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Delhi air pollution: How open burning is adding fuel to fire

NEW DELHI: The share of pollutants emitted by burning of waste in PM2.5 is expected to rise in the coming days. Though open burning is currently insignificant as a factor in pollution at the moment, it assumes bigger proportions as winter sets in when the poor and homeless people burn waste, wood and other combustibles to beat the cold. "The air quality is likely to be in the ‘very poor' to ‘poor' categories for the six days from Oct 21 onwards," forecast the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the forecasting body under the Union ministry of earth sciences. "Meteorological conditions are highly unfavourable for the effective dispersion of pollutants. Additional emissions from sources such as stubble and waste burning are likely to deteriorate air quality significantly." How open burning is adding fuel to fire According to the real-time source apportionment study undertaken by Delhi Pollution Control Committee and IIT-Kanpur, the share of biomass burning (burning of wood, dung and agricultural residue) was 24% from Nov 2022 to Jan 29, 2023. An IIT-Delhi study in 2021 found that haze episodes in Jan were highly affected by biomass burning, likely from the burning wood, coal or roadside trash for cooking or warming. Similarly, a 2018 joint report by The Energy and Resources Institute and Automotive Research Association of India stated that during winter, fuel (mainly biomass) burning in houses and agricultural fields accounted for an average 14% of PM2.5 and 13% of PM10 pollutants. In Aug, the Commission for Air Quality Management issued an advisory to all residents' welfare associations and housing societies to provide electric heaters or other suitable appliances to security personnel and other staff to help them avoid burning wood to keep themselves warm. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said, "Waste burning can be controlled only when 100% collection, segregation and material recovery is achieved. Alongside, the legacy waste at landfills must be remediated. In fact, the municipality has to implement the Waste Management Rules and central govt programme on this." Delhi Fire Services received 2,425 calls about garbage burning from Jan to May this year compared with 1,498 in the same period last year. "Burning garbage emits such thick smoke that it can hinder rescue operations. It's also hazardous if inhaled," a fire official had earlier told TOI.

Winter Pollution in Delhi: Stubble Burning, Emissions, and Traffic Cited as Major Factors

With winter approaching, the national capital braces for a recurring issue: deteriorating air quality. Environment expert Vivek Chattopadhyay emphasized multiple factors contributing to the seasonal spike in pollution, including emissions, traffic congestion, and industrial activities. According to Chattopadhyay, Principal Program Manager at the Air Pollution Centre for Science and Environment, “The major factor is the sudden change in weather conditions, which is not allowing pollutants to disperse. Emissions are rising, and new sources, such as biomass and garbage burning, also add to the pollution load.” He noted that the differences between summer and winter pollution are stark, with winter’s lack of wind trapping emissions and creating the infamous haze over Delhi. Traffic congestion and industrial emissions continue to aggravate the situation. Chattopadhyay stressed the need for clean fuel in industries and called for action against coal-based plants outside Delhi to mitigate the issue. “We need to address this at a regional level to optimize solutions,” he added. One of the most pressing contributors to pollution in northern India remains stubble burning by farmers in states like Punjab and Haryana. Despite various measures, the issue persists, and the Supreme Court has stepped in, summoning the Chief Secretaries of both states for a report on why stricter legal actions have not been implemented. Aam Aadmi Party leader Jasmine Shah shared a mixed report, stating a 27% reduction in stubble burning incidents in Punjab this year, while Haryana saw a 23% increase. “We are witnessing a reduction in Punjab, but efforts in Haryana need to intensify,” Shah said during a press conference.

