Tackling NCR's air pollution needs sustainable focus, not quick fixes

For over two decades now, the National Capital Region’s (NCR’s) air pollution and alarming Air Quality Index (AQI) numbers have consistently garnered attention by October each year. The media carries front-page reports and television discussions. Hospitals report a sharp spike in pulmonary diseases. And reports on the most polluted global cities sees Delhi take the top spot.

 

Politicians get into the act, squabble over the possible causes of air pollution and play the blame game. Delhi and its neighbours — Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab — point fingers at one another. Stubble burning by farmers, vehicular emissions, and construction work are all blamed.

 

A great many measures are announced by state governments — from banning firecrackers in Diwali to allowing cars with odd- or even- number plates on specific days of the week. Construction work is often halted for days, weeks, or even months.

 

None of these measures are permanent solutions, nor are they implemented particularly well. NCR residents, cavalierly ignoring the worsening air quality and its effect on the health of their families, flout the cracker ban. Vehicular traffic and its attendant emissions do not go down much either. Air purifier sales shoot up, while citizens who cannot afford these expensive consumer durables resign themselves to suffering through another winter of bad air. This continues until the air quality improves with the arrival of summer — and then the monsoons. However,  it’s important to note that pollution levels only recede slightly in these better months. While air quality may fall below danger levels, pollution remains.

 

The problem is that Indian policymakers tend to see NCR’s worsening air quality as a geographically localised, seasonal event. They also do not calculate the long-term health and economic impact of the serious air pollution that citizens have to bear for many months, year after year.

 

Policymakers tend to focus on quick fixes rather than long-term solutions. They overlook that winter air pollution is just one aspect of the broader issue of global warming, emissions, and environmental degradation that needs a big-picture approach and a concerted joint effort, with the Union government and the state and local governments working together.

 

Annual data on air quality invariably shows that the worst affected by winter air pollution are spread across the Indo-Gangetic plain, not just in India but also in Pakistan. While nothing can be done about the policies to tackle pollution being followed by our neighbour, much can be accomplished if the Union government and the states work together, despite their differing political dispensations.

 

Most importantly, policymakers need to understand what ignoring the problem leads to — reduced life expectancy, increased infant illness and mortality, higher medical debt for the poor, productivity losses that hinder economic growth, and other related issues.

 

The strategy to improve air quality needs action on two fronts — reducing emissions and improving the quality and quantity of carbon sinks/carbon capture systems. (Carbon sinks are a misnomer; studies show that effective carbon sinks not only tackle CO2 but also significantly reduce sulphur dioxide and other pollutants).

 

Solutions are available, and countries ranging from Colombia and Mexico to South Korea and Ghana provide successful case studies from which they can take tips. There are many practical means available to reduce emissions, provided there is the will for joint action in areas such as power generation, manufacturing, construction activity, and vehicular emissions.

 

In all cases, the solutions are well known. Ensuring that thermal power plants are taking steps to reduce emissions initially — and then over the long-term replacing them with renewable power production is one step. Ensuring a reliable power supply for all, even from thermal power plants, is preferable to relying on diesel generators at a local level, as factories and affluent residential areas often do due to frequent power cuts. Accelerating the adoption of rooftop solar is another important step, especially as the Union government plans to offer incentives.

 

Vehicular pollution is primarily caused by inadequate and unreliable public transport, badly planned and built roads, and bad urban planning. In most Indian cities, vehicular pollution is primarily caused by traffic jams resulting from poor road planning. The absence of cycle lanes and pavements adds to the emissions. Reducing traffic jams will reduce traffic emissions as well. Ensuring that manufacturing facilities comply with emission and pollution norms, rather than discharging pollutants into the air and water, will be another big step.

 

Carbon sinks, both natural and manmade, can dramatically reduce emissions and improve air quality. Natural carbon sinks like forests, green cover, and large clean water bodies have been overlooked for too long. Trees can absorb significant amounts of emissions while also lowering summer temperatures, which in turn helps reduce emissions. Clean water bodies — rivers and lakes — can also absorb a lot of carbon. This is where cleaning the Yamuna pollution can help.

 

Thermal power plants and other thermal-powered manufacturing facilities can build artificial carbon sinks — such as carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration systems.

 

The problem is not that solutions do not exist. The issue is that policymakers rarely realise the negative impact of winter air pollution (and summer heat). And even when they realise it, they seldom do anything about it. 

 

The author is former editor of Business Today and Businessworld and founder of Prosaic View, an editorial consultancy