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A quarter-century ago, implicit 200 scientists from the US, Europe, the Maldives, and India came unneurotic to survey the haze implicit the Indian Ocean. Led by atmospheric idiosyncratic V Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography successful California, the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) undertook intensive tract observations utilizing aircraft, ships, aboveground stations, and satellites. They discovered a elephantine brownish furniture of unreality hanging implicit overmuch of the Indian Subcontinent and the Indian Ocean betwixt October and February, which they termed the Indian Ocean Brown Cloud oregon Asian Brown Cloud. INDOEX revealed that this furniture was chiefly created by the burning of biomass successful fields and homes, arsenic good arsenic fossil fuels similar ember successful industries, and that it traveled thousands of kilometres. The survey besides recovered that the haze importantly affected determination temperatures, precipitation patterns, and ground-level pollution, reducing cultivation productivity and causing wide respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
When the UN Environment Programme published the INDOEX study successful 2002, immoderate salient Indian scientists called it sensationalist and argued that the “Indian Ocean” oregon “Asian” Brown Cloud was not unsocial to India oregon Asia and should, therefore, beryllium renamed. Because of their opposition, the sanction was changed to “Atmospheric Brown Cloud with a Focus connected Asia”. Governments successful South Asia ignored the report.
This occurrence underscores 2 cardinal points: First, the causes of aerial contamination person been known for astatine slightest 25 years and second, we person been avoiding the contented for conscionable arsenic long. By injecting ideology and authorities into what should beryllium a straightforward matter, we proceed to muddy the waters. Debates implicit affluent versus poor, farmers versus city-dwellers, SUVs versus navigator stoves, and Diwali versus stubble burning person stalled existent action.
The effect of this obfuscation is that today, from Amritsar successful Punjab to Agartala successful Tripura, an arc of brownish haze, up to 3 km thick, has engulfed the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), impacting lives, livelihoods, and the economy. While contamination levels are terrible successful the IGP, aerial prime is mediocre crossed the country. Most Indian cities neglect to conscionable nationalist ambient aerial prime standards, which are rather lenient compared to WHO’s health-based guidelines. The superior origin of this contamination remains the aforesaid arsenic what Ramanathan and his colleagues identified 25 years ago.
In a survey conducted by my colleagues and maine successful 2023, we estimated that India emits astir 52 lakh tonnes of PM2.5 (particulate substance little than 2.5 microns successful size, which has precocious wellness impacts) annually, excluding particulate from earthy and manmade sources. Around 48 per cent of these emissions travel from biomass usage — specified arsenic cultivation residue, fuelwood, and dung cakes — for cooking and heating successful homes. Stubble burning contributes an further 6.5 per cent, making biomass burning liable for 55 per cent of full PM2.5 emissions.
Industry and powerfulness plants are the second-largest emitters, contributing astir 37 per cent, chiefly from ember burning. The transport sector, a large absorption of aerial contamination mitigation, contributes astir 7 per cent of the emissions, portion the remainder comes from sources specified arsenic unfastened garbage burning.
These findings are not astonishing if we travel the dictum: What we pain the most, pollutes the most. In India, we pain astir 220 crore tonnes of substance and waste. Of this, 85 per cent is ember and biomass, portion 15 per cent comprises different fuels specified arsenic petrol, diesel, and earthy gas. Naturally, astir of our contamination is owed to burning biomass and coal. Additionally, particulate from roads, operation sites, and barren onshore contributes to particulate pollution, particularly PM 10.
To code aerial contamination decisively, we indispensable travel a technological approach, and determination beyond optics similar odd-even, operation bans and artificial rain, and alternatively absorption connected the existent solution – vigor transition. Shifting households to LPG, biogas, oregon energy for cooking and heating volition destruct a important proportionality of PM 2.5 emissions. It volition besides forestall 8,00,000 premature deaths, caused by vulnerability to PM 2.5 wrong homes. Though challenging, this is achievable done targeted argumentation initiatives similar a caller PM Ujjwala Yojana that provides capable incentives to promote low-income households to determination distant from accepted biomass.
Similarly, vigor modulation successful industry, particularly successful MSMEs, on with rigorous monitoring and enforcement, is indispensable to trim pollution. A programme encouraging MSMEs to follow cleaner substance and technologies, specified arsenic electrical boilers and furnaces, could curb emissions significantly. Law enforcement of stringent contamination norms is simply a basal necessity for larger industries and thermal powerfulness plants. For that, the modernisation of contamination power boards is urgently required.
On the different hand, eliminating stubble burning is indispensable to alteration terrible and hazardous contamination days successful October and November. Technological interventions on with incentives/ disincentives tin lick this problem. The simplest technological solution is to modify oregon mandate harvester harvesters that chopped person to the ground, similar manual harvesting, leaving minimal stubble behind. Additionally, an inducement of Rs 1,000 per acre — akin to what the Haryana authorities provides — could promote sustainable stubble management, on with fines and exclusion from authorities schemes for those who proceed to burn.
As acold arsenic automobiles are concerned, scaling up electrical vehicles and nationalist transport is crucial. This volition request wide targets for EV adoption and the promotion of nationalist transport arsenic a manner choice. Lastly, to trim section sources of contamination — particulate from roads and construction, garbage burning, and postulation congestion — section bodies indispensable beryllium strengthened and held accountable.
Real advancement volition lone statesman erstwhile we judge the science. Acknowledging the existent interaction and sources of our contamination situation is the archetypal measurement toward meaningful action.
The writer is CEO, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST)
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