Vaibhav, A very valid study and important aspect you have shared!
Few days back another study that was conducted in the metro cities of India had pointed out that Delhi has 3 times the number of cars than all the other metros. So, it was bound to happen that where there is more pollution, the air that me, you, our families and kids inhale is excessively poisonous.
When we as educated citizens living in Delhi-NCR think of using car pool as a viable solution then the ego comes up i.e why should I follow someone else's timing? hence, we prefer our personal transport.
If a census is conducted this year, under which we need to find the exact number of passengers travelling per car then we'll have most people in category of one person in a car i.e A single person driving in a car.
As a matter of fact, all these MNC's located in Gurgaon and Noida should start a system of providing buses to their employees just like Samsung and others do and promote usage of metro rails then I feel the number of cars in Delhi shall reduce and the air shall get cleaner and healthier.
I have been staying in Noida since 1989 and have seen the development of Noida in front of my eyes and grew up here. Just 5 years back around 2009, Noida was such a beautiful scenic township with such clean places and now the influx of road traffic has increased manifolds which ultimately has led to environmental damage to a great extent. It has rather become so much difficult to walk on roads these days.
Another major reason of poor quality of air here are the generators which you can find outside shops, restaurants, factories etc. They are one of the biggest hazards for citizen and even in many schools there are gen-sets.
According to me there is no solution to this decade old problem. Even if the government thinks of the betterment of the citizens, there are people of odd mentality who give 2 hoots to their endeavor.
It will not be a surprise, if people living in Delhi are diagnosed with air-borne allergies and lung diseases simply because of poor quality of air. What I feel is that there is not only one reason that is responsible for poor quality of air rather there are many which probably we lesser mortals can't even think of.
As the government is planning to ban the 15+ year old commercial vehicles, I feel this can be a major step in improving the prevailing conditions. The atmospheric pollution can be controlled to a great extent.
Regards
Akash