A GIS-Based Methodology to Determine Effect of Vehicular Pollution at Ward Level: Case Study of Jaipur City

To determine appropriate measures to reduce air pollution in any urban city, the first essential requirement is to estimate the spatial distribution of air pollution parameters in that area. In absence of air monitoring stations, alternative methods are required for the same. In the present work, a GIS-based methodology is presented to estimate the level of NO2 based on the road density of the road network of different categories of roads. Road network GIS layer and measured levels of the average value of NO2 for the year 2019 at 12 air pollution monitoring stations of Jaipur city are used to develop a large number of possible linear regression models for estimation of NO2 values based on road density values. Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and adjusted r2 values are used to evaluate and arrive at the best-fitted model. Values from the cities of Jodhpur and Kota are used to validate the model. Using this model, NO2 levels are determined at 91 wards of Jaipur city and the output is compared with the similar map derived based on interpolation of NO2 values at the 12 monitoring stations. It is concluded that the methodology developed in this study generates better estimates of NO2 at the ward levels.

Metagenomic Survey Reveals More Diverse and Abundant Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Municipal Wastewater Than Hospital Wastewater

Alongside antibiotic resistance, co-selection of antibiotics, biocides, and metal resistance is a growing concern. While hospital wastewater is considered a hotspot for antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and genes (ARGs), the scenario in India, one of the biggest consumers of antibiotics, remains poorly described. In this study, we used metagenomic sequencing to characterize ARGs and biocide/metal resistance genes (BMRGs) in four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Jaipur City of India. We observed a significantly lower richness and abundance of ARGs in the influent of a WWTP exclusively receiving hospital wastewater when compared to other three WWTPs involving municipal wastewater treatment. Several tetracycline and macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin resistance genes were enriched in influents of these three municipal wastewater-related treatment plants, whereas hospital wastewater had a higher abundance of genes conferring resistance to disinfectant-related compounds such as synergize and wex-cide-128, reflecting the patterns of antibiotic/disinfectant use. Of note, in the wastewater system with more chemicals, there was a strong correlation between the numbers of ARGs and BMRGs potentially harbored by common hosts. Our study highlights significant influxes of ARGs from non-hospital sources in Jaipur City, and thus more attention should be paid on the emergence of ARGs in general communities.

Land Use/ Land Cover Dynamics Study and Prediction In Jaipur City us­ing CA Markov Model Integrated with Road Network

Land Use Land Cover (LULC) dynamics analysis is critical and should be done regularly. It draws attention to LULC developments that can be addressed before they become unmanageable disasters or circumstances. For the years 2000, 2010, and 2020, LULC change analysis was carried out in Jaipur City, Rajasthan, India. The LULC maps were created using Landsat data through a visual interpretation technique at a scale of 1:50,000. These maps were classified into vegetation, agriculture, built-up areas, barren land, and water bodies. LULC was predicted by extrapolating the current LULC change pattern. Using a Cellular Automata-Markov Chain Model (CA Markov) integrated with road network, the current LULC change trend was extrapolated and utilized to estimate the LULC map for the years 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050. The strategy was validated by estimating LULC change for 2020 and comparing it to the actual LULC map for that year. The urban area contributed to 4. 75% in 2000 of the total area in Jaipur city. The percentage of area under urban class has increased to 9.68% in 2010 and 12.96% in 2020. The prediction based on 2000-2010 and 2010-2020 has shown an unprecedented decadal growth in the built-up area till 2050. The prediction based on the 2000-2010 period has shown a rise of 92.04 % during 2020-2030, 77.13 % during 2030-2040 and, 64.34 % during 2040-2050. The prediction based on the 2010-2020 period has shown a rise of 102.42% during 2020-2030, 73.56% during 2030-2040 and, 54.47 % during 2040-2050. This study is, therefore, calls for policy interventions to manage population and urban growth.

Health and poverty linkages for population just above the poverty line-A study done in slums of Jaipur, India

Universal Health Coverage, as a milestone of Sustainable Development Goal − 3 has its own predefined limitations for a resource constraint economy. Underdeveloped and developing nations are not in a position to provide critical and crucial health services to all its citizens and those who remain uncovered are likely to face financial hardships. Division of limited resources is never easy andchoosing which services to offer and to whom in order to benefit the weaker sections becomes a complex choice. This study examines, that despite the availability of health systems and insurance schemes, does a vulnerable sections of the societyremains unprotected against Catastrophic Health Expenditure. Is catastrophic health expenditure leading to impoverishment in urban poor of Jaipur city? Primary data was collected from 426 households of urban slums of Jaipur City. It was found that of all the households, 8.1 percent households incurred Catastrophic Health Expenditure. The mean excess of expenditure over the defined threshold (i.e. 40 percent of non-subsistence household expenditure) was 33 percent for households which incurred Catastrophic Health Expenditure. There was a significant association between increased health expenditure and curtailment in expenditure on food and clothing by households, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.05 respectively. There was a significant rise in impoverishment in urban slums because of out of pocket expenditures on health. There was an absolute 1 percent rise (2.8 percent to 3.8 percent) in poverty on the basis of National Poverty Line and 2.6 percent (37.1 percent to 39.7 percent) when International Poverty Line estimates were taken. Increase in normalized mean positive poverty gap from 29.8 percent to 45.3 percent, indicates the deepening of poverty among existing poor. The result indicates massive discrepancy in estimates of poverty 2.8 percent on National poverty standards and 37.1 percent on International poverty standards. Poverty ratio, as low as 2.8 percent among urban slum (the acknowledged poorer section) based on National Poverty Line indicates need of developing a sensitive poverty standards. Urban slum dwellers of Jaipur are forced to spend more on day-to-day household items because of higher cost of living of the city. This led to an underestimation of the number of poor on National poverty line basis. Lack of considerations of regional variables and factors while designing health schemes is evident. This raises an argument in favor of recognizing local factors while designing the social insurance schemes. Evidence based selection of healthcare delivery system - assurance, insurance or mixed is required. The approach must enable the Government to control quality and cost of the healthcare at the same time. In the present scenario, assurance (healthcare services by Public Healthcare Facilities) approach may not only improve the accessibility but also will control the cost of healthcare for the entire population. In place of putting two parallel systems insurance or assurance, the Government should focus to invest funds and efforts in one system. To strengthen the assurance of public health care ‘Right based approach to Health’ may be adopted.This will result in long term protection of its citizens.