Pollution in Dehli is even worse than Beijing but no one cares

In a bald-faced attempt to get unblocked in China, the New York Times reports that New Delhi air is "more laden with dangerous small particles of pollution" than Beijing's. 

Despite Beijing’s widespread reputation of having some of the most polluted air of any major city in the world, an examination of daily pollution figures collected from both cities suggests that New Delhi’s air is more laden with dangerous small particles of pollution, more often, than Beijing’s. Lately, a very bad air day in Beijing is about an average one in New Delhi.

For the first three weeks of 2014, New Delhi's average daily peak reading of PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less) was 473, more than twice as high as Beijing's average of 227. 

"It's always puzzled me that the focus is always on China and not India," Dr Angel Hsu, director of the environmental performance measurement program at the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, told the Times. "China has realized that it can’t hide behind its usual opacity, whereas India gets no pressure to release better data. So there simply isn’t good public data on India like there is for China."

Unlike in China, where pollution has become a major rallying call for a wide array of society against what they see as government inaction and lax enforcement of regulations, Indians don't seem to care that they're breathing toxic air. According to the Times, Delhi's newly elected regional government did not mention air pollution in a list of 18 priorities for the new administration. 

"In China, people are extremely concerned about the air, especially around small children," Frank Hammes, chief executive of IQAir, an air filter manufacturer, said. "Why there’s not the same concern in India is puzzling."

While Chinese officials may be heartened by this new attention on their (democratic) neighbour's pollution problems, that air pollution isn't seen as a problem in India is more emblematic of that country's chaotic political system and widespread corruption, than a sign that concern in China is misplaced. Indeed, a recent report suggests that Beijing residents may be losing as many as 16 years of life expectancy to pollution. 

[Image via Flickr]