Lost in translation.
Dr Sarika Verma ENT Surgeon and Allergy Specialist
It seems to me, when it comes to air pollution Indians are speaking different languages.The Supreme court thinks we should get clean air, the liberals are fighting to ensure cracker bans are enforced, the right wing thinks cracker bans are an affront to Sanatan Dharma and most citizens are totally okay burning crackers after all- Diwali comes only once a year.
Those of us who have visited US, UK, Canada, Europe and admired the clean air and blue skies often wonder why we can’t have the same in India. It is because the average Indian doesn’t care two bits about the air they breathe.They don’t care if the AQI is 400 or 700, they don’t care if we have any trees or no trees, they don’t care that their lives are cut short by 10 years or that breathing NCR air is like smoking 15 cigarettes. For all we know, they will probably think, we might as well smoke 15 cigarettes, itna discipline se mila hi kya.
The Supreme court can go on about stopping parali burning and cracker bans, the government- centre and states just don’t care to do anything about it. There has been no high level meetings on air pollution in 9+ years, headed either by PM or minister of environment and climate change. Indians have bad air because they don’t care enough to fix it. It simply isn’t an issue.
For the few of us who care so much that the entire next generation should get clean air- we are labelled anti Hindus, anti nationals, doing nautanki politics. It’s not surprising that lakhs of kids from affluent homes study and settle abroad, and that those who can, are leaving India in droves.
When one talks about crackers – “what about parali” starts. Parali burning can only be fixed by changing the laws regarding Punjab ground water conservation. The Supreme court can keep harping about cracker bans, but the state government will not enforce the ban, police will not issue challans or confiscate crackers, people will buy and sell and burn crackers till 1 am. As long as we are doing whataboutery, nothing good is going to happen.
The entire world is talking about riding cycles in city premises , renewable energy, sustainable development, ecologically designed buildings, growing your own food, reducing the carbon footprint; most Indians still think clean air is not even a necessity.
Some things are clearly lost in translation 💔
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