The Observer Vol 20 Issue 13

The Observer An IIJNM publication

Farmers do not know about the Arka Vyapari app, which is designed to ease their trading | P 3

Vol 20, Issue 13

Thursday, April 1, 2021

facebook.com/ twoiijnm/ @theweeklyobserver Epaper:https://issuu.com/ theweeklyobserver/docs Website: http://www. theweeklyobserver.in

School uniform makers struggling to make ends meet as there is no demand for dress | P 4

Inefficiencies of Wig industry tears its hair over of supplies, recurring losses BBMP to blame lack No. of women for low ranking visiting salons falls in big way

By Nidhi Kajaria

The city development plans of Bengaluru civic body have not been updated in the past 10 years | Credit: KPN

Meddling by politicians and a poor property tax system are other issues

By Dhruv Raghav Bengaluru: Financial, technological and planning inefficiencies are to be blamed for BBMP’s low ranking in the Municipal Performance Index report 2020. The Bengaluru civic body ranks 31 out of 51 municipalities.

According to the Municipal Performance Index report 2020, published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with the Institute for Competitiveness, “…big cities such as Bengaluru have a much lower ranking at 31 due to comparatively low scores attained in finance, technology and planning verticals.”

The report highlighted that the BBMP does not practise local area planning, has not implemented town planning schemes, has not updated its city development plan in the past 10 years, and does not incentivize “green buildings”. Violations from building plans are high – sometimes as high as 90 per cent. Further, it said BBMP did not make its financial and operational statistics public in the past financial year.

Krishna Panyam, a public policy expert, informed The Observer: “The problem is lack of transparency and delayed project completion.” He gave the example

of the Sankey tank project, which has been under way for years.

BBMP has not released details of the amount spent on the project.

Apart from transparency, other problem is political interference.

Ravi Acharya, a member of the citizen activist group Malleswaram Social, said: “The problem of lack of transparency is because of political influence in the corporation. Disclosing the amount that has been spent on certain projects which have been going on for ages would become impossible.”

The Municipal Performance Index compares different municipalities on five different verticals: Services, Finance, Technology, Planning and Governance. Out of the five verticals, BBMP performed badly in three.Finance, Technology and Planning, it was not up to the mark for the budget deficit, which means the corporation has few means of income and outdated development plans.

Other cities with a population of more than 10 lakh, like Surat, Indore, Bhopal and Pune, have relatively performed much better.

“The Pune Municipal Corporation has done some good work in this regard. They have managed to keep their costs low and revenue high,” Panyam noted.

Continued on page 4

Bengaluru: The wig industry is struggling to recover from effects of the pandemic. India, which supplies 80 per cent of the world’s wigs, has seen a reduction of 60 per cent in production.

As salons have seen a steep decline in the number of clients they serve, the amount of hair donated and sold to the wig industry has declined. “The number of people visiting the salon for haircuts has dropped due to Covid, and the amount of hair that is left by the end of the day is so little that we are left with no option but to throw it,” said Mary Margeret, owner of Salon Nayana, Brigade Road.

“We can’t even donate it right now as we have to follow Covid

protocols. BBMP will not allow us to do so.”

India is the world’s largest supplier of human hair. It exports at least 1,300 tonnes annually. But with the outbreak of the deadly virus, the manufacture of wigs has declined.

Pharma companies make hay during the pandemic But allegedly fail to follow KSPCB norms

News Briefs Rajini to be conferred with Phalke Award Tamil movie icon Rajinikanth was on Thursday chosen for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award in an announcement by the Centre. Asha Bhonsle and Shankar Mahadevan were members of the jury.

By Mahitha Owk Bengaluru: Amidst the pandemic, the pharma sector has experienced growth with an increased demand for its products.

Rakesh P Kanyadi, director at Anglo-French Drugs and Industries Ltd, informed The Observer: “Usually, our workers used to work in two shifts, but, with the increased demand, we have extended it to three now.”

He said demand has increased due to the pandemic.

Owing to a high demand for immunity boosters, companies manufacturing vitamin C and mineral tablets have raised their production capacity.

