People in every region of the world are increasingly seeing their health affected by climate change. Key trends seen in previous Lancet Countdown Reports are getting worse and exacerbating already existing health and social inequities–the 2021 report gives a code red
As Delhi-NCR have the same ‘airshed’ — a region sharing a common flow of air — pollution in neighbouring cities adversely affects the national capital as well. As a result, experts have said measures taken to reduce air pollution in Delhi need to be applied across NCR. While Delhi is in the spotlight each time air quality takes a turn for the worse, other parts of the National Capital Region appear to be more polluted, data from the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily bulletins shows. As Delhi-NCR have the same ‘airshed’ — a region sharing a common flow of air — pollution in neighbouring cities adversely affects the national capital as well. As a result, experts have said measures taken to reduce air pollution in Delhi need to be applied across NCR. Earlier this month, several cities in the NCR began to record worsening air quality. Ballabgarh, a town in Haryana’s Faridabad district, for instance, recorded its first ‘poor’ air day (AQI of 221) this season on October 7. This was much higher than Delhi’s AQI of 127 for the day. Faridabad similarly recorded a ‘poor’ AQI of 236 on the day, CPCB daily bulletins show. While AQI of Ballabgarh and Faridabad was in the ‘poor’ category on October 8, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, also recorded a ‘poor’ AQI of 242 on the same day. While Delhi’s AQI remained in the ‘moderate’ category, other areas in the NCR like Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Meerut have been recording ‘poor’ AQI intermittently from October 9 onwards. Delhi recorded its first ‘poor’ air day this season on October 16, remaining in the category on October 17 and 20. The same day, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Karnal, Noida and Bhiwadi all saw AQI in the ‘very poor’ category. The air quality in Ghaziabad has, in fact, remained ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ from October 16-24. From October 21-24, Delhi’s AQI remained in the ‘moderate’ category, while Panipat and Sonipat deteriorated to ‘poor’ on October 21. AQI for Panipat remained ‘poor’ on October 22, and Sonipat recorded ‘poor’ AQI on October 23 and 24 as well. According to an analysis report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Delhi’s winter PM 2.5 average was 192 last year (October 15, 2020 to February 15, 2021). Some parts of the NCR recorded higher levels. For Ghaziabad, this figure stood at 229, for Greater Noida it was 204, 203 in Noida, and 198 in Bulandshahr. How this affects Delhi The Decision Support System developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, predicts the contribution of 19 nearby districts to PM 2.5 levels in Delhi, based on numerical modelling of atmospheric pollutants along with observational data from these districts. The forecast for October 24 said that Faridabad is likely to contribute around 11.5% of PM 2.5 levels to Delhi around 6 am, while Ghaziabad could contribute around 0.2% at the same time, and Bulandshahr could be 2.24%. Scientists associated with the project maintained that precise contributions from these areas could be difficult to ascertain. “When cool, calm conditions in winter trap pollutants, this happens across the Indo-Gangetic plain, and you can’t create small green islands. Each city will require its own action plan and must take note of its local sources of pollution. But we also need a region-wide harmonisation of action. There is an asymmetry in action – Delhi might not have any coal-fired power plants, but the NCR has 11. We need strong regional action with clear targets,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE.
If the nation’s call to leadership in the twentieth century was decolonization, in this century it is decarbonization. In “The Ministry for the Future,” published last year, the science-fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson imagines a course by which the world might arrive at a new sort of utopia, on the other side of the climate crisis: a “good Anthropocene.” It’s a hard road, and many dystopias are glimpsed along the way. The novel opens in a town in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, as it is hit by a “wet-bulb” heat wave, in which high temperatures and humidity combine in a manner that makes it impossible for bodies to cool without air-conditioning. Then the power grid collapses. Twenty million people in the region die, including nearly every inhabitant of the town. The scene is dreadful and vividly described, yet it stirred me less than what happens next: India abandons its apathy and half-measures, and becomes the first large country to truly revolutionize in order to meet the demands of the climate crisis. “Time for the long post-colonial subalternity to end,” Robinson writes. “Time for India to step onto the world stage, as it had at the start of history, and demand a better world. And then help to make it real.” A national workforce sets about refurbishing the national grid and building wind, solar, and free-river-hydroelectric plants to replace coal-burning stations. In the next five hundred pages, the country leads the world by example in the defining challenge of the twenty-first century. To describe this radical climate praxis, Robinson invokes existing models of decentralized governance and regenerative agriculture from progressive Indian states, such as Kerala and Sikkim. He mentions dozens of real organizations that are making advances in ecosystem restoration, reforestation, income generation, and water harvesting. The book does not advocate policy. Rather, it gestures at a wide horizon of local ideas and expertise. In an e-mail, Robinson told me that he has not spent time in India, but he has in the Nepali Terai, a region that borders the hot, crowded state of Uttar Pradesh. He said he was “very concerned to write a version of India into our near future that is positive and powerful.” Growing up in Bangalore, in the nineteen-nineties, I learned to think of India, for all its sins and failures, as a country that the world admired and even looked to for enlightened moral and political alternatives. The past decade has largely buried that reputation, under headlines about corruption, demagoguery, and hate crimes. “The Ministry for the Future” taps a vein of national identity that has receded but not disappeared: India as a society ready to redeem a broken model of modernity. After all, it did so once before. The country helped lead the globe through what was, for most of the world’s people, the defining challenge of the twentieth century: decolonization and democratic self-rule. This year, India kicked off its celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of independence from the British Empire, which formally took place on August 15, 1947. With that transition, the number of people with suffrage nearly doubled worldwide. Not only did India lay a claim on democracy, the vaunted reserve of imperial rulers; it aimed to outdo them at it. From the first independent election, in 1951-52, every citizen over the age of twenty-one could vote. The lowest castes, formerly known as the “untouchables,” were guaranteed representation in Parliament. It’s hard now to grasp how audacious India’s gambit was. Skeptics, even among the country’s allies, were everywhere. Chester Bowles, the American Ambassador to India, expressed a typical sentiment, writing, in his memoir “Ambassador’s Report,” that he was “appalled at the prospect of a poll of 200 million eligible voters, most of whom were illiterate villagers.” He anticipated “a fiasco,” but what he observed changed his view of whom democracy was for. “I have seen women defy old customs and cast their first vote. . . . I have seen ‘untouchables’ walk for miles to stand in the voting line next to Brahmans.” He concluded, “In Asia, as in America, I know no grander vision than this, government by the consent of the governed.” India’s transition from colony to sovereign democracy encouraged a wave of decolonization and democratic experiments across Asia and Africa. “When the time came for me to do something about gaining the political independence of my own country,” Kwame Nkrumah wrote about Ghana, ten years later, “it was a natural thing that I should take inspiration from India and her leaders.” The leaders of the independence movement left political and ethical legacies that could also help shape a climate revolution. Gandhi, from the time of his first published book, developed his argument against British rule through a critique of industrial civilization, its “indefinite multiplicity of wants,” and its relentless hunt for new lands, resources, and people to exploit. Gandhi’s corollary, swarāj, referred not just to political self-rule but also to decentralized, self-sufficient