India: environmental degradation, urban slums, political tension
Chhabra, R.
Draper Fund Report 14: 1-6
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0191-3905 PMID: 12313938 Document Number: 416428
This article presents an overview of stresses facing Indian society, including population pressures on land and agriculture, topsoil erosion, deforestation, flooding, unemployment, urban slums, and political unrest. Over 60% of India's arable land is estimated to suffer from environmental degradation. This has been caused both by a rapidly growing poor population seeking subsistence and by the misappropriation of natural resources by the wealthy for luxury consumption. Although deforestation is officially cited at 0.37 million acres/year, more sensitive estimates put it at 2.5 million acres/year. Deforestation and massive soil erosion have further created silting, flooding, and pollution in the plains areas of the country. Moreover, the urban population of India is expected to double in the next 15 years to reach a level of 350-400 million. At present, 20-33% of the urban population lives in slums without basic facilities. The employment crisis precipitated by increasing urbanization and migration is expected to be a major problem in the decades ahead. By the year 2000, 7.5 million people will enter the labor force annually. Demographic tension has been a major factor in recent political unrest. Language differences, inequitable access to resources, and the lack of job opportunities have been central issues in these conflicts. Unless more effective means can be found to cope simultaneously with the need to speed up development and meet the needs of a rapidly expanding population, the social and environmental fabric of India is in danger of further erosion.