Air pollution in Mumbai has finally become a big issue and is now a public health issue.

Mumbai Forum For Clean Air gets launched today by Lung Care Foundation led by medical doctors. #airpollution #Mumbai Dr Arvind Kumar, a thoracic surgeon, and founder of Lung Care Foundation sharing some shocking details. He daily operates on lungs & since his practice starting 1988, he has first hand seen change in the colour of human 🫁- pink to black.

That’s a 14-yo child’s blackened lung👇🏾

Paddy Pain. धान का दर्द

@GaonConnection and @GaonConnectionE launch a new series from paddy growing states in the Indo-Gangetic plains that have received deficient monsoon rainfall, leaving paddy farmers in distress. It has global repercussions too!

gaonconnection.com As part of @GaonConnection & @GaonConnectionE new series – #PaddyPain – here's the ground report from Uttar Pradesh, the no. 2 rice growing state in India. Deficient monsoon rainfall has affected paddy sowing. It has national and global impact.

Read: bit.ly/3zGnst3

Extremely worrying report from #Uttarakhand where a sharp rise in #COVID19 has been recorded among kids (0-9 years) since April this year. @GaonConnection has analysed official data. Read @deepakrawat1298's report in @GaonConnectionE

#COVIDEmergency2021
en.gaonconnection.com/uttarakhand-co… Between March 2020 and March 2021, Uttarakhand had a total of 2,131 #COVID19 cases in children (0-9 years).

However, in the last 49 days alone, from April 1 to May 19 , the state has registered 3,313 new cases in 0-9 age group.

Read more: bit.ly/3hHvrPk

People along the west coast of India are slowly picking up pieces of their lives scattered & shattered by #CycloneTaukte.
Exactly a year ago, on May 20, #CycloneAmphan had hit the Sundarbans. People are still displaced.

@GaonConnectionE's ground report
en.gaonconnection.com/cyclone-amphan… Sabita Rani’s last memory of her home was the clock on the wall which told her it was 6 pm. It was on the evening of May 20, 2020, that her home in Hajatkhali village was swept away in the fury of #CycloneAmphan. A year on, she is still displaced.

Read: bit.ly/3v4LHxq

As part of @GaonConnection's 'A day in the Life of...' series, yesterday you met Sushma Devi, a woman पंडा.

Now, meet Munna, who , for the past 30 years, has been digging graves.

“Ever since COVID, I have been digging graves almost non stop."

en.gaonconnection.com/a-day-in-the-l… “I have been digging graves for thirty years and have never seen this number of dead in such a short span of time. Even after spending hours digging graves all day, there are still more graves to be dug," 54yo Munna.

Read. Watch. Share. @GaonConnectionE
bit.ly/3ow2EhX

In this raging pandemic, there are faceless people who are working against time but not classified as #CoronaWarriors.

@GaonConnection launches a new series 'A Day in the Life of...' in which you can meet such people.

Here's Sushma Devi, a woman पंडा

en.gaonconnection.com/corona-second-… Sushma was only 11yo when she was married off to 15yo Santosh, whose traditional occupation was 'panda', a priest who performs the last rites prayers. By the age of 26, Sushma was widowed.

She became a पंडा, something restricted only to men

Read. Watch. bit.ly/3wgc5o9

#CycloneTaukte has left behind a trail of destruction on the western coast of India. 24 people reportedly dead, several fishers missing, fishing boats badly damaged.

@GuerrillaSahafi of @GaonConnectionEspoke with the fishers in Maharashtra
#Tauktae

en.gaonconnection.com/cyclone-taukta… “We were alerted by the weather dept that a cyclone will hit Mumbai around May 15. So, we had parked our boats in safe areas. But still, boats destroyed... In the Madh port alone, 25-30 boats have been damaged... some fishermen missing." #Tauktae

Read: bit.ly/3owjgGb

The Ganga ghat in Unnao, UP, has dead bodies buried right up till the edge of the river. In 'normal' times, 25 bodies used to come a day for cremation, but now jumped to over 300, claim local residents.

@GaonConnection's ground report by @sumitlive

en.gaonconnection.com/unnao-dead-bod… As far as the eye can see are shrouds, in shades of red. They mark the makeshift graves of people recently buried. Almost every few yards are unmarked graves. Some partially dug up by dogs.

