As many as 594 doctors across India died due to Covid-19 during the second wave, said the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on June 2, 2021.

As per state-wise list released by the IMA, national capital Delhi has recorded the highest number of fatalities with 107 deaths, followed by 96 deaths in Bihar and 67 deaths in Uttar Pradesh. These three regions together account for 40 percent of doctor deaths recorded in 2021.

According to the NDTV, 748 doctors died due to Covid-19 in 2020. However, as shown on IMA’s website, 864 modern medicine doctors sacrificed their lives as healthcare workers dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic last year.

Meanwhile, India reported 1.34 lakh daily new cases in the last 24 hours on June 3. The Covid-19 India website recorded 3.38 lakh deaths in the country so far with Maharashtra (96,751), Karnataka (30,017), Tamil Nadu (25,205), Delhi (24,402) and Uttar Pradesh (20,787) ranking as the top five states.

Related:

Centre’s paid vaccination policy for 18 to 44 years, prima facie arbitrary and irrational: SC
NHRC issues new advisories for bonded and migrant labourers amid Covid-19
Deaths certificates should clearly state Covid-19 as the cause: SC
Covid-19: Which Indian states failed miserably in tackling the pandemic?

The post 594 doctors died during second wave of Covid-19: IMA appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Generations of schoolkids across India first heard of Sunderlal Bahuguna from their school books, in the social science chapter on the Chipko movement. Chipko, means stick to, in this case embrace or hug, and it was environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna who took this term and made it globally recognised.

The movement was conceptualised by environmentalist and Gandhian activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt who founded the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal (DGSM). As recorded in the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Chipko movement’s “major success came in 1980, when an appeal from Bahuguna to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi resulted in a 15-year ban on commercial felling in the Uttarakhand Himalayas.” A report by India Today recalled that in the following year, the “government wanted to honour his efforts by awarding him the title of Padma Shri, but he turned it down”. It was only in 2009, that Bahuguna was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

On Friday May 21, 94-year-old Sunderlal Bahuguna died of Covid-19 related complications at Rishikesh’s All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) where he was undergoing treatment. Bahuguna was hospitalised on May 8 and was on ventilator support, stated news reports. According to AIIMS (Rishikesh) public relations officer Harish Mohan Thapliyal, “Bahuguna passed away at around 12 noon. He was on ventilator support as he was severely infected…”. Thapliyal told the media that the pioneering environmentalist had also been suffering from high blood sugar and hypertension. According to V Nautiyal of the media relations department at the premier health institute, Bahuguna had been bedridden for around seven months at his residence in Dehradun and “Due to Covid-19, he had also developed pneumonia which worsened his health condition along with high blood sugar and hypertension. However, a special team of doctors was assigned to look after him at the hospital while providing every possible treatment to him” stated news reports.

President Ram Nath Kovind led the nation in paying homage.

The demise of Shri Sunderlal Bahuguna marks the end of a glorious chapter in the field of conservation. A ‘Padma Vibhushan’ awardee, he was a Gandhian to the core. A legend in his own right, he made conservation a people’s movement. My condolences to his family and admirers.

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) May 21, 2021

Sunderlal Bahuguna’s demise is a loss to the nation. He was a pioneer environmentalist. His love for nature and efforts to protect it will forever be etched in our minds. Heartfelt condolences. pic.twitter.com/vgeVulu4nT

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) May 21, 2021

Sunderlal Bahuguna was a person of extraordinary energy & intelligence, and a wonderful speaker too. I have vivid memories of my meetings and interviews with him. With Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi, Dhoom Singh Negi, & many others, he made the Chipko Andolan what it was. (1/2)

— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) May 21, 2021

Covid has claimed in AIIMS Hrishikesh a man I deeply respected, Sunderlal Bahuguna who founded the Chipko movement and taught us to love trees and forests.

— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) May 21, 2021

Deeply saddened by the demise of the noted environmentalist, leader of the Chipko Movement, Padma Vibhushan Shri Sunderlal Bahuguna. He was instrumental in shaping the environmental movement in India. Condolences to his fellow mates and family members.#SunderlalBahuguna #RIP

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) May 21, 2021

Passing away of Shri Sunderlal Bahuguna Ji is a monumental loss for our nation. He manifested our centuries old ethos of living in harmony with nature. His simplicity and spirit of compassion will never be forgotten. My thoughts are with his family and many admirers. Om Shanti.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2021

I am saddened by the passing away of environmentalist #SunderlalBahuguna. I have good memories of interacting with him and convincing him to give up his fast against the #TehriDam in 1996,when I was PM. He was gentle,warm but firm about his principles, which I respected. RIP.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/y3yiINdKx4

