Reasons and Impact of Environment Degradation in India.

Jatinder Kaur *Research Scholar, MMIM, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be) University,
Mullana, Ambala, India Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
In present era where attaining the goals of sustainable development is major concern for
every economy, in such a situation the concept of protection of environment from
degradation can no longer be ignored by any sector then it hardly matters whether it is
private sector or government sector.Environmental degradation is of several types like
destruction of environments and the eradication of wildlife.This continuous degradation of
the environmental hasled tomany consequences like Air pollution; water pollution, garbage,
and pollution of the natural environment.In many developing countries like India pollution
has turned out one of the major challenges and primary causes of diseases and health issues
as it has impact on livelihood of homosepians for long term. This paper describes the
national and global causes and consequences of environmental degradation.

Keywords: Environment degradation, consequences, sustainable development

*Corresponding Author
Email Id:[email protected]

INTRODUCTION
Environment refers to as the physical encompassing of man/lady of which he/she is a section
and on which he/she is reliant for his/her existence like physiological working, creation and
utilization. Physical environment made from air, water and land moreover it also includes
resources like soil and plants, creatures and ecosystem. The connection between physical
environment and the prosperity of people and societies is interconnected and depend upon
each other. The accessibility and utilization of natural resources has eventually leaded to
development of entire mankind. As far as urbanized society is concern the environment over
there is man-made [1]. The term 'environment ' is usually confined to surrounding
environment therefore it includes home, workplaceenvironment also.

In order to attain the goal of sustainable development it is important to management the

environment and natural resources,as all these play a very importantrole in growth of
economic and wellbeing human.When it is said to manageenvironment well, it includes
management of renewable natural resources, watersheds, productive landscapes and
seascapes.Proper management of natural resource make the base for sustained growth and
along with this it also ensurescontinuous supply of food and other basic requirement of life
and this finally lead to reduction of poverty.

Natural resources are source ofearning livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people and
government also generate sizeable tax revenue though this only.

When the concept of Environmental degradation is taken into consideration, then various
other associated concept is also consideredlike pollution, biodiversity loss & animal
extinction, deforestation & desertification, global warming, and a lot more. In simple words
the environment degradation can be defined as any transformation or interruption to the
environment which cause an undesirable harm to environment. According to United Nations,
environmental degradation is one of the major threats out of ten threats officially declared
bythem.There are various types of Environmental degradation like distortion of natural
habitats; over depletion ofnatural resources as by all this environment is degraded [3]. The
only solution to this problem is to do protection of environmental by doing
propermanagement of environmental resources.

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
To study the causes of environment degradation
To highlight the various factor responsible for environment depletion
To tell how environment degradation effect on human health and on ecosystem.
To highlight the mitigation measures to restore the environment from degradation effect
CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
Degradation in Environmental caused by various factor some of them are listed
1. Urbanization
2. industrialization
3. over-population growth
4. poverty
5. deforestation
6. Economic growth
7. Intensification of agriculture
8. Increase in energy use
9. Increase in transportation
10. high environmental pollution
These are major cause of environmental degradation which human has caused and has
created a disturbance in entire ecosystem.
These all factors affect the environmental in different ways as deforestation lead toloss of
plants and animals habitat, environmental pollution lead to the degradation of quality and
quantity of natural resources, the smoke emitted by the vehicles and factories due to increase
in industries and transportation service has ultimately lead to increases the amount of
poisonous gases in the air like Chlorofluorocarbon, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and
other dust particles which ultimately end up by making air polluted, moreover unplanned
urbanization and industrialization has worked as catalyst in making the situation more worse
as it caused water, air and sound pollution [2]. Growing population one of biggest problem as
it created a never ending demand of resources which ultimately lead to over extraction of
limited natural resource likeminerals and oil deposits and this hunger not only stop here it is
also the main cause of deforestation as more and more forest are cut down to convert that
land for agricultural use but after creating so much harm to environment the root cause of
problem that is povertystill remains unchanged.

