A man rides his bicycle next to Indian soldiers marching in front of India Gate on a smoggy morning in New Delhi, India, December 1, 2015. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1WNKV The realisation that pollution is playing havoc with our lives continues to elude Indians. We are indeed living from moment to moment largely oblivious of the toxic air quality that we breathe day in and day out. Sadly, there is little thought over what we are bequeathing to the future generations. It is a frightening legacy.
The recent Supreme Court ban on firecrackers during the festival of Diwali in Delhi made some intellectuals exclaim that the judiciary was usurping the role that should rightfully belong to the executive. The cold reality was that while it should have been the latter that should have swung into action in view of the toxic levels that air pollution had reached, the apex court’s action prevented the air quality from deteriorating to disastrous levels. Any amount of boosters for the economy would come to nought if the problem of air pollution is not tackled on a war footing but there is a characteristic smugness that is acutely alarming.
Politicians of some hues had the temerity to ascribe the Supreme Court’s ban on firecrackers to a prejudice against Hindus to prevent them from having fun in their festivities, but to any right-thinking individual the slightly improved air quality in Delhi in the immediate aftermath of Diwali was reason enough to surmise that the judiciary had saved the day. This is not to say that the judiciary is always right when it appropriates the powers of the executive or the legislatures, but this time around it was spot-on and those who ranted against it were playing politics at the cost of endangering human lives.
The hard reality is that with 2.5 million mortalities linked to air, water and all other kinds of pollution, the international journal Lancet has found that India tops the list of countries with the most pollution-related deaths in 2015. Predictably, when figures are compiled for the subsequent two years the situation would be no better because the basic reasons for pollution are still as strong as they were.
The Lancet study had also found that while the proportion of deaths attributable to pollution were 24.45 per cent of total deaths in India in 2015, in China this percentage was 19.50 per cent and in Pakistan 21.93 per cent. Only in Bangladesh the proportion was higher than in India at 26.57 per cent.
Be it the Centre or the states, there is a tendency to deny that pollution is a mass killer. The Union Ministry of Environment told the Supreme Court recently that it was sceptical of studies linking deaths to air pollution as there is no ‘conclusive evidence’ to establish a direct correlation. Clearly, this was a way to steer clear of blame for environmental degradation.
This was quite in the same vein as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, denying that potholes in the silicon valley of India—Bengaluru— had caused many deaths. The once-heralded ‘garden city’ is riddled with potholed roads which result in road accidents on a hugely alarming scale. The State government is culpable because it gives contracts to contractors who use sub-standard road-building material as part of a nexus with government agencies. Roads that are supposed to last for decades cave in much earlier and with accountability in India being perenially loose in practically all walks of life, the culprits who are responsible for poor road-laying invariably get away with virtual murder. Some environmentalists point out that banning firecrackers as the Supreme Court did in Delhi only attacked the problem of air pollution for a brief while and in a piecemeal way. True, but wasn’t that the brief given to the apex court? The other measures must be taken at other levels.
Fuelwood and biomass burning is the primary reason for near-permanent haze and smoke observed above rural and urban India, and in satellite pictures of the country. Fuelwood and biomass cakes are used for cooking and general heating needs. These are burnt in cook stoves or chullahs across over 100 million Indian households, and are used two to three times a day, daily.
Talking of Delhi, a major part of its air pollution is due to the burning of wheat husk and stubble in the farms in neighbouring Haryana which has proved to be an intractable problem. It is for the governments of Delhi and Haryana to sort this issue but political will is woefully lacking due to consequences among voters.
Experts say India burns tenfold more fuelwood every year than the United States, the fuelwood quality in India is different than the dry firewood of the US, and the Indian stoves in use are less efficient, thereby producing more smoke and air pollutants per kilogram equivalent. Consequently, the impact on indoor and outdoor air pollution by fuelwood and biomass cake burning is far worse in India.
The effect of auto pollution on the general atmosphere in the country is also very severe but that is an area in which effective monitoring and phasing out of polluting petrol and diesel is on the anvil. Though the country is still in its infancy in terms of electric vehicles there are ambitious targets that are being worked upon. Unfortunately, there is little effort to raise the level of consciousness of people at large on the devastating effects of air pollution. Neither the governments nor the voluntary bodies are doing enough in that direction. Unless we act on a war footing, we would doubtlessly pay a heavy price for neglecting this vital issue.
The author is a political commentator and columnist.
He has authored four books.
