PATNA: Altogether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed.

The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthalmologists, he said.

Govt. could manage 25-30 days against stipulated 100 days of work per year

Job programme has not done well in the State despite efforts, say official sources

Patna: Angry unemployed residents of a village in Bihar

Around this time of the year, bright yellow flowers carpet the fields in scores of villages in Bihar's Vaishali district. They are not mustard crops waiting to burst into full bloom but cauliflower seeds that have ushered in a revolution of sorts

ANAND S.T. DAS
A frightening spread of encephalitis and cerebral malaria in Bihar's northern and southern districts has killed at least 69 children since July first week, underlining what health experts and Opposition leaders have termed as insufficient medical facilities, poverty and lack of hygiene in the state's rural belts.