Delhi AQI: Congress urges action against pollution amid Delhi’s severe smog crisis

Asserting that India cannot afford to pollute its path to prosperity, the Congress on Monday (December 15, 2025) said increased pollution does not and should not be the price people have to pay for faster growth.

The opposition party also stressed that Gradual Response Action Plans (GRAPs) cannot remain the dominant focus of clean air action.

Congress General Secretary for Communications Jairam Ramesh said in a statement that these plans were essentially reactive, with emphasis on crisis management rather than crisis avoidance.

“We need tough multi-sectoral action at scale and pace all year round, not just in the winter October-December months,” Mr. Ramesh said.

On December 9, 2025, the Modi Government declared in the Rajya Sabha that “there is no conclusive data to establish a direct correlation between death/illness in the country solely due to air pollution”.

“This is the second time he has shown shocking insensitivity by denying that air pollution contributes to deaths or diseases. He had earlier made the same claim in the Rajya Sabha again on July 29, 2024,” Mr. Ramesh said.

The latest publicly available scientific evidence reveals that a study published in the prestigious Lancet journal in early July 2024 showed that 7.2% of all deaths in India were associated with air pollution; that is, approximately 34,000 deaths each year in just 10 cities.

Evidence also reveals that a study by the Mumbai-based International Population Sciences Institute in August 2024 used government data from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS V) to show a 13% increase in premature deaths for adults and nearly 100% for children in areas where air pollution exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAOS), Mr. Ramesh said.

“A study published in December 2024 Lancet Planetary Health “Prolonged exposure to polluted air is estimated to contribute to roughly 15 lakh additional deaths every year in India compared to the scenario in which the country meets World Health Organization (WHO) recommended safe exposure limits,” he said.

“In November 2025, a report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, US, found that nearly two million deaths in India were linked to air pollution, an increase of 43% since 2000,” Mr. Ramesh said.

“Approximately 70 percent of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease deaths were due to air pollution,” he said.

“The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) were last published in November 2009 after wide-ranging consultations,” Mr. Ramesh said.

“They were considered progressive at the time. But today they need to be updated and, more importantly, ruthlessly enforced. The current standard for PM2.5 is eight times the WHO annual exposure guideline and four times the 24-hour exposure guideline,” he said.

“Despite the launch of the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) in 2017, PM2.5 levels have continued to rise and every single Indian lives in areas where these levels far exceed WHO guidelines,” he said, adding that the NCAP itself needed an overhaul.

“Phased Response Action Plans (GRAPs) cannot remain the dominant focus of clean air action. These plans are essentially reactive and the emphasis is on crisis management and not crisis avoidance,” Mr. Ramesh said.

“We need comprehensive and rapid multi-sectoral action not just in October-December but all year round. The Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act, 1981, which has been more than adequate for four decades, may need to be reviewed as there was no public health emergency in the background of its enactment,” he said.

“The National Green Tribunal, which was established by an Act of Parliament in October 2010 with the support of all political parties, has unfortunately been emasculated in the last decade and needs a fresh and renewed life,” Mr. Ramesh said.

He said relaxed emission norms for power plants and other changes to laws and regulations should be rolled back.

“India cannot afford to pollute its path to prosperity. Increased pollution need not and should not be the price that the country’s people have to pay for faster growth,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Delhi was smothered under a thick blanket of smoke on Monday, December 15, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) settling at 498, falling into the higher spectrum of the ‘severe’ category.

It was published – 15 December 2025 11:48 IST