Merkel urges Delhi to go green amid smog emergency

Yahoo – AFP, Aishwarya KUMAR, November 2, 2019

Merkel became a rare foreign leader to speak out on India's smog crisis after
being exposed to the capital's air on Friday, when authorities said the pollution
had reached "emergency" levels (AFP Photo/Prakash SINGH)

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel urged greater efforts to clean up New Delhi's toxic air as she pledged one billion euros to help Indian cities switch to green transport.

Merkel became a rare foreign leader to speak out on India's smog crisis after being exposed to the capital's air on Friday, when authorities said the pollution had reached "emergency" levels.

Schools were ordered closed until Tuesday and all construction halted, while Delhi authorities started distributing millions of anti-pollution masks to children.

The same day, Merkel went on a ceremonial parade in the city with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday as the smog intensified.

Neither leader wore masks despite authorities telling residents to stay indoors to avoid the haze.

Merkel said that Germany would spend one billion euros on "green" urban transport projects in India over the next five years, including 200 million euros to replace diesel buses in Tamil Nadu state.

"These diesel buses are to be replaced by electric buses and anyone who saw the pollution in Delhi yesterday would find very good arguments for replacing even more of these buses," Merkel said in the widely reported speech.

Much of the new peak in the most dangerous PM 2.5 pollutants -- particulates smaller than 2.5 microns that get into the lungs and bloodstream -- has been blamed on fires lit by farmers to burn off wheat crop residues outside of the capital.

Higher winds improved air quality on Saturday but pollution remained "severe", according to government monitors.

Some Bangladesh players and bowling coach Daniel Vettori trained in masks at the
Arun Jaitley stadium where the Twenty20 match is to be played (AFP Photo/STR)

Cricket match

The city will be under a new spotlight on Sunday when India play Bangladesh in a cricket international.

The two teams have insisted they will go ahead with the match despite the pollution threat.

Some Bangladesh players and bowling coach Daniel Vettori trained in masks at the Arun Jaitley stadium, where the Twenty20 match is to be played.

Authorities have ordered trees in and around the stadium to be sprayed with water to collect dust.

They have also set up special patrols to stop construction work and garbage burning.

Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad said the team had spoken about the pollution dangers but there was little they could do.

"When we came here there was smog, we all know, but the players have practiced for last three days, trying to adapt to the conditions." he said.

"It's not within our control, we have to focus on our cricket."

Delhi has faced a mounting pollution crisis over the past decade.

Fourteen Indian cities including the capital are among the world's top 15 most polluted cities, according to the United Nations.

According to one study, smog kills a million Indians prematurely every year.

India's top court has ordered a complete halt to stubble burning around Delhi, a major contributor to lethal smog that on Tuesday kept the metropolis of 20 million people choking in air rated "very poor" https://t.co/DBnxgKI0t2 #DelhiAirQuality pic.twitter.com/gXUDdr6XHI

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 5 november 2019

IJmuiden may be home to new hydrogen plant

DutchNews, October 18, 2018

Storm clouds over Tata Steel in IJmuiden? Photo: Depositphotos.com

 Amsterdam’s port authority, Tata Steel and former AkzoNobel chemical division Nouryon are planning to build a hydrogen plant on the site of the Tata industrial complex in IJmuiden, Dutch media report. 

The final decision will be taken in 2021 and building will take another two to three years. 

The plant will produce 15,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year which Tata will use to produce steel in a cleaner and more sustainable way. 

The move would reduce CO2 emissions by Tata by 350,000 tonnes which equals the CO2 emissions of 40,000 households. At the moment, Tata produces 6 mega tonnes of CO2, which makes it one of the most polluting industrial complexes in the Netherlands, only topped by the coal-fired plant in the Eemshaven. 

Sustainable energy

The use of hydrogen is seen as another important part of efforts to develop sustainable energy sources, alongside solar and wind power, broadcaster NOS said. It will be used as a cleaner alternative for industry and may also be considered as a substitute for the present Dutch dependence on gas to heat homes. 