ways of living. (His belief in the Indian village as a scene of potential swarāj was fraught—it was also a scene of caste and gender violence, as one of his critics, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, pointed out.) Yet Gandhi was prescient about the pathways of industrial growth. “God forbid that India should ever take to industrialization after the manner of the West,” he wrote in 1928, in his paper “Young India.” “If an entire nation of 300 million took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts.” Gandhi’s writings are still a touchstone for natural farmers and organic initiatives across India; Robinson name-checks many of them in “The Ministry for the Future.” A 2019 editorial in the journal Nature concluded that “Gandhi’s commitment to what we now call sustainability is perhaps more relevant today than in his own time.” Ambedkar was born into an “untouchable” caste, but he became a founding jurist of the Republic of India. As a ferocious critic of Gandhi on the issue of caste, and as the chief draftsman of India’s Constitution, he made sure that the country’s struggle against foreign exploitation and empire did not legitimize exploitation inherent in Indian society. Ambedkar’s influence is rising among young Indians, and his analyses of social power and eye for the hypocrisies of crusading élites are as critical for the climate movement as they were for India’s independence movement, which was steered mostly by upper-caste men. Another spur to India’s climate transition is the legacy left by its first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. His progressive, internationalist outlook extended beyond the dismantling of empire, and was proactive about the new perils faced by the world at large. I was reminded of this while reading about Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein’s manifesto of 1955, signed by the world’s leading atomic scientists—a landmark ethical renegotiation of war in light of the nuclear bomb. It also called for an international conference of scientists to confront this existential threat to the human species. While Russell was drafting the text, Nehru wrote to him offering to host the conference in New Delhi. Russell agreed, but that plan was derailed by the Suez Crisis; the event moved to Nova Scotia, giving rise to the Nobel Prize-winning Pugwash Conferences. These legacies still have vast subscription among Indians today, and the power to persuade hundreds of millions. Alongside them is India’s ecological heritage, with roots in both peasant traditions—such as Chipko, the original and literal tree-hugging protests to save forests in the Himalayan foothills—and tribal cultures, which defend hills and streams against extractive mining in central India. Advertisement If India’s call to leadership in the twentieth century was decolonization, in this century it is decarbonization. “Colonialism, like slavery, was profitable because it could discount the deaths and immiseration of hundreds of thousands of people. The carbon economy is similar; it’s only profitable because you’re not counting the costs to everyone in the future,” Omair Ahmad, a political writer in New Delhi and an editor of the Third Pole, an online journal of climate and water issues in Central and South Asia, told me. “India is in a great position to argue this point. India’s strength as an anti-colonial leader rested not on its wealth or its power, because it frankly didn’t have any, but on its example. We are in a position to do that again. We’re big enough to create a model that works.” The question ahead of COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that starts next week in Glasgow, is whether India’s present government has the resolve and the clarity of vision of its forebears. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is self-consciously an agent of historical change, as much as Nehru, but often in an antithetical mode. Whereas Nehru was a cosmopolitan socialist devoted, like Gandhi, to interreligious harmony, Modi was raised in the Hindu-nationalist fold—a movement intent on relitigating India’s distant past, especially its encounter with Islam, and settling thousand-year-old scores with an increasingly impoverished and vulnerable Muslim minority. Since 2014, when Modi came to power, his government has worked to efface Nehru (from official publicity about the seventy-fifth anniversary of independence, for instance) but also to erode that generation’s legacy: the fundamental rights and constitutional checks and balances that protect minority lives. As a result, India is slipping in international rankings of democratic standards and human freedoms, but also in those of hunger and child malnutrition. Modi likes to speak of India’s role as a vishwaguru, a world teacher. But it’s unclear what he wants it to teach, unless it is a path to an “elected autocracy,” as Sweden’s V-Dem Institute designated India earlier this year. Nehru famously regarded big dams as the “temples of modern India.” Modi seems to view matters the other way around. But neither represents the way forward for a country already battered by extreme weather and confronting a perverse new climate norm: floods in the midst of droughts. Instead, we might put our faith in small, decentralized water-harvesting networks, such as those suggested by Sunita Narain, the director of New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment, who argues for “millions and millions of connected and living water structures that will capture rain, be a sponge for flood, and a storehouse for drought.” Climate action, in fact, is one area in which Modi is not completely at odds with progressives. He has had the advantage, over many right-wing heads of state around the world, that his base is not ideologically mired in climate denial. The year after his first election, Modi created a new ministry for renewable energy; set hopeful targets for generating solar and wind power, and also for reduced emissions by public utilities; and began to lay the groundwork for a turn toward electric vehicles on Indian roads. He also convened the International Solar Alliance, a coalition of mostly developing “sun belt” countries, to promote the capture of solar power and a global grid to channel that power across borders—allowing regions in daylight to power others where the sun has set. Last week, the U.S. climate envoy, John Kerry, addressed the I.S.A.’s fourth general assembly, and called India “a red-hot investment destination for solar power.” The country’s initiatives have “already set an example for emerging economies,” Kerry said, citing India’s ambition to generate four hundred and fifty gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030. Yet Kerry was disappointed by a September visit to New Delhi, where he was unable to win a commitment by the Indian government to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. The Climate Action Tracker, run by Climate Analytics and the NewClimate Institute, both in Germany, still rates India’s efforts as “highly insufficient,” far behind countries such as Peru, Nigeria, and South Africa. Beyond the expanding solar farms is a vexing policy landscape, in which forest protections are being axed, new coalfields are opened to mining, and coal-burning plants are under construction. A burgeoning clean-energy fund, paid for by a tax on mined and imported coal, goes mostly unspent. College-age climate activists are jailed for sedition when their organizing dents Modi’s image. Billionaire industrialists close to Modi speak ardently about green energy but are regional fossil-fuel giants, with planned coal projects that threaten ecosystems as far away as the Great Barrier Reef. By these ties alone, Modi’s position is “desperately problematic,” Ahmad, the political writer, said. But, he added, “it is unconscionable to give up on India. There is no equation where that works.” In “The Ministry for the Future,” a choral voice sometimes speaks for India, and its words chime with Modi’s choice of idiom. “India is coming into its own. We are the new force. People around the world have begun to take notice,” the voice says, midway through the country’s decarbonization process. “Is India now the bold new leader of the world? We think maybe so.” In the book, though, these triumphant notes are justified by a journey of national redemption. In the actual world, they are mostly bluster or, worse, a cynical spin. Modi has a desire for global prestige, for the country and for himself, and a barely hidden ambition to eclipse Nehru as the icon of modern Indian statesmanship. For the former, he will need to turn the country’s hollow, histrionic debates over nationalism toward the real end of advancing national interest, survival, and renewal in ecological terms. And, to outshine his rival of seventy-five years ago, he will need to help preside over the end of an unjust, unsustainable global order. If he wants to try, he should begin in Glasgow.
