By Asit Manohar
From the article:
It’s that time of the year when pollution in India’s capital becomes unbearable, courts upset people by restricting Diwali firecrackers, and the environmental authorities threaten draconian steps like banning cars.
This is also the season for hand-wringing over the practice of burning crop residue in states of Punjab and Haryana, when soot blows toward the city. Scientists estimate last fortnight, one-third of the Delhi National Capital Region’s overhang of harmful particulate matter, elements finer than a fraction of a human hair, were derived from stubble burning.
Including the capital region, India is home to nine of the world’s 10 most-polluted cities. Beyond the health risks, the smog crisis threatens to erode competitiveness just when the country is starting to boast of rapid improvements in its ease-of-doing-business rankings.
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DEFORESTATION V/S DEVELOPMENT
As mentioned above, to achieve development we have treacherously butchered our forests as we did in Khurja, UP. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, we are losing 130,000 square km of forest cover every day. Another study by the Center for Global Development shows that if the loss of vegetation continues unabated at this rate, forests covering an area nearly the size of India will be destroyed by 2050. This rapid loss of natural forest across the world is increasingly concerning.
Read the full article here.