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Will clean Ganga flow in near future?

It is a top priority for the government and its national agenda, and is driven by none other than Prime Minister Modi’s missionary zeal. The Ganga would be clean by 2020, the government had said Almost 10 years since Prime Minister Modi promised a clean Ganga, the river continues to run polluted and people living in cities along the river might be drinking what is at best partially treated sewage, not Gangajal: says an assessment of the state of India’s most celebrated and revered river. The government has claimed that Ganga will be clean in 2019 (the deadline has now been extended to 2020). The assessment, done by Down To Earth, a “fortnightly on the politics of development, environment and health” which Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) helps publish, emphatically states that the river will continue to run as – and even more – polluted as ever. Why the Ganga will continue to flow polluted

Gurgaon records 'Good' air day after nearly 2 years!

GURGAON: The wait for a clean air day is a long one in NCR. But not usually this long. Tuesday was a spot of deep green in the pollution index - in other words, a 'good' air day, when AQI is below 50 - for the first time in 23 months. The 24-hour average AQI was 35 on Tuesday. The last time residents of Gurgaon woke up to a day when the AQI was 'good' was on Oct 10, 2022, when the day's average settled at 29. But was the air quality really 'good'? With data available from just one of the four stations in the city to calculate a 24-hour average for Tuesday, this is no telling if this is an accurate assessment of the pollution level. But it's the official data. Asked about just the Teri Gram station functioning, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) chairperson P Raghavendra Rao told TOI that the problems will be investigated.Nirmal Kashyap, HSPCB regional officer for Gurgaon, said a 12-hour power failure knocked out the station's readings in Vikas Sadan. The one at Gwal Pahari is maintained by central govt, and the Sector 51 station is down because of technical faults. Nonetheless, officials said, weather conditions and rain helped wash away pollutants from the air. The city logged 20.2mm of rainfall on Tuesday and wind speeds went up to a high of 20kmph, data by IMD showed. Noida too recorded a 'good' air day - with AQI 50 - on Tuesday. The last time Noida recorded a 'good' air day was Aug 13, when AQI was 46 and before that, on August 9, when it was at 48. Delhi recorded a 'satisfactory' air day, with AQI at 64. The last time the capital had a 'good' air day was almost a year ago, on Sept 10, 2023, when its AQI was 45. HSPCB officials said that other than most commonly found pollutants - particulate matter and toxic gases that are released from vehicles or industries - dust plays a significant role in deteriorating air quality in NCR, specifically during summer months and humid weather conditions. "Loose soil and wind directions in the Indo-Gangetic plain are natural sources of dust in the region, and this is compounded by vehicular traffic that suspends road dust and construction activities," said Vijay Chaudhary, HSPCB regional officer (Gurgaon south). Data showed that 2023 did not record any 'good' air days, even during monsoon. The lowest AQI recorded for a day last year was 62 on July 30. And 2022 recorded four 'good' air days. On Tuesday, experts said this data underscored the necessity of adopting long-term measures to mitigate air pollution over the year, and not just in the winter pollution season. "Cities with millions of inhabitants should not have to rely on weather conditions to breathe clean air. Urban areas need forest sinks to control pollution, green walling is needed against desertification, and ingress of dust and cleansing of toxic gases," said Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at the Centre for Science and Environment. A 2021 study by the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago (EPIC) had said that residents of Gurgaon lose 9.9 years of their lives due to high exposure to pollution. The report also ranked Haryana fourth in the all-India list and said air pollution diminishes average life expectancy in the state by 8.4 years.

ABP LIVE To Host India Infrastructure Conclave 2024, Showcasing India’s Infrastructure Revolution

ABP LIVE, India’s leading digital news powerhouse, is all set to host the prestigious ABP LIVE India Infrastructure Conclave 2024, Honouring Excellence, on August 28 in New Delhi. The event will be a gathering of the most influential voices in India’s infrastructure sector, from government bodies and PSUs to private sector giants, all coming together to celebrate India’s groundbreaking achievements and chart the future of the nation’s infrastructure landscape. The event will be graced by the presence of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as the Guest of Honour, alongside an impressive line-up of industry stalwarts. The speakers will include Harbhajan Singh E.T.O., Minister of Public Works and Power, Govt of Punjab, Lt. Gen. Raghu Srinivasan (VSM), Director General of Border Roads Organisation; Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Director General of TERI; Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director of the Centre for Science and Environment; Dr. Mohammed Rihan, Director General of the National Institute of Solar Energy; Dr. Sudeshna Chatterjee, Program Director (Research), WRI-India Ross Centre; and Prof. (Dr.) S P Gon Chaudhuri, Visiting Professor, IIEST and Eminent Scientist, and Dr. Shrivallabh Goyal, Director & Business Head, Reliance MET, among others. These thought leaders along with other distinguished experts from the field will engage in powerful panel discussions that promise to inspire and inform.

Traffic Jams in Indian Cities Are Slowly Becoming a Deadly Threat to Public Health. How Many More Lives Will Be Lost Before India’s Urban Congestion Crisis is Taken Seriously?

