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Floods in polluted rivers can pollute groundwater too: Study

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Floods in polluted rivers can pollute groundwater too: Study

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]File photo of the floods that submerged large parts of Chennai in December 2015. Photo credit: PTI

~By Bhavya Khullar

Scientists from Anna University studied groundwater samples taken before and after Chennai floods of December 2015 to probe effect of floods on water quality

New Delhi: A new study has pointed out that flooding in polluted rivers has the potential to make groundwater unsafe for human use.

In December of 2015, when Chennai was flooded and people were marooned, a team of scientists from Anna University was collecting groundwater samples along the Adyar river to investigate if the groundwater in this region was fit for human consumption.

Researchers collected water samples from 17 locations in December 2015 and April 2016, that is, during and after floods. They tested the samples for salt and heavy metal concentration, microbial load and their susceptibility to available antibiotics.

“We wanted to know if the city water met water quality parameters laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards during and post-flood”, Lakshmanan Elango, professor at the Department of Geology of Anna University, who led this study, told India Science Wire.

The results showed that heavy metal and microbial load in groundwater samples was high. The samples contained microbes such as Enterobacter, Staphylococcus, Escherichia, Streptococcus, Vibrio, and Salmonella that are known to cause infections like dysentery, cholera, and typhoid in humans. These microbes were cultured with various antibiotics used in clinical practice to treat life-threatening infections, to know they were susceptible or resistant to drugs.

“The bacteria were sensitive to most antibiotics but some were resistant to nalidixic acid, which is alarming as antibiotic resistance can rapidly spread in the environment”, said Prof Elango. The results of the study have been published in journal Nature Scientific Data.

In addition, scientists found high genetic similarity between bacteria from various locations implying that they must have originated from a single domestic sewage source containing fecal matter. “Sewage must have washed off with flood water, which in turn inundates the wells that would have resulted in contaminating the ground water”, believes Prof Elango.

“Our findings show that floods have the potential to impact the microbial quality of ground water in affected areas. Based on our study, we advise that wells must be chlorinated and the public must be warned to avoid consuming ground water for drinking, at least for some months post floods”, he added.

The research team included Ganesan Gowrishankar, Ramachandran Chelliah, Sudha Rani Ramakrishnan, Vetrimurugan Elumalai, Saravanan Dhanamadhavan, Kartikeyan Brindha, Usha Antony, and Lakshmanan Elango. It was done in collaboration with the University of Zululand in South Africa and the National University of Singapore, and was funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

(This article has not been edited by the APNLive staff. It is from an auto-generated syndicated feed provided by the India Science Wire)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

India News

Zomato takes down Kachra ad after flak for being casteist, BoycottZomato trends

A comparison between Kachra (trash) and the outcast character in the film Lagaan, which was released in 2001, was made by Zomato.

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Zomato ad campaign

Zomato, the food delivery brand, recently got into trouble after their new Kachra ad campaign which has now sparked controversy across the internet.

The campaign’s tagline, Don’t waste food, Don’t’ be Kachra, was displayed alongside a series of advertisements presenting left-over food in an effort to promote cleanliness and decrease food waste.

The campaign, which was released on June 5 on the occasion of World Environment Day, aimed to increase awareness of the burden that plastic waste has on the environment and to highlight how many kilograms of waste is used to produce even the most basic items. For example, a paperweight requires 3-4 kg of recycled waste, while hand towels require 9-12 kg.

The Zomato advertisement showed how the company chooses to deliver food without using any plastic, therefore protecting the environment.

A comparison between Kachra (trash) and the outcast character in the film Lagaan, which was released in 2001, was made by Zomato. The advertisement also featured the actor, Aditya Lakhiya, who played the character of Kachra in the film Lagaan. Given the larger backdrop of commercial entertainment in India, some users said, Kachra’s character in Lagaan had a contextual meaning.

The actor was presented in a variety of contexts, including as a recycled hand towel, a similar flower pot and paper.

However, the campaign failed to connect with the audience and received criticism for its insensitive approach and was referred to as a casteist idea on various social media platforms.

Users have now flooded the internet with their criticism, expressing their dissatisfaction towards the ad. Twitter is filled with #BoycottZomato.

