As Delhi chokes

The Supreme Court has been unsparing in its criticism over Delhi’s worsening Air Quality Index. On the Centre’s submission that stubble burning, in fact, is not a major cause of air pollution, and accounts for just 10 per cent of the emissions on an average through the year, the reprimand only got shriller. The cat is out of the bag, the Bench said. From the blame being deflected — ‘it has become a fashion to bash the farmers’ — to the litany of ‘lame excuses’ and ‘passing the buck’, the Centre and the Delhi government have been taken to task, as 75 per cent of the pollution was due to industry, dust and transport. The Commission for Air Quality Management, incidentally, puts the contribution of stubble burning to the current air pollution at 35 per cent.

Odd-even scheme, truck entry ban and a complete lockdown for a few days in the entire NCR have been suggested as emergency measures as the national capital continues to choke. The top court has ordered urgent deliberations between the Centre, Delhi, Punjab, UP and Haryana governments for drastic actions such as work-from-home for employees and farmers being told to halt stubble burning for a week. In short, a plan that can be put into place without delay, and not long-term proposals that the experts have been advocating, without much headway: a strictly enforced integrated, multi-sector plan for the NCR and beyond.

The comparatively low contribution of farm fires to 0Delhi’s air pollution in no way reduces the debilitating impact on health and well-being, be it in the villages, in the adjoining towns and cities or faraway Delhi. Punjab in recent days has been seeing the clock turning back on stubble burning, a worrying development that is not being accorded the seriousness required at the highest levels. The apex court has reiterated what it considers is the best bet: incentivising farmers to not burn stubble. Why not just try it out?