The Effects of Vehicular Air Pollution on the

Health, Economy and the Environment of

New Delhi, India

Written By:

Inem Chahal

I. Introduction

The growing number of automobiles in the recent decades has resulted in high levels of vehicle

emissions. Toxic chemicals released from these motor vehicles become suspended into the

atmosphere, affecting the air quality negatively, this can be defined as ‘vehicular air pollution’

(Government of NCT of Delhi, 2010). Many metropolitan cities around the world have begun to

face this problem. One such example is New Delhi, the capital city of India. The roads of New

Delhi are constructed to hold up to eight- thousand vehicles, however at least twice that amount

are on the roads daily (Sen et al, 2009). It is home to about twenty percent of the total number of

vehicles in the country (Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009). The

escalation of vehicles started to take off in the span of the last thirty years when New Delhi’s

population almost doubled (Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009).

This has become a serious issue because the city is only made up of about fifteen hundred square

kilometres (Government of NCT of Delhi, 2010), leading to the problem of traffic congestion, in

addition to soaring pollution levels. This paper will argue that vehicular air pollution has negative

effects on the health, economy and the environment of New Delhi. The second section will

provide background information and discuss the contributions of various scholars to this study.

The third, fourth and fifth sections will examine the effects on the health, economy and the

environment, respectively. The sixth section will talk about whether government policies have

aided in resolving this problem or not. These policies include the introduction of compressed

natural gas, removing old vehicles off the roads and mandatory pollution checks (Ministry of

Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009). Finally, the seventh section will discuss

possible solutions to vehicular air pollution which the government can adapt in the future, these

possibilities include improving the existing infrastructure to make it more efficient and reliable,

having a tax system in place which requires drivers of private vehicles to pay a certain amount

and finally having a policy in place which limits each household to one vehicle.

II. Background

Being the economic hub of India with a constantly increasing population (Singh et al, 1997), the

number of vehicles on the roads of New Delhi are expected to rise to six- million by the year

2011, according to the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests (Singh et al, 1997). As a

result, presently, almost three- thousand metric tonnes of toxic air pollutants are emitted daily

from which sixty- six percent are emitted from vehicles (Kathuria, 2002). With little space to

drive and a high population, the numbers of two wheelers are the most apparent on the roads

since they take up the least space with respect to the size. They are also the most affordable hence

they are attractive to people from all realms of society; unfortunately they are also the most

polluting (Kathuria, 2002). They emit approximately two- thirds of pollutants into the atmosphere

(Singh et al, 1997). Additionally,, they emit about three- quarters of hydrocarbons and almost

half of carbon monoxide emissions (Singh et al, 1997). Besides two wheelers, three wheelers

have also proved to be problematic. Their petrol is often replaced with kerosene (because it is less

expensive), which results in deadly black smoke (Singh et al, 1997). As one source states “Along

with letting out high levels of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, it’s not new for petrol to be

substituted with kerosene... pollution checks conducted by Transport Department of New Delhi

has revealed that in some instances the levels are so high that they go beyond the measurable

scale of test instruments” (Singh et al, 1997). Regardless, private vehicles emit more emissions

than public as they make up almost ninety percent of the total motor vehicles and they depend on

gasoline or petrol, not compressed natural gas (Kathuria, 2002). This is why pollution levels are

so high even after the implementation of compressed natural gas on public vehicles (Kathuria,

2002). The two graphs below show that on average, cars and two wheelers emit more carbon

monoxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter than buses. However, all the

attention, in terms of controlling for vehicular air pollution is put on maintaining the health of

public vehicles (Kathuria, 2002). The government needs to understand the basic fact that private

vehicles outnumber public vehicles and in addition to this, private vehicles emit more toxics into

the atmosphere than public transportation. Therefore the government must find a way to control

the health of private vehicles as well. These charts were constructed based on the data provided

by Goyal et al.

Cars and two wheelers

Buses

The government has claimed to create policies to reduce air pollution, such as making it

mandatory that all public vehicles run on compressed natural gas (Chaterjee, 2002). These

policies have proved to be complete failures, both for the health, economy and the environment

of New Delhi. The implementation of compressed natural fuel for public vehicles will not solve

the problem. The dilemma is that there are few public vehicles and too many travellers. Buses

often carry people over the permitted number of persons which ends up putting too much weight

onto the bus hence they end up emitting greater levels of deadly chemicals (Government of India,

N/A). The government faces a huge setback because, if they add more public modes of

transportation onto the roads, they will only be making matters worse because they are adding

more vehicles, whereas if they don’t add new options for transportation, then people will

continue to purchase private vehicles.

Compressed natural gas was one of the most unsuccessful policies introduced by the New Delhi’s

government, according to some academics. This new fuel was to replace the traditional fuels such

as petrol or diesel. Government officials claim that the use of compressed natural gas has led to a

decline in toxic chemicals however scientists beg to differ. Some scholars have shown positive

results for compressed natural gas. However, many showed that vehicles that run on petrol or

diesel emit less pollutants than public vehicles which run on compressed natural gas however,

this is not the case, as portrayed in the chart below.

Source: (Sen et al, 2009)

New Delhi’s public buses were switched to compressed natural gas in early 2002 (Khillare,

2008). In 2003, all government owned modes of transportation were switched from diesel and

gasoline to compressed natural gas (Chatterjee, 2008). However, as apparent from the table, the

years between 2001- 2005 (when compressed natural gas was used for buses), buses actually emit

a higher amount of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than

the cars that ran on diesel and petrol in the same given time period. It is evident that buses

running on compressed natural gas are not better off (environmentally speaking) than those

vehicles that use other fuels such as petrol and diesel. This is another indication that policies

initiated by the government so far, has been proved to be failures. The government is well aware

of the conditions of New Delhi’s vehicle problem and the environmental issues related to it

however, they have not implemented any serious strategies to cope with the problem. All their

efforts have focused on solving short term issues with respect to traffic but none of their policies

have taken into perspective the long term environmental and health effects of the rising number

of vehicles.

