Air pollution: Gurugram, Noida among 7 Indian cities in world's 10 most polluted - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Air pollution: Gurugram, Noida among 7 Indian cities in world's 10 most polluted.

Air pollution is likely to cause the death of nearly seven million people around the world in the next year and will cost around $225 billion to the global economy

Seven of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world are in India, according to a new study by Swiss-based IQAir AirVisual and non-profit organisation Greenpeace. Additionally, the report said that Gurugram in the National Capital Region was the most polluted city. Delhi with an average PM 2.5 concentration at 113.5 micrograms per cubic metre was the most polluted capital in the world in 2018. Other Indian cities that made their way into the world's polluted cities list are Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bhiwandi, Noida, Patna and Lucknow.

Yeb Sano, Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia is a statement said, "This (air pollution) has enormous impacts, on our health and on our wallets." Air pollution is likely to cause the death of nearly seven million people around the world in the next year and will cost around $225 billion to the global economy, he added.
2018's World Air Quality Report was based on data gathered from over 3,000 cities around the globe. The report was made by measuring the levels of PM2.5 particulates (fine particles of a diameter of 2.5 micrometres in the atmosphere) in 2018. PM2.5 pollutants can enter deep inside the lungs and bloodstream of humans and have an adverse effect on their health.
The report also stated that Bangladesh, on average, was the most polluted nation, followed closely by Pakistan and India. While, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Bahrain and Kuwait topped the chart, countries like Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Australia and Sweden were among the least polluted as per the 2018's World Air Quality Report.
The report said, "The city ranking shows Asian locations dominating the highest 100 average PM2.5 levels during 2018, with cities in India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh occupying the top 50 cities."
IQAir Chief Executive Officer Frank Hammes said, "The 2018 World Air Quality Report is based on the review, compilation and validation of data from tens of thousands of air quality monitoring stations around the world."
The data for the study was gathered from a wide range of government sources. IQAir AirVisual has included data from air quality monitors operated by private organisations and individuals.(Source:Livemint)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Air pollution: Gurugram, Noida among 7 Indian cities in world's 10 most polluted.

80% Indians in 17 cities feel sick when the air quality worsens: Study - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

80% Indians in 17 cities feel sick when the air quality worsens: Study.

India is ranked as one of the world's most polluted countries, with 14 cities in the top 20 most polluted cities globally.

Almost 80% of Indians polled across 17 cities believe that air pollution affects their quality of life, and 32% reported an effect on lifestyles, according to a new study.

