India needs to wake up to the threat from rising air pollution, which has been declared as one of the top 10 killers in the world by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) count, which tracks deaths an

Tough Time For Those With Respiratory Disorders

Jaipur: Call it post-Diwali blues as number of people with respiratory problems queuing outside city hospitals saw a sharp rise over the last two days. The level of air pollution increased significantly during Diwali compared to previous year. At certain places, it was two times the figures recorded for 2011. According to the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) which measured the air quality at its monitoring stations, in almost every part of the city, except one place, the pollution level went up during the festival.

Despite a campaign by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) for a safe and soundless Deepavali, the noise and air pollution levels shot up during the three-day festival in most areas of the City, including silent zones.

The highest noise level was recorded in Yelahanka New Town, categorised as an industrial zone. On November 13, it recorded 84 dB (decibel), an increase of 14 per cent compared to the recording on a normal day. City Railway Station recorded the highest air pollution with an increase in Sulphur dioxide, Nitrogen dioxide and Carbon monoxide levels, registering an average of 72 per cent increase in air pollutants on all the three days.

This Diwali night saw a rise in air pollution levels in some pockets of the Capital while noise levels declined compared with last year, according to an air-noise pollution assessment report released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Wednesday.

A senior CPCB official said: “The rise in air pollution can be attributed to adverse meteorological conditions -- decrease in average temperature, low wind speed, and increase in humidity -- in and around Delhi and the fact that people probably burst more smoke-producing crackers.”

Delhi Cabinet takes help of NASA images to discover cause of the smog

With the Capital facing constant haze and smog over the past many days, the Delhi Cabinet on Wednesday took help of pictures taken by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to find an answer to the problem. And after deliberations on the subject, it discovered that much of the smog had to do with burning of rice husk and stalks by farmers in their paddy fields in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Air quality registers a marginal improvement

Having gasped for breath for nearly a week now, Delhiites breathed slightly easy on Tuesday with the air quality registering a marginal improvement. But deteriorating air quality and the dense smog that had enveloped the Capital for the past few days has prompted environmentalists to demand that urgent measures be put in place to reduce air pollution in the city.

A Bench of the Lok Adalat has observed that the use of banned pesticides has led to cervical and breast cancer among female agriculture labourers in six districts which fall under the Gulbarga revenue division.

The Bench comprising Justice D V Shylendra Kumar of the High Court and A N Yellappa Reddy, a member of the Lok Adalat, in its sitting in Bangalore on Saturday, directed the departments of health and agriculture to conduct a survey among labourers and suggest remedial measures.

In May this year, Masilamani (41), a resident of a housing board colony bang opposite the Kodungiyur dumpyard, woke up with violent coughs and breathlessness.