The truth we’re not told & the so-called ‘safe air’ is anything but …

If you are in India, you know the drill: smog season is back, that time of year when our cities turn into hazy suffocating landscapes, like we are in the scene of the Bollywood film ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ and stepping outside feels like joining an extreme endurance event. AQI levels are off the charts, and breathing? That has become a high-stakes activity. But do not worry—apparently, everything is under control! And how? By setting our AQI standards nice and high, of course. The twist? What is called “safe” air here is anything but.

Let us break it down. India’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are supposed to guide us on what acceptable air quality looks like. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the safe permissible limits for particulate matter PM2.5, PM10, and NO₂ (nitrogen dioxide) are 40, 60, and 40 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively. Now, let us compare that with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines: WHO considers the safe limits to be far lower—5, 15, and 10 micrograms per cubic meter for these same pollutants.

In other words, WHO’s healthy standard for PM2.5 is 5 µg/m³. India’s? A comfortable 40 µg/m³—eight times higher. And for PM10? WHO recommends 15 µg/m³, while ours is a relaxed 60 µg/m³. It is as if WHO is saying, “Wear a helmet,” and we are like “Nah, a loose scarf will do!”

So why the huge gap? Well, our policymakers have a bit of a brilliant strategy. By setting these indexes higher—and actually easier—standards, they can show our cities meet targets, even if the air looks like something straight out of the American epic science fiction film Dune. Some might argue that these limits are realistic for a country as large and populous as ours, especially when becoming a developed nation is our ultimate goal. Cleaning up air pollution on this scale is not easy, but in the meantime, the air we are breathing is far from safe.

Research has repeatedly shown that long-term exposure to even lower PM2.5 levels than what NAAQS allows can lead to serious health risks. By sticking to these lenient standards, we are essentially saying, “Relax! These pollution levels are safe, just not according to science.” Look at the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in 2019. Its goal? A 20-30% reduction in pollution by 2024. Sounds ambitious! But with standards this loose, “meeting” those targets might just mean our air goes from awful to… still awful, just a bit less so on paper.

So, what is the solution? First, we need transparency. We must be honest about the reality of our air quality. Let us rethink our ‘national’ standards. Fully aligning with WHO may be a challenge, but moving toward stricter limits would at least signal that clean air is a genuine priority for the government and its people. Maybe, just maybe, if more people understood the true health risks, we would see stronger preventive actions. Otherwise, we are going to hand over a developed country to the next generation by 2047—only a more polluted one. They will have everything—from high-speed roadways to futuristic airports and an AI-managed avant-garde lifestyle. However, the challenge for them may be finding clean air to breathe; thanks to our needs, greeds, and inactivities.

Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Email

Disclaimer

Views expressed above are the author’s own.

END OF ARTICLE

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}