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India has taken a firm stand to protect children's health as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), puts a ban on the use of the label of ORS on sugary products that are falsely advertised as Oral Rehydration Solutions. This milestone ends years of confusion and risk caused by fake ORS products widely available across the country.

The ORS label was applied to many drinks to seem like dehydration medicine, yet they had extremely high amounts of sugar that might increase sickness, particularly amongst the kids with the condition of diarrhoea. True ORS, which is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), has the right proportion of glucose and salts that are necessary to rehydrate safely.

The prohibition comes after a decade of struggle led by paediatrician Dr. Sivaranjani Santhosh of Hyderabad, who raised awareness about the adverse side effects concealed in the fake ORS products. The October 2025 order of the FSSAI invalidates prior permissions of use of ORS with disclaimers, and it is evident that only WHO-approved forms of ORS would bear this label. may lead to penalties under food safety laws in the food safety legislation.

Soon after the order, Dr. Sivaranjani Santhosh shared an emotional video about how happy she is after the ban, and how much struggle she went through that instantly went viral on social media. 

The implementation of the ban is however at the moment held by the Delhi High Court on legal grounds because of the legal challenge posed by companies which have huge stock of the sweet sugary drinks called ORS. Nevertheless, health experts hail the move as a move that would be crucial towards honesty in marketing and overall safety of the population.

Indian families are advised to use only WHO-approved ORS products. This regulatory measure is a victory to the health of the people, as the marketing of various misleading and sugar-contaminated ORS-like products that put the lives of children in danger are no longer present.

Such a ban on fake ORS drinks in India opens the path to more transparent and safer hydration care practices in India, calling on more attention to misleading product claims.

The peace march was led by environmentalist and scientist Sonam Wangchuk – a vocal advocate for the application of the sixth schedule in Ladakh, which empowers majority tribal constituencies to formulate their own laws on land use, customs, and development. Ending the march on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary was a deliberate choice.

Wangchuk is now in jail under one of India's strictest anti-terror laws after a hunger strike he called turned violent, and the permission to accept foreign funding for his organisation was withdrawn abruptly shortly afterwards. Wangchuk has done things that were "prejudicial to the State and prejudicial to the maintenance of peace," Ladakh administration charged in an announcement. Police used bullets and four demonstrators were shot dead when a BJP office was set on fire by some unknown people on September 24. Wangchuk called off his strike and appealed for peace.

"It is unfortunate that it has gone to this," Ali said, speaking to Mongabay India from Kargil district. "Yes, some protestors had behaved out of desperation, but the police response wasinhuman," he continued. The violence on September 24 is the first violent turn that the long-running protests for statehood have taken in Ladakh.

Extended negotiations

In the background of the demand for statehood and sixth schedule status lies an aspiration to reclaim decision-making powers over natural resources in the region. Ladakh has been under the central government's administrative control since it was made a union territory in 2019, with apprehensions of free flow of development and ecological devastation.

Autonomous Hill Councils of Ladakh are given autonomy to manage infrastructure and formulate some developmental activities, but not legislation and establishment of courts. Statehood and sixth schedule status would grant the people of Ladakh rights of self-governance regarding land, forests, cultural practices, and inheritance.

In 2023, the central government formed a High Powered Committee (HPC) and consented to negotiating with Ladakh leaders on several issues, including granting constitutional safeguards to the region. Apart from sixth schedule status and statehood, some of the other grievances by representatives of union territories were Leh and Kargil (the two districts of Ladakh) getting single seats in Parliament and granting government employment.

Weeks after the latest protests turned violent, the Ministry of Home Affairs – under whose jurisdiction the HPC had been formed – released a statement stating "the dialogue mechanism… has yielded good results." The Ministry enumerated better reservations for the Scheduled Tribes, more women reservations in the Autonomous Hill Development Councils, and the protection of local languages as harvests of the bargaining process. The process of recruitment of 1800 government jobs has already started in UT of Ladakh. We are confident that persistent talks would be productive in near future," the Ministry stated.

