Air pollution causes thirty percent premature deaths in India. The situation is getting worse by the day. While people are choking to death, in place of an urgent solution what we get is blame game
It was a monumental international shame when during the third test match between India and SriLanka, two Sri Lankan bowlers left the field. They experienced breathing problem due to poor air quality. The game was stopped twice and at one point of time, the visitors didn’t have enough fit players to even field. It probably happened for the first time in the history of a sporting event. But the situation is not new for people who live in Delhi. Every day they are breathing themselves to death.
Air pollution causes thirty percent premature deaths
A report by the Centre for Science and Environment says that air pollution causes thirty percent of premature deaths in the country. The CSE report “body burden: lifestyle diseases” estimated that India had more than twenty-two crores of chronic COPD patients and around thirty-five million asthma patients. The report also says that increase in PM 2.5 in the environment can also cause Alzheimer’s. The situation is getting worse by the day but the response is equally poor. Multiple agencies, the state government and the centre are at loggerheads trying to find fault with each other for the mess that the citizens of Delhi are in given the low-quality air.
Right to clean air
Every time one breathes in the national capital region, a thick cloud of smog goes in. India today is the global hotspot of air pollution and the national capital region is leading the pack. Data suggests that in India one in four premature deaths is caused by pollution. On an average, a citizen in Delhi is inhaling fifty cigarettes in a day due to pollution. The human cost of air and water pollution is immense. DipenderHooda, Congress MP, is planning to introduce a private member bill in the winter session of parliament. He says the pollution has killed more people in India than war, violence, smoking, hunger, natural disasters, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria put together’. Right to clean air must be a fundamental right of every citizen. But in the national capital region, the issue of pollution has become a football game in which every agency and government is putting the blame on each other for the mess.
The great blame game
Things have steadily gone worst from bad. It’s pretty clear that the present legal and administrative mechanism has failed to address the problem. Most of the times its the judiciary and executive that resorts to ad hoc measures when the situation reaches boiling point. The ban on the sale of firecrackers or occasional odd even formula are ad hoc measures but a comprehensive plan to fight the menace is nowhere in sight. What we witness on a daily basis is a blame game between various state governments and agencies entrusted with the task to address the issue. Citing lack of jurisdiction our elected representatives blame each other. The Delhi Chief Minister blames neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab for the situation in the capital. BJP blames AamAadmi party, someone blames Congress and the in the midst of these blame games the citizens suffers the most. A fresh approach is required and the first step should be to stop the blame game. The Twitter war between chief ministers must stop. The time has come that all those in the highest echelons of our democratic set up to join the ranks rising above politics to address the critical issue of air pollution. What is required is a joint working group that includes central government and the state governments with a clear mandate to propose and implement long-term solutions to address the hazardous levels of air pollution.
Success stories
We need to learn from success stories of the cities who tirelessly worked to get the air clean. Mexico City in 1992 was declared the most polluted city in the world by United Nations. But after years of work they have managed to bring down the air pollution level. The air quality index in the city now hovers in the 50-100 range. London had faced a similar crisis in the 1950s known as ‘great smog’. It led to a massive loss of lives forcing the British government to bring Clean Air Act in 1956 to turn things around. Beijing is another example where measures taken by the government have changed the life of its citizens. As the adage goes ‘where there is a will there is a way’. Do we have the will to fight the demon called pollution?
Steps in the right direction but implementation is a big question
A decision taken by the Petroleum Ministry to advance the introduction of BS-VI grade petrol and diesel in Delhi by two years to April 2018 to fight air pollution is a welcome and logical step. But the question is of implementation and doubts have emerged over its impracticalities. Sceptics say that this is a knee-jerk reaction and the government is just shifting the goal posts. The reason is that the proposed plan leapfrogs the stage of BS-V completely and directly switches to BS-VI. It took seven years for the entire country to switch to BS-IV. Are the oil companies equipped technically to deliver? The earlier plan was to introduce BS-VI in 2020. The other question is that if present automobile engines are not equipped to use the BS-VI grade fuel then the exercise would be ineffective. The step would fructify only if it is done in tandem with the rollout of BS-VI compliant vehicles. How is the government going to achieve this? We are still waiting to hear from them. Bharat Stage(BS) is a norm instituted by the government of India to regulate the vehicular air pollutants. The upgradation to BS-VI is likely to cost around forty thousand crores. Though it sounds a huge cost but is still not so big given the challenge at hand. The question is will automobile industry take the leap and make necessary changes to suit the new fuel in time.
Economics of clean air
To ensure the right to clean air for the citizens government has to act now. While vehicular pollution is one aspect of the problem, burning of crop residue in agricultural belt of Haryana and Punjab must be addressed urgently. New technology and machines must be provided to the farmers of these states so that they stop burning stubbles. One study suggests that a machine called ‘happy seeder’ can do away with the problem of crop burning. Even the cost is very low and it would be a fraction of forty thousand crore budget of agricultural ministry.
Prevention is better than cure. What we need today is both prevention and cure. The public outcry forces the government to act. What is required is that citizens must be vocal about demanding action on air pollution otherwise progress will continue to be slow. We need to create more platforms to address the issue and turn it into a movement. What is aptly clear is that blame game is not going to solve the problem. The economics of clean air will be a concerted effort of all stakeholders and the government and the executive have to join hands with the people to resolve the problem of pollution.