Modi government ‘denies’ deaths due to air pollution: Jairam Ramesh

People walk near the Rashtrapati Bhavan shrouded in thick smog during the early morning hours after Diwali night in New Delhi on November 9, 2026. | Photo credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

As the post-Deepavali air in the Delhi Capital Region (NCR) deteriorated to “severe” levels on Monday (November 9, 2026), Congress spokesperson and former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh posted on social media platform X that the Modi government has been in “long denial” about the impact of air pollution in the country on mortality.

“The (Centre) has rejected, both in and out of Parliament, a number of studies on the grounds that they are not specific to India and that the impacts are not direct and cannot be clearly attributed,” Mr Ramesh wrote.

His comments were in the context of a joint report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and consultancy firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young), released in October 2026, which attributed 2 million deaths (about 22% of total deaths) in India in 2023 to air pollution.

“This is another wake-up call for the sleepy Modi government. Ease of doing business is fine, but ease of breathing is even more essential. PM2.5 has become a decisive killer in many parts of India,” the Congress leader said.

The FICCI-EY report titled ‘Clean Air, Healthy India’ argues that air pollution should not only be treated as an environmental problem but also as a major public health and economic problem. More than 660 million Indians, the report said, live in areas where annual fine particulate pollution exceeds the national standard, with an average loss of 3.5 years in life expectancy.

The report claims that pollution increases health care costs, absenteeism and lost work days, while reducing productivity even among people who continue to work. While the report acknowledges progress under the National Clean Air Program, it argues that the program’s emphasis on PM10 (particles with a diameter of 10 microns) needs to be complemented by explicit targets for PM2.5, precursor gas controls and health-related exposure indicators. It also emphasizes that the AQI (Air Quality Index) is a warning tool, not a pollution control measure.

Published – November 9, 2026 12:18 PM IST