Nationalism will improve air quality

The implication is that Hinduism has made Delhi’s air, which was already lethal, poisonous. The suggestion has naturally disgusted the patriots who cannot endure the defamation of Diwali and fireworks. Why isn’t anybody talking about the other pollutants — the huge amounts of road dust in the National Capital Region, for instance, that surely comes from the Islamic deserts of West Asia, and the industries of modern capitalism, which is probably a Christian idea in the first place?

Meanwhile, serious medical advice in the region sounds like lowbrow satire. People are advised to stop exercising because intense aerobic activity, especially in the outdoors, would make them inhale too much poison into the lungs. In fact, people are advised to stay at home and not engage with the world outside. If you must go to work at all it would be prudent to avoid public transport and instead be ensconced in an air-conditioned car that would further gas the rest. Children are advised not to be children because they generally breathe twice as fast as adults, a foolish thing to do in the circumstance.

All major Indian cities have poor air quality, and most Indians breathe such air. Across north India the condition worsens in the winter. Even so, it is not a major political issue. The poor somehow have other priorities than air. In fact, electoral politics is under pressure to preserve some of the air pollutants and to condemn any smart political move, like inconveniencing car owners, as a silly idea. So it may appear, at first glance, that we are doomed to breathe such air just as we are doomed to suffer the many indignities of the nation.

But there is a reason why India might surprise itself and clean its air. And the reason is the rising middle class nationalism, which is inherently an elite asset that has the capacity to tame the sway of electoral politics.

Every generation reinvents nationalism and the emotion is mostly dangerous, but it is highly useful to some specific fields, like sexy civic infrastructure and space research. The reason why air quality would be such a beneficiary of nationalism lies in the under-appreciated origins of the new Indian nationalism: At least two generations from influential sections of the population realising that India, and not the West, is home. The reason why they feel this way is a complex mixture of economics, nature of job markets, the comfort of the classist, feudal Indian culture and the hysteria of parenthood. These are powerful forces that have ensured that Indians have chosen to live in the gas chambers of north India than in, say, paradisiacal Canada.

In contrast to the previous generations of the elite, whose mission was escaping India, the present upper middle class has high stakes in surviving India. It is inevitable that they would influence the government and the society to clean the air. It is hard to miss the fact that they have already set the process in motion. The high media interest, for example, in air quality is very recent and an unprecedented development. Such awareness is possible because there is a high interest in the issue among the consumers of the media.

Nationalism always manages to find very sacred reasons to realise its material goals. Usually it can convert spurious reasons into sacred, but it has no need for that talent to create alarm over air pollution. Air, everybody agrees, is sacred.

Already, the influential classes have framed air quality as a central part of India’s economic well-being, hence a valid short term political goal. There is no such thing, perhaps, as a long term political goal.

There is another powerful force at play that points to why we must be hopeful that nationalism would clean the air. Across the world, and across the ages, every avatar of nationalism has begun with pride, which is potentially dangerous, but it has then usually evolved into shame, which is very useful. India’s neo-nationalism is searching for respectable shames and urban air quality is a worthy disgrace. We must not underestimate what nationalism can achieve when it is inspired by shame instead of pride.

In Indian society there are not many causes that can bring all types of economic and cultural elites together. For instance, there can never be a serious movement in India to protect heritage monuments because the ones that have survived are mostly, if not all, the taunts of British and Islamic colonisers. Also, while Indian nationalism would greatly alter civic infrastructure in the future, it would not improve aspects like road discipline because informality is so fundamental to Indian society that even the elite is not very convinced about the value of absolute order. In any case, all over the world order is collapsing. So, improving air quality can become a primary non-ideological cause of nationalism. Considerable intellectual and economic resources would be poured into the cause in the coming years.

In the past decade, especially in the past five years, the urban Indian middle classes have transformed. The conversations across Indian cities have changed, and are now identical to what was once Delhi’s unique dinner chatter. The English-speaking elites have become so politically aware that it is hard to remember the time, not long ago, when most of them did not know the name of their chief minister. Such changes were the consequences of emerging nationalism that, at the time, did not have a definite name. The sweeping sentiment of elite nationalism was not merely about Narendra Modi and beef and Olympic honours. It was also about making India a better place. It is in that family of thought that air quality figures. When nationalism is driven by shame, the prospects are often good.

Source: Hindustan Times, 2-11-2016

Air pollution behind 1 in 10 under-5 deaths'

New Delhi: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





A report by the United Nations Children's agency , Unicef, released on Monday has confirmed the worst fears of people living in polluted areas -that bad air is contributing to death of many children even before they celebrate their fifth birthday.Outdoor and indoor pollution, the agency noted, are directly linked to respiratory diseases that account for almost one in 10 under-five deaths, making air pollution one of the leading dangers to children's health. “Children are more susceptible than adults to air pollution as their lungs, brains and immune systems are still developing and their respiratory tracks are more permeable. Young children also breathe faster than adults, and take in more air relative to their body weight,“ Unicef stated.
According to the UN agency, which used satellite imagery to assess the impact of toxic air on children, around two billion children live in areas where outdoor air pollution, caused by factors such as vehicle emissions, heavy use of fossil fuels, dust and burning of waste, exceeds minimum air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organisation.
South Asia has the largest number of children living in these areas, at 620 million, with Africa following at 520 million children. The East Asia and Pacific region has 450 million children living in areas that exceed guideline limits. The findings come a week ahead of the COP 22 in Morocco, where Unicef is calling on world leaders to take urgent action to cut air pollution.
“Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the de aths of around 600,000 children under five every year ­ and it threatens the lives and futures of millions more every day ,“ said Unicef executive director Anthony Lake. In Delhi, experts fear, the health impact of air pollution could be higher due to heavy density of particulate matter. The Capital has been held as one of the world's most polluted cities by global bodies, including WHO.