According to NOS, Nouryon has experience with the use of hydrogen in homes but on a much smaller scale than would be necessary. The government wants the use of gas to be phased out by 2030. 

The announcement comes ‘at an auspicious moment’, NH Nieuws writes. Locals living in the vicinity of the Tata complex mounted a vigorous protest against the steel producer on Wednesday because, they claim, it is responsible for the thick layer of graphite covering their homes.

Himalayan glaciers granted status of 'living entities'

Yahoo – AFP, April 1, 2017

The status of "living entity" was given to two glaciers as well as swathes of
the Himalayan environment, including waterfalls, meadows, lakes and forests

An Indian court has recognised Himalayan glaciers, lakes and forests as "legal persons" in an effort to curb environmental destruction, weeks after it granted similar status to the country's two most sacred rivers.

In a decision that aims to widen environmental protections in the mountainous region, the court granted the legal standing to glaciers Gangotri and Yamunotri that feed India's venerated Ganga and Yamuna rivers, which won the status in a landmark judgement in March.

"The rights of these entities shall be equivalent to the rights of human beings and any injury or harm caused to these bodies shall be treated as injury or harm caused to human beings," the highest court in Himalayan state of Uttarakhand said in its ruling on Friday.

It said Yamunotri glacier, which is the source for Yamuna river was shrinking at an alarming rate.

Gangotri, which feeds the river Ganga and is one of the largest glaciers in the Himalayas, is also "receding fast", the court said.

"In over 25 years, it has retreated more than 850 meters (2,800 feet)," a two-judge bench of justices Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh said.

The court also extended the status of "living entity" to swathes of the Himalayan environment, including waterfalls, meadows, lakes and forests.

On March 20, the same court ordered that both Ganges and Yamuna rivers should be given "living entity" status to conserve them, in a decision cautiously welcomed by activists who expressed hope that it would signify more than just a symbolic gesture.

Both rivers are considered holy by millions of Hindus, who ritualistically bathe, drink and scatter the ashes of their dead in the water.

The rivers which criss-cross most of the country before flowing into the sea have witnessed massive pollution near human habitations mainly due to dumping of untreated sewage and industrial waste.

The court argued the unusual step was necessary because the hallowed rivers upon which Hindu rites are conducted were "losing their very existence".

New Zealand earlier last month recognised its third-largest river, ancestral and spiritual waters for its Maori people, as a living entity.

Successive governments in India have attempted with limited success to clean up the Ganges, which snakes 2,500 kilometres (1,553-mile) across northern India from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.

Nearly 200 nations have reached an agreement to phase out HFC greenhouse gases

In an effort to combat climate change, representatives of nearly 200 countries meeting in Rwanda have agreed to limit the use of HFC gases commonly used in refrigeration.

Deutsche Welle, 15 Oct 2016

A majority of the world's nations meeting in Rwanda agreed on Saturday to a wide-reaching global deal on reducing greenhouse gases which are used in refrigerators and air conditioners.

"The amendment and decisions are adopted," Rwanda's Minister of Natural Resources Vincent Biruta announced to loud cheers, following overnight talks in the country's capital Kigali.

The deal on limiting the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) divides countries into three groups with differing deadlines to scale back on the use of the factory-made gas, which can be 10,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

According to the pact, developed nations including the United States - the world's second worst polluter - and many European countries will gradually reduce their HFC emissions by 2019.

A second group of over 100 developing nations, including China - the world's top polluter - will start reducing in 2024.

A third, smaller group of countries including India, Pakistan and some Gulf states will start later in 2028, after arguing that their economies need more time to grow. The date is three years earlier than India had first proposed.

A test of global will

The talks on HFCs have been viewed as a first test of global resolve since the ParisAgreement was reached last year. A sufficient number of countries ratified the agreement earlier this month and it will come into effect in November.

"This is a huge win for the climate. We have taken a major concrete step in delivering on the promises we made in Paris last December," said Miguel Arias Canete, a commissioner with the European Union in a statement ahead of the agreement's adoption.

