[op-ed snap] Whether we will survive ought to be our foremost concern

CONTEXT

The lack of safe water and clean air will either make or break India.

Water

1. Statistics
   1. A report by NITI Aayog warned that India is facing its worst water crisis in history.
   2. Nearly 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress, 75% of households do not have drinking water on the premises, 84% of households do not have piped water access, and 70% of our water is contaminated.
   3. Nearly 200,000 people die every year due to inadequate access to safe water.
   4. 21 cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, will run out of groundwater by 2020. 
   5. India is currently ranked 120 among 122 countries in the water quality index.

Air pollution

Statistics

1. A report by the Centre for Science and Environment released last year, indicated that severe air pollution crisis in India caused lifespans to shrink by 2.6 years on average. 
2. Air pollution is now the third-highest cause of death among all health risks ranking just above smoking in India. 
3. As many as 14 of the 20 most polluted cities of the world are in India.
4. The World Health Organization calls toxic air the “new tobacco”

The need of the hour is a nationwide strategy on conservation, checks on development, salination projects across our long coastlines, and urgent steps to check pollution.