Vol. 6, Issue 10, Part M (2020)

Abstract
Air pollution contributes substantially to premature mortality and disease burden globally, with a greater impact in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. India has one of the highest exposure levels to air pollution globally. The major components of air pollution are ambient particulate matter pollution, household air pollution, and to a smaller extent ozone in the troposphere, the lowest layer of atmosphere. In India, the major sources of ambient particulate matter pollution are coal burning for thermal power production, industry emissions, construction activity and brick kilns, transport vehicles, road dust, residential and commercial biomass burning, waste burning, agricultural stubble burning, and diesel generators. Household air pollution is caused mainly by the residential burning of solid fuels for cooking and to some extent heating, the major types of which are wood, dung, agricultural residues, coal, and charcoal. Ground level ambient ozone is produced when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted from transport vehicles, power plants, factories, and other sources react in the presence of sunlight. Rapidly developing countries such as India face the dual challenge of exposures from both ambient and household air pollution. Evidence also suggests that air pollution is a major risk factor for disease burden. We found several previous studies that have estimated subnational variations in ambient particulate matter and household air pollution exposure in India and their contribution to deaths from various causes.