Talks, however, remained slow on the two key demands of the protests – sixth schedule and statehood. This issue will not end until our demands are fulfilled," chairman of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) Thupstan Chhewang told the press. 

Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Development Association have both suspended further talks until normalcy returns, Wangchuk is released, and a judicial inquiry is called into why the police allowed events to spiral out of control by firing. A magisterial inquiry into firing was announced on October 2.

Decentralising power over land

Sixth schedule status is now only applied to some parts of northeast India under the constitution. Bringing Ladakh under the sixth schedule would require a constitutional amendment, opined Harihar Bhattarcharaya, a Political Science professor at the University of Burdwan. "The demand is real, as the region fulfills the requirements of the sixth schedule, but it entails great constitutional change," he opined. Maybe the government is not acting in a hurry because it will unleash the Pandora's box of demands from other areas where it will have to be implemented as well."

It has over 90% tribal population, and therefore it was a case that necessitated the implementation of the sixth schedule, Bhattacharya put forth. Ladakh's cold desert high-altitude climate also provides habitat to certain peculiar flora and fauna which have been conserved by pastoralist communities like the Changpas.

The state is keen on bringing industrial investments to this land. This year in February, the industry land allotment policy was notified after revision to make the Autonomous Councils' role in allotting land clear as is. One of the prime reasons for the heightened protests is to be provided more authority over land use legislations. Huge tracts of land have been leased out for solar power schemes, reportedly without conducting public consultations.

"Without constitutional protection, the extraction of resources will take place in the manner and scale that will endanger local livelihoods. In three successive years, the trans-Himalayan region has witnessed enhanced precipitation instead of snow, which can lead to flash floods and other hazards. That necessitates good, reflective governance," Himdhara's Asher explained.

Environmentalists targeted

District authorities, including the director general of police, have suggested Wangchuk's involvement in an international criminal conspiracy to cause strife in India – an accusation many branded as confounding. "There isn't a shred of evidence to demonstrate that Sonam Wangchuk caused violence, that's why the government is spinning conspiracy theories. They've arrested him under a law which doesn't require any evidence," political analyst Yogendra Yadav said.

"Is it a crime to mention climate change, melting glaciers, educational reforms and grassroot innovation? To raise voice for the development of an inarticulate tribal belt, ecologically sensitive, in a Gandhian way of non-violence for the last four years? It cannot even be termed as a threat to national security," she wrote in a letter to the Prime Minister and President on October 1.

It is so easy to get derailed with the immaculately constructed lives of digital creators and influencers every time we browse Instagram or TikTok. It seems like their lives are a continuous photoshoot- seamless, glamorous, and perpetually "on point", picture-perfect! But here's the harsh reality- behind all the super-filtered photos and videos that go viral on every corner of the internet, there is a mental health crisis far from anything we would describe as glamorous. It's high time we finally change the subject to discuss something that falls under the radar of many: mental health issues among digital creators, especially in India, whose influencer industry is booming more rapidly than a viral meme can spread.

Yes, influencers get to experience the "dream" life- having access to freebies, sponsorships, and even thrilling partnerships with top brands. But as influence expands, pressure intensifies. As and when the need for genuine content rises, so does the challenge of remaining true to themselves while at the same time being able to cash in on their fame.

A very recent research highlighted that 80% of Indian influencers care more about remaining true and authentic to their online followers.

But have you ever stopped to consider what happens when the pressure to get sponsorship deals or create the required revenue begins undermining the very idea of authenticity? As per the findings of the same research, approximately 75% of influencers feel extremely under pressure to make compromises on deals that they are not alright with and in doing so compromise their authenticity. Behind all the glitz, influencers usually work for 6-8 hours a day creating content, creating post strategies and keeping themselves updated about the new trends. This relentless grind leaves no space for anyone or anything else.

