Something in the air: The World Bank says air pollution costs India $30 billion a year. If air pollution were to be taxed (or organisations that pollute were taxed), says the bank, it could bring in $59 billion in India. The bank puts India at 126 of 132 countries in environmental performance and at 132, or last, in the assessment of the impact of air pollution on the citizens of India. Two Indian cities are in the top ten cities in the world with the highest rate of air pollution?Ludhiana at No 4 and Kanpur at No 10. Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore are also not too far away. Does India have an air pollution plan? Is it working? Is there any party, any leader who has a plan to curb this pollution? How come we never discuss air pollution in our myriad political speeches? Some people say but you cannot fight an election on such policies? people don?t care, they don?t understand. Really? We, the voters, prefer to hear about bitching, name calling, Pappu Vs Feku, but not about things that are killing us, is it?
Matters of excreta: As per a Centre for Science and Environment report, 80% of sewage in India is untreated and flows directly into the rivers. What does this mean? It means sewage?untreated?is directly going into the water that comes back to us as drinking water. A Comptroller and Auditor General of India report of 2011-2012 points out that water-borne diseases were probably the biggest killer in India. Don’t get bored?more Indians die of water pollution than any other cause, including terrorism and communal violence. Only 62% of Delhi?s sewage is treated. Bangalore treated only 10% of its sewage, Patna 29%, Kanpur 38% and Hyderabad 43%. But ever heard of election speeches that promise to raise the number of sewage treatment plants?
Poisoned water: In 2012, the water resources ministry told Parliament that groundwater in 158 of 639 districts in India had gone saline; in 267 districts, groundwater had excess fluoride; in 385 districts it had nitrates above permissible limits; in 53, there was arsenic in the water. Up to 80% of drinking water in India comes from underground sources. The presence of fluorides, arsenic and other chemicals affects everything from bones and teeth to the nervous system. Large parts of India are, in fact, drinking poisoned water. The future looks more sinister. A much needed point in the manifesto?
Date after date after date: Have you seen the Hindi film Damini? That film had many memorable dialogues. The film?s other angst-filled rant on taarikh pe taarikh or a justice system that gives date after date of hearing for years but delivers no justice has never stopped echoing. There are more than 30 million cases pending in India, 80% of them in lower courts. The high courts have four million pending cases and the Supreme Court had more than 66,000 cases. In the next 30 years, India will need 75,000 judges because it will have around 150 million cases. No one really knows where they are going to come from, and no one really clear about who has a plan to solve this.
Food, rotting: One of the most interesting global reports I read in 2013 was the ?Global Food Waste Not Want Not? report of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. It says India wastes 21 million tonnes of wheat each year due to lack of proper storage. This is equal to the total annual production of Australia. It also says 40% of all fruits and vegetables produced in the country are also wasted.
The suicide-prone farmer: The National Crime Record Bureau says around 270,940 farmers killed themselves in India since 1995. Between 1995 and 2000, they killed themselves at the rate of 14,462 and at the rate of 16,743 between 2001 and 2011. That?s around 46 a day or roughly about one every half hour since 2001.
One for one lakh: A recent study done by the Harvard School of Public Health found that India has only one operation theatre per 100,000 people. Now, how many operating theatres could we build on the amount of black money that will be spent in this election? Hundreds? Thousands? Lakhs? When will we get a politician who will put operating theatres not only in his campaign promises but also in his post-win delivery?
Witch hunt: In 2012, 119 women were killed across Indian states accused of being witches. Since 2008, more than 760 women have been killed after being branded witches. Two of the worst offending states are Jharkhand and Odisha. In 2012, 26 ?witches? were killed in Jharkhand and 32 in Odisha. Are women murdered for allegedly being ?witches?, not citizens of India? Do they not demand justice and protection of the law as citizens?
Suicide country: Why do people kill themselves in India and what does that say about our society? If you look at suicide data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2012, a total of 120,488 Indians killed themselves. That?s more than 1,20,000 of us who decided that life was not worth living. Why?
Fatal roads: More people die in India from road accidents than anywhere else in the world. Our country accounts for 10% of all road accident fatalities in the world. Between 2001 and 2011, death rates from accidents on Indian roads rose by 44.2%. Why can?t we make our roads safe?