There has been a decade of rapid economic growth for India, but unfortunately, the country’s environmental problem is still abound. This affects the wellness and wellbeing of Indian residents in a number of ways as they are frequently exposed to serious water and air pollution.
A recent report has shown that the environmental problems do also have an effect on the economy, and that in fact environmental degradation costs India some $80 billion every year, which represents 5.7 percent of the economy.
In order to tackle this problem, more green strategies are needed to help break out of this pattern and stop the natural resource depletion in its tracks. It is thought that emission reductions could actually be achieved with minimal cost to the GDP.
The fantastic economic growth in India has allowed millions of people to emerge from poverty thanks to increased employment opportunities, but unfortunately this wonderful growth record is tempered by the degrading environment and the increased scarcity of natural resources.
A recent survey was carried out into 132 countries, with their environments being surveyed, and of these, India ranked very near the bottom at 126th position, and ranked 132nd in the ‘Air Pollution’ category, which measured effects on human health. This means that India has the worst pollution in the whole world. An additional survey of the 20 most polluted cities in the world found that 13 of these were in India, showing a serious problem with pollution in the country.
Poverty is responsible for environmental degradation to a certain extent, as degraded lands are often overused by the poor. These lands then give a lower yield, worsening the problem with poverty and thus creating a vicious cycle of environmental degradation and impoverishment.