Air Quality, National Standards and Human Health in India

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently (Sep 2021) released its revised Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) which have been made more stringent compared to their earlier guidelines. This raises the question whether India’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) notified by the MoEFCC in 2009 are adequate and whether the revised WHO AQGs are relevant for India. The natural corollary to this is to identify the policies and actions required to strengthen the science of risk assessment and develop rational estimates of mortality and morbidity attributed to air pollution amongst the population in India. These issues have been examined in the NIAS Policy Brief to recommend the way forward.