An Indian official recently boasted to Parliament that the capital city of New Delhi had "200 days" of good air quality, prompting public backlash, ABC News reported.
What's happening?
New Delhi has been "engulfed in toxic smog" for months, as ABC News noted, with one physician describing it as a "gas chamber."
Environment minister Bhupender Yadav's air quality assertion aggrieved frustrated locals and advocates, who alleged he cherry-picked the figure amid an undeniable air quality crisis.
Not long after that, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta's assertion that the air quality index (AQI) was similar to the temperature, and that "spraying water" could address the issue, was met with "jeering" and chants of "AQI."
According to ABC, India's air quality reading "standards are looser" than in several large countries, including the United States, and this flexibility could "mask" poor air quality.
Gupta reportedly approved a "cloud seeding" approach to address air quality, despite little evidence of efficacy, and Indian residents told ABC they didn't think elected representatives took the matter seriously.
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"Instead of doing cloud seeding, I hope the government will wake up and take some real action. It's a shame," said New Delhi resident Anita.
Why is poor air quality concerning?
India's air quality standards are "also less stringent" than guidelines set out by the World Health Organization.
ABC observed that inconsistencies in measuring air quality, along with locals' ongoing exposure to what they perceive as poor air quality, can "erode trust" in politicians and public policy.
A recent study found that India's air isn't just smoggy; it also carries microplastic particles, toxic metals like lead, and bacterial pathogens.
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Do you feel like the air quality is safe where you live? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Always 💯 Global Climate and Health Alliance's Shweta Narayan emphasized that poor air quality is a public health issue, one that Indian lawmakers didn't seem to be addressing with adequate urgency.
She added that the danger was particularly pronounced for infants and children, the immunocompromised, and the elderly, such as 73-year-old Anita. Narayan pointed out that deaths linked to air quality were not counted, and no mechanism existed to do so.
"As a consequence of exposure to air pollution, we see a lot of preterm births, miscarriages, low birth weight. Exposure at this stage has a lifelong consequence," Narayan warned.
What's being done about it?
In November, "rare protests" over air quality, as the AQI topped a dangerous 344, broke out in New Delhi, with residents calling on politicians to address the situation.
Environmentalist Vimlendu Jha told ABC that public frustration had become so stark that it could possibly affect India's next election cycle.
"Citizens are fed up," Jha said.
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