New Delhi, the capital of India, went through the worst November in at last six years in terms of its air pollution level, as per the official notice. Delhi recorded 11 days of ‘severe pollution’ in that month. The last time the Indian capital witnessed such high levels of pollution was in November 2016 for 10 days.
The people of Delhi did not see a single ‘good’ day in the whole month of November, according to the global air quality index. Experts have blamed the burning of crop residues and Diwali fireworks for the alarming pollution level.
The Central Pollution Control Board of India has been keeping air quality data since 2015. The residents of Delhi have not had such a bad experience since then. Gufran Beg, the founder of SAFAR, a weather forecasting company, told local media that one of the main reasons for the worsening weather in November, as compared to the last few years, has been the burning of hay during the rainy season and the Diwali festival.
The NASA satellite imagery shows that between October 1 and November 26 this year, 90,984 fires were reported from burning straw in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. This has the highest number in the last five years, according to a report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEW).
The day after Diwali, the air in Delhi dropped to dangerous levels because people disobeyed the government ban and set off fireworks for hours. PM2.5, a tiny particle that pollutes the air, is extremely harmful to the human lungs. According to international standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter of air is tolerable but the presence of PM2.5 in the air of New Delhi is much higher than this level.
Several studies have warned of the health risks of breathing in such toxic air. A recent joint study by the Long Care Foundation and Palmocare Research and Education found that exposure to high levels of air pollution can lead to obesity in children and increase their risk of developing asthma. This is the first such study in India on the relationship between overweight children, asthma and air pollution.