What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

EDITORIAL 1: Vaccine hope in malaria fight

Context

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has announced a promising candidate vaccine for malaria, which it will now further develop, test and manufacture for commercial purposes in partnership with private companies.

The vaccine

• Known as AdFalciVax, the vaccine mainly targets two parts of Plasmodium falciparum, a pathogen that is the most common source of malaria in humans.
• In India, however, the disease is caused by Plasmodium vivax against which AdFalciVax is ineffective.

Why is this development significant?

• Malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted by mosquitoes,typically causing symptoms such as fever, chills, night sweats, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
• In some cases, it can lead to severe complications such as seizures, fluid in the lungs, organ damage, and death.
• Having claimed millions of lives, malaria has been one of the deadliest diseases in human history.
• Currently, the disease kills about four lakh people annually, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures.
• Malaria is most endemic in Africa — Nigeria, Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Niger, and Burkina Faso together account for more than half the yearly deaths.
• The disease is also present in India, although malaria deaths have  sharply reduced in the country in recent years.
• According to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), reported malaria deaths stood at 1,151in 1995, and came down to only 93 in 2020 and 83 in 2022.
• The organisation’s ‘World Malaria Report’ says there were 5,511 deaths due to the disease in India in 2022.
• This discrepancy is due to WHO providing estimates and NVBDCP providing only the number of confirmed deaths, which may not have been officially reported.

How does AdFalciVax work?

• AdFalciVax is a chimeric recombinant vaccine — a type of vaccine that uses different parts of the genes of a pathogen (in this case, Plasmodium) to create target proteins that trigger an immune response after being injected.
• AdFalciVax uses two types of target proteins to prevent the spread of infection in two different ways.
• It uses the circumsporozoite protein (CSP) to prevent infection in the person who has been immunised.
• The CSP is produced during the sporozoite stage (when a parasite can infect a new host) and the liver stage (when a parasite enters liver cells, multiplies, and then infects red blood cells) of the parasite.
• Any immune response generated against these stages protects the immunised person from getting the infection.
• The vaccine also uses the Pro6C protein, a fusion of parts of two different proteins — Pfs230 and Pfs48/45— produced by Plasmodium falciparum. This protein prevents the spread of infection in the community.
• The Pro6C protein stops further spread of the disease by disrupting the lifecycle of the pathogen.
• It disrupts the development of the parasite in the midgut of a mosquito preventing further transmission.

What are the advantages of AdFalciVax?

• Unlike AdFalciVax, RTS,S and R21 only use the CSP protein, and can prevent infection only in vaccinated persons.
• Unlike AdFalciVax, RTS,S and R21 vaccines also do not use full-length CSP proteins. This is why the ICMR’s candidate vaccine is likely to produce a stronger immune response and better protect against infection.
• Researchers have found that AdFalciVax provided more than 90% protection against infection in mice.
• Studies have also suggested that AdFalciVax produces an immune response that may last longer than that produced by the other two vaccines.
• AdFalciVax also contains an adjuvant — a substance used in vaccines to boost the body’s immune responseagainst the targeted disease — called alum.
• The use of alum is beneficial as it does not pose a risk of causing chronic inflammation, unlike adjuvants such as AS01 and Matrix M, which are used in RTS,S and R21.
• Alum is also known to be reliable, and has been used in numerous vaccines used in childhood immunisation programs over the years.
• Another advantage is that alum in AdFalciVaxcan remain stable at room temperature for at least nine months, according to initial studies.
• This might make it possible to transport the vaccines without maintaining the cold chain.

Conclusion

AdFalciVax marks a significant step toward malaria elimination, but its success depends on swift deployment, continued research, and inclusive strategies targeting all malaria-causing strains.

 

EDITORIAL 2: Paikas and the uprising against British

Context

Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed concern over the “omission” of the Paika Rebellion from the latest Class VIII history textbook of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), calling it a “huge dishonour” to the brave Paikas.

Paikas of Odisha

• In 19th-century rural India, growing discontent led to armed resistance like the Paika Rebellion, triggered by the British East India Company’s military expansion and its disruption of traditional social structures.
• The Paikas (pronounced “paiko”, literally “foot soldiers”) were a class of military retainers who had been recruited from various social groupsby the Gajapati rulers of Odisha since the 16th century.
• They would render martial services to the kingin return for hereditary rent-free land (nish-kar jagirs) which they would cultivate during peacetime.

British annex Odisha

• In 1803, Colonel Harcourt marched virtually unchallenged from Madras to Puri, and faced only feeble Maratha opposition onward to Cuttack.
• Harcourt had made an agreement with Mukunda Deva II,for free passage through Khurda in return for compensation of Rs 1 lakh and four parganas — Lembai, Rahanga, Surai and Chabiskud — which had been under Maratha control since 1760.
• When the Company did not fulfil these conditions, Jayee Rajguru, the custodian of the king marched to Cuttack with around 2,000 armed Paikas in order to pressurise the British.
• Although Harcourt paid a sum of Rs 40,000, he refused to give Khurda the four parganas. Rajguru subsequently conspired to overthrow the British, but was caught before the revolt could materialise.
• The Company subsequently took away the king’s lands, dethroned him, razed the fort at Barunei,and arrested Rajguru, who was convicted for waging war against the British government and executed on December 6, 1806. The king was banished to Puri.

Rising discontent

• The end of native rule in Odisha marked the beginning of the decline of the Paikas’ power and prestige.
• Apart from losing political patronage, the Paikas, who previously enjoyed rent-free land, suffered due to new land revenue settlements introduced by the Company which drove Odia proprietors to ruin.
• Many were forced to transfer land to Bengali absentee landlords, often for a pittance.
• The British also changed the currency system, demanding revenue payments in rupees, which increased pressure on dispossessed, marginal tribals.
• These sections had to cope with greater demands from landlords, who now had to pay taxes in silver.
• The British control over salt — which had pre-1803-4 origins, but was extended to coastal Odisha in 1814 — also led to rising hardship for the people in the hills. There is evidence of raids on boats of salt agents near Puri during this period.
• Their hereditary rent-free land being taken away, along with a host of other economic difficulties, eventually led to a full-scale revolt against British rule.

The rebellion

• In March 1817, some 400 Kondhs equipped with traditional arms marched from Ghumusar towards Khurda.
• They were joined by an army of Paikas led by Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar Mahapatra Bhramarabar Ray, the former commander-in-chief of the king of Khurda and the erstwhile holder of the lucrative Rodanga estate.
• The rebels attacked the police station of Banpur, burnt government quarters, killed policemen, looted the government treasury, and proceeded towards Khurda.
• The Paikas fought bloody battles at several places over the next few months, and killed several British officials.
• The Company army gradually crushed the revolt. Bakshi Jagabandhu escaped to the jungles, and remained on the run till 1825, when he finally surrendered to the British under negotiated terms.

Conclusion

200 years on, why Odisha’s Paika Rebellion continues to inspire and agitate. However, NCERT has already clarified that “regional resistances” like the Paika Rebellion will be handled in the second volume of the textbook, expected to be released in September-October.