The second policy they adapted to was removing old vehicles off the roads. They made a

regulation with respect to the permitted age of vehicles and although this is an effective way to

reduce pollution (since older vehicles were not created in favour of the environment) they failed

to implement it. For instance, buses are permitted on the roads only for a period of five years and

after that they must be replaced with newer ones. However sources indicate that buses continue to

run on the roads for up to ten years (Government of India, N/A). This is illustrated in the table

below. As evident the majority of the public vehicles (which includes three wheelers, buses and

goods vehicles) are between the ages of six to ten years. Note that, for ‘two and three wheelers’

the figures are ambiguous since ‘two wheelers’ may be privately owned and hence the end results

presented in that section of the table may not be completely accurate.

Source: (Incumbent, 1999)

One reason why the government creates policies and then later on fail to implement them is

because of political reasons. For instance, this policy failed because public drivers objected to the

idea of removing old vehicles (Sequeira, 2008). Apart from this, corruption plays a large role in

the proper implementation of legislations. Large corporations and drivers can often get away with

practicing illegal acts by paying the police a particular amount of money after being caught

(Sequeira, 2008).

Apart from the number of aged vehicles, traffic congestion leads to severe air pollution. In

addition to the millions of vehicles, narrow roads add to the problem. As aforementioned, New

Delhi is only made up of about fifteen- hundred square kilometres of land (Government of NCT

of Delhi, 2010). The expected population in 2011 is to rise to about twenty million people (Sen et

al, 2009). That is about thirteen thousand people per square kilometre. This is why New Delhi has

more vehicles than other highly populated states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and West

Bengal combined (Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009). The

population, per square kilometres of these states are extremely low compared with the

metropolitan New Delhi. The combined land area of these four states is around seven- hundred

thousand square kilometres (Maps of India, N/A). New Delhi, because it is such a small area and

such densely populated roads, traffic congestion is at its worst. In fact, almost thirty thousand

dollars (USD) of fuel is wasted in New Delhi alone just by having idle vehicles standing in traffic

(Sen et al, 2009). The government officials should take this into account. Losing thirty thousand

dollars USD impacts the developing economy of New Delhi, including health costs associated

with air pollution. If they somehow find a way to reduce the vehicle population, New Delhi could

be saving all the money that they end up paying because of their failure to deal with vehicular air

pollution. Additionally, traffic congestion also leads to an extremely low traffic. The permitted

speed is an average of twenty kilometres per hour, which results in even higher levels of

pollutants going into the air (Pandey, 1998). Scientists indicate that increasing the speed from

twenty kilometres an hour to forty kilometres an hour “Will help trim down particulate matter by

almost half, sulphur oxide by almost forty percent, nitrogen oxide by thirty- five percent, carbon

monoxide by sixteen percent and lead by twelve percent” (Singh, 2006). Traffic congestion leads

to vehicles sitting idle for long periods of time; the vehicles emit more toxics during this period

than they do when they are active (Kathuria, 2002).

Overall, in addition to failed government schemes, scholars argued that the introduction of

“cleaner cars” by auto companies has added to the degradation of the air quality. A recent

addition to vehicles in India: Tata Nano, introduced by Tata Motors may bring a large profit to

the company, but it has brought a huge loss to the health of people and the atmosphere of New

Delhi. With this car only costing about two thousand dollars (USD) (CBC, 2008), many lower

middle class families have been able to afford it as CBC asserts “India’s Tata Motors unveiled an

ultra- cheap car that brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people” (CBC,

2008). This has added more vehicles onto the roads because companies are introducing cheaper

cars, which people from the lower middle class can afford as well. People of New Delhi have an

idea entrenched within themselves that owing a vehicle raises ones’ standard of living as

compared to taking the bus. The government must persuade the citizens to think of public

transportation as more efficient and reliable than private vehicles. However, scientists argue that

the Indian government is contradicting their own policies, which they themselves have created.

On one hand, they make an attempt to encourage citizens to use public transportation and they

switch buses and other publicly owned transportation to compressed natural gas, yet, on the other

hand, they are letting companies launch products which will do nothing but contribute to the

problem of traffic congestion.

In addition to allowing the introduction of cars such as Nano, the government provides subsidies

to these car companies, according to the Centre of Science and Environment of India, which

allows them to sell the cars cheaper (CSE, 2009). “The government has failed to set fuel

economy standards for vehicles. The transport sector uses up half of the supply of petroleum in

India. But the government provides tax breaks to the car industry to sell more cars. Thus industry

resists fuel economy standards but sells diesel cars in the name of fuel efficiency, disregarding

the pollution and health impacts of diesel” (Sharma, 2006). Capitalists, on the other hand claim to

be serving India positively with the introduction of Nano. An environmental scientist, Mr.

Pachauri and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, maintained that he was worried about the

negative effects that Tata Nano will bring with it to which Mr. Tata replied “Have no nightmares,

the Nano is a milestone which will make a contribution to our country” (CBC, 2008). This clash

of two different mentalities is what is holding New Delhi’s government back from implementing

proper policies. It seems as a matter of war between the government and the capitalists versus the

scientists and an average citizen. Indian scientists argue that ‘clean cars’ may be apparent on the

roads today but they are only made to benefit the businesses not the environment (Khaiwal, N/A).

With the constant introduction of new cars, and the lower prices because of the increased

competition between auto companies, people are buying vehicles more than ever before and they

are becoming dependent on them. As one source indicates “From 1997 to 2006, the number of

registered vehicles in New Delhi rose from about two million to five million, and it continues to

increase by an average of nearly a thousand private vehicles every day. Tata Motors also plans to

begin selling its new "People's Car" in late 2008 at the rock-bottom price of three thousand USD.

