Last year, all schools in the city were closed for five days.com Inc’s India website grew by more than 3.The purchases came as Modi faced criticism for not taking effective steps to improve air quality in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities.A federal body that manages more than 45 government schools in the capital said it had made no purchases of air purifiers and had no plans to do so."Ideally, no one should need air purifiers and we’re trying our best to ensure that," the official said, referring to the government’s attempts to improve air quality in Delhi.Sales BoomAir purifiers are devices which use filters to reduce indoor air pollutants.Still, air purifier sales have been surging in Delhi, a city of more than 20 million people.".5 times in 2017 over the previous year, the company said.6 million rupees, or about USD 55,000, to buy air purifiers for Modi’s offices and at least six federal departments between 2014 and 2017, according to government data reviewed by Reuters.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who belongs to an opposition party, called the city a "gas chamber" last year as levels of airborne PM 2.New Delhi: As pollution choked Delhi in recent years, a total of 140 air purifiers were purchased for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s offices and at least six other government agencies, according to previously unpublished government data.5, tiny particulate matter that can reach deep into the lungs, far exceeded levels classified as "hazardous. The sale of such units at Amazon.The home ministry spent about USD 20,000 in the last three years to buy 44 of the devices, while Modi’s parliament house offices accounted for 25 units which cost about USD 11,000, the data showed.Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan last month said pollution was "now linked to our national image. Such machines are beyond the means of most people in India, where the annual per capita income was USD 1,709 in 2016, according to the World Bank."This initiative is like giving gumboots to city officials when the drainage system collapses and the city is covered in muck," said Oommen C Kurian, a health researcher at the New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation. Our schools aren’t air conditioned, windows are open, so air purifiers won’t make a difference," said Santosh Kumar Mall, commissioner of the body, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.Each year, when pollution levels shoot up in the winter months, the capital’s schools are often forced to shut.Modi’s office and the six departments for which data was available did not respond to Reuters’ queries. It also says air conditioners should not be used if they draw air from the outside.After years of criticism that Modi’s government was not doing enough, this year’s federal China Commercial Cooling Units budget outlined a scheme for pollution control that will include spending USD 177 million on reducing crop residue burning - one of the main causes of pollution.A senior government official familiar with Modi’s pollution-control planning said there was no federal policy allowing officials to buy air purifiers and such purchases were made only if departments received requests from bureaucrats.The World Health Organisation has recommended keeping windows closed when air pollution is high."A British medical journal, The Lancet, has estimated air pollution was responsible for almost 10 percent of the total disease burden in India in 2016.The federal government, however, spent 3."Offices are generally air conditioned, so air purifiers will function."This is just not the response we are looking for.Besides Modi’s offices inside parliament house, the agencies included federal economic planning think tank NITI Aayog and the ministries of health, agriculture, tourism, home affairs and foreign affairs.NITI Aayog, which also spent about $11,000 on air purifiers, said the devices were "issued to officers at the level of joint secretary & equivalent and above, as per their requests", according to a right to information response reviewed by Reuters."A government spokesman directed questions on the subject to the federal environment ministry, which did not respond to a request for comment.Asked if any steps were taken to safeguard school students from Delhi’s dirty air, Mall told Reuters: "I don’t think so, when pollution increased a lot, our schools were shut"

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 Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives," WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said." But there are many straightforward ways to reduce emissions of dangerous pollutants." The WHO report cited a case study that investigated whether exposure to PM2. Delhi-NCR, Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh, Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh and Talcher-Angul in Odisha are the hotspots identified. PM2. Due to household air pollution in 2016, about 66,890 deaths of children below five years were reported out of which 36,073 were girls and 30,817 were boys, the WHO report said. The report, launched ahead of the WHOs first ever Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health, revealed that when pregnant women are exposed to polluted air, they China pharmacy cooler unit are more likely to give birth prematurely and have small, low birthweight children. "The self-neutralization of natural dust is much higher as compared to the emitted pollutants," he said. "In low- and middle-income countries around the world, 98% of all children under 5 are exposed to PM2."Globally, 93 per cent of the worlds children under 18 years of age are exposed to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5 during pregnancy was associated with low birth weight in an integrated rural-urban, mother-child cohort in Tamil Nadu. "The researchers recruited 1,285 women in the first trimester of pregnancy in primary health care centres and urban health posts and followed them until the birth of their child to collect data on maternal health, prenatal care, exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and the birthweight of the child," the study said.5 has reached dangerous levels in New Delhi in the last two weeks. Every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfil their full potential," the official said. In the report, titled Air Pollution and Child Health: Prescribing Clean Air, deaths of about 600,000 children under 15 years of age in 2016 were attributed to the joint effects of ambient and household air pollution.5 micrometres present in the air), also called "fine particulates", can be a matter of more serious health concern than PM10 (those with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres). The green bodys report said three of the worlds largest nitrogen oxide air pollution emission hotspots that contribute to formation of PM2. The PM2. In comparison, in high-income countries, 52% of children under 5 are exposed to levels above WHO air quality guidelines," the study says. The study said a total of 101,788 deaths under the age of five -- 54,893 were girls and 46,895 were boys -- were reported due to joint effects of exposure of children to ambient and household PM 2. The WHO report examines the heavy toll of both ambient (outside) and household air pollution on the health of the children across world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, like India. The PM2.New Delhi: Over one lakh children under five years of age died in India in 2016 due to exposure to toxic air, according to a new WHO study which noted that about 98 per cent of children in the same age group in low- and middle-income countries were exposed to air pollution. Out of the over 1 lakh deaths in the country in 2016, 60,987 were due to ambient air pollution (32,889 were girls and 28,097 boys), it said.5) levels above WHO air quality guidelines, which include the 630 million of children under 5 years of age, and 1.5 (or particles with a diameter of less than 2. Another report by Greenpeace presented a grim picture of Indias pollution level. D Saha, an environmentalist, said India is a tropical country and the influence of natural dust is much higher as compared with developed countries.5 poses greater harm as being finer, it can easily be inhaled into the respiratory tract.5 and burden of disease by the country in 2016. It said about 98 per cent of children under the age of five years in low- and middle-income countries, which include nations like India, were exposed to air pollution caused by finer particulate matters in 2016. Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, WHO, said, "Air Pollution is stunting our childrens brains, affecting their health in more ways than we suspected.5 levels above WHO air quality guidelines. "This is inexcusable. The report noted that air pollution is one of the leading threats to child health, accounting for almost one in 10 deaths in children under five years of age. On Monday, a thick blanket of haze engulfed the city, and an overall air quality index of 348 was recorded, which falls in the very poor category, according to data of the Central Pollution Control Board. Household air pollution from cooking and ambient air pollution caused more than 50 per cent of acute lower respiratory infections in children under five years of age in low- and middle-income countries, it said.5 and ozone are in India with one in the Delhi-NCR. Sonbhadra and Singrauli combined have one hotspot

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