On August 21, 2024, in the morning, Rajender Singh was on his way to Ambala for a business meeting. A routine drive ended up being his end when Singh got stuck in what seemed to be a hotel after a flyover-building mess near Bilaspur on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. He added the drizzle to his already dissatisfying life that morning. Singh suffered a heart attack and was subsequently discovered dead behind the wheel of his car. The police, among whom was Sub-Inspector Om Prakash, confirmed that Singh had died of a heart attack that may have been induced or compounded by prolonged stress and physical inactivity within the traffic jam. Tragic incident: many questions are often raised about the safety and well-being of this increasing number of people getting entangled in the ever-worsening traffic conditions of Indian cities. It cannot be looked upon as an isolated event but part of a larger pattern in which the health impacts of traffic congestion are more and more witnessed. It has been found that people who are stuck in traffic for long hours at a stretch are prone to acute stress, developing high blood pressure and becoming susceptible to heart attacks. A 2021 ICMR report disclosed that people who have had exposure to over two hours a day in traffic had a 60% higher chance of getting cardiovascular diseases. Continuous jerking, coupled with breathing in vehicular pollution, disperses hazardous ambient conditions, drastically affecting the health conditions of those already suffering from some related problem. The burdensome experience of coming across heavy congestion, blaring horns, and generally unpredictable traffic can generate sudden stress reactions that lead to lost lives, as in the case of Rajender Singh. The Cause of Trouble Rapid urbanization in India has moved ahead with this country’s infrastructure, leading to bottlenecks in managing the traffic. Inadequacy in the transportation infrastructure of cities like Gurugram, which has rapid growth in population and vehicle ownership, is still using outdated road networks that are incapable of handling the tremendous volume of traffic. With no alternative transport system in place, like the most efficient public transit systems that exist in large numbers, people are forced to rely a lot on personal vehicles, further clogging the roads. The Delhi-Jaipur highway, the site of the Singh killing, is an important arterial road that is congested throughout the day. Though it is a national highway, traffic congestion prevails, especially at industrial points similar to Bilaspur, where the incident occurred. This has been succeeded by ongoing road work, with the whole place engulfed in traffic mismanagement, which has converted this national highway into a commuter’s nightmare. Urban Congestion Urban traffic congestion is one of the prolific contributors to many forms of pollution, already documented, like air and noise. However, the health implications related to cardiovascular diseases never get counted much. The TomTom Traffic Index 2022 ranks Indian cities atop its list of the most congested urban traffic, with Bangalore being the second most traffic-captured city worldwide. To drive only 5 kilometers during peak hours takes about 18 minutes and 40 seconds. This is not an inconvenience; it is a potential health hazard. Prolonged exposure to this vehicle emission due to traffic congestion contributes to respiratory and cardiac stress. Noise levels from continuous hooting and engine noise further increase the stress for people caught up in traffic, leading to hypertension and even heart attacks, as in the case of Rajender Singh. Traffic in India is no longer a convenience issue but an epidemic public health issue. To illustrate, vehicular emissions were identified as the single largest source of air pollution in Delhi, accounting for 51% of the city’s pollution, according to a Centre for Science and Environment study conducted in 2022. That figure doesn’t even consider the dust generated by roads and construction, both tied to the extensive use of motor vehicles. Noise pollution, another byproduct of this vehicular chaos, has reached unbearable levels. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the cities of India are among the noisiest cities in the world; Muradabad in Uttar Pradesh is the second noisiest city in the world. Not only is this torture to the ears but also a severe health hazard, as excessive noise is stressful to the mind and body. It can also cause sleep disorientation and even raise blood pressure. This oversimplifies a storyline that could only be solved using electric vehicles. Electric vehicles do nothing to solve the problem of tire and brake wear pollution, identified by a UK report in 2023 as the chief source of pollution caused by road transport. Just 15% of vehicular air pollution is from the tailpipe; the rest is from the wear and tear the vehicle causes to tires, brakes, and the road surface. The situation becomes all the more different when the space cars occupy and take the city lane or parking space into consideration. According to the National Family Health Survey, NFHS-5, only 8% of Indian households own cars. And yet, that small percentage is choking our cities with their congestion. What chaos will be enacted if that number significantly grows? A car-centric attitude takes much more space per person than public transport, bicycles, or pedestrians, overfilling roads and almost pushing out from essential infrastructure places like parks and public spaces. Furthermore, car dependency amplifies another urban problem: flooding. The increasing concretization of urban spaces, which is driven by the growing need for parking more and more vehicles, does not allow rain to permeate into the ground, which results in flooding in the urban areas, especially during the monsoon. The most sobering aspect of India’s car culture is its deadly impact on road safety. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the daily average of road accident deaths in India is 422 per day—which is more than five times the daily murder rate. Because of the easy availability and affordability of private vehicles, this is a problem where the last segment, over-speeding, driving while being distracted, destructively blinking the lights and blowing horns, all play their part along with destructively lousy road conditions. Vehicular Emissions and Health It was estimated that vehicular emissions contributed to 51% of air pollution in Delhi, according to a study by the Centre for Science and Environment in 2022. The contribution of road dust and construction activity, which are directly related to vehicular traffic, further complicates the scenario. The same trends are observable in other major cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata, where the problem of stubble burning is not there. Hence, vehicular emissions become the prime villain. Air pollution may relate to respiratory tract infections, lung cancer, and even heart diseases due to the delicate particulate matter suspended in the air (PM2.5). Prolonged exposure to such pollutants trapped in congestion may elevate these risks from developed conditions, making this simple commute life-threatening. Noise Pollution: The Invisible One. The United Nations Environment Programme report on the world’s noisiest cities identifies the South Asian cities, including those of Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, as standing at the top of the list. The noise of motor vehicles is the primary factor contributing to this noise pollution, causing the loss of hearing, depriving even the soulful of their sleep, and heightening stress among individuals. Chronic exposure to high noise levels can lead to long-term health issues, including cardiovascular diseases and mental health disorders. In the case of Rajender Singh, the combination of air and noise pollution, coupled with the stress of being trapped in a traffic jam, he likely created a lethal environment that precipitated his heart attack. Traffic Jams: A Silent Killer Traffic jams are no more irritating nuisances; they are silent killers. The physical and psychological stresses from being strapped in traffic jams for hours often result in a significant outcome of ill health. Observably, individuals who stay in traffic for long periods are likely to get different disorders, including stress-related ones, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. The National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-2021) revealed that only 8% of Indian households owned cars, yet the traffic congestion is brutal. So, if that rises, imagine the scenario. There will be far more congestion in cities that might be more hazardous for mass health than usual. The tragic death of Rajender Singh should come as a much-needed wake-up call for the people responsible for policy decisions. The present pattern of urban development, with its ever-greater emphasis on constructing roads and vehicle-centric infrastructure, is unsustainable and dangerous to public health. Most developed countries have recognized the perils of urban congestion and have taken measures to keep a lid on the number of cars out there. Take the example of the Dutch cities, which, according to the lists, are now leading the most significant drop in traffic congestion globally and adding a stimulus to cycling and walking. Roads once jammed with parked cars are now open to pedestrians, reducing noise and air pollution — with all the following health benefits. These policies can also be implemented in India, which will, in turn, help reduce the burden of traffic congestion. For example, some places like market areas could ban the use of cars, as these are highly prone to congestion; instead, there would be public means and encourage it, as this could considerably reduce the congestion. In addition, enhanced metro networks with improved bus services could offer car owners viable alternatives to private car usage to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. The Role of Improved Public Awareness and Behavior Change Even though policy reform is critical, it is essential to couple this with public awareness and behavioral change. The general public should be empowered with knowledge of the health risks of traffic congestion and other benefits of using different modes of transport. Awareness and public attitude transformation campaigns can be undertaken to persuade the public to change their behavioral patterns. Similarly, the government could encourage electric vehicles and carpool and taxi-sharing systems, reducing the number of cars on the road. All such measures, together with improved programs of urban development and new infrastructure development, considerably contribute to reducing the impacts of this congestion. The death of Rajender Singh on the Gurugram highway is an ominous reminder that anything which in other circumstances would have just been a private tragedy hits roads, and it is a disaster for public health. This is quite huge given the threats to the physical and psychological health posed by traffic jams. In one sense, it green-flags policymakers to take immediate action to avoid not only the coming tragedies of the future but also as an imperative to settle life in cities. The demand for sustainable urban development, which will lessen the number of vehicles on the road and develop various alternative modes of transport, cannot be overemphasized. Traffic congestion threats need to be attenuated for a healthier and more livable city; this can only be done through policy changes, better awareness in the public sector, and people’s behavioral changes. This event is such a graphic demonstration that time, emissions, or even the actual price of traffic jams are not measured when considering it. It’s time for society to take a long, hard look at our urban infrastructure and make the necessary changes so that another tragedy does not occur. india

ABP LIVE To Host India Infrastructure Conclave 2024, Showcasing India’s Infrastructure Revolution

New Delhi: ABP LIVE, India’s leading digital news powerhouse, is all set to host the prestigious ABP LIVE India Infrastructure Conclave 2024, Honouring Excellence, on August 28 in New Delhi. The event will be a gathering of the most influential voices in India’s infrastructure sector, from government bodies and PSUs to private sector giants, all coming together to celebrate India’s groundbreaking achievements and chart the future of the nation’s infrastructure landscape. The event will be graced by the presence of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as the Guest of Honour, alongside an impressive line-up of industry stalwarts. The speakers will include Harbhajan Singh E.T.O., Minister of Public Works and Power, Govt of Punjab, Lt. Gen. Raghu Srinivasan (VSM), Director General of Border Roads Organisation; Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Director General of TERI; Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director of the Centre for Science and Environment; Dr. Mohammed Rihan, Director General of the National Institute of Solar Energy; Dr. Sudeshna Chatterjee, Program Director (Research), WRI-India Ross Centre; and Prof. (Dr.) S P Gon Chaudhuri, Visiting Professor, IIEST and Eminent Scientist, and Dr.Shrivallabh Goyal, Director & Business Head, Reliance MET, among others. These thought leaders along with other distinguished experts from the field will engage in powerful panel discussions that promise to inspire and inform.

What is the role of Article 2.1c in advancing climate action?

