Environmental Pollution in India

8/9/2019 Environmental Pollution in India

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India is the world's fifth-biggest pol luter, a new study confirmed on April 11,2010, with its greenhouse gas emissions growing by more than 3 per centannually between 1994-2007. India also is suffering from the effects of global warming such as rising temperatures and sea levels along i ts coasts.The study represents the fi rst update to an assessment o f Indi a's air emi ssionsthat was done 16 years ago. More than 80 sci entists from 17 institutionsacross India were involved in the study, said Jairam Ramesh, India'senvironment m ini ster.

India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions were roughly 3,000 pounds(1,360 kilograms) in 2007, according to the study. That's small compared toChina and the U.S., with 10,500 pounds (4,763 kilograms) and 42,500pounds (19,278 kilograms) respectively that year. The study said that theEuropean Union and Russia also have more emissions than Indi a.

On 11 March, 2010 Mr Jairam Ramesh Mini ster of State for Environmentand Forests informed the Rajya Sabha that the Central Pollution ControlBoard has done a nation wide environmental assessment of IndustrialClusters based on CEPI and 43 such i ndustrial cl usters having CEPI g reater than 70, on a scale of 0 to 100, has been identified as critically pol luted.

A Comprehensive environmental assessment of industrial clusters,undertaken by IIT Delhi and the CPCB, found that the environmentalpollution levels in 10 major industrial hubs had reached a “very alarmingly

high” level. This list i ncludes Ankleshwar and Vapi in Gujarat , Ghaziabadand Singrauli in UP, Korba (Chhattisgarh), Chandrapur (Maharashtra),Ludhiana (Punjab), Vellore (Tamil Nadu), Bhiwadi (Rajasthan) and AngulTa lc her (Orissa).

Industrial pollution

Blame air pollution for New Delhi's blanket of fogon January 8, 2010

Fog over Indian c ities

Air PollutionThe World Health Organization estimates that about two million people

die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution, while m any moresuffer from breathing ailm ents, heart disease, lung infections and evencancer.Fine particles or microscopic dust from coal or wood fires andunfiltered diesel engines are rated as one of the most l ethal forms or air pollution caused by i ndustry, transport, household heating, c ooking andageing c oal or oil-fired power stations.

There are four reasons of air pol lution are - emi ssions from vehicles,

thermal power plants, industries and refineries. T he problem of indoor air poll ution in rural areas and urban slum s has increased.

India’s environmental problems are exacerbated by its heavy relianc e oncoal for power generation. Coal supplies more than half of the country’senergy needs and is used for nearly three-quarters of electricity generation.While India is fortunate to have abundant reserves of coal to power econom ic development, the burning of this resource, especi ally given thehigh ash c ontent of India’s coal, has com e at a c ost in terms of heightenedpublic risk and environmental degradation. Reliance on coal as the major energy source has led to a nine-fold jump in carbon emissions over the pastforty years. The government estimates the c ost of environmental degradationhas been running at 4.5% of GDP in recent years. The low energy efficiencyof power plants that burn coal is a contributing factor. India's coal plants areold and are not outfitted with the most modern pollution controls.

With pollution level rising across the country, India on Wednesday, the 18November 2009 revised the national ambient air qual ity standards after 15years. "We have notified the ambi ent ai r quality standards in India which isequivalent to the European level and exceeds the standard prevalent in theUS," Minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh said. Therevised ambient air qual ity standards provide a legal framework for thecontrol of air pollution and the protection of public health and any c itizencan approach the court demanding better air quality.Vehicle emissions are responsible for 70% of the country’s air pollution.

The major problem with government efforts to safeguard the environmenthas been enforcement at the local level, not with a lack of laws. Air pollutionfrom vehicle exhaust and industry is a worsening problem for India. Exhaustfrom vehicles has increased eight-fold over levels of twenty years ago;

industrial pollution has risen four times over the same period. The economyhas grown two and a half times over the past two decades but pollution

Poison in the air due to Power

plants. In India, air pollution isestima ted to c ause, at thevery mini mum , 1 lakh excessdeaths and 25 m ill ion excessesil lnesses eve ry year.

