State of India’s Environment

Availability of Natural Resources in India: 

1. The Indo-Gangetic fields are one of the most fruitful, seriously developed, and thickly populated districts on the planet.
2. The suitable soil for the cultivation of cotton is black soil which is particularly found in the Deccan plateau, leading to the concentration of textile industries in this region.
3. In India, the forests are unevenly distributed which provides green cover for a majority of its population and become the natural cover for its wildlife. 
4.  There are large amounts of deposits of iron ore, coal, and natural gas found in the country.
5. India accounts for nearly 8% of the world’s total iron-ore reserves.
6.  The country has many other natural resources Factors responsible for India’s current stressed environmental status: 

1. 1. Poverty-induced environmental degradation threatens the country and, at the same time, the threat of pollution from affluence and an increasing industrial sector is an offputting concern.
   2.  There are other environmental issues like air contamination, water pollution, soil disintegration, deforestation, and natural life elimination.
   3. Land degradation, biodiversity loss, air pollution leads to specific concern towards vehicular pollution in urban cities, management of fresh water, and solid waste management.                                                                                                                                            Land Degradation:                                                                                                                                                                                                   Factors responsible for it are a loss of vegetation due to deforestation, impractical fuelwood, and feed extraction, moving development, infringement into woodland lands, timberland fires, and overgrazing, non-reception of sufficient soil protection measures, inappropriate yield turn, unpredictable utilization of agro-synthetic compounds like manures and pesticides, ill-advised preparation and the board of water system frameworks, extraction of groundwater in excess of the recharge capacity, open-access resource, and poverty of the agriculture-dependent people.                                                                                                                          High Population Density: 

1. India supports approximately 17 % of the world’s human and 20 % of the livestock population on a mere 2.5 % of the world’s geographical area. 
2.  Losses of 0.8 million tonnes of nitrogen, 1.8 million tonnes of phosphorus, and 26.3 million tonnes of potassium are the result of this country’s continuing to reduce every year.
3.  5.8 to 8.4 million tonnes of nutrition are lost due to erosion each year                                                                                                Pollution:

1. Vehicular emissions are of specific concern since these are ground-level sources and, thus, have the maximum impact on the general population.
2. As the number of motor vehicles has increased from about 3 lakh in 1951 to 23 crores in 2016. In 2016, personal transport vehicles (two-wheeled vehicles and cars only) constituted about 85 % of the total number of registered vehicles thus contributing significantly to the total air pollution load.

For various measures of the Environment Ministry and the central and state pollution control boards, a conscious adaptation of the path of Sustainable Development is needed. 

Pollution Control Boards:

To address water and air pollution, the government set up the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 1974. This leads to states which started establishing their own state-level boards to address all the environmental concerns. 

Functions:

1.  They should investigate, collect and disseminate information relating to water, air, and land pollution.
2. They should have more lay down standards for sewage/trade effluent and emissions. 
3. Governments should take more technical assistance in promoting the cleanliness of streams and wells. 
4.  A comprehensive mass awareness programme should be organised through mass media for the same.
5.  There should be proper and well-organized manuals, codes, and guidelines related to and for the treatment and disposal of sewage and trade effluents. 
6. Air quality should be assessed by regulating the industries.
7.  Every industry should be taken under periodical checking under which their jurisdiction to assess the adequacy of treatment measures provided to treat the effluent and gaseous emissions. 
8. Air quality data should be used in the establishment of new industries and town planning.

The pollution control boards collect statistical data relating to water pollution. They have started to screen the nature of water in 125 streams (counting the feeders), wells, lakes, brooks, lakes, tanks, and waterways.