The pandemic will leave behind a generation scarred by ill health, malnourishment, acute poverty, and facing setbacks in education as per the latest report on the State of India’s Environment.
The generation, which will bear the biggest burden of the pandemic, labelled ‘the lost generation’ by the report, has 375 million children (newborn to 14 year olds). They will be underweight, stunted in experience, exhibit increased mortality and face losses in education and work productivity.
The hidden victims of the pandemic will be the over 500 million children who will be forced out of school. Half of these children will be in India. Almost 115 million people, mostly in South Asia, will be pushed into poverty.
Releasing the report authored by the Centre for Science and Environment, its director general Sunita Narain said, “The pandemic is a shock response to our dystopian relationship with nature. It has amplified the inequity and deep divisions in our world. The places where the disease is most likely to breed is where there are no urban services, where settlements are overcrowded, where water supply and sanitation is inadequate, and where people have no way to stay safe.”
India’s air, water and land have become more polluted between 2009 and 2018. Of 88 major industrial clusters in the country, Central Pollution Control Board' (CPCB) own evaluation indicates that 35 have overall environmental degradation, 33 have worsening air quality, 45 clusters have water that is more polluted, and 17 have more polluted land. Tarapur in Maharashtra has emerged as the most polluted cluster.
In terms of Sustainable Development, India ranks 117 among 192 nations. It is now behind all South Asian nations, except Pakistan. The five best performing states in working towards meeting the goals are Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The worst are Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh.
Air pollution has killed 1.67 million Indians. The economic cost of this is over $36,000 million, equivalent to 1.36 per cent of India’s GDP. This makes a vehicle scrappage policy even more urgent as the 20 million vehicles nearing the end of their lives add to pollution and environmental damage.
On making available drinking water to all households of rural India , 11 deadlines have been missed. The Jal Jeevan Mission’s target to provide drinking water to all rural households by 2024 will need focus on making the water source sustainable; recharge of groundwater and rainwater harvesting.
The good news on the waterfront is that since 2014-15, an average 34 per cent of MGNREGA funds have been spent on water-related works, leading to creation of almost 11 million assets in half a million villages.
Even during the lockdown, India’s rivers did not see any significant improvement. Of India’s 19 major rivers, five – including Ganga – ran dirtier in the COVID-19 period.
India’s flora and fauna is under threat. As many as 438 plant species (of which 95 per cent are flowering plants, including food crops) and 889 vertebrates and invertebrates are threatened.
Environmental crime cases are piling up, and disposal is slow. As many as 34,671 crimes were registered in 2019, and 49,877 cases are pending trial. To clear the backlog in a year, courts need to dispose of 137 cases a day.
On India’s forest cover, the report questions whether it has grown by 5,188sqkm since 2017. The report notes that the Forest Survey of India mistakes “trees for forests”—it counts orchards, plantations and even trees along highways as parts of forest and tree cover.
There remains data confusion on tigers as well. India has added 714 more tigers, but the area occupied by tigers has shrunk by over 17,000 sqkm (in the last four years).
Forestland diversion continues unabated. Over 11,000 hectares were diverted in 22 states in 2019. Eight coal projects granted clearance in ‘No-Go’ areas will divert 19,614 ha of forestland, fell over 1 million trees, and evict over 10,000 families.
