India’s pandemic generation: 375 million children will suffer poor health, educational losses, says Centre for Science and Environment study

-The Hindu

The pandemic also has its hidden victims — over 500 million children forced out of school globally and India accounted for more than half of them.

The country is all set to usher in a ‘pandemic generation’, with 375 million children (from newborns to 14-year-olds) likely to suffer long-lasting impacts, ranging from being underweight, stunting and increased child mortality, to losses in education and work productivity, according to the State of Environment Report, 2021, by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released on Thursday.

The pandemic also has its hidden victims — over 500 million children forced out of school globally and India accounted for more than half of them.

“Covid-19 has made the world’s poor poorer,” Sunita Narain, Director General, CSE, said in a statement. “115 million additional people might get pushed into extreme poverty by the pandemic – and most of them live in South Asia.”

India ranked 117 among 192 nations in terms of sustainable development and was now behind all South Asian nations except Pakistan.

India’s air, water and land have become more polluted between 2009 and 2018. Of 88 major industrial clusters in the country, according to the Central Pollution Control Board, 35 showed overall environmental degradation, 33 pointed to worsening air quality, 45 had more polluted water and in 17, land pollution became worse. Tarapur in Maharashtra emerged as the most polluted cluster.

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