Why India Struggles to Clear Its Air

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 3 – environment-pollution

Introduction

Air pollution in India is a chronic public health and development crisis, not just a winter problem in Delhi. Harmful levels of pollutants such as PM₂.₅, PM₁₀ and toxic gases damage human health, reduce productivity and impose large economic losses. Despite advances in monitoring, clean-energy transitions and multiple government initiatives, persistent exposure and recurring smog episodes reveal deep gaps in governance, implementation and long-term planning.

What is Air Pollution and How is it Measured in India?

Air Pollution: Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulates or biological materials into the atmosphere that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans.

Measurement of Air Pollution In India:

In India, air pollution is measured according to the National Air Quality Index developed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2014.

The measurement of air quality in the NAQI framework is based on eight pollutants, namely- Particulate Matter (PM10), Particulate Matter (PM2.5), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Ozone (O3), Ammonia (NH3) and Lead (Pb).

Facts Related to India’s Air Pollution

• In 2023, air pollution was linked to more than 2 million deaths in India, with about 89% of these deaths caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
• Lost output from premature deaths and morbidity attributable to air pollution accounted for economic losses of US$28.8 billion and $8 billion respectively, in India in 2019. This total loss of $36.8 billion was 1.36% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP).
• The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that air pollution costs Indian businesses $95 billion, or 3 per cent of India’s GDP every year
• Poor air amounts to about Rs 7 lakh crore of annual economic loss, which is more than a third of our annual GST collection

India’s Initiatives to Tackle Air Pollution

1. National Clean Air Programme (NCAP): The Government of India has launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a five-year, mid-term national action plan (starting 2019) that targets to systematically improve air quality through city-level action plans and multi-sector coordination.
2. PRANA portal for NCAP monitoring: To monitor implementation, the government has created the PRANA portal, which tracks both physical and financial progress of city air-action plans and disseminates information on air quality management measures under NCAP.
3. Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan (city ranking under NCAP): Under NCAP, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan to rank cities based on their clean air efforts and outcomes, thereby encouraging competition and better implementation.
4. 4. SAFAR : The Ministry of Earth Sciences runs SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research) to provide location-specific, near real-time air quality data and short-term forecasts for major metropolitan cities, covering pollutants such as PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, O₃, CO, NOx, SO₂ and volatile organics.
5. 5. Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM): Through the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, the government created a statutory commission with powers to plan, coordinate, research and enforce measures on air quality across Delhi-NCR and neighbouring states.
6. 6. Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for Delhi-NCR: The Commission implements the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which is a set of staged emergency measures (Stage I–IV) that restrict activities like construction, DG-set use, and certain vehicles whenever AQI crosses specific thresholds to prevent further deterioration.
7. 7. Bharat Stage (BS) VI emission norms: The Government of India notified migration to Bharat Stage VI emission norms from 1 April 2020 for 2-, 3- and 4-wheeled vehicles, significantly tightening limits on pollutants and requiring advanced emission-control technologies.
8. 8. FAME India Scheme – Phase II (electric mobility): To reduce vehicular emissions, the government is implementing FAME India Phase II with an outlay of ₹10,000 crore, focusing on electrification of public and shared transport by supporting e-buses, e-3 wheelers, e-4 wheeler passenger cars and e-2 wheelers, along with charging infrastructure.
9. 9. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY): The central government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in 2016 to provide deposit-free LPG connections to women in poor households, with the explicit objective of shifting families away from biomass fuels and thereby reducing indoor household air pollution and related health hazards.
10. 10. Stricter standards for thermal power plants: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the environment ministry have notified stricter emission norms for thermal power plants, including tighter limits for particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and NOx, and mandated technologies such as flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) for many coal-based plants (though implementation and later relaxations remain contested).
11. Pusa Decomposer and bio-decomposer programme: To tackle crop-residue burning, the government has promoted the Pusa Decomposer, a bio-decomposer developed by ICAR that has been used in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi on over 3.9 lakh hectares to manage about 2.4 million tonnes of straw by converting it into manure instead of burning it.
12. Clean air awareness and “Green Good Deeds”: The MoEFCC also promotes public awareness activities and “Green Good Deeds” campaigns (such as promoting cleaner fuels, reduced open burning, and better waste management) as part of its broader Clean Air initiatives.
13. Adoption of WLTP: India plans to shift to the World Light Duty Vehicle Testing Procedure (WLTP) by 2027, which provides a more accurate measure of fuel consumption and emissions.

