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dam-l LS: River-related stories from CSE



Himalayan glaciers, source of water for the innumerable rivers that flow
across the Indo-Gangetic plains, are receding. And that too at a phenomenal
rate. As they continue to recede, incidents of landslides, changes in the
river regimes and floods will increase. But only while the glaciers last.
If global warming is the cause of this decline, then we can expect glaciers
to disappear one day. In the long run, with large sections of these
glaciers gone, the rivers will dry up. Impacts on the flora and fauna, and
the 500 million people inhabiting the great Indian plain are hard to
imagine. All we can conjecture today is, a few decades from now, the nation
will experience a greatthirst. Check it out at

http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte990430/dte_analy.htm

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The black fever

While the nation’s attention is focused on the caste killings in Jehanabad,
a silent but deadlier killer is striking terror in Bihar. Kala-azar, the
‘black fever’, which was relegated to the bottomdrawer of government
priorities, is back. In 1994, the state accounted for 96 per cent of
allcasesof kala-azar reported in the country. Bihar is caught in a double
whammy. The government’s flood control methods rely heavily on building
embankments along rivers. These have only increased waterlogging and marshy
areas, providing ideal spawning ground for the disease-carrying sandfly.
Experts fear it will soon assume epidemic proportions. And, alarmingly, the
disease is increasinglyspreading to new areas, as reported at

http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte990430/dte_analy1.htm