Breathing in the world's worst air.

According to Lancet 2.5million deaths occurred in India in the year 2015 due to air pollution. The worst levels of air pollution are seen in the capital Delhi, which contributes 7-8% to its GDP and habitates 46 million people.  An estimated 25000 to 30000 people die of pollution related causes in Delhi-NCR.

Among the 20 cities with the worst air pollution, 16 are in China and the one that shares the top spot with Delhi is Beijing, this was according to a WHO report. Besides sharing the top spot, these two cities share the reasons that their AQI is the worst in the world. The major reasons being vehicular traffic, coal-powered industrial emissions and teeming population. The economic boom in both the countries led to an unprecedented proliferation in automobiles and industry.

Before I get started I’ll explain what PM10 and PM2.5 are. They are particulate matter above the diameter of 10 Microns and 2.5 Microns respectively. The readings are as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) index of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Add in episodic conditions like firecrackers for festivals such as Diwali and the agricultural burning

On November 6^th the PM10 levels were at 283 and PM 2.5 at 170, then there was a sudden spike of PM 10 to 305 and PM 2.5 to 183 on November 7^th. The AQI on 7^th November was 448, this was a sudden spike, from the 200-300 range usual to Delhi. According to experts this was triggered by two air circulatory systems. The first bringing in pollution from the crop burning in the agriculture based states of Punjab and Haryana, while the other brought in moisture from the East. These two circulatory systems collided over the Delhi region forming a cloud of pollutants trapped in moisture which combined with near-calm wind conditions at the ground suffocated the region. Some experts blamed a dust storm in Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi Arabia region for this, but this idea to anyone seems a bit too far fetched, no pun intended.

A photo taken on the Yamuna expressway on 17th. 

In such high levels of pollution people with asthma and COPD(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) symptoms aggravate, even healthy individuals can get cough, wheezing and buzzing in the head. Indian Medical Association appealed to CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia to stop all outdoor activities. District Magistrate of Haryana’s Fatehbad issues notices to various village level committees for failing to report instances of stubble burning, under the section 44 of Criminal procedure Code).

Damini Nath and Jatin Anand quoted Anumita Roy-Chowdhury, an executive director of the centre for Science and Environment "Sustained steps aren’t in place. Where is the public transport? In fact, the bus numbers are going down as more buses become unfit and taken off the road. Despite a ban on pet coke and furnace oil in Delhi, there are widely used as they are cheap. Stringent measure for power plants keep getting delayed.”.

Comprehensive action plan submitted to the Supreme court by the EPCA in April was all but approved, due to two measures which the automobile industry had resentment for. The next hearing was on November 17^th. While the Graded Response Action Plan(GRAP), an emergency pollution control plan monitored by the EPCA was enforced in October, it is yet to implemented. Sunil Dahiya, a campaigner with green peace said the implementation of GRAP was faulty”it should be implemented 3 days in advance when we know the weather conditions could lead to an emergency situation not on the afternoon when smog has already formed.”

The AQI was reported as 448 on the 7^th and 478 on 8^th November. For November 8^th the PM10 reading was at 820 while the PM2.5 was at 517.
On November 8^th at 8:30 am there was collision of vehicles on both sides of the Yamuna expressway in Greater Noida’s Dankaur district. Driver said visibility was for 20 metres.

On November 9^th the average PM 10 levels were at 300 micrograms/m³, PM 2.5were at 160 micrograms/m³. The highest AQI level for PM 10 was at 940 and for PM 2.5 was at 750.  

Dense fog had dropped visibility down to 50M only increased to 200M on November 9^th.On November 9^th  Deepak Jangir  and Krishan Yadav, residents of Hauz Khaz, died after their car plunged into the Yamuna River in Timarpur in the early hours after the driver(the two deceaseds’ friend Deepak Kadyan) failed to see the road ahead. 

The CPCB in a meeting was quoted as saying the present situation is likely to prevail till tomorrow November 10^th subsequently anticyclone over Delhi get weakened. Ground wind speed will get weakened. Moisture content is also expected to reduce. IIMD informed that pollution levels are expected to reduce from November 11^th to very poor from severe in AQI

Dipankar Saha, head of the air quality lab of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB),had said on 8^th November ” Even though the average AQI of Delhi has shut up from 478 on Wednesday to 486 on Thursday we have to keep in mind that’s a 24 hour average, the high level of AQI on Wednesday night, which has been included in the 24 hour average, has pushed the value up.”

SAFAR maintained by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences had forecast that levels of particulate matter would drop by 30% on November 10^th.The AQI was 486 on November 10^th with PM2.5 at 546 micrograms per cubic metre as per the SAFAR and the PM 10 was at 895 micrograms per cubic metre.

