Power shortage in MP, for whom ?

Backside of call centre in Indore
This is recent picture of back side of a call centre in Indore which is meant to service 'global customers'. State of Madhya Pradesh may feel happy to bring in centres like these as part of their Global investment agenda, but they take away major share of electricity which is for 'people of the state' when they run on a/c's like these to service 'overseas clients'. Madhya Pradesh has a requirement of 3,500 Mega Units per day and the availability is only 2,400 Mega Units. State is deficit on electricty front and the major burden of the same is borne by people in the rural region of the state not by centres like these as they get the major share of the power generated as part of State's committment to attract global investments ?

Derogatory advertisement by Wipro Smartlite CFL

WIPRO SMARTLITE compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is a brand of Wipro consumer care and lighting that is a business unit of Wipro Limited. It has a range of products from toilet soaps, hair care soaps, baby care products and lighting products.

Wipro CFL has established its presence CFL (lightning market) in India. To promote Wipro Smartlite, CFL Company has roped in celebrity, Paresh Raval, and the advertisement is on air on television now a days. It tries to educate consumers about savings through switching from bulbs to CFL. The ad promotes CFL manufactured by Wipro and tries to dissuade the customer for not using inferior quality, which the ad says consumes more energy. The product is positioned as ‘money saving device’ and itself will act as a savings account (money) for the house.

The advertisement may be right and powerful, but the words used by Rawal do not reflect the same. He says a ‘metric fail’ to the person who is not using CFL or using inferior quality CFL. It is a derogatory word and he does not agree to it. A person who is metric fail can be smart enough too, he adds.

Though the spirit of Wipro places respect of individual and sensitivity at its highest vision and quotes on its website as ‘believe in a society where each citizen sees the ethic of equity, the essentiality of diversity, the ethos of justice, and is thus driven to social action. It is seeing each of us is inextricably embedded in the same social fabric’.

Which parameters did Wipro and its advertisement agency use to define that being ‘metric fail’ meant for not being smart? They are wrong here and probably should withdraw the same from the advertisement. In India, businessmen, though not being formally educated in school and colleges, have made it big in their business. Many big industrial houses of today have been set up by business men who were great, smart and probably have had, owing to some reasons, less formal educational qualifications.

As per many experts, smartness is an essential personality factor to manage things. Interestingly, business schools today tell their students that the current job market does also need being ’street smarts’. This use of word in its tagline by Wipro is wrong, and by the means of this piece I would like to draw the attention of other fellow citizen journalists and of advertising standards council of India towards this advertisement.

Politics stand with collective, which can make a difference

Getting grass root issue within the construe of political discourse is a big challenge. Though simple issues like primary education of children, high infant mortality, increasing crime against dalits women, malnutrition, no roads in SC/ST villages etc. Though these issues impact people, and it is not that political leaders are not aware of them. They are, especially the local ones, but it hardly affects them. Why as it does not impact them, their image and above all their voting constituency. And if the issues impact weaker sections, children, women, it will never make it to political discourse until and unless someone pushes it. System systematically or authoritatively makes sure that they cannot raise their voice and in case it happens, the system will try to curb that voice. Issues like these are not raised in the place they should be – i.e. state assemblies or parliament. But why? Political discourse is polemical. It speaks for collective a ‘polis’. So if the issue impacts that collective it still does not become part of that discourse. Reason is that it does not threaten the existence and values of that collective and does not impact existence its political leaders. Yes the day that threatens them, it will become part of the discourse. It is but natural that collective that votes for them and brings them to power gets so much affected and impacted that it impacts their voting pattern, - which is life line to their existence – the issue will become political. They will find way to make it political but that too for their advantage? It is clear that it is that collective of people which makes votes can make a difference. The need is to bring some together and catalyze that ‘collective’ on the issue which impacts them. But how, that is not easy – this collective has lot of aspects like distribution of power; interests of people involved, formal and informal rules that govern the interaction among different players in the process. It needs recognition of the power of collective, empowerment, and collective to understand the problem, may be solution and how they together can raise concern to seek solution of the problem which is workable and suitable.

SC/ST atrocities highest in MP

5,711 cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have been registered in Madhya Pradesh in the year 2006, while in Rajasthan the number was 4,877, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday. Madhya Pradesh has registered largest number of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes closely followed by Rajasthan.

