Lok Sabha Question No. 4034 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: IITM Report on Air Pollution
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: M. I. SHANAVAS

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4034 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2016

## IITM REPORT ON AIR POLLUTION

4034. SHRI M.I. SHANAVAS:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune has  published  a  research  paper  highlighting  the  increasing incidence of mortality due to air pollution in the country;
- (b) if  so,  whether  the  significance  of  such  a  research  report  has been brought to the notice of the Government;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  of  the  steps  initiated  to  study  and  assess  the veracity of such report;
- (d) whether the said report has been termed as void and bereft of validity; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and responses of the Government on the same?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)

- (a) Yes Madam.
- (b-c) The said research paper contains a lot of uncertainties and false assumptions. Based on truthful analysis by fully accounting the shortcomings, unrealistic assumptions and lack of representative primary source of mortality data etc, the following shortcomings of the study are identified:
- i. The study clearly states that the metric used - the value of the statistical life (VSL) to evaluate the cost of premature mortality  ,  used  widely  in  Europe  and  USA,  on  original  India specific  studies  are  scarce.  Hence,  authors  have  decided  to use VSL estimates from developed countries after adjusting for differences in income or national per capita output as suggested in organization for Economic  Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2014 and others of 2015 for estimating India  specific  VSL  which  is  highly  unrealistic  as  far  as  its implication of estimates goes and introduces a clear uncertainty  and  non-representativeness  of  the  mortality  data generated for arriving at various conclusions in the study .
- ii. On the  calculation  of  the  lost  life  expectancy  due  to  PM  2.5 exposure,  authors  of  the  study  used  the  estimates  of  higher income countries, where very clearly the average concentrations of PM 2.5 are lower than those found in India and  hence  introduces  additional  source  of  uncertainty  of  the assessment of mortality of life expectancy drop, which is the main part of the study undertaken.
- iii. Moreover, the values of PM 2.5 used in the study are generated using a regional atmospheric chemistry model and not generated  using  long  term  observations.  The  model  also  has certain known uncertainties in reproducing PM 2.5 concentrations realistically.
- (d) Yes Madam.
- (e) Based  on  the  above  truthful  analysis  of  the  health  impact methodology used for the study, it is to be mentioned that there are a lot of uncertainties in the estimation of mortality due to air pollution  even  though  air  pollution  can  adversely  affect  the health and cause mortality.

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