Fact Check: No WHO Nod To Herbal Medicine As Covid-19 Treatment

 

FILE PHOTO: Patanjali’s managing director Acharya Balkrishna (extreme left) and Baba Ramdev (centre) can be seen in this file photograph

Multiple Facebook and Twitter posts shared hundreds of times claim the World Health Organization (WHO) approved Coronil, an Indian herbal medication, as a Covid-19 treatment. The claim was also shared in multiple Indian news reports.

The claim is false: while Coronil was approved as a Covid-19 treatment by Indian government regulators, it has not been certified as a coronavirus treatment by the WHO as of February 26, 2021.

The claim was published in this Facebook post on February 19, 2021.

The post’s Hindi-language text translates to English as: “Patanjali’s coronil, which was targeted by negative propaganda, has been approved by the WHO. After the vaccine, India will lend the first Covid drug to the world.”

Patanjali is an Indian manufacturer of herbal products — including Coronil, which the company describes as a “Covid-19 Immunity Booster Tablet.”

The claim that the WHO approved Coronil as a Covid-19 treatment was also made by News Nation TV. One of the Indian broadcaster’s network anchors reported here that “a lot of questions were raised whether Coronil is an effective treatment of coronavirus, but WHO has given its approval.”

Several other Indian media outlets — including India TV, AsiaNews, Jio News and News18 — also reported that the WHO had approved Coronil as a coronavirus treatment.

A similar claim was also shared on Facebook here, here and here. Sanju Verma, a national spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, promoted the claim on Twitter here.

The claim, however, is false.

The WHO’s regional office for Southeast Asia said it had not approved the purported coronavirus treatment.

“WHO has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment #COVID19,” the agency said on Twitter here on February 19, 2021.

On February 19, 2021, Patanjali’s managing director Acharya Balkrishna clarified in a post on Twitter that Coronil had received approval from the Indian government, not from the WHO.

The tweet reads: “We want to clarify to avoid confusion that our WHO GMP compliant COPP certificate to Coronil is issued by DCGI, Government of India. It is clear that WHO do not approve or disapprove any drugs. WHO works for building a better, healthier future for people all over the world”.

DCGI is an acronym for the Drugs Controller General of India, who heads the government’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization.

COPP, which is often written as CPP, is an acronym for Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product, which are uniform certificates used for international trade.

Balkrishna’s clarification came one day after Patanjali published a tweet claiming the WHO had approved Coronil. The tweet was deleted but an archived version can be seen here.

In a statement released on February 22, 2021, the Indian Medical Association, a voluntary organisation of Indian doctors, criticised Patanjali for promoting the false claim, calling it a “blatant lie of WHO certificate for a secret medicine.”

Coronil, however, did recently receive a CPP from the Indian government’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, as Balkrishna noted in his tweet above and as the Press Trust of India reported here.

by AFP

Indian Coast Guard Find 81 Rohingya Refugees Adrift At Sea

 

Of the 90 people that had set out on the voyage, eight were found dead, and one was missing

The Indian Coast Guard found 81 survivors and eight dead on a boat crammed with Muslim Rohingya refugees adrift in the Andaman Sea, and were repairing the vessel so that it can return safely to Bangladesh, Indian officials said on Friday.

The Indian government was in discussions with Bangladesh to facilitate the safe return of the vessel, which was found drifting in international waters having left southern Bangladesh about two weeks ago with hopes of reaching Malaysia.

The boat had sailed on Feb. 11 from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, carrying 56 women and eight girls as well as 21 men and five boys, officials said.

Many of the survivors, according to Indian officials, were sick and suffering from extreme dehydration, having run out of food and water after the boat’s engine failed four days after leaving Cox’s Bazar, where refugee camps house hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.

“The engine of the boat broke down earlier this week and we received an SOS from some Rohingyas,” said an Indian coast guard official overseeing the search and rescue effort from New Delhi.

“It’s a humanitarian crisis and we are doing the best we can to save their lives,” he said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“The foreign ministry is working towards sending them back to Bangladesh and India will repair or replace the boat’s engine to ensure they can travel back safely.”

The survivors were being provided with food supplies and medicine, and women and children have been given fresh clothes. It was unclear what arrangements were being made for the funeral rites of the people who died, the coast guard official added.

Announcing that the boat had been found, India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday that two Indian coast guard ships were dispatched to search for the vessel following urgent calls for help.

U.N. RAISED THE ALARM

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, had raised the alarm earlier this week over the missing boat.

“We understand that around 47 of the occupants of the boat are in possession of ID cards issued to them by UNHCR office in Bangladesh stating that they are displaced Myanmar nationals,” Srivastava said.

Of the 90 people that had set out on the voyage, eight were found dead, and one was missing, he added.

More than 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in teeming camps in Bangladesh, including tens of thousands who fled after Myanmar’s military conducted a deadly crackdown in 2017.

Human traffickers often lure Rohingya refugees, promising them work in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia.

A Bangladeshi foreign ministry statement said the boat had been traced some 1,700 km (1,056 miles) away from Bangladesh and 147 km (91 miles) from India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

“Other states, particularly those on whose territorial water the vessel has been found, bear the primary responsibility and they should fulfil their obligation under international law and burden-sharing principle,” it said.

India did not sign the 1951 Refugee Convention, which spells out refugee rights and state responsibilities to protect them. Nor does it have a domestic law protecting refugees, though it currently hosts more than 200,000, including some Rohingya.

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a group that monitors the Rohingya crisis, accused India of trying to shirk responsibility, saying keeping the refugees “at sea put their lives at further risk.”

Health Workers Balk At Taking Homegrown Covid Vaccine

 

FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker checks the temperature of a passenger, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Mumbai in January 2021

India is struggling to convince its health and front-line workers to take a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine controversially approved without late-stage efficacy data, government data showed on Thursday, days ahead of a wider roll-out.

The country has the world’s second-highest number of COVID-19 infections after the United States, with cases recently surging as mask wearing declines and states have eased social distancing measures. A lack of confidence in a homegrown vaccine country could prevent India from meeting its target of vaccinating 300 million of its 1.35 billion people by August.

India has vaccinated more than 10.5 million health and front-line workers since beginning its immunisation campaign on Jan. 16.

But only 1.2 million, or about 11%, of them have taken COVAXIN, the locally developed vaccine from Bharat Biotech, while the remaining 9.4 million have used the vaccine licensed from AstraZeneca, according to the government’s Co-Win online platform used to track the vaccination drive.

India’s federal government has so far ordered 10 million doses of COVAXIN and 21 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca shot. The government says it has received at least 5.5 million COVAXIN doses.

