Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to think twice before he steps out in the open every morning at his official residence 7, RCR with his yoga mat. That's because the biggest threat to Modi comes not from any madcap jihadi but from the noxious Delhi air. Unbelievable as this might sound, a reality check of the air outside 7, RCR revealed a shockingly high level of pollution that poses real threat to the prime minister's health.
The acceptable level of PM 2.5 (particulate matter 2.5) is 60 by Indian standards. The PM 2.5 reading outside PM's house on 7, RCR read 2,200 to 2,400. In collaboration with Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), India Today investigated eight locations across Delhi on Tuesday morning. The exact readings were taken from the PM Tracker Machine and it revealed that Delhi's air was not just hazardous but life threatening as such high levels of PM 2.5 is steadily attacking the capacity of the lungs to perform.
At ITO, PM 2.5 reading showed 2,490, at 7, RCR it was between 1,800-2,000, at AnandVihar it was between 1,900-2,000, in MayurVihar 3,000, in Chanakyapuri between 2,200-2,400, in Lodhi Garden it was 1,600-1,800 and in Chandni Chowk it oscillated between 2,500-3,000.
PM 2.5 is fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers. It has the capacity to penetrate into the lungs. It stays in the air for a very long time. Larger particles (greater than 10 micrometers in diameter) tend to settle to the ground due to gravity in few hours but PM 2.5 can stay in the air for weeks on end.
In 2014, 18 studies including the European study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects revealed that for every increase of 100 in PM 2.5, lung cancer rate rose by nine per cent.
If we compare, most countries in the world have much lower permissible limit of PM 2.5 than India.
For instance, in Australia it is 25, in Canada 30, in Japan 35, in the European Union 25 while in China and in Hong Kong it is 75, marginally higher when compared with India.
The evening measurements at 7, RCR were much less than the morning.
Morning readings were alarmingly high. The researcher from CSE says the high readings were because of smog on Tuesday morning.
India Today took readings over 45 mins around all the gates of 7 RCR. At 5.05pm, PM 2.5 was between-650 to 720, at 5.15pm, it was between 650 to 750, at 5.30pm between 750 to 800. The average over 45 mins was 689.
Meanwhile, the PM 2.5 level at 10 Janpath, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's residence, at 6.30 pm was between 772.
The instrument used to track PM 2.5 is a Portable Exposure PM tracker. This is a highly sensitive and localised machine in comparision to the other ambient machine.
While the ambient machine is not movable and is lodged 10 metres above ground level, this machine takes in air and analyses PM 2.5 according to weight by laser technology.