While 93% believe that air pollution has a negative impact on health, 80% feel sick when the air quality in their city worsens, the study, Perception Study on Air Quality, commissioned by The Clean Air Collective, a network of more than 80 civil society organisations, citizen groups and experts working on the issue of air pollution and conducted by CMSR Consultants, a research group, across 17 cities and 5,000 respondents, found.
The study noted that only 13% people always seek information about air quality in their city while 12% never seek such information.
Delhi has the highest number of people (100%) who have heard about air pollution, followed by Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata (all above 98%).
Air pollution has also become a household issue: 78% of people interviewed reportedly discussed air pollution at home on numerous occasions.
India is ranked as one of the world’s most polluted countries, with 14 cities in the top 20 most polluted cities globally, according to the 2018 Global Ambient Air Quality Database of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Rural deaths, life expectancy and air pollution: The Indian equation
In 2016, 195 deaths per 100,000 people in India were attributed to air pollution, just behind Afghanistan (406) and Pakistan (207), according to data from the State of Global Air, an initiative of independent population health research centres Health Effect Institute of Global Air and Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Kanpur had the world’s worst fine particulate matter (PM 2.5)--known to pose the greatest threat to human health, these are particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres, or roughly 1/30th the thickness of the human hair--of 173 micrograms per cubic metre of air (μg/m3 annual mean), which is 17 times the WHO's annual mean of 10 µg/m³ and three times more than the national ambient air quality annual mean of 40 µg/m³, IndiaSpend reported on May 2, 2018.
High levels of PM 2.5 have reduced life expectancy of Indians by up to nine years relative to what it would be if the WHO-prescribed 24-hour safe level of PM 2.5 (25 µg/m3) was met, according to 2016 Air Quality Life Index by the University of Chicago.
The poorest and the marginalised appear to bear the brunt of air pollution. In 2015, about 75% of deaths linked to air pollution in India, some 1.1 million people, were in rural areas, Vox reported on October 31, 2018.
Two-thirds of the Indian population is rural with 80% households operating on biomass like wood and dung for cooking and heating, which together contribute to 25% of outdoor pollution in India.
Indoor air pollution caused 66,800 deaths of under-five children in India in 2016, 10% more than 60,900 deaths of under-five children caused by outdoor air pollution in the same year, IndiaSpend reported on October 29, 2018.
The affected know the least
The survey shows large disparity in awareness of air pollution and basic terminologies like PM 2.5, PM 10 and air quality index (AQI).
While more women (80%) than men (78%) discuss air pollution at home, awareness of technical terms, such as PM 2.5 and PM 10, was lower among women, 27.7% and 14.5%, respectively, compared to men (31.1% and 20.3%).
More women are aware of AQI (21.6%) than men (17.6%), but they don’t understand its importance.
More women (34.8%) felt that air pollution affected them to a “large extent” and to “some extent” (46.1%), compared to 31.3% and 44.9%, respectively, for men.
The awareness about technical terms was found to be lowest among respondents of smaller cities, such as Singrauli (12% for PM 2.5 and 6.3% for PM 10) in Madhya Pradesh and Angul (11.3% for PM 2.5 and 5.7% for PM 10) in Odisha. Dhanbad (63.7%) in Jharkhand and Raipur (83.3%) in Chhattisgarh had the most number of people who were not aware and did not understand the relevance of AQI.
These were also the regions with the highest proportion of people who regarded the air quality in their city as ‘unhealthy’: 85% in Angul, 64% in Lucknow and 62% in Korba.
Scope for improvement
The data not only highlight low awareness but also reflect how information is disseminated inadequately, especially among women and in small cities.
The reliance on government websites and AQI boards for information was reported to be 26% and 17%, respectively, as a source of awareness, compared to newspapers (70%) and mobile apps (36%).
While 32% “strongly agreed” that polluting companies needed to be closed, even if it put jobs at risk, more than 50% agreed on the need for laws to control air pollution.
As many as 70% of Indians polled said they had taken steps in their individual capacity to mitigate the impact of bad air quality, and 86% showed interest in knowing more about AQI. (Source: The Business Standard)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

80% Indians in 17 cities feel sick when the air quality worsens: Study.

Soon, Ranking For Cities Over Revival Of Water Bodies - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Soon, Ranking For Cities Over Revival Of Water Bodies.

The government will soon launch a competition among cities for revival of water bodies. The cities that do well in the competition will awarded a higher ranking and financial assistance to encourage more to join the competition.

This initiative will be a part of the drive to make cities across the country flood resilient. The urban affairs ministry will soon come out with the guidelines for this competition as cities face more threats of flooding because of blocked drainage system and dying natural water bodies, where rain water accumulates.
“Natural terrain of cities used to carry water to natural sponges. But now because of concretisation, the drains that used to carry water to the ponds and lakes have been blocked. Moreover, drains carrying rainwater also get the waste water, which should not enter the water bodies. This is a huge challenge, but we need to find a way out,” said a government.


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Soon, Ranking For Cities Over Revival Of Water Bodies.

Ease of Living Index - Cities: Parameters taken into consideration by the Government - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Ease of Living Index - Cities: Parameters taken into consideration by the Government.

The Ease of Living Index released by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry is based on a comprehensive report which assesses the quality of life in cities on the four broad parameters of governance, social, economic and infrastructure.

