Pollution Has Killed 2.5 Million Indians So Far, No Other Country Is So Badly Affected

The Supreme Court banned firecrackers in Delhi and NCR on Diwali to control air pollution, but it failed to deter people as Delhi woke up to a harmful amount of pollutants in the air after Diwali revelry.

With the pollution on the rise across the country, it becomes worrisome to know that in a report by The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health says that as many as 2.5 million people died because of pollution in the country in 2015, a figure which is highest in the world.

The report was prepared from a research conducted by about 40 international scientists, who used data from the Global Burden of Disease study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Globally the number of deaths due to pollution stood at 9 million - three times more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, the report said. China is second with 1.8 million deaths, the report in the Lancet medical journal, and that the vast majority occur in developing countries.

"With globalisation, mining and manufacturing shifted to poorer countries, where environmental regulations and enforcement can be lax," said Karti Sandilya, one of the authors and an adviser to environmental group Pure Earth.
Exposure to high levels of air pollution, especially over many years, can affect human respiratory and inflammatory systems and can lead to heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. Mr Sandilya further said, "People in poorer countries - like construction workers in New Delhi - are more exposed to air pollution and less able to protect themselves from exposure, as they walk, bike or ride the bus to workplaces that may also be polluted."

In contrast, many people in developed countries commute to air-conditioned offices in air-conditioned cars, he told news agency Reuters in an email. News agency PTI reported that the online indicators of the pollution monitoring stations in Delhi on Diwali were alarmed, indicating a 'very poor' air quality as the volume of ultrafine particulates which enter the respiratory system and reach the bloodstream, rose from around 7 pm. The pollutants had violated the corresponding 24-hour safe limits of 60 and 100 respectively by up to 10 times.

In Chennai as well, air pollution was at an alarming high on Deepavali night. The PM10 levels at Sowcarpet in north Chennai, for instance, touched 777, compared to 180 last year - four times the level. At Triplicane near the Marina, it was 597, compared to 200 last year, a three-fold rise.
Kolkata's Rabindra Bharati University area was the worst hit with pollution level reaching "severe" at 3 am. The Lancet report said dirty air caused the highest number of deaths -- 6.5 million.