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Toxic air suffocating New Delhi

October 25, 2018 | Expert Insights

Asia’s largest economy, China, has long had a reputation for smoggy skies. But these days, neighbouring India is fighting a far bigger battle with pollution: The South Asian country is home to the world’s 10 most polluted cities.

Background

Pollution is described as the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment. Pollution often leads to adverse changes in the environment. It can be chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. The onset of urban pollution began with the burning of coal and wood. It was the Industrial Revolution that began in the 18th century that gave birth to environmental pollution as we know it in modern times.

Air pollution can be defined as the presence of toxic chemicals or compounds in the air, at levels that pose a health risk. Most often it is caused by human actives such as mining, construction, transportation, industrial work and so on. Since 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) has tracked air quality to measure its effect on heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, and other respiratory illnesses. China and India each had 1.1 million air pollution-related deaths in 2015, accounting for half of the world’s total air pollution deaths that year.

Analysis

A US-study has estimated that India and China together account for more than half of global deaths due to air pollution. According to the study, the increasing exposure to air pollution combined with an ageing population has led to India rivalling China in health burden from bad air. The report states that China’s PM2.5 pollution levels have started stabilising and people’s exposure to particulate pollution has also started declining but meanwhile, it’s on a steep rise in India.

India has long struggled to pull together the type of coordinated national approach that’s helped China reduce pollution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is now pushing new initiatives that are looking towards curtailing hazardous air quality. But any gains would have to be enough to override other facets of India’s rampant growth, from the dust left by thousands of new construction sites to exhaust emissions from millions of new cars.

If strict policies to battle smog were successfully implemented, India’s citizens and the government would be much richer. By the World Bank’s calculations, health-care fees and productivity losses from pollution cost India as much as 8.5 per cent of GDP. At its current size of $2.6 trillion, that works out to about $221 billion every year.

“The major challenge is that people are not consistently demanding improvements in air pollution, as happened in China,” Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, said. “This is because the extent to which air pollution is causing people in India to lead shorter and sicker lives is not yet fully recognised.” However, after two decades of expansion that reshaped the global economy, China is orchestrating a shift to less-polluting services and consumption. So, while its cities still see smoggy days, they’ve also seen improvements.

Prime Minister Modi’s government has also promoted solar power, improved emission standards and handed out millions of cooking gas canisters to reduce kitchen fires inside homes. Officials have also tried to ban farmers from burning crops. But environmentalists are still waiting for more concrete targets from a national clean air plan that has yet to be officially launched.

In the coming weeks, the Modi government’s policies on pollution will be put to the test as winter descends on the dusty plains of north India. Crops are burned during this season and millions of fireworks go off during the Diwali festival, usually pushing air pollution to hazardous levels.

Assessment

Our assessment is that this is an alarming red flag for India to take effective actions against air pollution that aggravates each year. The country would have to continue adopting indigenous and modern energy efficient technologies that would swiftly reduce the impact of pollution in most regions of the country. We also feel that, while overall economic growth is being overshadowed, the reliance on green energy would have to increase to provide access to cleaner air and a healthier population.

We believe that market-based instruments having a larger role, such as pollution tax and tradeable pollution permits, could help curtail the growing environmental costs. Reducing emissions from coal-based power plants would offer the largest potential for air quality improvement. We also understand that India has a long way to go in order to achieve clean and sustainable air quality. Hence, it is imperative that the government implements tried and tested programs that will curb air pollution not only in Delhi but across the country.