Market analysts predict that the car could expand the Indian car market by as much as sixty- five

percent, with a corresponding increase in emissions. While the increased demand for cars is a

tangible indicator of India's continued economic growth, it will challenge India's already

gridlocked infrastructure and further increase levels of pollution and congestion” (Sequeira,

2008). Delhites travel more than they ever did, whether it’s to work or for recreational purposes

(Sequeira, 2008). With the travelling duration and the number of vehicles on the rise, the positive

influence that ‘cleaner technology’ brings to New Delhi does not surpass the negative effects that

it brings with it (Sequeira, 2008).

III. Health Impacts

The Indian governments’ failure to implement vehicular pollution control policies has

jeopardized the health of the residents of New Delhi. In fact, at least twenty percent of people are

affected annually (Sequeira, 2008). As Faiz mentions “Motor vehicles emit thirty percent to

eighty five of all man-made air pollutants in the large urban areas in developing countries,

depending on the level of motorization. Without effective measures to control pollutant

emissions, some three hundred to five hundred million city dwellers will become exposed to

unhealthy and dangerous levels of air pollution from motor vehicles by the year 2000” (Faiz,

1993). The health costs associated accumulated to approximately one billion USD per year

(Pandey, 1998). Failure to keep the health of millions of people safe from poor air quality has put

a strain on the economy as well which could have been avoided with a proper policy. Vehicular

air pollution is responsible for emitting high levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur

oxide, particulate matter and lead (Pandey, 1998). Carbon monoxide can damage the central

nervous system, nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide can lead to respiratory problems and can lead

to asthma (Pandey, 1998). Although everyone is affected by these deadly toxics, those who work

are exposed to the outside air for long periods of time suffer the most such as bus drivers

(Sequeira, 2008).

The Indian government claims to have made positive changes in New Delhi’s atmosphere by

introducing the policy of mandatory use of compressed natural gas in public vehicles; hence,

emitting less hazardous chemicals into the air. The government alleged that the use of

compressed natural gas on buses has aided in reducing particulate matter by as much as half to

three- quarters (Khillare et al, 2008). However, according to scientists there has been an increase

in levels of nitrogen dioxide and suspended particulate matter after passing the bill (Girija et al,

2008). The government, on the other hand asserted that compressed natural gas emits less

nitrogen oxide and less carbon monoxide as compared to traditional vehicles that run on petrol or

diesel (Sharma, 2006).Particulate matter is capable of causing severe respiratory problems and

can frequently lead to life threatening asthma attacks (Current Science, 1999). As a result, twenty

percent of the children suffer from asthma and at least three out of five people experience cough

when they wake up in the morning (Science Daily, 1999).Furthermore, particular matter can lead

to premature deaths (Science Daily, 1999). “Suspended particulate matter in New Delhi alone led

to almost eight thousand premature deaths in 1992; three years later, the number of premature

deaths escalated to ten thousand. This implies that in New Delhi alone, one person dies every

hour as a result of air pollution” (Science Daily, 1999).This is why World Health Organization

has declared that no amount of particulate matter is acceptable to health (Current Science, 1999)

regardless, there were more than five times the amount of particulate matter in the atmosphere in

1994 than the criterion set by World Health Organization (Cropper et al, 1997).

Nitrogen dioxide concentrations have increased in the atmosphere even with the introduction of

compressed this is portrayed by the graph on the right hand side. These graphs were taken from

the State of Environment Report 2009 created by the Government of India.

Sulphur Dioxide Nitrogen Dioxide

Source: (Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009)

The Central Pollution Control Board of New Delhi stated that “nitrogen dioxide levels are within

the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standards in residential areas of most of the cities.

The reasons for low levels of sulphur dioxide may be because of various measures such as

banning of old vehicles, better traffic management etc. Fluctuating trends have been observed in

nitrogen dioxide levels” (Central Pollution Control Board, 2007). Scientists argue that

compressed natural gas releases more nitrogen dioxide than diesel and petrol combined (Ministry

of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009). However, their claim that ‘low levels’

of nitrogen dioxide was because of government policies is inaccurate. They are trying to give

credit to the government yet the politicians did not take any steps into reducing this gas

(Kathuria, 2002). Their policy of the introduction of compressed natural gas led to high levels of

nitrogen dioxide in the air (Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009).

This creates a problem as nitrogen oxide is damaging to the health of the citizens. It dissolves

rapidly inside blood, this makes it hard for oxygen to become diffused in blood and is often

responsible for causing lung cancer (Kathuria, 2002). Despite this, the Indian government has

taken no initiative in monitoring health activities in areas of high air pollution (Science Daily,

1999), instead in the year 2007, the city experienced the highest level of nitrogen oxide levels in

its air, where compressed natural gas was strictly enforced (Ministry of Environment and Forests-

Government of India, 2009).

Finally, lead can lead to brain damage (Pandey, 1998). “Even after taking into consideration

family and environmental factors known to affect a child’s cognitive performance, blood lead

played a significant role in predicting nonverbal IQ scores” claims a researcher at Cornell

University (Science Daily, 2007). In children, seventy percent have high levels of lead in their

blood (Jain et al, 2006). This can lead to hearing decencies and slow physical and mental

development (Jain et al, 2006). Due to poor air quality and the health problems in New Delhi,

two out of five people do not live past five years of age and seventy- percent do not live to see

their sixty- fifth birthday (Cropper et al, 1997). With the implementation of pollution control

policies, one would expect that the health of Delhites is superior compared with other Indian

states, yet this is not the case (Kathuria, 2002). Health scientists conform that people not living in

New Delhi had better lung conditions that those in New Delhi (Kumar et al, 2007). New Delhi’s

government needs to implement policies on vehicles entering New Delhi from other states

because for these public vehicles, running on compressed natural gas is not mandatory (Khaiwal,

N/A). Residents of New Delhi are prone to worse health conditions relative to the rest of the

country and the world (Singh, 2006).

