Environmental Degradation in India

• Environmental degradation is the decline of the environment’s quality through depletion of resources, destruction of ecosystems and pollution of air, water and land.
• It arises when use of the environment outruns its capacity to regenerate and absorb waste.
• India’s case is shaped by high population density, rapid growth, poverty and weak enforcement.

Causes

Economic development

• Industrialisation adds effluents, emissions and hazardous waste.
• Mining and thermal power strip land and load air and rivers.
• Green Revolution farming brought waterlogging, salinity and heavy groundwater and chemical use in Punjab and Haryana.
• Infrastructure such as dams, highways and hill roads fragments habitats and displaces people.
• Environmental Kuznets Curve: degradation is said to rise with income and fall after a turning point. The pattern is disputed, as richer economies may export pollution and it does not hold for every pollutant.

Population and poverty

• Rising numbers increase demand for land, water, fuelwood and fodder.
• Poverty can force overgrazing and cultivation of fragile slopes, yet high consumption by richer groups also drives degradation.

Urbanisation

• Cities outgrow their sewerage, drainage and waste services.
• Wetlands and floodplains are built upon, raising flood risk, as in Chennai and along the Yamuna.

Nature and Extent in India

• Land degradation has continued to rise, from 94.53 million ha in 2003–05 to 96.40 million ha in 2011–13 and 97.85 million ha in 2018–19.

Regional Patterns

Himalaya

• Nature: a young, unstable, seismically active range where small disturbances have large effects.
• Causes: deforestation, road cutting, hydropower tunnels, unregulated tourism and building on weak slopes.
• Effects: landslides, soil loss, drying springs, silted reservoirs, and greater flood risk downstream.
• Examples:
  • the Chipko movement of the 1970s in Uttarakhand opposed commercial felling;
  • the Kedarnath disaster of 2013 showed the danger of building in valley floors;
  • land subsidence at Joshimath in 2023 raised concerns on loading of fragile slopes.

Industrial areas

• Causes: concentrated industry, old technology, poor effluent treatment, lax enforcement and growth without planning.
• Consequences: polluted rivers and groundwater, respiratory disease, contaminated soil, and loss of farm and fishing income.
• Examples:
  • Damodar valley and Jharia: coal mining, mine fires and river pollution;
  • Singrauli and Korba: thermal power, fly ash and mine spoil;
  • Vapi and Ankleshwar: chemical effluents;
  • Bhopal, 1984: the gas disaster, followed by the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Urban wastes

• Solid waste: mixed waste dumped in open landfills, such as Ghazipur in Delhi and Deonar in Mumbai, with fires, methane and leachate.
• Sewage: untreated flow is the main source of river pollution in urban stretches.
• Plastic and e-waste: choked drains and toxic metals from informal recycling.
• Consequences: waterborne disease, urban flooding, groundwater contamination and bad air.
• Response: the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and the Swachh Bharat Mission, with source segregation and landfill reclamation.

Agricultural regions

• Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh: falling water tables, salinity and chemical residues.
• North-east and Odisha hills: soil loss where shifting cultivation cycles have shortened.
• Chambal ravines: gully erosion taking farmland.

Coasts

• Mangrove loss, ports, aquaculture and sand mining raise erosion and storm exposure, as along the Sundarbans and Gujarat coast.

Consequences

• Ecological: loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Economic: lower yields, higher treatment and health costs.
• Social: the poor and tribal communities, who depend most on commons, carry the heaviest burden; displacement can cause conflict.
• Disaster risk: degraded slopes, wetlands and floodplains turn hazards into disasters.

Conservation and Management

• Law and institutions: the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; the National Green Tribunal (2010); environmental impact assessment.
• Principles: polluter pays, precaution and sustainable development, all upheld by Indian courts.
• Restoration: watershed development, afforestation, and the target of restoring 26 million ha of degraded land by 2030.
• Cleaner growth: effluent treatment, circular economy and renewable energy.
• People: Joint Forest Management and community stewardship.