Objective

Giving due recognition about the Green Environment is an important issue at both the fronts, one for the economic development and another for the sake of ailment free society. It has been the most remarkable realization of the last century and it is likely to of increasing significance for the present century and beyond for the sake of healthy living of human being and all living things on this very live planet of the universe. The ignorance as well as prolonged disregard with respect, to the nature and on the contrary its cumulative impact at the advent of rapid inustrialization that has occurred after the independence of our country, misuse as well as overuse of natural resources due to the rising of standards of living and population explosion has very much resulted in a severe backlash which has ultimately affected the ENVIRONMENT by way of its severe effect resulting in soil degradation, global warming, depletion of stratospheric ozone, environmental pollution, loss of bio-diversity thus resulting in economic disparities in our own country passing through the critical phase of industrialisation and international trade. More to say that in our country the per capita consumption of Fast Moving Consumer Goods ( FMGfs ) are the lowest in comparison to other developing Nations of the World. But due to advent of adopting the free trade and industry policy of the (Government the consumption pattern is going to be expand by leaps and bound leading to brisk industrialisation thus having the great impact on environment pollution due to the kind of waste produced by the enormous inrease in numbers of industries.

As a basic definition of Environment, if we elaborate the same in terms of economy, the environment is a public good which is enjoyed and used by all but owned by no one. The term environment embraces all natural resources, such as air, water, the seas, forests as well as intangibles like the diversity of spices and the aesthetic value which consumers get from unspoiled natural surroundings. Although the environment should not be considered as a separate or outside the economy yet there are obvious difficulties in valuing environmental goods, so far many years they have been considered free resources without having a market price. The environment has always been used by the people as a source of raw materials and energy and to absorb the wastes so generated, but it also provides other forms of utilities, some of which have only been recently begun to be understood: “such as life-support (e.g. the atmosphere, the ozone-layer, bio-diversity), health, amenity, etc.” The waste absorbing capacities of the environment have been stretched beyond their assimilating limits so that there is a severe atmospheric and water pollution problem, which affect human well being as well as flora and fauna of this very earth and may ultimately endanger the survival. Pollution in a biological term is the waste generated from the both industrial and domestic sources which overload the capacity of the environment to handle it. Overloading the wastes assimilating capacity of the environment means a corresponding fall in the ability of the environment to provide the services to the mankind.e.g., the use of river with mildly excessive industrial waste can prevent its usage as a fresh, water fishery. If even more waste is discharged it can become unfit for even swimming and drinking. In economic term this is an opportunity cost. This cost of excessive industrial waste is the loss of the use of environment for other purposes.

In order to understand the importance of environment : it is essential to know how environment is getting polluted and its probable impact going to have in near future. Following few paragraphs will help to understand this fact:

WATER RESOURCES 

The availability of renewable fresh water resources per capita in India fell from around 600 cubic meters per year i.n 1.947 to about 2300 cubic meters in 1997. It is estimated that by 2017, India will be “water stressed”-per capita water availability will be as low as 1600 cubic meters. In a few regions, the water stress will be severe since water resources are very unevenly distributed; in the east flowing rivers between Pannar and Kanyakumari, for instance, the availability is already receded tqas low as 400 cubic meters per capita per year. Better demand-side management and some supply enhancement will help to overcome this potentiaL problem on the demand side, potentially the demand could be reduced, by as much as 50% of the currem consumption pattern, without compromising on the output or the lifestyle which is going to improve in time to come.

The spread of the “Green Revolution” technology has been accompanied by a phenomenal increase in private shallow tube-wells. These increase from about a thousand in 1947, to about 360000 in 1968/69 and to 60 lakh in 1997. The over-exploitation ofgroundwater is emerging as an increasingly serious problem in certain agriculturally important districts of the country. For instance in 12 districts in Punjab and 3 in Haryana, the exploitation of groundwater has already exceeds its recharge. In Mehsana district of Gujarat and Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu, groundwater aquifers have been permanently depleted. The number of stressed groundwater block increased from 253 in 1984/85 to 422 in 1992/93. In Kurushetra and Mahendragarh districts of Haryana, the rate of decline of the water table between 1974 and 1994 was as high as 0.48 meters per year respectively. The over exploitation of groundwater in some areas will lead increasing cost of its extraction in the future. This increasing cost of groundwater extraction, is likely to be particularly severe on small and marginal farmers. A falling groundwater table requires greater expenditures on its extraction equipment which small and marginal farmers cannot afford Falling water tables can lead to salinity due to the mixing of sweet water with the more saline water below and also seawater intrusion. Also, in combination with several other factors, it may contribute to the contamination of water in the aquifer.