By invitation only The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and ODI are pleased to co-host an online consultation, ‘What is the role of Article 2.1c in advancing climate action?’ This half-day virtual-only event is aimed at bringing together a range of relevant stakeholders to deliberate on what it means for financial flows to be consistent with low-emission, climate resilient development pathways in accordance with Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement. It aims to foster honest dialogue on how the world’s financial systems and global capital can truly be aligned with climate goals, whilst upholding the principle of equity, and fostering a fair green transition for all, especially in the Global South. Description The Sharm el-Sheikh (SeS) dialogue on Article 2.1c and its complementarity with Article 9 has provided the much-needed space to deconstruct and assess some of the interpretations of this long-term finance goal and its interlinkages with other agenda items or multilateral institutions and processes. There is an urgent need to start to explore how to take Article 2.1c forward in the multilateral process, however, beyond dialogues. Through this consultation, CSE and ODI are keen to provide space to foster nuanced discussions, precipitate key challenges and opportunities of climate-consistency of finance flows. It is hoped that participants may build on the consultation discourse at the second workshop of 2024 of the UNFCCC Sharm el-Sheikh Dialogue on Article 2.1c to be held on October 6-7, 2024. The online consultation will deliberate on questions such as: ● What are the key actions and actors in scope of Article 2.1c according to your understanding of operationalising the Article? ● What guardrails are needed to ensure that all countries take equitable action towards Article 2.1c and adverse consequences, strain on administrative capacities and undue conditionalities are not felt by States, particularly those in the Global South? ● What immediate next steps can be taken by actors, or early-agreements made between actors, in order to ensure the Article 2.1c agenda advances in the multilateral agenda? By bringing together climate finance negotiators, representatives of Ministries of Finance and Central Banks, regulators, private finance experts, academia and civil society organisations, the co-hosts hope to ensure that the discourse going forward is balanced, and accounts for the concerns and aspirations of a wide variety of stakeholders. Article 2.1c The Paris Agreement outlines three major long term goals for addressing the climate challenge. It emphasises the need to ensure planetary warming does not exceed 1.5°C, and that global temperature rise remains well below 2°C; it highlights the need to enhance global adaptation capacity for low emissions development without threatening food security; and, lastly, it provides what is called informally by some as the long-term finance goal, i.e., Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement that aims at enhancing the implementation of the UNFCCC and respond to the global climate crisis, in the context of sustainable development, by “(c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.” While the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement both call upon developed countries to provide financial resources to developing countries for climate action, Article 2.1c is seen by some as the broader goal for making a shift in finance flows at a global and more systemic level. This is important given finance is a key enabler of climate action. For countries to implement ambitious climate pledges, access to finance from all actors needs to be improved greatly and this is facilitated (or hindered) by actors of the global financial system and international financial architecture and their actions, via rules, regulations, policies and more. As the provision of climate finance for developing countries so far has been inadequate, unevenly distributed and not necessarily reflective of the financing needs of vulnerable countries, complementary and more systems level action on financing could further facilitate the scaling and impact of climate finance provision. However, the interpretation of climate-consistent finance flows within the climate negotiations are fraught. Positions of developed countries and developing countries can have stark divergences as to what is in scope in these discussions. Most significantly, the latter fear the use of Article 2.1c as a means to shirk responsibility of obligations of providing climate finance, even if the premise of making all finance climate-consistent is considered a worthy pursuit. Even in the real-world implementation of Article 2.1c by financial stakeholders such as pension funds, institutional investors, development aid agencies, asset managers and central banks, clarity and consensus on objective and equitable progress is not yet within reach. The UNFCCC itself does not provide any guardrails either, for what may not be considered climate-consistent financial flows or how various actors in the financial system may cooperate to see benefits. About CSE The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), is a public interest, not-for-profit, research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, India. It has been well known for influencing the design of international climate policy since well before such policy was enshrined in formal institutions - whether it is the landmark paper released in 1991 by Sunita Narain and Anil Agarwal, calling for a decolonisation of carbon budget accounting, or CSE’s commentary on every UN climate meeting since 1992. CSE has led the discourse in climate policy for over three decades advocating for equity, the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities, and investing in resilient economies for the poor. CSE's Climate Change Programme is committed to championing the study of the most pressing climate issues relevant for the Global South. Our publications on climate-critical topics, our presence at UNFCCC proceedings such as COP summits and Subsidiary Body meetings, public outreach and advocacy, media engagement, and training programmes are designed to create multipliers in society for climate action. About ODI ODI is a global affairs think tank. We focus on research, convening and influencing, to generate ideas that matter for people and planet. For queries, please contact Avantika Goswami, Programme Manager, Climate Change, CSE avantika.goswami@cseindia.org Charlene Watson, Senior Research Associate, Climate and Sustainability, ODI c.watson@odi.org.uk