“It’s all because of the initial discussion about how (COVAXIN) was only an experimental vaccine, how it had not completed the Phase-3 trial,” said Dr Subhash Salunkhe, who advises the Maharashtra state government on vaccine strategy.

“These things created doubts in the minds of people, resulting in lesser acceptance. The availability is not a concern at this juncture.”

However, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday attributed the lower uptake of COVAXIN to Bharat Biotech’s limited production capacity compared to that of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest vaccine producer, which is making the AstraZeneca shot for low- and medium-income countries.

“We have found that in proportion to the quantity of vaccine available with us, (COVAXIN’s) off-take is fairly satisfactory,” told a news conference.

His ministry did not respond to a request seeking comment on the latest figures showing that only about 12% of the ordered doses had been administered.

Earlier this month, Chhattisgarh, an opposition-ruled state of 32 million people, told the federal government it would not use COVAXIN until its efficacy could be proven in an ongoing late-stage trial. Epidemiologist and public health experts have also criticised the COVAXIN approval as rushed.

Bharat Biotech has said efficacy data from the trial on nearly 26,000 volunteers will be out soon. The company, along with India’s drug regulator, says the vaccine is safe and effective based on early and intermediate studies.

Bharat Biotech did not immediately comment on the lower uptake of its vaccine.

CASES RISING

The government is trying to expedite vaccinations as cases have surged, especially in Maharashtra and Kerala, possibly as they have re-opened suburban trains and schools.

Mask-wearing and social distancing has also largely vanished, with big events like international cricket matches being played in front of tens of thousands of spectators hardly following any COVID-19 rules.

India reported 16,738 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the highest daily jump in a month, Health Ministry data showed on Thursday, raising the total to 11.05 million.

More than half of the new cases were in Maharashtra, India’s richest state and home to its financial capital Mumbai, which reported a record high of 8,807 cases on Wednesday.

Deaths across the country rose by 138, also the highest in a month, taking the total to 156,705.

Judge Sees No Reason To Detain Climate Activist Charged With Sedition

Disha Ravi leaves after an investigation at the National Cyber Forensic Lab, in New Delhi on February 23, 2021

A New Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to 22-year-old climate activist, saying there was “scanty and sketchy evidence” of sedition in her efforts to help farmers protest in a case that has drawn global attention.

Disha Ravi was arrested in the southern city of Bengaluru on Feb. 13 and charged with sedition for her alleged role in the creation of an online toolkit that police said contained action plans used to foment violence during the farmers’ protest.

Tens of thousands have been camped out on the outskirts of New Delhi in bitter cold since December to protest new agricultural laws they say will hurt them to the benefit of large corporations. The government says the reforms will bring new investment in the vast and antiquated produce markets.

Judge Dharmender Rana said there was little to hold Ravi, a founder of the local chapter of Swedish climate crusader Greta Thunberg’s movement, in custody any longer and criticised the authorities for detaining anyone who differed with government policy.

“Considering the scanty and sketchy evidence available on record, I do not find any palpable reasons to breach the general rule of ‘Bail’ against a 22-year-old young lady, with absolutely blemish free criminal antecedents and having firm roots in the society, and send her to jail,” Rana said in a written order.

Her arrest stoked criticism of repression of dissent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has been trying for months to end the farmers' protest.

Ravi’s lawyers had said there was nothing in the toolkit to attract the charge of sedition, which carries a life term.

“Perusal of the said ‘Toolkit’ reveals that any call for any kind of violence is conspicuously absent,” the judge said in a written order.

The protests present one of the biggest challenges to Modi’s rule. Several rounds of talks between the farmers and his government have failed, and Modi has faced criticism for using heavy-handed tactics to curb the movement.

Police had alleged that the toolkit was authored by Ravi and two others, and had the backing of supporters of a Canadian-based group called the Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF). They also said Ravi had shared the toolkit with Thunberg, who is one of several international celebrities who have lent public support to the farmers’ cause.sediti

The judge said he did not find Ravi’s link to the toolkit or PFJ objectionable.

PJF founder Mo Dhaliwal told Reuters: “We didn’t assemble the toolkit in question, although links to our materials were included in that document.”

Dhaliwal also countered the police’s claim that the PFJ was a separatist outfit.

“We have only created space for open debate and dialogue,” he said, alleging it was being targeted because Modi’s government was “fostering a culture of fear where dissent is equated with sedition”.

 

 

 

 

U.S. Arrests Wife Of El Chapo On Drug Charges

 

FILE PHOTO: Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Joaquin Guzman, the Mexican drug lord known as "El Chapo", exits the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, following the sentencing of Guzman in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S. on July 17, 2019

The wife of Mexican drug cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested and charged in the United States on Monday with helping her husband continue to run his drug trafficking cartel while he was behind bars.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, a regular attendee at her husband’s high-profile U.S. trial two years ago where he was convicted of trafficking tons of drugs into the United States, was arrested at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.

Her arrest is the highest profile U.S. capture of a Mexican on drug charges since former Mexican Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos was detained in October, and experts said it indicated a deterioration in bilateral security relations.

Coronel was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines for unlawful importation into the United States. She is expected to appear in a federal court in Washington on Tuesday.

An affidavit attached to the charges also details Coronel’s alleged involvement in her husband’s escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 and a second attempted prison break in 2016 before the 63-year-old was extradited to the United States.

A lawyer for Coronel could not immediately be identified, and lawyers in Mexico linked to the Guzman family did not respond to a request for comment.

A Mexican official familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified, said Coronel’s arrest appeared to be solely a U.S. initiative and that Coronel was not wanted in Mexico.

“[It’s] a sign of what’s likely ahead,” former Mexican ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan said, describing it as an example of U.S. agencies acting with little coordination with Mexican counterparts.

Joint efforts to fight drug trafficking were strained by Cienfuegos’ arrest, with Mexico’s government moving to restrict U.S. agents’ activities in Mexico in retaliation for what it called a breach of trust.

The Justice Department unexpectedly dropped the Cienfuegos case the following month and let him return to Mexico, a move Mexico welcomed as restoring trust between the two countries. Two months later, Mexico dropped its own case against Cienfuegos.

The investigation into Coronel was handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), rather than the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The charges relate to alleged trafficking activity between 2014-2107 prior to the high-profile Brooklyn trial where Guzman was convicted on drug trafficking offenses.

The indictment documents said Coronel relayed messages on behalf of Guzman to facilitate drug trafficking after his arrest in 2014.

Prosecutors said Coronel also conspired to aid her husband in his July 2015 escape from the Altiplano prison in Mexico through a mile-long tunnel from his cell. An unnamed cooperating witness was paid $1 million to help facilitate a failed second escape a year later, according to the affidavit.

