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Business Matters: India Launches Air Quality Index

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07/04/2015

India Launches Air Quality Index

BBC World Service - Business Matters, India Launches Air Quality Index

India launches its first air quality index to monitor dangerous city pollution levels

India launches its first air quality index, to provide real-time information about dangerous pollution levels in some cities. Plus, the story behind the lyrics of American Pie.

Air pollution in India has risen to alarming levels. So much so, it is responsible for more than half a million premature deaths every year. In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a national air quality index and called on individuals to change their energy hungry lifestyles. But is the move enough? 

Ed Butler reports from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where relations with the central Iraqi government have been troubled since Baghdad began withholding budget payments to the region worth hundreds of millions of dollars a month. 

Tuesday is World Health Day, and this year the focus from the World Health Organisation is ensuring that what we eat is free from disease - we hear from the organisation's director of food safety. 

We go to Hong Kong where tourist numbers are down, and that has been impacting on sales of luxury items. But is this a response to government policy, or the protests that have been going on for well over a year? 

And we hear the story behind the lyrics of Don Maclean's one hit wonder, American Pie, which are up for auction in New York on Tuesday.

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