Javadekar said the WHO report had not factored in various key pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and benzene while analysing the air quality and wondered why Western countries focus more on India and other countries and not themselves.

The WHO report, based on 2012-13 data, was prepared after taking into consideration particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 and listed Delhi as the 11th most polluted city in the world. Environmentalists had sounded caution over the report, saying it does not give the right picture.

Javadekar said it was misleading to categorize the cities as polluted based on only PM 2.5, as there are eight other major pollutants that have adverse impact on health. “There is ozone pollution, benzene pollution, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide pollution among eight major pollutants. All have adverse impact on health. On each parameter, each pollutant, there are different cities in the world which are bad and good,” he said. The minister said the government will soon come out with air pollution data of major cities in the US and Europe and that sourcing their data would not be a problem. “We will come out with the statistics as people should know the whole picture. Otherwise, (making the report only) on PM 2.5 is misleading,” Javadekar told PTI in an interview.

“Every citizen has the right to have full knowledge. PM 2.5 is not the only pollutant. There are many cities in the Western countries as well which are suffering. So let citizens know that pollution problem is all over, in different categories and degrees,” he said. The minister said the government’s decision to publish pollution data of other countries is not to counter the report but to spread awareness.