ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN INDIA

Presented by:

Pooja Chavan Vaibhav Chawathe Naandi Narvekar Deeksha Shetty Kunal Tambe

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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN INDIA

Environmental issues are negative aspects of human activity on the biophysical environment. Major current environmental issues includes climate change, pollution, environmental degradation and resource depletion etc. The Environmental issues in India are huge. Whether it's the rapidly dropping water, deforestation, land degradation or river contamination, India has it all and on a massive scale.

Types of environmental issues

1. Water resources : Largest of the environmental issues in India facing the people of India is inadequate or lack of access to vital fresh water resources. 2. Deforestration: Deforestation is another of the highly serious environmental issues in India. It is predicted that almost 5.3 Million hectares of forest have been destroyed since the independence.

Continued............
3. Air pollution: India now has one of the worst qualities of air in the world. Without a doubt the main contributor of air pollution in India is the transport system.

4. Plastics & other waste: Plastic causes serious damage to environment during its production process and during its disposal process. So the only way to reduce the hazards of plastic pollution is to reduce the use of plastic and thereby force a reduction in its production.

Lavasa Case

Controversies
Environmental damage An Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests team investigating Lavasa concluded the city has caused environmental damage. Post reviewing the project all over again, the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests provided clearance to Lavasa with specific conditions on 9th November 2011. Quarrying While Lavasa has stone crushing permits, its operations have been described as "hill cutting" and "quarrying" by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the environmental impact of these activities was investigated. Land acquisition Both government and individual land owners displaced have taken issue with Lavasa's land acquisition approach. A report by the Maharashtra environment department claims 600 hectares (6.0 km2) of land bought by Lavasa Corporation was purchased from farmers who had been granted it by the Indian State. Because of the way in which the farmers obtained the land, three fourths of the purchase price should have been paid to the State. The report states Lavasa Corporation only paid 2%. It also alleges 141 hectares (1.41 km2) of Lavasa were leased for far less than actual value by the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation and that Lavasa bought 98 hectares (0.98 km2) of land without license. Some say land Lavasa is being built on was obtained through coercion.Lavasa Corporation denies this.

Nepotism
Sharad Pawar, an Indian politician born in the state of Maharashtra, may have demanded compensation for allowing Lavasa to be constructed. When Lavasa Corporation was receiving necessary clearances from the government of Maharashtra, relatives of Pawar had part-ownership of the company developing the project. A daughter and son-in-law of Pawar had more than 20% ownership between 2002 and 2004 and later sold their stakes. A nephew of his was chairman of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) when the MKVDC signed off on lease agreements for Lavasa and allowed it to store water and build dams.

Use of water resources

Lavasa will use the same water resources that currently supply Pune, and it is claimed that this will cause a supply shortage.A 2011 report by the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Union Environment Ministry concluded there will be no impact on Pune's water supply, however.

Consequences
For a one year period from late 2010 to late 2011, construction of Lavasa had to be halted due to orders obtained from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. In late 2010 it ordered Lavasa Corporation to halt further construction for not having gathered proper clearances. On 15 October 2011, the Ministry of Environment and Forests once again refused to grant green clearance to the first phase of the project. The ministry's new order came after Bombay High Court last month directed it to pass the final order on the regularisation application of Lavasa Corporation with regard to constructions at township project near Pune in three weeks. In November of 2011 this ministry relented, and construction is no longer impeded by law. While grant of an environmental clearance was recommended in May of 2011, Lavasa was only alerted to the fact that clearance was granted on 9 November 2011.

Legal Aspects
In 2009, the ministry suspended work citing environment violations by Lavasa. A year later, the ministry agreed to give clearance if it fulfilled five pre-conditions that included credible action by the Maharashtra government against Lavasa. However, in 2011, the ministry refused to give clearance to the first phase of the project as the main condition was not fulfilled on credible action by Maharashtra government against Lavasa. Later, on November 3, 2011, the Maharashtra government took action by filing a criminal case against Lavasa.