While groundwater is being increasingly overexploited, surface water is being utilized very inefficiently and there is a wide gap between potential created and utilized. While 100% of the potential created was utilized before 1951, and therefore in 1947, only 89% was utilized in 1993/94. More disturbing fact is the high level generation of the waste due to its improper disposal. It is estimated that 45% of water used for irrigation was wasted by seepage through unlined canals and field channels and another 15% was wasted due to its over usage.

At present, industry share of total water demand is very low – around 2%. With high rates of industrial growth expected in the future, an increasingly important challenge will be to increase the efficiency of use of water in this sector. In many developed countries, because of technological change and process improvements the industrial use of water does not rise with growth.

SOIL :

Soil degradation is widespread in India, affecting, about 1880 lakh hectares or 57% of the total area of the country. Of this 1620 lakh hectares are affected by soil erosion and 250 lakh hectares are affected by in situ degradation (waterlogging, salinization, and nutrient depletion). Extending the limited data available indicates that area affected by soil degradation in 1947 was probably about 1100 lakh hectares. It is estimated that the cumulative effects of degradation over time will lead to an economic loss of Rs. 8900 crore to Rs. 23200 crore in 1997, reflecting a loss of 11%-26% of annual agricultural output. Erosion has rendered 1180 lakh hectares or 36% of the total area of the country “uneconomical to cultivate because of a significant loss in productivity”, while a further 150 lakh hectares has been rendered unmanageable and uneconomical” to use. Erosion by water and wide is the most significant contributor to the economic loss due to soil degradation, and accounts for about 87% of the total degraded area. This category alone accounts for around Rs. 6100 crore-Rs. 21600 crore of the total estimated losses. Salinity and waterlogging are the other major-kinds of degradation. Although salinization and waterlogging affect only 11 % of the total area affected by degradation, they account for up to 30% of the total estimated cost. The problems of waterlogging and salinity together lead to an estimated loss of Rs. 1200 crore to Rs. 2700 crore annually.

Waterlogging affects vast tracts of land in the Ganga and Brahmaputra basins and the irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh. Salinization affects the dry regions in the Indo-Gangetic plain, parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat and the black-soil regions.

While natural conditions do play an important role, man-made factors, especially the growth of canal irrigation with inadequate drainage have become important causes of the degradation. In many areas the subsidized pricing of water and its inefficient use and seepage from unlined canals, has resulted in excessive recharging of groundwater sources. In Gujarat, on the other hand, excessive groundwater use has led to seawater intrusion and salinization of soil. The cost of such man-made degradation amount to almost Rs.1600 annually.

FOREST RESOURCES 

In India, as in many other developing countries, the decline in forests has been qualitative (crown density), not quantitative (area under forests). In fact/the recorded area under forests has increased by 4% between : 1951 and 1995 from 734 lakh hectares to 765 lakh hectares. Of the recorded forest area of 760 lakh hectares in 1995, as much as 370 lakh hectares were degraded.

Between 1951 to 1995, about 470 lakh hectares offorestland were diverted to non-forest uses this figure is an underestimate because it includes only planned and authorized diversion of forestland. With growing population, the pressure to release forestland for subsistence needs, agriculture, industries, power and irrigation projects, housing and urban development has gone up substantially. To produce more food, fuelwood fodder, timber and non-wood forest produce from a dwindling biomass resource baseband at the same time to maintain the minimum forest area to ensure environmental and ecological stability is a daunting challenge.

The wide gap between requirement and sustainable supply of forest biomass signifies not only the continued depletion of the growing stock of India’s forests but also stress on resources outside the forest which are being utilized to meet the requirements. The gap is particularly wide for fuelwood and green foddeb mostly required for subsistence by rural communities. The requirement of fuelwood is nearly six times the sustainable supply while the requirement of industrial wood is more than twice the sustainable supply. Against a sustainable level of 310 lakh cow-units per annum that might graze in forests, the livestock that actually grazes in the forest is about 1000 lakh cow units more than 3 times the desirable level.

As a result of this pressure acting cumulatively over time, India’s forests have been degraded. More importantly such vital environmental services provided by forests as the preservation of soil cover, stabilization of the atmosphere and the maintenance of natural systems have not been valued because of their complexity.