It shouldn't surprise you that 60% of influencers say that they experience depression or anxiety due to constant work pressure. They are always living in fear of becoming outdated or losing followers and finding themselves in a world where every post is judged, the emotional impact is real. Even as the Indian influencer space is witnessing an explosion in growth- a 25% growth expected from 2023-2028, the real difficulty of converting fame into a viable line of income is not far behind. Statistics indicate that a mere 30% of influencers can have a steady income. This makes it all the more imperative for influencers to diversify their lines of income, beyond merely content creation modes and adopting business acumen. The Dark Side of Digital Stardom: Burnout and Mental Strain  Let's be real- the "dream job" of being an influencer is not as picture-perfect as it seems to you. 

This side of the globe is not just about fan gifts, collaborations and endorsements.

There is always pressure to remain relevant.

Each day you have the constant compulsion of having to produce new, interesting content and this can be like going on a hamster wheel. In addition, creators are supposed to follow trends and create them- which is extremely draining

A shocking report by the Directorate of Education (DoE) has revealed that nearly 70% of Delhi government students enrolled under the NIOS Project failed the Class 10 examinations over the past four years. The project was initially welcomed as a second chance for students who failed Classes 9 or 10. However, it is now facing heavy criticism for poor execution and a lack of accountability.

A Scheme Meant for Dropout Recovery Falls Short

Launched by the Delhi government to help students reappear for their Class 10 exams through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), the initiative aimed to reduce school dropout rates. However, official data accessed through an RTI reveals an alarming failure trend, signalling deeper cracks in what was once praised as Delhi’s “inclusive education model”.

In 2024, of the 7,794 students who turned up to take the Class 10 exam under the NIOS project, only 37% (2,842 students) passed. The enrolment figures always stayed between 10,000 and 29,000 a year but the overall pass percentage has been around 30 percent over the years despite this being an indication of inefficiencies in the system.

Why Are Students Failing?

Many government school teachers in Delhi have attributed the failure and most of them attributed the failure of the project to lack of coordination and mentorship.

• Weak parent-teacher communication: The parents of registered students are seldom informed of the attendance or progress.
• Few checks: students receive little academic monitoring or individual guidance..
• Poor attendance: There is low involvement of students, as most of them are not followed up regularly and lack support nets after admission.

These structural flaws have turned a good idea into another administrative trifle and put students at a loss without encouragement.

Costs Beyond Performance

Based on the existing system, registration charge of five NIOS subjects is 500 with an extra 200 per subject, 120 per practical subject and 230 per credit transfer. Also, the price is considered affordable, but students with low incomes will not be able to afford it, particularly when the system does not offer a lot of academic support. 

A Greater Crisis in the Delhi Education Model

The results contribute to the current backlash against the model of education in Delhi, which many politicians and analysts now criticize as all show and no substance Some reports also indicate that the level of learning and literacy in government schools is still way below standards despite such enormous investments. By 202324, even more than one lakh Class 9 and fifty thousand Class 11 students failed in government schools. This also revealed how academic reforms have not been able to produce meaningful learning outcomes.

What Do Experts Say?

Education analysts say that the Delhi model of reform should be rebooted- a reduction in emphasis on marketing slogans and the increase in student-teacher contact, teacher mentorship, teacher responsibility.

The 70% failure rate of the NIOS project is a huge reminder that the process of reforming education is not merely a question of access, it is a question of continuous quality and direction. These management loopholes, unless filled by the policymakers of Delhi, will continue to be a mere political sentence rather than an actual situation in the city of Delhi, which promises a fair and global education system.  

Presence of microplastics in the Bhoj wetland, which is a Ramsar site and the major source of drinking water of Bhopal, is a water security concern.

During the research, Surya Singh and co-workers at the Indian Council of Medical Research–National Institute for Research in Environmental Health (ICMR–NIREH), Bhopal, obtained surface water samples. They tested them to look for plastic pieces of sizes larger than roughly 300 micrometres using the Attenuated Total Reflectance–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR) technique. They detected levels of 2.4 pieces per litre in the upper lake and 6.6 pieces per litre in the lower lake.

