• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

World Environment Day: PPE, masks and shields... pandemic detritus adds to waste crisis

The crisis of plastic and biomedical waste is deepening with each Covid case as millions of people use and throw face shields, surgical masks, gloves and PPE suits, once used primarily in hospitals and now an indispensable part of everyday life. The movement against plastic has taken a battering in the pandemic with dependency on single-use plastic surging and households contributing to the tonnes of biomedical waste being generated, worried experts said ahead of World Environment Day on Saturday. The detritus of the pandemic can be seen everywhere - PPE suits lying discarded behind hospitals and crematoriums, surgical masks and shields being thrown as part of household waste and, of course, sanitiser bottles, gloves and the like found in street corner garbage dumps. With waste disposal mechanisms less than perfect in India and the 'plastic footprint' becoming larger by the day, concerns on plastic waste choking the planet and worries about safety are mounting. "There has been a general increase and since it is a crisis situation, we are not thinking of plastic but general prevention. The focus is no longer plastic, so that is a problem," Ravi Agarwal, founder director of the environmental NGO Toxics Link, told . "A lot of biomedical waste like masks and PPE kits are also being generated in general homes now. So that is becoming a big problem. These things are finding their way across ecosystems. A lot of these things like masks can be seen on beaches, in coral reefs etc," he added. According to the <a href="/topic/Central-Pollution-Control-Board" target="_blank">Central Pollution Control Board</a> (<a href="/topic/CPCB" target="_blank">CPCB</a>), India produced 45,308 tonnes of COVID-19 biomedical waste between June 2020 and May 10, 2021, an average daily generation of 132 tonnes of COVID-19 related waste. This is in addition to the 615 tonnes of biomedical waste a day being produced before COVID-19, amounting to a 17 per cent increase in biomedical waste generation solely because of the pandemic. Besides Covid-related waste from hospitals and homes with positive patients, there is 'pandemic promoted' waste from non-Covid homes, including not just protective gear but also plastic packaging with more and more people using home deliveries for essential and non-essential shopping. Under the existing waste disposal rules, biomedical waste is segregated into four categories - Yellow (highly infectious waste such as human, animal, anatomical, soiled), Red (contaminated recyclable waste generated from disposable items like tubing, bottles tubes, syringes), White (waste sharps, including needles, syringes with fixed needles), and Blue (broken or discarded and contaminated glassware, including medicine vials). Considered potentially infectious, all Covid waste, irrespective of content, is tagged Yellow and incinerated. On the face of it, India seems well equipped to handle this extra load of biomedical waste with a national incineration capacity of 800 tonnes a day. But experts said there are other factors that needed to be taken into account. "Like the fact that due to the health crisis, non-Covid biomedical waste generation has also gone up. Secondly, these incinerators are meant for waste that has been segregated. But since Covid waste is not being segregated, the process compromises the efficiency of the incinerators," said Siddharth Singh, deputy programme manager at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Whether emissions from these plants are causing further pollution remains unclear with flawed and non-functional monitoring systems at most plants. "We never know the extent of pollution we are doing... we are converting our land based pollution to water or air pollution. That's what we end up doing," Singh told . Moreover, while national incineration capacity seems sufficient, the waste generation to incineration capacity ratio might not be met for individual states, he said. For instance, <a href="/topic/Maharashtra" target="_blank">Maharashtra</a> reported a 45 per cent increase in the volume of its biomedical waste in May last year, with daily generation going from 62,000 kg per day before Covid to 90,000 kg per day, according to a report by the <a href="/topic/Maharashtra-Pollution-Control-Board" target="_blank">Maharashtra Pollution Control Board</a>. To address this problem, the CPCB in July last year in its revised guidelines for Covid waste management said states could approach the Environment Ministry 's 'Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities' to deal with their Covid biomedical waste if it could not manage the load. Atin Biswas, programme director, Municipal Solid Waste at CSE, pointed out that while there were mechanisms in place, there was very little data on how many states had actually availed, or even knew of the facility. Notwithstanding the unprecedented health and environment crisis, the experts said there are ways to minimise the damage. To begin with, Singh said individuals needed to consciously reduce their plastic footprint. "We have always looked at the plastic problem in terms of recycling, but the focus should be on how to minimise it. Waste management is to reduce and manage," he said. For Agarwal, proper disposal is key to coming one step closer towards solving the problem. "At an individual level we have a big responsibility in how we dispose of things. It has to start at the individual level and the government also has to meet the requirement. It's cooperation between the two. It cannot be done by one or the other. "The role of municipalities becomes very critical here because waste collection from Covid homes is supposed to be done separately from general homes, but in many parts of the city (Delhi) that is not happening," he said. CSE's Biswas agreed. He said waste management is indeed a "shared responsibility", and a "comprehensive communication strategy" is important to achieve the goal of reducing plastic pollution. "Waste management is a behavioural challenge. Government has always perceived this to be an engineering problem and has been very poor at communication. Had the government invested in better communication, we would have less waste to deal with in the first place," he said. "We do need a very comprehensive strategy and a comprehensive roadmap if we have to achieve certain milestones," Biswas added.

• Down To Earth

2021 lockdowns not as effective as last year's in cleaning Delhi-NCR air: CSE

2021 lockdowns not as effective as last year's in cleaning Delhi-NCR air: CSE Meteorology would be partly responsible for this trend, but it could also be a reflection of weakening of pollution control-measures and efforts in the city and region, it said. Lockdowns have improved the air quality in Delhi-NCR this year as well but not as effectively as last year due to the 2021 curbs being shorter and lesser stringent, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found in a study. Meteorology would be partly responsible for this trend, but it could also be a reflection of weakening of pollution control-measures and efforts in the city and region, it said. Traffic intensity was also comparatively higher in 2021, it added. This year, restrictions in Delhi started on April 6 in the form of night-curfews and weekend lockdowns with complete lockdowns being imposed on April 19. The imposition of partial-lockdown lowered PM2.5 pollutant levels by 20 per cent; while the complete lockdown brought the average down by further 12 per cent, according to the CSE analysis. "In 2020, partial lockdown started on March 12 with hard lockdown kicking in on March 25, which was lifted in phase-wise manner from May 18. Then the partial lockdown also brought PM2.5 levels down by 20 per cent, but the hard lockdown reduced it by another 35 per cent," the CSE said. Lifting of restrictions from May 18 had led to 28 per cent rise in PM2.5 levels, it said. The green think-tank also said the lockdown summers in 2020 and 2021 have been 25 to 40 per cent cleaner as compared to the summer of 2019. It also said that spring of 2021 (January-March) has recorded the highest pollution levels for the season since 2019. Normally, PM2.5 levels have a seasonal cycle with winter being the most polluted and monsoon season being the cleanest. Spring (January to March) acts as a transitional period between the two extremes- winter and summer A significant drop in PM2.5 levels happens as the weather warms up and wind picks up speed during spring. "There was a 26 per cent drop between winter of 2018 and spring of 2019. In 2020, this drop increased to 36 per cent due to pollution control measures in place and also imposition of partial lockdowns in March 2020. But this downward trend in spring pollution did not continue this year, with seasonal drop limited to 18 per cent," the report said. "In fact, spring this year has been 31 per cent dirtier than 2020 and 8 per cent dirtier than 2019," it said. The CSE analysis also showed that there were 27 "very poor" days in terms of air quality this February-March compared to 17 in 2020 and 12 in 2019. Days meeting the air quality standard also plummeted this spring to just two. The year 2020 had 16 and 2019 had six days when the standard was met, it said.