BIODIVERSITY 

Biodiversity is the diversity of living organisms. Indian is a country with a very rich heritage of biodiversity. One measure of this rich biodiversity is the number of plants e.g. rice and sugarcane and domesticated animals e.g. the water buffalo and the camel which India has given to the world. Two of the world’s 18 hot spots drawing attention from the international community are in India, the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats. In addition 26 endemic centers have been identified in India which are home to nearly 33% of flowering plant species. Although the extinction of 23 species has been confirmed, it is suspected that many more have died out unnoticed. Many species are endangered, rare or on the verge of extinction. Biodiversity confers a number of advantages, which are often lost sight of perhaps the most important is its contribution to the resilience of ecosystem. However, as in the rest of the world, this biodiversity is coming under increasing threat by human pressure. While humans everywhere have brought about enormous changes in the landscape for centuries, the forests, in particular were at the receiving end of an organized onslaught which peaked during the two World Wars as the forest of such places as the Western Ghats were mined for timber. Nearly 228000 tonnes of timbers were supplied to help the Allied military operations during the First World War. The pressure of increasing population and conflicting demands on land and an inability to manage these enormous changes have contributed to the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats.

AIR POLLUTION 

The adverse effects of air pollution on the health of the Indian people are enormous. An air quality index indicates that in as many as 20 cities the air quality was “dangerous” and in as many as 14 cities the air quality was “bad” only in 7 cities was the air quality at an acceptable level. In as many as 14 cities, the annual average concentration of suspended particulate matter exceeds the maximum limits permissible even in industrial area.

Outdoor air pollution in India has been aggravated by developments that typically occur as countries industrialize- growing cities, increasing traffic, rapid economic developments and industrial growth, all of which are closely associated with higher energy consumption. The number of vehicles in the country increased from 3 lakh in 1951 to 303 lakh in 1991. Moreover, this increase has been characterized by a boom in private transport. Some other reasons for high vehicular pollution are two-stroke engines, old vehicles, congested traffic, poor roads, and outdated automotive technologies and traffic management systems.

Industrial growth has been steady, if not as impressive as India’s planners would have hoped – there were 13600 registered factories 30 years ago compared to 100000 factories today. Pollution is concentrated among a few industrial sub-sectors such as petroleum refineries, textiles, pulp and paper, industrial chemicals, iron and steel, and non-metallic mineral products. Small-scale industries are major polluters. India has over 30 lakh small-scale units accounting for over 40% of the total industrial output in the country. The major air polluting small-scale industries include foundries, chemical manufacturingyand brick making. India’s electricity generating capacity has increased 60 times in the years since independence. Thermal power constitutes about 72% of the total installed capacity and is an important source of air pollution generating as much as 450 lakh tonnes of fly ash per year. The ash content ofIndia very high which leads to high particulate emission and also poses difficulties for the operation of electrostatic precipitators.

Several studies attempting to value the economic benefits of air pollution control have demonstrated that intervening to reduce emissions from vehicles, power plants and industrial plants can have significant health benefits, especially if we use health criteria to choose the most cost-effective interventions. While supporting this viewpoint, it is emphasize that facilitating improvements in the indoor air environment will lead to even more significant health benefits being enjoyed by rural folk and slum dwellers, women, and infants.

WATER POLLUTION 

India’s water bodies are at the receiving end of enormous quantities of waste. Total sewage generation from the urban centers of India grew from around 500 crore liters per day in 1947 to around 3000 crore liters per day in 1.997. The water requirement of such major water consuming industries as agro-based industries, refineries, petrochemicals, fertilizers and industrial chemical industries has grown from. around 1000 lakh liters per day in 1.947 to around 40000 lakh liters per day in 1997 while wastewater generation has grown from around 700 lakh liters per day in 1947 to around 30000 lakh liters per day in 1997. Facilities’ to treat wastewater are woefully inadequate. Where they do exist, they often, fail to function properly and remain closed most of the time due to improper design, and poor maintenance together with a non-technical and unskilled approach. Class I and Class II cities generate around 2000 crore liters of sewage wastewater daily but treat only about 200 crore liters. Of the 426 large and medium, size industrial in the region covered by the Ganga Action Plan, 101 do not have adequate pollution control facilities. As a result of the poor treatment facilities and high pollution loads, India’s water bodies are highly polluted. The rivers Sabarmati and Khan, for instance, have bi.o-ch.em.ical oxygen demand values that are greater than. 20 mg/liter. The river stretches near Delhi, Sahranpur, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Kota, and Varanasi is particularly badly polluted and are in effect open drains. Of 80 districts that make-up the Yamuna basin, “1.9 district experienced high and medium water stress in 1947; by the 1990s, the number had gone up to 62. In pockets, groundwater aquifers have been contaminated with heavy metals, chemicals such as fluorides and phenols, and coliform bacteria.

Poor drinking waiter and sanitation infrastructure lead to high levels of water-related diseases and deaths. As with utilities supplying other services, local, bodies entrusted with the task of supplying piped water are strapped for funds and are unable to carry out routine maintenance tasks. The poor supply of drinking water has very significant health impacts.

