Word: pradesh
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...world history -- and the bloodiest and most contemptible ever held in India. At least 134 people died in election-related violence. Because of widespread rigging, new voting was ordered in 1,485 polling stations, including 97 in Amethi, Rajiv Gandhi's constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Ultimately, Gandhi was declared the winner over Rajmohan Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and no relation to Rajiv. But 20 of Rajiv's 59 ministers were defeated, a measure of the Congress Party's steep decline...
...livestock, and croplands overplowed by desperate farmers. Horrifying images of starvation in northeastern Africa have captured world attention in the past decade. In India, according to government reports, 37% of the people cannot buy enough food to sustain themselves. Warned Shri B.B. Vohra, vice chairman of the Himachal Pradesh state land-use board in northern India: "We may be well on the way to producing a subhuman kind of race where people do not have enough energy to deal with their problems...
...solution: carnivorous softshell turtles. To cleanse the holy river, the state government of Uttar Pradesh is raising hundreds of the reptiles. In mid- 1988 they will be released into a twelve-mile stretch of the Ganges. There they are expected to feed on the dead...
...until man destroyed their nesting sites, the turtles will help reestablish the ecological cycle. Officials say the creatures pose no danger to live users of the Ganges, though the project is not without risks. "Poaching will be our biggest problem," says Rajendra Prakash Sharma, chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh. "Turtle meat is considered a delicacy...
Experts expect some crops to fall 40% to 50% from last year's levels. The yield in the agriculturally important states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh will be about 70% below normal. A famine is considered unlikely since India has large stockpiles of wheat and rice. But food shortages are a real possibility, and India may be forced to import grain for the first time in years. That could create new political problems for Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, whose ruling party has taken credit for India's recent self-sufficiency in food grains...