- 2 days ago
As Lancet flagged 15 lakh deaths in India due to air pollution, the Centre told Parliament that there is “no conclusive national data to establish a direct correlation between deaths or diseases occurring exclusively due to air pollution.
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00:00capital in a chokehold
00:13lancet chief unmask india's inaction
00:23lancet flags 15 lakh pollution deaths
00:30the government says no link between
00:38pollution and deaths
00:43is government denial costing lives
00:51daily airpocalypse top focus on five
01:04life
01:05hi there this is five live i'm sonal
01:11merothra kapoor now the capitals aqi
01:14went up to thousand over the weekend
01:17grab four was implemented but is it now
01:19too late to even begin to solve the
01:21problem lancet says 1.5 million lives
01:25are lost because of air pollution our
01:27parliament says zero also you know lots
01:32of doctors have come out to say
01:34directly linking all the deaths and
01:37ailments to air pollution our parliament
01:39again says nothing about it so what
01:41exactly is happening what's the truth
01:43that's what we'll decode over the next
01:45one hour first up the headlines
01:47days after the goa nightclub tragedy the
01:52luthra brothers will be brought back to
01:54india tomorrow they will land in delhi
01:56where goa cops will take custody
01:58a massive political storm has erupted
02:04over shocking slogans raised at a
02:06congress rally in delhi
02:07modi teri kabr khodegi chants by congress
02:10worker one particular one have triggered
02:12outrage with the bjp calling it hate
02:14speech not dissent
02:18as the congress held a massive rally in
02:20ramila maidan against alleged vote
02:21chori its own leader mohammad
02:24okim questioned the stance and blamed
02:25the leadership he's now been expelled
02:27the bjp has appointed 45 year old
02:33nitin labeen as its new working
02:35president he's currently a minister of
02:36the nitish kumar government before
02:39heading to delhi he offered prayers at
02:41the hanuman temple in patna
02:47celebrations turned into horror at
02:48sydney's iconic bondi beach on
02:50december 20th on december 40th
02:53vagabaran as a deadly terror attack
02:54claimed at least 16 lives which will
02:56show two shooters firing bullets at
02:58fleeing civilians it has now emerged
03:00that the two attackers were father-son
03:02duo of pakistani origin
03:06of the kerala
03:08shocking sexist remarks by a cpm leader
03:10in kerala have triggered outrage and
03:11raised questions over the left's claims
03:13of progressivism cpm leader has now said
03:17that women are married to have sex and
03:19that married women should stay at home
03:21and must not contest elections also this is the cpm leader
03:26side delhi
03:29the union government has circulated a draft bill in
03:31lok sabha proposing a sweeping over all of
03:33india's rural employment framework the draft
03:35seeks to
03:36repeal the mahatma gandhi national rural
03:39employment guarantee act and replace it with a new law
03:42aimed at reshaping rural job guarantee
03:44after eight months of investigation the national investigation
03:49agency is set to file a charge sheet in the
03:51palgam terror attack before the special nia court in jammu the charge
03:55sheet is expected to expose the mastermind behind the palgam terror attack
03:58apocalypse continues in the national capital and air quality remains in the severe category
04:06the worsening pollution was visible from early hours even through the weekend as dense smog
04:11also you know drop temperatures engulfed large parts of delhi ncr reducing visibility sharply
04:18and lionel messi's india tour has mesmerized fans across the country
04:25after an overwhelming reception in mumbai the football court is now in delhi
04:29where he has an event scheduled at the arunjaitli stadium
04:33at the final leg of the tour even as aqi hits 500
04:41welcome to the national capital where the air that you and i are breathing is officially off the charts
04:47the aqi has crossed one thousand every breath is doing damage schools have finally been shut
04:55offices have been told to work from home at least on paper hospitals are filling up with breathless
05:01patients doctors are issuing most extreme warnings yet if you can leave the city leave the city to save
05:08your life and yet people who run the city and this country do not appear to see it as an emergency
05:15there is no all-party meeting no emergency session of parliament on air pollution in fact
05:21there is no time bound action plan in place the parliament hasn't even found the time to discuss air
05:28that is choking the national capital but what has moved fast well that's definitely the new aqi standards
05:36new definitions as if indian lungs function differently from the rest of the world this is by the way on your screen
05:43right now not fog not winter haze this is smog this is the deadly pm 2.5 which is a public health disaster
05:53unfolding in real time the weekend that just went by the air quality index the national capital had peaked
06:00to a staggering one zero four five in certain places this morning too delhi registered levels that were above
06:07five hundred in several places remaining sort of firmly in the severe category the worsening pollution was
06:14visible from early hours and the dense smog combined with dropping temperatures engulfed large parts of the city
