Context: According to an assessment by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, pollution levels in India could reduce 5.2 years from the life expectancy of the average Indian and it most acutely hits people living in the Indo-Gangetic plains.
Key Points

• Since 1998, average annual particulate pollution increased by 42 per cent in India.
• All of India’s 1.4 billion population lives in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeded the WHO guideline, and 84 per cent live in regions where it exceeded India’s air quality standard.

Most Affected Regions in India

• Uttar Pradesh is the most polluted state; residents here stand to lose 8.6 years due to Air Pollution.
• Residents of Delhi stand to lose 9.4 years. But the highest is in Lucknow where residents risk losing 10.3 years of life expectancy.

Comparison with other Countries

• India is the second most-polluted country globally after Bangladesh, while Nepal, Singapore and Pakistan are the other top countries.
• Singapore, China and India were the three most polluted countries in 1998 with the Chinese losing 3.6 years of life to pollution but by 2018, China was the seventh most polluted and had improved its life expectancy by 1.3 years. Singapore has also improved.
• China declared war against pollution in 2013 with some aggressive reforms. Since then, three-quarters of the world’s reductions in pollution have come from China and it has reduced PM 2.5 pollution by nearly 40% during the period according to the analysis.

Causes

• Industrialization, economic development and population growth.
• Increased energy demand.
• Increased number of stationary and mobile sources of air pollution.

About Air Quality Life Index

• It converts air pollution concentrations into their impact on life expectancy. 
• It helps determine the benefits of air pollution policies in perhaps the most important measure that exists: longer lives.
• It is produced by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), based on frontier research by EPIC’s director Michael Greenstone that quantified the causal relationship between human exposure to air pollution and reduced life expectancy.
• It makes evident that policies that reduce fossil fuel use can allow people to live longer and healthier lives today, as well as reduce the risks of disruptive climate change.

Objectives of National Clean Air Program

• To augment and evolve effective and proficient ambient air quality monitoring networks across the country for ensuring a comprehensive and reliable database.
• To have efficient data dissemination and public outreach mechanism for timely measures for prevention and mitigation of air pollution
• To ensure inclusive public participation in both planning and implementation of the programmes and policies of government on air pollution
• To have a feasible management plan for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.