IV. Economy

New Delhi is the economic backbone of India. It is attractive to many businesses worldwide

especially because of its newly developing economy and the opportunities that it brings for

capitalists. However this economic transition has puzzled the government on how to balance New

Delhi’s economic prosperity and its ever expanding economy. It is experiencing a hard time

assessing policies so that not only do they serve the purpose of keeping the environment healthy

but also aiding the economic situation (Kathuria, 2002). Although New Delhi’s government has

passed air pollution control laws, they have failed to see the connection between the economy

and the health of the environment (Hadden, 1987). New Delhi’s government needs to keep in

mind the idea of dynamic efficiency when constructing policies. In addition to caring about

today’s well being, they must care for the future generations as well. The current polices only

take into consideration the costs and benefits of emitting toxic chemical from vehicles today.

They need to come up with ways to include the long term effects of air pollution (Kathuria,

2002). A minister from the department of Environment stated that as of present, the priority for

India is to focus on its growing economy instead of spending time and money on enforcing

stricter environmental rules (Khillare, 2008). He further maintained that if India became too strict

about the permitted levels of pollution, it may become unattractive to foreign companies

(Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009). Companies may resist doing

business in New Delhi because of inflexible environmental laws (Khillare, 2008). He, like most

of the other politicians, claimed that India cannot afford to make clean air a priority; it should be

left as an optional luxury (Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009).

However, this is not a valid argument because despite of one’s economic status, they cannot

purchase clean air. Similarly, having a strong economy does not mean that the environmental

issues such as air pollution will be resolved.

New Delhi is a newly growing economy; many foreign companies are attracted to the idea of

doing business there (Ministry of Environment and Forests- Government of India, 2009). They

are important assets to the city because they create more jobs hence raising the income of

families. These jobs are a dream come true for an average citizen as they allow one to live a

comfortable life compared to other occupations such as a taxi driver. These companies have aided

in increasing employments levels. In actual fact, Sengupta created a graph (below) which

describes that in New Delhi, most of the trips are related to work (Sengupta, 2001). With more

jobs being created, people look to owning vehicles that will help them go from one place to

another (Sengupta, 2001). With the lower number of public transportation alternatives, private

vehicles are increasing annually. This relationship between the number of vehicles and jobs can

cause problems (Hadden, 1987). The government fears that if they create strict environmental

rules, foreign companies would not find New Delhi attractive to do business in (Sengupta, 2001).

Jobs such as working in call centers or other jobs created by foreign countries will be lost.

Although this may bring down the number of vehicles apparent on the roads, it will also bring

down the number of jobs (Sengupta, 2001). A high rate of unemployment will bring burden on

the shoulders of the government and this will also hurt the economy.

Source: (Sengupta, 2001)

A higher income leads to people being able to afford cars. This in return increases the need for

vehicles in order for transportation needs to be met (Hadden, 1987). India cannot afford the idea

of companies not doing business in New Delhi (Hadden, 1987). In New Delhi, rising GDP and

improving economy seems to be positively related to environmental issues, especially air

pollution. “New Delhi has the highest per capita income in the country” (Kathuria, 2002). In fact,

about five- hundred vehicles are added to the road daily (Nagdeve, 2004). With the economy

improving through the decades, the number of vehicles have been increasing hence re-

confirming the positive relations between growing economy and deteroiting air pollution

(Khillare, 2008).

Many scholars such as Sequeira argue that the greed for having a well functioning economy is the

root of problem and it indirectly contributes to vehicle air pollution. She claims that as the

economy improves, environmental degradation rises as well. She states “The exponential growth

of India's economy over the last few decades is responsible for much of the problem. In the

1990s, the loosening of government regulations on foreign trade led to an influx of foreign

capital. Many businesses in Silicon Valley and other tech loci began relocating their information

technology services and call centers to India. This opportunity for increased prosperity has in

essence created a new middle class with Westernized tastes and a budget to match. This hugely

ballooning demographic is responsible for fourty percent of Indian consumption now; by 2025,

this number will rise to seventy percent” (Sequeira, 2008). Her statement emphasizes the

proceeding argument that as new jobs are being established in the city, people want to have a

high standard of living because their incomes have rose as well. This only adds on to their desire

to own a personal car, in which they can get around more easily than the existing system of

public transportation. However, the government needs to realize their responsibility and

understand that there’s a direct relationship between the environment and the economy. (Hadden,

1987).

As Robert Solow suggests, the government needs to realize their responsibility of having an

obligation to future generations of New Delhi. A strong economy and luxurious lifestyles cannot

buy a healthy lifestyle (Khillare, 2008). Solow argues that we may not know about the

preferences of the future generations, but we can make an educated guess that they will probably

not be that different from us. The future generations of New Delhi will also want to be part of the

competing international markets. Having a strong economy will also be of importance to them

not just our generation. Having an attitude of seeing the economy and the environment clashing

will jeopardize the economic strength of new Delhi and will result in poor welfare of people both

financially and health wise (Khillare, 2008). Solow states “You have to take into consideration in

thinking about sustainability the resources that we use up and the resources that we leave behind,

but also the sort of environment we leave behind including the built environment... including

productive capacity” (Solow, 1991). With the increasing amount of air pollution and the negative

effects that it brings with it with respect to health, economy and environment we are not investing

in or conserving productive resources for generations to come (Hadden, 1987).

