-Down to Earth Northern plains region in India and Pakistan most impacted, meeting India’s air quality standard would have reduced loss by 7 per cent Pregnant women in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh exposed to poor-quality air may be at higher risk of stillbirths and miscarriages, according to a study published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal January 6 2020. Some 349,681 pregnancies were lost every year in these three South Asian countries due...

-The Indian Express The data shows that acute respiratory infection led to 3,740 deaths in 2018 -- the highest in six years (according to these provisional estimates). The highest number of deaths due to acute respiratory infection were reported in West Bengal (732), followed by Uttar Pradesh (699), Andhra Pradesh (587), Delhi (492). After declining for two years, the average number of heat wave days increased 82.6 per cent year-on-year to 157...

-The Indian Express At current rates of depletion, Punjab’s entire subsurface water resource could be exhausted in a little over two decades. Jalandhar: As the discussion around Punjab’s massive groundwater crisis becomes more urgent, there is an increasingly stronger accent on diversification of crops, and a move away from water-guzzling paddy. At a meeting over the weekend, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, decided to strengthen maize — the most important alternative to...

-PTI Greenpeace India and air visual report earlier in March this year declared Delhi as the most polluted capital city in the world. The Delhi government’s claim of a 25 per cent reduction in air pollution levels over the past few years is not true, Greenpeace India said on Thursday, inviting a quick rebuttal from city’s ruling party which dismissed the NGO’s report. According to a Greenpeace India analysis, “Historical ambient air quality...

-Financial Express There is an irony being played out in Delhi. While the national capital is reeling under one of its worst spells of air pollution, the Delhi government is bringing out a series of advertisements claiming that the pollution levels are down by 25%. The advertisements mention that the levels of PM 2.5—particulate matter of size less than 2.5 microns—have reduced from 154 microgrammes per cubic meter (µg/m3) during 2012-2014 to...