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Air quality: India sets own standards, WHO guidelines not binding, says Centre
The Union government on Thursday told Parliament that global standards for air quality, including those issued by the World Health Organization, are not binding and only serve as a “guidance document”.
Union Environment Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh said that World Health Organization's Air Quality Guidelines are “recommended values for air pollutants to help countries achieve air quality”.
“However, countries prepare their air quality standards based on geography, environmental factors, background levels, socio-economic status and national circumstances,” Singh told the Rajya Sabha in response to a question by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP V Sivadasan.
The minister said that the global ranking of cities on pollution levels “is not being conducted by official authority”.
In 2024, 13 of the world's 20 most polluted cities were in India, according to the World Air Quality Report published by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir.
Byrnihat town in Meghalaya topped the list and Delhi was categorised as the most polluted capital city in the world in 2024.
The government conducts its own annual Swachh Vayu Survekshan to assess and rank 130 cities covered under the National Clean Air Programme on the basis of air quality improvement measures, he added.
Singh also said that India has already notified its National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 12 pollutants to protect public health and environmental quality.
The World Health Organization provides guidelines to countries to determine breakpoints, but does not prescribe specific ones. Rather, countries determine their own breakpoints depending on a complex array of factors “like the immune power of its people, adaptability and environment”.
On Tuesday, the Union government told Parliament that there is no conclusive data available in the country to establish direct correlation of death or disease exclusively because of air pollution.
Union Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav said that air pollution was one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments and associated diseases.
Also read: Why air quality numbers in Delhi vary widely
Source: Scroll
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