General Awareness topics on current affairs with analytically drawn conclusions are likely to benefit MBA Aspirants to achieve mission admission MBA!
Today, you will read General Awareness Topic:
“Any type of pollution is an accepted way of life”
It is not just in cities that we witness the effects of pollution; even in rural areas, various types of pollution and their effects are evident. In India, we are victims of water, air, land and noise pollution.
Sadly, we have become accustomed to this way of life. Even though environmental degradation is costing India Rp 4, 854 billion every year, which is 5.7 percent of the GDP, neither the government nor the citizens seem to be perturbed by it.
In addition, air pollution is reducing life expectancy in India by five years and killing 2.4 million people worldwide every year. These figures are shocking, but we do not seem to be doing anything to rectify this situation. Garbage is a common sight in India’s rural and urban areas.
India generates more than 100 million tonnes of solid waste in a year and this waste is scattered in public places and sidewalks. Few years back, the Supreme Court of India urged all cities in the country to implement effective waste management systems, which would include collection of household waste, segregation of the waste, recycling and composting. Sadly, no city has obeyed the directive of the Supreme Court, and we continue to live in filth.
Municipalities in India have employed people to collect garbage from households, but the absence of an independent body to monitor the work of these employees had led to the failure of the waste collection system. Exposure to solid waste increases a person’s risk of contracting diseases and infections. Solid waste is not just dumped on the streets, but it is also dumped indiscriminately into water bodies.
This results in water pollution. Rivers such as the Yamuna and Ganges are considered to be heavily polluted. The discharge of untreated sewage into water bodies is an important cause for water pollution in India.
India does not have the proper facilities for the treatment of garbage, which is why untreated garbage is left to either rot on land or thrown into water bodies. Also, open defecation is widespread in urban and rural areas.
This waste seeps into the ground and enters the water system. People who rely on rivers for drinking water, washing clothes and bathing become victims of water pollution.
According to a report published by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), close to 500,000 children below the age of five die every year in India because of diarrhea, which is a result of drinking contaminated water.
Despite such alarming figures and the deteriorating quality of life in both rural and urban areas, the government is not coming up with measures to eradicate pollution. Also, the citizens are not doing anything to prevent environmental degradation.
For example, instead of disposing plastic bottles, one can recycle and reuse them as vases. However, many people who are wealthy have no regard for the environment and only look at their convenience.
Air pollution is common in urban areas where there are a number of vehicles and traffic congestion is inevitable. Vehicle emissions are worsened by poor fuel combustion efficiencies from traffic congestion and fuel adulteration.
Instead of ignoring these problems, citizens should mobilize communities and promote environmental sustainability and a clean environment.
There is an old Chinese proverb that ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step’. Likewise, by recycling and reusing products, we can be one step closer to a cleaner and greener India.
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