Famous environmentalist Sudanlal Bahuguna had said that nature provides enough to meet every person’s need, but does not fulfill the greed of every person. Bahuguna said that by exploiting nature indiscriminately, we can bring our economy to any height, so we are moving our land from below. The World Air Quality 2024 report seems to be proving Bahuguna’s statement about the environment. This report includes the highest number of 20 polluted cities including Delhi and many cities in the National Capital Project area. The condition of 13 cities of India is the worst. The Meghalaya that was imagined with green plaintiffs and beautiful natural views is the most polluted city. The high levels of pollution in Bernihat are due to local factories, such as alcohol manufacturing, iron and emissions from steel plants. Four cities of Pakistan and one city in China are also on this list in neighboring countries. India has become the 5th most polluted country in the world in 2024 in this report of the World Air Quality of the Air Quality Technology Company IQ of Switzerland, which was third in 2023. The level of PM 2.5 in 35 percent cities of the country is 10 times more than 5 micrograms per cubic meter. The situation in Delhi is even more serious, where the annual average PM 2.5 concentrations increased from 102.4 micrograms per cubic meter in 2023 to 108.3 micrograms per cubic meter in 2024. This report states that in India, the concentration of PM 2.5 (smaller pollution particle than 2.5 microns) in India has decreased by 7 percent, which declined from 54.4 micrograms per cubic meter to 50.6 micrograms per cubic meter in 2023.
Air pollution in Delhi remains a serious problem throughout the year, which becomes even more dangerous in winter. Adverse weather, smoke emanating from vehicles, burning of paddy straw, firecrackers smoke and other local sources spoil the air quality. PM 2.5 particles can cause respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer by entering the lungs and blood vessels. The situation is difficult to improve the situation without strict control over sources such as industrial emissions, vehicles smoke and stubble burning. The top 20 most polluted cities include India from Bernihat (Meghalaya), Delhi, Mullanpur (Punjab), Faridabad, Gurugram (Haryana), Loni, Noida, Greater Noida, Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), Ganganagar, Bhiwadi and Hanumangarh (Rajasthan). This report is a warning for India that immediate and effective steps need to be taken to control air pollution.
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Air pollution remains a major health risk in India. According to research by Lancet Planetary Health, about 1.5 million people died every year from 2009 to 2019 due to prolonged contact of PM 2.5 pollution. Reports suggest that the average age of Indians is decreasing by 5.2 years due to pollution. Increasing pollution in India is also causing huge loss to the country’s economy. According to a report, this pollution is losing $ 95 billion every year i.e. about 3 percent of the country’s GDP. In the year 2019, a Global Consultancy firm named Deburg had reported that pollution in India caused a loss of $ 95 billion. The reason for this is reduction in work productivity, taking holidays and premature death. This amount is about 3 percent of India’s budget and the country’s annual health expenses are doubled. The report said that in 2019, India lost 3.8 billion working days, causing $ 44 billion to hit. There is a need to reduce carbon emissions from each region to achieve the target of Net-Geero of India by 2070. In this direction, in the last years, governments have started subsidy on EV vehicles, the increase in the number of beneficiaries of PM Surya Ghar Yojana, PM-Kusum Yojana is also a positive step. India is working towards achieving its renewable energy goal and gradually providing alternative employment to coal-based communities. All these joint efforts will affect air pollution in the future. Despite this, government efforts are half-incomplete.
A World Bank report of the year 2023 stated that the micro-level impact of pollution is affecting India’s economy at macro-level. According to the report, if India had reduced pollution in the last 25 years, India’s GDP would have been 4.5 per cent higher by the end of 2023. A report by the Lancet Health Journal said that the impact on health due to pollution in 2019 slowed down the country’s GDP to 1.36 percent. If steps are not taken on pollution, the situation may worsen. The 2023’s Debberg report has estimated that by 2030, when India’s average age will be 32 years, air pollution may increase the number of people who died, there are many environmental problems in India. Air pollution, water pollution, garbage, and natural environment pollution are challenges for India. The situation of environmental problem was very bad from 1947 to 1995. According to a study by World Bank experts between 1995 and 2010, India is making the fastest progress in the world in addressing its environmental issues and improving its quality of environment. Nevertheless, India has to go a long way to reach the quality of a similar environment when it comes to the level of countries with developed economies. There is a big challenge and opportunity for India. Environmental problems, disease, health issues and prolonged livelihood effects for India are the main reasons.
Rapid growing population and economic development and urbanization and uncontrolled increase in industrialization, large -scale industrial expansion and turbulence, and destruction of forests, etc. are the main causes of environmental problems in India.
It is estimated that the country’s population will increase to 1.26 billion by the year 2018. The estimated population indicates that by 2050 India will be the most populous country in the world and China will be ranked second. 2.4 percent of the world’s total area but 17.5 percent of the world’s population will be in India. The country’s pressure on its natural resources has increased significantly. India needs solid and long -term measures to reduce pollution. The question is also whether the governments of the Center and the states have to decide whether the example should be counted for more polluting of other countries or the condition of our country should be improved. This is certain that the political parties of the country do not agree to form a nationwide policy on environment and pollution, then every year this problem will continue to cause heavy damage to public wealth.
– Yogendra Yogi
(The author has his own views in this article.)
