At India Gate in Delhi, people cover their faces as the air quality levels dipped in November. (file/Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey) At India Gate in Delhi, people cover their faces as the air quality levels dipped in November. (file/Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)

There is no conclusive data available in India to link air pollution with deaths or diseases, Minister of State for Environment and Forest Babul Supriyo told Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Supriyo said that besides environmental factors, an individual’s health is affected by food habits, occupational hazards, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity and heredity etc.

“There is no conclusive data available in the country to establish a direct connection of deaths/diseases exclusively due to air pollution,” he said.

Supriyo was replying to a question about the findings of ‘The Lancet Countdown Report 2019’, according to which more than five lakh people have died in India due to air pollution in 2016.

The report said that over 97,000 of them died after being exposed to pollutants from coal burning.

The minister also said that an analysis of ambient air quality data from 2014 to 2018 showed that most of the cities were “within the national standards with respect to parameters of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide”.

“With respect to PM10 and PM2.5, 18 and 12 cities, respectively, showed a decreasing trend,” he said.

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