Urban Noise Pollution in India: A Rights-Based Approach

• Urban noise pollution is a significant public health crisis in India, with decibel levels exceeding permissible limits, particularly near schools, hospitals, and residential zones.

• The National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network (NANMN) was launched in 2011 but has become a passive repository, with data scattered across dashboards and enforcement elusive.

• The issue lies in flawed sensor placement and lack of accountability, with available data remaining politically and administratively inert.

• In contrast, Europe has a robust policy framework for noise-induced illnesses and mortality statistics, with the annual economic cost of urban noise pollution estimated at €100 billion.

• India suffers from regulatory fragmentation and institutional silence, with Right to Information queries going unanswered and State Pollution Control Boards operating in silos.

• The lack of sustained public outrage stems from a normalisation of sonic aggression, with honking, drilling, and loudspeakers becoming ambient irritants.

• The Supreme Court of India reaffirmed that environmental disruptions, including excessive noise, can infringe upon the fundamental right to life and dignity under Article 21.

• A national acoustic policy akin to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards is urgently needed to define permissible decibel levels across zones, mandate regular audits, and empower local grievance redress mechanisms.

• The fight against urban noise is not just regulatory, but cultural, with cities cultivating a shared ethic of sonic empathy.

• Reforms should decentralize NANMN, link monitoring to enforcement, institutionalize awareness, and embed acoustic resilience in urban planning.

• Silence must not be imposed and must be enabled through design, governance, and democratic will.

urban sound pollution control is important topic for Civil service exam (WBCS).

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