The brilli ant white of the Taj Mahal is slowly fading toa sic kly yell ow. In the famous“Tajmahal Case” a very strongstep was taken by SupremeCourtto save the Taj MahalCase being polluted by fumesand more than 200 factorieswere c losed down.

Environmental pollution in India

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control and civil services have not kept pace. Air quality is worst in big citieslike Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, etc.

Bangalore holds the title of being the asthma c apital of the c ountry.Studies estima te that 10 per cent of Bangal ore’s 60 lakh popu lati on and over 50 per cent of its children below 18 years suffer from air pollution- relatedailments.

CHENNAI: Exhaust from vehic les, dust from construc tion debris, industrialwaste, burning of muni ci pal and garden waste are all on the rise i n the ci ty.

So are respiratory diseases, inc luding asthma. At least six of the 10 topcauses of death are related to respiratory disease, says Dr D Ranganathan,director (in-charge), Institute of Thoracic Medicine. Mumbai: Not only are levels of Suspended Particulate Matter abovepermissible l imits in Mumbai, but the worst pollutant after vehicular emissions has grown at an alarming rate. The levels of RespirableSuspended Particulate Matter (RSPM), or dust, in Mumbai’s air havecontinued to increase over the past three years.

The air pollution in Mumbai is so high that Mumbai authorities havepurchased 42,000 litres of perfume to spray on the city’s enormous wastedumps at Deonar and Mulund landfill sites after people l iving near thelandfill sites complained of the stench. T he Deonar landfill site, one of India’s largest, was first used by the British in 1927. Today, the festering pi le

covers more than 120 hectares and is eight story's high. Bhopal: Bhopal gas tragedy was the greatest industrial disaster in theworld that took plac e at a Union Carbide pestic ide pl ant in the Indian c ity of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. At midnight on 3 December 1984, the plantacc identally released methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than500,000 people to MIC and other chemicals. The first official immediatedeath toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed atotal of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release Others estimate8,000-10,000 died within 72 hours and 25,000 have since died fromgas-related diseases, making it the deadliest man-made environmentaldisaster in history.

The greatest industria l disaster in the worldThe effects of air pol lution are obvious: rice crop yields in southern India

are falling as brown clouds block out more and more sunlight. And thebrilliant white of the famous Taj Mahal is slowly fading to a sickly yellow. Inthe “Tajmahal Case” a very strong step was taken by Supreme Court to savethe Tajm ahal being poll uted by fumes and more than 200 factories wereclosed down.Birds and species affected: Studies c onducted by the high alti tude

zoology field station of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) based i n Solan

town of Himachal Pradesh have recorded a drastic fall in butterfly numbersin the western Himalayas, famous for their biodiversity.' The population of 50 percent of the 288 species recorded in the westernHimal ayas, comprising a reas of Himac hal Pradesh and Jam mu and Kashmi r,have declined more than half in just 10 years,' Avtar Kaur Sidhu, a scientistwith the field station, told IANS on World Environment Day 2010. Wenoticed a l arge num ber of dead butterflies on the Khardung La (the world'shighest motorable road in Ladakh) during one of our visits. It was primarilydue to a rise in vehicular traffic by the tourists,' she said.

Multi -storeyed residentia lbuildingsstand behind an expanse of

slumsin Mumbai

Mumbai authorities havepurchased 42,000 l itres

of perfume recently to sprayon the ci ty’s enormous wastedumps at Deonar and Mulundlandfill sites

Drastic fa ll in butterflynum bers i n the westernHimalayas, due to vehicular emission.

River water Pollution Contaminated and polluted water now kills more people than all forms of violence including wars,acc ording to a United Nations report released on March 22, 2010 on World Water Day that c alls for

turning unsanitary wastewater into an environmentally safe econom ic resource. Acc ording to thereport -- titled "Sick Water?" -- 90 percent of wastewater discharged daily in developing countries is


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untreated, contributing to the dea ths of some 2.2 mi ll ion people a year from di arrheal diseases causedby unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene. At least 1.8 million children younger than 5 die every year

from water-related diseases.

