The latest IQAir World Air Quality Report for 2024
presents an alarming reality: India remains among the most polluted countries
in the world, ranking fifth globally. Despite a slight improvement in rankings
from third in 2023, the report underscores a persistent and worsening crisis,
with 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities located in India. More
concerning is that pollution is no longer confined to metropolitan areas like
Delhi but has engulfed smaller towns such as Byrnihat, Meghalaya, which
recorded an astonishing PM2.5 level of 128.2 µg/m3—over 25 times the
WHO-recommended limit. This revelation dismantles the long-held perception that
air pollution is solely an urban governance failure.
Byrnihat’s plight highlights a broader issue: the
unregulated expansion of industries, rampant deforestation, and unchecked
construction in smaller towns. Industrialization in the region has been fast
but poorly regulated, with little oversight on emissions. The absence of robust
pollution control measures has turned Byrnihat into an air quality disaster
zone, demonstrating how India’s industrial policies often prioritize economic
expansion over environmental sustainability.
While the government has increased the number of air
pollution monitoring stations from 37 in 2015 to over 1,000 in 2023, this still
covers only a fraction of India’s vast landscape. A shocking 62% of the
population remains outside real-time air quality monitoring networks,
indicating that the scale of pollution may be even worse than reported. The
lack of micro-level data and research on smaller towns has allowed pollution to
fester unnoticed until it reaches catastrophic levels. This failure of
environmental governance reflects a broader systemic issue—India’s pollution
mitigation strategies remain city-centric, leaving smaller urban areas without
adequate regulatory mechanisms or resources.
The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has aimed to
reduce PM2.5 levels, but its implementation is fragmented. Instead of a unified
national strategy, pollution control is treated as a localized issue, forcing
individual states and municipalities to tackle the crisis in silos. Even in
severe cases, such as Delhi’s annual winter pollution emergency, inter-state
cooperation remains minimal. This lack of coordination has turned pollution
control into an isolated, reactionary effort rather than a long-term,
sustainable policy.
India’s air pollution crisis is not just an environmental
concern but a public health emergency. Prolonged exposure to high PM2.5 levels
is linked to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular ailments, and reduced life
expectancy. If the country continues to treat pollution as a city-specific
issue, millions will continue to suffer in overlooked towns like Byrnihat.
A fundamental shift in policy is required—one that
recognizes air pollution as a national emergency, expands monitoring coverage,
and enforces stricter industrial regulations. Without urgent, collective
action, India’s progress will remain illusory, and its air will remain toxic.
