Air quality remains ‘unhealthy’ in five Indian cities
Amisha Mohite
India grapples with the alarming levels of increasing pollution in its cities, where rapid urbanization is clashing with environmental challenges. The cities like Osmanabad, Latur and New Delhi having a higher Air Quality Index (AQI) face severe air quality issues. The reasons for air pollution can be excess vehicular emission, industrial activities and inadequate waste management practice.
Allocation vs. utilization of NCAP funds
Ashna Mariam George
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched in January 2019 as a long-term, time-bound national level strategy for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution. Under NCAP, the target is to achieve 20 to 30 percent reduction in Particulate Matter (PM) concentrations by 2024 in 131 cities of 24 States/UTs with respect to base year 2017.
Effects of air pollution on Delhi residents
Vandana Batra
Out of the 10,366 respondents that participated in an air pollution survey, majority of them experienced sore throat and burning eyes. Only 13 percent respondents did not report any problem due to pollution.
China tops the carbon emissions list
Arunima Pal
Carbon emissions are calculated by combining data on types of activity with the emissions typically produced by those activities. So, if it can be known how much carbon dioxide steelmaking produces in a country and how much steel is produced in the country, the total quantity of emissions from the steel sector can be calculated. From the data compiled by Statista, although the U.S. is the second-biggest emitter, its CO₂ emissions have reduced by 11 percent since 2010 whereas China’s CO₂ emissions have increased by more than 30 percent.
Fossil Fuels: the biggest pollutants in the world
Ishika Sharma
According to the report by Climate Trade, the industry that contributes the most to pollution is the coal and fossil fuels industry. Some other industries that contribute to pollution are agriculture, fashion, construction, and transport.
The world is losing its tree cover
Mansi Jagani
In 2022, deforestation primarily resulting from forestry activities, caused a loss of about 6.7 million hectares of tree cover. The second-largest contributor was shifting agriculture, which involves the conversion of small to medium-scale forest areas for farming. This lead to around 5.9 million hectares of tree cover loss that year.
Diseases caused by pollution
K. Nitika Shivani
Air pollution is the most common kind of pollution in India. It can be the cause of life threatening diseases as well. Recently, Delhi has been noted to have severe air pollution which has caused various respiratory diseases among the residents there.
Projected municipal solid waste generation
Saradhi Sankar
It is estimated that in 2050, there will be an increase of 68 percent in the generation of global municipal solid waste as compared to 2016. There was 2.02 billion tons of waste produced in 2016 but it is predicted that by 2050 the amount of solid waste generated will become 3.4 billion metric tons.
Funds released for the NPCA scheme go down
Steffy Maria Paul
The National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA) is a centrally sponsored scheme by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC). The scheme is aimed at conserving and managing wetlands in the country on a cost-sharing basis between the Central Government and respective State/UT Governments. Karnataka currently has 17 polluted river stretches.
Countries with worst air pollution
Vishnupriya. R
Here are the top ten countries with worst air pollution. The first eight countries in the graph have exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline by over ten times. Whereas Egypt and Tajikistan have exceeded the guideline by seven to ten times.
