traditional bird counting methods to passive acoustic monitoring.
For instance, so can you talk about what other technology
or tools were used during the process.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Right, So of course the monitoring devices do their job
pick up the sounds, but then the next challenge is
identifying the birds through their bird songs. So of course
some birds they identified just by hearing the sounds, but
(25:51):
that's not always adequate. So then in some cases when
they weren't able to do so, they converted the sound
waves into you know, graphical representation called a spectrogram, so
on the basis of that they were able to analyze
these more closely, which helped them to identify them better.
They also use different softwares which use machine learning, and
(26:12):
you know, once you feed the sounds into these they
try and identify the birds. So there's extensive use of
technology and different means. And at the end of this
period of the survey, they identified a total of forty
three grassland bird species in Kasianga, and ten of these
are either globally threatened or endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains,
(26:34):
and one of these is critically endangered and two of
them are endangered endangered birds.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
So it was quite an interesting takeaway that they had
from this survey. Great and one of the other key
findings from the study was the discovery of a breeding
colony of finnsweaver. So talk about why this was significant.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Yeah, so this is one of those birds which are
endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains, so that means they're not
found anywhere else in the world except here.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
So again this bird.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
You know, what doctor Ghosh was saying is that they
knew that the bird was there, and they know that
it nests on top of really high cheese, but till
they they didn't know where it was that these birds
were nesting. So through this survey they identified a nesting
colony of these birds in the Kaziranga National Park.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And you know what she was saying is that like.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
This diversity of birds and knowing that you know, this
really threatened bird has set up a large nesting colli
in Kaziranga National Park is an indicator that tells us
that the ecosystem is healthy, that the grassland is in
good health, which is why they're choosing this space. And also,
you know, Chilingibora had said that you know, these birds
are endangered, are threatened, and so many of them are
(27:45):
endemic to the Brahmaputra floodplains, so if you know they
vanished from here, they'll become extinct. And lastly Sukrata.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Apart from the bird's presence and population, how important was
the survey to understand the ecosystem?
Speaker 6 (28:00):
So Bora was also saying that, you know, it's also
important to note these findings because in the past four decades,
as Sam has lost almost seventy percent of its grasslands,
So the ecosystem in which these birds survive and thrive
in has also been diminishing rapidly. And he's named a
number of different factors for this, you know, including overgrazing
(28:22):
and you know, converting grasslins for agricultural purposes. But there's
also a natural phenomenon called ecological succession, so there's an
instinct for grasslands to gradually transition into forests, so.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know, this ecosystem is also diminishing.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
But he did mention that different national parks such as
Manus and Kasianga have been including grassland protection as part
of its broader policy.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
You were listening to Three Things by the Indian Express.
Today's show was edited and mixed by Savar and produced
by Nihara Kananda and me Itshasharma. If you like the show,
do subscribe to us. Wherever you get your podcast, You
can also recommend it to someone you think may like it,
with a friend or in your family. This is the
best way for people to get to know about us.
You can also tweet us at Express podcast or write
(29:09):
to us at podcast at Indian Express dot com
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