Why air pollution is a big problem

It's not just New Delhi, every city is facing the problem of poor air quality. What's going on?

The Supreme Court of India in the last week of January asked the Centre to prepare an action plan to curb air pollution across the country.

Meanwhile, India slipped 36 places on the Environmental Performance Index. The biennial report released Tuesday, ranked India at the 177 position in an index of 180 countries. In 2016, India ranked 141 on the index.

The data
The Hindustan Times did deep dive into the available data on pollution to look at what we know and don't know about pollution in India.

The reality is we don't have enough data to ascertain the true extent and dimension of the problem. The Central Pollution Control Board estimates India needs 4,000 monitoring stations across the country. We currently have 54. Of them, 26 were functional for less than three months in 2017.

Why it matters
At 11 lakh death annually, India records the highest number of pollution related deaths in the world.

Even brief exposure to pollution can be fatal for the elderly, a recent Havard study claims. It is well known that exposure to polluted air increases respiratory trouble among children. It can also affect women’s menstrual cycles and even unborn babies, leading to DNA damage.

The cliché, air pollution effects the rich and the poor equally, it is far from the truth, the study further claims. The rich buy their way out of it.

Lack of access to clean fuel further aggravates the troubles of the poor. In fact, the push to clean fuel is failing in India, as most poor families cannot afford LPG, despite the subsidies offered by the government.

What is being done
In Bengaluru, the BBMP has suggested setting up live pollution monitors to help design measures to control pollution. The city needs 160 monitors but currently only has 24.

The Karnataka government has, meanwhile, directed builders and developers in Bengaluru to ensure the directives of the National Green Tribunal on dust pollution are implemented across the city.

What can be done
Vehicular pollution can be tackled with better public transportation. KSPCB found a 9-13% reduction in air pollutants along Namma Metro routes. While there is a concerted government push towards vehicles powered by renewables, their uptake is relatively low because of higher upfront costs and lack of refueling infrastructure. In Bengaluru, there are only 6,200 electric vehicles among 72 lakh vehicles in the city.

Waste burning is a major problem; While BBMP has considered fining people burning trash, but these rules have to be strictly enforced.