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Nov 4, 2024 | 
thehansindia.com | Anumita Roychowdhury |Sharanjeet Kaur
New Delhi: Season’s first smog event quite predictably built up on the Diwali day with a rapid and substantial increase in particulate pollution compared to the pre-Diwali days. Sharp rise on Diwali night: Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) levels that were already rising steadily during the preceding five days leading up to Diwali, showed a marked increase of 46 per cent from October 28 through October 31.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
downtoearth.org.in | Sharanjeet Kaur
The festivities on Diwali night in 2024 left a heavy mark on the air of India’s capital. Pollution reached apocalyptic levels at midnight in Delhi, an analysis of data shows. Particulate Matter2.5 (PM2.5) levels had steadily risen in the five days leading up to Diwali, with a marked increase of 46 per cent from October 28 through October 31. By midnight on October 31, PM2.5 hit a peak of 603 microgram per cubic metre (µg/m³)—13 per cent higher than Diwali peaks observed in both 2022 and 2023.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
downtoearth.org.in | Sharanjeet Kaur
Certain areas in the city, such as Wazirpur and Rohini, recorded even higher levels, with PM2.5 concentrations exceeding 200 µg / m³. This alarming rise in pollution underscored the urgency of the situation. Between September 15 and October 21, 2024, Delhi experienced six "very poor" air quality days, compared to just three during the same period in 2023.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
shorturl.at | Sharanjeet Kaur
Certain areas in the city, such as Wazirpur and Rohini, recorded even higher levels, with PM2.5 concentrations exceeding 200 µg / m³. This alarming rise in pollution underscored the urgency of the situation. Between September 15 and October 21, 2024, Delhi experienced six "very poor" air quality days, compared to just three during the same period in 2023.
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Aug 9, 2024 | 
downtoearth.org.in | Sharanjeet Kaur
As the summer of 2024 unfolds, a new environmental crisis is casting a shadow over Indian cities: Ground-level ozone. This invisible but dangerous pollutant is beginning to eclipse the more familiar issue of particulate pollution, with serious health implications and a disturbing rise in prevalence. Recent findings from the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) paint a stark picture.
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Jul 30, 2024 | 
downtoearth.org.in | Sharanjeet Kaur
Uttar Pradesh has taken a pioneering step by becoming the first Indian state to establish specific heatwave thresholds for all 75 of its districts. This will help the administration of each district can create its independent early warning system. The decision will empower the district disaster management authorities to declare heatwaves based on these specific thresholds and activate heatwave action plans without waiting for broader declarations from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
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May 23, 2024 | 
downtoearth.org.in | Sharanjeet Kaur
On May 22, 2024, Delhi continued to reel from severe heat conditions, with Najafgarh recording the highest temperature of 42 degrees Celsius. Residents experienced intense heat stress, a harmful mix of air temperature and relative humidity that worsened thermal discomfort.
Typically, humidity levels are lower during the day and peak at night. On the night of May 22, Delhi's relative humidity rose above 50 per cent and remained high until 8 am and decreased by noon.
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May 23, 2024 | 
cseindia.org | Sharanjeet Kaur
Research direction: Anumita RoychowdhuryAuthors: Avikal Somvanshi and Sharanjeet Kaur
Center for Science and Environment, May 2024
Even as unprecedented heat waves lashed Indian cities worsening the urban heat island effects this summer, there are far deeper and longer term evidences on the nature of this changing trend impacting the Indian mega cities.
The new analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) shows that the heat stress is not just about rising temperature.
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Mar 20, 2024 | 
downtoearth.org.in | Sharanjeet Kaur
Pollution
Smaller cities in Bihar and Rajasthan emerged as pollution hotspots, rivalling major metropolitan areas like Delhi
As winter settled in, the resurgence of toxic air pollution once again cast a shadow over public health, starting notably earlier than usual and exacerbated by meteorological factors such as low rainfall in September-October and sluggish winds throughout the season.
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Nov 6, 2023 | 
downtoearth.org.in | Sharanjeet Kaur
Once again, the national capital region of India finds itself ensnared by the familiar, noxious grip of severe air pollution. In recent days, Delhi-National Capital Region’s (NCR) air quality has further deteriorated, breaching the alarming ‘400’ danger mark on the Air Quality Index (AQI) scale of 500. The maximum PM2.5 level in Mundka was over seven times higher than the 24-hour Indian standard and 30 times the World Health Organization (WHO) safe standard.
