[sustran] fwd CSE - Indian air pollution updates
SUSTRAN Resource Centre
sustran at po.jaring.my
Mon Nov 8 15:49:10 JST 1999
From: "webadmin" <webadmin at cseindia.org>
Organization: Center For Science and Environment
To: <CSE-LIST at cse.org>
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 15:01:11 +0530
Subject: What's new at CSE
What's new at the Centre for Science and Environment, New
Delhi, India
....
POLLUTED AND IGNORED
Talk about air pollution in India and everybody thinks of
the four metropolitan cities. But the ambient air quality
in even smaller cities and towns is deteriorating
alarmingly and in some cases it is much worse. In Lucknow,
for example, the maximum level of suspended particulate
matter (SPM) in 1997 matched the highest levels recorded in
Delhi. And if one person dies prematurely every hour in
Delhi due to high SPM levels, the death count in Lucknow
can well be imagined. The main reason for this is a sharp
rise in polluting motor vehicles and mismanagement of
public transport. Rogue industrial units also play a hand.
Although data on rising levels of air pollution is
available, there are no programmes in any of these cities
to counter the emerging public health disaster. How many
will die before India has an effective national air quality
management plan?
http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte991031/dte_analy.htm
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.....
A message from our Director, Anil Agarwal:
Breathing in WTO's world
With the world becoming a global village, there are several
problems that will require a sound understanding of the
ever-changing dynamics of global trade and its impact on
the environment. One such issue is the dumping of old,
rejected cars from the developed world into the markets of
developing countries, where the growing middle class is all
willing to snap them up.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has
warned that the import of second-hand cars will pose a
threat to domestic industry and has asked the government to
levy a 100 per cent tax on these imports. It reports that
in countries such as Japan, government regulations like
high annual car registration charges and depreciation norms
make it almost impossible to own cars more than six years
old. As a result, prices of second-hands are low and these
cars flood other countries, destroying their domestic car
industry.
For once, I agree with SIAM. Second-hand car import could
be deadly. But I do not agree with SIAM's single-minded
perspective that the answer lies in raising import duties.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations, which India
has accepted, provide that countries cannot discriminate
against foreign goods. This could be seen as 'arbitrary'
and 'unfair'. The government might not be able to impose
higher custom duties, but it can ensure that this
"flooding" of the Indian market with cheaper, more
polluting cars will not have serious repercussions on the
growing problem of air pollution in cities. This can be
done through domestic norms and regulations. WTO allows
governments to adopt domestic regulations, standards and
emission norms for the protection of the environment and
the health and safety of its people, as long as these norms
are used to regulate both domestic and foreign producers
without discrimination.
The import of old cars could seriously impact the
environment. Firstly, it is important to note that under
current emission norms, only Delhi is to implement EURO I
norms and will move to EURO II in April 2000. Recently, the
Mumbai High Court also ordered similar norms. These states
can refuse to register cars that do not meet these norms.
But the rest of urban India - also reeling under smog and
disease - is still scheduled to go in for EURO I norms in
2000 and EURO II in 2005.
This means that as of today, India cannot stop imports of
non-EURO I compliant technology, which became obsolete in
Europe in 1996, and it cannot stop non-EURO II compliant
technology till 2005, which will become obsolete in Europe
in 2000. Unless India upgrades its emission norms urgently
and makes all of India EURO II compliant by 2000, India can
become the world's biggest dumpyard of obsolete and
polluting technology.
Even Delhi and Mumbai, with their slight advantage, could
be taken for a ride. We do not have a system of ensuring
that vehicles meet emission norms after they have passed
the emissions check at the factory gate. Manufacturers do
not provide a warranty for the emissions over the life of
the vehicle. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the
imported cars - even if they once technologically matched
EURO I or EURO II norms - have not deteriorated
substantially over the years, as do most cars.
Given India's past record in pollution under control
certificates, I would not suggest that any government
agency waste money and the public's time and patience to
check the tailpipes of foreign cars. It would be more
important to put into place a domestic emissions warranty
system so that buyers of second-hand foreign cars can also
insist on such a warranty. And the government should be
able to prevent the import of vehicles without such
warranties.
Thirdly, India does not have a taxation system that would
ensure that old cars are phased out. This lacuna could
easily make the deadly import of second-hand cars even more
persistent as it basically means that once such a vehicle
enters an Indian city, it will stay and pollute for life.
SIAM's report itself points out that the reason second-hand
cars are cheaper in Japan and have no market there is
because of its taxation policy, which makes driving an old
car prohibitively expensive. Many other countries,
concerned about the deterioration factor in older vehicles,
which makes them more polluting, have similar policies. But
our system is built on a one-time road tax that has no
relationship with the worthiness of the vehicle.
In the post-WTO world, the old ways of state protection are
gone. In this new situation, we will need excellent
policies of regulation and stringent standards to protect
Indian citizens. Indian car exporters know only too well
how they are forced to deal with the standards of the
industrialised world set for the health and safety needs of
their people, otherwise they cannot hope to even think of
their markets. Now, Indian car manufacturers may have to
protect their own life and limb here in India - that is,
their profits and investments - by working with the
interests of their consumers and the environment. But it
seems that SIAM is yet to receive the message. It is indeed
ironic that the only thing that can save India's automobile
industry is high environmental standards - something it has
been fighting hard till now.
- Anil Agarwal
Visit our website at www.cseindia.org or
www.oneworld.org/cse and check out what's new. Our website
carries our science and environment fortnightly Down To
Earth, a weekly Feature Service of articles on environment
and a daily environment newsflash by subject categories. We
also give regular updates on all of our campaigns on topics
like vehicular pollution, climate change, biodiversity,
water resources, wildlife, forests etc. Our online library
of books, journals, images and videos is searchable through
a thesaurus of environmental keywords at
http://data.cseindia.org
We are also looking for reciprocal linking to other
websites in this area. Let us know your website address and
we would be happy to link to you. Please feel free to
forward this message to other interested individuals.
*************************************************
Usha Sekhar
Website Unit
Centre for Science and Environment
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