“We produce ayurvedic medicines. Sales have gone up

R. Swamy, owner of Wig Design Palace, which makes and sells wigs in the wholesale market, said: “The manufacture of wigs has reduced by more than 60 per cent because of a shortage of human hair.”

Continued on page 2

Stones thrown at Suvendhu’s convoy

The demand for pharma products has risen | Mahitha Owk tremendously as people have become more health-conscious during Covid-19,” Vinay G., general manager of Penny Pharmaceutical Ltd said. His company’s sales have gone up by 60-70 per cent during the pandemic. Moreover, they haven’t closed the company even for a day, “Being considered frontline workers, we did not face any problem.”

The Union cabinet last month approved a Production Linked Incentive scheme of Rs 15,000 crore for the pharma sector.

Continued on page 4

The convoy of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was on Thursday afternoon attacked in Nandigram’s Satengabari area, where he locks horns with West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee.

Adikari, who is contesting from Nandigram, was not injured.

BBMP falls short of property tax target

The BBMP has fallen short of its property tax target of Rs 3,500 crore for 2020-21 as the financial year came to a close on Wednesday. But the Palike is not unduly worried as this year’s collection of Rs 2,818 crore has exceeded the previous year’s figures.

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The Observer Thursday, April 1, 2021

FORGOT YOUR MASK? GET READY TO PAY FINE TO bbMP, POLICE

Citizen’s voice No ‘negative questions’ is how BJP wants it

Recently, during an interview with Newslaundry’s Nidhi Suresh, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for Kerala, E Sreedharan, said the interviewer was “wasting time on such issues” when he was being asked about his thoughts on the socalled “love jihad” and beef ban.

If media shouldn’t ask such questions, on which issues should they ask “positive questions”?

Who decides what is “positive” and what is “negative”? Should media hold scripted interviews?

Ashutosh Acharya

Aligned with the US for our convenience

BBMP marshals are fining people at Chickpet for not wearing masks.

Sultan Pasha, a marshal, said: "You can see the crowd here; still people are not wearing masks ahead of the second wave." | Abhisek Dutta

Bengaluru Traffic Police fined a citizen for not wearing a face mask while driving, but the fine reciept said he was fined for tobacco consumption and was charged Rs 100 instead of Rs 250 | Nidhi Kajaria

Pupils wait for pandemic to end so they can fly abroad Bengaluru: The Covid-19 pandemic has forced students to review their decision to go abroad for higher studies.

“The previous year got wasted because of the pandemic,” Kumari Thrikanth, who had completed his B-tech last year and was planning to do his Masters in the UK, informed The Observer.

Many countries, like Australia, the UK and US, have closed their borders and tightened visa restrictions, forcing Indian students to change their plans.

Naga Nikhil Krishnagiri, wanted to do MBA abroad, said: “I had started preparations to leave for Australia. But, unfortunately, this pandemic started.” As Australian boards have remained closed for a long time now, he is left with no option but to do MBA in India.

Disha A. Joshi, an international student counsellor at Krishna Consultants Overseas, said there are two groups of people.

First, “those who have dropped (their plans) because they felt it was better to stay in India; and, second, those “who wanted to go abroad to study, get a job and settle there as they don’t have anything else to do in India”.

Parents are scared to send their children abroad due to rising Covid-19 cases amid a second wave. “My parents were scared to send me abroad and asked me to drop the idea,” said Thrikanth, who was preparing for IELTS and GRE for months before he changed his plans.

Students have invested a lot of

Salons get no clients, wigs makers affected Continued from Page1 ccording to a report by the MOC, the decline in exports since 2013 is worrying.

The Plastic Export Promotion Council has made several representations to the government to highlight the problems being faced by exporters of human hair.

Now, with a second wave of Covid-19 it seems even more difficult for the industry to return to normal business.

Natural Wig Shop manager L.K. Sangeetha said the business has been incurring losses since march.

They are unable to recover losses. “Our clients have declined, so have sales. I really do not know if we are ready for the after-effects of the second wave.”