• Down To Earth

Opinion: At War With The Ecology- The COVID-19 Pandemic Is The Biggest Environmental Crisis Precipitated By Humans

World Environment Day 2021: Human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss, also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment, writes Richard Mahapatra, Managing Editor, Down To Earth The period at the end of this sentence can pack up around 10,000 of the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19. That is what one can call the smallest camp of the enemy in the ongoing war against the “once-in-a-century” pandemic. Since its outbreak, there have been many “firsts” associated with COVID-19 that explain why it is so devastating. All four pandemics in history have been caused by viruses, but this is the first to be caused by a coronavirus. This is also the fastest disease that became a pandemic—just 71 days—after its outbreak. We are overwhelmed by the ravages of the pandemic. The late microbiologist and environmentalist René Dubois famously articulated that every civilisation created its own diseases and epidemics. The COVID-19 is ours. But is it just a health emergency? Rather, it is primarily an environmental disaster that enabled a virus escaping its natural habitats and infecting humans. COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, or a disease that transmits from an animal or insect to a human being. Humans’ interactions with its ecosystem, thus, are the critical factor in transmission of these diseases. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), about 60 per cent of known infectious diseases in humans and 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses. Zoonotic pathogens can be bacterial, viral or parasitic, with animals playing a vital role in maintaining such infections. Examples of zoonoses include HIV-AIDS, Ebola, Lyme Disease, malaria, rabies, West Nile fever, and COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic may be the worst, but it is not the first, as Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP says. In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a list of 10 diseases that could cause epidemics, and all were viral in nature. Besides the usual suspects such as Zika, Ebola and SARS (triggered by a coronavirus), the list also had a Disease X, to be caused by an unknown pathogen. There is now a growing consensus that COVID-19 is Disease X. “This outbreak (COVID-19) is rapidly becoming the first true pandemic challenge that fits the Disease X category,” wrote Marion Koopmans, head, viroscience department, Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands in journal Cell. Peter Daszak, who was part of the WHO team that made the 2018 list, wrote in the New York Times that they had postulated Disease X would originate in animals, emerge at a place where economic development drives people and wildlife together, and go viral. The group predicted that the disease would be confused with other diseases during the initial stages and would spread quickly due to travel and trade. It would have a mortality rate higher than the seasonal flu and would spread as easily. It would shake the financial markets even before it became pandemic. “In a nutshell, COVID-19 is Disease X,” he wrote. This flew in the face of popular perception that the next pandemic would be that of influenza. WHO tracked 1,483 epidemic events in 172 countries between 2011 and 2018. Nearly 60 per cent of the recent epidemics were zoonotic, of which 72 per cent originated in wildlife. Besides COVID-19, WHO reported nine disease outbreaks in the first 79 days of 2020. Scientists today know just over 260 viruses in humans, which cumulatively account for just 0.1 per cent of potential zoonoses. In other words, the world remains ignorant about 99.9 per cent of potential zoonotic viruses. We are yet to identify some 1.7 million viruses that exist in mammals and birds, and 50 per cent of these have the potential or ability to infect humans. Globally, experts have identified seven anthropogenic (or, human-induced) driving factors leading to the emergence of zoonotic diseases—increased demand for animal protein; rise in intense and unsustainable farming; the increased use and exploitation of wildlife; unsustainable utilisation of natural resources; travel and transportation; changes in food supply chains; and the climate change crisis. Climate change and environmental degradation are making matters worse as they help viruses mutate faster, thus increasing the rate of spread. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an independent intergovernmental body based in Bonn, Germany, warns that pandemics like COVID-19 would hit us more frequently and have a higher mortality rate. According to IPBES, “Land-use change is a globally significant driver of pandemics and has caused the emergence of more than 30 per cent of new diseases reported since 1960.” “Pandemics have their origins in diverse microbes carried by animal reservoirs, but their emergence is entirely driven by human activities,” says a research report of IPBES. Also Read: Net Zero By 2050: International Energy Agency Calls For Unprecedented Transformation Of How Energy Is Produced Human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss, thus, also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment. “Changes in the way we use land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production and consumption disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens and people. This is the path to pandemics,” says Peter Daszak, who chaired a IPBES workshop on the pandemic. The growing demand for animal-derived food has encouraged the intensification and industrialisation of animal production, wherein a large number of genetically similar animals are bred in for higher productivity and disease resistance. Intensive farm settings cause them to be raised in close proximity to each other, in less ideal conditions characterised by limited bio-security and animal husbandry, poor waste management and use of antimicrobials as a way to counter these conditions. This makes them more vulnerable to infections, which can further lead to emergence of zoonotic diseases. High use of antimicrobials in such farm settings is also contributing to the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which itself is a chronic pandemic of high cumulative damage threatening public health across the globe. Moreover, loss of forest cover for agricultural purposes such as for growing of soy, used as a key constituent in animal feed, is also influencing the emergence of zoonotic diseases by increasing human access to wildlife. However, prevention measures would be much cheaper than the pandemics’ economic costs. The current pandemic would have cost around $16 trillion globally by July 2020. The cost to reduce the risks of future pandemics would be at least 100 times less than the cost to deal with these pandemics. By 2050, over 500 million hectares of new agricultural land will be needed to meet the global food demand, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Ecosystem services worth $10.6 trillion are lost due to land degradation annually. By contrast, switching to sustainable land management practices could deliver up to $1.4 trillion in increased crop production. In the largest-ever global restoration initiative, in the last five years, close to 100 countries has earmarked areas for repair and restoration by 2030. A preliminary analysis shows over 400 million hectares have been earmarked under this initiative, which is about 80 per cent of the agricultural land required to meet global food demand by 2050. The restoration of these areas as part of building back better to avoid future zoonosis would bring other crucial benefits, particularly mitigating climate change.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

All IMD Air Quality Monitoring Stations In Delhi Offline: Think Tank

The IMD said the AQMs are functional but data is not being relayed to the central server due to a technical issue. None of the eight air quality monitoring stations (AQMs) of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Delhi has relayed data to the central server in the last two months, the Centre for Science and Environment said on Friday. The IMD said the AQMs are functional but data is not being relayed to the central server due to a technical issue. "Even though Delhi's monitoring network grew to 40 stations by the end of 2020, the number of active stations has reduced to 32 as all the IMD stations have gone offline," the CSE said. The IMD's station at Burari crossing has been offline since December last year, while the Ayanagar, CRRI Mathura Road, IGI Airport, Lodhi Road, North Campus DU, and the PUSA stations went offline on March 10, it said. In fact, the IMD's two other stations -- Gwal Pahari, Gurgaon, and Noida Sector 62 -- have also gone offline, the CSE said. An IMD official said the Central Pollution Control Board has been informed about the issue, and it is likely to be resolved next week. The problem could not be fixed earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. Promoted Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com Of the 40 AQMs in Delhi, 24 belong to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, six are of the CPCB and two of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.

