प्राणवायु · the breath of life
Air pollution is India's biggest environmental health risk. It is invisible on most days, it doesn't stop at city or state borders, and it affects everyone, from a newborn to a grandparent. The good news: we know where it comes from, how to protect ourselves, and what works to clean it up.
Read the AQI in ten seconds
India's Air Quality Index turns readings of up to eight pollutants into one number from 0 to 500. Click a colour band to see what it means for your health and what to do[6].
💨 Learn
What PM2.5 and other pollutants are, where they come from, why winters are worst, and what they do to the body.
Start learning →🛡️ Protect
A personal plan for any AQI: when to exercise, which mask works, how to size an air purifier, and myths to drop.
Protect yourself →🌳 Act
Pick everyday solutions, check your habits, take the pledge, report polluters, and volunteer with Praanvayu in your city.
Take action →
Our mission
For clean air. For life.
Praanvayu is a climate and public-health initiative working to reduce air pollution across India. Our goal is to bring the national average daily AQI below 100 within five years, and below 50 by 2035, so that everyone can breathe clean air.
We do this through awareness, citizen science, community action and working with local governments. This guide is where it starts.
Are you aware?
Eight random questions, including quick fact-or-myth checks, from a bank of . They change every time you load the page. The Learn tab explains the reasons behind each answer.
Understand air pollution
Learn about the air we breathe
Three short guides: what's in polluted air, where it comes from, and what it does to us. Pick one to start.
What's actually in the air?
"Air pollution" is a mix of tiny particles and gases. India's AQI tracks eight of them. The most dangerous is the one you can't see: PM2.5. Pick a pollutant to learn where it comes from and what it does.
How small is PM2.5?
Drawn to scale. A PM2.5 particle is about 30 times thinner than a human hair, small enough to slip past your nose and throat, deep into the lungs and into the blood[15].
What does a PM2.5 reading mean?
Slide to a 24-hour PM2.5 level to see its AQI category, how far it is above the limits, and a rough cigarette comparison. The cigarette figure is a way to grasp the scale of risk, not an exact equivalence.
India's standards vs the WHO guideline
The WHO's 2021 guidelines[1] are based purely on health evidence. India's 2009 standards[7] are legal limits, set several times higher. Both are in µg/m³.
The WHO also sets interim targets as stepping stones; India's annual PM2.5 standard of 40 µg/m³ is close to its least strict interim target (35). India's standards have not been revised since 2009: a review began in 2020, and in December 2025 a parliamentary committee asked the government to notify updated norms[29].
What causes air pollution?
There is no single villain. Nearly all of it comes from burning things: coal and other fuels in factories and power plants, fuel in engines, wood in chulhas, straw in fields, garbage on streets. Ammonia from farms and dust add more, and about a quarter of India's PM2.5 blows in from beyond its borders. Weather then decides whether it blows away or piles up.
The mix is changing. As LPG has reached most homes, household smoke has dropped from the top source to second place nationally, and industry is now the biggest source inside India[18].
Who adds what: the pieces of India's PM2.5
Each source's share of the fine particles (PM2.5) we breathe, adding up to about 100%. Switch between India as a whole and Delhi's own sources, then click a slice or a row.
What has changed
Explore each source
Click a source to see what it emits, how much it adds, what's being done and what you can do.
Every city's mix is different and changes with the season, which is why cities run source-apportionment studies. Pollution also travels: a large share of any city's PM2.5 usually comes from outside its borders.
Why winter nights are worst
Switch between the two scenes. The same emissions, very different air.
The pollution calendar
A typical year in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (Punjab to Bihar). Coastal and southern cities follow a milder pattern. Click a month.
Don't forget indoor air
🍳 Cooking
Frying and high-heat cooking release fine particles even on LPG. Use an exhaust fan or chimney, or open a window.
🪔 Incense, dhoop & coils
Agarbatti, dhoop and mosquito coils produce PM2.5. Use them sparingly and ventilate.
🔥 Chulhas & angithis
Wood, dung and coal smoke indoors can be many times worse than outdoor air, and coal heaters in closed rooms can cause deadly CO poisoning. Worldwide, household smoke was linked to about 29 lakh deaths in 2021, including over 3 lakh children under five[3].
🚬 Tobacco smoke
Second-hand smoke is one of the largest sources of indoor PM2.5. Keep homes and cars smoke-free.
🧴 Sprays & paints
Room fresheners, paints and some cleaners release VOCs. Choose low-VOC products and air out rooms.
🦠 Damp & mould
Leaks and damp walls grow mould that triggers asthma. Fix leaks and keep rooms dry.
What dirty air does to the body
Air pollution doesn't only cause coughs. Fine particles inflame the whole body, and the biggest toll is from heart attacks and strokes. Click a numbered spot on the body to see the evidence.
Who is most at risk?