— H D Devegowda (@H_D_Devegowda) May 21, 2021

One of India’s iconic environmental figures Sunderlal Bahuguna has just passed away. He had considerable influence on Indira Gandhi & his 4000-km Kashmir to Kohima padyatra in ’81-‘82 to heighten public awareness, especially on forest protection was a landmark. A charismatic man. pic.twitter.com/74uP7q01dB

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 21, 2021

Bahguna led the Anti-Tehri Dam movement from the 1980s till 2004, he was even jailed in 1995. By then he had become a household name, and a legendary inspiration to those working in the environmental sector, and was recognised for his Gandhian way of protest across the globe. Always photographed with a smile on his face, his head covered with a scarf, dressed in cotton kurtas, Bahuguna seemed almost sage like to many. A recipient of India’s second-highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, he remained a simple, accessible man, more a village elder than an international celebrity.

Related:

Scientist and activist Prof. Dinesh Mohan passes away
Conflict and Covid-19: A double whammy

The post Eminent environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna succumbs to Covid-19 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A 12-year-old girl, Jamlo Madkam, who had left her home in Chhattisgarh for the first time two months ago to work at a chilli farm in Telangana with relatives and friends, died on her way back amidst the Coronavirus lockdown, reported The Indian Express.

Officials said that the tribal girl died due to electrolyte imbalance and exhaustion on April 18, having walked for over three days, covering over 100 kms with 13 others, passing away barely 11 km short of her home in Aded in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. The 13 members of the group included eight women and three children.

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel yesterday announced a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, for Jamlo, the only child of Andoram (32) and Sukamati Makdam (30) who survived on the forest produced they collected. Speaking to the publication Andoram said it was the first time Jamlo had gone out to work. He said, “She went to Telangana with some women from the village.”

Andoram said that he had last heard that Jamlo had left the Peruru village in Telangana on April 16 with a group. “They decided to come back after realizing that the lockdown had got extended and they would not get any work.”

It was reported that Jamlo passed away on April 18 at around 8 AM just when the group reached the border of Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. However, her family could not be informed by the group as only one among the 13 had a phone whose battery had died.

The members of the group managed to call her parents only upon reaching the Bhandarpal village when they took the help of a villager to inform Jamlo’s family about her death. The Bhandarpal villagers also alerted police.

Medical Officer of Bijapur district Dr B R Pujari said that when they got the news, they immediately rushed over. “Since Telangana had cases, we immediately sent our teams, but we couldn’t find them,” he said.

Finally, though, a medical team caught up with them on the outskirts of the Bhandarpal village. While Jamlo’s body was taken to a morgue, the rest of the group was taken to a quarantine center.

Dr. Pujari told the Hindustan Times, “She walked along with the group crossing difficult terrain of Maoist-affected forest and on Saturday evening she collapsed in Bhandarpal jungles.”  

Jamlo was also tested for coronavirus after her samples were sent to Jagdalpur and her results was negative. Andoram and Sukamati took their daughter’s body on Sunday evening.

Jamlo’s death is just one more added to the long list of migrants who have died trying to make their way back home amid the coronavirus lockdown after the certainty of them sustaining in cities was put under question due to the lockdown that halted all activity in a bid to curb the coronavirus. Over 22 migrants have died on their way back home trying to escape the hunger that stared them in the face of the shutdown. They wanted to return to their families, to the safety of their homes. However, many are still cramped in shelters in cities with no scope of social distancing, with meager meals, with no news of their families back home, no money; only awaiting to reunite with their families.

Related:

Stop the open industrial and mining activities in tribal areas: NGO to Odisha CM
Why are migrant workers so desperate to go back home?

The post Trying to make it home, 12-year-old girl dies after walking almost 100 kms amid the lockdown appeared first on SabrangIndia.

More than 170 people died in floods in the states of Bihar and Assam, which affected more than 10 million people, India Today reported on July 24, 2019.

The Kaziranga National Park in Assam’s Golaghat district has reported the death of 204 animals including 15 rhinoceroses since July 13, 2019.

The states of Assam and Bihar are prone to floods every year due to heavy rains and the overflowing of rivers.

Satellite images released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US space agency, shows how “the Brahmaputra river rose out of its banks in many locations across India and Bangladesh”, flooding huge swaths of farmland.

Source: Lok Sabha

The 2018 deluge in the southern state of Kerala–one of the worst in 94 years–claimed 477 lives or 23% of all (2,045) deaths in rain-related natural calamities reported in 2018-19.