Because people are working from home, 90 % of women have not been able to focus on their grooming, says a report by Robert W. Baird & Co. Women’s hair is considered to be the main source of income for the wig industry. The decline in the number of women visiting salons has had a negative impact.

“The decline in the number of women clients is another setback for the industry. We are unable to collect enough human hair for donation/sale to the wig industry,” said Archana Sanghavi, manager of Plum and Sugar Salon, HSR Layout.

Vandana Singh, owner of Radiant Salon, RR Nagar, said they had to cancel their tie-ups with wig manufacturers as they didn’t have anything to offer. “We are badly hit by the pandemic. We are stressed about the declining

A

By Mahitha Owk

Discouraged to study abroad, students have changed plans time and money that have gone in vain. “I paid around Rs 14,000 for the IELTS exam, but my parents didn’t let me attend the exam as they were scared I would go abroad if I scored well. Banks were closed and the process was difficult, so I decided to quit,” he said.

Akhil Chella, who is doing his Masters in computer science in the US, said: “Limited flights were available and there was a problem in booking visa slots.” He thinks it’s better to build a career in the US instead of “wasting time in India”.

Consultancies have been incurring losses as fewer students have opted to study abroad.

Sanz International MD Safina Naaz said parents and students pressured them so much that they had to ask foreign universities to refund fees.

However, Manoj Kumar Tenugu, who travelled to the US during the pandemic for his Masters,

said: “I came to the US just before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. If I had been a little late, I would have been stuck in India.”

According to a report released by the US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education, Indian students contributed $7.6 billion to the US economy in the academic year 2019-20, even though there was a 4.4 per cent drop in the total number of Indian students.

Prof B.M. Kumaraswamy, a Bengaluru economist, said: “The global economy has been adversely affected as students have stopped going abroad. Students who go are mostly engineering, medical and business students who want to settle abroad.”

A recent study revealed that 91 per cent of students who planned to go abroad before the pandemic are willing to go after the pandemic is over. mahitha.o@iijnm.org

When Nehru, Tito and Nasser established the Non-Alignment Movement in 1961, the thought of India forming a military alliance with the hegemon, United States, and its allies was unthinkable. Yet that is exactly where we find ourselves today in a battle for influence in our backyard. But is this an alliance of necessity?

Karthik Gottumukhala

number of clients…”.

Low demand and reduced manufacture of wigs have not only affected wig shops and manufacturers but also hair transplantation clinics.

Harsha Kumar, coordinator at Body Culture Studio, a hair transplantation clinic in Kalyan Nagar, said his business is not doing well as the number of clients has declined. “I have noticed a trend of people being apprehensive about taking our service, citing ‘financial crisis’ or ‘expensive’; it wasn’t so before.”

These negative impacts on the industry have made manufacturers, sellers and other service providers cut costs and change policies to survive in the market.

“We even reduced the cost of services by 10-15% but it made no difference,” said Harsha Kumar.

Likewise, Sangeetha said their business adopted a similar strategy. “We have reduced the selling price of wigs in the hope that it’ll attract more customers and help us in touching at least the breakeven point.”

According to reports, the Indian salon industry was growing at 18.6% in pre-Covid times, faster than the international rate of 15%.

“We couldn’t formulate strategies to cope with the first wave.

Now with cases rising again, I don't think we’d be able to survive longer,” said Swamy.

The hair export market in India is worth Rs 6,000 crore-Rs 8,000 crore. Only 5 per cent of hair comes from donations at temples; the rest comes from salons. nidhi.k@iijnm.org

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The Observer Thursday, April 1, 2021

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Ryots unaware of app that eases trading Complain that info about govt schemes does not reach them

l Arka Vyapar, an app developed

by IIHR helps farmers to connect with traders l They complain about the inaccessibility of government schemes l The app enables farmers to trade without any boundaries l Farmers hope that the app will prevent from price exploitation

By Nishita M. Agath Bengaluru: Farmers are unaware of Arka Vyapar, an application developed by the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR) to connect farmers with the traders.

K. Hanumaiah, a farmer, informed The Observer: “I am not aware of this application. When the government launches a scheme or an application, either we don’t benefit from the same or we aren’t aware of it.

