Korattur lake. File
| Photo Credit: M. Srinath

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta along with her cabinet Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa inspection of newly installed central verge based air purifiers in New Delhi
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

New Delhi:

Delhi’s air quality deteriorated further during the day, breaching the 400 mark, and dipping into the ‘Severe+’ category, forcing the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the Centre’s anti-pollution panel, to impose GRAP 4 restrictions in the national capital and its adjoining areas from tonight.

This comes hours after CAQM imposed GRAP 3 during the day when the air quality was hovering over 300. During the day, the panel said measures in stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) have been implemented following “highly unfavourable meteorological conditions, including calm winds and very low mixing height”. Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index, which was 379 at 4 pm, which breached the 400 mark around 10 pm.

Later in the evening, the panel said, “Considering the steep rise in the AQI of Delhi owing to highly unfavourable meteorological conditions and absolute calm wind conditions, the CAQM Sub-Committee on GRAP called for an emergency meeting.”

“The Sub-Committee decided to impose Stage-IV (‘Severe+’ Air Quality) of the  GRAP schedule (issued on 13.12.2024) in the entire NCR, with immediate effect,” they added.

Meanwhile, schools in Noida will start from 9 am tomorrow due to severe cold and air pollution, operating in a hybrid mode.

What’s Allowed And What’s Not

• Stop entry of truck traffic into Delhi. Ban on construction and demolition activities for linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, overbridges, power transmission, pipelines, telecommunication etc.
• The government can discontinue physical classes, including Classes Vl – lX and Class Xl.
• The government is to decide on allowing public, municipal and private offices to work on 50% strength and the rest to work from home.
• State governments may consider additional emergency measures like the closure of colleges/educational institutions and closure of non-emergency commercial activities, permitting the running of vehicles on the odd-even basis of registration numbers etc.
• Children, the elderly and those with respiratory, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or other chronic diseases to avoid outdoor activities and stay indoors.
• Ban on all construction and demolition activities, including public projects such as highways and flyovers

Last month the air quality in Delhi and the surrounding areas was consistently in the ‘severe’ and ‘very poor’ category, prompting annual health warnings from medical professionals and triggering a rush of cases before the Supreme Court asking for directions to the government.

Over the past several weeks a top court bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih have held several hearings on the annual air quality crisis, looking at issues from farm fires (i.e., farmers burning agricultural waste) to ineffective bans on polluting vehicles.

In some cases, the court criticised the authorities for not following the law; for example, when GRAP-IV was in effect, the court slammed officials continuing to allow non-essential construction activities that are not permitted at that time. The court also had questions for the Delhi government for not stopping vehicles carrying non-essential goods from entering the city.

The court also questioned the Delhi government and the CAQM, a central government panel, for not ordering stricter anti-pollution measures once the AQI had crossed the 300-mark.

New Delhi:

Delhi’s air quality improved significantly on Wednesday, with the AQI nearing the ‘moderate’ category at 211.

Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 268 in the ‘poor’ category on Tuesday.

At 8 am on Wednesday, the AQI was recorded at 211, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.

Delhi’s air quality has seen consistent improvement this week. The AQI was 273 on Monday and 285 on Sunday.

On Wednesday, 15 of the 39 monitoring stations in the city recorded ‘moderate’ air quality and the remaining recorded ‘poor’ air quality.

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 12 degrees Celsius, 2.5 notches above the season’s average, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The humidity level was 68 per cent at 8.30 am.

The weather department has forecast shallow fog during the day. The maximum temperature is expected to settle around 27 degrees Celsius, it said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A plastic-eating insect may help solve the trash problem that has choked the Earth for a long time, scientists have concluded in a new study. The larvae of the lesser-eating Kenyan mealworm can digest plastic, making it the only insect species native to Africa capable of doing it, The New York Post reported. The study was published in the Nature Journal.