Although Dipankar Saha of CPCB’s air lab was correct in saying  “It would have been effective if odd even had been implemented earlier, he was wrong to think it being applied now would have much impact”. An IIT-Kanpur study for 2013-14 found that during winters vehicles were the second largest and the most consistent source of PM 10 and PM 2.5. It however, shows that the share of 4 wheelers was 10% where was for trucks and two wheelers the shares were at 46% and 33% respectively. This study makes me question how was it conducted? What were the rules applied when it took to classify a vehicle as a two wheeler or a truck? What if a four wheeler that was spewing smoke at the same levels as trucks?

On November 10^th the Hindu reported AIIMs director Dr Randeep Guleria saying “There has been a 20% surge in respiratory disease patients at the OPD at AIIMS. Once again I want to warn the patients may die due to current pollution levels, especially the ones who have respiratory issues. This is a silent killer and causes long term harm to the lungs of the children. This can manifest as multiple health complications in the future including lung cancer”. There were reports of a 20-30% increase in patients coming to the hospital with lung problems across various city hospitals in the same article.

As reported by the PTI in The Hindu’s Delhi Metro  on November 14^th: The national Green tribunal on Monday lashed out at the UP government and the Noida Authority for not abiding by its order banning construction in NCR despite 900+ PM10 levels.

Date	AQI	PM2.5		PM10
6th	193	170		283
7th	448	475(649)		(183)
8th	478	640(and 517)		(820)
9th	486	160(408)		300(940)
10th	486	291(546)		(895)
11th	403	328
12th	460	401
13th	460	306		530
14th	308		237	375
15th	361
16th	367

On October 17 EPCA had announced GRAP measures for the “severe” and “very poor” air quality slabs. Later on November 7^th some measures under the emergency category were also announced, some measures under emergency category were also announced. EPCA measures for “very poor “which lies in the bracket of 300-400 AQI (ambient PM2.5 value between 121-250 microgram per cubic metre and PM10 value between 351-430 microgram per cubic metre) had the following measures entailed:

• Stop use of diesel generators, this was implemented in Delhi but has yet to be implemented in NCR.
• 4 fold hikes in parking fee implemented after civic bodies initially revised this.
• Increase bus and metro frequency by increasing the number of the buses and metro trains plying.
• Stop use of coal fire wood at eateries; isn’t being implemented
• RWAs and house owners to give electric heaters to security staff to stop burning of wastes
• Alerts in newspapers, TV, and radio to spread awareness which hasn’t been done

The measures to be under taken during the AQI category of severe are(ambient PM 2.5 – 250micrograms/m³, PM 10-430 micrograms/m³):

• Shut down of close brick kilns, hot mix plants and stone crushers.
• Shut down of Badarpur power plant and Bawana gas plant be directed to run at full capacity; other coal power plants in CR to be shut down if air quality worsens.
• Metro was asked be EPCA to reduce non peak fare, but this hasn’t been implemented.
• Sprinkling and mechanised cleaning at some stretches, with high dust percentage or a PM of 600+ .

Finally the measures for when the AQI crosses the severe category/emergency(Pm2.5 and 10 values of 300 micrograms/m3 and 500 micrograms/m3 respectively for 48 hours):

• Stop entry of track traffic into Delhi implemented(except essential commodities)
• Stop construction activities
• Shutting of schools

The traffic police were asked to intensity traffic management at hot spots, are the people who are responsible for law and order on the road, the same people who are provide safety to us expected to give up their safety .

A study conducted by Journal of Indian pediatrics on Delhi children provides powerful evidence children growing up in polluted environments like the capital hav reduced lung growth compared to children in developed countries like the US. Indian children show slower lung growth and reach a final size that is lower than the growth and size found in Caucasian children in the US. While children in both India and the Us have nearly the same lung size till the age of about 8 years, when lungs complete their normal physical growth, subsequent growth is progressively different in both nations. Lung size in both Indian boys and girls is about 10% smaller when they reach adulthood. The study was conducted by Professor S.K. Chhabra, former Director-Professor at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute and current Head of Department, Pulmonary Medicine, Primus Hospital, New Delhi.

In a twitter pool conducted by HT 84% out of a pool of 844 would they would move out of the city if they had a choice.(13^th November pool reported on 16^th November).

Delhi’s Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot wrote to EPCA chairman Bhure Lal “Unless the GRAP is implemented across all NCR towns, pollution levels in Delhi as well as neighbouring towns can be brought down”. Mr Gahlot asked the EPCA to “advise” the implementation of the GRAP measures to the neighbouring cities. "Unless GRAP is implemeted across all NCR towns pollution level in Delhi as well as neighbouring towns can't be brought down" wrote the minister.

The government had announced the advancing the roll out of the BS-VI fuels by two years, Delhi’s gas stations will only sell the world’s cleanest petrol and diesel from April 1^st 2018.

