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Emissions from residential cooking and heating, power generation, and industries together contribute up to 60 per cent of India's PM2.5 pollution, with about 80 per cent of this coming from <keyword id="23824528" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fossil-fuel-combustion" source="keywords">fossil fuel combustion</keyword>, a new study has found. The peer-reviewed study, published in MDPI's "Air" journal, suggests dividing India into 15 airsheds based on regional climate and pollution sources. An airshed is a geographic area where <keyword id="53848" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="air-quality" source="Orion">air quality</keyword> is influenced by common factors such as wind patterns and pollution sources. Since pollution can spread across regions, the <keyword id="22077484" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="airshed-approach" source="keywords">airshed approach</keyword> promotes coordinated action among states. "Residential cooking and heating, power generation, and all other industries together are responsible for 40-60 per cent of the PM2.5 pollution in all the airsheds, and approximately 80 per cent of the pollution comes from fossil fuel burning sources," said Sarath Guttikunda, lead author of the study and founder of UrbanEmissions.info. The study said biomass burning, including post-harvest crop residue burning, contributed less than 3 per cent to annual PM2.5 levels while transport accounted for 5-10 per cent in all airsheds. PM2.5 are fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less, about the width of a human hair. These are so small that these can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, posing significant health risks. An analysis of PM2.5 trends from 1998 to 2020, along with state-level data on fuel consumption, energy demand and emissions, revealed that 11 of the 15 airsheds were critical for India's air quality management and required coordinated interventions. The Indo-Gangetic Plains remain the most polluted region, with significant emissions from residential cooking and heating (especially in winter), power plants, brick kilns (driven by construction demand), waste burning, dust and vehicular movement for passengers and freight. The plateau region between the Eastern and Western Ghats, India's second most populated area, has seen the highest rise in annual PM2.5 pollution during this period, the study said. "This is an indication of the growing urbanisation and demand for transport, industrial, and commercial amenities," it said. Coastal areas, vital to India's industrial economy, have also experienced rising pollution despite the moderating effects of land-sea breezes. This increase is attributed to growing shipping emissions and overall industrial growth in cities such as Mundra, Surat, Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Haldia.

Study traces 60% PM2.5 pollution in India to residential cooking, power generation, industries

<ul><li>Nearly 674 million citizens in the country are likely to breathe air with high concentration of PM 2.5 in 2030. </li><li>Only half the estimated population in 2030 will be living in areas with clean air. </li><li>The current policies and regulation of the state government ignores emission sources outside their jurisdiction. </li></ul>While India is stepping up its efforts to curb the problem of increasing air pollution, it may be ignoring domestic sources of emissions — including solid fuel usage in households and waste management practices. Poor waste management, agricultural practices like stubble burning and use of fossil fuels for transportation, heating and electricity are bigger sources of air <keyword id="2659838" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pollution-in-India">pollution in India</keyword>. These have contributed more to the worsening air quality than vehicular emissions, particularly along the gangetic plain in North India, according to a report by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria and the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW). Indoor pollution caused by cooking, heating or lighting with kerosene and solid fuels<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/environment/pollution/air-pollution-claims-7-million-lives-each-year-un-expert/articleshow/68266636.cms"> is proven to be hazardous f</a>or women and children living in developing countries since they spend most of their time at home. Despite knowing the consequences, the Indian authorities<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-govt-on-backfoot-as-stubble-burning-worsens-air-pollution-in-the-national-capital/articleshow/66235837.cms"> have had a hard time in dealing </a>with the practise of stubble burning. Studies have suggested that stubble burning — a practise to get rid of leftover crop before harvest — contributes to half the pollution and toxic air problem in India’s capital. This comes in the back of<a href="https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.businessinsider.in/gurgaon-is-the-most-polluted-city-in-the-world/amp_articleshow/68267574.cms"> a recent study </a>that said seven of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are from India, with Gurugram ranking as the worst in the world with the highest levels of pollutants. The biggest source of pollution in Gurugram is stubble burning, which invariably contaminates the air in neighbouring New Delhi every winter. Short sighted The study clearly suggests that the current policies and regulation of the state government ignores emission sources outside their jurisdiction. For instance, crop burning in Punjab is one of the primary sources of pollution in New Delhi and nearby regions. The study also found that, the population living in Indo-Gangetic plain has the highest exposure to PM 2.5 concentration mainly because the emission sources are dense in numbers and the Himalayas are acting as a barrier in ventilation process. 13 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities in terms of PM 2.5 <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/pollution-on-gangetic-plain-affects-600-mn-what-india-can-learn-from-china-119030900140_1.html">belong of Indo-Gangetic plain</a>. It is affecting over 600 million people with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Indians will continue to deal with the struggle of alarming increase in air pollution as 674 million citizens in the country are likely to breathe air with high concentration of PM 2.5 in 2030 even if all the existing government policies and regulations are followed, <a href="http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/about/news/190329-poor-air-india.html">said the study</a>. Only half the estimated population in 2030 will be living in areas with clean air. Any inefficiency in the policy will lead to significant increase in the number. In 2015 alone more than half the then Indian population — approx 650 million people — were breathing air with high concentration of PM 2.5 that breached the standards provided by NAAQS. Moreover, only 1% had access to air quality approved by World Health Organisation.

