Air pollution in India UPSC

Air pollution in India

According to WHO, India’s air pollution, ranked among the worst in the world is adversely impacting the lifespan of is citizen, reducing most Indian lives by over 3 years.

Over half of India’s population-660 million people- live in areas where fine particulate matter pollution is above India’s standard for what is considered safe.

Environmental Performance Index, 2014, states that India is placed as the “bottom performer” on several indicators such as environmental health impact, air quality, water and sanitation and India’s environment health severely lacks behind the BRICS nations.

The Ganga and Yamuna are ranked among the world’s 10 most populated rivers.

The environmental crisis in India is many-sided and multifaceted which has to be addressed on different fronts and by a variety of different factors. We need to harness scientific and social scientific expertise to develop and promote eco-friendly technologies in construction, energy, water management, industrial production and transportation.

Why in news?

Very recently, the air quality of the capital turned poor as the wind direction changed to northwesterly triggering a steep increase in pollution levels.

Westerly and northwesterly winds bring dust from western regions as well as smoke due to burning of crop residue in neighbouring states such as Punjab and Haryana, to Delhi and the NCR.

Reasons for air pollution in India:

High dependence on coal for power: share of coal in power generation in India continue to be around 80%. Power plants with poor technology and efficiency continue to be the major source of pollutants like CO and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur.
High levels of poverty: Dependence on fuelwood and kerosene for the purpose of lighting and cooking leads to a high level of pollutants being released in the rural and urban periphery. Overexploitation of commons like forests, grazing lands and mindless deforestation reduces the natural capacity to absorb pollutants.
Poor governance: the issue of environment and pollution is still to get the policy priority it deserves. While agencies liked CPCB and SPCBs continue to be under-resourced and under-staffed, the multiplicity of the state authorities at the ground level leads to poor coordination, lax enforcement of rules and lack of accountability as seen in Delhi. Absence of environmental governance continues to be a major challenge.
Access to technology: India’s industrial landscape continues to be dominated by MSMEs which lack access to cleaner technologies. Agricultural waste burning is also the result of poor access to farm technologies.
Unplanned urbanization: haphazard growth of urban areas has led to the proliferation of slums and poor public transport has increased the burden of personal vehicles on the road. Landfills used for waste management also release pollutants in the air. The rapid urbanization of the recent years if left unmanaged will further exacerbate the problem.
Continentality: the problem of pollution in the landlocked northern states gets exacerbated due to unfavourable winds and the phenomenon of temperature inversion during winters.

Impacts of air pollution:

Health: the increased burden of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiac diseases, COPD etc. is the direct consequence of the rise in air pollution. It reduces the overall productivity of the nation and increases the healthcare burden especially on the poor.
Environment: pollution affects not only the health of humans but of the environment too. Birds and plants are affected by air pollution and phenomenon like urban heat island resulting from it.
Economy: increased healthcare costs, reduced productivity, diversion of resources towards responding to air pollution are some of the economic costs.
Politics: air pollution has caused major political conflict in the last few years, most prominent of which is the recurring conflict among Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

Solution for the ongoing issue

Green cover: increasing green cover, especially in the urban areas, must be an indispensable part of urban planning. Other initiatives such as afforestation, the greening of highways etc. must also pick up
Push to renewables: addressing the problem of intermittence by adopting smart grid technology, incentives for decentralised power production via biogas, rooftop solar and push to EVs.
The market for agricultural waste: the problem of crop burning can be resolved only through financial and technological support and incentives for farmers. Access to technologies like super seeder machines and the development of the market for crop stubble will push farmers to a cleaner method of waste disposal.

Measures to control air pollution:

Reduce traffic and vehicles.
Cut dieselization.
Scale-up integrated public transport.
Facilitate walking and cycling.
Put controls on other pollution sources.

Government initiatives:

National Air Quality Monitoring Programme: In India, the Central Pollution Control Board has been executing a nationwide program of ambient air quality monitoring known as National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). It is undertaken in India
To determine the status and trends of ambient air quality.
To ascertain the compliance of NAAQS.
To identify non-attainment cities.
To understand the natural process of cleaning in the atmosphere.
To undertake preventive and corrective measures.
The annual average concentration of Sox levels is within the prescribed NAAQS.
This reduction from earlier levels is due o various measures taken, including use of CNG in public transport in Delhi, reduction of sulfur in diesel and use of LPG instead of coal as a domestic fuel.
A mixed trend is observed in NO2 levels due to various measures taken for vehicular pollution control, such as stricter vehicular emission norms being partially offset by increased NOx levels due to use of CNG in urban transport.

Way forward:

Air pollution needs to be brought under control with urgent and effective action. Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of deaths globally and in the region, and air pollution contributes significantly to NCDs such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer.

Cleaning up the air we breathe will help prevent NCDs, particularly among women and vulnerable groups such as children, those already ill and the elderly.

We need a proactive policy spanning multiple years, and we need to act fast, local and through multiple agencies across multiple political parties to take the long view on air pollution.

The pragmatic approach should be taken to reduce pollution levels. Government has been working in the right direction by setting goals, signing Paris agreements etc.; to curb this menace but much more needed at the grass-root level to overcome this situation.

Air pollution does not recognise borders. Improving air quality demands sustained and coordinated government action at all levels.

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