Shimla water woes: Protests continue, tanker runs over woman
Shimla, June 2: Protests continued to rock the Himachal Pradesh capital on Saturday, as the densely populated Kusumpti area reeled under acute portable water shortage for the straight 14th day.
A water tanker driver deployed by the civic body got an epilepsy attack and run over a 65-year-old woman on the busy Mall Road, who was rushed to the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital here where she was declared dead.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Praveer Thakur confirmed that the tanker driver suffered epilepsy attack due to which the woman, Uma Keprate, got hit by the tanker.
Hundreds of residents blocked the road leading to the state secretariat in Kusumpti, raising slogans against the government and the Shimla Municipal Corporation, both ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Despite instructions by the High Court on supplying water in the city on a rotational basis, there is no water supply in this locality.
"The piped water has not been supplied for the past eight days. Three days ago I got just three buckets of water for a family of five from a government tanker," housewife Sanjana Jindal told IANS.
Residents were out on the streets protesting even late on Friday.
"We are depending on bottled water for cooking and drinking. There is no water to clean utensils and wash clothes. I have not taken bath for almost a week now.
"Our toilets are stinking literally as we are refraining from flushing them. We just managed to collect two buckets of water from rooftop when it rained in Shimla on Friday evening," college-goer Nandita Chauhan said.
"We are prepared to live with very little water but we need that little water to sustain our daily chores and personal hygiene," she said, adding: "I think the government should promote dry toilets in Shimla in order to save millions of litres of water."
The problem of water shortage persisted in Pantha Ghatti, Chhota Shimla, Vikasnagar, Kangnadhar, New Shimla and Khalini localities.
A government statement said the civic body received 24.50 million litre per day water on Friday and it was distributed as per the timetable. It said 1.70 lakh litre water was supplied to different localities through tankers.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday rushed to New Delhi to brief the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on steps taken to restore water normalcy in Shimla.
"The PMO sought information and that is a routine one about the prevailing water crisis in Shimla. We have provided the information earlier also. Today, I have given the status report personally," Thakur told reporters in New Delhi.
Blaming the previous Congress government in the state, he said the Congress deliberately ignored the gravity of the water problem for five years.
"For the past 15 days, I am monitoring the water situation of Shimla on a daily basis and also through video conferencing if I am out of Shimla. We have improved the water supply but it still needs to be strengthened," he said, admitting that the water shortage this summer was worst in 10 years.
Officials blamed water shortage on the rising mercury and the drying up of natural water channels. Shimla has a population of nearly 200,000 that requires 42 MLD water.
Facing flak from the high court, which is monitoring the water situation on a day-to-day basis, the Municipal Corporation has disconnected the water connections of over 40 hotels for their failure to clear the pending arrears.
Issuing a slew of directives on Friday, it said all 62 keymen, who are responsible for supplying water in localities, should be kept under surveillance to ensure equitable distribution.
The court has listed the case for next hearing on June 11. It has also made it categorically clear that no individual request even to the VIPs, including the judges, would be entertained.
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Indian students being put off applying to UK universities, report finds
London (PTI): Indian students are being put off applying to UK universities, adding to their financial woes at a time when education institutions are already coping with constrained budgets, a new report into the stability of the higher education sector in England has revealed.
Based on UK Home Office data on confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) by UK providers from 2022-23 to 2023-24, an Office for Students (OfS) analysis released on Friday shows a 20.4 per cent drop in Indian student numbers – down from 139,914 to 111,329.
Indian student groups in the UK said the fall was to be expected amid limited job prospects and also safety concerns following recent anti-immigration riots in some cities.
“There has been a considerable decline in student visa applications from prospective non-UK students in some major source countries,” notes the report by OfS, a non-departmental public body of the government’s Department for Education.
“This data shows an 11.8 per cent decline in the total number of sponsor acceptances issued to international students, as well as considerable variation for students with different nationalities, with the largest declines reported in the number of CAS issued to Indian and Nigerian students, down 28,585 (20.4 per cent) and 25,897 (44.6 per cent) respectively,” it said.
It warns that universities with financial models that depend heavily on students from countries such as India, Nigeria and Bangladesh are likely to be significantly affected due to this downward trend.
“The number of international students from certain countries that send significant numbers to study in the UK has decreased significantly,” OfS cautions.
“By 2025-26, based on current trends and not taking into account significant mitigating action, we estimate a net income reduction for the sector of GBP 3,445 million, and, without significant mitigating actions, a sector-level deficit of minus GBP 1,636 million, with up to 72 per cent of providers being in deficit, and 40 per cent having low liquidity,” it adds.
The Indian National Students’ Association (INSA) UK said it was not surprised with the significant decrease in students from India given the government’s clampdown on foreign students being allowed to bring along their dependent partners and spouses.
“Students are not allowed to bring their partners to the UK under the new policy and given the economic conditions here and recent rioting stories, unless the government addresses this issue the outlook for UK universities is bleak as they rely heavily on Indian students,” said INSA UK President Amit Tiwari.
Indians overtook the Chinese in recent years as the leading nationality granted study visas to the UK and are the largest cohort to access the Graduate Route post-study work visa, which was thrown into disarray due to a review which has since concluded it is here to stay.
“Many reasons contribute to the decline in numbers, including the Conservative ban on dependents, confusion around post-study work visa, increase in skilled worker salary thresholds and an apparent lack of jobs in the UK,” said Sanam Arora, chair of the National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK.
“We discovered the scale of misinformation that continues to persist; for the first time, safety is also being raised as a concern… Universities need to ensure that they are communicating the UK offer adequately and at scale in India to address the confusions that persist," she said.
"Universities also need to invest significantly in their employability support in order to stay competitive and provide a wholesome, outcome-oriented offer for students,” she added.
