In Ground Report’s daily morning podcast, “Environment Today,” we’ll discuss FSSAI’s order banning fake “ORS” drinks that don’t meet WHO standards, and the controversy in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh, where officials covered the polluted Ajnar River ahead of the Chief Minister’s visit.
Host: Shishir Agrawal | Production: Himanshu Narware | Episode: 44
Headlines
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued an order stating that no food brand can use the term “ORS” unless the product meets WHO standards.
Himachal Pradesh has 83 snow leopards, according to the second statewide population assessment. The department conducted a survey for over a year in the state’s high-altitude regions in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF). The survey was conducted using extensive camera-trapping across six representative sites covering 26,000 square kilometers of snow leopard habitat. It identified 44 distinct adult snow leopards, similar to the 2021 assessment. These leopards were photographed 262 times, leading to an estimated statewide population of 83 snow leopards (excluding cubs).
The Chhattisgarh High Court has dismissed a petition challenging the cancellation of community forest rights granted to villagers of Ghatbarra in the Hasdeo Arand forest area. A company owned by Adani Enterprises operates the Parsa East and Kete Basen coal mines here. The court’s order addressed for the first time whether forest rights granted under the 2006 Forest Rights Act (FRA) can be revoked, as the law has no explicit provision for this. The single bench of Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey stated that granting community forest rights was itself a “mistake” that was “corrected” by cancellation, concluding that this made the rights-granting order “void ab initio” (null from the beginning).
On the first day of the northeast monsoon on Thursday, five women working in fields died in two separate lightning strike incidents in Tamil Nadu.
Between October 1-14, over 70 stubble burning incidents were recorded in Madhya Pradesh, more than in Punjab and Haryana. The kharif crop harvesting has begun in the state. If any farmer is found burning stubble, they will lose the ₹6,000 annual assistance and minimum support price benefits.
The NGT (National Green Tribunal) directed on October 15, 2025, the formation of a three-member committee to investigate allegations of bio-medical waste dumping in Madhya Pradesh’s Kaliasot River. The committee must visit the site and submit a factual report on actions taken. The case relates to environmental violations by H.K. Kalchuri Education Trust, known as LNCT Medical College and J.K. Hospital, Bhopal. Kaliasot is an important tributary of the Betwa River, which ultimately joins the Ganga River basin. The NGT Central Bench will hear the case next on December 15, 2025.
In Madhya Pradesh, even the CM Helpline couldn’t help Shashi Jayant Kumar Khandelwal, aunt of BJP State President Hemant Khandelwal. After 40 days of not removing an encroachment through official channels, the Tehsildar took an OTP and closed the complaint, showing it as “resolved.” The question is, if the state president’s family complaint can meet such a fate, what hope remains for ordinary citizens? Over 1.72 lakh complaints more than 50 days old are still pending statewide. In Betul alone, 2,158 complaints have exceeded the deadline but remain unresolved.
Discussion Summary
Use of term “ORS”
With Wahid Bhat, Environmental Journalist at Ground Report
Shishir (Host): So we have a major development here. After an eight-year battle, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made a historic decision. They’ve ruled that no company can use the term “ORS” on their drink labels unless the product is manufactured according to WHO standards. This entire case is really a testament to one doctor’s courage and determination.
Wahid: Absolutely. This is the story of Dr. Shivaranjani Santosh from Hyderabad, who fought against this misleading marketing for eight years. She noticed that children were becoming critically dehydrated even though their parents claimed they were giving them ORS. The reality was these were sweet flavored drinks that didn’t have the proper sodium and glucose balance that real ORS contains.
It started with a case at Dr. Santosh’s clinic. A young girl with burn injuries came in. Her family had bought a drink from the market that had “ORS” written on it, and they gave it to her because of that label. But her condition worsened. The reason? The drink had very high sugar content but very low salt. The result was that her dehydration actually increased rather than improved.
Yes. She mentioned in an interview that she started educating people on social media, created awareness posters, and tried to explain to parents what real ORS actually is. Then she filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in the Telangana High Court. She wrote to the Health Minister, the Prime Minister—everyone. But she said the journey wasn’t easy. Many people told her these were big brands and wouldn’t listen. But she didn’t give up.
In 2022, FSSAI made its first ruling that companies could write “ORS” on their products but had to include a warning stating “Not WHO Recommended.” But honestly, as you know, who reads those tiny words on labels? Especially when we’re talking about drinks. The companies found a loophole. The drinks kept selling, and Dr. Santosh appealed again. She argued that this wasn’t just misleading—it was dangerous. It was playing with children’s lives.