In Uttar Pradesh, 4,838 cases were registered, 4,579 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,918 in Karnataka, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Northeastern states of Meghalaya and Mizoram registered zero cases of atrocities against SC/STs and similar was the case with Lakshwadeep and Puducherry, she said.

Jano Re Abhiyan resents RTI amendments in MP

'Jano Re Abhiyan' is a civil society movement being supported by various NGOs pushing to create awareness on Right to information in the state of MP. Recently in Madhya Pradesh some changes have been made in Right to Information act. In which the provisions for BPL have been altered .The state government has made changes in fees and appeal rules. The amendment states that photocopies of document upto only 50 pages would be provided to the BPL applicant if the information seek by them were not directly related to them .It will now be very difficult for an uneducated and illiterate rural person to argue with a government official for proving the legitimacy and relevance of the information being seeked by him.

Janu re abhiyan is resenting the same. They say that that the amendment will now provide an excuse to the government on the pretext of above changes. The genuine rights of the poor and marginalized of the country will be denied.

Keep up the pressure !

If social organizations want they can make the issue of people to bring it to attention of eyes and ears of people in power. No doubt it is tough and requires a sustained effort, but it is possible.

Recently survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy who had been continuously pushing the impact of the suffering of the people impacted by Bhopal Gas Tragedy went on a 38 days of padyatra from Bhopal to New Delhi and then had to sit on 20 day "dharna" at Jantar Mantar to rake up conscious of the GOI over their pathetic plight of children who are suffering from by ground-water contamination in Bhopal as impact of Bhopal gas Tragedy. This campaign was organized by three NGOs namely Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action working for the survivors of Bhopal disaster.

Finally they were able to meet the Group of Ministers in GOI who had assured them that it would endorse and forward their demand for a special commission to address rehabilitation, and for legal action against Dow and Union Carbide, to the Prime Minister. In the meeting while emphasising that it had never conceded the Madhya Pradesh government's request for inclusion of 20 additional municipal wards in Bhopal as gas-affected, the GoM members clarified that it had requested the State government to submit data on gas-related deaths and injuries in the 20 wards. But no such data had been submitted till date. Chemical and Fertilizers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan who met the delegation, assured that the government would continue its efforts to make the Dow Chemical pay Rs. 100 crore as advance for environmental remediation. Hopefully it will bring some results, but one would need to keep the pressure till the time people get justice.

Indore traffic chaos solution - PIL

After hearing Public Interest Litigation rightly done by a citizen about the rise in encroachments and roaming animals which cause immense traffic problems in Indore. Indore is the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued notices to the Mayor and other top police and administrative officials for alleged mismanagement of the city, with increasing encroachments and animal menace causing problems for the locals. Indore has a major problem over parking of vehicles on wrong sites, issues of encroachments and it his high time that district administration tale some steps.

Hopefully some steps on issues of parking arrangements, but am not sure if major issue of encroachment will see any action (Pressure from the big – wigs f the city !) or may be more PIL’s will be needed to make sure that traffic of Indore can breathe easily.

Public health infrastructure in MP needs an urgent attention

The State of Madhya Pradesh has the highest rates of malnutrition among the children in India. As per the latest National Family Health Survey 60 % of its children in age group of 0 – 3 years are under nourished. Madhya Pradesh has the highest infant mortality rate and 3rd highest maternal mortality ratio in the country. 76 out of every 1000 children born in the state die before their first birthday and approximately 24 women die everyday in the state. Though the state has introduced many schemes to help combat the same, but is not yielding the desired results for children and women. As per state's health department web site Madhya Pradesh for its population of 60.38 million (as per 2001 census) has the following health infrastructure:

- District hospitals 48
- Civil hospitals 54
- Community health centers 270
- Primary health centers 1149
- Sub health centers 8834
- Sanctioned beds in district hospitals 8945
- Sanctioned beds in civil hospitals 2775
- Total licensed blood banks by state 41

Activists have been strongly advocating to call attention on the issues of maternal and infant survival in the state. An analysis taken by civil society organizations on rural health infrastructure versus the population in the state reveals that there is just 'one bed per 5.6 villages' in the state which indeed is alarming!. It is not only the issue of beds or buildings. Even where there are structures or health centers they lack basic minimum facilities as needed and defined by rules and are not sufficient enough to save lives or provide for better health care to its people.

As per Reproductive and Child Health District level household survey (2004) data, out of the 386 primary health centre's surveyed in the state only 224 had drinking water facility. This means that only 58.3 percent primary health centre's had drinking water while others have no such facility. Similarly in case of community health centre's out of the 46 surveyed only 10 had facility of drinking water. In case of vehicles like ambulances out of the 386 primary health centers surveyed only 35 had vehicles which were in running condition and out of 46 community health centre's surveyed 31 had vehicles in the running condition.

Infrastructure investment does not only mean building equipments etc. It does includes human resource, which is the core in health, and needs to be focused upon. State needs to fulfill vacancies of doctors, para-medics, and nurses but also provide them with facilities to support them to provide care for the people. The State needs to peg health of its people as priority number one, transform on immediate basis which is not only limited to public proclamations and announcing schemes but also delivering results at ground level.

The dangerous roads ?

Driving on Indian roads is not an easy call. Every day, many lives are lost on roads all over India. The number of people, who die on road accidents, has been increasing every year. However, this can be prevented by adopting some safety measures

The World Road Statistics, 2006, which provided the data for the year 2003 in respect of India, indicated that the number of persons killed per lakh of population in India was 8.08. As per the preliminary tentative data shared by KH Muniyappa, minister of state for shipping, road transport and highways, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, as per the press note released by Press Information Bureau on December 6, 2007, which covers the majority of States and Union Territories, the number of deaths due to road accident is estimated at more than a lakh (1,01,439) during the year 2006, as compared to the figure of 94,968 deaths for the year 2005. This clearly indicates that Indian roads are perilous.

Looking at the data for year 2005, the capital city of India, Delhi, had reported 1,717 deaths on its roads in year 2005, which was highest in India. Among other cities, which reported the highest number of deaths on roads was Chennai, the second highest behind Delhi with 1,055 deaths, followed by 835 in Bangalore, 787 in Mumbai, 598 in Kanpur, 577 in Hyderabad, 495 in Jaipur and 484 in Kolkata. It may be pertinent to note here that two third of people, who died on road in the year 2005, were in the 15-44 age bracket, meaning we are loosing lives at young age. And it is not that only heavy vehicles, which are responsible for this, data revealed that smaller vehicles, like cars and two wheelers contribute virtually as much as heavier vehicles like trucks.

But it is not that we cannot respond to this and let people die on its road. China has been able to bring down its road death tally. In the year 2005, 98,738 people died on road accidents in China, which came down to 89,455 in year 2006. China has reported a drop of 10.8 per cent in road accidents for last four consecutive years staring from 2003, despite registering a growth in the number of privately owned cars. This means it is possible, maybe something we can learn from them.

This issue raises concern on how lives get wasted in India, which can be prevented. It is matter of roads, road safety; emergency services available post accidents on roads, safety standards, condition of vehicles on road, drivers behind wheels, visibility on the road etc, meaning we need a sustained and multi pronged approach to address this. But the bigger question is that who will do it? Governments of India, passes on the buck to state that this issue fall under state domain, while the state says that it has limited resources and cannot do beyond. Whosever domain it may fall, fact is that India needs to prevent this to happen and guarantee its citizens certain amount of life security on the road and there needs to be accountability for the same.

Bhopal bloggers meet..

'Bhopal bloggers' - this is name to a group of bloggers who blog from city of Bhopal. They met for the first time last Wednesday at Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism, Bhopal.It was chance to share, show one's blog, meet and learn from each other's experience. Even the introduction was different, instead of name and organisation etc.. it was by one's name, name of blog and may be blog's short history.

Not many blog in and from Bhopal, but interest is increasing, so is the numbers and new ones to join in include are students of journalism who are getting on it and joining in the league. Bloggers who participated and shared their experiences were -

Shaishanu Mukherjee, he who blogs at www.bhopale.blogspot.com and has a lot of information on and about Bhopal, its history and what is happening in and around Bhopal.

CNN IBN's Hemendra Sharma blogs on IBN live blogging platform and his blog is called 'IN CONVERSATION' which has many of his personal experiences during his professional career. His blog is on an open platform where many had commented including critiqued on his posts.