A City Undone: Joining the Dots of Delhi’s Drainage Debacle

The 2024 monsoon in India has resulted in widespread death, damage, and loss of property, intensifying a trend seen over the past 2-3 years where urban flooding has almost become endemic in many regions. Landslides have taken a heavy toll, leaving once pristinely beautiful landscapes scarred. When things begin to happen that are far removed from what is considered normal – destroying lives, including those of animals and birds native to an area, as well as decimate hard won properties and desecrate landscapes – some might take it as fate’s vagaries, but worried citizens should begin to join the dots. Some of the more mundane causes – such as the failure to desilt urban drains, excessive paving over of our cities, unchecked urban sprawl with unauthorised constructions on former farmlands or lake beds – or even major causes like gouging the fragile Himalayas to build pilgrimage-oriented highways, irresponsible development in the equally fragile Western Ghats in Kerala, with mining activities alongside heavy tourism-oriented constructions, and unthinking riverfront concretising “developments” in many riverside towns or cities – are all very easy for an informed layperson to spot. However, there may be other, unobvious causes that may be escaping us that worsen matters. Some of these could be assumed as the root causes of the Delhi floods this year that not only led to loss of possessions but also claimed lives. The imputed cost in man-hours of time lost in stalled traffic, or street-side next to one’s car with a flooded engine, is yet to be calculated and would possibly yield a mind-boggling figure. The advent of monsoon, once an eagerly anticipated event in this city and country – with a whole sub-sections of semi-classical music devoted to extolling its virtues – has now become a dreaded season of loss and woe. However, when we consider our own local areas within Delhi, the relative lack of change in many parts of the city might not seem to provide a sufficient explanation for the increasing local flooding year after year. Maintenance and repair have never been the strong suit of our authorities, and urban sprawl has continued unchecked for decades. Taking the example of Vasant Kunj and its surroundings, which I have known for about 30 years, relatively little has changed here. If anything, there have been marked improvements – citizen bodies have led greening drives, removed paving around many trees to allow rainwater percolation, and preserved all parks and open spaces, with which this locality and its environs are richly endowed by the master planners. In fact, these spaces have been enhanced over the last few decades, as seen in the development of Sanjay Van, with its large new interconnected natural water filtration and percolation bodies, the Aravalli Biodiversity Park established a couple of decades ago, and the more recent Neela Hauz project. Other than being built on the water-absorbing and conserving Aravalli Ridge, Vasant Kunj’s natural elevation lies well above areas to the north towards the Yamuna and should naturally drain. Yet, flooding in Vasant Kunj and its environs seems to have increased over the past few years. Geological map of Delhi. Photo: Chatteerjee et al 2009 Delhi, over the last few years, has seen unprecedented flooding of Rajpath and its very green, water-absorbing environs – which lie a mere 2 kms upslope from the river – the floods this year even reached Lutyens’ Delhi, impacting homes set in large gardens housing senior legislators. This year’s record rains led to water ingress and significant damage to personal belongings in homes across diverse localities, sparing no one – from the tony, verdant Golf Links and park-endowed Defence Colony (also just a few kms upslope from the river) to the dense, congested areas of Dakshinpuri and Yamuna paar. Ingress of this magnitude has never occurred in the worst of monsoons since these localities were inhabited more than five to seven decades ago. Additionally, very low-density upscale localities like Friends Colony West, a stone’s throw from the river, now experience damaging floods. Considering that all these areas in larger central Delhi, east of the ridge, lie on a riverine drainage plain that naturally slopes towards the river, the events of this year seem to defy all logic. Additionally, each and every road in Delhi seems to get flooded even during moderately heavy rains, ruining car engines, stalling traffic and causing at least a stray death or three in flooded under-passes or illegal basement libraries. Flooding destroyed government officials’ cars parked in the basements of their new flats at New Kidwai Nagar. The old, low-scale government housing in the same location never saw such a thing. Additionally, the frequent flooding of the new Pragati Maidan underpass – which connects to the New Bharat Mandapam’s massive 40 acre underground parking basement – throws the massive flow of Delhi to Noida traffic that has taken to using it, out of kilter for miles around. It may be time Delhi’s residents began to join the dots, especially if they aren’t among those who can escape to live elsewhere when this city’s infrastructure totally collapses, like its air quality already has. A list of additions to our cityscape over the last few decades – The metro: whose arrival we all welcomed, and that undoubtedly saves many hours of commuting time while reducing carbon emissions and polluting fumes of thus avoided road traffic. But in many stretches, the metro runs deep underground while in others it has led to the hard asphalt paving over of previously water absorbing open space to provide for parking lots and pedestrian approach. – The rampant densification of relatively inner city lands as part of the G.P.R.A. (Government Pool Residential Accommodation) redevelopment, which encompasses vast tracts of south-central Delhi, including Kidwai Nagar, Naoroji Nagar, Netaji Nagar, and Sarojini Nagar, among others. These areas once featured rainwater-absorbing open spaces with slightly shabby, low-density government housing, where a few thousand now-dead trees used to flourish but now have massive buildings with double and triple basements. – The ill-conceived Central Vista project, which attempts to aggregate nearly 60,000 government employees into the heart of this beleaguered capital, has not only broken rules and shattered precedents but also caused 1,838 magnificent water sequestering trees to be removed in just the first phase. These trees, on the erstwhile I.G.N.C.A. campus, that now houses three of 10 proposed office buildings, were part of an inviolable deemed forest. What is worse, a third of the erstwhile Rajpath’s water percolating lawns have been paved to make way for parking space after the removal of another 70 trees. We have just seen the tragicomic spectacle of flooding within our venerated parliament premises, possibly thanks to the extensive hard paving around a huge new parliament building that replaces the green areas of what was once an inviolable park in the master plan of Delhi, from which we have lost 404 venerable trees. – The equally ill-conceived Bharat Mandapam on Pragati Maidan, which could have come up anywhere on the city’s outskirts and possibly rejuvenated some neglected peri-urban area, needlessly replaced what was already an exposition centre in use. The project not only resulted in the demolitions of the Hall of Nations, one of India’s most significant and internationally acclaimed modern heritage buildings, but also led to massive paving over of a once relatively verdant soft scape. To make matters worse, the city’s bureaucrats and planners, while rushing through the afore-mentioned adjacent and allied Pragati Maidan underpass, forgot to plan adequate drainage for it. The result: an annually flooded, and thus useless, underpass which connects to the Mandapam’s flooded 40-acre basement which, coupled with the increased paving, effectively stops all rain water percolation over that vast area. One only has to examine the site on Google Earth to know this. Google Earth view of Bharat Mandapam campus. Photo: Author provided. – The newly proliferating traffic underpasses, such as the massive and long-delayed Ashram underpass, constructed in areas with high water tables. If we consider that traffic underpasses, like the one at Minto Bridge, used to flood every year, it seems we are only adding to the problem by building half a dozen more each year. It is happening most likely because no other expedient solution presents itself to the city’s planners for accommodating the increasing car and two-wheeler traffic, which is driven by growing population pressure. This population increase is itself a result of the utter neglect of the hinterlands and rural areas, causing the poor to swarm into the city in search of a living—no matter how miserable. Additionally, young educated people in need of jobs crowd into the city because few second-tier cities offer adequate or well-compensated employment, while this one still might. – The recent planning permissions, given with poorly concealed avarice to make money off developers, in hitherto open farmlands, to be developed as hotels and elaborately constructed wedding venue complexes. Now complete with acres of hard-paved parking along all roads radiating out of Delhi to neighbouring towns, these lands once served as a sponge for rain water. The same planning bodies now envisage one-acre “farms” – a misnomer for lavish, paved suburban homes that replace real farmlands – and are also busy rezoning the Green Belt of agricultural land, that once surrounded this city as a buffer, into high-rise residential areas. This Green Belt was originally designed by our first master planners, who adopted the best practices of the vilified Angrez in their London master plan. Instead of creating a vast, continuous paved urban sprawl, they could have developed new areas in more distant hinterlands within and outside the NCR, seeding new sub-cities and employment opportunities, separated from the inner city by open percolation spaces and connected by high-speed commuter lines, as seen in cities like Hong Kong with similar vast open hinterlands. Delhi’s drainage patterns Let us now segue into the hydrology and drainage patterns of the New Delhi region West of the Yamuna. As visible in the map above, the Delhi Ridge arcs around the central and southern parts of the city – from the Northern Ridge near Delhi University to Rashtrapati Bhavan and the diplomatic area in the West, through Vasant Kunj in the Southwest, and all the way to Asola Bhatti and Tughlakabad in the East. This curve contains almost all of the affected areas mentioned above and is a large riverine alluvial basin plain, hemmed in by the elevated ridge from almost three sides, and sloping towards the river. It is not stretching imagination to believe that, as with surface water, there is possibly massive subterranean flow throughout this region towards the Yamuna. And now one begins to connect the dots: could it be that the many underground interventions over the last two decades are acting as underground dams, blocking the flow from the Ridge to the Yamuna, exacerbating what the gradual increase in paved, hard-scape areas have already done? New Delhi metro routes. First the underground metro lines crossing the central NDMC area, aka Lutyens’ Delhi, albeit West of India Gate. Have the Pragati Maidan underpass and Bharat Mandapam’s huge basement effectively encircled the area restricting the flow, with the pedestrian underpasses of the Central Vista under Rajpath adding to it? This may explain the floods on Rajpath, the New Parliament, the Mandapam basement, the underpass itself, Bhairon Marg etc, but probably with effects stretching till recently flooded Golf Links which is anyway