The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
NEW DELHI—India’s filthy air is cutting 660 million lives short by about three years, while nearly all of the country’s 1.2 billion citizens are breathing in harmful pollution levels, according to research published Saturday.
The new study by a team of environmental economists at US universities highlights just how extensive India’s air problems have become after years of pursuing an all-growth agenda with little regard for the environment. While New Delhi last year earned the dubious title of being the world’s most polluted city, the problem extends nationwide, with 13 Indian cities now on the World Health Organization’s list of the 20 most polluted.
That pollution burden is estimated to be costing more than half the population at least 3.2 years of their lives, according to the study. The most polluted regions falling generally in northern India are also among India’s most populous.
“The extent of the problem is actually much larger than what we normally understand,” said one of the study’s co-authors, Anant Sudarshan, the India director of the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago. Added up, those lost years come to a staggering 2.1 billion for the entire nation.
India has a sparse system for monitoring air quality, with sensors installed in only a few cities and almost unheard of in the countryside. Yet rural air pollution remains high thanks to industrial plants, poor fuel standards, extensive garbage burning and a heavy reliance on diesel for electricity generation.
AP