The government needs to understand that there are no substitutes for clean, fresh air. Therefore,

we must construct policies, possibly encouraging citizens about using public transportation,

walking biking. Instead, the government is encouraging people to own cars by allowing

companies such as Tata Motors to introduce ‘clean’ and cheap cars (Hadden, 1987). Since the

economic prosperity and standard of living have a positive relationship it is difficult to convince

people not to own cars in an era of growing economy. The quote below describes the unbreakable

link between economic progress and environmental pollution. With better jobs, India’s emerging

middle class can afford to own vehicles more than ever before. “It is becoming clear that the

pattern of economic growth that we are adopting is becoming increasingly associated with

environmental pollution. A study comparing the rates of economic growth and the rates of

growth of vehicular pollution and industrial pollution shows that within a span of twenty years,

the Indian economy grew by three times, but the industrial pollution load grew by almost four

times and the vehicle pollution load by close to eight times. Indeed, Indian cities are being

exposed to high levels of air pollution and people living in these cities are paying a price for the

deterioration in air quality” (N/A, 1999). Despite their health, when people have more money,

they are willing to sacrifice the environment in order to make their lives easier, even if it means

adding more cars to New Delhi’s already populated roads.

New Delhi today is facing the problem “distributive equity”, between deciding what to consume

today and what to conserve for tomorrow. Finding a balance between required environmental

policies and the interests of politicians is not easy. In fact, what Solow states in his article

describes the current situation in New Delhi with respect to finding a connection between a

cleaner air and economic development. He states “the environment needs protection by public

policy because each of us knows that by burdening the environment, by damaging it, we can

profit and have some of the cost, perhaps most of the cost borne by others” (Solow, 1991). This

portrays the common mentality of capitalists and politicians that at the expense of the

environment, we can achieve economic prosperity. It is more of a battle between the interests of

the businesses and the well- being of people, with the capitalists having a win- win situation.

“Others” from the aforementioned quote are the common people of New Delhi who are paying

the costs of breathing toxics from vehicle emissions because the politicians and capitalists want

to put their economic interests ahead of the welfare of the common man. “When we use up

something we should be thinking about providing a substitute of equal value” (Solow, 1991).

With cleaner air, there will be less health concerns, people will be healthier, therefore

contributing positively to the economic conditions by improving productivity. Secondly, it will

be beneficial to the economy because the health costs presently incurred by New Delhi to treat

pollution related illnesses would be reduced (Environment Canada, 2010).

India should take an example from the western countries such as Canada and the United States

since India’s excuse that proper environmental policies cannot be enforced because of its’

growing economy does not seem to be legitimate. Canada, despite of having a world- class

economy, where people enjoy luxurious, healthy lifestyles, at the same time understands the

importance of proper environmental pollution control policies. In fact, many countries with

stringent pollution control legislations have exceptional economies such as the United States and

Canada. “Evidence suggests that strict environmental policies do not jeopardize a country’s’

economic prosperity capacity or standards of living” (Environment Canada, 2010). The previous

statement was found on the Canadian governments’ website. They further go on and assert

“Clean air is essential for the long term health of Canadians and the Canadian environment.

Clean air will also contribute substantially to long term competitiveness of the Canadian

economy, by improving worker productivity, and increasing the productive capacity of several

key Canadian industries” (Environment Canada, 2010). These two statements show the

commitment of Canadian government to the environment and how they believe environmental

well- being is related to the well- being of the economy. Whereas the New Delhi government has

only gone as far as switching local public vehicles to compressed natural gas as an alternative to

petrol and diesel, they have failed to invest money into facilitating programs that reach the

citizens about becoming environmentally friendly (Hadden, 1987). The government has not used

all the available resources in their power to reduce vehicular pollution (Hadden, 1987). The

Canadian and the U.S. governments, on the other hand, have found techniques to create policies

that work for both the economy and the environment. They have spent a great deal of time and

effort in creating more environmentally friendly technologies and have encouraged the use of

public transportation as a way to cut down on the number of vehicles on their roads, especially in

cities like Vancouver and Los Angeles. This is an effective way to reduce pollution. New Delhi,

on the other hand has not seriously encouraged the public to use public transportation.

If people want to use public vehicles, they still cannot make it a regular habit since for a

population of nineteen million (Sen et al, 2009), public transportation such as buses and subways

make up only about two percent of the vehicles in New Delhi (Khillare et al, 2008). This gives

people little choice but to own private cars (Khillare et al, 2008). It is not to say that the Canadian

and American policies will work just fine for New Delhi because many other factors come into

play such as population and developed versus developing economies however, the Indian

government can learn from the western policies that the economic well being is tied to the

prosperity of the environment. The table below describes the positive relationship between

increasing population and the growth of motor vehicles. Although it only covers the 1970s to

1991, it gives the reader an idea of the aforesaid relationship between population and motor

vehicles.

Source: (Pandey, 1998)

As Kathuria mentions in his article, the government policies need to take into the problem of

traffic overcrowding as well since it is responsible for most of the air pollution worldwide as

inactive vehicles let off more emissions (Kathuria, 2002). Instead, New Delhi is only attempting

to solve the pollution problem for shorter term with the introduction of compressed natural gas

(Kathuria, 2002). The introduction of compressed natural gas has put a constraint on the economy

because there are only a handful of centres where one can go for a refill for compressed natural

gas (Khillare et al, 2008). A handful of centres are not enough to serve the demand for thousands

of public vehicles (Kathuria, 2002).The government needs to make themselves more familiar

with the demand for compressed natural gas, failure to do so has resulted in them setting up only

a limited number of compressed natural gas centres (Kathuria, 2002). As a result, bus, taxi and

three- wheeler drivers must wait for hours in line to get a refill so they can get back to their jobs,

time is money for these drivers and they cannot afford to waste their productive time to obey the

government’s decision to run on compressed natural gas (Kathuria, 2002). These workers will be

inclined to drive outside of New Delhi, so they can run on petrol or diesel instead of spending

hours per week trying to get access to the alternative fuel (Kathuria, 2002).