• Sustainable Food Systems

Nestle not alone, these food labels were branded unhealthy in the past

Nestle was earlier in the dock in 2015, when FSSAI banned Maggi noodles over 'No added MSG' claim Hindustan Unilever recalled over 20 varieties of instant noodles in 2015 Detergent was discovered in Mother Dairy milk in 2015, company denied charges Several popular food brands have landed in multiple controversies over the years. They have faced the heat for their products, unethical publicity, advertising and marketing campaigns that went wrong. The world’s largest food products manufacturer, Nestle currently finds itself in one more such controversy. According a report published in Financial Times, the company has acknowledged that more than 60 percent of its mainstream food and drinks products do not meet a “recognised definition of health." The leaked document, a presentation meant of internal circulation among top executives of Nestle, also mentioned that "some of our categories and products will never be ‘healthy’ no matter how much we renovate." However, the Swiss food and beverages conglomerate is not the only popular brand to be embroiled in such a controversy, as several others have faced similar allegations earlier. MSG in Maggi The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) banned Maggi in 2015 after tests showed that it contained excessive lead and the labelling on its packets deceptively mentioned 'No added MSG.' The labels did not indicate the amount of flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate. Nestle has since then removed the claim 'No added MSG.' Nestle went on to recall Maggi from the market, challenged the ban that was imposed and the 'two-minute' noodles made a return to the shelves after being found to be safe for consumption. Sugar Syrup in Patanjali Honey A study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based NGO showed that honey sold by many popular brands, including Patanjali, Dabur and Zandu, among others, was adulterated with Chinese sugar syrup made from rice, corn, beetroot and sugarcane. The sellers sold the sugar infused honey as 'pure honey.' Samples from 13 brands of processed and raw honey that are sold in India were studied to check their purity. It was found that 77 percent of the honey samples was adulterated with sugar syrup. The brands that did not pass the test refuted the claims of the study and also put out elaborate ads in newspapers to assert their claims. Detergent in Mother Dairy In 2015, the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Administration found detergent in one of the samples of milk that was sourced from Mother Dairy. Mother Dairy, however, had firmly denied any adulteration of the milk sold in pouches. Carcinogens in Britannia A CSE test in 2016 found that 84 percent of the 38 commonly available brands -- including Harvest Gold and Britannia -- of packed breads, pavs and buns, contained potassium bromate and iodate. These chemical compounds are known to be carcinogens and harmful in nature. The study also tested and found residues of the chemicals in buns and pizza bases in fast food chains such as Domino's, McDonald's and Subway. The FSSAI took cognisance of the matter and ordered a probe. The government subsequently banned the use of potassium bromate in bread production. Top Ramen Recall In June 2015 Hindustan Unilever recalled over 20 varieties of instant noodles including those sold under the brands Ching’s, Top Ramen and Knorr, as they were released in the market without due approval from food and safety regulators. However, the company denied that the products were discontinued over any safety or quality concerns.

• Sustainable Mobility

Pandemic lessons for India’s electric mobility

Travel restrictions and the economic downturn have slammed the brakes on the sector’s growth, but industry leaders say the mobility transition is on pause only until the pandemic is over. India’s electric mobility ambitions have suffered a major setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Vehicle manufacturers concede that with core business being heavily impacted, electrification will take a backseat for now. But they remain firm on the long-term goal of promoting cleaner alternatives to fossil fuel-powered vehicles. Sales of all forms of passenger carriers, including light and heavy duty buses, three-wheelers, e-rickshaws and taxis, have decreased since the pandemic struck in 2020, as most have opted for private transportation. This has affected India’s efforts to electrify public mobility, a segment that the government has been targeting as an efficient way of reducing the carbon footprint of a greater number of passengers. india EVs Source: Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers “The Covid-19 induced lockdown and restrictions have severely impacted the overall commercial passenger segment,” said Rohit Srivastava, vice president for the buses segment with the manufacturer Tata Motors. “The pace of electrification, specifically in the case of e-buses, has also been dampened.” Srivastava however is hopeful that continuation of robust subsidy schemes such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) will help revive consumers’ interest in electric mobility in the long run. The FAME scheme India’s federal government rolled out an incentives package, called the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, in 2015. It was updated in January 2019 with a much bigger budget of 100 billion Indian rupees (US$1.4 billion) to support the sale and manufacturing of electric vehicles and components for three more years. The scheme includes incentives to switch to electric cars, buses and motorbikes as well as promoting the expansion of a country-wide charging network. Only vehicles with at least 40 per cent of their components made in India are eligible, a limitation aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing. The pandemic may necessitate an extension of the current 2022 end date for the scheme. The need for a long-term vision Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at think-tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), says that to get electrification back on the mobility agenda, India will need a long-term and consistent policy road map. “But the reality is, we don’t even know what will happen after [the second iteration of the] FAME [scheme],” she said. “While we do understand that Covid-19 has derailed the economy, we could have been a lot more strategic in terms of linking economic and green recovery,” Roychowdhury added. She welcomed the central government’s newly announced incentive scheme rewarding the production of batteries, known as Production Linked Incentives (PLI). But the centre and states need to come together with a cohesive policy for all the initiatives to be effective, she added. Despite all the disruptions, Mahindra & Mahindra, one of the earliest entrants into the shared electric transport segment, remains optimistic that rapid electrification is possible, particularly for vehicles covering short distances such as rickshaws. “We expect about 40 per cent of overall three-wheelers sold in the country to be electric by 2025,” said Mahesh Babu, chief executive of Mahindra Electric. Unlike developed countries, India requires complex transportation solutions involving a range of different vehicles for each stage of a journey. Last-mile mobility in India offers a huge opportunity for electric vehicle (EV) penetration and is set for a massive transformation, Babu said. “We aim to roll out new, innovative and customised EV solutions in both personal and commercial segments that will invigorate India’s last-mile mobility and delivery needs.” Mahindra has over 3,000 electric four-wheeled vehicles and more than 20,000 electric three-wheeled vehicles, such as rickshaws, running in the shared and corporate markets. As these vehicles cost as much as their carbon-intensive counterparts but are cheaper to maintain, Babu believes EV is well suited to take over last-mile transportation and delivery services. However, the pandemic has not spared even the low-speed e-rickshaws that have been at the front line of India’s electric vehicle revolution. Close to 8,000-11,000 e-rickshaws were sold per month prior to the pandemic, according to a 2018 study carried out by the consulting firms Kearney and Bloomberg. This number had been expected to grow steadily, said Rahul Mishra, a partner with management consultancy Kearney. “Covid has not only severely impacted the e-rickshaw market and shared mobility but also pushed the electric mobility agenda out of the country,” said Mishra. As the e-rickshaw market was organising and manufacturers were entering the space with better products, the pandemic forced them to fundamentally review their strategy, he said. Charging ahead However, Eric Vas, president of the Urbanite brand business unit at the motorcycle and auto rickshaw manufacturer Bajaj Auto, believes that three-wheelers will remain a cost-effective solution for average city commuters. “We may not have launched anything commercially, but we have put enough vehicles in the market that are going through trials. At this point, there are multiple challenges ranging from initial cost of acquisition to charging infrastructure,” he said. The lack of charging infrastructure is a big reason why electric mobility is yet to take off in India. According to Vas, even battery-swapping solutions, in which the user only rents the charged battery pack and replaces it at dedicated swapping points, are not efficient given the high costs of batteries. If a battery is the most expensive part of a vehicle, investors would rather reduce the number of batteries and not vice versa, Vas said, pointing out that in battery-swapping systems the number of batteries available at any point will have to exceed the number of vehicles that end up using them. Battery manufacturing is expected to grow in India as local production is necessary to keep electric vehicles cost-competitive, according to a recent report by Emkay Global called Decoding Electric Vehicle Disruption. Due to economies of scale and technological advancements, battery costs are expected to decrease, which would make battery swapping sustainable for smaller vehicles, the report said. Despite the setbacks due to the pandemic, public transport cannot be wished away, says CSE’s Roychowdhury. A clear, long-term road map for electrification covering the next decade will determine whether India’s roads will become less carbon-intensive. But India can move in the direction of clean mobility only by learning from its policy failures and successes, incentivising manufacturing and investing in the lighter modes of transportation that are most popular among consumers.