Negotiating countries were embroiled in a debate on how quickly to phase out HFCs. The US, who was led by Secretary of State John Kerry, and other Western countries pushed for quick action, while other countries such as India asked for more time for their economies to adjust.

Many African nations and small island states also urged for quick action, saying their countries face the biggest threat from climate change.

"It may not be entirely what the islands wanted, but it is a good deal," the minister-in-assistance to the president of the Marshall Islands, Mattlan Zackhras, said in a statement.

"We all know we must go further, and we will go further."

 Infografik How ozone-deplenting substances and greenhouse gases
affect the atmosphere

The dangerous greenhouse gas

Environmental groups hoped that Saturday's deal could reduce global warming by a half-degree Celsius by the end of this century.

Changing to HFC alternatives such as ammonia, water or other gases called hydrofluoroolefins, however, could be expensive for developing countries with extreme summer temperatures.

HFCs were first introduced in the 1990s to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) after scientists realized they were destroying the ozone layer. The level in the upper stratosphere protects Earth from the Sun's harmful rays.

However, HFCs turned out to be catastrophic for global warming. Although they are safe for the ozone layer, they are thousands of times worse for trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

rs/kl   (AP, AFP, Reuters)

EU agrees to ratify Paris climate deal

Yahoo – AFP, September 30, 2016

Earth's average land and ocean surface temperatures warmed to record
levels in 2015 (AFP Photo/Philippe Huguen)

Brussels (AFP) - EU environment ministers agreed Friday to fast-track the ratification of the landmark Paris agreement on climate change, despite the fact that some national parliaments have yet to approve the deal.

"All member states greenlight early EU ratification of Paris agreement. What some believed impossible is now real," European Union President Donald Tusk said on Twitter.

"Victory!" tweeted French Environment Minister Segolene Royal.

Fears that the United States and China, the world's two biggest polluters, were leaving the EU behind on ratifying last year's historic deal pushed the bloc's 28 ministers to rush through the collective measure.

Around 60 countries have now committed to the landmark agreement designed to stem the planet's rising temperatures, which was sealed in December 2015 in the French capital.

"This is a historic day," EU Environment Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told a news conference, "a day when we put behind us any doubts that the EU is ready to join the Paris climate agreement."

Seven EU countries including Germany and France have ratified the deal so far.

The Paris accord requires all countries to devise plans to achieve the goal of keeping the rise in temperatures within two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and strive for 1.5 C (2.7 F) if possible.

Leaders of EU countries had agreed at a summit in the Slovakian capital Bratislava on September 16 that the bloc should push through ratification at a collective level as soon as possible.

'Speed up the process'

Questions about how emissions cuts will be divided among EU countries have held up the deal in a number of nations, not least over the issue of how Britain's vote to leave the union will affect quotas.

The European Parliament must now give its approval before the EU actually ratifies the agreement, an EU statement said.

The ministers "agreed to speed up the process of ratification of the Paris Agreement" and "decided to go ahead with ratification at EU level", said the statement.

"Member states will ratify either together with the EU if they have completed their national procedures, or as soon as possible thereafter," it added.

Europe has prided itself on taking a global lead on climate change issues but has watched with alarm as the rest of the world has left it behind.

The Paris agreement received a major boost earlier this month when China and the United States, the two largest emitters, jointly acceded to the deal during a summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping.

At least 30 countries jointly ratified the Paris deal at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 21.

France's Royal told AFP earlier this month that she was upbeat the accord would take effect before the next UN-led climate conference on November 7 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

How close is the ambitious Paris agreement on climate change to coming into effect? https://t.co/Grkgy5W4PP pic.twitter.com/37NuYKml33

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 2, 2016

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L) shakes hands with Chinese President

Xi Jinping (C) after the US and China formally joined the Paris climate deal on

September 3, 2016

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet.

