28 Nov 2023 : The Indian Express

Editorial 1 : Bad air days

Introduction: Data from a real-time source apportionment study, which resumed earlier this month after a brief hiatus, has said that the transportation sector and secondary aerosols have contributed the most to air pollution in Delhi after November 9, almost 30 per cent each.

More about the report

• Incidents of biomass burning have come down significantly, it is still one of the major factors, accounting for more than 25 per cent of pollutants on some days.
• The study is a collaboration between Delhi Pollution Control Committee and IIT Kanpur.
• What the new set of data says is not very different from the trends in air pollution observed in Delhi during this time of the year.
• There might be variations at different locations in the city, and in the daily, weekly or monthly averages, but the major sources of pollution are now well identified.
• Their relative contribution, and their day-night, monthly or seasonal variations, are also fairly well captured and understood.
• In fact, in Delhi, over the last decade, the data gap with respect to air pollution has been increasingly narrowed.
• There is plenty of data available now, and scientists have also been able to determine detailed flow patterns, and lengths of stay, of different pollutants in the atmosphere during different seasons.
• But data is only an enabler, it is meant to facilitate action.
• And that is where adequate efforts still seem to be lacking.
• It has been at least a decade since air pollution in Delhi became a headline-grabbing issue.

Some key strategies that can be implemented:

1. Curbing Vehicular Emissions:

1. Promote the use of public transportation by making it more affordable, efficient, and accessible.
2. Encourage the adoption of electric vehicles through incentives and infrastructure development.
3. Implement strict emission standards for vehicles and enforce them rigorously.
4. Implement congestion pricing to discourage private vehicle usage in crowded areas.

2. Controlling Industrial Emissions:
   1. Enforce strict emission standards for industries and monitor compliance regularly.
   2. Promote cleaner production technologies and practices among industries.
   3. Encourage industries to switch to cleaner fuels like natural gas or renewable energy sources.
   4. Establish industrial zones away from residential areas to minimize pollution exposure.
3. Managing Construction and Demolition Activities:

1. Implement stringent dust control measures at construction sites to minimize particulate emissions.
2. Cover construction materials adequately to prevent dust from spreading.
3. Dispose of construction and demolition waste responsibly to avoid open burning.
4. Enforce regulations for timely completion of construction projects to minimize disruption and pollution.

4. Addressing Agricultural Waste Burning:

1. Provide farmers with alternative methods for managing agricultural waste, such as composting or mechanized processing.
2. Raise awareness among farmers about the harmful effects of stubble burning and promote sustainable practices.
3. Implement stricter enforcement against stubble burning and impose penalties for non-compliance.

5. Enhancing Urban Greenery:

1. Increase tree cover and green spaces in urban areas to act as natural air purifiers.
2. Promote rooftop gardens and vertical greenery to improve air quality and reduce heat stress. 
3. Encourage the use of native plants and trees that are well-adapted to the local climate.
4. Protect existing natural ecosystems and biodiversity within the city and surrounding areas.

6. Public Awareness and Education:

1. Raise public awareness about the sources and health impacts of air pollution.
2. Educate citizens on ways to reduce their individual contribution to air pollution.
3. Promote eco-friendly practices such as using public transport, carpooling, and switching to energy-efficient appliances.
4. Encourage community participation in air quality monitoring and pollution control initiatives.

7. Regional Collaboration and Policy Coordination:

1. Address air pollution as a regional issue and coordinate efforts with neighboring states.
2. Share air quality data and expertise to develop joint mitigation strategies.
3. Implement regional policies that address transboundary pollution and shared air quality challenges.
4. Collaborate on research and development of innovative air pollution control technologies.

