The city of Gurugram, which is one of India’s industrial hubs, is claimed
to be the city with the world’s worst air. According to the report realized
by Greenpeace and IQAIR AirVisual, a software company that checks global air
quality, found that India holds 15 of the top 20 spots of toxic air. In
addition, the repost included the city of Lahore in Pakistan and Dhaka, the
capital of Bangladesh, as part of the top 20 toxic regions. The conclusion of
this report shows that Bangladesh is the most polluted country, followed
closely by Pakistan and India. The air from those cities contains pollution
called fine particulate matter, as known as PM 2.5, a toxic component, which
can penetrate deep into the lungs and the bloodstream.
A report from the United Nations Environment Program found that toxic
air kills seven million people every year, and most of the deaths occurs in the
Asia-Pacific region. Another study realized by Lancet Planetary Health
conducted in December revealed that in India the number of deaths from air pollution
was 1.24 million in 2017.
In addition, a report conducted by UNICEF found toxic
air may permanently damage children’s brains. Unfortunately, the Indian government
is still in denial about how serious this crisis is for their population. This
is a typical posture, in which developing countries with inefficient democracy fell
to regulated and enforced --environmental norms-- and since there are not drastic
sanctions, those norms are often ignored or unenforced. Lastly, the priority of
99 % of Indian people is to have food, shelter, and clothing. Sadly, health and
environment are not even in the top ten.
Lupita Turriff
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