🚨 When to get medical help
- Chest pain or tightness, or a racing or irregular heartbeat
- Breathlessness or wheezing that doesn't ease with your usual inhaler
- A child breathing fast, with ribs pulling in, or too breathless to feed or talk
- Headache, dizziness or confusion after using a heater or chulha in a closed room (possible CO poisoning: get to fresh air first)
This guide is educational and not a substitute for medical advice.
Practical steps for every AQI
Protect yourself and your family
You can't stop breathing, but you can cut how much pollution you breathe in by a lot: check the AQI, time your outdoor activity, clean the air indoors, and wear the right mask when it's bad.
Your action plan for today's AQI
Set today's AQI from the CPCB or SAFAR apps and choose who you're planning for.
😷 Which mask actually works?
| Mask | Against PM2.5 |
|---|---|
| Cloth or scarf | Low Fibres and gaps let most fine particles through. |
| Surgical | Low–medium Better filter, but loose sides leak. |
| N95 / FFP2 | High Filters ≥ 95% (N95) or ≥ 94% (FFP2) of fine particles when it seals. |
| N99 / FFP3 | Very high Filters more, but is harder to breathe through. |
Getting the fit right
- Use masks with two head straps and a metal nose clip; pinch the clip to your nose.
- Breathe out hard: if air leaks around the edges, adjust it. Beards break the seal.
- Replace when it's soiled, damaged or hard to breathe through.
- Masks aren't safe for babies under 2. Protect young children by limiting exposure and cleaning indoor air.
🏠 Clean the air indoors
- Close up on bad days. Keep doors and windows shut when AQI is Poor or worse; air out briefly in the cleanest hours.
- Run a HEPA purifier in the room you spend the most time in, usually the bedroom.
- Don't add to it. No indoor burning, smoking, incense or candles on smoggy days.
- Ventilate the kitchen with a chimney or exhaust fan while cooking.
- Wet-mop and damp-dust instead of sweeping, which kicks particles back up.
- DIY option: a MERV-13 filter taped to a box fan is a proven low-cost cleaner.
Purifier size calculator
Enter your room size to find the minimum clean air delivery rate (CADR) to look for on the box.
Myth or fact?
Click a card to reveal the fact.
From breathing it to fixing it
Take action for clean air
Clean air is a shared resource: no one can buy it just for themselves. Every source in Learn → What causes it can be cut, and each one needs people to change habits, speak up and organise. Start with yourself, then your street, then your city.
1 · Everyday solutions for cleaner air
Things one person or one household can do, grouped by where they fit in your day. Most cost nothing and many save money. Start with the high-impact switches, then browse by category and choose one or two to start this week.
One household's share is small; the same step taken across a colony or a city is not. The largest sources, industry and power plants[18], also need rules and enforcement, so reporting and speaking up matter as much as habits.
2 · Your clean-air habits check
Seven quick questions. There are no wrong answers, only next steps.
3 · Take the clean-air pledge
Tick the ones you'll commit to. Your choices are saved on this device.
4 · In your community
🏘️ Make your colony burn-free
Get your RWA to ban garbage and leaf burning, set up composting pits, and give guards and gardeners a number to call.
🏗️ Hold builders to dust rules
Construction sites must cover materials, sprinkle water and screen the site. Ask for it, photograph violations and report them.
🚌 Organise car-pools & walking buses
Shared school runs and office car-pools cut traffic and exposure. Push for safe footpaths and cycle lanes.
🍲 Clean kitchens next door
Help domestic workers, guards and nearby families access LPG through Ujjwala, and ventilate kitchens.
🌳 Green with care
Plant native trees and protect existing ones. Trees help locally, but they can't replace cutting emissions.
🎉 Celebrate clean
Organise cracker-free community Diwali, weddings and New Year with lights, music and food.
5 · Report pollution and speak up
- SAMEER app (CPCB): check hourly AQI and file complaints about garbage burning, dust, industrial smoke and more.
- Swachhata app (MoHUA): report garbage dumps and burning to your municipality.
- State Pollution Control Board: every state board takes complaints about factories, kilns and generators.
- Delhi-NCR: CAQM and the Green Delhi app handle complaints during GRAP periods[9].
- Write to your MLA, MP and ward councillor. Ask what your city is doing under NCAP[8] and where the money went.
- Read your city's clean air plan on the PRANA portal, and ask for progress reports.
- Use RTI to get data on monitoring stations, fines and enforcement.
- Vote and talk about clean air. When enough people treat it as an election issue, it becomes one.
6 · Find your local officials
Municipal helplines, ward offices and pollution control boards that handle garbage pickup (ghanta gaadi), open burning and dust complaints. Search by pin code or city, anywhere in India.
Ways you can help
Go to the source
Resources, references and glossary
Live data, official portals, health evidence and independent research for checking the air, going deeper, and verifying every figure on this site.
References
Numbers in square brackets across the site link here.