- 2 days ago
A Special Report details India's severe air pollution crisis, centered on the national capital where the Air Quality Index (AQI) has breached the 1000 mark. Dr. Marina Romanello, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown, states that human-caused air pollution is linked to 1.7 million deaths in India. This contradicts government claims of having no conclusive data establishing a direct link between pollution and deaths. Health experts warn the toxic air is a 'silent killer,' causing permanent damage to children's developing organs. Despite the implementation of GRAP-4 emergency measures, reports indicate that high traffic and pollution levels persist. The program addresses the disparity between WHO air quality guidelines and India's standards, the economic toll of the crisis, and the urgent need for political will to transition from fossil fuels.
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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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