New Delhi, July 4: Millions of threadlike worms from Australia that have never been recorded in India arrived last month at New Delhi airport in 13 huge crates. If these worms had escaped they would have infested the Indian soil, multiplied into billions in each acre of land, stunted crops and in the long run, played havoc with Indian agriculture. The worms, together with the exotic plants that harboured them, were burned and destroyed at the Delhi electric crematorium. Nevertheless, this manner in which the worm-loaded shipment came, and was handled in violation of international and domestic quarantine rules has highlighted how easily Indian agriculture could be affected, or even sabotaged.