La contaminación del aire se ha convertido en un problema de primer orden para la India, tanto en lo sanitario, como en lo social y en lo económico. El segundo país más poblado de la tierra por detrás de China es también el segundo mayor consumidor de carbón a nivel mundial y los expertos ponen en duda que sus gobiernos -el actual y los venideros- vayan a poder promover un proceso de descarbonización suficientemente ambicioso de su economía las próximas décadas y al mismo tiempo proporcionen electricidad a un precio asequible para 1.400 millones de personas. A las advertencias de los principales organismos internacionales se suman cifras como las que ha puesto sobre la mesa la revista médica 'The Lancet'. En el año 2019, antes de que estallase la pandemia de coronavirus y de que muchas industrias se vieran obligadas a parar la producción, 1,67 millones de personas murieron en la India a consecuencia de la contaminación del aire. Solo la capital, Nueva Delhi, registró el año pasado 54.000 fallecimientos prematuros que se han relacionado directamente con la toxicidad del aire, una cifra mucho más elevada que en cualquier otra gran metrópoli global. Los datos los ha hecho públicos un informe elaborado por Greenpeace en el sudeste asiático y por la empresa IQAir. En una semana en la que Glasgow (Reino Unido) acapara la atención mediática con el arranque de la cumbre del clima, la COP26, a las grandes naciones les va a tocar retratarse. Naciones Unidas ya advirtió el pasado mes de agosto en un informe demoledor que las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero provocadas por el hombre son responsables de que la temperatura del planeta se haya elevado en más de un grado solo desde el año 1900. Los autores del informe advertían de que el clima está cambiando en todos los rincones del planeta a una escala no vista en miles de años y que algunos de estos cambios serán irreversibles también por miles de años. Ante este drama, hay quienes han tomado la iniciativa, están desarrollando propuestas para atajar este problema que están siendo tenidas en cuenta por sus propios gobiernos. Es el caso de la protagonista de este podcast, Sunita Narain, CEO del Centro de Ciencia y Medio Ambiente de La India, activista política, ecologista y escritora. La revista 'Time' la ha situado entre las cien personas más influyentes del planeta y en la lista de las 15 mujeres que más han hecho por combatir el cambio climático.
Esta terça-feira o mundo vai ficar a conhecer o vencedor da segunda edição do Prémio Gulbenkian para a Humanidade, no valor de um milhão de euros. Este prémio foi instituído pela Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian em 2020 com o propósito de distinguir pessoas, grupos de pessoas ou organizações de todo o mundo que se tenham evidenciado no combate à crise climática e cujas contribuições se destacam pela originalidade, inovação e impacto. No ano passado a vencedora foi a ativista sueca Greta Thunberg, que anunciou de imediato, que ia doar metade do valor do prémio, 500 mil euros, a dez organizações ambientais em vários continentes. Este ano, o júri é composto por personalidades da área, nomeadamente, Miguel Bastos Araújo, Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, Johan Rockström, Mariana Mazzucato, Miguel Aries Cañete, o príncipe Constantijn van Oranje, Runa Khan, Sandra Díaz, Sunita Narain e Rik Leemans. “A humanidade enfrenta uma crise climática severa e sem precedentes, com consequências devastadoras para as pessoas, a natureza e a economia”, refere a Fundação num preâmbulo de apresentação do prémio. Na mesma nota, a Gulbenkian acrescenta ainda: “Os últimos cinco anos foram os mais quentes desde que há registo e este aumento da temperatura global, causado por níveis excessivos de gases de efeito de estufa na atmosfera, está a provocar graves desequilíbrios no Planeta”. “Além dos impactos no ambiente – a perda de biodiversidade e o colapso dos ecossistemas naturais-, as alterações climáticas afetam componentes essenciais do bem-estar humano e do desenvolvimento socioeconómico”, afirma acrescentando que “sem uma mudança drástica, a humanidade continuará a sofrer estas consequências, especialmente aqueles que se encontram em situação de maior vulnerabilidade”.
Delhi air pollution: With winter round the corner in the capital, extended rainfall has meant relatively cleaner air so far. But this relief could be shortlived. Every winter, the national capital and surrounding NCR areas grapple with severe air pollution from multiple internal sources such as dust and vehicular emissions as well as meteorological conditions like low wind speed, temperature, and humidity. Add stubble burning to this cocktail and Delhi is enveloped in a grey haze for the entirety of winter. While Delhi has enjoyed a relatively cleaner pre-winter period (September 1-October 15) this year compared to previous years, as per an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment, experts attributed this to the extended rainfall as well a delayed paddy harvest in Punjab and Haryana. With paddy stubble burning expected to rise in the next few days, pollution too is expected to go up. The harvest and the consequent paddy stubble burning are just starting off in Punjab. The delay this year is because of the monsoon, which withdrew later than usual. Around 28% paddy has been harvested in the state till October 22 against 41% last year on the same date. Between September 1 and October 22, Punjab’s fire count was 5,772 — lower than the fire count of 11,664 till October 22 last year, the highest figure since 2016. But this year’s count is higher than that of 2019 (4,042) and 2018 (3,502). Haryana’s fire count till October 22 was 2,413, up from 2,121 last year. In 2019, the figure for the same time frame was 2,755, while it stood at 2,503 in 2018. This is as per figures provided by Pawan Gupta, senior scientist, Earth Sciences at the Universities Space Research Association, NASA Marshall Space Flight Centre, USA, of data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), an instrument on board NASA’s Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership satellite. Why focus on stubble burning In 2009, the Punjab Preservation of Sub Soil Act was enacted to arrest declining groundwater levels. This delayed the sowing date to match it with the monsoon onset to reduce the burden on ground water for irrigation. Consequently, the harvest was delayed, also reducing the time needed to manage the stubble and prepare for the next crop, said L S Kurinji, programme associate at the research institution, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). This then synchronised with the shift in wind direction in October and November which favour the carrying of smoke towards Delhi. Farm fires in the month of September don’t affect Delhi as much since the wind direction then is mostly south westerly, she said. According to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, which records farm fires through satellite images, the incidence of stubble burning till October 21 are 4,327 — 3,402 took place in just nine days from October 13 to 21. District-wise cumulative fire counts in Punjab between September 1 and October 22 indicates that Amritsar and Tarn Taran have the highest, in the range above 850. In Haryana, the districts of Kaithal and Karnal show the highest counts (over 460), maps that Gupta provided show. “The fire count is lower this year but comparing it to last year’s figures might not work. Last year, due to the labour scarcity induced by the pandemic, more farmers adopted the ‘direct seeder’ technique which resulted in an early harvest and early burning,” said L S Kurinji, programme associate at the research institution, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). Don't Miss | Why does air pollution rise in October every year? Farm fires usually begin in the last week of September, but this year the rains have delayed the harvest in Amritsar and Tarn Taran where the early maturing rice varieties are grown, Kurinji said. These districts are usually where the burning begins, she added. The contribution of stubble burning to PM 2.5 levels in Delhi hit a high of 14% on October 16 this year, having remained below 5% till then. “The fire counts are taken and the area where these counts are is determined before we develop an emission inventory due to these fire counts. Then we run the model to figure out what the contribution from the fire counts is,” said Gufran Beig, founder project director, SAFAR. Alternatives