38 polio cases, yet Nitish gets award

According to a report quoting the World Health Organisation, out of the 79 polio cases (P1-type) detected throughout the country, 38 cases exist in Bihar, followed by Uttar Pradesh (34 cases), New Delhi (3), Punjab (2), Jharkhand (1) and Rajasthan (1).

The new findings will be quite embarrassing for Nitish as he was bestowed upon the highest award in this field in December 2009.

Nitish is only the third Indian to have bagged this award. The other two recipients are Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rajshree Birla of the Aditya Birla group.

Instituted in 1995, other recipients of this award include global leaders like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

Nitish got the award for his role in bringing down the number of polio cases in Bihar. No wonder, chairman of Rotary International’s Polio Plus Committee Robert S Scott specially flew in from Canada to confer the award.

Of the 626 cases detected in India, Uttar Pradesh has reported 538, while Bihar has 76 P3 type of polio virus cases. The latest findings are bound to give jitters to those ruling the state, while it will provide fresh ammunitions to the Opposition to launch an offensive against the Janata Dal(United) strongman.