Source: Times of India, 1-11-2016

India accounts for 75% of air pollution casualties in SE Asia'

Sushmi Dey





Nine out of 10 people in the world are breathing poor quality air, a new report by the World Health Organisation said calling on countries to take action against air pollution which is causing over six million deaths a year globally .With the use of new interactive maps, the UN agency found 92% of the world's population living in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits.India accounts for 75% of the 8 lakh air-pollution related deaths annually in the South East Asia Region, whereas 90% of the world's casualties from poor air quality are in low-and middle-income countries, the maps show identifying specific areas where pollution levels are extremely high.
“Fast action to tackle air pollution can't come soon enough,“ said Maria Neira, the head of the WHO's department of public health and environment. Asking countries to strengthen measures to control air pollution, Neira said, “Solutions exist with sustainable transport in cities, solid waste management, access to clean household fuels and cook-stoves, as well as renewable energies and industrial emissions reductions.“
The UN agency's report said 94% of the pollution-related deaths in lowand middle-income countries are due to non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases, stroke, chronic obstructi ve pulmonary disease, lung cancer. Air pollution also increases the risks for acute respiratory infections.
Over 6 lakh people die in In dia every year of ailments caused from air pollution such as acute lower respiratory infection, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, ischemic heart disease and lung cancer.
The report represents the most detailed outdoor (or ambient) air pollution-related health data, by country , ever reported by WHO. The model is based on data derived from satellite measurements, air transport models and ground station monitors for more than 3000 locations, both rural and urban. It was developed by WHO in collaboration with the University of Bath in UK.
According to the report, the problem of air pollution is most acute in cities, but air in rural areas is worse than many think and poorer countries have much dirtier air than the developed world, it said.

Source: Times of India, 28-09-2016

True costs of air pollution

Air

pollution takes years off people’s lives. It causes substantial pain and suffering, among adults and children alike. And it damages food production, at a time when we need to feed more people than ever. This is not just an economic issue; it is a moral one.

Air pollution can be produced both outdoors and indoors. For the poorest families, indoor smog from coal- or dung-fired cooking stoves is typically the more serious problem. As economies develop and start to electrify, motorize and urbanize, outdoor air pollution becomes the bigger issue.

Cleaner technologies are available, with the potential to improve air quality considerably. But policymakers tend to focus myopically on the costs of action, rather than the costs of inaction.

A new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, The Economic Consequences of Outdoor Air Pollution, estimates that outdoor air pollution will cause 6-9 million premature deaths annually by 2060, compared to three million in 2010. That is equivalent to a person dying every 4-5 seconds. Cumulatively, more than 200 million people will die prematurely in the next 45 years as a result of air pollution.

There will also be more pollution-related illness. New cases of bronchitis in children aged 6-12 are forecast to soar to 36 million per year by 2060, from 12 million today. For adults, we predict 10 million new cases per year by 2060, up from 3.5 million today. Children are also being increasingly affected by asthma.

These health problems will be concentrated in densely populated areas with high particulate matter (PM) concentrations, especially cities in China and India. In per capita terms, mortality is also set to reach high levels in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus region and other parts of Asia, such as South Korea, where ageing populations are highly vulnerable to air pollution.

The impact of air pollution is often discussed in dollar terms. By 2060, 3.75 billion working days per year could be lost due to the adverse health effects of dirty air. The direct market impact of this pollution in terms of lower worker productivity, higher health spending and lower crop yields could exceed 1% of gross domestic product, or $2.6 trillion, annually by 2060.

Massive as they are, however, the dollar figures do not reflect the true costs of air pollution. Premature deaths from breathing in small particles and toxic gases, and the pain and suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, do not have a market price. Nor does the experience of constantly inhaling foulsmelling air, or forcing your child to wear a face mask just to play outside.

Nonetheless, the truth remains that policymakers tend to respond more to hard figures than to abstract experiences. So, the OECD examined myriad economic studies on air pollution to quantify what people’s health is worth to them.

On average, individuals would be prepared to pay around $30 to reduce their annual risk of dying prematurely by one in 100,000. Using well-established techniques, these “willingness-to-pay” figures were converted into an overall value of premature deaths caused by outdoor air pollution, as illustrated, for example, in the OECD’s Mortality Risk Valuation in Environment, Health and Transport Policies.

By that measure, the global cost of premature deaths caused by outdoor air pollution would reach a staggering $18-25 trillion a year by 2060. Arguably, this is not “real” money, as the costs are not related to any market transactions. But it does reflect the value people put on their very real lives.

It is time for governments to stop fussing about the costs of efforts to limit air pollution and start worrying about the much larger costs of allowing it to continue unchecked. Their citizens’ lives are in their hands.

