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• Using this technique, by the year 2002, more than 40 kms of road in Bengaluru has already
been laid.
6. Soil pollution is any undesirable change in soil profile affecting its productivity.
(i) Green revolution led to manifold increase in crop production by the use of inorganic
fertilisers and pesticides.
(ii) Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc., are being increasingly used afterwards which
resulted in so’l pollution.
(iii) Causes of Soil Pollution
(a) Chemical seepage from industries.
(b) Excessive use of inorganic fertilisers, pesticides, etc.
(iv) Harmful Effects of Soil Pollution
(a) Non-target organisms are killed in the soil.
(b) Soil becomes unfertile.
(c) Pesticides can result in biomagnification.
(vi) Control Methods
(a) Strict ways should be adopted by the industries and other sources for waste disposal.
(b) Use of organic farming It is a cyclical, zero-waste method, where waste products from
one process are cycled in as nutrients for other processes, allowing maximum utilisation of
resources and increasing the efficiency of production.
(ini) A Case Study— Organic Fanning
(a) Ramesh Chandra Dagar, a farmer in Sonipat (Haryana) included bee-keeping, dairy
management, water harvesting, composting and agriculture in a chain of processes.
(b) This chain supports each other and allow an extremely economical and sustainable
venture.
(c) Chemical fertilisers are not required as cattle excreta is used as manure.
(d) Crop waste is used for making compost, which is used as natural fertiliser or to generate
natural gas, which is used for satisfying energy needs of farm.
(e) To spread information and help the practice of integrated organic farming. Dagar has
created the Haryana Kisan Welfare club, with current membership of
5000 farmers.
7. Radioactive wastes include nuclear waste, which is given off as radiation.
(i) Nuclear energy was initially considered as a non-polluting way for generating electricity
initially.
(ii) Later, two serious inherent problems were realised. The first is accidental leakages as
occurred in the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, which proved that radioactive wastes are
most potent pollutants. The second is safe disposal of radioactive wastes.
(iii) Harmful Effects
(a) Radiations causes mutation at a very high rate.
(b) At high doses, nuclear radiations are lethal.
(c) At low doses, these cause disorders and diseases like cancer.
(iv) Disposal method of radioactive wastes involve pretreatment and storage in shielded
containers and then burying at about 500m deep below the earth’s surface. However, this
method of disposal is getting opposition from public.