April 7 is observed as the World Health Day. The aim and objective is to make the people aware about their health. Now different types of new diseases are coming up in the human societies due to growing pollutions; which bring health hazards for which the human beings alone are responsible.
Air, water, soil and food, including sound and light are getting increasingly polluted due to various human activities. Air is the most vital part of life; it is essential for all living beings. Without air no life can be expected in the earth. The whole animal kingdom and plant kingdom exist due to presence of air.
A major component of air is oxygen which a colourless, odourless, tasteless. Due to rising industrialisation and vehicles, air pollution is on the rise. The air pollution is responsible for all kinds of respiratory, skin and eye diseases etc. Due to extensive mining activities in the tribal lands, surrounding environment is also polluted.
Now it is very difficult to get free air anywhere in the globe. The case of Odisha is worst. All the tribal lands are polluted for such operations. But knowing all these, we are ruthlessly cutting trees and cleaning the forest areas, which is a crime.
Not only is the deposition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increasing due to industrializations and other related activities, but also different kinds of foreign ingredients like dust, coal, ore, rock, carbon particles etc are also deposited in the air. At present, no pure air is available anywhere in the animal kingdom.
Water is another life supporting agent like air without which life cannot be expected in the earth.
All the industries right from small to mega are situated near the banks of permanent water courses like rivers, springs and lakes which pollute the water sources.
The water borne diseases like stomach ailments, skin diseases, eye diseases and the diseases like cholera and other epidemics spread through the rough, contaminated water. All the civilizations of the world started from river banks and water sources.
If the sources of lives are polluted how can the civilizations of the globe stand? Here take the case of Mahanadi. The Mahanadi is the lifeline of Odisha, which starts from the Eastern Ghat Hill Ranges, the portion coming within the Chhatisgarh State.
The present Government of Chhatigarh is almost leasing out the entire portion of Mahanadi coming within its jurisdiction to different corporate bodies for operating their industries. The whole river system of Mahanadi is polluted by the plants and the sufferings of people residing along the river courses are increasing.
The contaminated water also pollutes the aquatic food complex. The water borne diseases very easily spread in the human society through aquatic foods also.
The pollution of water and air is very common. The river Ganges is most polluted river system of world, which is under the process of cleaning and purifications by the Government of India; but unless the people residing along the course of the river system are conscious to prevent pollutions, the attempt of the Government will bear no fruits.
Similarly the mother earth or the soil is polluted in different ways. This is most important life supporting device of the nature. All the obnoxious properties of the air and water come to the earth through rain waters and through acid rains.
The activities of micro organisms for formation of new soil do not take place. So the soil profile is not maintained in respect of mother earth.
As no new soil is formed, the natural fertility of mother earth is also affected for all time to come. Artificially, the fertility of mother earth is increased by application of chemical fertilizers, which is very harmful.
The strains of chemical fertilizer are also found in the food stuffs like fruits and vegetables including all agricultural products. Such types of farm products create health hazards.
The vital life support systems like air, water and soil when polluted beyond expectation, how we can maintain our health sustainably and welfare of the society can be expected? In the modern society the sound pollutions are increasing beyond limits due to vehicular activities, explosion of cracker etc.
The noise beyond 100 decibels is very harmful which can damage the ear drums. The sound within 70 decibels however can be tolerable, but the children suffer mostly when 70 decibels of sound is produced.
The children are more prone to sound pollutions and they alarmed normally in 70 decibels of sound; and above. Dynamites are also used for harvesting of fishes in rivers. It is a usual affair of Talcher.
It is fact that, the cell phone radio waves damages the brain cells of animals, but we are carelessly handling the same without looking to the future which causes enormous public damages.
There are guidelines for installation of the mobile towers but in the heart of the capital city of Bhubaneswar, such towers are installed on rooftops. How the Municipal Corporations of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar allow such activities is a moot question.
(The writer is a former forest officer and an environmentalist, M- 9937460649)