POTENTIAL PRESSURE STRATEGY

Coronel, who married Guzman in 2017, is a dual U.S.-Mexico citizen who lives in Mexico. It was unclear why she was in the Washington area at the time of her arrest.

Prosecutors at Guzman’s trial two years ago said he amassed power through murders and wars with rival cartels. Guzman was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, which the sentencing judge said reflected Guzman’s “overwhelmingly evil” actions. Guzman was sent to ADX Florence in Colorado, the nation’s most secure “Supermax” prison.

Tomas Guevara, an investigator in security issues at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, said Coronel’s arrest might be part of a “pressure strategy” to prompt cooperation from Guzman.

 

 

 

 

Elgar Case: Varavara Rao Gets Interim Bail For Six Months

 

FILE PHOTO: Rao has been in custody since August 28, 2018, awaiting trial in the case 

The Bombay High Court on Monday granted interim bail for six months to ailing poet Varavara Rao on medical grounds.

Rao, 82, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), is currently undergoing treatment at the Mumbai-based Nanavati Hospital, where he had been admitted by the Maharashtra government following the high court's intervention.

Rao has been in custody since August 28, 2018, awaiting trial in the case.

A bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale ordered that Rao be discharged from the hospital, depending on his current health condition, and released on bail immediately after his discharge.

The HC said if it did not grant Rao medical bail, it would be abdicating its duty to protect the principles of human rights, and a citizen's fundamental rights to life and health.

The bench also imposed stringent conditions in Rao's bail, including a direction to him to stay within the jurisdiction of the Mumbai NIA court for the period he is out on bail.

Rao will have to submit his passport before the NIA court, and he has been forbidden to establish any contact with his co-accused in the case.

He will also have to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount.

On February 1, the HC closed all arguments in the case and reserved its verdict on Rao's medical bail plea and his wife Hemlatha's writ petition that alleged a breach of his fundamental rights due to inadequate medical care and his continued incarceration.

The case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

The police have also alleged that the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.

Kremlin Critic Navalny Loses Appeal Against Jail Term

 

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny attends a hearing to consider an appeal against an earlier court decision to change his suspended sentence to a real prison term, in Moscow, Russia on February 20, 2021

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny lost his appeal on Saturday against what he said was a politically motivated decision to jail him for nearly three years, but said his faith in God and belief in the rightness of his cause was sustaining him.

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, was jailed earlier this month for parole violations that he said were trumped up. Western countries have condemned the case and are discussing possible sanctions on Russia.

A Moscow court swiftly rejected Navalny’s appeal on Saturday, while shortening his original jail term by six weeks. The original term was 3-1/2 years.

But with the amount of time he had already spent under house arrest taken into account, it amounted to around two years and eight months. His lawyer said on Saturday he would now spend a little over 2-1/2 years behind bars and that his legal team would try to challenge the decision to reject his appeal.

Navalny responded sarcastically to the ruling, which paves the way for him to be transferred from an infamous Moscow jail to a prison camp. “They’ve reduced the sentence by 1-1/2 months. Great!” he said from a courtroom glass cage.

Navalny’s allies reacted with anger.

“The court decision to keep Alexei in jail says only one thing. There is no law in Russia right now,” staff at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, who investigate alleged official corruption, wrote on Twitter.

Navalny, 44, had earlier told the judge he was not guilty of parole violations as a previous court had found.

He returned to Russia last month from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning in Siberia in August with what many Western nations said was a nerve agent.

He said he had been unable to report to the Moscow prison service last year because he had been convalescing in Germany at the time.

“I don’t want to show off a lot, but the whole world knew where I was,” Navalny told the judge.

He said he had no regrets about returning to Russia, that his belief in God helped sustain him, and that “strength was in truth”.

“Our country is built on injustice. But tens of millions of people want the truth. And sooner or later they’ll get it.”

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said on Twitter the court’s ruling was at odds with a call by the European Court of Human Rights this week to free Navalny, and could lead to more sanctions against Moscow.

Asked to comment on Navalny’s political future after the court decision, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “It is absolutely none of our business”.

SLANDER CASE

Navalny appeared in court again later on Saturday for the culmination of a separate slander trial against him.

He is accused of defaming a World War Two veteran who took part in a promotional video backing constitutional reforms last year that let Putin run for two more terms in the Kremlin after 2024 if he wants.

Navalny described the people in the video as traitors and corrupt lackeys. But he has said his comments were not specifically directed against the veteran, and that the authorities are using the charge to smear his reputation.

State prosecutors have asked the court to fine Navalny 950,000 roubles ($12,800) for slander.

Navalny told the court the case was an attempt to distract people from tricky questions he had asked about the wealth of Putin and his allies and that state prosecutors were using the war veteran to get at him.

“You’ll burn in Hell for all of this,” he said.

The court is expected to announce its decision at 1500 GMT.

MORATORIUM ON BIG DEMONSTRATIONS

Navalny’s arrest and jailing sparked nationwide street protests in Russia, but his allies - most of whom are either under house arrest or abroad - have now declared a moratorium on major demonstrations until the spring.

Alexei Venediktov, one of Russia’s most prominent journalists, noted what he called a defeatist atmosphere within the opposition in the absence of immediate plans for street protests.

“We have seen the rejection of a mass (street protest) movement and a transition to candle-lit gatherings, and now absolutely nothing,” he said on Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Navalny accuses Putin of ordering his attempted murder. Putin has dismissed that, alleging Navalny is part of a U.S.-backed dirty tricks campaign to discredit him.

 

 

 

 

Court Extends Disha Ravi's Detention Over Farm Protests

 

A Delhi court granted a police request on Friday to extend the detention of climate activist Disha Ravi, who they accuse of sedition for her alleged role in the creation of an online “toolkit” intended to help farmers protesting reforms.

The 22-year-old, who is part of an organisation founded by Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg, appeared in court following her arrest in Bengaluru last weekend in a case that has raised concerns about a crackdown on dissent.

Police allege that Ravi was involved in creating and sharing an online document containing advice for protesters. Police say this document stoked the violence that took place on Republic Day last month when farmers stormed the famous Red Fort in the old quarter of Delhi.

Police have registered a case of sedition against Ravi, which carries a life term.

“This court remands the accused, Disha Ravi, to judicial custody for three days,” judge Akash Jain said.

Ravi did not speak herself but denied the accusations against her through her lawyer Siddarth Agarwal, arguing in court that police had no evidence to back them up.

“There is nothing against me, please consider this,” Agarwal told the court on her behalf.

