A crop-killing fungus is spreading out of Africa towards the world’s great wheat-growing areas IT IS sometimes called the “Polio of agriculture”: a terrifying but almost forgotten disease. Wheat rust is not just back after a 50-year absence, but spreading in new and scary forms. In some ways it is worse than child-crippling Polio, still lingering in parts of Nigeria. Wheat rust has spread silently and speedily by 5,000 miles in...

Even Bihar has outdone UP. Seven out of ten children in Uttar Pradesh lack protection against life threatening diseases like BCG, DPT and others. Of the ten high focus states in the country, Uttar Pradesh ranks lowest as far as routine immunisation (RI) coverage is concerned. Worse is that while other states in the category have picked up well in the last one decade, UP still lags behind. The fact...

The government has failed to effectively implement its immunization programmes targeted at reducing child mortality. Of the 113 deaths due to diphtheria — a vaccine-preventable disease — in the country in 2009, 82 occurred in Delhi. According to a report on the national health profile released by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, there has also been a staggering increase in cases of pertussis (whooping cough) from 75 in 2008...

The rollercoaster ride to success of an illiterate Bihar youth, who launched a radio station and promoted social messages on Polio, AIDS and other issues but was arrested for illegally running it, has found place in school textbooks. The story of Raghav, in his mid-20s, and his 'Raghav Radio' has been published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in its book Bharat Mein Samajik Parivartan Evam Vikas...

The rollercoaster ride to success of an illiterate Bihar youth, who launched a radio station and promoted social messages on Polio, AIDS and other issues but was arrested for illegally running it, has found place in school textbooks. The story of Raghav, in his mid-20s, and his 'Raghav Radio' has been published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in its book Bharat Mein Samajik Parivartan Evam...