-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Waste dumped in landfill sites is contaminating surrounding groundwater in the Tricity, according to a PGI study published recently in an international journal. Scientists fear non-segregation and unregulated dumping of the garbage has deteriorated the quality with the passage of time, an alarming sign. Experts say that once the groundwater becomes polluted, contamination persists and becomes difficult to treat due to physical inaccessibility. Concentrations of heavy metal ions...

-Down to Earth India's most comprehensive study ever is important in the face of the Centre denying health repercussions due to uranium contamination of groundwater India has put its largest ever groundwater testing for uranium contamination on high gear. Started by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in 2014, the testing drive, which had slowed down, has again picked up in recent months. The drive is to be finished by 2019 and...

-The Times of India KOZHIKODE: Farmer Sanmathy Raj was walking to his field last week when he stopped short. Dead earthworms covered the ground. “I couldn’t walk without stepping on them,” he said. It’s normal for earthworms to creep out of the soil after rains, but Kolavayal, Raj’s village in Kerala’s Wayanad district, has been dry since flood waters receded. Baffling as the scene was, mass earthworm deaths have also been reported...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The 2018 monsoon rainfall may slip slightly below the normal threshold of 96 per cent of the average, the national weather agency indicated on Friday, but predicted that the rainfall distribution during August and September would be "favourable" for farm operations. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that rainfall during the second half of the four-month rainy season would be 95 per cent of the average, with a...

-Hindustan Times The issue of money in politics is a matter of pressing concern across the democratic world. Recent headlines, for instance, reveal that scandals linked with political finance irregularities dot the globe. In France, former president Nicolas Sarkozy is being investigated on allegations that his 2007 campaign received millions of dollars from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In Brazil, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to a dozen years...