What they continue to dispute is the evidence, whether air pollution can be directly blamed for disease, shorter lives or deaths. Also Read No conclusive data establishes direct correlation between higher AQI levels and lung diseasesIn November 2017, then Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan questioned global estimates that linked air pollution to large-scale mortality in India. The comment followed the Lancet Countdown 2017 report, which said air pollution claimed around 2.5 million lives in India in 2015, the highest in the world. In December 2019, then Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar told the Lok Sabha that there was no Indian study linking air pollution to a reduction in life expectancy. Javadekar dismissed the findings by questioning the data, arguing that there was no “first generation data” and that no primary data had been collected for the study.

Source: The Telegraph December 20, 2025 14:42 UTC