Author Archives: simarbir dhaliwal

Air quality in New Delhi has worsened in the last decade. According to a WHO survey, Delhi has the worst air quality as compared to other major cities around the world. The poisonous particulate matter of air in New Delhi is 440 pm which is 12 times worse than the recommended level of 35 pm. Air pollution is responsible for killing millions of people across India, from lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute lower respiratory infections, and diabetes. Air pollution in New Delhi is expected to reduce the life expectancy of its residents by 20 months and responsible for irreversible damage to the lungs of 50% of all children in the state. 

Reason for Pollution 

•  Air quality worsens in the capital around this time of the year due to stubble burning when crops are being harvested. 
• Around 60% of the population in India still use fossil and solid fuels to cook food, thus increasing the carbon dioxide level in the air. 
• Firecrackers burnt on Diwali, known as the festival of lights also add to the increasing smog levels. 
• New Delhi has a population of around 20 million people and carbon dioxide emissions from 8.8 million registered motor vehicles.  

Current Situation    

On 3rd Nov 2019, the air quality level climbed to a hazardous level and 37 flights were diverted from the New Delhi Airport due to poor visibility. New Delhi’s Chief Minister had to shut down schools due to the current hazardous air quality and announced that 5 million masks would be distributed to schoolchildren across the state. The government has given out temporary bans on construction activities and industrial plants to control the pollution level. Further, the government has implemented an odd-even scheme for cars under which vehicles with an odd number will not be allowed to drive on even dates of the month.

Next Steps to reduce air pollution

• Burning waste – Heavy fines should be imposed on people who burn garbage, tires, leaves and other wastes.
• Solar energy – Installation of solar panels at home should be encouraged and subsidies should be provided to residents.
• Carpooling- Congestion free lanes can be made for cars with three or four people to encourage people to carpool to work.

Group A- Simarbir Singh Dhaliwal

According to the  Composite Water Resources Management report, India is facing its worst ever water crisis, affecting more than 600 million people. 70% of India’s water is believed to be polluted. Indian Capital New Delhi and other 20 big cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Amritsar are expected to run out of ground water by the year 2020 affecting more than 100 million people. The CWMI report states that if India does not immediate steps to handle water crisis at this rate by the year 2030 more than 500 million people in India will have no access to clean drinking water.

Crisis in Major Cities: According to the UN report it is expected that by 2050 India will overtake China’s population and the growing population will outgrow the available water supply. By the year 2030 demand of water will double the available supply thus putting millions of lives in danger.

Contaminated water: In the past years 200,000 people in India have died due to inaccessibility to clean drinking water. India currently ranks at 120 out of 122 countries on the water quality index. India is far behind neighbours China and Bangladesh as just 50% of the rural population in India has access to clean drinking water.

Poor monsoon seasons: Due to consecutive poor monsoon seasons, water is becoming inaccessible to low-income families and people in poverty. Due to lack facilities like water tankers and rainwater harvesting system in place, low income families rely on groundwater for their needs. People below poverty are hit the hardest as they cannot afford the bottled water.

Effect on economic growth: According to NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India), India could lose 6% of its GDP growth due to the growing water crisis by the year 2050. Major Indian states contributing to the economy like Rajasthan, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh have received scores below 50 on the Composite Water Management Index report. Due to lack of clean water sources available government spending on compensation to affected communities and will increase government spending on desalination plants.

The following video throws light on India’s water crisis and how it is a warning to rest of the world .

Group A- Simarbir Singh Dhaliwal