Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Background and Context
- China and India have historically faced severe urban air pollution challenges.
- Beijing reduced annual PM2.5 levels by over 50% (2013–2021).
- Delhi continues to rank among the world’s most polluted cities.
- Divergent outcomes highlight differences in policy design and governance execution.
Beijing’s Clean-Air Transformation
- Pollution reduction followed deliberate, top-down policy interventions, not incremental change.
- Driven by Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan and Blue Sky Protection Campaign.
- Strategy rested on coherent policy design, strict enforcement, and regional coordination.
- Key Measures Adopted by Beijing
- Expanded electric mobility across public and private transport systems.
- Shut down or relocated hundreds of polluting industrial units.
- Replaced coal-fired boilers with natural gas across urban areas.
- Enforced stringent China VI vehicular emission standards.
- Established dense real-time PM2.5 monitoring networks.
- Imposed heavy financial penalties for environmental non-compliance.
- Coordinated with Tianjin–Hebei provinces through a unified airshed strategy.
- PM2.5 declined from 102 μg/m³ (2013) to 31 μg/m³ (2024).
India’s Policy Landscape and Limitations
- India has a robust statutory framework for air pollution regulation.
- Key laws include Air Act 1981 and Environment Protection Act 1986.
- Supporting laws like Factories Act 1948 and Motor Vehicles Act 1988 influence emissions.
- Multiple initiatives launched: NCAP, GRAP, CAQM, odd-even, construction bans.
- Measures are reactive, activated during pollution peaks rather than sustained planning.
- Regulatory implementation suffers from fragmentation and institutional silos.
Governance and Enforcement Gaps
- China’s Environmental Vertical Reform ensured hierarchical accountability.
- Uniform enforcement enabled rapid and consistent implementation.
- Delhi faces multi-layered governance, delaying decisions and weakening accountability.
- Pollution Control Boards in India remain understaffed and underfunded.
- CAQM lacks authority over inter-State pollution sources, especially stubble burning.
Structural and Behavioural Challenges in Delhi
- Limited success of industrial relocation due to infrastructure deficiencies.
- Waste-to-energy plants failed to meet air-quality standards.
- Pollution intensified by vehicular emissions, weak PUC checks, construction dust.
- Public transport expansion lags behind urban growth pressures.
- Odd-even rationing showed negligible long-term impact.
- Behavioural change has been slow and uneven.
Key Lessons for India
- Shift from episodic actions to mission-mode, long-term pollution governance.
- Treat air pollution as a national public health emergency.
- Accelerate transition to clean energy and energy-efficient standards.
- Enforce transport reforms with credible PUC systems and vehicle scrappage.
- Strengthen EV infrastructure and public transport capacity.
- Develop functional industrial zones with real-time emission monitoring.
- Adopt a regional airshed approach for Delhi–NCR, inspired by Beijing model.