India Had World’s 3rd Worst Air In ’23, Delhi Foulest Capital

India faces severe pollution issues, ranking third most polluted in 2023 after Bangladesh and Pakistan. Delhi's PM2.5

NEW DELHI: India was ranked the third most polluted country and New Delhi the most polluted capital by the 2023 World Air Quality report by Swiss technology company, IQAir. The latest report by the company that provides live information on major air pollutants globally, also found Begusarai in Bihar as the most polluted city globally last year.

The report, released Tuesday, showed Bangladesh and Pakistan were the top two most polluted countries in 2023. India showed a relative decline as the country was ranked 8th in 2022, an improvement from 2021 when it had the 5th rank.

IQAir said 13 of the 15 most polluted cities in the world in 2023 were in India with Begusarai, Guwahati and Delhi being the top three.

At the same time, some Indian cities made the list for the right reasons. Silchar in Assam (7th), Aizawl in Mizoram (8th) and Damoh in Madhya Pradesh (15th) figured in the list of the least polluted cities in the central and south Asia region, home to many polluted cities in the world.

In 2023, only 10 out of the reporting 134 countries succeeded in achieving the WHO annual particulate matter PM2.5 standards of 5 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3). Exposure to PM2.5, one of the key pollutants, leads to and exacerbates numerous health conditions, including asthma, cancer, stroke and lung disease.

The report, factoring in hazardous PM2.5 concentrations, found that Delhi’s PM2.5 concentration in 2023 had risen by 10% from 2022 with levels peaking in November, which saw a monthly average of 255 µg/m3.

The report analysed data from all air pollution monitoring stations in India and underlined that 1.36 billion people in India experience PM2.5 concentrations exceeding the WHO recommended annual guideline level of 5 µg/m3. Overall, India with PM2.5 concentrations of 54.5 µg/m3 reported 10 times higher pollution levels than the WHO PM2.5 annual standard.

“Furthermore, 1.33 billion, or 96% of the population, experience PM2.5 levels more than seven times the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline. This trend is reflected in city-level data with more than 66% of the country’s cities reporting annual averages greater than 35 µg/m3,” said the report.

It noted that India has an extensive air quality monitoring network, hosting more air quality monitoring stations than all other countries in the central and south Asian region combined. The vast monitoring network has contributed data from 256 cities in 2023, representing 74% of cities in the central and south Asia region

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For the 2023 report, data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,812 locations in 134 countries, territories and regions were analysed by IQAir’s air quality scientists.

“In many parts of the world the lack of air quality data delays decisive action and perpetuates unnecessary human suffering. Air quality data saves lives. Where air quality is reported, action is taken, and air quality improves,” said Frank Hammes, global CEO, IQAir.

Data on electoral bonds gives Opposition some ammunition ahead of Lok Sabha elections

 Data on electoral bonds gives Opposition some ammunition ahead of Lok Sabha elections

The Congress and other Opposition parties will also attempt to corner the BJP over the Supreme Court’s order to scrap the scheme as unconstitutional.

The disclosure of electoral bonds data by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the State Bank of India (SBI) has added new ammunition to the Opposition’s arsenal ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, people aware of the matter said on Friday, adding that INDIA bloc parties devised plans to use the data to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The INDIA bloc plans to attack the Centre on the possibilities of money laundering. (HT file)

Under the plan, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) wants to use the data to show that companies facing Enforcement Directorate (ED) or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe donated heavy sums through electoral bonds, said the people quoted above. The second line of attack would focus on the possibilities of money laundering through bonds, said the people. The Congress and other Opposition parties will also attempt to corner the BJP over the Supreme Court’s order to scrap the scheme as unconstitutional.

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The developments came a day after ECI uploaded the electoral bonds data a day before the deadline set by the Supreme Court in the high-profile case. The data showed that around 1,260 companies and individuals bought 22,217 bonds worth ₹12,155.51 crore between April 12, 2019 and February 15, 2024.