06:20sharply reducing visibility and worsening our health risks supreme court meanwhile has now taken note of the
06:27rising pollution levels the top court slammed delhi ncr government observing that states fail to act
06:33unless the court intervenes the matter has now been posted for hearing on wednesday we wait to see what
06:39really will come out of there but the chief justice of india has also advised hearings we conducted through
06:43a hybrid mode given the hazardous air conditions even the official schedules have not been spared you just saw
06:51visuals of prime minister nadeen tramothi his departure for a three nation tour out of jordan ethiopia and oman was
06:58impacted by poor visibility at delhi airport the prime minister was scheduled to leave at 8 30 the flight could not take off
07:05till about an hour or so flight operations in fact across the national capital region continue to be disrupted
07:11airlines and delhi airport have issued advisories warning passengers of delays and cancellations as of
07:18now 68 flights have been cancelled five diversions have been reported in delhi airport and well that's just for
07:27starters we don't know how long the situation will actually continue children the elderly and those with
07:33respiratory conditions have been advised to take special precautions and avoid outdoor exposure the
07:40imd the indian meteorological department has issued another fog alert there is a strong possibility of
07:45dense and very dense fog in parts of uttar pradesh madhya pradesh during the morning hours of 16th and 17th
07:52dense fog also dense fog is very likely in parts of panjab haryana chandigarh delhi during the same period in fact
08:00similar conditions are expected in marchal pradesh so december said to be the best part and the best
08:06time of the year here in delhi ncr clearly turning out to be the most toxic and make no mistake what delhi
08:14is battling today is not just an air emergency that has erupted this has been in making for at least two
08:21decades this is toxic air this is policy paralysis and this is a crisis that continues to deepen when
08:28accountability remains dangerously thin so what's the way out really well number one would perhaps be
08:35to acknowledge the problem and figure out a plan but the government has refused to do so the government
08:41in parliament actually went out to say that no deaths took place because of air pollution this
08:48went doctor after doctor and experts after expert including the lancet report went out to say that 1.5 million
08:56people in india died because of air pollution so what exactly is the truth why is the government
09:03saying zero well to talk to us a little bit more about that i'm very glad to have the executive
09:07director of lancet countdown dr marina romanello join us here this afternoon in fact from united
09:14kingdom thank you so much dr marina for giving us your time my first question really is this your report
09:20your report went out too late very simply that 1.5 million people have lost their life directly
09:27because of air pollution this when in india forget a solution the government on the floor of the
09:35parliament on the floor of the house just last week said that zero deaths can be linked to air
09:41pollution what's the truth then well thank you so much for having me and first of all my heart goes to
09:46everyone in in india that is breathing this toxic air i hope everyone manages to keep safe as you just
09:53mentioned our recent lancet countdown reports which i should say is the product of over a hundred researchers
09:59that are experts in various fields of climate change and health including air pollution um have concluded
10:05that poor air quality coming from human sources of air pollution in india has cost and i'm going to
10:13correct the number you just said has cost 1.7 million deaths from human cost air pollution of all sources
10:21in india alone this the latest data that we have is for 2022 and i should say we're doing this with big data
10:30data from satellites from um sources of emissions from big atmospheric models because uh actual data
10:38being collected on the ground in india is so scarce which means that the number could actually be worse
10:42particularly when we're seeing these big sharp peaks in air pollution and this as you said off the chart
10:48levels of air pollution locally and that obviously those associated links are very robust have been
10:54epidemiologically shown um to be occurring all around the world including in india so there is
11:01absolutely no doubt that poor air quality is linked to millions of deaths globally deaths in india as
11:08well and aside from just a huge huge amount of disease and exacerbation of underlying health conditions
11:14putting people's lives at risk well what's shocking me right now is that you're saying that this could be
11:20an underrated number an underestimated number the actual figures could be much worse but just i'm
11:26trying to wrap my head around this because while you say 1.5 1.7 million the government of india
11:32actually says zero they're not stopping there they are going out to say that air pollution levels what
11:39who has is just an advisory india needs to have its own aqi levels what's your thought on that
11:46well look um one one problem with air pollution is as we always say it's a silent killer and what is
