DELHI'S POLLUTION IS FAR MORE CHALLENGING
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi in the winter months following Diwali has steadily deteriorated passing to the 'Severe' and 'Very Poor' categories primarily owing to the increase of Suspended Particulate Matters (SPM) in air. The average level of the deadliest particle i.e. PM 2.5 in the National Capital Region (NCR) reached over 300 µg/m3 which is over 8 times the safe limit. These particles are so fine that they can travel deep into our respiratory tracts settling in the lungs causing severe breathing problems. Exposure to such fine particles can cause short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, running nose and shortness of breath. The long-term hazards include elevated susceptibility to respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory distress, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and even lungs cancer. These alarming pollution levels led the Delhi Government to close primary schools and impose restrictions on vehicular traffic, movement of trucks and activities at construction sites.
An AQI between 0-50 is considered
"Good", 51-100 "Satisfactory", 101-200
"Moderate", 201-300 "Poor", 301-400 "Very poor",
401-500 "Severe" and above 500 is "Severe-plus emergency"
category. As per a study carried out by the
World Health Organization (WHO), among the 1600 cities of the world, Delhi is
one of the worst cities in terms of air pollution. According to another estimate, air pollution
alone accounts for the death of nearly 10,500 people in Delhi every year on average.
In winter,
the cold air is generally heavier and sinks to the bottom not allowing the pollutants
to disperse. The slow wind speed at the surface in winter also worsens the
problem. The geographical location of
Delhi makes the matter even more complicated as it is surrounded by mountains
on all sides hindering the easy dispersal of pollutants. Delhi is not the only city in the world
battling with winter air pollutions every year. Although cities like Beijing and
Los Angeles also share the same geographical setting as of Delhi, the problems
in those cities are easier to handle primarily because of the Point sources of
pollution as the major polluting factor. Point Sources of pollution include
emissions released from specific sources like industries or vehicular traffic
located within the city limits itself which are easier to handle and control.
However, Delhi has far more complicated situations with a majority of the
pollutants coming from non-point sources located outside the city stretched
over a vast region of space.
One of the key
non-point sources of pollution is the particles blown away by the farm stubble
burning by the farmers from the vast surrounding areas like Punjab, Haryana and
UP. The farmers in these regions generally cultivate paddy in their farms
during the monsoons, it being a highly water-intensive crop. Paddy is generally
harvested after the monsoon following which sowing of wheat immediately begins in
the same fields in early October. Therefore, the farmers have very little
window time in their hands between the harvesting of paddy and the sowing of
wheat and, therefore, to get rid of the crop residues of paddy in their fields
quickly, they used to set fire to the farm stubble and then clear the residue. This
is a widespread practice prevailing among the farmers of the region. This is indeed a huge problem to deal with which is not there in the case of the other
cities of the world like Beijing and Los Angeles battling with air pollution.
This is because of the fact that the socio-economic conditions of our farmers
are very different who are generally poor and lack the necessary fund and
technologies to dispose of their stubbles in an eco-friendly manner.
The reasons why
farmers prefer to burn stubbles rather than adopting eco-friendly disposal techniques
are not far to explore. First, most farmers lack high-cost machineries like crop
bailers, happy seeders, and super seeders which are generally rented out to them by local
cooperatives. But, cooperatives don't exist in all villages. Second, the
process after harvesting requires a series of steps like mulching, ploughing, application of
cultivation machines etc with each step requires fuel and labor for 4 to 5 days, which is a lengthy process. But if they opt for stubble burning, they
can directly burn the farm residues immediately after the harvesting of the crop
which is a far quicker and cheaper process. Hence, this practice is widely
followed because of the low operation cost.
Thirdly, there is no alternative crop substitute for paddy. For instance,
out of the 4 million hectares of land cultivated in Punjab, 3 million hectares
are for paddy. Rice and wheat are the only
crops for which the government provides a fixed minimum support price.
Alternative crops like cotton, maize, mustard, sugarcane, and even Basmati rice are
largely avoided due to their fluctuating selling prices.
Lastly, farmers find stubble
management less rewarding as it needs
additional expenditure to manage their bailed stubbles and take to factories for safe
disposal.
Given these
complex ground realities of the problem in the case of a developing country like
India, it is a challenging task to convince the farmers to refrain from stubble
burning. Government must find a way out to reach out to the farmers with funds
and technologies to mitigate the problem and enable Delhi to breathe clean air.
Nikunja BIhari Sahu
Education Officer
Regional Science Centre
Bhopal
Phone : 8018708858
To read the same article published in the daily Orissa Post dated 18.11.22 , please click the following link :
http://odishapostepaper.com/m/185426/63768660c5fd1
To read the same article published in The Central Chronicle , Bhopal dtd 25.11.2019 , pl click the following link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GbpzO4QUlLjfPpv6K3NcZVmnEqVQpGUy/view?usp=drivesdk
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