The Economic Cost of Water Scarcity In India

1/4th of the global groundwater is used by Indians which is the highest usage in the world.

Video Stories: A billion Indians live with water scarcity for at least a part of the year. 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress. This means they live in areas where water is scarce or unusable.

1/4th of the global groundwater is used by Indians which is the highest usage in the world. India’s groundwater too is fast depleting. The depletion rate increased 23% between 2000-2010.

By 2030, India’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply. This could lead to 6% loss in the country’s GDP.

Of all the water available, 70% of India’s drinking water is contaminated. 0.2 million Indians die everyday due to inadequate access to drinking water.

Watch Video → Water Scarcity In India

Fake Warning About Identity Theft Gang Attributed to Mumbai Police

Mumbai Police PRO Manjunath Singe confirmed to BOOM that the message circulating has not been issued by Mumbai Police.

News: A fake message is circulating on social media claiming Mumbai police has issued a warning to citizens to be careful of a gang who under the guise of being government officials ask for identification documents and thumb print to generate a tax recipet, but then abscond with the details.

The fake message is in Marathi and claims the warning was issued by a police officer named ‘Avinash Zodge’ and is being forwarded on WhatsApp.
It warns that the gang “of three to four people including women” is going to people’s houses and ask for property documents, 7/12 document, the person’s PAN card, aadhaar card, electricity bills and other important identification proofs.

English translation of the fake WhatsApp message:
Government of Maharashtra
IMPORTANT NOTICE

Citizens are informed that if anybody comes to your home and says, “We are government officials, Do not give your house papers, light bills, seven to twelve index copies, ration cards, Aadhaar card, because these people are thieves. They will tell you, “We will give you a tax receipt.” By saying that they will take your Light Meters Photographs, your fingerprints.

Note: Three or four people will come. There are also girls in it. Be cautious. Forward

Avinash Zodge
(Mumbai Police)

Click here to view the post.

Simulated Video Of Underwater Volcanic Eruption Shared As Real Incident

BOOM found that the simulated video was made by geologists to portray the destructive nature of underwater volcanic eruptions.

News: A simulated video of an underwater volcanic explosion has gone viral on social media and messaging apps with a false claim that it shows a volcanic eruption in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

BOOM received a video of an underwater volcanic eruption on its WhatsApp helpline number along with a caption that said, “Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra, Indonesia, sent a huge plume of thick ash 7km high into the sky during an eruption on 9 June. Residents living near the volcano were urged to use masks when ash rains down and those living along the rivers upstream were warned of cold lava floods during rains. There were no reports of casualties.Watch till the end”.

A Facebook search of the caption revealed that the video has been posted several times over with similar captions over the last two days.

Fact Check

According to Express, in October 2017, an Australian geologist and a team of producers created “a video simulation of a huge volcanic eruption beneath the surface off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, to show just how devastating they can be”.

The video was subsequently uploaded by a YouTube channel named Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Watch the video here

Encephalitis Outbreak Among Children In Bihar: 5 Things You Need To Know

BOOM looks at the causes, symptoms of encephalitis and the relationship between litchi consumption and the disease.

News: In the last 20 days, 113 children from Muzaffarpur, Bihar have died after an outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). A total of 518 children were admitted in hospitals across the state.

With the outbreak snowballing into further fatalities and putting the state’s health facilities under scrutiny, BOOM tells you five fundamental things you need to know about the outbreak.

What is Encephalitis?

Acute Encephalitis Syndrome or Enecephalitis also goes by the common term ‘brain fever’ or chamki bukhaar, as it is locally known.

Causes and Symptoms of Encephalitis

AES is an umbrella term for a cross section of symptoms.

Symptoms of encephalitis, according to the WHO include:

High fever
Headaches
Sensitivity to light
Stiff neck and back
Vomiting
Confusion
In severe cases: seizures, paralysis and coma

The viruses and bacteria are the leading causes of the disease, but its spread can be varying on factors like location, season and exposure levels. Japanese encephalitis (JE), a subset of AES, for example, can spread due to mosquitoes. JE was among the terminology used during the outbreak of the disease in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

Additionally, encephalitis could also affect patients having lower immunity while being affected by or recovering from a prevailing illness.

Did A Bridge, Inaugurated By PM Modi, Collapse?

BOOM spoke to the chief engineer, Roads and Buildings Department of the Gujarat Government who informed that the bridge was more than 40 years old and PM Modi never came to inaugurate it.

News: A photograph of a collapsed bridge on the Junagarh-Jamnagar Highway is viral on social media with false claims that it was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The West Bengal Congress’ official Twitter handle also tweeted the same image with a similar misleading claim that the Jamnagar Junagarh Highway bridge collapsed, only three months after its inauguration by PM Modi.

The archived version of the tweet can be viewed here.

BOOM spoke to the chief engineer, Roads and Buildings Department, Gujarat Government, who informed that the bridge collapsed as it was more than 40 years old.

BOOM found that the same image is viral on Twitter with a similar caption.

No, Amit Shah Was Not Caught Sleeping In Rajya Sabha

BOOM accessed the RS TV footage and found that Amit Shah wasn’t sleeping. The screenshots were taken when Shah blinked his eyes.

News: An image showing Home Minister Amit Shah sleeping during a Rajya Sabha session, is false. The viral image claims to show Shah mid-sleep even as Law minister Ravishankar Prasad is addressing the Chairman of the Upper House.