11:53true that this is perhaps what the government is leaning on is that there's only to my knowledge
11:59one death certificate in the world that links a death to air pollution in the death certificate
12:05that is little ella in london other than that it's a risk factor it's an environmental risk factor and
12:11what people will be dying of in the death certificates is for example of a stroke of an
12:18ischemic uh heart disease is of cancer but all of these diseases are linked to air pollution and
12:26those deaths might not have occurred if it were not for the chronic and acute exposure to very very high
12:31levels of toxic air pollutants so while you won't see it in the death certificates the underlying cause we
12:37know is there is that environmental as we say risk factor for deaths and the who thresholds are
12:44there to help countries protect their populations there are thresholds that come from studies from
12:51scientific studies linking air pollution with deaths with disease and finding what is considered a
12:58relatively safer threshold and i say safer because there's no safe level of air pollution air pollution
13:06accumulates in our body causes chronic conditions like cancer like cardiovascular disease is linked to
13:12diabetes it's linked to um neurological diseases to cognitive diseases so therefore ideally we won't
13:21have exposure to air pollution but the lower the better and that's why the who thresholds are there
13:26to protect the populations they're scientifically grounded and they're the the target that all countries
13:33should be aspiring to meet obviously uh those targets are uh political targets and india is
13:39decided to put a much higher threshold from what i hear uh unfortunately that would mean that the
13:45diseases facing people the level of damage caused by air pollution will be higher than it would have been
13:52otherwise if those uh international standards were respected right is there any other country dr marina that has
14:00their own sort of separate aqi monitoring system the one that india is proposing to have now
14:07well i know that the who uh targets are targets that all who member states will be looking for and
14:14will be trying to work towards it's also important to know that those targets are ambitious because
14:20that's what we need to protect people's health and people's lives and in many countries those targets
14:25are still being exceeded um it's it's a target that is there as a goal to protect the population
14:32but the important thing here is to work towards that goal um as i said many countries will not have met
14:39those uh standards either but setting a target that is so much higher than what the who recommends
14:45talks about the aspiration to protect people's health and people's lives and as i said no level of air
14:51pollution is safe let alone levels that are higher than the who's recommendations right uh dr marina
14:58you know while we speak we've been covering this issue non-stop here on india today every day perhaps
15:03for the past one and a half months we've discussed air pollution on the program the coverage in the media
15:08has gone on for decades at length but we have somehow not been able to find a solution
15:15it is sort of in india to give you a perspective become just another inconvenience that you perhaps live
15:20with that air is just bad and it's like living with traffic we'll just live with bad air for those
15:27who are still not convinced what do you say especially to our parliamentarians especially to our bodies
15:34who are supposed to sort of work on this what do you have to tell them about the gravity of the situation
15:39we are in as of now yeah look um poor air quality has affected many countries and continues to affect many countries
15:48but the important thing is that our understanding of just how harmful poor air quality is to health
15:56has increased enormously over the past decade we know now that is one of the main causes of death and
16:02disease globally and we know how diverse the impacts are from acute impacts like respiratory infection
16:09like exacerbation of asthma to chronic effects like cancer like obstructive pulmonary disease
16:15disease and that understanding means that we cannot turn a blind eye and what's perhaps most important
16:21here is that there's so much that we could do with immediate benefits to the air quality everywhere to
16:28give you a sense of where this air pollution is coming from um about 750 000 of of these deaths from air pollution
16:38in india come directly due to the burning of fossil fuels and that comes from sources of energy that
16:46could be replaced with clean air quality and india has the best natural resources to to replace coal
16:54that is such as a dirty fuel liquid gas with clean energy technologies and india could be a superpower
17:01in clean energy that is of course the energy of the future stopping to burn fossil fuels particularly
17:07in urban centers particularly close to where people live could have immediate benefits could save
17:13thousands and thousands of lives every year and we've seen globally 160 000 lives are being saved every
17:20year due to phase down of coal burning particularly in in europe there's no reason why india should not
17:27benefit from from that cleaner technologies and cleaner air quality as well and that could save as i said
17:32hundreds of thousands of lives every year got it dr marina when i speak with doctors on this issue the
