Pollution and Mortality - The scanty of rationality in Javadekar's Statement.

       

  According to World Economic Forum's 2018 report of 'The Most Polluted Cities on Earth', India alone has 15 out of 20. According to the latest statement by India's Union Environment Minister Mr. Prakash Javadekar, 'There are no studies in India that shows a direct correlation between pollution and mortality.' However its not hard to reckon that it is a blatant lie. We're all familiar with the severity of pollution growing around us and its ill effects on us. Every year, there is an unprecedented upsurge in air pollution alone. A prolonged exposure to particulate matter less than PM 2.5 can cause you serious respiratory and cardiac issues as it can penetrate deeper into your lungs.

          According to the State of Global Air report 2019, 1.2 million Indians died due to diseases caused by air pollution in 2017. It also says that the people of  India and China have most terrible effects on their healths due to air pollution. It also adds to the fact that exposure to PM 2.5 particles was one of the main causes of type 2 diabetes worldwide, in which India aced. Exactly an year ago, on December 2018, India State Level Disease Burden Initiative disclosed that the average life expectancy in India would have been higher by 1.7 years if the breathing air would've been better. And all these specifications were only attributed to air pollution.

          According to State of Global Air report 2019 about 60% of India's population was exposed to household pollution in 2017. Exposure to PM 2.5 pollution lead to 55,000 deaths and 2.7 million life years lost from type 2 diabetes.

          India has such impact on global pollution that it is receiving international pressure to curb it. However India has programs working on the way to reduce pollution such as National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), National Mission for Green India (NGMI) and National Clean Air Program (NCAP) it is still hard to say that these programs have yielded any distinguishable results. In view of these reports, the question arises that if we already have programs aiming at the core concern of rising pollution, why there hasn't been any significant improvements in curbing pollution and why living in India's metropolitan cities has been a curse lately. It is an undeniable fact that the dysfunction in the system runs from the top level which starts from the carelessness and nonchalant attitude of our ministers like that of Mr. Javadekar's while discussing a grave topic like pollution's link to mortality.