How is Air Pollution measured in India?

As per the State of Global Air 2020 report, in India in 2019, more than 116,000 infants did not live beyond one month due to air pollution in India. Of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 21 were in India in 2019.

According to a report by University of Chicago, worsening air pollution is robbing a decade of life expectancy of those living in Delhi.

“What is not defined cannot be measured. What is not measured, cannot be improved. What is not improved, is always degraded”. — William Thompson Kelvin

Photo by Nadeem Choudhary on Unsplash

How is Air Pollution Measured in India?

Three systems of measuring air pollution in India are Air Quality Index (AQI), NAAQS and SAFAR.

• Air Quality Index — It has been developed by CPCB in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur. It measures air Quality on the basis of eight pollutants namely: Particulate Matter (PM10), Particulate Matter (PM2.5), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Ozone (O3), Ammonia (NH3), and Lead (Pb).
• National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) — These are standards set by CPCB under the Air act, 1981. In addition to the 8 pollutants in AQI, it captures 4 more namely: Benzene, Benzopyrene, Arsenic and Nickel.
• System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) — It is an initiative of Ministry of Earth Sciences with specific focus on Metropolitan cities. It differs from AQI as it doesn’t include Ammonia and Lead but monitors Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, and Mercury.

The data captured through these systems will help to take decisions to improve highly polluted areas in the country.