The Rescue Mission!

The environment has always been a part of human nature; in fact, studies say that it existed even before the human did, so we have technically taken over everything that once was just for the environment. Even after that, unfortunately, we couldn’t keep it as it was before humans because some of us had the tendency to neglect the environment and issues related to it. Cut to today, we are still misusing and exploiting our mother nature in every way possible. If you’ve ever been to India, you probably would have noticed the environmental issues we have. Not that other countries don’t have those problems, but India has a more visible impact. These issues are turning out a big mess and with dire poverty and lack of education, it’s not even surprising. Despite tons of environmental policies, approximately 65% of our lands are being degraded in some way or the other. Although, there is no lack of legislative policies of the government to curb the damage but applying those policies is a completely different issue.

Our litter mountains are even bigger than our actual litter problem; however, it is observed that the habit of ‘just throw it on floor’ attitude is being decreased with the new generation’s increasing education; but, it is not enough to stop the level of exploitation that India is facing with each sunrise.

Corals and other sea life are being destroyed constantly by overfishing. Moreover, the remaining sea life is being damaged by the improper disposal of industrial waste, which by the way, has very serious consequences in the eye of the law but again, where is enforcement when it comes to the environment? Many tourist centres in India suffers on a huge level because of the irresponsible behaviour of people on their ‘so-called vacay’. If we dig deeper, the environmental issue of India is as big as the political ones, but who cares about something that doesn’t have power involved in it?

WATER

Perhaps the most important and yet most ignored environmental issue is water, which has caused a sudden dramatic drop in the water table of the country, and why not? Many factors were contributing constantly to this cause, such as lack of access to freshwater in many areas, exploitation of water by many industries, drought in many areas, among many others.

DEFORESTATION

This is another problem ignored not even by the government but by people in general. Many of us don’t even know if deforestation is a serious problem or not, seldom do we know the consequences of creating big malls in the place of years and years old trees.

AIR POLLUTION

The air quality of capital cities and other big cities of India has reached on a saturation point, where the pollution is causing many diseases like Asthma, breathing problem, TB and to name a few.

PLASTICS WASTE

I am sure we all know that plastic is the only thing that won’t degrade in any urgency, which most of the Indians won’t recognise as an emergency situation. Manufacturers keep manufacturing these plastic items, consumer keep consuming, government keep creating policies and not monitor it and this vicious circle keep running.

However, on a brighter note, the environmental situation in India is improving; but, how? The environment is returning to its natural habitat because people are locked in their houses, quarantined due to novel Coronavirus. But in this scenario, the environment of India seems to be flourishing-like-never-before and these visible positive effects have made us all wonder if it is nature’s way to punish us for the damage we’ve been doing to the environment. And I still wonder, why do we human being learn only after extreme situations? Think!

By: Karishma Gwalani