Analysis of Major Environmental Problems and Strategies to Minimize or Eliminate Them

This essay discusses the major environmental problems faced by India and the key steps taken by the government to reduce or eliminate them. It covers climate change, poor air quality, deforestation, water pollution, and desertification. The essay also suggests strategies such as controlling greenhouse gas emissions, promoting CNG vehicles, planting trees, implementing policies for industries, and protecting vegetation cover.

Analysis of major environmental
problems and strategies to
minimise or eliminate them

TABLE OF CONTENTS
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................7

The complete south Asian region is prone to vulnerable natural disasters and is also
threatened by the climate change. It will not only affect the internal regions and mountain
areas but the climate change will increase the frequency of natural disasters. This essay states
about the environmental problems faced by India and the key steps taken by government to
reduce or eliminate the problems.
The rapid economic development has changed the life of millions but on the other
hand it has polluted the environment in which billions of Indians live. The major
environmental problems faced by India are stated below.
Climate change: India is the centre of this changing climate trend. The temperature in
country’s south have started rising above the average and there is a large chance of similar
rise in northern regions of the country (Zaveri and et.al, 2016). As per the Global Climate
Risk Index 2019, India ranks 14th most vulnerable country even though it has shown
improvement over the past two years. India is also placed at second position as the most
affected country by the casualties in respect to extreme weather.
Poor air quality: The air quality in the Indian cities is deteriorating at the fast rate and
currently it is at the worst stage than in China. According to the report issued by Greenpeace
in 2017, 'Airpocalypse', assessing air pollution in Indian cities. Also, based on the World
Health Organization (WHO) global ambient air quality database, 11 of the 12 cities are
having the highest levels of small particulate – PM2.5. As per the report Airvisual’s 2018, 22
of the top 30 most polluted cities in the world are from India. Based on this, Gurugram,
(Delhi), is the most polluted (Gurjar and Nagpure, 2019). The study by the University of
Chicago, the pollution concentration in Delhi 2016 has reduced the life expectancy by over
10 years. The major reason for it is the 60% of the population who has relied on the biomass
for the purpose of cooking (India: environmental issues. 2019). Two-thirds of the Indian
population lives in rural areas from burning biomass which releases noxious fumes has
threatened the people's health and has increased the child mortality rate. This has been seen to
be increasing because of increased coal consumption in the power sector.
Deforestation: It is an important issue of environmental change. The increase in
demand for agricultural land, increase in demand for fuel and commercial wood,
construction, mining, growing industrialization and urbanization has highly exploited the
forest (Dutta, 2019). This has created chaotic conditions and environmental imbalances. As
per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017, has expressed concern over the forest
deforestation and also it is remarked that no action has been adopted or implemented by the
“Ministry of Environment and Forests” to reduce the cases of illegal cutting of trees in
forests.
Water pollution: It is the biggest issue in India. The untreated sewage water is
transferred to the ponds, lakes and rivers and this is the situation of 60% of the sewage in the
urban system. this has created pollution and has made water unfit for human consumption
(Sharma, Yadav and Gupta, 2017). Water used for irrigation purpose has led to the risk of
health and contamination of food supply. The dozens of rivers are contaminated with high
levels of heavy metals which includes Ganga and the Hindu which is the holy rivers.
According to the report of composite water management index, India is suffering the worst
water crisis and over 600 million Indians are facing high to extreme water stress and

