27th November 27, 2019: In today’s world where health is a major priority for all, we need to understand

how air pollution is turning out to be major cause for its deterioration. Our body is strongly influenced
by the air we breathe. Poor air quality causes people to die younger as a result of cardiovascular and
respiratory diseases, and also exacerbates chronic diseases such as asthma, causing kids to miss school
and adults to skip work, thus interrupting their daily routine and eroding the quality of life. Air pollution
affects the young and the old, the rich and the poor, and people in all areas of the globe. Hence, solving
it proves to be the major need of the hour.

Kolkata, also known as the city of Joy, seems to cease to hold the title because of the constant collapse
in the air quality, according to the reports released by the WBPCB. Kolkata Clean Air, is one such
institute which is taking steps to help make the dream of many people come true- which is to practice
the right to live in a pollution-free environment. Taking this issue into consideration, it has assembled
many of the prominent doctors, Air quality Experts and Environmentalists from different parts of the
world to discuss and to find possible solutions for it in today’s press release.

The State of global Air has also released reports which states that air pollution is the fifth leading risk
factor for mortality worldwide. It is responsible for more deaths than many better-known risk factors
such as malnutrition, alcohol use, and physical inactivity. Each year, more people die from air pollution–
related disease than from road traffic injuries or malaria.

More than 90% of people worldwide live in areas exceeding the WHO Guideline for healthy air. More
than half live in areas that do not even meet WHO’s least-stringent air quality target. In fact, most of the
states in India, including West Bengal, exceed the World Health Organization’s guidelines.

Kolkata Clean Air is a major movement, which may even be considered revolutionary now, is a citizen
driven initiative which constitutes of 100+ institutions and more than thousands of active citizens of the
city. This initiative shows many people still have faith in the dream of a happy and safe pollution-free
environment. Keeping the vision of making Kolkata one of the most livable and climate friendly cities in
the world, the organization of Kolkata Clean Air will keep striving till they achieve their goal and fill the
city of Joy with joy again. It has already installed two Air Monitor Devices in the city at Moulali and
Ballygunj, to assess the Air Quality. It’s alarming to see that the air quality of Kolkata scooped down to
344 where the ideal air quality is below 50, according to AQI. But as pointed out by Helen Keller- “Alone
we can do so little, but together we can do so much” we can still feel the power to change the world
running through our veins while believing that drop by drop, the ocean is made.