hemmed in by the metro on its East? The residents of Greater Kailash Part II, otherwise on the water soaking ridge, can easily correlate the construction of Delhi metro’s underground Magenta Line to the unprecedented flooding of basements of their homes. That the new King’s Court apartment complex in this locality – built squarely over an ancient drainage channel as per an informed source – recently had the thick concrete of its basement raft slab bulging remarkably, shows the sheer power of the restricted subterranean water, as does the similarly bulging concrete in the underground parking lot of one of Aerocity’s hotels. The flooded basements of the New Kidwai Nagar government housing towers, overlooking one of Delhi’s major junctions at AIIMS, are more easily explained now. They probably act as a dam for subterranean water flow from the the Ridge at the Diplomatic Enclave to the Yamuna, and shoddy National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) supervised construction has done the rest to allow in the deluge. The residents of Friends Colony West and Defence Colony, for the first time this year, saw rainwater enter the ground floors of their homes, destroying heirloom furniture and prized old carpets. While the Defence Colony residents blame the covering of the central Kushak nahar, now popularly called a nallah for obvious reasons, which is a major tributary of the drainage channel of Delhi, the Barapullah nahar. The former now probably lies choked in its invisibility and rendered inaccessible. Shockingly, no environmental clearance was ever received for covering it. Could the Ashram flyover this year have compounded the issues caused by the nahar’s choking by providing yeat another easterly dam? Is it possible that neither the current administration – in its numerous infrastructure and land monetisation projects over the last decade – nor the previous administration, before initiating projects like the underground metro, ever commissioned a study to understand the city’s overall hydrology and geology? Such a study would have identified what could be done within the city, what should be avoided, and, if necessary, alternative methods to address critical issues. The last decade alone has seen major infrastructure and construction carried out by a government that prides itself on “getting work done” to achieve “world class” infrastructure. The metro is supposed to have taken good care, at least on paper, running deep enough to at least not impede immediate subsurface flow, with inspection wells around at least each station to be able to study sub-soil water levels, according to the very informed domain expert source. Although, he wryly agreed that since we, as a nation, are not known for construction quality prowess or adherence to the written rule book, it is anyone’s guess whether everything actually works as originally conceptualised. What system of checks and balances did the system have to ensure the citizen’s interests could be protected from the vagaries of politicians and their ever-willing bureaucrats who neither dare nor care to state possibly better informed perspectives? Could this have been prevented? It so happens that India has a system to prevent such ‘development’ which may have a negative impact on the environment and ecology in the long run. Since 1994, environmental impact assessments (EIAs) have been mandated under the Environmental (Protection) Act of 1986 –updated in 2006 and 2020 – which covers every large-scale developmental intervention, including the infrastructure projects in question here. This much-acclaimed legislation was designed to protect our environment, both urban and rural, from the shortsightedness and venality exhibited by our planners, bureaucrats and politicians, and to prevent potential disasters. The policy calls for multidisciplinary impact assessment studies to be carried out by domain experts in fields as varied as geology, hydrology and seismic studies to social impact, traffic impact, pollution related factors and innumerable other factors that could result from every ill-conceived infrastructure project. It also requires the government to hold public hearings, allowing potentially affected citizens to voice their concerns. These hearings are intended to give project proponents the opportunity to address these concerns with hard facts or to modify the proposal based on highly localised, experience-based knowledge. Implicit in the requirement for these EIAs is the need for ground-truthing of available maps, which should be updated to reflect current circumstances using geospatial mapping tools that have supposedly been available for nearly two decades as part of the National GIS Mission. “The Indian experience with Environmental Impact Assessment began…in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission asked the Department of Science and Technology to examine the river-valley projects from an environmental angle. This was subsequently extended to cover those projects, which required the approval of the Public Investment Board. Till 1994, environmental clearance from the Central Government was an administrative decision and lacked legislative support. On 27 January 1994, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF), Government of India, under the Environmental (Protection) Act 1986, promulgated an EIA notification making Environmental Clearance (EC) mandatory for expansion or modernisation of any activity or for setting up new projects listed in Schedule 1 of the notification,” writes the Centre for Science and Environment. By this logic, every one of the projects in discussion here should have been subjected to rigorous, multidisciplinary and in-depth studies studying its impact both in the short and long term. Studies and analyses of topography, geology, hydrology and local ecology, other than surrounding habitation patterns, traffic impacts and many other such things affected by any large project should have been conducted. However, the dangers posed by the political establishment are evident. For example, the Rajasthan Wildlife Board went as far as allowing mining in a protected sanctuary to further sandstone supplies for the Ayodhya Ram Mandir, while the Union government moved to allow commercial mining of all kinds within reserve forests without even consulting local communities – a policy currently under reconsideration. How reliable are EIAs? Citizens would therefore place their trust on the EIA’s efficacy alone and believe that the independent experts who comprise the EIA committee would watch out for them. However, like most things in India, well-framed norms are largely observed in breach, including when it comes to the quality of data given to agencies preparing EIAs or even other government reports. Nearly 10 years ago, scientists at IIT-Delhi were commissioned by the Delhi government to prepare a Drainage Master Plan for the Union territory. However, it was discovered that no actual comprehensive, cogent and coordinated maps of the terrain of Delhi are available with either the Union or Delhi government. Moreover, the government was not willing to spare funds to enable actual ground-truthing of maps which, currently, show natural drainage channels flowing from lower elevations to higher ones and depict drainage channels as disconnected lines instead of tributaries that join together and flow into the Yamuna through well known drain channels like the Barapullah Nahar. Any geospatial mapping done or available is exclusively the one that maps private properties to levy property tax. And thus the Drainage Report submitted by IIT-D is full of caveats to state that these are their best discernible findings, adding that the data they received was incomplete. “It is important to convey that under some situations, recourse to interpolation, engineering judgement, etc. was taken to make the data worthy of simulation,” the report says. The report goes on to add, “It is possible that many of the data elements, that have not been independently validated by the respective departments, may be different on ground than the digital reality captured and used in the model”. And noting that “the administrative authority of the capital’s drainage system is quixotically distributed amongst numerous civic bodies and various constituent departments of Government of NCT of Delhi as well as Government of India…It is indeed noteworthy that while water logging is a frequent occurrence in the NCT of Delhi, the various agencies responsible for management of the storm water drainage neither follow the practice nor are they mandated by legislation to prepare formal records of the extent of inundation reported from various parts of the capital territory. ” From this, the common citizen can easily discern that no one truly knows, or cares, how this city actually drains now, especially after the proliferation of unauthorised constructions over vast areas. As a result, instead of relying on Indian agencies and our best educational institutions – who may tell the truth about the data they receive, as well as the speciousness of the project proposal – the government prefers to pay eight-digit US dollar fee to multinational agencies to prepare highly dubious EIA Reports based on inadequate data. These reports are designed to please the government that commissions them. No bureaucrat dares to contradict their political masters, and the resultant assessment, on the basis of which the project is passed. An example of this is the report concerning Sarojini Nagar Redevelopment, which shockingly described the locality as situated on the Punjab and Haryana border. The “drainage map” shows disjointed channels lying around at odd angles all over Delhi, none connecting to the Yamuna, and little dots representing habitations make the city seem just a little more populated than the Thar desert. The reports lists “villages around the site” cited to be faraway parliament street and Connaught Place. The report claims that “there will be no change in land use,” despite the project envisioning around 600 shops in a mall and large commercial buildings among the housing high-rises. While 11,000 trees have been cut or transplanted for this single GPRA scheme, the EIA report casually mentions that there will be “some clearing of vegetation in order to prepare the site for construction.” This is a synonym for slow killing trees in Delhi as barely 20-30% of transplanted trees survive, according to the government’s own admission. This clearly shows that these compliant agencies are not just ‘yes men’ but thoroughly incompetent as well. At a time when there is growing awareness of changing climate and the likelihood of even more extreme weather events in the future, it seems time that we need to urge governments to pause and course correct their expedient endeavours, that we too may have unthinkingly applauded. However, there is a section of our society today that views any criticism of governmental “development” plans as being of “leftist” persuasion and “anti-development.” The debate between conservation on the one hand, and expedient “development” or resource extraction on the other, is indeed a contested area. However, while it is in the nature of modern humans to be extractive, a wise person would look to the future. Such a person would forsake methods that yield only 1% of their gold in a mine while the rest is washed away as sludge, and would instead explore more efficient extraction methods that not only keep themselves and their immediate kin in luxury for their lifetime but also leave enough for their proverbial “next seven generations.” It may be time for us, as citizens, to connect the dots of current events and do what we can as it is our own lives and property at stake. Narayan Moorthy is an architect and principal at Kumar Moorthy & Associates based in New Delhi.

