The prospects of a bumper foodgrain yield during the monsoon have considerably dimmed as the threat of cyclone looms large and heavy rains continue to batter several coastal districts. Standing crop spread over an estimated 2.83 lakh hectares (a little over 7 lakh acres), according to preliminary estimates, is under water in six coastal districts. The extent could be much higher after the assessment of the damage is complete. A cyclonic...

All epidemiological data in Chhattisgarh are ‘guesstimates' Underestimation of malaria mortality figures Public hospitals ill-equipped to handle severe cases Last week, the medical journal Lancet published the results of a malaria survey undertaken by researchers as part of the Million Deaths Study, an ambitious programme that strives to document the causes of nearly one million deaths in India from the period 1998 to 2014. As per the survey 2,05,000 Indians die of malaria every...

The Rajasthan Budget for 2011-12 will make a special provision for establishment of health sub-centres and primary health centres in the tribal-dominated regions of southern regions in the State, considered remote and geographically difficult to access. State Medical and Health Minister A. A. Khan said at Gainji village in Dungarpur district on Monday that his department's officers would submit the proposals for budgetary allocations at the district level to strengthen the...

About 25,000 fishermen in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts are looking for alternative means of livelihood following a ban on marine fishing in and around the Gahirmatha sanctuary in view of mass nesting season of endangered Olive ridley sea turtles. The State government clamped a seven-month ban on Monday on fishing activity along the entire 20 km stretch of Dhamra-Barunei mouth within Gahirmatha marine sanctuary. Fishing within the prohibitory zones disturbed...

The pattern of land distribution has rendered rural landscape of UP disfavourable for farming. The precursor for this is the fragmentation of cultivable land into a large number of `small landholdings'. The process set under the demographic pressure, has caused marginalisation of a vast majority of farmers and posed a severe challenge to the prospects of rural economy and the growth of agriculture in future. Going by the official figure, UP...