CIVIL SOCIETY AND GOVERNANCE

Case Study on

Right to Clean Air Campaign

Sanjiv Pandita

SOCIETY FOR PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH IN ASIA (PRIA) 42 Tuglakabad Institutional Area, N. Delhi- 110062(India)

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INTRODUCTION

“We want clean air to breathe”, “We don’t want our children to carry oxygen cylinders along with their school

bags”“We demand an answer from government for why our lungs are getting clogged”

These voices are echoing in some of the urban centres of India. A case where few concerned citizens are raising their voice against the ever growing menace of air pollution- which is subtly eating the lungs of millions of people living across the country in all the major Indian cities. Clean air - a fundamental right of every citizen is becoming a privileged commodity.

Liberalisation and growing population has put immense pressure on the natural resources of the country. The nineties have seen India emerge as a major market Global products have flooded Indian markets The promotion of economic growth, however, is not balanced to maintain environmental harmony The governance has changed a little over the years and continues to be confusing and indecisive over the issue - doing little apart from enacting laws and legislations, which are hardly implemented.

India’s environment has reached a critical state. With the predominance of issues like poverty, population, livelihood, shelter etc., the environment has always been among the lowest in the priority list in this country. There has been no clear policy on environment and all the environment legislations in the country have been enacted in response to some external stimulus (for instance, the Stockholm Conference and Rio Conference) or internal disasters (the Bhopal Gas Disaster is such an event). Consequently, the rivers are turning into large sewers; soil and ground water pollution has reached to an alarming state. Quality of air in all major Indian cities is very bad and the concentration of all the major air pollutants is much above the prescribed WHO standards. Delhi, in particular, is among the top three most polluted cities in the world.

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Background

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a non-profit voluntary organisation, based in Delhi and working on issues related to environment. CSE has been actively been involved in issues related to environment and has taken a lead role in bringing up the issues like air pollution, water pollution, sustainable development etc. For the past many years, CSE has launched many campaigns against the environmental pollution. “Right to Clean Air Campaign” is one among those. CSE has played a lead role in highlighting the deteriorating air quality in major Indian cities. They have been instrumental in information dissemination, decision making in air quality management, awareness building, and policy advocacy and mobilising the public support.

The Campaign

The campaign started with the release of the book “Slow murder- the Deadly Story of Vehicular Pollution in India” on November 1, 1995 by CSE. The book was a result of two-year extensive research carried out by researchers at CSE. The research focused on the vehicular pollution in major Indian cities and the environmental health consequences arising out of that. The results were alarming. The book depicts the deteriorated quality of air in Indian metros. The book also peeps into the faulty policies of the government as well as failure of the regulatory bodies, which has led to the present situation.

Why Automobile Pollution?

The CSEs campaign is focused solely on pollution caused by the automobiles. The reasons are quite simple. At present in any of the major Indian City, it is seen that automobiles are the major sources of air pollution (up to 70%). The pollutants in the urban air come from the following main sources:

emissions from various industries; emissions from vehicles; and, emissions from household sources;

The energy market changed in 1960s and 1970s, the use of kerosene and L.P.G spread through the domestic urban kitchens, and by 1980 the emissions from household sources were negligible compared to other two sources.

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Major Pollutants in the Vehicular Exhaust and their Health Hazards

Motor vehicle exhaust is a complex mixture, the composition of which depends on the fuel, type, and the operating condition of the engine and the use of any emission control device. Pollutants and their derivatives can cause adverse health effects by interacting with and impairing molecules crucial to the biochemical or the physiological process of the human body. Pollutant effects may vary across the population groups; in particular, the young and the elderly may be especially susceptible; persons with asthma or respiratory or cardiac disease may experience aggravated symptoms upon exposure.

Given below are the major pollutants present in the vehicular exhaust and their effect on the human health:

1. Carbon Monoxide (CO): - This gas is produced when air and fuel combust in the engine of cars, two-wheelers, and three wheelers. Carbon monoxide is rapidly absorbed in the lungs and is taken up in the blood. The haemoglobin in the blood normally gets attached to the oxygen and is responsible for transferring oxygen from the lungs to the different parts of the body. Haemoglobin has increased affinity for carbon monoxide and forms a complex with it called carboxyhaemoglobin. This reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, which would cause dizziness, headache and a strain on the heart.

2. Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx): - It is formed during combustion, they emerge from exhaust as nitric oxide (NO) and in the atmosphere gradually convert into nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Nitrogen dioxide is an irritating gas that is absorbed into the lining of the respiratory tract. The health hazards caused by nitrogen dioxide range from inflammation in the upper respiratory tract to bronchitis.

3. Oxides of Sulphur (SOx): - Vehicular exhaust contains sulphur monoxide, which oxidises in the atmosphere to sulphur dioxide (SO2). It is emitted mostly by the diesel driven vehicles. This is also an irritating gas and can cause various respiratory ailments.

4. Lead: - Lead additives in fuel accounts for 80-90 per cent of lead in the atmosphere. Lead affects the nervous system and also the heme synthesis (main ingredient of haemoglobin). Infants and young children less than five years old are particularly sensitive to the lead exposure because of its potential effect on the neurological development.

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1. Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM): - These are the tiny particles in the diesel exhaust. The particles, which are of the size of less than 10 microns are directly respirable i.e. they, are not stopped by the defensive lining of the upper respiratory tract. These particles reach directly to the blood and if they contain toxic particles like lead then they are a great threat to health.

01. Benzene: - Benzene is the constituent of the crude oil. It is used as an additive

in replacement of lead in the unleaded fuel. Its toxic effects include damage to central nervous system, haematological and immunological disorders. High levels cause inflammation of the respiratory tract and haemorrhage of lungs. Benzene is also known as a human carcinogen (cancer causing agent) and may cause lung cancer and leukaemia. There is no safe level for air borne benzene.

01. Ploycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH): - These come from incomplete

fuel combustion. Diesel exhaust contains high volume of particulate bearing PAHs. PAHs are also considered to be potential carcinogens.

CSE, in its study, has identified the four major culprits responsible for vehicular pollution1:

lack of comprehensive set-up to monitor urban air quality to set emission standards;

outdated vehicle technology arising from vehicle manufacturers unwillingness to keep abreast of clean technologies and their successful attempts at getting away with as little design upgradation as they can;

poor fuel quality produced by the public sector refineries that can do as they please because they set their own quality standards;

poor vehicle maintenance by indifferent consumers and an economic structure that keeps vehicles on road after they should have been junked; and poor traffic planing that fails to quantify the oncoming crisis and take corrective steps, including discouraging the current suicidal rate of growth of privately-owned motorised vehicles.

I. Lax Emission Standards: - The government is not setting absolute targets for air quality and appropriating responsibilities to the concerned players involved to achieve those targets accordingly. Government is resorting only to approximation and takes into account what industry considers as technically feasible to achieve a certain emission level. This gives considerable leeway to the industry to manipulate and to keep the standards low.

1 Centre for Science and Environment (1996) “Slow Murder - The deadly story of vehicular pollution in India”; pg. 45.

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0I. Outdated Technology: - The report uncovers the reluctance of the automobile

industry to respond technologically to changes that have to be made in order to meet stringent emission control standards. The Indian industry has consistently lobbied for dilution, pleading inexpertise. This is evident in the official notification of the 1996 norms, a diluted version of the recommendations made earlier by the expert committee. Baring a very small segment of new vehicles the rest are still using the age-old carburettor technology. The study particularly, blames two-stroke two wheelers and three wheelers for causing maximum pollution on the city roads. These account for 65 percent of the vehicle population, 60 percent of the gasoline consumption and 70 percent of the HC (hydrocarbon) emissions in India. Industry has been held responsible for not being proactive enough to upgrade technology to produce more emission efficient vehicles.

0I. Poor Fuel Quality: - The report states that the Petroleum industry has not

made necessary investment to improve the refining technology to improve the fuel quality. Since the petroleum industry is owned by the government, it is a case of government issuing standards for government with nobody to watch. Standards for fuel with respect to environmental parameters - lower benzene and sulphur levels will come into effect only in year 2000. Industry meanwhile is resorting to devious ways of maximising subsidised diesel production by taking a wider-cut (extracting heavier fraction of the distillates) and through secondary distillation process (cracking bottom of the line distillates), which has led to the high levels of the carbon and sulphur in the fuel. Refining technology is obsolete and ill suited to process the high-sulphur crude purchased cheap in the market.

