Key Points
Indias air pollution standing, in the recently issued 2023 edition of the World Air Quality Report should have been an important national election issue, but it is not..
As everywhere in the world, air quality is location- specific and therefore assigned to state or local governments..
Even so, having 42 Indian cities (splayed over 10 states) among the 50 most polluted cities in the world clearly shows that the problem of air quality neglect is a pervasive national issue..
The 15th FCs air quality conditionality targeted only cities/urban agglomerations with one million population or more (called the million-plus challenge fund, MCF, because it posed a performance challenge)..
For an MCF city to meet the conditions for 100% of its allotment in 2023-24, it would need to have shown a 15% reduction in particulate matter relative to an agreed base year benchmark, and a 15% increase in the number of days of better than moderate air quality (less than AQI of 200), also similarly benchmarked..