टारगेट से पीछे चल रही पीएम कुसुम योजना पर मेहरबान हुई सरकार, सोलर प्लांट लगाने के लिए फंडिंग की दिक्कत नहीं होगी

पीएम कुसुम योजना के जरिए ग्रामीण इलाकों में सोलर प्लांट लगाकर बिजली और सिंचाई की व्यवस्था की जा रही है. यह योजना 2025 में पूरी होनी है, लेकिन अभी तक 100 फीसदी टारगेट का केवल 30 फीसदी ही हासिल किया जा सकता है. वह भी सिंचाई के लिए किसानों ने तो सोलर प्लांट लगाए हैं, लेकिन बिजली की बिक्री करने के लिए ग्रिड लगाने में रुचि कम देखी जा रही है. केंद्र सरकार ने इसकी वजह को टटोलकर आज बुधवार को बड़ी घोषणा करते हुए पीएम कुसुम योजना को एग्रीकल्चर इंफ्रा फंड (AIF) में शामिल कर दिया है. इससे किसानों को सोलर प्लांट लगाने के लिए अब फंडिंग की किल्लत का सामना नहीं करना पड़ेगा. आईटी व संसदीय मामलों के मंत्री अश्‍विनी वैष्‍णव ने बुधवार को नई दिल्ली में केंद्रीय कैबिनेट की बैठक के फैसलों की जानकारी दी. उन्होंने बताया कि पीएम मोदी के किसान की आर्थिकि रूप में मजबूत बनाने की दिशा में पीएम कुसुम योजना को एग्रीकल्चर इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर फंड (AIF) में शामिल किया है. एग्रीकल्चर इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर फंड का कॉर्पस 1 लाख करोड़ रुपये का है, जिससे योजना के लाभार्थियों को प्लांट लगाने के लिए फंडिंग की व्यवस्था की जा सकेगी. पीएम कुसुम के लिए एग्री इंफ्रा फंड से पैसा देने की घोषणा केंद्रीय मंत्री अश्‍विनी वैष्‍णव ने कहा कि पीएम किसान योजना के तहत किसान अपने खेत पर सोलर प्लांट लगाकर जो बिजली पैदा होगी उसे ग्रिड में बेच सकते हैं. इस योजना के लाभार्थियों को कंपोनेट ए के तहत निवेश को लेकर दिक्कत आ रही थी. इस दिक्कत को दूर करने के लिए इस योजना को एग्री इंफ्रा फंड में शामिल कर लिया गया है. उन्होंने कहा कि पीएम कुसुम योजना के तहत सोलर प्लांट लगाने के लिए अब फंडिंग की समस्या दूर होगी, क्योंकि इसे एग्रीकल्चर इंफ्रा फंड (AIF) में शामिल कर लिया गया है. यानी अब सोलर प्लांट लगाने के लिए किसान को पैसे की किल्लत नहीं झेलनी पड़ेगी. पीएम कुसुम की 2 कैटेगरी पर किसानों की रुचि नहीं केंद्र सरकार ने पीएम कुसुम योजना को 3 कैटेगरी में बांटा है. पहली कैटेगरी के तहत बंजर जमीन पर मिनी ग्रिड लगाना. दूसरी कैटेगरी के तहत डीजल सिंचाई पंपों को ऑफग्रिड सौर पंपों से बदलना. तीसरी कैटेगरी के तहत बिजली से चलने वाले सिंचाई पंपों को ऑनग्रिड सौर पंपों से बदलना और एग्रीकल्चर सोलर के लिए मिनीग्रिड लगाना. इसमें से दूसरी कैटेगरी का लाभ किसान ले रहे हैं. लेकिन, बाकी 2 कैटेगरी को लेकर रुचि कम देखी गई है. इसके चलते अब तक केवल 30 फीसदी टारगेट ही हासिल किया जा सका है. डीजल पंप किसान सोलर प्लांट में स्विच हुए सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (CSE) की इसी महीने अगस्त में आई रिपोर्ट में बताया गया कि पीएम कुसुम योजना के जरिए जिन किसानों ने सौर सिंचाई पंपों पर स्विच किया है वे खुश हैं. डीजल से सोलर पंप पर स्विच करने वाले किसान काफी बचत करते हैं. हरियाणा के कुछ किसान सालाना 55,000 रुपये तक की बचत करते हैं. लेकिन, पीएम कुसुम योजना की दूसरी कैटेगरी और तीसरी कैटेगरी के तहत प्लांट को लगाने में फंडिंग दिक्कतों के चलते किसान रुचि नहीं दिखा पा रहे थे. अब एग्री इंफ्रा फंड से पैसे की किल्लत दूर होने का रास्ता खुला है. ऐसे में उम्मीद की जा रही है कि योजना को रफ्तार मिल सकती है.

New framework in Haryana aims to eliminate farm fires and improve Delhi-NCR air quality

GURGAON: Haryana govt says it has come up with a framework to utilise all the stubble left behind after paddy crops are harvested and thereby slash farm fires, which cause hazardous pollution in Delhi-NCR and other parts of north India at the onset of winter every year. The agriculture department has estimated that 38.8 lakh acres of farmland across Haryana will be used for cultivation of paddy this year. After harvest, these crops will generate 81 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of residues. How govt plans to manage stubble this year It is this residue, or straw, that farmers end up burning after harvesting paddy to quickly clear tracts of land for another round of sowing crops. Combined with winter weather conditions, mass burning of crop residues rapidly adds pollutants into the air, leaving skies across Delhi-NCR enveloped in smog for weeks. After Punjab, the highest number of farm fires in the country's northern agricultural belt are typically recorded in Haryana. Rajnarayan Kaushik, director of Haryana's agriculture department, told TOI on Monday that for this year, the state will effectively manage all crop residues. "Around 22.65 LMT of stubble will be used for fodder, 33.04LMT will be managed through in-situ techniques, and the remaining 25.39 LMT will be allocated for ex-situ management," he said. In-situ, or at-site, practices involve chopping stubble into smaller fragments and incorporating them into the soil, in effect using it as compost. To encourage farmers to opt for in-situ management, govt will ready 90,000 machines, including slasher machines, to make the process easier and faster. It will also give farmers Rs 1,000 as operational charge for every acre to make it cost-effective. Similarly, govt will offer incentives to industries and farmers for ex-situ (off-site) management of stubble. This process involves putting to use crop residues in other industries, such as, using it as biomass to create biofuels, and redirecting it to packaging and cardboard units. Doing this becomes an economic incentive to avoid burning it as industries purchase stubble from farmers. According to govt's plan, 1,405 baler machines will be handed over to districts to distribute among farmers to make collection and storage of stubble easier. Officials are working on tie-ups with industries to buy the residues. IOCL 2G Ethanol plant in Panipat may purchase 2 LMT of stubble. Haryana has six biomass plants that are expected to consume 4.9 LMT of residue. Four more plants will be installed, and they are likely to purchase 3.5 LMT of residues. There are 15 industrial units in the state that use paddy straw and these are expected to consume 87,574 MT of residues, according to the action plan. Haryana will spend Rs 107.2 crore as part of its share in the Crop Residue Management scheme, and the central govt will contribute Rs 160.9 crore for it. Starting Sept, govt will activate a web portal that will be used to monitor the use of machines real-time, and village and block-level teams will oversee their utilisation. Additionally, officials will analyse satellite imagery to identify any areas where stubble burning is still reported. Experts told TOI that the action plan can only work if it is implemented on the ground. "While Haryana's plan for stubble management is a step in the right direction, the real challenge lies in its effective implementation. The allocation of crop residue for fodder and adoption of in-situ and ex-situ management techniques are promising, but without stringent monitoring and support for farmers, the risk of stubble burning persists. The success of this plan hinges on enforcement and continuous education," said Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at the think-tank Centre for Science and Environment. Data over the past few years reflects progress in reducing incidents of farm fires, but still not enough to improve air quality. In the 2023 kharif season, Haryana recorded 2,303 active fire locations (AFL), which was 37% lower than the figures in 2022 (3,661 AFL). Farm fires were almost double in 2021 (6,997). There were fewer AFLs in the pandemic year -- 4,202 in 2020, 6,364 in 2019 and 9,225 in 2018.

