Latest news with #SanjayGarg
The Hindu
26-07-2025
- Climate
- The Hindu
Cast-off capital
The Yamuna along Panipat's Khojkipur village is dry, leaving the riverbed exposed. A flock of birds – resident species of cormorants and herons – has gathered around a pool of residual water in the river on a hot June afternoon. There are also some migratory gulls. The birds, in search of food, occasionally break the silence with their croaking and keow calls. A large herd of cows and buffaloes, almost figurines from a distance, graze on the sparse greenery on the riverbed. Rajbir, a paali (cowherd) in his mid-30s, keeps an eye on the herd from under a tree on the riverbank. Like most people in India's plains, he waits for the monsoon to set in. For Rajbir though, it is not the heat that's disturbing. He is worried about his cattle frequently falling sick after they cool off in the pools of leftover Yamuna water. 'The nallah (Drain No. 2) carrying effluents from factories in Panipat city falls into the river just ahead of our village, contaminating it with hard chemicals. With the onset of the monsoon, the water flow goes up in the river, diluting these chemicals and mitigating their harmful effects,' explains Rajbir. Cattle cool off in a pond in summer, but there is none in the village, he grumbles. A gamcha is tightly wrapped around his head, one end of it held firmly in his teeth to protect his head and face from the temperature that has crossed 40 degrees Celsius. Panipat in Haryana, just 90 km from Delhi, is known for three famous battles fought on its land across two centuries, between 1526 and 1761. There is little evidence of that now. Over the past two decades, it has emerged as one of Asia's largest weaving, dyeing, and textile recycling hubs. Panipat is a processing hub for around 30 lakh tonnes of textile waste, says Sanjay Garg, Northern India Rotor Spinners Association president, comprising about 100 units. Cloth scraps come in daily from factories in the U.S., the U.K, Canada, Europe, Turkey, China, and Japan. In units here, these are processed into yarn, which is further sold in Tanda (Uttar Pradesh), Solapur (Maharashtra), and Tirupur (Tamil Nadu), for use in blankets, cushions, bed sheets, carpets, and several other products. Shoddy yarn, made from short and weak fibres, is often downcycled into low-grade products,' says Kriti Srivastava, assistant professor at NIFT Kangra. 'This isn't just inefficient recycling, it's a form of waste colonisation, where developed countries offload their textile waste onto the Global South, burdening already vulnerable nations with environmental and economic costs.' A part of this process is bleaching cloth scraps. Several illegal bleaching units function on Panipat's periphery, devoid of any mechanism for the safe disposal of the chemical-laden waste water, mostly acidic and chlorine-based. They operate on agricultural land taken on lease from the farmers. 'This highly contaminated water is just allowed to seep underground, polluting the groundwater, or is drained into open land and local drains. It eventually travels to Drain 2 that merges with the Yamuna,' says Varun Gulati, a Delhi-based environmentalist. Rajbir laments that no one listens to the people here: 'Yahan par kai baar patrakar aaye hai. Photo keech kar le gaye. Video bhi banaya. Lekin kuch nahi hua.' (Journalists have come here many times. They took photographs. They made videos too. But nothing happened.) Cloth to yarn Taking a nap on his farm under a structure resembling a palapa, Krishan, who owns a couple of acres of land, says the ground water in Khojkipur and the neighbouring villages along Drain No. 2 is smelly. 'It is not fit for drinking and irrigation. Those residing in these villages suffer from various skin-related ailments and, in some cases, even cancer. We avoid installing hand pumps near this drain,' he says. Then, laughing ironically, adds, 'Imagine people in Delhi who have to drink this contaminated water.' In March 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 'Mann Ki Baat' broadcast, spoke about the problem of textile waste. 'Several start-ups have started working on textile recovery facilities…. some cities are creating new identities in dealing with textile waste. Panipat is emerging as a global hub of textile recycling,' he had said. Garg says his father was the first to set up a spinning mill in Panipat in 1981. Two to three more mills came up in the city over the next two decades, but the boom came in the early 2000s with technological advancement. 