Where does India stand in Acid Rain & SO2 Emissions?
India produces and consumes one fifth of coal as compared to China . Hence, it produces, correspondingly a fifth less of SO2 emissions, assuming that Sulfur contents of the coal in China and India is same. It is not. Rather it is much less. India s coal using power plants spew out only 2.5 million tons of SO2 a year. The latter is one tenth of China s SO2 emission, although consumption of coal is one fifth. In addition Indian lakes and vegetation feel the impact of acid rain far less because the soil conditions there are a bit alkaline. The latter tend to neutralize the acid rain. Also Monsoon every year does a greater rejuvenation job than acid rain does in damaging the environment. The cyclic nature of pollution and rejuvenation spares India of long-range problem. Never the less, acid rain as a monster lurking in the shadows cannot be ignored. With emphasis shifting in India from coal and oil to nuclear energy, this tends to further minimize the acid rain problem there. Monsoon visit
