Orange tumbles

A beaming Uday Wath hugs the trunk of his sturdy, disease-free Nagpur orange tree. All around him are trees drooping with the fruit, large and healthy. The tree trunks are singularly free of both telltale gummosis wounds and bluish white bordeaux paste, the chemical meant to prevent them.

Toxic legacy

THOUGH nitrogen and nitrates occur naturally, they are at levels that do not harm. But concern is increasing about high concentrations of nitrogen leaching into aquifers from synthetic fertilisers and manure applied to cropland, resulting in nitrate pollution. High-nitrate levels can cause cancer, reproductive disorders and can be lethal for infants.

Science and Technology - Briefs

Plant sciences Agent orange & its ruby

Angioplasty of streams

Letters - April 30, 2012

Give coffee a chance

In the name of the farmer

Small cultivators will gain little from the Rs 575,000-crore credit largesse; companies and big farmers benefit the most

Seize the freshness

Rajasthan probes GM mustard trial

THE Rajasthan government has initiated an inquiry into the field trials of transgenic mustard conducted without due supervision. The state’s Department of Environment has called a meeting on April 2 to find out how the field trials were undertaken without the knowledge of the State Biotechnology Coordination Committee (SBCC), tasked with monitoring such field trials to check GM contamination.

Letters - April 15, 2012

Authority to fight hunger

Water starved village caught in Bt debate

In early March, Bhamb Raja village of Yavatmal district shot to fame, to use a stock media phrase, for being the first village in Maharashtra to draw up a gram sabha resolution opposing Bt cotton and demanding a ban on it. But four years ago, in a video film sponsored by biotech seed giant Monsanto, the village residents had spoken about Bt cotton in glowing terms, describing how it had changed lives and enabled people to build houses and buy gold.