Explain why a plastic bag in many Indian cities is seen as a demerit good.

India leads with bans on plastic bags. On June 20 2014, the Times of India reported that Agra was the latest city to ban the use of most types of plastic bags. The reasons here as elsewhere are to curb pollution. The issue with plastic bags is that their irresponsible disposal causes many problems. Plastic bags block drains and the sewage system; they litter streets and public facilities such as parks and cause a health risk to cows and bulls that roam the streets, foraging for food in waste dumps. When disposed of in rivers, the inks used to promote retailers often contain toxic lead which can work its way into drinking water supplies. Their manufacture also poses environmental issues due to the release of toxic fumes into the atmosphere. Six years earlier, the authorities in the capital, Delhi, had led the way by passing a regulation banning plastic bags. For various reasons, this regulation was never properly implemented. So, amidst growing fears over problems of their disposal, any retailer giving out plastic bags could be fined up to 100,000 rupees or five years in jail. Interestingly, a recent survey carried out in Pune showed that around 80% of respondents favoured a complete ban on plastic bags, blaming their production and disposal as a contributor to climate change. This view though is not shared by the many manufacturers of plastic bags. There are over 400 such businesses in Delhi alone and they claim that many thousands of jobs will be lost if the ban is properly enforced. They also argue that using recyclable products like paper, cotton and jute to make bags is not always as environmentally acceptable as it might appear to be. Furthermore, they claim that there is a desperate need for Indian consumers to be made more aware of the damage caused by plastic bags. This, rather than a ban or an indirect tax, should become the focus of how the community wants to control the use of plastic bags in the future. India appears to be taking the lead on bans on plastic bags. Other cities including Mumbai, Karwar, Tirumala, Vasco and Rajasthan all have a ban in place. The problem, as typified by Delhi, is that any ban will only reduce pollution if it is effectively applied.