Is Delhi becoming an uninhabitable city?

(Source – The Hindu, International Edition – Page No. – 12)

Topic: GS3 – Environment – Environmental pollution and degradation

Context

● Delhi’s air pollution is becoming a severe health crisis, with the city experiencing consistently poor air quality, especially in winter. ● While stubble burning is often blamed, internal sources like vehicular emissions contribute significantly to the issue. ● Effective solutions require systemic changes in transport, governance, and policy.

Delhi’s Air Quality: A Growing Concern

• Delhi is on the verge of becoming an uninhabitable city, primarily due to severe air pollution in winter and extreme heat waves in summer. These conditions disproportionately affect the city’s poorer population.
• In winter (October-February), pollution levels peak, with 5 playing a dominant role in the AQI readings.
• 5 particles are hazardous due to their microscopic size, making them more dangerous as they can reach the deeper parts of the lungs.

Air Quality Index (AQI) and its Significance

● The Air Quality Index (AQI) measures the concentration of pollutants in the air, including PM10, PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), ammonia (NH3), and lead (Pb). ● Each pollutant is assigned a sub-index, and the worst sub-index determines the overall AQI for a location, helping to simplify complex air quality data into an understandable index. Trends in Delhi’s Air Quality (2017-2023) ● Over the past seven years (2017-2023), Delhi has recorded only two days of healthy air per year. More than half of the year, residents breathe air deemed unfit for health. ● Even during the 2020 lockdown, when human activity reduced, the air quality barely improved, suggesting systemic issues beyond temporary reductions in emissions.

 Stubble Burning vs. Other Pollutants

• The government often blames stubble burning in neighboring states for Delhi’s pollution, but this is only part of the problem.
• Stubble burning contributes 15-35% to PM2.5 levels, but even on peak pollution days, Delhi’s air quality would remain very poor without stubble burning.
• The government uses stubble burning as a scapegoat to avoid addressing systemic causes of pollution.

Internal Pollution Sources in Delhi

• A 2023 report revealed that half of the PM2.5 pollution in Delhi during winter comes from internal sources.
• Vehicles contribute 58% of this pollution, with 34% from exhaust and 24% from tire and brake wear.
• The need for a shift from private vehicles to public transport running on cleaner energy is emphasised as a solution.

Winter Pollution and Meteorological Factors

• During the winter months, cold air traps pollutants close to the ground, worsening air quality. Low wind speed and lack of rainfall further contribute to the concentration of pollutants in Delhi’s air.

Health Impact of Air Pollution

• Air pollution impacts almost every organ in the body and can lead to systemic inflammation and even cancer.
• In 2019, 67 million deaths in India were attributed to pollution, with PM pollution being a major contributor.
• Delhi’s death rate from ambient PM pollution is significantly higher than the national average, underlining the health risks posed by prolonged exposure to pollutants.

Class-Based Disparities in Exposure

• Poor children in Delhi experience significantly higher exposure to PM2.5 compared to wealthier children, with this exposure potentially reducing their life expectancy by up to five years.

Political and Administrative Response

• The political response to Delhi’s air pollution remains insufficient, with stopgap measures like odd-even traffic rules, engine-off policies, and mask distribution failing to address the root causes.
• Both the Delhi and central governments have been criticised for lacking political will to implement long-term solutions to the pollution crisis.

Conclusion

• Delhi’s air quality crisis is a complex issue requiring systemic changes in transportation, energy policies, and governance.
• Effective solutions demand strong political action and public cooperation, going beyond short-term, media-driven measures.

PYQ: Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three megacities of the country but the air pollution is a much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so? (200 words/12.5m) (UPSC CSE (M) GS-1 2015)

Practice Question:  Discuss the major factors contributing to air pollution in Delhi and evaluate the effectiveness of government policies in addressing this issue. What systemic changes are required to mitigate Delhi’s air quality crisis? (250 Words /15 marks)