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The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a measurement used to report daily air quality. Employed by most government agencies, it helps communicate to the public as to how clean or polluted your air is, how polluted it is forecast to become and associated health effects that might be a concern. Based on ambient concentration levels of different pollutants and their impact on human health, the National Air Quality Index in India has six categories: good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor, and severe.

Air quality index (AQI) is used by government agencies  to communicate to the public how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become. AQI information is obtained by averaging readings from an air quality sensor, which can increase due to vehicle traffic, forest fires, or anything that can increase air pollution. Pollutants tested include ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, among others.

Public health risks increase as the AQI rises, especially affecting children, the elderly, and individuals with respiratory or cardiovascular issues. During these times, governmental bodies generally encourage people to reduce physical activity outdoors, or even avoid going out altogether. The use of face masks such as cloth masks may also be recommended.

Different countries have their own air quality indices, corresponding to different national air quality standards. Some of these are the Air Quality Health Index (Canada), the Air Pollution Index (Malaysia), and the Pollutant Standards Index (Singapore).

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It's unnecessary light which creates health hazards for humans and animals, and affects the ecosystem. Ms. Sumaira Abdulali, an activist who has been fighting against noise pollution, is now urging the government to regard light pollution as a serious environmental hazard and frame a regulatory policy to make night-time lighting safer. Learn more about light pollution and what we can do about it here.

What is unnecessary light?

 Flashing lights and additional colours in hoardings, halogen lights, car headlights, street lights using blue LED lights of high intensity are a few examples (the International Dark Sky Association recommends using LEDS of 3000 Kelvin or below).

Wrong lighting is also hazardous. For example, street lamps that don't light up an area uniformly create patches of brightness followed by darkness. If they are not shielded and set on high masts. the light gets projected onto the eyes of residents or they get directed into the sky, causing a sky glow and blotting out the moon and the stars.

Light is necessary, so how can we prevent it from becoming a hazard?

 Use light only when needed and in the required amount. Use better lights, not brighter lights. Instead of using very bright lights that light up only particular areas, have lights that light up the room evenly. Switch over from blue light to yellow light. Blue light creates glare impairs vision and brightens the sky more than any other colour. Have shades for lights. Deploy motion sensors instead of leaving lights on all night. Also avoid watching TV or working at the computer at night without lights.

What should the government do?

 The government should plan a proper lighting policy with rules regarding what is the right amount of light, what is appropriate light and state the limit for light pollution. It should see that car headlights are checked for colour. intensity and beam angles so that they don't create temporary blindness in drivers of oncoming cars. pedestrians and people living close to the streets.

It should hold advertisers responsible for light clutter (grouping of lights that cause confusion and distract from obstacles, potentially causing accidents). It should also ensure that street lights are shielded, placed at the right distance from each other and at the right height and angle, so that they project light down onto the street..

What can children do to reduce light pollution?

Children should be taught about light pollution. They could use a single yellow light. that would brighten up the entire room when they want to study or read but at other times, they could make use of low voltage lights. They should also turn off lights when not in use.

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Pollution is considered to be one of the world's biggest environmental threats. Here are ten shocking facts about pollution.

1. Plastic pollution adversely affects marine life. Over 1 million seabirds and 1,00,000 sea mammals are killed by plastic litter in the oceans every year.
2. In January 2019, the Ministry of Environment. Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to monitor and curb air pollution around the country. It aims to reduce air pollution in 122 cities by 20-30 per cent by 2024.
3. According to the World Air Quality Report, 2020' released by the Swiss organisation, IQAir, New Delhi is the most polluted capital city in the world. Altogether 35 Indian cities are among the world's top 50 most polluted cities.
4. River Ganga flows through many urban centres such as Kanpur, Patna and Kolkata, which dump their industrial effluents and wastewater in the river. The entire length of the river is polluted by the presence of faecal coliform bacteria (germs found in the faeces of warm-blooded animals and humans), making its waters unfit for bathing and drinking.
5. About 70% of water sources in India are severely contaminated. Every year about 37.7 million Indians are affected by waterborne diseases.
6. Noise pollution is one of the most under-rated forms of pollution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), noise above 65 decibels (dB) is termed as noise pollution. Sounds becomes harmful when its exceeds 75 decibels (dB) and painful when it is above 120 dB.
7. Only 20% of about 3.5 million tonnes of solid waste that our world generates every day is recycled, thus overwhleming the landfills with unmangable quantities. Waste is often disposed of at hazardous open dump sites in developing nations including India causing land pollution. Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to degradation of soil. making it infertile.
8. According to the WHO, air pollution kills about seven million people worldwide every year. Almost all of the global population (99%) breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants.
9. 80% of the world's wastewater is released back into the environment-most of it untreated, in the developing countries. Farm runoffs containing minerals such as nitrogen and phosphurus causes nutrient pollution leading to algae bloom. This destroys marine life and even results in permanent 'dead zones.
10. The Asian Brown Cloud (ABC) is a dense fog of pollutants that blankets South Asia from November to April. It hovers over western China, northwest Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Indo-Gangetic plain in northern India. The cloud is almost three kilometres thick. It contains a deadly cocktail of aerosols, ash, soot and other particles, 80 per cent of which is caused by human activity.

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