Uttar Pradesh (UP), with more than 220 million people, is the most populous state in India. Despite a high unmet need for modern family planning methods, the state has experienced a substantial decline in fertility. India has also seen a decline during this period which can be attributed to the increased prevalence of modern methods of family planning, particularly female sterilisation, but in UP, the corresponding increase was marginal. At the same time, Traditional Family Planning Methods (TMs) increased significantly in UP in contrast to India, where it was marginal. The trends in UP raise questions about the drivers in fertility decline and question the conventional wisdom that fertility declines are driven by modern methods, and the paper aims to understand this paradox. Fertility trends and family planning practices in UP were analysed using data from different rounds of National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) and the two UP Family Planning Surveys conducted by the UP Technical Support Unit to understand whether the use of TMs played a role in the fertility decline. As per NFHS-4, the prevalence of TM in India (6%) was less than half that of UP (13%). The UP Family Planning Survey in 25 High Priority Districts estimated that 22% of women used TMs. The analysis also suggested that availability and accessibiility of modern contraceptives might have played a role in the increased use of TMs in UP. If there are still couples who make a choice in favour of TMs, they should be well informed about the risks associated with the use of traditional methods as higher failure rate is observed among TMs users.

We report a familial cluster of 24 individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The index case had a travel history and spent 24 days in the house before being tested and was asymptomatic. Physical overcrowding in the house provided a favourable environment for intra-cluster infection transmission. Restriction of movement of family members due to countrywide lockdown limited the spread in community. Among the infected, only four individuals developed symptoms. The complete genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 was retrieved using next-generation sequencing from eight clinical samples which demonstrated a 99.99% similarity with reference to Wuhan strain and the phylogenetic analysis demonstrated a distinct cluster, lying in the B.6.6 pangolin lineage.

Although overhead electrical wires are known to have caused severe declines of bird populations, there are no studies in India that address this danger, even for endangered species. Rates of mortality, factors affecting mortality and population effects of electrical wires on the globally endangered sarus crane (Grus antigone) were assessed for breeding and non-breeding cranes in Etawah and Mainpuri districts, Uttar Pradesh, India. Non-breeding cranes were most susceptible to wires and, within territories, mortalities were higher for pre-dispersed young. Similar proportions of non-breeding and breeding cranes were killed, together accounting for nearly 1% of the total sarus crane population annually. Supply wires accounted for the majority of sarus crane deaths, and only non-breeding cranes were killed by both supply and high-tension power lines. Non-breeding crane deaths at roost sites were correlated with numbers of roosting birds and numbers of wires at each site. Over 40% of 251 known sarus crane territories had at least one overhead wire posing a risk to breeding adults and pre-dispersed young. A risk index for wires over territories of cranes was computed; mortality was not affected by increasing the number and therefore risk posed by wires. Most crane deaths in territories occurred as a result of wires at edges of territories. Wires around roosting sites, territoriality and age of sarus cranes appear to be the most important factors affecting their mortality due to wires. Mitigation measures will be most effective around roost sites and for wires that border territories of breeding pairs.