In this modern era, air pollution is a serious problem all over the world. The main reason for this is industrialization. At present time in the Metropolitan cities the gases emitted from factories and vehicles. This is the main causes of Air Pollution in India. This contain contaminated gases which are contaminating our environment, due to this we are facing serious problems like air pollution. It contains defective gases which are polluting our environment.
As a result of this Air Pollution the glaciers are melting. Some countries and states may drown in the water due to melting of glacier. The second big problem is acid rain comes from the air pollution itself.
To solve this problem first we must make the people aware of all danger. The problem of air pollution has come up today. The more use of vehicles and factories gives us poisonous gases so that they can get rid of this problem.
Table of Content
CAUSES OF AIR POLLUTION
A. Natural Causes of Air Pollution
Many natural phenomena occur on our earth due to which air pollution increases like volcanic eruptions, forest fires, dust blowing, sand contraction, increased salinity of the ocean, thunderstorms, comet sprays, pollen grains, viruses, Bacteria etc. is the reason due to which air pollution occurs naturally on the earth. Some major causes of air pollution are given below:
1. Fire in the Forest
There are many big forests on earth, in which there are many trees and vegetation, due to which a lot of firewood is found in the forests, it starts burning with the spark of a small fire. Most of the summer there is a fire in the forests, due to which the entire forest starts burning, due to which a lot of smoke is produced which causes air pollution.
2. Volcanic Eruption
There are many volcanoes on our earth which keep reading from time to time and from them poisonous gas and lava keeps coming out, due to which air pollution increases. Recently, there was a volcano in Indonesia, whose dust had spread about 4000 meters. Due to which the flora and fauna around there were destroyed and due to this about 1400 people were killed.
3. Dust Blowing
In our environment, dust soil keeps on blowing all the time because sometimes there is strong wind, sometimes storms come due to which a bit of dust arises and pollutes the whole air. . Dust is caused by the movement of motor vehicles and other large vehicles.
4. Pollination of flowers
Flower plantations occur in all countries of the world. In which flowers grow in large quantities, but on those flowers there is a very small amount of pollen of flowers which start flying with a little wind and due to that air pollution occurs.
5. Through Animals
Animals are reared here for many things, some people extract milk from them, some use them as exteriors, but animals also cause air pollution because the gas released by them forms methane. Methane is harmful for the human health.
6. Bacteria
Many bacteria are present in the earth’s environment, some of which are good, some are harmful to our body, it is not visible with open eyes, but it mixes with air and gets into our body. Due to which our body becomes victim of some disease. These harmful bacteria are released from the chemical factory and other harmful things.
7. Comets / Meteor bodies
There are many comets and meteor bodies moving around the earth and they sometimes hit the earth due to which their dusty soil pollutes our entire atmosphere.
B. Man Made Causes of Air Pollution
The man made causes of air pollution on the earth are mainly caused by humans – big industry businesses, tomorrow factories, motor vehicles, smoking, wood smoke, use of pesticides in fields, to remove weeds and crop. Spraying of gases to get rid of scrub, burning the remaining grass after harvest, particulate matter, bomb blast, nuclear explosion, open defecation, building air pollution of flying dust, etc.
All these reasons increase the amount of gases in our atmosphere like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and ammonia, all of which are harmful to our atmosphere. Some man-made causes of air pollution are given bellow:
1. Growing Industry
It can be said that growing industry is the biggest cause of air pollution. The smoke emitted from it has polluted the air the most. This is the problem of most developing countries. Today many cities in India are above the risk mark due to growing industry. Breathing has become rare in those cities.
2. Kinds of Transportation
Today, due to increasing population, various means of communication are increasing. Due to increase in these resources, the number of engines, buses, aircraft, scooters etc. is increasing very fast. All these vehicles are constantly creating imbalances in the atmosphere with their smoke.
3. Nuclear test
We increased the mutual rivalry so much that the fighting between the countries started and the arms race started. Because of this, people got a very deadly and polluting weapon like atomic bomb.