Fully 80 percent o f urban waste in India ends up in the c ountry's rivers, and unchec ked urban growthac ross the c ountry comb ined with poor government oversight means the problem is only getting worse.

A growing number of bodies of water in India are unfit for human use, and in the River Ganga, holyto the country's 82 percen t Hindu maj ority, is dying slowly due to unchecked poll ution.

New Delhi's body of water is little more than a flowing garbage dump, with fully 57 percent of the

ci ty's waste findi ng i ts way to the Yamuna. It is that three bi ll ion li ters of waste are pumped into Delhi 's

Yamuna (River Yamuna) each day. Only 55 percent of the 15 mil lion Delhi residents are c onnected tothe c ity's sewage system. The remainder fl ush their bath water, waste water and just about everythingelse down pipes and into drains, most of them empty into the Yamuna. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, between 75 and 80 percent of the river's pollution is the result of rawsewage. Combined with industrial runoff, the garbage thrown into the river and it totals over 3 billionliters of waste per day. Nearly 20 billion rupees, or almost US $500 million, has been spent on variouscl ean up efforts.

The frothy brew is so glaring that it can be v iew ed on Google Earth.

Muc h of the river pollution problem in India comes from untreated sewage. Samples taken recentlyfrom the Ganges River near Varanasi show that l evels of fecal col iform, a dangerous bacterium thatcom es from untreated sewage, were some 3,000 percent higher than what is c onsidered safe for bathing.

Groundwater exploitation Groundwater exploitation is a serious matter of concern today and legislations and policy measures takentill date, by the state governments (water is a state subject) have not had the desired e ffect on the situation.

Groundwater Quality and Pollution is most alarming pol lution hazards in Indi a. On April 01, 2010 at least 18babies in several hamlets of Bihar’s Bhojpur district have been born blind in the past three months becausetheir famili es consume groundwater containi ng alarming levels of arsenic, confirmed by Bihar’s HealthMinister Nand Kishore Yadav on Wednesday, 31st March 2010 c onfirmed the c ases of blindness in newbornsin arsenic -affec ted bl ocks of the distric t.Thi s is the first time that bli ndness at bi rth has been attributed to arsenic contamination , though doc tors say

that people using groundwater in contaminated areas suffer from cancer of the intestines, liver, kidneys andbladder and that bone de formity, gangrene and skin disorders are com mon.

Plastic Pollution Plastic bags, pl astic thin sheets and plastic waste i s also a major source of poll ution. A division bench of Allahabad High Court, comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Arun Tandon, in May 03, 2010 haddirected the Ganga Basin Authority and the state government to take appropriate action to ban the use of polythene in the vicinity of Ganga in the entire state.

See in detail: Plastic Bag Pollution i n the c ountry

Municipal solid waste India’s urban population slated to inc rease from the c urrent 330 mi lli on to about 600 m illi on by 2030, thechallenge of managing municipal solid waste (MSW) in an environmentally and economically sustainablemanner is bound to assume gigantic proportions. The country has over 5,000 cities and towns, whichgenerate about 40 million tonnes of MSW per year today. Going by estimates of The Energy ResearchInstitute (TERI), this could wel l touc h 260 m il li on tonnes per year by 2047.

Municipal solid waste is solid waste generated by households, commercial establishments and offices anddoes not include the industrial or agricultural waste. Munic ipal solid waste management is more of anadmini strative and i nstitutional m echanism failure problem rather than a technologic al one. Until now, MSWmanagement has been considered to be almost the sole responsibility of urban governments, without theparticipation of citizens and other stakeholders. The Centre and the Supreme Court, however, have urged

that this issue be addressed with multiple stakeholder participation. Cities in India spend approximately 20%


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of the city budget on solid waste services.

