Puducherry records 284 new COVID-19 cases, 433 recoveries
The Hindu
Toll in Union Territory rose to 1,727, with one death being reported on Tuesday
Puducherry recorded a solitary COVID-19 death and 284 new cases with a test positivity rate of about 3% on Tuesday. A 36-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus died at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (IGMCRI), taking the cumulative death toll to 1,727. The death count by region is 1,381 in Puducherry, 212 in Karaikal, 102 in Yanam and 32 in Mahe.“Spider wasp,” says ecologist and nature educator Vena Kapoor, narrating the fascinating but macabre tale of the spider wasp and its victims. While adult spider wasps mostly feed on flower nectar, making them excellent pollinators, they are also what are known as “parasitoids.” Unlike parasites, they kill their host. In the case of spider wasps, females hunt down spiders, inject them with venom and lay eggs on them. Once they hatch, the larvae eat these spiders alive, inevitably killing them, she tells the huddle of women cloistered around this tree.
Karnataka’s Shakti scheme, which provides free travel for women on State-run buses, will turn one on June 11. Though the scheme has empowered women’s travel, the lack of adequate number of buses and poor connectivity are key concerns. Darshan Devaiah B.P. explores various locales to gauge the scheme’s impact Statewide