The study took into consideration 78 indicators in 15 categories. All cities were evaluated out of 100. The 'physical' pillar (infrastructure) was given the highest weightage of 45, while institutional (governance) and social were weighted 25 each. Economy was weighted 5.

Here are a few highlights from the data analysis:
• Among the 111 cities considered, Navi Mumbai, Tirupati and Karim Nagar had the best institutional sub-index.
• In terms of social indicators, Tirupati and Tiruchirapalli scored the highest.
• Chandigarh, Ajmer and Kota did best on the economic sub-index.
• Greater Mumbai, Pune and Thane topped in terms of infrastructure and other physical parameters.
• In mega-cities (Population over 4 million) Chennai came second after Mumbai, while New Delhi was the worst mega-city.
• Andhra Pradesh had 75% (three out of four cities considered for the survey) of its cities among the top 25 ranks. Maharashtra had 66% of its cities in the top 25 (eight out of 12) while four out of seven (57%) cities in Madhya Pradesh were among the top crop. (Source: The Hindu)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Ease of Living Index - Cities: Parameters taken into consideration by the Government.

Government’s first-ever attempt to rank India’s leading cities based on ease of living - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Government’s first-ever attempt to rank India’s leading cities based on ease of living.

Pune India’s most liveable city, Rampur in UP the least.

Maharashtra’s main urban clusters in Mumbai and Pune raced the government’s first-ever attempt to rank India’s leading cities based on ease of living. While Pune topped the ranking, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai rounded out the top three. Rampur in Uttar Pradesh was adjudged the least liveable city.

Though Pune topped the ranking, the city scored only 58 out of a possible 100 points. India’s 111 leading cities which took part in the exercise scored a cumulative average of 35.6, a failing grade. In the first such government-led effort to quantify and estimate where Indian cities stand, all the 100 municipal bodies nominated as smart cities and state capitals participated.
While Mumbai ranked higher despite getting a bad rap from most citizens, sources in the urban affairs ministry warned that the ranking was as much a reflection of the quality of data that cities managed to furnish as the status of the physical infrastructure itself.
Since the beginning of this year, cities had been asked by the urban affairs ministry to present verifiable data on parameters, including the quality of power and water supply, the state of health and education infrastructure, prevalence of crime, levels of pollution and access to housing.
The final rankings are based on a mix of the furnished data, a third-party survey and direct feedback from citizens (around 60,000 of them).
“This is the first such attempt to empirically capture the position of India’s cities through an index,” according to Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep S Puri. “It’s time to acknowledge that the responsibility of the state is not only to deliver goods and services to citizens, but also to ensure the ‘ease of living’.”
Puri said the assessment standards evolved by the ministry were closely linked to the sustainable development goals. “This will now be an annual litmus test to assess the progress being made under various urban development schemes.”
The ministry also launched a new assessment framework for the 2019 round of its annual sanitation survey, Swachh Survekshan, which will now move towards estimating outcome and sustainability of the process, instead of just visible cleanliness. (Source: Livemint)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Government’s first-ever attempt to rank India’s leading cities based on ease of living.

26 religious cities/sites in 19 States have been identified for development under PRASHAD Scheme - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

26 religious cities/sites in 19 States have been identified for development under PRASHAD Scheme.

The Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance to State Governments/Union Territory (UT) Administrations under the schemes of Swadesh Darshan, National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) and Assistance to Central Agencies for the development of tourism related infrastructure in the country.

