Coastal and estuarine ecosystems are heavily influenced by the human species through pollution and habitat loss. Coastal pollution and its impacts have resulted in a number of environmental issues including the enrichment of enclosed waters with organic matter, pollution by chemicals such as oil, and sedimentation due to land-based activities.
India is blessed with a long coastline of about 7500 kilometers with over 1200 islands in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of India, endowed with a number of estuaries, mangroves, coral lagoons, and mudflats.
However, increasing levels of organic and inorganic pollution in the coastal water over the years is posing a grave danger to the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and microbial concentration levels which are the two most important indicators of the health of coastal waters.
Coastal Pollution can be attributed to untreated waste from domestic and industrial by bacteria leading to usage of enormous oxygen from the seawater ultimately reducing the dissolved oxygen levels in the sea and affecting the aquatic organism.
One should know that the recommended level of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) for ecologically sensitive coastal areas and beach tourism is 5 milligram per liter or above.
The ministry of Earth Sciences reported in December last year that DO levels observed to be very low at a few locations where raw sewage was being directly released into the sea adversely impacting mortality of larvae and juveniles who are quite sensitive to oxygen levels and also contributing to coastal pollution
Some of the major sources of coastal pollution in coastal areas identified by the ministry in include
- Municipal sewage
- Industrial effluent
- Aquaculture effluent
- Fertilizer used in agriculture
- Ports and Harbours
- Shipbuilding and ship breaking yard
- Fish processing industries/salt pans
- Tourists resorts/beaches
- Solid waste dumping
There are 13 states and union territories along the coastline of India which generates about 33215 MLD of sewage in total whereas sewage treatment capacity has been developed for only 12673 MLD!
Therefore, there is a huge gap of about 20542 MLD of sewage treatment capacity in the coastal areas. Thus, coastal pollution is on the rise with a huge gap in treatment.
A major portion of untreated sewage enters coastal waters through rivers, creeks, and rivulets that all are all interconnected.
In 2015, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) identified 302 polluted river stretches in the country. CPCB along with various state pollution boards have been monitoring river water quality since 1977-78.
Under National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP), 445 rivers are being monitored at 1275 locations and organic pollution has been identified as the predominant cause of water pollution that eventually increases the BOD levels.
Summary of Polluted river stretches in coastal areas (source: MoEF & CC)
| State | Cities/Towns along polluted river stretches | Number of polluted river stretches |
| Maharashtra | 161 | 49 |
| West Bengal | 47 | 17 |
| Gujarat | 38 | 20 |
| Karnataka | 24 | 15 |
| Tamil Nadu | 23 | 7 |
| Kerala | 22 | 13 |
| Odisha | 20 | 7 |
| Goa | 9 | 8 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 8 | 6 |
| Daman and Diu | 2 | 1 |
| Total | 354 | 148 |
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.