Skip to main content

Ranking 141, worst in BRICS, India warned: Environmental performance index not linked with GDP growth

By Our Representative
A Yale University, US, report has ranked India 141st among 180 countries worldwide in Environmental Performance Index (EPI), worse than all the “competing” BRICS countries. The report ranks Brazil 46th, Russia 32nd, China 109th, and South Africa 81st.
The ten best performers in EPI are Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Malta, and France. United Kingdom ranks 12th, and the United States ranks 26th.
The report stresses, there is no relationship between countries’ EPI performance and economic development. “For instance, countries located in Europe tend to have higher EPI scores in relation to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita”, while “China and India both have “high GDP per capita but receive low scores on the overall EPI.”
The only consolation for India is, it ranks better than three of the immediate neighbours – Pakistan, which ranks 144th, Bangladesh, ranking 173rd, and Nepal, ranking 149th. Sri Lanka ranks 108th and Bhutan 110th.
While India has improved its performance by 14 points ever since the last report was released (it ranked 155th in 2014), there is little reason to cheer: It ranked 123rd in 2010, and 125th in 2012.
Titled “Global Metrics for the Environment”, the report has been prepared with the active support, among others, of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the top Switzerland based body working for “improving” industrial climate by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders.
Referring to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation, ambient particulate matter pollution, household air pollution from solid fuels, and ambient ozone pollution, the report states, “Some countries, like India, perform poorly across all five environmental risk factors”.
EPI ranks countries’ performance on high-priority environmental issues in two areas, protection of human health and protection of ecosystems, but factors taken into consideration also include tree cover and reduction in carbon intensity.
Pointing out that air pollution is a growing global problem, especially in rapidly developing economies like China and India, the report says, “More than 3.5 billion people, or half of the world’s population, live in nations where average exposure to fine particulate matter exceeds levels the World Health Organization (WHO) considers safe (10 micrograms/m3).”
The report adds, “One-third (1.3 billion) of these people live in the East Asia and Pacific region, where in China and South Korea more than 50 percent of their populations are exposed to unsafe levels of fine particulate matter. In India and Nepal, the percentage is nearly 75 percent.”
Refusing to give credit to the government for recent improvements in air quality in India, the report states, “Responding to pressure from civil society and media, India has created an Air Quality Index (AQI) to measure and track air pollution in the country’s largest cities.”
EPI score for different factors on a scale of 1

The report praises the Aam Aadmi Party’s December 2015 odd-even day driving restriction programme in Delhi as “an emergency measure to reduce pollutant loads, marking an important step forward in combating the air pollution that has plagued the rapidly industrializing country for several decades.”
At the same time, the report states, “India’s air pollution index has received extensive media attention”, yet, “despite its expansion to more than 60 cities, the AQI’s exact data collection method remains unclear”, as there was “absence of a public health advisory system for cities receiving poor AQI scores.”

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.