जन विरोधी कानूनी संशोधन वापस ले सरकार

कांग्रेस ने देश में बिगड़ती वायु गुणवत्ता के लिए सोमवार को केंद्र सरकार पर नीतिगत खामियों का आरोप लगाया और कहा कि इस सरकार की कार्यप्रणाली स्पष्ट रूप से इस बात से इनकार करना है कि वायु प्रदूषण से जुड़ी मृत्यु दर की कोई समस्या है। पार्टी महासचिव जयराम रमेश ने यह भी कहा कि राष्ट्रीय हरित अधिकरण की स्वतंत्रता बहाल की जानी चाहिए और पिछले 10 वर्षों में किए गए जन विरोधी पर्यावरण कानून संशोधनों को वापस लिया जाना चाहिए। रमेश ने एक बयान में कहा कि नॉन-बायोलॉजिकल प्रधानमंत्री के शासनकाल की ऐसी त्रासदियों में से एक जिनके बारे में कम लोग जानते हैं और वह राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर तेजी से बिगड़ती वायु गुणवत्ता और नीतिगत खामियां हैं। उनके मुताबिक, जुलाई की शुरुआत में, प्रतिष्ठित जर्नल ‘लैंसेट’ में प्रकाशित एक अध्ययन से पता चला कि भारत में होने वाली मौतों में से 7.2 प्रतिशत वायु प्रदूषण से संबंधित हैं। । सरकार प्रदूषण को कम करने के लिए लक्षित कोष में कटौती कर रही है। वह आबंटित संसाधनों का उपयोग करने में विफल है। कांग्रेस महासचिव ने कहा कि सबसे पहला कदम भारत के व्यापक हिस्से में वायु प्रदूषण से जुड़े सार्वजनिक स्वास्थ्य के संकट को स्वीकार करना होगा। एनसीएपी के तहत उपलब्ध कराई जाने वाली धनराशि में वृद्धि की जाए।’’ प्रदूषण नियंत्रण की दिशा में गलत ढंग से हस्तक्षेप रमेश का कहना है कि जुलाई के मध्य में ‘सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट’ के एक अध्ययन से पता चला कि प्रदूषण नियंत्रण की दिशा में सरकार गलत ढंग से हस्तक्षेप कर रही है तथा राष्ट्रीय स्वच्छ वायु कार्यक्रम (एनसीएपी) औद्योगिक, वाहन और बायोमास उत्सर्जन को नियंत्रित करने के बजाय सडक़ की धूल को कम करने पर केंद्रित है। उन्होंने आरोप लगाया कि इस सरकार की कार्यप्रणाली स्पष्ट रूप से इस बात से इनकार करना है कि वायु प्रदूषण से जुड़ी मृत्यु दर की कोई समस्या है। रमेश ने सरकार से आग्रह किया कि एनसीएपी को वायु गुणवत्ता नियंत्रण के लिए एक क्षेत्रीय दृष्टिकोण अपनाना चाहिए तथा नगरपालिका और राज्य प्राधिकरणों के पास न्यायक्षेत्रों में सहयोग करने के लिए आवश्यक शासन वास्तुकला और संसाधन होने चाहिए। उन्होंने यह भी कहा कि राष्ट्रीय हरित अधिकरण की स्वतंत्रता बहाल की जानी चाहिए और पिछले 10 वर्षों में किए गए जनविरोधी पर्यावरण कानून संशोधनों को वापस लिया जाना चाहिए।

High incidence of ground-level ozone

A new nation-wide analysis by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says that in the summer of 2024, the levels of ground-level ozone in the air went up in the 10 major metropolitan areas of India. These areas and cities include Bengaluru Metropolitan Area (Karnataka), Chennai Metropolitan Area (Tamil Nadu), Delhi-NCR, Greater Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Greater Hyderabad (Telangana), Greater Jaipur (Rajasthan), Kolkata Metropolitan Area (West Bengal), Greater Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Maharashtra) and Pune Metropolitan Region (Maharashtra). Says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE: “Ground-level ozone, a highly reactive gas, has serious health consequences. Those with respiratory conditions, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – as well as children with premature lungs and older adults – are at serious risk. This can inflame and damage airways, make lungs susceptible to infection, aggravate asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis and increase the frequency of asthma attacks leading to increased hospitalisation.”

Centre must increase funding for anti-pollution measures: Congress

The Congress on Sunday criticized the Modi government for its handling of the deteriorating air quality in India and demanded that it must drastically increase the funds for the anti-pollution measures being proposed under the National Clean Air Program (NCAP). Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said there are clear steps the government must take moving forward, and the first must be to acknowledge the public “health crisis” associated with air pollution across wide swathes of India. “Among the lesser-known tragedies of the non-biological PM’s reign is the rapidly deteriorating air quality nationally and the inattentiveness and policy chaos that has characterised the Government’s response to it,” Ramesh said in a statement. To make his point, the former environment minister cited various recent studies that have highlighted the deteriorating air quality across the States in the Country. “Aap chronology samajhiye: In early July, a study published in the prestigious Lancet journal showed that 7.2% of all deaths in India are associated with air pollution - about 34,000 deaths each year in just 10 cities,” he said. In mid-July, a study by the Centre for Science and Environment revealed that the government’s pollution control interventions are poorly designed, with the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) largely focused on mitigating road dust rather than industrial, vehicular, and biomass emissions -- the source of PM 2.5 -- that are the leading causes of mortality, Ramesh said. To make matters worse, in the past five years, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has left more than 75 per cent of the Environment Protection Charge (EPC) and Environmental Compensation (EC) funds unspent, he said, claiming that in total Rs 665.75 crores have been left unutilised. “On July 29, 2024, upon being asked a question about the Lancet study, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change made the shocking claim in the Rajya Sabha that there was ‘no conclusive data’ to directly correlate air pollution and deaths,” he pointed out. In districts where air pollution exceeds National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), there is a 13 per cent increase in premature mortality for adults and around 100 per cent increase in mortality for children, he said. Ramesh called for a substantial boost in financial resources allocated to the NCAP. “Our cities need at least 10-20 times more funding - NCAP must be made a Rs. 25,000 crore programme. NCAP must adopt measurement of PM 2.5 levels as the yardstick for performance NCAP must reorient its focus to key sources of emissions – burning of solid fuels, vehicular emissions, and industrial emissions,” he said.

New Delhi Traffic Pollution Sensors Debunk Notion that CNG is a ‘Green’ Fuel

New Delhi’s decades-old regime to control vehicular pollution, including a heavy reliance by commercial vehicles on compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel, has been challenged by a new study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). The report upends the narrative the that CNG is a ‘clean’ fuel, pointing to its high level of health-damaging emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx), which can damage children’s lung development and contribute to a range of chronic lung diseases. The report is based on innovative remote sensing technology that monitored actual traffic flows. Its results challenge two critical policy interventions: the mandate for buses and taxis to use CNG, as well as a Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) surveillance system. Electric bus in India ICCT calls for replacing CNG with zero-emission vehicles. The PUCC requires every fossil-fuel powered vehicle to undergo regular emissions checks, with car owners facing fine if they do not have an up-to-date certificate. However, the ICCT report highlights how the PUCC inspections fail to capture emissions of the two biggest polluters – NOx and Particulate (PM2.5) – as well as failing to reflect the level of real-time emissions on city roads. Its authors point out that both automobile tech and air pollution monitoring have become a lot more sophisticated and the PUCC tech has not kept up. Vehicle emissions, according to some estimates, contribute as much as 38% to Delhi’s pollution. Famous for exposing ‘dieselgate’ The ICCT is famous for exposing Volkswagen for falsifying real-time data on NOx vehicle diesel emissions in its reporting to the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2015. The scandal, widely known as ‘Dieselgate’, led to a global reconsideration of diesel engines and their health impacts, in terms of excessive particulate emissions as well as NOx. It conducted this India study on CNG vehicles with the support of the local transport and police departments in Delhi and Gurugram, on its southern border. The two cities are among the 20 most polluted globally. “For the first time in India, we have collected significant emissions data from motor vehicles on the road and it is crucial to remember that what impacts our air quality is not the laboratory emissions but the pollutants released by these vehicles when they are in operation. Therefore, it’s time to reimagine our emissions testing regime and aggressively push for the adoption of zero-emission vehicles,” said Amit Bhatt, India managing director of ICCT. Dehli air pollution sources graph Why road transport emissions are important to tackle air pollution in Delhi. CNG is not a ‘clean’ fuel According to the study, CNG vehicles emitted very high levels of nitrogen dioxide and other oxide of nitrogen (NOx) emissions, challenging the narrative that CNG is a ‘clean’ alternative fuel. NOx causes shortness of breath, irritation in the eyes, nose and throat in acute exposures. But there’s also substantial evidence of excess rates of asthma and impeded lung development amongst children growing up along busy highways where NOx emissions are high. Chronic NOx exposure can lead to the development of a range of lung diseases in the long term. For example, some light goods vehicles, commonly seen ferrying vegetables and other supplies in the city, emit up to 14.2 times their lab limits, and taxis are four times. “This shows that while the CNG transition has helped cut toxic particulate emissions from diesel vehicles during the early years, NOx emissions from on-road CNG vehicles without adequate controls can be high. This builds a case for the next big transition to electrification to make tailpipe emissions not cleaner but zero,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of the Centre for Science and Environment, one of India’s foremost air pollution experts. The report found that tougher engine standards have helped reduce NOx emissions. The latest Indian standard, Bharat Stage 6 (BS6), which is comparable to a Euro 6 engine, shows a reduction in real-world NOx emissions from private cars of 81% and buses by nearly 95% as compared to Bharat Stage 4 (comparable to a Euro 4). Of the over 110,000 vehicles sampled by the ICCT study, 55.5% are BS 4, and 33.5% are of BS 6. (See figure below.)

