‘No country is bound to follow the air quality ranking’ – Government, know why questions are being raised regarding air quality?

On behalf of the Government of India, it has been said in the Parliament that there are many organizations in the world which give ranking of air quality. Air quality guidelines from WHO are only advice, no official ranking is issued regarding air quality. In such a situation, no country is forced to accept them. The government says that every country makes its own standards keeping in mind its needs, geographical location and circumstances.

Environment Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh said this while answering a question in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Environment Minister said that the government does not make policies on any kind of external report. Let us tell you that for the last few days, questions are being asked continuously on the declining air quality of India.

WHO only gives advice: Government

Questions are also being raised on social media about India’s pollution and falling ranking in air quality and weather management. Regarding this, the Minister of State says that the purpose of WHO’s guidelines is to help countries in making their own standards keeping in mind their geography, environmental conditions, background level and national circumstances. India has already formulated National Ambient Air Quality Standards keeping in mind the protection of public health and environmental quality. This organization works on 12 standards. However, during this time the Minister of State made it clear on behalf of the government that till now there is no global authority which officially provides ranking to the countries. WHO only gives advice.

Why is this issue arising?

Let us tell you that in the recent past there has been a discussion about India’s Air Quality Index. The names of 13 Indian cities have been included in the top 20 polluted cities of the world, on which many types of questions were asked to the government on social media. These cities include Delhi, Mullapur, Faridabad, New Delhi, Gurugram, Loni, Sriganganagar, Burnighat, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Muzaffarpur, Hanumangarh, Noida. Although the government has said that even though India is ranked ninth in the Global Climate Risk Index, it does not recognize any external ranking as a basis for making domestic policy. The government says the Global Climate Risk Index ranks countries based on the human and economic losses from extreme weather events, and estimates of economic losses from extreme weather vary.