1Maitreyi College, University of Delhi, New Delhi 110021, India
2School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India
Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
2022,
Vol. 10 No. 7, 432-443
DOI: 10.12691/aees-10-7-2
Copyright © 2022 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Pooja Baweja, Haritma Chopra, Pinkey B. Gandhi, Sandhya Gupta, Nisha Poddar, Sakshi Suman, Vikas Rena. A Tale of Air Quality Index (AQI) in India: Pre- and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2022; 10(7):432-443. doi: 10.12691/aees-10-7-2.
Correspondence to: Vikas Rena, School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India. Email:
principal@maitreyi.du.ac.in; vikasrena.sesjnu@gmail.comAbstract
The purpose of this study is to compare the Air Quality Index (AQI) in India before (1st January 2020 - 16th March 2020) and during the lockdown period (26th March 2020 - 4th June 2020). The AQI improved significantly throughout the lockdown resulted through spatio-temporal fluctuations based on Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and multivariate statistical analysis using Correlation Matrix Analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The AQI declined by 34.51 percent in Northern India, 22.14 percent in Central India, 48.84 percent in Eastern India, 42.75 percent in Western India, 32.64 percent in Southern India, and 54.46 percent in Northeastern India during the lockdown. The findings would prompt the governments across the world to consider ways to reduce vehicle and industrial pollution to enhance air quality.
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