In coal, old vehicles, firecrackers, story of China victory over India

In terms of deaths per lakh population, India is now choking at a rate faster than China’s. At the turn of the millennium, they levelled at 87-88 deaths per lakh. In 2015, the number is 91 for India, 85 for China.

TWO OF the world’s fastest growing economies, China and India, are also rivals for the world’s highest air pollution health burden. In 2015, India recorded a higher casualty rate due to outdoor air pollution than China — a first since 2000.

In fact, for the first time since 1990, India also lost more people to outdoor air pollution than China. But the 18,000 margin — 11.98 lakh to 11.80 lakh — may not tell the full story. One needs to look at death rates to get the real measure of the risk in the two countries.

In terms of deaths per lakh population, India is now choking faster than China. At the turn of the millennium, when outdoor air pollution killed nearly 2 lakh more in China, the countries levelled out at 87-88 deaths per lakh. After 15 years, India records 91 deaths per lakh against China’s 85.

The picture becomes more grim if one takes into account deaths resulting from indoor air pollution caused by the burning of solid fuel for cooking. In 1990, indoor air pollution killed 9.13 lakh and 10.42 lakh in India and China respectively. After 25 years, these numbers stand at 9.77 lakh and 5.90 lakh respectively. In terms of death per lakh, China has cut 47 deaths (90 to 43) while India has managed only 30 (105 to 75) since 1990.

The numbers, part of the biennial Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data, have recently been used in the State of Global Air report, 2017, prepared by the Boston-based nonprofit Health Effects Institute, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

While the aggressive promotion of subsidised LPG and more affordable CNG for cooking has led to a moderate reduction in household air pollution, India’s appetite for more cars, power plants and industries have made outdoor air pollution worse. Unsurprisingly, the GBD 2015 report ranked outdoor air pollution as the third leading health risk factor in India.

Outdoor air pollution is caused by ambient particulate matter (PM) that includes coarse and fine dust. Nitrogen and sulphur oxides (NOX and SOX), which transform into secondary particles, account for up to 34% of PM pollution in India. Ground-level ozone, another secondary pollutant, is produced by the reaction of two primary pollutants, NOX and volatile organic compounds (VOCS), in sunlight and still air.

The Union Health Ministry’s Steering Committee on Air Pollution and Health Related Issues underlined in an August 2015 report the “strong correlation” between high levels of pollutants and coal-fired power plants. “With substantial growth in coalbased power predicted even in the most conservative of scenarios, and lax standards to address stack emissions, this is a problem that is only going to worsen with time,” it said.

The Committee recommended “quicker uptakeofcleantechnologies...tightparticulate standardsforpowerplantsand...standardsfor nitrogenoxides,sulphurdioxidesandmercury toreduceexposuretopowerplantemissions.”

In 2016, an Iit-kanpur study attributed “nearly 80% of sulfates and 50% nitrates to