{"id":44021,"date":"2024-12-14T11:18:38","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T05:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=44021"},"modified":"2025-05-06T07:42:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T02:12:58","slug":"no-indian-city-meets-who-air-quality-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/no-indian-city-meets-who-air-quality-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"No Indian City Meets WHO Air Quality Standards: Lancet Study Highlights Alarming Pollution Levels"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>WHO\u2019s revised air quality guidelines 2021<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)<\/li>\n<li>Key highlights of the study<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>According to a study recently published in Lancet Planet Health, no one in India lives in areas where the yearly average pollution levels are below the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n<h2><strong>WHO\u2019s revised air quality guidelines 2021<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"image image_resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiram-prod.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com\/WHO_s_revised_air_quality_guidelines_2021_6842b8f65f.webp\" alt=\"WHO\u2019s revised air quality guidelines 2021.webp\" \/><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In September 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its air quality guidelines (AQGs) to reflect the serious health impacts of air pollution:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li><strong>PM2.5<\/strong>:\u00a0The annual mean concentration should not exceed 5 \u00b5g\/m3.\u00a0This is half of the 2005 guideline of 10 \u00b5g\/m3.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>NO2<\/strong>:\u00a0The annual mean concentration should not exceed 10 \u00b5g\/m3.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ozone<\/strong>:\u00a0The peak season mean 8-hour concentration should not exceed 60 \u00b5g\/m3.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>PM10<\/strong>:\u00a0The annual mean concentration should not exceed 15 \u00b5g\/m3, and the 24-hour mean should not exceed 45 \u00b5g\/m3.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>SO2<\/strong>:\u00a0The 24-hour mean concentration should not exceed 40 \u00b5g\/m3.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>CO<\/strong>:\u00a0The 24-hour mean concentration should not exceed 7 \u00b5g\/m3.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Non-binding in nature<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/quest-upsc-notes\/world-health-organisation\/\" target=\"_blank\">WHO<\/a> AQGs are not legally binding, but they are often used by countries and legislative bodies to set air quality policies.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The guidelines are based on scientific evidence from multiple countries and are intended to help reduce the health impacts of air pollution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>India\u2019s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Ambient air quality refers to the condition or quality of air surrounding us in the outdoors.<\/li>\n<li>Under the authority of the <strong>Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981<\/strong>, India\u2019s Central Pollution Control Board sets national ambient air quality standards.<\/li>\n<li>The current Standards include following 12 pollutants:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"image image_resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiram-prod.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com\/NAAQS_91f55894ee.webp\" alt=\"NAAQS.webp\" \/><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Key highlights of the study<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Widespread Air Pollution in India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>No area in India meets the WHO&#8217;s recommended PM2.5 pollution level of 5 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3.<\/li>\n<li>81.9% of the population lives in areas exceeding India&#8217;s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 40 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Health Impact of Air Pollution<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>High levels of PM2.5 are linked to 1.5 million deaths annually in India.<\/li>\n<li>Long-term exposure to air pollution increases risks of respiratory diseases, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, and developmental delays in children.<\/li>\n<li>Every 10 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 increase in PM2.5 levels raises the risk of death by 8.6%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Regional Pollution Levels<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Pollution levels ranged from 11.2 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 in Arunachal Pradesh\u2019s Lower Subansiri district (2019) to 119 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 in Ghaziabad and Delhi (2016).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Potential for Improvement<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Meeting NAAQS could prevent 0.3 million deaths annually; achieving WHO levels would save even more lives.<\/li>\n<li>Identifying and addressing pollution sources, such as construction, vehicular emissions, and crop burning, is critical.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. How does air pollution affect health in India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>High PM2.5 levels cause respiratory issues, heart attacks, strokes, and developmental delays. Every 10 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 increase in PM2.5 raises mortality risk by 8.6%.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What measures can reduce air pollution deaths in India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Meeting NAAQS standards can prevent 0.3 million deaths annually. Reducing emissions from vehicles, construction, and crop burning is crucial for improvement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/pollution-kills-1-5-million-a-year-no-indian-lives-in-who-standard-air-says-study-9721991\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Zero safe zones: No Indian city meets WHO air quality standards, says Lancet study<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.isglobal.org\/en\/healthisglobal\/-\/custom-blog-portlet\/implementing-the-new-who-air-quality-guidelines-can-prevent-millions-of-premature-deaths-and-many-more-cases-of-disease\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IS Global<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livemint.com\/news\/india\/iit-kanpur-led-team-to-review-air-quality-standards-11644512609317.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Live Mint<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Lancet study reveals that air pollution in India exceeds WHO standards, causing 1.5 million deaths annually. Learn about health impacts and regional pollution levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}