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The typification of names validated in a paper of 1803 concerning the plants encountered on a journey through what is now Tamil Nadu in southern India is reviewed. A number of name changes are necessitated. Psilotrichum patulum becomes the correct name for P. elliotii, Euphorbia glaucescens is the correct name for E. corrigioloides, Oldenlandia pusilla is the correct name for O. attenuata and Kohautia attenuata is the correct name for K. aspera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active land markets in the periphery of Chennai have resulted in large tracts of agricultural land being bought by non‐agricultural actors seeking returns primarily from speculation. We argue in this paper that the financialization of land and consequent spurt of agricultural land sales are central to what scholars have termed land grab. Recent literature on land grabs has focused primarily on processes of accumulation by dispossession and the coercive role of the state. Our contention is that land grabs more commonly occur due to the state underinvesting in agriculture, resulting in "dispossession by neglect" of especially marginal and small farmers. Dispossession by neglect better captures the fluid boundary between the coercive and voluntary in contemporary land grabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sprawl comprising densely populated slums over South Asian cities yields copious amounts of soot and black carbon from archaic cooking methods involving cow dung cakes and firewood, which remain afloat for over 10–12 h, enabling them to age in a sulphur rich environment. Not only are there toxicological concerns arising out of improper ventilation mechanisms, but there are also other concerns impacting the local microclimate. These emissions mix with other aerosol particles and, when conditions are favourable, are rendered partially soluble, enabling them to activate into cloud condensation nuclei. This study first yields a quantification of the soluble mass fraction and subsequently shows how aerosols from this local area source mix with background aerosol modes to perturb the local cloud microphysics over Chennai, a megacity in Southern India. On‐site sampling was undertaken to find the mass concentrations of the collected deposits separately from cow dung and firewood fuel. Additional micro‐physical attributes, including the morphological indentations that served as a receptacle to contain the accreted sulphate along with the particle size distribution were ascertained through Scanning Electron Microscopy. It is shown that accreted sulphate on carbonaceous particles facilitates CCN activation over the city. We show through large‐eddy simulations (LES) that extensive slum emissions over the study region contribute to the observed local cloud cover and enhanced rain amounts over a densely built‐up area housing the city's most vulnerable citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India has a large youth population whose mental health needs must be addressed. This includes promotion of positive mental health, with early detection and effective intervention for mental health disorders. Understanding the perspectives of community stakeholders working with youth is pivotal to this effort. Current study aimed to bring together a group of community stakeholders (eg, parents, teachers, policy makers) to understand their perspectives on youth mental health problems, challenges in provision of care, and to provide recommendations to address these concerns at national level. Materials and methods: The study was conducted across two sites in India: Chennai and New Delhi. Three group meetings were conducted involving 52 participants, including governmental, non‐governmental and community representatives working with youth. The proceedings were manually recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis method. Results: Many youth mental health problems were similar across the two sites. The commonest drivers of mental health problems were reported to be academic pressure, substance use and problematic internet/social media use. Stigma and lack of awareness were identified as the most important challenges acting as barriers to seeking mental health help by youth. Prioritizing youth mental health as a national programmes along with strong political will were the major recommendations suggested by the stakeholders. Conclusion: Initial findings suggest that prioritizing youth mental health programmes in India would be advantageous. Inclusive and collaborative approach, involving community stakeholders working with youth in providing services that promote mental health and early access to care will help in developing healthy young citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catastrophic floods over southeast peninsular India during 2015 northeast monsoon season (NEM, October–December) avowed 400 lives, affected more than 4 million people and reported a loss of property worth 3 billion US dollars. In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the mechanism of occurrence of heavy rainfall events over southeast peninsular India during NEM, with a special emphasize on 2015 heavy rainfall events. In presence of strong El Niño, basin‐wide warming and low‐level easterly winds were observed over tropical Indian Ocean during NEM‐2015. It is noted that dominant easterly wave (EW) activity aided the intensification of already developing synoptic systems over Bay of Bengal (BoB) and led to occurrence of heavy rainfall events. This finding encouraged us to explore the association of El Niño, EW activity and heavy rainfall occurrences over southeast peninsular India during NEM for the period 1951–2015. It is noticed that ~43% of the heavy rainfall events during NEM are associated with El Niño, ~31% with La Niña and ~26% with neutral years, respectively. A 3–7‐day band‐pass filter is applied to the daily global reanalysis fields to elucidate the role of EW activity on heavy rainfall occurrences over the region during El Niño–Southern Oscillations (ENSO). Results indicate that EW activity over Indian Ocean plays a seminal role in occurrence of the heavy rainfall events during positive phase of the ENSO (El Niño), while it is found to be weak during negative (La Niña) and neutral phase. It is also revealed that significant above‐normal sea surface temperature (SST) over BoB, strong west–east SST gradient between southwest BoB and tropical western Pacific Ocean and anomalous strong low‐level easterly flow over tropical Indian Ocean during El Niño years offer favourable conditions for the initiation and westwards propagation of EWs. Time evolution of the 3–7‐day filtered composite anomalies of 700 hPa wind and relative vorticity (×10−5 S−1, shaded) for El Niño years in which heavy rainfall occurred from Day −5 to Day 0 (day of occurrence of heavy rainfall). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slums pose a persistent challenge for fast growing urban areas in the global South, despite several decades of policy intervention. While Chennai has adopted several strategies ranging from upgrading to reconstruction, the city has been unable to deliver its target of ‘clearing’ slum settlements. Through an analysis of four enumeration reports and a look at the evolving political contexts and subsequent practices, we illustrate the evolution of slum policy approaches in Chennai since the 1970s. The analysis shows slum practices in Chennai continue to be characterized by an underlying continuity, with relocation as the dominant mode of operation since the nineties. However, approaches to slums have also evolved from paternalistic socialism with in‐situ development in the seventies, to approaches characterized by affordability and cost recovery in the eighties, to the aesthetics of global cities in the nineties, to the technology driven, to slum‐free ‘smart city’ discourse currently in vogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]