The recent satellite-based assessment by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air debunks several myths about India’s air pollution crisis. First, the scale of exposure to this malaise far exceeds what many assume. According to the report, about 60% of India’s 749 districts — roughly 447 districts — breach the national annual PM2.5 standard of 40 micrograms per cubic metre that has been prescribed by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Second, not a single district meets the far stricter guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, which recommends
5 µg/m, which is about 8 times more stringent than India’s standards. Third, air pollution, the data suggest, is not a seasonal phenomenon: it is an annual threat. Delhi, Tripura, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Chandigarh maintained 100% district-level exceedance in all seasons except for monsoon. The top 50 most polluted districts are mostly concentrated in four northern and eastern states (Delhi, Assam, Haryana, and Bihar). Interestingly, state-level PM2.5 averages can conceal local hotspots. For example, Maharashtra’s annual population-weighted PM2.5 average was below the NAAQS, but 14 districts exceeded the NAAQS. These are not
sporadic or seasonal spikes but chronic exposures, covering entire states and regions, with many of the troubled spots being non-metropolitan centres. This strongly undermines a fourth myth pervasive in popular discourse and policymaking: that air pollution is just a northern, urbane, winter problem.

The perennial nature of poor air in the country has grave consequences for public health. Long-term exposure to PM2.5 is associated with a range of serious diseases, including stroke, lung and heart ailments. According to a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health, long-term exposure to air pollution heightened mortality by 1.5 million deaths per year in India. Despite such alarming findings, public attention and policy urgency remain disproportionately focused on metropolitan India, chiefly New Delhi. Consequently, media coverage, public advisories and regulatory crackdowns often surge with the surge in Delhi’s AQI numbers. What is needed though, as has been made evident by the data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, is year-round vigilance that is representative of cities and districts. Along with cities, Indian districts should have robust air-quality monitoring, local emission-control plans, cleaner public transport, stricter regulation of industrial and agricultural emissions, dust and waste management, and promotion of cleaner energy sources. Decentralised, localised action is an imperative when it comes to tackling the scourge of pollution.