Source: Mintepaper, 17-08-2016

Report: In India, 1.6m premature deaths|year tied to air pollution

Vishwa Mohan





Global Toll 6.5m; Could Go Up To 7.5m By 2040

An estimated 6.5 million pre mature deaths in the world are linked to air pollution every year with more than half of them being reported from China and India together. India alone contributes 1.59 million deaths to this dismal statistic.The global number will increase significantly, touching 7.5 million in 2040, unless the energy sector that emits majority of air pollutants takes greater action to curb emission, says the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its special report, released on Monday .
Referring to Delhi, the report says that the traditional use of biomass for cooking and two coal-fired power plants (Badarpur and Rajghat) are the main sources of PM2.5 emissions in Delhi.
Noting that the air pollution is the fourth largest human health risk after high blood pressure, poor diets and smoking, the IEA's World Energy Outlook (WEO) special report says the energy production and use mostly from unregulated, poorly regulated or inefficient fuel combustion are the most important man-made sources of key air pol lutant emission 85% of particulate matter and almost all of the sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. The report, highlighting links between energy , air pollution and health, says no country is immune as a staggering 80% of cities that monitor pollution levels fail to meet the air quality standards set by the WHO.
In a chapter on India -home to 11of the world's 20 most polluted cities, the report highlights the recent measures taken by the country to curb its emission, particularly in power sector. “But these achi evements are more often offset by strong growth in emissions from industry and transportation sector“, the report says.
Though it notes that the number of deaths due to household air pollution (use of biomass for cooking and kerosene for lighting) at present is more than the deaths due to outdoor air pollution, the trend will reverse in 2040 as more and more people would be able to access the relatively cleaner cooking gas and electricity by then.
The IEA, an autonomous orga nisation, works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy to its 29 member countries. It was set up in 1974 to help these rich nations coordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil.
“Clean air is a basic human right that most of the world's population lacks“, said IEA executive director Fatih Birol, noting that the proven energy policies and technologies can deliver major cuts in air pollution around the world and bring health benefits, provide broader access to energy and improve sustainability .

Source: Times of India, 28-06-2016

New PCB data on air pollution less scary

Contrary to popular perception that air pollution is going up in the State, two of the major air pollution parameters — nitrogen dioxide from vehicle emissions and sulphur dioxide from industrial emissions — were well within the permissible limits in the State during the past five years.

This forms part of the findings in the Ambient Air Quality monitoring report compiled by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB), between 2011 and 2015

The report also indicates that Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (the microscopic liquid or solid matter found suspended in the atmosphere) of sizes between 2.5 micron and 10 micron had recorded a dip in 2015, though it had gone up by over 100 per cent of the permissible levels in 2013 and 2014 in some stations.

Air quality data

The air quality data, to be released by the PCB on June 5, assumes significance in the wake of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposing a ban on diesel vehicles. In its landmark judgement, the NGT had held that no “diesel vehicle with the capacity of 2000 cc and above, except Public Transport and Local Authority Vehicle” shall be registered in the State and “all the diesel vehicles, whether light or heavy, which are more than 10 years old, shall not be permitted to ply on the road in the major cities such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur.”

The Central Pollution Control Board had fixed the permissible concentration of sulphur dioxide as 50 micron/normal metre cube in Ambient Air for industrial, residential, rural, and other areas. The upper limit for nitrogen dioxide was fixed as 40 micron/normal metre cube. Barring Veli in Thiruvananthapuram, the sulphur dioxide level was found to be relatively lower in all the monitored stations. The highest value (17.37 micron/normal metre cube) in five years was obtained in 2015 from Veli.

Relatively high areas

The nitrogen dioxide emissions were relatively high in the air samples near SMV School, Murinjapalam, and Pettah in Thiruvananthapuram district all these years and 2015 proved to be the worst year as higher values were recorded from all these stations.

The PCB has compiled the data after analysing the air data from 24 stations set between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanhangad.

The Lawyers Environmental Awareness Forum, the petitioner in the case before the tribunal, had pointed out that lorries and trucks, which are more than 10 years old, were the key culprits in the rising air pollution levels of the State. The poorly-maintained buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation were adding deadly gases to the atmosphere, they pointed out, while pleading for the ban on polluting vehicles.

Source: The Hindu, 26-05-2016

Iranian, Indian Cities Ranked Worst for Air Pollution: WHO

Geneva: Reuters





Geneva: India has four of the 10 cities in the world with the worst air pollution, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.But while WHO experts acknowledge India faces a “huge challenge“, many countries are so bad that they have no monitoring system and cannot be included in its ranking.The dirtiest air was recorded at Zabol in Iran, which suffers from months of dust storms in the summer, and which clocked a so-called PM2.5 measure of 217. The next pair were Indian -Gwalior and Allahabad -followed by Riyadh and Al Jubail in Saudi Arabia, then Patna and Raipur.
India's capital New Delhi was the survey's 11th worst city, measured by the amount of particu-late matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic metre of air. Delhi had an annual average PM2.5 measurement of 122.
Tiny particulate matter can cause lung cancer, strokes and heart disease over the long term, as well as trigger symptoms such as heart attacks that kill more rapidly. The WHO says more than 7 million premature deaths occur every year due to air pollution, 3 million of them due to outdoor air quality.
New Delhi was ranked worst in 2014 with a PM2.5 reading of 153. It has since tried to tackle its toxic air by limiting the use of private cars on the road for short periods. Maria Neira, head of public health, environmental and social determinants of health at the WHO, praised India's government for developing a national plan to deal with the problem when others have been unable to.
“Probably some of the worst cities that are the most polluted ones in the world are not included in our list, just because they are so bad that they do not even have a good system of monitoring of air quality, so it's unfair to compare or give a rank,“ she said.