Challenges in implementing these measures

• Despite all the attention it has received, however, there has been no noticeable improvement in air quality in the city during the winter months, when the situation is the worst.
• There is no trend in air quality that shows that efforts are being made to tackle it over the long term.
• In fact, with the biomass burning incidents having gone down in the last couple of weeks, and the haze and smog that hung over Delhi and neighbouring areas during the first week of this month having been largely dispelled, the discussions on air quality have already gone off the radar.
• This is disquieting. Because air pollution is not a two- or four-week-long problem.
• Air quality is bad almost throughout the year, even though it is not as visibly intolerable as it is during the winter months.
• It cannot be tackled through ad-hoc measures.

Conclusion: A comprehensive plan for each of the major sources of pollution needs to be designed — for the short, medium and long term — and implemented. As of now, the efforts, even if being made, are not making a notable difference.

Editorial 2 : In DBT, D is for dignity

Introduction: India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system has been globally recognised as a “logistical marvel.” In essence, DBT leverages digital public infrastructure to directly transfer the benefits of various government schemes.

Significance of DBT

• Reports indicate that 310 government schemes across 53 ministries have used DBT to reach beneficiaries.
• DBT has also been used for in-kind transfers to provide subsidised grains via the public distribution system to poor households.
• Its impact on curbing corruption or reducing leakages, or increasing coverage.
• It is estimated that DBT has resulted in savings of 1.14 per cent of GDP.

DBT preserved the dignity of poor

• The poor would have to undertake a poverty parade to avail government benefits.
• This change in approach, where instead of the poor availing of government benefits, it’s the government benefits that reach them without an intermediary, has important implications for their psyche.
• In a civil and humane society, it is essential to recognise that all individuals, irrespective of their economic and social circumstances, have equal rights to dignity.

What is poverty?

• For some experts, poverty was a technical problem of either lack of resources, lack of capabilities, or lack of self-regulation or discipline.
• The paternalistic solution was either to provide resources to the poor or to nudge them towards the rightful corrective action to improve their well-being.
• This sentiment towards poverty eradication was captured in the introduction of the book The Tyranny of Experts by William Easterly.
• However, Easterly highlighted that there was an alternative approach to thinking about poverty that did not receive much attention from the experts.
• Its fundamental premise was that experts must understand poverty from the individual rights perspective or its deprivation. Before providing solutions, experts must understand the historical context that has led to that state of affairs.
• Rather than looking for technical answers from the outside, addressing poverty might require working with the poor.

Significance of right-based approach to tackle poverty

• Broadly, the rights-based approach highlighted that the state attempts to provide basic security to all its citizens regarding food, shelter, and health.
• Intuitively, in the rights-based approach to poverty, there is an implicit recognition that people can find themselves in unfortunate economic and social circumstances beyond their control.
• There could be circumstances when the poor tried and yet did not make it.
• The corollary to this is that the rich and the powerful owe their success not only to their capabilities but also to luck and other factors beyond their control.
• In a rights-based approach to poverty, institutions must be designed from the Rawlsian perspective of justice with a veil of ignorance.

• In such a society, the burden of poverty has to be shared by all members of the society, particularly by the rich and the elite, who have to be more circumspect and humbler about their success.
• In the rights-based approach to poverty, it’s not just what we provide to the poor that matters, but also how we provide it.
• We have to be cognisant in the design of the programmes that while delivering the rightful benefits to the poor, the mechanism is such that their dignity is preserved.
• Before DBT, the poor would have to knock on the doors of the intermediary elites to receive what was rightfully theirs.
• They would often be turned away or would have to wait in long lines, which eroded their dignity and deprived them of respect.
• DBT ended the poverty parade with the government reaching the poor rather than the other way around.

Way forward

• We should attempt to replicate the DBT design in other areas as well.
• One such area is the judiciary.
• The president appealed to the judges and government to design a mechanism where justice can reach the poor, not where they have to struggle and fight for justice and still be deprived of it.

Conclusion: We need to think hard about how we can replicate the success of DBT, which leveraged technology to efficiently deliver goods and services to the poor in other areas, such as the judiciary, where justice can be efficiently delivered to the poor. The problem is complex and challenging, but it is not unsurmountable if we make a collective effort.