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Big surprise: UP, Bihar do well on clean energy index — electricity in all homes, LPG in most

The Niti Aayog’s SDG index reveals that all states, barring Chhattisgarh, have achieved 100 per cent electrification of households. New Delhi: The heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar may not have fared well on Niti Aayog’s sustainable development goals (SDG) index on crucial social indicators such as health, infant mortality or education. But they performed fairly well when it came to electrification of households as part of the goal of ‘affordable and clean energy’ — in line with the national trend. According to the report, these states have achieved complete electrification of households. They have also provided majority of the households with either piped natural gas (PNG) connections or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections. The Niti Aayog’s SDG index, released last week, looks at sustainable development goals set by the United Nations in 2015 to address key aspects of universal well-being across different socio-economic indicators. India developed its own index to track its progress. Prepared by Niti Aayog, the index was first launched in December 2018, and the latest index (3.0) covers 17 SDGs and 169 targets. Affordable and clean energy is among these goals, along with poverty eradication, good health, well-being, sanitation, economic growth, among others. VDO.AI Andhra Pradesh is the top performer on the index for clean energy, with a 100 per cent score. UP has also achieved the same score while Bihar has scored 78. The overall India score is 92. The latest report said all states, barring Chhattisgarh, have achieved 100 per cent electrification of households. The number varies among union territories. Out of the eight UTs, four have achieved universal access to electricity — Delhi, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir and Puducherry. However, the other four — Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli — have reported “null” when calculating percentage of household electrification. Gujarat leads the states with 26 lakh PNG connections while West Bengal has no PNG connection yet, the report said. Among UTs, Delhi leads in both PNG and LPG connections, with 49.8 lakh LPG connections and 9 lakh PNG connections. Goa, Punjab, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana are among the other top performers. At the bottom is Meghalaya with only 47 per cent LPG and PNG connections. Madhya Pradesh with 85.24 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh (84.05 per cent), Bihar (76.55 per cent) and Jharkhand (75.79 per cent) also lag the others. Electrification of households can be faulty indicator, say experts Samrat Sengupta, programme director of the renewable energy team at the Centre for Science and Environment, explained that households with electricity is at times a faulty indicator of clean energy. “The Saubhagya Scheme on electricity does take into account erratic supply of electricity, quality of voltage and there have also been studies to show that in some villages there have been 12-15 hours of power cuts. Most of these households require a secondary source such as kerosene for lighting purposes,” said Sengupta. Speaking about LPG connections, Sengupta said there were many dropouts in the LPG rollout due to the weak purchasing power capacity and gaps in supply for the second cylinder connection. While LPG was certainly cleaner than biomass or kerosene that was used in villages, not enough people were converting to it, he said. “LPG requires a lot of infrastructure and is difficult to store and transport,” said Sengupta. He called for pushing electricity as end use for cooking as well — induction cooking. “It is a lot more efficient than a stove and feasible as well,” he explained. By 2030, he said, India should target full electrification in rural cooking and household energy.

देश के 5 बड़े शहरों में व्हीकल रिसायकलिंग प्लांट खोलेगी यह कंपनी

वाहन स्क्रैपेज पालिसी लागू होने के बाद अब कई कपनियों ने स्क्रैपिंग फर्म में निवेश करना शुरू कर दिया है। हाल ही में हैदराबाद स्थित रैमकी एनवायरो इंजीनियर्स लिमिटेड (REEL) ने देश के पांच बड़े शहरों में व्हीकल रीसाइकलिंग प्लांट लगाने की घोषणा की है। कंपनी पहले चरण में दिल्ली-एनसीआर, मुंबई, बेंगलुरु और चेन्नई में रीसाइक्लिंग प्लांट लगाएगी। अगले चरण में, रीसाइकलिंग नेटवर्क पूरे भारत में 25 से ज्यादा स्थानों तक विस्तारित होगा। कंपनी इस पहल के हिस्से के रूप में यात्री और वाणिज्यिक वाहन दोनों क्षेत्रों में अग्रणी ऑटोमोटिव कंपनियों के साथ साझेदारी करना चाहती है। एक रिपोर्ट के अनुसार देश में 2025 तक लगभग 2 करोड़ से ज्यादा वाहनों की तय समय सीमा समाप्त हो जाएगी। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट की एक रिपोर्ट में बताया गया है कि अगर पुराने वाहनों के लिए स्थायी समाधान नहीं ढूंढा गया तो ये वाहन भविष्य में प्रदूषण का महत्वपूर्ण कारण बनेंगे।

