Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Air pollution in metro cities, 06/02/2017. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) monitors the ambient air quality at 680 monitoring stations located in 300 cities/towns covering 29 states and 6 union territories across the country under National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). The ambient air quality data for metro cities during 2014-2016 is given at Annexure.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on New Technologies for Solid Waste Management, 02/02/2017. As per the assessment made by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for 2015, the sewage generation in the urban areas of the country is estimated to be about 61,948 MLD (approx.) and sewage treatment capacity is for 23,277 MLD, which is about 37.6% of the total sewage generation. Further, as per the data available till Dec. 2016, the total amount of Solid waste generated in the urban areas of the country is about 1,57,478 MT/D, of which only 21.51% is being treated.

India is committed to reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020. However, road safety levels have taken a serious hit with the country witnessing one of the highest growth rates of vehicles in the world and rapid urbanisation over the years.

It is even more disconcerting to know the road accidental deaths of young people in the productive age group, causing substantial loss of productivity to the nation.

This recently released NASA simulation of the global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) cycle offers a powerful counterpoint to the Trump team’s push to marginalize climate change research. The visualization conveys the message that rising concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide on Earth will produce thermostat-like effects. It also seeks answers to questions such as how land and ocean absorbs the greenhouse gas and what will happen when it reaches a point of saturation. It shows 50 percent of human-made emissions staying in the atmosphere, while 25 percent goes to the oceans with the other 25 percent being absorbed by land vegetation.

Swachh Bharat Mission has gained quite a momentum in the past two years. The NDA government’s flagship campaign aims at covering 1.04 crore households, providing 250,000 community toilets, 260,000 public toilets, and a solid waste management facility in each town.

The shortage of urban housing across the country will increase to an estimated 3.41 crore units by 2022, mainly on the back of demand-supply gap and rising levels of income among the working class seeking to purchase houses. 

At least 10 million people globally do not have citizenship of any country, according to the UN. Without nationality, stateless people cannot vote and can find it difficult or impossible to gain access to healthcare, education and employment.

Delhi Statistical Hand Book-2016 is the 41st issue being published by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. This publication contains data relating to various Socioeconomic parameters in respect of NCT of Delhi.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Electrification of Villages, 15/12/2016. The electrification of all the Un Electrified Villages (UEVs) across the country is being carried out in a mission mode. State-wise DPRs/proposals for the DDG projects sanctioned is given at Annexure-1 and no proposal is pending. State-wise details of funds sanctioned and amount released during the last 3 years is given at Annexure- 2.

Global production of all major wood products grew for the sixth consecutive year in 2015, while trade in wood products decreased slightly, according to new data published by FAO. The increase was mainly boosted by the continuous economic growth in Asia, a recovering housing market in North America and scaling up of the bioenergy targets. In 2015, growth in the production volume of wood products ranged from between one to eight percent, according to the FAO data unveiled.