UPSC Prelims 2024 Q30: Cashew, Papaya, Red Sanders — Native Trees
Consider the following:
1. Cashew
2. Papaya
3. Red sanders
How many of the above trees are actually native to India?
- Only one
- Only two
- All three
- None
Answer: (a) Only one
Statement-wise explanation
- 1: incorrect — Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) is native to north-eastern Brazil. The Portuguese brought it to the Goa coast in the 16th century (about 1560–1565) and first planted it to check coastal soil erosion. From Goa it spread along the Konkan and Malabar coasts. India is now a leading producer and processor of cashew, but the tree is an introduced species.
- 2: incorrect — Papaya (Carica papaya) comes from tropical America, from southern Mexico and Central America. Spanish and Portuguese traders carried it through the Caribbean and South-East Asia, and it reached India in the late 16th century. NCERT's chapter on the Mughal agrarian economy lists papaya and pineapple among the fruits that came from the New World.
- 3: correct — Red sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) is endemic to India. It grows naturally only in a few districts of the southern Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh, mainly Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Prakasam, Nellore and Anantapur. Because of this narrow range and heavy smuggling, it has been on CITES Appendix II since 1994 and is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List (2021 assessment).
How to eliminate
Basic knowledge settles this question. Red sanders is famous as a smuggled timber of the Andhra Pradesh hills and is often described as endemic, so it is certainly native. That rules out 'None' and leaves only one, two or all three. Cashew and papaya are both fruits of the New World (the Americas), and the Portuguese and Spanish brought New World crops to India in the 16th–17th centuries. Other plants from that exchange include chilli, potato, tomato, maize, pineapple, guava, groundnut and tobacco. If you remember that the Portuguese brought cashew to Goa, only papaya is left to decide. Note the word 'actually' in the question. It warns you that some of these trees seem Indian because India grows so much of them. Rule to remember: crops that India produces in large amounts are often not native to India.
Know more
Native, endemic and introduced species
- Native (indigenous): the species evolved in a region or reached it naturally.
- Endemic: a native species found only in that region. Red sanders is endemic to the southern Eastern Ghats.
- Introduced (exotic): people brought the species, on purpose or by accident. An introduced species becomes invasive only if it spreads and harms native ecosystems. Examples are Lantana camara and Prosopis juliflora.
The Columbian Exchange and India
After 1492, crops moved between the Americas and the rest of the world. The Portuguese in Goa and Spanish ships via Manila brought many New World plants to India. Indian food now depends on several of them.
| Plant | Original home | Came to India |
|---|---|---|
| Cashew | NE Brazil | Portuguese, 16th c., Goa |
| Papaya | Mexico–Central America | 16th c., via SE Asia |
| Pineapple | South America | Portuguese, 16th c. |
| Guava | Tropical America | 17th c. |
| Chilli, potato, tomato, maize | Americas | 16th–17th c. |
| Groundnut, tobacco | South America | 16th–17th c. |
Trees that are truly Indian: red sanders, Indian sandalwood (Santalum album), teak, sal, neem, mango, jamun, Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) and banyan.
Red sanders at a glance
- Deciduous tree of dry Eastern Ghats hills: Seshachalam, Palakonda, Veligonda and Lankamalla.
- Its heartwood is prized in East Asia for furniture, musical instruments and dye.
- IUCN: Endangered in 2000, downgraded to Near Threatened in 2018, then Endangered again in 2021.
- CITES Appendix II since 1994. In November 2023, CITES removed India from its Review of Significant Trade for this species. India had been under that review since 2004.
- Farmers who grow red sanders on their own land get payments under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) system of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
In the news
Red sanders was in the news in late 2023. In November 2023, CITES removed India from its Review of Significant Trade for the species, after India had been under that review since 2004. Smuggling cases from the Seshachalam hills also keep the tree in the headlines. The rest of the question tests static facts about crop history.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve: Red sanders conservation and anti-smuggling news centres on the Seshachalam hills, so this reserve often appears alongside the species.