The skies are blue again but the toxic haze is never too far

Representative image

For Delhi, like most of north India, the middle of February is the time of change—winter is on its way out, trees are laden with a promise of spring and the air smells of fresh grass and blooming flowers.

The sky sparkles a healthy blue, cleansed of the toxic pollutants that envelope the national capital and its neighbouring areas for almost three months, if not more.

This is also the time that headline-dominating AQI, short for air quality index, takes a backseat but that doesn’t mean authorities lower the guard, say, environmentalists.

They should instead step up anti-pollution efforts to prepare better when the toxic haze returns later in the year, experts say, as they list some must-dos for the government.

The wishlist includes year-long on-ground action, better coordination between states, strengthening institutions for meeting targets, more teeth and financial muscle to executing agencies and technological upgrades.

"We cannot address the deadly winter smog unless we make a consistent effort to meet the national ambient air quality standards across all regions of the country,” Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director in charge of research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), told Moneycontrol.

Action on the ground

Air pollution is a year-long problem in the northern Indo-Gangetic belt but it rises to dangerous levels in winter as temperature falls.

A toxic haze of ultra-fine and hazardous particulate matter, which can cause respiratory problems, lung cancer, heart diseases and other ailments, turns the region into a “gas chamber”.

Vehicular pollution, burning of biomass, including crop residue, industrial emissions, dust from construction sites and firecrackers all add to the toxic cocktail.

Reports suggest pollution is also rearing its ugly head in the south, the Northeast and even Kashmir.

Vehicular emissions were one of the major causes of air pollution, said Roychowdhury, as she called for giving public transport and electric vehicles a big push.

“At least 80-90 percent of all motorised trips need to be on public transport, supported by walking and cycling infrastructure,” Roychowdhury said.

“There also has to be a proper pricing of personal vehicle usage and massive electrification of the vehicle fleet.”

The share of vehicular emission to overall pollution may differ with the location and the time of the year.

In Delhi, a CSE study found that vehicles contributed to more than 50 percent of the city’s pollution between October 24 and November 8, 2021.

Air pollution during summer and winter seasons. (Image: NW18 Creative)

Zero-tolerance policy

There was a need for decentralised and segregated waste management and recycling in each municipality to have a zero-landfill policy to eliminate the burning of garbage, another contributor to pollution.

Environmental activist Manoj Misra said it was time India declared zero-tolerance for industrial pollution.

“The practice of exemptions of any kind to select industries must end. Pollution is a health hazard and there cannot be any scope of profit-making by private or government establishments at the cost of life of any kind,” Misra said.

The Lancet Planetary Health report published on December 22, 2020 attributed at least 1.7 million deaths in India to air pollution in 2019.

Misra called for more teeth for waste regulation. “Segregation at source and recycling must become the norm and waste-to-energy plants need to be ended, being a source of pollution as they are,” Misra, who is also the convenor of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, said.

Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan is working towards reviving the Yamuna river, which has been reduced to a toxic drain laden with sewage industrial and domestic waste in and around Delhi.

To check dust pollution, Roychowdhury stressed on the need to link forest conservation, afforestation and soil stabilisation techniques with dust management.

“This regional and national agenda will have to be driven by sectoral targets, stringent regulatory compliance, and alignment of sectoral plans, policies and budgets with clean-air goals,” Roychowdhury said.

The contribution of waste burning and road dust varied between 4.6-4.9 percent and 3.6-4.1 percent, respectively, in Delhi during the same period, the CSE study said. Industrial pollution ranged from 9.9 to 13.7 percent.

(Image: NW18 Creative)

In rural areas, however, the contribution of biomass and farm-waste burning would be greater than vehicular pollution.

Shibani Ghosh, an environmental lawyer and fellow, Centre for Policy Research, said many environmental issues needed urgent attention at national and state levels.

“Measures that dilute environmental regulations and, in effect, reduce the level of scrutiny and impact assessment of projects need to be stopped,” Ghosh said.

Regulations should be aimed at improved environmental outcomes such as better air quality and increased cover of dense forests, Ghosh said.

“Ease of doing business cannot be the explicit—or implicit—goal of such regulations,” she said.

Capacity-building and funds

The government was setting ambitious targets but the institutional capacity to deliver was limited, said Chandra Bhushan, an environmental expert and CEO of the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology.

“Delivering capacity is not increasing and that is why we are lagging behind targets and this applies to both state and central governments,” Bhushan said.

“Strengthening the institutions to meet the existing targets is more important rather than setting a new target each time.”

The forest department and its infrastructure were incapable of meeting the land neutrality target. It was not possible to meet pollution targets with the present set of departments, Bhushan said.

“We need to build new institutions taking along civil society, research bodies and other people working towards these goals,” he said.

An overhaul of municipal governance would be the first step at the micro-level, experts said.

“Many of the things are done at the local level, for example, gram panchayat, civic bodies. We need to strengthen these as we need institutions that can deliver,” Bhushan said.

Upgrade knowledge

Echoing Bhushan’s views, Ghosh said airshed-level planning and implementation should be integrated with regulatory processes to meet air quality standards.

Ghosh was referring to areas with common or similar climatic conditions that have a bearing on pollution. Airshed-level planning means a common, coordinated plan that considers climatic factors affecting the air quality in the northern plains.

“Agencies such as the pollution control boards have to be strengthened. Vacancies have to be filled, and the leadership of these agencies has to be stable and competent,” Ghosh said.

The government should ensure that these agencies have access to the latest technology and expertise along with financial and functional autonomy to meet clean-air goals.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for the NCR and adjoining areas was a relatively new institution, Ghosh said. For it to function effectively, “it needs to build public trust, engage in stakeholder consultation, prioritise public health in its decision making and, finally, learn from its predecessor EPCA's experience”, Ghosh said.

In 2020, the 22-year-old Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) was dissolved to make way for CAQM.

Bhushan agreed on the urgent need for more financial teeth. “There is a need to develop investment and service sector mechanisms to enable global talent and money to come into India,” Bhushan said.

“Prabasi should be for outsiders also, and not just about getting Indians settled abroad,” she said, referring to events organised for the Indian diaspora.

India’s climate and pollution goals placed an enormous demand on institutions and it couldn’t be done without strengthening science for air-quality management, skills to design new-generation strategies and capacity to handle digitisation and big data, Roychowdhury said.

“Several sectoral policies and programmes that have bearing on each of these aspects are taking shape but we are not joining the dots to build the big solution," Roychowdhury said.