India, Nov. 26 -- The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) revising the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) system for the NCR - moving key measures that kicked in under Grap 4 to Grap3 - to tackle the worsening pollution is a welcome step. Pollution in the national Capital and abutting cities is a legacy issue and can be resolved only by adapting a scientific approach and working out a long-term plan. The first step is to acknowledge the problem with all its accompanying headaches. To that end, the Delhi government must improve the quality of pollution data so that plans and measures can be tweaked according to the seriousness of the situation. There have been several questions over the integrity of the pollution data, which is not good augury for both mapping out solutions and engendering public trust in the seriousness in tackling the problem. Two, the government should not shy away from a free and frank discussion on the issue. In fact, it must view the public protests underway in the national Capital positively, and as a way to draw in public attention to the problem and generate traction for non-populist measures such as restrictions on construction - even as it works out solutions for daily-wagers whose livelihoods depend on such work - and higher parking fees to dissuade private transport. Three, it must build political consensus on addressing the problem. Now that all of Delhi's neighbouring states and the Centre are governed by the same party, working out a common policy for the NCR and enforcing it should be politically easier than before. There is increased public awareness about pollution, especially air quality, now. This should be leveraged to finetune policies that benefit the greater good....