4. Increasing Population
In India, population growth is one of the biggest indicators of rising air pollution. The biggest reason behind this is the indiscriminate use of natural resources. Earlier this problem was limited to cities, but now this problem is increasing in rural areas. Industrialization has also increased tremendously due to increasing population. Toxic air from the industry has contaminated the air, providing employment to the people.
5. Indiscriminate deforestation
All of us humans have indiscriminately cut forests for our convenience, which has increased air pollution. Obviously, trees continuously work to reduce pollution of the atmosphere. Plants consume life-threatening gas oxygen by consuming carbon dioxide, a gas harmful to our food.
6. Burning Dry Waste
Every day dry and wet waste comes out of the houses, we burn dry waste in ignorance and think what pollution it will cause, but if we do, then do a lot of things around the world and every day if even a little waste is released, it becomes very large by mixing it together and burning it increases the amount of pollution.
7. Thermal Energy
Coal is still the cheapest means to make electricity but due to this there is a lot of pollution, due to coal power, even today 70% of electricity is produced from coal itself, due to which pollution is increasing.
8. Industrial Construction
Industrial construction is being done at the same speed as the world is progressing, construction work is going on everywhere, due to which the cement, dust, etc. keep arising due to which the air continues to be polluted.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION
Air pollution is affects on trees, plants and animals as well as human being and our environment. The cause and effects of air pollution are as follows:
- Due to air pollution, the temperature of our earth is increasing gradually and due to this, problems like global warming are facing us. This will melt the ice on the pole and many small countries or states may drown in the water.
- It mixes with fog smoke and dust particles in cold days and causes irritation in eyes and trouble in breathing.
- The risk of acid rain is increasing. The main reason for acid rain is that sulfuric acid (H2SO4) is formed when both sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide combine with water. It falls to the ground with water and causes damage to many important buildings, spaces and humans.
- The effect of air pollution is mainly on humans, this increases the possibility of many types of diseases in humans.
MEASURES TO PREVENT AIR POLLUTION
1. Planting trees
If we want to control air pollution, then we should plant more quantity of trees because the plants release oxygen from the plants and they absorb carbon dioxide due to which most of the polluted air is cleaned. In China, trees and plants are being cut in large quantities due to which air pollution is spreading in large quantities.
2. Reducing the factories tomorrow
We should close those factories that cause more pollution and the height of the chimneys should be higher for the factories that we need to have the least impact.
3. Finding new sources of energy
We should find new sources for energy, we should reduce the use of coal and nuclear energy, we should use solar energy in more quantity due to which there will be no air pollution and we will also get energy.
4. Shutdown of old vehicles
Even today in our India country old vehicles continue to run on the roads, which release a lot of poisonous smoke which pollutes the entire environment. An old vehicle emits smoke equivalent to 10 new vehicles, which plays an important role in air pollution. The government should stop applying the old rules, which can be controlled to control air pollution.
5. Population control
Today the whole world is grappling with the problem of population growth. If we control over then there will also be a shortage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and we will need to set up fewer industries, which reduce the amount of pollution.
6. To do Construction Work according to the rules
Whenever any construction takes place in our entire country, it is in the open due to which dust keeps blowing around and the entire environment gets polluted. Whenever we do construction work, it should be covered with a cloth that does not cause air pollution.
7. Use of Public Vehicles
If we want to reduce air pollution, then we have to use more public vehicles which will cause less pollution in the environment.
8. Legal Control
For the control of air pollution, our government should make new rules and a certificate of pollution control should be made mandatory and the Air Pollution Act (1981) should be strictly followed.
9. Jan Jagran
If you want to control any type of pollution, then people should know about pollution. We should warn people about pollution by taking out railways and there should be a curriculum about pollution in schools so that children know from childhood what work is done by which pollution is spread.
DOMESTIC AIR POLLUTION PROBLEM IN INDIA
A study published by the ‘Collaborative Clean Air Policy Center’ states that burning of solid fuel in homes is the leading cause of air pollution in India.
