Causes of Air pollution in India :-

• Increasing usage of Automobiles.
• Dust kicked up by vehicles moving on roads.
• Increasing constructions and demolitions of buildings.
• Increasing demand for houses is leading to deforestation, which is worsening the quality of air further.
• Industrialization.
• Burning of crop residue. This is highly prevalent in Punjab and Haryana.
• Burning of garbage.
• Still many Indians are using firewood and cow dung for cooking.
• Greenhouse gas emissions due to burning of biomass residue.
• Usage of diesel vehicles.
• Adulterated fuel blends by many Indian taxis and auto rickshaws. These adulterants increase emissions of harmful pollutants from vehicles, worsening urban air pollution.

Effects of Air pollution :-

• Negative impact on health of humans as well as other living beings. Mainly, children and old people are vulnerable to adverse health effects caused by air pollution.
• Air pollution is the leading environment cause of death. In 2015, India reported 11 lakh deaths due to air pollution.
• Increase in spread of non-communicable diseases due air pollution has accounted for 62% of the total diseases in India.

Steps Taken by Indian Government :-

• Government of India enacted the “Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA)” under article 253 of the constitution after the dreadful incident of Bhopal gas tragedy.
• Indian government removed subsidies for polluting cooking gases to improve access to clean fuel for household cooking.
• The Delhi government has tried odd-even rule to reduce air pollution.
• Supreme Court banned registrations of diesel cars above 2000cc in Delhi, which is one of the highest air polluted cities of India.
• Indian government banned firecrackers on weddings.
• Burning of solid waste is banned.

What more needs to be done :-

• Allocation of more funds for afforestation projects.
• Betterment of public transportation.
• Enhancing the quality of roads.
• Encouraging community forests.
• Incentives for Eco-friendly buildings.
• Encouraging the usage of clean fuels.
• Investing more in energy generation from renewable resources.
• Encouraging work from home culture to reduce vehicular pollution.

Best Practices in Other Countries:-

• ‘Paris’ has set few good practices such as implementing odd-even bans on vehicles, making public transport free during high pollution days and encouraging car & bike-pooling.
• ‘Netherlands’ is working on plans to to ban the sale of all petrol and diesel cars from 2025 and allowing only electric or hydrogen vehicles.
• ‘Copenhagen’ now has more bicycles than people.