'Only 10-15 tonnes of scrap could be processed daily at these units earlier. But high-speed spinning mills equipped with the latest technology process around 100-125 tonnes of scrap daily,' he says, in his expansive office, adding that almost 90% of the imported scraps end up in Panipat. Garg owns Akshay Spinning Mills on the busy arterial Gohana-Panipat road. There are more than 250 such mills owned by around a hundred industrialists, scattered across the city. On the outskirts of Panipat, scores of illegally run bleaching units have mushroomed to cater to the growing need to bleach the cloth scraps before they are shredded and made into yarn. A few of the larger spinning mills have their own bleaching processes, adhering to the norms laid down by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB). These include checking the units for effluents that are safe to be discharged into the Yamuna. Garg maintains that the spinning mills are 'non-polluting units' that give 'a fresh lease of life to the garbage collected from across the globe', but downplays the role of illegally run bleach units. 'Only a fraction of the cloth scraps imported need to undergo bleaching,' claims the second-generation industrialist, insisting that the mills do not outsource production to illegal bleaching units. Bleach-washed In a complaint to the Central Pollution Control Board in January this year, Gulati said illegal bleaching units were running in several villages across Panipat: Naulya, Dahar, Binjhaul, Balana, Paldi, Kaurad, Didwadi, Mandi, Gwalda, Pardhana, Chamrada, and Nara. 'Chemicals containing acid and chlorine are added to the water to wash scraps and this poisonous water is later released into the ground by digging pits or into storm water drains,' he said in his complaint. Warning of a catastrophe of epic proportions like the Bhopal gas disaster, the letter mentioned around two dozen illegal units along with their addresses. It said that the owners of these bleaching units, emboldened by the inaction of the HSPCB, had now set up illegal plants to make acid and bleach chemicals using toxic chlorine gas. This, in case of leakage, could cause a major accident. Running a bleaching unit in Dadwari village, a 38-year-old man, not willing to be identified, says he has set up an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) to adhere to the HSPCB norms, but the 'plant is not functional; it is not run'. A fully running ETP could cost several lakhs, he says. It has been set up just to get the permission to run a bleaching unit. 'Water is reused a couple of times to bleach, and finally discharged into the drain,' he says. The man says that he has constructed tanks on his agricultural land and rented them out to a spinning mill owner. 'I only provide the land and the bleach powder, which I make using chlorine gas. The mill owners' contractors hire the labour for the bleach job,' he says. Yamuna Bachao Abhiyan convener Shiv Singh Rawat says that scores of dyeing and bleaching units in Panipat functioning without clearances and treatment infrastructure discharge acidic, chlorine-laced waste water into the river. 'The discharge either flows through sewer lines or is dumped via tankers into open land. Ultimately it ends up in the Yamuna through Drain No. 2. The visual discolouration of the water at the point of merger of Drain No. 2 and the Yamuna is a stark indicator of the contamination,' he says. Multiple water sample reports of Drain No. 2 by the HSPCB Laboratory in April this year confirm that several parameters were much higher than the permissible levels fixed by the Central Pollution Control Board. For instance, Biological Oxygen Demand was at 68 mg/l, with the maximum level set at 30 mg/l; Chemical Oxygen Demand was at 284 mg/l, while it should have been no more than 50 mg/l; and Total Dissolved Solids were at 1,858 mg/l, with the cut-off at 500 mg/l. Rishi Kumar, another bleaching unit owner in Didwari, says there could be 400-odd units in Panipat, and only one-fourth were running with permission. 'The recycle market has been sluggish after it reached its peak in 2023. The profit in the bleaching business is around 10-20 paisa per kg of scrap. But running a unit as per the norms increases the cost by ₹1 per kg. So, it is not financially viable,' says Kumar, who runs his unit with due permission from the HSPCB. He says he has 50 tanks on his 5-acre agricultural land, but only half of them are occupied, as the demand is weak. 'I have my own labour force staying inside the unit. We work both ways. We buy cloth scraps from traders, bleach them, and sell them to the spinning mills. The mill owners also send us scraps to bleach,' says Kumar. Following media reports, the National Green Tribunal has taken suo motu cognisance of the illegal bleaching units and issued notices to the HSPCB and Panipat Deputy Commissioner, among others, directing them to file an affidavit a week before the hearing on August 29. HSPCB Regional Officer, Panipat, Bhupinder Singh Chahal says the department has ordered closure of 20 units and sent show-cause notices to a dozen more a month ago. Chahal, however, says the department does not have the figure for the illegal units. Dip in demand Two types of cloth waste are imported: cloth scraps and second-hand clothes. The majority of godowns on Barsat Road, where they are concentrated, deal in scraps. These are bought by spinning mills to be made into yarn. Ramjan, a worker at a warehouse on Barsat Road, says his employer imports 30 tonnes of cloth each season, mostly from Korea and China, both before the onset of summer and winter. 