Source: Economic Times, 13-05-2016

No rise in CO2 emissions globally for 2nd yr in a row

Subodh Varma





Trend Being Linked To Surge In Renewable Energy Production

In a surprising bit of good news concerning the bleak climate change scenario, preliminary data shows that global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning of fossil fuels did not increase in 2015.This was the second year in a row when carbon emissions from energy-related use stayed flat.
Burning of fossil fuels contributes nearly twothirds of all carbon dioxide emissions globally with the rest arising from agriculture, deforestation etc.
While this stagnation is welcome news, and an indication that emissions can be controlled, it does not mean that global warming has stalled. That's because there are already excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris on Tuesday , the data pegged 2015 CO2 emissions at 32.1 billion tonnes, virtually the same as in 2014.
This led several experts to claim that economic growth and emissions are no longer coupled or linked to each other because average global economic growth in these two years was over 3% per year, and yet carbon dioxide emissions were not increasing.
“The new figures confirm last year's surprising but welcome news: we now have seen two straight years of greenhouse gas emissions decoupling from economic growth,“ said the energy agency's executive director Fatih Birol.
In absolute terms, the total carbon dioxide release from energy use in 2015 was more than double what it was in 1975, and over a third more than in 2001.But the average 4% per year rate of growth seems to have been checked. The main reason for st alling of CO2 emissions from energy consumption appears to be the surge in renewable energy produc tion, the slowdown in the Chinese economy and re placement of oil with natu ral gas in the United States China and the US are the world's largest emitters.
In 2015, 90% of new elec tricity generation was from renewable sources, with wind energy alone produ cing half of it, preliminary date of the International Energy Agency suggests.
In the more than 40 years that the energy agency has been providing information on carbon dioxide emissions, there have been only four periods when emissions stood still or fell compared to the previous year. Three of those occasions -the early 1980s, 1992 and 2009 -were associated with global economic weakness.
But the current brake on emissions increase is the first time that this has happened during a global economic expansion. However, this link is still tenuous as China did slow down from the zooming growth it has enjoyed in previous years.
In China, emissions de clined by 1.5%, as coal use dropped for the second consecutive year. In 2015, coal generated less than 70% of Chinese electricity , ten percentage points less than four years ago (in 2011).
Over the same period, low-carbon sources jumped from 19% to 28%, with hydro and wind accounting for most of the increase.
In the US, emissions declined by 2%, as a large switch from coal to natural gas use in electricity generation took place.
In the European Union, too, renewables accounted for 15% of energy generation, up from 11% in 2011, according to a report of the EU released recently .





Source: Times of India, 18-03-2016

Pollution in India higher than China: Greenpeace

The green NGO said India’s NAQI network with 39 operating stations also compares poorly with the 1,500 stations in China.

India has overtaken China’s air pollution levels in 2015 and the average particulate matter exposure was higher for the first time in the 21st century, a Greenpeace analysis of NASA satellite data has shown.

“For the first time this century, the average particulate matter exposure was higher for Indian citizens than that of Chinese people.

“China’s strong measures to curb pollution have contributed to the biggest year-on-year air quality improvement on record while in contrast, India’s pollution levels continued a decade-long increase to reach the highest level on record,” Greenpeace India said in a statement.

It said as per World Health Organization (WHO), India is home to 13 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world with deteriorating air pollution levels in the past decade, particularly in North India.

Greenpeace, in its National Air Quality Index (NAQI) ranking report, had earlier said that as many as 15 out of 17 Indian cities with NAQI stations showed levels of air pollution that far exceeded the prescribed Indian standards.

The report had also revealed that 23 of the 32 stations across India are showing more than 70 per cent exceedance of the national standards, putting public health at risk.

Greenpeace observed that the most important aspect to fight air pollution is a robust system to curb air pollution in public domain that empowers people to take action to safeguard their health and the government to issue red alerts during bad air days and take policy decisions in the long term.

The green NGO said India’s NAQI network with 39 operating stations also compares poorly with the 1,500 stations in China.

“The satellite images until 2005 showed India’s pollution, while serious, was lot lower than eastern China’s.

In 2015, India particulate pollution stands higher than that of China, after increasing at an average rate of 2 per cent over the past decade,” it said.

Keywords: Pollution, India, China, Greenpeace

Source: The Hindu, 22-02-2016

Clean air agenda for the cities

Air quality has a strong bearing on India’s ability to sustain high economic growth, but national policy has treated the issue with scant importance. This is evident even from the meagre data on pollution for a handful of cities generated by the ambient air quality measurement programme. A new report from Greenpeace, based on NASA’s satellite data, indicates that people living in some parts of India are at greater risk for health problems linked to deteriorating air quality than those living in China. The measurements for Aerosol Optical Depth, which have been used to assess the level of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) that gets lodged deep in the lungs, point to a worsening of air quality in India in the 10-year period from 2005, particularly for States along the Punjab to West Bengal corridor, compared to China’s eastern industrial belt. This finding matches the Air Quality Index data for cities monitored by the Central Pollution Control Board. Quite simply, pursuing business as usual is not tenable, and the Centre has to act to enforce control mechanisms that will make the air safe to breathe. This has to begin with a more comprehensive system of real-time data collection, expanding the coverage from the present 23 cities (not all of which provide full or regular information) to all agglomerations with a significant population and economic activity, and within a given time frame. Putting the data in the public domain in an open format will enable multiple channels of dissemination, including apps created by the community for mobile devices, and build pressure on both policymakers and polluters.

High levels of particulate matter in cities arise from construction and demolition activity, burning of coal in thermal plants, as also biomass, and from the widespread use of diesel vehicles, among other sources. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has six-year-old data that attribute about 23 per cent of particulates to construction activity in six cities studied, and another 20 per cent to diesel vehicles. The onus of curbing pollution from these sources is on the States, and evidently they are not taking their responsibility seriously. Greater transparency in data dissemination and public awareness hold the key to change. Technological solutions to contain construction dust are equally critical, as is the low-cost solution of covering all urban surfaces with either greenery or paving. Widespread burning of biomass for cooking can be avoided if the government encourages innovation in solar cookers. Cheap, clean-burning stoves can have a dramatic effect as well. The transformation of cities through good public transport and incentives for the use of cycles and electric vehicles — which India is committed to achieve under the Paris Agreement on climate change — will reduce not merely particulate matter but also nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. There is little doubt that the worsening air quality in Indian cities is already affecting the lives of the very young and the elderly, and reducing labour productivity. India needs a time-bound action plan.