Anand Vihar’s air quality nearly twice as bad as rest of Delhi

Anand Vihar – a location notorious for its air pollution problem – is once again at the centre of alarm as toxic pollutants blanket the area at a time when Delhi’s annual spectre of pollution is starting to into gear. Pollution levels in the area have already soared far beyond permissible limits, with its average air quality index (AQI) already hovering more than 100 points higher than the citywide average. On Thursday, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai issued urgent directives to officials, calling for immediate action to curb rising pollution at the city’s designated hot spots – calling for a particular focus on the situation in Anand Vihar. Rai has scheduled a high-level meeting on Friday to address conditions at Anand Vihar and 12 other critical pollution hotspots across the city. “The meeting will look at the reasons behind high pollution at Anand Vihar, with the minister also taking a review of the other 12 hotspots and what measures are being taken there,” said a government official. Anand Vihar is among the 13 pollution hotspots identified jointly by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2018, and it remains one of Delhi’s most polluted locations throughout the year. The average AQI at the station has already touched “severe” – over 400 – in the past few days, at a time when Delhi is hovering in the “poor” zone. Experts say a series of factors combine to make Anand Vihar particularly prone to high pollution. The main issue is the heavy traffic from the ISBT and highways, nearby industrial zones, construction activity. The station comes under the DPCC, however, queries sent to both CPCB and DPCC were unanswered. An AQI of 51 to 100 is classified as “satisfactory”, between 101 and 200 is classified as “moderate”, between 201 and 300 is classified as “poor”, between 301 and 400 is classified as “very poor” and over 400 is “severe”. Data available for Anand Vihar from past days showed the average AQI there has remained between “very poor” and “severe” this past week and is significantly higher than the Delhi average. On Wednesday, the AQI was 429 (severe); it was 424 (severe) on Tuesday; 313 (very poor) on Monday; 374 (very poor) on Sunday; 376 (very poor) on Saturday; and 330 (very poor) on Friday. In comparison, Delhi’s average AQI has touched “poor” at its worst so far this season. Delhi’s average AQI was 285 (poor) on Thursday; it was 230 (poor) on Wednesday; 198 (moderate) on Tuesday; 234 (poor) on Monday; 224 (poor) on Sunday; 155 (moderate) on Saturday and 141 (moderate) on Friday. CPCB data showed it the primary pollutant in the area is PM10 – with an hourly average concentration shooting up to 934 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) at 10am (over nine times the safe standard of 100µg/m3). As a rule of thumb, high PM10 levels indicates dust pollution. In comparison, the peak PM2.5 concentration in the same time period was 320µg/m3 – over five times the safe limit of 60µg/m3. Experts said though dust may be posing a great challenge now, Anand Vihar faces a similar, if not higher influx of vehicular and industrial emissions, which can spike PM2.5. “Anand Vihar has unique challenges. The ISBT there and the highway induce massive intra-city and inter-city traffic, as well as heavy duty truck movement. It also falls within the influence zone of nearby industrial areas. Other sources include the RRTS construction site, the Ghazipur dumpsite, which is near, and other localised but smaller sources,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Locals meanwhile said traffic and congestion remain the biggest problem for the area. “When you have an ISBT, a metro station and a railway station, there is bound to be traffic, which is not properly managed. You also have buses coming over from UP, which should be regulated better. People stay stuck in traffic throughout the year and these emissions can accumulate,” Vinod Kumar, 56, who is the RWA president of DDA flats in Anand Vihar.

