Opinion
Air pollution hurts growth: Trying new ideas could make a difference
Summary
- It’s astonishing that India hasn’t yet addressed this annual crisis although it’s clear that it reduces the productivity of workers, the key to economic growth, and shatters the health of children. Can we learn from what other countries have done?
It astonishes sympathetic global observers that India, with its wealth of public policy experts, should be so inept at handling a major threat to the health and productivity of its population, afflicting not just Delhi, but the entire northern belt of the country in the concluding months of every calendar year.
In mid-November, Delhi achieved the distinction of being the world’s most polluted city by Swiss agency IQAir’s live rankings. Delhi had the top rank among polluted capital cities in the IQAir annual report for 2023.
If this is going to be an unsolvably predictable annual event, instead of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) responding behind the curve to close down construction sites and educational institutions and bar entry of trucks into the city, there should be a pre-announced construction shutdown at this time of year and a consolidated school vacation in November-December instead of separate holidays in summer and winter.
Also read: Pollution puts cats in distress, too
But the problem cannot be allowed to recur year after year as an outcome of political wrangling. Ajay Shankar, formerly in the power ministry in senior capacities, has presented a feasible plan for the farm fires problem, calling for payments to farmers for uprooting stubble, which can then be pelletized for use as fuel in power plants (Hindustan Times, 5 November 2024).
The fiscal cost would be far less than the cost in terms of growth and fiscal revenues of continuing to limp along as we presently do.
Air quality was a problem in Delhi much before farm fires became a seasonal contributor. In the 1990s, Delhi passenger transport buses converted to compressed natural gas (CNG), a move hailed as the ultimate solution. Many private cars and auto-rickshaws also converted to CNG cylinders.
The air did improve for some years before the pollution graph resumed its awful climb. Over the last two years, electric buses have replaced fuel-powered buses. But every time an electric bus passes by, it raises a cloud of dust that chokes pedestrians on the side of the road and adds to airborne particulate matter.
Rampant construction, with no controls on particulate emission, is bad for air quality. A number of low-rise government housing colonies are being replaced by high-rise apartments in central Delhi, involving demolition of earlier structures and deep scooping of earth for foundations.
Although these sites are surrounded by high boundary walls of corrugated sheets, that only raises the height at which the particulate matter diffuses into the general atmosphere. There is an urgent need for capturing the dust and cement powder emitted by demolition and construction.
Then there is vehicular traffic. There have been ad hoc measures from time-to-time, like alternating days for even-odd licence plates, instead of a consolidated plan for the number of new vehicles that can be permitted in the national capital region every year, and the manner in which this containment could be achieved.
Also read: How the North is shaping India’s ‘smog economy’
Emission reduction per car is not sufficient. Total emissions are determined by the number of vehicles on the road, stalled in traffic jams but still puffing (even if reduced) emissions into the air.
Singapore, a land-scarce city-state, levies an upfront fee for operating a car which at one time equalled the purchase price of a car. The upfront operating fee can be graded according to the square-foot area appropriated by the car, since that is a measure of city land appropriated by the car owner whether it is running or parked.
If such a levy did hypothetically become law in Delhi, car manufacturers need have no fear. They can look for sales in tier II and tier III cities. But the policy can only take effect if it is concluded with the acquiescence of car manufacturers, the kind of consultative policy that is so rare, unfortunately.
The Delhi Metro is hugely successful, but its users are typically young people who have been moved off buses, or at most two-wheelers in terms of private transportation. Not enough owners of private cars jump instead into a metro, unlike Western capital cities where even high-ranking officials travel to work using underground public transport.
The final trigger for end-of-year pollution is kicked off by the burning of Ravana effigies on Dussehra. Diwali firecrackers continue to be enabled by an unenforced ban. Firecracker sale outlets could easily be targeted, but they seem to have discovered survival techniques.
Aside from the pollution impact, there are the horrendous bodily injuries from firecrackers going off on different trajectories than those intended. There is a huge public stake in stopping this practice, since just about every family would know of at least one person who has suffered firecracker injuries, been blinded or worse.
Also read: India plans stricter quality standards to tackle air pollution
Why is pollution not an election issue? When pollution is on, there can be no protest marches because the problem itself precludes that. But other forms of protest are not seen or heard, even in state or municipal elections. What moves voters?
Policy in any sphere can be effective only when it is continually explained to the public at large, and its impact on their lives outlined in a manner that makes them shape their votes towards desired outcomes. Rage has to be replaced by understanding.