Senior lawyers and lawmakers have criticised the sedition case, disputing the allegation by police that the document in question incited violence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been trying to get farmers to back down from their months-long protest on the outskirts of Delhi against three new laws to deregulate the vast and antiquated farm produce market.

It has offered to hold the laws in abeyance and water down some of the provisions.

But the farmers want Modi to repeal the laws altogether and provide legal backing for minimum price support for their produce and their long campaign in Delhi’s biting cold has drawn a growing band of supporters at home and overseas.

Thunberg also briefly tweeted a link to the document that police are investigating before withdrawing it. She has made no comment on the detention of Ravi, who is one of the leaders of her Fridays for Future (FFF) movement.

UN Rights Watchdog Raises Concerns About Dubai Princess

 

The U.N. human rights watchdog said on Friday it has asked the United Arab Emirates for more information about the status of Dubai’s Sheikha Latifa and proof that she is alive.

The BBC’s investigative news programme Panorama on Tuesday published a video it said was of Latifa, one of the daughters of Dubai's ruler, saying that she was being held against her will in a barricaded villa.

“We raised our concerns about the situation in light of the disturbing video evidence that emerged this week. We requested more information and clarification about Sheikha Latifa’s current situation,” Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told an online briefing in Geneva.

The OHCHR agency had approached the country’s permanent mission in Geneva on Thursday, she said.

“Given the serious concerns about Sheikha Latifa, we have requested that the government’s response comes as a matter of priority....We did ask for proof of life,” she added, adding the agency would continue to monitor the situation closely.

The Dubai government’s media office and the UAE Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The Dubai media office earlier this week referred questions about the video to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed’s law firm, which has not responded to a request for comment.

Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum drew international attention in 2018 when a human rights group released a video made by her in which she described an attempt to escape Dubai.

Last March, a London High Court judge said he accepted as proved a series of allegations made by Sheikh Mohammed’s former wife, Princess Haya, in a legal battle, including that the sheikh ordered the abduction of Latifa. The sheikh’s lawyers rejected the allegations.

“I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail,” Latifa, 35, said in the video published by the BBC on Tuesday.

“All the windows are barred shut, I can’t open any window.” She said she was making the video in the bathroom of the villa, the only room she could lock herself into.

 

 

Russia's Kalashnikov Eyes Production In India

Weapons are on display in an office of Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov in Moscow, Russia on February 8, 2021

 

Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov plans to start making its AK-203 assault rifle in India this year and wants to attract a wider audience with a hi-tech shotgun, chief executive Dmitry Tarasov said.

Named after the designer of the AK-47 assault rifle that has been used for decades in wars around the world, Kalashnikov has been seeking new business and markets after being hit by U.S. and EU sanctions over Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

It is targeting a 60% increase in annual revenues to more than 50 billion roubles ($675.33 million) by 2025, Tarasov told Reuters in an interview.

Featuring a built-in computer, the Ultima shotgun envisages WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and can synchronize with smart phones. It is intended to woo younger clients such as gadget enthusiasts.

Also central to Kalashnikov’s growth plans is India, where it aims to produce 670,000 AK-203 rifles in the next decade together with the Indian defence ministry.

“We are hoping to launch production of AK-203 rifles at our joint venture in India this year. I feel it is a long-term trend so other examples will follow soon,” he said.

Kalashnikov launched licenced production of the AK-130 assault rifle in Armenia last year and Tarasov, 37, said it wants to deepen cooperation with Latin America, where it has a well-established relationship with Venezuela.

“We know that there is an active demand in that market,” he said, but declined to provide further details.

HI-TECH SHOTGUN

Kalashnikov sells weapons to 27 countries and produces 95% of Russia’s small arms, but the U.S. sanctions imposed in 2014 banned U.S. entities from doing business with Kalashnikov.

The AK-203 is an advanced version of the AK-47 invented by Soviet soldier Mikhail Kalashnikov after he was wounded during World War Two.

The Ultima is an entirely new venture for the company in which state conglomerate Rostec has a 25% stake plus one share. Alan Lushnikov, a former deputy transport minister, owns a 75% stake minus one share via a firm called TKH-Invest.

“With Ultima we want to attract new customers who are not typically our target audience,” said Tarasov. “We are targeting customers who want to get some drive or adrenaline. Entering a semi-game niche could be an option.”

Unmanned aerial vehicles, some of which take off like a helicopter and fly like a glider carrying video cameras, are also “a very important business,” he said.

Kalashnikov also sees the market in torches, knives and other branded products as promising.

 

 

 

Heart Damages Found In Over Half Of Covid-19 Patients Discharged From Hospital: Study

A medical worker tests a woman for the coronavirus disease in Mumbai in December 2020

 

Around 50% of patients who have been hospitalised with severe COVID-19 and who show raised levels of a protein called troponin cause damage to their hearts.

The injury was detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at least a month after discharge, according to new findings published on Thursday in the European Heart Journal.

Damage includes inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), scarring or death of heart tissue (infarction), restricted blood supply to the heart (ischaemia) and combinations of all three.

The study of 148 patients from six acute hospitals in London is the largest study to date to investigate convalescing COVID-19 patients who had raised troponin levels, indicating a possible problem with the heart.

Troponin is released into the blood when the heart muscle is injured. Raised levels can occur when an artery becomes blocked or there is inflammation of the heart. 

Many patients who are hospitalised with COVID-19 have raised troponin levels during the critical illness phase, when the body mounts an exaggerated immune response to the infection. 

Troponin levels were elevated in all the patients in this study, who were then followed up with MRI scans of the heart after discharge in order to understand the causes and extent of the damage.

Professor Marianna Fontana, professor of cardiology at University College London (UK), who led the research together with Dr. Graham Cole, a consultant cardiologist at Imperial College London, said: "Raised troponin levels are associated with worse outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Patients with severe COVID-19 disease often have pre-existing heart-related health problems including diabetes, raised blood pressure, and obesity."

"During severe COVID-19 infection, however, the heart may also be directly affected. Unpicking how the heart can become damaged is difficult, but MRI scans of the heart can identify different patterns of injury, which may enable us to make more accurate diagnoses and to target treatments more effectively," added Fontana.

The researchers investigated COVID-19 patients discharged up until June 2020 from six hospitals across three NHS London trusts: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Patients who had abnormal troponin levels were offered an MRI scan of the heart after discharge and were compared with those from a control group of patients who had not had COVID-19, as well as from 40 healthy volunteers.

"The recovering COVID-19 patients had been very ill; all required hospitalisation and all had troponin elevation, with around one in three having been on a ventilator in the intensive care unit," said Prof. Fontana.