Explained: Why A New Climate Finance Goal Already Has Countries Fighting

Mumbai: Even though India’s southwest monsoon season is officially over, it left much loss and damage in its wake. The most devastating disaster this season was the landslide in Kerala’s Wayanad which killed over 400. The impact of climate change on India’s weather systems is well recorded. As every season becomes more intense and deadly, people are grappling with more intense and longer droughts, floods, landslides, cyclones, heatwaves and such. Against this backdrop, world leaders will convene in Azerbaijan next month for the 29th annual climate conference or COP29. The conference will go on for two weeks, but its centrepiece is likely to be the next climate finance goal. Historically, there has been a schism between members of this conference over money to deal with climate change. Developed countries were supposed to provide $100 billion per year up to 2020 to developing countries in order to deal with the effects of climate change such as for adaptation and taking steps to curb global warming. However, developed countries did not meet that deadline, and even when they have completed the target now, there are questions around it, furthering the atmosphere of distrust. As per the Paris Agreement, countries are supposed to agree on the next finance goal that will come into effect 2025 onwards, taking the $100 billion as the floor and raising it suitably as per developing countries’ needs. This new corpus will be called the New Collective Quantified Goal on Finance or NCQG. India was one of the few countries in the world to put a number to this finance goal, demanding that the developing world be given around $1 trillion per year, starting from 2025. But NCQG’s journey has already been rocky, with disagreements over what kind of finance, paid by whom, to whom and related matters. Since all countries are supposed to revise their climate pledges by February 2025, developing countries need to see the money in order to finalise their plans. As COP29 starts in less than a month, we explain what is at stake. What is NCQG? Money has always been at the heart of global climate negotiations because the world will need this sum to curb global warming and deal with the effects of climate change while transitioning away from fossil fuel. In fact, money has been crucial from the beginning. In 2009, at the then 15th annual climate conference or COP15, it was decided that developed countries would provide $100 billion in finance to developing countries to combat climate change. The rationale behind this is that it is the developed countries that have historically contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions and therefore, have a greater responsibility. At the conference’s 21st session in 2015, countries decided to extend the $100 billion goal through 2025 and to set the NCQG by then. They agreed that $100 billion per year would be a floor for the new goal, which means that the new goal will build on that. Then, what would the ceiling be? Developing countries require about $5.8-5.9 trillion up until 2030 in order to meet their climate goals and comply with what they promised as per the Paris Agreement, according to the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) own estimate. Meanwhile, during COP27, the Independent High Level Expert Group had stated that annual investments in climate action need to increase to $2.4 trillion annually by 2030 for developing countries (excluding China) to ensure accelerated energy transition, investment in resilience and the protection of nature. Of this, $1.4 trillion needs to be mobilised from domestic sources, whereas $1 trillion a year will be needed in external climate finance by 2030. India had become one of the first countries earlier this year to put a number to what developing nations need, in its official submission to UNFCCC over the NCQG. It had said that developed countries should provide at least $1 trillion in climate finance to developing countries every year from 2025 onwards. It also mentioned that this should be in the form of grants and concessional finance, while suggesting a 10-year time frame. Formal NCQG deliberations have been going on for about three to four years now. There is an ad hoc working programme, high level ministerial dialogue, regular stocktake and guidance, along with many other elements to the day-to-day deliberations on NCQG. The process was supposed to have moved closer to completion at the recently concluded talks in Bonn, Germany, but many sticking points led to a disappointing result. Avantika Goswami, programme manager (climate change) at the Centre for Science and Environment, said that the floor has to be $100 billion but whether that will be a token increase of a few billions higher or climb into the trillions is a bit uncertain right now. “Some developed countries are positive about the figure being in trillions, but they are doing some clever workshopping by saying that there will be a larger private finance mobilisation goal,” Goswami said. “Now that's a bit dicier because there's no accountability and guarantee in the private sector. Private capital mobilisation for climate needs has been underwhelming so far. Most of the funding has been through public sources.” How the cookie crumbles Disagreements started with the earlier finance goal. Developed countries failed to fulfill the promise of $100 billion by 2020. It was only in May 2024 that data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that, for the first time, developing countries had in fact hit that target. The OECD’s seventh assessment found that in 2022, developed countries provided and mobilised a total of $115.9 billion in climate finance for developing countries, exceeding the annual goal for the first time. At the request of donor countries, the OECD has been tracking progress towards this goal since 2015. However, Oxfam research shows that while nearly $92 billion of the reported amount was provided as public finance, nearly 70% of this money was again in the form of loans provided at profitable market rates, all adding to the debt levels of the Global South countries. “Oxfam estimates that the ‘true value’ of climate finance provided by rich countries in 2022 is only between $28 billion and $35 billion, with at most only $15 billion earmarked for adaptation,” it stated. Against this backdrop, the NCQG too is facing issues such as who should pay and how much. Currently, “developed countries” are defined as the 24 countries that were OECD members in 1992, when the Framework Convention was signed. There are some developed countries which believe that this list needs to be updated now, since there are countries beyond the original 24 that are capable of paying. Similarly, there is debate over who should get the funding--whether it should go to the most vulnerable countries only, or to all developing countries. The other important issue is the quality of finance. Since most climate-vulnerable countries are also financially vulnerable, high interest loans will push them further into debt. Therefore, developing countries are demanding concessional loans, a clear delivery mechanism and a timeline on NCQG. Both Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have jointly called for financial flows in the trillions under NCQG, and said that “it must consider the special circumstances of SIDS [Small Island Developing States] and LDCs, as per the provisions of the Paris Agreement.” Bonn gone However, progress on NCQG was slow in the recently concluded climate change conference in Bonn, Germany. There are disagreements over almost every aspect of the new finance target, including the amount of money that should be provided, who should provide it, who should receive it and what kind of funds should be included. “Despite pressure to seek compromises, the text essentially remained a summary of all the proposals on the table – including many that directly contradicted each other,” reported Carbon Brief, a UK-based website covering climate change. “As the last meeting came to a close, deep divisions remained between the parties.” The text in question here is an input paper released at the end of the Bonn conference. During discussions, there was no consensus on the donor base, but developing countries maintained that NCQG is the next finance goal and not the right forum to redefine donor base etc. The G77+ China bloc (an international grouping that started with 77 countries in 1964 wherein China is not a full time member but provides support) argued that the question of who else should provide climate finance was outside the mandate of the NCQG. Besides, there was no consensus on what the final amount in NCQG should be. “The need for non-debt-creating finance has been highlighted by the G77 and affiliated groups,” said Goswami. “So now, if the developed countries respond with delivery of just market-rate loans, it's going to be a pretty bad-faith response to what the actual demand is. A lot rests on what the US and China decide among themselves on the sidelines. The final outcome is likely to be political rather than a wholly technically informed outcome, which is an unfortunate reality.” “We’ve taken modest steps forward here in Bonn,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell in his closing speech. “[But] too many items are still on the table… We’ve left ourselves with a very steep mountain to climb to achieve ambitious outcomes in Baku.” IndiaSpend wrote to the Union environment ministry for comment on India’s stance on some arguments made by developed countries at Bonn, how much of the $1 trillion it has asked for does it expect to get, how critical is this climate finance for our climate goals, and how does India plan to utilise it. This story will be updated when we receive a response. Arjun Dutt, senior programme lead at the Delhi-based think-tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), said that according to their estimates, India’s net-zero goal for 2070 faces an investment gap of $3.5 trillion spread over 50 years which may be bridged using $1.4 trillion in external, grant financing, which is why decisions like NCQG are important. “Now, of course, $1 trillion is a huge jump on $100 billion, so there is some resistance to setting a target of this kind of magnitude,” said Dutt. “Plus, we need to keep in mind that it is not just the number but what it should constitute. NCQG should represent actual disbursals and not just commitments. This finance should be new, additional and not a reclassification of existing developmental aid. It should have public capital either in the form of direct grants or grant-equivalent components of concessional finance. But it should not include private finance that is flowing of its own accord.” The question is, will countries be able to come to terms and adopt the new finance goal at the upcoming COP? “Often technical logjams are resolved by high-level ministerial and political interventions,” said Dutt. “So, sometimes it is a matter of political will.”

