The essence of this chapter for last-minute revision: definitions, the pollution tables, the Namami Gange objectives, and the three named case studies (Daurala, Ramesh, Jhabua). The full notes, with the complete explanation, are available separately.
1 Five definitions to learn
Environmental pollution results from the release of substances and energy from waste products of human activities.
Air pollution is the addition of contaminants (dust, fumes, gas, fog, odour, smoke or vapour) to the air, in a proportion and duration that may be harmful to flora, fauna and property.
Noise pollution is the state of unbearable and uncomfortable noise for human beings; it is measured in decibels (dB) and is location specific: its intensity falls with distance from the source.
A slum is a residential area of the least choice: dilapidated houses, poor hygienic conditions, poor ventilation, and a lack of basic amenities like drinking water, light and toilets.
Land degradation is a temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land, caused by natural and human-made processes; unchecked, it can convert degraded land into wasteland (though not all degraded land is wasteland).
2 Table 9.1 and 9.2: types and sources of pollution
| Pollution type | Main sources (Table 9.1) |
|---|---|
| Air | Combustion of coal, petrol and diesel; industrial processes; solid/sewage waste disposal |
| Water | Sewage disposal; urban run-off; toxic industrial effluents; run-off from cultivated land; nuclear power plants |
| Land | Improper human activities; untreated industrial waste; pesticides and fertilisers |
| Noise | Aircraft, automobiles, trains; industrial processing; advertising media |
| River (Table 9.2) | Main polluters |
|---|---|
| Ganga | Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Patna, Kolkata: industrial pollution, domestic waste, carcasses dumped in the river |
| Yamuna | Delhi (with Haryana & UP water extraction for irrigation), agricultural run-off, Delhi’s domestic and industrial waste |
WHO: about one-fourth of India’s communicable diseases are water-borne (diarrhoea, intestinal worms, hepatitis). Major water-polluting industries: leather, pulp and paper, textiles and chemicals.
3 Namami Gange Programme: all 7 objectives
- Launched by the Union Government; follows the earlier National Mission for Clean Ganga
- 1. Sewerage treatment systems in towns
- 2. Monitoring of industrial effluents
- 3. Development of the river front
- 4. Afforestation along the bank, to increase biodiversity
- 5. Cleaning of the river surface
- 6. Development of ‘Ganga Grams’ in Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal
- 7. Creating public awareness against adding pollutants, even ritual ones
4 Urban waste, migration and slums: numbers to remember
- Urban population grows from: natural increase, net in-migration, reclassification of urban areas
- Post-1961 India, in the book’s words: “around 60 per cent of the urban growth has been attributed and about 29 per cent of them from rural areas to urban migration” (read: about 29% of urban growth is from rural-urban migration)
- World urban population: 55% now → estimated 68% by 2050
- Migration is male-dominated: low destination wages leave spouses in the village with children/elders
- Mahatma Gandhi called villages “ideal republics”; ‘Urban/Urban Centre’ is defined in settlement geography
Asia’s largest slum, part of central Bombay; only through-road is the misnamed ‘ninety-foot road’; settled mainly by Scheduled Castes and poor Muslims; produces ceramics, pottery, embroidery/zari, leather goods, jewellery settings and furniture (Seabrook, 1996).
5 Land degradation and wastelands
| Cause | Example wasteland types |
|---|---|
| Natural agents | Gullied/ravinous land, desertic or coastal sands, barren rocky areas, steep sloping land, glacial areas |
| Human activities | Degraded shifting-cultivation area, degraded plantation land, degraded forests, degraded pastures, mining/industrial wastelands |
| Both natural & human | Waterlogged/marshy areas; land affected by salinity and alkalinity |
NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre) classified wastelands by remote sensing. The book’s wasteland table (printed as “Table 12.3” in the English edition): wastelands caused by man-made processes are more important than those caused by natural processes.
6 Three case studies at a glance
Do not confuse “degraded land” with “wasteland”: the chapter explicitly says all degraded land is not wasteland, though unchecked degradation can convert it into wasteland. Also, “push and pull factors” (Q1(iv) in the exercises) refer to migration, not to land degradation or slums.
- 4 types of pollution: water, air, land, noise (Table 9.1)
- Ganga polluters: Kanpur/Prayagraj/Varanasi/Patna/Kolkata; Yamuna polluters: Delhi/Haryana/UP (Table 9.2)
- Namami Gange: 7 objectives, 5 Ganga Gram states (Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal)
- Urban waste: 90% collected in metros vs 30-50% uncollected elsewhere
- Migration: about 29% of post-1961 urban growth from rural-urban migration; world urban share 55% → 68% by 2050
- Slums: Dharavi, central Mumbai, “ninety-foot road”; Swachh Bharat Mission (urban renewal)
- Land degradation: soil erosion, waterlogging, salinisation, alkalinisation; NRSC remote-sensing classification; man-made wastelands more important than natural (book’s “Table 12.3”)
- Case studies: Daurala (pollution/12,000 people), Ramesh (migration), Jhabua/Petlawad (watershed management, ~20% treated)