• Sustainable Mobility

Kolkata needs to bring back Cycles

Kolkata, Jun 3 (UNI) Cycling restrictions in the city were imposed on about 36 streets in the year 2008 by the Kolkata Police which had been increased to 174 roads in 2013 and later due to widespread protests Kolkata Police this had been reduced to 62 road restrictions and at present, these restrictions continue to exists in 62 major roads impacting the livelihoods of thousands who use cycling as the only means of transport. The Kolkata Police has cited two reasons behind the cycle restrictions – that it slows down traffic and threatens safe vehicular movement. SwitchON Foundation filed an RTI to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic Department, Kolkata in 2020 and also conducted a vehicular count survey accompanied by speed mapping surveys and commuters perception surveys to come up with evidence from the ground. The RTI responses have been used as on-ground data to comprehend if the reasons cited hold any ground validation. The insights from the RTI data (from 2008-2020) revealed some interesting findings: Cyclists’ deaths between the 2008-2013 period have remained consistent. Total deaths by fatal RTA have come down. Deaths of pedestrians and motorcyclists have also come down. Road safety campaigns and safe road infrastructure has played a crucial role. During the period, Pedestrians form 55% of the total deaths by fatal Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) while cycles form only 6%. There is no data on official records on cases for unregistered slow-moving across all years and no-entry violations (post-2013) and In 2020 only 5 petty cases have been booked for bicycles. Between the 2008-2013 period, 88.2 lakhs of cars have been booked for violating parking rules as compared to only 5104 bicycles for breaking traffic rules. A speed mapping and vehicular count exercise were also conducted from November 2020 to January 2021 along with a commuters perception survey Vehicular count exercise was conducted in 8 major roads in peak hour traffic of 9-11 AM through image and video capturing method while speed mapping exercise was conducted in 10 major roads (5 in North Kolkata and 5 in South Kolkata) to collect on-ground evidence to find if cycles are really slow-moving as the officials are claiming it to be. Although cycle share has increased by 10.5 times between 2013 and 2020, cycles currently only form only 7% of the total transport share. Trams, one of the oldest form of sustainable mobility in Kolkata, saw a decrease in numbers by almost 7X The speed mapping exercise revealed that the average speed of cycles in major roads of Kolkata is about 14 km/hr which is way past that of a car (i.e. 12 km/hr) and matches up that can be seen to come down for motorcyclists, pedestrians, and NMTs. This could be because of improvement in road infrastructure and campaigning for road safety time and time again, Therefore, it is apparent that road infrastructure can play a pivotal role in improving the safety of commuters. A commuters perception survey revealed that about 88% of commuters consider motorcyclists as more risky drivers on Kolkata roads. On the other hand, almost 9 million cars were booked by the Kolkata Police in the last 7 years for incorrect parking for leaving the vehicle in such a position to cause or likely to cause danger. This builds the case to bring more restrictions against cars that create more congestion on the roads and could also be tagged as the probable cause behind slowing down of traffic. The insights from the vehicular count and speed mapping exercise also challenge the fact that cycles are slow-moving vehicles. In 2018, a report published by Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment also revealed that Kolkata consists of narrow road spaces, congested lanes, and hence the average speed of traffic staggers around 14-18 km/ hour. "Our study uncovers that an average cycle speed is 14 km/hr which is way past that of a car and matches that of a motorcycle. If separate cycle lanes are created, cycle speeds can further increase and be the most efficient mode of transport besides being the safest, cleanest, and most economical. This can help reduce congestion on the roads and help us build sustainable mobility plans and healthy quality of life in our fast urbanizing cities." Cycles are not just asafe mode of transport but environmentally very sustainable with zero pollution and emissions and show positive impacts on the rider’s health and also helps clean up the city’s air. However, the current policies in the city are hostile towards cycles and NMTs. This has allowed more cars to come on our roads causing more problems like vehicular pollution, traffic congestion, and a higher number of road fatalities. Taking action ahead of Bengal elections 2021, Bengal, an initiative of SwitchON Foundation to generate awareness on clean air in the State of Bengal, has been conducting several innovative activities across the state that necessitates the need for safe cycling in the city by demanding dedicated cycle lanes. The push for increased adoption of cycles is not new. As metropolitan cities are choking with heavy vehicular pollutants making it unhealthy for hundreds and thousands of city dwellers, large-scale adoption of cycles and non-motorized transport creates a new opportunity for a post-COVID-19 green recovery. Vinay Jaju of SwitchON Foundation said, “Our studies have shown that Kolkata Police’s restriction on bicycles have no grounds any more. Kolkata cycle restrictions need to go, infact cycles need to be the center of Kolkata’s mobility plan as they are a clean, sustainable, economical, efficient and healthy way to travel. Kolkata must embrace cycles like all megacities in the world, promote it and build safe cycle infrastructure.” Abhishek Chatterjee of SwitchON Foundation said, “ The data on Road Traffic Accidents from 2008 to 2020 received from the Traffic Department clearly shows that motor vehicles are causing obstruction on the roads. In fact, there were negligible fines on bicycles as per official records. Hence, more restrictions should be imposed on cars, as has been done in other fast urbanizing cities like London.” Shreya Karmakar of SwitchON Foundation said, “Cycles can easily match the average speed of cars. Even under restrictions, cycles have been growing, however, their percentage is still minuscule as compared to the growth in motor vehicles. Therefore we need to create more spaces for cycles, walking and public transport and make Kolkata a more liveable city.” One of the city cyclists said, “This arbitrary ban is affecting domestic workers, milkmen, newspaper delivery men, factory workers, and others who cannot use cycles as the only means of transportation.”

