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Luồng gió 'thần kỳ' bỏ rơi thành phố đông dân nhất Ấn Độ

Ngay cả khi không đặt chân ra ngoài phòng khám của mình ở Mumbai, từ hơi thở khó nhọc của bệnh nhân, bác sĩ tư vấn về hô hấp Lancelot Pinto cũng biết rằng có điều gì đó không ổn đối với không khí của thành phố này, theo Financial Times. Theo chia sẻ của ông, một tỷ lệ lớn bệnh nhân trong những tháng qua đã gặp phải các triệu chứng hô hấp. Một số người phàn nàn về các triệu chứng “tức ngực, ho, thở khò khè khi ở ngoài trời”. Bác sĩ Pinto lý giải rằng không khí đột nhiên trở nên tồi tệ ở Mumbai có khả năng gây ra điều này hơn là nhiễm trùng. Thủ đô New Delhi của Ấn Độ thu hút sự chú ý của toàn thế giới vì bầu không khí ngột ngạt. Tại thành phố này, nông dân đốt gốc rạ ở các tỉnh lân cận vào mùa đông, từ đó tạo ra những đám mây khói ở phía trong thành phố. Tuy nhiên, trong vài tuần của tháng 11-12/2022, Mumbai, một trung tâm ven biển thường ít hứng chịu khói bụi như vậy, lại nhiều lần ghi nhận mức độ ô nhiễm không khí tồi tệ hơn New Delhi. Ô nhiễm không khí nghiêm trọng Theo chỉ số giám sát chất lượng không khí AQI, Mumbai là đô thị có chất lượng không khí kém thứ ba của Ấn Độ trong bốn tuần tính đến ngày 19/12/2022, sau New Delhi và Kolkata. Theo một báo cáo của Ngân hàng Thế giới, “Nam Á đang phải hứng chịu tình trạng ô nhiễm không khí nghiêm trọng". Tổ chức này cho biết gần 60% dân số trong khu vực hít thở không khí có nồng độ bụi nhỏ hoặc muội than cao gấp 7 lần so với khuyến cáo của WHO. Họ ước tính ô nhiễm không khí ở Nam Á gây ra cái chết sớm của 2 triệu người mỗi năm. Ajay Sharma, người sáng lập công ty tư vấn Abhinav Immigration, cho rằng ô nhiễm không khí thậm chí còn là một nhân tố quan trọng thúc đẩy giới nhà giàu Ấn Độ rời khỏi đất nước. “Của cải của chúng ta có ích gì khi chúng ta mất nhiều năm tuổi thọ khi sống ở Delhi?”, họ cho biết. Tuy nhiên, cư dân Mumbai, nơi có khu ổ chuột lớn nhất Ấn Độ, thường không cần lo lắng tới điều đó. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Giám đốc nghiên cứu và vận động chính sách tại Trung tâm Khoa học và Môi trường, giải thích: "Nhiều người nhận định rằng Mumbai nằm trên bờ biển nên có gió biển thổi đến và cuốn bay mọi ô nhiễm. Điều đó tạo ra cảm giác thỏa mãn - nhiều người bắt đầu nghĩ rằng chỉ có miền Bắc Ấn Độ mới gặp vấn đề và họ vẫn an toàn”. “Bằng cách nào đó, chúng ta phải phá vỡ suy nghĩ hoang đường đó”, bà nói thêm. Theo bà, “khoa học sức khỏe đang chỉ ra rất rõ ràng” rằng nhiều người đổ bệnh và chết ở mức độ ô nhiễm được thấy ở các thành phố như Mumbai, Chennai và Bangalore ở các bang miền Tây và miền Nam Ấn Độ. Khi người dân Mumbai hầu như không thể nhìn thấy từ đầu này đến đầu kia của cây cầu Sea Link dài 5,6 km mang tính biểu tượng, nguyên nhân của bụi mù vẫn chưa rõ ràng. Các nhà khí tượng học theo dõi vấn đề này bao gồm tiến sĩ Gufran Beig, người sáng lập và giám đốc dự án của hệ thống dự báo chất lượng không khí tại Ấn Độ (Safar). Dữ liệu giám sát không khí của ông minh họa mức độ nghiêm trọng của tình trạng ô nhiễm tăng đột biến: Từ ngày 5/11-12/12/2022, chỉ số chất lượng không khí của Mumbai ghi nhận chỉ số “kém” trong 20 ngày, so với 6 ngày trong cùng kỳ năm 2021. Trong khi đó, bốn ngày có chỉ số không khí rất kém, trong khi năm trước đó không có ngày nào như vậy. Hệ thống tự làm sạch không khí "bị hỏng" Ông Beige cho biết vào mùa đông năm nay, “tốc độ gió trên bề mặt chậm hơn nhiều so với mức trung bình trong 10 năm qua”. Gió cũng không đổi hướng và mang theo không khí biển vài ngày một lần như điều thường xảy ra, hệ thống tự làm sạch không khí đã bị hỏng. “Luồng gió cần thiết từ đại dương vào đất liền chỉ được kích hoạt vào tuần trước”, ông giải thích vào thời điểm trước Giáng sinh. Không có một làn gió nào để cuốn đi lượng khí thải cao - từ xe cộ, đốt rác thải, công nghiệp, bụi xây dựng... Chúng bị mắc kẹt trong một làn khói mù mịt cay mắt. Ông Beig cho biết sự lưu thông bất thường này là một phần của sự biến đổi rộng lớn hơn trong các kiểu gió do hiệu ứng thời tiết La Nina kéo dài ở Ấn Độ. Và điều đó có liên quan đến biến đổi khí hậu. Một số dự án cơ sở hạ tầng và khí thải từ các nhà máy lọc dầu gần đó là những lý do khả dĩ, một quan chức chính phủ giấu tên cho biết. "Tình hình sẽ trở nên tồi tệ hơn ở Mumbai vì không có hạn chế nào đối với hoạt động xây dựng. Các con đường đều bị đào bới do tàu điện ngầm và phương tiện giao thông ngày càng đông, dẫn đến ô nhiễm trầm trọng hơn”, nhà môi trường học Debi Goenka cho biết, Reuters đưa tin. Mumbai đã cập nhật kế hoạch làm sạch không khí vào năm 2019. Tuy nhiên, điều đó là chưa đủ. Giới chuyên gia nhận định các quan chức phải thực hiện nó, trước khi gió đổi chiều. Bên cạnh đó, các chuyên gia đã cảnh báo rằng Mumbai có thể sẽ phải trải qua số ngày có chất lượng không khí ở mức “kém” và “rất kém” tăng trong mùa đông của những năm tới, theo Hindu. Anjal Prakash, Giám đốc nghiên cứu của Trường Kinh doanh Ấn Độ, nói: “Chất lượng không khí của Mumbai đã giảm xuống mức không lành mạnh. Điều này rất đáng lo ngại đối với sức khỏe của người dân”.

