By Onkareshwar Pandey
When economist Bernard London coined the term “Planned Obsolescence” in 1932, he warned against a system where products are deliberately designed to die young so consumers are forced to buy again. Nearly a century later, India has institutionalized this very principle in its Vehicle Scrappage Policy
Delhi’s new permanent vehicle rules, drawn from Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), are presented as bold steps against pollution. They include the “No PUC, No Fuel” mandate—requiring every vehicle to carry a valid Pollution Under Control certificate before refueling—and a blanket ban on non-BS6 commercial vehicles entering the city. Trucks and goods carriers must now shift to BS6, CNG, or electric alternatives. On paper, these measures appear decisive.
But beneath the rhetoric lies a harsher reality. By mandating de-registration after 10, 15, or 20 years and offering only token exchange value, the state has effectively declared that longevity is a crime and replacement a virtue. This is not environmentalism—it is economic extraction disguised as green action. Automakers, who once sold vehicles under government-certified BS-III, IV, and V standards, escape accountability entirely, while citizens are punished for owning cars that contribute barely 2% to Delhi’s pollution load.
This is not policy. It is plunder. The Core Deception: 2% Crime, 90% Punishment.
Scientific evidence has long exposed the mismatch between pollution sources and government action. The IIT Kanpur Comprehensive Study (2015) found that cars contribute only 2–5% to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels. The real culprits are road dust (38%), industrial emissions, and construction activities.
Yet enforcement tells a different story. More than 90% of punitive measures—bans, fines, “No PUCC, No Fuel” restrictions, scrapping orders—fall squarely on private car owners. This is not science; it is the “easy target syndrome.” Citizens are fined because they are visible, traceable, and powerless, unlike dust contractors or industrial giants who escape scrutiny.
The result is a grotesque inversion of justice: a policy that punishes the innocent while letting the guilty walk free.
The Human Cost: Middle-Class Dreams Crushed
Behind every scrapped car lies a story of shattered savings and broken dignity. Families who invested their life earnings in a vehicle now watch it condemned not for failing emission tests, but for crossing an arbitrary age threshold.
Over five lakh cars have already been scrapped, many of them fully functional. Another twelve lakh vehicles have been barred from entering Delhi, destroying livelihoods dependent on inter-city mobility. In total, nearly thirty lakh families—about 1.5 crore people—are directly affected, suffering financial distress, mobility loss, and psychological anxiety.
This is not modernization. It is the systematic dismantling of middle-class security, a forced transfer of wealth from households to corporations.
Policy as a Corporate Pipeline
The government’s own words betray its intent. At Auto Expo 2023, SIAM President Vinod Aggarwal openly admitted: “The scrappage policy will definitely help in boosting demand for new vehicles.”
Every old car scrapped is a new car sold. The environment is the pretext; profit is the principle. Citizens are not being protected from pollution—they are being converted into captive consumers for the automobile industry.
Global Standards: Fitness Over Age, India Stands Alone
Across the world, governments regulate vehicles by their fitness, not their birth certificate. The principle is simple: if a car passes rigorous emission and safety checks, it remains roadworthy—whether it is five years old or fifty.
In the United Kingdom, the annual MOT test allows even a 20-year-old car to run legally if it meets standards. In Germany and the wider EU, the TÜV inspection is famously stringent, but age is irrelevant. Japan’s Shaken system is tough and uncompromising, yet it is based on fitness, not chronology. And in Singapore, far from banning old cars, the state encourages preservation of vintage vehicles through its Classic Car Scheme.
India, however, stands alone in equating age with pollution. A 15-year-old car is condemned regardless of its condition, emissions, or maintenance. This is not science—it is prejudice. It mistakes chronology for chemistry, punishing citizens while ignoring the real culprits.
This is a scientifically bankrupt, economically wasteful, and profoundly unjust approach.
The Research Black Hole: Policy Without Science
The tragedy is compounded by the absence of science in policymaking. India claims to fight pollution, yet refuses to invest in the research that would make such a fight credible.The Comptroller and Auditor General’s Report No. 18 of 2023 revealed that ₹4,351 crore—nearly 29% of the environment budget—was allowed to lapse unused between 2017 and 2022. That is an average of ₹870 crore wasted annually, money that could have funded real-time monitoring, source apportionment studies, or independent research. Instead, policies continue to rely on a decade-old IIT Kanpur study from 2015, while the world has moved on to live data.
Contrast this with global best practices. The United States updates its National Emissions Inventory every three years. The European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service provides real-time data across the continent. China, often criticized for its pollution, has built a network of over 1,500 high-tech monitoring stations that track sources live and guide targeted interventions.India fights pollution with a blindfold, and the middle class pays the price for this deliberate ignorance.
Final Words: A Choice Between Governance and Plunder
The Delhi model—2% responsibility, 90% punishment—is more than a failed environmental strategy. It is a revelation of governance priorities. It exposes a system willing to sacrifice the economic stability of millions to feed a cycle of corporate consumption, all under the benevolent banner of “green action.”
The path to correction is clear, yet untaken: shift from age-based prejudice to fitness-based justice, target real polluters with precision, and invest in the public infrastructure that offers genuine alternatives.
The ultimate failure is one of imagination and integrity. It is the failure to see citizens as partners to be empowered, not as deficits to be managed or resources to be extracted. Until policy is anchored in evidence and equity, Delhi’s air will remain toxic, and the public’s trust will remain broken. The battle is no longer just about pollution control—it is about reclaiming the very purpose of governance.
(Onkareshwar Pandey is a senior journalist and analyst with four decades of experience across media pillars. He is a founder of ‘Golden Signatures’ and ‘Elections Strategist,’ and currently serves as an Executive Fellow at Voxsen University and Professor of Practice at CIDC.)