• Sustainable Food Systems

'अनहेल्दी' फूड को लेकर सिर्फ नेस्ले ही नहीं आपके ये पसंदीदा ब्रांड भी रह चुके हैं विवादों में..जानिए डिटेल

नेस्ले का 60 फीसदी फूड अनहेल्दी (Unhealthy Food) है और इस बात को कंपनी ने खुद स्वीकार की है. नई दिल्ली. दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी फूड एंड ड्रिंक कंपनियों में शुमार नेस्ले (Nestle) इन दिनों विवादों में है. मैगी, किटकैट और नेसकैफे बनाने वाली कंपनी नेस्ले का 60 फीसदी फूड अनहेल्दी (Unhealthy Food) है. इस बात को खुद कंपनी ने मानी है और अब अपने प्रोडक्ट्स में न्यूट्रिशन वैल्यू बढ़ाने के लिए नई रणनीति पर काम कर रही है. हालांकि, ये विवाद सिर्फ नेस्ले तक ही सीमित नहीं है. इससे पहले भी कई ऐसी कंपनियां हैं जो कि नुकसानदायक फूड को लेकर विवादों में घिर चुकी हैं. तो आइए जानते हैं इनके बारे में- मैगी में MSG भारतीय खाद्य सुरक्षा और मानक प्राधिकरण (FSSAI) ने 2015 में मैगी पर प्रतिबंध लगा दिया था.यह बैन इसलिए लगाया गया था क्योंकि परीक्षणों से पता चला था कि मैगी में अत्यधिक मात्रा में लीड यानी कि सीसा था और इसके पैकेट पर भ्रामक रूप से 'नो एडेड एमएसजी' लिखा हुआ था. उस समय नेस्ले ने स्वाद बढ़ाने वाले मोनोसोडियम ग्लूटामेट की मात्रा का संकेत नहीं दिया था. हालांकि, विवादों में आने बाद से नेस्ले ने 'नो एडेड एमएसजी' के दावे को हटा दिया. बाद में नेस्ले ने मैगी को वापस मार्केट में पेश किया. दिल्ली स्थित एक गैर सरकारी संगठन सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (CSE) के एक अध्ययन से पता चला है कि पतंजलि, डाबर और झंडू सहित कई लोकप्रिय ब्रांडों द्वारा बेचे जाने वाले शहद में गन्ना, चावल, मक्का, चुकंदर से बने चीनी की सिरप की मिलावट की गई थी. विक्रेताओं ने चीनी युक्त शहद को 'शुद्ध शहद' के रूप में बेच दिया. बाद में जब इसकी जांच की गई तो इसमें 77 प्रतिशत शहद के तौर पर चाशनी की मिलावट पाई गई थी. बता दें कि उस समय जिन ब्रांडों ने परीक्षण पास नहीं किया, उन्होंने अध्ययन के दावों का खंडन किया था और अपने दावों पर जोर देने के लिए समाचार पत्रों में विस्तृत विज्ञापन भी डाले थे. मदर डेयरी में डिटर्जेंट साल 2015 में मदर डेयरी दूध के नमूनों में डिटर्जेंट पाया गया था. इसका खुलासा उत्तर प्रदेश खाद्य एवं औषधि प्रशासन ने किया था. हालांकि, मदर डेयरी ने पाउच में बेचे जाने वाले दूध में किसी तरह की मिलावट से इनकार किया है. ये भी पढ़ें- अगर आपके पास है 1 रुपये का ये सिक्का तो आपको मिलेंगे 1.5 लाख रुपये, जानिए कैसे? ब्रिटानिया में कार्सिनोजेन्स (Carcinogens) साल 2016 में सीएसई परीक्षण में पाया गया था कि ब्रिटानिया के पैक्ड ब्रेड, पाव और बन्स में पोटेशियम ब्रोमेट और आयोडेट शामिल हैं जिसे हेल्थ के लिए काफी नुकसानदायक माना जाता है. अध्ययन ने डोमिनोज, मैकडॉनल्ड्स और सबवे जैसे फास्ट फूड चेन में बन्स और पिज्जा बेस में रसायनों के अवशेष पाए गए थे. बाद में इस पर बैन भी लगाया गया था.

• Director General Office

SWEDISH MINISTER APPOINTS ENVIRONMENTALIST SUNITA NARAIN TO INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY

Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Per Olsson Fridh appointed Sunita Narain – Environmentalist, Writer and Director General of The Centre for Science & Environment & Editor of Down to Earth Magazine – to an international advisory group for action on environment, climate and biodiversity launched in connection with World Environment Day. The purpose of the group, which comprises international experts who provide a deep commitment and knowledge in the field, is to further strengthen the Swedish Government’s efforts to address climate change, halt the loss of biodiversity and the depletion of ecosystems. Strong global action on these issues is necessary for sustainable and equitable development, and to prevent conflicts and new pandemics. Ambassador Klas Molin said: “I am happy that Sunita Narain of Centre for Science and Environment has been appointed to the Minister’s international advisory group for environment, climate and biodiversity. Sunita’s broad and very relevant experience also includes a South Asian perspective with its many challenges.” Sunita Narain said: “COVID-19 and climate change both teach us that the world is interdependent and we need global cooperation to find solutions that are equitable and transformative. By setting up this advisory group, the Swedish government has once again shown its willingness to engage with diverse voices to find solutions that will work for all. I am delighted to be part of the effort and will look forward to its deliberations.” The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) under Ms Narain’s leadership, was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize in 2005. CSE’s work on rainwater harvesting has shown the many ingenious ways in which people learnt to live with water scarcity. Besides Ms Narain, other members of the group include Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, climate activist and founder of Klima Action Malaysia; Wanjira Mathai, Regional Director for Africa at the World Resources Institute think tank; Ulrika Modéer, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of the United Nations Development Programme’s Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, former State Secretary at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Olof Skoog, Head of the European Union delegation to the United Nations in New York, Swedish diplomat; and Peter Winsor, Professor of Oceanography and Director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Arctic Programme. The first (informal) meeting of the advisory group is going to be held in early autumn and will be led by Minister Fridh.

