Citing a FICCI-EY report that estimates nearly 2 million deaths in India in 2023 were attributable to air pollution, the Congress on Monday accused the Narendra Modi-led government of remaining in denial about the public health impact of pollution and called for a new Clean Air Act.Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said the government had repeatedly rejected studies linking air pollution to mortality, both in Parliament and outside, arguing that they were not India-specific and that the deaths could not be directly and uniquely attributed to pollution.He said the latest FICCI-EY report estimated that around 2 million deaths, accounting for nearly 22 per cent of the total deaths in the country, were attributable to air pollution in 2023.Calling the findings another wake-up call for the government, Ramesh said, “Ease of doing business is fine but ease of breathing is even more fundamental.”He said PM2.5 pollution had become a major cause of deaths across several parts of India.Ramesh said the country had a clear agenda for reform and cited the report’s 10-year roadmap for national action, stressing that its implementation should begin immediately.He called for tightening existing PM2.5 and ozone standards to bring them in line with the safety levels recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), besides revamping the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to focus on these pollutants.He also sought a new Clean Air Act centred on public health to replace the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, arguing that substantial new evidence had emerged on the sources of air pollution and their impact on public health.Questioning whether the government could dismiss the findings, Ramesh said the report had come from FICCI, the country’s leading apex industry body with a long and distinguished history.He said the findings should serve as a basis for immediate action on air pollution rather than becoming another study that the government could reject.