Pollution due to Mining New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment (CSE) on December 29, 2007 said mining wascausing displacement, pollution, forest degradation and social unrest. The CSE released its 356-page sixthState of India’s Environment report, ‘Ric h Lands Poor People , is sustainab le m ini ng possibl e?’ Acc ording tothe Centre for Science and Environment ( CSE) report the top 50 mineral producing districts, as many as 34fall under the 150 m ost backward distric ts iden tified in the country.

The CSE report has made extensive analysis of environment degradation and pollution due to mining,wherein it has said, in 2005-06 alone 1.6 billion tonnes of waste and overburden from coal, iron ore,limestone and bauxite have added to environment pollution. With the annual growth of mining at 10.7 per cent and 500-odd mines awaiting approval of the Centre, the pollution would inc rease manifold in thecoming years.

In Orissa state, in the next five to 10 years, Jharsuguda will be home to production of 3.1 million tonnealuminum. This, however, will generate 3,100 tonne of fluoride every year. Similarly, the State is gearing upfor power projec ts - mostly c oal-based - targeting 20 ,000 m ega watt ene rgy. Th is wil l requi re 3.2 lakh tonne o f coal daily which in turn can lead to generation of 1,200 tonne ash a day.The mines of Mahanadi Coal Fields and NTPC draw about 25 Cr litres of water per day from the River

Brahmani and in return they release thousands of gallons of waste water, which contains obnoxioussubstances like Ash,Oil , Heavy Metals, Grease, Fluorides, Phosphorus, Amm onia, Urea and Sul phuric Aci d, in to the River Nandira(A tributary of River Brahmani). The effluents from chl orine plant cause chl oride and sodium toxicity to the

river Rushikulya – the lifeline of southern Orissa. The Phosphoric Fertilizer Industry discharges effluentcontaini ng Nitric , Sulphuric and Phosphoric aci ds into river Mahanadi.

An alumina refinery in Orissa blithely continues to pollute the surrounding villages, despite therecommendations of the Supreme Court's Central Empowered Committee that it be closed since it posesenvironmental and health hazards.Rengopall i i s also at alarming proxim ity to the east and west ce ll s of the Red Mud pond buil t for the refinery'salkaline waste disposal. Red Mud, which is the final waste product in the process of extracting alumina frombauxite. In the c urrently operational west cell, a ton of toxic waste i s dumped for every ton of aluminaproduced i n the refinery.

the Red M ud pond buil t for the refinery's alkaline waste di sposalIn Jharkhand there are abundant coalmines, most of the coalmines are situated in Hazaribag, Chatra,

Palamau, Rajmahal, Dhanbad and Ranchi distric t. Mi ghty Damodar River and its tributaries flow throughthese coalmines. Due to extensive coal mining and vigorous growth of industries in this area water resourceshave been badly contaminated.

Due to this large scale mining in The Aravalli hill s Range i n Rajasthan and Haryana the forest cover hasbeen depleted 90 percent and drying up wells and affecting agriculture. The governments remain silent i nthese years. Due to media and public protest the Supreme Court on February 20, 2010 directed cancellationof 157 min ing leases operating i n Rajasthan’s eco-sensitive Aravall i Hil ls

The Aravalli hills Range in Dehli, Haryana, Rajasthan and Sindh

Pollution due to biomedical waste

Pollution due to biomedical waste is likely to spread disease dangerous to life and making atmosphere


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noxious to health. In early April, 2010 a m achi ne from Delhi University containi ng c obalt-60, a radioac tivemetal used for radiotherapy in hospitals, ended up i n a scrapyard in the c ity. The death from radiationpoisoning of a scrapyard worker in New Delhi has highlighted the lax enforcement of waste disposal laws inIndia.The International Atomic Energy Agenc y (IAEA) said it was the worst radiation inc ident worldwide infour years.

India being used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste, from foreign countries. Twenty containers withgoods were detained by the officials of Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch attached to theCustoms Department here recently. Packs of broken toys, used diape rs, empty perfume bottles, used battery

cells, thermocol, used aluminum foil packing materials and coloured surgical gloves were found in thecontainers. It could also lead to contamination and spread of communicable diseases.

