4 min readOct 28, 2026 06:14 AM IST First published on: Oct 28, 2026 at 06:14 AM ISTAfter serious heatwaves and deadly deluges, it’s time for toxic air to afflict lives and livelihoods in India. Again, till the cycle is forgotten. This seasonal amnesia consistently collides with a revealing policy paradox. In September, the Union government’s latest Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan rankings were released. Lucknow was crowned India’s best-performing million-plus city. The city deserves credit: Its annual average PM10 levels have fallen from 253 micrograms per cubic metre in 2017-18 to around 135 today. Even then, this is more than double the national safety standard of 60. The country’s capital highlights an equally serious malaise: A recent analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air reveals that Delhi has had no appreciable improvement in its winter air quality over the last four years, despite pollution-control measures and activities under the Graded Response Action Plan. Are we missing the wood for the trees?Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan assesses administrative activity — sweeping roads, managing waste, paving sidewalks and preparing action plans. Actual reductions in particulate matter account for just 2.5 per cent of a city’s total score. A municipality can follow procedures, earn national accolades and still have dangerously polluted air.AdvertisementThis is the blind spot in India’s clean-air strategy. Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), India has improved its ability to design programmes, allocate budgets and track municipal action. But its policy framework has failed to account for the economic cost of delays in delivering clean air. An assessment by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, Hidden Assets, offers a way to understand this cost. South Asia bears the world’s heaviest economic burden from air pollution, losing the equivalent of 10 per cent of regional GDP annually through reduced productivity and healthcare costs. Every rupee invested in a package of 25 climate and clean-air measures could yield an estimated Rs 21 in economic and health benefits. The returns include lower hospital bills, fewer missed workdays and improved productivity, alongside the economic value of lives saved and years of healthy life preserved. Even when non-market benefits are excluded, the report estimates a global return of Rs 4 for every rupee invested.If Delhi and the NCR meet national air quality standards on schedule from 2026, their cumulative PM2.5 exposure burden could fall by 20 per cent by 2040. An eight-year delay, reflecting the study’s global average, would halve that reduction. Delayed implementation does not merely postpone benefits; it destroys them. A filter installed in 2034 cannot clean the air a child breathed in 2026, nor can a delayed electric bus fleet recover lost workdays or school attendance.Why do we lose this time? The study identifies institutional fragmentation as a major obstacle across developing nations. Air pollution results from transport, electricity generation, industry, waste management, agriculture and household cooking. These fall under different ministries, departments and urban agencies. When clean air is treated as the responsibility of environment departments alone, coordination suffers, deadlines slip and accountability diffuses.AdvertisementIndia has shown that it can manage complex transitions when responsibilities are clear. The expansion of rural LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and the growth of solar power demonstrate its capacity to deliver at scale. Clean-air policy, however, cannot depend on emergency measures and disconnected schemes. As the government considers NCAP 2.0, it must change how success is measured. Clean-air spending should be judged by how much human exposure it reduces, how quickly relief reaches people and which agency faces consequences when deadlines are missed. Central grants and Finance Commission transfers should reward sustained reductions in pollution exposure.you may likeAir pollution’s costs are well understood, as are many of the solutions. India’s clean-air policy needs not another list of measures, but a stopwatch.The writer is director, India Programme at the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development