Delhi’s Air

Clean air and healthy environment is a pre-requisite for well being of people. In the modernising world, urban expansion and industrialisation has been a rapid process. With industrial expansion and rapid urbanisation, clean air in cities has become rare phenomena. Though, Air Pollution has increasingly become an environmental health hazard over the years in India and the World.

The exposure to air pollution has put people at Risk of several kinds, of which health risk is the most prominent one. According to a report by World Health Organisation (WHO) on an estimate 7 million people die each year prematurely as a result of air pollution throughout the globe.

Meanwhile the world in present times desires to achieve Sustainability, Delhi’s unsustainable and deteriorating air quality is put under the scanner time and again. India is a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Goal three which calls to promote has targets directly linking to air pollution and health risk; and Goal eleven is about making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe and resilient wherein a specific target is being listed for reducing environmental impacts of cities which include reduction of levels of particulate matter in air as well.

Air Pollution in India has become an issue of national importance. Many urban and rural spaces to some extent in India have highly deteriorated air quality. Delhi, being India’s capital is top in the red list. Delhi has also been consistently part of Central Pollution Control Board’s list of Non-attainment cities list with respect to ambient air pollution. This paper is based upon the research conducted upon Delhi’s case of air pollution.

Delhi is a union territory and a sub-state, the federal complexities of risk governance of air pollution here has become a tedious task. Since there’s an underlined interface between the public health concern and governance of this health risk. Risk management here is of immense importance and hence governance comes into the picture through governance has become significant for this study. Air pollution in Delhi is not a contemporary cause of concern but has been now deliberated for long by various agencies.

Time and again various policy initiatives have been introduced by different governments and authorities to save the Delhi’s Air. This paper through its different sections tries to trace the evolution and structure of this governance process and analyses’ the same. Towards the end, various issues of concern for the air pollution governance in Delhi have been identified and few suggestions have been chalked.