Air pollution is a governance failure as much as an environmental one, demanding integrated urban planning, mobility reform, and justice-centred air governance
Air pollution, alongside climate change, has become one of the visceral signifiers of the Anthropocene, the current epoch marked by rapid urbanisation, resource extraction, and socio-ecological change. For most urban residents, air pollution has become an everyday lived reality impacting their health, well-being, mobility, and life choices. Studies indicate that exposure to particulate matter reduces the life expectancy of an average Indian resident by approximately 3.5 years. Over 95 percent of India’s population lives in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. This implies that even people living in the cleanest regions of India could gain 9.4 months of life expectancy if particulate concentrations were reduced to meet the WHO guideline of 10 µg/m³.
Studies indicate that exposure to particulate matter reduces the life expectancy of an average Indian resident by approximately 3.5 years.
Approximately 99 percent of the world’s population is exposed to air pollution, which contributes to an estimated 9 million deaths annually. Over 90 percent of them are found in low- and middle-income countries. Global rankings show that South Asia, East Asia, and Africa contain the highest concentrations of cities with the worst air pollution levels. This pattern warrants a look beyond just emissions as the primary cause of air pollution, and instead considers the structural logics of development that drive contemporary urbanisation. Here, pollution is an outcome of multi-layered trade-offs that prioritise economic growth over environmental regulations, leaving citizens to negotiate polluted environments through coping strategies shaped by class, gender, caste, and spatial location.
Seen from this macro lens, polluted urban air is a socio-ecological product shaped by power dynamics, infrastructural regimes, and material flows. Addressing this challenge demands a transformative, justice-oriented, and commons-based approach that transcends narrow technocratic interventions, such as air purifiers, which further commodify breathable air and restrict access for many.
Global rankings show that South Asia, East Asia, and Africa contain the highest concentrations of cities with the worst air pollution levels.
Geography, meteorology, morphology, natural events, and anthropogenic activities together influence urban air pollution. The scale of the crisis is reflected in its economic burden. The economic cost of air pollution was US$2.9 trillion in 2018, equivalent to 3.3 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although the spotlight is almost always on Delhi for its hazardous Air Quality Index (AQI), recent studies indicate dangerously poor air quality in Mumbai, Kolkata, and cities across Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Rajasthan, and West Bengal. Assessing the AQI trends in Indian cities from 2015 to 2024, the 2025 Climate Trends report identified Byrnihat (218.70), Sri Ganganagar (215.12), Delhi (208.93), Greater Noida (207.75), Gurugram (188.51), Noida (182.67), Muzaffarnagar (178.85), Hanumangarh (177.64), Ghaziabad (176.66), and Faridabad (174.48) as cities with the highest levels of air pollution.
Figure 1: Cities with the highest air pollution in India.
Source: Climate Trends
The higher AQI in these cities, as shown in Figure 1, is attributed to a combination of factors, including high population density, industrial emissions, vehicular congestion, and extensive construction activity. Byrnihat is an industrial town situated on the border of Assam and Meghalaya, where 41 factories emit large amounts of particulate matter across an area of 49.5 square kilometres. The highest risk is posed by particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter, known as PM 2.5, which lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, increasing the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory diseases, and even cancer. In Delhi, asthma, pneumonia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are already causing distress with increased hospitalisation cases. In Mumbai, communities, especially children, living near metro line construction sites, such as Mankhurd, are choking on the polluted air. Pollution-induced respiratory disorders and medical interventions also account for a major portion of these families’ expenditures.
The highest risk is posed by particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter, known as PM 2.5, which lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, increasing the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory diseases, and even cancer.
As a protective measure during air pollution peaks, outdoor activities are restricted, work schedules are aligned accordingly, and children are also kept indoors. However, working in this polluted environment while inhaling the toxic air is unavoidable for those involved in precarious work, such as delivery riders, sanitation workers, autorickshaw drivers, and many others. For them, the use of air purifiers and N95 masks not only reflects commodification of breathable air but also the creation of a segregated atmosphere within the city, with: 1. Cleaner indoor air, which not all sections of society can afford, and 2. Polluted and hazardous outdoor air to which the low-income group of people remain consistently exposed. These adaptation mechanisms reinforce the socio-economic and spatial inequalities.
On a policy level, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the judicial expansion of the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, and the directive principles enshrined in Article 48A collectively establish the normative basis for a right to clean air in India. These rights are enforced by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the National Green Tribunal (NGT). In 2019, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) aimed to reduce particulate matter concentrations in major cities by up to 30 percent. Despite this, fewer than 40 percent of the 131 identified cities have recorded a consistent decline in PM2.5 concentrations.
The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), developed under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) framework, is a four-stage emergency protocol to curb air pollution. It categorises air quality into six levels: good (0–50), satisfactory (51–100), moderately polluted (101–200), poor (201–300), very poor (301–400), and severe (401–500). In response to the ongoing air pollution crisis, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated GRAP-4 restrictions as the air quality in Mumbai continues to worsen. These measures include suspending construction and dust-generating activities in high-AQI zones, halting operations at construction and Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) sites, and directing small industries such as bakeries and marble-cutting units to transition to cleaner technologies. Currently, Mumbai has 662 AQI monitoring devices at construction sites, with approximately 400 linked to a unified dashboard and another 251 newly installed.
International case studies, such as Metro Vancouver’s integrated air quality and greenhouse gas management plans, which address both air quality and climate change, can help Indian cities set goals for public health, air quality, and climate change.
While experts agree that patchwork solutions will not yield results, a coherent and systemic solution has yet to emerge. India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has also instituted a prize of INR 50 lakh for finding ‘innovative’ solutions to the air pollution crisis. International case studies, such as Metro Vancouver’s integrated air quality and greenhouse gas management plans, which address both air quality and climate change, can help Indian cities set goals for public health, air quality, and climate change. Green spaces and urban forests also provide natural air filtration, absorbing pollutants and releasing oxygen in the air.
Since transportation is a major contributor to urban air pollution, designing efficient public transit systems, pedestrian-friendly pathways, and cycling infrastructure, as in Copenhagen, is a solution that would reduce reliance on personal vehicles and, in turn, reduce tailpipe emissions. Additionally, smarter traffic management, including congestion pricing, can reduce traffic congestion and lower emissions. Beijing, for example, adopted a combination of comprehensive air pollution control programmes targeting different sources of pollution. At its core lies the ambition to champion urban rail expansion and transition from car-centric urbanism into a sustainable mobility system. These interventions were complemented by initiatives such as Low Emission Zones (LEZs), which restrict access to polluting vehicles and promote greener transportation modes. Policy responses thus must focus on long-term transformation of urban systems and avoid being dominated by short-term mitigation measures.
Air pollution is a multi-layered crisis shaped by intersecting governance, infrastructure, and everyday trade-offs. Since air flow and air pollution are not restricted by municipal boundaries, addressing stubble burning, industrial emissions, and atmospheric flows requires collaboration and coordination across scales from city administrations to the state authorities within and across states. Air quality must be integrated in urban planning decisions on land use, mobility, and industrial growth. This would also require interrogating the economic interests that benefit from pollution-causing activities and reimagining urban development that emphasises ecological sustainability and social well-being. Without such a vision, responses for mitigation would render polluted air as a naturalised urban condition rather than confronting it.
Soma Sarkar is an Associate Fellow with the Urban Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Soma Sarkar is an Associate Fellow with ORF’s Urban Studies Programme. Her research interests span the intersections of environment and development, urban studies, water governance, Water, ...
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