The National Human Rights Commission on Friday issued notice to the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry over a recent international report that found life expectancy in India was being reduced by five years due to air pollution.
The NHRC took suo motu cognisance of media reports on June 15 citing a report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago that life expectancy in Delhi was being reduced by 9.7 years and overall in the country by five years.
“The Commission has observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, raise a serious issue of Right to Life,” an NHRC statement read. It asked for a report, including on the status of the National Clean Air programme launched in 2019, from the Environment secretary within four weeks.
The Commission expected the State authorities to take the issue with utmost sincerity in a time-bound manner, the NHRC said.