One user wrote, Zomato’s Kachra advertisement was not an accident, rather, it was a planned and intentional act that may have been approved by the company’s senior management. The user went on to criticise Zomato, labeling it as having casteist ideas. While another said, Zomato’s highly casteist campaign can be attributed to a lack of diversity.

https://twitter.com/peeleraja/status/1666418206146453504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1666418206146453504%7Ctwgr%5Ea3fbc40e5966d35dcdf822dbbbc0be015493ca21%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.livemint.com%2Fnews%2Findia%2Fzomatos-kachra-campaign-draws-ire-of-netizens-11686188672827.html

However, the company informed in a Tweet about the advertisement being pulled down after the flak by the users and justifying its campaign wrote, on the occasion of World Environment Day, its intent was to aware the audience about the alternative usage of plastic waste and its recycling in a humorous way but unfortunately it hurt the sentiments of some individuals and community.

To this decision of Zomato taking the campaign back, it again received crticism from the users, while some called it arrogance for not making any apology, while some were satisfied with the timley action by the company.

A user wrote, the usual day casteism was unfortunate and was happy with Zomato’s timely action by removing the advertisement.

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India News

Mumbai horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body with tree-cutter, boils pieces in pressure cooker, disposes them

The man reportedly chopped his live-in partner’s body with a tree-cutter, boiled them in a pressure cooker and later filled them into plastic bags to throw away.

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Mumbai man chops live-in partner body

In yet another horrifying incident of man killing live-in partner, a 56-year old man in Mumbai allegedly killed his partner and chopped her body into pieces in a rented apartment in Mumbai’s Thane.

The man reportedly chopped his live-in partner’s body with a tree-cutter, boiled them in a pressure cooker and later filled them into plastic bags to throw away.

The accused Manoj Sahni had been in a live-in relationship with the victim Saraswati Vaidya, 36,  for the past three years. The incident is reported from Mira Bhayandar in Thane, Mumbai. Sahni, who owns a shop in Boriwali and Vaidya were living in a rented flat, 704 at Geeta Akash Deep Building in Geeta Nagar Phase 7, Mumbai.

As per the police, Vaidya was killed 3-4 days back.

Sahni was trying to flee but was captured by the police on Wednesday evening.

The Nayanagar police station on Wednesday, recieved a call from the buildingd residents complaining of a foul smell originating from the couple’s flat.

The police upon its arrival on the spot, when entered into the apartment discovered decomposed body parts of Vaidya.

As per the police, around 12-13 pieces of Vaidya’s body was recovered from the flat.

Mumbai DCP Jayant Bajbale said, as per the preliminary investigation, the victim was hacked to death and further investigation is ongoing.

Reports said, the motive behind the murder is still under investigation but the couple had an argument which led to a murder.

The case is similar to the spine-chilling Aaftab Poonawala-Shradha Walkar case. In May, last year Poonawala chopped Walkar’s body into several pieces and stored them in a fridge for weeks at his house in Delhi and later scattered them in different parts of Delhi.

After the Walkar case, several such cases have been reported.

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Wrestlers protest: Minor’s father makes a U-turn says WFI’s chief did not harass his daughter

The father made it clear, they had not dropped the initial allegation but rather had taken new statements.

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WFI chief

In an unexpected turn, the father of the 17-year-old wrestler, whose complaint led to the Delhi Police filing a case against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief  Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the strict laws against child sexual abuse, claimed that he and his daughter had made some false allegations against the chief of WFI.

The girl’s father gave a new statement to the magistrate in New Delhi on June 5 in which he claimed, the WFI’s chief had not sexually assaulted his daughter, his actions had been biased against her.

He added in his statement that he accused Brij Bhushan was for sexual harassment out of anger because her daughter lost the Asian Championship trials final the previous year.

I received threatening calls, but I won’t say who made them. To pay for my daughter’s expenses, I sold my residence. I had re-recorded my statement on my own initiative, the girl’s father added.

The girl’s father also confessed infront of the magistrate that we don’t hold any bitterness towards Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. On June 5, we made certain changes to our earlier statements and recorded new statements. I don’t want to get engaged in this battle.

However, the father made it clear, they had not dropped the initial allegation but rather had taken new statements.

Meanwhile, the protesting wrestlers decided to call off their strike until June 15 after the government promised to file charges against Brij Bhushan by then and organise elections for the sports organisation by the end of the month. Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik met Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur three days after they spoke with Union Home Minister Amit Shah about their requests. The sports minister invited them to a meeting to discuss their demands.

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