00:00Let's shift the focus on pollution and it's not just the national capital that suffers from polluted air
00:07where the AQI index very often touches severe and very very severe.
00:12Finally though, the parliament has decided after days of heated debates on electoral reforms,
00:20right before that, even one day matram, they have finally, the parliament has finally decided to debate pollution.
00:27It's not something that just impacts Delhi, but the rest of the country.
00:32An exchange between Rahul Gandhi and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiran Rajiju resulted in opening the door to this very, very crucial debate.
00:43Most of our cities, major cities, are living under a blanket of poisonous air.
00:50You know, this is not an ideological issue.
00:52This is, everybody in this house would agree that air pollution, the damage it is doing to our people,
01:00is something that we would like to cooperate on.
01:04I think the government should have a discussion in parliament.
01:07We should all have a discussion in parliament.
01:09And we should try, we should try and not make it a discussion where we are abusing you and you are abusing us.
01:20I think we should make it a discussion where we are participating,
01:25we are showing the country that on this fundamental issue there is agreement
01:29and the best minds are going to be put into place to solve this issue.
01:34Government from the day one had made our position very clear that on all important matters,
01:40government is ready to discuss and also to find out a solution,
01:45taking along the suggestions from all the members,
01:48including the principal opposition party led by Rahul Gandhi.
01:52Government, government is always prepared to have discussion under any rule,
01:59but only what the point I want to make is since the matter was brought in the BAC,
02:04we will come back and let us see how we can structure the discussion into,
02:09and then we are ready to take up this matter.
02:13While one is very, very glad that the parliament has decided to pick up pollution to debate,
02:18finally, after days of debating other issues,
02:21some would suggest not as important and pressing and urgent
02:25as discussing the rising levels of pollution in our cities.
02:30But there is a certain amount of delusion that also continues to be displayed by the government
02:34where most global rankings where AQI is concerned put Indian cities like Delhi as the worst.
02:42India has now decided that they don't believe in those rankings,
02:45they have come up with their own markers.
02:47And that, in fact, has caused quite a bit of a controversy.
02:52India is sticking to its own rule book.
02:54The government has called global pollution rankings unofficial and set its own air norms.
03:01The government told parliament today that the international air quality rankings
03:04from groups like IQ Air and even data sets linked to the WHO
03:10are unofficial and not issued by any recognised authorities.
03:15Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha on India's position in global indices,
03:20Minister of State for Environment, Kirti Vardhan Singh, said,
03:24the WHO's air quality guidelines are advisory, not binding rules,
03:28claiming that they are meant to help countries craft their own standards.
03:32He went on to mention India's own pollution ranking,
03:35including the annual Swatch Vayu Survection,
03:38which ranks 130th Indian cities and national ambient air quality standards for 12 pollutants.
03:46Many seem to suggest that this is a tad bit delusional
03:50and one should actually look and reflect at the world rankings.
03:54important ones.
03:55So let's go dazu.
03:5657 Madre
03:5798
03:5999
04:0999
04:1199
04:1299
04:1399
04:1499
04:1599
04:1699
04:1775
04:1799
04:1790
04:1899
04:1999
04:1990
04:2193
Comments