Industrialisation/ Overpopulation and the natural beauty of India

ExpatUK

Hi all.

How much effect do you think the growing population and rapid industrialisation of India will have on the natural beauty of India?

Do you think in 30 years time India will be a gray concrete drab place?

Almoraboy

the cities already are gray concrete dirty slabs.

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Nick-H

I suggest that polution and lack of environmental concern is the big problem, rather than industrialisation in itself.

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grikoo

Yes, I agree with nick. There's just not enough environmental and industrial regulation. And what there is, isn't enforced well enough.

The country dramatically needs better conservation programs, and the habit of letting locals cut wood, graze livestock, etc in forest lands really takes its toll. As far as the 'environment', that's probably one of the biggest issues.

singsub

temparatures are already on the rise all across the country and certain parts have abnormal rainfall.

Nick-H

Instructions to most garbage lorry drivers around here: find nearest lake; dump.

Instructions to Water Tanker drivers: Find end of lake not being used for garbage and drain.

Instruction to Sand Lorry drivers: find nearest river bed; dig.

We could go on like this for a while before even getting to the effect of industry and river beds.

I'm no expert on any of this, but wasn't (isnt? ) some pretty dreadful stuff being done to lakes and rivers and soil in Russia/China/Eastern Europe? Massive dose of pessimism, maybe, but I can see India making those headlines in the future.

grikoo

That whole lake and river dumping habit has always surprised me. I mean, can't they dig a f***ing landfill at least?

I guess no one would use it anyway, the insignificant cost still being too high.

Since there's so much organic waste in India, they really ought to set up large scale composting operations, particularly in the more arid regions where the soil tends to be poor. Collecting market waste, coconut husks, tree trimmings, etc could make a huge difference in the amount of arable land over time.

bianca_mihaela

hi guys. good point regarding the lakes. man it is impossible to drive by lakes or some parts of rivers here without closing all the windows or trying your best to cover up your nose. i live in south delhi and not very far from where i live is a river- or better say a flowing pile of garbage. the smell is impossible. also on the way to noida, passing by yamuna river- i hope i spelled it right, gave me the impression i was next to a garbage depo. later i found out that it actually comes from the river. now what im saying is that the smell is an uncomfortable sensation but giving the heat were experiencing here, i wonder how much infection and diseases are we exposed to. i dont know the regulations here, but i guess its common sense for everybody to drop the waste in the dustbins. lets say this is a start...or am i naive?

singsub

there arnt a lot of dustbins lining the roads in india.

grikoo

Well, the dustbins get emptied into trucks, the trucks simply empty the garbage wherever they can.

I'm surprised they allow this to go on right in the middle of delhi. Often they'll at least drive it somewhat down river of the city.

bianca_mihaela

arent there laws regarding dumping the garbage from these trucks in certain places?

ah and yes i dont seem to find dustbins either. for ex right across the street we have a park. which gets very busy during mornings and evenings. i dont think there are any dustbins there. also from my place to the market i think on foot must be like 10 mins or less than that....guess what. no dustbin. and they say this is one of the good neighbourhoods of our capital.

maybe a lil help from the authority and the ppl will react in a positive way. i keep my trust in humanity i guess...or again im naive

grikoo

I assume that there probably are laws against it, but they are either not enforced or the enforcement agency is receiving bribes not to look.

That's my guess.

PeakXV

Yes - it's the drowning in their own waste (and it's trickle-down health implications) through too much red-tape and/or lack of organization plus the encroaching effects on the wildlife & natural resources that is real concern in my books.

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

edwardseco

I'll take a bit of a contrarian point of view despite my dismay at the expansion of the big cities far and wide. My people's area was a bustee settled illegally nearly 3 decades ago. From makeshift huts it has gone to an anarchic mix of brick including multistoried structures. The symbol of the communities aspirations is the ever present rebar sticking up from the flat roofs awaiting the building of the next story. There are small hotels going up. Somehow they conned a Dutch agency into funding a park adjoining a small lake. Its quite an urban efflorescence. Still has stray dogs though..

grikoo

So what's the contrarian part? I'm not clear what you're saying really.