Keywords: air pollution in India, Air Quality index

Source: The Hindu, 24-02-2015

Air pollution now a public global health emergency: WHO

New data on deadly levels of air pollution in cities across the globe are scheduled to be released soon by the World Health Organisation (WHO), whose top public health expert has already called it a global “public health emergency” that involves heavy costs on society.

Air pollution in cities such as Delhi and Beijing is killing millions of people and threatened to overwhelm public services in countries across the globe that will have major financial implications for governments, the Geneva-based organisation said.

New WHO figures scheduled for release in February are expected to show that air pollution has worsened since 2014 in hundreds of already blighted urban areas. The data is taken from 2,000 cities.

“We have a public health emergency in many countries from pollution. It’s dramatic, one of the biggest problems we are facing globally, with horrible future costs to society,” said Maria Neira, head of public health at the WHO, told The Observer.

She added: “Air pollution leads to chronic diseases, which require hospital space. Before, we knew that pollution was responsible for diseases like pneumonia and asthma. Now, we know that it leads to bloodstream, heart and cardiovascular diseases, too – even dementia”.

“We are storing up problems. These are chronic diseases that require hospital beds. The cost will be enormous.”

According to Nicholas Stern, the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the London School of Economics, air pollution is an important factor in climate change: “Air pollution is of fundamental importance. We are only just learning about the scale of the toxicity of coal and diesel. We know that in China, 4,000 people a day die of air pollution. In India it is far worse. This is a deep, deep problem”.

Amid continuing concerns over pollution around the Heathrow airport in London, the David Cameron government recently announced plans to discourage heavy polluting vehicles such as old buses, coaches and lorries from entering Clean Air Zones in five cities by 2020.

Several British cities -- including London -- face pollution, prompting promises in election manifestos and rulings by the Supreme Court. Diesel is increasingly seen as a dirty fuel responsible for most of the pollution.

Source: Hindustan Times, 18-01-2016

Air in Indian cities fouler than in Beijing

Anand Vihar in east Delhi reported the most pollution

All six north Indian cities for which data was available had worse air quality than Beijing in 2015, The Hindu’s analysis of official data shows. However the south’s comparatively better air quality levels hide some lethal truths.

Launched in April 2015, India’s National Air Quality Index portal produces an Air Quality Index (AQI) value for around 15 cities based on the most prominent pollutant at that time for that city. Pollution monitoring stations measure the concentration of six different pollutants – PM2.5 (particulate matter of diameter less than 2.5 micrometres), PM10, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone.

For the AQI to be calculated, a station needs to have values for three or more pollutants, one of which needs to be particulate matter. The AQI is then classified along one of six categories – good, satisfactory, moderate, poor, very poor or severe.

Analysing AQI data for 2015, The Hindu found that Anand Vihar in east Delhi measured the worst air quality of any of the 25 monitoring stations for which adequate data was available, with just 15 per cent of its days being good, satisfactory or moderate.

Airoli in Navi Mumbai, on the other hand, had the best air quality – all of the days for which it recorded data were of good to moderate air quality. Averaging for multiple stations across cities, Varanasi had the fewest clean air days (52 per cent), followed by Delhi, Faridabad, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow.

However, the index numbers might not capture the actual magnitude of pollution cities occasionally experience. BTM Layout in Bengaluru had the highest annual average concentration of PM2.5, The Hindu found, owing to massive intermittent spikes. The station’s annual average was a whopping 378 microgrammes per cubic metre in 2015 as against 157 for Anand Vihar.

CPCB officials in Bengaluru claimed that the spikes, however, are not due to construction or the increasing vehicular movement, but due to erratic power supply. “Every time the power supply is cut, our system shuts down. On restarting, erratic values start to be generated and this is sent directly to the AQI,” K. Karunakaran, Senior Technical Officer for the Bengaluru Zonal division told The Hindu. In April last year, meanwhile, state officials had claimed that the high numbers were a result of PM2.5 values being interchanged with carbon monoxide values.

On PM2.5, tiny particulate matter which is highly damaging to the lungs, the six north Indian cities were far worse off than Beijing was in 2015, a comparison with US Department of State data for China showed.

“The north has higher concentration of particulate matter due to dust and biomass burning, while the impact of combustion sources would be higher in the south”, Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of the Centre for Science and Environment explained. Combustion sources, particularly from vehicles, are more toxic, and therefore, lower values of AQI in the south should not be ignored from a public health perspective. Particulate matter is the dominant pollutant in Indian cities, The Hindufound, followed by carbon monoxide. “Carbon monoxide is almost entirely from traffic,” Ms. Roychowdhury said.