C. Lata, another farmer said: “I have neither heard of such an application nor will I. The govement’s schemes or initiatives have never reached lay people; they remains limited to certain people.”

When The Observer asked why the app is not downloadable from Google Play Store, Dr C. Aswath, a principal scientist at IIHR, said that due to technical issues, the launch of the application is de-

A farmer can find traders by simple setting the price and name of their agricultural produce. We will spread awareness among farmers through radio and TV advertisements.

-- C. Aswath, principal scientist, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru layed. “We are still integrating the Application Program Interface (API) data and hence will take one more week to launch the application. By facilitating an etrading platform, the application will remove barriers and will allow filtering the traders by offering three categories to select prospective traders: within 100 km; 100-500 km; and above 500 km,” he added.

Though unaware of the Arka Vyapar app, farmers believe it will help to prevent their exploitation over prices.

M.N. Narasamma, a ragi and

pulses farmer , said: “I haven’t heard of such an application.

However, I believe it may help me to sell my farm produce at better prices. We sell to local traders and, hence, most of the time we have to sell at lower prices as compared to the market prices.”

The prices are continuously decreasing. Earlier, the price of ragi was around Rs 3,500 a quintal, which has now come down to reduced to Rs 3,000. “The app may prevent us from traders’ manipulation,” she added.

Farmers often face price exploitation and non-transparency

in the trading process from commission agents in APMC mandis who act as mediators between farmers and traders.

“A farmer can find traders by simply setting the price and name of their agricultural produce. At the rate that matches the prospective traders, the price will pop up in the farmer’s device.

This will enable them to sell their farm produce as per their convenience,” added Aswath.

Lakshmamma R., another farmer, said: “Even the mandi system lacks transparency. Most of the time, traders give very

Avenue Rd biz is thanda due to pipe laying We’ve kept shops open just to pass time: traders

Shop without power as JCB snaps cable

By Abhisek Dutta Bengaluru: The entire Avenue Road has been dug up for TenderSURE road work resulting in low business for traders. They fear that their shops may get flooded during heavy rain as the new road will be built higher than the present one.

The road has been dug up to lay sewage pipes, making the road risky to walk on. A four-foot-deep crater has been created in front of the stationery shop of Praveen Patel. People are unlikely to take the risk of enter his shop by jumping over the excavation.

“They (engineers) assured us they would keep the height of the road the same as the shop floor,” Patel said.

Murthy D, who has been selling books on the road for more than 20 years, said: “My shop and the present road are at the same level. We have requested the authorities many times not to raise the height.”

There are already many shops in Avenue Road which are three to four feet below the present road. They may become ankledeep water bodies when it rains.

It will be difficult for customers to enter the shops if the height of the new road increases.

Pavan Kalyan, engineer incharge of the project, informed

A The 300- meter stretch between Kamat Hotel and Banaras Sweet House has been undertaken in the first phase | Credit Abhisek Dutta The Observer that the plan was dents. “Nowadays it's horrible to chalked out keeping the height walk on the road. There’s always factor in mind. “The road will be a chance of us falling into the only 200 mm high. We are using chambers.”

900 mm SWD pipes for the Outside the entrance of Pooja drainage system which will be Polypack and Stationers, almost connected through manholes at 40-foot-long fibre pipes have been points. And every 25 metres of piled up for more than one month. the road will have a chamber. So The entrance is entirely blocked there is no possibility of water on both vertically and horizontally. the road entering shops.”

Sunil Choudhary, owner of the The 970-meter-long project will shop, said, “They did not use even be executed in three phases of 300 a single pipe in the past month. meters. The 300- meter stretch We have kept the shop open just between Kamat Hotel and Ba- to pass time. Customers can’t see naras Sweet House has been un- the shop, how will they come?” dertaken in the first phase. The A member of FKCCI’s managentire stretch is dug up at many ing committee said it is impossiplaces. Some holes have concrete ble to walk on such a road. and rod structures. Soil, sand, Previously, the shopkeepers of stone chips are piled every 20 to Avenue Road objected to air pol30 meters. The shopkeepers and lution due to the dust particles visitors say many falls every day from the construction work. To due to the uneven surface. solve the issue, BBMP promised Rohini S, a college student who to sprinkle water twice a day. But frequently visits the road to buy A. Ramesh, owner of Avenue second-hand books, said the area Book Centre, said that the is popular among college stu- traders had to arrange water

stationery shop on Avenue Road has been running without electricity for the past six days as a cable was torn by a JCB while digging a chamber.

