When there is no electricity almost anywhere in the country, when there are more potholes than roads, when 700 million people pass stool on the roadside, when if you do not have money you die! When public education is a joke, when scores of babies die every year of diarrhea, when scores of women die during or soon after pregnancy. And and and on on on.....
India is looking at the moon! Maybe it is the only way, as looking down is very depressing!
YS rupa
India set for mission to moon
Maya Sharma
Sunday, December 16, 2007 (Byalalu)
India's unmanned mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1 is all set for launch in April 2008.
The ground infrastructure for the mission is being set up by Indian Space Research Organization, (ISRO), in the rural outskirts of Bangalore. And now, installation of a giant antenna is complete and it is all set to begin performance tests.
Now, three years after deciding that this was the spot, a 32 metre diameter antenna has been installed. This portion of the project will cost Rs 100 crore out of Chandrayaan's total project cost of 386 crores -(100 million dollars).
Latest on TB Laxmi
With reference to our previous posting, "if you are poor you can only become more poor" Laxmi used to live in the same slum and she and her family were amongst those evicted or driven out.
Below is the last photo I took of her with her mother after their home was destroyed, they spent the night with us and in the morning we gave her mother TB medicines for two months and some cash to buy 5 train tickets. They left to go back to the village.
What will Laxmi's future be? Only Krishna knows.
With your help we have done all we could, we wish Laxmi and so many others like her the best and we pray to Krishna to please keep a special eye on these children, they are His and He knows best.
thanks
ys rupa
Below is the last photo I took of her with her mother after their home was destroyed, they spent the night with us and in the morning we gave her mother TB medicines for two months and some cash to buy 5 train tickets. They left to go back to the village.
What will Laxmi's future be? Only Krishna knows.
With your help we have done all we could, we wish Laxmi and so many others like her the best and we pray to Krishna to please keep a special eye on these children, they are His and He knows best.
thanks
ys rupa
Updates on baby Palak
Baby Palak is doing well. Even her doctor thought that she wouldn't survive, but she is getting better, she put on some weight and strength. She is taking the medicine for T.B. and special kind of milk, vitamins and iron. The expenses during the next 4 months will be about Rs:1500 and after should come down to Rs-500\ month for the next nine month.
On Palak and her family behalf, we offer a special thanks to all the friends who have contributed to her treatment.
We also wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year, may the gratitude of these poor Brajabasi lighten up your heart and fill you with joy and peace.
On Palak and her family behalf, we offer a special thanks to all the friends who have contributed to her treatment.
We also wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year, may the gratitude of these poor Brajabasi lighten up your heart and fill you with joy and peace.
If you are poor you can only become more poor
Few days ago I went to a slum where some of our children live with a Doctor from Germany, it was 4 pm, while we were walking there we saw two jeeps full of policeman and a JCB or a earthmover coming.
With stick the policeman chased the poor people out of the shacks and the JCB immediately rased everything to the ground.
By the time they had finished it was almost 6 pm, all those poor families many with 4,5 children were just sitting on the street with a bundle of belongings, not knowing how they were going to pass the night. Temperature here at night goes down to 10 - 12 degree.
We sent our tractor to the spot and we hauled about 12 families to our Sandipani Muni School we set them up for the night and the next day we helped some of them to relocate and some we gave money for a train ticket to go back to their villages.
They left the villages because there they have absolutely no means of earning a living, they come to places like Vrindavan where there is lot of construction and development. They work hard all day 7 days a week, underpaid and with no security, insurance or anything more than few rupees per day. This is what they have to face at the end of the day.
It is the India of today, it you are rich you can double your capital overnight, but if you are poor you can only become more poor, to levels I have never seen in my life.
With stick the policeman chased the poor people out of the shacks and the JCB immediately rased everything to the ground.
By the time they had finished it was almost 6 pm, all those poor families many with 4,5 children were just sitting on the street with a bundle of belongings, not knowing how they were going to pass the night. Temperature here at night goes down to 10 - 12 degree.
We sent our tractor to the spot and we hauled about 12 families to our Sandipani Muni School we set them up for the night and the next day we helped some of them to relocate and some we gave money for a train ticket to go back to their villages.
They left the villages because there they have absolutely no means of earning a living, they come to places like Vrindavan where there is lot of construction and development. They work hard all day 7 days a week, underpaid and with no security, insurance or anything more than few rupees per day. This is what they have to face at the end of the day.