To put that into perspective, the data indicates that the microplastic concentrations in Bhoj wetland are identical to or even greater than the most polluted sections of the Ganga river, where they have been between approximately 100 and more than 1,000 pieces per cubic metre or per 1,000 litres in certain areas. As a comparison, European fresh water lakes like Balaton lake have very low counts, usually below 10 particles per cubic metre or 1,000 litres, further indicating that the pollution in the Bhoj wetland is far higher than European systems in general and compares with India's worst-affected waters.

Singh warned that the numbers were most likely lower than the actual contamination level because the detection method, ATR–FTIR spectroscopy, has a detection limit of around 300 micrometres. According to her, if they employed more sophisticated machinery like Pyr GC-MS, µFTIR, or µRaman spectroscopy, they would have been able to detect higher concentrations, and the result would most likely display increased concentrations of microplastics. The research was released in February this year in the journal AQUA — Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society.

On 7 September, a couple of hundred fishermen, majority of whom were tribals, organized a bike rally against a proposed floating solar power plant on the Panchet dam.  The fishers staged a demo, shouting slogans like "DVC Murdabaad" (down with DVC), "DVC hosiayar" (beware), and "solar project bandh karo" (scrap the solar project).

DVC is short for Damodar Valley Corporation, a public sector undertaking that owns and operates the Panchet dam, on which solar power projects of 105 MW capacity floating power have already been tendered for development. The same or even bigger capacity is pending through the tender process.

Fishermen who have been dependent on the waters of the dam for livelihood claim that almost 1,500 families would not just lose their livelihood but also their main source of cheap nutrition, all because of the first phase of the project. They have requested a public meeting at Panchet on October 15, demanding the cancellation of the project.

"About 1,500 families of three panchayats in the Nituria block—Sarabari, Raibandh, and Guniara—live on fishing from the reservoir. Solar power project will make fishing impossible," opined Rajen Tudu, convenor of the southern West Bengal chapter of Prakriti Bachao O Adibasi Bachao Mancha (platform to save nature and tribal people).

Tudu, a leader of BJMPM and a tribal organisation with significant power, told Mongabay India that the project would also negatively impact boatmen and weavers of fishing nets, ultimately impacting nearly 2,500 families.

Apart from Tudu's organisation, the Damodar Valley Bastuhara Sangram Samiti (committee to fight for the displaced), Bastuhara Matsyajibi Saagram Samiti (committee to fight for the displaced fishers), and Jami Raksha Committee (land protection committee) together are spearheading the protests.

The DVC has jurisdiction over a stretch of about 24,235 square kilometres in Jharkhand and West Bengal, its assets being the multipurpose dams at Tilaiya, Konar, Maithon, and Panchet.

The agitators say that the DVC authorities had assured them alternative livelihood in the form of cage fishing. However, they are not convinced and say the suggestions are vague.

Mongabay India sent an email to the Chief Public Relations Officer of DVC inquiring about the company's engagement, if any, with the agitators and how they replied to allegations made by the fisherfolk and did not receive a response.

Sukhram Hansda, a protester from Neturia, grieved that many tribal families were uprooted without adequate compensation when land along the Damodar river had been bought for the dam back in the early 1950s.

"Patihto almost ten years and a half, we have been demanding proper compensation from the DVC. Instead of hearing our demand, now they want to displace us from our source of livelihood by cutting off our waters," Hansda told Mongabay India.

In 2009, on the 50th anniversary of commissioning of the Panchet dam, people of a dozen villages bordering the dam in Purulia district commenced a demonstration protesting "insufficient compensation." They complained that the compensation proved to be paltry in relation to the loss, not all sufferers fell under its scope, and some promises were not kept.

Villagers have ever since repeatedly brought the charge of unjust and partial compensation.