0I. Non Existent Traffic Planning: - The study also analyses how lack of

transport and traffic planning contribute to pollution and highlights the importance of high capacity and low emission public transport system, promotion of non motorised transport and comprehensive transport planning to reduce dependence on personal vehicles and reduce emissions.

0I. Maintenance of in-use Vehicles: - Though maintenance and inspection of the

in-use vehicles can help to reduce the emissions to an extent, the report condemns the government propaganda to hold in-use vehicles primarily responsible for pollution as misleading. The hype over periodic drive to test tail pipe emissions is cosmetic and focuses public attention only to the tail pipe end of the problem, diverting the larger issues involved.

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Irresponsible Governance

CSE, in its study, has attributed the present state (of air pollution) to the inefficient functioning of the government. CSE has been campaigning for more transparency and information sharing. CSE has identified following essential players responsible for the growing menace of air pollution in the country.

1. Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF): - MOEF has set no targets for cleaning the air. There is no time-bound concrete plan for the reduction of the air pollution.

01. Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas: - The ministry is responsible for

allowing the production of dirty fuel. It has also maintained monopoly over the production of such fuel and there is no one to question it.

Table 1 Groups Responsible for Vehicular pollutionProblem Regulatory Interest Group

Bad automobile technology

Ministry of Environment and ForestsMinistry of IndustryMinistry of Surface Transport

Automobile Industry

Poor Fuel Quality Ministry of Petroleum State Owned Refineries

Bad Traffic Planning State/metropolitan transport authorities

Poor fleet maintenance State/metropolitan traffic police Disinterested publicAgeing vehicular fleet State/metropolitan traffic police Public (resistance to

phasing out old vehicles)

Source: Centre for Science and Environment

1. Ministry of Surface Transport: - The ministry does not share any data it collects with the public. There is no pollution data available about the new vehicles booming into market. There are no plans to deal with the growing urban transport crisis.

01. Ministry of Industries: - It pays no attention to the polluting industries.01. Ministry of Finance: - It keeps itself away from the problem. No hard steps

are taken to fine or tax the polluting Industries.

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01. Ministry of Health: - It is totally silent on the health hazards of air pollution.

No studies have been directed to see the effects of air pollution on health of citizens.

7. Automobile Industry: - In the name of mobility, the industry has been responsible for producing polluting vehicles.

07. Pollution Control Boards: - These are the toothless bodies who have been

unable to control the pollution. They have not developed any effective programme to control pollution.

07. Politicians :- They show no interest and consider other issues more important

Premature Deaths and Illness due to Air Pollution

One of the major findings of the CSE’s study was – the link between air pollution and human deaths. This was based on the epidemiological model, which was developed by World Bank staffers Carter Brandon and Kirsten Homman. In 1995, World Bank assessed the environmental and health conditions in India. According to the study, air pollution exceeds World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations in most of the 23 Indian cities with a population of over one million. The annual level of total suspended particulate matter in six Indian cities viz. Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Nagpur is at least three times higher than the WHO standards. In Delhi Calcutta and Kanpur, it is five times higher than the WHO standards. A sample of air pollution data pertaining to 36 Indian cities was fed into the model. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) provided the pollution data. As per the report 40,351 people died of air pollution in 1991-92 (data used in the World Bank study was of 1991-92). CSE used the same epidemiological model and fed the latest air pollution data in it (1995 CPCB data). As per CSE, the death toll had gone up to 51,779.