The owner of the shop, Prakash S, was fanning himself with a newspaper when The Observer met him. He said the workers did not care to fix it. “I have complained multiple times.”

Pavan Kalyan, the engineer in charge of the project, said they asked Bescom to fix it. Instead, Bengaluru Smart City Ltd will pay compensation.

sprinklers by pooling money. “We don’t trust them anymore. It is expected that the road will be almost one foot higher. Let’s see what they do with the footpath.”

He objected to the slow pace of the project. Echoing the others, he said: “There is no business for more than a year; first there was a lockdown, now this. We are earning so little that we can’t even pay the shop rent.” BBMP took up the TenderSURE road on Avenue Road after getting permission from the traffic police on January 18, 2021. It has directed contractors to complete the project by October 2021. abhishek.d@iijnm.org

cheap prices for our agricultural produce.” The Arka Vyapar app may give farmers the freedom to sell their products across the country and create several trading options.

H. Chandru, a farmer who grows ragi, wheat and rice, said: “As we get lower prices from traders, we end up selling our produce to our relatives. Such an application might help us to earn more.

When The Observer asked whether IIHR has taken any initiative to make farmers aware of the app, Aswath replied: “We announced during the valedictory of the five-day National Horticulture Fair organized by the institute at its Hesaraghatta campus.

The application is yet to be launched. Later, we will make aware farmers through radio and TV advertisements.”

Malikarjun, founder of MHR Foundation, an organization involved in organic farming, said: “I am not aware of this application.

But I believe Arka Vyapar will grant bargaining power to farmers. Amidst several technological advancements and price exploitations in the agricultural industry, farmers need greater awareness and clarity to sell their products at fair prices.” nishita.a@iijnm.org

Weather Maximum: 36 degrees celsius Minimum: 20 degrees celsius Precipitation: 0% Humidity: 30% Wind: 5 km/h

Quiz 1. What sweeping law did Georgia Republicans on March 25 passed in the state?

2. Which company made India’s 1st oil imports from Guyana?

3. Who will be the 48th Chief Justice of India?

4. Who has authored the book "Bringing Governments and People Closer"?

5. Which nation is planning to construct the world's first ship tunnel?

6. Who has become the second batsman in history to reach 10,000 runs at number 3?

7. Which nation launched 38 foreign satellites in a historic mission on March 22nd?

Answers on page 4

Across the city BlockChain Training by PurpleFront Technologies Date and time: 10 Mar – 6 Apr. Registrationlink: https://bit.ly/3mbnVwa RangaShankara presents Revathi’s ‘1, Madhav Baug’ Date and time: April 3, 3:30 PM, 7 PM, April 4, 3:30 PM, 7 PM. Registrationlink: https://bit.ly/3fEzHOa ink: https://bit.ly/31G4dis

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The Observer Thursday, April 1, 2021

Producers of school uniforms cannot make their ends meet Offline classes have not helped much

By Ashutosh Acharya Bengaluru: Garment shops and tailors supplying uniforms to schools are facing losses worth lakhs of rupees due to the pandemic. The demand for school uniforms has been nil as offline classes were on hold during the nationwide lockdown.

Shivraj, owner of Shivraj Tailors in Gowdana Palya, which supplies uniforms to Government schools, said: “My business has had recurring losses of Rs 1 lakhRs 2 lakh since last year because of reduction in the orders for school uniforms.”

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a lockdown on March 23, 2020, all educational institutions were closed. Online classes began after that. As students did not have to wear uniforms during online classes, the demand for uniforms has completely dried up.

