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A good school for the children, a bungalow in an elegant part of the Indian capital, a job as a freelance writer, a maid, a driver, an inverter for the power cuts, and a water purifying system. These were some of the items Indian expat Jyoti Pande Lavakare ticked off on her list as “done” as she prepared to leave the piercing blue skies of Palo Alto in California to return to New Delhi in June 2009 with her husband Ajay, a technology start-up executive. The move proved smooth. Within months, the household had settled into a new rhythm. They were returning to spend time with their elderly parents and ensure their son, Madhav, and daughter, Naina, both in their early teens, had some “connection” with India, where both Jyoti and Ajay had grown up. They hoped to make them more resilient by teaching them to cope with power cuts, water shortages, and similar hardships. What Lavakare, now in her early 50s, hadn’t bargained for was the poisonous air. The city had a “hidden” secret: its air was fouler than Beijing’s but hardly anyone knew. With every passing winter, the air quality was plummeting. Jyoti Pande Lavakare. “In 2014, I realised something was making us all sick. At my children’s school, children were falling ill constantly. My friends’ children were falling ill. I had a bad asthma attack. When we met other expats, the talk was about what was wrong with the air,” says Lavakare. She thought she was being hypersensitive. Indian friends teased her for having become too “American”. But Lavakare began reading about and researching the air quality and soon became obsessive about the pollution. When the American embassy in Delhi, which had been collecting air quality data but keeping it private, released the figures to the public in 2015, the secret was out. Lavakare was right to be obsessed: New Delhi’s pollution was off the charts, registering 222 during US President Barack Obama’s visit in January 2015. Readings from 151 to 200 are considered unhealthy, and any above that very unhealthy, meaning “health warnings of emergency conditions”. The Indian capital’s residents were living in a gas chamber. In January 2015, Bloomberg quoted David Spiegelhalter, a University of Cambridge statistician, as saying that, by visiting the capital and breathing its air for just three days, Obama might have cut six hours from his expected lifespan. New York Times correspondent Gardiner Harris (a neighbour of Lavakare’s in Sunder Nagar) wrote a quietly impassioned article on how he was leaving New Delhi after his young son suffered a horrifying asthma attack. Breathing the air was the equivalent of smoking 44 cigarettes a day, according to the independent Berkeley Earth science research group. “At first I was in denial. Had I brought my children back to India to breathe pure poison and harm their lungs? But when the data started coming out … I knew we were in a crisis,” says Lavakare. She bought face masks and air <keyword id="2029750" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="purifiers">purifiers</keyword>, but that was only dealing with her own patch. Angry at the horror of the city’s 20 million residents breathing filthy air, she co-founded Care for Air in 2015 with other professionals, as a platform to build awareness that the city was in the midst of a “public health emergency” and to lobby for clean air. With her colourful silk saris and long wavy hair, pushed back by her glasses, Lavakare is now well-known as an expert on air pollution; she is invited to join television debates. She is unimpressed with the measures the New Delhi government has just announced to “minimise” (no one is talking of eliminating) the pollution this winter that turns the capital into a kind of “air gulag”, thick with tiny particles known as PM2.5 which damage not just respiratory systems, as many seem to think – but many other human organs too. The quality of October’s air plunged to “poor” even before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights when the bursting of firecrackers makes the “normal” pollution many times worse. On some days in late October, the state-run Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index stood at around 300 – six times the recommended level. The index has risen as high as 999 after Diwali for two consecutive years. This year, the government began putting tougher measures in place. Under its Graded Response Action Plan, drivers are allowed to use their cars every other day, depending on whether their number plates end in an odd or even number, to limit vehicle emissions; people found burning waste are fined; bus and metro services are increased; the use of diesel generators has been banned; and water sprinklers and mechanical sweepers will be used to deal with the construction dust and debris that is responsible for the bulk of the pollution. <h2 style="margin-top: 1.14286rem; margin-bottom: 0.428571rem; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.71429rem; line-height: 2.21429rem; font-family: Merriweather, serif; vertical-align: baseline;">At first I was in denial. Had I brought my children back to India to breathe pure poison and harm their lungs?Jyoti Pande Lavakare</h2> By getting the doctors on Care for Air’s board to appear on television to talk about its effects, visiting schools to educate children, and galvanising the media to cover the subject, the group has succeeded in raising public awareness and making people, even the poor, demand action. You can see the difference in the booming sales of air purifiers and face masks. “When people first began wearing masks a few years ago, people used to stare. It seemed odd. Or they’d cross the street, thinking the person was contagious. Now no one thinks twice about wearing a mask,” says Mukesh Nath, a chemist in Sarai Jullena. For Lavakare, the fight for the right to breathe clean air has become fused with her personal life. She’s not worrying about her children – Naina has gone to Barnard College in New York, where she is studying sociology, and Madhav, currently on a gap year, has been accepted by Yale University in Connecticut. It’s more that, while she was campaigning and lobbying against pollution, it sneaked into her family, devastating it. Jyoti Pande Lavakare (left), her late mother Kamale Pande and father Jagdish Chandra Pande. Photo: courtesy of Lavakare family She had returned to India to spend time with her parents. But over a year ago, her mother, Kamale Pande, a classical vocalist and non-smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. She had no family history of the disease and was otherwise in excellent health. Suddenly, all those abstract statistics were embodied in her own mother’s lungs. Specialists linked the disease directly to <keyword id="55910" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Pollution">air pollution</keyword> and Lavakare has no doubt at all about the causal link. In her book Choked, published this year, Beth Gardiner wrote: “You see one person run over in the street and you’ll never forget it, but thousands dying from the effects of dirty air will never even faze you.” Lavakare’s mother died last year. Trying to process her grief is one reason Lavakare is working on her own book, called Breathing Here is Injurious to Your Health, to be published next year. It’s the story of her relationship with her dying city, with pollution, her mother’s suffering and on what can be done to spare Indians from pollution’s catastrophic impact. The fight for clean air is going to be prolonged. Misleading statistics have to be contested, for one. The Delhi government recently issued full-page advertisements to trumpet how air pollution had been cut by 25 per cent thanks to its efforts. <h2 style="margin-top: 1.14286rem; margin-bottom: 0.428571rem; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.71429rem; line-height: 2.21429rem; font-family: Merriweather, serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Sometimes, I wish we hadn’t given up our green cardJyoti Pande Lavakare, who returned to India with her family from Palo Alto, California, in 2009</h2> “Experts agree that there is no data available – at least in the public domain – that clearly validates the claim. It doesn’t mean the government is lying, but unless independent data analysts and scientists can access the data, no one can say whether this is just another piece of fake news or a manipulation of cherry-picked statistics,” says Lavakare. Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, says the coming weeks will see pollution getting worse. “There are 14 ‘hotspots’ – areas where pollution levels exceed the average because of the burning of municipal solid waste and industrial waste. To reduce the remaining 65 per cent of pollution, these sources need to be tackled,” she says. Lavakare wants action on a “war footing”. The city needs an empowered and accountable authority whose sole goal is to reduce pollution. She is convinced that neither New Delhi nor the country – last year, 11 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities were in India – can afford incremental progress. Anger inflects her voice, mostly when she talks of how little has been done. “Take 2018 – there was not a single ‘clean air’ day in the city. Take the government’s Clean India (Swachh Bharat) campaign. “How you can have a Clean India without clean air?” Or the government’s other pet scheme, Make in India. “How can you Make in India if you can’t breathe in India?” Lavakare asks. The figures are not just dispiriting, they are apocalyptic. A report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago in 2016 said air pollution was reducing the life expectancy of the average New Delhi resident by about 10 years. She and Ajay discuss whether they should become “pollution refugees” by leaving the city for Goa, a coastal state in India’s southeast. Friends have already sold up and fled. Many have had nasty health scares. Some have opted for crazy commutes, such as between Delhi and Toronto or Delhi and London. “Sometimes, I wish we hadn’t given up our green card,” she says.