• Industrial Pollution

When lungs are as black as coal

Dirty coal is leaving West Bengal gasping for breath * The ash pond has polluted everything and made the people living close to it severely ill * A 2007 study had found instances of severe health complications among people living in a 10-km radius from the three thermal power plants at Kolaghat (East Midnapore), Bandel (Hooghly district) and Bakreshwar (Birbhum district) * 46 units at 13 power plants in West Bengal, with cumulative 13,386 MW capacity, were supposed to install flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) technologies to eliminate sulphur dioxide emissions by 2022 *** The country is in the grip of a deathly virus that is leaving many struggling to take their next breath. But breathlessness is an old foe in many parts of West Bengal. And the cause is an even older problem — that of dirty coal. Nilima Samui (55), a flower seller, has been struggling with breathing problems for several years. Samui blames the fly ash pond near her village Barbahala, in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district, for her poor health. “The dust has made my life miserable. I have to consume a tablet every day before going out to collect flowers, which grow close to the fly ash pond. I have been suffering from breathlessness and a skin disease for the past 15 years,” says Samui, who does not know if her condition has been identified. “There is hardly enough money for treatment except visiting a primary health centre, which doesn’t have much facilities. The ash pond has polluted everything and made the people living close to it severely ill,” she says. Such complaints abound among the over 1.5 lakh villagers living near the Kolaghat thermal power plant in Purba Medinipur (East Midnapore), barely 50km from Kolkata. “The ash flies in the air and enters our houses. We have been suffering from severe skin diseases and cough,” says Sishir Kumar Dey (45), who sells lottery tickets outside the main gate of the power plant. A 2007 study had found instances of severe health complications among people living in a 10-km radius from the three thermal power plants at Kolaghat (Purba Medinipur), Bandel (Hooghly district) and Bakreshwar (Birbhum district). “We found recurrent dry and wet cough, wheezing, breathlessness on exertion and chest discomfort as major lower respiratory symptoms (LRS). We had also detected asthma, recurrent headaches, eye and skin irritations,” Dr Manas Ranjan Ray, former head of the department of experimental haematology at Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI), Kolkata, had observed in the study, titled Social Cost of Air Pollution from Thermal Power stations in Bengal. The study found poor lung function in workers and local people. “The impacts are both long- and short-term. Even hypertension was detected among the people living in the areas surrounding the thermal power plants,” the study said. The magnitude of the danger is worsened by the fact that West Bengal has been “feeding the dirtiest coal” to its thermal plants, as claimed by the Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in a recent study. According to the study, most stations supplying electricity to West Bengal had not taken measures to comply with the government’s December 2015 sulphur dioxide norms (needed for lower emission rates) and hence were using what has been described as dirty coal. Titled Meeting Emission Norms, the study said in West Bengal, 84 per cent of power stations supplying power to the state was unclean. Coal-fired power stations emit three major pollutants — particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, and sulphur dioxide. The non-profit looked at only sulphur dioxide emissions, as most power plants meet the standards for particulate matter and the norms for oxides of nitrogen have already been watered down. “The states were benchmarked on the extent of their procurement of cleaner power. We found that most of the stations supplying electricity to West Bengal have not taken any measures to comply with the December 2015 sulphur dioxide norms notified by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Now even the ministry has relaxed the norms, which is quite dangerous for the environment and also the people living near the plant. Sulphur dioxide gas is more harmful because it can get into lungs and cause severe health complications,” said Nivit Kumar Yadav, programme director, Industrial Pollution, CSE. The colourless gas affects the respiratory system and the functions of the lungs, and causes irritation of the eyes, Yadav adds. “Inflammation of the respiratory tract causes coughing, mucus secretion, aggravation of asthma and chronic bronchitis, and makes people more prone to infections of the respiratory tract.” When contacted, senior officials of WBPDCL said they had no knowledge of the report. “We do not have information about any such report being published by CSE,” said Amalesh Kumar, director (mining). The government’s efforts to retrofit power plant equipment to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions are reportedly moving at snail’s pace. Sunil Dahiya, a Delhi-based analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), says 46 units at 13 power plants in West Bengal, with cumulative 13,386 MW capacity, were supposed to install flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) technologies to eliminate sulphur dioxide emissions by 2022. Bids were awarded (from September 2019 to October 2020) for units with a cumulative capacity of 5,300 MW, he says, but they are unlikely to meet the deadline. “It takes at least two to three years for the installation. The adverse effect of dirty coal could have been mitigated had the power plants shown keen interest in installing the FGD,” Dahiya says. Pointing to the Kolaghat thermal power plant (1,260 MW), he says it was supposed to install FGD at four units by December 2021 and at the remaining two by December 2022. But not a single contract has been awarded till date, he adds. Clean air seems a distant dream for Samui. To make a living, she continues to pluck flowers from near the pond, and gasps for breath.

• Director General Office

Kerala Governor calls MP Veerendra Kumar 'crusader for protection of environment’

Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Friday remembered late MP Veerendra Kumar as a humanist who stood for compassion and justice, and called him a crusader for protection of environment. Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Friday remembered late MP Veerendra Kumar as a humanist who stood for compassion and justice, and called him a crusader for protection of environment. Speaking at a commemorative meet held here on Friday on the

• Director General Office

Covid may have stalled many a cycle but has turned the wheel for the bicycle industry, writes Anil Singh

