Polluted air is our primary public health challenge
India’s battle against pollution needs much more than kneejerk reactions such as the ‘oddeven’ vehicle plan
Arecent study released by The Lancet’s Commission on Pollution and Health throws up some alarming figures for India. According to the study , pollution resulted in 2.5 million deaths in India in 2015 — the highest in the world. It underlines the need to address this mounting public health challenge.
Experts at the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Health at IIHMR Delhi emphasise that with the rising pollution-related death toll, India can no longer afford to lose time in tackling the problem. There is an urgent need to identify the main sources of air pollution through specialised research, and address the problem through innovative and targeted approaches.
While solutions such as shutting down power plants, introducing traffic restrictions like the ‘odd-even’ scheme and the cracker ban on Diwali appear well intentioned, India’s battle against pollution needs much more than such temporary, knee-jerk reactions.
There is no denying that air pollution is a major cause of preventable diseases and deaths in India. Gauging its precise impact on health needs intensive research, on how air pollution affects not just the lungs, but differ- ent organs of the body. The sources of air pollution are varied: industry and brick kilns, transport vehicles, diesel generators, domestic fuel, road dust, crop burning among others. The government has installed air-quality monitors that offer indicators on both particulate matter constituents like PM10, PM2.5 and lead as well as gaseous components such as ozone, ammonia, NO2, SO2 and CO. These determine the National Air Quality Index, a system of air quality assessment that enables comparison across sites and time possible.
The 2.5 micron size and smaller particles can permeate the lining of the lungs and lead not only to asthma but also increase problems of heart attacks, dementia, diabetes and possibly even depression. Air pollution also makes children prone to obesity and cognition deficits. It can adversely affect pregnant women too, resulting in low birth weight and premature births which are already high and a leading cause of high infant mortality in India.
As the urgency for putting in place effective solutions gathers momentum, it is critical to prioritise options in the local context, particularly since resources are always limited.
Delhi’s Graded Response Action Plan is a step in the right direction but needs to be finetuned. Crop burning needs to be replaced with measures which are affordable and can benefit small farmers too. Pollution from industry and brick kilns both within the NCR and outside need to be tackled.