■ Early signs of worsening air emerge in Northeast India-
✓According to an analysis of air quality by the Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment, air quality in India’s northeast States is worsening.
✓As per the study it appears to be under threat by the same sources — vehicles, industry and urbanisation — that have soiled the air elsewhere.
✓Except Guwahati, the other cities in the Northeast have low annual PM2.5 levels.
● Air Pollution in Northeast India:
✓Due to the region’s geography, which is less suited to fossil-fuel-driven industrialization and geographic isolation, the air in the northeast States is cleaner.
✓In the national debate on air pollution and public health, the present concern with high pollution concentrations in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and in northern India as a whole overshadows and ignores the early signals of the issue in our north-eastern states.
✓Poor and insufficient air quality monitoring, as well as a lack of data, prevent a meaningful risk evaluation.
✓Several cities are already vulnerable to poor air quality and winter pollution, according to the scarce data.
