INDIA POPULATION UNSTABLE BECAUSE OF POLLUTION

india struggles to survive in the modern era and in the process her human
population becomes unstable

R. Ashok Kumar,B.E,M.E(Power), Negentropist, Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, 299,
Tardeo Road, Nana Chowk, Mumbai-400007.
Member Asiatic Society of Bombay.
e-mail: ashokuku@rediffmail.com
© 2012 Ramaswami Ashok Kumar

Commentary

Modern ways of life include the process of globalisation which in India began in the
1600s and which has always been disrupting ecological processes of
nature.Globalisation has stopped natural evolution in its tracks. On account of this the
human population of INDIA WHICH HAD BEEN CONSTANT at 100-120 million
for ten thousand years , started rising in 1850 and has reached a billion in 1999 and is
still rising. This unstable situation has been brought about by the following series of
events: The people who were living in harmony with the forests and the village
commons were robbed of their inalienable rights to the forest produce and the village
commons by imperialism and were left to fend for themselves. The landlord system was
created and people servile to the British were made landlords. The biological security-the
insurance for survival- provided by the community was lost . The individual family
unit saw that the only way to survive was to reproduce.This was complicated by the
heavily polluting industries and the destruction of the forests and the agrochemical based
farming in British India and intensified after Independence.Indiscriminate mining leases
were given and industrialisation caused deadly chemicals and radiochemicals to enter
the food chain. The 35+ age group male to female mortality rate ratio reached 1.55 in
1997 compared to 0.66 for the same for the 0-34 age group. This was more than 2.3
times the ratio for the 0-34 age group.To compensate for this the 0-34 age group male
population became 2.6 times that for the 35+ age group. And natural laws ensured that
the female population closely followed this and the corresponding ratio for females was
2.48. The ratio of these ratios namely the male to female ratio was 1.0454. The male to
female ratio for the 0-4 age group was in concordance with this 1.0469! This was
further complicated by the infant mortality rate which has a male to female ratio of much
much higher than 1 for the peninsular states of Kerala ,Karnataka and Maharashtra in
the West and Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal in the East.These are
extremely significant statistically compared to India as a whole. For Kerala this sex ratio
was 1.75 in 1992, for Karnataka it was 1.3 in 1982,1.24 for Maharashtra in 1987, 1.3
for Andhra Pradesh in 1994, 1.2 in 1996 for both Orissa and West Bengal. The overall
birth rate(crude) for 1981-1991 was 2.85 times the crude death rate for the same
period for India. The infant mortality rate as well as the under five mortality rate is
double that for China and the birth rate is 1.5 times that for China. Imposition of the 2
children norm for the Indian family unit and stringent economic penalties without a study
of the constraints that these mortality rates and their sex ratios impose has led to
disregard of this norm. This is because survival dictates that the male children be 2.5
times the female children to overcome the male excess mortality compared to the
female as seen from the sex ratio for the mortality in the two dichotomous age groups
referred to above.But natural laws show that the male female sex ratio be nearer 1.08
as revealed by the 1991 census. Thus this is an unstable population and is primarily
brought about by globalisation which destroys the ecological base on which life
depends.Globalisation has disregarded environmental effects of the ensuing transfer of
resources because they disrupt the ecological properties of nature both at the micro and
macro levels. Thus exports of everything everywhere is impoverishing the earth.And
rampant unemployment is chronic as well as the enormous excess of hoarded
foodgrains(30 millions unemployed and 30 million tonnes hoarded). The sex ratio for
the mortality rate for India between 1971 and 1997 correlates statistically extremely
significantly (r=0.83 at p<<0.001 for 20 year lag for the dose and r=0.856,p<<0.001,
for no lag in dose,no of degrees of freedom=25)with the strontium 90 bone marrow
dose for a child born in 1950 as it progresses through to 1997. This dose is due to
atmospheric tests of atomic and hydrogen bombs between 1943 and 1980 by the
Western Nuclear Powers and China. Strontium 90 like Plutonium damages the DNA
twice in a repair cycle of a cell and thus there is a high risk of the mutation being passed
on to the daughter cells. See Chris Busby.1995.The Second Event. In the Wings of
Death. Green Audit Books. Wales. pp 188-235.
The large male infant mortality rate(IMR) compared to the female IMR for the
peninsular states of India referred to above could be caused in large measure by the
chemical and radiochemical pollution on the subcontinent : In winter the tropical
Northern Indian Ocean atmosphere and earth's surface are covered by anthropogenic
aerosoles of sulphate,nitrate, organics,soot,flyash and radiochemicals from the
