Old 1987 Maharashtra driving licence message about air and noise pollution; India faces great challenges in controlling air and noise pollution
I was going through some old document-stuff of mine and saw this message on the back of my 1987 Maharashtra (state of India) driving licence: "HELP TO KEEP ENVIRONMENT CLEAN BY CONTROLLING AIR AND NOISE POLLUTION THROUGH YOUR VEHICLE".
I found it interesting that even back in 1987, Maharashtra was trying to alert vehicle drivers about pollution through their vehicle. Of course, I don't think it mattered much. During my years in Bombay/Mumbai till early 2000s, I experienced more and more environmental air and noise pollution through vehicles. Nonetheless it is good to see that Maharashtra state govt. through their road & traffic regulatory offices were trying to alert drivers about this issue even in 1987 which is over 30 years back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharashtra_Pollution_Control_Board states that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board was established in 1970 and was mainly responsible for legislation like Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, besides education and regulation work in this area.
Note that I did not drive much in Maharashtra or India - the licence was more for driving while abroad on software assignment work, like in USA. The state licence enabled me to easily get an International driving permit issued in India which was valid in many countries.
Pics given below are of the Maharashtra driving licence cover - front & back, and a few of its inner pages giving date & other info. (for the sake of completeness of pic info.). If I recall correctly, the licence was issued by Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Andheri (West) (in Bombay/Mumbai) and the stamp at bottom of page 3 states Bombay (West).
[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]
India's air and noise pollution problems seem to be pretty severe without real progress being made on controlling it over the past decades. Even Puttaparthi town now has a lot of traffic on festival occasions like Christmas, with narrow roads having lots of noise and lots of vehicles with fair bit of vehicle exhaust fumes. Of course, it is nowhere close to what I have experienced in Bombay/Mumbai traffic in 90s and early 2000s. While travelling by auto from Kanjur Marg to SEEPZ (Andheri East) during rush hour - half an hour minimum, I used to tie a handkerchief on my face to cover my face nose downwards - face masks were not so much in vogue then in Bombay roads. Trucks (and buses) would ply on that route. One old truck going next to, and in front of the auto, with its exhaust pipe positioned close to the front or side of the auto, while traffic was moving slowly, was enough to get, what seemed to be, a gas chamber like experience!
Material development which satisfies the greatly higher material aspirations of current young generation of Indians (as compared to their parents' generation), but without big negative impact on environment, and so on quality of life (I mean getting great material development but at cost of lung disease does not seem so attractive), is a great challenge for India and its 1.37 billion people (as of today India population estimate, https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/india-population/). And I think India is just nowhere close to solving this great challenge.
I found it interesting that even back in 1987, Maharashtra was trying to alert vehicle drivers about pollution through their vehicle. Of course, I don't think it mattered much. During my years in Bombay/Mumbai till early 2000s, I experienced more and more environmental air and noise pollution through vehicles. Nonetheless it is good to see that Maharashtra state govt. through their road & traffic regulatory offices were trying to alert drivers about this issue even in 1987 which is over 30 years back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharashtra_Pollution_Control_Board states that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board was established in 1970 and was mainly responsible for legislation like Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, besides education and regulation work in this area.
Note that I did not drive much in Maharashtra or India - the licence was more for driving while abroad on software assignment work, like in USA. The state licence enabled me to easily get an International driving permit issued in India which was valid in many countries.
Pics given below are of the Maharashtra driving licence cover - front & back, and a few of its inner pages giving date & other info. (for the sake of completeness of pic info.). If I recall correctly, the licence was issued by Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Andheri (West) (in Bombay/Mumbai) and the stamp at bottom of page 3 states Bombay (West).
[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]
India's air and noise pollution problems seem to be pretty severe without real progress being made on controlling it over the past decades. Even Puttaparthi town now has a lot of traffic on festival occasions like Christmas, with narrow roads having lots of noise and lots of vehicles with fair bit of vehicle exhaust fumes. Of course, it is nowhere close to what I have experienced in Bombay/Mumbai traffic in 90s and early 2000s. While travelling by auto from Kanjur Marg to SEEPZ (Andheri East) during rush hour - half an hour minimum, I used to tie a handkerchief on my face to cover my face nose downwards - face masks were not so much in vogue then in Bombay roads. Trucks (and buses) would ply on that route. One old truck going next to, and in front of the auto, with its exhaust pipe positioned close to the front or side of the auto, while traffic was moving slowly, was enough to get, what seemed to be, a gas chamber like experience!
Material development which satisfies the greatly higher material aspirations of current young generation of Indians (as compared to their parents' generation), but without big negative impact on environment, and so on quality of life (I mean getting great material development but at cost of lung disease does not seem so attractive), is a great challenge for India and its 1.37 billion people (as of today India population estimate, https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/india-population/). And I think India is just nowhere close to solving this great challenge.
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