Wind slowing down, AQI is likely to become ‘very poor’ in a week

Gurgaon: With a drop in wind speed from 6 kmph to 2kmph, the city's AQI saw a slight increase on Thursday, rising from 174 to 178, though it remained within the ‘moderate' category. According to the central govt's System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), the AQI could worsen to the ‘poor' or ‘very poor' category over the next six days. "Meteorological conditions are highly unfavourable for the effective dispersion of pollutants. Additional emissions from stubble/waste burning are likely to deteriorate air quality significantly," it stated. The Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) 24-hour average data showed that the air monitoring station in Teri Gram near the Aravalis recorded the day's worst AQI at 201 (poor), while it was ‘moderate' at Sector 51 (189) and Vikas Sadan (149). On Thursday, both PM2.5 and PM10 levels were far above the permissible limits, indicating pollutants from local sources, including vehicular emissions and dust. The PM2.5 level was highest in Teri Gram (305 µg/m³), followed by Sector 51 (205 µg/m³) and Vikas Sadan (122 µg/m³), as per CPCB's data. PM10 levels were also highest in Teri Gram (302 µg/m³), followed by Sector 51 (201 µg/m³), though Vikas Sadan does not record PM10 data. According to the CPCB, the annual average permissible limits for PM2.5 and PM10 are 60 µg/m³ and 100 µg/m³, respectively. Experts highlighted that year-round monitoring of pollution sources and a reduction in emissions is necessary to address the air pollution issue. "To improve air quality during the winter months, it's crucial to prepare our systems throughout the rest of the year. Pollution control boards and civic agencies should consistently monitor local sources, implement solutions to reduce emissions, and ensure accountability across all departments," said Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at the Centre for Science and Environment. The minimum temperature dropped to 18 degrees Celcius on Thursday, 1.2 degrees lower than the previous day. Despite clear skies and sunshine, the maximum temperature too dipped slightly to 35.8 degrees Celcius. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the gradual temperature decline is due to the sun's natural shift, with a significant drop expected only after snowfall is triggered by a western disturbance, likely in Nov. "Temperatures will remain steady for another week, with a progressive decline starting in the third week of Oct," an IMD official said. Meanwhile, health experts warned that patients with existing respiratory or medical conditions are at a higher risk of being affected by worsening air quality, especially as the region enters the winter cycle. Dr Neeraj Gupta, associate director of pulmonology, respiratory critical care, and sleep medicine at Max Hospital, Gurgaon, said, "During this change of season, we are seeing an increase in respiratory illnesses due to worsening air quality. Our daily OPDs have seen a 20-30% rise. To stay safe, one should wear a mask, use an air purifier as it can help significantly, and try to avoid exposure to pollution. It's important to eat healthily, avoid outside and junk food, and maintain an active lifestyle with regular physical activity."

An MIT economist said environmentalism is elite concern. India ‘too poor to be green’