Source: (Kathuria, 2002)

Kathuria’s detailed graph illustrated the reality that every time we make use of three- wheelers,

two wheelers or any other vehicle, we are unintentionally making the society pay because of our

choice to contribute to air pollution (Kathuria, 2002). The government should try to minimize the

difference between marginal social costs and marginal private costs (Kathuria, 2002). The

government’s use of compressed natural gas and the other policies does not help minimize this

difference as drivers of public vehicles have to pay the price of waiting in line for hours. As of

present, governmental policies are only adding to this gap (Kathuria, 2002).

V. Environment

Compressed natural gas is not enough to offset the negative impacts of the ever increasing public

and private vehicles. The toxic chemicals that these vehicles emit are suspended into the air

(Egboka et al, 1989). Rainwater absorbs chemicals such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

and affects the quality of water as the chemically concentrated rain enters lakes and streams

(Egboka et al, 1989). This makes it evident how government’s failure to take appropriate

precautions in one area, in this case air pollution can affect other parts such as water supplies

(DeHayes et al, 1999). The quality of water in New Delhi is becoming less safe to drink

(DeHayes et al, 1999). Households cannot consume tap water as in other parts of the world.

Many people rely on water filters as a source of drinking water (DeHayes et al, 1999).

Apart from lakes and streams, deadly vehicular toxics also affect the quality of the ground water

(Egboka et al, 1989). As the concentrated rain water enters into the ground, the intense

contaminants are immersed into the soil (Egboka et al, 1989). As Egboka et al mentioned in their

article “To reduce degradation of these water supplies, a comprehensive management strategy is

required. The present control techniques with regard to pollution and contamination hazards,

particularly in developing countries, need to be greatly improved. Priority and concern are not

shown adequately by government authorities, and hence, appropriate planning and management

strategies to check pollution are generally absent” (Egboka et al, 1989).

Although the levels of sulphur oxide have decreased as a result of switching public transportation

to compressed natural gas, it has not made much of a difference since the increasing number of

private vehicles counterbalance this decreased level (Egboka et al, 1989. With the slow decline in

sulphur oxides and the rapid increase in nitrogen oxides (the introduction of compressed natural

gas has increased the levels of nitrogen oxides), there has been an increasing threat of acid rain in

New Delhi (Egboka et al, 1989. These two chemicals are generally accountable for the

occurrence of acid rain (DeHayes et al, 1999).

Source: (Pearson, 2007)

The clouds saturated with acidic rain are not only above New Delhi, these clouds can travel

hundreds of kilometres into the neighbouring states if Haryana and Punjab, which completely

rely on agriculture (Government of India, N/A). Acid rain caused because of the air pollution in

New Delhi can play a huge role in degrading the crops and other agricultural products as well as

farmland in the two neighbouring states , this is a serious problem because more than three fifths

of India’s population relies on agricultural produce for food (Government of India, N/A).

Furthermore, apart from the negative effects on agriculture in the neighbouring states, acid rain

also affects life underwater and forests (Government of India, N/A).

In addition to acid rain, many of the chemicals released into the atmosphere as a result of

vehicular air pollution lead to global warming (Government of India, N/A). Gases such as carbon

monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide are the three main polluters arising from vehicular

emissions that play a large role in global warming (Ramanathan et al, 2008). In New Delhi, the

level of emissions are so high that it contributes to global warming on a large scale. Chatterjee

asserts in her article that the introduction of compressed natural gas actually led to high level of

emissions into the atmosphere as compared to other vehicles (Chatterjee, 2008). This is because

vehicles that run on compressed natural gas were altered since the cars were not designed solely

to run on compressed natural gas (Chatterjee, 2008). This puts more stress onto the vehicles and

thus ended up with higher levels of pollutants as compared to before. “When looking at the

effects the fuel switch had on the levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane,

there was an increase in emissions leading to a thirty percent rise in atmospheric warming caused

by these gases. This is because the vehicles, most of which were retrofitted with compression

natural gas engines and fuelling systems, were less efficient, thus emitting more methane and

carbon dioxide than they did before” (Chatterjee, 2008). This again sheds light upon the

argument that the government is not managing the issue of pollution control in an efficient and

effective way (Government of India, N/A). With higher levels emitted of carbon dioxide emitted

into the atmosphere, instead of helping the environment, it further caused an addition to the

already increasing issue of global warming (Chatterjee, 2008).

Furthermore, Becker et al add to the discussion of the effects vehicular emissions into global

warming by arguing that because nitrogen dioxide has a tendency to stay concentrated in the

atmosphere for a very long time (up to a century), it plays a crucial role in contributing to global

warming (Becker et al, 1999). Note from earlier that as compared to before, with the introduction

of compressed natural gas, levels of nitrogen dioxide emissions had been increased, further

supporting the idea that government regulations actually add to the deterioration of environment

by contributing to global warming (Becker et al, 1999). This means that previous vehicles that

relied on petrol or fuel, New Delhi was contributing less to global warming as compared to when

the government made compressed natural gas mandatory (Kathuria, 2002).

