Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has criticised the government's handling of India's escalating air pollution crisis, highlighting alarming statistics and calling for urgent policy reforms.
Ramesh’s remarks come in response to the 2024 World Air Quality Report by Swiss air technology company IQAir, which ranks India as the fifth most polluted country globally. The report reveals that 74 of the world's 100 most polluted cities are in India, with New Delhi as the second-most polluted city worldwide, following Byrnihat in Meghalaya.
"Among the lesser-known tragedies of the non-biological PM's reign is the rapidly deteriorating air quality nationally and the inattentiveness and policy chaos that has characterised the Government's response to it," the Congress leader said.
The AIIC general secretary quoted a Lancet study published in June, 2024, pointing out that air pollution is responsible for 7.2% of all deaths in India, with approximately 34,000 deaths annually across ten cities.
According to Ramesh, a study by the Centre for Science and Environment in July 2024 revealed that the government's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been ineffective. In the last five years, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) left over 75 per cent of the Environment Protection Charge (EPC) and Environmental Compensation (EC) funds (Rs 665.75 crore) unutilised.
The Congress leader also criticised NCAP's focus on controlling road dust while failing to address the primary sources of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution—industrial, vehicular, and biomass emissions—which he said are the leading causes of pollution-related deaths.
"This Government's Modus Operandi is to deny that there is a real air pollution-linked mortality problem, underfund programs targeted at mitigating pollution, fail to utilize the resources that it allocates, and misuse the funds that do get spent," the AICC general secretary said.
Ramesh recommended some steps that the government must take moving forward to combat air pollution.
- Recognise air pollution as a public health emergency and overhaul outdated environmental laws
- Increase the NCAP budget from Rs 10,500 crores to Rs 25,000 crores for better pollution control measures
- Shift focus to major emission sources, including vehicular pollution, industrial emissions, and burning of solid fuels
- Adopt a regional or “airshed” approach to air quality management, promoting collaboration across states and municipalities
- Provide NCAP with legal enforcement powers and extend monitoring beyond “non-attainment” cities to cover all of India
- Strictly regulate coal power plants, ensuring the installation of Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) units by 2025
- Strengthen environmental institutions such as the National Green Tribunal and roll back environmental law amendments that weakened protections