Swacch Bharat: National Air Quality Index Launched
Swacch Bharat: National Air Quality Index Launched
The Indian government has just launched a new air quality index to enable citizens to comprehend pollution data and the implications for health, a statement released by the environment ministry recently said. A WHO study of around 1,600 cities in May found that New Delhi has the highest air pollution and the dirtiest air among all the cities sampled.
New Delhi's air was found to have an annual average of 153 micrograms of small particulates called PM2.5 per cubic metre, as per the study. Around 13 of the 20 cities worldwide with the dirtiest air were located in India, according to the WHO research.
The National Air Quality Index has been launched under PM Narendra Modi's Clean India Mission or Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. The index will provide one consolidated number after tracking a total of 8 pollutants and use colour coding for the purpose of identifying associated health impacts.
"In our cities air pollution is increasing ... we need to stop it," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar was quoted as having said, "This (index) will provide the common citizen one colour, one number and one description so that he can understand what is the level of air pollution,” he also added.
India's air quality status is currently reported through what has been termed by the government as “voluminous data” making it difficult for people to understand the significance of particle values such as PM 2.5 or PM 10. The Environment Ministry has also said that the government would initiate action oriented programmes along with the states for the improvement of air quality.
"I congratulate all the scientists under Dr. Agarwal who have worked hard to create our own and very comparable, comprehensive index which will provide the common citizens one number, one colour and one description so that he can understand what is the level of air pollution and air quality which he is breathing," Javadekar was quoted as saying.
"We want to make clean air also a people's campaign. We want our water to be clean. We want air to be clean. We want our solid waste management to give us real clean India – the dream of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he also added.
The index is classified into six categories namely good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor, and severe — with colour coding ranging from green to dark red. This index is responsible for the transformation of various air pollution levels to a single numerical value for simple description of air quality for citizens.