REEL to set up vehicle recycling facilities

In the first phase, recycling facilities will be developed near Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. In the next phase, the network will expand to over 25 locations across India. Hyderabad-based Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) on Monday said it will be setting up a network of ‘end of life’ vehicle recycling facilities across the country. These facilities will deploy automated technologies towards dismantling, depolluting and shredding to maximise recycling and resource recovery. In the first phase, recycling facilities will be developed near Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. In the next phase, the network will expand to over 25 locations across India. The company also intends to partner with leading automotive companies in both the passenger and the commercial vehicles segments as part of this initiative. As per industry estimates, by 2025, India is expected to have over two crore vehicles nearing the end of their lives. These, along with other unfit vehicles, if not recycled and managed sustainably, can cause significant pollution and environmental damage, said a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Serious shortage of healthcare professionals in rural India amid 2nd wave

The pandemic has exposed the healthcare system in rural India, where the crisis of COVID-19 is largely a silent one. In May, six districts in rural India accounted for over 52 per cent of deaths due to COVID and 53 per cent of all new cases of infection. "While the abysmal state of preparedness in urban India has been in the limelight, a more distressing scenario is emerging from the rural hinterland," says a new statistical report released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). As per the report, the community health centres in rural India need 76 per cent more doctors, 56 per cent more radiographers and 35 per cent more lab technicians, underscoring the serious shortage of healthcare professionals in primary healthcare setups. Watch the video for more.

India has lost 90 per cent of the area under its biodiversity hotspots, says CSE’s new statistical analysis

More than 12 per cent of India’s IUCN Red List animal species are endangered There has been a huge jump in forest fires this year 14 states/UTs have registered a drop in carbon retention services New Delhi, June 8, 2021: India has lost 90 per cent of the area under its four biodiversity hotspots. The Indo-Burma hotspot is the worst hit — the extent of vegetation in the region has been reduced from 2,373,057 sq km to a mere 118,653 sq km, a loss of 95 per cent. Twenty five species have also gone extinct in these hotspots. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List monitors 1,212 animal species in India – the IUCN says over 12 per cent of them are endangered. Of the 148 endangered species, 69 are mammals, 456 amphibians and 23 reptiles. These ominous statistics have been brought to light in an e-publication released here on World Environment Day by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). State of India’s Environment in Figures 2021, as the e-publication is titled, is an annual compendium of data and statistics on key issues of environment and development. Releasing the e-book, CSE director general Sunita Narain said: “There is drama in numbers, especially when these numbers give you a trend—are things getting better or worse. It is even more powerful when you can use the trend to understand the crisis, the challenge and the opportunity.” India’s forests could certainly use a better understanding of the crisis they are facing. Says Richard Mahapatra, managing editor of Down To Earth, “At a time when we are witnessing an alarming fall in the timber and non-timber forest produce services in Indian forests — implying overuse of resources — climatic cycles are combining with other factors to result in a dramatic rise in forest fire alerts. We must learn to connect the dots.” The CSE report points out that 16 states – including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand – have witnessed a significant rise in number of forest fire alerts. It says: “India has seen a drastic rise in forest fires since the start of 2021. As of May 1, the number of fire alerts recorded by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is 433,581. This is quite a jump, even though the official forest fire season of the country is from February to June. Forest fires are influenced by temperature and rainfall in the preceding monsoon. The year 2016, the hottest on record when India’s annual temperature rose 0.71oC over the annual average of 25oC, saw 541,135 forest fires — the most in a decade.” The report adds: “Rainfall during the 2015 monsoon was 765.8 mm, 14 per cent less than the normal 880 mm, as per the India Meteorological Department. In 2021, too, India sees unusually warm weather along with 8.7 per cent surplus rainfall last monsoon that leaves adequate humidity for fires to spread.” Says Narain about the publication: “In an age when the quality of data available to us is usually poor—it is either missing, unavailable publicly or of questionable quality—a collection like this can be immensely helpful, especially for journalists. Improving the quality of data can only happen when we use it for policy. Take the case of the ongoing pandemic. Just consider how we have suffered in this past year because we do not have sufficient or accurate data on tests, or the number of deaths, or serological surveys, or genomic sequencing of the variants. In each case, data would have been (and is) critical for policy making.” She adds: “Data collection is important—it is part of the art of governance—but it is equally important that entire data sets are shared and worked upon so that they can be critiqued and through this process used and improved upon.”

