India and China are the two emerging economies in Asia, both exhibiting signs of great economic growth potential. While India benefits largely from its service sector, China leads as the manufacturing hub for the world.
But all this is about to change.
India prepares to take a leap towards
a new era of progress under the leadership of its newly anointed Prime Minister,
Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi. Our Prime Minister has envisioned the country as
manufacturing hub for the world dethroning China of its current title; but does
this rising industrialisation explain the steady rise in the pollution levels in
our country?
Though the Indian Economy leads in
service sector its Industries manage to create alarming levels of pollution that stands second to none. Certain
cities in India are experiencing quicker rise in pollution levels as compared
to the some cities in China. A study put forward by Tel Aviv University, Israel
states that from 2002 to 2010 Bengaluru (formerly known as Bangalore) has
experienced second largest rise in air-pollution level in the world. Cities
like Ahemdabad, Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune showed double digit rise in percentage
of pollution levels
[Source]
China (population 1,35,41,48,000)
ranks second to India (population 1,21,44,65,000) for cause of death due to
Lung diseases.
Lungs diseases are the third largest
cause of death in India. More people die in India due to Lung disease than
Stroke / HIV / Cancer.
(Latest WHO Data,
Death rates are age-standardised; total deaths are % of population)
[Source]
In 2014, Delhi has emerged as most
polluted city in the world as per a report by World Health Organisation. The
environment laws and industrial pollution control laws in India needs to be amended to ensure lower emissions. Our country is already in a state where the
quality of environment is depleting by the day. Will this rise in Industrialisation degrade the living conditions even further or will the PMO
draft a strategy to provide us a cleaner state of environment, this remains to
be seen.
Shri Narendra Modi has already
displayed his concern for Pollution, during his session as Chief Minister of
Gujarat; he started Sabarmati River Front Project, an initiative for
purification and beautification of the Sabarmati riverfront. He also declared
his intentions to cleanse Ganga (Ganges) during his election campaigns. Our
Prime Minister has already taken the right steps towards pollution control but,
will this be limited only to water pollution or will steps be taken to police
air pollution in the country as well.