“By studying these natural ‘plastic-eaters,’ we hope to create new tools that help get rid of plastic waste faster and more efficiently,” Fathiya Khamis, a senior scientist at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology and the person behind the study, said.

Mr Khamis and his team found the worm is the pupae of an Alphitobius darkling beetle. It possesses enzymes which can break down polystyrene, a major ingredient in styrofoam. It runs rampant in aquatic ecosystems and has a long durability.

The mealworm might provide an efficient and eco-friendly alternative to the traditional recycling methods that are usually expensive and can paradoxically increase pollution.

To test the capabilities of the worm, the researchers held a month-long trial and showcased their gut bacteria.

During the study period, the worms were given plastic polystyrene and bran — a nutrient-dense food.

The results showed the worms consumed polystyrene more efficiently when given with bran, compared with the polystyrene-only diet. They managed to break down 11.7% of the total polymer.

They also survive at a higher rate, indicating the importance of a nutritious diet.

Khamis said the worms that broke down polymer had higher levels of certain bacteria, the enzymes of which they now look forward to isolating to “create microbial solutions that will address plastic waste on a larger scale”.

“Instead of releasing a huge number of these insects into trash sites (which is not practical), we can use the microbes and enzymes they produce in factories, landfills, and cleanup sites,” Khamis added.

We, the people of Delhi, are in a bad marriage with the city. This marriage is beyond redemption, but both parties dither in calling it quits. Because calling it quits brings not only pain but also an acknowledgement that we made a mistake. So, we carry on with the burden of our past mistakes on our fingers only to dig our claws deeper into each other’s skin. 

On a ‘good’ day, such as today, the AQI reading in Delhi is 407. We are jubilant at the sickly sunshine trickling through the slightly dissipated smog. At least it’s not 1600. At least s/he isn’t hitting me in the face. We are so used to the drama of this destructive toxicity that we are scared of the lack of drama. Our lungs get into a shock when we are exposed to clean, crisp air the way we feel threatened by a love that does not thrive on contractual power dynamics. We are instinctively scared and suspicious. We seek beauty in the haze of smog exactly how we find comfort in the seeming stability of a marriage.

This beauty and this stability are enough to kill us a hundred times over. 

Pollution, Marriage And Class

Resorting to generalisations, there is a class-defined perception of pollution of both marriage and air. While the rich keep discussing it ad nauseam from the relative comforts of their homes—with airconditioning and purifiers cranked up to max—the poor have no such luxury. In fact, they light a fire to keep them warm. The results are the same.

The rich have the luxury of getaways and vacations to lull them into thinking that it’s not that bad. Or that it’s temporary. The poor have their fatalism going for them. What’s even the point of complaining when everything is awful anyway? This is us. This is how it is. This is how we live and die. The poor also mimic the rich without the safety net.

A recent report claims that there’s no Delhi household without at least one member suffering from a pollution-related ailment. There are about 200 listed marriage counsellors in Delhi. The unlisted number could be even higher. And then there is the bevvy of family and friends who are ever so ready with their advice. There are at least 10,000 divorce lawyers in the city. You get the gist. Yet, it’s a good day today. 

It’s very easy to blame the ‘other’ for when things get ugly. It’s the farmers of Haryana and Punjab. No, it’s the automobiles in NCR. It’s the other woman. Are you crazy? It’s her nosy family, silly. It’s her. It’s him. It’s them. It’s never me.

Shifting Goalposts

We decide to GRAP-ple. We find new goalposts, we shift the old ones. “This is reasonable. At least today is better than yesterday.” And we fall into the old patterns when the obvious disasters, the 1600 AQI, come down to the ‘reasonable’ limits of 450. We go back to keeping up the pretences for ourselves and others. We even celebrate with outdoor brunches.

We want somebody else to “fix” everything. We look at forces larger than us. God and government. Neither is interested in fixing anything. Governments and corporations have vested interests in maintaining the status quo because the alternative is inconvenient. Just as acknowledging a troubled marriage in the family is inconvenient. Turning a blind eye suits everyone. 