"We found evidence of high rates of heart muscle injury that could be seen on the scans a month or two after discharge. Whilst some of this may have been pre-existing, MRI scanning shows that some were new, and likely caused by COVID-19. Importantly, the pattern of damage to the heart was variable, suggesting that the heart is at risk of different types of injury. While we detected only a small amount of ongoing injury, we saw injury to the heart that was present even when the heart's pumping function was not impaired and might not have been picked up by other techniques. In the most severe cases, there are concerns that this injury may increase the risks of heart failure in the future, but more work is needed to investigate this further."

The function of the heart's left ventricle, the chamber that is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to all parts of the body, was normal in 89 percent of the 148 patients but scarring or injury to the heart muscle was present in 80 patients (54%). The pattern of tissue scarring or injury originated from inflammation in 39 patients (26%), ischaemic heart disease, which includes infarction or ischaemia, in 32 patients (22%), or both in nine patients (6%). Twelve patients (8%) appeared to have ongoing heart inflammation.

Prof. Fontana said: "Injury relating to inflammation and scarring of the heart is common in COVID-19 patients with troponin elevation discharged from hospital, but is of limited extent and has little consequence for the heart's function.

"These findings give us two opportunities: firstly, to find ways of preventing the injury in the first place, and from some of the patterns we have seen, blood clotting may be playing a role, for which we have potential treatments. Secondly, detecting the consequences of injury during convalescence may identify subjects who would benefit from specific supporting drug treatments to protect heart function over time."

The findings of the study are limited by the nature of patient selection and included only those who survived a coronavirus infection that required hospital admission.

"The convalescent patients in this study had severe COVID-19 disease and our results say nothing about what happens to people who are not hospitalised with COVID, or those who are hospitalised but without elevated troponin. The findings indicate potential ways to identify patients at higher or lower risk and suggest potential strategies that may improve outcomes. More work is needed, and MRI scans of the heart have shown how useful it is in investigating patients with troponin elevation," concluded Prof. Fontana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Climate Activist Disha Ravi Arrested Illegally, Her Lawyers Say

 

Lawyers for a 22-year-old activist charged with sedition said she was arrested illegally in southern India and produced at a New Delhi court without prior notice to her family or counsel, according to legal documents filed on Thursday.

Disha Ravi, an environmental activist who is part of an organisation founded by climate change crusader Greta Thunberg, was arrested by Delhi Police on Saturday for allegedly creating and sharing an online document that stoked violence last month at the months-long farmers’ protests around Delhi.

Sedition can be punished with a life sentence and Ravi’s arrest has kicked off a fire storm of criticism against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for using heavy-handed tactics to counter the farmers’ agitation.

Tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the outskirts of Delhi since late last year, protesting against three farm laws enacted by the Modi government.

On Thursday afternoon, groups of farmers and their supporters sat on railway tracks across the country to stall train movement for a few hours as part of the continuing campaign.

Although largely peaceful, the agitation was marred by violence on Jan. 26 when some protesters entered the capital, stormed the historic Red Fort complex and clashed with police.

Delhi Police has alleged that a document authored by Ravi and two others, with the backing of supporters of a separatist group, contained plans for widening the protests and fomenting violence. The police have said the document was shared with Thunberg, who has voiced support for the farmers’ protests.

Ravi, who was arrested at her home in the southern city of Bengaluru, is currently in police custody. Her next court appearance is on Friday.

“The police did not obtain any transit remand, nor did they permit the petitioner to consult with a lawyer,” a petition by Ravi’s lawyers filed at a Delhi court on Thursday said, referring to legal permission required to move an accused from one location to another.

She was produced at a New Delhi court on Sunday that remanded her to police custody.

“Surprisingly, there was significant media coverage of the petitioner’s remand hearing and the media seemed to have more knowledge about the time and venue of the petitioner’s production than her lawyers,” it said.

A Delhi Police spokesman said they were waiting for instructions from the court to reply to the allegations levelled by Ravi’s lawyers.

Priya Ramani Acquitted In Criminal Defamation Case

 

A Delhi court on Wednesday acquitted journalist Priya Ramani in MJ Akbar’s criminal defamation case against her over the allegations of sexual harassment, saying a woman has the right to put grievances before any platform of her choice even after decades.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey dismissed the complaint filed by Akbar saying that no charges were proved against her.

The court said it was shameful that crimes against women were taking place in a country where mega epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana were written about respecting them.

Ramani had made allegations of sexual misconduct against Akbar in the wake of the #MeToo movement in 2018.

Akbar had filed the complaint against Ramani on October 15, 2018, for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct decades ago.

He resigned as a union minister on October 17, 2018.

Akbar has denied all allegations of sexual harassment made against him by women who came forward during the #MeToo campaign.

A top editor in several publications, Akbar became a central minister in 2016. He was forced to quit in a haze of allegations. He has maintained that the allegations against him are false and baseless.

Rejecting his argument, the court said sexual abuse takes away dignity and self-confidence and the "right of reputation" can't be protected at the cost of the right to dignity.

"I feel vindicated on behalf of all the women who have ever spoken out against sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment has got the attention it deserves despite the fact that it is me, being the victim, who had to stand up in court as the accused," Priya Ramani told reporters.

Activists said a conviction for Priya Ramani after two years of trial would have undone what women in the movement achieved by speaking out about their experiences and encouraging others.

Disha Ravi: The Climate & Animal Defender Accused Of Sedition

 

Disha Ravi, the 22-year-old environmental activist accused of sedition over a document backing protesting farmers, is as committed to protecting animals from harm as she is to saving the Earth from climate change, her friends say.

Profiled in British Vogue last September, she also – in common with many of her Gen Z peers – likes memes, the Kardashians and Harry Potter, according to her social media profile.

Ravi, a vegan and a member of Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future (FFF) movement, has been detained by Delhi Police for questioning over involvement in an online campaign guide that the Swedish climate activist promoted in support of farmers protesting India’s agricultural reforms.

The accusation of sedition has triggered demonstrations in the capital and her southern home city of Bengaluru, and disbelief among Ravi’s friends.

“She is extremely nice and accommodative, but takes her commitments (and passions) seriously,” said a male friend from Bengaluru who got to know her through FFF protests.

She is meticulous about following safety guidelines at protests, “urging us all to not obstruct traffic, or do anything that would inconvenience others,” he said.

“It was hard for me to believe she is in this situation, because she is a very friendly, law-abiding person.”

Opposition politicians and activists have labelled her treatment as an escalation of a government clampdown on dissent. A lawyer for Ravi declined to comment.

One Facebook photo shows Ravi, who has been working for a vegan food company in Bengaluru, with a kitten. “I hope I give off the aura to all animals that I am their ally and friend,” she says in a posting accompanying it.