Efforts are on to help farmers switch to the Pusa bio-decomposer, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) to aid the decomposition of crop residue, which is being touted as a cleaner alternative than setting fire to fields. The Delhi government has begun spraying the solution on harvested paddy fields, covering 4,000 acres out of a total of nearly 14,000 acres under paddy cultivation. Indramani Mishra, head of the Agricultural Engineering Department, IARI, said the Punjab government has procured the decomposer through a licensee to cover around 3,000 hectares while the Haryana government will be covering around 1 lakh acres. The UP government has also procured from a licensee for 10 lakh acres. A licensed private company also plans on providing the decomposer for 3 lakh acres in Haryana and 2 lakh acres in Punjab for free as part of their CSR activity, Mishra said. Going by data available on the website of the Government of Punjab’s Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, an estimated area of 31.49 lakh hectares was cultivated with paddy in 2020-21. However, only a small section of farmers will be using the decomposer, said Harinder Singh Lakhowal, General Secretary, Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab. “There isn’t enough time to spray the decomposer and wait for it to work,” Lakhowal said, explaining why farmers were unlikely to use it. Some farmers might want to grow vegetables between paddy and wheat, he pointed out. Besides, the predominant variety of rice being grown in Punjab is PUSA-44 — this one has a higher yield, he said, but it is also the ‘late’ variety, which is harvested later. Alternatives to both the decomposer and burning include a ‘happy seeder,’ which cuts the straw and sows the seeds for the rabi crop at the same time. Even with the subsidy, it remains out of reach for many farmers, Lakhowal said. Manmohan Kalia Joint Director, Farm Machinery Wing, Punjab Agriculture Department and Nodal Officer, Stubble Management, Punjab, said, “Punjab is going to have over 1 lakh machines in the state by this paddy harvesting season. At present, 86,000 machines are available which are sufficient for stubble management machinery because this is not the peak season, which starts in the beginning of November. Farmers, however, are not availing these machines because of increasing diesel costs and other factors.” ‘Burning stubble easier’ Despite spending over Rs 1,000 crore on subsidised machinery to manage stubble in Punjab — which produces around 20 million paddy stubble every year — burning straw across the state continues, with the Majha region on top of the chart currently. In Tarn Taran and Amritsar, which fall in the region, burning fields can be spotted every few 100 metres in around half a dozen blocks. The two districts are also responsible for 43.4% of the total stubble burning in the state till October 21. Farmers here sow short duration varieties of paddy (non-basmati) and basmati rice crops. These were harvested between September 10 and October 20. For them, stubble burning is convenient and cost effective. In Jandiala Guru, Tarsikka, Majitha and Ajnala blocks in Amritsar and Khadur Sahib, and Chohla Sahib blocks in Tarn Taran, farmers sow vegetables like matar (green peas) and table potatoes after harvesting paddy. Peas and potatoes are sown between October 1-20 in these blocks. Jeet Singh, a farmer from Tarn Taran, said, “I harvested the short-duration variety of paddy last week on 5 acres of land. I now have to sow the pea crop; sowing time was up to October 20 which I cannot delay. I was left with just 5-6 days to clear my fields because for sowing vegetables, you need a clean field. It is not like wheat which can be sown in standing stubble with happy seeder or super seeder. It takes at least 5-6 rounds to clear the stubble and the high cost of diesel means machines are out of reach for small, marginal, and semi-medium farmers. We are left with no option but to set our fields on fire, even though it harms the soil and creates air pollution.” Peas are a 65-day crop, which is harvested by the second week of December. Farmers then sow another crop with a late variety of wheat or Rabi season crops. Assembly elections and ongoing protests against the three farm laws also mean that action against farmers who set their fields on fire will be elusive. A senior administrative officer in Amritsar said with elections due in a few months, they cannot take any stringent action against farmers. Till October 21, environment compensation to the tune of Rs 16.46 lakh was imposed, of which only Rs 7,500 could be recovered. No FIRs are being registered this year.
A new report has found that India holds the top spot globally for crop-burning emissions. We are responsible for 13% of the total global emissions from crop burning between 2015-2020. With winter just around the corner, this report is an alarming reminder of the horrors to expect in the national capital and its adjoining areas soon. Crop burning, or stubble burning, involves setting fire to fields to remove crop residue from previous harvests. It is an affordable method to remove weeds and pests too. But, unfortunately, it also leads to severe air pollution. As winter approaches, farmers in the country’s northwestern states start burning leftover paddy stubble to get their fields ready in time to plant wheat crops. Researchers estimate that each year, farmers burn about 23 million tonnes of paddy stubble in India. According to reports, the country may witness more crop burning incidents this year. India Today reported earlier this month that the weather has delayed paddy harvesting by a week in Punjab and Haryana — leaving farmers with lesser time to prepare their field for wheat crops. Related on The Swaddle: Environment Ministry Hasn’t Used Nearly 50% of Budget Allocated for Controlling Air Pollution A study from June this year found that curbing stubble burning could reduce high blood pressure in residents of the regions where it’s practiced. “India thus needs effective policies regarding regulation and management of biomass burning. The policy instruments should address the knowledge barrier in the adoption of new clean technologies for managing crop residue and they should provide greater financial support for buying new machinery,” said researchers of the study. Further, it was reported in March that a parliamentary panel had recommended the Ministry of Science and Technology, Environment, Forests, and Climate to come up with ‘innovative’ plans to mitigate air pollution. Among them, lay a suggestion to establish bio-degraders to address the annual problem of stubble burning. To stop stubble burning, the government has tried banning the practice, and even penalizing farmers — by fining, and even imprisoning, them. However, many experts argue that punishment isn’t a solution to the problem. “Imposing a fine is not going to work in our socio-economic conditions for curbing stubble burning. We need to focus on alternative solutions,” Polash Mukerjee, Lead for Air Pollution at the India Programme of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, told The Hindu in August, explaining that crop burning is often the only economical avenue for farmers so they can get ready for the next sowing season on time. Related on The Swaddle: India’s Outdoor Air Pollution Is as Bad in Villages as in Cities: Study Agreeing with Mukerjee, Anumita Roychowdhury, head of Clean Air Programme at the Centre for Science and Environment, says: “Penalty without access to solutions does not work.” She added, however, that “the government is currently giving equipment to farmers to mix the stubble back into the soil so that they do not have to burn it, but everyone is not getting these machines… The government should ensure their availability to everyone.” In the meantime, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has developed a proprietary microbial solution called “Pusa” to decompose crop residue and turn it into manure — in just about 25 days. The researchers of the June study also advocated for more sustainable farming practices and providing financial incentives to farmers if they avoid crop burning. “In addition to this farmers should be encouraged to sell their residue for alternative purposes like the use of rice pellets for power generation, use of stubble as fodder for cattle, etc.,” they add. Will any of these suggestions be implemented before winter is upon us this year? Only time can tell.