The DVC, in the 2023-24 annual report, stated that GVREL is constructing two Solar PV parks totalling 755 MW adjacent to and around Tilaya and Panchet Dam Reservoirs on the UMREPPs scheme. Out of these 755MW, GVREL contracted 310 MW Solar PV Projects under Phase I.

This includes award of contract to M/s. Sterling & Wilson for 155 MW Floating solar photovoltaic (FSPV) projects at Tilaiya, to M/s. L&T for 75 MW FSPV at Panchet and to M/s. NGSL for the balance 80 MW at Panchet, comprising 30 MW of FSPV and 50 MW of ground-mounted projects.

Tenders for the remaining 455 MW capacity of Phase II, also at Tilaiya and Panchet, would be floated later. "These projects will not only be adding to our growing renewable energy portfolio, but also enhance the strength of our efforts to minimize our carbon footprint," according to DVC annual report.

According to the government, the 100 MW floating solar park of 2022 in Telangana in southern India occupies 500 acres of reservoir water. The 278 MW floating plant in Madhya Pradesh is over 800 acres.

The DVC project is to install a 755 MW capacity at Tilaiya and Panchet. Some of the protesters' estimate, as obtained in negotiations with officials of DVC, is that 375 MW are going to Panchet. Fishermen living near the Panchet dam are concerned about losing access to approximately 1,500 acres of water.

Why do they not reduce their power consumption? They travel in AC cars, do their work in AC offices, and live in AC houses. How can they deny us our livelihood for the sake of reducing carbon footprint?" asks Robin Baskey, a resident of Neturia.

The protests

Discontent began building against the solar project at the close of 2024, when authorities from the DVC sat down with local residents regarding the project. Locals claim they objected to it immediately. Authorities, however, attempted to proceed with the development in January.

On 8 January 2025, when project contractor personnel arrived at the Maheshnadi area with workers to start work, a group of some hundreds of villagers from several villages in the Sarabari gram panchayat area chased them away. The Bharat Jakat Majhi Pargana Mahal, social umbrella organization of tribals, was involved in the agitation.

The demonstrators state the residents of Raibandh and Guniara commute across the reservoir on a boat to the Neturia block headquarter, but the solar project would eliminate the ferry ride. It takes 10-15 minutes in a boat. But, through road, it was a 25 km journey, stated Tudu.

The protests have been recurring sporadically since then. In February, a rally was organized in Purulia's Neturia. In March, a memorandum had been submitted to the DVC authorities.

"Fooling our ancestors once. Fooling tribal people everywhere in the world into a belief that they have brought big projects. Never benefit the oustees. Let us not be fooled again," the protester Tudu told the protest rally before a DVC office at Panchet on September 7. They also desired a bridge from Bathanbari to Maheshnadi.

This isn't the first floating solar project to have agitations from fishermen who depend on reservoir fishing. Fishermen in Maharashtra in western India have been protesting a 1,200 MW floating solar project at Nathsagar reservoir of Jayakwadi dam.

In Madhya Pradesh, central India, the 278 MW Omkareshwar Floating Solar Park, which is projected to become a 600 MW unit, "shows the magnitude and extent of India's clean energy ambitions," Union Minister Pralhad Joshi had said earlier this year. 

According to Bharath Jairaj, who is the program head of WRI India's energy program, the case for India is complex where the country has ambitious targets for renewable energy that could stress land. Therefore, water bodies are felt to be an alternative to land-based solar systems. However, many fishing communities also depend on the same water bodies for their livelihood, and therefore similar resource conflicts are emerging from floating solar projects as well.

What is needed is to conduct studies before projects are undertaken and relay their implications to fishers. An impact assessment of livelihood, aquatic life, and productivity needs to be done properly so that their problems can be taken care of, " Jairaj explained to Mongabay-India.

He added that conflicts over scarce resources are inherent in the transition to energy, and the process may be facilitated only by embracing a consultative approach. "We have to take the entire society with us to make the energy transition effective and meaningful," he said.