Lok Sabha Question No. 2836 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-21
Subject: Death caused by Air Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2836

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.03.2022

## Death caused by Air Pollution

## 2836.   DR. T. SUMATHY (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  premature  deaths  in  India  caused  by  air pollution and if so, the details thereof, State/year-wise;
- (b) the  details  of  the  percentage  of  population  in  urban  areas  exposed  to  emissions  that exceed the standards set by World Health Organization, State/year wise;
- (c) the details of the projects implemented to achieve the target of 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduction  in  Particulate  Matter  concentrations  by  2024  under  the  National  Clean  Air Programme (NCAP), State/year-wise;
- (d) whether  the  city  specific  action  plans  under  NCAP  also  includes  stakeholders  from affected communities like fishermen, workers involved in marine related activities and environmentalists and if so, the details thereof, State/year-wise; and
- (e) the  number  of  Smart  Cities  that  have  established  Integrated  Command  and  Control Centres  (ICCCs)  connected  to  Air  Quality  Monitors  (AQMs)  for  effective  Monitoring thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) & (b)  Air pollution is one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments and associated diseases. There is no conclusive data available in the country to establish direct correlation of death/ disease exclusively due to air pollution. Health effects of air pollution are synergistic manifestation  of  factors,  which  include  food  habits,  occupational  habits,  socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc., of the individuals.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare along with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has conducted the study titled ' India: Health of the Nation's States The  India  State-Level  Disease  Burden  Initiative' which  was  published  in  2017.  The  study report  provided  the  distribution  in  diseases  and  risk  factors  across  all  states  of  the  country from 1990 to 2016. The five leading risk factors identified for Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in 2016 include child and maternal malnutrition, air pollution, dietary risks, high systolic blood pressure, and high fasting plasma glucose.

Government  of  India  has  notified  National  Ambient  Air  Quality  Standards  vide notification  No.B-29016/20/90/PCI-I  dated  18 th November  2009.    As  per  Continuous

Ambient  Air  Quality  Monitoring  Stations  (CAAQMS)  data,  out  of  132  targeted  cities, ambient air quality data in 96 cities showed a decreasing trend of PM10 (Particulate Matter) whereas 36 cities showed an increasing trend of PM10 concentration in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20. 18 cities were found to be within the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standard PM10 less than 60µg/m3) in 2019-20 which has increased to 27 in year 2020-21.

(c )  to (e ) The Government has launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 as a  national-level strategy  to  reduce  air  pollution  levels  across  the  country.  Several  steps  are undertaken in the NCAP which inter alia includes the following:

-  City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been prepared and rolled out for implementation in 132 non-attainment and million-plus cities. These action plans focus on  city-specific  short/  medium/  long  term  actions  to  control  air  pollution  from  sources such as vehicular emission, road dust, burning of biomass/ crop/ garbage/ municipal solid waste, landfills, construction activities, industrial emission, etc.
-  Under NCAP, Centre level Steering Committee, Monitoring Committee and Implementation Committee have been constituted and periodic review of the implementation  progress  is  conducted.  Also,  a  State  Level  Steering  Committee  and Monitoring Committee chaired by Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Environment Department  are  constituted.  City/  District  level  Implementation  Committee  chaired  by Municipal  Commissioner/  District  Magistrate  is  constituted,  which  periodically  review the status of progress of implementation of actions under NCAP. These committees have participation of stakeholders.
-  Rs. 418.60 crore have been sanctioned to non-attainment cities under NCAP for initiating actions  such  as  expansion  of  monitoring  network,  construction  and  demolition  waste management facilities, non-motorised transport infrastructure, green buffers, mechanical street sweepers, composting units etc.
-  15th Finance Commission (XV-FC) has identified 42 Urban Agglomerations (UA) with million plus population for performance based grants based on improvement in air quality for period FY 2020-21 to 2025-26 under Million-Plus Cities Challenge Fund (MPCCF). Funds to the tune of Rs. 12,139 crore have been allocated for the said purpose. For 202122,  funds  to  the  tune  of  Rs.  2217  crore  have  been  allocated.  Rs.  4400  crore  were disbursed during 2020-21 to these cities.
-  PRANA, a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.

The Government has taken several steps for mitigation of air pollution which include the  introduction  of  BS-VI  norms  for  fuel  and  vehicles  since  April  2020;  promotion  of  Evehicles; expansion of network of Metro rails for public transport; promotion of cleaner fuels such as PNG; stringent emission norms for industries including coal-based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs); zig-zag technology for brick kilns; Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management; real-time monitoring of major polluting industries, etc. Details of measures taken by the Government for air quality management are at Annexure I.

Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) have been operationalized by  76 Smart cities.

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Annexure - I referred in reply to part (c) to ( e)  of  the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.  2836   due for answer on 21.03.2022 regarding 'Death caused by Air pollution'

## Measures taken by the Government for Air Quality Management Vehicular Pollution Control

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April, 2020.
-  Network of Metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
-  Development of Expressway and Highways are also reducing the fuel consumption and pollution.
-  Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
-  Faster  Adoption  and  Manufacturing  of  Electric  Vehicles  (FAME)  -2  scheme  has  been rolled out.
-  Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
-  Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges to ease congestion on roads.

## Industrial Pollution Control

-  Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
-  Pet coke and furnace oil have been banned as fuel in Delhi and NCR States.
-  Shifting of industrial units to PNG.
-  Installation of online continuous  emission  monitoring  devices  in  highly  polluting industries.
-  Shifting of Brick kilns to zig-zag technology for reduction of pollution

## Waste Management

-  Notifications of 6 waste management rules covering solid waste, plastic waste, e-waste, bio-medical waste, C&D waste and hazardous waste.
-  Setting up infrastructure such as waste processing plants.
-  Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management.
-  Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.

## Crop Residue Management

-  Under Central  Sector  Scheme  on  'Promotion  of  Agricultural  Mechanization  for  in-situ management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi',  agricultural  machines  and  equipment  for  in-situ  crop  residue  management  are promoted with 50% subsidy to the individual farmers and 80% subsidy for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres.
-  Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) has been launched as an initiative to set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production plants and make CBG available in the market for use in automotive fuels.

## Monitoring of Ambient Air Quality

-  Expansion of air quality monitoring network of manual as well as continuous monitoring stations under programmes such as National Air Monitoring Programme (NAMP).
-  Initiation  of  pilot  projects  to  assess  alternate  ambient  monitoring  technologies  such  as low-cost sensors and satellite-based monitoring.
-  Implementation of Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.