Deputy chairperson of Bihar State Disaster Management Authority Anil Kumar Sinha addresses a seminar at Hindi Granth Academy in Patna on Friday. Environment degradation affects the sustainable development of a country was the unanimous opinion of experts at the UGC-sponsored national seminar christened “Environmental degradation: Issues and challenges” organised by Women’s Training College, Gulzarbagh, and the Patna University’s geography department. RBP Singh, the head of the geography department, said: “Across the world, the environment is being exploited in some way or the other.” Singh added: “Rapidly increasing population is one of the major reasons for environment degradation. The second reason is the euphoria for development.” Chief guest Sinha said disasters are one of the major reasons of environment degradation. LN Ram, the former vice-chancellor of the university, said: “Electronic waste is very harmful as it contains metals like platinum and lead among others. Most people have no idea about e-waste and its harmful effects.” Text by Shuchismita Chakraborty, picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh