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NEW DELHI - Cool-season winds and burning fields unleash an annual scourge of toxic air that kills tens of thousands of Indians a year, say researchers, urging tighter air quality standards to save lives.

About 7.2% of all deaths in India are attributable to a daily exposure to small and hazardous known as PM2.5, according to a July study by The Lancet.

This equals about 92 deaths a day in India, which ranks among the world's worst nations when it comes to air pollution.

The British medical journal analysed 10 big cities in India - including New Delhi, IT hub Bengaluru and the nation's financial capital Mumbai - between 2008 and 2019.

The study found that 33,627 people died each year across all 10 hubs due to air pollution.

A concentration of PM2.5 particles can penetrate deep into the lungs, risking deadly cardiovascular disease and cancer.  

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that average daily readings of PM2.5 should not exceed 15 micrograms per cubic metre more than three or four times a year.

Yet India permits concentrations of up to 60 micrograms - four times the recommended limit.

The study found that air pollution levels in many parts of India routinely , as well as exceeding the country's own "less stringent" limits.

While the highest number of deaths from short-term exposure to pollution were in Delhi and Mumbai, even cities with relatively good air quality - such as Chennai and Hyderabad in the south - saw significant loss of life, it showed.

Researchers urged India to revise its limits, even if their findings were often met "with relative scepticism by policy makers because they are not based on studies from India".

They said current plans, including an anti-pollution programme to reduce toxic air,

(Reporting by Annie Banerji; Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths.)