The death toll in major Indian cities due to air pollution in 1991-92 and 1995 is given in the table below:

Table 2 Death toll due to air pollution in Indian cities

Year Delhi Mumbai Kanpur Chenni Calcutta1991-92 7,491 4,477 1,849 863 5,726

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1995 9,859 7,023 3,639 1,291 10,647

CSE, in its study, using the same epidemiological model also calculated the illness caused by the air pollution, which required hospitalisation. As per the study, in the 36 Indian cities, the number of cases of sicknesses requiring medical treatment have risen from 19 million in 1991-92 to 25 million in 1995

Table 3 Illness Caused by Air Pollution

Year Delhi Mumbai Kanpur Chenni Calcutta1991-92 39.5 25.5 8.03 4.5 29.31995 60.00 40.00 15.4 6.8 54.5

All figures are in lakhs

Health Cost Due to Air Pollution

The study also focused upon the health costs and the morbidity costs due to air pollution. In economic terms, this morbidity and mortality costs RS 4,700 crore annually (1995), taking an average of the upper and the lower estimates. In 1991-92, the figure stood at about 3,600 crore. This assumption was based upon the average value of Indian life, which was worked upon by Brandon and Hoffman.

Table 4 Health Cost due to Air PollutionNature of Effect No of Cases Cost Valuation

(US $ millions)Premature Deaths 40,351 170-1,615

Hospital Admissions and Sickness Requiring Medical Treatment

19,800,000 25-50

Minor Sickness (including restricted activity days)

1,201,300,000 322-437

Total - 517-2,102

CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES

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CSE is strategically located in Delhi, the capital of India, and much the success to its campaign can be attributed to its location. It has been successful in roping the important personalities in the support of its campaign. Media has been used to its fullest advantage by highlighting the issue. This has been the trademark of CSE. As already stated CSE launched its campaign with the release of the book “Slow Murder, The Deadly story of Vehicular Pollution in India” on November 1, 1995. The book was released by the then Vice President of India, Mr K.R. Narayanan that gave great start to the campaign.

CSE, to intensify the campaign started interacting with experts to evolve solution to the problems identified and started bringing together the people who felt strongly against the polluted air. CSE’s effort also directed at targeting groups and identifying people who could disseminate the findings of the study.CSE’s campaign was spearheaded under the leadership of its founder director Mr Anil Aggarwal, who has achieved a distinction of being among the top most environmentalists in the country. Mr Aggarwal’s status as one of the reputed name in the field of environment has provided boost to the campaign. CSE’s study was directed by Mr Aggarwal. It made things easy for the researchers as they could access the data easily. His global contacts made it easy for the researchers to get the inputs from the scientists from different countries and at different positions.

CSE’s strategy has been to use very bold statements about the air pollution and its related issues, which has attracted public attention and thus given boost to its campaign.

“Roll down the window of your bullet-proof car, Mr. Prime Minister the security threat is not the gun. It’s the air of Delhi”“Rahul Bajaj is the criminal No 1”“You line up for tail-pipe test while the real culprits go scot-free”

CSE publishes one fortnightly magazine “Down to Earth” which is a science and environment magazine. The magazine was an important publicity media for the campaign. It highlighted the findings of the CSE study and also carried special supplements related to the campaign. The magazine was instrumental in awareness generation of the citizens. By this medium, CSE invited the citizens to come forward and join the campaign. It received an overwhelming response.

One of the important characteristics about the CSE’s campaign has been the specific group of citizens it has focused upon which involves the middle and the upper middle class. The lower strata of the society have not been influenced due to

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the obvious reasons that for this class of people, other issues predominate and health hazards due to pollution attain the lowest priority.

Public Meetings

Ever since the launch of the campaign, CSE has been organising public meetings, which serve as a forum for awareness building, devising strategies to combat pollution and to access the impact of the campaign. These public meetings are highly publicised and are attended usually by the top bureaucrats, eminent scientists, politicians etc.

The first public meeting was held on November 5, 1996, just four days after the launch of the campaign. The eminent personalities attending the meeting included then election commissioner Mr T.N. Seshan, editor of Business Standard, Leader of the opposition in the Delhi assembly and Chairperson of the Central Pollution Control Board. On same day, an exhibition on the vehicular pollution was also held in National Museum of History, New Delhi. Mr T.N. Seshan inaugurated it. The exhibition depicted the nexus between the government and the industry and its noxious effects on the public. The exhibition depicted the hazards due to automobile pollution. Some exhibits like a skeleton wearing an anti pollution mask made it more interesting. The meeting as well as the exhibition got vast media coverage for many days. CSE’s campaign got a foothold.

