Indian scientists have decoded the mystery of the changing colours of the peacock in terms of nanotechnology. But the findings have remained laboratory-bound. There is hardly any move to translate them into solutions. Their potential, for example, to solve the urgent problem of pollution caused by textile dyeing industries, remains only on paper. Nor have the scientists expanded their search for unknown wonders of nature in this field.

    Textile dyeing and treatment constitute 20 per cent of the total industrial water pollution in the world, according to a World Bank report. There are more than 3600 different types of textile dyes. In India, more than a thousand small-scale units and over 50 large factories in places like Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu pollute the water and soil.

   With the increasing demand for unique colours in fabrics, the scale of pollution is bound to increase. It is true that some....