Bihar reported the most–970 or 15% deaths–followed by Kerala (756), West Bengal (663), Maharashtra (522) and Himachal Pradesh (458) over three years. These five states account for 51% of all deaths.

More than 200,000 livestock deaths have been reported and over 3.9 million houses/huts damaged due to rain-related natural calamities over these three years, government data show.

Rain-related calamities killed 496 people between April 1, 2019, and July, 18, 2019, or about five deaths per day, on average, with Maharashtra reporting the most (137), followed by Bihar (78).

Heavy rains, floods have killed more than 100,000 over 64 years

As many as 107,487 people died due to heavy rains and floods across India over 64 years between 1953 and 2017, according to Central Water Commission data presented to the Rajya Sabha (Parliament’s upper house) on March 19, 2018, IndiaSpend reported on July 17, 2018.

“The main reasons of floods have been assessed as high intensity rainfall in short duration, poor or inadequate drainage capacity, unplanned reservoir regulation and failure of flood control structures,” according to the reply.

More than 40 million hectares (12%) of India’s land is prone to floods, official data show. India witnessed 431 major natural disasters over three decades between 1980 and 2010, leading to loss of human lives, property and resources.

“About 48% of the flood prone area has been provided with reasonable protection against flood of a low to moderate magnitude due to technological and economic constraints. It is not possible to provide protection against all magnitude of flood,” the Central Water Commission states. 

India could see a six-fold increase in the number of people exposed to the risk of severe floods by 2040–to 25 million people, up from 3.7 million facing this risk between 1971 and 2004, IndiaSpend reported in February 2018, based on a study published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed journal.

Not just India, most of South Asia prone to floods

About seven million people in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan (as much as the population of Hong Kong) have been displaced or had their lives disrupted by flooding in mid-July 2019, NASA reported on July 18, 2019.

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

The two images above, captured on June 28 (before) and July 14, 2019 (after), depict India’s eastern region showing water (navy and dark blue) out of river banks and on the floodplains. Clouds can be seen in white or cyan and vegetation-covered land in green.

Like NASA, The International Charter Space and Major Disasters depicts the before and after images of flood-affected areas in the state of Assam.

The Charter is a group of space agencies and space system operators–including the Indian Space Research Organisation–across the world that provide satellite images for disaster monitoring.

“Global climate change is likely to increase frequency and severity of flooding in South Asia  threatening agricultural production and increase uncertainty for small-scale farmers whose livelihoods serve the rural economy in these regions necessitating an integrated approach to overall risk reduction,” a December 2018 article titled Flood risk assessment in South Asia to prioritize flood index insurance applications in Bihar, India said.

Cities in South Asia such as “Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata and Mumbai—urban areas that are home to more than 50 million people—face a substantial risk of flood-related damage over the next century”, a 2018 World Bank report titled South Asia’s Hotspots—The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards, stated.

Mumbai experienced heavy rainfall in the first week of July 2019, with some parts receiving the second-highest rainfall in July in 45 years that brought the financial capital to a halt, claiming nearly 16 lives, IndiaSpend reported on July 2, 2019.

While linking a particular event to climate change requires extensive analysis, it is clear that the increasing rate of intense rainfall events over Mumbai and the Western Ghats is due to rising temperatures, Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, had told IndiaSpend.

Heavy rainfall events (more than 100 mm) in urban India have increased over the past 100 years; there has been an overall increasing trend of events exceeding 100, 150 and 200 mm since the 1900s, and an increasing variability in recent decades, IndiaSpend reported on August 29, 2017.

(Mallapur is a senior analyst with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

The post 5 Indians Died Every Day In Rain-Related Weather Events Over 3 Years appeared first on SabrangIndia.

According to a police report on the incident, Rajappan first succumbed to poisonous gas emanating from the septic tank. When they saw him struggling, the other two men, rushed to rescue him but fell prey to the fumes as well. They died inside the tank.

Manual scavenging is prohibited by law yet the practice is still widely prevalent across the country. Despite severe criticism regarding the practice, it continues to thrive. Two manual scavengers died in Coimbatore in January this year.

Tamil Nadu has the ignominy of having recorded the highest number of deaths due to manual scavenging in the last five years. The death count in Tamil Nadu stood at 144 – more than double the number of casualties reported by Uttar Pradesh, the state that recorded the second-highest number of deaths.

Courtesy: Counter Current

The post Three Manual Scavangers Die While Cleaning The Septic Tank Of A Pig Farm In Coimbatore appeared first on SabrangIndia.