air pollution
Ola to study street-level air quality in Delhi-NCR | Weekly Round Up | RealtyMyths
Welcome back to the Weekly News Round-Up! Let’s see what’s in the bulletin for this week. Cab aggregator Ola has entered into a partnership with Microsoft Research to measure real-time, street-level air quality in Delhi-NCR through sensors mounted on its cabs. Even three years after DeMo up to 30% of the total transaction value on the secondary (resale) residential market across India can still be paid in cash. Residents of unauthorized colonies in the national capital will be able to apply for ownership rights starting December 16. Commuters using the Kolkata Metro will now have to shell out more for traveling longer distances, as it announced an increase in fares after a gap of six years, on November 26, 2019. Several areas in Delhi such as Okhla, Karawal Nagar, Yamuna Vihar which come...
It is important for India to embrace sustainable development: Swati Sharma
Today India’s metropolitan cities are paying the price of unplanned developments over the years. With no water to drink and no fresh air to breath, the city infrastructure has collapsed completely due to the poor urban planning. Had the authorities focused more on sustainable development, the scenario would have been different completely. It is important for developing economies like India to understand and embrace sustainability at every level. Not only it should practice suitable development, but it should also educate the students about it. Though the government has now shifted its focus towards sustainability now, there are organizations like Future Institute that are working on sustainable development for long. Coming up with Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HAIL), th...
Indian Real Estate market in trauma | Weekly Round Up | RealtyMyths
Welcome back to the Weekly News Round up! Let’s see what’s in the bulletin for this week. Singapore’s Xander Group’s private equity real estate arm Xander Investment Management (XIM) has set up a $250 million industrial real estate platform in India. This venture will target to purchase assets in the high-growth logistics and e-commerce sectors at industrial corridors across major cities in India. The recession has badly hit the Indian real estate sector. The real estate sector is facing a severe cash crunch and if the situation remains the same then this could indicate fresh strife for the banks. According to Fitch Rating’s Indian division about $10 billion of development loans coming up for repayment in the first half of 2020. This fallout could spread to mainstream banks that have...
E-Vehicles on Indian Roads and Other Ways to Reduce Pollution – RealtyMyths
by Saloni Bisht “What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on.” —Henry David Thoreau Over 140 million people inhale air that is 10 times above the WHO safe limit. Unfortunately, out of the world’s 20 cities with the highest annual level of air pollution, 13 are in India. The air condition in the country is only worsening day by day, and it especially takes a toll during the winter season. According to the study by IIT-Kanpur (2013-14), the use of vehicles is the second largest and most regular contributing source of air pollution. To be precise vehicular pollution contributes about 20-25 per cent of total air pollution. On top of it, the transport sector is becoming the fastest developing sector in the country which is resulting in the rapid upsurge in...
Should we have Development at the Cost of Environment? – RealtyMyths
by Akhilesh K Prasad, According to the latest report by Greenpeace and AirVisual, 22 out of the 30 most polluted cities in the world were found to be in India. Of these, Gurugram was the most polluted with an average index of 135.8 in 2018, which is three times the level prescribed by the US Environmental Protection as ‘healthy.’ The same report has also suggested that air pollution will cause around 7million premature deaths. In addition, the estimated global cost in terms of labour cost would be to the tune of $225 billion apart from trillions in medical costs. Economic development is often cited as an excuse for environmental issues. It is suggested that India’s growing population is the primary cause of India’s environmental degradation. However, there are countries like Japan and Sing...
National Clean Air program: How much effective it is?
by Anushree Ghosh Analyzing the National Clean Air program Our constitution mentions it as an obligation to conserve the environment and achieve sustainability. However, our country faces several issues because of its burgeoning population and pollution is one of the gravest amongst them. Air pollution includes emission from factories, construction sites, and agriculture. Due to rapid urbanisation and industrialization, pollution levels are increasingly becoming hazardous for the citizens. Seasonal dense smog in metropolitan cities have become a pattern in the last few years and is continuously under public scrutiny. As per the article published by “The Wire” on Sept 2018: “Recently, the US Health Effects Institute reported that India and China account for over half of global deaths due ...
