Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said the air pollution crisis is no longer just a respiratory issue but a full-blown assault on our brains and bodies.
“Our current PM2.5 standard is eight times higher than the WHO’s annual exposure guideline and four times higher for 24-hour exposure,” he said.
“Despite the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) launched in 2017, PM2.5 levels continue to rise, and every single Indian now lives in areas exceeding WHO limits,” the Congress general secretary in-charge communications wrote on X.
Ramesh also said air pollution has become a “public health catastrophe and a national security threat” that endangers India’s society, healthcare system, and future workforce.
Citing the State of Global Air 2025 report, Jairam Ramesh noted that nearly 2 million deaths in India in 2023 were linked to air pollution, a 43 per cent rise since 2000.
He said nearly 90 per cent of these deaths were caused by non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes, and even dementia.
India records 186 air-pollution-related deaths per 100,000 people, more than ten times the rate in high-income nations, he said.
Ramesh also warned that prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is now linked to brain damage and cognitive decline, with nearly 626,000 dementia deaths globally in 2023 tied to air pollution.
On Sunday, Delhi's air quality slipped into the "very poor" category as the mercury dropped to 15.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest recorded in October in the last two years.
The city registered an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 324, which falls in the "very poor" category, compared to 292 a day earlier. The AQI had been "poor" the past two days.
Delhi's Anand Vihar recorded "severe" AQI with a reading of 429, followed by Wazirpur with 400. As many as 28 monitoring stations across the city reported "very poor" air quality with readings above 300, according to data from the Sameer app of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
As per the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 to 100 "satisfactory", 101 to 200 "moderate", 201 to 300 "poor", 301 to 400 "very poor", and 401 to 500 "severe".
The Delhi Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday held the BJP-led government responsible for severe air pollution in the capital city.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that people in the national capital don't "need sermons" on festivals but accountability.
In a post on X, Singhvi said, "The air is grey, the lungs are black, and the BJP's accountability is invisible. Delhi doesn't need sermons on festivals; it needs a government that can breathe responsibility."
The AAP also accused the BJP Government of shutting down Delhi’s pollution monitors and manipulating data on Diwali night to hide the real Air Quality Index (AQI) levels.
AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj pointed out how the Government showed AQI readings of 350 when actual levels went beyond 1,700, misleading citizens into believing the air was safe.
Calling it “data theft at a government level”, the former Delhi minister asserted the BJP had not only endangered lives but also committed a criminal offence to falsely claim credit for cleaner air.
He further slammed the BJP for blaming Punjab’s Sikh farmers for Delhi’s pollution despite data showing over 90 per cent reduction in stubble burning and its contribution to city pollution being less than 1 per cent.