By: Express News ServiceAhmedabad | Updated: January 12, 2026 06:52 AM IST 4 min readJNU professor Sangeeta Bansal speaks on air pollution in the Indo Gangetic Plains at the annual economic conference in Ahmedabad (Photo: JNU)The Indo-Gangetic plains suffer from the Valley effect because they are the sunken parts thus the pollution which is generated do not get dissipated, Professor for Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University Sangeeta Bansal said.She was speaking at the 7th annual Economic Conference at the Ahmedabad University on Saturday.“Geographic and topographical are reasons for the difference in concentration of ambient air pollution and concentration levels. Indo-Gangetic Plains suffer from the Valley effect because they are the sunken parts. On one side of these plains we have Himalayas and on the other side we have these ranges in the Deccan Plateau. This particular region gets sunken because of that the pollution that is generated here doesn’t get dissipated,” Prof Bansal said in her presentation, ‘Breathing (Not So Clean Air): Causal Evidence for Policy Design’.Make it more costly to operate in highly pollution-vulnerable areas so that firms are encouraged to relocate to less sensitive regions. Design the incentive structure so that when firms decide where to set up plants, they avoid locations with high pollution damageSangeeta Bansal, Professor for Economics at JNUShe suggested policy recommendations to incentivise emission reductions, including introduction of heterogeneous emission taxes(India currently does not have emission taxes) with higher emission taxes in regions more vulnerable to pollution, especially the Indo-Gangetic plain.“Use differentiated taxes to incentivise firms to reduce emissions and adopt cleaner technologies. Use regional tax differentials to influence plant location decisions. Make it more costly to operate in highly pollution-vulnerable areas so that firms are encouraged to relocate to less sensitive regions. Design the incentive structure so that when firms decide where to set up plants, they avoid locations with high pollution damage. Adopt concentrated regional policy actions. Focus stronger measures (including taxes and other controls) in high-pollution regions, where the health and welfare benefits of reduction are largest. These recommendations are meant to both reduce overall emissions and shift economic activity away from the most vulnerable and heavily polluted areas,” she said.Citing expected benefits, she added that to convince policymakers that expected benefits are large, even if there is modest reduction in PM 2.5. “Certainly overnight we will not be able to come to the WHO standard. We also find that these gains will be much larger in the regions that have higher pollution levels. That’s the Indo-Gangetic plain. And thus, the results suggest that concentrated policy actions are needed to address the pollution problem in India,” she said.There are various sources of pollution, which includes major sources like vehicles, coal fired power plants, industrial pollution, dust pollution and household consumption of biofuels. “So if we take measures to reduce pollution from these sources, of course there will be a cost, but we have estimated that expected benefits are large… Air pollution, we shouldn’t just think of it in terms of environmental goals. We need to include it in the health policy so when we talk about air pollution goals that should be integrated in health policy and not just in environmental,” she suggested.Story continues below this adShe briefed on the kind of air we are breathing, pollutants in it and how it affects the health and life of people living in the Indo Gangetic Plain, covering major parts of Northern India, including Delhi. The concentration peaks from October to about January and the difference between the North and South is also highest during those months, otherwise the concentration levels in South are lower than North, she said.QuoteStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:ahmedabad