The rationale for the Delhi government’s road rationing plan based on odd and even licence plate numbers — to drastically reduce toxic levels of air pollution — may not have been achieved. Although the State government has claimed a reduction based on some spot surveys, other data indicates that the fortnight-long experiment to halve the number of private cars on the road every day had a negligible effect on air pollution. But this does not mean the plan failed. It is the unintended consequences of the experiment that deserve close attention. Traffic congestion has vastly reduced and the city has demonstrated that it has been able to function effectively with less cars on the road, and this without causing too much hardship to the people.

More importantly, the plan has succeeded in sensitising the public about the urgency of the need to tackle the twin issues of traffic congestion and air quality in our cities. The scheme got everybody in Delhi talking about air pollution. And talking is a start for doing something about it. The Delhi scheme has shown that a rationing system, accompanied by proper leveraging of public transport, and most importantly, a buy-in from the public, can work. Congestion is the immediate pay-off, but the next goal is to better air quality. This requires a radical change in civic planning, road cleaning practices and the regulatory oversight of construction. It also means enforcing emission norms and having a market-based system of disincentives for big polluters (taxes and fines) and tax breaks and subsidies for those who pollute less.

In the long run, Delhi’s experiment will hopefully persuade those who govern it to reject the politically expedient shortcut of demonising diesel vehicles and private cars, while conveniently avoiding taking tougher measures against harder-to-reach targets. Spreading awareness is a welcome thing, but in the long run, it will be difficult to sell a policy that concentrates only on a section of polluters, while letting off the major polluters scot free. A three-year study by IIT Kanpur found that cars contribute only 2 per cent to pollution levels. Commercial vehicles and two-wheelers, which were exempt from the ban, account for 18 per cent of PM 2.5 emissions. Road dust is the largest contributor of particulate matter, with that from construction-related activity coming in second. Coal tandoors, industrial emissions and power plants all contribute large levels of pollutants. Any policy that ignores these polluters will fail and raise questions over governance and accountability in the process. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has taken a bold first step — he has the opportunity to take his experiment to its logical conclusion by taking a few more.