New Delhi: Indian air pollution deteriorated in 2021, according to World Air Quality Report released by IQAIR, a Swiss company. This ended a three-year trend to improve air quality. The average air pollution, measured in pM2.5 pollutants is deadly and microscopic, which is 58.1 micrograms per cubic meter, which is more than 10 air quality guidelines (WHO) of the World Health Organization. There are no cities in India who meet WHO standards.
North Indian is worse. Delhi is the most polluted capital in the world for the fourth consecutive year, with pollution up nearly 15 percent during the previous year. The level of air pollution here is almost 20 times above the WHO safety limit, with PM2.5 noted at 96.4 micrograms per cubic meter for the average annual average. The safe limit is 5.
While Delhi air pollution occupies No. 4 Globally, the most polluted place in the world is Bhiwadi Rajasthan, followed by Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh on the eastern border of Delhi. Ten of the top 15 of the most polluted cities are in India and most around the national capital.
With 63, Indian cities dominated the list of the 100 most polluted places. More than half is in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The ‘life index’ of air quality developed by the University of Chicago shows that residents in Delhi and Lucknow, for example, can add about a decade with their lives if the level of air quality meets WHO standards.
The main source of air pollution includes vehicle emissions, coal power plants, industrial waste, biomass burning for cooking and construction sectors. In fact, in November last year, several large power plants around Delhi and many industries were closed for the first time because of severe air pollution levels. The economic costs of the crisis to India are estimated to be more than $ 150 billion per year. Health impacts are far worse with the estimated three deaths every minute related to air pollution other than heart disease and lungs and many other severe health effects.
Interestingly, government data for 2021 also showed that air quality in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai deteriorated. Recent notes in parliament showed that ‘poor’ to the air quality days ‘severe’ numbered 168 in Delhi last year, up from 139 or steep 21 percent jumped in one year; Kolkata has 83 days like vs 74 and Mumbai 39 vs 20 in the previous year.
However, when asked about the influence of Indian people in the previous edition of world air quality reports in 2020, the center had refused the ranking, said it was mainly based on satellites and other secondary data that was not validated by “truthing the right land.”
IQAIR said the data was based on “exclusive” in land sensors and almost half globally operated by government institutions.
The report makes a special mention of smoke from burning harvest after rice harvests, politically sensitive problems with parties are usually quiet about taking action against farmers. This smoke is responsible for 45 percent of pollution in Delhi, especially in rice farms near Delhi in the winter months, according to the report. Farmers do this because of the short window between the harvest and sow the next plant to get rid of the stump.
However, what has changed is that for the first time since 2014-15, when that reported Delhi is the most polluted city in the world, both Punjab and Delhi regulated by the same political party, the AAM AADMI Party (AAP). Punjab is a place where the burning of plants occurs and now the focus is what AP does to reduce air pollution this year and so on.
After AAP’s recent victory in Punjab, the party leader and Deputy Chairman of Delhi Minister Manish Sisodia told NDTV that farmers must be treated as assets and not responsibilities.
IQAIR report noted that air quality in China continued to increase in 2021. In fact, the capital Beijing continued the five-year trend of enhanced air quality, which this report said was driven by emissions control and reducing the activity of coal power plants and other high emissions industries.