Shela Masood shared her experience on her blog www.letzchangedrulz-miracles.blogspot.com and how many whom she did not knew ever had got in touch due to this blog.

Manisha Pandey who blogs in Hindi on www.bedakhalkidairy.blogspot.com and shares her thoughts, ideas and feeling on women whom she says are left out 50 % percent population on her blog.

Their are many theme blogs from Bhopal like one on agricuklture www.khetkhaliyan.blogspot.com blogged by Shiv Narayan, who feels that this will serve as a resource base in hindi on issues linked to agriculture which are real important in this part of India.

Other theme blogs include www.safemotherhood.blogspot.com on maternal mortality and www.foeticide.blogspot.com

Raju who writes his poetic feelings on www.suratehal.blogspot.comshared on he started it like 'something' as a past time and now it brings you back. He adds that it indeed is becoming an important web platform to share.

Department of journalism, Makhanlal University of Journalism now has its own blog www.dojmcu.blogspot.com which not only helps us to share information on what is happening on the campus but also helps students to network with our alumni,' adds P.P. Singh, Head of Department of Journalism.

Vedvat Giri of www.mynews.in shared about his citizen journalism site and how his site can be important platform to blog. He did offer to all 'Bhopal bloggers' - though some of them are already a part, to be citzien journalist of mynews and they could share their blog stories with the site.


Students of journalism like Siddarth Bhardawaj who blogs on www.siddharthbhardwaj.blogspot.com and many other like Shiv who blogs on scam24.blogspot.com were present and shared their experiences.

Solar Cooking ki Duniya !

Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, is an non governmental organisation at Indore in Madhya Pradesh. It is helping empower young rural and tribal women to become agents of social change. The institute was started and is managed by the ‘J duo’s’ – Janak and Jimmy McGilligan, both of them, committed Bahai’s.

At the institute everything is cooked on solar cooking systems. Their kitchen, water heating system all is powered by solar energy. Be it a tea,lunch,dinner, or heating of water all is done by harnessing solar energy. It is simply great to see such an extensive and productive use of solar energy.

It was probbaly 1988 when they got the first soolar cooker installed there and since then they not only use solar energy for themselves but serve as laboratory for use of solar energy and propogate the same. Institute also manufactures and establishes solar kitchens for other NGOs. ‘They have to feel the need of the same and have ownership of the same then only it works’ Jimmy adds emphatically. They have established four solar cookers in Dhar and Jhabua .

I have heard a lot on use of solar energy but when one visits the Institute one feels and see the same in practice how it happens and how it can deliver and help conserve energy…..

contributed by anil

Ambulance at doctors residence !

This is the photograph of Ambulances parked at residence of Block Medical Officer of the block hospital in Obdullahganj, Hoshangabad. Though it is in premises of the hospital but still is not allowed. Hope the keys are with hospital staff ?. Need of ambulance can happen at any time and can be crucial in saving one' life.....it should be in the hospital and always available on call.......

Children seek protection of rights of Tibetan children

Hundreds of children from India and Tibet joined hands to demand protection for the rights of children in Tibet. Children from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh marched on to the streets of Delhi carrying the plank cards with the specific demands- "Peace for Children and Children for peace", "Ensure free and quality education for all children in Tibet", "Restore rights freedom dignity and education of Tibetan children". Later on they participated in dharna and peace march at Gandhi Smadhi Rajghat and raised their concern on safety of rights of Tibetan children. The demonstration was organised under the banner of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) with the support of other like minded organisations.

Ducks, rice root cause of bird flu: Study

Chickens are no more the root cause behind bird flu outbreaks, but it is ducks, rice and people, says a study by a UN agency.

According to a new study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ducks, rice and people are the most significant factors in the spread of avian influenza in Thailand and Vietnam.

Through the use of satellite mapping, researchers looked at a number of different factors, including the numbers of ducks, geese and chickens, human population size, rice cultivation and geography, and found a strong link between duck grazing patterns and rice cropping intensity. In Thailand, for example, the proportion of young ducks in flocks was found to peak in September-October; these rapidly growing young ducks can therefore benefit from the peak of the rice harvest in November-December.

