What the government should do to tackle the Delhi smog
Given that the smog conditions were expected, why weren’t emergency measures in place and advisories released in advance?
This Diwali, I bought myself air filters as a present. There was smoke hanging inside the house. Outside, the smog was reportedly the worst in 17 years. After procrastinating for many months,it was time to buy filters for the rooms. Apparently, I was not alone. As per the air filter company, they have been selling units in the hundreds per day last week, several times the usual demand. Why does it take a crisis to push us into taking steps to protect our own health?
Sadly, it takes a crisis to push government to act as well. The fact is this smog was entirely expected. Every year, air quality levels are toxic high between November and February, and Diwali represents one of the peaks. This is partly meteorology (which cannot be helped) and partly additional winter-specific emissions (which certainly can). Besides Diwali, the seasonal increase in emissions is due to post-harvest stubble burning by farmers in the region, and open fires for space heating when it gets cold.
Given that the smog conditions were expected, why weren’t emergency measures in place and advisories released in advance? When pollution levels spike to extraordinary levels, it is sensible to throw the kitchen sink at the problem till levels stabilise to more acceptable conditions. On the one hand, there could have been preemptive restrictions on industry and brick-kiln operations, as well as car-free days or odd-even rationing to bring down pollution levels. On the other, there ought to have been school holidays and public interest messages on protective measures.
Dust the City
And then there are sources like construction dust and road dust that are problematic throughout the year, and which need long-term sustained interventions. Why do we hear new initiatives proposed only during the winter and radio silence otherwise? The Central and Delhi governments have dropped the ball in the months between two winters. Again. These don’t necessarily need new ideas, just sustained implementation of initiatives already announced such as vacuum cleaning of roads and increased greening, and enforcing norms for construction sites on handling dust.
This leaves us with the winter-specific sources: burning of crop stubble in neighbouring states, and open-air fires in Delhi. Both these activities are prohibited, and both are difficult to enforce.
With such dispersed sources, banning is far too blunt a tool and has proven to be ineffectual. Farmers burn the stubble that remains on the field after harvesting the grain, because this is much less expensive than employing labour. Here, economic incentives could be effective. Essentially, Delhi pays farmers in Punjab not to burn their stubble and the two governments create a mechanism to collect agricultural waste and dispose it in an environmentally safe way. One of the winners of the recently concluded Delhi Innovation Challenge, jointly organised by the Delhi Government and the University of Chicago, proposes to do exactly this and convert the waste to biochar that can be used to improve soil productivity.
They will begin their pilot in a few months. What can we do as residents? First, let’s all take the problem with the seriousness it deserves. Air pollution has serious consequences on our health. One estimate by colleagues at the Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago is that air pollution in Indian cities reduces lifetimes by about 3 years on average, with impact in Delhi being a little higher due to the higher than average particulate concentrations. This winter, please wear N95 masks designed to keep the fine particles out; and not handkerchiefs or surgical masks. Several masks are available online and increasingly in some pharmacies at Rs 100-200 apiece. Masks are especially important for people who walk, use auto-rickshaws, two-wheelers or buses.
At home, you should consider air filters for your bedrooms where you spend a third of your day. Insist that your offices and your children’s schools install air filters. Please keep in mind that air conditioners in and of themselves don’t necessarily keep out fine particulates. To the extent possible, carpool with your neighbours or colleagues.
Use the metro more often. And, again, wear the masks! Somebody will inevitably come and ask you where they can get one for themselves. You could also help increase the number of air quality monitors in the city by purchasing a low-cost sensor for yourself, and sharing data with the openair quality data initiatives out there.
We will have cleaner air only when pollution descends from conferences of academics and technocrats, and becomes a political issue with political parties jostling for credit on their initiatives, and criticising each other for failures. Amid this smog, the only silver lining is that we are slowly getting there.
(The writer is a researcher with the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago- India centre. Views are personal)