In this period, 20,421 bonds worth ₹12,769.09 crore were redeemed by 23 political parties, with the BJP leading the pack with a war chest of ₹6,061 crore (47.5% of total redeemed value), followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with ₹1,610 crore (12.6%) and Congress with ₹1,422 crore (11.1%).

On Friday, a number of opposition parties criticised the BJP with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi dubbing the scheme as “the world’s largest extortion racket led by Prime Minister Modi”.

“At the heart of the concept (of EBs), is the ability of corporates to purchase electoral bonds anonymously. Look at this scale of corruption. You are using the entire infrastructure to indulge in corruption. the electoral bond was Modi’s brainchild and he had claimed to cleanse the system of political financing in the country, but actually he turned it into the biggest corruption scam in the world and a means of extorting money from the business and corporate houses,” Gandhi said.

He denied any link between contracts given by Congress government in Karnataka and the bonds. “Our government has come few months ago. We are not controlling ED, CBI, there is no correlation between contracts given by our governments and the bonds. The BJP made the entire system as extortion system where ED and CBI is extorting for BJP.”

While Gandhi indicated that the INDIA group “can have a discussion” on the EB data, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told HT “there will be coordination among INDIA parties” on how to raise the issues collectively even as the allies are fighting separately in many states. “It (EB data) is going to be our major plank. The manner in which the BJP made corruption as a part of the system has now boomeranged,” Yechury said.

He added that the issue would be linked with the common people’s problems. “The farmers are asking for minimum support price but the government is not making a law. You say no money, workers are asking for increments, youth asking for jobs and greater allocation but you are indulging in mega loot,” he said.

Electoral bonds: SC issues notice to SBI, says bond numbers not disclosed

The TMC, which couldn’t seal a seat-deal with the Congress in West Bengal and some other states, ruled out the possibility of coordination. But it too, raised similar questions. As TMC is one of major beneficiaries of the scheme, Bengal industry minister Shashi Panja said the party “followed all rules” and alleged that the BJP indulged in quid pro quo. “A big gaming company purchased huge amounts of electoral bonds. But under what circumstances? First, he was harassed by ED. Under pressure, he gave donation through electoral bonds. This is extortion,” she said.

In Nashik, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of dubious donors. “Who are these people? Which companies are these? Why have so many companies donated only after ED, IT and CBI raids? Who exerted the pressure on such companies?”

Banuchandar Nagarajan, a BJP-leaning analyst, said the BJP will stress that its intentions were honourable in bringing white money into political funding. “No one has established any quid pro quo. All projects are selected through bidding and procurement happens through the GeM portal.”

CAA won’t impact citizenship of Indian Muslims, says Centre

The Ministry of Home Affairs press note, which answered eight questions regarding CAA’s impact on Islam and Muslims, was later pulled down from government’s website.

In a bid to allay the fears of Muslims after the rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were notified a day ago, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on March 12 that “no Indian citizen would be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act.”

The MHA, in a press note titled “positive narrative on CAA, 2019”, has answered eight questions regarding its impact on Islam and Muslims. The document was pulled down from government’s website late on March 12.

While responding to a question on the CAA’s impact on Muslims living in India, the MHA says, “Indian Muslims need not worry as the CAA has not made any provision to impact their citizenship and has nothing to do with the present 18 crore Indian Muslims, who have equal rights like their Hindu counterparts. No Indian citizen will be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act.” 

There are fears and apprehensions that the CAA, which allows citizenship on the basis of religion to six undocumented religious communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, followed by a countrywide compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), will adversely affect the Muslim community. While the CAA will come to the rescue of non-Muslims excluded from the NRC, the excluded Muslims will have to prove citizenship. As many as 83 persons were killed in protest and riots from December 2019-March 2020 in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Delhi after the CAA was passed. The Centre has informed the Parliament that “till now the government has not taken any decision to prepare NRC at national level” and has denied that the CAA and the NRC are linked.