Mumbai’s self-cleaning air system breaks down

Without sea breezes sweeping away the high emissions, the metropolis became trapped in an eye-stinging haze Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/85f44f38-5947-4e5d-99de-6850959614ff Even if he hadn’t set foot outside his clinic in Mumbai, consultant respirologist Dr Lancelot Pinto would have known from his patients’ laboured breathing that something was wrong with the city’s air. “A significant proportion of patients over the past month have had respiratory symptoms that were of an irritant or allergic nature,” says Pinto. Some had complained “of chest tightness, cough, wheezing when outdoors”. Infection was less likely to have triggered this, Pinto reasons, than Mumbai’s suddenly bad air. India’s capital New Delhi captures global attention for the toxic air that engulfs its unfortunate inhabitants every winter: farmers burn stubble in nearby provinces and smoke clouds the inland city. But for a few weeks in November and December, the coastal commercial centre of Mumbai, usually spared such smog, recorded worse air pollution levels than New Delhi several times. According to air quality monitor AQI, Mumbai was India’s third worst-performing metropolis over the four weeks to December 19, behind New Delhi and Kolkata in the east. “South Asia suffers from extreme air pollution,” according to a World Bank report this month. It says nearly 60 per cent of the region’s population breathes in air whose concentration of tiny dust or soot particles is seven times over WHO guidelines. It estimates air pollution in South Asia causes the premature death of 2mn people a year. Air pollution is even a significant motivation for rich Indians to leave the country, thinks Ajay Sharma, founder of the consultancy Abhinav Immigration. They say: “What use is our wealth when we lose years of our life living in Delhi?” But denizens of Mumbai, home to India’s biggest slum, Bollywood stars and India’s second-richest man Mukesh Ambani, do not usually need to worry. “It is seen as, oh Mumbai is on the coast so there’s a sea breeze coming and blowing all the pollution away,” explains Anumita Roy Chowdhury, research and advocacy director at the Centre for Science and Environment. “It breeds a sense of complacency — people begin to think that it is only northern India which has the problem, and they are safe.” “Somehow we have to break that myth,” she adds. She says “the health science is showing very clearly” that people fall ill and die at pollution levels seen in cities such as Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore in India’s western and southern states. As Mumbaikars could barely see from one end to the other of the iconic 5.6km Sea Link bridge, the cause of the haze was just as unclear. Meteorologists watching included Dr Gufran Beig, founder and project director of India’s air quality forecasting system known as Safar. His air- monitoring data illustrated the severity of the pollution spike: between November 5 and December 12, Mumbai’s air quality index recorded a “poor” reading for 20 days, compared with six days in the same period in 2021. Four days were “very poor”, against zero last year. Beig says this winter, “surface wind speeds were relatively much slower than the last 10 years average”. Nor were winds changing direction and bringing sea air every few days as they usually do; the self-cleaning system had broken down. “The much-needed wind from ocean to land was only triggered last week,” he explained before Christmas. Without a breeze to sweep them away, the high emissions — from vehicles, waste burning, industry, construction dust — became trapped in an eye-stinging haze. This unusual circulation is part of a broader derangement in wind patterns due to a prolonged La Nina weather effect over India, which is linked to climate change, says Beig. India now has the G20 presidency, and on December 14, delegates of the body’s development working group landed in a Mumbai primped for their arrival — fresh paint on the walls, curtains and banners obscuring slums on their route, a lavish dance and music show laid on close to the Gateway of India monument. Miraculously, it was the clearest day in weeks. Mumbai updated its clean air plan in 2019. But that’s not enough. Experts say officials must now implement it, before the wind changes.

Did India really achieve its goal of 175 gigawatt of renewable energy by 2022?

Minister of New and Renewable Energy RK Singh has informed Parliament that 95% of India’s clean energy target set in 2015 has been achieved. India is short of its installed renewable energy target for 2022 by 32%, as per latest data from the Central Electricity Authority. India’s renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro power) has increased by about 66% since 2018. In fact, its non-fossil fuels’ installed capacity has been growing faster than fossil fuel capacity for at least five years, IndiaSpend reported in November. Even then, India has fallen short of its renewable energy targets. The target, set in 2015, was 175 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity to be set up in the country by the year 2022. This included 100 gigawatt from solar power, 60 gigawatt from wind power, 10 gigawatt from bio-power and 5 gigawatt from small hydro power. India has achieved 119 gigawatt. Out of this, 62% of the solar power target (62 gigawatt of proposed 100 gigawatt), 70% of the wind power target (42 gigawatt of 60 gigawatt), 107% of the bio-power target (10.7 of 10 gigawatt) and 98% of the small hydro power sector target (4.9 of 5 gigawatt), had been achieved by November 30. In January 2017, IndiaSpend had reported about the hurdles that India faces in meeting its renewable energy goals, such as inadequate funding for clean energy, problems with grid balancing and in land acquisition for renewable energy projects. Some of these challenge areas exist even now – such as integration of renewable energy with the power grid, buyers’ constrained capability to purchase renewable energy, and raising the necessary finance for renewable energy projects, especially in emerging economies such as ours, said Disha Agarwal, senior programme lead, at the New Delhi-based think tank, Council for Energy Environment and Water. Apart from these, there are a few more reasons for India lagging behind its renewable energy targets. “Part of this could be attributed to external factors like Covid-induced supply chain disruptions. Lack of coordination between national targets and state level enforcement is another factor,” Ashwini Swain, a fellow at New Delhi-based research organisation, the Centre for Policy Research, told FactChecker. We have reached out to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to ask if any of the renewable energy projects currently under implementation will be completed by the end of 2022. We are yet to receive a response by the time of publishing this story, and we shall update the story when we receive one. Large hydropower added to renewable energy target The initial renewable energy goal did not include large hydro power projects (projects with a capacity of more than 25 megawatts). But, in 2019, India changed its definition of renewable sources of energy, bringing large hydro into its ambit. The rationale was that hydropower can help bring stability to the electricity grid versus renewable sources like wind and solar that are intermittent. Large hydropower projects are mostly located in the Himalayas and the North-East region, and will enable socio-economic development of the region by providing direct employment in the power sector, the government had said at the time. In a recent response, Minister of New and Renewable Energy RK Singh also took into account large hydro projects in the calculation of installed renewable energy capacity, despite its omission from the original target, and informed Parliament that 165.94 gigawatt, or 95% of the 175 gigawatt renewable target has been achieved. In addition, “76.13 gigawatt is under various stages of implementation and a capacity of 36.44 GW is under various stages of bidding”, the minister informed Parliament. On the other hand, a Rajya Sabha response from the ministry earlier this year excluded large hydro power in measuring progress towards the 2022 target. But can large hydro power be considered a green source of energy? In a Lok Sabha reply in March 2021, the Minister of New and Renewable Energy RK Singh claimed that one of the measures taken by the government to transition to clean energy was to classify hydropower dams as renewable energy sources. But, experts that FactChecker reached out to suggested that large hydro projects often come with adverse ecological impacts. “Large hydro plants or mega-dams divert and reduce natural flows, restricting access for animal and human populations that depend on rivers. Generally, small hydroelectric plants (with an installed capacity below 25 megawatts), carefully managed, do not cause as much environmental damage, since they divert a relatively small amount of water,” said Binit Das, deputy programme manager for renewable energy at the New Delhi-based environment think tank, Centre for Science and Environment. He also pointed out that mega-dams cause ‘reservoir emissions’ – plant material that was present before flooding begins to decay as the water sits still in the reservoir, releasing methane into the atmosphere as it decays. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide (CO2) and has a warming potential that is 28-34 times higher than CO2 over a 100-year period. Agarwal from Council for Energy Environment and Water told FactChecker that even though large hydropower has served as a crucial power-grid balancer in recent years, hydropower projects still face the risks of natural disasters, many of which are increasingly climate-induced. IndiaSpend has previously reported on why large hydro plants are drivers of climate change and socio-economic adversity.

