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Two’s recent comments about pollution Indian Officials have grown frustrated among residents, who say policymakers are unwilling to acknowledge the severity of India’s air quality crisis.
When Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav told Parliament Earlier this month, India’s capital, New DelhiHaving seen 200 days with good air quality readings, pollution experts and opposition leaders said they chose a figure that ignored the months with the worst pollution.
a week later, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the air quality index – a measure of air pollution – is similar to temperature readings and can be tackled by sprinkling water. Later at a public event the crowd jeered him, shouting “AQI” in reference to the city’s poor air quality readings.
Gupta also greenlighted a controversial cloud seeding program earlier this year, saying it could produce rain that would reduce pollution – despite a lack of evidence that the approach would work.
Residents of New Delhi and surrounding areas, which have been engulfed by toxic smog over the past few months, said these are the latest examples of authorities denying the seriousness of air quality problems.
“Instead of cloud seeding, I hope the government wakes up and takes some real action,” said Anita, a 73-year-old New Delhi resident who goes by only one name. “Shame.”
Environmentalists and data experts said India’s air quality measurement standards are lax compared to countries like the United States, so moderate readings often mask dangerous pollution levels. India’s government air quality standards are even less stringent than World Health Organization guidelines.
experts said these differences could erode public trust, even if few residents fully understand how harmful polluted air is.
Gap in India’s air quality data
India’s air quality is measured through a nationwide network of monitors and sensors, as well as satellite data.
The monitors collect robust data, but there are very few of them, said Ronak Sutaria, CEO of Respiror Living, a company that makes machines and software to monitor air quality. He said the system fails to tell citizens how polluted the air actually is in their neighborhoods.
In 2019, India launched the National Clean Air Programme, which aims to reduce pollution by 40% in 131 cities by 2026.
The program has had relative success, providing millions of dollars for monitors and water-sprinkling machines to reduce dust generated by vehicles driving on roads, construction activities, and winds blowing desert sand into cities.
However, air pollution experts said the program did nothing to reduce pollution from carbon-spewing industries or vehicle emissions, which are among the biggest sources of dirty air. Other sources include burning of crop residues in the fields, use of wood and cow dung as cooking fuel, and burning of garbage.
A 2024 report by the Center for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based think tank, found that 64% of funds under the program were spent on reducing dust and only 12% on reducing pollution from vehicles and less than 1% on reducing industrial air pollution.
“We are investing heavily in air quality monitoring. And so as we expand, it is also important that we focus on quality,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of the think tank.
a public health emergency
A study in the medical journal Lancet last year found 1.5 million extra deaths from chronic exposure to polluted air each year in India, compared with the situation if the country had met WHO standards.
Yet earlier this month, India’s junior health minister, Prataprao Jadhav, said there was no conclusive data available to directly link deaths or illness in the country specifically to air pollution.
Shweta Narayan, campaign leader at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said air pollution is still not taken seriously as a public health issue.
“Deaths caused by air pollution are not being counted. And the reason it’s not being counted is because there is no systematic mechanism to do so,” Narayan said.
Narayan said exposure to pollution causes long-term health problems for everyone exposed, but it is especially bad for pregnant women, the elderly and children.
“As a result of exposure to air pollution, we see a lot of cases of premature birth, miscarriage, low birth weight. Exposure to pollution at this level has life-long consequences,” he said.
lack of political will
Earlier this month, New Delhi residents took to the streets to protest against dirty air and demand immediate government action in a relatively rare example of public demonstrations.
Environmentalist Vimalendu Jha said in an interview, “We don’t know whether…citizens will be able to link air pollution to elections or not, but perhaps India is moving in that direction.” “Citizens are fed up.”
Jha said officials are not honest about the problem and there is a lack of political will to solve the problem.
“It’s more about headline and image management than pollution management,” he said, adding that high levels of pollution have been normalized by political leaders.
“The first thing the government needs to do is be honest about our problem,” he said. “Correct diagnosis is extremely important.”
Whether policymakers take action or not, the consequences of dirty air are clear for residents of India’s capital.
“Everyone feels the pollution. People are not able to work or even breathe,” said Satish Sharma, a 60-year-old auto rickshaw driver.
Sharma said he has reduced his working hours as his health has deteriorated over the past few weeks due to pollution.
“I want to ask the government to please do something about this pollution,” he said. “Otherwise people will leave from here.”
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Follow Sibi Arasu on Instagram @sibi123.
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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India. AP journalists Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi and Anirudh Ghoshal in Hanoi, Vietnam contributed to this report.
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