Waste water is produced in almost every home and industry, which somehow has been finding its way into our fresh water bodies, thus adding another concern to our long list of things that ail the planet. Our constant development has come at the cost of generation of large quantities of wastewater.
This certainly raises questions about what the country still needs to work on. We have been misusing or overusing water resources, and hence creating a lot of wastewater that is ultimately haunting our rivers and oceans.
According to ‘UN Fact Sheet on Water day 2017’, it was reported that over 80 per cent of wastewater flows back into the system without being treated or reused, on a global scale. This combined with 1.8 billion people using a source of drinking water that is highly contaminated, puts a large chunk of life on the planet at risk from a multitude of diseases. Around 842,000 deaths occur each year due to inability to access potable water, poor sanitation and hygiene.
With so much pollution in our rivers and other water bodies, the situation is set to deteriorate as the population expands within the country. In addition, rapid urbanisation and lack of proper waste water disposal and treatment will worsen the water crisis in the future.
Waste water is generated at all levels- at homes, at workplaces, and at industrial levels. This wastewater is also responsible at times for contamination of fresh water, thus increasingly adding to the woes of people. I
A lot of Indian cities lack proper sewerage system. In certain places like Moradabad, most of the household and industrial effluents are passed into the water, without any treatment. Certain stretches of Ganga, like one between Kanpur to Kolkata, are very polluted.
The reason behind this is that Ganga’s tributaries, Ramganga and Kali Ganga bring in a lot of wastewater and toxic effluents, damaging the aquatic life, and disrupting potable water supply. With a lack of proper channels of access to safe drinking water, people have to make do with this polluted water, leading to diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
Even though the government has now been focusing on the issue, a solution for a this vast and deeply rooted problem will not be possible without help from the citizens. Learning how to process wastewater can certainly take us a long way and help conserve water. Learning the 3R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle is thus important.
Learning about water conservation techniques and the heritage of water management systems is important in understanding what can be done to improve the situation. Waste water can be curbed at a personal level by some simple steps like reusing the water used to wash vegetable and fruits in washrooms or to wash cars etc; water that is used to wash hands can be used in flushes that otherwise use up a lot of water.
Regularly checking for leaks is also important to ensure no wastage of clean water. For industrial waste effluents, it should be mandatory to treat them especially in the case of poisonous heavy metals and thermal discharge so they are not longer a concern for the local aquatic population as well.
By ensuring active awareness and making simple steps, we can prevent a lot of water wastage and hence help keep the ecosystem healthy!
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[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.