New Delhi’s toxic air and how one expat family was affected – sick children, asthma, a death, and a campaign to awaken city to pollution threat

<ul><li><keyword id="1655" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Priyanka-Chopra">Priyanka Chopra</keyword> posted a picture of herself wearing a mask in a car during her <keyword id="6358777" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="New-Delhi">New Delhi</keyword> visit. </li><li>She is here to shoot for her upcoming project <keyword id="1244815" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-White-Tiger">The White Tiger</keyword>. </li><li>However her ruffled many feathers as she was trolled for wearing a mask. </li></ul>Priyanka Chopra posted a picture of herself wearing a mask in a car during her New Delhi visit The post was a comment on Delhi’s toxic air that has reached an “emergency” level on November 3, 2019. “Shoot days for #thewhitetiger. It’s so hard to shoot here right now that I can’t even imagine what it must be like to live here under these conditions,” her post said. However her ruffled many feathers as she was trolled for wearing a mask. 
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	<div type="twitter" handle="LihosN" handlename="Lihos niaj" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1183490344291143680/nm1m42ii_normal.jpg" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" status="Everyone Is So Busy in Their Life No One Noticed Priyanka Chopra's Asthama is Back. 🔙 #DelhiPollution #Trolls https://t.co/6Xun3CMayi" createdat="1572802541000" id="1191046300663349248"></div>



