Killing over a million people in India every year, the Great Smog triggered by the crop burning in northern India and many other factors adds to the deterioration of the quality of air. This has grown to become a social, political and technological problem.
Siddharth Singh in The Great Smog of India explores the pressing issue of air pollution and the factors that silently contribute to it. People suffer from poor health, financial troubles, and children have been known to have irreversibly reduced lung function. Giving an insightful view of the damage done by this, he also lists many the steps that are needed to be undertaken to reduce this crisis.
Here are some of the solutions as listed in the book in order to reduce air pollution in the country:
- The focus should not be on one sector in order to reduce air pollution while at the same time giving liberty to other sectors. Hence, it is essential to push each sector to reduce their carbon emissions to a minimum.
- Furthermore, there need to be nuanced and separate measures for each sector. These measures need to be ambitious in their nature for each sector so as to ensure effectiveness.
- The states and the centre could work under the larger framework of the Swachh Bharat programme towards the implementation of clean air targets. (Page 225)
- The restrictions on the most ineffective technologies could yield great benefits if done intelligently.
- Instead of using fossil fuels to harness various forms of energy we should switch to hydropower, solar energy and windmills. These sources of energy do not emit GHGs and other air pollutants, unlike fossil fuels.
With clarity and compelling arguments, and with a dash of irony, Siddharth Singh demystifies the issue: where we are, how we got here, and what we can do now.