Moody's Ratings on Tuesday said India's growing water shortage can disrupt farm and industry sectors and is detrimental to the credit health of the sovereign as rising food inflation and decline in income may spark social unrest. It said decreases in water supply can disrupt agricultural production and industrial operations, resulting in inflation in food prices and hence can be detrimental to credit health of sectors that heavily consume water, such as coal power generators and steel-makers.
In the wee hours of Wednesday, February 22, 2023, a major fire broke out in Dharavi, India's largest urban slum.
Proposals involving Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were being pursued since 2019.
Two pilots and an engineer were killed after a helicopter crashed and caught fire in Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday morning, police said.
The young woman's death has led to an outrage on illegal hoardings being put by political parties despite them causing inconvenience and posing a threat to people's safety.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Himachal Pradesh government to release 137 cusecs of surplus water available with it for Delhi, which is grappling with water crisis.
A major fire broke out on the sets of TV serial Gum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin in Film City, Mumbai, on Friday afternoon, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.
As Delhi grapples with water crisis amid the unrelenting summer heat, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered an emergent meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board on June 5 to address the issue.
The administration and people in draught-hit Marathwada are pinning their hopes on monsoon as only one per cent water is left in the dams of the parched region.
No casualty or injury was reported in the mishap, he said.
The Enforcement Directorate has taken cognisance of Delhi minister Atishi's statement that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sent her directions from the agency's custody to initiate public welfare works related to water and sewerage, official sources said on Sunday.
Maharashtra Health Minister Prakash Abitkar has linked 80% of suspected Guillain-Barr Syndrome (GBS) cases in Pune to water contamination around a well in Nanded village. The state health department and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) are taking measures to address the issue. The well is a source of water for surrounding villages, and officials suspect contamination is leading to the spike in GBS cases. The minister emphasized that GBS affects individuals with weak immunity, and campylobacter jejuni bacteria, usually causing stomach infection, can trigger the disease. The PMC has conducted water sample tests, with some showing evidence of norovirus and campylobacter jejuni. Clean drinking water is being provided through tankers to affected areas.
"After taking into account all suggestions, we have decided not to hold live streaming of Chardham Yatra as it is not written in the Vedas. We are also going to file an affidavit in the high court in this regard," the CM said.
This is the fourth year of drought in Marathwada in the past five years. Each of its 8,522 villages have been affected for two consecutive years.
The 25-year-old's story is an inspiration for young Indians.
A 36-year-old man diagnosed with Guillain-Barr Syndrome (GBS), a rare nerve disorder, died in a civic-run hospital in Pune, taking the number of suspected GBS fatalities to three in Maharashtra. The patient, a driver with a cab service, was admitted to the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) in Pimpri Chinchwad on January 21. An expert committee at YCMH concluded that the cause of death was trauma to the respiratory system due to pneumonia, leading to severe difficulty in breathing. The committee also noted that the patient had been diagnosed with GBS, with a nerve conduction test done on January 22. The immediate cause of death was identified as severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). With the latest loss of life, the number of suspected GBS deaths in Maharashtra has reached three. According to health officials, the suspected cases of the rare nerve disorder have risen to 130 in the state. Most of the cases in the state are from Pune and surrounding areas, and these infections, including the latest case, are likely linked to contaminated water sources. Campylobacter jejuni, a bacteria found in contaminated food and water, is believed to be the reason for the outbreak.
In the second drought fatality in a span of two days, an 11-year-old boy died while fetching water from a well in drought-hit Beed district of Marathwada on Thursday.
The navy said that so far the 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil it was carrying had not been affected by the fire.
'Due to this sudden phenomenon, guests stopped visiting the homes of these villages, girls and boys from these villages were not getting proposals; students were reluctant to attend schools and colleges for fear of being shamed.'
A man suspected to have contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) has died in Maharashtra's Solapur district, while the number of cases of the immunological nerve disorder in Pune rose to 110, health officials said on Monday.
A day after a stampede in Hathras claimed 121 lives, Uttar Pradesh minister Asim Arun on Wednesday said the state government has started work on standard operating procedures (SOPs) for granting permission for large gatherings to prevent such incidents in future.
Stating that all aspects of the 400-crore water tanker scam of the Delhi Jal Board are being analysed, the ACB on Monday said that it would question all accused very soon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in a rally in Delhi, comparing him to notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj and accusing him of spreading lies about the BJP government in Haryana mixing poison in the Yamuna river. Modi said Kejriwal's claims are an insult to India and that the AAP is desperate due to the fear of defeat in the upcoming Delhi elections. He also highlighted the BJP's track record of fulfilling promises and urged people to give him a chance to serve them. The attack comes as the Delhi election campaign heats up, with the AAP and BJP locked in a tight race.
"The BJP and the Congress are treating Mishra as Harishchandra... He is same the person who had called Modi an 'Inter-Services Intelligence agent'," Sanjay Singh of the AAP said.
Protests were held across Tamil Nadu with raising of slogans-- "Vendum Vendum Kudineer Vendum" (we want water) and "Edappadi Arasai Kandikirom" (we condemn chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy's government).
Manish Narwal claimed the silver in the men's 10m air pistol (SH1) event at the Paris Paralympics on Friday.
Among the fatalities recorded on Friday, the maximum 17 were from Uttar Pradesh, 14 from Bihar, five from Odisha and four from Jharkhand, where officials said more than 1,300 people are hospitalised with heatstroke conditions.
A high-level inter-ministerial team conducted a six-hour investigation in Badhaal village, Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, to ascertain the causes of death of 17 members of three families under mysterious circumstances. The team, led by a director-rank officer in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, collected samples and briefed by senior district, health and police officers. The team's visit follows the deaths of 16 people between December 7 and January 19. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities focusing on potential neurotoxins and a spring that tested positive for pesticides.
The Panama registered tanker New Diamond was carrying 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India when its engine room caught fire off the coast of Sangamankanda in the eastern district of Ampara, Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Capt Indika Silva said.
'India is a top-tier security partner for Australia and we continue to prioritise practical and tangible cooperation that directly contributes to Indo-Pacific stability.'
A Chhattisgarh government employee allegedly drained out 41 lakh litres of water from a weir after his mobile phone fell into it in the state's Kanker district, an official said on Friday.
Photos of the damaged pitch showed an area of exposed sand that looked like a golf bunker near one of the corner flags.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, bought crude oil worth 49 billion euros from Russia in the third year of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a global think tank said. India, which has traditionally sourced its oil from the Middle East, began importing a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Iran's seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker was allegedly due to a collision with an Iranian fishing boat, Iran's official news agency IRNA said.
The Congress's student and youth wings took to the streets in the national capital on Thursday over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams, with NSUI members forcefully entering the NTA headquarters and locking its office, and the IYC staging a huge protest at Jantar Mantar.
A major fire on Friday broke out in a three-storeyed residential building near Byculla railway station injuring two persons but 20 other occupants were safely rescued, a Fire Brigade official said.
Besides, the government would also undertake and promote steps for water conservation and curbing extraction of underground water, which is depleting the water table and is a matter of concern, the minister said.
A group of onion traders gathered at the Pimpalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), near Nashik, to inspect one of the season's final harvests of red onions as they look to place their bids. They were surrounded by farmers, who brought their produce here from different parts of the district. Farmers have reasons to be optimistic.
Maharashtra today faces an acute water crisis. But all that Devendra Fadnavis is concerned about who is not chanting slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
