<p>The World Air Quality report for 2024 released recently by IQAir, a Swiss technology company that tracks global air quality, depicts a grim picture of the state of air quality and pollution in India. As per its findings, India ranked as the fifth most polluted country in the world in the year 2024 with an average annual PM2.5 concentration of 50.6 µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre). Though India recorded a slight decline in air pollution levels in 2024 as compared to in 2023 (54.4 6 µg/m³), it is still ten times higher than the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) prescribed safety limit of 5 µg/m³. Chad ranked as the most polluted country in the world with a PM2.5 concentration level of 91.8 followed by Bangladesh (78), Pakistan (73.8), and DR Congo (58.2).</p>.<p>The report notes that all but one of the twenty most polluted cities in the world are in Asia. Of these twenty cities, thirteen are in India. Byrnihat, a small industrial town in northeast India, recorded the highest PM2.5 score of 128.2 last year which is about 25 times more than WHO’s prescribed safe limit.</p>.<p>Delhi has the dubious distinction of being the world’s most polluted capital city for the sixth consecutive year, recording a PM2.5 concentration of 91.8. Despite past efforts to tackle air pollution in Delhi such as shifting polluting industries from out of Delhi as mandated by an Apex court order in 1996, mandating the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for running public transport vehicles as per another court order in 1998, vehicular pollution has deteriorated sharply in Delhi due to an exponential increase in the number of vehicles. The government has also failed to bring a lasting solution to the problem of stubble-burning by farmers in neighbouring Haryana and Punjab which causes smog and a sharp deterioration in air pollution levels in Delhi during the post-harvest season.</p>.<p>Other Indian cities listed as most polluted are: Mullanpur (Punjab), Faridabad, Loni, New Delhi, Gurugram, Ganganagar, Greater Noida, Bhiwandi, Muzaffarnagar, Hanumangarh, and Noida. Major cities such as Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai reported PM2.5 levels of 50, 47, 30, 37 and 36 µg/m³ respectively.</p>.<p>At the other end of the spectrum, Gangtok in Sikkim recorded a PM2.5 concentration of 13.2 µg/m³ which is the lowest for any city or town in India and Asia. Raichur, Tirupur, Tirunelveli, Madikeri, Chamarajanagar, Satna, and Puducherry are among other Indian cities with low air pollution levels, as per the report.</p>.<p>The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) lists ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide as major air pollutants that are harmful to health and the environment. Of these pollutants, exposure to particulate matter (PM) is considered as most dangerous because of their minuscule size of less than 2.5 microns which allows them to go deep into lungs and even the bloodstream. Prolonged exposure to PM causes premature deaths due to respiratory and heart ailments, aggravation of asthma, decreased lung function and breathing difficulties, and even certain types of cancer and neurological disorders. A report by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) suggests that more people die of air pollution in Delhi than cancer.</p>.<p>They are also harmful to the environment and responsible for acid rain effects on monuments and the environment, depleting nutrients in soils and affecting ecosystem diversity.</p>.<p><strong>Deaths and distress</strong></p>.<p>As per a WHO report, the cost of air pollution is tremendous and responsible for 6.7 million premature deaths globally every year with annual health costs of around 6.1% of the global GDP.</p>.<p>The economic cost of air pollution in India is estimated at over $150 billion annually with a World Bank study suggesting that lost output from premature deaths and morbidity attributable to air pollution accounted for economic losses of $28.8 billion and $8 billion respectively in 2019. Another study by Dalberg Advisors, Clean Air Fund, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimated these economic costs at around $95 billion which is about 3% of India’s GDP.</p>.<p>A study by Lancet Planetary Health in 2024 suggested that prolonged exposure to PM2.5 reduces life expectancy by about 5.2 years and caused an average of about 1.5 million deaths in India every year over the period 2009 to 2019.</p>.<p>Although the government of India launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 and other schemes such as BS-VI emission standards for vehicles, Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric (FAME) vehicles, Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for emergency measures in the Delhi-NCR region when air quality crosses a threshold level, these measures have not led to any perceptible improvement in air quality levels.</p>.<p>Lack of political will, poor enforcement of regulations, and the absence of an integrated approach to address the problem are responsible for this poor situation. Instead of focusing on expanding public transport and metro connectivity, the government is encouraging more private vehicles. A study by CSE showed that 70% of roads are used by private vehicles, highlighting the significant impact of personal vehicles on urban mobility. Singapore’s experience is worth emulating where people need a licence to purchase private vehicles. In India, however, we are promoting possession of more private vehicles due to the misconception that more private vehicles mean more development. The negative social costs of these decisions such as accelerating vehicular pollution are overlooked. In Bengaluru, instead of improving public transportation and metro connectivity, the government is implementing costly grand tunnel and flyover projects. We need to shift to policies that actively promote sustainable transport options.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is lead author, GEO-7, United Nations Environment <br>Programme, Nairobi)</em></p>
