Is India Losing the Clean Air Battle?
Ajay Nagpure, Ph.D.
Global Expert in Sustainability, Air Pollution, and GHG Reduction | Driving Climate Innovation with Proven Leadership | Turning Data into Scalable Environmental Impact
Introduction
India’s air pollution crisis is a direct consequence of its rapid economic expansion, urbanization, industrial growth, and energy dependency. With 63 of the world’s 100 most polluted cities, the country faces a pressing dilemma: how to sustain economic growth while reducing pollution levels that cost 1.36% of GDP annually and lead to 1.67 million premature deaths per year (Lancet, 2023). The challenge is compounded by competing priorities—affordable energy, job creation, infrastructure expansion, and electoral politics—that often lead to contradictory policies.
This article tried to provides a holistic breakdown of all sectors contributing to pollution, trade-offs in mitigation efforts, contradictions in policy implementation, and potential solutions. While reducing air pollution in India is possible, achieving significant progress by 2030 will require political will, economic restructuring, and systemic governance improvements.
I. Sectoral Contributions to Air Pollution
1. Coal Dependency & Energy Transition
Pollution Contribution:
Economic Role:
Mitigation Trade-Offs:
2. Construction & Urbanization
Pollution Contribution:
Economic Role:
Mitigation Trade-Offs:
3. Transport & Vehicular Emissions
Pollution Contribution:
Economic Role:
Mitigation Trade-Offs:
4. Agriculture & Biomass Burning
Pollution Contribution:
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Economic Role:
Mitigation Trade-Offs:
5. Household Biomass Cooking
Pollution Contribution:
Economic Role:
Mitigation Trade-Offs:
II. Sectors Where Pollution Will Increase or Decrease
Sectors Where Pollution is Expected to Decrease:
Sectors Where Pollution is Expected to Increase:
III. Air Pollution Mitigation Policies & Funding
IV. Political Will & Governance
Political will plays a decisive role in determining the success of air pollution mitigation strategies in India. Strong enforcement of existing policies, timely funding allocations, and coordinated action between the central and state governments are necessary for impactful change. However, political short-termism, where policies favor immediate economic gains over long-term environmental sustainability, often undermines efforts. State-level conflicts, such as Punjab and Haryana's reluctance to curb stubble burning due to electoral concerns, illustrate the difficulties of aligning pollution control measures with political agendas. Additionally, regulatory agencies like the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) face challenges in enforcing compliance due to bureaucratic inefficiencies and industry resistance. If the government can integrate air pollution control into broader economic and industrial policies while ensuring accountability at all levels, significant improvements in air quality could be achieved within the next decade.
V. Conclusion
India’s air pollution crisis is deeply tied to economic priorities, governance challenges, and political will. While existing policies and technological advancements suggest that a 25–30% reduction in PM2.5 is possible by 2030, achieving this target remains highly uncertain. The implementation of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and other mitigation measures have shown progress, but significant obstacles remain, including underfunding, inconsistent enforcement, and competing economic priorities.
Despite ambitious renewable energy targets and stricter vehicular norms, continued reliance on coal, industrial expansion, and urbanization could offset air quality gains. Additionally, state-level political conflicts, weak institutional coordination, and delayed policy execution further undermine the effectiveness of pollution control strategies.
For India to achieve substantial air quality improvements, it must prioritize long-term, systemic policy implementation, significantly increase investment in green infrastructure, and strengthen governance mechanisms to ensure compliance at all levels. The next 3–5 years will be critical, and without strong leadership and cross-sector collaboration, air pollution may only see marginal reductions rather than the substantial improvements necessary for public health and economic sustainability.
India’s air pollution crisis is deeply tied to economic priorities, governance challenges, and political will. While existing policies and technological advancements suggest that a dses make large-scale improvements uncertain. Without consistent enforcement, better coordination among states, and serious investment in green infrastructure, pollution levels may remain unchanged or even worsen.
The next 3–5 years will be crucial in determining whether India follows a path toward sustainable growth or continues its struggle with pollution-induced health and economic crises. Political will, industry compliance, and community engagement will determine the success of air pollution mitigation strategies.
Nirvanic Seeker Across the Cosmos | Inner Engineering Yoga Practitioner
1 周Hopefully, extreme pollution sufferers as in the Indians will survive this as well as something similar to the constant barrage of Natural or semi Natural disasters in form of violent Fires or Tornados that have been Hitting The US for a while... or something totally new waiting to be unleashed on our World as the Climate change awakens Mother Nature's destructive cycle of death and decimation... (hopefully not, India might have to accelerate its anti pollution fight soon enough and hope for best but be prepared the terrible!!!)
100%
Quality Consultant
3 周Increased air pollution level in d cities is due to the misc collective reasons like water logging , over flowing of waste water in the streets , non passing ahead of the sewage line effluents to e t p for filtering dirt , sludge , since S.lines not properly designed & constructed by giving proper slop & or reconstructed after enhanced qty of waste water due to population congestion , non providing drain or trench or man hole covers , non absorbing the gas regulaely from the draines , sewage lines by the sanitation deptt , non spreading of the moesture absorbants regularly in the wet zones , due to kitchens & toilets exhaust fans a cs , running , throwing animal dungs in the road sides , due to rotting of vages & non veges particularly from the big restorents / hotels , fumes of oils , fossil fuels, burning in vehicles , engines, DG sets etc & of paints , welding . rising dust from roads & construction & storage , distribution sites - dust pollution also add fuel to the fire of bad enviro. misc gasses & fumes makes the air flow heavy & turns into form of smog causes non flowing or slows d blowing of air so all these factors lower d % age of O2 from 21 % to < 10 % in d local enviro , people calls it is due 2 climate change, sir
Quality Consultant
3 周By burning the coal in covered furnaces by blowing the air & ateam generated side by side can produce the coal gas or producer gas for using as p n g or pressurised natural gas in the steel industries & wherw ever the heating or heat treatments of the steel or the other metal or materials is reqd ibcluding ceramics , glass , brick kiln , sugar mills . which is now being done by the many a big mills to utilize the india 's big fuel source of coal.So producing the green energy this way & producing steel products by using green energy . pasted pics in the post looks animated the old animated pics to terryfy un usually the audions , sir
41+ years Corporate Experience| Influencer| Sought after Professional| Business Strategist| Corporate Governance|Project Management| Energy| Sustainability| BRSR| Startups| Green fuels| NetZero| CSR| BE| AI-Data Science
3 周India is doing exceedingly well. Look into the Climate Change Performance Index since 2014 -2024. During the period CCPI rank of India improved from 31 to 7. India, is the only country from among G20 or Major Economies globally to do so well. In fact the top 3 ranks are blank as no country is yet on the pathway to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Kindly appreciate even now India's contributions in global greenhouse gases is <7% vis-a-vis >17% population. In fact historically the contribution is < 3%. We are aspiring and working to become a developed nation by 2047 and adequate energy availability at competitive prices is pre-requisite to achieve the status of the developed nation. India is fast adding up green energy increasingly, replacing old and inefficient coal stations by modern Ultra efficient coal stations thereby the CCPI rank. We surely need to improve energy use efficiency in all sectors of the economy through technological advancements and en-mass participation alike replacement of inefficient lighting luminares done by LEDs. You may be aware that the Government of India launched "Mission LiFE", Lifestyle for Environment, associating with the UN aiming to create awareness and seek participation globally.