Feature Article

People in the villages around Ratlam are paying a heavy price for living near the industrial town in Madhya Pradesh. Their groundwater has been polluted by over 23,500 tonnes of hazardous waste dumped at two factory premises and other sites in Ratlam. The quantity of toxic waste lying at the defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal city—350 tonnes—is only a fraction of Ratlam’s toxic legacy, but it has been written about much more.

Mahendra Singh Tikait, a small-time farmer from western Uttar Pradesh’s Jat belt who rose to become a formidable leader in his region and symbolised farmer power for about a decade, then got reduced to irrelevance due to a lack of political tact and a parochial worldview, died on May 15 after a prolonged battle with bone cancer. He was 75.

Acid soils comprise up to 50% of the world's arable lands and in these areas aluminum (Al) toxicity impairs root growth, strongly limiting crop yield. Food security is thereby compromised in many developing countries located in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide.

The majority of carbon sequestration at the Earth’s surface occurs in marine continental margin settings within fine-grained sediments whose mineral properties are a function of continental climatic conditions.

A demagogue is able to make New Delhi panic and shoot itself in the foot. (Editorial)

What will it take to help save the girl child?(Editorial)

The Human Papillomavirus vaccine “demonstration projects” conducted by a United States non-governmental organisation in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research were suspended by the central government in 2010, following the deaths of seven tribal girls and pressure from civil society groups.