India lose 90 pc of area under its biodiversity hotspots, says CSE

More than 12 percent of India’s IUCN Red List animal species are endangered; There has been a huge jump in forest fires this year; 14 states/UTs have registered a drop in carbon retention services NEW DELHI, June 8: India has lost 90 percent of the area under its four biodiversity hotspots. The Indo-Burma hotspot is the worst hit — the extent of vegetation in the region has been reduced from 2,373,057 sq km to a mere 118,653 sq km, a loss of 95 percent. Twenty-five species have also gone extinct in these hotspots. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List monitors 1,212 animal species in India – the IUCN says over 12 percent of them are endangered. Of the 148 endangered species, 69 are mammals, 456 amphibians, and 23 reptiles. These ominous statistics have been brought to light in an e-publication released here on World Environment Day by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). State of India’s Environment in Figures 2021, as the e-publication is titled, is an annual compendium of data and statistics on key issues of environment and development. Releasing the e-book, CSE director general Sunita Narain said: “There is drama in numbers, especially when these numbers give you a trend—are things getting better or worse. It is even more powerful when you can use the trend to understand the crisis, the challenge, and the opportunity.” India’s forests could certainly use a better understanding of the crisis they are facing. Says Richard Mahapatra, managing editor of Down To Earth, “At a time when we are witnessing an alarming fall in the timber and non-timber forest produce services in Indian forests — implying overuse of resources — climatic cycles are combining with other factors to result in a dramatic rise in forest fire alerts. We must learn to connect the dots.” The CSE report points out that 16 states – including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand – have witnessed a significant rise in the number of forest fire alerts. It says: “India has seen a drastic rise in forest fires since the start of 2021. As of May 1, the number of fire alerts recorded by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is 433,581. This is quite a jump, even though the official forest fire season of the country is from February to June. Forest fires are influenced by temperature and rainfall in the preceding monsoon. The year 2016, the hottest on record when India’s annual temperature rose 0.71oC over the annual average of 25oC, saw 541,135 forest fires — the most in a decade.” The report adds: “Rainfall during the 2015 monsoon was 765.8 mm, 14 percent less than the normal 880 mm, as per the India Meteorological Department. In 2021, too, India sees unusually warm weather along with 8.7 percent surplus rainfall last monsoon that leaves adequate humidity for fires to spread.” Says Narain about the publication: “In an age when the quality of data available to us is usually poor—it is either missing, unavailable publicly or of questionable quality—a collection like this can be immensely helpful, especially for journalists. Improving the quality of data can only happen when we use it for policy. Take the case of the ongoing pandemic. Just consider how we have suffered in this past year because we do not have sufficient or accurate data on tests, or the number of deaths, or serological surveys, or genomic sequencing of the variants. In each case, data would have been (and is) critical for policymaking.” She adds: “Data collection is important—it is part of the art of governance—but it is equally important that entire data sets are shared and worked upon so that they can be critiqued and through this process used and improved upon.

Biodiversity loss: India has lost 90% of area under four biodiversity hotspots, 25 species extinct, finds study

A key issue that has put fires at risk is the forest fires, which have been quite high since the beginning of the year Biodiversity in India: Over 90% of the area under the biodiversity hotspots in India have been lost. India has four biodiversity hotspots and 90% of this area has been lost, according to the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) new report entitled ‘State of India’s Environment in Figures 2021’. As per the data compiled in the report, the Indo-Burma hotspot is the worst affected and has lost 95% of its vegetation area, going from 23.73 lakh sq km to 1.18 lakh sq km. Another worrying aspect is that in these four hotspots, 25 species have also become extinct. Also read | Bad air quality, non-biodegradable waste biggest threats for environment; Dhruv Bhatnagar, DB Life Sciences In India, 1,212 animal species are monitored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in its Red List, and over 12% of these species – 148 – are endangered. Among the endangered species are 69 mammals, 23 reptiles as well as 56 amphibians. A key issue that has put fires at risk is the forest fires, which have been quite high since the beginning of the year, the report said. Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh are among the 16 states that have witnessed an increase in this aspect. By May 1 this year, as many as 4.33 lakh forest fires had been recorded, even though the season for forest fires still had another month remaining. To put this in perspective, 2016 was the hottest year on record and India’s annual temperature that year rose 0.71 degrees Celsius above normal. That year, the country witnessed 5.41 lakh forest fires, the maximum recorded in the decade. What adds to the worry is that this year, the weather has been unusually warm, and last monsoon had seen 8.7% surplus rainfall leaving the weather adequately humid for forest fires to spread. Not only that but 14 states or UTs in the country have also registered a drop in carbon retention services or carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration refers to the long term removal or capturing of carbon from the atmosphere to control or mitigate global warming, and this is done naturally using biological, physical and chemical processes. A decline in these services means a decline in the capturing of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Keeping such services in place is important to minimise the impact of human activities on the environment.

