Just as Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s ambitious "odd-even" formula, aimed at reducing pollution and traffic congestion in Delhi, began its second run on the 15th of April, a friend reached out to me to help her daughter write a 3-minute long debate piece on "Odd-even Formula is good for Delhi". Interestingly, she first prepared her speech for the motion. Later, when she made it to the next round, she was asked to prepare her speech against the motion.
Since I helped her with both and since odd-even formula is up and running again, I thought why not share both the debate pieces here. So here we go:
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Debate piece 'for the motion':
The heart of India, Delhi, is reaching new heights - this time, however, it is breaking all records in increasing pollution levels and decreasing air quality. According to a WHO survey of 1600 cities, Delhi has the worst air quality of all major cities of the world. Actually, you don't even need to look at surveys to gauge the deteriorating condition. Just step out on the busy roads of Delhi and you can easily feel first-hand what that means. There are no two views about the fact that we need really urgent and drastic steps to control the situation.
The Delhi government introduced one such measure to immediately counter the Delhi Pollution - the now famous odd-even formula. What this means is that one is only allowed to drive cars with odd registration numbers on odd dates of the month and even registration numbers on even dates of the month.The whole idea was to cut down the number of cars on Delhi Roads by almost half at any given point of time. The intention was two folds:
(1) Cut down on fuel emissions of cars; and
(2) De-congest Delhi roads.
The odd-even formula that was implemented in January achieved stupendous success on both counts. Of course, there were reservations. You are already hearing the words of my dear friend who is putting his/her heart and soul in trying to convince you that the formula is useless. But even they would have to admit that they saw near empty roads in Delhi probably first time in their life. Can you even imagine reaching our school all the way from Gurgaon in 25 minutes flat? Yes, my friends, my mom actually achieved that feat during the odd-even formula. As to air quality during the formula days, all surveys proved that ambient air pollution came down. You will at least believe the numbers?
Also, you will definitely agree with me that there were scores of other benefits achieved during the formula days. People went all out to use public transports, car pools, share cabs. They made friends, interacted more with others and in general fostered friendships and happiness. Moreover, people showed amazing discipline and patience. Now aren't these qualities we would like to encourage more and more? They also learnt the importance of environment friendly travelling like using the metro, opting for CNG cars instead of Petrol and Diesel, etc.
As for arguments of inconvenience and security of women, I think that the government itself had included all necessary provisions of exemptions to need any further discussion on the same.
Honestly friends, I am now looking forward to the next round of odd-even formula in April so as to again be able to breathe freely and relax. I am sure you all must be just as eager as me.
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Debate piece 'against the motion':
The heart of India, Delhi, is reaching new heights - this time, however, it is breaking all records in increasing pollution levels and decreasing air quality. It is true that pollution is at its peak in Delhi. According to a WHO survey of 1600 cities, Delhi has the worst air quality of all major cities of the world. It's high time we all did something about it before the situation gets out of control.
The Delhi government introduced an extreme measure to tackle the pollution, namely, the odd-even formula, where one is only allowed to drive cars with odd registration numbers on odd dates of the month and even registration numbers on even dates of the month. No matter how noble the intentions of the Delhi government and no matter how much my dear friend tries to convince you, the fact is that the plan was an absolute failure. All the analysis show that the air pollution levels, instead of improving, worsened during the 15 days. The web-portal 'IndiaSpend' shows that the air pollution levels had reached "severe" on 11 out of 15 days and were on the level "very poor" on remaining 4 days.
The reasons were simple: There were exceptions granted to two-wheelers which are the biggest source of pollution in Delhi. Moreover, women drivers too were allowed to drive all vehicles on all days which diluted the purpose. And, to top it all, they supplemented the shoddy public transport system with old and school buses which anyway were affecting pollution levels negatively. And they cannot shut down schools every time naturally.
The only positive effect was de-congestion of roads, which albeit was a temporary phenomenon. In case, odd-even formula becomes permanent or even frequent, this effect will diminish as people will adjust their behaviours accordingly. For example, they will buy second-hand old cars instead of new cars because they will then get to choose the registration numbers - if you already have even, buy odd and vice-versa. Older cars tend to pollute more. Then again, who knows there comes a thriving black market of CNG stickers. Also, it is a drain on public money. The government spends crores on advertisements and arranges traffic personnel and 'volunteers'.
There are many examples of odd-even formula being implemented in countries like China, Cuba, Mexico, etc. But, it may have shown results temporarily but nowhere has it been successful in the long run.
What Delhi needs are concrete permanent measures like dedicated green areas, special encouragement to battery and electric modes of transport, better public transport, etc. and not some mathematical formula that adds and multiplies woes for its citizens rather than reducing pollution.
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Which view do you agree to? Would you like to add to the arguments?
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