Question : Impact of Smog and Air Pollution on Health

(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?

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.