Write a case study on a policy issue that is pertinent to your general topic. Analyze the case for its moral commitments (principles and judgments about right and wrong), the values that are at stake,

Air pollution in India

Environmental Ethics

Phil 375 – AU

Air Pollution in India

India is one of the biggest emerging economies in the world with a staggering population of 1.353 billion people in the world second to China. India’s population and economic development has been critical in ensuring the prosperity of the Indian economy. However, economic growth comes at the expense of an opportunity cost to India in the form of Air pollution. India has one of the worst air qualities in the world majorly contributed by vehicular pollution, industrial emissions, thermal power plants, construction dust, waste burning and millions of poor households’ use of cheap and dirty fuels such as wood and cow-dung for cooking (Bernard and Kazmin 2018).

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 13 of the 15 world’s most polluted cities in the world are in India. Moreover, India’s capital – New Delhi has the worst air quality amongst all the capital cities across the world. New Delhi in particular is worst hit by the pollution as its air is dominated by a thick smog during the winter months. Experts believe that the most contributing factor to pollution during this time of year is a seasonal agricultural practice known as "stubble burning," when farmers destroy their crops to make room for a new harvest annually. Furthermore, the poor air quality surges in winter weather when temperatures fall and wind speeds slow. These conditions create a temperature inversion, trapping particulates underneath a layer of warm air, therefore, the smog has no room to escape (Mackintosh, 2019). In 2019, the pollution was so bad that the Government had to declare a public health emergency prompting many business and school closures for several days (Schultz and Raj, 2019).

In order to combat with the situation Delhi has been facing in recent years the Government has taken drastic steps by rolling out policies to mitigate the consequences of poor air quality. One of the controversial policies that the Government in New Delhi rolled out in 2016 was the Odd-Even scheme. The scheme, which allows vehicles with odd-numbered licence plates on the road on dates with odd numbers and those with even-numbered plates on others, was implemented for the first time in 2016 in two phases. It ran from 8 am till 8 pm on all days except Sundays. Two-wheelers and vehicles driven by women were exempt from the scheme (Lalwani, 2019). The main purpose of the policy was to ensure minimal cars are on the road reducing carbon emissions and ultimately air pollution in the city during the winter period as the city is most vulnerable to smog during that time.

To ensure a sustainable future for the urban and rural areas of India, policy makers have acknowledged that a healthy environment and air quality holds an instrumental value for the well-being of humans. Hence, they have introduced both short-term and long-term goals and policies for the country to combat with climate change and air pollution.

References

Bernard, S., & Kazmin, A. (2018, December 11). Dirty air: how India became the most polluted country on earth. Retrieved from https://ig.ft.com/india-pollution/

Mackintosh, E. (2019, November 14). The perfect storm fueling New Delhi's deadly pollution. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/04/india/delhi-smog-pollution-explainer-intl/index.html

Schultz, K., & Raj, S. (2019, November 1). New Delhi, Choking on Toxic Air, Declares Health Emergency. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/world/asia/delhi-pollution-health-emergency.html

Lalwani, V. (2019, November 24). In charts: Did Delhi's odd-even vehicle plan help improve its air pollution problem? Retrieved from https://scroll.in/article/944128/in-charts-did-delhis-odd-even-vehicle-plan-help-improve-its-air-pollution-problem