A German development aid organisation said on Thursday it was in talks with the Indian government to dispose of 350 tonnes of toxic waste from the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.

Cities in India are dreaming of becoming New York and London but we seldom worry about as basic an issue as sewage and its disposal in our country. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has brought out a two-volume book titled Excreta Matters: Report on the State of India’s Environment to highlight how only 20 per cent of sewage is being treated in the country. Sunita Narain, director general, CSE, talks about the murky issue plaguing the water sources in this interview to Rashme Sehgal.

Increasing use of pesticides and herbicides in agriculture is playing havoc with the farming community apart from resulting in increased levels of water contamination.

A recent epidemiological study has shown the presence of arsenic, cadmium, chromium and mercury apart from much higher levels of pesticides in the water across Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Haryana tops the list of 16 States where environment and forest clearance norms are being violated, fully or partially, by projects.

The British government was on Tuesday accused of being part of a “conspiracy of silence” over Dow Chemical's controversial sponsorship of the London Olympics as MPs, cutting across party lines, called for the multi-million pound deal to be scrapped because of the company's links with the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

They also demanded an independent investigation into the procurement process by which the sponsorship was given to Dow, describing the whole exercise as a “sham.”

Dow Chemical Co hoped an Olympic sponsorship would boost its global cache, but the company's link to a gas leak tragedy 28 years ago threatens to curb some of the benefits from the $100 million advertising deal.

As many as 25,000 residents of Bhopal, India, died in the aftermath of a 1984 gas leak at a pesticide factory that was owned by a subsidiary of Union Carbide, which sold the facility in 1994. Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001.

Bhopal : State government on Thursday assured the state Assembly to seriously consider supplying water to the citizens on a daily basis from January 2012.

Bhopal : Houses will be provided to about three lakh poor families living in slums of six cities of the state under Rajiv Awas Yojna.

Bhopal : A report on clinical drug trials was submitted to Minister of State for Medical Education (independent charge) Mahendra Hardia here today.

AROUND 300 tonnes of toxic waste still lies unattended at the former factories of Union Carbide in Bhopal.