friday, september 9, 2016 1.4m lives lost in india due
TRANSCRIPT
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI *FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 13TIMES NATION
India lost 1.4 million livesto air pollution in 2013,while in China the toll
was 1.6 million, estimates aWorld Bank report releasedon Thursday.
The report, released bythe World Bank and the Insti-tute for Health Metrics andEvaluation, shows that in 2013more than five million deathsworldwide were attributed tohealth conditions caused byair pollution. About 60% ofthem were in the world’s twomost populous countries.
Exposure to air pollutionincreases a person’s risk ofcontracting ailments such aslung cancer, stroke, heart dis-ease and chronic bronchitis.
China and India aren’tamong the worst hit in abso-lute terms because of thesheer size of their respectivepopulations. Even after ad-justing for population, thesetwo countries along withBangladesh, Sri Lanka andPakistan were among the 15nations with the highest tollper million population.
China and India ranked4th and 6th worst in theworld respectively. Bangla-desh, Sri Lanka and Pakis-tan were ranked 11th, 12thand 15th on this count.
The bank estimates thatin 2013 Georgia saw the high-est rate of air pollutiondeaths per million of its pop-ulation at 2,117. It was fol-
lowed by Cambodia with adeath rate of 1,300 per million.
Among the 142 countriesfor which the bank compliedthis data, there were 10 wherethe rate was higher than 1,000deaths per million. Australiafared best on this parameterwith an estimated death rate
of 34 per million.The report also estimat-
ed that air pollution cost theworld economy more than $5trillion — purchasing powerparities (PPP) at 2011 prices— in welfare losses and anadditional $66 billion worthof manpower loss.
China’s overall welfareand manpower loss was $1.6trillion while India lost morethan $560 billion, which wasequivalent to over 10% of Chi-na’s and 8.5% of India’s GDP.
Air pollution is estimat-ed to be the fourth leading fa-tal health risk worldwide af-ter metabolic risks, dietaryrisks and tobacco smoke.
The estimates are based onexposure to PM2.5 pollu-tants. It is noticeable in thereport that the risks aremuch higher in the develop-ing world.
By damaging people’shealth and causing fatal dis-eases, air pollution can havea lasting effect on a person’seconomic productivity.
Experts argue that typi-cally the economically weak-est section is the worst hit be-cause of limited access tohealth care facilities. Thus,exposure to bad air qualityand other risks will ultimate-ly widen the existing econom-ic inequalities, they say.
2nd HighestDeaths Among
15 Nations
1.4m lives lost in India dueto air pollution in ’13: Study
Jayashree Nandi TNN
New Delhi: While Indian ci-ties are still grappling withthe impacts of severe partic-ulate matter (PM) pollution,a new report has raised theflag on ozone levels (O3) too.
‘The Cost of Air Pollu-tion’, a report by the WorldBank and Institute of HealthMetrics and Evaluation(IHME) released on Thurs-day, estimates that the con-centrations of O3 has in-creased by 10 to 20% in Indiabetween 1990 and 2013. Thetrend is similar in neighbor-ing countries and in Brazil,while a declining course wasseen in the US and Indone-sia, among others.
High ozone levels are notonly associated with serioushealth impacts like reducedlung function, chronic ob-structive pulmonary disor-der (COPD), aggravatingasthma and respiratory con-ditions, but also with wide-spread crop loss.
The study also estimates
that total deaths due to in-crease in exposure to O3 in-creased by 50% between 1990and 2013 in South Asia. Forthis report, the health andeconomic burden of O3 is on-ly based on COPD incidencefrom it. Total deaths due toexposure to PM2.5 have alsoincreased in South Asia dur-ing the same phase, but notas steeply as with O3.
Interestingly, eventhough the cost of O3 relatedpremature deaths are farlower than that of PM2.5(both household and out-door), O3 associated econom-ic or welfare losses for SouthAsia are equivalent to that ofNorth America. The welfarelosses due to O3 exposure are
to the tune of 0.4% of grossdomestic product (GDP)equivalent, the report states.If you consider man dayslost, it’s about 0.09% of GDPequivalent, it says.
