Context: North India's air quality crisis has adverse implications for the health of 600 million people.
Reasons for increased air pollution in North India
Policy issues:
Lack of data for Source Attribution: Inadequate data capture for apportioning the dust in the air to the underlying sources
Side-effect of state laws: Crop burning in Punjab and Haryana was influenced by intrusive state laws enacted in 2009 which for the purpose of water conservation, the reduced time gap between consecutive sowing.
Geographical Factors: Gangetic plains of North India are like a bowl with the Himalayas in the north and the Deccan plateau in the south, trapping the injected air due to little wind and rain after the monsoon.
Human activities:In the last decade, human activities injected more dust into the air as compared with what was prevalent before.
Outcomes of the increased air pollution in North India
The region has become a global pollution hot spot: Four of the five most polluted cities in the world are in the Indo-Gangetic plains
Adverse effects on Human health: Low air quality causes respiratory illness, exacerbation of the deteriorative illnesses of old age etc.
Way Forward
Conduct Source Apportionment Studies: In India, one such study was done in 2014-15, which consist of capturing a sample of air and deciphering what is in it.
Repeal the laws aimed at improving water conservation: and find other mechanisms through which water conservation can be improved with expert advice
Resort for light-touch intervention rather than the central planning vision of using the coercive power of the state to order farmers.
Replicate the global success methods:
China established statistical infrastructure, of continuous source apportionment which helps them to deal with their terrible air quality
Fifty years ago, Los Angeles was the most polluted city in the world, which now becomes one of the least polluted cities of its size.
Develop a compensatory mechanism: through which states are able to demand compensation from Punjab and Haryana.