17:39one thing that they tell me very clearly is that smaller kids whose bodies whose organs are still
17:46developing and older people are the most impacted do you have a sense of what kind of impact do you see
17:54you're right when you say that it's a silent killer so the impact is not immediate and sometimes not
18:00permanent either so to take that into account could you tell us what exactly is the level of damage
18:07or permanent damage that happens to younger kids especially and to older individuals yeah so look
18:15when we talk about air pollution what we're talking about is this very very tiny uh particulate matters
18:21particularly when you talk about pm 2.5 they're really really tiny particulars in the air that we breathe
18:26these particulars enter our lungs and generate damage there they're hardly harm they're highly harmful to
18:33our respiratory system particularly harmful for kids for young children whose lungs whose organs are
18:39still in development so we see for example exposure to air pollution linked to higher uh incidence of
18:46asthma with higher incidence of asthmatic attacks and death associated with asthma similar with um uh for
18:54example pneumonia or other respiratory infections so that's when it comes and stays in our lungs but
19:00this small particulate matter goes through our lung barrier and straight into our bloodstream and that is
19:06why it's so harmful it will be distributed throughout our body and as such it affects practically every single
19:13one of our organs from our heart to our liver to our brain will be affected by these toxic uh pollutants that
19:21are in our blood and imagine what that does to our young kid whose organs are still in development
19:26it will affect them throughout their lifetime and oftentimes this air pollution comes also with
19:32carcinogens those carcinogens will start generating damage in our cells will start generating mutations and
19:39the more they accumulate the worst it is for organs so when children are exposed from such a young age
19:45we're basically condemning them to a life of increased risk factors for very deadly and very nasty diseases like
19:53cancers like cardiovascular diseases like chronic respiratory illness and that gets worse as the air
20:02quality worsens and as the days of exposure uh become more so that the accumulation throughout a lifetime
20:10they will pay for that damage all throughout their lives and that is why it's so important that very
20:16robust measures to tackle poor air quality are taking today yeah give me a sense dr marina of what would
20:23other developed nations do uh when air quality reaches these levels india after all is the fourth largest
20:31economy in the world we have a lot of development goals to meet we are also a very complex nation we are
20:38divided by color by language by different temperaments but we've always thrived in the fact that we are
20:46different even geographically we are very very different as you move even say 10 kilometers
20:51you know down the terrain in india anywhere so keeping all that in mind india is a complex problem
20:58but what would you suggest be done as of now when pollution levels aqi levels are over 1000 and what
21:05would you say is that other countries would do in this situation yeah look as you were saying this
21:10is an emergency right we cannot be breathing air that is this toxic so stopping people from being
21:17exposed to the outdoor environment when the pollution outside is so high is fundamental telling people not
21:23to go to work not to use their cars that is so polluting one of the main sources of air pollution
21:29comes actually from the use of petrol in our cars so stopping car traffic stopping people from going
21:37to work from being exposed to poor outdoor air is essential at the emergency mode obviously that comes
21:44associated with big economic costs with cost to people's income as well and to avoid those damages
21:52to the economy and to health you need to take robust measures to do long-term changes in air quality
21:59standards and in air pollutants emissions that looks like improving air quality standards for road
22:04traffic transitioning away from the use of petrol-based vehicles towards clean public transport and active
22:12travel whenever possible um transitioning away from the use of coal coal is still a very expensive fuel
22:19it's highly highly contaminant but what would other countries do we know for example mexico city is in this
22:25has been in this position london has been in this position beijing china has been in this position
22:31well look i can tell you a bit about london that is where i live we have now a clean air zone in london
22:36that restricts traffic as i was saying restricting road traffic is essential changing our buses to electric
22:43buses to avoid that big level of air pollution is essential we now restrict uh polluting vehicles in almost
22:51all of london and we restrict traffic in highly dense and and urbanized areas in london as well
22:57that doesn't mean that london has the perfect solution we also have really high levels of air pollution and
23:02associated deaths um but there has been a lot of progress we're for example um banning in certain parts
23:10the use of um biomass burners this is uh wood fire ovens um because we know that burning um
23:18wood is also highly pollution so we cannot afford it we have to turn to cleaner energy sources and