India's plan for cleaner air ignores an important source of pollution

Chennai, Mar 9 () Madhya Pradesh's attempts tojoin the elite 'Basmati' league has failed once again as theMadras High court has dismissed the state's plea seekinggeographical indication (GI) tag for Basmati rice grown inareas falling under the state.A division bench of Justices R Subbiah andC Saravanan also refused to quash an order passed by theIntellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) granting GIcertificate for basmati to Agricultural and Processed FoodProducts Export Development Authority (APEDA).The court noted that for a same produce, two GIcertificates of registration cannot be issued and preciselythat is the reason why Madhya Pradesh has approached thecourt."At the same time, we have to observe that thepetitioners have an alternative and efficacious remedyavailable by filing an application to the registrar of trademark seeking to cancel or vary the GI certificate issued toAPEDA," the bench said.The issue pertains to an order passed by IPAB on February5, 2016 granting GI certificate for basmati in APEDA's favour.Aggrieved, Madhya Pradesh contended that such GI tagcannot be awarded to APEDA as some regions falling under MPwhich also produce Basmati has been omitted in the listprovided by APEDA.However,the IPAB rejected its claim observing that thedocuments and evidence filed by Madhya Pradesh show theimportance, special characters of rice cultivated in the statebut not Basmati cultivation in the traditional growing area.Challenging the rejection and the order granting GI forbasmati in favour of APEDA, Madhya Pradesh moved the presentappeal.In May 2010, GI status was given to basmati grown onlyin Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand andparts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu &amp; Kashmir.Madhya Pradesh moved a statutory opposition demandingthat its 13 districts be recognised as traditional basmatigrowing regions.The 13 districts of Madhya Pradesh which have beenexcluded from the tag are Monera, Vidisha, Bhind, Raisen,Gwalior, Sehore, Sheopur, Hoshangabad, Datia, Jabalpur,Shivpuri, Narsinghpur and Guna.According to Madhya Pradesh, these 13 districts hadbeen growing basmati for several decades and they were locatedin the Indo-Gangetic plains having climatic conditionfavourable for cultivation of basmati. Non-inclusion of the state in the basmati growingareas would have an adverse effect on the lives of farmers whomainly depend upon basmati cultivation, it said. BN BN

Madhya Pradesh plea seeking GI tag for Basmati rice dismissed

When farmers were protesting across India against the NDA government’s land acquisition bill, over 30, 000 farmers in Uttar Pradesh willingly gave their fertile lands to the <keyword id="927064" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Samajwadi-Party-led-government">Samajwadi Party-led government</keyword> to build its six-lane Agra-Lucknow expressway project. The government's flagship 302-km expressway greenfield project is the longest in the country till date. 

	The state government has acquired nearly 3,000 hectares of fertile, multi-cropped land for its greenfield expressway project without a murmur of dissent. At least 30,074 farmers in that state gave up fertile tracts of the Indo-Gangetic plain in record time. 
	 

