The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, an international agency has given a grim picture of India with the record of 25 per cent of world total fatalities owing to polluted air and contaminated water. This shows how much polluted is the air and water in India. China follows India in the scale with 18 lakh deaths due to polluted air and water. Pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death in the world today. Diseases caused by pollution were responsible for an estimated 9 million premature deaths in 2015, 16% of all deaths worldwide and three times more deaths than from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined and 15 times more than from all wars and other forms of violence, says the report.
This is a very depressing picture. It shows that all efforts made so far to control pollution in the country have not proved successful and that more serious efforts need to be made if we want to give our future generations a healthy environ. The more important arsons for pollution to such an extent are: One is the ignorance among the people of the country and not aware what havoc emission of smoke and vehicle residues causes. Secondly, there is lack of sense of responsibility among the larger sections of the people, which emanates from the fact that pollution is not punishable offence under rules.
The condition in our State is still worse. We are not able to control air pollution in the two capital cities of the State despite the fact that there is the State Environment agency that is expected to take care of pollution and prevent it. However for various reasons this agency has not been very active and has not really done the important task of controlling pollution of air and water. We do not have the figures of fatalities taken place during past few years owing to air pollution. We would, therefore, impress upon the Government that all measures to control the pollution have to be taken now and future generations are to be saved from premature death.
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