Doctors get warning

THE Uttar Pradesh government has issued show-cause notices to about 150 surgeons for not performing any surgery in the past three months. Most surgeons who received the notices were from Allahabad, Sitapur and Kanpur.

Farmers quit mentha

IT IS back to square one for the farmers of Jalaun district in Uttar Pradesh. Reeling under persistent drought from 2003-08, they were driven to mentha (mint) cultivation that promised good returns. Instead, it increased debts. Cultivation of this water-intensive crop is fast shrinking due to depletion of groundwater and no alternative source of irrigation in drought-prone Bundelkhand region of the state.

Spoils of local bodies

This was the fourth panchayat poll when Shila Devi of Nayamatpur village cast her vote. The polls usually were a staid affair, with two or three candidates campaigning on bullock carts or on foot. But this year, the 50-something was struck by the dust raised by cavalcades of SUVs, all plastered with posters and packed with campaigners. Nineteen candidates from her village of 4,000 were in the fray for the post of gram pradhan. Liquor flowed freely; saris and other gifts were in plenty too. Never before did Devi see such intensity during a panchayat election. Nor did Uttar Pradesh.

Mystery stricken

ALREADY battling with Japanese Encephalitis, eastern Uttar Pradesh is now under the grip of a mystery fever. Till September 16 this year, 277 children died in 12 districts of the region. The physicians and scientists remain clueless about the genesis of the disease.

What beekeepers use

“We use only Chinese strips. We do not know what it contains but it is the most effective,” says Lal Bahadur of Etah district of Uttar Pradesh when asked why he does not use formic and oxalic acid scientists recommend.

Double take

“What do you want from us? Blood, saliva or data?” People confronted me as soon as I entered Mohammadpur Umri.

Desperate for Expressway

Setting aside environmental concerns and ignoring the threat to one of the most fertile belts in India, Uttar Pradesh government is set to start work on the eight-lane expressway along the Upper Ganga Canal. The 147.8 km expressway will connect Greater Noida in Gautam Budh Nagar district and the Uttar Pradesh- Uttarakhand border.

Letters

Clay balm for Pushkar

Messing with history

Dashehari village takes pride in having the oldest dashehari tree. No one knows the exact age of the tree. Brijrani Yadav, 85, recalls she used to climb the tree to pluck mangoes when she came to the village after getting married at the age of 16. “Even my grandmother-in-law did not know the age of this tree,” she said. A souvenir published in 1974 by the state’s Directorate of Horticulture and Fruit Utilisation claimed the tree was 150 years old then.

Mango resistance

Sushil Kumar Lodhi, 32, walks about Dashehari village with newspaper clippings, which carried news of his grandfather’s death. His grandfather suffered a heart attack on his way back from Lucknow.