India

Assam bears huge agricultural loss from floods

In August this year, the states of Bihar and Assam witnessed the worst flooding in a long time. The water level is slowly receding now but it is not giving much respite to people as the aftermath of the devastating floods has brought upon miseries of its own. 

The Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra has decided to expand the coverage of Rs 34,022-crore farm loan waiver scheme to extend the benefit to farmers indebted since 2009. The government had earlier said 89 lakh farmers would benefit from the scheme. The expansion of the scheme's ambit means the number of farmers, as well as the amount, will rise.

Large swathes of cotton farms in the central India have been the epicentre of a debt crisis that has gripped the rural population. For years now, it has driven thousands of farmers to commit suicide.

It was supposed to be a normal monsoon as Indian Meteorological Department had predicted. But barring the central plateau, the rest of India may be forgiven for thinking that the Biblical deluge has come a second time.

Heavy metal poisoning is a growing concern in many parts of the country. A new method for removing chromium-6, a highly toxic heavy metal, from waste water has been developed by a group of scientists from India and Ethiopia. They claim it to be low-cost and safe.

Given its close links to both temperature and rainfall, it is possible to forecast the outbreak of dengue. But for such disease forecasting to be effective, it should be based on models specific for different climatic zones in the country, a new study has shown. 

Destruction of river and mangroves blamed for Mumbai floods

Nitin Gadkari takes charge of water resources and Ganga rejuvenation

Hospital wastewater, which includes drugs, is a major environmental problem. A group of researchers from Belgium and India has developed a novel method of treating wastewater to get rid of such harmful substances from hospital waste.