In case you didn’t know, Deshpee is based in India – which is also the location of Project Nelda, our environmental project designed to help fight India’s deforestation problem.

Aside from what we’re educating the world about deforestation, trees and green living, now is a great time to familiarise yourself with India’s environment.

Here are ten things you probably didn’t know!

• Around thirty million people in India (including children) are sufferers of asthma and similar breathing difficulties as a result of pollution.
• Similarly, Indian citizens are now at higher risk of developing lung cancer.
• According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) organisation, outdoor air pollution is the fifth biggest killer in India – in fact, around 100,000 premature deaths occur annually in India as a result of air pollution.
• Twelve of the world’s top twenty most polluted cities are in India. From least polluted to the most, they include: Khanna, Agra, Allahabad, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Kanpur, Firozabad, Lucknow, Raipur, Gwalior, Patna and Delhi.
• Studies have shown than the average Indian lifespan is reducing by around three years due to the state of the environment.
• Two of the world’s top ten most polluted rivers are located in India – the River Ganga and the River Yamuna.
• Furthermore, the Centre for Science and Environment (based in Delhi), noted that the decline in India’s environmental standards was related to river pollution, which is significantly worse now than it was thirty years ago. Other related causes included trash piling in cities and increased toxicity to the air in urban areas.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that Delhi, India has surpassed Beijing as the world’s most polluted city, putting residents at a higher risk of developing respiratory diseases.
• An air quality monitoring survey carried out by Greenpeace found that children in Delhi’s schools are breathing in air that is over four times more toxic than required Indian safety limits – and over ten times the Worth Health Organisation limits.
• Measuring India as a whole, over 660 million people are living in areas where pollution is higher than India’s safety limits. This is over half of the country’s population.

These shocking facts show just how much work needs to be done to improve and protect our environment and our country’s inhabitants. Thankfully, many organisations – including us here at Deshpee and Nelda – are working hard to achieve a greener India and a greener planet Earth.

So now you know a little more about the environment in India, you’ll feel even more in the loop as you read about our efforts and progress to create a greener future for the country.