Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a national Air Quality Index (AQI) in New Delhi. The index will give details of air quality and information on its likely health implications for city dwellers. The other countries which have implemented such alert system includes United States, France, China and Mexico. 

In the initial phase, the AQI will be available in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Faridabad, Agra, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Kanpur. Other cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Chandigarh will come under the national indexing network in few months. The index will be covered in 66 Indian cities.

There are six different AQI categories. They are Good, Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very poor and Severe. The central agencies have taken into account eight pollutants. They are,

In India, the major causes for Air Pollution are building sites, power plants, automobiles, domestic cooking with firewood or cow dung, diesel fuel and crop burning.  

As per the World Health Organization study, out of 1,600 cities, New Delhi has the world’s highest annual average concentration of small airborne particles known as PM2.5. The levels are much higher than the Chinese capital Beijing. According to the report, air pollution kills more than 6,20,000 people every year in India.