India has 6 of the 9 most polluted cities in the world and 13 of the 20 most polluted cities are from India. The most polluted city in the world is the industrial city of Birnihat located on the border of Meghalaya and Assam.
दुनिया के सबसे ज्यादा प्रदूषित 15 शहरों में भारत 12 नंबर पर पहुंचा
According to the Air Quality Report of the year 2024 published by IQ Air, an organization related to Switzerland’s air quality monitoring database, the air of only 7 countries and 17 percent of the cities of the world is breathable, that is, the level of air pollution is in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization. This report has been prepared on the basis of data received on PM2.5 from more than 40000 monitoring centers located in 138 countries of the world. The 7 countries in which the level of air pollution is in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization are – Estonia, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Bahamas, Grenada and Barbados.
According to this report, Chad ranks first globally in terms of air pollution, followed by Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India respectively. India ranks fifth in the most polluted cities. The capital Delhi is the most polluted capital in the world, followed by Chad’s capital N’Djamena, Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa and Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.
6 of the 9 most polluted cities in the world are from India and 13 of the 20 most polluted cities are from India. The most polluted city in the world is Birnihat, an industrial city located on the border of Meghalaya and Assam. The average level of PM2.5 here is 128.2 micrograms per cubic meter, which is 25 times more than the World Health Organization guidelines. According to the report, the average level of PM2.5 in India has decreased by 7 percent compared to the year 2023, but still its average concentration is 50.6 micrograms per cubic meter, which is 10 times more than the World Health Organization guidelines. The average level of PM2.5 in Delhi in the year 2024 was 91.8 micrograms per cubic meter.
Delhi is in the second place among the most polluted cities of the world, Melanpur is in the fourth place, Faridabad is in the sixth place, Loni is in the eighth place and New Delhi is in the ninth place. Apart from these, Gurugram, Ganganagar, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Muzaffarnagar, Hanumangarh and Noida are also included in the 20 most polluted cities. In terms of air pollution, 4 cities in the top 20 polluted cities are also from Pakistan. According to the report, the problem of air pollution is the least in the countries of the Pacific region.
According to the Air Quality Life Index 2023 published by the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago, “There is no place on Earth where the challenge of air pollution is more difficult than South Asia. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan – home to 22.9 per cent of the global population – are the top four most polluted countries in the world. More than half of the total years of life lost globally due to air pollution, or 52.8 per cent, are lost in South Asia due to high pollution levels. If these four countries reduce pollution to the World Health Organization’s guidelines, the average South Asian citizen would live 5.1 years longer, while the average life expectancy of Indians would increase by 5.2 years.
According to another study published recently, the level of air pollution in Delhi is even higher than its measured level. According to a study published by Dr Ying Chen, a scientist at the University of Birmingham, in the journal npj Clean Air, the humidity in the air is also high during winter when the level of air pollution in Delhi is very high. Due to excessive humidity, the size of very small particles present in the air, such as PM2.5, increases due to moisture and such particles go out of measurement.
According to this study, the amount of water in the aerosol of Delhi’s air reaches 740 micrograms per cubic meter, which is the highest compared to any big city. The level of air pollution in Delhi is highest in the months of December-January and at the same time the humidity in the air also reaches 90 percent in the morning. During this time, due to humidity, the measurement of PM particles is reduced by 20 percent compared to the actual concentration. In the months of February-March, the humidity in the air is up to 80 percent and the actual concentration of PM is 8.6 percent more than the measured concentration. During April to June, the humidity in the air is very low, but during the monsoon months between July to September, the humidity in the air increases, but during this time most of the PM particles are washed away with water and this does not affect their concentration.
The air that 67.4 percent of the country’s population breathes in has a concentration of PM2.5 higher than the standard set by the Central Pollution Control Board. Due to its large population, the effect of air pollution is the most fatal in India as compared to any other country in the world. In our country, the northern region and the Gangetic plains – Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal – are the worst in terms of air pollution. In the entire northern region of the country, people’s life expectancy is decreasing by an average of 8 years due to air pollution.
In the context of the entire country, people’s life expectancy is decreasing by 5.3 years due to air pollution, that is, if we are able to keep the concentration of PM2.5 in the air as per the World Health Organization’s standard, then the average life expectancy of people will increase by 5.3 years. If the concentration of PM2.5 remains within the limits of the standards of the Central Pollution Control Board, then also the average life expectancy of people will increase by 1.8 years.
A few years ago, many plans were made for air pollution, the National Clean Air Programme was launched with great fanfare.
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