AGARTALA: Ahead of CO UN Climate Change Conference at Glasgow, environmentalists have raised an alarm over a visible change of rainfall pattern and other climate indicators in the northeast, which is conclusively attributed to fallouts of global warming. The conference is scheduled to be held from October 31 to November 12. The latest study of Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) revealed that October has already appeared as one of the hottest months ever recorded so far in the northeast. The most commonly glacier-fed rivers have turned into rain-fed rivers and monsoon rainfall was the main source of water flow in the rivers of the northeast. Congratulations! You have successfully cast your vote The report indicated that the rainfall patterns, especially during monsoon, have been changing, resulting mostly in the region getting dried up. Referring to the Indian Meteorological Department's (IMD) data, the report stated that in 20 of the last 22 years' monsoon, rainfall has been below normal and more than a century-long data set showed a declining trend in many states of the northeast. In the past 30 years or so, northeastern states except for Sikkim have shown a decreasing trend in monsoon rainfall which was attributed to local climate change at the micro level that depend on a lot of factors such as geography and forest cover. Mountain springs, which are the major sources of water in the region, are drying up almost everywhere, thereby affecting the availability of potable water, the study revealed. The researchers, however, also observed that changing climate has influenced changes in biodiversity and it was found that mango has started growing in cold weather at Upper Siang of Arunachal Pradesh. The study found as many as 27% villages in the northeast were watered directly by springs or natural streams but the effect on the perennial water source has impacted agriculture, horticulture, fishing and animal rearing. These changes of climate, specifically the rainfall pattern, has a trickle-down effect in the varieties of rice cultivated in the region. The overall diversity of rice varieties has come down, new pests and insects were being witnessed in some places like Upper Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and Wokha in Nagaland, the study underlined.
Delhi Latest Updates, Delhi Covid-19 Cases Live: With paddy stubble burning expected to rise in the next few days, pollution in Delhi too is expected to go up. Delhi Live News: Delhi on Sunday recorded zero Covid-19 fatalities and 37 fresh cases with a positivity rate of 0.06 per cent. As per official data, only four deaths have been recorded so far this month — once each on October 2, October 10, October 19 and October 22. Water supply will be affected in parts of Gurugram from October 27 to October 28, as the master water supply from Water Treatment Plant, Chandu Budhera, towards Boosting Station Sector 51 will be shut, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) said in a public notice. As such, residents were advised to use water judiciously on October 26, 27 and 28. In other news, while Delhi has enjoyed a relatively cleaner pre-winter period (September 1-October 15) this year compared to previous years, as per an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment, experts attributed this to the extended rainfall as well a delayed paddy harvest in Punjab and Haryana. With paddy stubble burning expected to rise in the next few days, pollution too is expected to go up. HC fixes for final hearing pleas to recognise same-sex marriages under law The Delhi High Court Monday listed for final hearing separate pleas, including by two same sex couples, seeking a declaration recognising same sex marriages under the special, Hindu and foreign marriage laws. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to the parties for filing replies and rejoinders in the matter and listed it for final hearing on November 30. In the first petition, Abhijit Iyer Mitra and three others have contended that same-sex marriages are not possible despite the Supreme Court's decriminalising consensual homosexual acts and sought a declaration to recognise them under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) and Special Marriage Act (SMA). The two other pleas are -- one filed by two women seeking to get married under the SMA and challenging provisions of the statute to the extent that it does not provide for same-sex marriages, and the other filed by two men who got married in the US but were denied registration of their marriage under the Foreign Marriage Act (FMA).
India has said it would install 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 and has internally announced that 30% of all private vehicles will run on electricity by that year India is likely to reiterate its commitment of rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the United Nations climate conference to be held in Glasgow between October 31 and November 12, but may also insist that wealthy nations take stronger action to curtail emissions so that developing countries like India have room to grow. India has said it would install 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 and has internally announced that 30% of all private vehicles will run on electricity by that year. These could be reflected, among other measures, in an updated nationally determined contribution, environment ministry officials said at a select media briefing on Friday. Expectations of concrete action are high in the run up to this year’s climate summit as it could be the last change for the world to keep global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial times, as was agreed upon in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, without compromising on growth in developing economies. India might even agree to net-zero emissions sometime after 2050. Net zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. It entails reductions in the use of coal, oil and gas, and corresponding increase in carbon sequestration efforts like planting trees. “Net zero for a later date is on the platter as an option,” an environment ministry official said. However, the developed world should transition to net zero far earlier, say by 2030, leaving some carbon space for emerging economies like India, he said. “The decision will be taken at the highest level of the government, as it involves India’s growth trajectory,” the official said, requesting anonymity. India may decide on its final negotiation strategy on Wednesday during a meeting of the Union cabinet. As many as 130 countries have set or are considering a net-zero emissions target by mid-century, according to the United Nations. A net zero commitment by 2060 is under discussion in India, said the London-based Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non-profit. Many western nations such as France, the UK and Denmark, among others, will have net-zero emissions by 2050. Russia and China have also announced plans to be carbon neutral by 2060. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, will reach zero-net emissions by 2060, it said on Saturday. India’s climate negotiators have held meetings with relevant ministries and on October 6 held consultations with non-government organisation working in the area of climate change. Many of these institutions have asked environment minister Bhupender Yadav that India should negotiate on the use of remaining carbon budget. Carbon space and its budgeting will be of highest importance for India, they said in their submissions reviewed by HT. Big emitters pledging net-zero emissions by 2050 or 2060 have no meaning unless the trajectory to get there is clear, according to economist Nitin Desai, chairman of the governing council at The Energy and Resources Institute, a New Delhi-based think tank. India should call on the developed world to become carbon negative or at least carbon neutral by 2030, Desai said. There is a need to highlight the carbon budget that is available to the world to meet the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius, he said . India may consider coining the concept of carbon tax on historical emissions by developed countries, according to Kirit Parikh, chairman of Integrated Research and Action for Development, a research foundation. He is of the view that India should call upon developed countries to adopt shorter timelines to become carbon neutral and highlight the importance of carbon space that remains available to the global community. By 2030, the US would have appropriated around 17.7% of the world’s total carbon budget, according to an analysis in Climate Change: Science and Politics, a book released by the Centre for Science and Environment, an advocacy organisation. China’s emissions will be between 29.5% of global emissions between 2012 and 2030, compared to 6.5% for India, the analysis revealed. “In this way, by 2030, over 80% to 100% of the available carbon budget will be occupied with hardly any room for India and African countries… Therefore, India and other developing countries must stake claim to the remaining carbon space,” the analysis showed. The remaining carbon space is of utmost importance and should be highlighted by India at the climate summit, said climate scientist T Jayaraman, senior fellow at the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, who was also part of the consultations. “India could consider supporting a global net zero by 2050, which is achieved in consonance with the principles of UNFCCC, particularly common but differentiated responsibilities and equity,” said Manjeev Singh Puri, former ambassador and lead climate change negotiator for India. “A timeline for peaking and then emissions reduction trajectory is a longer term issue for India, given its development imperatives.”