The first public meeting was followed by a series of meetings with the people from various fields - university students, doctors, economists, lawyers, artist’s etc. This was aimed at to generate awareness as well as to gain mass support from different sections of the society. The first meeting with university students was held on December 18, 1996. In the meeting, it was suggested to have a pollution awareness week in the north and south campus of the Delhi University. A protest march to the residence of the Prime Minister was one of the proposed activity during the awareness week.

On January 29, 1997, CSE in its effort to mobilise support from the medical community held a meeting with the doctors in CSE conference hall. The meeting focused on creating awareness among the doctors and on the urgent need for comprehensive epidemiological studies. Doctors at the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) also formed an “Anti Pollution Cell” to monitor the link between the pollution and health disorders. Indian Medical Association, East Delhi branch, organised a National Conference on Respiratory Diseases and Air Pollution Disorders in New Delhi on September 28, 1997. CSE also participated in the

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meeting and took part in the panel discussion. CSE also displayed its Slow Murder Exhibition on the vehicular pollution.

CSE also organised an “Economists’ Meet” at the India International Centre, New Delhi, on February 7, 1997. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the fiscal incentives and disincentives to control the vehicular pollution. The representatives from the automobile industry and the eminent economists attended the meeting. The meeting led to the formulation of a policy paper, which was presented to then Union Minister of Finance, P. Chidambaram.

CSE in its efforts to reach different sections of society organised an “Artists’ Meet” in the CSE conference hall on February 12, 1997. In the meeting it was agreed upon that the an interactive communication with the general public would help to carry the message across. Petrol pumps were suggested as one of such interactive spaces. The other options, which came up during the meeting, were street plays, paintings, hoarding, cloth banners and posters displayed at the prominent places. Artists also offered to visually portray the dangers of inhaling the noxious air. In June, 1997 CSE, in collaboration with Eicher Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Delhi, again organised a meeting with the artists. Since then artists have designed logos and rubber stamps for the Right to Clean Air campaign, to draw public attention to the problem. T-shirts have been designed with logos such as four masked lions, as well as a smoke-belching vehicle with the words ‘Plug pollution’.

Media Coverage

CSE’s campaign has always received a major coverage in both print and electronic media. This might be attributed to following reasons :

Good quality research, involving the major scientific institutions, which holistically analyses the problem of vehicular pollution and also provides the remedial measures to control it.

The issue taken up in the campaign concerns everyone who breathes in the Indian metros. The mortality and the illness figures, calculated by CSE’s study, have attracted the media attention.

CSE’s geographical location, which has made easy for it to access the local, national and international media.

Involvement of eminent personalities at all parts of its campaign. CSE itself publishes books and other campaign pamphlets that are distributed

widely. Its magazine “Down to Earth” is among the leading environmental newsmagazines in the country.

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CSE has issued press releases and personally interacted with media at every stage of the campaign, highlighting the major issues

CSE has its own web-site that gives all the information, position papers and press releases about the campaign. Through this web-site, CSE invites citizens to join their campaign.

A consistently scientific approach and overall realistic yet dynamic handling of the campaign by CSE under the able guidance of its director has had a positive effect.

00The public meeting held by CSE on November 1, 1997, exactly after one year after the release of its book “Slow Murder”, was held jointly with the Hindustan Times Group. Prior to the public meeting CSE had called upon the prominent citizens to sign a statement of concern demanding - the right to clean air. Eminent artists, literary personalities, sports-persons like Satish Gujral, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Kapil Dev and several others came forward to express their deep solidarity with the cause. On the same day, a public advertisement - Dead by Breathing, was issued by CSE in The Times of India - a National Daily. 00Interface With Governance00As discussed earlier in the paper, CSE has identified various functionaries of the government who are directly or indirectly responsible for the automobile pollution. In this case the government structures and institutions who are supposed to look into the problem are present but their functioning is improper. They have a highly bureaucratic structure, and lack transparency and accountability. This campaign is an effort by the civil society organisation to demand accountability from the government. 00The interaction with the government has been of varied nature. CSE studied carefully the relation between the automobile pollution and the failure on the part of various regulatory authorities. The next step included highlighting these irregularities via different media i.e. electronic and print and develop a mass support against these malfunctions. The attitude of the government, initially, was defensive. However, when pressure from a certain section of the society was built and more importantly when judiciary also intervened, government was forced to react. Even though nothing spectacular happened yet it can be considered as a major breakthrough for the civil society movement. Sensitising rigid government structures is not an easy task. This was a step towards demanding more accountability and transparency. CSE’s interaction has been of accusing and demanding nature. The reactions from government can be accounted to the mounting pressure from media and judiciary. The campaign has yet to reach a

