SC says public awareness, not curbs alone, can help curb pollution
The Indian Supreme Court has stated that judicial restrictions alone are insufficient to combat Delhi's severe air pollution. The bench emphasized that public awareness campaigns are more effective than punitive measures, which often lead to increased public defiance.
Why it matters
It highlights a shift in judicial strategy regarding environmental regulation, moving from top-down mandates to community-based awareness in one of the world's most polluted cities.
NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that the enormous amount of judicial time spent over the years to tackle pollution in Delhi had yielded only marginal benefits, Supreme Court Friday said when more and more restrictions, without scientific basis, were put in place, people tended to violate them with a vengeance, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.Reflecting on numerous orders and subsequent monitoring of their implementation to improve air quality, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said, "To think we can achieve air quality of less than 100 (AQI) in Delhi during winters is utopian when 'very poor' and 'severe' have become the new normal."When amicus curiae and senior advocate Aparajita Singh flagged news reports on normal crackers being sold as green crackers and attributed part of the rising pollution to it, the ben-ch said the capital was witnessing bumper-to-bumper traf-fic for the last few days and wi-th…
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