Source: The Hindu, 4-01-2016

May 02 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

2008 study on polluting vehicles still relevant

New Delhi TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Ever wondered how polluting the trucks that pass through Delhi every night are. TOI revisited a 2008 study commissioned by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and executed by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), which found that the particulate matter (PM) emissions from diesel vehicles was about 24 times that of the petrol-run ones.The PM emissions from light commercial vehicles (LCVs) run on diesel were found to be 166 times the PM emissions from petrol passenger cars.The study was conducted for BS II vehicles but is relevant even now because most of the LCVs passing through Delhi continue to be BS II compliant. These are the more than 10-year-old vehicles, which will be off roads if the NGT ban is properly implemented. But even the new LCVs getting registered outside Delhi continue to be BS II and BS III compliant, which could further complicate the matter.
Of the 85,000-odd commercial vehicles that pass through Delhi--all nondestined for the city--a majority are BS II, admit transport officials.
“The vehicles may be new but they are still BS II complaint. That's because these vehicles are more easily available and cheaper,“ said the official.
The impact is clearly felt in the emission levels. BS II vehicles are decidedly less efficient when it comes to processing the fuel pollution.Sources say around 70-80% of the vehicles passing through Delhi are BS II. “Many a times, even if the vehicle is new, since it's BS II compliant, the emission levels are still high as compared to a BS III or BS IV vehicles,“ added the official.
The 2008 study also found that levels of polycyclic aro matic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from diesel LCVs were about 17 times that of PAH emissions from petrol cars. While the two engines of LCVs and cars may not be comparable, there is a huge health risk from such high PAH emissions.
According to toxipedia, a toxicology encyclopedia, “health effects from chronic or long-term exposure to PAHs may include decreased immune function, cataracts, kidney and liver damage (like jaundice), breathing problems, asthma-like symptoms, and lung function abnormalities. PAHs could also contain carcinogenic elements.
Even BS III trucks registered outside Delhi that pass through the city emit more than seven times the particulate matter (PM) than petrol.Plugging the entry of these vehicles can give the city considerable relief, experts said.
Daily bulletin on air quality of 8 cities
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Friday launched a daily bulletin service to highlight air quality index in eight cities namely Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Faridabad, Kanpur, Agra and Varanasi.
The bulletin was launched on CPCB's website and will provide a comparative data of air quality index on a daily basis in the categories of moderate, satisfactory and poor, apart from giving the major pollutant in that particular area. The index will be calculated as an average of past 24 hours. It covers eight cities, which will be eventually increased, a senior ministry of environment, forests and climate change official said. According to Friday's bulletin, Delhi has the poorest air quality.

Air pollution may cause stroke

DurgeshNandan Jha

New Delhi:





Air pollution which is known to cause poor lung and heart health may also cause a stroke, new research suggests.The findings of the research, which has been published in the British Medical Journal, are based on an analysis of 103 studies, involving 6.2 million hospitalizations and deaths because of stroke in 28 countries.
TOI spoke to India's top neurologists who said it was possible. “ At AIIMS too, we have initiated a study to analyze the link between air pollution and strokes,“ said Dr Kameshwar Prasad, professor and head of the neurology department. He added there has been a significant increase in stroke cases thta can't be explained by unhealthy lifestyle and other known risk factors.
Dr Shakir Hussain, chairman of Stroke & Neurointer vention Foundation, said more than 50% of the stroke patients that he sees are below 45 years of age. “Of them, some are non-smokers, who have normal blood pressure and do not have diabetes. The role of environmental factors in triggering neural disorders cannot be ruled out in such cases. It requires detailed investigation,“ he said.
Doctors say vehicular emissions include ultrafine particles and gases like carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide which get into the bloodstream. “These thicken the blood and also initiate formation of cytokines which trigger strokes,“ said Prasad.
The AIIMS study , he added, will involve assessing the date and time of stroke and the level of air pollution in their area.“Several studies held across the world, including the one in British Medical Journal, show a strong association between strokes and air pollution. In India, pollution levels in cities are very high and if our study reveals a similar association, we will urge the government to take action,“ said Prasad.
He said the role of pollutants is more prominent in ischaemic stroke cases in which the blood vessels supplying oxygenated blood to the brain get blocked. It constitutes nearly 85% of all cases. The rest are haemorrhagic stroke cases, in which bleeding from a damaged blood vessel in or around the brain damages or puts pressure on the brain tissue.
“In western countries, even 40 microgram per cubic metre of particulate matter is considered hazardous but the average presence of such pollutants in Delhi ranges from 150-200 microgram per cubic metre,“ said Dr Sundeep Salvi, director of Chest Research Foundation.

AIR POLLUTION - Behaviour Change as Important as Technology





Advanced technology can clean up the air, but only when coupled with change in people's behaviourDelhi tops the charts in the world in terms of air pollution, but the city has good compa ny. Out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 13 are in North India, many of them not far from Delhi. Vehicular traffic is considered the main reason behind air pollution in Delhi, but are there other equally important factors as well?
Look at a completely different set of data: Cancer rates in Punjab. At 90 patients for every 1 lakh people, this state has higher cancer rates than the national average. Pesticide exposure is often blamed as the primary cause, but there are other hidden factors as well. For example, in the past few decades, Punjab farmers have been burning crop residue like never before. This increases the amount of particles and carcinogens in the atmosphere, and they travel long distances. “We have found high concentrations of carcinogens like benzene,“ says Vinayak Sinha, assistant professor of earth sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Mohali.
Vehicular pollution is high enough in Indian cities, but burning of waste -crop residue as well as municipal solid waste -is another important factor behind the high levels of pollution in Delhi and other nearby cities. And neither shows any signs of abating. Emission norms for vehicles are im rms for vehicles are im proving rapidly , and Bharat V norms are quite stringent even by developed country standards. And yet, they would do little to reduce pollution un less other factors im prove simultaneously: phasing out of old ve hicles, improving traf fic flow, and stopping of burning waste.
Burning of waste is a national problem.
As the accompanying article shows, there are no easy solutions to solid waste accumu lation. Poor traffic flow contributes to pollution in cities. In a study at the Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati, professor of Civil Engineering Sharad Gokhale found significant improvements in pollution during free flowing traffic, and also significant differences depending on the proportion of petrol and diesel vehicles. “We can reduce 15-20% of pollution in cities by mere traffic flow management,“ says Gokhale.
As far as emissions from cars are concerned, improving fuel and vehicle emission standards will reduce pollution significantly . There is a big leap technologically from Bharat IV to Bharat V , and vehicles are improving their performance not just through engine improvements. It may take some time for Bharat V norms to be implemented, but they are a considerable advance over Bharat IV , which itself has not been implemented throughout the country . For example, Bharat V norms demand the use of diesel particulate matter filters and require the use of direct injection of diesel.
Cars are in any case becoming lighter and thus more fuel efficient. The current Budget has some measures encouraging electric vehicles, but the country's electric grid may not be able to handle a large population of electric cars. Fuel cell cars might come one day , but not in the foreseeable future. “Unless there is a breakthrough soon, the internal combustion engine will be predominant for another 15 years,“ says CV Raman, executive director of engineering and R&D for Maruti Suzuki.