Shahid of Topkit Garments, MG Road, said: “Not only the uniform industry, but every other industry except the FMCG industry faced losses in the previous year.

We lost around Rs 6 lakh-Rs 7 lakh because there were no uniform sales last year.

Physical classes for classes X and XII in Karnataka resumed on January 2 this year, while classes for classes IX and standard XI re-

Amidst pandemic, uniform makers suffers loss as schools remained closed. The unsold stocks adds to the loss. | Ashutosh Acharya sumed in February 1. School stu- down haven’t returned yet. Irfan dents of classes VI to VIII are cur- Pasha, who runs Basheer Tailors rently attending online classes with his father, said: “Most of the under the government’s workers from our shop went back Vidyagama scheme. home during the lockdown due to “Even if classes of standards IX a lack of order. The shop was to XII have resumed, students mostly shut. The little money that prefer to buy uniforms at the be- we make is out of manufacturing ginning of the new academic year, police uniforms.” which looks a little uncertain Prabhakaran of Deeksha Enwith the scare of the second wave terprises, Halasuru, which supof the virus. Hence, we are still plies school uniforms, shared: facing losses,” added Shahid.

“Now that schools have reopened, M. Raju, who runs Modern we are having a medium sale of School Uniforms, Arakere, which uniforms. But with a second wave supplies uniforms to 15 schools, lingering in the air, we are frightsaid: “Even though schools have ened we may have to face similar reopened, we still don’t have a de- losses as we faced last year due to mand for uniforms. There’s an in- zero sale of uniforms.” crease in sales of uniforms for Tailors said that they aren’t reonly medical college students.” ceiving orders now as they used to Most workers of tailoring shops before the pandemic. who went home during the lockSudeep from Kalpana Tailors,

Seshadripuram, which supplies stocks to 17 schools, said: “The schools order uniforms worth Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000 every year.

After finishing the stocks of previous years, they call us and place an order for the new stocks.” But as of now, his shop has not received any bulk orders.

While some were able to manage with the losses incurred, other found it difficult to meet their ends.

“The loss we suffered last year was manageable, and we didn’t face any issues due to that,” said Sudeep. However, Shivraj said it became difficult for him to pay his children’s school fees.

S Nasr Khan, founder of Threadworks, Brigade Road, which supplies uniforms and sportswear to different states, said: “The stocks which we got before lockdown are still lying all around the shop. For uniform makers, it’s going to be worse because after adding the logo and the specific color of the school, nobody else can buy the uniforms.”

Khan’s business is surviving on a loan. Even after supplying uniforms to different states, it is difficult for them to earn profits.

With the constant fear of a second wave of the virus, the business of the uniform makers doesn’t seem to grow anytime soon. People like Shivraj are constantly afraid that the second wave may rob him of his busine “Many players quit the market during the lockdown. Now, with a second wave coming, the ones who survive this might do well.” ashutosh.a@iijnm.org

Bad planning, poor revenue Waste from pharma units model result in poor ranking worries environmentalists

Continued from page 1 BMP’s major source of income is property tax. According to the BBMP budget, 2020, the corporation was supposed to collect Rs 3,500 crore from 4.1 lakh owners who had incorrectly assessed their property tax. The tax filing process has been digitized for private properties but not for commercial ones.

“BBMP keeps saying they will be more stringent with the property tax defaulters, but that has clearly not worked. For residential property tax, the BBMP did take a positive step by digitizing the process, but did not do the same for commercial properties,” Panyam added.

In the past, BBMP employed unconventional ways of collecting tax. “BBMP hired bands and asked them to beat drums in front of properties to name and shame the defaulters, but that was also of no use,” Panyam said.

Suresh L, BBMP Public Relations Officer, said: “BBMP got less money than expected this year. The revenue department of BBMP is taking care of increas-

B

ing revenue. We have decided to be more stringent with our commercial property tax collection.

The Municipal Performance Index report was put out by a private agency on the central government’s demand, so the BBMP has not decided to put out an official statement on the ranking.”

A few displeased Bengalureans said the ranking of the municipality is justified as there are several never-ending projects and inefficient waste-collection system.

