Overview

• Since mid-July heavy monsoon rains have led to at least a dozen child drownings in open water sites from Tamil Nadu to Madhya Pradesh.
• Tamil Nadu’s chief minister has approved a ₹3 lakh solatium for each family of the three schoolboys who drowned in a temple pond near Thanjavur.
• SDRF divers recovered the bodies of two girls from an abandoned borewell in Satna district and remain on the ground searching for two teenagers swept into a canal in Baramulla.
• Investigations point to unprotected ponds, uneven dredging and unmarked wells as widespread hazards in rural and semi-urban communities.
• Officials and safety advocates are pressing for the immediate installation of barriers, clear signage and supervised access at vulnerable water bodies.