Under the PRASHAD Scheme, 26 religious cities/sites in 19 States have been identified for development which inter-alia include Amaravati and Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), Kamakhya (Assam), Patna and Gaya (Bihar), Dwarka and Somnath (Gujarat), Gurudwara Nada Saheb (Haryana), Hazratbal and Katra (Jammu & Kashmir), Deogarh (Jharkhand), Chamundeshwari Devi (Karnataka), Guruvayoor (Kerala), Una (Himachal Pradesh), Omkareshwar (Madhya Pradesh), Trimbakeshwar (Maharashtra), Puri (Odisha), Amritsar (Punjab), Ajmer (Rajasthan), Kanchipuram and Vellankani (Tamil Nadu), Varanasi and Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Badrinath and Kedarnath (Uttarakhand) and Belur (West Bengal).
The Scheme of Assistance to Central Agencies for Tourism Infrastructure Development aims at developing tourism related infrastructure through central financial assistance to the Central Agencies who own the assets.
This information was given by the Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism Shri. K. J. Alphons, in a written reply in Lok Sabha today. (Source: PIB)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

26 religious cities/sites in 19 States have been identified for development under PRASHAD Scheme.

India has 94 cities with toxic air. Half of them in just four states - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis

India has 94 cities with toxic air. Half of them in just four states.

Low- and middle-income groups are the worst affected by pollution; 92% of deaths due to pollution occurred in that income group.

Every third city that failed to meet national air quality standards in India–where most people die of air pollution than any other nation–was in two of the country’s biggest states, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, in five years to 2015, according to government data.
With 17 of 94 cities, Maharashtra had the highest number of cities identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) as failing to meet national air-quality standards over five years to 2015, according to this reply to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) by Mahesh Sharma, minister of state for environment, on April 6, 2018.
Maharashtra was followed by Uttar Pradesh (15), Punjab (8) and Himachal Pradesh (7).
Half of the 94 cities were in these four states.

Cities Failing Air-Quality Standards, 2011-15

state	State Count	cities
Maharashtra	17	Akola, Amravati, Aurangabad, Badlapur, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kolhapur, Latur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Sangli, Solapur, Ulhasnagar
UP	15	Agra, Allahabad, Anpara, Bareily, Firozabad, Gajraula, Ghaziabad, Jhansi, Kanpur, Khurja, Lucknow, Muradabad, Noida, Raebareli, Varanasi
Punjab	8	Dera Bassi, Gobindgarh, Jalandhar, Khanna, Ludhiana, Naya Nangal, Pathankot/Dera Baba, Patiala
HP	7	Baddi, Damtal, Kala Amb, Nalagarh, Paonta Sahib, Parwanoo, Sunder Nagar
Odisha	6	Angul, Balasore, Bhubneshwar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Talcher
AP	5	Guntur, Kurnool, Nellore, Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam
Assam	5	Guwahati, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, Silchar
MP	5	Bhopal, Dewas, Indore, Sagar, Ujjain
Rajasthan	5	Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur
Karnataka	4	Bengaluru, Devanagere, Gulburga, Hubli-Dharwad
Telangana	3	Hyderabad, Nalgonda, Patencheru
Chhattisgarh	2	Bhillai, Korba
Nagaland	2	Dimapur, Kohima
Uttarakhand	2	Kashipur, Rishikesh
Chandigarh	1	Chandigarh
Delhi	1	Delhi
Gujarat	1	Surat
J&K	1	Jammu
Jharkhand	1	Dhanbad
Meghalaya	1	Byrnihat
TN	1	Tuticorin
Total cities	94

Source: Lok Sabha
In 2015, 2.5 million of 10.3 million deaths in India due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were linked to pollution, according to a global study, IndiaSpend reported on January 3, 2018.
Rising air pollution in cities is increasing incidences of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, diabetes and other pollution-related ailments, said the study, which noted that 27% of Indians died of causes related to air pollution, exceeding the proportion who died similarly in China.
Low- and middle-income groups are the worst affected by pollution; 92% of deaths due to pollution occurred in that income group, IndiaSpend reported on November 14, 2017.
Technically called “non-attainment cities”, the 94 cities were identified as part of the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme, under which 683 operating stations in 300 cities/towns across the country monitor sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, respirable suspended particulate matter (PM10) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) for a day twice a week. (Source: The Business Standard)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

India has 94 cities with toxic air. Half of them in just four states.