Biological Pollution

Rajya Sabha passes Amendment Bill decriminalising water pollution offenses: Industry impetus or environmental concerns?

Masru Bai, a 35-year-old woman along with her husband Naval Singh and their three daughters (Radhika, Sonu, and Vishal) and one son, resides in Beedpura village, Gram Panchayat Bakaner (Dhar district). Both Masru Bai and her husband work as labourers to support their family.

Jharkhand State is on the journey of ensuring the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation of their laboratories and recently completed the accreditation of 29 labs in the state for water quality testing on a mission mode.

The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) in India is one of the most polluted regions in the world. A densely populated region, with many sources emitting a range of pollutants, regulating air pollution here is an extremely difficult and complex task.

The context

Delivering training is as important as creating good quality content. Engaging an audience in virtual sessions is not an easy task. We at INREM Foundation have found some success in the last two years by approaching online interactions differently. Here is a snapshot of our methods that have worked for us.

Multimodal learning 

According to the Global Water Quality Index, India ranks 120th out of 122 countries in water quality, its ability and commitment to improving it.

In recent years, the impact of the wastes discharged in the Bay of Bengal has been significant due to high effluent inflow from secured sources. It was observed that the heavy metal concentrations in the Bay coast sediments were considerately high and varied among sampling points.

Agricultural intensification in India has increased nitrogen pollution, leading to water quality impairments. The fate of reactive nitrogen applied to the land is largely unknown, however. Long-term records of riverine nitrogen fluxes are nonexistent and drivers of variability remain unexamined, limiting the development of nitrogen management strategies.

River Ichamati is venerated as a living entity and its fertile flood plains have been catering to the expanding human-mediated demands apart from harbouring an enormous assemblage of aquatic flora and fauna.