According to a study published on a website called ‘Ideas for India’, the use of solid fuels such as wood, coal etc. has a bad effect on the health of the members of the household and it is 22 up to 52 percent for air pollution in India.
Wood, cattle dung and agricultural waste are some of the fuels that are commonly used in Indian homes as a means of generating energy for cooking, lighting and heating etc. One of the many pollutants arising from the burning of such solid fuels is Particulate Matter (PM).
Domestic Air Pollution
- The emission of PM 2.5 produced by burning of solid fuels in homes is called Household Air Pollution (HAP).
- It has been claimed in the above study that about 800,000 people die every year in India only and only due to HAP.
- Premature mortality using HAP is 58 percent higher than the premature mortality rate due to coal use. It is 1056 percent more than the death rate due to transportation.
- Therefore, based on the above facts, it can be said that this pollution is a major concern in India and it should be taken care of as soon as possible so that the number of deaths due to it can be reduced.
- Statistics shows in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Assam, about 72.1 percent of the population uses solid fuel daily.
- World Health Organization report shows that, about 3 billion people use solid fuels (wood, charcoal, coal, cow dung, crop waste) in traditional stoves or stoves to cook and keep their homes warm in winter.
Some Facts Finding and WHO Report on Air Pollution In India
- According to WHO report, more than 90 percent of the world’s children are forced to breathe toxic air. According to the estimates of the institution, in 2016, about six lakh children under 15 years of age lost their lives due to respiratory tract infection caused by air pollution. India was on top in this matter. According to the report, air pollution is the cause of death of one out of every ten children below five years of age.
- WHO; 38 million people die every year from domestic air pollution. This pollution is caused by the use of fuels such as wood or kerosene for cooking or lighting lanterns. More than 300 million people around the world depend on such fuels.
- Air pollution in the external environment causes the death of about 42 lakh people every year worldwide. About 91 percent of the world’s population is living in places where air quality does not meet WHO standards. According to a report, about 66 crore people in India are forced to live in such places where the amount of air pollution is more than the national average.
- The maximum deaths due to air pollution (43 percent) are due to lung related diseases. Of these, 14 percent of deaths are due to cancer and 29 percent from other lung related diseases. Apart from this, 24 percent deaths due to brain stroke and 25 percent due to cardiovascular diseases.
- Another WHO say, 14 of the 20 most polluted cities around the world are from India. Kanpur is the second largest city of Uttar Pradesh in this list. It is followed by Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur.
- World Health Organization presented at the first global conference on air pollution, increasing air pollution in India can reduce the monsoon rains in the country. This report has also said that the share of air pollution in domestic causes in India is between 22 to 52 percent. According to this, if the use of kerosene or wood as fuel in the houses is stopped, then such pollution can be reduced considerably. According to the report, every year the lives of 20 lakh people can be saved.
- Air quality and weather forecasting and research system ‘Safar’, the participation of vehicles in air pollution in Delhi-NCR is 41 percent. Subsequently, the dust particles present in the air are responsible for the increase in pollution. Their participation in polluting the air is 21.5 percent. At the same time, the industries share in air pollution is 18.6 percent.
- The Indian Medical Association (IMA), while declaring a health emergency in Delhi last year, appealed to the people not to go out of their homes. According to the report, breathing in Delhi’s air last year was said to be as dangerous as smoking 44 cigarettes a day.
- India is among the top five countries in terms of premature deaths due to air pollution in Asia. At the top of this list is North Korea and then China.
Continues increasing the pollution levels have negative felling and harmful effects on the human health. Air pollution is also the reason for the increase of global warming because the temperature of the atmosphere is increasing due to the increase in the level of green house gases. These greenhouse gases effect on rising sea level, melting of glaciers, changing of seasons, changing of climate etc. Increasing air pollution is causing many fatal diseases (cancer, heart attack, asthma, bronchitis, renal diseases etc.) and death. The increase of harmful gases in the environment is causing acid rain and erosion of the ozone layer.