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

India court demands action over Delhi's toxic air

Yahoo – AFP, 2 Dec 2015

Pedestrians walk down the Rajpath in New Delhi on December 1, 2015
as smog envelopes government offices (AFP Photo/Roberto Schmidt)

New Delhi (AFP) - India's environmental court slammed the Delhi government on Wednesday for failing to improve its notoriously toxic air, as the capital spent another day blanketed in grey smog.

The National Green Tribunal demanded authorities hold a crisis meeting to come up with a strategy to tackle the haze that has worsened across the city in recent days as winter cloud traps pollutants.

"What is the status of air pollution? All you can say is that there is no pollution... All stakeholders who are dealing with air pollution indicate that Delhi is highly polluting," the bench said in remarks directed at the city government.

"The level of PM2.5 and PM10, both are more than prescribed limits. We cannot permit such a state of affairs causing serious environmental pollution to prevail," the bench said, according to the Press Trust of India.

A senior official told AFP that a meeting of top environmental experts was under way late Wednesday following the court's demand.

Successive Delhi governments have faced flak for failing to clean up the city's filthy air, ranked as the worst in the world by the World Health Organization.

Courts have been pushing authorities to act, including ordering a toll tax on the thousands of diesel-guzzling trucks entering the city every night.

Smog levels soar in the winter when thousands of poor people light fires to keep warm.

But unlike Beijing, which also suffers from hazardous haze levels, New Delhi does not issue public health warnings.

The court's demand comes as global climate change talks continued on Wednesday in Paris. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the summit that rich countries should not force the developing world to abandon fossil fuels completely.

A WHO study of 1,600 cities released last year showed Delhi had the world's highest annual average concentration of PM2.5 particles, less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter.

PM2.5 particles are linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease as they settle deep in the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream.

Delhi traffic policeman Ram Pranesh Singh described his job as like inhaling "slow poison".

"The sweepers dust the sides of the roads, the cars pollute and I am in the middle inhaling the mix from morning to night," he said as he manned a busy crossing near New Delhi's presidential palace on Wednesday.

"We are not given masks... it can be a pretty thankless job," the 48-year-old said.

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Pakistan heatwave deaths close to 700

Yahoo – AFP, 23 June 2015

Relatives gather beside the bodies of heatstroke victims outside the cold 

storage of the Edhi morgue in Karachi, southern Pakistan on June 23, 2015

(AFP Photo/Rizwan Tabassum)

Karachi (AFP) - Nearly 700 people have died in a severe three-day heatwave in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday, with medics battling to treat patients as a state of emergency was declared in hospitals.

The majority of people died in government-run hospitals in the port city of Karachi, Pakistan's economic hub of around 20 million people, as temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) at the weekend.

"The number of people who have died in the heatwave has now reached 692," said Saeed Mangnejo, a senior provincial health official, adding that the toll may rise futher.

A resident helps a heatstroke victim at a 

market area during a heatwave in Karachi,

 southern Pakistan on June 23, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Rizwan Tabassum)

The highest number of deaths have been recorded at Karachi's largest hospital, Post Graduate Medical College Hospital, where they have treated more than 3,000 patients, doctor Semi Jamila told AFP.

Pakistan's largest charity, Edhi Welfare Organisation, said their two morgues in the city had received more than 400 corpses in the last three days.

"The mortuaries have reached capacity," Edhi spokesman Anwar Kazmi told AFP.

Meanwhile, seven people have died from the heat in Punjab province over the past 24 hours, officials said.

The deaths came as the overwhelmingly Muslim country of around 200 million people observes the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which eating and drinking is forbidden from sunrise to sunset.

Some clerics have issued public warnings saying that physically weak people can abstain from fasting in these tough conditions.

Electricity shortages have crippled the water supply system in Karachi, hampering the pumping of millions of gallons of water to consumers, the state-run water utility said.

Temperatures remained at around 44.5 Celsius in Karachi on Tuesday but thunderstorms were forecast for the evening, Pakistan's Meteorological Office said.

"Due to a low depression developing in the Arabian sea, thunderstorms will likely begin this evening and might continue for the next three days," a Meteorological official told AFP.