Air quality experts said O3
could be a serious concernsoon. “Even before we coulddeal with health damage fromparticulate pollution we arefalling into the pincer grip ofozone pollution that damagesboth lungs and crops. This isalso the sign that emissions oftoxic gases are increasingrapidly in our country. Keepin mind that for estimatinghealth damage from ozonethis report has only consid-ered chronic obstructive pul-monary diseases. The actual
cost of health damage couldbe way higher,” said AnumitaRoy Chowdhury, head of Cen-tre for Science and Environ-ment’s clean air programme.
Ozone is not directlyemitted from any source, it iscreated by chemical reac-tions between oxides of ni-trogen and volatile organiccompounds in the presenceof sunlight. It’s mainly re-leased from combustionsources which includes vehi-cles and industries.
A 2014 study by scientistsat Indian Institute of Tropi-cal Meteorology estimatedthat ozone-induced damageto wheat and rice is enough tofeed roughly 35% of 270 mil-lion BPL population in India.
10-20% rise in ozone levels in India,harmful for lungs and crops: Report‘50% IncreaseIn Deaths DueTo O3 In S Asia’
Chandigarh: A viral video onFacebook, which shows a youthspinning a dog around himselfand then tossing it against awall, has invited the wrath ofanimal lovers, with an NGO an-nouncing a reward of Rs 50,000for identifying the accused.
Humane Society Interna-tional (HSI), which announcedthe reward on Thursday, also fil-
ed a complaint at the public win-dow of Chandigarh police inSector 9. Its office-bearers saidthey believed the incident oc-curred in Chandigarh as the vid-eo was uploaded on an FB pagefrom the city on Thursday.
In the video, the youth is seenholding the dog by its legs andthen spinning it around with fullforce, first around his waist,then shoulders and then straightover his head.
Animal rights NGO announces`̀50k reward for info on offender
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
An alleged ISI agent caught inLucknow in a joint operation
by Jhansi police and UP ATS wason Thursday brought to Jhansiin connection with a 2014 caseof espionage. The accused,Mohd Ejaz, belongs to KamlaMarket area of Delhi andallegedly used to handlemonetary transactions onbehalf of Pakistan agents. TNN
‘ISI agent’ who handledfund transactions held
Pervez.Iqbal [email protected]
Lucknow: Twitter India willrun live video streaming duringthe UP assembly elections nextyear. Apart from this, it will alsorun a bunch of theme-based in-novations during the world'sbiggest state polls taking Twit-ter to the regional level.
“It will be the first big elec-tions in the world where onewill see live video streaming onTwitter,” Twitter's Asia-Pacifichead Rishi Jaitly said whiletalking to TOI. “Twitter takespolls very seriously. When Modiwon the 2014 general election, itwas perhaps the first big Twit-terelections in India,” he said.
UP polls: Twitterto go for live
video streaming
New Delhi: BJP is hopingthat the Centre’s financialpackage for the developmentof Andhra Pradesh will easethe mood in the state wherepeople have been agitatingfor ‘special status’.
BJP members from thestate will be in Delhi on Fri-day to thank finance mini-ster Arun Jaitley, informa-tion and broadcasting mini-ster M Venkaiah Naidu andBJP chief Amit Shah for thepackage. BJP secretary in-charge of the state Sidd-harth Nath Singh said,“...the special package givenby the Modi government hasbeen welcomed by the partyand we are grateful to the Pri-me Minister, finance mini-ster Arun Jaitley, I&B mini-ster Venkaiah Naidu andparty chief Amit Shah for it.Those who are still still rai-sing the issue of special sta-tus for the state should expla-in how a name will matter interms of development of thestate after the 14th FinanceCommission has come in.The target is development ofAndhra Pradesh and the Mo-di government has moved ex-actly on those lines”.
To assuage the demandfor special status, the Modigovernment has decided onvarious financial aids to the
state, including completecentral funding for the Pola-varam irrigation project.Earlier, under a special cate-gory arrangement it wassupposed to be funded 70%by the Centre and the rest bythe state.