Pollution kills half a million people a year in China'

Beijing: PTI





A documentary highlighting China's air pollution woes with claims that annually over half a million people die prematurely due to burning of coal has won praise after it went viral evoking mixed reactions.The video by former China Central Television presenter Chai Jing went viral after it was released online, with critics questioning the scientific basis of her claims and supporters applauding her for shining a light on the issue.
Pictures of withered trees, murky skies and lifeless rivers appear but the film also shows a scientific perspective backed by data, field investigations and interviews with officials, scientists and public.
Beijing had 175 polluted days in 2014, eclipsed by neighboring Tianjin with 197 and Shijiazhuang with 264 days, official media reported on the video today . The video shows satellite images from NASA demonstrating worsening air quality in north China in past 10 years.
Citing former health minister Chen Zhu, the video claimed that an estimated half a million people die prematurely in China every year because of air pollution.

High air pollution cuts most Indian lives by 3 years

India’s high air pollution, ranked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) among the worst in the world, is adversely impacting the lifespans of its citizens, reducing most Indian lives by over three years, a new study has said.

Over half of India’s population — 660 million people — live in areas where fine particulate matter pollution is above India’s standards for what is considered safe, said the study by economists from the University of Chicago, Harvard and Yale published in Economic & Political Weekly.

If India reverses this trend to meet its air standards, those 660 million people would gain about 3.2 years onto their lives, the study said.

Put another way, compliance with Indian air quality standards would save 2.1 billion life years, it said.

“India’s focus is necessarily on growth. However, for too long, the conventional definition of growth has ignored the health consequences of air pollution,” said Michael Greenstone, an author of the study and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).

“This study demonstrates that air pollution retards growth by causing people to die prematurely. Other studies have also shown that air pollution reduces productivity at work, increases the incidence of sick days, and raises health care expenses that could be devoted to other goods.”

The new figures come after the WHO estimates showed 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world were in India.

“The loss of more than two billion life years is a substantial price to pay for air pollution,” said Rohini Pande, also an author and director of Evidence for Policy Design at the Harvard Kennedy School.

“It is in India’s power to change this in cost effective ways that allow hundreds of millions of its citizens to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Reforms of the current form of regulation would allow for health improvements that lead to increased growth,” Pande said.

The authors — who also include Nicholas Ryan of Yale, Janhavi Nilekani and Anish Sugathan of Harvard, and Anant Sudarshan, director of EPIC’s India office — offer three policy solutions that would help to cost-effectively decrease India’s pollution.

One initial step would be to increase its monitoring efforts and take advantage of new technology that allows for real-time monitoring, the authors said.

Keywords: WHO, air pollution

Jan 05 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Pollution Solution





Swachh Bharat also means Swachh Vatavaran, start discouraging diesel

Showing up the continuing constraints on deregulation in India, S government has raised excise duty on fuel three times since November ­ violating the spirit of deregulation to meet its budgetary challenges, instead of wholly passing through the drop in global prices. This kind of interference also undermined both UPA and the previous NDA government's commitments to price deregulation. Meanwhile, nothing much is being done about a truly foul distortion in the fuel price market ­ higher excise duties on petrol make diesel look more attractive, even though diesel is much the worse polluter as it is easier to adulterate.Helped along by this differential diesel passenger vehicles reportedly accounted for 49% of all new cars sold last year across India ­ up from 20% just a few years ago, even as data about their polluting impact is piling up. An Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority report linked a spurt in diesel cars to the premature death of thousands of children in Delhi. In winter, signs of a growing crisis are palpable in the capital and other north Indian cities. A low-hanging shroud of smog impairs visibility , chokes lungs; children are particularly traumatised by asthma, respiratory illnesses and hospitalisations.
Votaries of low diesel prices call it the poor person's fuel. But there is nothing stopping the wealthy from taking advantage of India's fuel pricing anomaly . After all private cars use a lot more diesel than buses or agriculture ­ an overwhelming majority of SUVs are running on diesel. In India's growing car market, every day's delay in discouraging diesel noxiously expands how long the country will be captive to its pollution. Swachh Bharat ought to include Swachh Vatavaran, clean air, in its definition. It's imperative to level excise duties across petrol and diesel.