But there are children involved, too. Oh, they will be fine. They need this. They need a good school. They need opportunities. They need stability. Stability. They’ll grow up as ‘stable’ people from ‘stable’ families. The outside world is dirty anyway. They need not breathe in it. Let’s buy them screens to shield them. Let’s settle.  

We’re Culpable, Too

The resilience of the human body is unmatched. We get used to every horror if exposed long enough to it, from bad sex to bad air. It’s not a good thing. It stops us from seeking change. We seek and demand change only when we can’t bear it and our body gives up. But in most cases, it’s too late by then.

We have the laws on our side to protect us. We don’t know how to get them to protect us. Because that needs work. But, before that, an honest admission is needed: we have been living out our mistakes. We are enablers. We are culpable, too.

We’ll keep burning stubble, sex, and dirty sources of power. 

We’ll keep constructing and deconstructing—villas, slums, dreams and demons. 

What we’ll not do is upset the apple cart. Because we are taking it one day at a time. Because in the end, we are all dead. 

(Nishtha Gautam is a Delhi-based author and academic.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), three-fourths of those aged three or four years lack — nearly 182 million children — access to adequate nurture, thereby risking healthy development, according to a new series paper, published in The Lancet journal.

Child development is also affected by air pollution, climate change, and exposure to chemicals, which are emerging environmental risk factors, said an international team, including researchers from the Centre for Chronic Disease Control (CCDC), New Delhi.

Explained | India’s crèche scheme and the laws that govern childcare facilities

The series builds on the foundation of the first 1,000 days of life — referring to the time period starting conception until two years old — and highlights how the ‘next 1,000 days’ (from age two to age five) is a crucial window of opportunity for providing nurturing care to children, the researchers said.

During this stage of “next 1,000 days”, children are often not in direct regular contact with health or education services, with fewer than one in three children aged three or four attending early childhood care and education programmes in LMICs, said the researchers.

The authors called for an increased investment for this stage of child development, with a particular focus on improving access to high quality childhood care and education programmes, which should involve adequately paid and trained teachers and reasonable teacher-student ratios.

These programmes should also include child-centred play, evidence-based curricula, and warm, stimulating, and responsive classroom interactions, they said.

Author Aditi Roy, Senior Research Scientist, CCDC, told PTI, “The main concern for India is ensuring an equitable access to quality ECCE. There needs to be a holistic approach with an activity-based curriculum rather than traditional academic-focus rote learning which goes against the National Education Policy recommendations.” Further, data regarding children in India attending ECCE programmes is sketchy, with no reliable estimates of current reality, she said.

A 2022 report by a government’s task force on ECCE said that 285.82 lakh children aged 3-6 years were covered under early childhood education in 2022 under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), with an almost equal number of boys and girls.

A 2018 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) survey found that over 70 per cent of 3-year-olds, 85 per cent of 4-year-olds, 92 per cent of 5-year-olds and 96 per cent of 6-year-olds were attending a pre-school or school. The survey, facilitated by the non-profit ‘Pratham’, was conducted in nearly 600 rural districts.

“However, as there is no data for private entities, it is hard to provide an estimate. But clearly, there is a steady increase in the number of private pre-schools, also referred to as ‘affordable primary schools’ in India with questionable quality and no regulation,” Ms. Roy cautioned.

While in recent years, the National Family Household Survey-5 has collected data for children aged five years who attended pre-primary school during the school year 2019-20, Roy said that the data might not reflect the current reality because that was a Covid year.

“The ongoing NFHS 6 survey will (possibly) give us more recent data in the coming months,” she said.

According to a new analysis, which is included in the Lancet series, providing one year of early childhood care and education for all children would cost on average under 0.15 per cent of the current gross domestic product of LMIC countries.

The series’ authors said that the potential benefits of these programmes are 8-19 times higher than the cost of implementing them.