Pollution due to e-Waste The UNEP report "Rec ycl ing – from E-Waste to Resources" was released on the Indonesian island of Bal i onFebruary 22, 2010 at the start of a week-long meeting of offic ials and environmentalists. Ac cording to thereport's authors by 2020 e-waste in South Africa and China will have jumped by 200-400 per cent from 2007levels, and by 500 per cent in India.

India produces about 3,80,000 tonnes of e-Waste per annum, which includes only the waste generated outof television sets, mobil e phones and PCs, a major c hunk of which com es from organizations. E-wasteproduced in India includes over 100,000 tonnes from refrigerators, 275,000 tonnes from TVs, 56,300 tonnesfrom personal computers, 4,700 tonnes from printers and 1,700 tonnes from mobile phones. The un-organized recycl ing sector which fails to practic e eco-friendly e-Waste recycl ing methods release largeamount of toxic chemicals. The toxic gases and the large volume of Electronic Waste Adds environmental

Pollution in India

India imports almost 50,000 tonnes of e-waste yearly . It generated 330,000 tonnes of e-waste in 2007 and

the number is expected to touch 470,000 tonnes by 2011, according to a study on e-waste assessmentconducted

jointly by M AIT and the German government’s sustainable development body GTZ. in April 2010. T ill date,there were no defini te e-Waste rules in India to regulate the m anagement of e-waste In September 2009,MAIT , GTZ (German Tec hnic al Cooperation Agenc y), Greenpeace and T oxics Link, in c onsultation with allstakeholders, submitted a set of draft rules for e-Waste management to Govt of India.

Delhi's air is choking with pollutant PM 2.5 PM 2.5 is only 2.5 m ic rons in diameter is very very small particl e. The diameter of a human hair strand i saround 40-120. Being so smal l, i t escapes emi ssion apparatus prescribed by Euro II and III. Any kind of combustion, especially of vehicular origin, contains this particle. If PM 2.5 is not regulated it will ensuremajor health hazards. The number of Asthma patients will rise and in future there may huge rise of lungcancer cases also. The toxic value of PM 2.5 is such that metals like lead present in the PM 2.5 get inhaleddeeper into lungs which deposits there. The children are most affected by depositing lead due to inhalingthe poi sonous air. T he i ncreasing amount of PM 2.5 is like a poison in the ai r we breathe. Researchersbelieve particulates, or tiny particles of soot, interfere with the respiratory system because they are so smallthey can be breathed deeply into the lungs.

Toxic smog is set to engul f Delhi onc e aga in this winter after a six-year respite bec ause of the huge num ber of new c ars clogging the roads. New Delhi adds nearly 1,000 new cars a day to the exist ing four mi ll ion registered in the c ity, almost twic e as many as before 2000. Poll ution l evels are up to 350 mi crogramsper cubic metre in 2006-2007 and the levels of nitrogen oxides have been increasing in the city todangerous levels, whic h is a c lear sign of pol lution from vehicles. Of these it is the diesel c ars that areresponsible for the pollution. Diesel- run vehicles constituted just two percent of the total number of cars onDelhi's roads seven years ago compared to more than 30 percent today and a projected 50 percent by2010.Diesel is being inc reasingl y used because i t is a cheaper fuel. Diesel emissions can trigge r asthma andin the long run even cause lung canc er.

A survey by the Central Pollution Control Board and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences surveyshowed that a majority of people living in Delhi suffered from eye irritation, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath and poor lung functioning. One in 10 people have asthma i n Delhi. Worse, the winter months bring

respiratory attacks and wheezing to m any non-asthmati cs who are old, who smoke, have respiratory i nfec tionsor chronic bronchitis. Across the national capital and its suburbs, polluted air is killing people, bringing down