Measures
Residential: Laws changed to allow construction on steep slopes. Height of apartment buildings increased from Ground (G)+1 to G+4, some adjacent to water body. Commercial: Laws changed to allow mixed land usecommercial and residentialin the town centre. Height of buildings was increased from G+2 to G+5, which was illegal in the original hill station policy Water: Check dam at the mouth of Dasve. Buildings and roads close to the water body, at 5 to 15 metre distance. Oil and sludge from vehicles and runoff could affect lakes water quality. Land reclaimed to set up the waterfront commercial area Lavasas population density is likely to be 4000 persons/sq km Hospital: No plans for disposal of bio-medical waste on-site. Biomedical waste to be transported but no studies done on its impact.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES OF COAL MINING IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION Coal is the most abundant fuel resource in India. It is the prime source of energy. Some important facts about coal industry in India are as follows: India is the third largest producer of coal in the world.

Coal is one of the primary sources of energy.

India has some of the largest reserves of coal in the world.

 Indian coal has high ash content (15-45%)and low calorific value.
With the present rate of around 0.8Mt average daily coal extraction in the country, the reserves are likely to last over a 100 years.

The energy derived from coal in India is about twice that of energy derived from oil, as against the world, where energy derived from coal is about 30% lower than energy derived from oil.
Coal India Limited (CIL) is the largest company in the world in terms of coal production.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES The mining operations like drilling, blasting, extraction, transportation, crushing and other associated activities are carried out in underground and opencast mines. Mining operations damage the environment and ecology to an unacceptable degree, unless carefully planned and controlled.

The various impacts of mining on environment and their mitigation measures are as follows: (I) Impact of Mining on Air Quality Air pollution in mines is mainly due to the fugitive emissions of particulate matter and gases including methane, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide. Most of the mining operations produce dust. The major operations producing dust are drilling, blasting, hauling, loading, transporting and crushing. Basically, dust sources in mines can be categorized as primary sources that generate the dust and secondary sources, which disperse the dust and carry it from place to place called as fugitive dust. Opencast mining is more severe an air pollution problem in comparison to underground mining.

(II) Impact of Mining on Land

Irrespective of the type of mining used for extracting coal, mining invariably results in enormous land disturbance- e.g. large scale excavation, removal of top soil, dumping of solid wastes, cutting of roads, creation of derelict land etc. EXAMPLE OF BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE Coal India Limited (CIL) Mining-induced displacement and resettlement (MIDR) increased substantially since the 1970s as the countrys coal production shifted from underground to opencast mining. The issue has gone beyond economics and environment; local NGOs, such as Operations Research Group (ORG), a consultant of Coal India Limited (CIL), reported that MIDR is creating a pattern of gross violation of human rights, and enormous trauma in the country. By the mid-90s, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Policy of CIL has been designed to ensure that affected people improve or at least regain their former standard of living and earning capacity after a reasonable transition period.

Coal India Limited implemented the Environmental and Social Mitigation Project (ESMP) in 25 selected opencast mines with World Bank funding during 1996 to 2002. Environmental and Social Mitigation Project (ESMP) aimed to mitigate adverse effect of coal mining on environment and people affected by such activities. ESMP consisted of two components:

Environmental component - implemented through Environmental Action Plan (EPA).

Social component - implemented through Rehabilitation Action Plan (RAP) and Indigenous Peoples Development Plan (IPDP).

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Preview Amongst the worst Industrial Disasters of its time.

Occurrence: 3rd December 1984. Place of occurrence: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Company: Union Carbide Corporation. Chemical: Methyl Isocyanate (27 tons)

Among the 500,000 people exposed to the gas, 20,000 have died till date and 120,000 continue to suffer devastating health effects as a result of their exposure.

