US President Donald Trump on Thursday during the presidential debate described India’s air as “filthy”. He also described the air of China as dirty, and also said that Russia also does not care about its air.
There are many reactions to this statement of Trump in India. These include reactions where people believe that what Trump has said is a bitter truth. In such a situation, by looking at some figures, we try to understand what is the condition of India’s air after all?
Air Quality Index (AQI) of some places on Friday
American Embassy, Delhi: 480 Knowledge Park, Greater Noida: 470 Powai, Mumbai: 148 Sanathnagar, Hyderabad: 171 Maheenagar, Ahmedabad: 155 Talkatora, Lucknow: 247 GVM Corporation, Visakhapatnam: 165 Muradpur, Patna: 162
AQI is rated as ‘good’ between 0 and 50, ‘satisfactory’ between 51 and 100, ‘moderate’ between 101 and 200, ‘bad’ between 201 and 300, ‘very poor’ between 301 and 400, and 401. Between 500 is considered ‘serious’.
According to a global comprehensive analysis of the impact of air pollution on newborns, in 2019, 116000 newborns died in India in the first month itself.
The highest health risk in India is now due to air pollution. In the year 2019, 1.67 million people died due to neonatal diseases due to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, lung cancer, chronic lung disease and bad air.
The State of Global Air 2020 study found that half of the total deaths of these newborns were due to outdoor air pollution.
Talking about another figure, South Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal were among the top 10 countries with the highest level of PM 2.5 in 2019.
Based on the above given statistics and aspects, it is clear that the air condition in India cannot be said to be good.