Delhi saw fewer ‘severe’ air hours in 2022 than 2021: CAQM data

The commission said that between 2018 and 2022, Delhi recorded its lowest monthly average Air Quality Index (AQI) in three months (January, February and December), and the second-lowest in three other months (July, October, November), indicating considerable progress on the ground The number of hours in which Delhi’s air quality was “severe” in 2022 reduced to 204 from 628 in 2021, while the number of hours when air quality was in the “good” category increased from 927 in 2021 to 1,096 in 2022, data shared by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Monday showed. A CAQM statement added that concerted and persistent efforts by all stakeholders in the past year had made a difference in Delhi’s air quality, an opinion seconded by experts who added that a combination of favourable meteorological conditions played a part in Delhi breathing relatively cleaner air last year. The commission said that between 2018 and 2022, Delhi recorded its lowest monthly average Air Quality Index (AQI) in three months (January, February and December), and the second-lowest in three other months (July, October, November), indicating considerable progress on the ground. An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”. According to CAQM data, Delhi recorded an average AQI reading of 209 in 2022, the same as in 2021, while it was lower in 2020 – primarily due to the pandemic-induced months-long lockdown-- when the AQI reading was 185. The AQI was launched by the CPCB in 2015 and since then, this is Delhi’s second-lowest yearly average AQI reading, CAQM said. “The average daily AQI reading for Delhi in 2022 is the best since 2015, barring 2020 which saw an exceptional AQI owing to the lockdown and fewer anthropogenic activities round the year. While there were restrictions for a considerable duration during 2021, leading to low levels of industrial, vehicular and other anthropogenic activities, the daily average AQI in 2022, with no such restrictions and all anthropogenic activities returning to normal in a much higher proportion, still maintained the levels of 2021,” CAQM said on Monday. In January 2022, Delhi recorded its lowest average monthly AQI reading at 279. The lowest AQI reading for February ever recorded is 225 in 2022. CAQM said an unexceptionally dry summer raised the pollution levels after that, resulting in slightly higher AQI readings than normal. “Exceptionally prolonged dry spells during April, May and June in 2022, coupled with transportation of fine dust and particulate matter not only from the adjoining areas but also transboundary, resulted in poor AQI for these months, which otherwise was comparatively better for all other months during 2022 vis-à-vis previous years,” it said. Delhi recorded its second-lowest average AQI reading for July (87) in 2022 (it was 84 in 2020), which was second lowest in October and November too. In October, the average AQI reading was 210, behind 2021’s average of 173. In November, the average AQI reading was 320, behind 2019’s November, when it was 312. December, meanwhile, was at its cleanest, with an average AQI reading of 319. The improvement was also reflected in Delhi’s annual average PM2.5 and PM10 levels, which were second-lowest in five years--after 2020. The average PM2.5 level for Delhi was recorded at 98 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³), behind 2020’s average of 95µg/m³. It was 105µg/m³ in 2021. Delhi recorded an average annual PM10 concentration of 211µg/m³ in 2022, 213µg/m³ in 2021 and 181µg/m³ in 2020. “With persistent field-level efforts and targeted policy initiatives for quantified results in the short, medium and long term, it is expected that the air quality scenario in Delhi will see further gradual but marked improvement, year on year,” CAQM added. According to experts, a combination of favourable meteorological conditions, which includes a clean winter so far, and action on the ground brought about relatively clean air. “We saw an early Diwali in 2022 and the number of farm fires and their contribution to Delhi was much lower, which has helped control smog episodes. This winter is also the first time a pre-emptive Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) is in place, which helped agencies take action in advance,” Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, adding dthat espite an improvement, the PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration was 2-3 times the national safe limit, indicating more action is required.

India’s initiative towards sustainable environment

As part of Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), the Indian Government unveiled a list of 75 lifestyle practices that can promote climate-friendly behaviour. These actions are listed under 7 categories namely energy saving, water saving, reduced use of single-use plastic, sustainable food systems, waste reduction (swachhata actions), adopting healthy lifestyle and e-waste handling. For reducing plastic use, 11 actions were highlighted in which one was use of recycled plastic over virgin plastic wherever possible. This also leaves room for a special kind of plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) which will need to be seen from a new prism of a green economy. PET plastic packaging can be made not only from its virgin grade but also from recycled PET (rPET) as it is upto 100% recyclable. It not only recaptures the energy, but also translates into numerous life cycles for PET plastic bottles. Currently, all over the world, everyone is focusing on circular economy, and so is India. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has played a pivotal role in promoting circular economy across all key sectors by actively formulating policies and promoting projects to drive the country towards a circular economy. Circular economy is cyclic in nature, directing the economy towards reuse, as opposed to waste at the end of a product’s lifecycle. According to the Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturers Association of India, bottle production from PET accounts for 30% of the global demand. The PET packaging and recycling ecosystem in terms of GDP value is an astounding Rs 7.5 lakh crores and the industry is also one of the largest employment generators in the country, with an employment footprint exceeding 70 lakhs. It is no wonder then that over 50% of rag picker’s earnings come from collecting used PET products. Indian PET recycling industry is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, as rPET will also be used in direct food contact applications soon, as it is free from Bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates as well as any other endocrine-disrupting chemicals. In a recently launched report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), it was stated that almost 97% of the collected PET bottles are channelized for making fabric and all the bottles converted to fabric are then claimed to have been recycled as per the existing policies in the country. Many brands have recently taken charge of recycling pet bottles into garments, which is one method of reducing waste generation. Interestingly, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bisleri recycle millions of discarded mineral water, cold drinks and other PET bottles to make eco-friendly uniforms for their staff, with the help of advanced technologies. The Indian PET recycling industry’s turnover will be more than Rs. 13,500 Crores ($1700 million) in the next 4-5 years. PET is slowly and surely becoming the first material of choice in rigid packages, due to its ease of recyclability and its current established recycling systems in India Another focus which needs to be highlighted is the ban on Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). PET bottles are not banned but are often clubbed with other non-recyclable plastics undermining its unique properties. Small PET bottles (under 1 Litre) fall under threat of ban because of misinformation and faulty linkage with the SUP ban. However, industry associations like PET Packaging Association for Clean Environment (PACE India) are conducting various initiatives and campaigns to dispel myths and advocate reuse and recyclability around PET plastics. Today in India, more than 1000 Reverse Vending Machines (RVM) have been installed to encourage the public on the need for recycling and create awareness in the minds of decision-makers about the vast infrastructure existing for PET recycling in India. Recently Coca-Cola India has partnered with 10-Min grocery delivery service, Zepto, for a unique ‘return and recycle’ initiative for PET bottles. This joint initiative seeks to establish an organized process of collection of PET bottles with 100% traceability, to ensure effective plastic waste management. PET plastic bottles are a popular choice for packaging due to the numerous benefits they provide both to manufacturers and consumers. However, there are myths related to them that are not accurate. For e.g., ‘Plastic bottle left in a car will leach carcinogens into the soft drink it contains’ but there are no carcinogens present in PET plastic. There is also a surprising myth that PET plastics can cause cancer whereas this is yet again factually incorrect. PET products are free from phthalates (i.e., phthalate ester plasticizers) and have no harmful consequences on human body. A WHO report mentions that PET does not produce any cancer or endocrine-disrupting chemicals and it can be safely recycled. Another common myth is also circulated that glass or aluminum bottles are better than PET bottles. In a comparison of the environmental footprints of bottles, PET often performs better than glass or aluminium bottles as less carbon is emitted during the production of PET bottles than the production of glass bottles. Also, PET bottles are strong, light and shatterproof unlike glass or aluminium bottles. PET plastics have a low carbon footprint which contributes to India’s goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. A combination of renewable energy use and the inclusion of PET/rPET can enable India to meet carbon neutrality commitments in line with the larger vision of a circular economy. We all need to ensure that recycling rates continue to grow and the industry urges people to recycle plastic waste including plastic bottles and not discard them as litter.

