Topic Of The Day:-“Death In The Air: On Tackling Air Pollution”
It Is Time Clean Air Is Made A Front-Line Political Issue
As an environmental scourge that killed an estimated 1.24 million people in India in 2017, air pollution should be among the highest policy priorities. But the Centre and State governments have tended to treat it as a chronic malaise that defies a solution. The deadly results of official apathy are outlined in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 report on the impact of air pollution on deaths, disease burden, and life expectancy across the states of India, published by The Lancet. Millions of people are forced to lead morbid lives or face premature death due to bad air quality. India’s national standard for ambient fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, is notoriously lax at 40 micrograms per cubic metre, but even so, 77% of the population was exposed to higher levels on average. No State met the annual average exposure norm for PM2.5 of 10 micrograms per cubic metre set by the World Health Organisation. If the country paid greater attention to ambient air quality and household air pollution, the researchers say, people living in the worst-affected States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand could add more than 1.7 years to their life expectancy. Similar gains would accrue nationwide, but it is regions with low social development, reflected partly in reliance on solid fuels for cooking, and those with ambient air pollution caused by stubble-burning, construction dust and unbridled motorisation such as Delhi that would benefit the most.Sustainable solutions must be found for stubble-burning and the use of solid fuels in households, the two major sources of pollution, and State governments must be made accountable for this. The Centre should work with Punjab and Haryana to ensure that the machinery already distributed to farmers and cooperatives to handle agricultural waste is in place and working. A mechanism for rapid collection of farm residues has to be instituted. In fact, new approaches to recovering value from biomass could be the way forward. The proposal from a furniture-maker to convert straw into useful products will be keenly watched for its outcomes. A shift away from solid fuels to LPG in millions of low-income homes has provided health benefits, The Lancet study says, underscoring the value of clean alternatives. The potential of domestic biogas units, solar cookers and improved biomass cookstoves has to be explored, since they impose no additional expenditure on rural and less affluent households. Such measures should, of course, be complemented by strong control over urban sources of pollution. India’s commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change require a sharp reduction in particulates from fossil fuel. Fuels may be relatively cleaner today and vehicles better engineered to cut emissions, but traffic densities in cities have led to a rise in pollution. Real-time measurement of pollution is also lacking. There are not enough ground-level monitoring stations for PM2.5, and studies primarily use satellite imagery and modelling to project health impacts. Rapid progress on clean air now depends on citizens making it a front-line political issue.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) scourge
Meaning : whip (someone) as a punishment.
Synonyms : curse
Antonyms : reward
Example : “our people did scourge him severely
2) estimated
Meaning : roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of.(v)
Synonyms : predicted
Antonyms : computed
Example : “the aim is to estimate the effects of macroeconomic policy on the economy”
3) tended
Meaning : regularly or frequently behave in a particular way or have a certain characteristic.(v)
Synonyms : contribute
Antonyms : dislike
Example : “written language tends to be formal”
4) chronic
Meaning : (of an illness) persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.
Synonyms : constant
Antonyms : ceasing
Example : “chronic bronchitis”
5) defies
Meaning : openly resist or refuse to obey.
Synonyms : confront
Antonyms : assist
Example : “a woman who defies convention”
6) apathy
Meaning : lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern(n).
Synonyms : lethargy
Antonyms : concern
Example : “widespread apathy among students”
7) morbid
Meaning : characterized by an abnormal and unhealthy interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects, especially death and disease(adj).
Synonyms : grim
Antonyms : cheerful
Example : “his morbid fascination with the horrors of contemporary warfare”
8) ambient
Meaning : relating to the immediate surroundings of something(adj).
Synonyms : ambient
Antonyms : stationary
Example : “the liquid is stored at below ambient temperature”
9) notoriously
Meaning : used to emphasize that a quality or fact, typically a bad one, is well known.
Synonyms : notably
Example : “the company is notoriously difficult to contact”
10) lax
Meaning : not sufficiently strict, severe, or careful(adj).
Synonyms : careless
Antonyms : attentive
Example : “lax security arrangements at the airport”
11) exposure
Meaning : the state of having no protection from something harmful.(n)
Synonyms : disclosure
Antonyms : certainty
Example : “the dangers posed by exposure to asbestos”
12) accrue
Meaning : (of a benefit or sum of money) be received by someone in regular or increasing amounts over time(v).
Synonyms : accumulate
Antonyms : disperse
Example : “financial benefits will accrue from restructuring”
13) ambient
Meaning : relating to the immediate surroundings of something(adj).
Synonyms : moving
Antonyms : motionless
Example : “the liquid is stored at below ambient temperature”
14) stubble
Meaning : the cut stalks of cereal plants left sticking out of the ground after the grain is harvested.
Synonyms : bristles
Example : “fields of yellow stubble”
15) unbridled
Meaning : uncontrolled; unconstrained.
Synonyms : unchecked
Antonyms : restrained
Example : “a moment of unbridled ambition”
16) ensure
Meaning : make certain that (something) will occur or be the case(v).
Synonyms : assure
Antonyms : endanger
Example : “the client must ensure that accurate records are kept”
17) residues
Meaning : a small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone or been taken or used.
Synonyms : debris
Antonyms : base
Example : “the fine residue left after the sorting of tea”
18) keenly
Meaning : in an eager or enthusiastic manner.
Synonyms : attentively
Antonyms : distractedly
Example : “one of this year’s most keenly anticipated movies”
19) explored
Meaning : travel through (an unfamiliar area) in order to learn about it.(v)
Synonyms : analyze
Antonyms : find
Example : “he explored the Fontainebleau forest”
20) crude
Meaning : constructed in a rudimentary or makeshift way(adj).
Synonyms : clumsy
Antonyms : decent
Example : “a relatively crude nuclear weapon”
21) affluent
Meaning : (especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy.
Synonyms : upscale
Antonyms : destitute
Example : “the affluent societies of the western world”
22) densities
Meaning : the degree of compactness of a substance.
Synonyms : frequency
Antonyms : sparsity
Example : “a reduction in bone density”
23) acking
Meaning : draw, trace, or define the outer edge or shape of.
Synonyms : defined
Example : “her eyes were darkly outlined with kohl”
24) imagery
Meaning : visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.
Synonyms : symbolism
Example : “Tennyson uses imagery to create a lyrical emotion”
25) impose
Meaning : force (an unwelcome decision or ruling) on someone.
Synonyms : enforce
Antonyms : disorder
Example : “the decision was theirs and was not imposed on them by others”
