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Dear Reader,
Devastating floods in the Northeast have now become an annual feature, with significant fatalities and millions displaced. This year, in the state of Assam alone, more than 150 people have succumbed to the floods and over three million impacted.
Causing this annual tragedy is a convergence of factors – climate change, glacial melting, increasing river bank erosion, unscientific construction of embankments and deforestation, among others.ThePrint files a deep report from the ground on this perfect storm.
And in Bihar too, the swollen Mahananda River in Sheikhpura village under the Kadwa block of Katihar district is threatening to inundate its banks. The locals claim that the embankment that was repaired, costing crores just a couple of months ago, is already vulnerable, and they allege irregularities. मैं मीडिया reports.
And in Punjab, another calamity is afoot – acute farm distress leading to an increase in farmer suicides since 2015, with a farmer’s union claiming that 55 farmers and farm labourers took their lives just in the last three months. The India Forum analyses the issues and recommends remedial measures that include insurance, crop diversification and developing a “progressive” credit culture.
And, as India’s ban on single-use plastic items took effect last Friday, on July 1, Down To Earth points out that while it is a big stride, it is a misnomer to define it as a ‘single-use plastic ban’. This is because items like soft drinks and mineral water bottles, and products sold in multi-layered packaging, will continue to be exempt. For even this limited ban to be effective, the pollution boards will have to nip manufacturing at the source; and the industry will have to invest in alternatives.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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