‘What is our fault?’ — With schools shut and no internet access, rural students worry about the board exams
Board examinations are a month away and schools are shut due to the rising threat of the Omicron variant of COVID19. Rural students are worried as a majority of them have no access to smartphones or the internet to access online classes. They fear the digital divide will cost them their future.
Virendra Singh
Massive floods in October catch villagers in UP’s Barabanki by surprise
People living along the Sarayu river in Uttar Pradesh are used to the annual cycle of floods during the monsoon season which ends with September. However, this year, torrential rains between October 17-20 have inundated several villages that had barely recovered from the earlier cycle of floods.
Virendra Singh
Plummeting prices of potatoes play havoc for farmers in Uttar Pradesh
Last year, due to a series of COVID lockdowns, prices of potato had touched up to Rs 43 per kilogram, as supply chains were affected. Hoping to make profits, farmers took up potato cultivation in a big way this year. But a bumper crop has now sent the prices crashing down.
Virendra Singh
Apart from identifying fever patients, door to door survey teams in UP collect details on vaccination and TB prevalence
With the rise in cases of dengue, malaria and other vector-borne diseases in the state, Uttar Pradesh has launched a door to door survey to screen its rural population for fever, tuberculosis and other health issues. Information about COVID vaccination is also being gathered. However, ASHAs complain of lack of proper payment for the additional work.
Virendra Singh
Back To School: Classrooms have reopened in Uttar Pradesh, but where are the textbooks, ask students
While Uttar Pradesh has thrown open primary schools on September 1, students are yet to receive their books and stationery to start their classes after 18 months. Gaon Connection spoke with students and teachers of government schools in Unnao and Barabanki.
Virendra Singh
Keedi Ram owned 12 bigha of land. But floods in the Ghaghra river have made him landless.
At least 644 villages in 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh are facing floods with about 300 villages completely marooned. Ghaghra river is flowing above its danger level, and has caused havoc in Sitapur and Barabanki districts where villagers have lost both their homes and farmlands. Gaon Connection’s ground report.
Virendra Singh
With vaccine hesitancy cast aside, rural residents of Unnao and Barabanki in UP throng vaccination centres but return empty handed
Just a month back, there were reports of vaccine hesitancy in rural Uttar Pradesh and the state govt was working hard to quell it. Now villagers are travelling long distances but despite making several trips, are not receiving the vaccine, they complain. Details here.
Virendra Singh
No chill for peppermint farmers as rainfall damages crop in Uttar Pradesh
India is the world’s largest producer and exporter of peppermint, and close to 80% of the peppermint comes from Uttar Pradesh. But the recent heavy rainfall has washed away the harvest of farmers in the state. Can adopting the ‘Early Mint Technology’ help?
Virendra Singh
“I may be a jhola chaap, but I help villagers in their times of distress”
As the second wave of the COVID 19 pandemic hit the villages in the country, it also exposed the woeful inadequacies of the rural PHCs. In such a time, the villagers reposed their trust in the jhola chaap, for treatment of various ailments. Meet Rajesh Kumar, who runs a ‘clinic’ in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh.
Virendra Singh
Health official in UP’s Barabanki has been a glimmer of hope amidst tragedies of COVID19 pandemic
KK Gupta, a senior filaria inspector, has gone out of his way to help people in need. In the course of the COVID 19 pandemic, he has personally performed last rites of people, fed the poor and the hungry, and organised transportation for stranded migrant labourers.