Pollution in Delhi not just an elite concern

According to a 2010 study by the health department, 43% of children in Delhi have impaired lung capacity. This means that, come winter, most children, irrespective of whether they live in plush Jorbagh or downmarket Jahangirpuri, will be prone to asthma attacks

Over the 20 years in which I have been working on environmental issues, one thing has remained constant – most policy makers in India feel that pollution is a concern of the elite. The country needs to deal with other urgent issues before it considers tackling pollution, they believe. Take the example of Delhi’s worsening air quality. Most policy makers feel that it is a concern for only the affluent folks of South Delhi. I do live in South Delhi, but doesn’t a child living in a slum colony breathe the same toxic fumes that my child does?

According to a 2010 study by the health department, 43% of children in Delhi have impaired lung capacity. This means that, come winter, most children, irrespective of whether they live in plush Jorbagh or downmarket Jahangirpuri, will be prone to asthma attacks. On Diwali night, when the pollution levels rose up to 40 times the permissible limits, all of us breathed the same toxic air. Many of us experienced ashtma attacks.

The only difference being that the ones in Jorbagh managed to be able to rush their kids, in their own cars, to a nearby private hospital. The policy makers too breathe the same smoke-filled air. It makes wonder why they don’t take any concrete steps in their own selfish interest.

While we can keep discussing the numbers and the data but most specialists would agree that vehicles are responsible for around 40% of air pollution in Delhi. Large part of this is coming from an ever-increasing number of diesel vehicles in Delhi. We are perhaps the only country in the world that subsidises diesel so that rich can drive SUVs on this cheap fuel. My tax money is used to underwrite diesel that is recognised by the World Health Organisation as a class 1 carcinogen. Can it get more bizarre than this?

Who is influencing regressive policy making? Surely not the auto makers who are investing heavily in reducing pollution from their vehicles. But then these low-emission, BS VI standard, vehicles are meant for Europe, a continent with First World countries. Lungs in a Third World nation like ours can withstand more pollution and hence we allow the automakers to sell cars with a lesser standard, the BS IV, here.

However, this is not an anomaly for the policy makers who repeat their favourite story ad nauseam – the west too was very polluted once; pollution is a necessary evil for growth. This is old economics of the Kuznet curve era; ‘when a nation grows and becomes rich, it has resources to clean up its environment’. Now with better science, we know that climate change is irreversible so we can’t continue to pollute and then clean up later. With better technology, we can leap frog too. We don’t have to make the same mistakes.

Hunger, poverty and homelessness are urgent issues that we need to address here in India. But it is not a case of either/ or. Pollution impacts the poor and the rich and clean air is as fundamental and needs to be addressed now. (Courtesy: http://scroll.in; Reena Gupta is a mother and an environmentalist. She used to work at the World Bank)

By Reena Gupta