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the quality of life, and leaving people feeling i ll and tired.Some studies show c hil dren are among the worst-affected by the dense haze that often shrouds the c ity, and

doctors frequently tell parents to keep their children indoors when smog levels are particularly high. In asurvey of almost 12,000 city schoolchildren late last year, 17 percent reported coughing, wheezing or breathlessness, compared to just eight percen t of c hil dren in a rural area.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions India emits the fifth most carbon of any country in the world. At 253 million metric tons, only the U.S.,China, Russia, and Japan surpassed its level of carbon emissions in 1998. Carbon emissions have grownnine -fold over the past forty years. In this Industrial Age, with the ever-expanding c onsumpti on o f hydrocarbonfuels and the resultant inc rease in carbon dioxide emissions, that greenhouse gas conc entrations havereached levels causing climate change. Going forward, carbon emissions are forecast to grow 3.2% per annum until 2020. To put this in perspective, carbon emissions levels are estimated to increase by 3.9% for China and by 1 .3% for the United States. India i s a non -Annex I c ountry under the United Nations FrameworkConvention on Green house gases and c lim ate Change, and as such, is not required to reduce its carbonemi ssions. An historic al summary of ca rbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel use i n Indi a i s increasingrapidly and causes global warming.

All inhabitants of our pl anet have an equal right to the atmosphere, but the i ndustrialized countries havegreatly exceeded their fair, per-capita share of the planet’s atmospheric resources and have inducedcl imate change. The most developed countries possess the capi tal, tec hnologic al and human resourcesrequired for succ essful adaptation, while in the developing countries, a large proportion of the population isengaged in traditional farming, that is particularly vulnerable to the changes in temperature, rainfall and

extreme weather events assoc iated with cl imate change.According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol , the most

industrialized countries are m ainly responsible for causing cl imate change. Thus equity requires that theyshould sharply reduce their emissions in order to arrest further climate change and allow other countriesaccess to their fair share of atmospheric resources in order to develop.

Pollution of Indian SeasA first-ever exerci se on March 25, 2010, the c ountry's 7500-km-long coastline wil l be surveyed to dem arcate

areas vulnerable to sea erosion, high tide and waves in order to help government take measures in protectingcommunity living in such pockets. The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a Rs1,156-crore Integrated Coastal Zone Management(ICZM) project which among other things cover coastlinesurvey, capacity building of the people living near to coast,expand their l ivelihood opportunities anddemarcation of sensiti ve and hazardous zones.

The ship Platinum-II arrived i n Indian waters on 8 October, 2009 The mini stry of environment and forestssaid it inspected Platinum-II and found the ship contained toxic material. The Platinum-II - formerly known asSS Oceanic or the SS Independence - was destined for the Alang ship- breaking yard. The Gujarat MaritimeBoard leases out the yard to ship-breakers. It is Asia's largest ship-breaking yard and known as the "graveyardof ships". It said many of the workers tested showed early signs of asbestosis - an incurable disease of thelungs.

The ship Platinum-II Indian dedic ated satellite

Indian satellite to monitor green house emission

A dedi cated satellite would be launc hed with the support of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)by 2012 to monitor India's greenhouse gas emission, Union Minister for Environment and Forests JairamRamesh said. "Currently, Japan and European countries have this satellite but by 2012 we will have adedic ated satellite that will monitor greenhouse gas emission across the c ountry and globe," Ramesh toldreporters on M arch 13 , 2010 at IIT-Powai.

"The objective is to study the impact of climate change, fallout of greenhouse gas emissions on theenvironment by monitoring it through satellite technology," he said. Another satellite for protection anddevelopment of the forest c over in India would be ready by 2013. "As the forests are getting depl eted at a

rapid pac e el sewhere in the world, there seems to be a need for a satelli te," Ramesh said.


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creating a domestic emi ssions-trading m arket to boost i nvestment in solar,wind and other clean-energy projec ts.India is the second-largest generator of carbon credits in the United NationsClean Developmen t Mechanism, the world’s second-biggest greenhouse-gastrading market. Certified Emissions Credits, or CERs, issued for pol luti on-cutting projec ts in India are sold to businesses in Europe and elsewhereseeking to meet ei ther mandatory or voluntary lim its.