CSE Says India To Lose 90 Percent Of Area Under Its Biodiversity Hotspots

India has lost 90 per cent of the area under its four biodiversity hotspots. The Indo-Burma hotspot is the worst hit - the extent of vegetation in the region has been reduced from 2,373,057 sq km to a mere 118,653 sq km, a loss of 95 per cent. Twenty five species have also gone extinct in these hotspots. The International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List monitors 1,212 animal species in India - the IUCN says over 12 per cent of them are endangered. Of the 148 endangered species, 69 are mammals, 456 amphibians and 23 reptiles. These ominous statistics have been brought to light in an e-publication released here on World Environment Day by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). State of India's Environment in Figures 2021, as the e-publication is titled, is an annual compendium of data and statistics on key issues of environment and development. Releasing the e-book, CSE director general Sunita Narain said: "There is drama in numbers, especially when these numbers give you a trend - are things getting better or worse. It is even more powerful when you can use the trend to understand the crisis, the challenge and the opportunity." India's forests could certainly use a better understanding of the crisis they are facing. Says Richard Mahapatra, managing editor of Down To Earth, "At a time when we are witnessing an alarming fall in the timber and non-timber forest produce services in Indian forests - implying overuse of resources - climatic cycles are combining with other factors to result in a dramatic rise in forest fire alerts. We must learn to connect the dots." The CSE report points out that 16 states - including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand - have witnessed a significant rise in number of forest fire alerts. It says: "India has seen a drastic rise in forest fires since the start of 2021. As of May 1, the number of fire alerts recorded by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is 433,581. This is quite a jump, even though the official forest fire season of the country is from February to June. Forest fires are influenced by temperature and rainfall in the preceding monsoon. The year 2016, the hottest on record when India's annual temperature rose 0.71oC over the annual average of 25oC, saw 541,135 forest fires - the most in a decade." The report adds: "Rainfall during the 2015 monsoon was 765.8 mm, 14 per cent less than the normal 880 mm, as per the India Meteorological Department. In 2021, too, India sees unusually warm weather along with 8.7 per cent surplus rainfall last monsoon that leaves adequate humidity for fires to spread." Says Narain about the publication "in an age when the quality of data available to us is usually poor - either it is either missing, unavailable publicly or of questionable quality - a collection like this can be immensely helpful. Improving the quality of data can only happen when we use it for policy. Take the case of the ongoing pandemic. Just consider how we have suffered in this past year because we do not have sufficient or accurate data on tests, or the number of deaths, or serological surveys, or genomic sequencing of the variants. In each case, data would have been (and is) critical for policy making." She adds that "data collection is important - it is part of the art of governance - but it is equally important that entire data sets are shared and worked upon so that they can be critiqued and through this process used and improved upon." With the UN having declared the coming decade as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), India must take serious note of this CSE report and buckle up to restore the ecosystem. pic courtesy: upsccolorfullnotes.com

