{"id":1560,"date":"2025-12-12T04:51:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T04:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/?p=1560"},"modified":"2025-12-12T04:51:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T04:51:46","slug":"india-rejects-global-air-pollution-rankings-delhi-shows-improvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2025\/12\/12\/india-rejects-global-air-pollution-rankings-delhi-shows-improvement\/","title":{"rendered":"India Rejects Global Air Pollution Rankings; Delhi Shows Improvement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<h2 data-start=\"199\" data-end=\"290\"><strong>Government Says Popular International Ratings are Not Recognized by Any Official Authority<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"292\" data-end=\"753\">The Central Government informed the Rajya Sabha on December 11 that <em data-start=\"345\" data-end=\"349\">no<\/em> globally recognised, country-wise air pollution ranking has been issued by any official international body. Widely cited global assessments\u2014including the IQ Air World Air Quality Report, the WHO Global Air Quality Database, the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies &#8211; are not government-backed or officially validated rankings, the Environment Ministry clarified.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"755\" data-end=\"1073\">Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh, responding to questions raised by CPI(M) MP V. Sivadasan noted that these international reports are often misinterpreted as official rankings. He emphasised that they are <em>independent assessments<\/em> and not conducted by any government or inter-governmental authority.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1075\" data-end=\"1129\"><strong>Countries Set Their Own Standards<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1131\" data-end=\"1499\">According to the Environment Ministry, the World Health Organization\u2019s air quality guidelines are advisory in nature, intended only to help nations set aspirational goals. However, individual countries formulate their own ambient air quality standards based on local geography, environmental conditions, background emissions, socio-economic considerations and national priorities.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1501\" data-end=\"1758\">India\u2019s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), last updated in 2009, specify regulatory limits for 12 pollutants. These standards, the Ministry reiterated, are tailored specifically to India\u2019s environmental realities and public health requirements.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1760\" data-end=\"1808\"><strong>Improvement in Delhi\u2019s Air Quality Recorded<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1810\" data-end=\"2033\">In a separate reply to a question on Delhi\u2019s pollution levels, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav highlighted a measurable improvement in the capital\u2019s air quality over recent years. Data shared in Parliament shows:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"2035\" data-end=\"2472\">\n<li data-start=\"2035\" data-end=\"2159\">\n<p data-start=\"2037\" data-end=\"2159\">The number of \u201cGood to Moderate\u201d air quality days (AQI \u2264 200) has increased from 110 in 2016 to 200 in 2025 (till date).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2160\" data-end=\"2254\">\n<p data-start=\"2162\" data-end=\"2254\">Delhi\u2019s average AQI between January and November improved from 213 in 2018 to 187 in 2025.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2255\" data-end=\"2335\">\n<p data-start=\"2257\" data-end=\"2335\">Not a single \u201cSevere Plus\u201d (AQI &gt; 450) day has been recorded in 2025 so far.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2336\" data-end=\"2472\">\n<p data-start=\"2338\" data-end=\"2472\">Farm fire incidents in Punjab and Haryana have declined by nearly 90 percent during the 2025 paddy harvesting period compared to 2022.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"2474\" data-end=\"2688\">Officials attribute this progress to a sustained push under the <strong>National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)<\/strong>, stricter enforcement against pollution sources, technological interventions and coordinated action across states.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2690\" data-end=\"2734\"><strong>India Conducts Its Own National Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2736\" data-end=\"3056\">To assess the domestic air-quality efforts, the government runs the annual <em><strong data-start=\"2807\" data-end=\"2833\">Swachh Vayu Survekshan<\/strong><\/em>, covering <em>130 cities under the NCAP.<\/em> This ranking is based on on-ground implementation of approved clean-air measures. Top-performing cities are recognised on National Swachh Vayu Diwas, observed every year on <strong>7 September.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"3058\" data-end=\"3117\">India Continues with 2009 Standards Despite WHO Update<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"3119\" data-end=\"3471\">While the WHO tightened its air-quality norms in 2021 &#8211; setting a 24-hour PM2.5 guideline of 15 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 and an annual limit of 5 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 &#8211; India continues to follow its 2009 standards of 60 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 (24-hour) and 40 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 (annual). The government maintains that these benchmarks remain suitable considering India\u2019s unique environmental and socio-economic context.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3119\" data-end=\"3471\">Whether the coming months showcase any significant improvement or not in Delhi-NCR&#8217;s air quality, is for time to show. However, the efforts to mitigate the situation are certainly being undertaken by the concerned authorities.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government Says Popular International Ratings are Not Recognized by Any Official Authority The Central Government informed the Rajya Sabha on December 11 that no globally&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[1289,1286,1292,1282,1281,1285,1283,1287,1291,1290,1288,1284],"class_list":["post-1560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-air-quality-standards-india","tag-delhi-aqi-2025","tag-farm-fires-punjab-haryana","tag-global-air-quality-report","tag-india-air-pollution-ranking","tag-india-naaqs-2009","tag-iqair-india","tag-ncap-progress","tag-parliament-air-pollution-reply","tag-pollution-data-india","tag-swachh-vayu-survekshan","tag-who-air-quality-guidelines","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1562,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560\/revisions\/1562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}