Greenpace India reported that Air pollution levels exceeds the prescribed standards in 15 out of 17 Indian cities where National Air Quality Index (NAQI) stations are situated. The report said that the official data confirmed that exposure to toxic particulate pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) is alarmingly high in most Indian cities and National Ambient Air Quality Standards are being continuously violated.
The NGO released a ranking report of the 17 cities covered by NAQI on 15th December 2015. This report is the first analysis of air pollution levels in Indian cities carried out using the NAQI system. The report said that Delhi’s levels over the eight months of data were 12 times as high as the WHO annual guideline and three times as high as the national standard. Another six cities Lucknow, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Varanasi — had average levels at least 10 times as high as the WHO annual guideline
The pollution data is high in these countries:
- Delhi
- Ahmedabad
- Varanasi
- Patna
- Agra
- Kanpur
About NAQI:
- It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- It monitors quality of air in major urban centres.
- It was defined as ‘One Number- One Colour-One Description’.
- The formulation of the index was a continuation of the initiatives under Swachh Bharat Mission
- There are six AQI categories, namely Good, Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very Poor, and Severe.
- The proposed AQI will consider eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3, and Pb) for which short-term (up to 24-hourly averaging period) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.
About GreenPace India
- Greenpeace India was founded in 2001.
- It is a legally registered society with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Patna, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai.
- Greenpeace India campaigns to protect India’s forests, for clean air and water, to promote solar power, to prevent the dangerous impacts of climate change and nuclear power, for safe food and ecological farming and to protect freedom of speech.
- History: Greenpeace started in 1971 with a small group of volunteers organising a music concert to raise funds to sail a boat from Vancouver to Amchitka to protest against US militarism and the testing of nuclear weapons. The tests went ahead but the protests gave birth to a new idea
