The pollution level in the Indian capital of New Delhi is reported to be 20 times higher 20 times higher than the safe level recommended by World Health Organisation. The problem is very worrying and the issue, including the measures that followed afterwards, received huge attention, and rightly so, in the news media, within India and beyond.
The average trend of
PM2.5 for the last 19 months Delhi has witnessed unhealthy and
hazardous levels for most of the past year. Air pollution is determined by the
level of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/indoors/air/pmq_a.htm.
The finer the matter, the deeper it can reach in lungs and blood stream causing
more harm.
The crisis has begun to open up avenues for local business,
like this ‘Oxygen Bar’, which offers a
15 minute oxygen session for just over five pounds ($7) offers a 15
minute oxygen session for just over five pounds ($7). If this business
thrives, are people that desperate to get relief from polluted air that they
are willing to pay for what should be freely available?
Pollution Problems
This blue sky engulfing pollution has resulted in a rise rise
of hospital visits for conditions related to respiratory and cardiac problems.
During my recent research trip to Delhi this October, I asked one of my colleagues
if they had ever see blue sky. Her response was “only a couple of times in a
year, maybe after a heavy rainfall”. Though this has now become a usual case
during the winter months, the first two weeks of November this year saw
unusually higher-level air pollution. The major contributors contributors
of this pollution are reported to have been agriculture and automobiles.
Figure 1. The hidden
skyline of NOIDA across Yamuna, seen from Kalindi Kunj, Madanpur Khadar; Photo-
Ramjee Bhandari
According to one study, Delhi has one of the highest rate of
deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution Delhi
has one of the highest rate of deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution.
Compared to 1990 Compared
to 1990, the proportion of total of deaths and disability associated to air
pollution have risen significantly, for example, Ischaemic heart disease was
the 5th leading cause in 1990, which now ranks number one. Likewise,
chronic obstructive lung diseases (COPD) was in 13th position, and has
now jumped up to 5th place.
Classic Case of Environmental Injustice for Delhi’s Poor and Marginalised
Who is more affected by this problem? Is ill health equally
distributed or skewed towards a certain group? “Air pollution threatens us all,
but the poorest and most marginalised people bear the brunt of the burden,”
says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO Dr
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. When it comes to the
health impacts of air pollution, children, elderly and the poorest populations
are the most vulnerable most
vulnerable.
Families living in poverty bear the double burden of indoor
and ambient (outdoor) air pollution. The large use of ‘dirty fuels’ ‘dirty
fuels’ such as coal, kerosene, dung and wood in the kitchen creates indoor
air pollution and families with a poor socioeconomic status are those who have
no other choices than to choose these dirty sources of fuel. In India, if these
fuels were replaced by cleaner options, about 270,000 lives could be saved each
year 270,000
lives could be saved each year. It is the low-income residents who bear the
higher burden of outdoor air pollution, but they do not have the luxury to travel by car—highlighting Delhi air
pollution as a classic case of environmental injusticehighlighting
Delhi air pollution as a classic case of environmental injustice.
Figure 2. It is
someone who is on the street or in an open vehicle who gets higher exposure to
the ambient air pollution; photo – Ramjee Bhandari
A Healthy Delhi, But at What Cost?
To mitigate pollution problems, the Delhi government has introduced
odd/even rules on the street odd/even rules on
the street to curb automobile emissions, are planning to distribute more
than five million pollution masks five
million pollution masks to the public and schools are closed schools
are closed when the pollution level climbs dangerously high.
But, this has not helped much. This problem requires a
multilevel and multi-dimensional response and may take years take
years before considerable improvements can be felt. An emergency action to
address the current crisis, particularly protecting vulnerable groups, and an
extensive and sustained series of initiatives are crucial for creating a
healthy Delhi free of suffocating air pollution.
In Delhi, an 'Oxygen bar' gives Indians a gulp of fresh air. Low air quality has given a business opportunity to entrepreneurs offering pollution-free oxygen at a price. pic.twitter.com/QYcqdXRx2j
— DW Business (@dw_business) November 15, 2019
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