'The scraps are sold for ₹20 a kg. The discarded clothes are sold at ₹100-120 per piece. Mostly traders from Delhi and Assam buy these second-hand clothes and sell them in local markets at high margins,' says Ramjan. Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market is one such hub. Running a firm in the name of A.R. Traders on Barsat Road, Ravinder Garg mostly deals in scraps. 'We sell it to the spinning mill owners through agents. A small percentage of the wastage, not accepted by the spinning mills, ends up as fuel for local industry,' says Garg. He too says the market has been sluggish for the past two years, and his annual sale of scraps has fallen to almost half, at 270 tonnes per year. To boost the industry, Mukesh Gulati, executive director at the Foundation for MSME Clusters, which aims at empowering small and medium enterprises through skilling and sustainable efforts, says India should develop an eco-mark for products with recycled materials. This will strengthen India's domestic ecosystem of recyclers and sustainable textile producers. 'This will generate greater awareness, as many still wrongly perceive recycled products as inferior. Correcting this perception is key to unlocking the full potential of India's circular economy,' he says. He talks about France mandating recycled content in public sector uniforms; the Netherlands recycling railway uniforms into train interiors; and Germany's procurement law preferring recycled goods. The Nordic countries use ecolabels to support green procurement in health care and municipal services, he adds. Half-burnt bits of cloth often show up on terraces. 'The waste cloth ends up as cheap fuel in furnaces and boilers. Panipat has a thermal power plant, a petroleum refinery, sugar mills, and fertilizer factories. At dusk, Panipat's air turns toxic,' says lawyer Amit Rathee, who practises in Panipat. Edited by Sunalini Mathew
Daily Record
15-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Scientists make Parkinson's breakthrough with new weekly injectable drug
Scientists have developed a new weekly injectable drug that could transform the lives of more than eight million people living with Parkinson's disease. The new treatment, which helps with muscle tremors, could potentially replace the need for multiple daily tablets, making life simpler and easier for those living with the condition. Scientists from the University of South Australia (UniSA) developed a long-acting injectable formulation that delivers a steady dose of levodopa and carbidopa - two key medications for Parkinson's - to last an entire week. The medication comes in the form of a biodegradable gel that can be injected under the skin or into muscle tissue, where it gradually releases the drugs over a week-long period. Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurological disorder, affecting more than 8.5 million people worldwide. There are approximately 13,000 people living with Parkinson's disease in Scotland, according to Parkinson's UK. Currently there is no cure, and the many symptoms of the condition, including tremors, rigidity and slow movement, are currently managed with pills that must be taken several times a day. But scientists believe the newly developed injection for Parkinson's could revolutionise how the disease is treated, and change the lives of those living with the condition. Lead researcher Professor Sanjay Garg, from UniSA's Centre for Pharmaceutical Innovation, said: "Our goal was to create a formulation that simplifies treatment, improves patient compliance, and maintains consistent therapeutic levels of medication. "This weekly injection could be a game-changer for Parkinson's care. Levodopa is the gold-standard therapy for Parkinson's, but its short life span means it must be taken several times a day." But the new drug can stop the constant hassle of taking multiple pills every day. The jab can maintain consistent plasma levels in the body by slowly releasing both levodopa and carbidopa steadily throughout the week, which also reduces the risks associated with fluctuating drug concentrations. UniSA PhD student Deepa Nakmode said: "After years of focused research, it's incredibly rewarding to see our innovation in long-acting injectables for Parkinson's disease reach this stage. Our invention has now been filed for an Australian patent." The injectable gel combines an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer named PLGA with Eudragit L-100, which is a pH-sensitive polymer. This ensures a controlled and sustained drug release into the body. Prof Garg concluded: "The implications of this research are profound. By reducing the frequency of dosing from multiple times a day to a weekly injection is a major step forward in Parkinson's therapy. "We're not just improving how the drug is delivered; we're improving patients' lives." The scientist says this new technology could also be adapted for other chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, pain management, and chronic infections.