Limitations to India’s Pollution Response

1. Fragmented air governance: India’s air-quality system is split across many ministries, boards, commissions, and municipal bodies. Each controls only a slice, so no one can drive an integrated clean-air agenda.
2. Diffused accountability: Because responsibility is scattered, no single institution is answerable for air-quality outcomes. This weakens enforcement, encourages blame-shifting, and makes coordination in regions like the NCR very difficult.
3. Capacity and resource gaps: Budgets, staff strength, and technical skills vary widely across States and cities. Shared constitutional powers and constant judicial pressure push officials towards quick action instead of steady, long-term planning.
4. Seasonal and crisis mindset: Pollution is treated as a winter emergency, not a year-round health threat. This leads to reactive behaviour and delay in structural reforms on fuel, transport, waste, and industry.
5. Bias for visible quick fixes: Governments favour measures such as smog towers, water sprinkling, odd-even rules, and festival bans. These create media visibility but have limited, short-lived impact on public exposure.
6. Politics over science: Short-term interventions suit political incentives more than scientific evidence. They avoid confronting powerful lobbies in construction, transport, and agriculture, while claiming that “something is being done”.
7. Intellectual trap: Elite experts design technically sound policies that ignore municipal realities, informal economies, and weak records. Many strategies remain pilot projects or fail when scaled.
8. Western trap: Imported “best practices” assume strong enforcement, high trust, and low informality. In India’s dense, negotiated urban spaces, such models often cannot work without serious adaptation.
9. Ambition–capacity mismatch: Policies assume higher staffing, coordination, and compliance than actually exists. Scientific tools and models stay disconnected from day-to-day administration, so implementation remains patchy and inconsistent. This keeps air quality gains small and fragile.

Way Forward

1. Integrated, ongoing management: Air quality must be managed continuously and built into routine governance, not treated as a winter crisis.
2. Airshed-based coordination: States and cities in the same airshed must plan together; much PM2.5 comes from outside city limits, so only joint action works.
3. Stronger institutions and clear roles: India needs clear leadership, mandates at Union–State–city levels, and agencies that can plan beyond election cycles.
4. Adequate finance and capacity building: Stable multi-year funding and capacity building are needed to hire staff, run monitoring networks, and enforce rules.
5. Align clean air and climate action: Clean-air pathways should build on energy transitions such as solar expansion, cutting both air pollutants and CO₂.
6. Science, data, and transparency: Decisions must rely on science, open data, and visible enforcement so citizens and courts can demand compliance.
7. Behavioural change and stakeholder engagement: Businesses and citizens should shift to cleaner practices; policy must support this through incentives, regulation, and awareness.
8. Leverage partnerships and expertise: India should actively collaborate with domestic and global institutions (such as development banks, research bodies and technical agencies) to design airshed plans, access specialised expertise, pilot innovative approaches and then scale successful clean-air strategies across regions.

Conclusion

Air pollution in India is not a seasonal inconvenience but a permanent public health and development crisis. India has strong laws, programmes, and emerging clean-energy transitions, yet fragmented governance and quick fixes limit impact. Only sustained, well-funded, airshed-based, and India-specific implementation, supported by science and public participation, can make Indian air genuinely breathable.

Question for practice:

Examine how structural governance challenges and reliance on short-term interventions hinder India’s ability to effectively tackle air pollution.

Source: The Hindu