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stage where civil society has a dialogue with government to reach a common understanding in resolving the issues.0 0Resources 00CSE is one of the leading civil society organisations in the country. It has excellent institutional infrastructure. CSE has a good institutional space in Delhi. It has an excellent library within the institution that has exhaustive collection of books, documents and other materials related to environment. CSE also has a good collection of audio-visuals of related subjects. The staff in CSE is highly professional and qualified. CSE has separate departments handling separate projects, including the campaigns. People with requisite competencies are employed in each department 00CSE is receiving financial grants from various sources for its activities. CSE also generates its internal resources by means of its publications. Its “Right to Clean Air” received financial assistance from various sources which includes the institutional corpus money. Small amount of money to sustain this campaign also came from the general public who donated in response to the appeal made by CSE by various media. CSE is now approaching specific donor agencies so that funds could be received exclusively for this campaign. 00OUTCOME 00CSE’s campaign started showing visible outcome immediately after the release of the book on November 1, 1996 and subsequent Public meeting which was held on November 5. The media covered both the events extensively. Following the media reports on CSE’s Study, the Supreme Court issued a suo moto notice on November 18, 1996 and asked Delhi government to submit an action plan for the control of pollution. In December 1996, in response to the Supreme Court directive, the Delhi government, for the first time, presented an action plan to combat air pollution in Delhi. The direct measures which were to be implemented by 1997 exclusive left lane for heavy vehicles, dedicated bicycle tracks, banning of shoulder parking on roads, pedestrian zones and de-congestion of traffic. Indirect measures to be implemented by 2000, included public and mass transport systems, construction of by passes and elevated express carriageway and improvement in road/rail systems. Other steps included :0 Pollution under control (PUC) certification facilities increased by 60 per cent .

About 60 PUC test stations for diesel vehicles, enforcement drive by end of

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January 1997, 35,000 vehicles checked and 15,000 fined. Involvement of NGOs and students.

Surprise checks in petrol pumps for fuel adulteration.

A propane dispensing station inaugurated.

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0The proposals included:

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Import of 100-200 buses with very efficient fuel engines and catalytic converters.

Popularisation of compressed natural gas (CNG) and propane. A multicrore mass transport system, better traffic management, dedicated

cycle paths.

Sales tax reduction (from 8 to 4 per cent) for two-wheelers that confirm to standards set for 2000.

Phasing out vehicles that are more than 15 years old off the road.

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On November 1, 1997, CSE held a public meeting “Slow Murder and Since”. In this meeting, the government inaction was criticised. The meeting was attended by Anil Aggarwal, V. Ramalingasawmi, former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), M.G.K Menon former Union minister, R.C. Bhargava former managing director of Maruti Udyog Ltd., S.K. Chhabra, chest specialist at the Patel Chest institute and D.K. Biswas, chairperson of CPCB. On November, 4, 1997, Mr Saifudin Soz, then Union minister for environment and forests, announced his plans to issue a white paper on pollution in Delhi, which was finally issued on December 2, 1997. According to the white paper, the relative contribution of industries and domestic sources in the air pollution load of Delhi has been steadily declining since 1970, but the contribution of automobile emissions has increased dramatically. The contribution of industries to the total pollution load, for instance, has gone down from 56 per cent in 1970-71 to 29 per cent in 1990-91, and the contribution of domestic sources has declined from 21 per cent to eight per cent during the same period. But the contribution of vehicles has increased from 21 per cent in 1970-71 to 64 per cent in 1990-91. The share of vehicular emissions in the pollution load of Delhi is likely to increase to 72 per cent by the year 2000- 01. Soz also formulated an action plan, with time bound deadlines, to control the vehicular pollution (See box).