दिल्ली-एनसीआर में फिर जहरीली हो गई आबोहवा, सीएनजी गाड़ियां भी उगल रही हैं कच्चा धुंआ

देश की राजधानी दिल्ली और उसके आसपास के इलाकों की आबोहवा एक बार फिर जहरीली हो गई. सबसे बड़ी चिंता की बात यह है कि वैकल्पिक ईंधन के तौर पर इस्तेमाल होने वाले सीएनजी से चलने वाली गाड़ियां भी जहरीला धुंआ उगल रही हैं. इसका कारण यह है कि दिल्ली और गुरुग्राम में मोटर वाहन उत्सर्जन मानकों का पालन नहीं किया जा रहा है. इंटरनेशनल काउंसिल ऑन क्लीन ट्रांसपोर्टेशन (आईसीसीटी) के अध्ययन में कहा गया है कि दिल्ली-एनसीआर में भारत स्टेज (बीएस) 6 मानक लागू होने के बावजूद वाहनों से होने वाले प्रदूषण की मात्रा काफी बढ़ गई है. बीएस 6 मानक लागू होने के बावजूद फैल रहा प्रदूषण आईसीसीटी की ओर से किए गए अध्ययन में वाहनों से होने वाले वास्तविक उत्सर्जन का विश्लेषण किया गया है. यह अध्ययन द रियल अर्बन एमिशन्स (टीआरयूई) पहल के तहत एफआईए फाउंडेशन के सहयोग से किया गया. इसमें दिल्ली और गुरुग्राम के 20 स्थानों पर एक लाख से अधिक वाहनों के उत्सर्जन का परीक्षण किया गया. अध्ययन में नाइट्रोजन ऑक्साइड (एनओएक्स), कार्बन मोनोऑक्साइड (सीओ) और हाइड्रोकार्बन (एचसी) जैसे प्रदूषकों को मापा गया. इसमें पाया गया है कि भारत स्टेज (बीएस) 6 मानक लागू होने के बावजूद वाहनों का उत्सर्जन प्रयोगशाला में मापे गए मूल्यों की तुलना में 1.5 से 14.2 गुना अधिक था. सबसे अधिक प्रदूषण फैला रहे वाणिज्यिक वाहन अध्ययन में इस बात का भी खुलासा किया गया है कि सबसे अधिक इस्तेमाल किए जाने वाले वाणिज्यिक वाहनों (टैक्सियां और हल्के सामान वाले वाहन) निजी वाहनों की तुलना में अधिक प्रदूषण फैलाते हैं. बीएस 6 टैक्सी और एलजीवी (लाइट गुड्स व्हीकल) निजी कारों की तुलना में क्रमशः 2.4 और 5 गुना अधिक एनओएक्स उत्सर्जन करते हैं. अध्ययन में यह भी पाया गया है कि सीएनजी को एक स्वच्छ वैकल्पिक ईंधन माना जाता है, लेकिन इससे भी अपेक्षाकृत सबसे अधिक एनओएक्स उत्सर्जित हुआ है. इलेक्ट्रिक वाहन और साइकिल का इस्तेमाल करें लोग आईसीसीटी के प्रबंध निदेशक अमित भट्ट ने कहा कि यह अध्ययन दिखाता है कि वास्तविक दुनिया में वाहनों का उत्सर्जन प्रयोगशाला के परिणामों से काफी अलग होता है. उन्होंने कहा कि भारत में उत्सर्जन परीक्षण प्रणाली की समीक्षा करने आवश्यकता है और शून्य-उत्सर्जन वाले वाहनों को तेजी से अपनाने की आवश्यकता है. एफआईए फाउंडेशन की डिप्टी डायरेक्टर शीला वाटसन ने सीएनजी को स्वच्छ वैकल्पिक ईंधन मानने पर सवाल उठाते हुए कहा कि दिल्ली के लिए असली समाधान सीएनजी नहीं, बल्कि इलेक्ट्रिक वाहन, साइकिलिंग और पैदल चलने को बढ़ावा देना है. इसी तरह, सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट की अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी ने भी इलेक्ट्रिफिकेशन की ओर बढ़ने की आवश्यकता पर जोर दिया.

Cong slams govt over 'rapidly deteriorating' air quality 'policy chaos' in its response

The Congress Monday attacked the Modi government over the "rapidly deteriorating" air quality across the country and alleged the dispensation always denies that there is a real problem of mortality linked to air pollution, and underfunds mitigation efforts. Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications) Jairam Ramesh said there are clear steps the government must take moving forward, and the first must be to acknowledge the public "health crisis" associated with air pollution across wide swathes of India. "Among the lesser-known tragedies of the non-biological PM’s reign is the rapidly deteriorating air quality nationally and the inattentiveness and policy chaos that has characterised the Government's response to it," Ramesh said in a statement. "Aap chronology samajhiye: In early July, a study published in the prestigious Lancet journal showed that 7.2% of all deaths in India are associated with air pollution - about 34,000 deaths each year in just 10 cities," he said. In mid-July, a study by the Centre for Science and Environment revealed that the government's pollution control interventions are poorly designed, with the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) largely focused on mitigating road dust rather than industrial, vehicular, and biomass emissions -- the source of PM 2.5 -- that are the leading causes of mortality, Ramesh said. To make matters worse, in the past five years, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has left more than 75 per cent of the Environment Protection Charge (EPC) and Environmental Compensation (EC) funds unspent, he said, claiming that in total Rs 665.75 crores have been left unutilised. "On July 29, 2024, upon being asked a question about the Lancet study, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change made the shocking claim in the Rajya Sabha that there was 'no conclusive data' to directly correlate air pollution and deaths," he pointed out. Ramesh further said that this week, a new study by the Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences has used government data from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS V) to unravel India's "worst kept secret" -- that air pollution is costing thousands of Indians their lives and health. In districts where air pollution exceeds National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), there is a 13 per cent increase in premature mortality for adults and around 100 per cent increase in mortality for children, he said. "This government's Modus Operandi is to deny that there is a real air pollution-linked mortality problem, underfund programs targeted at mitigating pollution, fail to utilize the resources that it allocates, and misuse the funds that do get spent," Ramesh said. "There are clear steps the government must take moving forward: The first step must be to acknowledge the public health crisis linked to air pollution across wide swathes of India. Consequently, given this crisis, we must revisit and totally revamp both the Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act of 1981 and the NAAQS put into effect in November 2009," the Congress leader said in his statement. The government must drastically increase the funds made available under the NCAP, he said. The current budget, inclusive of the NCAP funding and the 15th Finance Commission's grants, is about Rs 10,500 crore, spread across 131 cities, he noted. "Our cities need at least 10-20 times more funding - NCAP must be made a Rs. 25,000 crore programme. NCAP must adopt measurement of PM 2.5 levels as the yardstick for performance NCAP must reorient its focus to key sources of emissions – burning of solid fuels, vehicular emissions, and industrial emissions," the former environment minister said. He further demanded that the NCAP must adopt a regional/airshed approach for air quality control -- municipal and state authorities must have the governance architecture and resources required to collaborate across jurisdictions. "The NCAP must be given legal backing, an enforcement mechanism, and serious data monitoring capacity for every Indian city, beyond the current focus only on 'non-attainment' cities," he argued. Ramesh also called for immediate enforcement of air pollution norms for coal power plants. All power plants must install a Fluoride Gas Desulfurizer (FGD) by the end of 2024, he said. "The National Green Tribunal's independence must be restored, and the anti-people environmental law amendments made in the last 10 years must be rolled back," Ramesh demanded.