23:24transitioning away from fossil fuels towards clean energy is the most effective way of avoiding this
23:29death and that's what many countries are doing china is a great example of it as well my my last question
23:34dr marina is this that why do you think india has not been able to solve this problem which has been
23:40going on for about two decades now more actively for the past one decade at least what do you think
23:45is holding us back look i think it's very complex you will probably know more about this than me but
23:51india's highly dependent on coal for example for its energy grid i know that coal is locally available
23:56there's no need why it still should be i think that's a political failure to transition
24:00towards cleaner energy to cleaner technologies um the same with urban traffic highly polluting
24:06vehicles should not be allowed in the city center and that comes down to political will
24:11and political incentives to clean in air quality i think sadly has not been taken as the priority
24:17it should have as i said it's not just about health it also costs the economy enormously
24:22when you have to shut down a country or when people cannot go to work because they're sick
24:26due to a respiratory disease we're seeing women cooking with dirty fuels inside their home high
24:32levels of energy poverty so i think this is a very complex situation that has a lot to do with
24:37development and with cleaner energy access and with tackling energy poverty but i think india is now
24:44in a perfect position to tackle this issue it's a country that is growing so fast that has such a
24:49thriving economy and population as well that there's no reason why it should be delayed any further
24:55very quickly dr marina the government has rubbished the numbers from lancet they've gone ahead to say
25:00that no deaths took place at all what is your response to that well as i said the death certificate
25:05we're probably not saying but these numbers are undeniable are robust there's numbers from other
25:10researchers that are even higher than our estimates which i say we try to be conservative to be always
25:16on the safe side of what we're saying because we know it has political implications but there's
25:20absolutely no doubt no epidemiologists no medic will tell you that air pollution does not cause
25:26health issues and deaths so these numbers are robust we do need more action and i hope that
25:32the indian government will also start monitoring air pollution to be able to give evidence-based and
25:36very robust responses to the local population dr marina thank you so much for all the work that you do
25:43and thank you so much for giving us your time as well thank you and all the best to everyone over
25:47there all right that was a lancet chief saying the government should not be waiting for a death
25:54certificate to say that it's directly linked to pollution like it had confused in the case of
25:58covid as well also saying political will seems to be lacking in this matter but let's get a live update
26:05now i have reporters and my colleagues joining me from across the national capital region shivani
26:09sharma joins us from anand vihar one of the worst polluted places in the national capital anmol bali
26:15is at the igi airport and piyush mishra is also with us for the political perspective on what's
26:21really happening inside parliament let me start with anmol bali anmol lots of flight cancellations
26:27took place today even prime minister's flight had to be delayed what exactly is the current situation
26:33so as you know due to smoke many flights have been cancelled delayed and diverted currently i'm here
26:42at the igi airport and today due to the smoke it was seen that more than 60 flights have been cancelled
26:47around 250 flights have been delayed and diverted to other airports due to the smoke and currently i'll
26:52show you the visuals currently the condition of visibility is improving but yeah cat 3 has been
26:58implemented by the airport authority they have also issued a statements to the passenger that if you are
27:02coming for your journey read about your schedule read about your flight and then you start your
27:08journey towards the airport so this is the current condition at the igi airport and according to
27:13forecast also after 10 we could also again see that a thick layer of smoke will engulf the national
27:19capital which could impact the airport operations as well as rail operations around national capital
27:24right so that's uh at the airport flights and trains both impacted over there shivani sharma is here with
27:32us shivani i see you at uh at a you know foot over bridge over there to give us a glimpse of the visibility
27:39being absolutely poor but give us an understanding of what's the what are people on the road saying
27:46through the weekend we've had so many people fall sick there are doctors who are saying that now uh their
27:52emergencies are being flooded with people who are coming with chest congestion younger kids as well
27:57what's your understanding
28:02so i'll keep giving you the pictures because you know pictures speak louder than words we know that
28:07we are in national capital region and anand vihar that happens to be one of the most busiest bus
28:13station the junction where 2000 buses operate each day not only the dtc the interstate buses
28:20and after the grab for implementations there are guidelines that the old diesel buses should not
