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Adani suspected of fraud by selling low-grade coal as high-value fuel to Indian state firm
Reports Financial Times
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Adani Group passed off low-quality coal as far more expensive cleaner fuel in transactions with an Indian state power utility, according to evidence seen by the Financial Times that throws fresh light on allegations of a long-running coal scam.

The documents, secured by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and reviewed by the FT, add a potential environmental dimension to accusations of corruption associated with the Indian conglomerate. They suggest that Adani may have fraudulently obtained bumper profits at the expense of air quality since using low-grade coal for power means burning more of the fuel.

Invoices show that in January 2014 Adani purchased an Indonesian shipment of coal said to contain 3,500 calories per kilogramme. The same shipment was sold to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution company (Tangedco) as 6,000-calorie coal, one of the most valuable grades. Adani appears to have more than doubled its money in the process, after transport costs.

The FT has also matched documentation for a further 22 shipments in 2014 involving the same parties that indicate a pattern of grade inflation in the supply of 1.5 million tonnes of coal.

Adani sourced the coal in Indonesia from a mining group known for its low-calorie output, at prices consistent with low-grade fuel. It delivered the coal to India's southernmost state for power generation, fulfilling a contract that specified expensive high-quality fuel.

More than 2 million people are killed in India each year by outdoor air pollution, according to a 2022 study in The Lancet, while other studies found significant increases in child mortality for hundreds of miles around coal-fired power plants.

Another study a decade ago found that coal-fired power plants, which supply about three-quarters of India's electricity, accounted for roughly 15 percent of the country's man-made emissions of fine particulate matter, 30 percent of nitrogen oxide and 50 percent of sulphur dioxide.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.
 
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Priyanka Gandhi to make parliamentary debut from Wayanad
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This undated photo of AP shows Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of Congress, waves to party supporters during an election campaign rally in Rae Barelli in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her parliamentary election debut from Wayanad constituency in Kerala, the party announced today.

Priyanka will be in fray in the by-election in Wayanad which her brother Rahul Gandhi has decided to give up and retain his membership of Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters after the Congress' top leadership held discussions on the issue at his residence in New Delhi, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

"Rahul Gandhi won two Lok Sabha seats but as per the law, he has to vacate one. Rahul Gandhi will retain Rae Bareli and we have decided that Priyankaji will fight from Wayanad," Kharge said.

Rahul's decision to vacate sets at rest weeks of speculations as to which constituency he would retain after winning from Wayanad and Rae Bareli in recent national elections.

After the decision, Rahul Gandhi said both Rae Bareli and Wayanad "will get two MPs" while Priyanka said "I won't let the people of Wayanad feel Rahul's absence".

In 2019 parliamentary elections, Rahul had contested from two seats Amethi in UP and Wayanad but lost the north Indian constituency to BJP's Smriti Irani and won from Wayanad by a huge margin.

In the 2024 polls, he won from both Rae Bareli and Wayanad with margins of over 6.5 lakh and 3.6 lakh votes respectively.​
 
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Railway collision in India kills 15, hurts several
Published :
Jun 17, 2024 16:04
Updated :
Jun 17, 2024 16:04
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A freight train smashed into the rear of a stationary passenger train in India's West Bengal state on Monday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, police said, in an accident that railway authorities blamed on a disregarded signal.

Media showed images of the pile-up, with containers from the goods train strewn nearby, and one carriage left nearly vertical after the accident, which comes just over a year after a signalling error caused one of India's worst rail crashes.

At least 15 bodies have been pulled from the mangled carriages, Abhishek Roy, a senior police official in the eastern state's district of Darjeeling, the site of the accident, told Reuters.

Nearly 30 people were injured and rescue teams from the police and national disaster response force were working with doctors and residents of the area to clear debris from the derailed carriages, Roy added.

The goods train hit the Kanchanjunga Express travelling to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, from the northeastern state of Tripura, driving three carriages of the passenger train off the rails.

