News Excerpt:

Addressing pollution involves trade-offs between development and environmental preservation. Politicians must take the initiative.

Issue of air pollution in India, especially in Delhi NCR:

• The issue of air pollution has become a perennial problem rather than a seasonal one that we could ignore as a short-term inconvenience.
• Climate change and air pollution present the difficult proposition of making choices based on multiple trade-offs between development and environmental preservation. 
• These trade-offs are hard but critical and should be well-informed and based on societal values.
• Scientists or academia, governments and people are crucial stakeholders in addressing the issue.
• Scientists from the arena of atmospheric sciences and the health sector have generated sufficient evidence to act. 
• The job of academicians is to generate and present evidence so that these trade-offs are done in an informed manner.
• Activists suggest generally pro-environment measures and try to convince the world that their trade-off is the only right.
• Currently, political leaders have been unable to address the gravity of the issue.

Case study: Delhi NCR

• BRT corridor (Bus Rapid Transport) and the odd-even experiment in Delhi are good case studies to learn from. 
• The BRT corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate (15 km) was a futuristic plan that segregated traffic to expand road space for public transport at the cost of private four-wheelers. 
• It also addressed the safety of cyclists and pedestrians. 
• An IIT-Delhi study showed that it resulted in increased speed of public transport, increased travel time of private cars and improved pedestrian safety - all its intended objectives were achieved.

Way Forward:

• Addressing the issue of air pollution requires making difficult choices and tough decisions at the societal and governmental levels.
• Currently, the speed is insufficient to negate the increasing pollution.
• The general public would have to make it politically expedient for this issue to be effectively addressed. 
• Higher use of public transport and use of cleaner vehicles by the middle class of NCR is crucial to reaching a tipping point in our fight against air pollution.
• Politicians need to incentivise people to move in the right direction, and citizens must signal to the politicians that they are ready for any inconvenience. This could create a cascade that can take us to the tipping point.
• The challenge in effectively addressing the crop-burning issue is to find a win-win solution and convince all the concerned parties. 
• Given the complexity of the problem, it will need a package of technical, regulatory, fiscal, and informational interventions to succeed.
• This package needs to be defined clearly and marketed well so that all stakeholders feel that a concerted effort is being made and all involved contribute their share to the solution.