Rapid industrialization in India, during the last few decades, in the
form of chemical, dairy, pharmaceutical, mining, distillery, fertilizer,
paper and pulp, petrochemical, textile, sugar, machinery, vehicle, food
processing, tannery factories in addition to coal fired thermal power
plants, has burdened the land and resulted in deterioration of air, soil
as well as water. Thus, the utilization of treated wastewater as liquid
fertilizer makes sense because (i) it replaces and conserves mineral
fertilizer (ii) improves soil structure and (iii) an alternative
disposal method could be environmentally damaging. Whereas fly ash from
coal based thermal power plant stations is successfully utilized for the
growth of variety of vegetables, millets, cereals and trees when amended
with soil. In view of the known beneficial role of wastewater and of fly
ash in crop productivity and for helping the disposal management of the
two waste products and keeping the importance of pulses in mind the
present author proposed a hypothesis that chickpea could be grown
profitably using fly ash and waste water. This book is meant for post
graduate students and the students pursuing higher studies.