VI. Policy Implications

The implementation of compressed natural gas was an effective strategy if it had been mandatory

for private vehicles in addition to public because most scientists, despite their different

mentalities agree that compressed natural gas pollutes less overall as compared to petrol or

gasoline (Britannica, 2010). However, the positive effects of compressed natural gas are offset

because the number of non- compressed natural gas vehicles not only make up most of the means

of transportation on the road but are also multiplying rapidly. Another reason why the pollution

levels are still on a rise is because the catalytic converters used on public vehicles are not

installed properly (Sharma, 2006). They are important because they help cut down on the toxic

chemicals being emitted from a vehicle (Britannica, 2010). For this very reason, emission levels

are not controlled to a level that they could be with the use of compressed natural gas. Secondly,

with the number of vehicles increasing, at the end of the day, the air quality is worsening as much

as the government would like to differ (Britannica, 2010). This impacts the health of citizens

because they are exposed to breathing toxic chemicals and there is no way to get away from it,

regardless of their economic status (Britannica, 2010). In addition to the health aspect, the

introduction of compressed natural gas has had a negative impact on the productivity of workers

who rely on the fuel, namely those who drive public vehicles (Kathuria, 2002). There are only a

few centres where drivers can get their vehicles refilled with this fuel hence it is not uncommon

for these workers to give up their valuable time (in which they could be making money) to get

access to compressed natural gas (Kathuria, 2002).

The legislation which required aged vehicles to be removed from the roads was more effective

than the idea of compressed natural gas because this would not only have dealt with the problem

of vehicle congestion but also reduce emissions (Sharma, 2006). However, as aforementioned in

the paper, the government did not follow their regulation as most of the public vehicles were

more than five years of age, especially buses. Hence, this policy proved to be ineffective due to

the lack of commitment from the government and only aided in contributing towards vehicle

emissions (Sharma, 2006).

The government has also implemented policies regarding mandatory pollution checks but they

have failed to be consistent with their own rules. Vehicle owners are expected to go for pollution

checks after every three months, yet out of six million vehicles less than five percent of the

vehicles get pollution checks (Lalchandani et al, 2009). Out of those five percent that do go for

pollution checks, instead of being concerned about the amount of pollution they emit, the data is

gathered only for record purposes only as evident from the director’s statement (Lalchandani et

al, 2009). The director of Centre for Science and Environment of New Delhi asserts “The last

revision of Pollution Under Control was in 2004...the test reports are only used for the generation

of data. It is not enforced to pass or fail a vehicle. If a vehicle fails to pass the pollution test, all

the owner is required to do is purchase another ‘pollution under control’ certificate” (Department

of Transportation- Government of Delhi, 2010). How does this help reduce pollution? The

government should tax the owners if their vehicles emit past a certain level of emissions or

require them to replace their vehicles. Repurchasing a ‘pollution under control’ certificate to stick

at the back of your car is not the end to New Delhi’s deteriorating air quality problems

(Department of Transportation- Government of Delhi, 2010). This is important because pointing

out the flaws in government policies will persuade politicians to come up with more effective

action plans. Since New Delhi is one of the most the most polluted metropolitan cities in the

world so failure to implement proper strategies affects a large population of people. Large costs

are associated when more than ten million people’s lives are put at risk because of the lack of

proper legislations. If precautions are not taken, vehicular pollution can bring serious damages to

New Delhi.

The implementation of these three policies has only contributed to the problem of vehicular air

pollution further because none of these legislations has played a significant role reducing the

amount of emissions going into the atmosphere. The government has failed to initiate these plans

effectively because they did not take into account private vehicles. In addition to this, they have

not followed their guidelines with respect to controlling for public vehicles, as discussed earlier

in the paper. This has cost the city billions of dollars with health costs making up the majority of

this amount (Kathuria, 2002). Since most of the people rely on private health care, it is the

average citizens who have to pay the price of the effects of vehicle pollution. The price they pay

is not only monetary but also their health.

VII. Possible Solutions for the Future

Instead of the government tackling with the problem of controlling for public vehicles, they

should invest in enhancing the existing infrastructure (Sequeira, 2008). With clean and organized

roads and highways, vehicle congestion could be reduced. This in return would reduce the

amount of emissions going into the atmosphere because the motor vehicles will not be standing

idle for long periods of time (Sequeira, 2008). In addition to this, there should be a proper public

system of transportation in place such as buses and subways. Presently, there are not enough

public vehicles to fulfill ones’ travel needs compared to the population levels (Kathuria, 2002).

Secondly, although there is a subway system, it only covers a few parts of New Delhi and those

who are travelling elsewhere do not have the option of making use of this system (Sequeira,

2008). In order to persuade people to use the subway system, it must be efficient. Travellers

should be able to go wherever they want via this system, they should not have to look up to

another mode of transportation such as cars to arrive at their destinations. Sequeria indicates in

her article that the subway will not be fully developed until this year, even though it began in

2002 (Sequeira, 2008). It should not take the government eight years to complete this essential

project. As Sequeira indicates in her article “Further development of New Delhi's Mass Transit

System, which opened in 2002, could also help cut down on congestion. Currently, however, it

only travels to three parts of the city and is in the midst of long-term construction that will not be

completed until 2010” (Sequeira, 2008). If the government cannot afford to bring more public

vehicles to the roads, they should adapt to a taxation system where owners of private vehicles pay

taxes for using the roads. This money should be used to invest in more buses and better subway

systems. This idea is further discussed in the proceeding paragraph. Furthermore, if the

government is serious about controlling for vehicle pollution, they must make sure that there is

proper transportation available which allows New Delhi’s citizens to have an option of taking the

bus or the subway instead of driving.

Secondly, the government should put into affect some sort of a tax system which requires one to

pay a certain amount of money depending on the number of vehicles they own. For those who

rely on public modes of transportation and do not own any private vehicles should receive a tax

relief by a particular amount. Apart from private vehicle taxation, the government should charge

drivers travelling on busy roads, with an exception of public vehicles. There should be a system

which catches the license plate number of the cars travelling in that road and the driver should be

charged per kilometre. This avoids private vehicles from congesting the already busy roads and

encourages people to travel by buses, bikes, the subway or walk. This will also solve the problem

of traffic and it will reduce vehicle emissions. However, as the Centre of Science and

Environment of India asserts, the government is encouraging people to own cars because these

private owners pay less taxes as compared to buses. “Our government penalizes buses by taxing

them higher than the much-pampered cars. The car owner pays a one-time road tax which, in

most states, is between a half to five per cent of the cost of the vehicle. The bus pays an annual

road tax based on the number of people it carries. In Delhi, a car pays only three thousand rupees

a year as road tax, while a bus is charged more than thirteen thousand rupees -- roughly fourty-

three times more” (CSE, 2009). Although buses are a minority and do not contribute towards

vehicle congestion in comparison to cars, they are still taxed higher. This regulation needs to

change and car owners must be taxed higher, as aforesaid.

