Comment by kamaal | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kamaal | Hacker News Reader

Personal anecdote.

I've lived all my life in India. Though have moved around for jobs. Most of my life I have lived in Bangalore. I worked for around 3 years in the US.

While I was in the US, my Asthma kind of magically vanished. In fact I don't even remembering having any respiratory issues of any kind, until in the last 4 months when I caught an infection. When the doctor asked I had show him my unused, now expired Asthma medication. So the doctor suggested my Asthma remission could be due to lack of pollution in the US. In fact despite drinking water while traveling at various places in the US I rarely caught a infection of any kind. Not even a Stomach upset. The 3 years that I lived in US were my healthiest in all life. I didn't take a single pill for anything. In fact that final infection I had didn't warrant medication too.

The moment I came back to Bangalore, my Asthma returned, like on the very third day. Eating out in Bangalore, the throat infections and food poisoning returned. And Bangalore is considered a relatively well off place compared to many cities. But still you see streets littered with garbage, stagnant water. Malaria, Dengue and Chickungunya break outs every few months are very common. Even until recently Dengue was almost like a death sentence in Bangalore.

Every few months there is a lake in around vicinity of South Bangalore(called Bellandur lake) which catches fire. Apart from the industrial waste, a lot of apartments release sewage in the lake, eventually leading to decay, and then Methane release and then fire.

Though I don't have much Idea about North India, from news I learn every day that things are way worse. A couple of months back New Delhi skies blocked out sun for several weeks at a stretch due to Paddy burning.

India needs very urgent laws on the lines of Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act in US. Too many people are falling ill due to pollution and illness. Apart from the fact that illness is a bad thing, its also a huge drain on economy in terms of health care cost and work place productivity.

I've developed breathing and stomach problems living in Delhi the last 10 years. My wife now has asthma. I've also developed severe allergies.

Things have become particularly bad in the last 5 years. Come winters, the sky isn't visible in Delhi for weeks. At the height of the crop-burning season (why they do it, I have no idea), there was literally smoke inside my house.

India's biggest cities are practically unlivable. Public transport is abysmal, traffic is terrible, and the pollution keeps getting worse.

Nearly all the smart people I know who can afford to emigrate have already emigrated, or plan to.

India needs to control its pollution and traffic problems otherwise there will be yet another wave of brain drain and the beneficiaries will be countries like Canada and Australia

>>My wife now has asthma.

Well the bad news, Asthma like diseases are like the tip of the Ice Berg. The next set of life style diseases like Diabetes and Thyroid Malfunction are going to be worse. There is already a growing trend of Thyroid Malfunction among women in Bangalore.

>>At the height of the crop-burning season (why they do it, I have no idea),

The crop waste after they harvest is expensive to dispose off, and decays slow. All options getting rid of them are expensive or too slow. Plus they don't compost because fertilizers are cheap, apparently.

>>India's biggest cities are practically unlivable. Public transport is abysmal, traffic is terrible, and the pollution keeps getting worse.

I can assure you there is no respite. We are only in the beginning of what are huge urbanization trends. Talking to my relatives who stay around districts around Bangalore, I don't know a single young nephew/niece/cousin who doesn't want to come to Bangalore. Because Bangalore is where good tuition classes, jobs and other stuff is.

>>India needs to control its pollution and traffic problems otherwise there will be yet another wave of brain drain and the beneficiaries will be countries like Canada and Australia

More bad news here. Many countries are cracking down on immigration. Thanks to the blatant fraud and abuse our people do here. During a recent H1-B thread on HN someone mentioned India alone files 2.5 times more H1-B applications than all other countries combined and the phenomenon of 'Principal Engineers' who can't code a shell script.

With the growth of right wing politics and nationalists trends in the west, immigration is no longer an easy deal.

I remember Bangalore in the 70's: mild temperatures, light drizzle, uncrowded roads (I one could walk across MG Road with a kid on either side), laid back, and generally a comfortable place. What will the next 20 years bring?

Yup, Growing up in Bangalore in the 90's, I remember it was nothing like this. In fact I remember summers being very enjoyable. Kite flying, playing with tops, going out with friends, playing Gilli-danda in the afternoons, and watching cricket in nights.

In fact my dad(who was a bus/truck driver), tells me he had far better quality of life than me in the pre-1980s. Air was pure, and the city was empty, and it was safe in the cities. It was almost like there was enough space and resources for everybody. You could rent easily. Working hours were same, but people got home quickly(not much traffic) and spent time with families.

And more importantly there was a calm, relaxed pace to life.

These days we have money and career, but much is lost in terms of quality of life.

India 1975: 621 million people

India 2018: 1.358 billion people

India 2038: 1.615 billion people

https://www.populationpyramid.net/india/2038/

India urgently needs population control, perhaps schemes funded partly by the West to issue vasectomies to young, poor men in exchange for $200.

India has a huge instinctive reaction against population control strategies, especially ones funded by the West. They tried your idea in the 1970s and it lead to lots of forced sterilizations by the government/police. See https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30040790 for a small view of the problem.

Population control organised by humans (in exchange for 200 bucks) is going to be much more pleasant than population control organised by mother nature.

I didn't want to saying before but it sounds horrifying and repulsive to me, and it has hints of eugenics too. Thanks for the idea but it's pretty fucked up. It will lead to infringing on people's repoductive right's including coercing people in sterilization and it will give the government way too much power.

It's sad but cost of human life in India is quite low. I Don't think that their government will look after these 'casualties'.

> cost of human life in India is quite low

What do you mean by this?

Long term costs of things, health care implication of issues like Pollution, and garbage littering(hygiene) are neglected. In fact this carelessness can be seen in other places like nutrition too.

Also general lack of respect for the law. Things like everyday corruption. And then lack of basic public hygiene, come to mind.

India had to do a lot of work to eradicate polio. It took quite literally decades.The next set of diseases which will be more like Diabetes, Thyroid related diseases, Malnutrition etc will be far harder to deal with.

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