Research Paper on New Delhi: Higher Industrial Growth, More Pollution

Introduction

The accelerated economic growth experienced by emerging countries, such as India or China, has a high price, that of pollution. India is one of the countries with the highest risk due to the concentration of polluting particles, especially in urban areas: currently, the second most populous country in the world hosts 14 of the 15 cities with the worst air quality, among them Benares, Delhi, and Agra. New Delhi is a perfect example of how industrialization and urbanization have resulted in more harm than good for the citizens and the environment.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

New Delhi has experienced tremendous urbanization over the last decade. It is expected that by 2028, the city will surpass Tokyo and become the most populous city worldwide with sprawling cities and industries. Considered the fifth megacity in the world, New Delhi welcomes a growing number of inhabitants in addition to the nearly 17 million registered (Ward, 2018). A population that increases and that is affected by the consequent increase of vehicles; that will reach 26 million in 2030 according to estimates of a study published in The Times of India (India Today, 2018). New Delhi is full of parking lots, streets, and new residents are flocking there every day. People have been migrating from rural areas to the city and according to them, the bigger the city, the better for them. The city is experiencing a very fast expanding economy and has helped millions of poor people to get jobs. Although most people live above the urban poverty line, inequality is high. Rapid urbanization has caused an increase in emissions from vehicles with diesel engines, factories and power plants that run on coal as fuel (Kaur, 2017). Urbanization in New Delhi has exacerbated levels of air pollution, led to the shrinkage of water bodies, increased the levels of temperature and heat emissions resulting in deaths due to heat waves and destruction of the environment.

In November 2016, Delhi officially became the most polluted city on the planet. Its air quality indexes then surpassed previously unthinkable barriers in urban environments, doubling the levels of the worst situation foreseen by environmental agencies (India Today, 2018). The indicators of fine particles in the atmosphere of New Delhi exceeded for the first time the barrier of 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which is equivalent to more than ten times the values recommended by the WHO. The health agency's analysis is based on the measurement of fine particles (PM-2.5) per cubic meter of air, which can penetrate the lungs and blood to cause heart disease, heart attacks, and cancer (Pant, Shukla, Kohl, Chow, Watson, & Harrison, 2015). Considered the world capital of pollution, Delhi concentrates 143 micrograms per year of these particles, which multiplies by 14 the levels of atmospheric toxicity. That implies two things: that there are people (the elderly, children) inhaling the equivalent of 45 cigarettes a day without smoking even a single cigarette, and that environmental contamination could be even more serious at certain points since the meters are not capable of record amounts greater than that (Ward, 2018). US scientists found that pollution in the air in India is reducing the lives of 660 million people by an average of three years (Ward, 2018). Therefore, it is not only the people who live in cities but also those who live in rural areas. Losing 3.2 years of average life, logically, is for some to lose many more years than for others. It is a statistical figure, which helps shed light on the tremendous public health problem posed by pollution (Ward, 2018). Every year the level of air pollution in New Delhi begins to grow from 6 pm, reaches its peak around 23.00 and remains high until 06.00 in the morning of the next day.

Since independence in 1947, India was more concerned with economic growth than with environmental policies. India was a very poor country during that time and there were only a few industries in the country. Most people were farmers and agriculture was the backbone of the economy. However, food was not enough because very old agricultural methods and machines were being used and India had to import most of its food (Shrivastava, Neeta, & Geeta, 2013). Things remained in this state until 1990 and the level of pollution was manageable. Things started changing after 1990 when the Indian government adopted a policy of privatization and liberalization. The government allowed private companies to flock its capital. Many foreign companies came into the country because labor was cheap and there was government support. Most of these companies were established in New Delhi. Most people migrated from rural areas to urban areas to search for employment in these companies (Shrivastava et al., 2013). The population of New Delhi kept increasing as more and more came to search for jobs. Standards of living increased and people started buying cars.

Petrol was cheap and it was easy for people to acquire and maintain these cars. However, the prices of fuel started increasing and many shifted to using diesel cars. These diesel cars highly contributed to the increase in pollution in the city. Currently, New Delhi has more than 8 million registered vehicles that use vehicles and it is estimated that the number of vehicles increases by more than 1400 every day (India Today, 2018). But not all the pollution in New Delhi comes from traffic. The widespread use of biofuels for cooking, the dust generated by construction, the burning of crops and industrial emissions are also factors that contribute to high pollution. Facing these industries with effective measures would solve much of the problem.