The great British historian E.P. Thompson once remarked that ‘India is not an important country, but perhaps the most important country for the future of the world. Here is a country that merits no one’s condescension. All the convergent influences of the world run through this society: Hindu, Moslem, Christian, secular; Stalinist, liberal, Maoist, democratic socialist, Gandhian. There is not a thought that is being thought in the West or East which is not active in some Indian mind. Some may cavil at E.P. Thompson’s assertion that India is (or ever was) the most ‘important’ country for the future of the world. But I want rather to focus on his other claim—namely, that there has been an astonishing diversity of intellectual opinion in India. This is a product of the country’s size, its cultural heterogeneity, and its daring (if admittedly imperfect) attempt to construct a democratic political system in a deeply hierarchical society. Indeed, among the countries of the so-called ‘Global South’, India is notable for the vigour, sophistication and self-confidence of its intellectual traditions. In this respect it stands out; to be contrasted not only with the smaller countries of Asia and Africa, but also with its even larger neighbour, China, where the scholarly traditions of the past have been brutally crushed by a totalitarian state. This book explores a significant yet somewhat neglected strand of Indian intellectual life—that pertaining to the past, present and possible future of human relations with the natural world. By the canons of orthodox social science, countries like India are not supposed to have an environmental consciousness. They are, as it were, ‘too poor to be green’. As the MIT economist Lester Thurow famously (or notoriously) remarked in 1980: ‘If you look at the countries that are interested in environmentalism, or at the individuals who support environmentalism within each country, one is struck by the extent to which environmentalism is an interest of the upper middle class. Poor countries and poor individuals simply aren’t interested.’ This magisterial dismissal of any possibility of poor countries being interested in environmentalism was, at least with regard to India, several years out of date. In the spring of 1973, a popular peasant movement in the Himalaya, known as Chipko, threatened to hug the hill forests to stop them from being felled by commercial loggers. Many of the participants were unlettered; however, the leaders, though themselves from peasant backgrounds, were informed and articulate about wider issues. They wrote essays and tracts (usually in Hindi) tracing the direct link between industrial forestry, soil erosion, landslides and floods. These showed that what at one level was an economic conflict—between the subsistence demands of peasants for fuel, fodder, etc., and the commercial motivations of paper and plywood companies—had deeper ecological implications as well. Chipko was followed by a series of other grassroots initiatives around community access to forests, pasture and water. They likewise posited subsistence versus commerce, the village versus the city, the peasant versus the state, the subaltern versus the elite. Studying and reflecting on these conflicts, scholars argued that they showed the way to reconfiguring India’s development path. Given the country’s population densities and the fragility of tropical ecologies, India had erred in following the energyintensive, capital-intensive, resource-intensive model of economic development pioneered by the West. When the country got its freedom from British rule in 1947, it should have instead adopted a more bottom-up, community-oriented and environmentally prudent pattern of development. However, the argument further proceeded, it was not too late to make amends. The state and the citizen should both heed the lesson of Chipko and modify public policies and social behaviour accordingly. The environmental debate in India was at its most vigorous in the decade of the 1980s. Scientists, social scientists, journalists and grassroots activists all contributed to it. The debate operated at many levels: philosophical, political, social, technological. It touched on the moral and cultural aspects of humanity’s relations with nature; on the changes required in the distribution of power to promote environmental sustainability; on the design of appropriate technologies that could simultaneously meet economic as well as ecological objectives. The debate embraced all resource sectors—forests, water, soil, transport, energy, biodiversity, pollution and industrial safety. The post-Chipko environmental upsurge led to some institutional changes within India. New laws seeking to conserve forests, protect wildlife and control pollution were enacted. In 1980 the Government of India started a new Department of Environment, upgraded later into a full-fledged Ministry of Environment and Forests. New centres of ecological research were set up in Indian universities. Terms such as ‘ecological history’, ‘environmental sociology’ and ‘ecological economics’ began entering the teaching curriculum and research agendas of the academy. A new breed of ‘environmental journalists’ came into existence; their reports on forests, pollution, biodiversity and grassroots struggles featured in newspapers and magazines. In those years, thinkers and activists in India played a profound role in shaping global conversations about humanity’s relationship with nature as well. Indian scholars posited the idea of ‘livelihood environmentalism’ in contrast to the ‘full-stomach environmentalism’ of the affluent world. Some of the most pungent criticisms of overconsumption in the West came from Indian writers. Scientists like Madhav Gadgil and A.K.N. Reddy, journalists like Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain, and activists like Medha Patkar and Ashish Kothari acquired international reputations. Ideas originally developed in India were discussed and debated in other countries and continents.

Onslaught of Extreme Weather Has Affected 2.8 Million Hectares of Crop Land in 2024 So Far, Central India Worst-Hit

The onslaught of extreme weather events has affected over 2.8 million hectares of crop area across India in 2024 so far, revealing the hefty cost of climate change suffered by farmers. All states bore the brunt, but Central India, especially Madhya Pradesh, was the hardest-hit, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). “In the face of global warming, it has become critical that we improve our response to help farmers become more climate-resilient. On one hand, the increase in climate change-driven extreme weather events has put enormous strain on farmers’ capacity to cope and increased risks. On the other hand, they have to invest more and more to grow food as input costs rise,” said Sunita Narain, Director-General, CSE, at the inaugural edition of Climate Week in Nimli on Tuesday. The extreme weather events ranging from devastating heavy rains, floods, landslides to heatwaves have been on the rise due to a spike in global temperatures. According to the database maintained by the New Delhi-based organisation, extreme weather events hit India on almost 255 of the total 274 days from January to September. Madhya Pradesh witnessed the highest number of such days, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, according to the CSE, which sourced the data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Disaster Management Division for its database. Kiran Pandey, Director, Environment Resources Unit, CSE, highlighted that there has been a 54 per cent increase in the crop area impacted due to extreme weather compared to 2022, when roughly 1.84 million hectares of crop land was affected. “All states suffered the impacts, but the figures show that Central India bore the maximum brunt. Also, the actual cost is likely to be much more due to some missing data,” she remarked. Researchers and experts from across India have gathered for CSE’s inaugural Climate Week in Nimli to explore challenges of climate change, including the need to make India’s agriculture sector more climate-resilient. Experts highlighted that it is not just the spate of extreme weather events, and erratic rains, but shifts in day and night temperature is impacting crops differently.

