North India and its annual air quality inflection point in November

India’s States should ensure greater compliance on air pollution

• Delhi and parts of the surrounding States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh encounter their annual air quality inflection point.
• This is the time period when the southwest monsoon has receded and with it, the great drafts in the upper atmosphere that normally flush out pollutants from the gamut of anthropogenic activities such as construction, driving, power generation and the burning of agricultural residue.
• The geographical science is also fairly clear on the relative contribution of pollutants and the limits of corrective intervention in the face of adverse meteorology and the disruption to economic life that this can entail.
• The consequence of this is that the air pollution crisis has now devolved into a stalemate.
• The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which is tasked with addressing the causes of air pollution in Delhi and the adjoining States, is now a body packed with expertise but whose powers are limited to evoking and recommending grades of measures depending on the degree of deterioration in air quality.

What CAQM report says?

• While the CAQM pointed out that the daily average air quality in Delhi from January to October of 2023 was the best in the last six years, it elides the fact that the number of days in November when air quality becomes ‘severe’ (over 450 AQI) has remained roughly the same.
• Thus, in 2022, the AQI was in the severe category in the first fortnight of November for three days, the same as in 2021, 2020 and 2019. While there is greater awareness and action to curb the sources of pollution, November, which has in recent years emerged as the critical month for pollution, remains to be tamed.
• Incidents of stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh this year have been roughly half that when compared to previous years, though the weeks ahead are expected to see more such activity.
• While the measures earlier have seen an institutionalised response to tackle air pollution, it is now time for a concerted approach to address these challenges of November.
• Beyond stubble burning, this means addressing the more daunting challenges of vehicular pollution and construction dust.
• While urban Delhi could have always blamed the distant farm fires for the pollution crisis, tackling November may mean hard measures and greater inconvenience.
• Bodies such as the CAQM have to assert their independent credentials and ensure greater coordination and compliance within Delhi and the surrounding States to address the challenge.

Challenges due to Air Pollution

• There is concrete evidence that air pollution leads to low birth-weight, tuberculosis, ischemic heart disease, cataracts, asthma and nasopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers.
• New research has found that air pollution might also affect cognitive development. PM2.5 are so small that when inhaled they can enter the bloodstream, and recent medical research indicates that it can cause the degeneration of blood-brain barriers, leading to oxidative stress, neuro-inflammation and damage of neural tissue.
• Air pollution is linked to diseases and infections that kill around 600,000 children under five years of age per year.
• A study even shows that about 2.2 million school children in Delhi are growing up with irreversible lung damage which they will never recover.
• The number of premature deaths due to outdoor air pollution is projected to increase from three million people globally in 2010 to a global total of six to nine million people in 2060.
• The number of cases of bronchitis is projected to increase substantially, going from 12 to 36 million new cases per year for children aged six to twelve and from 3.5 to 10 million cases for adults.
• Total welfare costs of air pollution in the world is expected to increase from $3,160 billion in 2015 to $18,300 – $25,330 billion in 2060 (as per 2010 PPP exchange rates).

Way forward

• Alternate Solutions to Burning Crop Stubble – Farmers need to be provided alternate options. Government agencies should provide shredder machines free of cost rather than just providing subsidy. Also, farmers should be educated and made aware of the harmful effects of crop burning.
• Adopting Renewable Solar Power and promoting Solar Rooftops – A lot of government buildings in Delhi have rooftop solar installations which is praiseworthy. This should be further encouraged not just in government buildings but across all kinds of commercial buildings in the city and suburb towns of Delhi NCR. Government can also mandate residential plots measuring above a certain size to install solar rooftops.
• Public Transport – Improve public transport systems. Although metro has been a great success, the network is mostly concentrated in Delhi. Also, last mile connectivity and overcrowding remains an issue which prevents a lot of people from using the network. The various agencies involved in public transport infrastructure should work towards improving the efficiency of public transport networks.
• Promote CNG as fuel – The government should encourage CNG as a fuel for private vehicles. Most of public transport buses in the capital already use CNG as primary fuel. This should be encouraged for private vehicles as well by providing subsidies and increasing the number of CNG pumps
• Electric Vehicles and related infrastructure – There have been a thrust on electric vehicles in the past few years. The government should develop the necessary infrastructure – the most important of them being charging stations to help wide adoption of these vehicles. Subsidies should also be provided to people who want to buy electric vehicles.
• Sprinkling of Waste Water in Construction Sites – Waste water can be used to sprinkle construction sites so that pollutants emanating from these sites can be controlled
• Large Scale Afforestation Drives – The government should identify large tracks that can be planted with trees for green cover across the city. Also, hill ranges like the Aravallis should be preserved and they should be planted with trees.