{"id":1241,"date":"2018-12-22T10:19:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T10:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/?p=1241"},"modified":"2019-11-07T08:39:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T08:39:11","slug":"government-cannot-act-in-isolation-and-needs-support-from-its-people-justice-swatanter-kumar-on-alarming-air-pollution-scenario-in-delhi-ncr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/2018\/12\/22\/government-cannot-act-in-isolation-and-needs-support-from-its-people-justice-swatanter-kumar-on-alarming-air-pollution-scenario-in-delhi-ncr\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGovernment Cannot Act in Isolation and Needs support from its People\u201d: Justice Swatanter Kumar, on Alarming Air Pollution Scenario in Delhi-NCR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Delhi, December 22, 2018<\/strong>: Expressing\ndeep concern over rising levels of air pollution in the national capital region,\nexperts have called for urgent intervention by the government and citizens to\nbuild an awareness about this deadly menace that has grappled the region. These\nviews were stated at a day-long consultation on \u2018Air pollution in Delhi NCR:\nWhat can be done?\u2019 organised by O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) with\nparticipation from various representatives from the government and academia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inaugural session set the stage for deliberations which\nsaw participation from Mr. Vijay Kumar Dev, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of\nNCT of Delhi; Hon\u2019ble Mr. Justice Swatanter Kumar, Former Chairperson, National\nGreen Tribunal; Dr. Bhure Lal, IAS (Retd.), Chairman, Environment Pollution\n(Prevention and Control) Authority; Mr. Naveen Jindal, Founding Chancellor; JGU,\nProfessor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, JGU and  Professor R. Sudarshan, Dean, Jindal School of\nGovernment and Public Policy (JSGP) of JGU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speakers reflected on the grave problem with discussions on\nhow the ill-effects of air pollution has spread across the region and how\npeople are suffering massively from it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his address, Vijay Kumar Dev, IAS, Chief Secretary,\nGovernment of NCT of Delhi<\/strong> pondered on the current issues of pollution in\nDelhi, the steps to solve the problem and how joint efforts by the government\nand citizens can curb this issue, \u201cWe are the most polluted capital in the\nworld. We have seven agencies protecting laws in Delhi. There is a need of a\ntwo pronged strategy to mitigate the issue of air pollution. Currently, there\nis lack of coordination at various levels \u2013 the implementation to the policy\nlevel including the coordinated action of various agencies. This leads to impaired\nefficiency of policy planning and implementation. The combined action should be\ntwo pronged. One taking action over governance failure and second on the\ntimelines on action taken on the issues management. The local people including\nresident welfare association (RWAs) should be empowered and made partners in\nthe enforcement practice. This is going to get an important part of the action\nplan. The government should take harsh measures wherever required. The\nconsolidated approach will give answers to this thematic seminar. The Delhi\ngovernment is planning to add 4,000 new buses in 2019 of which 1,000 will be\nelectric.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Echoing similar views, Hon\u2019ble Justice Swatanter Kumar,\nFormer Chairperson, National Green Tribunal<\/strong> said \u201cWe have almost 650\nunauthorised colonies in Delhi. There are major challenges pertaining to\nsanitation and waste treatment. This adds to the overall crisis of environmental\ndegradation. The government cannot act in isolation and needs support from its\npeople. Academia is the best source of bringing anything better in the society.\nConstitution is supposed to be the biggest legal document which creates\neverything that we see. Our constitution places an obligation on the citizen\nthrough Article 51 A (g) saying that it is the duty of a citizen to protect the\nnatural resources and the environment. Combining these two situation, the\nSupreme Court creates a golden triangle which is I call as an environmental\ngolden triangle where it says that right to green and decent environment is the\nfundamental right under article 21 of the constitution of India. No\nconstitution written or oral in the world places environment at such a\npedestal. There is a lack of precautionary principals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Bhure Lal, IAS (Retd), Chairman, Environment\nPollution (Prevention and Control) Authority <\/strong>said \u201cAir pollution has a\nsocio-economic angle to it. Rag pickers burn rubber tyres in winter. Old cars\ncause damage and the cycle goes on. Our pollution levels need to reduce\ndrastically, almost by 70 per cent to enable us to lead a clean and healthy\nlifestyle.\u201d     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founding Chancellor, JGU, Naveen Jindal<\/strong> expressing\nconcerns regarding the increasing air pollution in the national capital said, \u201cWe\nare strongly moved by the current alarming scenario and this initiative is a\nstep in finding a sustaining solution. Air quality of the country and\nespecially Delhi is really poor. We think that this is the responsibility of\nthe government but, I believe that this is the responsibility of all of us \u2013\nthe citizens of the nation. We all have to work towards curbing the issue of\npollution. The PPM should be below 50 however, the levels of particle in Delhi\nis above 400, which reduces life span by 10 years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe need an informed\nunderstanding of air pollution and its problems to arrive at the solution.\nJapan, Korea, China and the West have set amazing examples to curb this menace\nand it\u2019s our turn now to make Delhi pollution free. We really wish to be a\nsociety that respects the environment. The first and foremost step that we have\nto take is to change the way of life and develop the essence of collective\nconsciousness so that people become much more environment sensitive. We need to\nhighlight the major sources of environmental degradation and come up with\neffective solutions. We will be partnering with the government, providing\nintellectual support and come up with effective solutions that can reach to the\nimplementation stage\u201d, opined, Vice Chancellor, JGU, Prof.(Dr) C. Raj Kumar.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stressing on the role of academicia and student led\ninitiatives, Professor R Sudarshan, Dean, JSGP<\/strong> highlighted JGU\u2019s initiative\nto address the crisis of crop residue burning. He said, \u201cJGU has allocated\nspecial research grants to students and faculty. They will interact with\nfarmers in JGU\u2019s neighbourhood and work to create sustainable environmental\nfriendly models.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lieutenant Gen A. K. Singh, Advisor to JGU<\/strong>, reiterated\non the proactive role educational institutions can play championing the cause\nof clean air said, \u201cThe whole idea of the seminar is to bring experts together\nfrom the field and implement a road map on a priority. We all have to\ncontribute our bit towards a healthy living in Delhi. It is now or never.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day long consultations saw empirical data being shared and\nmultiple reflections on curbing and chalking out a sustained strategy on air\npollution. Some of the key participants were Mr. Laveesh Bhandari, Indicus\nFoundation, New Delhi; Mr. Polash Mukherjee, Centre for Science and Environment\n(CSE), Delhi and Mr. Ajay Shankar, Distinguished Fellow, The Energy and\nResources Institute (TERI), New Delhi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Delhi, December 22, 2018: Expressing deep concern over rising levels of air pollution in the national capital region, experts have called for urgent intervention by the government and citizens to build an awareness about this deadly menace that has grappled the region. These views were stated at a day-long Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1241"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1242,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions\/1242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}