Other online photos show her planting trees, or taking part in clean-up drives around the city.

“The climate crisis is already here. Those in power have congratulated us countless times because ‘we’re going to change the future’,” Ravi wrote in an opinion piece for the Thomson Reuters foundation that she co-authored in September.

“They choose to ignore that the climate crisis is a problem we are facing today.”

Ravi could not be reached for comment by Reuters for this profile and the friends who spoke about her did so on condition of anonymity for fear of making her situation worse.

She is accused of creating and sharing an online document with an action plan in support of the farmers, part of a police investigation into how a group of farmers stormed Delhi’s Red Fort last month in one of the few violent incidents during the months-long protest.

Senior lawyers and lawmakers have criticised the sedition move, with a former Supreme Court judge saying the contents of the document neither made mention of violence nor incited violent behaviour.

More protests were planned in New Delhi and Bengaluru to demand Ravi’s release.

Explainer: Why Police Arrested A Young Climate Activist

 

People hold placards during a protest against the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi, in Bengaluru on February 15, 2021

Police have arrested a 22-year-old activist linked to Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg and charged her with sedition, saying she created and shared an online document to support the ongoing months-long farmers' protest.

Disha Ravi, who was detained in the southern city of Bengaluru on Sunday and then moved to the capital New Delhi, is currently in police custody.

Her arrest has ignited a firestorm of criticism from opposition politicians and other activists who said it was an escalation in the government’s efforts to silence dissenters.

WHAT IS RAVI ACCUSED OF?

Ravi is accused of creating and sharing an online document, which Delhi Police says contained “time-bound action plans” used to foment violence in the capital last month.

Tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the outskirts of Delhi since late last year, protesting against three new farm laws enacted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

On Jan. 26, a group of protesting farmers attempted to enter the heart of the city, clashing with police and storming the historic Red Fort complex.

The police allege that plans for such actions were formulated in the online document described as a “toolkit” that Ravi created and shared with Thunberg.

A lawyer for Ravi declined to comment.

Thunberg, who tweeted a link to the document and later deleted it, said on Monday that she had no comment on Ravi’s arrest.

WHAT IS THE TOOLKIT?

In a briefing on Monday, Delhi Police said the “toolkit” document contained details of a social media campaign and on-ground action to be conducted in January, including the protesters entering the capital city.

“The main aim of the toolkit was to create misinformation and disaffection against the lawfully enacted government,” Delhi Police official Prem Nath told reporters.

“The toolkit sought to artificially amplify the fake news through various tweets which they have created in the form of a tweet bank,” he said.

On Feb. 4, Delhi Police said it filed a case against the authors of the document, accusing them of sedition, provocation with intent to cause violence and promoting enmity between different groups, among other charges.

An archived version of the document reviewed by Reuters shows it contained guidelines on how to participate in and organise protests, mainly focused on creating international awareness of the farmers’ agitation.

WHO ELSE IS ALLEGED TO BE INVOLVED?

Police said it had investigated multiple screenshots of the document and searched the home of lawyer Nikita Jacob in Mumbai.

The initial investigation showed that Ravi, Jacob and another associate, Shantanu, created the document, police said.

Police said the three had also been in touch with supporters of the movement for an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan.

“The document that they drafted had secessionist and pro-Khalistani content embedded into it through links and texts,” Delhi Police said in a briefing note.

In a bail application submitted to a Mumbai court, Jacob’s lawyer said her client had been researching and circulating information to “encourage peaceful participation” with protesting farmers and had no motive to incite violence.

by Reuters

Ram Temple Donors' Houses Being Marked: Ex-CM's "Nazi" Charge

 

FILE PHOTO: Devotees look at a model of the proposed Ram Temple in Ayodhya on October 22, 2019

Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday accused the RSS of marking the houses of those who gave donations for Ram Temple in Ayodhya and alleged it was similar to what the Nazis did in Germany.

The RSS dismissed the allegations, saying the comments do not qualify for any response.

In a series of tweets, the JD(S) leader claimed that the RSS was born in India around the time Nazi Party was founded in Germany.

"It appears that those collecting donations for the construction of Ram Mandir have been separately marking the houses of those who paid money and those who did not."

"This is similar to what Nazis did in Germany during the regime of Hitler when lakhs of people lost their lives," Mr Kumaraswamy tweeted.

He wondered where these developments would take the country to.

Quoting historians, Mr Kumaraswamy claimed RSS took birth at the same time when the Nazi Party was founded in Germany.

"There are concerns on what will happen if the RSS tries to implement similar policies adopted by Nazis. The fundamental rights of people are being snatched away in the country now," the former Chief Minister alleged.

He claimed there was an undeclared emergency in the country as people cannot freely express their views.

Expressing his apprehensions about the media's independence in the coming days, the JD(S) leader asked what will happen if the media upheld the government's views.

"It is clear from the emerging trends that anything may happen in the country," the former Chief Minister stated.

When contacted, RSS media-incharge E S Pradeep said, "Kumaraswamy's comments do not qualify for any response."

Fresh Anti-Coup Protests In Myanmar After Internet Blackout

 

Protesters in Myanmar kept up demands on Monday for the release of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and an end to military rule

Myanmar's junta cut the nation's internet and deployed extra troops around the country on Monday as fears built of a widespread crackdown on anti-coup protests, but defiant demonstrators again took to the streets.

The military has steadily escalated efforts to quell an uprising against their seizure of power two weeks ago, which saw civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained along with hundreds of other members of her democratically elected government.

With protesters refusing to back down, the generals imposed an internet shutdown on Monday morning and ratcheted up the military's presence across the country.

Extra troops were seen in key locations of Yangon, the nation's commercial hub and biggest city, including armoured personnel carriers near the central bank.

Live-stream images shared on social media platforms before the internet blackout showed more military vehicles and soldiers moving through others parts of the country.

However, fresh protests again flared in Yangon on Monday morning, including near the central bank.

Hundreds of engineering and technology students protested in a northern district of Yangon, according to an AFP journalist.

Monitoring group NetBlocks initially said the "state-ordered information blackout" had taken Myanmar almost entirely offline.

However, some internet services in Yangon resumed at the start of the working day, according to an AFP reporter in the city.

Deepening fears the military was going to impose a far harsher crackdown, troops in the northern city of Myitkyina fired tear gas then shot at a crowd on Sunday night.

A journalist at the scene said it was unclear whether police had used rubber bullets or live rounds.

Local media outlets said at least five journalists monitoring the protest had been detained and published pictures of some people wounded in the incident.

A joint statement from the US, British and European Union ambassadors urged security forces not to harm civilians.

