Environmental Law and AQI Regulation in India: Legal Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Quantum Science
Main Article Content
Abstract
India’s escalating air pollution crisis, reflected in persistently high Air Quality Index (AQI) levels across major urban and industrial regions, has transformed environmental protection into an urgent legal and governance challenge. Environmental law in India—anchored in constitutional mandates, statutory frameworks, and judicial activism—has played a significant role in regulating air quality through instruments such as emission standards, monitoring mechanisms, and enforcement directives. However, the growing complexity of pollution sources, climate variability, and urbanization has exposed structural gaps in traditional regulatory approaches, including fragmented governance, delayed enforcement, and limited predictive capacity. In this evolving context, advances associated with quantum science and quantum-enabled technologies present new opportunities for strengthening AQI regulation and environmental governance. High-precision sensing, enhanced atmospheric modelling, and advanced data-processing capabilities derived from quantum computing and quantum sensing have the potential to transform pollution monitoring, compliance assessment, and policy design. These technologies can enable real-time detection of micro-pollutants, improve forecasting accuracy, and support evidence-based judicial and administrative decision-making. This study critically examines India’s existing legal framework governing air quality, highlighting key challenges in implementation, accountability, and institutional coordination. It further explores how emerging quantum scientific developments may intersect with environmental law, offering innovative pathways for regulatory reform, technological integration, and proactive pollution control. By situating AQI regulation within a forward-looking legal and scientific paradigm, the paper argues that aligning environmental jurisprudence with quantum-enabled innovation can enhance transparency, effectiveness, and resilience in India’s air pollution governance.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The license allows re-users to share and adapt the work, as long as credit is given to the author and don't use it for commercial purposes.
References
• Government of India. (1981). The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Ministry of Law and Justice, New Delhi.
• Government of India. (1986). The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Ministry of Law and Justice, New Delhi.
• Central Pollution Control Board. (2014). National Air Quality Index. Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.
• Central Pollution Control Board. (2009). National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
• Shyam Divan & Armin Rosencranz. (2001). Environmental Law and Policy in India: Cases, Materials and Statutes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
• Lavanya Rajamani. (2007). Public Interest Environmental Litigation in India: Exploring Issues of Access, Participation, Equity, Effectiveness and Sustainability. Journal of Environmental Law, 19(3), 293–321.
• Supreme Court of India. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (Oleum Gas Leak Case), AIR 1987 SC 1086.
• Supreme Court of India. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (Vehicular Pollution Case), (1998) 6 SCC 63.
• National Green Tribunal. (2015). Vardhaman Kaushik v. Union of India, Original Application No. 21 of 2014.
• World Health Organization. (2016). Ambient Air Pollution: A Global Assessment of Exposure and Burden of Disease. WHO Press, Geneva.
• United Nations Environment Programme. (2019). Air Pollution in Asia and the Pacific: Science-Based Solutions. UNEP, Nairobi.
• Bell, S., McGillivray, D., & Pedersen, O. W. (2017). Environmental Law (9th ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Jasanoff, S. (2011). Science and Public Reason. Routledge, London.
• Stern, N. (2007). The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Cambridge University Press.
• Rajamani, L., & Peel, J. (2019). Climate Change and Environmental Law: International and Domestic Dimensions. Oxford University Press.