As you all understand that the whole world is under the threat of Novel Coronavirus, officially called COVID–19. To avoid the spread of this deadly virus, several countries like – India, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Norway, China, Slovenia, Indonesia, El Salvador, New Zealand, Poland, and Switzerland, etc. to stricter means that of protection down either the affected regions or the complete country to confirm social distancing.
India is the first country in the world that locked down the whole of the nation forcing the entire 1.3 billion population to remain confined to their homes during the first stage of the virus outbreak till now.
During the lockdown period, the entire population is facing several difficulties but as it is said “Every action has a same and opposite reaction” as a result several good reactions (for the human society) are being experienced. Some of those good reactions are described here as under.:-
- Pollution level of air has drastically improvised:The COVID-19 lockdown has led to cleaner air. Lockdown resulted in a big improvement in the air quality, mainly for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in major cities of India. As a result, as per the assessment of the Central Pollution Control Board of India, the air quality of Delhi-NCR, as well as all that of other metro cities of India, has improved drastically.
NEW DELHI, INDIA – MARCH 22: A deserted view of historic India Gate, during a one-day nationwide Janata (civil) curfew imposed as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 on March 22, 2020 in New Delhi, India. Death toll due to coronavirus in India reached seven on Sunday with three more fatalities as the country observed a “janta curfew” or public lockdown on the appeal of Prime Minister Narendara Modi. Besides placing under lockdown from March 31st till now . The 75 districts with confirmed coronavirus cases , the government also decided to shut down train, metro and inter-state services to curb the spread of the global pandemic in India.
In the capital, New Delhi, government data shows the average concentration of PM 2.5 plunged by 71% in the space of a week — falling from 91 micrograms per cubic meter on March 20, to 26 on March 27, after the lockdown began.
2.Finally a clear blue sky: Since the Industries, Vehicles, Aeroplanes, Ships, etc. have stopped running, the presence of smoke and carbon dioxide gases in the air has been drastically decreased. Due to this reason, the visibility range has increased. The sky is returning to its ancient glory with chirping birds and dazzling stars.
India’s Central Pollution Control Board says that there is a dramatic improvement in the air quality in 85 Indian cities of the country during this 21 days lockdown period.
- Pollution level in water is also drastically improved:During the lockdown period, the polluted water of Yamuna, Ganga and other rivers of India became free from different pollutants. Thanks to lockdown, our Holy rivers are finally clean and pollution-free.
- Atleast Animals are walking fearlessly on road:Since human activities stopped on roads, farms, industries, offices, schools, etc. wild animals started roaming even outside their normal territorial area. During the lockdown period, several animals can be seen roaming in the streets of cities and villages.
In India, three Sambar deers were spotted walking on a street of Uttarakhand.
An elephant was captured in Dehradun city of Uttarakhand State. Nilgai was found strolling in Noida city of Uttar Pradesh. Olive Ridley Turtles came ashore a beach in Odisha. Peacocks were seen dancing on the streets in Mumbai city of Maharashtra. At least lockdown allowed animals to walk carefree on roads without humans intervention.
- Wild birds are seen flying fearlessly:Since the noise pollution stopped birds started to fly fearlessly. Years before we could commonly see the birds like – Tailorbird, Sunbird, Asian Koel, Kingfisher including White-throated Kingfisher, sparrow, crow, Bulbul, Humming Bird, Crain bird, Parrot, Peacock, etc. near to our village areas. These species are disappeared for a long time and due to lockdown due to minimal noise pollution now they were spotted in different places of India. As noise pollution is minimal bird’s movement started even in urban areas.
At least, now is the best time to appreciate the natural world around us.
“Birds seem to be happy calling out to each other from long distances”. “Go to your backyard, balcony, terrace, look out your window”.
Due to COVID–19-induced lockdown across the whole of India, vehicular traffic has been declined to almost zero. Industries billowing black smoke into the atmosphere is closed. Construction sites that are usually buzzing with activity, spewing dust, and dry cement particles into the air are eerily vacant and due to this reason drastic improvements in air and water quality, visibility of sky, etc. have taken place. The whole world is worried about global warming caused by these activities in our daily life.
The lockdown has taught us a lesson to minimize our unnecessary activities as much as possible and also majorly contributed in restoring our nature.
