Both cars and two-wheelers need to be brought under odd-even, says CSE

Vivek Chattopadhyaya, Programme Manager, Air Pollution Control Unit at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), talks to BT's Sarika Malhotra about Delhi's odd-even drive to combat pollution.

National air quality standards need to be met with a set timeline, which should be legally binding for cities. Each country under the EU is required by the Air Quality Directive to define "zones" and "agglomerations" to which the pollutant limits would apply. Article 13 imposes an absolute obligation on Member States to ensure that the limits and margins of tolerance for air pollutants are not exceeded in any zone or agglomeration after the deadline.

In Australia, all Australians have the same level of air quality protection. The standards are legally binding on each level of government. China has seen a great improvement in major air pollutant levels since the release of the action plan in June 2013, which marked the start of the national campaign against smog. China plans to reduce the concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing to 60 micrograms per cubic metre by 2017, down from 89 micrograms per cubic metre in 2014. Therefore, India should not be lax on poor air quality.