there was an interesting press release from the central pollution control board (cpcb) of india. before we go into the release a couple of lines about cpcb will be a useful.

operating under ministry of environment and forests, cpcb is the central body in charge of various state pollution control bodies of india. cpcb is like a watchdog much like the environment protection agency (epa) of united states.

cpcb is responsible for standards, safeguards, monitoring, regulation, penalties and other supervisory roles when it comes to pollution (vehicular, industrial, human wastes, etc) for our air, rivers, coastal areas and many other things.

and finally about cpcb, the less said the better. with virtually no power, compromised by politicians and bureaucrats, rendered toothless through technological backwardness, thrashed in name of development, cpcb can hardly stand up. you cannot ask a cancer patient to run a 100 meter dash right? especially when that 100 meter dash is littered with carcasses called development ?

now the press release says that delhi pollution level is highest amongst all india's cities and it quotes bombay at much lower figure.

what a surprise. does not the cpcb know that virtually all of india's cities are unbreathable due to bad environmental regulation and monitoring of air, does not cpcb know that india's auto companies are the first to protest any kind of regulation and control of emission norms, does not the cpcb know that all of india's urban rivers are dead with sewage and industrial pollution. the list is endless....

it also says that india is one of the most polluted country with 101 rank amongst 146 countries. well it should be more like 145 rather than 101, a gift of our 'development' strategy (tragedy).

it also says government has taken several steps in auto fuel policy, euro norm, standards, etc. makes fine reading and can help in scoring brownie points in government conferences, but reality in ground level as blogged in this blog is very different and tragic as environment rules are willfully violated and abused even by policy makers and mega companies and rarely monitored and enforced by wounded organizations like pcb and moef.