Delhi air improved in 2022, was second cleanest in 6 years

NEW DELHI: The annual average PM2.5 concentration of Delhi in 2022 fell below 100 micrograms per cubic metre for only the second time since 2017, making the year gone by the second cleanest in the last six years. However, the 2022 average was still 2.5 times higher than the annual national ambient air quality standard of 40 micrograms/cubic metre and 20 times higher than WHO’s safe limit of 5.At 99.7 micrograms per cubic metre, Delhi’s PM2.5 level in 2022 was higher than only the average level recorded during the lockdown year of 2020 (99 micrograms per cubic metre), as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. Capture Track the pollution level in your city Revamped GRAP, weather conditions helped Delhi air In 2022, Delhi recorded an 8% improvement in air quality from the previous year, when the annual average PM2.5 was 107.8 micrograms per cubic metre. CPCB’s data shows that the average annual PM2.5 levels had remained above 100 micrograms/cubic metre from 2017 to 2019, and again rose past that mark in 2021 after a brief dip in 2020, mainly due to the lockdown. Tanushree Ganguly, programme lead, Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) said, “Delhi's annual PM2.5 concentration in 2022 was about 8% lower than in 2021. While winter months (November-December) in 2022 were relatively cleaner as compared to 2021, summer months (March-June) in 2022 were more polluted than in 2021. This is mainly due to prolonged dry spells during the summer months and the consequent dust resuspension in the air.” She added that winter months were better due to favourable meteorological conditions like higher wind speed and temperature and proactive implementation of anti-pollution measures. This year also witnessed a revamped GRAP that considers control measures based on air quality forecasts. Further, this year observed one of the lowest farm fire seasons in neighbouring states in the last five years, said Ganguly. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, “We are noticing that the severity of winter pollution this year has been relatively low so far. This could have contributed towards moderating the overall annual average, leading to bending of the pollution curve. The combination of ground-level action and meteorological factors have lowered the annual PM2.5 concentration in 2022. However, the focus should be on sustaining and accelerating this downward trend in the future.” Sunil Dahiya, analyst, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), said, “Though Delhi’s air is not clean, there has been a reduction in annual concentration due to efforts made in some sectors, and favourable meteorological conditions. In 2022, cleaner days were recorded during the prolonged monsoon period when rain helped in settling down the pollutants.”

PM2.5 level improves in Delhi but still twice national average

Delhi recorded an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 99.71 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) in 2022, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data from the Capital’s 40 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS), showed on Sunday. While this is an improvement from last year’s annual concentration of 107.78µg/m³ and comparable to 2020’s annual concentration of 99.01µg/m³, these levels are still 2.5 times India’s national annual PM2.5 standard of 40µg/m³. According to data available on the CPCB’s website, Delhi has been showing a declining trend in the annual PM2.5 level since 2017. The average PM2.5 concentration in 2017 was 118.43µg/m³, which improved to 114.86µg/m³ in 2018. In 2019, the concentration was 109.18, which dipped to 99.01µg/m³ in 2020, the lowest in the last six years. However, that was primarily down to a clean first half of the year, owing to Covid-19 induced lockdowns. Delhi, despite no lockdown this year, recorded an average almost comparable to 2020, which experts say is due to a relatively clean winter. In 2020, despite a clean first half of the year, Delhi recorded a polluted winter, with 15 “severe” air quality days in the year. 2022, in comparison, only recorded six “severe” air days – when the air quality index (AQI) reading was over 400. An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”. “2020 was an anomaly in the long-term trend since a lockdown was in place for a couple of months and the average pollution levels till summer were extremely low, but in winter, when the lockdown was lifted, pollution levels went up again. This year (2022) has been much better, largely on the winter front, as we have not seen smog spells like in the past few years. Even then, the annual average is fairly high and while it is a positive that the long-term trend is showing a continuous drop in the average annual concentration, we are still nowhere near the annual standards and so, sustained efforts are required on all fronts,” Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said.

'EVs a potential game-changer for environment' in Kolkata

More people might have been swayed by economic, rather than green concerns, while choosing an electric vehicle. The record rise in diesel and petrol forced motorists to opt for cheaper fuel. Moreover, the impending newer age limit on fossil-fuel vehicles also played a role in citizens looking for cleaner fuel, in order to gain longer shelf life," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Whatever be the reason, both the transport department and environment department are pinning hope on EVs as a potential game-changer for the city's environment and climate resilience. "Zero-emission vehicles and solar-powered charging facilities will reduce the city's burden of particulate pollution," said WBPCB chairman Kalyan Rudra. "The drastic fall in diesel vehicles is very encouraging. Diesel is the dirtiest fuel, emitting as many as 24 carcinogens," said Debasis Basu, a preventive medicine specialist. Inadequate public charging infrastructure was again felt to be the biggest stumbling block for EV growth. There is hardly any information available on charging facilities for a would-be EV car-owner. TOI found out that there are nearly 100 charging stations in Kolkata, most of which are located in the eastern part of the city. "For a robust growth of the EV segment, there must be an equitable distribution of public charging stations across the city, much like the petrol pumps network," said Anirban Sen, an EV entrepreneur.

COP27 was a mirage in the deserts of the Sinai

It is a sign of sheer desperation to say that the world has achieved "something" at the climate change conference of parties (COP27) that just ended in the coastal Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh. The fact is COP27 should go down as the worst event in the history of the three-decade-long negotiations to find ways to mitigate emissions that are taking us to catastrophic damages. This meeting was a grand spectacle—almost like a mirage in the desert. It created a sense of hyper-action, when it actually was about reversing the little gains made till now to combat this existential threat. I was one of the 45,000-odd people at this conference. What struck me was that it was actually designed to take the heat off the negotiations.

Air Quality Of Delhi: दिल्ली-एनसीआर के उद्योग Unapproved Fuels का न करें इस्तेमाल, नहीं तो भरना पड़ेगा जुर्माना, CAQM की चेतावनी

CAQM ने कहा कि कोयले के इस्तेमाल पर प्रतिबंध एक अक्टूबर से PNG बुनियादी ढांचे और आपूर्ति वाले क्षेत्रों में तथा एक जनवरी, 2023 से उन क्षेत्रों में लागू होगा जहां पीएनजी आपूर्ति अब भी उपलब्ध नहीं है। Delhi-NCR और आस-पास के क्षेत्रों में वायु गुणवत्ता प्रबंधन आयोग (CAQM) ने उद्योग और औद्योगिक इकाइयों सहित सभी क्षेत्रों से एक जनवरी 2023 से कोयले सहित अन अनअप्रूव्ड फ्यूल (unapproved fuels) के इस्तेमाल करने से बचने को कहा है। CAQM ने आगे कहा कि दिल्ली (Delhi) की वायु गुणवत्ता को बरकरार रखने के लिए ऐसे लोगों पर हर्जाना (Fine) लगाए जाने की बात की है। सीएक्यूएम ने कहा, ‘अगले साल एक जनवरी से पूरे राष्ट्रीय राजधानी क्षेत्र (NCR) में ईंधन के रूप में कोयले के इस्तेमाल पर प्रतिबंध लगा दिया जाएगा।’ CAQM ने एक जनवरी से लगाया प्रतिबंध वायु गुणवत्ता प्रबंधन आयोग (CAQM) ने एक जनवरी, 2023 से पूरे दिल्ली-एनसीआर में औद्योगिक, घरेलू और अन्य कार्यों में कोयले के इस्तेमाल पर प्रतिबंध लगाने के निर्देश जारी किए हैं। हालांकि, ताप बिजली संयंत्रों में कम सल्फर वाले कोयले के इस्तेमाल पर प्रतिबंध से छूट दी गई है। इसके पहले सीएक्यूएम ने तीन जून को जारी एक आदेश में कहा कि कोयले के इस्तेमाल पर प्रतिबंध एक अक्टूबर से पीएनजी बुनियादी ढांचे और आपूर्ति वाले क्षेत्रों में तथा एक जनवरी, 2023 से उन क्षेत्रों में लागू होगा जहां पीएनजी आपूर्ति अब भी उपलब्ध नहीं है। इस वजह से लगाया गया है Coal पर प्रतिबंध? CAQM की ओर से जारी किए गए एक नोट में कहा गया था,एनसीआर के औद्योगिक ईंधनों पर कोयला हावी हो चुका है। एनसीआर के औद्योगिक इकाइयों में एक साल के दौरान लगभग 17 लाख टन कोयले की खपत होती है। इसमें अकेले छह प्रमुख औद्योगिक जिलों में लगभग 14 लाख टन कोयले का उपयोग किया जा रहा है। यह कदम एनसीआर के वायु प्रदूषण की समस्या से निपटने और ईंधन के रूप में कोयले के उपयोग को खत्म करने के लिए उठाया गया है। जानिए क्या कहते हैं विशेषज्ञ (Specialist) वहीं इस मामले विशेषज्ञों का कहना है कि यह कदम एनसीआर में गंदे ईंधन के इस्तेमाल की वजह से होने वाले वायु प्रदूषण को रोकने के लिए उठाया जा रहा है। इस मामले में जब सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट की कार्यकारी निदेशक अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी से इंडियन एक्सप्रेस से बातचीत करते हुए बताया था,’अगर हम क्षेत्रीय स्तर पर सफाई चाहते हैं तो हमें सभी गंदे फ्यूल से छुटकारा पाने की जरूरत है। फिलहाल कोयला एनसीआर में प्रमुख औद्योगिक ईंधन है। अगर हम वायू प्रदूषण को कम करना चाहते हैं तो सभी क्षेत्रों में स्वच्छ ईंधन का इस्तेमाल जरूरी है।’