These peaks in congregation of ducks indicate periods in which there is an increase in the chances for virus release and exposure, and rice paddies often become a temporary habitat for wild bird species, the agency said in a news release.

The study also found that these factors are probably behind persistent outbreaks in other countries such as Cambodia and Laos. In addition, with virus persistence becoming increasingly confined to areas with intensive rice-duck agriculture in eastern and south-eastern Asia, evolution of the H5N1 virus may become easier to predict.

The findings can help better target control efforts and replace indiscriminate mass vaccination, the release said. FAO estimates that approximately 90 per cent of the world’s more than 1 billion domestic ducks are in Asia, with about 75 per cent in China and Vietnam.

Neglect of agriculture hits poor - UN- ESCAP

Chronic neglect of the agricultural sector in Asia and the Pacific is condemning 218 million people to continuing extreme poverty, and widening the gap between the region’s rich and poor, according to the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008, launched at multiple locations today throughout the region by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The Survey is ESCAP’s flagship publication. It examines the Asia-Pacific region’s key short- and medium-term prospects and challenges in macroeconomic and selected social areas, especially from the point of view of minimizing human suffering; be it from economic hardships or social inequality. In addition, the Survey explores critical long-term development issues relevant to all developing countries in the region. This year’s issue also marks the 60th anniversary of the Survey, first published in Shanghai in May 1948.

This year’s Survey, entitled “Sustaining Growth and Sharing Prosperity,” says 218 million – a third of the region’s poor, largely living in rural areas – could be lifted out of poverty by raising agricultural productivity. The Survey also calls for a comprehensive liberalization of global trade in agriculture, as this would take a further 48 million people out of poverty in the region.


ESCAP’s focus on the agricultural sector comes amid signs of rising food prices, pressured by soaring demand for biofuels. The Survey says that biofuels are not only hurting poor consumers in Asia and the Pacific through high food prices, but they are also failing to help the region's poor farmers who do not have the resources to adapt their land to the biofuel crops.

The Survey proposes a strategy to ensure agriculture is both economically and socially viable, contributing to efforts to eradicate poverty in the region and returns agriculture to its rightful place in reducing poverty and inequality.

Agriculture needs revitalization. This requires a market orientation with a focus on improving agricultural productivity. Also needed are reforms in land policies, connecting the rural poor to cities and markets, and making it easier for farmers to access loans and crop insurance. Along with this approach, diversification of skills should complement agricultural development – by empowering the poor, particularly women, improving skills to tap labour market opportunities and by promoting rural non-farm activities and regional growth centres.

Assam launches free cancer treatment scheme

The Assam government on Tuesday launched free cancer treatment facilities, including chemotherapy and anti-cancer drugs. Launching the scheme, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that it was a part of the state government's endeavour to improve the healthcare system through a slew of initiatives undertaken in the past couple of years. The Chief Minister said that with the availability of chemotherapy drugs free of cost in the Cancer Institute equipped with the state of art technology, the patients need not go outside the state for treatment. The Assam Government plans to
launch a host of new initiatives which include free post-operative kidney transplant treatment, spectacles and hearing aids to poor people in the coming months.

Does smoking makes you look cool? Think again...

Recent survey has revealed that teenagers, who pick up smoking at early stage, are more likely to develop hearing disorders and they will have difficulty concentrating in their studies. Smoking at teenage will also hamper the growth of their brain.

As per an article published in the ‘New Scientist’ titled as ‘Teenage smokers risk badly wired brains’, quotes the study of Leslie Jacobsen of Yale University School of Medicine and his colleagues who had used diffusion tensor imaging, which measures how water diffuses through brain tissue to study the affect of smoking in teens. The study reveals that the development of the brain could be hampered due to smoking in teenage.

Researchers found that young smokers, particularly boys, are more likely to suffer from hearing disorders. Brain is particularly vulnerable to the effects of tobacco during adolescence, the time when it is rapidly maturing. Some young smokers suffer from hearing problems and also find it hard to concentrate in their studies. The teens studied were a group of young students, aged between 14 and 19. The changes found in the regions responsible for relaying signals to the ear, were greatest in the smokers, suggesting the brain is at heightened risk while maturing during adolescence.