“BBMP asks us to segregate the dry and wet waste at source, but the BBMP workers mix the waste while collecting it. They later pay dry waste collection centres to segregate the waste. Bad planning and revenue models justify BBMP’s low ranking,” said Swarna Bajpayee, a resident of Halasuru.

Ryan Rehman, a resident of Fraser Town, said: Bengaluru’s problems haven’t changed. While it topped the Ease of Living Index, it ranked low among municipalities because of major inefficiency problems. dhruv.r@iijnm.org

Continued from page 1 hethan Gangiah, CEO and managing director of Zriza Pharmaceutical Industry, said they manufacture medicines as prescribed by doctors. As hospitals were shut, they experienced a decline in the sales, which have now gone up.

Vinay said his company was able to sell its Covid-19 medicines in abundant quantities as people believe in ayurveda. “We are manufacturing more medicines now.”

Although the pharma industry is doing well, environmentalists are worried about the waste generated by these companies.

Raghavendra Pachhapur, an environmentalist, said: “If the pharmaceutical companies are not producing any chemicals that harm the environment, then why do Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) tests show a huge amount of pharmaceutical chemicals in lakes?”

KSPCB authorities are just documenting these issues but are not taking any actions, he claimed. Moreover, the govern-

C

ment is letting the pharmaceutical companies do whatever they want to as they contribute a lot to the country’s GDP. However, Kanyadi said: “We segregate waste into dry and liquid waste. We later balance the PH level of the liquid waste and dry the solid waste into waste beds so that they don’t cause any harm and can be disposed of easily.”

According to norms set by KSPCB, pharmaceutical units should segregate waste before disposing it of, make sure that the toxins are transported and disposed of safely and the disposal is not dumped into any streams, rivers or surface water bodies.

In case of non-compliance of these rules, the organization may face severe consequences, including closure.

Another environmentalist, Sandeep Anirudhan, said: “God knows what is happening with the waste. If they just balance the pH level, it’s not enough. It doesn’t remove the chemicals completely.” mahitha.o@iijnm.org

Twitterati Talk @MoHFW_INDIA

The CoWIN platform has been made simpler. So, if you are 45 years or above, born before January 1st, 1977, then you are eligible to register, and get your #COVID19 vaccination.

@RahulGandhi

For me the most important thing is to reclaim the idea of Wayanad.

This place has a global significance. You used to be the spice capital of the world, there is no reason you should not be the spice capital of the world again.

@BDUTT

Insane to object to vaccine passports for international travel, yellow fever shots for some travel, polio drops for others have been the norm for years, what’s the big deal in testing and traveling or showing proof of vaccines? Hunkering down forever is no life at all. Get real. @PIB_India

@nsitharaman

Interest rates of small savings schemes of GoI shall continue to be at the rates which existed in the last quarter of 2020-2021, ie, rates that prevailed as of March 2021.

@Olacabs

Say hello to the world’s first-ever fully autonomous, electric flying car. An urban commuter so advanced, the very first version of it good enough to be called ‘Pro’.

This is the Ola AirPro. Test flights now at olaairpro.com

Words of the day 1. Wigged-out: mentally or emotionally discomposed 2. Foist: to introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant 3. Alacrity: promptness in response 4.

Diffident: reserved, unassertive 5. Exodus: a mass departure 6. Reminisce: indulge in the process or practice of thinking or telling about past experiences

Quiz Answers 1. Restrict voting access 2. HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd 3. NV Ramana 4. Dr. M Ramachandran 5. Norway 6. Virat kohli 7. ICGS Vajra

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Team Observer Editor: Nishita M. Agath Copy Editors: Nishita M. Agath, Dhruv Raghav, Mahitha Owk, Nidhi Kajaria, Abhisek Dutta, Ashutosh Acharya Page Editors: Nishita Agath, Abhisek Dutta, Dhruv Raghav, Mahitha Owk Reporters: Nishita M. Agath, Dhruv Raghav, Mahitha Owk, Nidhi Kajaria, Ashutosh Acharya, Abhisek Dutta Photo Editor: Nidhi Kajaria