It was not immediately clear how many passengers were on board at the time.

Rescuers used iron rods and ropes to free one carriage of the passenger train that had been swept upwards to lodge on the roof of the freight train by the impact of the collision.

The dead included the driver of the freight train and a guard on the passenger train, Jaya Varma Sinha, the head of the railway board that runs the countrywide network, told reporters.

The accident happened after the driver of the freight train disregarded a signal and hit the rear end of the express train, Sinha added.

Rescue work has been completed, Sinha said, while authorities were working to restore traffic, although the damage had been less extensive than initially feared.

"The guard's compartment in the passenger train was badly damaged," he added. "There were two parcel vans attached ahead of it which reduced the extent of damage to passengers."

Nearby residents heard a loud crash and saw the pile-up upon going to investigate, several told the ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences on the loss of life in the accident and said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was on his way to the site.

About 288 people died a year ago in the neighbouring state of Odisha, in India's worst rail crash in more than two decades, caused by a signal failure.​
 
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India reports over 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases over summer

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A man covers himself with a cloth to protect from heat on a hot summer day in New Delhi, India, May 20, 2024. Photo: Reuters/File

India recorded more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases this summer as a prolonged heatwave killed more than 100 people across the country, while parts of its northeast grappled with floods from heavy rain, authorities said.

Billions across Asia are grappling with extreme heat this summer in a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change, with temperatures in north India soaring to almost 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in one of the longest heatwave spells recorded.

Birds fell from the skies due to extreme heat and hospitals reported an inflow of heat-affected patients as both day and night time temperatures peaked in recent weeks since the start of summer in March.

The health ministry ordered federal and state institutions to ensure "immediate attention" to patients, while hospitals in the capital Delhi, which is also facing a water shortage, were directed make more beds available.

A health ministry official said there were more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases and at least 110 confirmed deaths between March 1 and June 18, when northwest and eastern India recorded twice the usual number of heatwave days.

The weather office has forecast above normal temperatures for this month too, as authorities say Indian cities have become "heat traps"due to unbalanced growth.

"During the ongoing heatwave, most bird rescue calls that we receive are due to birds falling from the skies," said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and CEO of non-profit Wildlife SOS.

"In the past two weeks, Wildlife SOS has been receiving more than 35-40 rescue calls daily, in and around Delhi-National Capital Region. Most of the calls include bird rescue requests."

Separately, floods and landslides triggered by incessant rain in the northeastern state of Assam killed at least six people on Tuesday night, officials said.

"A landslide buried a woman and her three daughters alive," a state disaster management official, Siju Das, said by telephone.

"Their house was on a slope, and they died on the spot around midnight," he said, adding that the bodies were retrieved after a three-hour search operation by rescuers.

"A three-year-old was killed too."

In Assam, more than 160,000 people were affected, with waters surpassing the danger level in the Kopili, one of the largest tributaries of the Brahmaputra, which ranks among India's biggest rivers.

More than 30 people in the state have died since the end of May in floods and landslides brought by heavy rain, officials said.​
 
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India floods, heatwaves kill 11 people
Four buried alive in landslide

India was battling extreme weather yesterday that caused severe heatwaves, landslides and floods, killing at least 11 people this week, among them a woman and her three daughters buried alive in a northeastern state, officials and media said.

The capital, New Delhi, sweltered through its hottest night in six years on Tuesday, with hospitals in the city of 20 million reporting at least five deaths from heatstroke this week, the Times of India newspaper said.

Floods and landslides triggered by incessant rain in the northeastern state of Assam killed at least six people on Tuesday night, officials said.

"A landslide buried a woman and her three daughters alive," a disaster management official said.

"Their house was on a slope, and they died on the spot around midnight," he said, adding that the bodies were retrieved after a three-hour search operation by rescuers. "A three-year-old was killed too."

Billions across Asia are grappling with extreme heat this summer, in a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.​
 
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