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Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/indian-cities-gasp-for-breath-24962.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Indian cities gasp for breath | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Indian cities gasp for breath
-Live Mint
 

The cost of pollution will determine effective implementation of standards

It has long been suspected but never established as a comparable fact. New Delhi is a city with one of the poorest air quality in the world. New data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that in 2013 the city had a very high concentration of particulate matter of size 2.5 microns (153 micrograms/cubic metre). Thirteen of the 20 cities with the dirtiest air are in India, and Patna, Raipur, New Delhi and Gwalior occupy the top four spots.

Particulate matter of that size is considered particularly hazardous from the viewpoint of elevated risk of respiratory diseases, stroke, cancer and heart diseases. Air pollution can no longer be ignored: It has led to seven million deaths globally in 2012. The burden of diseases generated from air pollution is particularly heavy on poor countries that are unable to devote the right amount of resources to public health.

If one considers particulate matter more than 2.5 microns but less than 10 microns, the number of cities with poor air quality rises even further. Agra, Allahabad, Amritsar, Bhopal, Chandrapur, Dehradun, Kota and Lucknow, places usually not associated with a high degree of pollution, are right in the middle of India's pollution map. The number of afflicted cities is longer. (The database of such cities can be found here).

 

Many of these cities are in trouble because of weak environmental regulation of industries and the huge expansion in vehicular traffic on their roads. Clean air is a public good and globally, the starting point for providing it is to establish air cleanliness standards. These are further classed into norms for vehicle emissions, industrial pollution and the like. Generally, a national-level pollution control authority sets the standards and sub-national authorities enforce them.
 
In India, this has not worked. The laying of standards comparable to the international best is always delayed. The evolution of vehicular emission norms is an example. Higher and better emission norms have always met with resistance before they are adopted. For example, India is yet to put in place the latest European Union standards in this respect. The last mile of this implementation process-enforcement-has always been very weak.

 

Because of this failure on part of implementing authorities, India has had to rely on an imperfect system of provision of public goods. On a number of occasions in the past, the Supreme Court has imposed updated standards and has also enforced implementation.

In 1992, the apex court ordered the availability of lead-free petrol, CNG as an alternative fuel, provision of catalytic converters in vehicles and the adoption of Euro 2 emission norms from 1995. More than any other executive action, this single intervention of the court did much to restore air quality in India.

This is, however, an imperfect way to provide this public good (along with others such as clean and potable water). Over time, as the number of vehicles plying on Indian roads rises dramatically, judicial intervention cannot be a solution. As the WHO list highlights, some of India's most polluted cities are so widely dispersed that a centralized order cannot be enforced effectively.

Incentives for providing such public goods have to be localized. As matters stand, this is an expensive proposition. State governments do not have the wherewithal to adopt and implement these standards. The incentives will come indirectly. For example, if the health costs due to elevated PM rise to such a level that the cost of cleaning up air becomes a cheaper option. Too much pessimism should not be read into this. Globally, too, in many cases the efforts to clean up air and water have emerged after the costs of poor air and water quality have become unbearable.