SOLID WASTES 

The municipal, solid waste generated in Indian cities increased from 60 lakh tonnes per year in 1947 to 480 lakh. tonnes in 1997. This is because of an increase in urban population from 570 lakh in 1947 to 2740 lakh in 1997, and an increase in per capita generated from about 300 grams per capita per day in 1947 to about 500 grams per capita per day in 1997. Currently, 10 crore tonnes of solid wasteland 20 lakh tonnes of hazardous waste are generated by industry.

The collection, transport, and disposal of solid waste is unscientific and chaotic. Less than three-fourth of the municipal solid wastof is collected. Seventy per cent of Indian cities do not have the capacity to transport the municipal, solid wastes generated. Uncontrolled dumping of wastes on the outskirts of towns has created over flowing landfills that are not only difficult to reclaim, because of the haphazard and unscientific manner of dumping but also have such serious impacts as water pollution, methane emissions, and soil degradation.

The handlers of solid waste i.e. municipal workers and ragpickers most likely to suffer because of exposure. It has been estimated that some 35000 children in Bangalore and 80000 children in Delhi work as ragpickers. These ragpickers are the first link in a chain that sorts and sifts wealth from waste. The average Indian urban household appetite for plastics has been increasing fairly rapidly. Over the last ten years, the production and consumption of plastic has increased more than ten fold while between 1960 and 1995, the increase was more than 70 times. Small-scale recycling units have mushroomed in metropolitan cities. Paper is another material that is recycled, though in this case India recovers only 14% of total paper consumption compared to the global recovery rate of 37%. One solid waste material that is generated in huge quantities and is dumped is fly ash. Only 1% – 2% is utilized.

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPT OF GREEN BUYING

We can very well draw inference from the aforsaid explanation that our immediate future is under much pressure and we need to act immediately with respect to curbing the environment pollutionfor the sake of the society. Industrial organizations are the main consumers of natural resources provided by the environment and they are mainly responsible for polluting air, water and soil. So, to contain, environmental damages, industrial organizations have to understand the environmental, problems first and there after they have to adopt right approaches for sustainable development. In this regard “Green Buying” is a small effort which may be put forwarded by industrial organizations while procuring their input materials and services. It mainly deals with the purchasing of those products which have got minimal bad effect on environment and to abandon the use of environmentally unsafe process anywhere in the supply chain. Green Purchasing is a broad term with reference to environmentally sensitive issues related with entire supply chain process. Green concept means cleaner production or eco efficiency, which include the delivery of competitive priced goods and services that satisfy consumer needs and bring quality of life while progressively taking care of ecology right from the raw material procurement to finished goods production processes.

Green Buying is basically a new up-coming concept for most of the Indian firms. Its importance and benefits are yet to be correctly evaluated by them. It is basically an unorganized business in. India and importance of this concept has to be explored in depth for larger benefit of the human, kind. Initiation of systematic environmental awareness programmes for Indian companies are very important for less of this concept. It is now high time to educate them why they should operate with due care for environment,they are responsible for quality of environment and how they will be less competitive in the global market if do not act right now.

Sufficient data of products which, are environmentally friendly and processes which have least impact on environment are not available in India. A proper implementation programme on how to include environmental cost in both manufacturing and consumer decision making is also very much needed. Moreover, inaccessibility of technical expertise and financial resources are also big handicap for the Indian industries.

It is high time that Indian Companies should adopt policies and develop strategies so that they can be both green and competitive which means they have to sustain environment and generates profits. No doubt this is going to be a very challenging job yet they have to do for the sake of survival of both human mankind and living beings on this earth.

In our country, support from Government is absolutely necessary to promote eco-culture. India’s environmental laws are liberal and loosely enforced. The laws and implementing agencies have failed to enforce measures to regulate the behavior of the polluting industries and check pollution. Government so far has done little to conduct programmes for creating public awareness which most of the Non (Governmental Agencies ( N.G.O.’s ) generating amongst the public. Even the Government is not providing financial support or incentive to the industries for encouraging environmentally disciplined processes. Doubtful integrity and complex political system, are big problems in India to solve the environmental issues. If the rate of population growth, goes on as per present trend then no amount of environment awareness or legislation will be workable to combat the pollution. So, when we talk about maintaining environmental quality by the industries through green processes, we also to think about the impact of rapid population growth on resource availability as the natural resources are limited. Apart from shrinking of the resource base, population, pressure affects the quality of air, water and soil In India, rapid growth, of population, along with fast industrialization process presents a peculiar problem to be tackled in a very much judicious manner. The success of green, movement depends heavily on. the Government checks & control, measures of population, whereas NGOs can boost, up the tempo of the serving industries.