Pollution control bodies in India need to treat noise pollution on par with other kinds of pollution. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - Business Standard
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
By directing the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to prepare plans to curb noise pollution across the country, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has initiated combat against a critical pollutant that has till now received scant attention.
Impacts of Noise pollution
· Prolonged exposure to any sound louder than 80 decibels, even if it is music, can impair hearing, breathing and thinking processes besides affecting overall human health and productivity.
· Noise beyond 120 decibels can cause biochemical changes in human bodies, raising cholesterol and blood pressure with the attendant health risks.
· Huge noise levels affects not only human beings but also animals.
Initiatives taken by Government
· Legal provisions to prosecute the noisemakers already exist. Section 2 (a) of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, includes noise in the definition of pollutants.
· Noise pollution control rules, framed way back in 2000 under the amended and updated Environment Protection Act, 1996, went to the extent of specifying ambient standards for different places.
Criticisms
· These rules have remained only on paper. Though noise monitoring mechanisms were established in a few cities, these were hardly ever put to any gainful use by way of follow-up action.
· Lack of strategies like awareness, situation specific rules and regulations, enforcement of these mechanisms.
Measures to be taken by Government
· The manufacturers of public address systems and sound amplification equipment to provide inbuilt noise meters and data loggers in their products.
· This would help regulators , the pollution control bodies or the police — to establish violation and fix responsibility.
· Making prior permission obligatory for setting up public sound systems and bars placement of loudspeakers beyond 300 metres from the venues of religious, social or political events.
· Religious bodies, in particular, would need to be sensitised about the ill-effects of the loud sound to get them to change the noise-generating customs.
· The youth, who face the greatest risk of irretrievable hearing damage from personal music systems, also need to be targeted specifically for this purpose.
Sandeep 5 years
Kindly review thanks
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good answer.Try to include few points measures
taken by government and its criticisms. Keep Writing.