14 new pollution hotspots emerging in NCR: Report

NEW DELHI: The National Capital Region is seeing the emergence of new pollution hotspots. An analysis for the winter season of 2020-2021 by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found heavy deterioration in air quality in places not yet designated as hotspots. As many as 14 stations registered higher seasonal PM2.5 concentration than Delhi’s winter average. Experts say it points to the impact of local pollution sources. Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi Pollution Control Committee had earlier identified 13 hotspots in Delhi: these were Rohini, Dwarka, Okhla Phase-II, Punjabi Bagh, Anand Vihar, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, Bawana, Mundka, Narela and Mayapuri. Six pollution hotspots were identified last winter in other NCR towns — two in Faridabad, one each in Gurugram, Bahadurgarh, Bhiwandi and Sahibabad. These areas were found to have annual average levels higher than themean value of the city. Track the pollution level in your city According to the CSE analysis, the 14 locations that are emerging as the new hotspots have registered a higher seasonal average than the mean of the recognised hotspots, that is, 197 micrograms per cubic metre. These stations also recorded mean PM2.5 concentration higher than the Delhi winter average of 186 micrograms per cubic metre. The new areas of concern are: Alipur, DTU, ITO, Nehru Nagar, Patparganj, Sonia Vihar and Vivek Vihar in Delhi; Sector 1 and 116 in Noida, Loni, Sanjay Vihar and Indirapuram in Ghaziabad; and Knowledge Park V in Greater Noida and Bulandshahr. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director research and advocacy at CSE, said, “This essentially brings out that newer pollution hotspots are proliferating in the city. Both meteorological conditions as well as changing patterns of local pollution sources are contributing to this trend. This requires intense micro-planning and implementation as well as city and regionwide action at a scale and speed.” CSE stated that Nehru Nagar was the most polluted among these 14 locations, followed by DTU. Meanwhile, parts of Delhi are likely to receive rain on Monday, according to India Meteorological Department. Though the mercury is set to rise, the temperatures may again come down after a few days as the city is predicted to receive another spell of rain from June 12. On Sunday, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was 134 in the ‘moderate’ category.

Rural India Accounted for 53% Covid-19 in May, Facing Excess Mortality, Reveals Report

A new statistical report by the Delhi-based research organization, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has revealed that in the month of May six districts in rural India accounted for over 52 percent of deaths due to Covid-19 and 53 percent of all new cases. The report namely, State of India’s Environment In Figures 2021 apart from throwing light on the abysmal handling of the Covid-19 situation in the rural hinterlands also underscored the striking shortage of healthcare professionals in primary healthcare setups. It also stressed the need for 76 percent more doctors, 56 percent more radiographers, and 35 percent more lab technicians in order to overcome this situation. The author of the report and also the managing editor of the fortnightly magazine Down To Earth Richard Mahapatra, contended that in the second wave, India has been the worst-hit globally and rural India has been hit more badly than our urban areas. ‘In May this year, India alone accounted for more than half of the daily global cases on six days,’ Mahapatra was quoted saying. As a result of the worsening of the situation in rural India amid the second wave, government sources have revealed that they are trying to revamp the mechanism to report Covid-19 cases and mortality, specifically in rural India, India Today reported. Also Read: India Faces Indemnity Roadblock as US Readies to Ship Vaccines Globally Testing and mortality data which was earlier shared in a state-district format will now be further bifurcated into ‘rural and urban areas’ with the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Deliberating on the economic impact of Covid-19, Rajit Sengupta, one of the key authors of the report revealed that the Urban unemployment rate saw an exponential growth to nearly 15 percent in May 2021 which coupled with the rapid spread of covid in rural India is indicative of a slowdown in the GDP growth next year. Public policy expert Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya attributed the grim situation faced by rural India to excess mortality whereby 3-4 deaths were reported from each village in a month as opposed to the earlier scenario of 1 death per village in two months. “There are official Covid-19 deaths and we have to remember that any number beyond that would be contested. We would not know the real number till the civil registration system is adopted or followed and we get the real number maybe a year later. There will be a census also and we will know the numbers." Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya was quoted saying.

14 new air pollution hotspots rising in Delhi-NCR: Report | Delhi News

NEW DELHI: The National Capital Region is seeing the emergence of latest air pollution hotspots. An evaluation for the winter season of 2020-2021 by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) discovered heavy deterioration in air high quality in locations not but designated as hotspots. As many as 14 stations registered increased seasonal PM2.5 focus than Delhi’s winter common. Experts say it factors to the affect of native air pollution sources. Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi Pollution Control Committee had earlier identified 13 hotspots in Delhi: these were Rohini, Dwarka, Okhla Phase-II, Punjabi Bagh, Anand Vihar, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, Bawana, Mundka, Narela and Mayapuri. Six pollution hotspots were identified last winter in other NCR towns — two in Faridabad, one each in Gurugram, Bahadurgarh, Bhiwandi and Sahibabad. These areas were found to have annual average levels higher than themean value of the city. Track the pollution level in your city According to the CSE analysis, the 14 locations that are emerging as the new hotspots have registered a higher seasonal average than the mean of the recognised hotspots, that is, 197 micrograms per cubic metre. These stations also recorded mean PM2.5 concentration higher than the Delhi winter average of 186 micrograms per cubic metre. The new areas of concern are: Alipur, DTU, ITO, Nehru Nagar, Patparganj, Sonia Vihar and Vivek Vihar in Delhi; Sector 1 and 116 in Noida, Loni, Sanjay Vihar and Indirapuram in Ghaziabad; and Knowledge Park V in Greater Noida and Bulandshahr. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director research and advocacy at CSE, said, “This essentially brings out that newer pollution hotspots are proliferating in the city. Both meteorological conditions as well as changing patterns of local pollution sources are contributing to this trend. This requires intense micro-planning and implementation as well as city and regionwide action at a scale and speed.” CSE stated that Nehru Nagar was the most polluted among these 14 locations, followed by DTU. Meanwhile, parts of Delhi are likely to receive rain on Monday, according to India Meteorological Department. Though the mercury is set to rise, the temperatures may again come down after a few days as the city is predicted to receive another spell of rain from June 12. On Sunday, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was 134 in the ‘moderate’ category.

