Water of contention

In the 1996 ninth general elections in India, water as an issue figured prominently in at least nine states. Among them all, Nalgonda in the Telengana region in Andhra Pradesh takes the cake. Nearly 500 farmers of the Telengana Jalasadra Samakhiya filed nomination papers, aiming to disrupt the electoral process to protest against the non-implementation of the Srikakulam Left Bank Canal and the Sriramsagar-II irrigation projects, which had figured as issues in the past elections too. Similarly, in Modakurichy in Tamil Nadu, 1,029 people had filed nominations

Crisis in Krishna

THE hammer and sickle insignia flashes on fluttering red flags over 'Porattu

Green gram success

GREEN has once again proved its superiority, though in an unusual field this time - pulses. Experiments conducted in recent years to find a suitable alternative to the less remunerative horse gram have indicated that green gram is more farmer-friendly than horse gram (Farmer and Parliament, Vol 30, No 9). The results of a series of experiments, conducted by a research team led by K L Rao at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, have established that growing green gram during the rabi season (September-October) is a sure way to

Today's breakfast: DDT

SEVERAL foods people all over the country consume daily -- milk, butter and cereals, for example -- have been found to contain substances hazardous to health by a nationwide survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

New viral disease targets sheep in India

SCIENTISTS have found that several sheep in south India, which were thought to be suffering from rinderpest are actually infected with peste des petits ruminants (PPR), a new viral disease hitherto thought to be restricted to West Africa.

Dirty money, clean slums

Laundered money will be used to clean slums in 454 towns. Black money to the tune of Rs 63 crore, which was deposited last year with the National Housing Bank (NHB) for immunity under the Voluntary Deposits Scheme, will be used to establish a revolving corpus to refinance loans given by state governments to slum families. The catch, however, is that the states will receive amounts in proportion to the deposits made by their inhabitants.

When wind and water run riot

What can be done When Elements that sustain life -- air and water Turn to destroy...? -- Dasarathi, the acknowledged poet laureate of Andhra Pradesh.

Greedy wasps damage flowers to steal nectar

CERTAIN wasps are inveterate nectar thieves. The wily insects sneak through the back door and loot nectar, damaging the flower and reducing chances of pollination and fruit formation (Current Science, Vol 26 No 10).

Fishing for money

FISH TRADERS of Andhra Pradesh have a good market in far away Assam. Even after paying transportation charges of upto Rs 8 per kg of fish taken to Assam, the traders get to put away a tidy sum for themselves. The irony is that Assam itself abounds in wetlands, but has failed to exploit them. Embankments on rivers have reduced fish production in thousands of bils (wetlands).