Daily Financial News Analysis – 15th Sep’19 | PDF Download

Delhi’s ‘odd-even’ scheme

•  It allows each car on roads only on alternatedays.
• It is touted by the Delhi state government as anoble air-cleaning mission.
• The scheme is a serious bad news for thosewho care for the environment and want to improve metropolitan air quality.
•  It is a blessing only for taxi and autorickshawdrivers.
•  The scheme has been empirically provedas being ineffective by scientists.
• The scheme has been proven ineffectivein combating air pollution by the Central Pollution Control Board’s CPCB) scientists.
• Hard data shows that during the oddeven scheme of January 1-15, 2016, theconcentration of hazardous particles in Delhi was often higher than it was before or after the scheme.
• The hardship that the scheme causes, and itsproven uselessness in reducing pollution in the city, will malign the noble cause of improving air quality, and could well make the common man cynical — or downright hostile — towards green initiatives the country desperately needs.
• More disturbingly, the level of carbon monoxideCO), the most poisonous gas in Delhi’s polluted air, increased substantially during the implementation of the controversial scheme.
• There is nothing political aboutCPCB’s data.
• It was collected from eightContinuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Systems, half of which were CPCB’s own, while the rest belonged to Delhi’s pollution control body that reports to the Kejriwal government.
•  Long-distance trucks are allowed toenter the city
• Govt has no problem with standby generators and two-wheelers that are often far more polluting than personal cars.
• There is no reason why the powerdistribution company should not be held accountable for pollution if a cut in electricity supply forces people to switch on smoky generators.
•  A study by IIT Kanpur shows that theoverall contribution of vehicular emissions from trucks, buses, cars and two-wheelers in Delhi’s air pollution is 20-25%.
• The contribution of cars to particulatematter is about 10%, the study shows.
•  If half of them are disallowed on aparticular day, air quality can at best improve 5%.
•  What is more important is to tacklethe cause of 90% of the pollutants in Delhi’s air.
• Twowheelers as well as the wholesalemarkets of various goods, fruit and vegetables that generate oceans of filth and dust apart from bringing trucks to the heart of the city.
• But the odd-even scheme may helpKejriwal win votes of taxi- and autorickshaw-drivers.
•  If this becomes a regular item on Delhi’sroads, the rich will buy another vehicle, at least a standby second-hand car with a suitable registration number.
•  Many others will postpone their decision tobuy a car until an appropriate authority calls the Delhi government’s bluff.
• The scheme adds to the uncertainty inIndia’s automobiles market, which is reeling underthe biggest sales contraction in decades.
•  It is high time that the governmentand other trigger-happy authorities and tribunals that get brainwaves about pollution-control steps invite specialists and scientists to study air pollution in detail and prescribe measures to combat it.
•  If scientists are totally ignored inscientific matters, politicians will use the issue for political gains.

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