Are you ready for bursting Green Crackers this Diwali!
Since past two years, the pollution level is breaking records and has resulted in making India one of the top polluted nations in the world. Finally considering the fact Supreme Court recently permitted only green crackers this Diwali to moderate the pollution level. There are restrictions on stocking and selling other crackers which are forbidden by the police. Whereas, the police is still confused and finding it hard to differentiate between both the categories of crackers. “Green Cracker” are the low polluting firecrackers, within permitted decibel limits and emission norms that do not contain barium salts, lithium, arsenic, antimony, led and mercury. These crackers are approved by the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation (PESO) and can be stocked or sold. The SC also imposed...
Are we waiting for death by choking?
Akhilesh K Prasad In 2013, the Pune based Chest Research Foundation conducted a study to ascertain the lung function of 10,000 healthy, non-smoking individuals across various Indian cities. It was found that Indians have 30% lower lung function in comparison with Europeans. No prizes for guessing that the primary reason for the aforesaid is air pollution. In fact, it has been well established now that around the world, more deaths occur due to poor air quality than water. In a 2015 report by the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health it was estimated that air pollution killed 1.09 million people in India alone. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was passed in 1981 to regulate air pollution. But it has been of little impact considering that the Environment Performance Inde...
Delhi Pollution: We need to go long-term, not knee-jerk
by Soumya Prakash A lot has been discussed about pollution in Delhi. There has been judicial activism to put a brake on pollution. Diesel to CNG conversion and this year’s Diwali eve ban on sale of firecrackers by the Supreme Court (SC) are just two such examples. This has led to a relatively cleaner Diwali giving some relief to people in general and especially those with chronic bronchial or lungs issues, children, and senior citizens. Responding to a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) filed by environment activist and lawyer M. C. Mehta way back in 1996, Supreme Court had issued a directive calling for the conversion of all buses, taxis, and three-wheelers to CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) in 1998. When diesel to CNG conversion happened, people thought pollution will be under control now. Bu...
This year, I pledge to become a responsible citizen in an Irresponsible Capital
The year 2016 was like the 9th Grade of years; everyone had to go through it but only a few enjoyed the term. The year took away a lot from us; lives in terror strikes, our freedom to breathe in the first fog of 2016, our right to spend mindlessly and our freedom of expressing views under the fear of being labelled anti-nationalist among other things. Although the memories of these events will continue to affect the nation, I have decided to let bygones be bygones and start afresh. We all have 365 new days, new pages to write the destiny of our nation, and like every almanac, let’s start this diary with a pledge towards a better nation and a better world. MythBuster Tanya I, a citizen of the world, pledge to be more responsible than I ever was, and take positive steps with immediate urgenc...
Do you think waste management is a critical element of infrastructure underpinning society?
Global waste management systems is a key utility service and a critical element of infrastructure underpinning society, but it is often not recognized as such. This article tries to embody within itself the facts related to solid waste, benefits of such management systems, things that needs to be done and the requisite know-how for such arrangement to function effectively with a managerial prudence. Mythbuster Aojasvi Planet earth through anthropogenic waste generation generates around 2 billion tonnes per year of municipal solid waste. In addition to that, around 7-10 billion tonnes of urban solid waste is produced from households, commerce, industry and construction. If a country wide analysis is done, then due to globalization, industrial and hazardous waste generation is shifting to de...
State of the State – Who’s to Blame?
Helloooo Delhi, Remember me? Of course you do! I am that pretentious person that litters your streets with tissues and your people with gossip, respectively. I am that lover who wrote ‘Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai’ on the walls of your history before it was cool. I am that stud who paints the town red, but with my passion for betel leave stains. I am that ‘bhakt’ (pun intended) who plunges my religiosity down in your holy river, not sure if it paves my way to heaven but definitely creates a hell here. I am that leftist who marches against globalisation and burn effigies to pollute you on a global level. I am that driver who drives their vehicle past the pollution check date, and slip in a note or two to the traffic policemen when caught. I am that authority who chases away ragpickers but does no...
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