 
	<div type="twitter" handle="Moongerilaal" handlename="Mungerilal" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/735501136208109568/B_9umy-L_normal.jpg" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" status="Pic 1: When in India Pic 2: When abroad #hypocrisy #PriyankaChopra @priyankachopra https://t.co/CXdGibkWSX" createdat="1572836389000" id="1191188269427355648"></div>



 This was an apparent reference to one of her earlier posts where she smoking a cigarette. Last Diwali, she released a video revealing that she is asthamatic. She also urged people to not to burst fireworks and celebrate pollution-free Diwali. Pollution level in Delhi peaked to a three-year high on Sunday. Several people including Germany’s Chancellor Angela Markel urged to clean up Delhi’s toxic air. All the schools are closed until November 5, 2019 and the construction work is on a pause mode The state government has also issued health advisory urging people to stay indoors and wear masks. See also: 
 <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="71787066" title="'Joker' beats 'Maleficent' sequel in dead heat weekend box office match-up" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

Priyanka Chopra gets trolled for wearing a mask and commenting on Delhi’s air quality

<ul><li>Supreme Court has decided to ban decade-old <keyword id="6451503" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Diesel-vehicles">diesel vehicles</keyword> and 15-year-old <keyword id="1433855" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="petrol-vehicles">petrol vehicles</keyword> as air quality plummets in the National Capital Region (NCR). </li></ul><ul><li>The Central Pollution Control Board has been asked to create a social media account immediately for the citizens to raise complaints regarding Delhi’s <keyword id="55910" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Pollution">air pollution</keyword> so that corrective plans can be initiated by the concerned authorities. </li></ul><ul><li>The apex court stated that a list of all such vehicles should be published on the CPCB’s website. </li></ul>As Delhi’s air quality plummets, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday decided to ban the operation of 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in the National Capital Region (NCR). The air quality in the NCR has been degrading tremendously and matters are only going to get worse as winter settles in. Most of the monitoring stations in Delhi <a href="https://app.cpcbccr.com/AQI_India/">recorded ‘severe’ pollution</a> on Monday. The overall <keyword id="2071721" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Quality-Index">Air Quality Index</keyword> for the National Capital showed <a href="http://safar.tropmet.res.in/map_data.php?city_id=3&amp;for=current">375</a> in the evening, which was slightly better than <a href="http://safar.tropmet.res.in/map_data.php?city_id=3&amp;for=current">381</a> on Sunday afternoon. The Supreme Court has asked the transport department to confiscate all those vehicles on the banned list if found on roads. Considering the current condition of pollution in the <keyword id="157098" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-NCR">Delhi-NCR</keyword> region, the court also said that the matter should be advertised well in the newspaper and a list of such vehicles should be published on the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) website. Also, the CPCB has been asked to create a social media account on an immediate basis for the citizens to raise complaints related to pollution issues so as the concerned authorities can take remedial actions at the earliest. The SC accorded the Environment Prevention &amp; Control Authority (EPCA) to take preventive steps under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which was proposed to tackle air-pollution in Delhi-NCR region when air quality deteriorates. The amicus, referring to the note prepared by the EPCA Chairman, contained the details and photographs of garbage burning in several regions across the region including parts of Dwarka, Mundka and Bawana. The bench also referred to the media reports that stated that people should not go on morning walks due to high levels of pollution in the region. In response to the photographs, the bench asked the Delhi Government and Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd to file their affidavits within the next two days. The Court passed its directives after a note was placed before it by advocate Aparajita Singh, who has been assisting the Court in the air-pollution matters, seeking an urgent corrective plan for the current situation. In a conversation with <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/sc-bans-15-yr-old-petrol-10-yr-old-diesel-vehicles-in-ncr-due-to-pollution-118102900615_1.html">Business Standard</a>, Singh stated that the farmers alone shouldn’t be blamed for pollution due to crop burning since the pollution from transport vehicles was recorded to be 41%, as reported by the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The matter has been posted for a hearing on 1 November. Earlier in 2015, National Green Tribunal (NGT) had also banned the plying of such vehicles on Delhi roads but the court had rejected the plea against the NGT.