Lastly, to have an environmentally safe New Delhi, the government has to compromise with

other things. They should take an example from China, and how it controlled its ever growing

population. China had limited families to only have one child because that was a vital and

necessary step (Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, 2005). China was not expanding in

size, so they could not control for the land variable, but they did have control over its population.

New Delhi’s government should implement a similar strategy. New Delhi’s land area is not

expected to grow, nor is it possible so the government cannot expand the land area however, the

can control the number of vehicles that are owned per family. If the Chinese government can take

such a determined step to control their population for the sake of the well being of their country,

the Indian government can certainly control vehicle population. This is one of the only proper

solutions that seems promising enough to save the environmental health and the comfort of the

residents of New Delhi. Again, families could be encouraged to only own one vehicle by having

a taxation system in effect.

VIII. Conclusion

In summary, vehicular air pollution has become a serious problem in New Delhi. With the

increasing population and limited amount of space there are only so many vehicles that can be on

the roads. Government’s failure to implement proper environmental policies have led to a rapid

increase in the number of vehicles as well as increased levels of toxics being emitted into the air.

From the introduction of Tata Nano to the implementation of compressed natural gas as an

alternative fuel to diesel and petrol has only increase the amount of gases being emitted into the

atmosphere. Although sulphur dioxide has declined over the years with the initiation of

compressed natural gas, this positive affect has been counterbalanced with the number of vehicles

growing. In addition to this, the governmental policies have so far only focused on the public

vehicles. They should introduce pollution control bills related to private vehicles as well since

they make up majority of the vehicles. Cars and two wheelers are responsible for most of the

pollution as mentioned earlier (Goyal et al, 2005). With the increase in public vehicles, and the

reduction in private vehicles, the positive effects of sulphur dioxide reducing (as a result of

compressed natural gas) will be more apparent and one would be able to notice the air quality

improving. The negative effect of the increasing levels of nitrogen oxide will be offset by the

number of private vehicles reducing. With the decrease in private vehicles, there will also be a

decrease in pollutants released into the atmosphere (Goyal et al, 2005). With fewer pollutants

entering the air, the air quality will overall improve. The government needs to find ways in how

their policies can benefit the economy as well as work in favour of the environment (Goyal et al,

2005). Their excuse for not having stricter pollution control policies is that since New Delhi has a

newly developing economy, they don’t want to create stricter rules because these restrictions may

make New Delhi become unattractive to foreign and other Indian businesses. However, if New

Delhi adds more public vehicles on the road, it would lead to greater traffic congestion; the

escalating number of vehicles will lead to higher levels of toxic chemicals being emitted into the

air. What the government needs to do is to learn the fundamental techniques from countries such

as Canada and the United States on creating environmental friendly policies and then try to

implement at least a part of those ideas in a way that suits the environmental and economic

situation in New Delhi. As for health effects, vehicular air pollution can lead to respiratory

problems such as severe cases of asthma (Science Daily, 1999). In addition to this, one obvious

impact would be mental stress. Although it may not be directly related to vehicle air pollution, it

is related to vehicle congestion. Travellers are often stuck in traffic jams for hours, and there is no

way to escape that condition because there are too many vehicles relative to the land size. Illness

caused by poor air quality (as a result of vehicular pollutants being emitted into the air) costs

New Delhi’s government one billion dollars USD per year (Pandey, 1998). This leads to the

economic effects; if the government took appropriate precautions with respect to air pollution

these high costs could be avoided. It is ironic that with a newly developing economy that the

Indian government can afford to pay one billion dollars USD but they cannot afford to use their

resources in order to control air pollution so they can avoid these costs altogether. Furthermore,

the introduction of compressed natural gas has only contributed to the growing gap between

private and social costs (Kathuria, 2002). More policies should be established, which try to

reduce this difference. Finally, for the environmental effects, the pollutants emitted into the air

can cause acid rain and when it precipitates into the ground, the soil absorbs the pollutants which

affects the quality of the soil which further impacts food production (Becker et al, 1999).

Vehicular pollution and the various gases emitted can further contribute to global warming,

especially with the large amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere (Becker

et al, 1999). Another gas that greatly contributes to global warming is nitrogen dioxide, which is

suspended and remains concentrated into the atmosphere for a really long time (Becker et al,

1999). With the large duration it is able to impact and further affect the quality of air in New

Delhi (Becker et al, 1999). At last, in the future, the government can invest in improving the

current infrastructure in order to better control for vehicles (Sequeira, 2008). In addition to this,

they could introduce taxation systems where drivers who own private vehicles and use busy roads

have to pay a particular amount (Sequeira, 2008). The government should enforce a policy

similar to how China controlled their population growth. This methodology will aid New Delhi

so successfully reducing the number of vehicles on its roads and hence reducing more pollutants

than all the previous legislations. Furthermore, each household should be limited to one vehicle.

While the number of private vehicles decline, the government should increase the number of

public vehicles. This should be done gradually and one less car should not be substituted for one

more bus. Instead, they should choose a method in which three less cars and substituted by one

bus in order to make sure that the problem of traffic congestion is being taken care of as well, in

addition to reducing pollutants.

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