Defective premises: Jairam Ramesh on govt’s easing of SO2 emission norms

Estimates recommend that wherever between 12 per cent to 30 per cent of PM2.5 is attributable to such sulphur dioxide compounds, he mentioned.

“The Ministry’s rationale for this coverage is predicated on two defective premises. The Ministry had earlier amended the main target of the Nationwide Clear Air Program (NCAP) to focus largely on PM10 emissions (particulate matter of lower than 10mm diameter).

“PM10 is so much much less harmful to human well being than PM2.5 however is extra clearly seen and considerably simpler to sort out, because it contains components corresponding to highway mud.” he mentioned.

By selecting to show a blind eye in the direction of PM2.5 in its policymaking, the ministry has consigned us to a few years extra of our ongoing public well being disaster — and this choice to tolerate sulphur dioxide compounds is simply set to exacerbate this pattern, he mentioned.

“The Ministry claims that sulphur dioxide ranges in India are largely inside the limits of the Nationwide Ambient Air High quality Requirements (NAAQS). As we’ve got repeatedly identified, the NAAQS had been final up to date in 2009, when the prevailing ranges of particulate matter and emissions had been of a decidedly decrease order of magnitude, and when the catastrophic public well being penalties of particulate matter weren’t recognized, Ramesh mentioned. “A revision of the NAAQS subsequently is lengthy due.”

Within the absence of such a revision, the ministry’s policymaking will proceed to be pushed by flawed metrics, Ramesh mentioned.

India established stringent sulphur dioxide emission requirements for coal-based energy crops in December 2015, requiring compliance inside two years.