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Directions (Q. 96 - 100): Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
With India's accelerating growth rate, its air and water pollution will grow even faster. Cities like Delhi and Bengaluru once known for open spaces and gardens, growth and job creation rapidly turned them into polluted urban nightmares. Now, the question is: can cars and clean air co- exist? Yes, they can, even with diesel engines if decision makers give technology and logic a chance.
To combat pollution, India needs to quickly upgrade to Euro-6 emission norms across the country. The technology is proven and available. But refiners want at least four years to upgrade, and some car makers want eight. The current approach seems to ignore emission norms. The strategy is to shoot a rabbit to make a mark as a hunter, even if lions are prowling menacingly. The Delhi government has ordered half the cars to be off the roads on alternate days, but did not ban trucks which are overloaded and have kerosene mixed in their tanks, repaired on the roadside, often with spurious parts, and burn adulterated fuel making themdramatically more polluting. But then, shooting the rabbit is easier. Authorities must ask what made people buy diesel cars. For decades, governments have kept diesel artificially cheap and prescribed lenient emission norms. So is it the buyer's fault for opting for diesel? Ministers and judges should also remember that old cars and diesel taxis won't disappear. Banning them in Delhi will shift the cars and pollution to other districts.
With India's accelerating growth rate, its air and water pollution will grow even faster. Cities like Delhi and Bengaluru once known for open spaces and gardens, growth and job creation rapidly turned them into polluted urban nightmares. Now, the question is: can cars and clean air co- exist? Yes, they can, even with diesel engines if decision makers give technology and logic a chance.
To combat pollution, India needs to quickly upgrade to Euro-6 emission norms across the country. The technology is proven and available. But refiners want at least four years to upgrade, and some car makers want eight. The current approach seems to ignore emission norms. The strategy is to shoot a rabbit to make a mark as a hunter, even if lions are prowling menacingly. The Delhi government has ordered half the cars to be off the roads on alternate days, but did not ban trucks which are overloaded and have kerosene mixed in their tanks, repaired on the roadside, often with spurious parts, and burn adulterated fuel making themdramatically more polluting. But then, shooting the rabbit is easier. Authorities must ask what made people buy diesel cars. For decades, governments have kept diesel artificially cheap and prescribed lenient emission norms. So is it the buyer's fault for opting for diesel? Ministers and judges should also remember that old cars and diesel taxis won't disappear. Banning them in Delhi will shift the cars and pollution to other districts.
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