‘Air pollution claims maximum lives in India’
| Date :10-Jun-2020 |
Principal Correspondent :
Currently, as many as one million plant and animal species are at the risk of extinction. Most of this is because of human activities. Under the destructive impact of human activities and human-made practices, the environment surrounding us is in great danger. “Our brain is the intermediator between the individual, the communities and the surrounding nature, what we call now as our Environment. Our brain allows to perceive our environment and to interact with it. Environment is intricately related to brain development, brain function and brain health,” said Prof Jacques Reis, former Chairman of Environmental Neurology Group of World Federation of Neurology. “
Number of recent scientific studies revealed the ill-effects of high air pollution levels on the brain. The impact on health of environmental pollution, and air pollution in particular, is increasing all the time. Recent estimates put the annual number of deaths attributable to polluted air at 9 million worldwide. In India, 18 lakh people die every year due to air pollution,” informed Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram, President of Tropical Neurology group of World Federation of Neurology. “The Global Burden of Disease study, carried out by an international team using data from 188 countries, found that up to 30 per cent of the stroke cases in the world are due to pollutants in the air,” pointed out Dr William Carroll, President of World Federation of Neurology. Therefore, ‘Clean Air for Brain Health’ was the theme of World Brain Day in 2018. The connection between harmful gases and particles in the air and brain health is a worldwide problem, and also a complex one. According to Prof Jacques Reis, “
Air pollution refers to diffuse, often invisible contamination by damaging bioaerosols containing pollen, spores, particles and toxic substances. The pollutants can be from natural sources or may be due to human activity.” Dr Meshram elaborated, “WHO found 90% of the world’s population breathe polluted air. And 300 crore people in the world use harmful fuel in their homes for cooking. In India 2/3rd of people use solid fuel for cooking resulting in indoor air pollution. 27 per cent deaths in India are due to pollution which is more than the deaths caused by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. In addition to neurological diseases, air pollution is responsible for diseases of lungs, heart attack and cancer. In recent years, scientists have uncovered significant evidence of the way in which air pollution affects the brain, and how this is damaging neurological health all over the world.”
Prof Gustavo Roman, Chairman of Environmental Neurology Group of WFN explained, “Pollutants enter the body through the respiratory and alimentary tracts. They cause sub-threshold inflammatory responses, and reach the brain either via the blood stream or the upper respiratory tract. The resulting damage to intestinal microbiota can also have an impact on the brain.” Little wonder, then, that air pollution is suspected of playing a part in a growing number of syndromes and neurological diseases. In addition to stroke, initial findings suggest it could play a role in autism, attention deficit disorders and memory impairment in children, dementia and the development of Parkinson’s disease in adults. Air pollution is big problem in our country and needs urgent action because according to World Health Organisation, out of 20 most polluted cities in the World, 16 cities are from India. Amidst the global coronavirus pandemic, it is of crucial importance to realise the importance of nature.
It’s time to wake up, to take notice and to raise our voices. “COVID-19 is a reminder that human health is linked to the planet’s health. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. They account for seventy-five per cent of all emerging infectious diseases. To prevent future outbreaks, we must address the threats to ecosystems and wildlife, including habitat loss, illegal trade, pollution and climate change,” emphasises Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram. Covid-19 affects the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. respiratory failure, which is a major cause of death in most cases due to involvement of respiratory centres in brain, explained Prof Gustavo Roman in the recent review paper on COVID-19. Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram stressed, “Each and every one of us, in every country in the world and the international community must see this as a wake-up call.” The world will need to pick up the pace and put greater efforts to finding better solutions to pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss in order to truly transform societies and economies. n Staff Reporter Maharashtra Government decided to stand guarantee of Rs 20,000 crore to be raised by Energy Department for expansion of power sector in the State.
The proposal was accepted at the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday in Mumbai. The holding company, Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), MahaVitaran, MahaGenco, and MahaTransco, is looking out to raise the funds from financial institutions, nationalised banks, NTPC and Power Finance Corporation to finance its expansion projects and to bailout the financially stressed companies. The cabinet also decided to waive off 2 per cent cess to be charged for raising finance. Similarly, a high powered committee was constituted under chairmanship of Chief Secretary for deciding on waiver of cess. The countrywide lockdown has led to major dip in the power demand resulting in mounting losses for the MahaVitaran. The novel coronavirus pandemic also hampered the recovery drive of the company thereby impacting its balance sheet. The lockdown has led to disruption in production at factories and power demand that was around 23,000 MW has dropped to 16,000 MW. On the other hand the demand for power in agriculture sector, it is subsidised by State, is increasing due to sufficient availability of water this year. The power charges are cross subsidies wherein to household the rates are kept lower while same is recovered through higher charges levied on industrial and commercial sector.
But the lockdown disrupted the normal flow of funds as commercial and industries suffered big blow due to lockdown. This has led to widening of deficit and MahaVitran is starting at Rs. 7500 crores drop. The average rate at which MahaVitaran is purchasing power is pegged at Rs. 7.24 while it supplies the same at Rs. 2.25 to agriculture sector and to households at Rs. 3.46 upto 100 units. The main earnings for the distribution company was from industrial and commercial sector but disruption in their business has put MahaVitaran in a tight spot.