New Delhi’s air pollution leaves residents gasping for breath

[beijingwalker]

New Delhi’s air pollution leaves residents gasping for breath​

Air quality is generally poor in New Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital, but it is often made worse by celebrations of the Hindu festival Diwali.

Nov. 14, 2022, 5:30 PM CST

By Gafira Qadir

https://twitter.com/x/status/1592919484758904832

NEW DELHI — As Diwali fireworks pierced the air and lit up the skies of India’s capital region last month, 4-year-old Abhinandan was struggling to breathe.

Air quality is generally poor in New Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital, but it is often made worse by the annual celebrations of Diwali, one of India’s most important Hindu festivals. As people burst more and more firecrackers, Abhinandan began vomiting and coughing up mucus.

“His health started to get worse after the October rains as farmers turned to burning stubble, but it went out of control on Diwali night,” his father, journalist Abhishek Anand, said.
Anand said his son’s respiratory issues, which he developed when he was a year old, resurfaced this year after vanishing during the coronavirus pandemic, when lockdowns curbed India’s economic activity and the resulting pollution.

After the fireworks subsided, the air only got worse. By the first week of November, New Delhi’s air quality index was 472, high enough to affect healthy people while having a serious impact on those with existing conditions.

In some areas of the city, the reading exceeded 800, according to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, a regulatory body. New Delhi’s 20 million residents weren’t breathing air so much as smoke.

Garima Sudhan, a student at Delhi University, woke up with a sore throat and anxiety.

“It was difficult to breathe after Diwali, even indoors,” she said. “I believe with such a high level of pollution in the city, it is becoming hard to stay mentally calm. I’m finding it hard to sleep and the restlessness has increased.”

This was the first time in three years Sudhan, who is from the northern region of Jammu and Kashmir, had spent Diwali in the capital.

“I usually try to go home because of the fear of pollution in the city post-Diwali,” she said. “But it gets worse every passing year.”

Officials had banned fireworks in the city ahead of the holiday, even threatening up to six months in jail for their unauthorized use, but sales in the surrounding region thrived in anticipation of the first Diwali celebrations without Covid restrictions.

“The government does nothing about it,” Sudhan said. “They let the city choke.”

Gopal Rai, Delhi’s environment minister, did not respond to an emailed request for a comment.

New Delhi’s air pollution leaves residents gasping for breath

Air quality is generally poor in New Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital, but it is often made worse by celebrations of the Hindu festival Diwali.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[beijingwalker]

Dire Delhi Pollution Underscores City’s Political Dysfunction​

Published:November 17, 2022

The Takeaway​

Air pollution in Delhi’s National Capital Region (NCR) has once again drawn the international community’s attention, with Air Quality Index (AQI) levels dropping to “hazardous” levels and over 30 million NCR residents breathing in toxic air. In response, the government has imposed various restrictions to protect its citizens. What has also emerged is the extreme politicization of air pollution in the area, at the cost of public health and economic activities, and a visible lack of improvement in government strategies despite lofty promises.

In Brief​

On November 3, almost all air quality monitoring stations in the Delhi NCR indicated “severe” to “hazardous” air quality, with some readings well above 450 AQI (any AQI above 300 is considered harmful for healthy bodies). A series of reactive administrative actions followed, including school closures, a ban on construction activities, and restrictions on the movement of non-essential vehicles. Sub-regional governments in Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana politicized the issue of controlled stubble burning, one of the most visible causes of the poor air quality.

Implications​

1. The toxic politics of air pollution: As shown in Figure 1, Delhi’s air quality has consistently remained “very unhealthy” (defined as fine particulate matter, or PM2.5=201-300) from October to December, but it reaches hazardous levels yearly from mid-October to mid-November.

A 2021 study by a Delhi-based think tank—the Council on Energy, Environment and Water— identified both perennial and seasonal sources as the causes of this highly polluted air. Open fires, controlled stubble burning, and household heating during the winter are all seasonal sources of pollution. Factors such as transportation and industry are perennial sources. The peak stubble burning period (shown in Figure 2) in north India coincides with weather patterns such as drops in wind speed and increased festivities involving firecrackers, which compound existing pollution issues in the Delhi NCR. As a result, stubble burning has become a deeply politicized issue between regional and central governments.

2. The state’s reactive response: In 2017, following directions from the Supreme Court of India, India’s Ministry of Environment devised a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), involving coordination between multiple local administrative bodies in Delhi NCR, to take graded measures based on air quality. The plan was revised in 2022 and involves monitoring air quality levels and stepping up restrictions based on the actual and projected AQI measures. Medium- and long-term measures proposed include phasing out diesel vehicles, forcing small industrial units to comply with environmental standards, and persuading farmers to use machines to get rid of stubble.

What's Next​

1. Despite GRAP’s more forecast-based, progressive approach to tackling Delhi’s air pollution, it remains to be seen if more proactive strategies to curb pollution in the Delhi NCR will be adopted. With a warming climate and changing weather patterns, governments must consider better airshed management, using forecast-based alert systems to help the public and administration better prepare for combatting the now perpetual issue of air pollution. Governments also need to use source-contribution modelling and forecasts to implement better pollution control mechanisms. Furthermore, governments should also provide improved machinery subsidies and alternatives to crop burning during months when weather patterns are likely to worsen.

2. Delhi’s lack of sufficient green spaces to combat the increasing pollution levels and the yearly cycle of smog that chokes the NCR has led to calls to consider moving the capital to another city in India to relieve environmental stress.

3. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the capital’s local administrative body that is almost as powerful as the Delhi government, will likely be reshuffled following an election on December 4. While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been in power in Delhi since 2015, it has not been able to outmanoeuvre the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the MCD polls. One of the main issues this election season is solid waste management, as 40 per cent of waste is burned due to lack of space, contributing to six to eight per cent of Delhi’s pollution.

Dire Delhi Pollution Underscores City’s Political Dysfunction

The Takeaway Air pollution in Delhi’s National Capital Region (NCR) has once again drawn the international community’s attention, with Air Quality Index

www.asiapacific.ca

 

[tower9]

India is taking over where China left off I guess

 

[beijingwalker]

Beautiful all talking, doing nothing democracy.

 

[Beast]

Beautiful all talking, doing nothing democracy.

The slayer will tell u the typical BS of that is the price to pay for freedom and democracy at the expense of your personal health and life.

The problem is , this are shove down towards ordinary people without even giving them a choice.

All the anti China camp can do, is to spread lies and delusion to cover their own deficient and incompetent , to give them a false sense of superiority.

 

[vsblogger7]

There are several ways in which the celebration of Diwali can contribute to increased pollution levels in Delhi and other cities. One of the main sources of pollution during Diwali is the use of fireworks, which release a variety of harmful substances into the air, including particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. The burning of wood and other fuels for cooking and warmth can also contribute to air pollution, as can the increased use of vehicles and the burning of garbage and other waste materials.

It is important for individuals and communities to be aware of the impact of their actions on air quality and to take steps to reduce pollution whenever possible. This might include using fewer fireworks or choosing less polluting varieties, using cleaner fuels for cooking and heating, and properly disposing of waste to reduce the need for open burning. Governments and local authorities can also play a role in reducing pollution by implementing regulations and incentives that encourage the use of cleaner technologies and practices.

Delhi Air Pollution Case Study (2022) Essay & Statistics - Kitchenarena

Does this photograph need any introduction? Yes. It is India Gate, an iconic monument in Delhi. See how beautiful it looks. Here is a contrasting image of the same monument taken recently. The monument is the same. But, it is not visible clearly because of air pollution. Delhi has been notorious...

www.kitchenarena.in