Air Pollution Policy
Context:
- The decreasing winter air quality in north India has once again brought to light the harmful effects of air pollution on our health. Poor air quality has an impact on every organ in the body, but it is most noticeable in young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those who have existing medical disorders.
- Health must now take precedence above air pollution laws due to the current public health problem.
An obvious omission:
- The main environmental laws of India expressly state its goals and justifications while placing a heavy emphasis on maintaining public health. These rules are written and interpreted into air pollution policy by our environmental regulators, professional associations, and decision-making organisations, who are woefully unqualified to address health-related issues. Any air pollution policy must have the promotion of health as its ultimate objective.
- In India, excessive levels of pollution are responsible for 17.8% of all fatalities as well as 11.5% of respiratory, cardiovascular, and other related illnesses. Please, the Lancet.
- It has been crucial to occasionally give the industry a seat at the table in order to consider health as a factor in air pollution regulation. The recently formed Commission for Air Quality Management does not appear to have any involvement from the health sector.
- The Commission for Air Quality Management has replaced older organisations including the national and state pollution control boards (CPCB & SPCBs) of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan (CAQM).
- It has the power to provide directives to these state governments regarding issues of air pollution. Air pollution cases fall within the sole purview of the NCR, which also has authority over parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana. It works together with the CPCB and ISRO in addition to the corresponding state governments.
- If its directives are not followed, it has the authority to impose a fine of up to Rs 1 crore and a prison term of up to 5 years.
- The only program in India to date that has evaluated air pollution through this lens is the Ministry of Health’s Steering Committee on Air Pollution, which takes an exposure-centered approach to policy. This was accomplished by giving top attention to measures that minimized exposure and had the biggest positive impact on health.
- Additionally, it provided regional and global epidemiological data on the negative impacts of air pollution, identifying the best course of action for policy (for example, focusing on household cook stove smoke).
- India would gain from looking into this innovative endeavor to update its guidelines for ambient air quality (NAAQS). Such a system would establish parameters based on local conditions as well as the effect of exposure on weaker populations in order to prioritize health. Over time, the NAAQS review process has mostly remained a secret.
- The Central Pollution Control Board developed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which are used as air quality benchmarks across the country (CPCB). The National Air Quality Monitoring Program monitors compliance with the NAAQS (NAMP). NAMP is also implemented by the CPCB.
- Lead (Pb), benzene, benzopyrene, arsenic, nickel, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), ammonia (NH3), and particle matter 10 are the 12 contaminants that the NAAQS presently monitors (PM10).
Counter to conventional wisdom:
- For the last phase, the process by which we develop new policies would require a thorough revamp. Each significant source of air pollution has a history of sectoral, localized, and isolated policymaking.
- Decisions are taken without considering their potential second and third-order impacts, notably on health, whether it be thermal power plant emissions or stubble burning (caused by poorly thought-out water conservation measures) (where more stringent standards have been delayed for over five years).
- In order to minimize stubble burning in an environmentally responsible manner, the Union Environment Ministry has launched a 50 crore initiative to encourage companies and businesspeople to construct paddy straw pelletization and torrefaction facilities. Paddy straw that has been torrefied or pelletized may be mixed with coal in thermal power plants. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana conserve coal and reduce the amount of carbon emissions that would have been produced by forgoing the burning of straw in the fields.
- Earlier, PUSA Decomposers, capsules made from fungal strains that speed up the decomposition of paddy straw, were developed by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) at Pusa. The generation of the essential enzymes required for the breakdown process is aided by the fungus. The Delhi government started misting bio-decomposer solutions on the city’s rice fields to stop stubble burning.
- The lessons from the Health Ministry Steering Committee are applicable once more. In order to develop a recommendation that would be primarily focused on health advantages, the panel comprised experts from a variety of professions and businesses, including public policy, economics, energy, transport, epidemiology, and the environment.
- This approach is necessary to put an end to the rejection of basic research, which encourages the use of improvised, unproven technological solutions like pollution towers. It highlights the unmistakable health benefits of various successful and long-lasting efforts.
- This style of thinking would also encourage us to accelerate efforts to cut emissions from sectors of the economy that have the worst effects on human health and to enhance air quality.
Conclusion:
- We are reaching a turning point in the battle against air pollution. The contemporaneous technique has been used for decades to try and overcome this challenge, but it has always fallen short. It is now up to us to determine whether we want to continue on the existing road that has led us to this poisoned status quo or put science and health first on the likely arduous path to correcting this issue.
