China offers help to India in countering Air Pollution in Delhi
New Delhi: Amid New Delhi’s battle with air pollution, China’s spokesperson to India Yu Jing took to X to draw parallels between the air pollution crisis of both countries and added that Beijing stands ready “to share our journey toward blue ones.”
New Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) remained ‘very poor’, ranging over 300 for the past week while other Indian cities too battled rising air pollution due to dust pollution, vehicle emissions among other factors.
According to the IQAir report, three of the top 5 spots in South Asia in the list of most polluted cities were in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“China once struggled with severe smog, too. We stand ready to share our journey toward blue ones and believe India will get there soon,” Yu wrote on X Tuesday.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s latest data, AQI levels were almost 400 with Kaithal in Haryana and Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh recording ‘Very poor’ levels of 393 and 384 Tuesday. Thootukudi in Tamil Nadu recorded the highest AQI of 486 and was placed in the ‘Severe’ category.
Air pollution accounts for over 2 million deaths per year in India, according to various studies.
China, on its part, had battled a similar crisis in 2013, infamously known as the ‘airpocalypse’. Measures then taken by the Chinese Communist Party-led government included banning new coal-run power plants, limiting car ownership and rolling out all-electric bus fleets.
The government also cut down on iron and steel production and launched an afforestation program with around 35 billion trees being planted across 12 provinces.
“With over $100 billion invested, China’s forestry spending per hectare exceeded that of the US and Europe, tripling the global average,” according to a 2021 report by Earth.Org,
China’s 2013 environment policy the Air Pollution Action Plan, led to Beijing’s PM 2.5 levels dropping down to 33 percent and a reduced concentration of particulate matter down to that of 35 percent.
A follow up to this saw China launch a Three-Year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky War in 2018 which covered all cities and aimed to reduce PM2.5 levels by 18 percent across cities. It also tackled ground level ozone, a pollutant produced when volatile organic compounds react with nitrogen oxides and set a reduction target of 10 percent for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 15 percent for nitrogen oxides.
To counter smog, the East Asian country also built ‘the world’s largest air purifier’, a 100 metre long tower in 2018 in Xian. According to reports, it led to a 15 percent decrease in particulate matter in the city.
However, there is a catch. An Economist article also pointed out how China, while cutting its sulphur emissions to tackle the pollution crisis, unintentionally led to an acceleration of global warming. The report states that scientists believe that East and SouthEast Asia, led by China, are now the main contributors to decrease in sulphate aerosols, which help cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight and enhancing cloud formation.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