The provincial government meanwhile announced a public holiday to encourage residents to stay inside, an official said. Many of the victims have been labourers who toil outdoors.

Some residents also took to hosing each other down with water on Tuesday to avoid collapsing from heat stroke.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has issued special instructions to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other relevant organisations to arrange urgent assistance for the heatwave victims.

An official from the National Disaster Management Authority told AFP heatstroke treatment centres would be established at all hospitals across Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital.

The deaths come a month after neighbouring India suffered a deadly heatwave, with more than 2,000 deaths.

Hundreds of mainly poor people die at the height of summer every year in India, but this year's toll was the second highest in the country's history.

India heatwave kills 800 as capital's roads melt

Related Article:

India heatwave kills 800 as capital's roads melt

India heatwave kills 800 as capital's roads melt

Yahoo – AFP, May 27, 2015

India heatwave kills 800 as capital's roads melt

Hyderabad (India) (AFP) - At least 800 people have died in a major heatwave that has swept across India, melting roads in New Delhi as temperatures neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

Hospitals were on alert to treat victims of heatstroke and authorities advised people to stay indoors, with no end in sight to the searing conditions.

India's Meteorological Department said it had issued heat warnings to several states where temperatures were forecast to top 45 degrees Celsius over the next few days.

"As of now, we don't predict any respite from the extreme heatwave for the next few days," said spokesman B. P. Yadav.

Hundreds of people -- mainly from the poorest sections of society -- die at the height of summer every year across the country, while tens of thousands suffer power cuts from an overburdened electricity grid.

Streets were deserted in Hyderabad, capital of the worst-hit state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India where 551 people have died in the last week.

"The state government has taken up education programmes through television and other media to tell people not to venture into the outside without a cap, to drink water and other measures," said P. Tulsi Rani, special commissioner for disaster management in the state.

"We have also requested NGOs and government organisations to open up drinking water camps so that water will be readily available for all the people in the towns."

Hyderabad street vendor P. Gangamma said the heat was making her head pound, but she had no choice but to stay outside.

"For the past three days hot wind has been coming in," said the 65-year-old, who sells cigarettes on a busy intersection.

"I am a diabetes patient, but I have no husband and no sons, so I have to stay here and keep shop."

'Bad business'

Large parts of India, including the capital New Delhi, have endured days of sweltering heat, prompting fears of power cuts as energy-guzzling air conditioners work overtime.

The Hindustan Times daily said the maximum temperature in the capital hit a two-year high of 45.5 degrees Celsius on Monday -- five degrees higher than the seasonal average.

The paper carried a front-page photo of a main road in the city melting in the heat, with the white pedestrian crossing stripes curling and spreading into the black asphalt.

"It's baking hot out here -- our outing has turned into a nightmare," said Meena Sheshadri, a 37-year-old tourist from the western city of Pune who was visiting Delhi's India Gate monument with her children.

"My throat is parched, even though I've been constantly sipping water."

Delhi street food vendor Hari Om said business was slow, with few people venturing out in the furnace-like conditions.

"All the food is getting spoilt even though I prepared it fresh in the morning. It's bad business but what to do," he said.

"People are not coming out and they also don't feel like eating. All they want is to sip cold water all day."

In Telangana state, which borders Andhra Pradesh in the south, 231 people have died in the last week as temperatures hit 48 degrees Celsius over the weekend.

In the western state of Orissa 11 people were confirmed to have died from the heat.

Another 13 people have died in the eastern state of West Bengal, where unions urged drivers in the city of Kolkata to stay off the roads during the day.

India's power industry has long struggled to meet rapidly rising demand in Asia's third largest economy, with poorly maintained transmission lines and overloaded grids.

The Hindustan Times warned that some of the hot, dry conditions could plunge the worst-affected states into drought before monsoon rains arrive.

The monsoon is forecast to hit the southern state of Kerala towards the end of this month before sweeping across the country, but it will be weeks before the rains reach the arid northern plains.