	But the question arises, how did this acquisition for the Rs 15,000 crore project happen so quickly? When asked about the same, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister <keyword id="6355031" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Akhilesh-Yadav">Akhilesh Yadav</keyword> told TOI that by keeping farmers happy. When <keyword id="93127" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="UP-Expressway-Industrial-Development-Authority">UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority</keyword> (UPEIDA), the nodal agency for implementing the project, set out to acquire land for the developers of the expressway project, it decided to avoid the contentious "acquisition" process almost entirely. "Instead of acquiring land as is usually done, it was decided to purchase land from farmers through a mutual agreement. 
	 

	To make the transaction more lucrative, land owners were offered four times the circle rates (CR) in rural areas, and twice the CR in urban parts, as purchase cost. Acquisition was only considered in cases where mutual agreement failed," said Navneet Sehgal, chief executive, UPEIDA. To build it by October 2016, as the chief minister has promised to do, the <keyword id="95895" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="UP-government">UP government</keyword> needs a total of 3,368.60 hectares of land cutting across 232 revenue villages from Agra to Lucknow, and passing through the districts of Mainpuri, Etawah, Kannauj, Auraiyya and Unnao. In the 270 days between June 2014 and January this year, UPEIDA completed about 27,000 registries at the rate of about 10 a day, arguably the fastest yet, government-run expressway project of this magnitude. To achieve this, UPEIDA paid, till May 15, 2015, Rs 2,844.55 crore to make an outright purchase of 2,824.16 hectares of land from individual land owners, and 303.29 hectares from government departments, almost 93% of the total land it needed. Assistant CEO UPEIDA, <keyword id="361651" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ashutosh-Dubey">Ashutosh Dubey</keyword> said, "The government set up rate fixation committees under the chairmanship of the <keyword id="6381069" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="District-magistrate">district magistrate</keyword> to arrive at a mutually agreeable rate. After the approval of the CEO, land owners were given four times, or twice the CR depending on the location of their land. 
	 Apart from their land holdings, owners were also compensated for permanent structures built on their land, and for unharvested crops." When TOI contacted land owners who gave up their land through a mutual agreement with the state government, reactions were mixed. In Unnao, which falls under segment 5 of the expressway project and is being developed by <keyword id="689816" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Larsen-Toubro-Limited">Larsen &amp; Toubro Limited</keyword>, Jagdamba Singh, a resident of Matariya village, confirmed he had received four times the circle rate. 
	 

	"My village was on the Unnao-Lucknow border, but on the Unnao side. My compensation, as a result, was paid according to the prevailing DM circle rates in Unnao. The neighbouring village that falls in Lucknow, however, received a higher compensation. So even though I got four times, I felt cheated," Singh said. In Etawah's Takha tehsil, Bakridan begum walked away with a compensation of Rs 8.91 lakh for selling 2.5 bighas of land held in her name. Her son, <keyword id="3718452" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Naseem-Khan">Naseem Khan</keyword> told TOI, "We used about Rs 98,000 for a wedding in the family. We are also in advanced stages of talks over the purchase of additional agriculture land with the compensation money we received." In both cases, Singh and Khan said their families will remain invested in farming and did not plan to use the surplus funds to diversify their businesses. 
	 

	Not all land holders, however, were agreeable to selling their land to the government. In such cases, UP opted for the land acquisition process as prescribed under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013, and acquired 160.28 hectares of land. Here, while the rate of compensation remained the same, beneficiaries were offered an extra payment at an interest rate prescribed within the state's rules.

	The benefits of the dual model-acquisition plus purchase were many. "This model allowed UP to facilitate land transfer to developers in record time, Dubey said. Since the state's pur chase-acquisition process started in June last year, UPEIDA now has a land pool of 3,287.73 hectares of the 3,368.60 hectares it needed; that's 97.6% of the land it needed, organized in less than one year. 
	 

	The success of the Agra-Lucknow "expressway" model of acquiring land through mutual agreements and through the acquisition route has now been extended to other construction projects as well. "It is a smoother, faster process. More significantly, though, farmers and land holders get a much better deal for their land than they would if we went the acquisition way. That would have been also much more time-consuming,” Dubey added.

	 
	(Image: Indiatimes)

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Study traces 60% PM2.5 pollution in India to residential cooking, power generation, industries

PTI

India's plan for cleaner air ignores an important source of pollution

BI India Bureau

Madhya Pradesh plea seeking GI tag for Basmati rice dismissed

PTI

Know how land was acquired for Agra-Lucknow expressway

BI India Bureau

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