80% of PM2.5 in Kolkata air generated locally: Report

Study puts under scanner PCB’s high transboundary pollution claim Nearly 80 per cent of the total PM2.5 content, the most toxic ultrafine particulate pollutant, in the air in Kolkata and its immediate surrounding is generated locally. On average, only about a fifth of the PM2.5 load enters the city from beyond its borders, says a report prepared by a platform of environment analysts. They have pointed out the urgent need to take action against the local contributors to combat PM2.5 pollution in the report. The report prepared by UrbanEmissions.Info is based on pollution data from 2017 and 2019 from 50 cities across India alongside major international cities. Its findings were also mentioned in a recent report by the environmental think tank Center for Science and Environment (CSE). “This information is collated from multiple agencies ranging from the central pollution control board, state pollution control board, census bureau, national sample survey office, ministry of road transport and highways and publications from academic and non-governmental institutions” reads the UEInfo report; that shows that under business as a usual scenario; the overall PM 2.5 load of the city is set to reach around 95,000 tonnes per year in 2030, increasing from around 88,000 tonnes per year in 2018. The analysis shows that the transboundary sources contributed about 19 per cent of the total PM 2.5 pollution of Kolkata in 2018; which means almost 80 per cent of the city’s PM2.5 was generated locally. The finding underlines that the city must prioritise reducing its PM2.5 pollution generated within its boundaries,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, air pollution expert of the CSE. The proportion of pollution from outside sources varies from 13 to 31 per cent, depending on the month. Another independent research by frontline US scientists, published in Atmospheric Pollution Research journal, shows that overall West Bengal receives 46 per cent of its overall air pollution from transboundary sources, less compared to many states at a proportional scale and on a par with the national average. “Our research, too, shows that the contribution of transboundary pollution in Kolkata’s PM 2.5 load is around 20 per cent”, confirmed Abhijeet Chatterjee, an air pollution scientist from Bose Institute. The findings have put under the scanner state pollution control board’s recent claim that the state and city receive unusually high transboundary pollution. “These are satellite-based studies and often do not appropriately reflect the ground realities; however around 20 percent figure of transboundaryPM 2.5 pollution is possible,” PCB chairman Kalyan Rudra said. Green platform Sabu Mancha, on Tuesday, said the PCB’s recent references to transboundary pollution are nothing but an effort to deflect from their failure in containing air pollution in Kolkata and the rest of the state. “We have consulted several scientists around the country and they clearly said that transboundary pollution cannot be stopped only by planting trees,” said Naba Dutta, secretary of the platform. “We are demanding the chief minister’s intervention to ensure efforts to minimise pollution from the major sources like transport, construction, industries and waste burning,” added Dutta.

India is not walking the talk on its climate pledges

In 2022, the Indian government made several attempts to dilute environmental laws and pushed for infrastructure projects in eco-sensitive areas. In a year of record-breaking extreme climate events, the government continued to amend key environmental laws and provisions as part of its push for ‘ease of doing business’ – actions that contradict India’s stand on the global stage that it will move away from “business-as-usual”. The dilutions include amendments to penal provisions in umbrella environmental laws, office memorandums and notifications which are executive orders passed to exempt certain projects from environmental impact assessment, as well as a push for infrastructure projects in eco-sensitive areas. These developments took place against the backdrop of major events. The second part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report – the first after 2013 – was released in February and April. The report was a grim warning of the impact of climate change; it also presented a pathway to reduce emissions and adapt to the changing weather. In November, countries across the world met for the 27th Conference of Parties in Egypt, where they adopted the Sharm el-Sheikh implementation plan on climate action. In December, countries met for the first time after 2020 for the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada to discuss halting biodiversity loss. In December, India took over the presidency of the G20, an intergovernmental platform comprising 19 countries and the European Union, that works to address issues like climate change, the global economy and financial stability. As the year comes to a close, we take stock of environmental developments in India over the past 12 months. We reached out to the environment ministry for their comments on December 19, and will update the story when we receive a response. Local extreme events This year, the country recorded extreme weather events on 241 out of 273 days (at the rate of close to one every day) between January 1 and September 30, according to a Centre for Science and Environment report released in November. These included unusually heavy rainfall, landslides, floods, thunderstorms, cold waves, heat waves, cyclones, sandstorms, squalls, hailstorms and gales. Some of the record-breaking events include the seventh wettest January, the warmest ever March, and third-warmest April since 1901. The report also found that these events claimed 2,755 lives, destroyed over 1.8 million hectares of crop area, damaged 416,667 houses and killed 70,000 livestock. The report warned that these figures could be underestimated. In 2021, India suffered an income loss of $159 billion – 5.4% of its gross domestic product – due to extreme heat conditions, as IndiaSpend report published in October. And this can only get worse. According to NASA’s temperature analysis, climate change is causing the earth to warm up at a rate of roughly 0.15 degrees Celsius to 0.20 degrees Celsius per decade. The impact of global temperature rise will continue to worsen, cautioned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published in February 2022. India’s pledges In keeping with the bold climate pledges from 2021, in August India released its updated Nationally Determined Contributions, or climate pledges, under the Paris Agreement. According to the updated Nationally Determined Contributions, India now stands committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product by 45% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and achieving about 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources, also by 2030. ADVERTISEMENT The updated Nationally Determined Contributions also include the role of healthy and sustainable lifestyle – dubbed LIFE (Lifestyle for Environment) – as a key to combating climate change. Ahead of COP27 in October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with United Nations Chief Antonio Gueterres launched the LIFE mission, which was heavily promoted at COP27 to position India as going beyond policy-making to advocate for individual- and community-level change to help the global fight against climate change. LIFE’s three-pronged strategy includes nudging individuals to practise simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives (demand), such as using public transport and choosing sustainable products like cloth bags over plastic; enabling industries and markets to respond swiftly to the reducing demand (supply) for environmentally unsustainable products like disposable/single-use products and packaging; and influencing government and industrial policy to support both sustainable consumption and production (policy). At COP27 in Egypt India, in common with the 57 other nations attending, released its long term strategy for net-zero emissions (to become carbon neutral and thereby prevent further global heating) also known as LT-LEDS. India’s approach is based on four key considerations that inform its climate policy landscape, namely its low historic contribution toward global warming, significant future energy needs of the country, national circumstances as it pertains to committing to low-emission growth strategies, and the need to build climate resilience. The over 100-page document specifies that it will focus on the following seven sectoral priorities including transition in electricity systems, transport and buildings, removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, financial and economic aspects of net zero targets, among others, to meet India’s decarbonisation goals. ADVERTISEMENT Experts pointed out that the significance of LT-LEDS, or the LIFE movement, is that it underscores India’s commitment to depart from the “business as usual” approach. But this is contradicted by the dilutions in domestic environmental laws that are meant to benefit business at the cost of the environment. Environmental laws diluted In the year now ending, the environment ministry continued its push to dilute existing environmental laws. In June and July, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change proposed amendments (here, here and here) aiming to dilute the penal provisions (which includes imprisonment of offenders) embedded in three key environmental laws–the Environment Protection Act, 1986; the Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1981; and the Water (prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1974. “Overall, environmental laws in India protect the fundamental rights of communities,” said Leo Saldanha, a Bengaluru-based policy analyst working with Environment Support Group, an non-governmental organisation that works on issues of social and environmental justice in India. “Dilutions in environmental norms or notifications have been happening since the mid 2000s, but in the last few years we have been witnessing that the parent laws, which are foundations to these notifications, are being diluted.” ADVERTISEMENT The proposed changes include a proposal to remove the provision of imprisonment as a penalty for non-compliance under some sections of these Acts. For example, non-compliance under the Environment Act will currently attract fines (of up to Rs 1 lakh) or imprisonment (up to five years), or both. However, the latest amendment proposes to restrict penalties to fines alone. Similarly, under the Water Act, the amendment seeks to replace the punishment for violations with financial penalties, rather than prosecution in a court of law. Experts note that doing away with imprisonment could affect the implementation of these Acts and encourage a pollute-and-compensate attitude. “The idea behind (dilution of penal provisions) is you can cause damage and get away without criminal punishment,” noted Saldanha. Earlier in April, in a set of proposed notifications, the environment ministry sought to do away with mandatory environmental impact assessments before the expansion of airport terminal buildings, exempt “strategic” highway projects from the purview of environmental impact assessments, and increase the threshold limit for thermal power plants. On April 11, the ministry issued guidelines, through an office memorandum, for exempting mining projects from mandatory Environmental Clearance in instances where the proponent seeks to increase production capacity by up to 50% of the existing threshold limit without increasing the original lease area. ADVERTISEMENT “This year saw many amendments that sought concessions to companies, exemption to clearance process, dilution in public hearing, etc. All of the changes, big and small, reduce the scrutiny of the public from the project,” said Krithika Dinesh, an independent environmental lawyer and researcher. “These changes also shift the focus of environmental laws for the purpose for which it was created, which is to protect the environment to become more of an efficient clearance office” The larger problem is that many of these key laws are amended through office memorandums, which are subordinate laws approved and changed by Ministry officials, and not amendments. Saldhana points out that amendments to existing laws need to be tabled in Parliament. The ministry, under pressure from investors and politically vested interests, has bypassed this and routinely takes environmental decisions via notifications and office memorandums. He added, “they always result in irreversible adverse impact on fundamental rights of impacted communities. They are also unconstitutional, and the Parliament and Judiciary have to step in and stem the environment ministry’s consistent anti-constitutional behaviour”. In December 2021, the ministry sought to weaken institutional oversight over access to and use of India’s bioresources under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. This undermines resource-dependent people’s traditional rights over biodiversity, and could be misused by corporations, IndiaSpend reported in January. ADVERTISEMENT Again in January 2022, through an office memorandum, the ministry said it will introduce a star rating system based on efficiency and timelines of states in granting environment clearances, which weakens environmental safeguards, IndiaSpend reported in January. Apart from dilutions, the government has also sought to divert ecologically sensitive areas for infrastructure projects. This includes the proposed diversion of the Great Nicobar island for a mega project involving the construction of a trans-shipment port, an international airport, a power plant and a township spread over more than 166 sq km of land – an area that currently includes 130 square km of primary forest. The project will witness the felling of nearly 8,50,000 trees and the reclamation of 300 hectares of land from the ocean. This will impact the nesting habitats of giant leatherback turtles and the Nicobar megapode, a flightless bird endemic to the Nicobar islands, according to the May expert appraisal committee report. All these changes to the environmental acts will end up weakening the environment, thereby accelerating climate change and weather impact. This is in direct contradiction to what India has been promising the world that it will do.

