From environmental management to risk governance: air pollution case of Delhi, India

Abstract

Air pollution is one of the critical issues for environmental management as well as public health. Increasing pollution risk decreases the quality of life and reduces life expectancy. This paper focuses on increasing air pollution risks in the capital of India. New Delhi is a major hotspot due to the high probability of risk and impact arising from air pollution. Administrative, legal, and non-state agencies have put all possible institutional interventions to alert the citizens and reduce the risks. However, even after decades of intervention, the battle continues. This paper attempts to understand the air pollution phenomenon from the lens of the concept of risk governance. In Delhi, the political process to govern the risk of air pollution is a primary subject of investigation in this research. The paper analyses interventions taken since the 1970s. It presents a concise picture of how risk governance machinery has managed the evolving risk.