India's air pollution crisis result of policy chaos: Jairam Ramesh

Accusing the Modi government of "poor policy-making" in dealing with air pollution, the Congress on Sunday, 21 July demanded that the forthcoming Union Budget must provide a path forward to resourcing and equipping India's local bodies, state governments, and the Centre in tackling this "grave public health crisis".

Congress MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said earlier this month, a study revealed that 7.2 per cent of all deaths in India are associated with air pollution — about 34,000 deaths each year in just 10 cities.

A new study by the Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi has evaluated the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) and brought to light the policy chaos that has resulted in this public health crisis, he said in a statement.

"The current budget of the NCAP, including the 15th Finance Commission's grants, is about Rs 10,500 crore — spread across 131 cities! The programme is therefore desperately underfunded — and yet, and of this meagre amount, only 64% of the funds were used," Ramesh said.

He alleged that "poor policy-making" has misdirected the available resources. NCAP's performance assessment — and therefore interventions — are heavily focused on PM 10 (particulate matter with a diametre of 10 micrometres or less) rather than on PM 2.5 (diametre of 2.5 micrometres or less), which is far more hazardous, he said.

Ramesh pointed out that 64 per cent of the funds utilised were spent on road dust mitigation much more than on controlling combustion-linked emissions from industries (0.61 per cent of funds), vehicles (12.63 per cent of funds), and biomass burning (14-51 per cent of funds), he said, adding these emissions are far more dangerous for human health.

Out of 131 cities under NCAP, most do not even have data to track their air pollution, he said. Of the 46 cities which do have data, only eight have met the NCAP's low target, while 22 cities actually saw air pollution worsen, he claimed.

"There are clear steps the government must take moving forward: The Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act came into being in 1981, and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) was put into effect in November 2009. However, in the last decade, the public health consequences of air pollution — in both morbidity and mortality — have become all too evident," he said.

It is now time for a revisit and a total revamp of both the Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act and the NAAQS, Ramesh said.

"Our cities need at least 10-20 times more funding — NCAP must be made a Rs 25,000 crore programme NCAP must adopt measurement of PM 2.5 levels as the yardstick for performance NCAP must reorient its focus to key sources of emissions - burning of solid fuels, vehicular emissions, and industrial emissions," he said.

NCAP must adopt a regional/airshed approach for air quality control - municipal and state authorities must have the governance architecture and resources required to collaborate across jurisdictions, Ramesh said.

"The NCAP must be given legal backing, an enforcement mechanism, and serious data monitoring capacity for every Indian city, beyond the current focus only on 'non- attainment' cities, he argued.

"Air pollution norms for coal power plants must be enforced immediately. All power plants must install a fluoride gas desulfurizer (FGD) by the end of 2024," he said.

Ramesh demanded that the National Green Tribunal's independence must be restored, and the "anti-people environmental law amendments" made in the last 10 years must be rolled back.

"The forthcoming Union Budget must provide a path forward to resourcing and equipping India's local bodies, state governments, and Union government in tackling this grave public health crisis," he said.

Tagging his statement, Ramesh said on X, "India's air pollution crisis is a result of policy failure."