Context

The Supreme Court recently clarified that only vehicles compliant with the Bharat Stage VI emission standards would be allowed to be sold from 1 April, 2020.

About

• The apex court was deciding whether grace period should be given to automobile manufacturers for the sale of BS-VI non-compliant vehicles after April 1, 2020.
• The Centre had earlier told the court that only BS VI compliant vehicles would be allowed to be registered and sold after 31 March 2020.
• Referring to the alarming and critical situation of pollution in the country, the SC said: "The pollution in Gwalior, Raipur and Allahabad is worse than Delhi. It brooks no delay."

 

Bharat Stage emissions standards:

• The Bharat Stage emission standards are standards instituted by the government to regulate the output of air pollutants from motor vehicles from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.
• The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment & Forests and climate change.
• The auto emission norms are emission standards which are adopted by the government of a nation to check the air pollutants released from any internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.
• These norms were introduced in India in 2000, when the Bharat Stage norms were adopted by the then government, based on the European emission norms.
• India had enforced Bharat stage III norms across the country since October 2010in a bid to check on pollution. The BS IV norms have been enforced across the country since April 2017.Europe introduced Euro IV fuel in the year 2009 and Euro VI standards in 2015. India is, thus, lagging behind in implementation of these norms.

 

BS VI norm

• In 2016, the Centre had announced that the country would skip the BS-V norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020.
• The BS-VI fuel is estimated to bring around an 80 per cent reduction of sulphur, from 50 parts per million to 10 ppm.
• It will also bring down nitrogen oxides from diesel cars by 70 per cent and in petrol cars by 25 per cent. BS VI also makes on-board diagnostics (OBD) mandatory for all vehicles.

Significance

• The Supreme Court verdict may hit the automobile industry. Compliance with BS-VI norms will require higher investment in technology to upgrade vehicles in stock and making new vehicles. This will also mean fewer launches till the deadline
• Those who buy Bharat Stage VI-compliant vehicles will have to pay more since such vehicles will cost automakers more and they will pass on the additional cost to the buyers.
• Using BS-VI fuel in the current BS-IV engines or, conversely, running BS-VI engines on the current-grade fuel, may be ineffective in curbing vehicular pollution, and may damage the engine in the long run.
  
  

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