A new tussle started between the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the inauguration of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprasth University in East Delhi.

Delhi education minister, Atishi had announced the inauguration of the university by the Delhi CM which prompted the Delhi LG to issue a statement saying, “Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself was aware of the fact that the L-G was scheduled to inaugurate the campus. In fact, they were also aware that they were supposed to be present in the function as Guest of Honour and distinguished guest, as desired by the L-G and had also consented to it.”

“Moreover, even on the day when Atishi made this claim in a press conference, i.e. 06.06.2023, earlier during the day, the VC of GGSIPU had announced on stage at the Convocation of GGSIPU, where Atishi was present as a Guest of Honour, that the East Campus of the University was scheduled to be inaugurated by the Lt. Governor on 08.06.2023,” it added.  

Reacting to this Delhi education minister, Atishi said that the L-G should not forget that education, higher education and technical education are all transferred subjects.

Even Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj reacted to this, saying that the L-G should focus on inauguration of buildings which come under Police, Land and Public order.

“The construction of this campus started when he (VK Saxena) was not the L-G. Manish Sisodia started this work and our elected government took it further. It is strange now for the L-G to say that he was asked by officials to inaugurate the university campus,” Bhardwaj said.

“At this rate, the L-G could say tomorrow that he would inaugurate Saurabh Bhardwaj’s office. That’s why L-G has kept all officers under his control and wants to keep it going. The CM is the one vested with the moral authority to inaugurate the campus. Such thoughts should not even come to the L-G’s mind,” he added.

Tensions have been rising between the Delhi L-G and Delhi CM for the past few years over various matters. Notably, in May this year a Supreme Court judgement had ruled that the Delhi government had powers over civil services in the Delhi after which the Centre had brought in an ordinance regarding civil services giving more power to the L-G, creating more friction between the two posts.

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Breeding corn to boost yields has made it more vulnerable to heat

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Corn could be vulnerable to climate change

DAVID PAPAZIAN PHOTOGRAPHY/Getty Images

A century of breeding corn to boost yields in the US Midwest may have also made the crop more vulnerable to the hotter temperatures expected with climate change.

The amount of corn grown in the US more than quintupled during the 20th century due to a combination of breeding, agricultural intensification and favorable temperatures. But hotter and drier weather projected to arrive due to climate change threatens to slow or even reverse those gains.

“It’s fairly severe,” says Patrick Schnable at Iowa State University. “If you look at middle-of-the-road projections, corn yield goes down.” The worst scenarios project as much as a 50 per cent decrease in yield by 2100.

To investigate whether corn breeders can develop more hardy variants, Schnable and his colleagues looked at data from corn-growing trials in four Midwestern states conducted between 1934 and 2014, along with temperature data from the same years. The trials involved nearly 5000 different varieties, enabling the researchers to track the influence of both climate and breeding on yield.

They found that after decades of breeding, corn varieties became more tolerant of moderately hot temperatures between 32˚C and 34˚C (89.6˚F and 93.2˚F). However, many varieties became less tolerant of severe heat above 38˚C (100.4˚F), suggesting a genetic trade-off between breeding for a 20th-century climate and a 21st-century one.

“The trade-off in there is bad news if you’re in a high heat area,” says team member Aaron Kusmec at Iowa State University, though exactly why it occurs is unclear, he says.

Such severe heat is rare in the Corn Belt, but could become more frequent with climate change, says Ethan Butler at the University of Minnesota. The fact that corn adapts differently to moderate and severe heat shows that “the exact magnitude of warming is going to make a really big difference”, he says.

While the trade-off suggests breeding varieties that can tolerate both moderate and severe heat will be more challenging, the amount of genetic variation in response to temperature means careful breeding or genetic engineering could address this vulnerability. “Maize is so adaptable,” says Schnable. “It’s pretty extraordinary.”

PLoS Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010799

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