The latest World Bank report about the adverse affects of air pollution in India is yet another reminder that the country can afford to continue the lackluster approach to the menace at its peril. The study not only underlines the sinister health hazards that the country’s policymakers have been ignoring blissfully, but also reveals that the cost of combating air pollution is much less than the cost to the economy in terms of loss of workdays.
The study that computes the economic costs of indoor and outdoor pollution reveals that China loses nearly 10 per cent of its GDP, India 8.5 per cent and Sri Lanka and Cambodia roughly 8 per cent. Air pollution is the fourth leading cause of premature deaths worldwide behind smoking, diet and obesity and is responsible for over six times the number of deaths caused by malaria.
That China is the worst culprit is hardly any compensation. As another international study by US-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) points out, the death rate from air pollution in India will outpace China’s, as India drags its heels over environmental rules while opening more coal mines. “Chinese actions to control emissions from coal power plants and from industries are considerably more strong than the ones in India,” cautions Dan Greenbaum, president of HEI. China aims to cut coal output by 500 million tonnes, or about 19 per cent of its current annual output by 2020, and reduce emission of major pollutants in the power sector by 60 per cent.
In contrast, India is ramping up coal production as PM Narendra Modi races to meet poll promises to provide electricity to a population of 1.3 billion. As Coal secretary Anil Swarup said, “Coal can’t be wished away because it is the cheapest form of energy in a country where millions of people still go without electricity.”
It has launched a scheme to enforce an emission standard for coal-fired power plants only this year. Standards for brick kilns, another major culprit causing air pollution, next to thermal power plants and steel industry, were put on a year ago, but are yet to be notified.
Measures to safeguard the environment are often considered economic spoilers as they entail putting restrictions on economic activities such as shutting a polluting factory or scrapping old vehicles. The policymakers rarely take into account the fact that the cost imposed on people living in regions where pollution and environmental degradation is higher.
The report on the economic cost of ignoring air pollution and over-dependence on coal as a source of energy should correct such a blinkered view. The only answer to the menace lies in putting in place a robust mechanism to understand air pollution and its sources, and take steps to regulate them for the greater good of the country.