“This Lancet series has brought together global researchers who share a passion for early childhood development, and were keen to profile the ‘next 1,000 days’ as a crucial stage of development, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs),” Catherine Draper, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and co-chair of the Series said.

“Children from LMICs not only need to feature more strongly in research on the next 1,000 days, but should also be receiving the care they need to thrive. This includes supporting caregivers of young children, and ensuring that they have access to high quality early care and education programmes,” Ms. Draper said.

Children not involved in childhood care and education programmes miss crucial nurturing care opportunities as roughly 80% of interventions promoting healthy development are taking place in such settings, the authors said.

They added that the programmes offer a platform to combine yearly screening and growth monitoring, along with food assistance, nutrition supplements, and caregiver support.

Further, air pollution, climate change, and chemical exposures as emerging environmental risk factors for poor child development, the authors said.

“Air pollution can affect early child development directly through physical changes and indirectly through disruptions in education as is currently happening in Delhi-NCR,” Ms. Roy explained.

“Similarly, extreme heat, drought, heavy rainfall, and flood (driven by climate change) can affect early child development and ECCE by impacting food and water security, physical and mental health. Extreme weather events could also physically damage ECCE centres and impact families economically,” she said.

However, currently, there is no discussion at the policy level on how these climate factors are impacting children’s development and how climate action plans should incorporate ECCE to address the emerging threat to progress, Ms. Roy added.

Chandigarh:

The Haryana government on Saturday authorised deputy commissioners to temporarily shut physical classes up to Class 5 in schools in their respective districts after assessing the situation in the wake of rising pollution levels.

“Letters have been written to all the district deputy commissioners on behalf of the directorate of school education in this regard,” the state government’s department of public relations posted in Hindi on X.

Given the rising pollution, the Haryana government has given the deputy commissioners the authority to temporarily close schools up to Class 5, giving priority to the health of children, it added.

In the letter, the directorate of school education wrote, “I have been directed to inform you that the government has decided that the concerned deputy commissioners shall assess the prevailing situation (as per the GRAP) in view of the severe AQI levels in Delhi and surrounding regions and may discontinue physical classes and issue necessary directions for holding online classes for upto Class 5th in the schools (government and private) in the interest of the health and safety of the students.” “The assessment for rural and urban areas of the concerned districts may be carried out separately,” it added.

Haryana’s Jind recorded its Air Quality Index (AQI) in the ‘severe’ category on Saturday, while several other parts of the state recorded their air quality in the ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ zones.

The AQI was 410 in Jind, 392 in Bhiwani, 383 in Bahadurgarh, 357 in Panipat, 321 in Kaithal, 309 in Rohtak, 297 each in Charkhi Dadri and Gurugram, 289 in Kurukshetra, 285 in Karnal, 227 in Panchkula and 209 in Ambala.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’ and above 450 ‘severe plus’.

Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after harvesting the paddy crop in October and November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Almost everyone in India is now vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, former chief scientist of the World Health Organisation Dr Soumya Swaminathan has said, underscoring the urgent need for cross-ministerial and international collaboration to address its effects on health, gender and economic stability in the country.

Swaminathan pointed to women and children as especially vulnerable to these climate-driven health risks.

In an interview with PTI on the sidelines of global climate talks COP29 here in Azerbaijan’s capital, Swaminathan called for a concerted approach, saying, “practically everyone in India is now vulnerable to climate change impacts, from extreme heat to vector-borne diseases. Addressing this requires close cooperation.”

“We know that climate change has disproportionate impacts on women and children,” she explained, noting how women, particularly in rural areas, face increased health risks due to continued reliance on solid fuels for cooking.

She emphasised that “access to clean energy for everyone is a priority.”

This, she argued, would not only reduce health risks associated with indoor air pollution but also lessen India’s carbon footprint, marking a crucial step toward sustainable development.

Climate-related health risks in India are varied, ranging from immediate effects such as respiratory illnesses due to air pollution, to long-term issues like malnutrition stemming from disrupted agricultural cycles.