T he only l arge-sc al e"pol luti on trading" system inthe worl d, run by theEuropean Union, is failing todel iver green energyinvestment.

Poverty is the biggest polluter Indira Gandhi, a former prime minister, famously announced at the UnitedNations’ first environmental conference, in 1972, that “Poverty is the biggestpolluter.” Those sentiments were echoed recently when Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh snubbed the U.S. sec retary of state, Hill ary Rodham Clinton, bytell ing her in public that India could not acc ept binding carbon emissiontargets because doi ng so would stunt the na tion’s economic growth.

The United States, with under 5 percent of the world’s population, ac countsfor more than 20 percent of total carbon emissions. India, with more than 17percent of the global population, accounts for just 5.3 percent of emissions.Why, he asks.

The most polluted places in India Vapi in Gujarat and Sukinda in Orrisa is among the world's top 10 most

polluted places, according to the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-basednonprofit group.Vapi : Potentially affected people: 71,000 -Pollutants: Chemic als and heavy

metals due to i ts Industrial estates.Sukinda: Potentially affected people: 2,600,000. -Pollutants: Hexavalent

ch romium due to its Chromi te mines.

The most polluted cities in India

As many as 51 Indian cities have extremely high air pollution, Patna,Lucknow, Raipur, Faridabad and Ahmedabad topping the list. An environmentand forest mini stry report, released on September 14, 2007 has identified 51cities that do not meet the prescribed Respirable Particulate Matter (RSPM)levels, spec ified unde r the National Ambi ent Air Qual ity Standards (NAAQS). In2005, an Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) plac ed India at 101st

position among 146 countries.Taking a cue from the finding, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)

formulated NAAQS and checked the air quality, which led to the revelationabout air quality in leading ci ties.

Acc ording to the report, Gobindgarh in Punjab i s the most poll uted c ity, andLudhiana, Raipur and Lucknow hold the next three positions. Faridabad on theoutskirt of Delhi is the 10th most polluted city, followed by Agra, the city of TajMahal. Ahmedabad is placed 12th, Indore 16th, Delhi 22nd, Kolkata 25th,Mumbai 40th, Hyderabad 44th and Bangalore stands at 46th in the list. TheOrissa town of Angul, home to National Alumini um Company (NALCO), i s the50th polluted c ity of the country.

Emissions of gaseous pollutants: satellite data Scientists and researchers from around the world gathered at ESRIN, ESA’s

Earth Observation Centre in Frascati, Italy, recently to discuss the contributionof satellite data in monitoring nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere. Usingnitrogen di oxide (NO2) data acquired from 1996 to 2006 by the Global OzoneMonitoring Experiment (GOME) instrument aboard ESA’s ERS-2 satellite,Nitrous oxide emissions over India is growing at an annual rate of 5.5percent/year. The location of emission hot spots c orrelates well with thelocation of mega thermal power plants, mega cities, urban and industrialregions.

Emissions of gaseous pollutants have increased in India over the past twodecades. According to Dr Sachin Ghude of the Indian Institute of TropicalMeteorology (IITM), rapid industrialization, urbanization and traffic growth aremost likely responsible for the inc rease. Because of varying consumptionpatterns and growth rates, the distribution of emissions vary widely across India.

Is nuclear energy a solution of global warming?

Toxic ReleasePer capita emission in2007-08 in select c i tiesacross the world (in a studyin October 2009)::

Jamshedpur - 2.76 tonnesGargaon - 2.33 tonnesKolkata - 1.83 tonnesDelhi - 1.6 tonnes

Faridabad - 1.58 tonnesBangalore - 0.82 tonnes

Wash ington DC- 19.7tonnes

Beijing,China - 6.9 tonnesLondon , UK - 6.2 tonnesSource:

www.newscientist.comand ICLEI study

ETP dic harge at Vapi

Worst 5 Indian power companies in terms of totalemission of CO2

-NTPC LTD.-Maharastra State Power Gen Co.- Gujrat Urja Vi kas Nigam- Uttar Pradesh RajyaVidyut- Andhra Pradesh Power Gen Corp.