Vehicles are left stranded on Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015,

after heavy rains put the city under massive amounts of water (AFP Photo/

Aaron M. Sprecher)

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India measures air quality in world's most polluted capital

Yahoo – AFP, Bhuvan Bagga, 6 April 2015

India's government launched a new air quality index on April 6, 2015, under

 intense pressure to act after the World Health Organization declared New Delhi 

the world's most polluted capital (AFP Photo/Roberto Schmidt)

India's prime minister suggested Monday the country's "age-old traditions" could be used to ease its choking smog, as he launched a new air quality index for the world's most polluted capital.

Narendra Modi proposed making every Sunday "bicycle day" and switching off street lights during a full moon, amid growing public concern over the impact of air pollution on the health of India's 1.2 billion people.

"There can be green solutions in our age-old traditions," he said in a speech at a conference of environmental policymakers in the capital New Delhi.

Motorists clog a highway in New Delhi, 

on February 18, 2015 (AFP Photo/Money

Sharma)

"What if our city governments... decided not to switch on the street lights during a full moon?" he said.

"It is only a small thing, but you can imagine how much energy could be saved and emissions could be cut if all the street lights were switched off during a full moon."

The government said the new index would initially cover 10 cities -- Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad -- each of which would have monitoring stations with Air Quality Index display boards.

The government is under intense pressure to act after the World Health Organization last year declared New Delhi the world's most polluted capital.

At least 3,000 people die prematurely every year in the city because of air pollution, according to a joint study by Boston-based Health Effects Institute and Delhi's Energy Resources Institute.

Modi also signalled that India would not bow to foreign pressure on tackling climate change, ahead of UN-led talks late this year in Paris on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"The world guides us on climate change and we follow them? The world sets the parameters and we follow them? It is not like that... India can lead the world," he said.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the new index could drive efforts to ease air pollution.

But he gave little indication of what the government would do except to promise new rules on disposing of construction waste.

The dust from India's thousands of industrial and construction sites adds to the fumes from millions of vehicles to create the toxic cocktail that city-dwellers breathe.

Many experts were unimpressed.

Cows find food in garbage dumped and burnt on the roadside in Faridabad, on

 the outskirts of New Delhi, on February 18, 2015 (AFP Photo/Money Sharma)

"Monitoring pollution is not a solution to stop pollution," said ecologist Vandana Shiva, adding Modi's campaign to attract foreign companies to manufacture in India would only exacerbate the problem.

"It's like finding a very sick person and instead of treating him, you hand him a thermometer. You have to take strict policy action, not launch symbolic measures."

Greenpeace welcomed the new index but said it had expected the government "to address the issue with more rigour and responsibility".

"Delhi is facing a public health emergency and an air quality index needs to be matched with actionable plans on how to bring the pollution levels down," said campaigner Aishwarya Madineni in a statement.

"This is merely (a) bandaid on a wound that needs stitches, the bleeding is going to continue."

Delhi worse than Beijing

A World Health Organization study of 1,600 cities released last year showed Delhi had the world's highest annual average concentration of small airborne particles known as PM2.5 -- higher even than Beijing.

These extremely fine particles of less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter are linked with increased rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease as they penetrate deep into the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream.

India disputed the WHO's assertion, but has conceded that air pollution in the capital is comparable with that of Beijing.

Fog casts a blanket over the Red 

Fort in New Delhi, in 2009 (AFP

Photo/Raveendran)

An air quality index compiled by the US embassy in Delhi on Monday registered a PM2.5 reading of 175, which is considered unhealthy.

The reading from the US embassy in Beijing was just 53, which is considered moderate.

A new government website for the index, which will provide colour-coded air quality rankings ranging from "good" to "severe", went live on Monday morning, but could not be accessed. Officials said it had likely collapsed under high demand.

The aim is for the index to eventually cover 66 cities.

The government gave few details about the new rules on construction waste. Delhi generates up to 4,000 tonnes of construction debris every day, according to a 2014 study by the Centre for Science and Environment.

Policymakers have suggested restrictions on private vehicles, higher pollution-related taxes and stricter enforcement of urban planning laws.