There are various factors which are responsible for environment in order to explain them
these factors are broadly divided into 3 categories as shown in figure 1.1
IT
C
O
S
z
b
3
y
v
p
m
E
B
s
t
c
F
lu
iP
A
2
o
ti
r
g
e
D
d
n
a
.L
1
h
w
R
A. SOCIAL FACTORS
1. Population and economic growth
Figure1.1

The rapid growth in population and economic development of an economy are two of the
major reason for environment degrading.As in order to achieve this goal of develop economy
an uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization took place and land for this
expansion was gather by doing deforestation and this ultimately lead to destruction of natural
habitats.As far as environmental degradation in India is concern some of its major causes and
first in this list is alarming increase in population which is unfavourably affecting the natural
resources and environment as inorder to fulfil demand of such a large population not possible
without over exploitation of natural resources so the aim of sustainable development seem to
be far way. As a result to it sustained development comes as a challenge for Indiabecause
growing population and environmental deterioration makes it almost impossible to bring
development without causing any damage to our natural resources and to our environment
.More over absence or degradation of natural resources at a large scale could bring a pause to
our economic development whose payback could be difficult . India’s population which is a
remark is however a massive source of development but on other side it brings a massive
damage to environment and natural resources because with increase in population there
comes an increasing curve in utility of resources too[5]. So solution to this problem are
development programmes but it would be fruitful with an occurrence of equilibrium between
growing population and life supporting system otherwise there will be no effect of such
development programmes in India as rapid degradation of natural resources and environment
due to increase in population causes various environmental stresses, massive wastage of
natural resources, threat to biodiversity, water and air pollution and depletion of land.

2. Poverty
Another threat to environmental and natural resources is from poverty. Poverty is the second
major causes to degradation of environmental and natural resources and can also be
considered as an effect of environmental degradation. There is a composite relationship
between poverty and environment which can also be considered as interlinked relationship
between them. In country like India inequality is being promoted by unsustainability
becausea large number of people living below poverty line are much more dependent on
natural resources rather than the rich which in return causes depletion of natural resources at
a higher rate without gaining any attention on the other type of resources. With the beginning
of 21stcentury, an increase in population and rising levels of utilization per head are the main
cause of environment degradation and depletion of natural resources. With increase in birth
rate in India heap on extreme pressure on the environment [4]. The massive increment in
India’spopulation related with anxious poverty and mounting levels of consumption results in
depletion of natural resources on which our generation’s present and future livelihoods relay
on. Amongst consequences of increasing population, poverty is the major the consequence
because it leads to depletion of natural resources. Poverty plays a vital role in environmental
degradation either its energy demands or economic demands for survival.

3. Urbanisation
In India urbanization began tospeed up after independencedue to country’s approval for
mixed economy which was responsible for the development in private sector. Urbanisation is
digging its flaws deeper in India. Most oftheIndia’s populationlives in urban areas. In
villages, shortage of lucrative employment opportunitiesand environmental stresses leads to
stagnant increase in number of poor families moving to towns.This expansion of cities in an
unplanned manner results to degradation of urban ecology in rapid manner. Due to movement
of poor families to towns this has broadened slit between demand and furnish of
infrastructural services like wise transportation, communication, education, supply of food
and water, sewerage and recreationalfacilities,housing and in contrast to it depletion of
valuable environmental resources occurs which are the base of the cities.

B. ECONOMIC FACTORS
The non- surviving or inadequately functioning markets for ecological goods and services
results in environmental degradation at a large scale and often remarked as markets failure.
One of the main reasons for such market failure is lack ofprécised property rights.
In this perspective, the expenditure or production externalities replicated by variance between
private and social costs/benefits have environmental degradation as its particular case.
Moreover, the distortions in market due to price controls and subsidies may make the
achievement of environmental objectives more badly.The objectives of India’s development
constantly highlight the various programmes and policies for social welfare and economic
growth. Introduction of manufacturing technology in industries has a bad impact on
environment specifically on energy and resources due to continuous demand of its use. As the
main source of industrial energy is fossil fuels and in similar manner many resources such as
minerals, timber are used in industries as a source of energy but their massive usage causes
depletionof natural resources at a rapid speed and causes various hazards like water, and land
pollution. In addition to this polluting industryhave contributed a high share in air pollution
also. Another impact on environment which directly involved in its degradation is
agricultural development [7]. Where on one side agricultural development brought Green
revolution in India there on other side it puts a direct impact on environment, these impacts
rises due to farming activities which add on the problems like soil erosion, loss of fertility of
soil and many more. The spread of green revolution has also result in depletion of land and
water resources. An important cause of land degradation is shifting cultivation and leaching
due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers instead of manures, and in addition to it irrigation
also contributes land degradation.
C. BUSINESS FACTORS
In order to protect environment different kind of Ministries, State Governments, Pollution
Control Boards and several scientific and technical institutions, universities, non-
Governmental organisations etc come together.
but after having so many legislations and acts still environment is in miserable condition the
reason behind this is limitation of the existing system lies in the enforcement capabilities of
environmental institutions, at both level centre and state [6]. There is need of an effective
managementat every level of Ministries/Institutions in order to achieve the target of
sustainable development in environment and in order to do soevery concerndepartment need
to do inception/planning at every stage of the project. Secondly the concern minister must
give proper training to personnel and make a comprehensive database to implement the
various environment projects properly.