BOOM found that photo is a screenshot from Rajya Sabha TV’s coverage of the Reservation Bill on January 9, 2019 with the original video showing Shah nodding and reading something as Prasad speaks.

The caption with the viral post reads ‘Levels of hypocrisy of bhakts : unmatched! @RahulGandhi using his phone is a problem but then @AmitShah sleeping is not!’. BOOM checked the original video of the proceeding of the House and found the claims to be false as Shah was wide awake during Prasad’s speech.

The post has since been shared on several Facebook pages and on Twiter. The official handle of West Bengal Congress also tweeted the misleading photo. BOOM had earlier debunked a false claim tweeted by WB Congress on Friday claiming a bridge in Gujarat inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi collapsed.

See the viral post here.

Telangana’s Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram irrigation project: All you need to know

The project aims to irrigate 45 lakh acres of land for two crops in a year and meet the drinking water requirement of 70% of the state.

South India News: The stage is all set for the inauguration of Kaleshwaram — billed as the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation project — across the Goadavari river in Telangana.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will formally inaugurate the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) on Friday in the presence of his Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh counterparts and Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan.

Termed as the biggest achievement by India’s youngest state, the project has been designed to irrigate 45 lakh acres of land for two crops in a year besides meeting the drinking water requirement of 70% of the state.

Officials say that the Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram project is a major step towards the goal of ‘Bangaru Telangana’ (Golden Telangana), which was promised by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government by bringing an area of one crore acres, under irrigation.

The project will be inaugurated with the three Chief Ministers and the Governor participating in a series of programmes at the project site in Jayashankar Bhupalapally district near the state’s border with Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

KCR has invited Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the state extended full cooperation for the construction of the… continue reading full story

Chennai Corporation to restore 210 water bodies across city amidst crisis

On completion, the eco-restoration project is expected to increase water storage capacity by at least 700 tmcft.

South India News: At a time when Chennai’s water crisis has hit its peak, the Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to work on water bodies in the city to improve its storage capacity.

According to a news report, Chennai Corporation will work on 210 water bodies within its limits which, in the long term, will address the water problem in the city. The eco-restoration works to be undertaken by the Corporation includes plugging the sewage flow into the water bodies and removing the encroachments that dot the city’s water bodies. The eco-restoration work is expected to improve storage capacity by over 700 tmcft.

Officials started inspection of the water bodies earlier this week and the work on increasing storage capacity of 70 water bodies is expected to be completed shortly. Residents associations and corporate companies have also reportedly pitched in to take up eco-restoration works of tanks in their respective localities, The Hindu reported.

This decision comes at a time when Chennai city is going through a severe water shortage. Hotels have been pushed to cut down on services and many IT companies have asked their employees to work from their homes. Several schools in the city have also announced closure for a few days due to the water crisis, instructing the students to stay home, though it has only been days since the schools reopened after summer vacation. Chennai residents have been pushed to come to the… continue reading full story

Man working as food delivery agent mistaken for thief, assaulted in Bengaluru

Police have registered an FIR against the accused charging them for assault, wrongful restraint, causing hurt by dangerous weapons and criminal intimidation.

South India News: A 23-year-old man working as a food delivery executive with Swiggy in Bengaluru was attacked on Monday night after he was suspected of being a thief. The incident took place in Marathahalli and the victim Liton Das is currently being treated at St John’s Hospital.

According to his complaint with the police, Liton had an argument with his roommate following which he was attacked by labourers taking shelter at a camp when he stepped out of the house.

The attackers also assaulted two of his friends who came to help him with wooden sticks. Liton’s scooter was also damaged.

It was around 11:30 pm on the night he had stepped out of his home as a result of the fallout and his roommate had shouted “thief, thief” which triggered the attack.

Police said that they have registered a case of assault.

“The police have registered an FIR against the accused charging them for assault, wrongful restraint, causing hurt by dangerous weapons and criminal intimidation. We suspect that Biplabnath and the victim had a falling out. He might have instigated the attack,” a police officer told.

This incident comes after a Swiggy delivery executive was attacked and robbed by four men earlier this month in… continue reading full story

Malnutrition and chronic illnesses: Why Bengaluru slums need better healthcare

No remedial measure, however, will make a dent in the disturbing urban health scenario unless substantial funds are allocated to the health and education budgets.

Health News: What ails Bengaluru’s healthcare? There’s plenty. According to data collected by Anahat Foundation and Aam Aadmi party volunteers at medical screening camps in poor slums, the city presents a dismal scenario of malnutrition and chronic and lifestyle illnesses, inadequate spread and staffing of Primary Health Centres (PHC) and ineffective implementation of the Central government’s National Urban Health Mission.

Lifestyle and ailments

The camp data found that most slum residents live in cramped temporary/semi-permanent houses, with public taps and community toilets. The large slum rehabilitation colony of L R Nagar, has household water and toilet connections. However, all the residents who came for our camps told us that water was not supplied through the taps, but through community taps, and women have to climb 4 flights of stairs with water pots.

Incidence of other ailments is also well above norms, and should be cause for serious concern. We estimate from our data that around 4% of the population in the CBD requires further testing for TB.

Chronic “lifestyle” disease prevalence figures are also very worrying. We found that among adults in the CBD, 22% showed high random blood sugar, and blood pressure readings of 21% of adults were high. More alarming is that most of these patients are unaware of the illnesses. In addition, cancer, heart disease and neglected eye ailments among older persons require immediate and… continue reading full story