approximately 200,000 people die every year because of inadequacy of safe water. India is
placed at the 120th position of 122 countries on account of water quality index.
Desertification: There is no environmental problem as extensive as land
desertification. It refers to the destruction of land which results into dessert like conditions.
There are many causes for it. The major reasons are climate change, overgrazing, expansion
of agriculture and also deforestation and over exploitation of resources (Dhinwa, 2018). India
has seen an increase in the level of desertification in 26 of 29 states and 80% of the country’s
degraded land lies in the 9 states. The degraded land in India is about 105 million hectares
which accounts for 32% of the India’s areas. According to the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification, India has lost about 5.65 million hectares of land in a decade.
From the above identified environmental problems along with the statistics provided
it can be said that India is in the extreme need of ways to tackles with these problems. Some
of the important and crucial steps that can be taken by the government to mitigate or reduce
the impact of these environmental problems are described below.
 In order to control the impact of climate change, government should work on the
emission of harmful green house gases. Carbon dioxide is the well-known greenhouse
gas which remains in the atmosphere for about centuries even if the emission of it is
stopped today, then too it will continue to affect the climate (Lakshmi and Geetha,
2018). But apart from it, the other contaminants also exist that has a contribution in
the climate change and remains in the atmosphere for few days or years which are
called as short-lived climate pollutants and are mainly responsible for 30% to 45% of
the emission that is causing global warming. It includes black carbon, methane,
hydrofluorocarbons and ozone. An effective control system can be established
through national policies and regulations which will help in fighting against the
climate change within a short period of time. Also, it is the major cause of air
pollution as well, this measure will also help in mitigating risk of health and life.
 The reduce air pollution some small steps can be taken which will have a great impact
on the environment. The government should encourage CNG in vehicles as it is the
much clearer form of fuel in comparison to petrol and diesel. This can be successfully
implemented by reducing the tax on CNG filled vehicles in comparison to other fuels.
In Delhi, government has launched a scheme called Roll on Roll off for carrying
loaded trucks on goods train in order to decongest Delhi roads and will consequently
lead to reduce air pollution. Also, government should encourage the usage of solar
power in the country mostly at homes and buildings with attractive subsidies to
encourage it and make it financially viable for households. This step will help in
reducing the usage of coals based thermal power plants which are the major
contributor to the air pollution and also affecting the climate change.
 Forests are the important part of the ecosystem so in order to protect it and to reduce
deforestation, government should come up with a plant a tree strategy and it should be
implemented for students (Rahmat, 2017). This can be made as a part of their
curriculum which will help in creating awareness and also getting a tree. If each
student successfully plants a tree and takes care of it then it will have very good
implication in the environment. Government can allot such land for these activities.
Also, implementing the proper recycle system can also help in reducing the number of
trees being getting cut.

 Water pollution is one of the reasons for increasing death in the country. To reduce its
impact government should implement policies that is required to be followed the
industries who are biggest contributors of water pollution. Also, strict actions should
be taken against those who are not following it properly. The government should also
regularly monitor the water resources and construct proper sanitary landfill sites. It is
also very in conducting an epidemiological study in the areas which are close to the
contaminated water resources as it will help in assessing the level of water being
polluted and its potential impact on health.
 For preventing desertification, it requires a lot of patience as it is a long-term process.
The government should work on protecting the vegetation cover which is the major
thing for soil conservation. The government has already taken step for integrating
land and water by introducing a scheme which will help in protecting soil from
erosion and various other forms of degradation. The government can take initiative by
turning to alternative livelihoods that are not dependent on the traditional land uses
such as dryland aquaculture, greenhouse agriculture etc.
Thus, it can be concluded that even if the problem is bigger and having a wide impact but
it also has solution for reducing the impact. All the strategies can be considered by the
government to mitigate or minimize the negative impact of environmental problems.
Along with this, it is important to understand the causes of each of these problem as it
will help in better handling of the problem and finding an effective solution to it.
Therefore, it is very essential to understand the impact to each human activity on the
environment as a whole as it may have a harmful effect on lives.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Dhinwa, P. S., 2018. Desertification and Land Degradation in Indian Subcontinent: Issues,
Present Status and Future Challenges. In Climate Variability Impacts on Land Use and
Livelihoods in Drylands (pp. 181-201). Springer, Cham.
Dutta, M., 2019. Environmental impact of overpopulation in India. The Clarion-International
Multidisciplinary Journal. 8(2). pp.49-51.
Gurjar, B. R. and Nagpure, A. S., 2019. Indian megacities as localities of environmental
vulnerability from air quality perspective. Journal of Smart Cities. 1(1). pp.15-30.
Lakshmi, S. V. and Geetha, D., 2018. Environmental issues and development: clean india
movement. Asian Journal of Multidimensional Research (AJMR). 7(1). pp.73-79.
Rahmat, A. A., 2017. Environmental Concerns and remedies in India. International Journal
of Research in Social Sciences. 7(7). pp.272-279.
Sharma, R. K., Yadav, M. and Gupta, R., 2017. Water quality and sustainability in India:
challenges and opportunities. In Chemistry and Water (pp. 183-205). Elsevier.
Zaveri, E. and et.al, 2016. Invisible water, visible impact: groundwater use and Indian
agriculture under climate change. Environmental Research Letters. 11(8). p.084005.
Online
India: environmental issues. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/637920/EPRS_BRI(2019)
637920_EN.pdf >.