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India a country of 1.1 billion people c urrently gets only a fraction of itselectricity from nuclear power. Now the US atomic trade pact with India and anatomic energy pact with France, India can fight global warming with c leannuclear energy. Nuclear energy has been recognized as a clean as CO2 to theatmosphere after its reaction that c ould damage our environment. It's alsoknown that nuclear energy has reduced the amount of greenhouse gasemission, reduci ng emissions of CO2for about 500 mil l ion metric tons of carbon.

Despite the advantage of nucl ear as a c lean energy, the big conc ern i s thewaste resulted from nuclear reaction, which is a form of pollution, calledradioactivity. Nuclear waste is also a problem with nuclear power, in that spentnucl ear fuel has no safe place to be stored right now. Perhaps the greatestproblem with nuc lear power is the price to taxpayers.

Environmentalists and antinuc lear ac tivists say the Civil Liabil ity for Nucl ear Damage Bill (2009) which exempts foreign companies from legal liabilities incase of a nuclear acc ident and proposes a low c ap of Rs 500 crores isunconstitutional and undermines public safety. “The Bill to be tabled in theparliament on March 15, 2010 not only allows US companies to go scot free incase of a nuclear mishap but also uses Indian taxpayers money to pay for thedamages,” said Ka runa, Anti Nuclea r Campa igne r, Greenpeac e India .

Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification

The EIA Notifica tion was first enac ted in 1994 and was amended several timesbefore being replaced with a new Notification in 2006. Those who fail tocomply with the EIA Notif ication guidelines are punishable under theEnvironment Protection Act and other laws. One of the proposed amendmentsstates that in case of any expansion of existing projects, they are free to certifythemselves as environmentally sound.

Reduce pollutions: suggestions National Action Plan on Climate Change

That India will put solar energy generation at the forefront of its battle againstcl imate change became evident with Prime Minister Manmohan Singhreleasing the National Action Plan on Climate Change in New Delhi last year.

The plan consisted of eight national missions. T hey are on solar energy,enhanced energy eff iciency, sustainable habitat, water conservation,

sustaining the Himal ayan ec osystem, c reating a 'green India' through a largetree-planting programm e, sustainabl e agric ulture and establi shing a knowledgeplatform on cli mate change.

Steps in Budget 2010-11 for the Env ironment

The increased pollut ion levels associated with industrial isation andurbanisation, a number of proactive steps have been proposed in the UnionBudget (2010-11). The major steps include: National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) - for funding research and innovativeprojects in clean energy technology. Allocation for National Ganga River BasinAuthority has been doubled in 2010-11 to Rs.500 crore. The “Mission CleanGanga 2020” under the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) with theobjective that no untreated municipal sewage or industrial influent will bedischarged into the Nationa l river has already been initi ated.

Mumbai Cyclothon 2010.

Mumbai witnessed it's first ever Cyclothon on February 21, 2010, with over 7,000 partic ipants at the Mumbai Cycl othon 2010. An event like this gives theright message to the pub li c as well as the government about saving fuel as wellas our environment.

References

Nuclear power plantsin India

Tulsi (Holy Basil) Tulsi reduces pollution:

Now Tulsi an ayurvedawisdom to help Taj Majalretain its pristine allure.The forest department hascome up with a quick-f ix

pro jec t -- p lant a Tu lsid ri ve i n Ag ra . Tulsi i schosen for i ts anti -pol lutant ant i-oxidat ionand air-purifying propertiesmaking it an idealornamental shrub in thevicini ty of the Taj Mahal .

Choose an eco- friendlybic ycle for short distance.


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1. Ministry of Environment. & foresthttp://moef.nic.in/index.php

2. United Nations Environment Programmehttp://www.unep-wcmc.org/

3.Asian Brown cl oudhttp://web.archive.org/web/20071009231830/http://archives.cnn.com/

2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/08/12/asia.haze/4. Pollution and Society

http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/pollution.htm5, Carbon dioxide Charts

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/09-carbon_emissions.htm


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Environmental Pollution in India

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