Written by Dr. Sanju Purohit , Associate Professor (Volunteer) at Akamai University and research fellow at UNEC.
India has a 3-tiered governance system where the Panchayats (village councils) and Municipal Corporations look after smaller geographical areas. This ensures that the entire population is catered to and localised issues can be solved by the residents and service providers of the area.
This local government can also prove pivotal in tackling air pollution on a grassroots level as they can carry out air quality programs tailored to regions. The community-driven approach to finding solutions works well, especially when there are city- specific action plans.
It is also easier to carry out education drives to curb air pollution since there is a smaller population, and the influencers of society can easily persuade them to move in a different direction for their own welfare and thus take steps that will aid in lowering air pollution.
The local government works towards creating plans that can create ways to decrease air pollution, and they can be divided into short-, medium-, and long-term action plans. Since vehicles, construction materials, domestic fuel, and industries are the major reasons for air
pollution, policies can be created to curb them in order to breathe clean air again.
Air quality monitoring cells, Swach Vayu Survekshan (SVS) can be utilised to evaluate the criteria under which the top performing cities of the nation can be zeroed down. Low-cost sensors can also provide insights into the quality of air. The assessment and analysis of areas with better air quality can then be further utilised to create more such cities.
Residents also play a part by utilising sensors and applications to monitor air quality and establish a community-driven network for raising awareness at the grassroots level. Do-it- yourself technologies can monitor the environment, thereby raising awareness about the
environment as well as health implications due to air pollution.
Biogas is emerging as a better option to cook and produce clean fuel for lighting and electricity. It also reduces black carbon emissions and methane, thereby drastically bringing down the level of pollutants in the air. And it is being adapted in villages, something that can be emulated in the entire country.
The local government bodies can drive the collective efforts of the community, creating larger impacts and also helping the government to form policies that can be replicated in other areas. Initiatives for biogas production in villages, supported by the government of
India under the National Bioenergy Programme has helped in moving to clean fuel for cooking in villages.
Through financial assistance, more residents are willing to take up these initiatives and thus do their bit for the environment. That is why it is important for the government to back up and financially aid such policies and enable residents to adapt positive steps easily.
Allocating resources and implementing policies to control air pollution is important because it can help to improve air quality. Resource allocation modelling can help to determine how to best reduce emissions and improve air quality.
Creation of dedicated resources and allocation of funds can help in reducing pollution as they undertake extensive research and try to find solutions that can provide quick solutions. Moreover, resource allocation can help organisations accomplish more projects with limited resources.
As the obvious step, projects are already underway to plant more trees in cities that can improve air quality. Villages and tribal areas have customs where trees are worshipped; thereby, they refrain from cutting them, which is the very first step to ensure we breathe clean air.
The Bishnoi community of Rajasthan strictly forbids cutting trees and killing animals, while the Khasi and Jaintia communities restrict resource exploitation as they dedicate the forest areas to deities and spirits, thereby protecting biodiversity.
The Gond community of Madhya Pradesh engages in rotational farming that enables the forest to regenerate and thus avoid overexploitation. While there are many such cultural references in the country, such customs combined with the government’s efforts will ensure that fighting the menace called air pollution becomes an achievable task in the near future.
