-Al Jazeera Treaty to ban chemicals that harmed the ozone layer came about when there was consensus between science and politics. In 1974, chemists Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland published a landmark article that demonstrated the ability of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to break down the ozone layer, the atmospheric region that plays a vital role in shielding humans and other life from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It marked the opening salvo of...

-The Hindu  India’s first aquifer atlas points to a sharp decline in groundwater levels in several parts of Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. The atlas, compiled by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the Union Ministry of Water Resources, says within the national capital, South-West Delhi is worst affected by depleting groundwater levels. “One of the critical challenges during the 12th Five-Year Plan is to evolve strategies to manage ground...

-The Times of India Groundwater, a precious natural resource, is for all practical purposes a private property in India. Anyone can bore and extract water from the land he owns with few rules to restrict over-exploitation. But all this could soon change. Plans are afoot to alter laws and regulations to make groundwater a common property resource to ensure better regulation by government as a public trustee with the involvement of communities...

-The Hindu   States advised to give preference to drinking water and irrigation and enhance groundwater use. An alarming depletion in the water levels (at 57 per cent of last year’s storage) of important reservoirs, owing to the delayed and weak southwest monsoon, has prompted the Central government to issue an advisory to the States on Monday to make “judicious and regulated” releases. The States have been advised to give preference to drinking water...

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s statement in Parliament that the Government plans to shift subsidies from chemical fertilizers to organic manures has finally earned him some admiration from grassroots organisations working with small and marginal farmers in the country’s vast dry-lands. Pawar’s statement, if translated into policy action, may go a long way in improving the condition of some of India’s poorest farmers in the rain-fed areas which account for...