TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (Asia Water Wire) – Genetically modified crops have few supporters even in many food-scarce developing countries, but officials here say it could be the long-awaited solution to tackling salinity in the waters of the Amu Darya River.

   The debate has been going on since a closed-door meeting at the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan about a year ago, where two scientists from Japan’s General Biology Institute in Nagoya proposed developing and growing a new variety of GM rice in the highly saline lower wastelands along the Amu-Darya.

YARZULI, INDIA (Asia Water Wire) - Bengia Abo grew up in this lush, green mountain village sprawling on the banks of the Panyor River here in upper Arunachal Pradesh state in north-east India.

   “Panyor is like our mother," the 32-year-old, who belongs to the indigenous Nishi tribe, told IPS as he stood on a ridge overlooking the snow-fed river on a recent afternoon. "It supports the lives of thousands of indigenous people in the area.

JAKARTA (Asia Water Wire) - For several weeks now, Soesi Trisnosiswoyo, 63, has been anxiously calling up officers manning floodgates at Manggarai, South Jakarta and at Depok, West Java daily to check on water levels.

DHAKA – If residents begin saying that they would rather avoid taking daily baths, the water quality must really be bad.

But that is exactly what people like Koyel Islam, a homemaker in Mirpur suburb of this megacity of 12 million people, say, especially during the summer. “The situation is beyond imagination. We have never been gripped in such a crisis. We use whatever water we manage to get only for cooking and drinking. Sometimes we have to avoid daily baths," she says.

   By Bikash Sangraula

KHOKANA, Nepal (Asia Water Wire)  - Until two years back, Khokana was best known for its controversial annual festival of pinching goats to death. The villagers believe this helps drive away the spell cast on them by evil spirits.

   Only an hour's drive from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, Khokana still remains true to its medieval past. In fact, its quaint customs, age-old rituals, and a stubborn reluctance to change attract many curious onlookers.