Energy transition offers a ray of hope to farmers struggling in chilly winter

Farmers in many states, where electricity supply for agriculture comes only at night, have to face the cold weather and wild animals when they irrigate their farms at night. The electricity is important to power pump sets which have become an integral part of the agricultural system. A recent Rajasthan-based study claims that the state and country can save a significant amount on the infrastructure required for future energy needs by turning to solar energy. When the plunging mercury set new records in the Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and people shivered even in their warm quilts, Satveer Singh, a 50-year-old farmer from Mohanpura village, had to visit his wheat field late at night to irrigate the crop. The reason, he argues, is electricity supply which usually comes at night for agricultural work. Singh says that many people in the village have lost their lives due to snakebites and other such accidents when they stepped out at night for irrigating their fields. “My pain is nothing compared to those fellows,” he says. He hopes the government will understand their pain and provide electricity (for agriculture) in the daytime. It is not an isolated demand. In Rajasthan, farmers have been struggling due to the odd schedule of power supply for agriculture for a long time. A couple of months ago, a group of farmers protested in the Ajmer district against power being supplied only at night. In the latest Rajasthan state budget, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot admitted that the farmers are facing trouble as they are forced to irrigate their farmlands during the night. He promised to provide relief. But this problem is not limited to Rajasthan and not only because of the cold weather. The presence of wild animals when the farmers move out at night, also puts their lives at stake. This December, Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation in the Mysuru district of Karnataka had to modify the power supply timing for irrigation pump sets from night to morning hours. It happened after a fatal incident due to a leopard attack. Karnataka has been discussing the issue and planning to provide electricity to farmers in the daytime instead of night. Similarly, in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, many districts only get power supply at night. The state, in 2020, announced that it would supply eight hours of power to farmers during the daytime. The issue of power supplied to farmers during the night is so big that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had to launch a programme in his home state of Gujarat with the promise of providing electricity to farmers during the daytime. Launched in 2020, the scheme Kisan Suryoday Yojna had a target of providing power supply targeted to agriculture to some 18,000 villages of the state by the end of 2022. Agriculture and electricity Since Independence, India has seen several changes in all aspects of life. The change is also visible in agriculture, where the sector has become dependent on groundwater for irrigation. Pump sets powered by electricity and diesel have become an integral part of the agricultural system. The share of borewell irrigation was a mere 1% during 1960-61, and it reached 60% in 2008. A recent study by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment says, “Nearly 90% of India’s total groundwater draft during a given year is used to irrigate 70% of the country’s total irrigated land area. The number of electric pumps increased exponentially to over 21 million.” The agriculture sector in India consumes a significant portion of the total energy consumed in the country. In 2020-21, the agriculture sector consumed 18% of 12,27,000 GWh (Gigawatt hour). And the demand for agricultural electricity is increasing in India, says a 2019 study. The report said that in 2008-09, the sector consumed 107 billion units, reaching 205 billion units in 2017-18. Another Delhi-based think tank, The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), predicts that the electricity demand may reach 307 billion units in 2030. Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation, Shailendra Dubey says that the agriculture sector requires a significant amount of electricity. The agriculture sector gets electricity during the night to maintain the transmission load factor. Generally, the agriculture-related power supply is planned in two shifts. He added that half of the villages get electricity during the daytime and half at night. Sunlight offers hope Since renewable has become dominant in energy-related narratives in the country, it has offered new hope to millions of farmers who are termed the backbone of the country. India has launched a solar-based irrigation scheme named PM-KUSUM. It envisages solar-based solar pumps in rural areas. Under this demand-driven scheme, the government plans solarisation of 3.5 million agriculture pumps. When the entire country is planning an energy transition, it offers another hope for farmers as a 2022 study predicts that moving the energy-related demand of the agricultural sector to daytime hours will drastically reduce the cost of the power sector. Saying that this shift will save transition costs, the report Opportunities for Renewable Energy, Storage, Vehicle Electrification, and Demand Response in Rajasthan’s Power Sector advocates the same. The report published by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says, “Shifting agricultural load may allow an opportunity to provide more reliable electricity supply while maximising the use of the abundant in-state solar resources.” Agricultural demand makes up nearly 50% of Rajasthan’s overall state electricity demand. The report claims that if this demand is shifted to daytime hours in the state, overall costs for the power sector can be 18% lower in Rajasthan and 1.5% lower across India by 2050. When demand gets shifted to sunlight hours, less energy storage capacity and thermal capacity are needed to provide energy during evening hours. Unexpectedly, there is also less solar capacity built in the long term. This is because excess solar energy is used to charge storage. When evening demand is shifted, the study claims that less energy is needed to charge storage, and thus less overall solar capacity is needed to serve demand. Relying on solar, a few states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka have started giving additional solar energy for irrigation during the day. Somit Dasgupta, a senior visiting fellow at the International Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) says that it will certainly be helpful to the distribution companies as evening and morning are usually the peak times in most states. Though the weather has a big role to play when it comes to solar, it can reduce the power purchase costs of discoms (distribution companies), and they can reduce their losses as such costs at peak times are maximum than non-peak hours, he adds. In many agricultural electricity connections, the power comes either in the evening or at night. At night the power load is lower, and it might be the reason the agriculture sector gets supply at night, says an expert. When you take solar power through decentralised route, you also save on transmission and distribution losses, which are very high in the grid. If you use a pump with solar and what you are generating and giving the same to the grid, you will also have the benefit of selling the surplus solar, he adds. If we shift to the daytime (solar peak hours), we can utilise the maximum amount of solar energy going into the grid. So, this will also ensure that we can reduce the load on fossil fuels and less dependency on the need for extra battery storage systems, adds Dasgupta.

