Delhi needs brave political action but don't hold your breath

'Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic' is a phrase that seems to best describe some of Delhi's actions these days.

- MRIDULA RAMESH

Let's look at some of the items on the 15-point action plan that was announced by the government recently to fight pollution. For instance, a special park to process electronic waste. While e-waste is a huge environmental problem, its exact contribution in fouling Delhi's winter air is hazy. Indeed, not knowing precisely how much pollution comes from each source makes it hard to take strong action because polluters can point fingers at each other.

To fix this, the Delhi government had promised to set up a real-time source apportionment system that would tell us at any time what vehicles, burning trash, or construction was causing pollution and by how much. This system was supposed to be up and running by the end of October, but, at the time of writing, it is not yet. Until then, talking heads squabble while most existing studies blame vehicles and stubble burning for the PM2.5 pollution spike (add dust/industries for PM10).