Study also points out that teenagers who smoke, or whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, are also more likely to suffer from auditory attention deficits, meaning they find it difficult to concentrate on what is being said, when other things are happening at the same time. It may be pertinent to mention here that smoking and chewing tobacco contribute to some eight lakh deaths in India every year.

Issues like portrayal of smoking as cool, easy availability of cigarettes around educational institutions, message of smoking getting reinforced in films, advertisements, attracts many young ones towards smoking. In fact, many surveys carried out by many NGOs across India have time and again reflected the issue of increasing trend of smoking among youngsters and teen smokers picking up their first cigarette very early in age and its impact on them. The above study once again brings the same issue in debate and calls for some action. Though study has been carried out in US and not in India, but still it corroborates the fact that we need stringent action on issue of smoking, especially among teens

Contributed by anil gulati

MP gets 14 thousand crores

Annual Plan for Madhya Pradesh for the year 2007-08 was approved today by Planning Commission today at a meeting between the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Delhi.

As per Government of India press release the Plan outlay agreed is to the tune of Rs.14182.61 crores which include one time additional central assistance of Rs.150 crores for projects of special interest to the State. Montek Singh Ahluwalia while commenting on the plan stressed for more attention on human development. He said that social sector needs priority and efforts should be aimed at improving human development index with policy initiatives for creating investor friendly environment.

He added that State Government should avail benefits available under various social sector schemes. Efforts should be made to improve performance in various programmes under Bharat Nirman and priority should be given to schemes related to Bundelkhand area. Power sector should get focused attention as achievement of higher growth rate in Eleventh Plan could be constrained due to power shortage.

The Chief Minister of MP informed the Commission that thrust areas of development policy would be eliminating hunger, mal-nutrition and abject poverty. Livelihood opportunity would be created through generating economic activities based on natural resources. A number of new initiatives have been taken to improve social protection. These include Mukhya Mantri Mazdoor Suraksha Yojana, integrated livelihood programme and Din Dayal Antodya Upchar Yojana.

Fiscal reforms are being pursued with focused attention to ensure good governance. State Government is working to facilitate investments and creating more physical and social infrastructure.

He while stressed that needs of disadvantage including women, SCs/STs and disabled is on the prioty agenda of the government. Efforts are on to reduce dependence on agriculture in rural areas and for this purpose allied areas are being given priority.

Culling in Malda

With less than 50 per cent of the targeted 44,000 diseased chicken having been culled, authorities here have decided to continue the operation for two more days in two municipal areas of Malda district, plagued by bird flu for the second time.

Official sources said 30 animal husbandry department teams, each having six members, were involved in the operation in Englishbazar, Old Malda town municipal areas and adjoining Sahapur, which was earlier scheduled to be over on March 23.

While 15,000 fowls have so far killed in state-run firms, over 5,000 birds were culled in privately-run poultries in nearby areas since Thursday, sources said.

The culling operation slackened due to the weekend festivities, the sources conceded adding the operation will now get momentum. Meanwhile, mopping drive will take place in areas where culling has been completed, from tomorrow, sources said.

Although culling was underway within three-km radius of the affected areas, surveillance was on a ten-km stretch. Blood samples from the two areas sent to Bhopal Laboratory had tested positive on March 19. An avian influenza scare gripped the district following the death of 1,100 birds in a state-owned poultry farm located within the Malda municipal area's ward no. II since March 12.

Malda is the second district after Murshidabad to be declared bird flu-hit in fresh outbreak in last nine days. Avian flu had been reported from two blocks in Murshidabad. The first bird flu attack was reported in the district's Chanchal-1 block in January.

Rains play havoc in Kerala

PTI reports that three children have slipped to death in a swollen river in Wayanad district on Saturday as heavy rain continued to lash kerala, taking the toll to 11 since the onset of the current spell seven days ago. Three boys, who were fishing on the banks of the Varadoor river near Panamaram town in Wayanad, slipped into the swirling waters and drowned as the embankment caved in, police said.

While there was a let up in rains in Southern districts during the day, the Northern and Central parts of the state continued to be battered by heavy rain.Large stretches of ready-to-harvest paddy had been lost and the abnormally severe summer rain posed a grim threat to cash crops as well. According to the government, the loss suffered by the farm sector alone would come to at least Rs 100 crore and had sought Central help to tide over the situation.