Women, children trek miles in summer heat to get water near Mumbai
The Hindu
Women and children in a hamlet near Mumbai trek more than a mile to fetch water.
Women and children in a hamlet near India's financial capital used buckets to draw water from a well before pouring it through strainers into vessels and other receptacles for the journey home.
The scene unfolding during a recent visit by Reuters to the area, just 150 km (93 miles) from Mumbai, plays out every summer morning, after residents have trekked more than a mile to fetch water from a dried-up well filled each day by tankers.
Even though their homes are not far from a dam that provides water to the metropolis, villagers say supplies run short from March to May every year, when temperatures can run as high as 40 degrees C (104°F), before monsoon rains bring respite in June.
"All the water is sent to Mumbai, we are left with nothing," said Ashok Shinde, whose village is home to about 700 people rearing poultry and livestock.
"The government encourages us to breed animals but what will we give them to drink if we don’t have any water to drink ourselves?"
The Vaitarna dam, which supplies water to Mumbai, is just 50 km (31 miles) from Telamwadi, but is not linked to it.
India ranks among the world's most water-stressed nations, the World Bank says, with just 4% of global water resources, despite being the world's most populous, accounting for 18% of global population.
Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten stated that “not so great decision making” contributed to his side’s defeat to India in the Group-A T20 World Cup clash here on Sunday. The batting unit came apart in the chase, after being well placed at 72 for two. With 48 runs needed from eight overs, Pakistan found a way to panic and lose. “Maybe not so great decision making,” Kirsten said at the post-match press conference, when asked to explain the loss.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.