1. Land Deprivation
Any transform or disorder to the earth which seems to be unwanted is known as land
deprivation. It is caused due to both natural and man-made activities such use of chemical
fertilizers, soil erosion, shifting farming and excessive irrigation and heavy rain falls. It’s
been examined that up to 40% of the world’s agricultural land is under the serious impact of
land degradation.
Some natural activity causing land degradation are climatic changes and man- made
activities causing land degradation are land clearance and deforestation, depletion of soil
nutrients through poor farming practices, overgrazing and over graftingall these practices
causing degradation and depletion of land. Increase in population and their demand for food,
housing, energy have noticeably malformed land use practices and relentlessly degraded
India’s environment.
2. Atmosphere Pollution
India is the world’s biggest end user of firewood, farming waste and biomass for energy
purposes.Traditional fuel dominates domestic energy use in rural India such as fuel wood,
crop residue and dung cake and accounts for about 90 per cent of the total. In cities, this
conventional fuel constitutes about 24% of the total. Firewood, farming waste and biomass
cake flaming releases over 165 million tonnes of ignition products into atmosphere every
year and all this lead to climate transform. All these practices cause atmosphere pollution in
India. Air pollution is the one of the serious problems in India caused due to fuel wood and
biomass burning, traffic congestion and vehicle emission.

EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENT DEPELITION

Environmental degradation adversely effects in different manner to every section of society
and every resource of nature. Some of these impacts are listed below.

