
High costs, poor training deepen India’s stinging snakebite toll Premium
The Hindu
Snakebites cost India’s poorest thousands in treatment. The average “out-of-pocket expenditure” for the most impoverished: at public facilities Rs. 3,900, and at private hospitals a phenomenal Rs. 27,400. Only 12% of victims had insurance cover, says a Nature communication

The sudden demise of Deputy Chief Minister and NCP supreme Ajit Pawar has thrown Maharashtra's politics in a state of flux. The regional power equations in a turbulent political ecosystem are likely to change due to the death of a mass leader with a strong grip over administration, and acceptance across the entire party leadership. As the chequered path of succession will be discussed, throwing several names from the Pawar family and outside the Pawar family in the ring, speculations on whether his wife Sunetra Pawar will emerge as the dark horse, have also emerged. What will be the decision of the Pawar family, how will Mahayuti be shaped now, what path will the senior satraps of NCP who had accepted Ajit Pawar's leadership, take? His death has led to several unanswered questions, leaving a void in the State politics for a long time.












