The new IQAir report states that no city in India could meet the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standard in the year 2021. According to the report, Delhi’s air is the most toxic of all the world’s capitals and 63 of the world’s top 100 polluted cities are in India. Obviously, this report prepared by studying cities around the world is quite special. Now we are not only studying the trends of air pollution, but also the policies that governments have been adopting against air pollution.
But there is another side to this picture as well. This report shows that there has been a significant increase in pollution in 2021 as compared to the year 2020. Delhi’s climate has become more polluted by 15%. But the truth is also that in 2020 we witnessed a long lockdown due to the Corona epidemic. There was a sharp drop in the pollution level across the country due to the ban on economic activities and no load of vehicles on the roads. That is why, when the exercise of opening up the economy began, many analysts had speculated about an increase in pollution. The IQAir report confirms this. However, when we look at the trend from 2016 to 2020, it shows that the pollution level in Delhi has come down. This means that the long-term trend of pollution is showing a decline. Therefore, on the pretext of this new report, it should also be considered that how to control the level of pollution that we are seeing in 2021 due to the smooth functioning of economic activities?
Clearly, we have to make such plans, which prove to be successful on the ground. Such efforts are being made in various fields, but still there are many such holes, which need to be filled. First of all, work should be done to control the pollution caused by vehicles. For this, not only will public transport have to be increased in a big way, but a strategy will also have to be adopted to reduce private vehicles on the roads. The good thing is that governments have become serious about electric vehicles. The Delhi government has set a target that in 2024, 25 percent of all vehicles on the roads should be electric. We have to achieve this goal. Subsidies on electric vehicles can play an effective role in this.
Similarly, we have to change the fuel being used in industrial units. The use of fossil fuels like coal has been stopped in Delhi. As such, expansion of natural gas is necessary. The faster the industry is attracted to clean fuels, the faster the carbon emissions in the environment will be reduced. We also have to work prominently on waste management. There should be better disposal of garbage, efforts should also be made that they can be used again. However, merely working in the national capital will not work. We will have to implement the plans in the entire NCR with the same strictness as is required in Delhi. It has to be understood that there is no administrative limit to pollution. If pollution continues to increase in the surrounding areas of Delhi, then the air of the national capital will also not remain clean. All the partner departments of NCR will have to work together in this direction.
Air pollution depends on many factors. Every country has different geographical and climatic conditions. They have a great impact on pollution. This is the reason why pollution levels in India are comparatively higher in the Gangetic plains and North Indian cities, whereas pollution in South India or the Northeast of the country is not as disturbing. Therefore, while making a strategy for clean air, we should take special care of the geographical and weather conditions at the local level. Glad that the government has started work on the policy front. In the year 2019, the National Clean Air Program was launched across the country, which aims to reduce pollution by 20-30 percent by the year 2024. For this 132 cities have been identified. Apart from this, many different schemes are being run in Delhi-NCR as well. That is, work is being done across the country at the planning stage, so we have to make efforts for their implementation. It has to be seen how much resources we have put into this, or how much our institutional capabilities are increasing. After seeing the fate of many previous schemes, it is understandable that unless such programs are not supported at the political level, they do not become meaningful.
Our regulators tell that pollution is increasing in the country, is decreasing, and there are mixed trends. That’s why we should think more not on the problem, but on the solution. They get public support by discussing schemes in public forums. Without increasing the understanding of the public and the government, we cannot fight against pollution. It also means that pollution is undoubtedly increasing across the country, but we have to involve common people to create and implement the kind of plans that are needed to control it.
Of course, we should increase public awareness on the problem, but there is a need to spread more awareness about its solution. And, for this, there is a need to promote public transport, provide clean fuel at affordable rates to the industry, discourage the use of private vehicles and special waste management. Only then will we be able to get rid of the toxic climate.
(These are the author’s own views)