Dr. Satyavan Saurabh
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or materials. The deterioration of winter air quality in northern India has once again highlighted the negative effects of air pollution on health, especially among the most vulnerable in society. In the last few years, it has become an annual custom that pollution in Delhi-NCR remains in limelight during winter, which usually lasts for two-three months. In the National Capital Region (NCR), the air is poor for at least half of the year.
According to the World Air Quality Report, 2020, 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities are in India. The India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, published in Lancet Planetary Health in December 2020, indicated that air pollution was responsible for 1.7 million deaths in India in 2019. A section of farmers, especially in Punjab, burn the residue after harvesting wheat, even as fodder prices have increased. Many farmers say they started burning the stubble because they were in a hurry – the state had fixed June 10 as the date for sowing paddy. Extreme levels of pollution are responsible for 17.8% of all deaths and 11.5% of respiratory, heart, and other related diseases in India in 2019.
Under the 100% centrally funded scheme to combat stubble burning, machines that help farmers manage in-situ – by putting stubble back in the soil – provided a 50% subsidy to individual farmers and Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) Had to go While Haryana has so far set up 2,879 CHCs and provided around 16,000 straw management machines, it has to set up 1,500 more and cover almost the same number of panchayats it has reached so far.
Similarly, Punjab, which has provided 50,815 machines so far, will need to set up 5,000 more CHCs – while 7,378 have already been set up – and it should reach 41% of panchayats. The Center launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme in 2015 to reduce pollution caused by diesel and petrol-powered vehicles and to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in India. The scheme has been extended for two years for greater adoption.The Vehicle Scrappage Policy launched on August 13, 2021, is a government-funded program to replace old vehicles with modern and new vehicles on Indian roads. This policy is expected to reduce pollution, generate employment opportunities and increase the demand for new vehicles. In August 2021, the Prime Minister announced a target to increase ethanol blending in petrol to 20 percent by 2025 to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality. In August 2021, the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 were notified, which aims to phase out single-use plastics by 2022. Extended Producer Responsibility has been introduced for plastic and e-waste management. The Green India Mission has been implemented to increase the green cover in India to the extent of five million hectares and to improve the quality of green cover present on another five MHAs. The government acknowledged air pollution as a pan-India problem with the drafting of the National Clean Air Programme, which aimed to build and strengthen institutional capacity to monitor air quality across India, to understand health impacts Had to study indigenously. While policy-making, be it stubble burning or thermal power plant emissions, decisions are taken without considering their potential effects on health. As a result of a lack of health understanding among policymakers, policies are formulated and implemented with little knowledge of their impact on the health of society. Prioritizing a risk-focused approach to policy will most contribute to risk reduction and thus generate health benefits. National ambient air quality standards should include not only local conditions but also the impact of exposure on vulnerable groups. The public health emergency has prompted calls to prioritize health in the development of air pollution policies. Front-line air pollution regulators need to be more sensitive to the health needs of society. Policymakers should engage experts in epidemiology, environment, energy, transportation, public policy, and economics to focus primarily on health benefits. This approach will accelerate climate and air quality measures. We have to understand that maximum air pollution is generated from combustion sources. Therefore, the best way to achieve cleaner air would be to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and their associated emissions, for which we would have to move to better alternatives or efficient pollution control techniques.