28:25operate but we do not visibly see any cut down in the numbers the traffic is as usual on the road
28:31there is the visible smog the pollutants that are making the air poisonous here and you know when
28:39we talk about anand vihar solar this is the place which happens to be one of the most polluted areas of
28:45national capital the air quality index here ranges from 250 to 749 so you can imagine the kind of
28:54poisonous air the people out here are breathing in this is the slow poison that everyone in delhi is
29:02forced to take in to inhale and why this grab fall was implemented so late this has to be answered we see
29:10one or two sprinkler vehicles out here but how much difference can these vehicles make is a big
29:16question another very important thing is that there are enforcement issues too you know uh when grab
29:23for is implemented there are strict directions that the school especially for the younger children should
29:28be operated in hybrid mode but there have been complaints that a number of schools in this area
29:34they have not declared holiday for these children so who is at fault when we ask questions they say
29:40that they did not receive the messages on time and there are enforcement issues in the national
29:46capital as well so you see people who are here they are the travelers who have who are in transit mostly
29:53they are going from one state to another there are buses lined up out here they are forced to go
29:58because they cannot stop their lives but there has to be some strong implementation especially
30:04when it comes to the grab for measures the number of buses you can see out here the the visible
30:09pollutants in this air which is quite unusually high at this moment too because you know in the morning
30:16it is maximum due to the temperatures then through the day it settles down but right now it's still visible
30:23so you can imagine the kind of pollutant layer which is there in anand vihar area which happens to be one
30:30of the most polluted air uh when it comes to air pollution one of the most polluted areas in delhi
30:36but people are out they are going they they are not uh they cannot stop their lives that's very
30:43importantly uh i think shivani the most important point that you've mentioned right now has been that
30:47of implementation of graph 4 and i think that's something that you really need to question the
30:52government on why is it that a graph 4 was implemented late and now the enforcement is barely there you see
30:58traffic as usual at least in the morning that i see i saw while coming to office and now even behind you
31:02it seems absolutely usual there's nothing we don't see cut down in that 50 percent that we you know used
31:08to see in early years so that's something to you know look out for all right that was a very important
31:14point there that shivani raised and let me take that with our guests forward now joining me now is the
31:20dr sanjeev bagai he is the chairman at nephron clinics also with us is chandra bhushan ceo international
31:26forum for environmental sustainability and technology i forest as it's called uh dr bagai the first
31:32question really is to you i don't know about your weekend but the weekend that just went by got so
31:39many people sick so many people run to the hospital and what i am hearing at least is that the numbers
31:47when they crossed 1000 that's when you immediately saw an impact of emergency rooms you immediately saw
31:55patients sort of trickling in what was your experience good evening i think this is a
32:01healthcare emergency in the national capital there is no question about it uh we have framed our rules
32:08of putting the grab measures in different grades uh to suit our convenience uh then the international
32:15aqi which is recommended by who is 15 and below india has accepted 50 okay that's fine but according to me
32:22health hazards kick in anything more than 100 to 200 if you're going to wait for 400 to 500 to kick
32:28in and then bring in the measures it's too little too late let me explain this in layman terms this
32:33aqi is a reflection of various components of the air pollution which is mainly pm 2.5 pm5 but not to
32:41forget micro nano particles of plastic hydrofluorocarbons volatile organic compounds toxic gases like methane
32:48and so on including ozone these are filtered down in ultra fine particles they break through your lung
32:55barrier and enter the bloodstream and go to every body organ there is almost 80 to 100 increase in lung
33:02cancers brain cancers kidney cancers liver cancers and so on in the last 10 years to 15 years we've seen
33:09acute respiratory problems including bronchitis pneumonia children are more affected especially because they
33:14breathe twice as far as adults that means they take in twice the volume of the pollutants apart from
33:21that we must understand that 20 percent underestimation of the aqi is is an accepted norm because the pm 2.5
33:30aggregate as larger or larger particles is called as an aggregating factor so the real if it is 500 the real
33:38is more than 6 650 also the heavy metals are never being spoken about the heavy metals what they do is
33:45they catalyze the micro nano particles of plastic make them into super ions and these damage the body even
33:52more so we need to look at this in a more holistic manner i have recommended this for a very long time as
