Who is accountable for the air I breathe?

Start with the monitor, place and time. A screenshot saying “the AQI is 250” is incomplete without knowing which station or aggregation it describes, when it was recorded and what data was available.

India’s National Air Quality Index converts pollutant measurements into a common index and category. The published framework includes eight pollutants and uses the worst available qualifying pollutant sub-index to represent overall AQI. It is not a simple average of pollutant concentrations. 1

Know what the category means, and what it leaves out

These are the published Indian category ranges, corroborated by the government’s explanatory concept note. They are a reference classification, not a set of live readings. 1 2

AQI is an index, not a concentration expressed in micrograms per cubic metre. Different pollutants also use different averaging conventions. Do not compare a short-lived reading, a daily average and an AQI value as though they were the same unit and time period. 1

The data asset accompanying this page deliberately contains no invented city readings and no conversion of a photograph into a pollution measurement.

A reading is not source attribution

A monitor can document pollution within its measurement scope. Identifying how much came from traffic, industry, construction or another source requires additional evidence. Seeing one smoky vehicle is not a calculation of its contribution to a city’s pollution.

Weather and missing or changed monitoring coverage are also questions to investigate before claiming that one policy caused an observed trend. A comparison should preserve stations, pollutants, periods and data completeness rather than select whichever screenshot looks most dramatic.

Separate monitoring from enforcement

The Central Pollution Control Board’s stated functions include national coordination, technical assistance and pollution-control advice. That does not mean one national dashboard is the office responsible for every local source or enforcement action. 3

For a specific complaint, identify the state pollution-control authority or other regulator and the body responsible for the particular activity. A construction site, municipal waste practice and industrial installation may involve different records and authorities. Verify the applicable local route rather than assuming one national template.

Useful questions concern the relevant permission or condition, inspection date, recorded non-compliance, action taken and follow-up measurement. A notice issued is a procedural event; it is not the same as proof that the source stopped polluting.

Document without inventing a measurement

Record the location, dates and observable activity from a safe public position. Keep a screenshot’s original station and timestamp. Describe smoke, dust or odour as an observation unless you have a measurement supporting a more specific claim.

Do not enter a hazardous site to collect evidence or use this page as individual medical advice. The civic task is to connect a properly described problem with monitoring and enforcement records, and then check whether the promised action occurred.