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Health
- Fox News
New weekly injection for Parkinson's could replace daily pill for millions, study suggests
A new weekly injectable drug could transform the lives of more than eight million people living with Parkinson's disease, potentially replacing the need for daily pills. Scientists from the University of South Australia (UniSA) developed a long-acting injectable formulation that provides two key Parkinson's medications for an entire week. There is currently no cure for Parkinson's, which is the second-most common neurological disorder, affecting more than one million Americans, according to the Parkinson's Foundation. To manage symptoms like tremors, rigidity and slow movement, patients typically take daily oral medications, such as levodopa and carbidopa, according to the university's press release. This method can be especially difficult for individuals who have trouble swallowing or are otherwise unable to take the pills consistently, leading to irregular medication levels, increased side effects and reduced effectiveness. Levodopa is the "gold-standard therapy for Parkinson's," according to lead researcher Professor Sanjay Garg at UniSA, but its short lifespan means it must be taken several times a day. The researchers tested an injectable gel implant that combines an FDA-approved biodegradable substance with a pH-sensitive substance to achieve a controlled and sustained drug release. The gel is injected through a single shot under the skin or into the muscle tissue, which means there's no need for a surgical implant and discomfort is minimal, they noted. The team found that the gel gradually released the key Parkinson's medications (90% of the levodopa drug and 81% of the carbidopa) over the course of one week. The findings were published in the journal Drug Delivery and Translational Research. "Reducing the frequency of dosing from multiple times a day to a weekly injection is a major step forward in Parkinson's therapy," Garg said in the release. "We're not just improving how the drug is delivered; we're improving patients' lives." Extensive lab tests confirmed the system's effectiveness and safety. "We're not just improving how the drug is delivered; we're improving patients' lives." The implant degraded by over 80% within a week and showed no significant toxicity in cell viability tests. "The implications of this research are profound," Garg added. Deepa Nakmode, a PhD student at the University of South Australia, noted that this method is designed to release both levodopa and carbidopa steadily over one week, maintaining consistent plasma levels and reducing the risks associated with fluctuating drug concentrations. "After years of focused research, it's incredibly rewarding to see our innovation in long-acting injectables for Parkinson's disease reach this stage," he said in the release. The team's invention has now been filed for an Australian patent, Nakmode added. The technology could also be adapted for other chronic conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, chronic pain and infections that require long-term drug delivery, according to Garg. The system can be tuned to release drugs over a period ranging from a few days to several weeks, depending on therapeutic needs. For more Health articles, visit Scientists hope to start clinical trials in the near future and are exploring opportunities to make the gel commercially available.