Yes, on October 14, 2025, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India issued a final order. They stated that no fruit-based ready-to-drink beverage can use the term “ORS.” If anyone does, legal action will be taken against that brand under Sections 52 and 53 of the Food Safety and Standards Act. FSSAI said this misleads consumers and such misleading marketing must stop. Dr. Santosh posted a video on her Instagram saying this is a victory for parents and children. No high-sugar drink can be sold under the name of ORS anymore. She also said this entire market will now shut down.
Real ORS according to WHO standards contains 2.6 grams of sodium chloride and 13.5 grams of glucose per liter of powder. This formula helps the body when it goes into the system during dehydration. It mostly comes in powder form and is WHO recommended. Now, fake ORS drinks, when you read the label, contain 100 to 120 grams of sugar, which is 10 times more. And the salt balance is completely wrong. The result is that water leaves the body and diarrhea actually increases. If you’ve read the back labels of fake ORS brands, many places it says “Not recommended during diarrhea,” but on the front side, they’ve written “ORS DRINK” in big bold letters.
It’s simple. Whenever you buy ORS, it always comes in powder form. And on the front side itself, it’s written “WHO Recommended Formula.” You’ll see all those details right at the beginning. And mostly it’s available in pharmacies and government health centers. You won’t find fake ORS drinks there. The bottled ones that come in flavors, like people say they want orange flavor or mango flavor, all of those are fake. The label has “ORS” written in big letters, but the formula isn’t there. They’re not actually made that way.
Dr. Santosh also pointed out that 13% of child deaths occur from diarrhea. ORS is a simple solution that can save children. But when fake ORS is sold in the market, it can end lives. This is the mission she took on, and after a long journey, she’s achieved this victory. And this is really a win for everyone, whether we talk about children, parents, this is a very important decision.
Host: Absolutely, Wahid. This entire case shows how one person’s effort can be so positive for a large group of people, how much impact it can have. Now, Ground Report, although we legally don’t make interventions of this sort, we are conscious about the environment and continuously bring news from ground zero related to the environment. The meaning of all those stories and the entire effort is that the situation should improve. People’s attention should go toward it, and action should be taken.
Some important news has been reported in recent days from Rajgarh by my colleague Abdul Wasim Ansari. He informed me this morning that there’s been progress on some of his stories. Let’s find out from him what those stories were and what the updates are.
CM visit sparks Rajgarh cover-up
With Abdul Wasim, Correspondent at Ground Report
Abdul: Thank you, Shashi. I want to inform you that Ground Report recently filed a report in which we explained that Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav of Madhya Pradesh announced compensation for farmers in about 13 to 18 districts whose crops were destroyed by excessive rainfall and a virus called Yellow Mosaic. This compensation was given based on surveys. However, farmers in Rajgarh district were completely excluded from this compensation amount, which had been making farmers continuously angry. They even protested.
The officials’ stance was that Rajgarh district wasn’t included in the excessive rainfall category. Crop cutting was used as the basis. So when this survey was conducted using crop cutting as the basis and the file was sent forward, today Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav is coming to Rajgarh district to distribute crop compensation to farmers. The Public Relations Department has stated that relief of approximately ₹77 crores will be given by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to the farmers.
But along with this, let me tell you that Dr. Mohan Yadav, where he’s coming in Byavra city of Rajgarh district, will also inaugurate development works there. These include drinking water systems, new rest houses, road construction, education, and irrigation infrastructure.
But before that, I want to inform you about something. Ground Report also filed a story about the Ajnar River, which is the lifeline of Byavra city and flows through it. In that story, we reported that this river has so much pollution and garbage that even after digging about 10 feet, the soil remains polluted. This was told to us by Ahmed, who is the Municipal Corporation CMO. When we filed this story, many people reacted saying the river is indeed so dirty and polluted that every person who comes here considers it a drain.
So when Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav is coming here today, he will conduct his roadshow through this route and reach the assembly venue. To hide this river, what the local and district administration has done is they’ve hung curtains on both sides of the Ajnar River bridge and put up large hoardings and banners so that the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh cannot see the river’s filth and its deplorable condition.
But the local villagers here are so smart that when we were observing this and capturing it on our camera, they were coming forward and telling us in between that all this has been done so the filth isn’t visible because the Chief Minister is coming.
Host: Absolutely, Abdul. And I’m seeing this entire trend from the capital, in different cities across the country. It’s definitely there in the capital too. I remember when the Swachh Survekshan (Cleanliness Survey) team was coming to Bhopal this year, all the drains that aren’t clean and fall in the main city area had tin sheets properly installed on both sides. A tin curtain-like structure was put up, and now you can’t see the river from there. But if you go a little closer and peek over there, you’ll understand how much filth is present. Especially the garbage being dumped there has only continued to increase. So we hope the administration will correct all these mistakes. But what they do is, when their senior officers are coming, they try to hide it from them instead of actually fixing it. Anyway, until these things are corrected, Ground Report will continue to report on this and all such matters.
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