Pollution

native methods such as satellite monitoring and low-cost monitoring can help us do better mapping of pollution and exposure to inform action. But cities will still need some reference regulatory monitors to assess trend and compliance with clean air targets,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), of Centre for Science and Environment.

At present, India has a little less than 1,000 monitoring stations across 339 cities. The Union government has drawn up a National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), setting 2024 as the year by which pollution levels must be cut by 20-30% in 102 cities that were found to be highly polluted in 2017. But the scientists indicated that the lack of proper data would militate against achieving this goal.

A new automated air quality monitoring system will require approximately ₹1.8 crore to set up and run for seven years, according to an official of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), who asked not to be named.

“We compared the density of India’s monitoring network with that of comparator countries and find large differences. To address these gaps... India will require 1,600-4,000 monitors (1.2 to 3 monitors per million people),” said Sagnik Dey, an associate professor of IIT Delhi’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences and the coordinator of Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air (CERCA).

According to the analysis, the density of air quality monitoring stations in India (between 2010 and 2016) was around 0.14 monitors per million people. Most European countries have 2-3 monitors per million people; China, which also faces the challenge of bad air and high population density, has 1.2; Brazil has 1.8 monitors per million people; and USA has around 3.4 monitors per million people, said the report.

The report has been published in Atmospheric Environment, a peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Elsevier Group.

In order to make the expansion financially easier, the experts suggested using a mix of high-end and low-cost sensors, satellite monitoring and modelling to attain the clearer picture it needs of the issue.

China, for instance, has deployed 10,000 low-cost sensors and London uses at least 100 of them. “Same goes with California where a hybrid system of monitoring is being deployed to have a better understanding of the air quality and the pollution sources,” said Tripathi.

The senior CPCB official quoted above said that the agency has proposed that there is one monitor deployed for every million people, but suggested that simply increasing numbers may not be the answer. “In most developed countries like the USA and in Europe, authorities first try to get an idea of vulnerable pollution. Monitoring stations are then deployed accordingly,” this person said. eral Assembly on Friday morning and Khan is expected to make his speech shortly thereafter. People familiar with developments said India will exercise its “right of reply” to respond to Khan’s address, which is expected to focus on the Kashmir issue.

Modi cleared up his schedule for most of Thursday to work on his speech for the General Assembly that could be his signature legacy, should he decide to break new ground, as officials have indicated he might.

The speech will be re-written and re-written some more till it’s ready for delivery and it could change in both letter and spirit till the last minute, when Modi is comfortable enough to own the speech and its consequences, the people said.

“Modi is a risk-taker,” said a person familiar with deliberations related to the speech, a process that would have started weeks ago.

Officials have been indicating that Pakistan or differences with it will not figure in Modi’s speech and the issue of terrorism, which India raises without naming Pakistan with the intention of spotlighting the neighbouring country’s support and use of terror as a tool of state policy, may figure in the address but will not be the centre of it.

Pakistan will surely attack India and raise Kashmir as every year before, and with renewed vigour this time as Khan has vowed to do so, but India has appeared determined to “not get into the mud” with them.

Asked about India’s plan to deal with the impending speech by Pakistan at the General Assembly, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters last week Pakistan can do what it wants to but India’s prime minister “will focus on what the UN General Assembly’s high level segment is meant to focus on, which is, as an important economy, as an important country, as a responsible member of the UN, the prime minister will flag what we are doing for development, for security, for peace and our expectations and aspirations of other countries”.

If the plan is executed as envisioned, Modi’s break from the past will be remarkable. Pakistan was not mentioned in an Indian address — by the prime minister or the external affairs minister — in the General Assembly address only once in the past 10 years, in 2011. It figured 10 times in 2010, five times in 2013, five times in 2014 and three, six, 15 and 12 times over the next four years.

Ahead of the address, Modi met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the margins of the General Assembly on Thursday and discussed bilateral ties and regional and global developments.

Modi reiterated “India’s support for giving priority to diplomacy, dialogue and confidencebuilding in the interest of maintaining peace, security and stability in the Gulf region, which is of vital importance for India”, said a statement from the external affairs ministry.

The two leaders “positively assessed the progress in bilateral relations since their first meeting at Ufa in 2015” and especially mentioned the operationalisation of Iran’s Chabahar port and “noted its importance as a gateway to and for the landlocked Afghanistan and the Central Asian region”.

They also agreed to mark the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations in 2020

PRIME MINISTER MODI CLEARED UP HIS SCHEDULE FOR MOST OF THURSDAY TO WORK ON HIS SPEECH FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY THAT COULD BE HIS SIGNATURE LEGACY, SHOULD HE DECIDE TO BREAK NEW GROUND