<p>The World Air Quality report for 2024 released recently by IQAir, a Swiss technology company that tracks global air quality, depicts a grim picture of the state of air quality and pollution in India. As per its findings, India ranked as the fifth most polluted country in the world in the year 2024 with an average annual PM2.5 concentration of 50.6 µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre). Though India recorded a slight decline in air pollution levels in 2024 as compared to in 2023 (54.4 6 µg/m³), it is still ten times higher than the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) prescribed safety limit of 5 µg/m³. Chad ranked as the most polluted country in the world with a PM2.5 concentration level of 91.8 followed by Bangladesh (78), Pakistan (73.8), and DR Congo (58.2).</p>.<p>The report notes that all but one of the twenty most polluted cities in the world are in Asia. Of these twenty cities, thirteen are in India. Byrnihat, a small industrial town in northeast India, recorded the highest PM2.5 score of 128.2 last year which is about 25 times more than WHO’s prescribed safe limit.</p>.<p>Delhi has the dubious distinction of being the world’s most polluted capital city for the sixth consecutive year, recording a PM2.5 concentration of 91.8. Despite past efforts to tackle air pollution in Delhi such as shifting polluting industries from out of Delhi as mandated by an Apex court order in 1996, mandating the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for running public transport vehicles as per another court order in 1998, vehicular pollution has deteriorated sharply in Delhi due to an exponential increase in the number of vehicles. The government has also failed to bring a lasting solution to the problem of stubble-burning by farmers in neighbouring Haryana and Punjab which causes smog and a sharp deterioration in air pollution levels in Delhi during the post-harvest season.</p>.<p>Other Indian cities listed as most polluted are: Mullanpur (Punjab), Faridabad, Loni, New Delhi, Gurugram, Ganganagar, Greater Noida, Bhiwandi, Muzaffarnagar, Hanumangarh, and Noida. Major cities such as Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai reported PM2.5 levels of 50, 47, 30, 37 and 36 µg/m³ respectively.</p>.<p>At the other end of the spectrum, Gangtok in Sikkim recorded a PM2.5 concentration of 13.2 µg/m³ which is the lowest for any city or town in India and Asia. Raichur, Tirupur, Tirunelveli, Madikeri, Chamarajanagar, Satna, and Puducherry are among other Indian cities with low air pollution levels, as per the report.</p>.<p>The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) lists ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide as major air pollutants that are harmful to health and the environment. Of these pollutants, exposure to particulate matter (PM) is considered as most dangerous because of their minuscule size of less than 2.5 microns which allows them to go deep into lungs and even the bloodstream. Prolonged exposure to PM causes premature deaths due to respiratory and heart ailments, aggravation of asthma, decreased lung function and breathing difficulties, and even certain types of cancer and neurological disorders. A report by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) suggests that more people die of air pollution in Delhi than cancer.</p>.<p>They are also harmful to the environment and responsible for acid rain effects on monuments and the environment, depleting nutrients in soils and affecting ecosystem diversity.</p>.<p><strong>Deaths and distress</strong></p>.<p>As per a WHO report, the cost of air pollution is tremendous and responsible for 6.7 million premature deaths globally every year with annual health costs of around 6.1% of the global GDP.</p>.<p>The economic cost of air pollution in India is estimated at over $150 billion annually with a World Bank study suggesting that lost output from premature deaths and morbidity attributable to air pollution accounted for economic losses of $28.8 billion and $8 billion respectively in 2019. Another study by Dalberg Advisors, Clean Air Fund, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimated these economic costs at around $95 billion which is about 3% of India’s GDP.</p>.<p>A study by Lancet Planetary Health in 2024 suggested that prolonged exposure to PM2.5 reduces life expectancy by about 5.2 years and caused an average of about 1.5 million deaths in India every year over the period 2009 to 2019.</p>.<p>Although the government of India launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 and other schemes such as BS-VI emission standards for vehicles, Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric (FAME) vehicles, Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for emergency measures in the Delhi-NCR region when air quality crosses a threshold level, these measures have not led to any perceptible improvement in air quality levels.</p>.<p>Lack of political will, poor enforcement of regulations, and the absence of an integrated approach to address the problem are responsible for this poor situation. Instead of focusing on expanding public transport and metro connectivity, the government is encouraging more private vehicles. A study by CSE showed that 70% of roads are used by private vehicles, highlighting the significant impact of personal vehicles on urban mobility. Singapore’s experience is worth emulating where people need a licence to purchase private vehicles. In India, however, we are promoting possession of more private vehicles due to the misconception that more private vehicles mean more development. The negative social costs of these decisions such as accelerating vehicular pollution are overlooked. In Bengaluru, instead of improving public transportation and metro connectivity, the government is implementing costly grand tunnel and flyover projects. We need to shift to policies that actively promote sustainable transport options.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is lead author, GEO-7, United Nations Environment <br>Programme, Nairobi)</em></p>