33:58a simple tax-paying citizen that we need a separate ministry of clean air this is our fundamental right if we
34:06want to reach the dream of being vixit bharat and a really strong nation by 2047 or earlier we cannot
34:14achieve this if we are an unhealthy nation make no mistake about it this is damaging the pregnancies
34:20damaging the fetus congenital birth defects including absent limbs cleft cleft cleft palate congenital hearts
34:28absent kidneys it damages your dna that means your next generation is going to be born with more
34:34amount of chromosomal defects this is all published data there is some whispering in some corridors
34:40that all this is not correlated with indian study so just in 60 seconds let me pan it out
34:48sorry for my cough this is a gift from the air that there is more than 7 000 articles which have been
34:55published internationally out of which more than 250 are only india-based lancet july 24 lancet jan 21 lancet
35:03december 22 lancet december 22 lancet july 22 bmj british medical journal in november 23 new england journal of
35:14medicine 11 22 these are all published on india meta-analysis of 10 cities 21 cities some are only based on
35:23in delhi the fact is even a 10 microgram increase in aqi of pm 2.5 gives you a 200 percent increase
35:32risk of either having a heart attack or a stroke obesity diabetes mellitus metabolic disturbances
35:39one notch higher of 22 aqi increase is equivalent to smoking one cigarette for a never smoker that
35:47means with this aqi on a daily basis people who never touched a cigarette are smoking up to 25 to
35:5430 cigarettes a day so in my language it's called as welcome to the marlborough country
36:01dr bagai i hear you i hear the cough the pollution cough in your voice i hear your frustration
36:07i hear your almost breathless list of things that is going to happen to us and the generations that follow
36:12uh but somehow the politicians are not hearing you somehow our ministers don't care enough about
36:21aqi somehow they are in perhaps in you know filtered air and that's why it's not impacting them
36:29and for some reason this is just not knocking the right doors which is really really sad but let me
36:35bring in chadra bhushan at this point um mr bhushan the last weekend is where a lot of people who were
36:42saying a lot of people who in india have now discounted air pollution as just another inconvenience
36:49that you live with right like like you live with bad traffic or you live with like bad water and you
36:54have to purify it at your own house you just live with bad air like that's what a lot of people had
37:00sort of given up and that's what they were living last weekend change something friday saturday sunday
37:06when numbers went above 1000 something happened uh first up could you tell us what is your own
37:12analysis on uh forecast for the days and weeks to come remember the days and weeks to come are going
37:19to be filled with christmas parties and new year end parties there'll be catch-ups there'll be weddings
37:26and receptions there'll be a lot of gathering and also a lot of traffic on the road so we are right
37:32now in one of the worst meteorological condition that you can think about the wind speed is very low
37:39you have inversion you have high moisture therefore you have fog and it is both because of local
37:46conditions as well as the conditions from western disturbance so what you see today is one of the worst
37:52meteorological conditions uh clubbed with major pollution sources from from everything uh whether
38:00it is traffic uh it is heating and cooking fuel uh industries dust everything has come together
38:07and therefore you have such poor air quality uh next couple of days the predictions are that
38:15the meteorological condition is not going to improve significantly so you will have poor air quality for
38:20a couple of days let's now pray for gods to give us higher wind speed or maybe a rainfall uh to clear this up
38:30no measure of grab can reduce this air quality improve this air quality i want to say up front
38:38uh you know uh there's enforcement challenge of grab i i saw one of your reporters uh at anand vihar and how
38:45difficult it is to enforce so one is enforcement challenge second is even if we are completely
38:52implementing grab will it get us very clean air most likely not it will reduce somehow but not
38:59significantly so air quality in delhi will not be improved by such emergency measures as grab we have
39:07to start thinking about air quality improvement year round and start thinking about all sources of
39:14pollution start thinking about the entire region it is not delhi's problem alone yeah you you you go to
39:21noida you go to gurugram you go to aligard merit you think about let me go beyond that it's not just
39:28delhi ncr it's 60 of the country 60 of the country has bad air uh and that's the reality of the day that's what
39:36we're dealing with that's what we're dealing with i really wish i had more time uh mr chandra bhushan
39:41but i promise i will not leave this issue i promise we will come back to you and we will pick up
39:46different layers of this uh entire air pollution fiasco emergency uh you know that we've been talking
39:53about but i'm really sorry that's all the time we have at the moment quick wrap and we will see you
39:58you again tomorrow bye
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