Get positive
It is one thing for scientific theories on arsenic contamination to conflict with each other. But it is another when it plays out in real life. We know that arsenic interweaves with the geology and hydrology of the place where it is found, or not. It is also known that its intensity varies. Its spread may be extensive, but it may be dispersed in a region. Indeed, looking for arsenic in a place the size of the Gangetic-Brahmaputra basin is like looking for needles in a haystack. But look we must.
It is equally clear that denial will get us nowhere. Government cannot continue to bury its head in the sand on this issue. This is a human tragedy and it demands a response that is concerted and committed.
Firstly, we need a project for widescale monitoring. But it has to be done seriously. It cannot be done like the mystical Central Ground Water Board survey that nobody can lay their hands on. It cannot also be done like the great Ballia experiment, in which samples sent to the laboratory for testing, from the villages where the disease is evident, were found
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