June 3 is World Bicycle Day. In the Netherlands, almost everyone uses bicycles daily; the bicycle ownership per 1,000 persons there is 1,100. In China, it is 360 whereas in India it is a meagre 90. In Japan, ministers and bureaucrats pedal to work. Our Union Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Ram Meghwal has been often seen cycling from his official bungalow to Parliament Covid has stalled many a cycle but it has revived the bicycle industry worldwide. In India, sales which were stagnant grew by over two-fold in the last year, so much so that one has to wait four months for lightweight, geared cycles which cost up to Rs 3 lakh. The acceleration has been caused by the growing desire for fitness and personal mobility. With restrictions on movement and access to gyms or sports arenas, people have taken up cycling as an alternative way of exercising. The adoption of cycling as a lifestyle is growing across age-groups and is proof that the pandemic has changed mindsets. If only the pandemic had waned in India, cycling would get a fresh pedal on World Bicycle Day which falls on Thursday, June 3. Mumbai has built up a cycling culture in the last ten years. Pedallers hit city roads early in the morning and the highways on weekends. Another positive sign is the emergence of digital rental bike systems across Mumbai and India. Cycle clubs There’s a cycle club in virtually every Mumbai suburb, with membership running into hundreds; from schoolboys to senior citizens. They organise long rides during the weekends, which cover forts to flowering trees to flamingo sites and at times, heritage precincts. Then there are timed long-distance endurance events called brevets. However, the bulk of the riders are youngsters such as Nikhil George, 26; a corporate executive whose weekday ride is from Worli to Nariman Point and back before the traffic starts. RTI activist Krishnaraj Rao, 56, and his son Viraj, 22, have had their own extreme version of a brevet; riding from Mumbai to Goa and Mumbai to Ahmedabad. Deputy Commissioner of Police Harish Baijal – the man who enforced the drink-drive tests -- often cycles from Dadar to his office at Cuffe Parade. Similar stories come from several Indian cities which are joining the global trend. In the Netherlands, the ‘cycling paradise of the world’, almost everyone uses bicycles daily; the bicycle ownership per 1,000 persons there is 1,100. In China, it is 360 whereas in India it is a meagre 90. In Japan, ministers and bureaucrats pedal to work. Our Union Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Ram Meghwal has been often seen cycling from his official bungalow to Parliament. Challenges in India Indian cyclists, though, face far greater challenges. While the Smart Cities Mission of the Central government aims to facilitate walking and cycling, most of Mumbai lacks footpaths. In fact, Mumbai’s civic budget for footpath repairs this year has been slashed by 86 per cent. So, there’s a long way to go before a cycling ecosystem can come up. As of now, our cities are planned exclusively for motorised transport. Dedicated tracks for cycles are absent in business enclaves such as the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) or Mindspace or even in planned cities such as Navi Mumbai. There is a cycle lane along an arterial road in Vashi, the first node of Navi Mumbai, but it’s pointless, since it is the only such lane. Now it is used as a car park and a vegetable market. A cycle track was demarcated with green paint in the BKC, at a cost of Rs 6.5 cr in 2011 but since it was not segregated, cars parked on it and the plan was abandoned in 2014. The plan for a cycle track at Malad’s Mindspace is yet to get off the ground. There are plans but everything is on the backburner now. Maharashtra’s Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray had, in February, announced that arterial roads would be made pedestrian friendly and that cycling tracks would be provided wherever possible. Safety issues Safety remains a big concern, given the state of our roads and the skill of our motorists. Danger lurks underfoot in potholes and drain grates which are poorly laid and sometimes open. Environmentalist Sunita Narain had a nasty collision while cycling in Delhi not so long ago. In November 2017, Ashok Khale, 64, a champion cyclist and mentor for many, was knocked down on the Vashi bridge as he was cycling from his residence in Dadar to Khopoli. He died in hospital a week later. The NITI Aayog report on bicycles says that cyclists constituted 2.4 per cent of fatal road accidents in India during 2018. The Energy Research Institute (TERI) estimated in its 2018 report, ‘Benefits of Cycling in India: An Economic, Environmental, and Social Assessment, 2018’, that cycling for short distances could result in an annual benefit of Rs 1.8 trillion to the Indian economy, which is equivalent to 1.6 per cent of India’s annual GDP. The Indian bicycle industry is the second largest in the world, next only to China, with an annual production of 22 million and a turnover of Rs 7,000cr. However, it suffers on account of technology gap, lack of usage of superior materials and demand-related bottlenecks. Cycling enthusiasts trying to make cyclothons as popular as marathons bemoan the lack of advocacy and policy intervention. Bicycle mayors Part of the initiatives is the BYCS India Foundation, affiliated to BYCS, an Amsterdam-based social enterprise that is driven by the belief that bicycles transform cities. Founded in 2015, it works through its network of bicycle mayors and bicycle councillors in cities all over the world. In India, there are 36 bicycle mayors. Mumbai’s bicycle mayor is a feisty woman named Firoza Suresh, whose latest initiative is to gift bicycles to women working as housemaids, cooks, sweepers and assistants in housing societies, etc. with the money coming from from corporates and crowd-funding. At the national level, the India Cycles4Change Challenge launched in June 2020 prioritises the promotion of cycling through a collaborative method. Various state government initiatives like Karnataka’s free bicycle distribution and West Bengal’s 25 lakh bicycle distribution further promote cycling culture. The Delhi government, in its latest electronic vehicle policy, decided to give a 25 per cent subsidy on the purchase of e-bikes. Coming back to Mumbai, the city’s dream project is the 39km-long and 10m-wide track, called ‘Green Wheels Along Blue Lines’. It is to be built on the space created by relocating 15,000 hutments along the Tansa pipeline—stretching from the eastern suburb of Mulund to Wadala in Mumbai city. Expected to cost Rs 300cr, this would be the largest non-motorised transportation system the city has ever seen.

• Climate Change and Green Economy

Cyclone Yaas Destroys Hundreds Of Thousands Of Homes In India

Decimated houses, uprooted trees, seawater-filled extensive swathes of fertile agricultural land, and immeasurable ecological destruction — the Yaas cyclone left a long trail of devastation on India’s east coast on May 26. The cyclone and the subsequent strong wind and continuous rainfall severely hit the Indian eastern coastal states of West Bengal and Odisha. At least four people lost their lives. More than 300,000 homes were destroyed, and more than 10 million people were affected in the coastal areas of both states as sea waters rose and breached the embankments. Cyclone Yaas hit the country in less than two weeks after Cyclone Tauktae wreaked havoc on the western coast. “These are signs that climate change is for real,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Center for Science and Environment. “It is evident that there is an overall rise in temperature and sea surface temperature. They are rising pretty rapidly, and this contributes to the extreme weather hazards.” She said that over time the intensity and frequency of cyclonic storms have increased in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. “This (climate change) will have a social burden on the economy. Decarbonizing should be the priority, not only for India but for all countries. It (decarbonizing) is needed to maintain a balance in the temperature,” Roychowdhury said. Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, said at least 900,000 people were evacuated from the state’s coastal regions, and around 14,000 relief camps are operational, with clothes and food materials. West Bengal has incurred a loss of around INR 15,000 crore ($2 billion) as per initial reports, according to Banerjee. “The cyclone that whiplashed the country’s eastern coasts damaged 134 embankments,” Banerjee said in a press conference. “We will conduct field surveys to ascertain the actual damage to the embankments, government buildings, and other structures. The district magistrates will file a comprehensive report on this. It will take us at least 72 hours to get a clear picture.” The cyclone will be Banerjee’s first big test as the chief minister in her second term that she secured earlier this month. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the cyclone-affected areas in the two states on May 28. The landfall happened between the north of Dhamra coast in Odisha’s Bhadrak district and Bahanga coast in Balasore district with an estimated wind speed up to 135 kilometers per hour to 150 kilometers per hour (84 miles per hour to 93 miles per hour).

• Director General Office

First death anniversary of Veerendra Kumar today; events to take place via online

Kozhikode: The first death anniversary of MP Veerendra Kumar, who was a great presence as a friend, writer, cultural worker, politician, environmental and human right activist and Managing Director of Mathrubhumi, will be observed on Friday adhering to the Covid restrictions. The event of remembrance will be held online.</p> The programmes are scheduled in two session. The event on the subject 'Veerendra Kumar, a politican and a friend' will take place at 12 pm. Veerendra Kumar's son and incumbent Managing Director of Mathrubhumi MV Shreyams Kumar will deliver the welcome speech. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will deliver keynote address. Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, MP Abdusamad Samadani, former union minister O Rajagopal, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran and Socialist leader and social worker Manju Mohan will speak remembering Veerendra Kumar. The commemorative events scheduled at 4 in the evening is based on the topic 'Veerendra Kumar a multi-hued genius'. Mathrubhumi Chairman and Managing Editor P V Chandran will deliver welcome speech. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will give the keynote address. Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajagopalachari, and also former Indian High Commissioner to South Africa, former Governor of West Bengal; Sunita Narain, environmentalist and editor of Down to Earth magazine; writer T Padmanabhan; integrated waste management specialist C Sreenivasan will speak at the event.

