The world's fastest growing economy, India, has the most poisonous air in the world

The largest Asian economy, China, has long been known for its foggy sky. But these days, neighboring India is fighting an even bigger fight against pollution: it is home to the ten most polluted cities in the world.

Outside of the nation's capital New Delhi, Kusum Tomar knows the personal and economic price of breathing some of the world's most revered cities. the most toxic air. At the age of 29, she learned that pollution was the main factor in the development of cancer in her lungs. She had never touched a cigarette. Her husband Vivek sold a lot to pay for her treatment. They borrowed money from the family.

"The government is thinking about the country's economic growth, but people are dying of diseases or suffering from diseases," said Tomar. "How can you grow your economy when, in your country, your citizens are facing economic problems because of air pollution?"

India has long struggled to put in place the kind of coordinated national approach that has helped China reduce pollution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is now promoting new initiatives that he believes are beginning to reduce dangerous air emissions. But any gain should be enough to neutralize other aspects of India's unrestrained growth, from the dust left by thousands of new construction sites to depleting millions of new cars.

Over the next few weeks, the Modi government will implement a pollution control policy. to be put to the test as winter falls on the dusty plains of northern India. The crops are burned during this season and millions of fireworks are triggered during Diwali, usually pushing air pollution to dangerous levels.

If tough smog policies were successfully implemented, Indian citizens and government would be much richer. According to World Bank calculations, health care costs and productivity losses due to pollution cost India up to 8.5% of GDP. Its current size is $ 2.6 trillion, which equates to about $ 221 billion a year.

While India is currently the world's largest, fastest-growing economy, China's, five times larger, is $ 12.2 billion . The center is still desperately trying to promote basic manufacturing, which could worsen pollution, said Raghbendra Jha, an economics professor at the Australian National University.

"It is too simplistic to badume a smooth transition" for India's own economic growth, he

When Arvind Kumar of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi began in As a thoracic surgeon in 1988, 90% of his patients with lung cancer were middle-aged smokers. Now, he says, 60% of his cases are non-smokers, while half are women. Tiny airborne particles have been badociated with diseases ranging from asthma to heart disease and lung cancer, contributing to the deaths of more than 1.1 million Indians in the world. 2015, according to the Health Effects Institute, a non-profit organization. In the global economy, China is turning a shift towards cleaner services and consumption. So, while its cities are still experiencing smog days, they have also seen improvements.

The number of days "very unhealthy" or worse – when the levels of dangerous particles called PM2.5 crossed 200 – reached 84 in New Delhi in 2017. from 66 in 2015, according to the data badysis on the air quality of AirVisual, which tracks the quality of the air. In Beijing, they went from about 43 days to 20 days.

"The main challenge is that citizens do not systematically call for a reduction in air pollution, as was the case in China," said Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute of the United States. University of Chicago said by e-mail. "This is due to the fact that the degree of air pollution causing shorter and sicker lives in India is not yet fully recognized."

The Government has stated that some international studies linking air pollution and mortality may not be realistic "and that" the number of deaths due to air pollution needs to be deepened and corroborated by native studies "

The Ministry of Environment says it is also making progress in reducing bad air, citing its own calculations for September PM2.5 has arrived in Delhi. set up a rapid alert system to help take preventive measures before pollution spikes and other planned measures, such as the deployment of more sweepers.

The government recognizes that 39, there is still much to be done, said Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan. "We are not saying that everything is fine now, we can relax now. We do not do it even for a moment. "

Prime Minister Modi's government also promoted the use of solar energy, improved emission standards and distributed millions of cans of cooking fires, reducing kitchen fires in homes, officials have also tried to prevent farmers from burning crops, but environmentalists are still waiting for more concrete goals from farmers. a national air cleanup plan that has not yet been formally launched.

"Any plan at this stage requires reduction targets," said Anumita Roychowdhury, who advocates for more than 20 years the air pollution.years at the Center for Science and Environment of New Delhi. "And there must be a clear compliance strategy."

There is an additional challenge In a chaotic democracy, where poverty and Unemployment is often perceived as a major concern, as different branches of government run by competing political parties are sometimes reluctant to collaborate on pollution control.

Raghav Chadha, spokesman for the Aam Aadmi party or AAP, who heads the Delhi government, complains that his party has limited powers over pollution and can only take small steps, as the temporary ban on construction. "What is needed is coordination between the governments of different states, under the leadership of the central government," he said, adding that his party had "serious differences" with the government. Administration of Prime Minister Modi.

China, on the other hand, asked Prime Minister Li Keqiang to declare his country of national origin. war against pollution. The central government also told local officials that they would not be promoted without achieving air quality goals, and the country sought to move away from polluting industries. Government policies have forced millions of homes and businesses to switch from coal to cleaner burning natural gas.

PM2.5 concentrations plummeted 33% in Beijing, Tianjin and 26 neighboring cities in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the previous year. [19659003] "Beijing has the ability to act quickly and decisively, and certainly more effectively than democracies like the United States and India," said Daniel Gardner, a professor of history at Smith College, who wrote a book on pollution in China.

Fight a cancer epidemic and its pollution control efforts had their own problems. In some cases, China has simply shut down polluting industries in key cities and transferred them to western regions, said Kristin Aunan, senior researcher at the Center for International Climate Research. Nevertheless, China then presented an updated plan that extended pollution targets to other cities.

In India, companies are already feeling the effects. The billionaire entrepreneur Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of PayTM digital payment company, worries about the loss of talent.

Former banker Krishna Hegde left Singapore to settle in Bengaluru in order to develop new products for PayTM. at the headquarters of the company near Delhi. "From here the end of the first day, my energy level would drop and by the end of the second day, I would have a lot of headache," said Hegde.

million. Sharma has partnered with a venture capital investor to invest in local and global startups that could help reduce smog. Other companies are trying similar projects. Tractor manufacturer Sonalika Group donated machines designed to encourage farmers in Haryana to stop burning their old crops

In New Delhi, Ms. Tomar, diagnosed with lung cancer at the stadium four six years ago, can not work anymore. She spends her days in the apartment between medical exams and chemotherapy appointments.

"Sometimes I fear that my family will endure so much – mentally, physically, emotionally but also financially," she said.