Inaccurate Data Obscures the Severity of India’s Air Quality Crisis

NEW DELHI – The recent statements from two Indian officials have intensified the frustration of citizens who feel that the gravity of India’s air pollution crisis is not being fully recognized by those in power.

Earlier this month, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav informed Parliament that New Delhi had experienced 200 days of favorable air quality. However, this claim was met with criticism from pollution experts and opposition figures, who argue that his statement conveniently ignored the city’s most polluted periods.

Following this, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta compared the air quality index (AQI) to a temperature reading, suggesting it could be managed simply by spraying water. Her remarks were met with public disapproval, as crowds at a subsequent event shouted “AQI” in protest of the city’s alarming pollution levels.

Earlier in the year, Gupta approved a contentious cloud seeding initiative, asserting it could trigger rainfall that might mitigate pollution, despite the lack of scientific support for the method’s effectiveness.

Residents of New Delhi and nearby areas, who have been enveloped in hazardous smog for months, view these incidents as further evidence of officials downplaying the seriousness of the air quality situation.

Anita, a 73-year-old resident of New Delhi who uses only one name, expressed her disappointment, saying, “Instead of resorting to cloud seeding, I hope the government will realize the urgency and take meaningful steps. It’s truly disheartening.”

Environmentalists and data experts said India’s air quality measurement standards are looser than in countries such as the United States, so moderate readings often mask dangerous pollution levels. India’s government air quality standards are also less stringent than World Health Organization guidelines.

Experts said these gaps can erode public trust, even as few residents fully grasp how harmful polluted air is.

Gaps in India’s air quality data

India’s air quality is measured through a nationwide network of monitors and sensors, as well as satellite data.

The monitors collect robust data, but there are too few of them, said Ronak Sutaria, CEO of Respirer Living, which builds machines and software for air quality monitoring. He said that the system falls short of letting citizens know how polluted the air in their neighborhoods really is.

In 2019, India launched the National Clean Air Program, which set targets aiming to reduce pollution by up to 40% in 131 cities by 2026.

The program has seen relative success, providing millions of dollars for monitors and water-spraying machines to reduce dust generated from vehicles plying the roads, construction activity and winds that blow desert sand into the cities.

However, air pollution experts said the program has done little to reduce pollution from carbon-spewing industries or vehicle emissions, which are among the biggest sources of dirty air. Other sources include the burning of crop stubble on farms, use of wood and cow dung as cooking fuel and burning of garbage.

A 2024 report by the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based think tank, found that 64% of funds under the program went toward reducing dust and only 12% to reducing pollution from vehicles and less than 1% to bringing down industrial air pollution.

“We are making huge investments in air quality monitoring. And so when we are expanding, then it also becomes an imperative that we should be focusing on the quality,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at the think tank.

A public health emergency

A study last year by the medical journal Lancet linked long-term exposure to polluted air to 1.5 million additional deaths every year in India, compared to a scenario where the country would have met WHO standards.

Yet earlier this month, Prataprao Jadhav, India’s junior health minister, said there is no conclusive data available in the country to establish a direct correlation of death or disease exclusively to air pollution.

Shweta Narayan, a campaign lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said that air pollution is still not taken seriously as a public health issue.

“Deaths related to air pollution are not being counted. And the reason why it’s not being counted is because there are no systematic mechanisms to do so,” Narayan said.

Narayan said pollution causes long-term health problems for everyone exposed, but that it’s especially bad for pregnant women, the elderly and children.

“As a consequence of exposure to air pollution, we see a lot of preterm births, miscarriages, low birth weight. Exposure at this stage has a lifelong consequence,” she said.

A lack of political will

Earlier this month, New Delhi residents took to the streets to protest against dirty air and demand immediate government action in a relatively rare instance of public demonstrations.

“We do not know whether … citizens will be able to link air pollution to elections, but perhaps that’s where India is moving toward,” environmentalist Vimlendu Jha said in an interview. “Citizens are fed up.”

Jha said authorities are not being honest about the problem and that there is a lack of political will to address the issue.

“There’s more headline and image management than pollution management,” he said, adding that the high levels of pollution have been treated as normal by political leaders.

“The first thing that the government needs to do is to be honest about the problem that we have,” he said. “The right diagnosis is extremely critical.”

Regardless of whether policymakers act, the consequences of dirty air for the residents of India’s capital are evident.

“Everyone feels the pollution. People are not able to work or even breathe,” said Satish Sharma, a 60-year-old auto rickshaw driver.

Sharma said he has reduced his work hours as his health has deteriorated in the last few weeks because of the pollution.

“I want to tell the government to please do something about this pollution,” he said. “Otherwise, people will move away from here.”

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Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123.

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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India. AP journalists Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi and Aniruddha Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.

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