From dawn to dusk, a perpetual smog-like haze is there to greet us when we open our window in Delhi. A few days back, the India Gate stood tall when viewed from the same window. These days, often it fades away.
Tears flow down the eyes of a small child somewhere in Kolkata while going to school, not because she doesn't want to study, but because of fumes of Nitrogen Oxides hovering around her.
People who adjusted to the fast-paced lifestyle of Mumbai have to adjust to one more thing - the ominous smoke clouds from Deonar. Mumbai never halts, but now, people in Mumbai will have to weak smoke to be able to cope up with the new threat of pollution.
These and many more represent the sad story of environmental pollution in India, about which we all are aware. Needless to say about the health implications of pollution. It can make any human being ill, very very ill.
I am going to talk about the economic loss caused due to air pollution, especially for a Country like India. Can we find opportunity in this adversity? Let us answer that.
"Air pollution fatalities are 4th most in the world in terms of numbers"
Air pollution kills more people than smoking, alcohol abuse or even drug abuse kill people. [Source:
Click here]
"India is one of the most polluted countries of the World. Indian cities of Gwalior, Allahabad, Patna, Raipur and Delhi occupy ranks among top 20 most polluted cities of the World" [Source: Click here]
Now coming to the economic dimensions.
Pollution and other environmental degradation costs
India $80 billion a year, nearly 8.5% of GDP, the World Bank said in a report in 2013. This amount of loss makes India’s losses the second highest in the World preceded by China.
The loss of labour output was estimated to be $55.39 Billion, the highest in the World. [Source:
Click here]
Clearly, the effects are cumulative. Loss of labour output, in turn, has a direct relation to loss on GDP of the country. The effect becomes magnified as the Country has to bear the expenses related to timely treatment and provide other welfare services to the affected people, all the while accumulating output loss or GDP loss.
Low and middle-income countries account for 93% of the deaths and non-fatal illness each year from air pollution. India belongs to that category. And about 34% increase in the number of fatalities in India due to pollution have been witnessed from 1993 to 2013.
Causes of Pollution
The main cause for air pollution is vehicular traffic, as per ARAI report. [Source:
Click here]
Vehicular traffic in India is mostly two wheelers, 3 wheelers, cars and commercial vehicles. The sheer number of two-wheelers (71.8%) with obsolete carburettor technology and lagging emission standards (BS-II or BS-III, BS-IV from 2017) makes them the single largest contributor to pollution. [Source:
Click here]
"Adding to the problem, nearly 10 lakh vehicles are added continuously to Indian roads every year"
Old and obsolete vehicles also continue to ply despite causing pollution and inefficient combustion techniques. Also, there is no monitoring of maintenance of vehicles, which can prevent pollution. Non-maintained vehicles are again a source of pollution, which ply on roads.
I will talk about a few steps, which are cost effective, as well as provide an opportunity for sustainable development and job creation, both of which again, are highly needed in India.
Proposed or ongoing solutions
The government of India has outlined quite a number of measures and working on them on priority. These measures are:
- Leapfrogging to Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission standards by 2020: Applicable to all category of vehicles, and also at par with Euro VI standards. The intermediate Stage of Bharat Stage V or Euro V implementation will be skipped altogether making India the only Country in the World to perform a leapfrog towards stricter emission standards. This is expected to cost Rs 13000 Crore or $1.9 Billion to Indian refineries to produce BS-VI grade petrol and diesel. Petrol cost will increase by Rs 1.40 and diesel by Rs 0.80, which is quite nominal [Source: Click here]. The vehicle cost will increase from Rs 10000 for two-wheelers to max. Rs 2 Lakh for the Commercial vehicle. This method is quite cost effective since the implementation costs are only $1.9 Billion vis-a-vis the economic loss incurred of $80 Billion, if such steps are not implemented. (Not even considering the cumulative loss due to non-productivity)
- Maintenance and Monitoring: On-Board Diagnostic II (OBD-II) monitoring with the vehicle has features to warn the driver to force him or her to perform regular maintenance of vehicles. It is also prescribed under BS-VI regulation. Regular warnings will also be provided for any malfunction related to engine, transmission or even emission reduction system.
- Electrification of power train and transmission: This can be achieved through the use of hybrid and electric vehicles. They are negligibly polluting forms of transport. Maruti Suzuki, the largest car maker in India, has introduced Ciaz Hybrid and Ertiga Hybrid models, locally manufactured in India and are reaping benefits of huge amount of sales on such vehicles. They also plan to increase production of such vehicles. Other manufacturers like Tata, Mahindra and Toyota are also ramping up the sale and manufacture of such vehicles. To support the industry and customers to buy such vehicles, The programme on Faster Adoption of Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME), got Rs 175 crore for FY2017-2018 as against Rs 123 crore in FY 2016-2017 (42% jump) [Source: Click here]. The support has been increasing to reflect growing industry interest. There exist subsidies for import of Hybrid electric vehicles and their parts.
- Renewable energy: We all know that power generation from fossil fuels like coal and petroleum contributes to air pollution. Hence, the Government is now trying to increase its focus towards promoting energy generation from non-polluting sources of power like Renewable energy sources. Hence, the Budgetary allocation to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was hiked by 8.7% to Rs 5,473 crore in FY 2017-2018. [Source: Click here]. The import or custom duties on necessary parts for clean energy generation have been substantially reduced or totally abolished. Such measures have increased India's share of energy generation from renewable energy, particularly Solar Energy. In fact, India had commissioned the World's Largest Solar Power Plant in 2016 in Tamil Nadu with a capacity of 648 MW [Source: Click here]. India also has ambitious targets of increasing Wind Power generation to 60 GW.
All this sounds fine, but will it create jobs? Will it be sustainable?
Yes, these methods are poised to create jobs, despite the looming threat of automation.
Sustainable Job Creation
Analysis carried out by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that more than
1 million full-time equivalent jobs would be created by the solar deployment industry alone, between now and 2022. Similarly, the wind sector would create
183,500 jobs by 2022, as wind capacity increases to 60GW [Source:
Click here]
For the automotive industry, nearly
15 million (1.5 crore
) people are expected to be employed in automobile sector directly in the industry by 2022, according to a report by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
"An addition of one manpower at the OEM would lead to generating eight jobs at the component manufacturer's"
[Source: Click here].
Hence, the job prospects in the renewable energy generation sector are highly promising.
Why do we say so?
Because the technology involving clean sources of energy, hybrid vehicles, green power generation are still in infancy across the World. Due to their technological infancy and potential of further research, these types of work can be assumed to fall under the category of
STEM jobs (Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine). STEM jobs involve lots of human skills like innovation, advancement and improvement, for which demand for labour will always be required, despite automation.
But for that to happen, special emphasis on skill development and higher education needs to be rigorously implemented. This can be seen from the Government efforts of establishing new IITs. IIMs, NITs and AIIMS in India, and plans to boost up research in India.
Hence, we have seen how environmental pollution and degradation can be turned from a vulnerability to opportunity for India and can definitely create more jobs and help improve the health of Indian people, thereby contributing positively to GDP, provided the solutions mentioned above are strictly followed without delay.
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About the Author:
Abirbhav is a member of InsideIIM Student Team of 2017 from IIM Trichy. He is an Electrical and Electronics Engineer by trade (from Panjab University, Chandigarh). He has worked in several roles in Cummins, Keihin and Mitsubishi Electric before joining IIM Trichy. Abirbhav loves automobiles and reading novels, especially the ones from Michael Crichton, Dan Brown and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He is also a member of International Relations Committee and Podium (Debate and Literary) Club of IIM Trichy.