Industrial pollution in India What are we learning?  Indian oil refineries  Shipyards in Alang  The relationship between industrial pollution and crop yields in India

1. India refineries told to clean up Authorities in India's north-eastern state of Assam have threatened local oil refineries with closure unless they stopped polluting local rivers.  Assam's Pollution Control Board has given five refineries a year to stop discharging effluents into rivers.  It says the refineries were dumping effluents at levels much higher than acceptable federal limits. Experts say the older oil refineries were the main polluters.  Experts say the older oil refineries were the main polluters.  As it was more difficult to install pollution control equipment in their old equipment

The Effects of the oil refineries  The refineries have damaged to the rivers in the past 40 years.  A lot of marine life, like fish, tortoises and the river dolphin, has almost disappeared.

2. Shipyards at Alang  Another example of industrial pollution is Alang, the largest shipbreaking yard in the world.  The 11-km coastline of the yard has been severely polluted due to scrapping of hazardous ships  The shipyards at Alang recycle approximately half of all ships salvaged around the world. The yards are located on the Gulf of Khambat, 50 kilometres southeast of Bhavnagar.

Why is it located in Gujarat?  The industry has low running costs - it uses almost no electricity or machines - and labour is cheap.  India's environmental and safety standards are much more lenient than those of its customers, like Japan, Korea, Russia, Germany and the United States.  Alang is perfect for shipbreaking because the high tides carry the vessels up the beach and wedge them into the sand. There's no need for dry docks or jetties  The labourers are migrants who have come to Gujarat from the poorest states in India - from Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh  It could be argued that workers were earning well by Indian standards. Also, the shipbreakers were providing jobs for the poorest of India's poor and bringing valuable income to Gujarat.

 Greenpeace says scrapped ships contain a wide range of toxic paints and substances which are hazardous to workers' health.  Alang represents a dilemma for India and the West. The worker exploitation and environmental contamination of the shipyards has to be weighed up against their economic importance.

Future changes at Alang shipyards  Owners of India's Alang ship breaking yard are looking into hiring an outside firm to conduct asbestos removal in an attempt to improve their image among environmental groups, such as Greenpeace and increase business which has declined following negative reports about working conditions and disputes with other countries.  The move could save the lives of workers by reducing their exposure to toxic materials but thus far asbestos is the only material among lead, PCBs and others that would normally require special handling procedures elsewhere.  The move is aimed at generating revenue that has been lost to competing shipyards in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as a drop in steel prices.

3. The relationship between industrial pollution and crop yields in India  Pollution-laden clouds may be partly to blame for India's dwindling rice harvests, according to research.  A US team found brown clouds, which cloak much of South Asia, have a negative impact on rice output by reducing sunlight, making it cooler.  The models they used suggest the haze may reduce rain and snow over parts of western central Asia by between 20% and 40%. Environmental Pollution over India

 These layers of air pollution, which contain soot and other fine particles, are primarily created from burning fossil fuels.  The study only looked into farming regions which primarily used rain to water their crops. The researchers said the effect would be less pronounced on areas which relied on other irrigation methods.

India should reduce dependence on fossil fuels: to reduce industrial pollution  March 16th, 2009 in Thaindian news said:  “If India has to continuously grow at eight to nine percent, then it should reduce dependence on fossil fuels, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran said here Monday”  “Saran referred to the fear that industrialised countries would use intellectual property rights and trade competitiveness in the race to develop and use greener technologies. He said these would be “major obstacles for environmentally friendly technology adoption”.

 According to India’s Integrated Energy Policy, by 2030 India will be importing more than 90 percent of oil and about two-thirds to three-fourths of coal, and the energy cost will increase.   In this regard he reflected upon the National Solar Energy Mission, which is a project by the government to reduce India’s dependence on non-renewable energy sources.

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