33.1 Air pollution:
It is contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by
any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural
characteristics of the atmosphere. Household combustion devices, motor
vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sources of air
pollution. Pollutants of major public health concern include particulate
matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and Sulphur dioxide. Outdoor
and indoor air pollution cause respiratory and other diseases and are important
sources of morbidity and mortality.
33.2 Air quality index:
It is a number that tells us which pollutant is present in
the air, in what amount, how sensitive it is for your health, etc. The Air
Quality Index is acquired by measuring emissions of eight major pollutants
present in the air: Particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), Ozone (O3), Carbon
Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Lead (Pb) and
Ammonia (NH3) emissions. Readings are noted every hour. Each country has their
air quality indexes based on its air quality standards.
The AQI increases because of an increase in the emission of
air pollutants; for example, during heavy traffic or forest fire, a high value
of AQI is observed. In addition, due to anticyclone or temperature inversion,
stagnant air leads to high concentrations of pollutants in the air. This
results in chemical reactions between air pollutants and hazy conditions, thus
increasing the AQI.
33.3 Winters & Indian capital city- New Delhi:
India is the most populous nation on the planet the world's
fifth largest economy but also its eighth most polluted country. In many parts
of India the onset of winter is not just signified by a chill in the air. It
comes with breathing difficulties and poor visibility forcing schools and
factories shut this is especially true for its capital city New Delhi, the
third most polluted city in the world after Lahore in Pakistan and Wuhan in
China. In India, children under the age of 18 are prohibited from smoking, yet
those in Delhi smoke 15 cigarettes a day. That's because breathing the air in
Delhi is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day the situation is never good
here but matters get worse around this time of the year when pollution begins
climbing to poisonous extremes it blankets streets in an opaque haze. Delhi's average
air quality hovers between very poor and severe. In some parts of the city it
worsens to hazardous with the air quality Crossing 650 or 700 at multiple spots.
A satisfactory level of pollution is between 0 and 100 & we're talking
about 700 here. Delhi's air quality is way past what is acceptable but this is
hardly the only part of India that is having trouble breathing. Out of 30 most
polluted cities in the world 22 are in India. The reasons for this may differ in
Northern India this is the crop burning season. It accounts for a large chunk
of the blame but in Mumbai India's coastal city the culprit is construction so
different reasons but the same result. The situation is grave and India shares this
crisis with many parts of the world like Chad, Iraq, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Air
pollution causes strokes heart diseases lung cancer, respiratory disease even
type 2diabetes. Every year about 7 million people die of air pollution. India
contributes to more than a million of these. More than 1million Indians are
dying year on year because of the air they breathe. In fact in 2019 air
pollution killed more Indians than any other risk factor. In what world is this
okay? It's the same story every year. Autumn comes and India's north swiftly turns
into a gas chamber welcoming along line of health problems and even deaths. It
hurts children and elderly. Alike the poor more than the rich, but it's a
problem for everyone. What does the government do about it? It declares a public health emergency. Schools
are shut, construction projects are halted, trees are sprayed with water, and
some farmers are given better crop disposal equipment. While politicians trade
bitter accusations over who is to blame. In fact that's an important question.
Who in fact is to blame and are we even asking this question to our leaders or
have we accepted this breath of death as fate.
How often do we demand clean air? Is it on the manifesto of any
political party? If yes what have they done about it? If no what have we done
about it? It's time we do something demand cleaner air because in the end it
may not be the pollution but our apathy that kills us.
33.4 How smog is affecting brand India?
At first let's
establish the link. A report from 2015, talks about then US President Barack
Obama's visit to India, the visit was in the month of January so peak smog
season in New Delhi. Now the headline reads “Mr. President, the world's worst
air is taking 6 hours of your life”. That's not all Obama's wife Michelle Obama
skipped most public events. Pollution was blamed again. Do you see the problem now?
Obama was the first US president to attend India's Republic Day Parade. It was
a key moment in India-US relations but what was the headline? The air quality,
the same. It's the same story with the Cricket World Cup. The tournament is
India's chance to shine. Our team is doing really well but look at the
headlines. “Choking smog shrouds Cricket World Cup”, “Bangladesh play Sri-Lanka
amid very unhealthy pollution in New Delhi”. Air pollution sparks alarm; dims
World Cup cheer in India and don't dismiss these as random headlines. Investors
read them, corporate leaders read them and when they do it impacts their
thinking. 50% of India's GDP comes from outdoor sectors like construction or farming
comparing that ratio to Europe, there's only 25% so if the air is bad these
workers will suffer, their productivity will drop and the result some sort of
impact on 50% of India's GDP. It's hard to say how much? One study mentioned
losses up to $95billion every year. That's around two and a half of the GDP the
World Bank. It also published a paper it said 4.5% of the GDP could beat risk
by 2030 and that's not just because of air pollution it's because of climate
change at large. It is quite simple air pollution affects the economy, it can
also scare investors. Looking at the situation in China, many studies have
linked China's air quality to Investments. One of them was quite comprehensive.
It looked at more than 2,000 firms in 230 Chinese cities and what did they find?
Higher pollution equals poor investments. Thus there is a margin of 7 to 8%. Take
any sector. It's the same story like tourism, one of the biggest attractions in
India is the Taj Mahal but now it's shrouded in smog. Not to mention the health
risks, imagine falling sick on your holiday. It's guaranteed to ruin your whole
plan and going forward this will be a major issue because India is increasingly
in the Global Spotlight just think back to September New Delhi hosted the G-20
leaders' Summit. What if this meeting was held in December? The headlines would
have been very different and governments need to understand this. One can give
all the tax breaks one want, all the subsidies and cheap labor but that alone
is not enough one must live somewhere to work there and right now India's
capital is the borderline, the air quality index touched 500 last week. The
ideal level one to fifty. We at 500, such readings have given the city a dark
nickname “A gas chamber”. That's what Delhi has become? So how do we solve this
problem? Well the first step is acknowledgement every government says pollution
is the by product of development, sort of like a necessary evil but data says
the opposite pollution is choking our citizens, it is affecting economic output,
it is driving away investors and it's dimming brand India our leaders must
admit that... first to tackle this problem.
— Team Yuva Aaveg
(Akhileshwar Maurya)
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