DELHI POLLUTION: MYTHS, SOLUTIONS
The seasonal rant about pollution is burying the real causes and hence denying the solutions Delhi so desperately seeks. EPISODE #49
Dear Reader,
A very Happy Monday to you.
Last week the Supreme Court weighed in on the ongoing debate on pollution in Delhi in particular and the National Capital Region in general. For the discerning this is normally the time when this seasonal conversation on pollution spikes. From the headlines in newspapers, feisty anchors on television news channels, the political blame game, self-righteous social media posts, almost everything smacks of deja vu.
No surprises then, this week I take up this vexing issue. I will try to separate the wheat from the chaff as it were and try to argue that somewhere out there is a solution. But as Chandra Bhushan, a very active voice on environment, points out that this is not as easy as many of us may desire. Instead it is a long battle. Do read and share your precious feedback.
The cover picture is taken by Abel Robinson. I composed the collage from the set of compelling pix Abel shared of the view from the same location but taken on different days. One is from the recent past when NCR was blessed with blue skies and the latter capturing our present woes. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Implicit in these evocative pictures is the message that the situation is not irretrievable. Thank you Abel.
A big shoutout to Kapil, Rajit, Gautam, Premasundaran, Vandana, Abel, Rahul and Aashish for your informed responses, appreciation and amplification for last week’s column. Gratitude also to all those who responded on Twitter and Linkedin. Reader participation and amplification is key to growing this newsletter community. And, many thanks to readers who hit the like button 😊.
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SMOG OVER THE CITY
For the last few weeks the Air Quality Index or AQI in Delhi and its vicinity has witnessed a sharp deterioration. The bad news is that this is nothing new. More depressing is the fact that if anything it is now an annual feature in North India. Something that plays out like a farce.
Regardless the latest spike in pollution levels has once again grabbed national eyeballs and set in motion the annual blame game: A moment when self-righteous criticism and tokenism is flung around with abandon—and tragically never scaled to a constructive solution.
As a result most of us are left confused about the causes. It all depends on who you speak to, listen to or which news channel you tune into. While one would blame farm fires, another the bursting of Diwali firecrackers and others emissions from the growing automobile population.
To get to the root of the problem we have to dismiss some myths and accept some realities.
To begin with, Delhi’s topography is a major factor. It is shaped like a saucer or imagine it like a rather flat valley. As a result the cross-breeze is key to keeping the atmosphere clean. And at this time of the year nature, in the afterglow of the annual Monsoon, decides to take a break.
This unfortunate coincidence is what amplifies the unusual convergence of circumstances—farm fires in particular as the debris from it simply hangs in the air—at this time of the year. The implication of this is that mitigation efforts have to be exceptional to overcome the topography handicap.
It also means that the pollution in NCR is not just about what it does, but what the neighbourhood does (or does not do: like not finding a solution to farm fires).
Understanding this peculiar backdrop is critical before taking a deep dive into the factors contributing to emissions.
The Pollutant Matrix
To identify the causes I tapped the domain expertise of Chandra Bhushan. An environmentalist who heads up iForest, Chandra is a rare voice who argues a contrarian thought backed with facts and not rhetoric.
In fact, Chandra has agreed to do a Twitter Spaces (a new platform to conduct live audio conversations on twitter) dialogue on this vexing topic with Monica Jasuja, Debu Mishra and me. This is scheduled for 7 pm on Monday evening.
I am sharing the promo below. Please click here to log in.
Chandra unpacks the pollution problem in a refreshingly simple manner. Broadly, particle pollution accrues from two sources: dust and fuels that burn daily to generate energy.
The former is part of a larger issue arising out of climate change, that is desertification, and rampant construction as India races to create new infrastructure projects. By definition any solution to this challenge has to be long term.
In the case of the fuels, Chandra argues that the total pollution from any source is its pollution potential times the quantity burned. He identifies six sources of pollutants:
Agri residues
Biomass for cooking
Municipal waste
Coal, Lignite
Petroleum products
Natural gas
Now this is where his argument gets interesting. Chandra explains that though fuel sources like coal, lignite, petroleum products and natural gas do create pollution, technology exists to mitigate these emissions. To be sure this is not an argument against alternatives to automobiles using combustion engines or capping fossil-based power.
Chandra is right. For the last 20 years one mitigation solution which has helped Delhi has been the crackdown on diesel and forcing public transport vehicles to shift to CNG; and now this is being taken to the next level by introducing Electric Vehicles. Similar solutions can be deployed to reduce (not prevent) emission from the burning of coal to generate thermal power. But all of these efforts are testing the limits of mitigation through the deployment of technology.
However the same cannot be said about agri-residues, biomass for cooking and municipal waste—all of which are burned in the open. So the only mitigation option is to prevent their burning.
In a piece published in the Economic Times today, Chandra explains the fallout of not preventing farm fires. If you wish to read the piece please click here.
“Studies indicate that during the peak burning months, their contribution ranges from 20-30%. Now, this 20-30% contribution pushes Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) from 'poor' to 'severe' during October-November and leads to all hue and cry, including interventions by the courts.
It is, thus, a grave mistake to consider stubble-burning an insignificant source.”