CSE’s latest analysis of the air quality trends warned that Delhi and NCR will witness severe peak smog as stubble burning will be concentrated due to delayed rains. More details here. 2021 is starting in Delhi with cleaner air as compared to the previous year as per an analysis released by New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). However, the report titled, Winter is coming: Understanding pre-winter air pollution baseline in Delhi-NCR, warned that this winter may experience a severe peak in smog, as farm stubble fire counts may get concentrated due to the delayed effect of the rains. Usually, the smog that occurs in the end October and the beginning of November is driven by stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, Avikal Somanshi, the programme manager at the Urban Data Analytic Lab at CSE told Gaon Connection. However, the delayed monsoons this year stalled the stubble burning, he pointed out. “This implies that the stubble will be burnt in a concentrated manner, at the end of the month. The quantum of smoke coming to Delhi would be in higher concentration which will lead to a peak in smog. Immediate action needs to be taken to counter it,” Somanshi said. The report, released on October 22, highlighted that Delhi witnessed its cleanest monsoon season in the last four years (July 1 to October 15). The city-wide average for the monsoon stood at 41 microgram per cubic metre (ug/m3), with 96 days meeting the 24-hour standard for PM2.5 (particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or smaller in size). The advantage of improved air quality during the summer of 2020 due to the lockdown was however lost in the summer of 2021, and PM2.5 levels in 2021 seemed to have almost returned to the 2019 levels despite the partial lockdowns, the CSE report noted. It assessed the annual and seasonal trends in PM2.5 concentration for the period January 1, 2018 to October 15, 2021. The analysis was based on real-time data available from the currently operational air quality monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR and the larger Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). The report investigated the air quality trends in the national capital territory of Delhi, the National Capital Region (NCR), and the larger Indo-Gangetic Plains. It covered 156 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) spread across 67 cities in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Sharing the preventive measures that need to be taken to check air quality in the region, Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director (research and advocacy) at CSE said, “Delhi and the larger region will require urgent action to prevent severe smog episodes as well as speed up deeper reforms to sustain the gains. Reduce traffic volume, eliminate waste burning, eliminate dirty industrial fuels, and implement stringent dust control measures — especially in the construction sector.” Improvement in Cleaner days since 2018 The report highlighted that there was an average six per cent annual improvement, since 2018, in the number of cleaner days. Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi recorded the lowest seasonal average of 33 ug/m3 whereas Anand Vihar, with a season average of 61 ug/m3, had only 54 cleaner days which made it the worst hotspot in the city. The advent of the monsoon’s retreat date almost perfectly coincided with the start of bad air days in Delhi. Bad air days means the PM2.5 average breaches the standard and remains above that for the rest of the season. As per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) air quality standard (AQI) is categorised into six parts. AQI between 0-50 is considered ‘good’, ‘51-100’ is satisfactory, 101-200 is ‘moderate’, 201-300 is ‘poor’, 301-400 is ‘very poor’, and between 401-500 is ‘severe.’ Talking about the volatile trends observed in pollution hotspots, Somanshi said, “Distinct trends are emerging over the years. The number of days with a severe concentration of PM2.5 has declined and, duration of smog episodes are shorter, as is evident during the 2020-21 winter. Some pollution hotspots are recording higher PM2.5 levels compared to the city as a whole and the regional averages even during monsoons.” Smog episodes during the 2020-21 winter witnessed a decline During the winter of 2020-21, the number of days with a city-wide average of PM2.5 concentration in ‘severe’ or ‘worse’ AQI sub-categories was down to 23 from 25 such days in 2019-20 winter, and 34 such days in 2018-19 winter. According to the CSE report, a smog episode takes place when the levels of PM2.5 remain in the ‘severe’ category for three consecutive days. From this perspective, there were two continuous smog episodes in this period. The first one lasted for seven days from November 3, 2020 to November 10, 2020, and the second one was on December 22, 2020 that lasted for just three days. Thus, the report concluded that continuous smog episodes were fewer and shorter as compared to the previous winters. While the winter season of 2020-21 was 5 per cent worse among the major NCR cities and Delhi, as compared to the 2019-20 season, the peak pollution was 13 per cent lower. From the 2019-20 trend, it can be expected that smog episodes in 2021-22 might have a higher peak pollution if prevention measures are not taken to reduce pollution, the report noted. For 2019-20, this can be attributed to the September-October rains that pushed and concentrated the farm stubble burning towards the end of October, and beginning of November when winter conditions were turning more adverse. PM2.5 hotspots Eleven of 18 recognised hotspots registered higher seasonal averages than the city and the region, but only Anand Vihar and Punjabi Bagh showed worsening air quality during the 2021 monsoon as compared to 2020 monsoon, the report noted. Fifty per cent of the 14 new locations in NCR, which were identified as emerging hotspots by CSE, registered lower levels of air pollution this monsoon as compared to city and regional averages. Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, Manesar in Haryana, and Sector-11 in Faridabad have also emerged as potential hotspots, wherein Sector 11 had the worst air (64 ug/m3) during this monsoon in NCR. From the list of 35 recognised and emerging hotspots, only three locations – Mayapuri, Okhla Phase 2, and Sanjay Nagar – had their summer averages below the regional average of 75 ug/m3. Two hotspots that showed improvement were Wazirpur and Sahibabad. Air pollution in Delhi in 2019. Photo : Wiki Coomon Changing pattern of lead pollutants and AQI during pre-winter months While particulate pollution dominates the daily pollution in Delhi, other gaseous pollutants like ozone and carbon monoxide have become the lead pollutants along with particulate pollution of the day due to wash-out effects of rains. The months of September and October show that the number of days in the ‘satisfactory category’ increased from 43 per cent in 2019 to 90 per cent in 2021. This had come down to 27 per cent in 2020. A similar pattern was observed in the ‘moderately polluted’ category. Fortunately, October, 2021 did not witness any day in the ‘poor category.’
he move toward electrification is going to re-energise the industry according to Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director, Bajaj Auto. He was speaking at day one of Autocar Professional’s mega week-long two-wheeler conclave. He kicked off the event with his thoughts in sync with the day’s theme focussing on 'Industry Regains Momentum'. “The two-wheeler industry is currently at an inflection point. It is a great time for people who are ready to embrace change. Sometimes, we need discontinuation to reinvent the industry. The move to electrification is a good way to reinvent the wheel. It will help reconnect with the customer even more powerfully. Also, this is a global opportunity for India,” the executive director added. He mentioned that like Bajaj Auto, everyone is prepared for the EV storm and are preparing for the 'landfall'. The company will also be setting up a 100 percent subsidiary for driving the electric business. “It is like a new business. And, we are not paranoid about the volume. We have plans to enter more cities,” Sharma said. Regaining momentum “The two-wheeler industry is one of the best industries to be in,” he stated. Be it the dealers, spare parts maker or consumers, it is a good place to be in. But, since FY2019 the industry for one reason or other has been in decline. “The two-wheeler industry is a good indicator of the demand at the bottom of the pyramid. These are essential products and its growth has a multiplier effect on people and the economy. Right now, the demand is in the negative and Covid-19 has surely impacted. The festive season has shown some positive signs but not fully and we expect demand to pick up in the second half of the season,” he