Ashwin Bhadri

From January 2025 to January 2026, sewage-contaminated piped water caused disease outbreaks in 26 cities across 22 states and union territories, sickening at least 5,500 people and killing 34. Sixteen state capitals were on that list. In Gandhinagar, Gujarat’s capital, more than 150 children were hospitalised with typhoid in a single week after contaminated water entered the supply. In Bengaluru, residents of an entire layout reported diarrhoea and stomach infections after sewage contaminated...

You are not just eating a chemical; you are eating a nutritionally hollowed version of the fruit you paid for. Every summer, as temperatures climb and school breaks begin, India's fruit markets transform. Mango pyramids glow amber at every corner stall. Bananas arrive in perfect, uniformly yellow bunches. Papayas look like they've been plucked at precisely the right moment. For consumers, it looks like abundance. For food safety regulators, it looks like a red flag. India produces around 18...