1. Impact on Human Health

The health of people is majorly affected by environment degradation.It is not wrong to say
that Human is paying cost of environment degradation by losing its health. Some the major
health issues that human is facing in today’s world is respiratory like pneumonia and asthma
problems and it is caused due to high exposed of humanto toxic air pollutants. As
environment depletion lead to various kind of pollution and air pollution is one of the most
dangerous kind of pollution as due to air pollution only millions of people have died every
year India because cities in India has highest level of pollution.Today scenario is so
threatening that most of the metropolitan cities are suffering with the problem of high level of
pollutants in the air because of which air in these areas has become highly polluted and has
even exceeds the safe limit of pollution in air given by the World Health Organization
(WHO) and therefore it is considered to be inappropriatefor human to live in such condition
as it lead to various life threatening diseases. As far as India most polluted state is concern
Delhi name come fist most as over here the level of pollution particulate is several times
more as compare to recommended level which is specified by the World Health Organization
(WHO).if the case of last ten year in India is taken into consideration the level of pollution
special in urban areas has grown to an alarming condition therefore it becomemandatory for
concern ministry and natives of India to understand and become aware of the various major
air pollutants which are causing this pollution some of them are, residual suspended
particulate matter (RSPM), suspended particulate matter (SPM), nitrogen dioxides (NO2),
carbon monoxide (CO), lead, sulphur dioxide (SO2) etc. some of major reason because of
which the air quality has deteriorated to such a high level and that to specially in urban area
are,continuous increase in industrialization , high use of private vehicles instead of public
vehiclesto migrate from one area to other even within cities. As all these activities lead to
burning of fossil fuels in high amount and pollutants are release in this process and all this
element ultimately get mix up in air make air highly polluted ,which ultimately lead to killing
of thousands of people and not only this many more to themsuffer from respiratory damage,
heart and lung diseases. According to latest survey children under age 3 show signs of
harmful exposure to lead in two of the most populated cities of India's that are Mumbai and
Delhi and the basic reason behind this health issue is alarmingly increasing level of polluting
in these to big cities. Pollution is one of other big reason behind the illness and pre-mature
deaths of infants as a pollutant name as suspended particulate matter (SPM) is present in high
ratio in the air of mega cities of India especially in cities like Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi and
Mumbai. Except all these type of air pollution indoor air pollution is also one of the
majorhazards for human health, it is produced by doing cooking and heating with wood, crop
residues, animal dung, and low-quality coal as all these produce smoke that contains
dangerous particles and gases. As gases release from burning of such fuels and poor
ventilation of these gasses can cause various life-threatening deceases like tuberculosis, other
serious respiratory diseases, and blindness (Mishra, Retherford and Smith, 1999).
2. Loss of Flora and Fauna
In order to maintaining the stability of the ecosystem it becomes important to prevent the
water resources and ensure availability of pure air and nutrients to all species. The prime
reason behind the loss of flora and fauna is deforestation, increasing global warming, high
pollution and overcrowding of earth. All these reasons of loss of flora and fauna are caused
by human beings intervention in environment.
3. Ozone Layer Depletion
As we all know that Ozone layer is second most important reason after water because of
which life was possible on earth, as it only responsible for protecting earth from harmful
ultraviolet rays of sun.The production and emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is major
reason for depletion of ozone layer as in those areas where ozone layer is depleted this major
damage almost up to 80 percent is cause by this gas only though there are other substances
also present which lead to depletion ozone layer namely as hydro chlorofluorocarbons
(HCFCs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
MITIGATION MEASURES
There are some ways by which environment degradation can be decrease.
Some of these are listed below:
 maximum useof recycled products
  Conservation of water by rain harvesting
 proper disposal of waste product
 conserver and use of renewable source of energy
 Make people more and more aware of the environment condition and make
environment protection group.
 Talk more relevantly about the impacts of environmental degradation on mankind
and entire ecosystem.
 The damage that we cause to the environment is currently not counted as a cost in
economic and social terms.
The major reason behind environment degradation is lack of "environmental value" as the
result of which human has over-exploit natural resources thing that they are "free" - which are
in reality are not free. All this ultimately led to over-production of cheap goods whichhave
very short life and are liberally disposed off into the environment when ever wished and
purchased of new one as the need of it arises again and this cycle goes on and no one think
about capacity of planetto restore these environmental resources. Therefore, now it’s high
time and human must understand that we certainly don't have the right to exploit and destroy
the environment as we not its owner we must think about the future generations of humans
and animal that will be here after us.
CONCLUSION
The principal causes of environmental degradation in India are, firstly the rapid growth of
population in amalgamation with economic development which leads to overexploitation of
natural resources, secondly environmental calamities in India which include land degradation,
deforestation, soil erosion, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity and third is rapid
economic growth which has changed the consumption patterns and has led to a rising demand
for energy and increasing transport activities and in order to fulfil all these demand the entire
ecosystem is disturbed. In order to reduce environment degradation many methods has been
highlighted like taking help of city and industry planners during urbanisation and setting up a
new or expanding the existing industry , doing proper resource management with help of
managers and give consideration toward the long term effects of all these on the development
of the environment. With sound planning, public awareness and community participation, in
future environmental can be prevented from degradation.

REFERENCES
1. CSO. (2003). Compendium on Environmental Statistics in India. New Delhi: Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOI.
2. Gogoi, L. (2013). Degradation of Natural Resources and its Impact on Environment: a
Study in Guwahati City, Assam, India. International Journal of Scientific and Research
Publications, 3(12).
3. GOI. (1997-98). Economic Survey. New Delhi: Planning Commission.
4. Lakshmana, C. M. (2013). Population, development, and environment in India. Chinese
Journal of Population Resources and, 11(4).
5. Nagdeve, D. A. (2006). Population, Poverty and Environment in India. IIPS Mumbai,
ENVIS center, 3(3).
6. Ray, S., & Ray, I. A. (2011). Impact of Population Growth on Environmental. Journal of
Economics and Sustainable Development, 2(8).
7. Saarangapani , B., &Sripathi, K. (2015). Environmental Degradation in India -
Dimensions and Concerns: A Review. Prabandhan Indian Journal of Management, 8(4).
8. Tyagi, S., Garg, N., &Paudel, R. (2014). Environmental degradation: Causes and
Consequences. European Researcher, 81(8-2).
WEBSITES
1. http://www.csun.edu/~vasishth/URBS_350-Sample_Papers/Env_Degradation.pdf
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_degradation
3. http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Impacts_of_Environmental_Degradation
4. http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Causes_of_Environmental_Degradation
5. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-environmental-degradation.htm
6. http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/food-crisis/page/3566.aspx
7. http://www.ifad.org/events/past/hunger/envir.html