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In a country like India, the issue of air pollution is a severe and essential topic. According to research in 2019, India had 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities; this is a considerable number and a big reason to worry. Moreover, according to a study based on data in 2016, 14 crore people in India were breathing air ten times above the safety limit given by the world health organisation. The pollution is caused by various factors such as industrial pollution, the burning of crops, vehicles, and some other factors.
Every year in India, approx 20 lakh people die prematurely because of air pollution.
The emissions come from the industries of vehicles; however, in rural areas, the pollution arises due to the burning of biomass for purposes like cooking, etc. In spring and autumn, a tremendous amount of crop residue is found burning in the agricultural fields. It is being done as it is a cheaper option for mechanical tiling, which becomes a big reason for smog, smoke, and particulate pollution. India has a lesser per capita emission when it comes to greenhouse gases. However, India is the third-largest producer of greenhouse gases after China and the USA. Furthermore, a study from the year 2013 tells that the people in India have 30 per cent weaker functioning of the lungs than the people in Europe, considering only the non-smokers.
Causes
Various factors cause air pollution, and some of those factors are as follows:
Fuel Adulteration: It is done in various Indian taxis and automatic rickshaws to reduce their operating cost. Moreover, adulterating gasoline and diesel with cheaper fuels is very common and ongoing in the south Asia region. Various adulterants result in the emissions of dangerous pollutants out of the vehicles running on the road. This leads to increased air pollution, which badly affects the environment and the living beings existing in the environment.
When the prices of fuel increase, public transport operators start reducing the costs by mixing the highly taxed hydrocarbon with the cheaper hydrocarbon; moreover, the blending percentage is around 20 to 30 per cent. In the case of a low-wage driver, adulteration gives some savings to the driver, who becomes a decent amount of money at the end of the month. The future outcomes of air pollution are ignored, including the health of people and the quality of the environment.
Traffic Congestion: It is way too normal and severe in the cities and towns of India. It has occurred due to several reasons, such as continuous growth in the number of vehicles on the road, less number of intra-city highways, and intra-city expressway networks. Road accidents also occur due to poor traffic management and inadequate enforcement of traffic laws. The traffic congestion also results in the reduction of the traffic speed, which results in more pollution as the vehicles at low speed consume more fuel and emit more smoke and burnt oil.
NCAP – A New Plan to Decrease Air Pollution
It is a new plan to decrease the pollution in the air by approximately 50 per cent over the coming five years. In a critical development and as a division of its NCAP, i.e. the National Clean Air Program, the central government of India has set some definite targets and timelines for addressing this most critical public health crisis. Moreover, the government has created a complete and proper plan for decreasing air pollution in hundreds of cities in India. The 100 cities that opted for this plan were named “Non-attainment Cities”, indicating that the air quality in these places was poorer than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
The NCAP, i.e. the National Clean Air Program, will observe the central governments functioning in teamwork with their counterparts in various states. They have previously devised definite timelines and the targets they have to work towards in the future. The major cities that are to be worked upon with the help of this initiative comprise Delhi, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Varanasi, Nagpur, Kanpur, Agra, Mumbai, and many others at the same time, having specified as well as individual plans of action.
The initiative of the NCAP, i.e. The National Clean Air Program is a step in the right direction at the right time. Moreover, it will need much clarity and thinking at the same time for achieving the predefined targets of 35 per cent, increasing to 50 per cent in the future. Achieving all these milestones as well as targets is not an easy task. Therefore, it is a massive challenge for the people involved in this process.
Conclusion
There are various types of pollution on this planet, and India is the country that has the maximum types of pollution and the maximum level of severity at the same time. Air pollution is caused by numerous reasons and factors, such as the pollution done by the smoke emitting from the engines of the motor vehicles in the cities and towns of the country. The government should eliminate the polluting vehicles from the country and promote electric vehicles so that the pollution can be decreased.
