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National Pollution Prevention Day 2021: Mitigating Pollution, Conserving Environment

The National Pollution Prevention Day is observed every year on December 2 in remembrance of those who lost their lives on fateful day in 1984 when the accidental leakage of the Methyl Isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide India pesticide plant brought havoc to the residents of Bhopal and its surrounding areas.

The memories of the grim incident continue to haunt humanity till date as the disaster not only took a massive toll on human lives but also rendered many more people permanently crippled and incapacitated for their lifetime and continue to have a bearing on the generations that followed. There are hard-learned lessons to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies. However, pollution continues to take a toll on millions of lives every year unabated and is the cause of several respiratory and other ailments that continue to mar the nation’s human potential and prevent it from realizing its optimum.

In the face of the reality that the air in our metropolitan and other cities is severely contaminated with pollutants and particulate matter that mainly emanates from vehicles and Industries, policy decisions alone cannot suffice in controlling/preventing it. The need of the hour is cooperation from people's side as every small step counts and would go miles in mitigating environmental pollution. Environmental pollution, directly and indirectly, affects the quality of life more than one can imagine. All this is mainly caused by human activities which harm the environment in more than one way. The pollutants present in the air are so tiny that they can pass through the mucus membrane and other protective barriers to damage the lungs, heart, brain and other vital organs. Nowadays, pollution prevention is a major global concern because everyone on the earth is entitled to clean air to breathe and potable water to drink.

Combating pollution, our responsibilities: Plant a tree, conserve energy at home and at workplace, use carpool, use recycled materials, avoid plastics, use of e-vehicles, switch-off ignition of vehicles at traffic signals etc are the small steps that would make a big difference. Let's make a difference.