NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s government has stepped up the purchase of air purifiers over the last two years, taking the number of devices in ministries to protect against deteriorating air quality to nearly 300, government data seen by Reuters showed.
Six federal ministries – including the health, foreign and home affairs – bought at least 159 air purifiers during 2018-2019 at a cost of 5 million rupees ($70,353), according to previously unpublished data obtained under a Right to Information (RTI) law.
That compares with at least 140 air purifiers bought for $55,000 during 2014-2017 for the six ministries and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, as previously reported by Reuters. The latest data on purchases for Modi’s office was not available. (reut.rs/2ppjyBj)
The purchases come as the federal and city governments faced criticism for failing to address the problem of worsening air pollution, especially in the winter, and drew criticism from one activist.
“It’s absolutely criminal to spend taxpayers’ money in buying air purifiers for government officials,” said environmentalist Vimlendu Jha, who is a member of a government panel tasked with solving Delhi’s pollution crisis.
In November, the level of pollution in the capital forced authorities to shut schools, restrict the use of cars and declare a public health emergency.
A senior official at the environment ministry, which bears the most responsibility for tackling pollution, said there was no particular drive to buy purifiers to protect civil servants.
“The government is not spending a fortune by buying air purifiers. And it’s not that officials don’t get to inhale toxic air by confining themselves to their offices,” said the ministry official.
The six ministries and Modi’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Air purifiers can cost up to nearly $1,000 and are too expensive for most Indians.
Per capita income in New Delhi, a city of more than 20 million, is about $400 a month and thousands of homeless people endure the cold and the toxic air while sleeping on the streets.
Reuters requested for data using the RTI law from the six ministries as it had comparable numbers previously reported in 2018. These were the ministries of foreign affairs, tourism, agriculture, health, home affairs and the federal think-tank Niti Aayog.
(Graphic: Modi’s government purifer purchases 2018-2019 link: here).
Of the total of 159 devices bought by the ministries, the home affairs ministry topped the list with 103 of them in 2018 and 2019, the data showed.
“All the air purifiers have been installed in various offices/rooms of this ministry,” the ministry said in its RTI response, adding the amount spent was 3.1 million rupees ($43,619).
In October and November, when New Delhi saw some its worst air pollution last year, the foreign ministry bought 12 purifiers. Four of them – bought for the minister’s office – were priced at nearly $1,000 each.
The federal health ministry bought 23 air purifiers in the last two years, including 14 in 2019, its highest annual purchases since 2015, the data showed.
Source: Reuters
Aerial photo taken on Jan. 25, 2020 shows the snow scenery of Hezhang County in Bijie, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo by Han Xianpu/Xinhua)
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 
Laurence Fox apologises to Sikhs for ‘clumsy’ 1917 comment
Laurence Fox has apologised for comments he made about the inclusion of a Sikh soldier in a World War One film.
The actor had previously referred to “the oddness in the casting” of a Sikh soldier in Sir Sam Mendes’ movie 1917.
“Fellow humans who are Sikhs, I am as moved by the sacrifices your relatives made as I am by the loss of all those who die in war, whatever creed or colour,” Fox tweeted.
“Please accept my apology for being clumsy in the way I expressed myself.”
His original comments attracted widespread criticism and historians drew attention to the contribution of Sikhs in the British Army during World War One.
About 130,000 Sikh men took part in the war, making up 20% of the British Indian Army, according to the WW1 Sikh Memorial Fund.
End of Twitter post by @LozzaFox
“Even in 1917 they’ve done it with a Sikh soldier, which is great, it’s brilliant, but you’re suddenly aware there were Sikhs fighting in this war. And you’re like ‘OK, you’re now diverting me away from what the story is’.”
The former Lewis star also responded to Delingpole’s comments about film-makers “shoehorning” people of different ethnicities into dramas.
Fox said: “It is kind of racist – if you talk about institutional racism, which is what everyone loves to go on about, which I’m not a believer in, there is something institutionally racist about forcing diversity on people in that way. You don’t want to think about [that].’
Former Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati responded with an image of Sikh soldiers and queried the inclusion of just one in the film.
End of Twitter post by @ShobnaGulati
Presenter Piers Morgan told Fox his comments were “insulting to solders who had served” and were “an unfortunate thing to have said” and co-host Susanna Reid added: “Sikhs fought with British forces, not just with their own regiments – it’s a historical fact.”
Morgan said he had agreed with other things Fox had said in the last two weeks, referring to the actor’s high-profile appearance on BBC One’s Question Time.
The actor clashed with audience member Rachel Boyle, a university lecturer and race and ethnicity researcher, who said the way Meghan Markle had been treated in the press was “racist”.
Fox responded to her by saying: “It’s not racism, we’re the most tolerant, lovely country in Europe. It’s so easy to throw the charge of racism at everybody and it’s really starting to get boring now.”
Footage of Fox’s appearance was widely shared on social media – with some praising his comments but others calling them offensive.
The programme received more than 250 complaints, the corporation revealed in its fortnightly report for the BBC complaints service.
The main issues cited were that the “audience [was] not representative of the local area, leading to a pro-Conservative bias” and a “discussion on racism [was] felt to be offensive”.
Source: The BBC
Posted in 'clumsy', 1917, apologises, BBC One, British Army, British forces, British Indian Army, comment, Film, Good Morning Britain, ITV, Laurence Fox, Meghan Markle, own regiments, Piers Morgan, Question Time, Sikh Memorial Fund, Sikh soldier, Sikhs, Uncategorized, World War One | Leave a Comment »