With the cultural and technological revolution came the automobile, totalling 53 million in the 1950s, world automobiles in 2010 exceed 550 million. About 19 million vehicles are added each year to the global total.

The automobile industry is one of the key drivers of the Indian economy. Since the liberalization of the sector in 1991 and allowing of 100 percent FDI through automatic route, Indian automobile sector has come a long way. Today, almost every global auto major has set up facilities in the country. Different types of vehicles are produced in India, broadly classified into Passenger Vehicles and Commercial Vehicles The manufacturing of automobiles including truck, buses, cars, three wheelers/two wheelers etc. in India risen at a very high pace. Now, India is the one of the largest producers of automobiles in the world.

Automobiles are a ‘necessary evil’, while they have made living easy and convenient, they have also made human life more complicated and vulnerable to both toxic emissions and an increased risk of accidents. While they enable mankind to conquer distances they also caused blatant destruction of the human environment, poisoned the atmosphere and made human beings vulnerable to several diseases, road accidents and fatalities.

Roughly, a man breaths 22,000 times and inhales 16 kg of air, daily. And a recent report from the World Health Organization, drawing on measurements and calculations as of 2016 from air monitoring stations in 4,300 cities, establishes clearly that air pollution is a global problem. A whopping nine in 10 people on Earth breathe highly polluted air, and more than 80 percent of urban dwellers have to endure outdoor pollution that exceeds health standards, according to the WHO’s World Global Ambient Air Quality Database.

But there are certain places on the planet where the air is now consistently, epically terrible.

India, for instance. When you look at the database’s ranking of particulate pollution in cities, 11 of the 12 cities with the highest levels are located there. Kanpur, India, population 3 million, tops the list with a yearly average of 319 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5, the most hazardous particle commonly measured.

An international study, testing on-road emissions of passenger cars in India, says a diesel SUV may be emitting 25 to 65 times more oxides of nitrogen (NOx) than a small petrol car. On-road emissions of diesel cars may also be far higher than their emissions under lab certification conditions, it adds. A World Bank study in Delhi (1998) showed that diesel vehicles were responsible for as much as 62.5 percent of the total particulate load coming from all vehicles. Even after the implementation of the CNG programme, a recent World Bank study of 2004 confirms, based on actual measurements and characterisation of PM2.5 (a tiny fraction of the particulate), that diesel fuel’s contribution could still rise as high as 23 per cent.

Bharat stage emission standards are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from motor vehicles. The standards, based on European regulations were first introduced in 2000. Progressively stringent norms have been rolled out since then. All new vehicles manufactured after the implementation of the norms have to be compliant with the regulations. Since October 2010, Bharat stage III norms have been enforced across the country. In 13 major cities including Delhi (NCR), Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai etc., Bharat stage IV emission norms have been in place since April 2010.

The emission norms have helped in bringing down the pollution levels in the India. But, it is still too less an impact, as the pollution levels are rising across India in unprecedented manner, particularly in the metro cities like Delhi.

So, what could be a good solution to effectively eradicate the menace manifested by the quickly escalating number of vehicles on the Indian roads ?

The answer is the implementation of more stringent and drastic measures are required immediately like - “mandatory use of public transport with stringent limits on the number of vehicles that could be owned by a single family/individual, breach of which would result in heavy fines and penalty”.

Added to the above could be the following measures to mitigate the current situation :

1. Phasing out of old vehicles. A Hindustan Times report dated 14 October 2018 says - “Implementation of the central government’s ambitious vehicle scrapping policy, which proposes to impose a cap of 20 years on the life of all commercial vehicles, may be delayed further. The reason: reluctant state governments. In a federal set-up like India’s, it is “extremely difficult” to give effect to any policy unless state governments are on board, explained a senior official at the ministry of road transport.” Hence, the Governments will have to take a more proactive role in fighting together the perils of automobile pollution.
   
2. Ban on inferior technologies used in automobiles/engines like diesel etc.
   
3. Effective, fast and responsive traffic management systems and avoiding jams.
   
4. Good road conditions with more flyovers and underpasses etc.
   
5. Superior and environment friendly technology to be used in automobile production.
   
6. Faster implementation of the Bharat stage V and VI emission norms.
   
7. Other measures like congestion tax, restricting entry/using of vehicles for example odd-even formula of Delhi etc.
   

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“WE WON'T LET OUR FUTURE GO UP IN THE SMOKE.”