ABC News
13-07-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Researchers develop injection in bid to replace multiple Parkinson's medications
Researchers have developed a new injection they hope will one day become a "game-changer" for people living with Parkinson's disease. Scientists from the University of South Australia have worked for more than two years to develop the formula, designed to replace the need for multiple daily oral medications. The dose combines two commonly used medications for Parkinson's — levodopa and carbidopa — into a single injection. The biodegradable solution is designed to be injected into a patient where it forms an implant under the skin and steadily releases the medication over seven days. "One injection will be good for one week as compared to a patient taking three or four tablets every day," Professor Sanjay Garg, from the University of South Australia's Centre for Pharmaceutical Innovation, said. Laboratory tests have so far confirmed the formula's effectiveness, but Professor Garg said the real test will be clinical trials in humans, which have yet to be undertaken. Professor Garg said the next phase will be to begin animal testing, which he hopes to start in six months, pending ethics approvals. "We will be applying these injections to animals and then assessing their blood concentrations to see how the drug release is happening," he said. He hopes the research could open up more possibilities to develop better ways to treat other chronic diseases. National peak body, Parkinson's Australia, estimates more than 150,000 Australians currently live with the disease, which progressively worsens over time and has no known cure, with treatment focusing on managing symptoms. University of South Australia PhD student, Deepa Nakmode, said the aim of creating an injectable drug was to simplify treatment for patients who currently take tablets between three to five times per day. Ms Nakmode said for elderly patients in particular, it can be difficult to remember to take each dose at the right time. "Even if they miss a single dose, they can't perform day to day activities normally," she said. Ms Nakmode said around 100 different combinations were tested before arriving at the final product, which has been filed for an Australian patent. "As a scientist you feel proud to come up with a product which is clinically needed, not just for the sake of research," she said. Parkinson's Australia CEO, Olivia Nassaris, has welcomed the findings, which she described as a "breakthrough" for patients. "There hasn't been much progress in Parkinson's medications for a number of years and the community is mostly on oral medications," Ms Nassaris said. "There is no such medication on the market which is the same as this." Former academic Peter Willis was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative condition 10 years ago, when he was in his 70s. "I was in the car and my hand shook. I thought, 'That's funny, I don't recall that happening [before]'," Mr Willis said. The 86-year-old takes oral medication four times a day in addition to other tablets for a heart condition — but he admits he sometimes forgets. He said a weekly injection would be easier to manage. "Having to remember four every day is a pain in the arse," he said. Mr Willis said he noticed a deterioration in his symptoms if he was not precise in the timing of taking his daily medications. "If you don't take the tablet on time, you discover you can't walk," he said.
Mint
05-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Aakash accuses EY of professional misconduct, advising rivals in conflict of interest
New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Test preparatory firm Aakash Educational Services has sent a legal notice to consultancy firm EY, its partners and officials, accusing them of advising rivals in conflict of interest and professional misconduct, the company said on Saturday. Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) has alleged that EY was deeply involved in its financial operations since 2021, including advising on the proposed merger with Think & Learn Private Ltd, which owns the Byju's brand. The test preparatory firm said EY has been involved in the structuring and conversion of debentures into equity and it has now come to light that the consultancy firm also acted as the "exclusive financial advisor and official result validators" to AESL's direct competitor, Allen Career Institute. "Aakash Educational Services has served a second legal notice through Senior Advocate CV Nagesh to multiple partners and officials of Ernst & Young LLP (EY), accusing the firm of conflict of duty and professional misconduct," AESL said in a statement. An email query sent to EY did not elicit any reply. "The legal notice highlights that despite AESL's repeated requests through emails dated April 12, May 6, and May 17, 2025, EY has failed to provide documents and communications related to key transactions, suggesting concealment of critical information," the statement said. AESL alleged that the refusal contradicts EY's substantial involvement in AESL's decision-making and execution of transactions, including the once-proposed merger with TLPL and matters related to the issuance and conversion of debentures. AESL, Head for Legal, Sanjay Garg said the company has already issued notice to Ajay Shah of EY and also impleaded him and other partners of EY in the pending oppression and mismanagement petition filed by the RP of TLPL, who is also from EY, to respond to the allegations therein. "AESL has now come to know EY acted as an exclusive financial advisor and official result validators to a competitor which is a matter of deep concern. AESL is examining the initiation of further civil and criminal proceedings against EY in this regard," Garg said. AESL has claimed that this simultaneous engagement with a competitor represents an unethical conflict of interest and has called for an investigation into EY's conduct. Byju's founders have also sued EY, citing an email from a whistleblower which shows the involvement of the consultancy firm with GLAS Trust. US-based GLAS Trust has filed an insolvency case against Byju's.
