Women scientists who make chillies hotter, and other Scroll.in stories you may have missed this week

Let’s rewind the past week.

Meet the women scientists who make India’s chillies hotter, flowers cheaper and mangoes last longer

From growing fruits and vegetables with greater resistance to pests and disease to flowers that stay fresh longer, women scientists of the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research have helped increase crop yield and farm income. Read more here.

Why Bastar’s roads have become deathtraps for the security forces

On April 24, Maoists killed 25 Central Reserve Police Force personnel guarding a 5.5-km under-construction road in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district. With their heavy security presence and a workforce with few or no Adivasis, the state’s new roads are increasingly being targeted by the rebels. Read more here.

Meet Rachita Mistry, the Indian sprinter who delivered a baby and then set a national record

Tennis star Serena Williams was pregnant when she won the Australian Open. No mean feat. But just as impressive is the story of former Indian sprinter Rachita Mistry, who won most of her medals – and broke her idol PT Usha’s record – after becoming a mother. Read more here.

Government websites are leaking Aadhaar numbers. Who will take action against the government?

In the space of three days, websites of Jharkhand’s Directorate of Social Security, Chandigarh’s Food and Civil Supplies Department and the Centre’s Swachch Bharat Mission displayed the Aadhaar details of beneficiaries. Yet, the government remains silent in the face of such frequent data breaches. Read more here.

The big question: Is yoga for power or fitness, wisdom or devotion?

What is real yoga? Is it the yoga-for-fitness of the global village, or the yoga-for-devotion of the religious and spiritual? Then there is yoga-for-power, which is often dismissed as tantra and goes under the radar due to its association with the paranormal, the sexual, and the hierarchical. Read more here.