India Struggles to Contain Choking Air Pollution
While there are no official figures, most studies agree that India accounts for the bulk of the estimated three million people who die prematurely worldwide each year from pollution-related causes.
The World Health Organization lists the capital New Delhi as among the top 10 most polluted cities in the world, AFP reported.
Earlier this month a UN-backed study revealed a vast haze of pollution stretching across South Asia -- the "Asian brown cloud" -- was damaging agriculture, modifying rainfall patterns and endangering the population.
A study by the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), an independent watchdog, described India's urban centers as "lethal gas chambers" because of the amount of pollution.
According to another study done last year by a private environment watchdog, the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), the level of Respiratory Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) in India was almost five times the average level in the United States.
In the western city of Bombay, India's commercial hub, about 30 percent of RSPM was found to be due to vehicular pollution, 20 percent due to dust, 15 percent came from domestic fuel combustion, small industries, stone-crushing and refuse burning and around three percent from large and medium industries.
In New Delhi, where smog clouds virtually block out the sky almost every winter, about 70 percent of air pollution is blamed on vehicle emissions.
In a bid to improve the situation, India's Supreme Court has over the past two years tried to force public transport owners to switch to more environment-friendly fuels, but the move has not so far been completely successful.
Each time the court sets a deadline for a switch-over, drivers of around 10,000 buses and 60,000 auto-rickshaws and taxis go on strike to protest their inability to pay for the fuel conversion kits.