pointed out. Rakesh Sharma also stated that the GST recognising two-wheelers and four-wheelers as different product categories, will help revive demand. “The four-wheeler demand has behaved differently. The fundamental demand price elasticity are different from a two-wheeler,” According to him, if there is a move to offer relief on the purchase side and income taxes and if there could be steps to put more money in the pockets of middle-class consumers, it could help drive the demand in India. “Demand is strongest in the mid-level motorcycles," the ED explained. He hgighlighted the “need to be prepared for the long haul,” despite the short-term challenges and pointed out that customer service, R&D and manufacturing are the key focus areas for the longer term. Tackling challenges During the interaction he also said that new measures from China may choke the circulation of containers. “I am bracing myself up for it,” he expressed. It should take almost up to a year to get things back to normal. “The whole horizon of managing is now reduced to a quarter and a month even for top management. We need to be agile about considering short-term uncertainties and put counter measures into place,” he added. Register now for the two-wheeler conclave This is a must-attend event for all stakeholders of the industry and in case you haven’t already, Register now to ensure your participation everyday of this power-packed last week of October. Participants can hear and share their views and also pose questions. At Autocar Professional we try to take up all our viewer questions and maximise the value of every minute that all of you share with us. Remember to join us at 10 am every morning between October 25-29, 2021. Here is a day-wise split of the topics for the remaining days of the Two-Wheeler Week. October 26 – The Race To Go Electric 10-10:30 am- Sudarshan Venu, Joint MD, TVS Motor Company 10:35- 11:35 am -Ravneet Phokela, Chief Business Officer, Ather Energy -Kabir Bhandari, Padmini VNA Mechatronics -Shivalik Prasad, VP (Sales & Alliances), Sibros -Arjun Jain, Business Head - Electrical/Electronics at Varroc Group October 27 – Road to Greener Mobility 10- 10:30 am - Diego Graffi, CEO & MD, Piaggio Vehicles 10:35- 11:35 am -Mahua Acharya, MD & CEO, Convergence Energy Services (CESL) -Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Executive Director, Research & Advocacy, Centre for Science and Enviornment (CSE) -Sanjeev Saxena, President, Automotive Technologies, Schaeffler India -Pankaj Dubey, Co-founder & CEO, Power Global India October 28 – Emerging Safety Trends and Challenges 10- 10:30 am -Krishan Kohli, Head India Market — BU HBS & VED and MD, Continental Automotive Brake Systems India 10:35- 11:35 am Piyush Tewari, Founder & CEO, SaveLife Foundation Uri Lavi, CEO & Co-founder, Ride Vision Renuka Srinivasan, Sales Director, Dassault Systemes October 29 – Premium Biking and the Way Forward 10- 10:30 am - Exclusive conversation with top premium biking manufacturers across India 10:35- 11:35 am Bipul Chandra, MD, Ducati India Shoeb Farooq, Business head- Triumph Motorcycles Ravi Avalur, Head - New Business Unit, Harley-Davidson India
Hope rises in Delhi as winter 2021 begins on cleaner note On October 22nd, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the Delhi-based non profit research and advocacy organisation, released its latest analysis of air quality data for the National Capital Region. The analysis is based on the real time data available from the current working air quality monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR and the larger Indo Gangetic Plain. The analysis indicated that 2021 winter was starting with a cleaner threshold compared to the previous years, largely due to the intense and prolonged effect of the monsoons. However, as Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at CSE has pointed out, this cannot be used to predict with certainty how pollution is going to bounce back in the winter. A cleaner pre-winter period does not necessarily assure a cleaner winter. The period from October 15 to February 15 is considered as the winter season, based on dates referred in Delhi’s Graded Response Action Plan, and the analysis captures three successive winter seasons, pre-winter trends and pre and pandemic era including stages of lockdown in Delhi and NCR. Meanwhile, the Delhi government has signed an MoU with IIT Kanpur for a source apportionment and forecasting study on air pollutants, which is expected to help identify sources of pollution in the capital and also help assess the impact of different sources like vehicular emissions, industries, dust, and biomass burning. The government has also directed the SDMs (sub-divisional magistrates) of 33 zones to hold meetings on air pollution with RWAs, market associations and NGOs and hold anti-firecracker campaigns. They have also been empowered to crack down on illegal sale of firecrackers. Source: Down to Earth | The Indian Express
Fire crackers and stubble burning in the neighbourhood may worsen air pollution With air pollution likely to touch dangerous levels, Delhiites may have to face another year of pollution. Delhi’s air quality remained in the moderate category on Friday. But according to the forecast by World Air Quality Index project, a non-profit project started in 2007, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital will worsen in the coming week, from a range of 69-138 on Friday to 159-186 by Monday. Unhealthy category This projection is based on data from the air quality around the US Embassy in New Delhi, one of the cleaner parts, with an AQI of 104 on Friday morning. Air quality varies throughout the day and across the city. At Anand Vihar, a busier area that houses a prominent inter-State bus terminal, the AQI on Friday noon was 135, which is in the unhealthy category. This is despite the Delhi government’s various steps aimed at curbing air pollution in the State. These include measures such as stopping thermal power plants and pushing industries to switch to gas-based fuel. According to statements from the government, some of these measures may also have yielded positive results. Another step they highlight is the supply of round-the-clock power to the national capital that eliminates the use of diesel gensets. “The 2021 winter is starting with a cleaner threshold, compared to the previous years, largely due to the intense and prolonged effect of the monsoons. While winter pollution cannot be predicted at this moment, the evidence of rising summer pollution in 2021 despite the lockdown and the evidence of a synchronised effect of winter pollution across the Indo-Gangetic Plain add to our concern,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). How soon the winter pollution will hit will depend on the scale and speed of action across the region and leveraging it for more sustained air quality gains, she added. Stubble burning It is feared that fire crackers during Diwali in early November and stubble burning in Delhi’s neighbourhood will worsen the air pollution situation. Last week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that stubble burning in neighbouring States has been on an upswing, which will adversely impact the air quality of Delhi. Anticipating the same, the State government reiterated a ban on fire crackers on Friday. Acting on reports of illegal storage and sales of firecrackers being reported, the government has instructed all Sub Divisional Magistrates to organise anti-cracker campaigns throughout Delhi. They have also been empowered to take action against illegal sales. The Delhi government, for now, seems to be banking on some of their ongoing efforts to tackle pollution. According to the State government, a smog tower in Central Delhi, which was set up in August, has also shown good results. “These will be studied more and maybe replicated in other parts of the city, as part of the plan; pollution hotspots have been identified, which will be monitored from the Green War Room,” said an earlier statement from the government. On Friday, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee signed an agreement with IIT-Kanpur for a project aimed at identifying sources and forecasting air pollution in real time. This is expected to help identify the factors responsible for the spike in air pollution at any spot in Delhi. It will also help understand the real-time impact of various pollution sources like vehicles, dust, biomass burning, stubble burning, and emissions from industries. While announcing the agreement, Delhi’s Environment Minister, Gopal Rai, said that the State government will be able to take the necessary actions to curb the sources of pollution based on the results obtained from this project. Delhi also started an Anti-Dust Campaign for October, aimed at curbing pollution from construction sites. There have also been efforts to issue more challans the polluting vehicles.
