When we think of air pollution, the smoggy outdoor haze of metropolitan cities comes to mind. With India being home to 21 out of 30 of the world’s most polluted cities, the visualization as an outdoor phenomenon is not completely wrong.
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The ambient concentration of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5 particles that have an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 micrometers, 20-30 times less than the size of a single strand of human hair) in our cities is far more than the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 10µg/m3 as well as that of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Standard 40µg/m3.
As a result, we prefer staying indoors in the safety of controlled environments to protect ourselves from this health hazard. However, many of us are unaware that the level of indoor air pollution in majority of Indian households is far worse than the outdoor ambient air pollution one.
On an average, the Indian population spends 80% of their time in an indoor environment. The PM2.5 concentration in majority of Indian households ranges from 86-882 µg/m3. A higher PM2.5 concentration in a closed environment is ten times more harmful than a similar outdoor concentration because contained areas enable potential pollutants to build up more than open spaces do.
There are several sources of indoor air pollution. These include smoke from fuel burned for heating and cooking, smoke from tobacco, building materials (paints, varnishes, wood flooring, etc.), adhesives in furniture and electronics, broken CFLs and tube lights, excess moisture, and overall outdoor air pollution.
Out of these sources, burning solid fuel for cooking is the leading source of indoor air pollution in India. According to a recent Global Burden of Disease estimation, solid fuel burned for coking accounted for six lakh premature deaths in 2019 in India.
Census of India Projected Population 2019 and Indicators of Social Consumption suggests that 36% of the total Indian population uses solid fuels (firewood, crop residue, cow dung cake, coal, lignite and charcoal) and kerosene as primary cooking fuel as of 2020. The use of solid fuels and kerosene as primary cooking fuels is much higher in rural areas (51%) than in urban areas (9%).
There is a decrease in the use of solid fuels as primary cooking fuel in India because of rising income and the implementation of policies like Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana. In the recent estimation by Global Burden of Disease, it is still ranked sixth among the top risk factors for premature mortalities in India.
A deeper analysis of the latest available microdata of National Sample Survey, Access to Clean Cooking Energy and Electricity and Indicators of Social Consumption indicates that 77% of the Indian population uses solid fuels for cooking either as primary or secondary fuel, much higher than primary solid fuel use data of 36%.
This means that current studies might be underestimating the number of premature mortalities associated with indoor air pollution. The analysis indicates that many LPG users also use solid fuels for cooking as a secondary fuel.
However, there is no or limited direct data available for secondary fuel use by LPG users; therefore, many-a-times, we only consider primary fuel data for scientific studies and policymaking. There are several reasons for the use of secondary solid fuel use by LPG users that includes economic, accessibility of LPG, social, and behavioral reasons. This shows that scientific and policymaking communities need to strongly consider this invisible data of secondary use of solid fuels by LPG users while framing India’s indoor pollution policies.
Besides improving outdoor and indoor air quality by focusing on clean cooking fuel for households would also give other co-benefits such as empowering women and protecting children. Conducting mass awareness programs for secondary solid fuel users who already own an LPG connection can reduce indoor air pollution and associated emissions of 41% of households (secondary fuel user) out of a total of 77% (primary and secondary) solid fuel users. This is a low hanging fruit which will reduce both indoor and outdoor air pollution, however not much is being done in this direction.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.