In a remote Indian village in the Western state of Maharashtra, a fourth-grader named Suraj Balu Zore proudly told IPS that he can now effortlessly operate a laptop computer. Fallen by the wayside of urban India’s information technology (IT) superhighway, Khairat village – located just 80 kilometres from booming Mumbai – still has no access to the Internet.  But thanks to the recent efforts of ‘one laptop per child’ – a project...

In Gorakhpur, thousands have become a burden on their poor families Lack of rehabilitation facilities for thousands of children, disabled here after a Japanese encephalitis attack, has made life a burden for them. Already reeling under acute poverty, these children are now an economic burden on their families. The monthly allowance given by the Uttar Pradesh government to the disabled in 2005-06 was abruptly discontinued. “Life is worse than hell for my...

At least seven persons have lost vision in one eye with infection “almost incurably damaging the other” after they underwent cataract operation in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, on July 12, according to their relatives. Recently, 50 people lost their vision and three died after a cataract operation in neighbouring Durg district. While the Durg operation was conducted in a government camp, this was undertaken by a charity institute, Udayachal Dharmarth Netra Chikitsalaya, in...

Medical facilities have collapsed as encephalitis epidemic continues to rage Even as the rest of India recovers from Deepavali celebrations, residents of Poorvanchal have been marking a grim time that descends on the eastern Uttar Pradesh region each year: a time local people call the season of death. Ever since July, 470 people, mostly children, have died of viral encephalitis and its biological cousin, Japanese encephalitis — the first caused by a...

Encephalitis Eradication Movement planning questionnaire Furious residents of encephalitis-hit eastern Uttar Pradesh have said they intend to make the Central and State governments' poor public health policies an election issue when the State goes to the polls next year. Eminent paediatrician R.N. Singh told The Hindu that the newly formed Encephalitis Eradication Movement — set up in the midst of a devastating epidemic that has claimed over 500 lives, mainly of children...