Uttam Pradesh?

There is nothing unexpected about this deadly disease raising its head in this season. The monsoon is at its last phase, and the paddy fields are inundated. So this year8217;s epidemic should have come as no surprise. If the lack of preventive medical care is condemnable, the apathy to the disease when it first raised its head several weeks ago is criminal. It is only now that the mandatory fogging and spraying operations are being done to control the mosquitoes and the piggeries shunted out. The country has developed an indigenous vaccine which is believed to have an efficacy of 95 per cent. If the children in the affected areas had been vaccinated in time, many lives could have been saved. But this requires institutional will, something that the UP government has shown itself to be short on in matters other than the narrowly political.

The epidemic is a reminder of the truly vulnerable: the children. Some 47 per cent of Indian children are underweight. It is not surprising that they are prey to diseases of all kinds, many of which leave them with physical disabilities that rob them of lives as functioning adults. It8217;s the future we are talking about, Mr Chief Minister.