Almost 20 per cent of India’s total land area has toxic levels of arsenic in its groundwater, exposing more than 250 million people across the country to the poisonous element, says a new IIT Kharagpur study that used artificial intelligence (AI)-based prediction modelling.

Researchers said the findings suggest a much greater extent of the high arsenic zones and total population exposed than already known from arsenic sampling exercises and reports by various governmental and non-governmental organisations.