Lok Sabha Question No. 2094 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-10
Subject: Impact of Smog and Air Pollution on Health
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Sushil Kumar Singh, Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, M. Selvaraj, Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Pritam Gopinath Munde

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2094 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10th DECEMBER, 2021

## IMPACT OF SMOG AND AIR POLLUTION ON HEALTH

2094 :

SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH:

SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT:

SHRI M. SELVARAJ:

SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE:

SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has commissioned a study to ascertain the impact of smog and air pollution on the residents in northern India, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  details  of  effects  of  air  pollution/smog/particulate  matter  on  the  health  of humans including premature death due to air pollution;
- (c) the number of deaths that have occurred due to air pollution in various cities of the country, State/UT/city-wise including Tamil Nadu during the last three years;
- (d) the  long  term  strategies  chalked  out  and  the  corrective  steps  taken  by  the Government in order to ensure respiratory wellness of residents of affected areas; and
- (e) whether the Government is aware that dangerous levels of outdoor fine particulate air pollution continue to contribute to many deaths and poor health of people in the country; and
- (f) if  so,  the  details thereof and the long-term steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government thereto?

ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

## (a to f)

ICMR has conducted a multisite study to document acute effect of increase in air pollution on respiratory morbidity. Analysis suggests that increase in pollution levels was associated with increase in number of patients attending emergency rooms. Effect was more pronounced in children.

ICMR in collaboration with Public Health foundation of India (PHFI) & Institute of Health Matrix and Evaluation (IHME) had also conducted a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in 2018. As per this study, estimated deaths are 1.24 million.

Union  Ministry  of  Health  &  Family  Welfare  through  its  nodal  agency  NCDC  (National Centre  for  Disease  Control)  has  taken  various  measures  to  curb  the  air  pollution  under NPCCHH.

MoEF&CC  is  the  nodal  ministry  for  pollution  control.  As  per  information  provided  by MoEF&CC, some of the few steps taken by Government of India for air quality management are mention below: -

## Vehicular Emission

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April, 2020.
-  Development of Expressway and Highways are also reducing the fuel consumption and pollution.
-  Eastern Peripheral Expressway & Western Peripheral Expressway have been operationalised to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
-  Ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in Delhi NCR.
-  Environment protection charges (EPC) have been imposed on diesel vehicles with engine capacity of 2000cc and above in Delhi NCR.
-  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 Emission

-  Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
-  Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil in NCR with restricted use of pet coke in cement plants, lime kilns and calcium carbide manufacturing units.
-  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

## Air Pollution due to dust and burning of waste

-  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/Parali 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.

## Monitoring implementation of NCAP

-  Government  has  launched  National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP)  as  a  national  level strategy to reduce air pollution levels across the country. City Specific Clean Air Action Plans  have  been  prepared  and  rolled  out  for  implementation  in132  non-attainment  and million plus cities.
-  PRANA a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.