{"id":30226,"date":"2024-09-30T18:34:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=30226"},"modified":"2025-03-24T13:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T07:41:59","slug":"sc-raps-delhi-air-quality-panel-over-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-09-2024\/sc-raps-delhi-air-quality-panel-over-pollution","title":{"rendered":"SC Raps Delhi Air Quality Panel Over Pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court questioned the effectiveness of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in controlling air pollution caused by stubble burning in North India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently the <strong>air quality<\/strong> in Delhi slipped into the <strong>\u2018poor\u2019 category<\/strong>, signaling the imminent arrival of North India\u2019s bad air season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Supreme court criticized the CAQM for non-compliance with its mandate, saying the commission has vast powers, such as closing down polluting industries, but hasn\u2019t fully used them.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also <strong>no specific committee had been formed<\/strong> to address stubble burning, which is a major cause of pollution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reason for higher pollution level in winters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Seasonal Impact:<\/strong> As the monsoon ends, weather conditions like temperature inversion (where warm air traps cooler air near the surface) prevent pollutants from dispersing, causing hazardous pollution levels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sources of Pollution: <\/strong>Pollution in Delhi comes from many sources, such as:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Biomass burning for cooking in rural areas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trash burning and vehicular emissions in cities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Industrial pollution.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stubble burning in nearby states like Haryana and Punjab.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Firecrackers during festivals like Diwali.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns with the existing solutions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/smog-tower-in-delhi\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/smog-tower-in-delhi\/\">Smog Towers<\/a>: <\/strong>These structures reduce pollution only in a small area and require electricity, which might lead to more emissions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Water Guns: <\/strong>These have limited impact on overall air quality.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Odd-Even Road Sharing:<\/strong> While it reduces traffic temporarily, the long-term effect is minimal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cloud Seeding: <\/strong>This method uses chemicals, such as <strong>silver iodide,<\/strong> to create artificial rain, but it can have environmental risks.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Water vapor that would naturally fall elsewhere is manipulated, which could cause droughts in other regions.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Additionally, chemicals used can accumulate in soil and water, potentially harming ecosystems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Better Coordination: <\/strong>Agencies responsible for transportation, industry, agriculture, and urban planning need to work together.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The problem of stubble burning requires cooperation between farmers, policymakers, and regulators across state borders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Capacity Building:<\/strong> Policymakers, researchers, regulators, and industries should collaborate and critically evaluate solutions that are truly in the public interest.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Comprehensive Air Quality Monitoring: <\/strong>While cities like Delhi get most of the attention, pollution is also a serious problem in rural and industrial areas. Air quality monitoring should cover all regions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Address root cause:<\/strong> Solutions like cloud seeding and smog towers serve as superficial actions. Real solutions need to address the root causes of pollution rather than offer temporary relief.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The scale of the problem <strong>demands long-term solutions<\/strong>, but the response has often been characterized by short-term, optics-driven measures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India needs a multi-decadal, multi-sectoral effort grounded in scientific thinking and committed to sustained, collaborative action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>CAQM<\/strong> was constituted under the <strong>Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021.<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Objective: <\/strong>The Act provides for the constitution of a Commission for better coordination, research, identification, and resolution of problems related to air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas.&nbsp;<br><strong>Powers<\/strong> of the Commission include;<br>1. <strong>Restricting activities<\/strong> influencing air quality,&nbsp;<br>2. <strong>Preparing codes and guidelines<\/strong> to prevent and control air pollution,<br>3. <strong>Issuing directions<\/strong> on matters including inspections, or regulation <strong>which will be binding<\/strong> on the concerned person or authority.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>4. The Commission <strong>may impose and collect environmental compensation<\/strong> from farmers causing pollution by stubble burning prescribed by the central government.&nbsp;<br>5. The Commission issues orders to combat air pollution in NCR under the <strong>Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>In case of any conflict<\/strong>, the orders or directions of the Commission will prevail over the orders of the respective state governments, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), state PCBs, and state-level statutory bodies.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/expert-explains-why-quick-fixes-like-smog-towers-cloud-seeding-wont-save-us-from-air-pollution-9592137\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court questioned the effectiveness of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in controlling air pollution caused by stubble burning in North India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30226"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39677,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30226\/revisions\/39677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}