Damage control: India’s top court bans 10-year old diesel vehicles, 15-year old petrol vehicles in NCR

It’s true for several decades that families head to the mountains for <keyword id="6420515" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vacations">vacations</keyword> to break away from the bustling city life and get some fresh air. If you really want to take in clean pollution-free air, if there’s one guaranteed place in this country that can cleanse your internal system by just breathing pure air, it’s the beautiful district of <keyword id="211744" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kinnaur">Kinnaur</keyword>. An IIT Delhi study reveals that Kinnaur in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, approximately 70 km from the state capital <keyword id="6357787" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shimla">Shimla</keyword>, has the <keyword id="3505727" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cleanest-air">cleanest air</keyword> in the country. 
	During the study, The Centre for Atmospheric Sciences at IIT Delhi observed the PM (particulate matter) 2.5 levels – harmful microscopic particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs. While short term exposure to PM 2.5 can cause allergies or bronchitis, chronic exposure can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and even lung cancer, which can eventually lead to premature deaths.

	 
	After the study, the Atmospheric Sciences Club concluded that PM 2.5 level was found to be 3.7+-1 microgram per cubic metre annually in Kinnaur, which is less than 10% of the national air quality target of 40g/m. Things can become clearer if you compare these stats with that of Delhi. The national capital has PM 2.5 levels of 148+-51 microgram per cubic metre, thus making it the most air-polluted city in the country.

	 Concerted efforts by the district administration ranging from several environment protection initiatives to keeping water <keyword id="13001" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="pollution">pollution</keyword> in check has made Kinnaur one of the most ideal places to live in. While use of bottled water is discouraged, there’s great emphasis on solid waste management and construction of toilets here, something every state in India needs to learn.

This beautiful place near Shimla has cleanest air in the country, according to an IIT Delhi study

It is a known fact that India’s capital <keyword id="6358777" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="New-Delhi">New Delhi</keyword> is facing a crisis when it comes to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=delhi+air+pollution">air pollution</a>, to an extent that it was one and a half times worse than the pollution levels in Beijing over the past week. 
 
Recently, an Indiaspend analysis of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/This-is-how-bad-Delhis-pollution-is-and-its-goingto-get-worse-if-we-do-nothing-about-it/articleshow/50140542.cms">PM 2.5 concentration levels</a> found that "the average weekly PM 2.5 concentration in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=delhi">Delhi's</a> air was 230.9 micrograms per cubic metre (g/m³), giving it a 'very poor' rating of air quality under the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Bureau (CPCB). This rating means that it could lead to 'respiratory illness on prolonged exposure'. 
 
Another study by the Kolkata-based Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) shows that nearly half of Delhi’s school children suffer from permanent lung damage while around 10,000 people will die prematurely from air-pollution in Delhi. 
 Additionally, the hazardous <keyword id="68139" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Smog">smog</keyword> which engulfed the city in the past few days reducing visibility down to about 200 metres has also forced a handful number of residents to move out of Delhi or atleast contemplate living somewhere which doesn’t resemble ‘living in a gas chamber.’ 
 
Even as the dangers of breathing the polluted air looms right in front of the citizens residing in what is being considered as the most polluted cities in the world, why then are they so blithe in taking steps to protect themselves from the choking air? 
 
Granted, the sale of air purifiers are on the rise with more and more people bringing it in their homes in a bid to chase clean air to breathe, but it should be kept in mind that air purifiers work only indoors, not outdoors. 
 <keyword id="3171236" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="anti-pollution-masks">Anti-pollution masks</keyword> are widely considered the easiest way for an individual to protect themselves from not just dust but also contaminants present in the air, but in the city of Delhi, residents using such masks are still a rarity. 
 
The reason for this is undoubtedly the lack of awareness. Anish Kapoor from Shiva Industries which makes a variety of anti-pollution masks (used even by the Delhi police) available online says that there has been no change in his sales numbers as people are least bothered about masks. 
 
“Not only are they not aware of the dire consequences of the pollution, but they are also quite unaware of the existence of anti-pollution masks and where to get them. The fact that wearing a mask is not considered ‘cool’ doesn’t help either,” Kapur states. 
 
The anti-pollution masks are available both online and offline. They can be bought from chemists and from Select City Walk and shops in Khan Market, being judiciously priced from Rs 180 to Rs 750. There are designer varieties as well, which are priced Rs 2,000 onwards. 
 
