Unfortunate though it may seem, many Indians only identify with Ladakh because of the popularity of Three Idiots and the progressive school there which Aamir Khan has now gone to assist. We tend to forget that it is part of Jammu and Kashmir because the unrest in the valley obscures everything else. Ladakh is often described as a cold desert, with scanty rainfall, which is why Leh and its environs were...

After death and destruction following mudslides, comes the fear of waterborne diseases in Leh. Doctors have reported a steady rise in the cases of gastroenteritis due to contaminated drinking water. They have also found symptoms of cholera and typhoid. Central relief agencies, including DRDO, have sent biochemical water filters, portable testing kits and chlorine tablets to the inhabitants. "There is no proper drainage system in Leh. Potable water has been...

An epidemic of cholera mainly in the slums in the eastern part of Solapur city has affected 4,048 people, leaving nine dead in the last one week. Speaking to The Hindu Solapur district Collector Jagadish Patil said, “The epidemic is in control now. Out of the nine people who died, three had tested positive for cholera. The other six died at home and their families did not allow authorities to conduct...

  A new report by Save the Children, a global child rights organization, says that climate change is the biggest global health threat to children in the 21st century. Titled Feeling the Heat: Child Survival in a Changing Climate (2009), published in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, the report examines the vulnerabilities regarding climate change and identifies the adaptation measures that can be taken...

As the 6-year-old son in an upper-class Brahmin family, Bindeshwar Pathak wanted to know what would happen if he touched a scavenger, one of India's "untouchables," stuck at the bottom of the country's social order and fated to collect and dispose of human waste. When he did, his grandmother punished him by forcing him to swallow cow dung and urine, and making him bathe in water from the Ganges. "This...