The government paid very little attention to the environment and the effects that pollution was causing in the country during the 1990s. The government was more concerned with industrialization and development rather than environmental conservation. However, after observing that pollution levels were increasing drastically, the government introduced metro services in Delhi in the 1990s to reduce pollution caused by diesel cars (Guttikunda & Jawahar, 2014). Although the intention was noble it did more harm since so many trees were destroyed when the railway track was being built. Forests were cut, trees were never replanted, and the environment was badly destroyed which further exacerbated the pollution problem. New Delhi does not have any nuclear power plant and the city does not have any hydroelectric power plants. However, the city is full of coal-based thermal power plants that have highly contributed to the increasing pollution (Guttikunda & Goel, 2013). Most of the electricity in the city is generated by these coal plants. According to the Ministry of Environment and Forests in India, the total contribution of coal-based thermal power plants in Delhi pollution is around 12%.

The spread of respiratory problems due to pollution in New Delhi increases every year, leading to illness and death. Even the Supreme Court of Delhi described the problem as an "emergency situation" (Kaur, 2017). There are no exact data, but reports indicate that air pollution is the direct cause of around 10,000 premature deaths a year, only in Delhi (Nagpure, Gurjar, & Martel, 2014). Delhi has gathered all the ingredients of the perfect storm and that is why it works as a model of disastrous environmental policy to avoid. According to Dholakia, Purohit, Rao, and Garg (2013), the city is located far from the coast, has urban planning that enhances the use of cars, is surrounded by a ring of land for farmers who practice the constant burning of rice fields. It also depends a lot on coal, that material capable of general 90% of the polluting particles to generate 8-10% of the energy-matter.

With a rapidly growing population, the capital of India is on track to become the largest megalopolis in the world by 2028. Far from being an achievement, this trend would lead to one of the greatest urban and environmental catastrophes that threaten millions of people. More than 27 million people live in and around the National Capital Territory of India (Kumar, Khare, Harrison, Bloss, Lewis, Coe, & Morawska, 2015). This figure is equivalent to the population of countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, together, all, concentrated in a territory smaller than that of Cuba (. As of today, the effects of unbridled urbanization are unavoidable in the capital area of India. The gigantic traffic jams are part of the daily routine and smog often covers the city, causing even delays in flights due to poor visibility at the airport, and every day, the problem gets even worse. While India is now the economic engine of the world, it takes a self-destructive path of a magnitude never known in history. It is the country of the world that has the most deaths related to air pollution and rivers, 2.51 million deaths in 2015, far ahead of China. Its industrialization has resulted in more harm than good.

References

Dholakia, H. H., Purohit, P., Rao, S., & Garg, A. (2013). Impact of current policies on future air quality and health outcomes in Delhi, India. Atmospheric Environment, 75, 241-248.

Guttikunda, S. K., & Goel, R. (2013). Health impacts of particulate pollution in a megacity-Delhi, India. Environmental Development, 6, 8-20.

Guttikunda, S. K., & Jawahar, P. (2014). Atmospheric emissions and pollution from the coal-fired thermal power plants in India. Atmospheric Environment, 92, 449-460.

India Today (2018) Delhi Economic Survey: State's per capita income is 2nd highest in India, 12 takeaways. Accessed 20th March 2018.

Kaur, B. (2017). Rapid urbanization in Delhi-NCR creating heat stress, abetting climate change. Retrieved from https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/urbanisation/rapid-urbanisation-in-delhi-ncr-creating-heat-stress-abetting-climate-change-58915 on 20th March 2019.

Kumar, P., Khare, M., Harrison, R. M., Bloss, W. J., Lewis, A., Coe, H., & Morawska, L. (2015). New directions: air pollution challenges for developing megacities like Delhi. Atmospheric Environment, 122, 657-661.

Nagpure, A. S., Gurjar, B. R., & Martel, J. C. (2014). Human health risks in the national capital territory of Delhi due to air pollution. Atmospheric Pollution Research, 5(3), 371-380.

Pant, P., Shukla, A., Kohl, S. D., Chow, J. C., Watson, J. G., & Harrison, R. M. (2015). Characterization of ambient PM2. 5 at a pollution hotspot in New Delhi, India, and inference of sources. Atmospheric Environment, 109, 178-189.

Shrivastava, R. K., Neeta, S., & Geeta, G. (2013). Air pollution due to road transportation in India: A review of assessment and reduction strategies. Journal of environmental research and development, 8(1), 69.

Ward, J. (2018). Will Future Megacities Be a Marvel or a Mess? Look at New Delhi. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-02/india-s-new-delhi-is-example-how-urbanization-leads-to-megacities on 20th March 2019.