subcontinent and other areas.During the Southwest monsoon these are washed down
into the peninsular coastal states mentioned above. These together with agrochemicals
pollute the drinking water and enter the food chain. When the total rainfall over these
states is on the lower side, the concentration of the deadly pollutants in water is high
and the sex ratio for the IMR is high and vice versa(r= -0.573,p=0.0259,degrees of
freedom=15). This is as measured by the SRS(Ref 1)for the years 1982 to 1996. For
the sceptic it may be noted that the mean clear sky solar radiative heating at the ocean
surface is threefold lower than at the top of the atmosphere due to solar absorption by
soot created by modern civilization. As a specific confirmation of the globalised adverse
effects we have the conclusions of a classic study by Mocarelli et al (Ref.8) that high
concentration of dioxin in serum(blood derived) samples of parents are linked to lower
sex ratio of their offspring. Of interest to India , largely an agricultural nation, is that
dioxin was released into the atmosphere in draconian amounts (32 kg) in an accident in
a herbicide manufacturing factory in Seveso, Italy in 1976. The effect on the sex ratio of
dioxin begins at a concentration of as low or lower than 20 nanograms per kg of body
weight! And as usual it is serendipity and the physiological mechanism of the role of
dioxin in lowering the sex ratio as in several other life threatening mechanisms is
unknown!
We must bring back biological security at the community level by recognising the
reasons of high mortality rate sex ratios and thus assuring to the individual family that
one or two child norm does not mean the loss of insurance for life and that the
community by law will take care of the needs of safety and well being of the individual
members of society. We must simultaneously and within a time frame of five years,
tackle the chronic problems like blind globalisation instead providing safe drinking
water and providing basic needs apart from this, to individuals through the community
as in the days of old when people lived on the subcontinent in harmony with the forests.
We must recognise that when we regenerate forests upto a level which assures survival
the bottom line of a healthy,wholesome and happy existence for all in ecological
harmony can be hoped for.In the meanwhile ignorant globalisation must be eschewed.
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.
The Western Powers and China knew that they can conduct atmospheric nuclear tests
with impunity because the random premeditated mass murders that are caused by these
tests worldwide are perfect murders. No one can connect the effect(the murder) with
the cause(the Strontium 90 dose due to these tests) in any individual case. Only bitter
persuations with Nikita Krushchev by Andrei Sakharov, the father of the USSR
hydrogen bomb and Nobellaureate for Peace in 1974 and who knew about the 'NONTHRESHOLD(
that is no safe low limit for the dose) biological effects' of ionising
radiation , did succeed in bringing a halt to the nuclear tests in the atmosphere by the
atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty initiated in August 1963 and brought into effect in
October 1963. In spite of this and similar efforts in the West by Pauling and Bertrand
Russel one could not however stop the deaths due to nuclear activities totalling 65
million for nuclear activities to 1989 as estimated by the European Committee on
Radiation Risk(see www.llrc.org for details). And Putin has learnt precious little from
this. Even though the 6000 MW of Kudankulam nuclear reactors he proposes to sell to
India , even during normal operations will cause the random premeditated perfect
murders of 12000 every year precisely because of the 'NON-THRESHOLD
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS' of the reactor effluents, and even though there is no net
energy available to society from nuclear reactors , even though this will exacerbate the
greenhouse effect, he is bent upon closing the deal with our gullible establishment. Good
luck for globalisation! There is nothing more frightful than action even though one
knows the dangers involved in it.
References:
1. Registrar General,India,New Delhi.1999.Compendium of India's Fertility and
Mortality Indicators 1971-1997 based on the sample registration system(SRS).
2. Statistical Outline of India.1998-99.Tata Services Ltd.,Department of Economics
and Statistics. Mumbai.p47.
3. Kingsley Davis. 1948. The Population of India and Pakistan. Princeton.
4. The Low Level Radiation Campaign:www.llrc.org:ECRR 2003 Recommendations of
the European Committee on Radiation Risk The Health Effects of Ionising Radiation
Exposure at Low Doses for Radiation Protection Purposes. Regulators' Edition in
www.euradcom.org
5. Sakharov A. 1992. Memoirs. Vintage.
6. Satheesh SK and Ramanathan V. 2000. Large Differences in Tropical Aerosol
Forcing at the top of the Atmosphere and Earth's Surface. Nature. Vol.405. 4th May.
p60-63.
7. Clapp R and Ozonoff D. 2000. Nature. 27th May. p1838.
8. P. Mocarelli et al. 2000. Paternal Concentrations of dioxin and sex ratio of offspring.
Nature. 27th May. p1858-1863.
9. Neuberger M et al. 2000. Dioxin Contamination of Feed and Food. Research
Letters. Nature. 27th May. p1883.