Cleanest start to Oct in six years, thank shift in wind direction for it

Gurgaon: The city's air pollution levels were among the lowest recorded in the first 15 days of Oct this year since 2018 and the second best after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) started monitoring the city's AQI in 2016. The late change in wind direction in the region, according to experts, has contributed to better air quality in the city this year. The average AQI for the first 15 days of Oct was 117, a significant improvement from the same period last year, which saw an average index of 175. The average Oct AQI in 2021 was 120, while the lowest recorded since 2016 was 98 in 2017. The city experienced its most polluted Oct air quality in 2018, with an average index of 208, followed by 2020 (202), 2016 (143), and 2019 (142). This Oct, the city recorded four "satisfactory" and 11 "moderate" air days, compared to four "poor", one "satisfactory", and 10 "moderate" air days in 2023. Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, "The numbers are not showing a monumental difference. In Gurgaon, it is just a marginal change when we see the year-on-year data. It can be because Gurgaon;s air might not be coming from the direction of an industrial belt like Delhi or areas where stubble burning is taking place this year. This time the change in wind direction happened a little late, so the city has been witnessing better air. This Oct 10 air direction was southerly, which has helped so far." Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at Envirocatalysts, explained that both Delhi and Gurgaon air monitors are picking up stubble burning data, but the impact has been minimal due to the low number of farm fires in the region during the first half of Oct. "If we look at the last 15 days' data, Delhi's average PM 2.5 data was at 67 µg/m³, while Gurgaon was at 61 µg/m³. This means that stations are picking up similar kinds of emissions. Farm fire numbers had not picked up in the region in the first half of Oct. What we are noticing is local factors. Also, Delhi gets air from industrial belts. Moreover, the city has more open spaces and lower emissions compared to Delhi, which is also helping the region," Dahiya said. State Pollution control board (HSPCB) officials highlighted that suspension of road dust due to vehicular traffic and waste burning are of particular concern in the city. HSPCB regional officer Vijay Chaudhary said, "People are aware of the problem now. Things are changing on the ground. In the next two to three years, air pollution in this region can be under control. We have been tackling the problem with a multi-pronged approach. Over the years, highly-polluting industries have moved out of NCR. We also have changed rules for the use of diesel gensets and put a ban on biomass burning. These have definitely yielded some results, but we still need to strengthen the public transportation system and control construction and demolition waste and road dust."

LG gives nod for tax discounts on scrapping old vehicles

Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena has approved a proposal that provides a discount ranging between 10-20% on motor vehicle tax to people purchasing a new vehicle, if their older automobile is scrapped, people aware of the development said on Tuesday. The proposal, floated by the Delhi government in July, will come into effect from the date of the notification, the people said. The discount will only be provided if the buyer provides a certificate confirming the scrapping of the older vehicle, and the concession can range from 10-20%, depending on the vehicle’s fuel type, they said. “The discount is one of the many measures that the Delhi government has taken to promote the use of clean, non-pollution vehicles in the Capital. The discounts will make the purchase of vehicles cheaper, thus it will encourage the scrapping of old, polluting vehicles,” transport minister Kailash Gahlot said. Motor vehicle tax in Delhi ranges from 4% to 12.5% on the ex-showroom price of the vehicle. The tariff can depend on the vehicle’s fuel type as well as the size and ex-showroom price of the vehicles. For example, if a person buys the base petrol version of Tata Nexon (ex-showroom price: ₹8 lakh), they will have to pay motor vehicle tax of 7%. Thus, if they have scrapped a vehicle for ₹50,000, they can get a rebate of ₹11,200. However, the base diesel version of Tata Nexon (ex-showroom price: ₹10.5 lakh), they will have to pay motor vehicle tax of 12.5%, and the rebate is ₹16,406.25. According to orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018), no vehicle which is 15 years old or more can operate on the roads of the national capital. For diesel vehicles, this time period is cut down to 10 years only. The government calls such vehicles “end-of-Iife” vehicles, and driving them in Delhi is illegal. The aim behind these rules is to cut down on the number of vehicles on the city’s roads with dated emission standards. The Delhi government proposal is based on the vehicle scrapping policy of the Union ministry of road transport and highways, notified in 2021, which advised state governments to offer a road tax rebate of up to 25% for personal vehicles and up to 15% for commercial vehicles to people who scrap their older vehicle. In July, the Delhi transport department sent its proposal to Saxena for consideration and approval, and the LG passed the file recently. “The LG has approved the proposal to provide concession in the motor vehicles tax on registration of new transport and non-transport vehicles, against the scrapping of old vehicles, provided that the certificate of scrapping from registered vehicles scrapping facility (RVSF) is provided. A notification will be issued in a couple of days. The concession will come into effect from the date on which the notification is issued,” said a Delhi government official. According to the new policy, the concession cannot exceed 50% of the scrap value of the older vehicle — this means that if the scrap value of the older vehicle is ₹50,000, then the concession to the buyer can’t be more than ₹25,000. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) at Centre for Science and Environment, said, “This incentive can enable proactive decision of the vehicle owners to replace old vehicles with new vehicles. As old vehicles emit several times more than the new vehicles, substantial emission reduction is possible.”

