GS Paper 3
Syllabus: Environmental Pollution & Degradation
Source: DTE
Context: According to a study, India’s poor indoor air quality can impair cognitive development in children under two years when brain growth is at its peak.
Highlights of the study:
- Poor air quality in households that used solid cooking materials such as cow dung cake.
- Very small particulate fragments (PM 2.5) in the air are a major concern as they can move from the respiratory tract into the brain.
- Infants (<2 years) from these houses had lower visual memory scores and slower visual processing speeds.
- As children grow up in polluted environments, their developing organs and bodies are affected.
Impact: Long-term consequences for life → lower economic productivity → increased burden on healthcare and mental health systems.
Concerns for India:
- According to the State of Global Air 2020 report, over 116,000 infants in India died within a month of birth in 2019 due to air pollution, outdoor and indoor.
- Every third child in Delhi has impaired lungs making them vulnerable to metabolic diseases.
Recommendations: Since indoor air quality is linked to cooking fuels, efforts to reduce cooking emissions should be a key target for intervention.
Control measures:
- Public awareness
- Change in pattern of fuel use (PM Ujjwala Yojana, National Biogas and Manure Management Programme, GOBARdhan Scheme)
- Modification of design of cooking stove (Unnat Chulha Abhiyan)
- Improvement in ventilation
- Intersectoral coordination and global initiative