Restore by use: Regenerative agriculture can help save water; here is how

hy in News? Farmers in Madhya Pradesh who follow regenerative farming methods find that they reduce the need for frequent irrigation, which conserves water and energy. What is Regenerative Agriculture? Background: The Green Revolution of the 1960s pulled India from the brink of starvation, but the revolution also made India the world’s biggest extractor of groundwater. According to the UN’s World Water Development Report, 2022, India extracts 251 cubic km or more than a quarter of the world’s groundwater withdrawal each year; 90 % of this water is used for agriculture. Currently, there is severe and widespread deficiency of organic carbon and micronutrients in Indian soils. If agriculture is to continue to feed the country’s undernourished population — 224.5 million, according to the UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2022 — and drive its economy, it needs to work in harmony with nature, not against it. Farmers, activists and agricultural research organisations across the world are thus developing methods of chemical-less farming which uses natural inputs and cultivation practices such as crop rotation and diversification, which fall under the wider umbrella of regenerative agriculture. About Regenerative Agriculture: Regenerative agriculture is a holistic farming system that focuses on soil health, food quality, biodiversity improvement, water quality and air quality through methods such as reducing the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, reducing tillage, integrating livestock and using cover crops. It adheres to the following principles: Minimize soil distribution through conservation tillage Diversify crops to replenish nutrients and disrupt pest and disease lifecycles Retain soil cover using cover crops Integrate livestock, which adds manure to the soil and serves as a source of carbon sinks. What are the Advantages of Regenerative Agriculture? Improves Soil Health: It goes a step ahead of sustainable agriculture and aspires not only to maintain the resources like soil and water but also to improve them. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, healthy soil helps in better water storage, transmission, filtering and reduces agricultural run-off. Water conservation: Healthy soil helps in improving water-use efficiency by better water storage, transmission, filtering and reduces agricultural run-off. Studies have established that 1% increase in soil organic matter per 0.4 hectare increases water storage potential by more than 75,000 litres. Energy Conservation: Regenerative Agriculture practices conserve energy used by irrigation aids such as pumps. What are Indian Efforts to Promote Regenerative Agriculture? The National Project on Organic Farming: The National Project on Organic Farming is the country’s longest experiment on the practice, ongoing since 2004 and conducted by ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming System Research, Meerut. Systematic Rice Intensification: A method in which seeds are spaced at wider distances and organic manure is applied to improve yields. Zero-Budget Natural Farming: It is also known as Subhash Palekar Natural Farming and emphasises on preparing and using inputs made from crop residue, cow dung and urine, fruits, among other things. Samaj Pragati Sahyog: It is a grassroots organisation that promotes natural methods to control agricultural pests such as composting and recycling of crop residues, use of farm yard manure, cattle urine and application of tank silt, has also made efforts to this end. It has conducted field trials with 1,000 farmers on more than 2,000 ha of land in four districts of Madhya Pradesh and one district of Maharashtra in 2016-18, to measure the water saved. UPSC Civil Services Examination Previous Year Question (PYQ) Prelims Q. How is permaculture farming different from conventional chemical farming? (2021) Permaculture farming discourages monocultural practices but in conventional chemical farming, monoculture practices are predominant. Conventional chemical farming can cause an increase in soil salinity but the occurrence of such phenomenon is not observed in permaculture farming. Conventional chemical farming is easily possible in semi-arid regions but permaculture farming is not so easily possible in such regions. Practice of mulching is very important in permaculture farming but not necessarily so in conventional chemical farming. Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1 and 3 (b) 1, 2 and 4 (c) 4 only (d) 2 and 3 Ans: (b) Exp: Permaculture is an attempt to best use land so that generations in the future can continue to make use of the land in productive manners, allowing for personal subsistence. Permaculture relies on three ethics: care for the earth, care for people and fair share. It draws from several disciplines including organic farming, agroforestry, integrated farming, sustainable development, and applied ecology. Chemical farming is defined as the practice where chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and fertilizers are used in agriculture to control pests and disease or control and promote growth. Permaculture is a totally integrated design system that is modelled on nature. Permaculture farming promotes multi cropping and integrated farming systems, whereas chemical farming is more suitable for monoculture cropping due to use of crop specific inputs like irrigation, chemical fertiliser and harvesting methods. Hence, 1 is correct. Chemical farming makes the soil less fertile over time due to use of chemical fertilizers, which can lead to serious problems like soil salinisation. But such problems do not occur in permaculture farming as it relies on organic fertilizers. Hence, 2 is correct. The concept of permaculture involves well-designed systems that do not produce waste and tries to copy well-designed systems. Permaculture tries to take into account local conditions like arid climate, which helps in developing a suitable system to ensure sustainable production. In case of chemical farming, intense use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation make the soil less fertile over time, thus restricting its practice in semi-arid regions. Thus, conventional chemical farming is not suitable for semi-arid regions. Hence, 3 is not correct. Mulching is a long-established horticultural practice that involves spreading a layer of material on the ground around plants to protect their roots from heat, cold, or drought or to keep the fruit clean.The material used for covering is called ‘mulch’. Mulching is usually practiced while cultivating commercially important crops, fruit trees, vegetables, flowers, nursery saplings, etc. Mulching is an important component of permaculture farming for promoting maximum efficiency. Whereas, conventional chemical farming does not consider it as essential. Hence, 4 is correct. Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer. Mains Q. How far is Integrated Farming System (IFS) helpful in sustaining agricultural production? (2019) Q. What is Integrated Farming System? How is it helpful to small and marginal farmers in India? (2022) Source: DTE