CSE study identifies 14 new pollution hot spots in Delhi-NCR, points to local pollution

The CSE also said that lockdowns improved the air quality in Delhi-NCR this year as well but not as effectively as last year due to the 2021 curbs being shorter and lesser stringent. A fresh analysis of the pollution data in and around the National Capital Region (NCR) has revealed that 14 new locations recorded higher than average deterioration in air quality in winter time. The analysis has been done by Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The CSE said that these 14 hot spots recorded higher concentration of air pollutants than the mean of recognised hot spots - 197 micrograms per cubic metre. These locations are Alipur, DTU, ITO, Nehru Nagar, Patparganj, Sonia Vihar and Vivek Vihar in Delhi, Sector 1 and 116 in Noida, Loni, Sanjay Vihar and Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, Knowledge Park V in Greater Noida and Bulandshahr, according to the CSE study. The think tank said this points towards impact of local pollution. The CSE also said that lockdowns improved the air quality in Delhi-NCR this year as well but not as effectively as last year due to the 2021 curbs being shorter and lesser stringent. "In 2020, partial lockdown started on March 12 with hard lockdown kicking in on March 25, which was lifted in phase-wise manner from May 18. Then the partial lockdown also brought PM2.5 levels down by 20 per cent, but the hard lockdown reduced it by another 35 per cent," the CSE said.

Lockdown pollution higher in 2021 than last year: Study

The lockdown imposed this 12 months on account of the second wave of Covid-19 was not as efficient in bringing down the air pollution ranges within the nationwide capital because it was final 12 months, confirmed an air high quality evaluation performed by the Delhi-based assume tank Centre for Science and Atmosphere (CSE). “Lockdowns had been efficient in bringing down PM2.5 ranges this 12 months as nicely. However given the shorter length and lesser stringent lockdown this 12 months, the degrees will not be as little as summer season 2020,” learn the evaluation by CSE. The assume tank stated that the imposition of a partial lockdown (from April 6 to April 19) lowered PM2.5 ranges by 20% in Delhi, whereas the whole lockdown (from April 20 onwards) introduced the common air pollution ranges additional down by 12%. “Meteorology could be partly liable for this elevated stage however this is also a mirrored image of weakening of air pollution management measures and efforts within the metropolis and area through the pandemic part. Site visitors depth was additionally comparatively increased,” the evaluation added. The report stated the month-to-month common stage of PM2.5 in April and Might this 12 months, which was the part when exhausting lockdown was imposed within the Capital, was increased in comparison with April-Might 2020 — a interval which was marked by a strict nationwide lockdown. It stated the night peak of the hourly cycle of NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) was 29% increased throughout this 12 months’s lockdown as in comparison with the lockdown final 12 months. Nevertheless, it was nonetheless 57% decrease than the common night peak famous in Might of 2019. “The important thing spotlight is that in spring time, January to March, when air pollution stage begins to subside after winter, PM2.5 this 12 months has recorded the best seasonal ranges in comparison with the corresponding interval in previous years, together with 2019 which was a standard 12 months,” stated Avikal Somvanshi, programme supervisor in CSE’s city lab workforce of the sustainable cities programme. “…regardless of the partial restrictions, air pollution ranges have elevated. Whereas the rationale wants investigation, it is very important perceive that there could be a rebound impact with the complete opening of the financial system,” stated Anumita Roychowdhury, government director (analysis and advocacy), CSE. The CSE evaluation additionally confirmed that there have been 27 ”very poor” days by way of air high quality this February-March in comparison with 17 final 12 months and 12 in 2019.