In India, New Delhi’s smog crisis exposes the high price of clean air

Sitting on the pavement outside the emergency ward of the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases in South Delhi’s Mehrauli, Asha promised her son she would not leave his side. Nineteen-year-old Nitish was reluctant to be admitted to a government hospital, even after doctors said he needed further tests to understand the cause of his sudden breathlessness. He had been struggling to breathe for two or three days – something he had never experienced before – and his family believes Delhi’s hazardous air played a role. “He never complained of breathing issues. I don’t know what is wrong, it must be the rising air pollution,” Asha told This Week in Asia. “Every day, he has to travel to college in this toxic air.” Scenes like this are becoming increasingly common in the Indian capital as winter smog tightens its grip, driving more patients with respiratory complaints to hospitals and exposing a widening gap in how residents cope with polluted air. With Air Quality Index (AQI) readings hovering near the top of the scale, demand for air purifiers has surged – a trend that has now drawn the attention of the courts, with judges recently urging a rethink of the tax on devices that many families say they cannot afford. Most air purifiers sell for between 10,000 and 60,000 rupees (US$115–US$680), an expense many lower-middle and low-income families say they cannot afford. Coming from a modest family from Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, Nitish’s father, Kishan Kumar, said buying an air purifier never crossed their mind. “I work in the private sector. We somehow manage our daily life necessities; gadgets like air purifiers have never been a necessity for me to date,” Kumar said. Even for those who manage to buy one, the ongoing costs can be daunting. Replacement filters for some brands cost up to 6,000 rupees and may need changing every three months with constant use, while running a purifier daily can add about 100 rupees a month to electricity bills, depending on the model and usage. Electronics retailer Croma has reported a 30 per cent year-on-year increase in air purifier sales across its online and offline channels, with Delhi-NCR accounting for about 72 per cent of sales across its 225 stores, according to a company statement. Bhavreen Kandhari, co-founder of Warrior Moms – a network of Indian mothers fighting for clean air for children – said the group had been talking about the economic aspect of air pollution for the past three years, “but nobody has listened”. “We have so many mothers in our group [Warrior Moms] who are daily wagers and are struggling to earn a day’s livelihood; how can they afford it?” Kandhari said, referring to the surge in air purifier sales. As Nitish finally agreed to be admitted, 40-year-old Pawan Yadav was struggling to secure a hospital bed. Surviving on an oxygen cylinder, Yadav said he had been battling respiratory illness for almost two years, “but the last few days have been terribly difficult” for him. Yadav, who lives in Delhi and has two children aged seven and nine, said he barely made ends meet as a cook and spending money on an air purifier was next to impossible for him. “I can barely manage to pay for my oxygen gas cylinder; how will I buy an air purifier?” Yadav said. Tax debate over clean air The affordability gap has now reached the courts. Last Wednesday, the Delhi High Court directed the Goods and Services Tax Council to convene at the earliest to consider reducing GST on air purifiers from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, citing the capital’s severe air pollution. Lawyer Kapil Madan, who had filed the petition, told this Week in Asia that he only realised the 18 per cent GST on air purifiers after he went to buy one. “Buying air purifiers is not a luxury; it is an SOS because citizens are forced to buy them due to an extreme emergency crisis. If there were no pollution and the AQI was within permissible levels, one wouldn’t need to buy an air purifier,” Madan said. “Since all medical devices fall under the 5 per cent [GST] slab, air purifiers should be covered under the same definition because they are performing the function of sustaining life.” The government on Friday opposed the proposal and told the court that implementing it would “open a Pandora’s box”. Not a lasting solution? While air purifiers may offer temporary relief, experts say their limited mobility and high cost prevent them from being a lasting solution. “Addressing symptoms can never be a solution […] Therefore, rather than looking at the symptoms, you should look at the source,” said Vimlendu Jha, founder of Swechha, a Delhi-based environmental NGO. “Public problems cannot have a private solution. Some people perhaps will be able to buy an air purifier or do other things, but the reality remains the majority of people will not have access to work from home, or to air purifiers, that is the larger sociopolitical economic landscape of air pollution in that sense.” Jha urged the government to invest in “solving the structural systemic source-based pollution issues”, saying the cost of inaction would outweigh any financial outlay to resolve the issue. Health expert Amar Jesani lamented the lack of clean air that he said should be a basic service provided by the government. Jesani, a researcher and one of the founders of the Mumbai-based Forum for Medical Ethics Society, said there would be no market for equipment like air purifiers if strong regulations were enforced. “Instead of using the technology to clean the air, new technologies are being created to generate a market because actually reducing pollution technology is less profitable,” he said.

In India, New Delhi’s smog crisis exposes the high price of clean air

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The winter smog has widened the affordability gap among residents, with many lower-income families lacking the means to buy an air purifier

The winter smog has widened the affordability gap among residents, with many lower-income families lacking the means to buy an air purifier