According to Vikas Yadav, shopkeeper at Khan Market whose medical store sells about 20-30 masks on a good day, the majority of people who buy them are either people with existing respiratory illness or foreigners. 
 
“I expected more people to buy the masks considering how difficult breathing has become in the city, but unfortunately sales have been maegre,” Yadav summed up. 
 
He is of the belief that for the situation to improve, it is imperative that the government takes steps to educate the people on the importance of these masks and the dire effects of the air quality in the city. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Pollution in Delhi is
increasing, but the demand for anti-pollution masks is not- here’s why

Last year, the World Health Organisation declared India’s capital city, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=delhi+air+pollution">New Delhi, as the most polluted city in the world</a>, leaving behind China’s capital <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=beijing">Beijing</a>, which is often talked of in the same sentence as <keyword id="66" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delhi">Delhi</keyword> when the matter of pollution is discussed. 
 
And, this year- or to be precise last week when the world’s leaders congregated in Paris to discuss climate change and solutions to global warming, these two cities again made headlines for experiencing the worst pollution they’ve witnessed in recent times. 
 
Similar as their dubious distinction might be for being one of the most polluted cities, what set these two capital cities apart is their government’s reaction to the worrying pollution. 
 While the authorities in <keyword id="1333" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Beijing">Beijing</keyword> issued a red alert in response to the hazardous <keyword id="68139" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Smog">smog</keyword> that engulfed the city, warning citizens to stay inside and suspending outdoor activities in schools, life in New Delhi on the other hand went about as usual amidst the choking smog. 
 
This is despite the Indian capital’s most polluted neighbourhood’s particulate pollution (PM 2.5) readings being around 530 per cubic meter, way past the WHO’s permissible threshold. 
 Apart from the smog engulfing the capital which reduced visibility down to about 200 metres, the US embassy’s monitoring station also recorded an air quality index of 372- putting <keyword id="55910" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Air-Pollution">air pollution</keyword> levels in the city well into ‘hazardous’ territory. 
 
 
Additionally, according to an analysis of PM 2.5 concentration data by IndiaSpend, Delhi’s air-pollution has been one and a half times worse than in Beijing over the past week. 
 
It further stated that “the average weekly PM 2.5 concentration in Delhi’s air was 230.9 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³), giving it a ‘very poor’ rating of air quality under the <a href="http://breathe.indiaspend.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/CPCB_Air-Quality-Index.pdf">guidelines</a> of the Central Pollution Control Bureau (CPCB). The rating could lead to ‘respiratory illness on prolonged exposure’. 
 
Beijing, by comparison, recorded a PM 2.5 concentration of 139.7µg/m³ during the same period.” 
 
 
 
Moreover, the PM 2.5 concentration level in Delhi has also been higher than Beijing for six out of seven days under consideration, based on a comparison of daily averages. 
 
 
 
Keeping in mind that Delhi’s PM 2.5 concentration exceeded 250 µg/m³ thrice over the last week, it found itself placed under the ‘severe’ category, which means that the PM 2.5 concentration is so high that it might affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases. 
 
And, according to Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment, there is no additional room for air pollution either in the air or in our lungs. 
 
Thus, the question in front of us is very simple- What are we doing to ensure that the situation doesn’t get worse? 
 The New Delhi government is yet to issue a formal warning on the issue or help its citizens understand the severity of the situation and although <keyword id="260213" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arvind-Kejriwal">Arvind Kejriwal</keyword> has emulated Beijing’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/NGT-says-odd-even-formula-will-only-make-Delhiitesbuy-2-cars/articleshow/50136140.cms">Odd -Even rule</a> for cars while the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/You-wont-be-able-to-buy-a-dieselvehicle-in-Delhi-thanks-to-NGT/articleshow/50136743.cms">National Green Tribunal (NGT)</a> has restricted the sale of diesel cars in the city, is it really enough? 
 
Image credit: IndiaSpend, Indiatimes

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New Delhi’s toxic air and how one expat family was affected – sick children, asthma, a death, and a campaign to awaken city to pollution threat

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Priyanka Chopra gets trolled for wearing a mask and commenting on Delhi’s air quality

BI India Bureau

Damage control: India’s top court bans 10-year old diesel vehicles, 15-year old petrol vehicles in NCR

BI India Bureau

This beautiful place near Shimla has cleanest air in the country, according to an IIT Delhi study

Anushree Singh

Pollution in Delhi is increasing, but the demand for anti-pollution masks is not- here’s why

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This is how bad Delhi’s pollution is and it’s going to get worse if we do nothing about it

Poulomi Das

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