नई दिल्ली: आमतौर पर मानसून के बाद और सर्दियों की आहट के महीने अक्टूबर में दिल्ली वालों को जानलेवा हवा (Air Pollution) का सामना करना पड़ता है. हालांकि इस बार हालात पिछले सालों जितने बुरे नहीं हैं. हवा खराब लेकिन पहले से बेहतर अक्टूबर के महीने में हवा की क्वालिटी (Air Pollution) खराब तो हुई है. फिर भी यह मॉडरेट और खराब यानी Poor के बीच की क्वालिटी बनी हुई है. जबकि पिछले सालों में इस महीने एयर क्वालिटी इंडेक्स पर दिल्ली की हवा बेहद खराब यानी Very Poor स्तर में रही है. दिल्ली में इस साल पिछले 4 सालों का सबसे साफ मानसून सीजन भी दर्ज हुआ है. इस वर्ष अभी तक 96 दिन दिल्ली की हवा सांस लेने लायक रही है. जबकि पीएम PM 2.5 का स्तर 41 के औसत पर रहा है. वर्ष 2018 के मुकाबले हर वर्ष 6 फीसदी की दर से साफ दिनों में बढ़ोतरी हुई है. दिल्ली में कर्णी सिंह शूटिंग रेंज और नेशनल स्टेडियम में सबसे अच्छी हवा दर्ज की गई. कर्णी सिंह रेंज में पीएम 2.5 का स्तर 33 के औसत पर रहा. इसी तरह नेशनल स्टेडियम में 100 दिनों तक हवा का स्तर बेहतर बना रहा है. इस मौसम में भी दिल्ली में आनंद विहार का हाल सबसे खराब रहा. वहां केवल 54 दिनों तक ही साफ हवा रह पाई. जबकि मॉनसून के पूरे सीजन का औसत दिल्ली में 66 दिन था. पंजाब बाग बना प्रदूषण का हॉट स्पॉट आनंद विहार के अलावा पंजाबी बाग को भी दिल्ली में प्रदूषण (Air Pollution) का हॉट स्पॉट माना गया है. सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एन्वायरमेंट के आंकलन के मुताबिक इस बार अच्छी बारिश की वजह से अभी हवा का स्तर ठीक बना हुआ है. हालांकि सीएसई की एक्सपर्ट अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी का मानना है कि इससे ये अंदाजा नहीं लगाया जा सकता कि सर्दियों में दिल्ली एनसीआर की हवा कैसी रहेगी. हालांकि दिल्ली की गर्मियां इस साल पिछले साल के मुकाबले थोड़ी खराब रही हैं. पिछले साल संपूर्ण लॉकडाउन की वजह से दिल्ली में हवा (Air Pollution) गर्मियों में भी अच्छी थी लेकिन इस साल लॉकडाउन के फायदे से लोग महरुम रह गए और वो असर खत्म हो गया. 2020 में गर्मियों में पीएम 2.5 का औसत 79 था जो 90 दिनों तक बना रहा. इस वर्ष केवल 51 दिन ऐसे थे जब ये औसत बरकरार रह पाया. दिल्ली की हवा खराब करने में पराली का योगदान हर साल 10 अक्टूबर के आसपास खेतों में पराली जलने का असर दिल्ली में दिखने लगता है. इस वर्ष भी ऐसा ही हुआ. अभी तक 16 अक्टूबर के दिन पराली का असर सबसे ज्यादा देखा गया है. सरकारी एप सफर के आंकड़ों के मुताबिक 16 अक्टूबर को दिल्ली की हवा खराब करने में पराली का योगदान 14 प्रतिशत था. अक्टूबर खत्म होने और नवंबर की शुरुआत में ये योगदान हर साल 40 प्रतिशत तक का हो जाता है, जो दिल्ली के हालात सबसे खराब कर देता है. ये वही दिन होते हैं, जब लोगों के लिए दिल्ली एनसीआर में बंद घरों में भी सांस लेना दूभर हो जाता है. एक्सपर्ट्स का मानना है कि वो बुरे दिन आने वाले हैं. दिल्ली एनसीआर में पीएम 2.5 के अलावा कार्बन मोनोक्सॉइड और ओजोन गैस भी काफी प्रदूषण करती हैं. लोगों का दम घोंट देता है पराली का धुआं 2020 में 1 अक्टूबर से 29 नवंबर के बीच दिल्ली में मौजूद हवा के प्रदूषण वाले PM 2.5 के कणों में रोज़ाना 12 प्रतिशत योगदान पराली के धुएं का रहा. जबकि 2019 में इसी दौरान ये आंकड़ा 8.9 प्रतिशत था. 2018 में 10.9 प्रतिशत प्रतिदिन पराली के धुएं ने दिल्ली की हवा खराब करने में अपना योगदान दिया. गौर करने वाली बात ये है कि दिल्ली की हवा (Air Pollution) खराब करने में पराली का योगदान हर साल कई गुना बढ़ा है. अगर औसत देखें तो 2018 में औसतन दिल्ली का प्रदूषण पराली का धुआं रोज 12 प्रतिशत की दर से बढ़ा रहा था जबकि2020 में ये बढ़कर 36 प्रतिशत हो गया. यानी पिछले साल सर्दियों के मौसम में पराली की वजह से दिल्ली में 36 प्रतिशत प्रदूषण बढ़ गया. कैसी थी पिछले साल की सर्दियां? पिछले साल प्रदूषण बाकी वर्षों से कम रहा है. 2020–21 की सर्दियों में 23 दिन दिल्ली एनसीआर की हवा 23 दिन Severe या बेहद गंभीर कैटेगरी में रही. 2019-20 में 25 दिन और 2018-19 में 34 दिन ऐसा रहा. ये वो दिन होते हैं जब दिल्ली में GRAP यानी Graded Response Action Plan लागू रहता है. by Taboola Sponsored Links You May Like 1 करोड़ का टर्म जीवन बीमा मात्र ₹490/माह*. टालो नहीं, ले डालोटर्म जीवन बीमा योजना Exclusively for Ages 4-14PlanetSpark इस बार दिल्ली में 14 लोकेशन को प्रदूषण (Air Pollution) का हॉट स्पॉट माना गया है. इनमें से 50 प्रतिशत जगहों में पिछले साल के मुकाबले हवा बेहतर रही है. लेकिन 3 नई जगहें जुड़ी हैं. राजस्थान का भिवाड़ी, हरियाणा का मानेसर और फरीदाबाद का सेक्टर 11 हवा के लिहाज़ से नए प्रदूषित हॉट स्पॉट बन गए हैं. वज़ीरपुर और साहिबाबाद में हालात बेहतर हुए हैं. ये भी पढ़ें- जज ही निकला रेपिस्ट, कोर्ट ने बलात्कार और धोखाधड़ी का ठहराया दोषी सर्दी में फैल सकता है तेज कोहरा सीएसई (CSE Latest Report) ने ये आंकलन 1 जनवरी 2018 से 15 अक्टूबर 2021 के PM 2.5 के स्तर के आधार पर किया है. इसके लिए देश के 67 शहरों में लगे 156 ambient air quality monitoring stations का डाटा देखा गया. हालांकि रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक बारिश का असर देर से आया है, इसलिए इस बार स्मॉग यानी दमघोंटू प्रदूषण (Air Pollution) का असर पहले सालों के मुकाबले और खराब हो सकता है. इस बार बारिश का असर देर तक रहा है. इसलिए कोहरे के हालात नहीं बने. लेकिन इस बार तेज़ सर्दी आते आते बारिश का असर खत्म हो चुका होगा. ऐसे में तेज़ सर्दी में गहरा कोहरा मिलकर खतरनाक स्मॉग बना सकते हैं. इससे सावधान रहने और अभी एक्शन लेने की ज़रुरत है.
First the good news. Stubble burning in the farms in neighboring states, which i .. Read more at: https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/brace-for-severe-smog-in-coming-days-consider-counter-measures-like-reducing-traffic-on-road-says-cse/87207385