Comments on The Thinking Life – blog by Dr. Manas Fuloria: Improving the air quality in our cities

This is a typical scenario where no one cared to g...

2010-03-15T20:44:40.525+05:30

This is a typical scenario where no one cared to give a thought to the externalities of the decision to mandate the emission certificate. Personally, I am not a big fan of certifications; I see them more as a means of shifting liability having more spin and less substance. The problem becomes worse if there is no mechanism to monitor the certifying authorities. 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes'. We have seen numerous time how and why such certification efforts fail; mainly because the incentives are not correctly aligned. If Alice guards a system and Bob pays the price of failure, then such a system is bound to fail. If the certifying authorities have no incentive to be strict, they won't be. The incentive in this case (as you rightly said) should be a punitive measure against the certifier if the vehicle bearing their stamp is sub-par. Otherwise these certifiers have all the incentive to stoop as low as possible in order to get more business. The ensuing race to the bottom leads to an adverse selection where most of the certificates are below par.

Sir, the idea of punishing even the defaulters wit...

2010-03-12T22:35:54.098+05:30

Sir, the idea of punishing even the defaulters with PUC (although a lesser amount), is a great idea. I would like to know your views as to why the Delhi government can’t take more stringent steps to solve the problem. The steps could include –

1. Charging a much higher price to the person whose vehicle crosses the critical limit. They could be forced to replace the old cars or get the engines properly serviced and then returning their money back (with a minimum fee charged as penalty).

2. The government can also ban certain outdated models which do not meet the pollution control norms
I think these steps could help control the pollution to a larger extent.

With Regards
Robin Singh Vasu
(Fall’09)

Sir it is highly intelligent idea but if you want ...

2010-03-05T22:18:07.653+05:30

Sir it is highly intelligent idea but if you want to let reach your voice to the relevent authority then what could be the standard procedure?
I would love to know the answer.