Hon. Chairperson, the subject of air pollution and climate change is very
broad-based. It has a gamut of issues. The Paris Accord has already been talked
about in this House. I think, it is a matter of regret that the world’s largest
polluter, that is the United States of America, under the leadership of
its President Mr. Donald Trump, has decided to walk out of the Paris Agreement.
It has been endorsed unequivocally by our Prime Minister and our
Government, cutting across party lines. It was done by the UPA, and has now
been redoubled by the NDA. It is a matter of salutation to our Government
that we have adhered to the Paris Accord. But it is a matter of great shame
that the United States, which is the greatest polluter on this planet, has
chosen to walk out140 of it without giving any reason, and a
great legacy set by the former Vice President Mr. Gore who is160
one of the world’s foremost environmentalists, has now been given a
go-by too. Mr. Speaker Sir, those are, unfortunately, the issues on which we have
no control over here. Therefore, I do not want to dilate on them here. I would
rather localise our issue which has affected all of us present here, and
which is why you decided that this debate must take place immediately.
I completely agree with Mr. Tiwari when he says that the farmers, especially
the farmers of Punjab, UP and Haryana have been vilified completely and
needlessly. Yes, stubble burning is a problem and it is a contributor to
pollution. But I want to say on the floor of this House that it is not280
a major problem and not a major contributor. Let us look at some dates. Stubble
burning started between 8th and 10th of October this year in Western UP,
Punjab and Haryana. Diwali was on 27th of October. All of320
a sudden, on the night of 27th and the morning of 28th, the air quality took an
alarming dip in Delhi and the surrounding areas. Stubble burning had been happening for two
weeks before that. Therefore, do not say that stubble burning is the primary
issue. It is a contributor, but not a primary issue. This morning, I had the
occasion to meet the hon. Prime Minister. He has taken a salutary step in the
direction of Swachh Bharat. There is no question about it. Everybody across
party lines accepts it. That has been one of the successes of this420
Government. According to me, his mission to eradicate single plastic use is
again going to be a game-changer. I requested him that he has to take this
issue of curbing pollution, eradicating pollution in his hands because
without his leadership, without his coordination, without him being able to
show the trailblazing path that he is capable of, I do not480
think there is going to be a solution. The simple solution for stubble
burning is that you have to give some subsidy to the farmers from the Central
kitty, not from the States, because the States have no money. It is a matter
of fact, but from the Central kitty, you can easily give the subsidy to the
farmers to cultivate alternate crops like maize, pulses etc. I heard Shrimati Diya
Kumari’s speech earlier for a raise in the support560 price of
pulses. If you do that, the farmers will shift to it. It is a matter of simple
economics for the farmers. The farmers will go where they can make both
ends meet. They will shift somewhere else or you give the farmers the
opportunity to use the stubble in biogas, paper manufacturing, electricity,
cardboard manufacturing etc. For that, the Government has to take the
initiative to set up these plants. The farmers cannot set up these plants640
on their own. The Government should be able to give support to the
farmers by putting up these alternative mechanisms, so that stubble burning
stops in and around Delhi.
I have seen the Dubai fireworks on the 31st of
December. It is spectacular fireworks. For 10 minutes, the sky is completely
set ablaze with fireworks at midnight. There is no700
pollution. Why is there no pollution? It is because they use fireworks which
are of extraordinary standard. Our problem in India is that the fireworks that
are manufactured here are, unfortunately, of very poor quality as cost-cutting
is involved. You are cutting costs, but you are going to blame the burning of
crackers. Of course, cheap crackers from China are, unfortunately, being smuggled
in, which have a very high per centage of sulphur content. So, there is a
serious problem. I believe that there should be self-restraint.
When the Supreme Court has laid down certain parameters and guidelines for
bursting800 of crackers, I believe that it should be
accepted by us and we should restrain ourselves. Unfortunately, there has
not been any self-restraint. I have serious concern about that. Shall we go
the China route? Mr. Tiwari talked about China.840 China has
taken some extraordinary steps in cleaning up its air and that is why
it has succeeded. It has prohibited new coal-fuelled power plants in the
polluted regions of the country, particularly close to cities. Its existing
plants have been told to reduce emissions and coal has been banned. They have
been told to substitute it by natural gas. In large number of cities, the
number of cars has been restricted very strictly. Here in Delhi and in
surrounding areas, Uber and Ola have added 65 per cent additional burden to our
roads. Therefore, nobody is looking at the kind of influx of cars that have
moved into the NCR region all of a sudden which is creating this960
massive pollution in the last 5-6 years. So, instead of blaming farmers, we
should blame ourselves that we no longer980 want to travel by
metro or buses. Everybody wants to travel in Ola and Uber and quickly reach
their destinations.
Do you know what China has done? Last year, China completely banned
winter heating in homes although there was severe winter with sub-zero
temperature. There was no coal-fired heating at home. People had to suffer but
they are willing to suffer for the sake of their environment. They have cut
down their coal foundries. They have cut down their iron ore and steel
manufacturing. They are happy to import from India. The Indian exporters are
actually benefitting now because of this boom as China has become a big
importer. They are cleaning their air while we are fouling our air. Therefore,
you have to take some interim steps and these interim steps also involve some loss
of profit, some privation1120 for our entrepreneurs but
it has to be done and we have to bite the bullet. I must also
remind this House that the Great Smog of London in 1952 took toll of 12,000
deaths. Can you imagine this? London’s air was so foul that 12,000 people died
there. They also had to bite the bullet. They took harsh steps and they managed
to clean up their air. I would request the Prime Minister that the Central
Government has to take the first step. This must not happen everywhere. This
year, the German Chancellor was here on one of the most polluted days. There
was a reception in the Embassy where I was speaking with the Ambassador and
they were actually at pains to figure out how to get the Chancellor out of here
as soon as possible. Every doctor1260 you go to for
respiratory diseases, says that there is only one solution “leave Delhi”. If
“leave Delhi” is going1280 to be the one panacea or one
solution for our problems, that is a very sorry state of affairs.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a very old American native proverb which says:
“When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river
poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.” I have been
criticised on Twitter today that I have to lead this debate in this House and I
appear for the redevelopment of colonies in Delhi for which trees have to be
cut down. I have to say that sustainable development is the only way
forward. For every tree that is cut down, you have to plant 100 trees or 200
trees.1400 That is the way forward. The way forward is not to
leave 25,000 or 30,000 Government employees without accommodation. They are
serving this nation. Therefore, the defence I have to offer is that this is
necessary and that is1440 also necessary. Yes, it is true
that we cannot eat money. Profit is not everything, but this is not
about profit; this is about sustainable development. If sustainable
development is going to be the way forward, then we all have to work together
to understand that this pollution is actually costing us almost 10.6 billion dollars
a year. Can you imagine, Rs. 70,000 crore is what India is losing every year on
account of pollution? This is a moderate study report. Our economic
output could actually go down by as much as two per cent because of
pollution reasons. This is affecting the whole of North India which is one of
the productive basins of India. Therefore, we have to also see that if 7 out of
10 cities in the world or 22 out of the worst 30 cities of the world are going
to be the Indian cities, then surely, productivity is going to go down.1598
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To access the above dictation exercise on YouTube, please follow the links given below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_xUUs0HYbI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrCeLu1uz78
------------------------
To access the above dictation exercise on YouTube, please follow the links given below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_xUUs0HYbI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrCeLu1uz78