@GaonConnectionE's ground report from the Ganga ghat in Unnao

bit.ly/33HtOca

Titauli village in Rohtak, Haryana had 40 deaths in the past 10 days, said Suresh Singh, a resident. But CMO said only 5 deaths in the village. Similar stories from other villages. Are #COVID19 deaths being underreported, @divendrasingh tries to find out

en.gaonconnection.com/covid19-death-… “We lost 16 people in a week to ten days. None of them had got themselves tested and all of them had cold and fever. Today, (May 10) a team has come to the village and people are being tested."

How credible is #COVID19 death data?
#COVID19India

Read: bit.ly/2RN6oPB

Another imp story by @GaonConnection @GaonConnectionE on how #COVID19 is spreading in rural India.

People in far-flung hill villages of #Uttarakhand have tested positive. Dist administration has sealed those villages. @deepakrawat1298's report.

en.gaonconnection.com/uttarakhand-co… On May 6, tremors of alarm were felt across the village of Bandun in #Uttarakhand. Of the 42 samples that had gone for #COVID19 testing from this village in Pauri Garhwal dist, 30 turned out to be positive.

#CovidIndia #lockdown

Read detailed report bit.ly/3ezLvAn

Jharkhand CM @HemantSorenJMM had requested a moratorium on the auction of coal blocks, but the PM Modi still announced it. Jharkhand has approached the apex court. Now even Chhattisgarh & Maharashtra have raised objections. My report in @GaonConnectionE bit.ly/2YlzpTr On June 20, Chhattisgarh envt minister wrote to @PrakashJavdekar @moefcc informing the proposed 1,995 sq km in Hasdeo Aranya as Lemru elephant reserve. Destruction of forests due to #coal mining would increase human-elephant. Remove 5 coal blocks from auction @ChhattisgarhCMO

Okay tweeple. There is a party going on at a club near my house with loud music and there is no way I can sleep before midnight. So, here is a thread on some key stories I did in 2019 from various parts of the country. Slow, travel, explore, learn & report - my 2019 in four words I started the year by writing in Deccan Herald (Jan 12, 2019) about the extreme weather forecast for 2019. As the year draws toward an end, the forecast has come true. Will prove that at the end of this thread.

Visited Bellary Fort in Ballari, Karnataka today. Quite a contrast to Hampi as far as conservation is concerned. No sign board for the fort; not even at the main entrance of the fort complex. No toilet at all though I spotted @swachhbharat symbol. Sad state. @ASIGoI The first look of Bellary Fort built on top of a hill called the "Ballari Gudda" . It has two parts — Upper Fort and the Lower Fort.

Who was to know one had to climb up some 370 huge stairs to reach the fort top 😨. But, managed to climb up and climb down 😀

#Hampi is an experience, hard to describe in words or through pictures. But, can’t help sharing what I did today. Walked through the magnificent history of Vijayanagara Samrajya (1336-1646). EACH stone of Hampi is a story in itself.

#Thread

1. Stone Chariot, Vitthala Temple. 2. Absolutely stunning single-stone carved structures. And, these are giant.

Here, single stone carved doors (with locking system), which used to be at the entrance of the Royal Enclosure in #Hampi.

“Gendered Cultures And Climate Justice” — Pune University

“Smartness in the Smart City Mission is against sustainability and against the SDG11 of sustainable cities and communities,” Priyadarshini Karve, member of Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change. #SmartCities “Greenness and smartness of solutions being pushed under the Smart City Agenda need to be questioned,” Prof Amita Bhide, TISS. #SmartCities

As late as Oct 2012, I travelled to Bihar for the first time. Ever since then, thanks to my friend, @Watervagabond, I have been regularly travelling there & reporting on floods & other related issues. A thread on #Bihar & #BiharFloods stories to keep the larger picture in mind. @Watervagabond 73% of the total geographical area of Bihar is prone to floods. Bihar is India's most flood prone state, too. Embankments have failed to control floods. Some claim these engineering solutions are responsible for flash floods & other problems #BiharFloods

gaonconnection.com/swayamproject/…