Why India Struggles to Clear Its Air – Chinmaya IAS Academy

Context:

Despite decades of policy attention, India’s air pollution crisis—especially visible in Delhi’s winter smog—continues unabated.
The core problem lies not in lack of solutions, but in fragmented governance, short-termism, and weak translation of expert advice into on-ground action.

Key Highlights:

Short-term Fixes vs Structural Reform

Seasonal measures such as odd-even vehicle rules, construction bans, and cloud seeding dominate India’s response.
These actions offer temporary visibility but limited long-term impact, failing to address root causes like emissions from transport, industry, power, and biomass burning.

Fragmented Air Quality Governance

Responsibility for air pollution is split across national, State, and municipal bodies.
Institutions operate in silos, resulting in weak coordination, unclear ownership, and diluted accountability.
Absence of clarity on who leads, who enforces, and who is answerable undermines policy effectiveness.

Governance Incentives and Constraints

Policymakers face constitutional limitations, uneven budgets, and judicial pressure, encouraging immediate, reactive actions over sustained planning.
Short-term measures allow governments to:
- Demonstrate visible action
- Avoid confronting powerful economic sectors
- Fit interventions within annual budget cycles

Expert–Ground Disconnect

Expert-designed strategies often overlook municipal capacity constraints, enforcement bottlenecks, and political realities.
The “Western trap”—importing global best practices without adapting them to Indian conditions—leads to initiatives that struggle to scale or endure.

Need for Institutional Capacity

India lacks a professional cadre of science managers who can bridge technical knowledge, governance processes, and political constraints.
Institutions must be capable of planning beyond election cycles and coordinating across sectors.

Proposed Systemic Solutions

Enactment of a modern clean-air law with explicit mandates.
Public access to compliance data and visible enforcement to enhance credibility.
Stable multi-year funding to build institutional capacity and sustain long-term programmes.

Relevant Prelims Points:

Issue: Persistent air pollution despite multiple interventions.
Causes: Fragmented governance, short-term policy incentives, weak enforcement.
Government Initiatives:
- National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
- Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)
Benefits of Reform: Improved public health, policy credibility, sustainable air quality gains.
Challenges: Environmental federalism issues, uneven municipal capacity, political economy constraints.
Impact: Direct link to public health, urban governance, and climate commitments.

Relevant Mains Points:

Key Concepts:
- Air Quality Governance
- Environmental Federalism
- Policy Implementation Gap
Governance Dimension (GS II):
- Need for clear role definition across Centre–State–local levels
- Accountability and data transparency
Environment Dimension (GS III):
- Air pollution as a chronic structural problem, not a seasonal crisis
Conceptual Clarity:
- Difference between episodic responses and systemic pollution control
Way Forward:
- Clear leadership mandates
- Professional science–policy interface
- Long-term funding and capacity building
- Context-sensitive, India-specific solutions

UPSC Relevance (GS-wise):