A Detailed Analysis of Air Pollution in India: Causes and Solutions

This essay examines the pervasive issue of air pollution in India, highlighting the escalating challenges posed by industrialization, urbanization, and unsustainable agricultural practices. It analyzes vehicular pollution, the use of low-quality fuels, and crop residue burning as primary causes, emphasizing their detrimental effects on human health, ecosystems, and agricultural productivity. The essay further discusses the corrective measures initiated by Indian authorities, including stricter regulations, cleaner fuel introduction, and subsidies for electric vehicles. It recommends raising public awareness and promoting nuclear energy alongside renewable sources to mitigate the adverse impacts of air pollution effectively. Desklib provides this essay and many more resources for students.

Running head: AIR POLLUTION IN INDIA
Air pollution in India
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
Air pollution can be termed as one of the major and most common challenges for the
current global scenario. This is due to the reason that increases in industrialization and
urbanization is causing huge emission of different kinds of pollutants in air. In addition, it should
also be noted that increase in urbanization is also leading to the exploitation of natural resources
such as fossil fuels. However, different regions are having different major sources of air
pollution and measures are being initiated accordingly (Shah et al., 2013). It is also reported in
different international reports that even though developed countries are the major source of air
pollutants but in the recent time, developing countries are rapidly coming up as the key
contributor of air pollutants. Furthermore, developing countries are also less effective in
initiating corrective measures for the air pollution as the developed countries. This is causing
adverse impact not only on the environment of the particular country but also on the entire globe
(Janhall, 2015).
In this essay, adverse impact of air pollution will be discussed from the perspective of
India due to the fact that India is the country with having the highest growth rate and a major
country facing the wrath of air pollution. This essay will also argue among the different causes
given by the authors regarding the pollution in India. In addition, this essay will discuss about the
causes for emergence of air pollution and what are the corrective measures being initiated. In
accordance to this, a few recommended steps will be discussed.
Causes of air pollution
One of the major causes of air pollution in India is vehicular pollution. This is due to the
reason of rapid economic growth of the country. With having huge growth rate, purchasing

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power of the customers is increasing and this is increasing the demand for vehicles. It is reported
that currently, India is the fourth largest automobile market in the world and this denotes the
increase in the number of vehicles in the country. According to Greenstone and Hanna, (2014),
vehicular pollution is one of the major sources of air pollution in India. In addition, it is also
being stated by them that India is having the favorable infrastructure for electric and other
cleaner fuel based vehicles like in the developed countries. This is also causing huge air
pollution. However, in this article, the authors blamed only the increase in the vehicle number for
the pollution but there are other countries with having more number of vehicles but having less
air pollution than India. This shows that not only the increase in vehicles but the lack of proper
infrastructure is contributing in air pollution (Langbroek, Franklin and Susilo, 2016).
On the other hand, it is also argued by Shrivastava, Neeta and Geeta (2013) that fuel used
by the vehicles in India is also responsible for the increase in air pollution. This is due to the
reason that quality of petroleum based fuel in India is low compared to some other countries.
Lower quality fuel is causing increased amount of air pollution from the vehicles. The view of
these authors is denoting that not only the increasing in number of vehicles but also the quality of
the fuel also is responsible for the air pollution from the vehicular transportation.
Apart from the vehicular pollution, unsustainable agricultural activities are also
responsible for the air pollution in India. According to Ravindra et al. (2015), agricultural
practices in India are not sustainable and scientific such as burning of the crop residue after the
cultivation. This is causing huge emission of pollutants in the air and further causing smog and
other impacts on the Indian metro cities. It should also be noted that the authors have only talked
about the burning of crop residue as the source of pollutants but huge amount of pesticides and

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chemicals are being used in the crops, which are also getting burnt and causing emission of
poisonous particles in the air.
Impacts of air pollution in India
One of the major impacts of the air pollution in India is on the human health. This is due
to the reason the harmful emission is getting inhaled by the human beings only. According to the
reports, Delhi, the capital city of India is the most polluted city in the world with having the air
quality as severe. According to Lelieveld et al. (2015), these pollutants in the air are causing
health disorders such as premature mortality, cancer and asthma. According to the reports, more
than 2 million children from Delhi are having lungs problem due to the continuous inhalation of
polluted air. In addition, it is also stated by the authors that the average life expectancy rate of
India is getting affected due to the adverse impact of air pollution and this is more evident in the
metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
Rizwan, Nongkynrih and Gupta (2013) stated that air pollution is also reducing the
immunity of not only the human being but also for different other species. Thus, the adverse
impact of the air pollution is not only on the human beings but also on the entire ecosystem. On
the other hand, it is also being stated by them this impact will not have national effect but the
entire world will face the consequences and already majority of the global population are
suffering from health disorders due to air pollution. Burney and Ramanathan (2014) stated that
apart from the health disorders, vegetation and agricultural productivity also getting hit by the air
pollution. This is due to the reason that increase in the air pollution is increasing the average
global temperature and contributing in global warming. This is affecting the agricultural

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activities and will lead to food shortage in the future. In the case of India, this situation will have
more impact due to the huge population in the country.
Corrective measures initiated
There are number of actions being initiated by the Indian authorities in fighting against
the air pollution. This is further amended according to the current state and situation of the
Indian cities (Gulia et al., 2015). This includes stricter regulations for the industries and vehicles.
In addition, the government also initiated to introduce cleaner fuels in the market along with
introducing alternative fuels such as CNG (Sharma et al., 2013). This will help in reducing the
vehicular pollution significantly. Government of India also initiated the FAME scheme under
which electric and hybrid vehicles are subsidized and this will further motivate the buyers to buy
electric vehicles (Sierzchula et al., 2014). Public mass transportation such as rapid transport
system are getting developed, which will reduce the use of personal vehicles. Farmers are also
given subsidy and support in availing newer technologies and reducing the emergence of air
pollution from agricultural activities.
Recommended measures
It is identified that there are number of preventive measures being initiated already but
these are not enough due to the reason that all the schemes initiated will have long term impacts
and thus short term planning is also required. It is recommended that people should be made
aware about the ill impacts of the air pollution. This is important due to the reason that a
considerable amount of pollutants in India is emerged due to the unsustainable lifestyle of the
people. Thus, the major population should be made aware only to have a significant impact on
the emission of air pollution. On the other hand, it is also recommended that nuclear energy

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should be promoted along with the renewable sources over thermal power plants. This will help
to reduce the burning of coal and reducing their emission. In India, thermal power is the major
source of power and electricity, which is causing huge amount of coal being burnt along with
pollution. Promotion of the nuclear energy will help to reduce this impact to a large extent.
Conclusion
Thus, this essay concludes that air pollution is getting bigger and amplified with time in
India and there is an immediate need of regulating this phenomenon. In this essay, different
reasons of air pollution in India are being discussed along with their major impacts. It is
identified that India is suffering from many ways due to the poisonous pollutants in the air
especially their metro cities. In addition, the preventive measures initiated by the government of
India are also discussed in this report. However, these measures do not have short term impact
and in accordance to that a few recommended steps are discussed in this essay.

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Reference
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