Onslaught of Extreme Weather Has Affected 2.8 Million Hectares of Crop Land in 2024 So Far, Central India Worst-Hit

According to agricultural scientists, Rabi crops grown from November to March are bearing more brunt of climate change due to stark shift in temperatures and rainfall during winter. The onslaught of extreme weather events has affected over 2.8 million hectares of crop area across India in 2024 so far, revealing the hefty cost of climate change suffered by farmers. All states bore the brunt, but Central India, especially Madhya Pradesh, was the hardest-hit, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). “In the face of global warming, it has become critical that we improve our response to help farmers become more climate-resilient. On one hand, the increase in climate change-driven extreme weather events has put enormous strain on farmers’ capacity to cope and increased risks. On the other hand, they have to invest more and more to grow food as input costs rise,” said Sunita Narain, Director-General, CSE, at the inaugural edition of Climate Week in Nimli on Tuesday. The extreme weather events ranging from devastating heavy rains, floods, landslides to heatwaves have been on the rise due to a spike in global temperatures. According to the database maintained by the New Delhi-based organisation, extreme weather events hit India on almost 255 of the total 274 days from January to September. Madhya Pradesh witnessed the highest number of such days, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, according to the CSE, which sourced the data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Disaster Management Division for its database. Kiran Pandey, Director, Environment Resources Unit, CSE, highlighted that there has been a 54 per cent increase in the crop area impacted due to extreme weather compared to 2022, when roughly 1.84 million hectares of crop land was affected. “All states suffered the impacts, but the figures show that Central India bore the maximum brunt. Also, the actual cost is likely to be much more due to some missing data,” she remarked. Researchers and experts from across India have gathered for CSE’s inaugural Climate Week in Nimli to explore challenges of climate change, including the need to make India’s agriculture sector more climate-resilient. Experts highlighted that it is not just the spate of extreme weather events, and erratic rains, but shifts in day and night temperature is impacting crops differently.

Delhi-NCR enters choke season? Grap-I enforced

The 27 measures announced under Grap Stage I to combat the deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR are preventive actions, directing govt agencies to intensify measures to control air pollution. Among the worst hit in Delhi at 4 pm This includes stopping construction and demolition (C&D) activities for projects with a plot size equal to or more than 500 sqm that have not yet registered on the respective web portals of Delhi, Haryana or Uttar Pradesh govts. Among the measures under Stage I are enforcing a complete ban on coal or firewood in tandoors in hotels, restaurants, and open eateries; enforcing orders of NGT and Supreme Court on overage vehicles; carrying out periodic mechanised sweeping and water sprinkling on roads; and ensuring that diesel generator sets are not used as a regular source of power supply. “While comprehensively reviewing the air quality scenario in the region as well as the air quality forecast, it was noted that there was a notable dip in air quality parameters in the last 24 hours in the region, which led to the AQI for Delhi moving into the ‘poor’ category. The forecasts also predict air quality to mainly remain in ‘poor’ category in the coming days owing to the unfavourable meteorological conditions,” said CAQM in a statement on Monday. It added that all agencies in NCR have been asked to implement Stage I’s measures from 8 am on Tuesday. CAQM has asked people across NCR to follow steps mentioned in the ‘citizen charter’ of Stage-I of Grap to help in reducing pollution. The measures include reporting air pollution activities through the 311 App, Green Delhi App, and Sameer App; keeping engines tuned properly; ensuring correct tyre pressure; keeping PUC for vehicles up-to-date; not idling vehicles at red lights; preferring hybrid or electric vehicles to control pollution; and celebrating festivals in an eco-friendly manner. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said, “AQI is expected to worsen with the intensification of calm and cold conditions. We need stronger preparedness to prevent pollution build-up. GRAP Stage Iand II need to be implemented as default measures for the entire winter period. But the focus has to be on sustained action to control emissions from vehicles, industries, waste burning and solid-fuel burning. The action needs to be scalable across the NCR region and beyond.” Meanwhile, the maximum temperature was recorded at 34.4 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal, while the minimum temperature dropped to 18.6 degrees C, one notch below normal. The minimum temperature is likely to dip further to around 18 degrees C on Tuesday and 17 degrees C on Wednesday.

