Atmospheric pollution increasing in rural India, say IIT-KGP researchers
The researchers found that air pollution is not typically an urban phenomenon but can affect the environment in rural pockets also.
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The analysis exposes increasing trends of NO2 in the rural regions of India. According to the statement, rural sources account for 41% of the overall NO2 pollution in India of which 45% and 40% are from the transportation and power sectors, respectively. (Express Photo) Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur have found increasing atmospheric pollution in rural India using Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) measurements from satellites, said the institute in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the institute, Prof Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath and research scholar Mansi Pathak of the Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) of IIT Kharagpur, analysed the significant impact of urban pollution on the air quality of rural India by differentiating and assessing the depth of air pollution in the study titled “Air Quality Trends in Rural India: Analysis of NO2 Pollution using Satellite Measurements”.
The researchers found that air pollution is not typically an urban phenomenon but can affect the environment in rural pockets also. They conducted an analysis of the rural air quality to assess the extent of air pollution by measurements of NO2 through satellite imaging. The analysis exposes increasing trends of NO2 in the rural regions of India. According to the statement, rural sources account for 41% of the overall NO2 pollution in India of which 45% and 40% are from the transportation and power sectors, respectively.
Prof Kuttippurath said, “We observed a decline in air quality in rural India in terms of our NO2 analysis, which is not beyond the threshold levels now, except in regions such as Delhi and suburbs and eastern India. However, given the positive trend in NO2 concentration, the high rate of urbanisation and relocation of industries to suburbs, the growing population and development activities, other regions of India would also cross the pollution threshold to impact the health of its people.”
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