The Centre will provideRs 12,000 crore for infrastruc-ture development in the eas-tern coastal industrial corri-dor which stretches from Ta-mil Nadu in the south toBengal in the north, but in-cludes the entire stretch ofcoastal Andhra and also forthe eastern freight corridorrunning through backwarddistricts of Andhra.
Central-aided projects un-der special category statuswere funded in the ratio of90:10, with states paying only10%. But after the 14th Finan-ce Commission, the ratio was
reworked to 60% from theCentre and 40% from states.
In the case of Andhra, theCentre will devise a mecha-nism to fund an extra 30% inaddition to the 60% it is sla-ted to provide, leaving just10% for the ChandrababuNaidu-led TDP governmentto provide for.
Special category statusgenerally provides for inco-me tax, excise and other indi-rect tax benefits to a state,but with GST in place theywill get subsumed. For indu-stries which set up shop inthe seven of the 13 backwarddistricts in the state, therewill be income tax exemp-tion, and a 15% depreciationrelief for existing industry ifthey re-invest in the state.
A special grant of Rs 7,500crore will go to Andhra to beable to cope with revenue de-ficit, as the state will comeunder the 14th Finance Com-mission only from 2015.
To strengthen the state’seconomy, HPCL will imple-ment modernisation of Vis-hakh refinery in Vishakha-patnam for Rs 20,928 crorewith central funds. GAIL andHPCL will together set up agreenfield petro-chemicalcomplex in Kakinada with anoutlay of Rs 30,000 crore. In-dian Institute of Petroleumand Energy will be set up atVishakhapatnam with Rs 655crore from the Centre.
AP offered new packageto quell spl status demand
Andhra Pradesh Congressworkers during a protest inVijayawada, demanding special status for the state
Mahesh G
Georgia
Cambodia
Hong Kong SAR, China
China
Lao PDR
IndiaCentral African Republic
Ukraine
Belarus
Bulgaria
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
South Sudan
Kyrgyz Republic
Pakistan
Total deaths from air pollution7,995
19,5959,235
16,25,1647,251
14,03,1365,161
49,0789,816
7,2971,54,898
19,6939,966
4,9521,56,191
0 70k 17L
Deaths per million2,1171,3001,2851,1971,1021,0971,0961,0791,0371,004986957870866862
MOST AIR POLLUTION DEATHS IN CHINA
East Asia
& Pacific South
Asia Europe &
Central
Asia
Sub-
Saharan
AfricaMiddle
East& North
Africa
Latin
America &
CaribeanNorth
America
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Sources: World Bank and IHME, using data from IHME, GBD 2013
No. of deaths (thousands)
55
81
41
85
18 20
3 4 7 2 6 9 135
19902013
OZONE POLLUTION DEATHSTotal Deaths from Ambient Ozone Pollution by Region (1990 & 2013)
Air pollution isestimated to be thefourth leading fatalhealth riskworldwide aftermetabolic risks,dietary risks andtobacco smoke
Even before wecould deal with healthdamage from particulate pollution weare falling into the pin-cer grip of ozone pollution. This is alsothe sign that emissionsof toxic gases are increasing rapidly ANUMITA ROY CHOWDHURYCSE clean air programme head
Bhopal: Set a dog to save a ti-ger. With this mission in mind,the Bhopal Police Dog Trai-ning School is putting four Bel-gian Shepherds through bootcamp to turn them into tigerand poacher trackers.
Sniffer dogs have been usedfor crime detection or to checkfor explosives, guns or drugs inIndia. It’s the first time thatthey are being trained to pro-tect wildlife. The Belgian Shep-herd has been chosen for its ag-gression, intelligence and sen-sitivity, said an official.
Canine squad toprotect MP tigers
CCI NG 3.5 Product: TOIDelhiBS PubDate: 09-09-2016 Zone: Delhi Edition: 2 Page: CAPPGP13 User: amitesh.kumar Time: 09-09-2016 01:49 Color: CMYK
Times of India , September 9, 2016
Tim
es o
f Ind
ia ,
Sept
embe
r 9, 2
016