Reportage
‘90% diarrhoea deaths in India due to lack of safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities’
The National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance pointed out that 90 per cent of all deaths from diarrhoea in India, particularly in children, are caused due to lack of access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation services. Adopting appropriate WASH practices can reduce water borne diseases. Details here.
Gaon Connection
Keedi Ram owned 12 bigha of land. But floods in the Ghaghra river have made him landless.
At least 644 villages in 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh are facing floods with about 300 villages completely marooned. Ghaghra river is flowing above its danger level, and has caused havoc in Sitapur and Barabanki districts where villagers have lost both their homes and farmlands. Gaon Connection’s ground report.
Virendra Singh
Farmers in Himachal take up hing cultivation; India may no longer have to import it
Every pinch of hing India uses in her kitchen is imported. But not for much longer as agricultural scientists of the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, along with ICAR, have trained 373 farmers in Himachal Pradesh to grow asafoetida indigenously.
Divendra Singh
COVID19: DCGI gives nod to phase 2/3 trials of Biological E’s vaccine on kids aged between 5 and 18
The Drugs Controller General of India has given nod to Biological E Limited to conduct phase II and phase III clinical trials of its COVID19 vaccine on children between 5 and 18 years of age. The trials are expected to be conducted across 10 sites in India.
Gaon Connection
Primary schools reopen in Uttar Pradesh after 18 months; excited teachers, notebooks and midday meal welcome the children
Been out of school for almost 18 months due to the exigencies arising out of the COVID19 pandemic, primary school children in Uttar Pradesh have returned to their classrooms and repatriated with their friends. Here’s what the students, teachers and parents had to say about the schools reopening.
Gaon Connection
Open dumping and burning of mixed biomedical waste raises a stink in Sitapur
Despite two centralised biomedical waste treatment facilities, syringes, discarded medicines, blood-soaked bandages, human tissues and placenta are openly dumped and burnt in a field adjacent to the community health centre in Sitapur district’s Mishrikh tehsil. Local people and sanitation workers suffer its putrefying smell and toxic fumes.
Mohit Shukla
Villages in Jaisalmer stare at drought but Banjaron Ki Dhani has clean and safe drinking water
This monsoon season, Jaisalmer in western Rajasthan has received next to no rainfall. But a rainwater harvesting initiative has helped a nomadic community in the desert district to capture rainwater and collect sufficient water for drinking purposes.
Madhav Sharma
‘Air pollution shortening lives by about 10 years in Delhi and UP’
A report shows that the people of India are expected to lose 5.9 years of their lives on account of air pollution. In Delhi, it is estimated that due to air pollution people’s lifespan is being reduced by 9.7 years.
Gaon Connection
PM Modi’s housing scheme will provide house to every homeless person: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana which was launched in June 2015 by the central government aims to provide affordable pucca houses with water facility, sanitation and electricity supply round-the-clock.
Gaon Connection
Madhya Pradesh hikes entrance fee to tiger reserves; forest guides unhappy with the decision
The entrance fee into tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh has doubled for Indian tourists, while foreigners will have to pay four times more. This has left wildlife enthusiasts and those dependent on wildlife tourism for their livelihood unhappy.