He then adds:
“The intensity of emissions is so high that even if a small fraction of these reaches Delhi, it causes the city's poor air quality to deteriorate further. This fact has been established by all scientific studies.
Therefore, it is time we stopped bickering over numbers and concentrated on identifying the right solutions, as the solutions being promoted are not working.”
However preventing farm fires is easier said than done; I will explain why after sharing the table Chandra included in an opinion piece published on the website of News18.
Several things are clear from the table.
First, India consumes about 1,830 million tonnes of fossil fuels and biomass for its annual energy needs, besides burning a range of waste, including agri-residue, in the open.
Second, together this stacks up to about more than one million tonnes per person.
Third, Chandra has ranked the sources by the order of magnitude of their pollution potential. It is quite revealing, especially since agri-residues, biomass for cooking and municipal waste have the highest potential for pollution.
Fourth, the share of petroleum products—whose pollution potential is classified as medium—accounts for about a tenth of the materials India burns.
There is a caveat though. This is the national picture and the local situations will vary—though, unlikely to be drastically different. The pollution problem is self-evident: burning of agri-residue and biomass for cooking.
Politically this is a hot potato.
Preventing farm fires is easier said than done. We have just been given a display of the power of the rich farmers of North India which forced a majority government to roll back farm laws these farmers disagreed with (rightly or wrongly). In this aftermath they will be loath to even listen to reasoning about collective good.
In the case of biomass for cooking, the political economy is even more complicated. It is a free source of fuel for those who burn it. The alternative is cooking gas, but it comes with a tab. No rational person will give up a free resource.
The challenge then is obvious. The primary sources of pollution which can generate immediate mitigation outcomes require deft political handling and innovative policy interventions—wherein the polluters are incentivised to opt out. However, the solution is not so simple.
For politicians, some of whom can conduct a masterclass on tokenism, the easier option is to be part of the chaos by indulging in a blame game. The ensuing rhetoric ensures that the problem is rarely identified. Without identifying the cause, exploring a solution is meaningless. Yet this farce plays out year after year.
Let us begin with first principles in a fight which is in any case going to be long drawn. The tragedy is that at present the strategy is myopic: To somehow survive the news-cycle, which is any case is nearing its end.
But then is this what is expected from a nation that stood out for its commitment to combat climate change at the just concluded meet of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow.
It is time to walk the talk.
Recommended Reading
Last week I stumbled upon an old yet still relevant oped piece on the Anganwadi system—the world’s largest mother and child nutrition and care programme, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)—published in The Hindu. The ICDS is India’s policy response to fix the malnutrition problem plaguing it for most of the last 75 years.
Written by a serving IAS officer, Uma Mahadevan, it tells us that despite its many flaws the Anganwadi system is getting some things right. I was struck by the insights the piece had to offer to address an equally Sisyphean task: fighting pollution.
The failure of the ICDS in fixing the problem of malnutrition is similar to what befalls the efforts to address the problem of pollution. Missing the woods for the trees as it were. The challenge are similar: It is a long drawn battle and there are no short-fixes.
But it can be resolved if the problem is framed in the right context. Dasgupta explains this succinctly in the opinion piece and offers a solution which is not rocket science:
“Malnutrition often persists across generations. Breaking this intergenerational cycle means that hot cooked meals must be served to mothers as well as young children. In doing this, a space for solidarity among mothers can be created through informal social networks. Besides, it could help build sustainable livelihoods for local women’s groups in dairy, egg and vegetable production.
A long-term plan should look at using technology to bring convergence among frontline health and nutrition workers so that every last woman and child can be reached. These are complex innovations, but they are doable.”
If you wish to read the piece please click here.
Till we meet again next week. Stay safe
Dear Anil,
a very crisp and informative article.The continuous degradation of air quality i n the urban centres of India demands effective measures to curb air pollution.Though various policy measures are being introduced to reduce vehicular and industrial emissions, the extent to which they are implemented is questionable. The lack of infrastructural facilities, inadequacy of financial resources to implement innovations, difficulty in relocation of industries from urban areas even after court orders, and most important the behavioural patterns among the people in accepting green solutions , improper waste management are some of the crucial impediments on the road to enviornmental protection that our country is struggling to overcome today.
the analysis of all the causes by Chandra Bhushan is very detailed and an eyeopener. Also thanks for the information on anganwadi system. article by Uma Dasgupta was excellent so were the photographs of children being served the meal in school. There is so much that can be done by We The People , if the desire is there.
An insightful article, very informative and well composed. The best part is that the various causes have been segregated, so that the remedial approach is directed specifically. The compulsory conversion of all public transport vehicles to CNG, was an excellent move and Delhites enjoyed the marked difference in air quality for sometime; but with the subsidised Diesel, the population of personal vehicles underwent a radical change; 60% of the new vehicles were Diesel vehicles and the gains from the introduction of CNG was lost. There is a solution for all the mediums of pollution, provided there is a genuine will to do something constructive. At present more money is spent on advertising by political parties and next to nothing for controlling the pollution. The media also has something to report on and fresh budget allocations are made for spending, till the next November.