Make some noise. Tell your netas that swachh air matters to you, says energy policy expert Siddharth Singh

Another Diwali, and some more hand-wringing about air quality. But it’s still not an issue that is on top of political agendas, says Siddharth Singh, author of The Great Smog of India. The energy policy expert tells Sunday Times why we need to press the panic button, and make clean air a part of the Swachh Bharat mission.
This Diwali we saw the strange sight of people wearing masks and bursting crackers in Delhi.What does this say about our awareness of air pollution and its effects on health?
At the peak of the 2017 smog season, a senior official had stated that we should not panic as there is no public health emergency. It seems like people have taken this message to heart. It is a fact that there is very low awareness among people. In general, very few understand the impact that the smog can have on not just the lungs, but also the heart and the brain. Apart from lung related and cardiovascular problems, studies show that air pollution can even impact cognitive functions among humans. Air pollution kills over a million Indians every year. It is for this reason that in my book I have a simple message to the people: do panic.
Sceptics have raised doubts about the accuracy of pollution data.
Sceptics say that air pollution is never mentioned as a cause of death on death certificates. How then can we establish that millions die every year due to it? We know it because there have been several rigorous scientific studies involving tens of thousands of test subjects across the globe that measure the impact of pollutants on the human body. The results of these studies allow us to estimate the human toll in India given its poor air quality. These deaths are scattered across the country and, therefore, do not receive adequate attention.
As far as data on air pollution goes, we do not have the necessary infrastructure to continuously measure air quality in much of India.
You have blamed Delhi’s geography as a major factor behind the winter smog. Isn’t that a cop out?
It is our economic activity that primarily contributes to the air pollution crisis. What north India’s geographic and meteorological realities do is make the condition worse. It is for this reason that while Mumbai and Chennai have similar industrial profiles to Delhi, they have generally better air quality than the capital city. Therefore, to clean Delhi’s — and north India’s — air, we will have to go the extra mile and avoid emissions to the extent possible in industry, transport, energy generation, construction and agriculture. It is our economic activity that primarily contributes to the air pollution crisis. What north India’s geographic and meteorological realities do is make the condition worse. It is for this reason that while Mumbai and Chennai have similar industrial profiles to Delhi, they have generally better air quality than the capital city. Therefore, to clean Delhi’s — and north India’s — air, we will have to go the extra mile and avoid emissions to the extent possible in industry, transport, energy generation, construction and agriculture.
While Delhi is the most public face of India’s air pollution, a recent Greenpeace study identified Sonbhadra in UP, Singrauli in MP, Talcher-Angul in Odisha along with Delhi as the nitrogen dioxide emission hotspots of the world. Is pollution in non-metros under-reported and under-tackled?
Indeed, we just do not know how bad air quality is in small-town and rural India. One study estimated that most of the one million deaths due to air pollution in India happen in rural areas. In fact, we do not even have “source apportionment” studies — those that can quantify the sources of air pollution — for small towns and villages.
Rural areas are especially cursed as households tend to use biomass (such as wood) as cooking fuel, which is far more polluting than LPG. Our attention remains in cities partly because we have better sensors to track the problem, and also because the media tends to focus on these areas.
China has successfully managed to reduce its air pollution. What lessons can we learn from our neighbour?
India’s air pollution problem is unique owing to geography, agricultural residue fires and economic activity. Therefore, the solutions we find will have to be unique to our realities. What we can learn from China is their thrust into clean energy sources such as natural gas, but more importantly, their umbrella policy framework that has made “blue skies” an overarching objective for the government. India too should include clean air and clean water in its Swachh Bharat mission.
What can we do as individuals?
First and foremost, protect yourself and people around you — especially the poor — by using masks and filters where possible. Second, stop the burning of leaves and waste in your neighbourhoods, and if there is any loose soil around your homes, try covering it with grass or plants. Avoid construction activity in winters and use public transport when you can.
Finally, and most importantly, make some noise! Tell your elected representatives and the opposition in your constituency that air pollution matters to you. We will only be able to solve the problem when it becomes a key political agenda.
In most cities a large number of trees are being cut to make way for less polluting public transport systems like the metro. How does government strike a balance between environmental concerns and developmental needs of a growing economy?
India’s conflicting developmental goals are at the heart of India’s air pollution problem. Most measures that would reduce air pollution are often in conflict with other goals, such as employment generation or infrastructure creation. For example, there were protests by workers in Delhi in 2000 when the Supreme Court had ordered polluting industries in residential areas to move. The workers were naturally fearing unemployment after this move. A few protesters lost their lives in these protests. On the other hand, the metro versus trees problem is the most unique, as both trees and the metro are vital to create sustainable cities. The metro is the cleanest means of transport, and it is vital that we have more of it. Air pollution would only increase without such a transport option. Of course, it would be ideal if the felling of trees was minimised while expanding the network. It is due to such conflicting governance goals that I have called for the provision of alternatives to the stakeholders who engage in polluting activities such as crop residue burning, running coal-fired power plants, and driving diesel cabs.
Despite having cleaner sources of fuel like CNG, LED bulbs, solar energy etc, the problem of pollution is only growing. Is it practical to create and sustain 100% clean energy sources?
Ideally, we would like to have sources of energy that are reliable, affordable and sustainable. Unfortunately, there is no one source of energy that passes all these tests. For instance, solar energy is sustainable and now affordable, but does not reliably supply electricity through the day. Therefore, we will have to innovate and invest in energy storage and other technologies to continuously clean our energy systems. It’s a slow and challenging process.
How does politics impact the way air pollution has been tackled by policy-makers?
It’s become politicised because of India’s contradictory developmental needs. On the one hand, we have to provide quality jobs for the growing population, and such jobs can potentially come from the manufacturing sector. But this also leads to pollution, which impacts the poor. Similarly, we want to protect our farmers and not add costs to their activities. But this also means that crop burning has become a practice that cannot be easily curbed. The politics of air pollution also arises from the multiplicity of states, ministries and institutions that have to deal with the problem.