question_answer 13)

State any four pressing environmental concerns of India. Correction for environmental damages involves opportunity costs. Explain.

Answer:

Four pressing environment concerns of India are (i) Land degradation. (ii) Biodiversity loss. (iii) Air population with special reference to vehicular pollution in urban cities (iv) Management of fresh water and solid waste management. Correction for environmental damages involves opportunity costs as explained below. (a) The industrial development in past has polluted and dried up rivers and other aquifers making water an economic good. Cleaning up of polluted rivers and replenishing water resources require huge investments. (b) The intensive and extensive extraction of both renewable and non-renewable resources has exhausted some of these vital resources and huge amount of funds need to be spent on technology and research to explore new resources. (c) The health costs of degraded environmental quality are also present as decline in air and water quality have resulted in increased incidence of respiratory and water-borne diseases. (d) Global environmental issues such as global warming and ozone depletion also contribute to increased financial commitments for the government.