It is the India of today, it you are rich you can double your capital overnight, but if you are poor you can only become more poor, to levels I have never seen in my life.
Our kids still dying young
Our kids still dying young
Press Trust Of India, New Delhi, December 11, 2007
Malnutrition and child mortality continue to endanger the lives of children in India, a UN report released on Monday says. The Unicef report ‘Progress for Children’ says malnutrition accounts for 50 per cent of under-five deaths. It is also responsible for low weight among children.
According to the report, of the 19 million infants with low birth weight in the developing world, 8.3 million come from India, where underweight prevalence is 43 per cent. About one-third of underweight children under five live in India. Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya all have high numbers of underweight children.
The report says, more than 500,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year. It points to an appalling lack of basic sanitation, hygiene and drinkable water, which contributes to the deaths of more than 1.5 million children each year from diarrhoea and related ailments. Moreover, the number of people living with HIV-AIDS continues to rise, affecting child welfare as well.
Press Trust Of India, New Delhi, December 11, 2007
Malnutrition and child mortality continue to endanger the lives of children in India, a UN report released on Monday says. The Unicef report ‘Progress for Children’ says malnutrition accounts for 50 per cent of under-five deaths. It is also responsible for low weight among children.
According to the report, of the 19 million infants with low birth weight in the developing world, 8.3 million come from India, where underweight prevalence is 43 per cent. About one-third of underweight children under five live in India. Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya all have high numbers of underweight children.
The report says, more than 500,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year. It points to an appalling lack of basic sanitation, hygiene and drinkable water, which contributes to the deaths of more than 1.5 million children each year from diarrhoea and related ailments. Moreover, the number of people living with HIV-AIDS continues to rise, affecting child welfare as well.
A very sweet note from Radha's father
Radha with heart problem
Radha was discharged on 7/12/07.
She will be on medication for a month. The doctors say she won’t need much medication after this. Yesterday she had some vomiting but it was not serious. She will not have to go to the hospital again, unless some serious condition develops. Dr. Poonam Malhotra, a local doctor connected to AIMS will come regularly and check on Radha and give her medicines if required. Radha is feeling much better and she goes for a 1.5 km. walk every day.
Radha with her family
Translation of thank you letter written by Radha’s father
"Most respected and dear Richard, Bharat and Rasajna das your kind help came at a time that I had lost all hope. You came like a gift from God to help me with a sum of money that I could never have managed to get for my daughter’s treatment.
No thanks are enough for all that you have done.
In our holy book The Bhagavad Gita we read that helping others is the greatest work .
This you have done .
I went to so many people but got no help.
You have given my daughter life.
I pray to God to give you a long life I pray you may always help other Brajbasis as you have helped us.
May he keep you happy and give you much more wealth to do this work.
I hope one day to see you. Please do come and meet us sometime.
I end with this quote:
"Vrindavan,( Krishna’s land) is heaven on Earth
Those who serve Radha here, please Shyam ( Krishna)."
With immense gratitude-
Pandit Braj Mohan Mishra
( Radha’s father)
Radha was discharged on 7/12/07.
She will be on medication for a month. The doctors say she won’t need much medication after this. Yesterday she had some vomiting but it was not serious. She will not have to go to the hospital again, unless some serious condition develops. Dr. Poonam Malhotra, a local doctor connected to AIMS will come regularly and check on Radha and give her medicines if required. Radha is feeling much better and she goes for a 1.5 km. walk every day.
Radha with her family
Translation of thank you letter written by Radha’s father
"Most respected and dear Richard, Bharat and Rasajna das your kind help came at a time that I had lost all hope. You came like a gift from God to help me with a sum of money that I could never have managed to get for my daughter’s treatment.
No thanks are enough for all that you have done.
In our holy book The Bhagavad Gita we read that helping others is the greatest work .
This you have done .
I went to so many people but got no help.
You have given my daughter life.
I pray to God to give you a long life I pray you may always help other Brajbasis as you have helped us.
May he keep you happy and give you much more wealth to do this work.
I hope one day to see you. Please do come and meet us sometime.
I end with this quote:
"Vrindavan,( Krishna’s land) is heaven on Earth
Those who serve Radha here, please Shyam ( Krishna)."
With immense gratitude-
Pandit Braj Mohan Mishra
( Radha’s father)
Free education? or free to die?
