In the News
January 15, 2019
With an ambitious aim to control the alarming pollution levels across major cities in the country the government has unveiled its long-awaited National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
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In May 2018,a WHO report revealed that India has 14 out of the world’s 15 most polluted cities in terms of the levels of particulate matter, especially PM 2.5. Most of these cities were in northern India.
Another study published in The Lancet in December had revealed that 12.4 lakh people died in India in 2017 alone due to pollution.
But according to Michael Greenstone from the University of Chicago, the life expectancy of Indians could go up by as much as 4.3 years if the WHO guidelines are implemented.
Greenstone, the director of the Energy Policy Institute and one of the creators of the Air Quality Life Index of AQLI which measures the impact of particulate matter pollution on life expectancy told Hindustan Times that if NCAP is implemented, residents of Delhi, the world’s most polluted city could hope to live 3.35 years longer.