Tackling air pollution is an economic imperative, not just a health crisis
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Even as air pollution chokes Indian cities, nearly ₹858 crore allocated by the central government for pollution control in 2024-25 remains unspent.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s 2025-26 budget proposes ₹300 crore for emergency pollution control measures and a new command centre to monitor air and water quality. These contrasting signals reflect a deeper truth: while the urgency is widely acknowledged, implementation often lags.
But pollution is not just an environmental issue. It is a growing economic crisis, which reduces productivity and disrupts livelihoods.
By 2047, India aspires to stand among the world’s leading economies. Achieving this vision will also depend on the health and productivity of our workforce. To date, there has been limited evidence on how pollution affects daily life and workforce participation.
From 11-13 November last year, at the peak of the pollution crisis, Artha Global’s Centre for Rapid Insights conducted a rapid survey of more than 8,600 individuals across the eight states of Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. We focused on three simple questions: whether respondents or their family members reported respiratory illnesses due to pollution, whether they or their children had missed work or school as a result, and what measures they took to cope with poor air quality. Overall, 55% of respondents said that they or a family member had experienced pollution-induced respiratory illnesses, with 34% reporting it as a “regular occurrence." In Delhi, 43% of respondents reported respiratory illness as a regular occurrence, as did 39% of respondents in Punjab and
. Read on livemint.com