Free and compulsory education
Renuka Bisht, Hindustan Times
The constitutional promise of free and compulsory education stands resoundingly broken. Not only are 65 million children not getting any schooling, the number of child labourers has increased from 11.6 to 12.7 million between 1991-2001. In the same period, the female-male ratio among children in the 0-6 age group has declined from 945 to 927 girls per 1,000 boys. India also has the highest number of maternal deaths every year.
In the run up to independence, a forward-looking Health Survey and Development Committee headed by Joseph Bhore had put forth a forward-looking universal healthcare plan covering the whole of India. Six decades later, with public expenditure on health dismally stuck at around one per cent of the GDP, large sections of our population continue to suffer because of poor medical access.
Preventable diseases continue to account for 50 per cent of reported illnesses. TB alone takes 400,000 lives each year, and is the leading cause of death in the 15-45 age group. Increasing HIV infections, which make people more susceptible to this disease, mean it will pose an increasingly serious health hazard. Meanwhile only 44 per cent of children aged 12-23 month receive all recommended vaccinations and, despite more than two decades of immunization, India still has the largest remaining pool of polio transmission in the world.
And we are still struggling against our oldest nemesis: hunger. It is astonishing, as Amartya Sen says, that even famine-stricken Africa manages to ensure a much higher level of regular nourishment than does India. Whether it is maternal undernourishment or the incidence of underweight babies or the frequency of cardiovascular diseases among adults who are poorly fed in the womb, India’s record is among the very worst in the world. (end)
Renuka Bisht, Hindustan Times
The constitutional promise of free and compulsory education stands resoundingly broken. Not only are 65 million children not getting any schooling, the number of child labourers has increased from 11.6 to 12.7 million between 1991-2001. In the same period, the female-male ratio among children in the 0-6 age group has declined from 945 to 927 girls per 1,000 boys. India also has the highest number of maternal deaths every year.
In the run up to independence, a forward-looking Health Survey and Development Committee headed by Joseph Bhore had put forth a forward-looking universal healthcare plan covering the whole of India. Six decades later, with public expenditure on health dismally stuck at around one per cent of the GDP, large sections of our population continue to suffer because of poor medical access.
Preventable diseases continue to account for 50 per cent of reported illnesses. TB alone takes 400,000 lives each year, and is the leading cause of death in the 15-45 age group. Increasing HIV infections, which make people more susceptible to this disease, mean it will pose an increasingly serious health hazard. Meanwhile only 44 per cent of children aged 12-23 month receive all recommended vaccinations and, despite more than two decades of immunization, India still has the largest remaining pool of polio transmission in the world.
And we are still struggling against our oldest nemesis: hunger. It is astonishing, as Amartya Sen says, that even famine-stricken Africa manages to ensure a much higher level of regular nourishment than does India. Whether it is maternal undernourishment or the incidence of underweight babies or the frequency of cardiovascular diseases among adults who are poorly fed in the womb, India’s record is among the very worst in the world. (end)
Shankar Dayal update – December 5th, 2007
He visited the doctor on 2nd December for a follow up after his first surgery on 7/10/07. (discharged on 15/10/07) . Approx cost of first surgery was Rs 10,000.
A special Thank you from Shankar to the Mulji family from UK, specially to late Govindji Mulji whose kindness and good heart made it possible for us to help this poor person.
We hope that it is not too late...
A week ago a lady who lives in our neighborhood was sent to us. She is just 24 years old and has already five children.
Her seven month old baby girl looked just like one of the starving children we see in images out of Sudan and Ethiopia.
Her size is that of a 3 month old baby with a face gaunt and haggard from malnutrition.
She has been loosing weight for two months and is just 3 kg, (the normal weight of a new born is between 2,5 and 3 kg and the child should gain 500 gr every month, during the firsts 6 months of life, means, that this baby should weight at least 7,5 Kg).
The baby was crying ceaselessly in utter distress. We sent both the mother and child for a medical check up.
Palak the baby girl and her mother Sarla, are both in need of prolonged medical attention.
They have been admitted into the hospital the diagnosis is: Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Bronchopneumonia and Malaria.
The latest reports say the baby is getting better now, accepting oral feeding (milk) and needs to stay in the hospital for eight days more.
We hope that it is not too late to save this baby with such serious illnesses.
We expect that it will cost about - Rs 10,000. For the eight-day stay in the hospital and medication
Supervised medical treatment is required for eight months
When the baby will be discharged there will be an additional expense of Rs 500 per month for medicines.
For helping them, please contact me at: rupa@fflvrindavan.org
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