Top 7 reasons for environmental pollution in India
There are my opinions and my random thoughts and based on my observations of a small subset of people. It is not my intention to derogate anybody or a group of people.
1. People do not have time to think about the environment.
Life is difficult for the majority of people in India. A lot of people are barely surviving, the middle class may be surviving financially but there are other stresses like health issues, affording quality education, etc. Even mundane tasks like getting somebody to come and fix a simple plumbing issue can be stressful. People don't have time to think about the environment while they are overwhelmed with other issues.
2. The common man for some reason has no desire to pick up his own trash and dispose of it.
I base this observation on observing the middle class, for some reason a lot of them do not pick up their full trash bag in their house and dispose of it in the waste collection site. They are dependent on a maid or servant to do this simple task. What does this say about people and their desire to go the extra yard to keep the environment clean?
3. Lack of planning, lack of caring especially from the government.
The clearest example of this is the city of Chennai. Walk into any medium sized store or medium sized restaurant in Chennai. It is spotless, it is clean. One feels one has entered into an other dimension on entering the store or restaurant. The outside environment, especially the roads and the footpaths are dusty, dirty and literally in some aspects hazardous. Businesses and people do care about their property. The government is too petty and there is too much infighting when it comes to maintaining physical infrastructure.
4. Vehicles
In the early 70s the main form of transportation in Bangalore was bicycles. There were hardly any cars. Bangalore was literally the garden city.Today cars, suvs, and two-wheelers rule the roads of Bangalore. As a result air quality has rapidly deteriorated. The combination of the pollen from the abundant trees in Bangalore and the poor quality of air has contributed significantly to the rise of respiratory illnesses in Bangalore. This problem is not going to go away because owning a vehicle is viewed as a status symbol - My Benz is better than your Jaguar. But that may be slowly changing - I recently saw a lone cyclist navigate the Hebbal Flyover at night.
5. Clearing of crops
Especially prevalent around the Delhi region - the clearing of land by burning to make way for crops. A significant contributor to air pollution.
6. Enforcing proper waste management
Why do we have landfills that are supposedly in some areas 8 stories high? And this 8 story pile of trash may crash at any moment. It boggles the mind. Learn from other countries and use similar systems for proper waste management.
7. Industrial dumping of waste into rivers and lakes
This is quite prevalent in Karnataka. If I recall correctly there was a lake in one of the suburbs of Bangalore that suddenly had white foam appear in it. I have no idea how laws around industrial dumping are enforced - my guess is that with Bribes it is never enforced.