On January, 7, 1998, Supreme Court directed the government to set up a special authority to control pollution in Delhi. CSE’s director Anil Aggarwal was appointed the member of the committee.

0Proposals made by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF):

Phased introduction of low-sulphur diesel in Delhi by August 1988. Introduction of pre- mixed fuel and oil to cut down two-stroke engine smoke by December 1997. Drive to check fuel adulteration.

Ministry of petroleum and natural gas should allow the use of propane as an alternate fuel. Work out the feasibility of using propane in autorickshaws by December 31, 1997. Use of ethanol substitution up to 20 per cent

0To implement the following between December 1997 and December 1998:

Use of pollution control devices Fuel injection system for two-stroke engines Replacement of two-stroke engines by four-stroke engines Engine design modification for use for cleaner fuel Registration restrictions after September 1,1999, to

discourage old designs

Maintenance and inspection of in-use vehicles:

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Supreme Court in the same year also directed the government for introduction of unleaded petrol for all vehicles and phasing out of old commercial vehicles.

Conclusion

Gunnar Myrdal, an eminent economist has described the nations of south Asia as ‘soft states’. These countries have governance systems where the stated policy is at variance with the implemented policy. This statement still holds good for India, which holds the distinction of being the largest democracy in the world.

Independent India saw the emergence of civil society movement in a big way. Citizens started questioning the decisions of government ..... Why? ... For whom?. The ‘Right to Clean Air Campaign’ is one of the example where the civil society has initiated the dialogue of good governance. It may be an issue of governments inefficacy to provide clean air to its citizens but there are lot more hidden issues like transparency in the government systems, involvement of citizens in decision making and role and influence of market and related actors in shaping the policies of government.

The campaign initiated by CSE is just three-year-old and it is too less a period to measure its impact on the governance. However, there have been definitely certain positive outcomes which are encouraging and inspiring for all civil society organisations in the country. The response of the government and the judiciary to the campaign has proved that civil society, in spite of many hurdles, is gaining recognition in the country. The opinion of the civil society can’t be neglected anymore.

It has not been, however, a smooth path. For years civil society organisations have struggled and to attain recognition. CSE has been working for past 18 years and has at every stage, since its inception, faced opposition from the government and the stiff bureaucracy. CSE continued to move in spite of the difficulties and hardships and at present has attained a stage where CSE is a respected name in conservation of environment and sustainable development. CSE is respected not only by the other civil society organisations but also by the government and the conventional educational and research institutions who held the monopoly over the information and were reluctant to share it.

There are lot of things to be learned from the campaign. CSE inaugurated the campaign with a explosive news of deaths due to pollution. The issue, being the concern of every citizen, immediately flooded the media. Judiciary played an important role in influencing the government and consequently carrying this campaign forward. Information dissemination also proved to be an important factor

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in sustaining this campaign. CSE collected the information from various government departments like Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Ironically the death figure due to pollution, which CSE has calculated, has been arrived using the pollution data from CPCB who otherwise would never share its data with the masses.

CSE tried to popularise this campaign by urging politicians to take up the issue of pollution as one of the major election issues. Even though no major breakthrough has been achieved in this direction yet a process has been initiated to make sensitise politicians to take up real issues affecting the people rather than the conventional issues.

One important lesson that can be drawn from this campaign is the importance of involving common man is very essential for the sustainability of any campaign. No doubt, CSE’s campaign has created huge hue and cry in certain sections of the society and that section has shown resentment and reacted too. The campaign, however, at no point of time has been able to make the ‘concern of pollution’ as everybody’s concern. The campaign has failed to address the problem of the pollution in a holistic manner. The campaign has been harsh on polluting vehicles, but there are other dynamics involved too. A poor man living in urban cities is not concerned about the air he breathes, his concern is how to get his daily bread. Pollution at present is not his priority, on the other hand upper and upper middle class section of the society realise the importance of clean air but they want a car to drive too. The balancing act is missing.

To conclude it can be said that, a civil society can not be reduced to a set of NGOs and a group of individuals. The campaign can be considered as an advocacy campaign which has targeted upper urban middle class. Right to Clean air has to go a long way yet to become a “Peoples Campaign’ in a real sense.

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