-The Hindu Kochi: An emergency meeting of the representatives of Keezhmadu grama panchayat on Tuesday asked the RubberMark authorities to immediately stop work on digging a pond at its Rubber Park in Keezhmadu near Perumbavur. Several residents nearby the unit were injured on Monday after the police resorted to a lathicharge to disperse agitators who had alleged that the construction activity had rendered most of the wells in the area dry. Laiza Sebastian,...

-The United Nations     While insects can be slimy, cringe-inducing creatures, often squashed on sight by humans, a new book released today by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) says beetles, wasps and caterpillars are also an unexplored nutrition source that can help address global food insecurity. The book, Edible Insects: future prospects for food and feed security, stresses not just the nutritional value of insects, but also the benefits that insect farming...

-The Hindu Launched towards the end of 2010, the Rs. 9,000-crore Gujarat Solar Park, set up on government wasteland in north Gujarat, has already been producing 214 MW from the sun, making it the first State to generate such capacity at a single location. And when expanded to 5,000 acres from the present 2,669 acres, the Charanka Park, located at a village of Patan district, will generate 500 MW. This will make...

-The Hindu Business Line   Arsenic and fluoride contaminated water has condemned millions to live wasted lives in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Business Line visited several villages in the affected regions for this special report by A. Srinivas. Sixty-nine-year-old Renubala Ari of Deganga village in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district is counting her last days. But it is not her death that worries her. Blind in both eyes and with painful...

-Down to Earth Inadequate sewage treatment and disposal in the national capital territory is contaminating city's groundwater Delhi residents who depend on groundwater for their drinking water needs be warned. The latest data of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) shows that groundwater samples taken from observation wells in the national capital are getting contaminated because of their unhygienic catchments and untreated sewage, which is discharged in the open and into drains,...