Talk about pollution on a global chart and India figures among the top 10 polluting countries. At number 7, India has gone a long way in creating a large global footprint with increased deforestation, mismanagement of water resources and extensive use of chemicals that degrade the quality of the soil. Blame growth for it or blame the extensive industrialization… the moot point is that India sees itself standing with the worst polluters in the world that include US and China. Brazil tops this list with another South American country, Peru also featured here. The parameters used to measure the pollution levels are based on environmental factors alone.

The result of increasing pollution and the need for expanding the settlement zones, have all resulted in extensive clearing of forest land. What this translates to is less greener air. Compounded with large carbon emissions, it is only obvious that the nation pollutes much more when compared to other countries.

This report comes from a study that was published in PLoS ONE Wednesday, a leading science journal. Several smaller nations that live below the poverty line but sport a good amount of forest cover have been ranked better on this pollution index.

What stands as judgement call is should the governing agencies in these polluting nations take effective concrete steps in reducing pollution leading to the economy’s stagnation and consequent threat to the government in power or continue to drive growth and leave the decision making to a later generation in trouble?