"We call on security forces to refrain from violence against demonstrators, who are protesting the overthrow of their legitimate government," they said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed that call, pushing authorities to "ensure the right of peaceful assembly is fully respected and demonstrators are not subjected to reprisals".

Through his spokesman, Guterres also asked the military to "urgently" allow Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener to visit Myanmar "to assess the situation first hand".

The US embassy advised American citizens to shelter in place and not risk defying an overnight curfew imposed by the regime.

UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews said the junta efforts to rein in the country's burgeoning protest movement was a sign of "desperation" and amounted to a declaration of war against its own people.

"Attention generals: You WILL be held accountable," he wrote on Twitter.

Much of the country has been in uproar since soldiers detained Aung San Suu Kyi and her top political allies on February 1, ending a decade-old fledgling democracy after generations of junta rule.

The Nobel laureate spent years under house arrest during an earlier dictatorship and has not been seen in public since she was detained.

Her period of detention was expected to expire on Monday, however, her lawyer was not contactable and the generals had given no indication that she would be released.

An internet blackout last weekend failed to quell resistance that has seen huge crowds throng big urban centres and isolated frontier villages alike.

Striking workers who spearheaded the campaign are among at least 400 people to have been detained since the coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group said.

MILITARY UNMOVED BY CONDEMNATION

Fear of arrest did not deter big crowds from returning to streets around the country for a ninth straight day of street protests on Sunday.

In the southern city of Dawei, seven police officers broke ranks to join anti-coup protesters, mirroring local media reports of isolated defections from the force in recent days.

Parts of the country had in recent days formed neighbourhood watch brigades to monitor their communities and prevent the arrests of residents joining the civil disobedience movement.

"We don't trust anyone at this time, especially those with uniforms," said Myo Ko Ko, a member of a street patrol in Yangon.

The country's new military leadership has so far been unmoved by a torrent of international condemnation.

An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday called for the new regime to release all "arbitrarily detained" people and for the military to hand power back to Suu Kyi's administration.

The junta insists it took power lawfully and has instructed journalists in the country not to refer to it as a government that took power in a coup.

Acquitted Again By Senate, Trump Still A Powerful Force

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. on January 20, 2021

 

It is still Donald Trump’s Republican Party - at least for now.

The vote by 43 of the 50 Republican senators to acquit Trump on the charge of inciting last month’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, with only seven voting for conviction, highlights just how powerful a grip he has on the party he remade in his image over the past five years.

The former president, who has largely stayed out of sight at his Florida home since leaving the White House on Jan. 20, commands fervent loyalty among his supporters, forcing most Republican politicians to pledge their fealty and fear his wrath.

But after two impeachments, months of false claims that his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden was rigged, and an assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters that left five people dead, Trump is also political poison in many of the swing districts that often decide American elections.

That leaves Republicans in a precarious position as they try to forge a winning coalition in the 2022 elections for control of Congress and a 2024 White House race that might include Trump as a candidate.

“It’s hard to imagine Republicans winning national elections without Trump supporters anytime soon,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and aide to Senator Marco Rubio during his 2016 presidential primary race against Trump.

“The party is facing a real Catch 22: it can’t win with Trump but it’s obvious it can’t win without him either,” he said.

Trump has not signaled his long-range political plans for after the trial, although he has publicly hinted at another run for the White House and he is reportedly keen to help primary challengers to Republicans in Congress who voted to impeach or convict him.

“Whether he does run again is up to him, but he’s still going to have an enormous amount of influence on both the direction of the policy and also in evaluating who is a serious standard-bearer for that message,” one adviser said. “You can call it a kingmaker or whatever you want to call it.”

Trump has maintained strong support from Republicans in polls ever since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Just days after the riot, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 70% of Republicans still approved of Trump’s job performance, and a later poll found a similar percentage believed he should be allowed to run for office again.

But outside his party he is unpopular. A new Ipsos poll published on Saturday showed that 71% of Americans believed Trump was at least partially responsible for starting the assault on the Capitol. Fifty percent believed he should be convicted in the Senate with 38% opposed and 12% unsure.

Trump’s defenders in the Senate argued that the trial was unconstitutional because Trump had already left office and that his remarks ahead of the riot were protected by the constitutional right to free speech. But a majority of senators including seven Republicans rejected that view.

Democrats said many Republican senators were afraid to vote with their conscience to convict Trump out of fear of retribution from his supporters.

“If this vote was taken in secret, there would be a conviction,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was among the Republicans who voted to acquit Trump on Saturday, though he later slammed the former president as “practically and morally responsible” for provoking the violence.

His position illustrated how some Republican leaders are trying to distance themselves from Trump and limit his influence without triggering the full-blown fury of Trump and his supporters.

McConnell’s words will not help the Republican party in the 2022 mid-term congressional elections, Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham, who wants to unite the party under Trump’s banner, said on Sunday.

“I think Senator McConnell’s speech, he got a load off his chest obviously, but unfortunately he put a load on the back of Republicans,” Graham told Fox News on Sunday. Republican candidates in 2022 will inevitably be asked what they thought of McConnell’s denunciation of Trump’s actions, Graham said.

But Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican, said there will be a big fight for the soul of the party.

“I think we’ve got to move on from the cult of Donald Trump and return to the basic principles that the party’s always stood for,” Hogan told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Trump’s continued sway, however, was evident in House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s visit last month to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where they huddled on strategy for the 2022 congressional elections.

That visit came just three weeks after McCarthy had enraged Trump by saying he bore responsibility for the Capitol riot. McCarthy later backtracked, saying he did not believe Trump provoked the assault.

 

Clear Impact Of Climate Change In Uttarakhand Disaster

 

General view of the place where members of the National Disaster Response Force conduct a rescue operation, after a part of a glacier broke away, in Tapovan, Uttarakhand on February 10, 2021

Under the weight of a suspected avalanche, a massive chunk of ice and frozen mud broke away from a glacier in the high Himalayas and fell into a lake that had formed at its snout due to climate change. The moraine around the lake collapsed and a flash flood came roaring down the Rishi Ganga river in Uttarakhand on the morning of February 7. Over a day later, more than 152 people working inside tunnels to build two hydroelectricity projects downstream were still missing; 25 have been rescued and ten bodies found. Mud inundates the project sites, and teams are still trying to open up the tunnels. One large and ten smaller bridges have been washed away.

Glaciologists are trying to identify the glacier inside the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve that broke away due to six-decade-high temperatures in January, another effect of climate change. This had led to pockets of meltwater within the glacier, thus accelerating the breakup and adding to the volume of water in the lake. When the lake collapsed, the flash flood brought mud and boulders down with the gushing water. The boulders smashed into the dams being built for the hydroelectricity projects; the mud engulfed the tunnels, long after the floodwaters had passed downstream.