• Sustainable Food Systems

Saffola asks consumers if their honey brand is ‘100% pure’

Marico’s latest ad for Saffola Honey reinforces its claim of being the 100 per cent pure honey brand in the market. ‘100% Pure, 100% Sure.’ That’s the tagline driving Marico’s Saffola Honey. Being healthy as well as sweet are the key product benefits of honey, and what seems to be actually driving differentiation in the category is the purity claim. Marico’s latest ad for Saffola Honey reinforces its claim of being the 100 per cent pure honey brand in the market. The ad film further asks the consumers if they are completely sure about the quality of their honey brand. The purity factor of branded honey became even more important when major brands like Dabur, Patanjali, and Emami (Zandu Honey) failed purity tests during an investigation by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based public interest research and advocacy organisation, last year. The situation further aggravated the rivalry between Dabur and Marico. Only Saffola came out unscathed from CSE’s investigation, after passing the tests. The brand’s ads carry the results of tests like NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) as a purity badge.

• Sustainable Food Systems

झारखंड में पोलियो के 6 वर्षीय संदिग्ध, इस्माइली अध्ययन संस्थान, कोलकाता भेजे गए नमूने | भारत की ताजा खबर

झारखंड में विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन (डब्ल्यूएचओ) के समन्वयक ने सोमवार को कोलकाता के इंडियन इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ सेरोलॉजी (आईआईएस) में पोलियो वायरस होने के संदेह में छह वर्षीय एक बच्चे के नमूने भेजे, ताकि यह पता लगाया जा सके कि यह पोलियो का पहला पुष्ट मामला है या नहीं। अधिकारियों ने पिछले कुछ वर्षों में मंगलवार को कहा। केंद्र सरकार द्वारा देश भर में नवजात शिशुओं को पोलियो का टीका लगाने के एक मजबूत निरंतर कार्यक्रम के बाद 2014 में विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन द्वारा भारत को पोलियो मुक्त घोषित किया गया था। हालांकि, वेस्ट सिंगबूम काउंटी में, जहां हर दूसरा बच्चा कुपोषित है, 2014 से अब तक 64 बच्चों के नमूने पोलियो परीक्षण के लिए इस्माइली अध्ययन संस्थान में भेजे गए हैं। इनमें से किसी भी नमूने में अब तक कोई पोलियो वायरस नहीं पाया गया है। पोलियो 15 साल से कम उम्र के बच्चों में सबसे आम है। झारखंड के पश्चिमी सिंगबॉम जिले के मनोहरपुर आनंदपुर ब्लॉक से पोलियो का यह पहला संदिग्ध मामला है। हमने 6 साल के लड़के के मल का नमूना जांच के लिए आईआईएस-कोलकाता भेजा। इस्माइली अध्ययन संस्थान से 15 दिनों में एक रिपोर्ट आएगी जो निश्चित रूप से हमें बताएगी कि क्या यह पोलियो का पहला पुष्ट मामला है। चिपसा में डब्ल्यूएचओ के समन्वयक डॉ. सोमन ने कहा, “अगर पोलियो वायरस की उपस्थिति का पता नहीं चलता है, तो हम लड़के की समस्याओं के कारणों का निदान करने के लिए और अधिक प्रयास करेंगे।” उसने कहा कि अगर परीक्षण में पोलियोवायरस नहीं पाया गया तो लड़के की मांसपेशियों में कमजोरी और शिथिलता – तीव्र फ्लेसीड पैरालिसिस (एएफपी) के सटीक कारण का पता लगाने के लिए उन्हें विभेदक निदान के लिए जाना होगा। पोलियो के अलावा, गुइलेन-बैरे सिंड्रोम (जीबीएस), अनुप्रस्थ मायलाइटिस, दर्दनाक न्यूरिटिस, क्षणिक पक्षाघात, चेहरे का पक्षाघात, और पैरेसिस भी फुफ्फुसीय धमनीशोथ का कारण बन सकता है। अभी तक घबराने की कोई बात नहीं है क्योंकि पिछले तीन वर्षों में 64 संदिग्ध पोलियो मामलों के नमूने चाईपासा से आईआईएस को भेजे गए हैं और अभी तक किसी ने भी सकारात्मक परीक्षण नहीं किया है, ”डॉ सोमन ने कहा। 2018 में पोलियो के संदिग्ध मामलों के 13 सैंपल 2019 में पश्चिमी सिंहभूम से 32 सैंपल जांच के लिए आईआईएस-कोलकाता भेजे गए थे. इस साल अब तक 19 सैंपल जांच के लिए भेजे गए हैं। 2018 के बाद से किसी भी नमूने ने सकारात्मक परीक्षण नहीं किया है। वेस्ट सिंगबूम काउंटी के सिविल सर्जन, डॉ. ओ.पी. गुप्ता, रोरकिला के एस्बैट जनरल अस्पताल के डॉक्टरों को संदेह था कि लड़के को वहां परीक्षण के बाद पोलियो हो गया था और उन्होंने अपनी रिपोर्ट चिपसा सदर अस्पताल (सीएसएच) को भेज दी। डॉ गुप्ता ने कहा, “हमने तुरंत आईआईएस में परीक्षण करने का फैसला किया और क्षेत्र के लिए डब्ल्यूएचओ समन्वयक को सूचित किया।” 16 अक्टूबर को मनो हार्बर सीएचसी में भर्ती कराया गया था, जब लड़का लगभग तीन सप्ताह से उच्च तापमान से पीड़ित था। फिर उन्हें 18 अक्टूबर को आईजीएच राउरकेला रेफर किया गया, जहां डॉक्टरों को संदेह था कि उन्हें पोलियो हो गया है और उन्होंने राउरकेला में डब्ल्यूएचओ वार्ड को सूचना दी, जिन्होंने डब्ल्यूएचओ वार्ड चाईबासा की सूचना दी। क्लस्टर समन्वयक ने 31 अक्टूबर को डब्ल्यूएचओ के अधिकारी हिमांशु भूषण को नमूना दिया। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) द्वारा जारी 2018 की एक अध्ययन रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, आदिवासी बहुल पश्चिमी सिंहभूम क्षेत्र में सबसे अधिक शिशु मृत्यु दर (आईएमआर) 56, अंडर-5 मृत्यु दर (यू5एमआर) 96 है। देश। रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि पांच साल से कम उम्र के करीब 60 फीसदी बच्चे कुपोषण के शिकार हैं।