Year In Review: Green Law Dilutions In Year Of Record Extreme Events

The government made multiple attempts to whittle down provisions of environmental regulations in India, in a year marked with extreme weather events Mumbai: In a year of record-breaking extreme climate events, the government continued to amend key environmental laws and provisions as part of its push for 'ease of doing business'--actions that contradict India's stand on the global stage that it will move away from "business-as-usual". The dilutions include amendments to penal provisions in umbrella environmental laws, office memorandums and notifications which are executive orders passed to exempt certain projects from environmental impact assessment, as well as a push for infrastructure projects in eco-sensitive areas. These developments took place against the backdrop of major events. The second part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)--the first after 2013--was released in February and April 2022. The report was a grim warning of the impact of climate change; it also presented a pathway to reduce emissions and adapt to the changing weather. In November, countries across the world met for the 27th Conference of Parties in Egypt, where they adopted the Sharm el-Sheikh implementation plan on climate action. In December, countries met for the first time after 2020 for the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada to discuss halting biodiversity loss. In December 2022, India took over the presidency of the G20, an intergovernmental platform comprising 19 countries and the European Union, that works to address issues like climate change, the global economy and financial stability. As the year comes to a close, we take stock of environmental developments in India over the past 12 months. We reached out to the environment ministry for their comments on December 19, and will update the story when we receive a response. Record-breaking local extreme events This year, the country recorded extreme weather events on 241 out of 273 days (at the rate of close to one every day) between January 1 and September 30, according to a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report released in November 2022. These included unusually heavy rainfall, landslides, floods, thunderstorms, cold waves, heat waves, cyclones, sandstorms, squalls, hailstorms and gales. Some of the record-breaking events include the seventh wettest January, the warmest ever March, and third-warmest April since 1901. The report also found that these events claimed 2,755 lives, destroyed over 1.8 million hectares of crop area, damaged 416,667 houses and killed 70,000 livestock. The report warned that these figures could be underestimated. In 2021, India suffered an income loss of $159 billion--5.4% of its gross domestic product--due to extreme heat conditions, as IndiaSpend report published in October 2022. And this can only get worse. According to NASA's temperature analysis, climate change is causing the earth to warm up at a rate of roughly 0.15 to 0.20°C per decade. The impact of global temperature rise will continue to worsen, cautioned the IPCC report published in February 2022. India on the global stage: LIFE, updated NDCs and the net-zero pathway In keeping with the bold climate pledges from 2021, in August 2022 India released its updated Nationally Determined Contributions, or Climate Pledges, under the Paris Agreement. According to the updated NDC, India now stands committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and achieving about 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources, also by 2030. The updated NDCs also include the role of healthy and sustainable lifestyle--dubbed LIFE (Lifestyle for Environment)--as a key to combating climate change. Ahead of COP27 in October 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with United Nations Chief Antonio Gueterres launched the LIFE mission, which was heavily promoted at COP27 to position India as going beyond policy-making to advocate for individual- and community-level change to help the global fight against climate change. LIFE's three-pronged strategy includes nudging individuals to practice simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives (demand), such as using public transport and choosing sustainable products like cloth bags over plastic; enabling industries and markets to respond swiftly to the reducing demand (supply) for environmentally unsustainable products like disposable/single-use products and packaging; and influencing government and industrial policy to support both sustainable consumption and production (policy). At COP27 in Egypt India, in common with the 57 other nations attending, released its long term strategy for net-zero emissions (to become carbon neutral and thereby prevent further global heating), also known as LT-LEDS. India's approach is based on four key considerations that inform its climate policy landscape, namely its low historic contribution toward global warming, significant future energy needs of the country, national circumstances as it pertains to committing to low-emission growth strategies, and the need to build climate resilience. The over 100-page document specifies that it will focus on the following seven sectoral priorities including transition in electricity systems, transport and buildings, removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, financial and economic aspects of net zero targets, among others, to meet India's decarbonisation goals. Experts pointed out that the significance of LT-LEDS, or the LIFE movement, is that it underscores India's commitment to depart from the "business as usual" approach. But this is contradicted by the dilutions in domestic environmental laws that are meant to benefit business at the cost of the environment. Dilutions in environmental law In the year now ending, the environment ministry continued its push to dilute existing environmental laws. In June and July 2022, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) proposed amendments (here, here and here) aiming to dilute the penal provisions (which includes imprisonment of offenders) embedded in three key environmental laws--the Environment Protection Act, 1986; the Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1981; and the Water (prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1974. "Overall, environmental laws in India protect the fundamental rights of communities," said Leo Saldanha, a Bengaluru-based policy analyst working with Environment Support Group, an NGO that works on issues of social and environmental justice in India. "Dilutions in environmental norms or notifications have been happening since the mid 2000s, but in the last few years we have been witnessing that the parent laws, which are foundations to these notifications, are being diluted." The proposed changes include a proposal to remove the provision of imprisonment as a penalty for non-compliance under some sections of these Acts. For example, non-compliance under the Environment Act will currently attract fines (of up to Rs 1 lakh) or imprisonment (up to five years), or both. However, the latest amendment proposes to restrict penalties to fines alone. Similarly, under the Water Act, the amendment seeks to replace the punishment for violations with financial penalties, rather than prosecution in a court of law. Experts note that doing away with imprisonment could affect the implementation of these Acts and encourage a pollute-and-compensate attitude. "The idea behind (dilution of penal provisions) is you can cause damage and get away without criminal punishment," noted Saldanha. Earlier in April, in a set of proposed notifications, the environment ministry sought to do away with mandatory environmental impact assessments (EIAs) before the expansion of airport terminal buildings, exempt "strategic" highway projects from the purview of EIA, and increase the threshold limit for thermal power plants. On April 11, the ministry issued guidelines, through an office memorandum, for exempting mining projects from mandatory Environmental Clearance in instances where the proponent seeks to increase production capacity by up to 50% of the existing threshold limit without increasing the original lease area. "This year saw many amendments that sought concessions to companies, exemption to clearance process, dilution in public hearing, etc. All of the changes, big and small, reduce the scrutiny of the public from the project," said Krithika Dinesh, an independent environmental lawyer and researcher. "These changes also shift the focus of environmental laws for the purpose for which it was created, which is to protect the environment to become more of an efficient clearance office" The larger problem is that many of these key laws are amended through office memorandums, which are subordinate laws approved and changed by Ministry officials, and not amendments. Saldhana points out that amendments to existing laws need to be tabled in Parliament. The ministry, under pressure from investors and politically vested interests, has bypassed this and routinely takes environmental decisions via notifications and office memorandums. He added, "they always result in irreversible adverse impact on fundamental rights of impacted communities. They are also unconstitutional, and the Parliament and Judiciary have to step in and stem the environment ministry's consistent anti-constitutional behavior". In December 2021, the ministry sought to weaken institutional oversight over access to and use of India's bioresources under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. This undermines resource-dependent people's traditional rights over biodiversity, and could be misused by corporations, IndiaSpend reported in January 2022. Again in January 2022, through an office memorandum, the ministry said it will introduce a star rating system based on efficiency and timelines of states in granting environment clearances, which weakens environmental safeguards, IndiaSpend reported in January 2022. Apart from dilutions, the government has also sought to divert ecologically sensitive areas for infrastructure projects. This includes the proposed diversion of the Great Nicobar island for a mega project involving the construction of a trans-shipment port, an international airport, a power plant and a township spread over more than 166 square km of land--an area that currently includes 130 square km of primary forest. The project will witness the felling of nearly 850,000 trees and the reclamation of 300 hectares of land from the ocean. This will impact the nesting habitats of giant leatherback turtles and the Nicobar megapode, a flightless bird endemic to the Nicobar islands, according to the May 2022 expert appraisal committee report. All these changes to the environmental acts will end up weakening the environment, thereby accelerating climate change and weather impact. This is in direct contradiction to what India has been promising the world that it will do.

A LOOK BACK TO THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIA

More than 88% of the days between January 1 and September 30 this year saw extreme weather events in India, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the Centre for Science and Environment. The report brings attention back to India’s climate vulnerabilities ahead of a significant UN climate summit.The report, “Extreme Weather Report 2022,” published by the Centre for Science and Environment indicated that these catastrophes resulted in 2,775 fatalities, affected 1.8 million hectares (ha) of cropland, demolished approximately 4,16,667 homes, and resulted in the deaths of close to 70,000 cattle (CSE). The green think tank stated that because data for each occurrence is not compiled and agricultural losses and damages to public property are not tallied, this estimate of loss and damage is likely an underestimation.In addition to extreme heat waves, cyclones, snowfall, lightning, storms, cold waves and cold days, torrential rains, floods, and landslides were also classified as extreme weather phenomena by the IMD in the study.To fill up the gaps in the official data, the researchers compiled information from two important Indian government agencies: the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Disaster Management Division of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. They also used media reports. The highest number of days with extreme weather was reported in central and north-western India, with 198 and 195 days, respectively. Central India ranked first in terms of the number of fatalities with 887, then the East and North East of India (783 deaths).