First noticed by residents of Raini village which is 3,700 metres above the mean sea level, the floodwaters travelled over 100 km down steep slopes through tributaries of the Ganga before calming down somewhat, though for a while India’s longest river flowed above the danger mark in Haridwar where it descends into the plains, and people were evacuated from the banks there.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) of Uttarakhand and a unit of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) stationed nearby started rescue operations at the hydroelectricity project sites within an hour of the flash flood passing by. They were hampered by the volume of mud blocking the tunnels and then by the river’s daily afternoon rise due to snowmelt. Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) joined rescue operations overnight. The army and helicopters of the Indian Air Force were kept on standby.

EYEWITNESS

Vijay Singh, a resident of Raini – which is perched on the upper slopes above Rishi Ganga – told The Third Pole that the Rishi Ganga hydropower project was completely washed away. “It was over in a flash. It happened so quickly that people working at the construction site had no chance to escape and were washed away. The level of water in the river (Rishi Ganga) rose by at least two metres in seconds.”

A bridge, the only connection to some remote villages, was also destroyed, Singh said.

Raini is the cradle of the famous environmental movement, Chipko, of the 1970s during which rural activists, predominantly women, protested against logging by making human chains around trees.

The Rishi Ganga joins the Dhauli Ganga a little downstream from Raini. The flash flood carried down to the Dhauli Ganga. “Huge chunks of concrete from the Rishi Ganga project smashed into the dam of the Tapovan Vishnugad hydel power project [on the Dhauli Ganga],” said an official working in the area, who declined to be named. “The damage has been extensive.”

It is not the first time that this project has sustained damages due to sudden, excessive flow in the Dhauli Ganga. There have been several instances, due to which the 520 MW project has faced repeated delays. “The setback is severe, and it might take years to rebuild,” the official said. Initial estimates of damage have been pegged at close to INR 5 billion (USD 68.6 million).

Work at the Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project started in 2005. It was supposed to be commissioned in financial year 2020-21. People from the region displaced by the project, and now the disaster, have started a dharna, or protest, demanding rehabilitation.

THE AVALANCHE, THE GLACIER AND THE LAKE

Pradeep Srivastava, scientist at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Uttarakhand's capital Dehradun, told The Third Pole that there were at least 25 glaciers in the area of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve where the avalanche may have started, and it was not yet known which glacier had partially collapsed.

The Nanda Devi group of glaciers cover an area of around 690 square km and form the catchment of the Rishi Ganga.

Srivastava confirmed the readings of the India Meteorological Department that showed January 2021 to be the warmest January in Uttarakhand in six decades. March and April are considered the avalanche season in the high Himalayas, as the snowmelt accelerates after winter. Scientists fear this has been brought forward by climate change. A bout of heavy snowfall in early February may have been the immediate avalanche trigger.

It has been an unusually mild winter all over the Hindu Kush Himalayas, and NASA satellites have captured images of snow-free glaciers near Mount Everest this January.

As glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas recede due to climate change, the faster melt rate is creating ever-larger lakes at their snouts, in an area of unstable gravel, boulders and mud. A Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) occurs when the volume of water cannot be contained by this unstable mix, called moraine. So far, the most comprehensive report of this phenomenon and the risks posed by it has been prepared by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). The 2013 disaster that affected a large part of Uttarakhand and killed over 5,700 people was caused by a GLOF, and there have been many since then in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan.

The ICIMOD findings were supported by scientists from around the world in the Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Anjal Prakash of the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB), who was a coordinating lead author of that report, said, “Temperatures are rising in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region and the rise in global temperature will have more impact in the Himalayan region due to elevation-dependent warming. If the world can keep the temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius in the HKH region, it would translate to at least a rise of 1.8 C, and in some places, above 2.2 C.”

“Himalayan regions are also least monitored, and this event actually shows how vulnerable we could be. I would request the government to spend more resources in monitoring the region better so that we have more information about the change process. The result would be that we are more aware and could develop better adaptation practices.”

Glaciologist D.P. Dobhal, who used to be at the Wadia Institute, said that after the 2013 disaster, more glaciers in the Ganga catchment were being studied, but there was little information on glaciers in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve because it was so difficult to reach the area. “Out of around 1,000 glaciers in Uttarakhand, only 10-15 are being monitored,” he pointed out.

DAMS, ROADS WORSEN IMPACT

The flash flood – called Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) by scientists – was a direct impact of climate change. Downstream impacts were worsened by dams and ill-planned road construction. Dams and tunnels for hydroelectricity projects as well as roads are being built in the area – as in much of the Hindu Kush Himalayas – ignoring the destabilising effect on mountain slopes. So, the flash flood carried a lot more debris and caused a lot more damage downstream.

All hydroelectricity projects downstream for over 100 kilometres had to be shut down. As a result, a day later, India’s electricity grid was still 200 MW short.

Experts have been repeatedly warning against building dams, tunnels and poorly-planned roads in the high Himalayas. Ravi Chopra of Dehradun-based Peoples’ Science Institute recalled to The Third Pole that a committee appointed by India’s Supreme Court after the 2013 disaster had recommended that no dam be built above an altitude of 2,000 metres. This is a “para-glacial” zone from which glaciers have retreated, but they have left behind an unstable mix of earth and rocks unsuitable for dams and tunnels. The committee had specifically said that six dams proposed on the Dhauli Ganga should not be built. The second and larger project inundated by this GLOF was being built by government-owned NTPC despite this recommendation.

Overall, the committee had recommended scrapping 23 of the 24 dam projects they studied.

THE DESTROYED PROJECTS

The February 7 flash flood did not directly affect local residents because villages are located on mountain slopes well above the riverbed. The first reports came from villagers standing on hilltops and shooting videos on their phones. The information spread immediately on social media, but not fast enough for the labourers working in the tunnels of the Rishi Ganga and Tapovan hydroelectricity projects to evacuate before they were engulfed by a wall of water, mud and boulders.

Both hydroelectricity projects are run-of-the-river, which means a dam is built to channel the river into a tunnel that can be eight to ten kilometres long, then the water is dropped vertically to run turbines that generate power; and then the water is led back to the river. Videos showed the dams and spillways being overwhelmed by a roaring wall of water.

Later images showed rescue personnel breaking into the tunnels to pull out the workers trapped inside. The earth moving machines used by the dam builders had all been swept downstream, and it was a painfully slow process to get more machines down the steep slopes to the riverbed. Once there, more rescue personnel feverishly worked to remove mud and boulders from the ends of the tunnels.

by Third Pole