Minister of State for the Environment, Mahesh Sharma, has contradicted the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s findings that polluted air inside households, generated from burning fossil fuels for cooking, lighting and heating, contributed to the death of about 67,000 children below the age of five in India in 2016.?
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Sharma said that estimates of mortality and morbidity attributable to environmental pollution released by the WHO are based on ¡°models, simulations and extrapolations."
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?¡°¡There is no conclusive data available in the country to establish direct correlation of death/disease exclusively due to air pollution,¡± he said.
¡°Health effects of air pollution are synergistic manifestation of factors¡,¡± the minister said.
Replying to another question, Sharma said the number of days when pollution level in the Delhi was in the ¡®poor¡¯, ¡®very poor¡¯ or ¡®severe¡¯ category is down to 191 this year from 199 last year.
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The number of days when pollution level was ¡®good¡¯, ¡®satisfactory¡¯ or ¡®moderate¡¯ in the city this year ¨C up to December 16 ¨C was 159 as compared to 151 last year during the corresponding period, the minister stated.
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He further said that the measures taken or being taken by the government to control the increasing pollution level and improve the air quality, inter alia, include notification of the Graded Response Action Plan for different levels of air pollution in Delhi and NCR.