Union Carbide Corporation

Effects on Human Health

Respiratory Disorders Irritation to the lungs, causing coughing and/or shortness of breathing. Higher exposure caused build up of fluids (pulmonary edema). Caused Asthama. Cancer Hazard Caused mutation (genetic changes). It caused cancer. Reproductive Hazard Association between exposure to Methyl Isocyanate and miscarriages. It may damage the growing fetus.May also affect fertility in men and women. Traces of many toxins were found in the Brest Milk of mothers and were inturn transmitted to the recepient babies.

Effects cont
The acute symptoms were burning in the respiratory tract and eyes, blepharospasm, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting. The causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and pulmonary oedema. Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis. The stillbirth rate increased by up to 300% and neonatal mortality rate by 200%.

Animal Slaughter

Chemicals Dumped by Union Carbide in Bhopal

S.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Chemical Methylene Chloride Methanol Ortho-idichlorobenzene Carbon tetrachloride Chloroform Tri methylamine Chloro benzyl chloride Mono chloro toluene Toluene Aldicarb Carbaryl Benzene Hexachloride Mercury Mono methyl amine Chlorine Phosgene Hydro chloric acid Chloro sulphonic acid Alpha Naphthol * Napthalin Chemical waste Tar Methyl Isocyanate Amount 100 MT 50 MT 500 MT 500 MT 300 MT 50 MT 10 MT 10 MT 20 MT 2 MT 50 MT 5 MT 1 MT 25 MT 20 MT 5 MT 50 MT 50 MT 50 MT 50 MT 50 MT 5 MT Ingredient Ingredient Ingredient Ingredient Ingredient Ingredient Ingredient Waste Ingredient Use in factory Solvent Solvent Solvent Solvent Solvent Catalyst Ingredient Ingredient Ingredient Product Product Ingredient Nature of original pollution Air Air Air, Water, Soil Air Air Air Air, Water, Soil Air, Water, Soil Air, Water, Soil Air, Water, Soil Air, Water, Soil Air, Water, Soil Water, Soil Air Air Air Air, Soil Air, Soil Air, Soil Air Water, Soil Air, Water, Soil

Haphazard dumping of Hazardous Material

Toxic Materials in Soil and Water

Benzene, oxybis 7, 890

Dichlorobenzenes

87,500

Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons

2,340

Phthalates

9,940

Trichlorobenzenes

9,410

Trimethyl Trianzintrione

24,470

1-Napthalenol

59,090

Units in parts per billion (ppb) Additionally, Dichlorobenzenes and Trichlorobenzenes were found in the soil and water samples.

Compensation and Legal Aspects

Compensation of $470 million ($500 per dead). Twenty years of passiveness. Case was reviewed and put up in American Court. DOW Refused Union Carbides Liabilities in Bhopal, India.

Environmental Issue caused by Coca Cola

Coca-Cola Charged with Groundwater Depletion and Pollution in India

Overview
It takes nine litres of clean water to manufacture a litre of Coke. In 2000 Coca-Cola opened a plant at Plachimada, a village in Kerala to produce 1.2m liters of coke every day. The conditional licence granted by the local panchayat authorised the use of motorised pumps

But the company drilled more than six wells & illegally installed highpowered electric pumps to extract millions of litres of pure water.
The level of the water table fell from 45 to 150 metres below the surface.

Kala Dera - Thirsting from Coca-Cola

The company started dumping waste outside causing a serious health hazard.

The theft of water was not only limited to Kerala

Overexploitation of groundwater soon started in Kaladera. Coca-Cola started its bottling operations in Kala Dera in 2004, and within a year, the community started to notice a rapid decline in groundwater levels

For farmers, loss of groundwater translated directly into loss of income. For many children it meant leaving schools to provide a much needed helping hand in household since the women had additional burdens. Coca-Cola bottling plant in Kala Dera continues extracts the most water, making already existing water shortages even worse

Unusable Well in Kala Dera Showing Depleted Water Level

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