The Delhi government has only used 93 lakh of the 829 crores it collected as environment compensation charge from goods vehicle entering the capital. 5425 is the total number of buses plying in the city while there is a need for 11000 buses, almost double the number. Factor in the 2500 buses needed for the odd even scheme and we have major issue. 4 PWD road cleaning machines while there is a need for 10 of these PWD road cleaning machines.The order to shut down use of coal and fire wood in hotels and eateries has not been implemented.

No buses have been added o the low floor fleet of the DTC since 2010, with vehicles being operated under cluster scheme increasing. With the Delhi Government making excuses of not having enough parking space allotted to them by the Supreme court, still why none? Why not a few buses which could give respite to city which really needs it. 5600 odd buses operated by the DTC’s Delhi Intergrated Multi Modal Transit System has close to 800 routes, where in reality twice the number of buses are required. Bangalore has more buses with half the area needing to be covered.

Delhi’s total Vehicular population is estimated at 94% being private vehicles.

Delhi is where the top bureaucrats of the government resides, its where the thinking bodies, all the judges who are responsible for formulating laws, the top officials from other countries and yet there are such astonishing pollution levels. If the health of these people aren't of the utmost importance, the health of the children living in this city, the future of this nation should at the very least inspire the general population to take up arms against a government which isn't following through on any of the promises made by them. I do plan to take an article published in the Hindustan Times and expound on it with my views.

The half Marathon was advised against due to high PM 2.5 reading at Marathon plots, got rescued by rain on the night of November 18^th, with Delhi waking up to a cleaner healthier environment, however one must ask do we expect nature to rescue us each time? Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the starting point for the race had a PM2.5 reading of 1145 micro grams per cubic metre at 7:25, Lodhi Road at 1141 at 8:10, Mathura Road Flyover 975 8:45, Delhi Golf club at 1126 at 9:10, while India gate had 1501 at 9:35. All of these areas are surrounding the neighborhood I live in.

Another Article in the Hindu's Delhi Metro mentioned the Centre for Science and Environment(CSE) saying most thermal power plants wouldn't be ready to comply with stricter emissions norms that are to be rolled out in December. Despite being given two years to prepare by the Union ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change(MoEF&CC). The Central Electricity Authority reportedly recommending moving the deadline to 2022. Of all emissions from industries the power sector accounted for 60% of particulate matter, 45% of sulphur dioxide, 30% of nitrogen oxides and 80% of mercury said the CSE.

Sunil Dahiya, a Greenpeace campaigner, with a team checked the PM2.5 levels in places where the Delhi Half marathon was taking place and readings were 2000+. These readings were from 6 feet height at India Gate, Delhi Gate and Red Fort, the monitoring stations which are at a height of 20 meters probably have such lower readings because of this reason. To think we are being scared with figures that are 4 times less than what we are actually breathing.

The National Green Tribunal directed thermal power plants in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, to take instructions on the viability of collecting agricultural wastes from fields and using it as fuel in these plants.  The NGT has also asked the National Thermal Power Plant to file full details of the total coal demand and the amount of agricultural waste that it can use. The green panel asked the NTPC to submit the amount of agricultural residue in pellet form, which can be used as raw material in combination with coal to generate power while also inquiring about some form of compensation for farmers. Hopefully this sees reduction in crop burning in the agricultural states bordering Delhi. The Power Ministry has directed NTPC to mix straw/crop residue pellets with coal up to 10% for power generation in all of its thermal power plants. The power Minister R.K. Singh was in talks with State governments to make it mandatory to source 10% of their fuel from straw or crop residue for all power plants in their respective jurisdictions.

2015 India made a Bonn challenge commitment in the form of restoration of 13m hectares of degraded land by 2020, the NDC was to sequester 2.5-3 billion times of CO₂ equivalent by 2030 by extending tree cover to 28-34 Million hectares to make this possible. Emissions Gap report 2017; an annual audit of national mitigation efforts and the goals presented by countries in their voluntary NDC’s finds that pledges to reduce current emissions are only about one third of what is needed to prevent catastrophic temperature increases.

We’ll need preemptive action of the long term type: Improving vehicular standards , prioritizing clean public transport, social innovation, community awareness, what-ever seems appropriate, should be enacted on a sustained basis. There is an urgent need to address these issues, both long term and short term. A recent BioScience reported showed alarming rates rats of biodiversities disappearing between 1970 and 2012, the world's vertebrates have declined by 58% and forest loss has been tabled at 129 million hectares between 1990 and 2015.Earth needs to be cared for if we expect it to take caring of us. If we need to save this planet we need to start at home, in this very city.

Researchers with British Antarctic Survey heated a patch of the off the of Antarctica and tracked the effects on local species. Some species responded by doubling their growth, while less resilient species were getting crowded out. The site picked by the EAS was about 45 feet deep in the Southern Ocean off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. 

Link to current AQI of delhi.

*almost all the information has been collected from The Hindu and The Hindustan Times newspapers.