New Delhi: Amid concerns over rising pollution in Indian cities, a new tool was launched today that aims to create awareness among people about the quality of air they breathe as well as its likely health impact.

The national Air Quality Index (AQI) launched by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar proposes six AQI categories, namely good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor and severe and is likely to be operational initially in the country's million plus cities by mid-December.