India’s Air Pollution Crisis: Government Policies and Corporate Responsibility
India has emerged to be one of the most significant issues in air pollution; it not only affects millions of people in terms of their health but is also an environmental threat of enormous magnitude. Among the most polluted countries in the world, India is in desperate need of complete solutions to curb the rising crisis of air quality. Also, it is pushing the government along with corporations towards taking proper steps. The emergence of various policies against pollution as well as entry of corporate responsibility that is now speeding towards a measure to lower the emissions of pollution while stepping forward to work for a greener and healthy future can be ruled out of hand.
India Air Pollution Scenario
Industrial emission, vehicle smoke, smoky forests, and construction dust have all contributed in adding to India’s air pollution woe. Urban regions in the country like Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata face the hazardous level of air pollution each day. Air pollution killed almost 1.7 million people in India in 2022, according to the WHO report. It can even worsen in winters when other states burn stubbles and bad weather conditions increase the level of PM2.5 one of the main reasons for bad air.
The air quality index in India has been recording levels of particulate matter far above safe limits, which is seriously affecting the health conditions by bringing about respiratory diseases, heart conditions, and even premature deaths. Urgent steps from the government along with businesses are required; otherwise, the case will worsen.
Government Policies on Air Pollution
Through many policies and programs designed by the Indian government, reduction of air pollution has been moderately achieved. The most important one is the National Clean Air Programme, launched in 2019, which aims at lowering the concentrations of particulate matter by 20-30% by 2024. This program covers 132 cities identified as having poor air quality; state and local governments are also being motivated to take action in reducing emissions from various sources.
In addition to this, the government had enforced stricter norms of emissions for the vehicles, clean fuel policy, and incentives linked with electric vehicles, which is being used to reduce the sources of transports. The Delhi government had also planned several other schemes, which include the scrapping of the odd-even rationing for cars and the induction of electric buses in order to control the emissions.
The government has also focused on the promotion of green technologies in industries and generation. A National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 aims at promoting electric mobility, which has significantly reduced the emission of harmful pollutants in our environment. Promotion of renewable energy and clean technologies in manufacturing activities is also a step forward in reducing the carbon footprint of industries.
Though these policies indicate that the government is well aware of the critical level of air pollution, application has been rough, and making enforcement of rules easy has also proven difficult. Most cities still face this problem because the pace at which more clean technologies and infrastructure come into usage is slow.
Corporate Responsibility and Air Pollution
While government policies do play a great deal in the management of air quality, the private sector has to do their part in fighting air pollution. The biggest sources of pollution are industrial emissions, yet businesses have to embrace cleaner technologies and practices that will lessen their devastating footprints.
Corporations have been relatively efficient in the reduction of levels of pollution in manufacturing, energy, and transportation sectors. Companies are being challenged to invest in more environment-friendly technologies such as renewable energy, electric vehicles, and equipment to reduce pollution. CSR has become increasingly important as part of addressing air pollution, and businesses are advised to approach sustainability.
Today, huge Indian conglomerates seek to put more investments into renewable sources of power so they would have reduced consumption of coal-fired electricity-a principal cause of pollution in the atmosphere. Transportation corporations are even conceptualizing their transport fleet going to be electrical. And also facilitating greater growth of infrastructures supporting expansion in Electric Vehicles.
This will deter this, and companies may even join the fray against air pollution by using the “green” productive methods first. Cement or steel, especially those known traditionally for carbon emissions to the atmosphere, now are in fact exploring their very own energy-saving technologies and are finding alternative raw materials that would altogether minimize its impact on the environment.
Corporate responsibility extends beyond reducing emissions in supporting and advocating for the policies that the government will undertake to abate air pollution. Being an advocate of strict environmental regulations, such as air quality standards, can make a difference by affecting the business environment that creates an even better regulatory environment for sustainability.
Role of Technology and Innovation
In such a scenario, the technology factor would come out as a strongly prominent aspect in Indian initiatives toward reducing air pollution. Advanced technologies such as monitoring systems for air pollution, data analytics that rely on AI, and different types of equipment that reduce emissions, where the investment is being done, would contribute meaningfully toward business for a better quality of air. These include innovation solutions, particularly from start-ups and tech companies, with respect to pollution tracking and mitigation, which in turn provide good tools for both the government and business in terms of fighting air pollution. Low-emission technologies, for example, become affordable and accessible, so it will give power to people and businesses. IoT can also be installed in companies so that they have real-time information on air quality and, subsequently, optimize operations to reduce the emissions.
Another very core aspects of innovation, as well as provision of funds for solutions toward improving air quality, are through public-private partnership. Businesses and research institutions get together with government to develop the new technologies to reduce emissions to contribute to the clean air.
Conclusion
While both the government as well as the business community are doing their best and moving forward in cleaning up the air, no quick fix is in the horizon. Rather most important perhaps is that implementation is not exactly speedy, nor is there adequate focus on enforcement mechanisms. Pollution control technologies are expensive options, too, with many businesses, once more once more SMEs-pretty highly challenged to shift over to greener practices.
In addition, the overall cumulative amounts of pollution in India are only getting harder to manage with the fast rate of urbanization and industrialization. Air pollution will worsen unless there is massive investment in infrastructure and clean technologies plus policy implementation as cities expand.
In order for there to be meaningful progress, the government and businesses need to work better together. Improvement would come in terms of collaboration on research and development activities, provision of incentives in the form of financial advantages to companies using cleaner technologies, and increasing public awareness of the need to reduce air pollution. The air pollution crisis in India is quite complex and in dire need of cooperation both by the government as well as the corporate sector. Though there are NCAP and efforts under government policies related to clean technologies, it’s for businesses to share more responsibility through decreased emissions and environmental responsibility. This can be clearly observed by noting how investing in green technology and enabling better regulatory frameworks for more efficient processes help in overcoming air pollution, ensuring that a clean and healthy India can be realised by the private sector.
Source: Adapted from various sources.