High up in the sky, kit protects the Earth from getting torched. But closer to the ground, ozone seems to be adversely affecting productivity of several crops including rice and wheat. In a unique and painstaking research, spanning over almost a decade, botanists at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have gathered evidence, suggesting that ozone pollution in rural areas has reduced productivity in rice, wheat, soya, mung. Adverse influences have also been observed in carrots and spinach.