Pollution-Free Environment a 'Fundamental Right', India's Top Court Says (msn.com) 30
Living in a pollution-free environment is a fundamental right, India's Supreme Court said on Wednesday as it urged authorities to address deteriorating air quality in the north of the country. From a report: India's capital Delhi recorded a "very poor" air quality index of 364 on Wednesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board, which considers readings below 50 to be good. Swiss group IQAir rated Delhi the world's most polluted city in its live rankings. The city battles toxic air every winter and authorities say much of the smoke comes from farmers illegally burning paddy stubble to clear their fields in the neighbouring breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana. The Supreme Court pulled up the governments of both states for taking "selective action" against stubble burning, saying penal provisions were not being properly implemented.
Re:rights in India (Score:4, Informative)
It's also one of the most polluted place on the planet (though China may well be worse).
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It's also one of the most polluted place on the planet (though China may well be worse).
I don't think anything in China beats the state of the Ganges River right now.
The good news is that in India, pollution is one side effect of the massive population, and some of that will fix itself as their birthrate has now fallen below replacement level. It'll take a few decades, but things will inevitably clean up as fewer people take up better living standards.
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Agree with this with one condition (Score:2)
The government of India has to calculate its pollution, plastic consumption, fossil fuel pollution emitted and reduce them by 25% first before any citizen or company is forced to do anything.
In addition, they must report yearly numbers for the progress every year.
First the federal government for 10 years, then state governments, then city governments.
We want less pollution, though not at the expense of letting the one of the largest polluters in the country (government) be exempted from their own regulatory
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The good news is that in India, pollution is one side effect of the massive population, and some of that will fix itself as their birthrate has now fallen below replacement level. It'll take a few decades, but things will inevitably clean up as fewer people take up better living standards.
Alternatively, it will improve as soon as the Indian government deregulates and allows industry to flourish, thus making Indians wealthy enough to afford a cleaner environment. In a funny coincidence, I was reading an article by Bryan Caplan [betonit.ai], who just returned from India. One of his not-so-polite observations was Indian cities are filthy. Having been to Bangalore once, I concur, they're not Toronto or Tokyo. He further observed that Indian economic development is really held back by insane levels of regulat
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Alternatively, it will improve as soon as the Indian government deregulates and allows industry to flourish, thus making Indians wealthy enough to afford a cleaner environment.
LOL. Yes - deregulation is the answer to a cleaner world. Open a history book some time and look at how unregulated industries have *helped* the environment, even in America. Maybe look at why the EPA was created in the first place.
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LOL. Yes - deregulation is the answer to a cleaner world. Open a history book some time and look at how unregulated industries have *helped* the environment, even in America. Maybe look at why the EPA was created in the first place.
Read what I wrote. Deregulation (of things like labor and land ownership) leads to growth, growth leads to wealth, wealth enables a cleaner environment. Clean environment regulations are costly so you can't implement them if you're poor.
Think of it this way: would India be better off with their current overly-strict labor and land ownership regulations and a dirty environment or a clean environment and more flexible labor market and efficient agriculture?
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I'm not sure what you are on about, dumbass.
The flip side of "We have the right to not be infected by others" is "I have the right to infect others". But clearly you like to play in the land of the absurd. Whatever. Follow the white rabbit to the place where billionaires take advantage of you for their own benefit, because you have it all figured out.
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tl;dr
I'm an asshole
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It's absolutely the case that 'fundamental right' as a framing at least creates the impression that whoever is formulating the idea(unless talking about property or guns) probably skews liberal b
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While I will point out it is horrible they need a police department specializing in investigating bride torching, they do have such police. India is far from what I would consider acceptable compared to where I was raised, but it is improving.
Well this should be fun (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Any animal activity - not just human activity involving our technology - creates pollution.
2) India is pretty fucking filthy - this according to an Indian friend of mine from northeast of New Delhi, who absolutely loves living here under a blue sky.
They're legislating a right they can't possibly grant in any meaningful way in a reasonable timeframe, and is absolutely impossible to satisfy in an absolute literal sense no matter the time and effort invested.
Rather than calling it a right, simply start legislating pollution reduction measures until things are clean enough that health issues from artificial pollution are no worse than those from natural pollution. That should take a few generations at least.
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It's not like it's an amorphous "they" who are "legislating" a right. It's the indian Supreme Court. It will have obvious repercussions, because people and institutions will turn to the courts to enforce the right, which will mean that some polluters will pay a higher price for their polluting activities than they did in the past. It's not a silver bullet, but it will be a consequential thing, and in concert with other actions, including legislation, regulation, funding of clean-ups, education, etc, may sta
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1) Any animal activity - not just human activity involving our technology - creates pollution.
Okay take your autism medication and a deep breath. Literally no one is taking about baseline level animal activity pollution here. Not one person. Please go talk to your Indian friend some more. Maybe ask him why he came to America. - That's the goal.
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We have had similar judgements in Europe, and they do have a positive effect. Obviously no court is going to enforce ridiculous terms like you mention, but they will look at decisions that governments made in light of how much they affect pollution levels.
As an example, it provided a solid foundation for London's expanded Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), which basically charges people driving the most polluting cars for entering it. They also did a scrappage scheme to help people living there replace non-co
Uh what about the ground? (Score:2, Insightful)
India could use a massive overhaul in its environment and cleanliness. Just behaviorally, culturally, and the streets are so nasty looking. They seriously need major sewage reworking. Hygiene of street vendors could use a huge reform. I mean they never use utensils or implements. Even when they use gloves the gloves are dirty because they touch everywhere with gloves. That’s why India has a high morbidity and infectious disease rate. Reference: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/a... [nih.gov] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.ni [nih.gov]
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They seriously need major sewage reworking.
The term "reworking" implies that something exists that can be re-worked. The vast majority of the Indian population does not have access to any sewage system, good or otherwise.
Just like avoiding 'chemicals'. (Score:2)
People don't know what they're saying. Even the people who have power (maybe especially).
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They think it's fine. When you grow up around trash and things like that, it doesn't disgust you at least not enough to prioritize and take action. There aren't a critical mass of people who have experienced different to want to change it. If they do want to change it, it will be in their own area not others.