Anti-measles drive kicked off

Kick-starting the anti-measles campaign in Lucknow, Minister of State for Medical and Health Nitin Agarwal on Monday said that efforts similar to the polio-eradication campaign is needed for eradication of measles, which is a serious disease.

The minister said that for the anti-measles campaign, a total of 460 teams have been formed in Lucknow, which will hold camps in schools in the first week of the campaign and reach out to communities in the second and third week. All children between the age of 9 month and 10 years will be covered under the campaign.

This is the third phase of anti-measles campaign in the state, to be held in 11 districts, including Lucknow. The first and second phase, held in December and February respectively, have already covered 1.8 crore children from 38 districts. In the third phase around 63 lakh children are expected to be covered in Lucknow, Sitapur, Unnao, Ambedkarnagar, Barabanki, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Amethi, Shravasti, Balrampur and Bahraich. The final round of the campaign will be held from April 22 in the remaining 23 districts of the state. Measles kills around one lakh children in the country annually in the country, the largest burden of which is shared by Uttar Pradesh.

SP declares candidates for Legislative Council

The Samajwadi Party has declared its candidates for five seats in the Legislative Council from graduates constituency and six from teachers constituency. The elections for these seats will be held in May 2014.

For the graduates seats, the party has fielded Rahul Sen Saxena from Lucknow, Dr Gopal Singh from Varanasi, Jagnaik Singh from Allahabad-Jhansi, Aseem Yadav from Agra and Khurshid Ahmed from Meerut-Saharanpur seat.

For the teachers constituency, the SP has named only three candidates. They are Dr Ashalata Singh from Lucknow, Sanjay Kumar Mishra from Moradabad-Bareilly and Guman Singh Yadav from Agra seat. Presently none of these seats are held by SP.

ALSO READ

SHO suspended for using 'foul language' against Akhilesh, Mulayam

BJP leader accused of killing woman, on the run

In Rae Bareli, Priyanka Gandhi tells Congress workers to be 'visible among public'

'Shiv Sena' activists thrash 'couples' during protest against Valentine's Day