Jan 02 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Pollutants making Taj yellow identified

Amit Bhattacharya

New Delhi:





Particles From Burning Of Fossil Fuels To Blame: Study

India's white marvel, the Taj Mahal, is slowly turning brownish-yellow because of air pollution, says an Indo-US study which also identifies the pollutants responsible for the effect.It says the Taj is changing colour due to deposition of dust and carbon-containing particles emitted in the burning of fossil fuels, biomass and garbage. The study confirms what has been suspected for long -that Agra's poor air quality is impacting India's most celebrated monument.
The research was conducted by experts from US universities -Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Wisconsin -as well as the Indian Institute of Technology , Kanpur and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The paper was published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal in December.
The findings can lead to targeted strategies to curb air pollution in and around Agra and more effective ways to cleanse the marble surface of the 366-year-old mausoleum, which remains by far the most visited man-made structure in the country with more than six million footfalls in 2013.
The researchers first analysed air samples at the site for roughly a year using filters and found high concentrations of suspended particles that could potentially discolour the Taj's surface. Clean marble samples were then placed at various points on the monument accessible only by ASI staff. After two months of exposure, the samples were analysed using electron microscope and X-ray spectroscope.
The pollutants deposited on the marble were identified through these investigations. Researchers found 3% of the deposits to be black carbon, around 30% organic carbon (or brown carbon) and most of the rest dust. Black carbon is emitted by vehicles and other machines that burn fossil fuels. Brown carbon is typically released by burning of biomass and garbage, a common practice in the region.
S N Tripathi of IIT Kanpur, one of the authors, said the team used a novel approach to estimate how these particles would impact light reflecting off the marble surface. “We found that black carbon gives a greyish colour to the surface while the presence of brown carbon and dust results in yellowish-brown hues,“ he said.
“Results indicate that deposited light absorbing dust and carbonaceous particles are responsible for the surface discolouration of the Taj Mahal,“ the study concludes.

Jun 05 2014 : The Economic Times (Mumbai)

Tackling Air Pollution in Our Cities: Getting Started

KUNAL SHARMA





I vividly recall how in the mid 1990s my eyes would often water while travelling by three-wheeler in Delhi. Such was the severity of air pollution in those days that you inevitably shed a tear or two every time you went up a flyover. That's the height at which it seemed the plume of air pollutants hung over Delhi, causing irritation to the eyes as you came in contact with it.In contrast, Delhi's air seems cleaner today and I expect that many who have lived in the city during the last two decades will agree with me. Starting in the mid nineties, a substantial improvement in the quality of Delhi's air took place due to several measures taken by the government. These included conversion of the public transport fleet to CNG, introduction of cleaner automotive fuels and relocation of polluting industries to outside city limits.
However, air quality data indicates that much of the gains achieved through such measures have now eroded. To blame are rapid urban development and a booming number of vehicles.
The situation is similar in most other Indian cities; only a handful of cities currently achieve the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for pollutants like PM10 and PM2.5, while NO2 and Ozone pollution levels are areas of growing concern. A World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality database released earlier this year reveals that 13 Indian cities feature among the top 20 in the world on monitored levels of PM2.5. Delhi occupied the top spot, while Patna, Gwalior, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Amritsar and Ludhiana, all made the list.
A vast body of scientific research confirms that inhalation of Particulate Matter (PM) leads to health effects like asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, birth defects, and premature death.
The smallest particles are the most dangerous as they are able to penetrate the deepest part of the lungs. Fine particulates like PM2.5, which are particles of size 2.5 microns (10-6 meters) or smaller, are usually emitted from anthropogenic sources like automobiles, industrial boilers and generator sets.
Large emissions coupled with high population exposure levels yield staggering estimates for the loss India suffers due to air pollution. The latest WHO Global Burden of Disease assessment concludes that 627,000 Indians died early in 2010 from exposure to ambient air pollution. A 2013 World Bank study estimates that exposure to air pollution resulted in an annual loss of Rs. 2 trillion, or about 3% of our GDP, due to resultant health impacts.
If these numbers come as a surprise, then here is the kicker: a 2011 Gallup survey spanning 140 countries found 90% of Indians to be satisfied with the quality of air in their city or area where they live. That puts India among the top 10 countries in satisfaction level, and in a group that includes Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany! How can this be? That's where my experience of travelling around Delhi in three-wheelers may provide an answer. Older Indians are seemingly satisfied because they have seen worse levels of air pollution in the past and feel they are better off today.
Younger Indians on the other hand lack a similar point of reference and so are 'satisfied' as they currently suffer a huge knowledge deficit on the threat that air pollution poses to them and society.
Given that air pollution gravely threatens the wellbeing of most Indians and the relative ignorance of the population to this threat, it's the Indian government that must act.
Furthermore, in today's growth driven world, clean air is a public good that must rely on good governance to persist; the air we breathe needs to be treated as a resource that we value. But in contrast to the 1990s, where government action came primarily as a reaction to public outcry and court directives, today a more proactive approach on the part of the Indian government is required.
To begin with I believe at least two things need to happen. First, our public officials need to acknowledge, publicly, the extent of the problem and begin building the case for measures that need to be introduced to tackle rising air pollution in our cities. This is important. In recent times releases of major global studies on air pollution have often been met with seeming denial in India, primarily by questioning the validity of data, or led to futile discussions, such as on whether Delhi or Beijing has dirtier air. Rather than be defensive, these moments should be seized as opportunities to build political will for action. Second, public awareness on air pollution needs to vastly increase. Citizens need to be appropriately informed so that they understand the risks that rising air pollution poses, are willing to support control measures and in specific instances directly bear the costs (such as marginally higher prices for cleaner petrol and diesel) and take precautionary measures when necessary. Many Delhi residents who like to get their daily exercise in the mornings probably do not know that in the winter months the highest concentration of pollutants occurs during the early morning hours as emissions from the thousands of trucks that pass through the city are trapped close to the ground due to thermal inversion. Providing easy access to reliable air quality monitoring information and issuance of health advisories, as is now available in many countries around the world, is a good place to start. Of course the real work will still be left to be done and it will require time. To clean up the skies of Indian cities, the government will need to draw up and implement a judicious portfolio of control measures.
But given where we stand today, if the aforementioned two outcomes are achieved over the next few years, we will be off to a decent start.
The author is a Senior Programme Manager, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, New Delhi.
The views expressed are his own.
and do not imply endorsement by the Foundation.