Delhi govt to procure drones to ‘spray’ mist at pollution hot spots

The Delhi government has floated tenders and is looking to procure “mist-spraying drones” for pollution hotspots across the city this winter, officials aware of the matter said. These drones will also be able to record air quality data and capture images of the surface below. The drones, in addition to spraying mist to control dust pollution, will also have sensors that will enable it to record air pollution data, including PM 2.5 and PM 10, said government officials aware of the project. The official cited above said that the environment department of Delhi government is looking to procure three such drones. “The idea behind this is to track pollution at Delhi’s pollution hotspots in a comprehensive manner. The drones will primarily be used to identify local sources of air pollution from a height but will also be able to record air quality data. We have further looked at the possibility of spraying mist from these drones, in order to bring down dust in particular,” the official said, adding that more drones will be added if the pilot project of three drones is successful. Using drones to monitor air pollution is part of the government’s 21-point Winter Action Plan, announced on September 25. Environment minister Gopal Rai, while announcing the plan, had said that using these drones will allow the government to take swift action against violators. “This is the first time we are using drones. Earlier, sources at these hotspots were identified manually. This will allow real-time identification and action against sources of pollution there,” Rai had said. In 2018, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had identified 13 pollution hotspots in Delhi, based on their annual PM2.5 concentration. This includes Anand Vihar, Mundka, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, Rohini, Punjabi Bagh, Okhla, Bawana, Vivek Vihar, Narela, Ashok Vihar and Dwarka. A senior environment department official said if successful, the idea is to eventually have at least one drone for each of the 13 hotspots. “For larger hotspots, we may also have two drones,” the official added. Experts said that even if using drones is an innovative idea, such pilots should have been done much earlier. “We have had these hotspots for the last several years now. We already know the sources of pollution at each hotspot. The need of the hour is not to map sources but to act against the sources. An action taken report should be released by the government, detailing what has been done at each hotspot to control local pollution,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Drop in wind speed likely to turn city’s air ‘poor’ in next two days

Gurgaon: The city's air quality index (AQI) remained in the "moderate" range for the third consecutive day on Monday though Delhi and other NCR cities like Noida Ghaziabad witnessed "poor" air. The city's AQI improved slightly to 108 on Monday compared to 169 on the previous day. Throughout Oct, Gurgaon hasn't witnessed "poor" air days. Instead, it has logged four "satisfactory" days and 10 "moderate" days. However, an HSPCB official said local surface winds are likely to remain calm for next two days, resulting in deterioration of air quality to "poor" category. "Surface winds are expected to remain calm, at around 8kmph, for the next two days. This will not help disperse pollutants, with AQI likely to deteriorate to "poor," he said. So far, the average AQI was recorded at 113 from Oct 1 to 14, which is better than the past six years. Last year, the average AQI was clocked at 176 during the same period, while it was 114 in 2022, 141 in 2021, 194 in 2020, 132 in 2019 and 223 in 2018. According to experts, though the region witnessed less showers and low wind speed this month, long-range transportation of pollutants was less than previous years. In the last two weeks, the southeast wind direction prevented pollutants from farm fires from reaching the city, resulting in a minor difference in air quality compared to previous years. However, the recent change in wind direction to northwest is expected to have an impact on the AQI. Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), explained the situation. "The first half of Oct was much better this year. This change is because farm fires didn't pick up in Sept and till the first week of Oct. We are witnessing a rise now, so it is impacting Delhi's AQI. Also, a few days before Dussehra, air was stagnant and after that, it became stagnant. As a result, pollutants from bursting of crackers, vehicular pollution, road dust and others failed to disperse," he said. As Delhi's air quality has worsened, with the daily AQI reaching 234, the authorities have implemented stage-I of GRAP to control air pollution. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) sub-committee has been closely monitoring the situation. According to experts, the AQI in Delhi has increased due to a combination of factors, including rising vehicular emissions, ongoing construction work and weather conditions. As GRAP stage 1 kicks in, NCR cities will have to ensure regular lifting of municipal solid waste, construction and demolition (C&D) waste, and any other trash considered "hazardous" from dedicated dumpsites. Authorities must ensure that no waste is dumped illegally in open areas. Construction & demolition activities in housing projects with plot sizes equal to or more than 500 sqm, which are not registered on the web portals of NCR states for remote monitoring of dust mitigation measures, will be suspended in the region.