Budget 2019 overlooking Air Pollution Air Pollution is adversely affecting innumerable lives for a long time now, yet Budget 2019 doesn't try to dilute it
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Budget 2019 looks hopeful for the nation in many aspects. The middle class has been offered with some major tax benefits that have put smiles on countless Indians. The budget has also furbished the farmers and villages with certain provisions. And Digital India has bagged a foremost boost that has put the technology enthusiasts and leaders on their toes out of excitement. But one basic major issue that couldn't manage to occupy a minuscule of space in the Budget 2019 is pollution.
While the nation is climbing the stairs to join the band of top economies in the world, over-population and its after-effects – pollution pulls the country down from its desired and prospective position among the other economies.
A Big Bump in the Way of Healthy Lives
Pollution, an outcome of the superfluous population in a particular piece of land, leads to contamination in various forms that need serious attention. Being the second most populous country across the globe, there has been little or no precaution that has been undertaken to shape a healthy environment for the citizens and residents to breathe in healthy air. Pollution of any kind, be it soil, water or air, works like a cycle. As one element of nature gets infected, others also get affected like a domino effect. However, the one that demands ardent attention is air pollution.
Polluted air has affected lives way too much, to an extent where people in the country have started developing diseases and acute breathing problems from the impure air they breathe in and major cities are coming under the radar of being called unliveable. People have started purchasing air purifiers for their homes to ensure that at least their home environment is safe. Smogs are also getting worse in the nation. Voicing his concern, Rohit Bansal, who is the founder of AQI India & Purelogic Labs India Pvt Ltd. says, "This is not only making a dent in the citizen's livelihood but also posing a serious threat to nature. The effect of climate change on the environment has caused the agricultural output of the entire nation putting health and resources under tremendous danger."
The ignored concern makes him wonder, "As the budget is addressed to several national cases, one important case is still left to be answered that is, Air Pollution. Why is that the rising concern of climate change due to an increase in pollution level in the country is always overlooked?"
Further elaborating his outlook, Bansal says, "Environmental issues have been seeking government attention for a long time now. Although India is on the edge of becoming the 5th largest economy in the world, we have also ranked high when the global death toll due to pollution and natural disaster is taken into account. Isn't the concern important enough for the government to take notice? I guess not!"
Lack of Solution Complicating Things
He believes that there is no awareness regarding the complexities of the causes and effect of the alarming rise in pollution. The government must now make some serious investments into real climate and environmental issues. Spreading awareness, for instance, should be one thing that makes more sense than right now. New policies that will deal with the issues of pollution in a synchronized manner need to be implemented without raising havoc in urban cities. As much as the new budget has mentioned big environmental projects and providing funds that will address the control of pollution level in the country it is simply not enough. It needs more.
If the Budget 2019 mentioned anything about a government-backed initiative towards cleansing the air, it would have been a head turner. The handful of startups in the country that are already working towards the cause, would have multiplied along with the government's push.
Concluding his opinion, he says, "Keeping in mind, this is the election year; there should be definite research on the environmental budget with a number of adoptive and mitigating solutions to curb air pollution."
