The beginning of the crop burning season and the resumption of a majority of economic activities in India have cut short the relief provided by pollution-free skies across the country. Clouds of smoke brought the Air Quality Index (AQI) in New Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, to 452 on Thursday, as compared to the October 2019 average of 234. During the past few days, the air quality has worsened from “extremely poor” to “severe,” which means that it can “impact healthy people and seriously affect those with existing health conditions.” Other cities across India are also facing a sudden deterioration in their air quality. While the issue has remained one of concern for both state and federal policymakers for the past few years, governments have consistently ignored calls to enact policies on the subject, and have managed to relieve themselves of responsibility for India’s ever-worsening pollution problem. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has actually exacerbated the already aggravated issue of crop burning, by adding to the respiratory health concerns of residents of the affected cities. However, by allowing India’s federal government to introduce policies on an issue that was originally solely within the domain of state authorities, it has provided a unique solution to a years-old and significant hurdle to the enactment of a successful policy to address the issue.
While the first few months following the imposition of the nationwide lockdown saw an unprecedented drop in AQI, incidents of crop burning in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab during the first week of October were five times higher than the figures last year. Moreover, the period from September 15 to October 20 saw the third-highest number of instances of crop burning in the past six years. The relative increase in the reliance on the practice is a result of two things. First, a halt in states’ economic activities in the first half of the year severely strained local authorities’ funds. This has, in turn, depleted their ability to assist farmers with subsidies and other farming equipment and machines to disincentivise crop burning. Secondly, even those farmers who could afford to hire the machines previously are finding it increasingly difficult to do so because of the coronavirus-induced economic crisis. Moreover, the stagnated economic activity has also forced farmers to cut down on labour costs. As a result, the reliance on crop burning, being the cheapest and least labour-intensive alternative, has significantly increased.
This is particularly concerning, as policymakers across the country had already been struggling with the issue even before the onset of the pandemic. While the state and central governments have acknowledged the role played by the agricultural practice in worsening the air quality in several North Indian cities, no successful solution has been adopted to address the problem to date. This can be attributed primarily to the state governments’ lack of motivation to impose legally-mandated penalties for crop burning properly. With farmers forming a significant part of the electorate in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — the three states that have the highest incidence rates of crop burning — the implementation of the policy was lax at best. For political leaders, securing the support of this crucial vote bank was unsurprisingly considered more important than the health of their states’ residents, including that of the very farmers that have been perpetuating this environmental hazard.
Meanwhile, the central government in India was restricted from enacting policies to crack down on the practice. This is because both agriculture and public health fall under the mandate of the state list, thereby disabling the federal government from introducing laws on the matter. While states like New Delhi have attempted to adopt local solutions such as setting up smog towers and imposing restrictions on the use of cars and other private vehicles, these have yielded minimal improvements in the AQI. This is primarily because a whopping 44% of the air pollution in New Delhi is caused by crop burning in its neighbouring states—Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh—and not in New Delhi itself. The lack of a uniform, cross-border policy has led to a blame-game in North India, with each state accusing the other of being responsible for not doing enough to curb pollution in the region. Hence, in order to successfully improve the air quality, these states and their stakeholders must work together and adopt a common approach to the problem. This is easier said than done, though.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has now provided the central government with an opportunity to work around this lack of initiative from state governments. Containing the spread of “infectious or contagious” diseases comes under the concurrent list, allowing both the central and state authorities to legislate on the issue; moreover, the laws set by the central government take precedence. Hence, the interplay of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising AQI, and their combined detrimental impact on respiratory health of residents of cities across India have now paved the way for the federal government to take the necessary action to curb the reliance on crop burning.
Research has also shown a direct link between air quality and the fatality of the virus. For instance, a study conducted by Harvard University, which monitored over 3000 counties in the United States, concluded that areas with higher AQI reported higher COVID-19 fatality rates. Similar results were also reported by a study in Italy. Further, research has also proven that lower temperatures and higher AQIs increase the transmissibility of the virus, therefore making it more infectious. This is particularly concerning for India, which is home to 21 out of the 30 most polluted cities in the world and where the COVID-19 pandemic is adding over 40,000 names a day to its list of infected victims. Hence, the state and central authorities are faced with a dual threat of alleviating the pandemic while also protecting citizens from the impact of rising pollution levels. Together, these two factors threaten to vastly increase the coronavirus fatality rate, which India has managed to somewhat control until now.
Moreover, the worsening air quality will also lead to an increase in the number of residents requiring medical attention, including hospitalisation and access to Intensive Care Units (ICUs). For example, every November since 2017, New Delhi has witnessed a surge in hospitalisations, with medical professionals reporting a shortage in ventilators and beds in ICUs each year. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country are already struggling due to a lack of resources. In such a scenario, a rising AQI will place insurmountable pressure on India’s already overwhelmed health system.
Hence, under the garb of enacting policies to contain the spread of the virus and prevent a rise in the fatality rate, the central government can finally introduce an effective system to combat the adverse health and environmental impacts of crop burning. Nevertheless, the motivations that restricted the state governments from introducing and strictly implementing a policy on the issue would also be present in the central government’s plan. Restricting farmers from using the inexpensive and convenient method of crop burning, especially with no viable alternative, is sure to create discontent and could severely impact the prospects of re-election in the affected states. That being said, a rise in mortality rates will also lead to similar disgruntlement and attract questions from the international community that has thus far applauded India’s handling of the pandemic. Hence, the central government must weigh out its priorities and make a call on this tricky choice before the peak of the crop burning season worsens an already ballooning COVID-19 crisis.
India Faces a Dual Challenge as the Crop Burning Season Coincides with the Pandemic
As public health facilities in India struggle to survive through the pandemic, the worsening air quality acts as a new blow to the country’s efforts to maintain its low COVID-19 fatality rate.
November 6, 2020
Source: PTI