India’s toxic air is leaving our kids gasping for breath. According to a CSE report, air pollution is killing one lakh children under the age of five in India every year and is responsible for 12.5% of all deaths in the country. India has collectively failed to address its environmental concerns.
This is a national emergency as a report by Centre for Science and Environment’s State of India’s Environment mentioned that 8.5 out of every 10,000 children in India die before they turn five, on an average. But the risk is higher for girls as 9.6 out of 10,000 girls die before five years of age due to the bad quality of air.
This study covers the state of water, agriculture, health, waste generation and disposal, forests, and wildlife. It also talks about the 2013 pledge that India had taken to take out ‘non-electric’ vehicles and sell about 15-16 hybrid electric vehicles.
However the target was not really achieved as per the reports,
While India was one of the first countries to pledge the phasing out of non-electric vehicles, its national scheme to promote the sale of e-vehicles is yet to pick up. Against the target of 5-6 million e-vehicles by 2020, the county had 0.28 million vehicles till May 2019.
This also indicates directly to the Greenpeace report which mentioned that New Delhi is the most polluted capital in the world. This report, however, was shunned off by the Environment minister Harsh Vardhan.
A 22 percent increase in India’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2010 and 2014 has occurred, according to this report.