With air pollution soaring to alarming levels across India, the government is launching a new monitoring system to keep tabs on the problem.<br /><br /> The quality index will indicate whether air is healthy, poor, harmful or hazardous. <br /><br /> Pollution is the cause of more than 600-thousand premature deaths every year in India, according to the World Health Organisation. <br /><br /> Launching the new index, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised that a change of lifestyle was needed to turn things around. <br /><br /> Medics say by the time people in New Delhi turn 35, their lungs start behaving like those of a smoker. <br /><br /> “In my practice, I am seeing a rise in the number of cases. Not only are the cases rising, we are having difficulty controlling patients, which were easily controlled earlier,” said Dr Pankaj Syal, a lung specialist at PSRI Hospital in the capital. <br /><br /> New Delhi already has air quality monitors, but experts say the readings may not be reliable.<br /><br /> The new index will keep across pollution in 10 major