Swaminathan noted that more than 80 per cent of India’s population is now exposed to these risks, emphasizing that “everybody is now vulnerable,” from rural farmers to urban migrants.

She highlighted the specific challenges faced by the urban poor, especially migrants who live in peri-urban areas with inadequate housing and sanitation, which exposes them to greater risks during floods and extreme weather events.

With health as a central theme, Swaminathan stressed the benefits of green public transportation, an initiative she described as a “win-win solution.”

“Carbon-neutral public transport will not only reduce air pollution but also promote physical activity and thereby improve health,” she said, adding that reducing pollution would positively impact public health by curbing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

She also highlighted that India’s urban centres are hotspots for these health issues due to dense populations and high pollution levels.

Swaminathan called for policies that integrate both health and climate objectives, stressing that this approach can drive development while building resilience against climate risks.

“If we do that kind of analysis, we can invest in actions that promote both development and reduce our carbon footprint,” she noted, advocating for policies that prioritise “development with a climate-resilient focus.”

Examples of such integrated actions include promoting clean cooking fuels, improving access to safe drinking water, and investing in infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather.

Dr Swaminathan went further to advocate for a gendered approach to climate policy, urging policymakers to “put a spotlight on women but also the poorest communities.”

She argued that gender equity and social equity are essential to effective climate policy, explaining that “by taking a gendered perspective in all policies, we can ensure more inclusive and effective climate action.”

Swaminathan called for greater research on climate impacts that are gender-specific, noting that this data would help policymakers create more targeted, meaningful interventions.

The economic costs of climate-driven health impacts are also severe.

Swaminathan pointed to recent studies indicating that climate-related air pollution alone costs the global economy trillions of dollars annually, affecting productivity, agriculture, and even tourism.

“If you look at the GDP loss and workplace productivity lost due to air pollution, it’s enormous – in the trillions,” she said. This, she argued, makes climate action not just a moral imperative but an economic necessity.

Addressing air pollution as a cross-border issue, Swaminathan noted that pollution does not recognise borders, making it crucial for India and other nations to engage in global collaborations.

“Air pollution today is the single largest risk factor to health,” she said, adding “It’s not a problem one country can solve on its own.”

She referenced the Our Common Air (OCA) Commission, a global effort she is part of, which has been working with international bodies like WHO and UNEP to promote global standards and monitoring mechanisms for air quality.

“We need a system where every country has air quality monitors and updates its data, including on super pollutants like methane and black carbon,” Swaminathan said, adding that these pollutants are highly dangerous yet often overlooked.

Swaminathan further explained the value of local data, which she argued would give a more accurate picture of pollution’s impact on different regions of India.

“Policymakers want to see data from their own regions; it makes the issue real for them and helps design local solutions,” she said.

Reflecting on the invisible nature of pollution’s health impacts, Swaminathan commented, “When the air pollution is visible, people recognize it as a problem, but often it’s invisible, and people become accustomed to it.”

She stressed that while death rates from pollution-related illnesses are often discussed, policymakers should focus on the widespread chronic illnesses caused by poor air quality.

“It’s not only about death – it’s about chronic ill health that impacts quality of life and productivity,” she said, pointing out that young children and the elderly are especially vulnerable.

For Swaminathan, tackling climate change is fundamentally linked to India’s development goals.

“For us, development is still a key priority,” she asserted. While India has made strides in increasing access to electricity and clean water, she stressed that much work remains, especially in rural areas where communities lack basic infrastructure.

Her vision for India’s climate adaptation involves not only mitigating health risks but also ensuring that development initiatives – from housing to sanitation – are climate-resilient.

Swaminathan expressed optimism about India’s potential to lead in climate adaptation through innovation, global cooperation, and commitment to sustainable development goals.

She pointed to Indian cities as potential leaders in air quality initiatives and green infrastructure, stating that “India can be a model for sustainable urbanization if we prioritize both development and environmental health.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)