India’s battle against pollution seems to be a losing one. Otherwise, how does one explain that 14 out of world’s 15 most polluted cities are in India? It is a matter of shame that India has landed in such a big mess and stands with its reputation sullied when it nurses an unbridled ambition to be counted among the leaders of the world. The World Health Organisation (WHO) report released on Wednesday morning flags this serious issue. Apart from Ai Subah Al-Salem in Kuwait, 14 of the 15 most polluted cities of the world are in India. While this should ring alarm bells for Indian policymakers, it should be a wake-up call for the entire bureaucracy, people and stakeholders as to what’s in store for the country in the near future.
If no interventions are done at this juncture, there will be serious consequences for India. Even if one were to go by the WHO report, these fourteen cities are in northern India. Uttar Pradesh with four of its cities including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Parliamentary constituency of Varanasi, apart from Kanpur, Lucknow and Agra figure prominently in the global most-polluted cities list. Bihar has three cities on the list: Gaya, Patna and Muzaffarpur. Rajasthan (Jaipur, Jodhpur), Punjab (Patiala), Delhi, Haryana (Gurugram, Faridabad) Jammu & Kashmir (Srinagar) make up the remaining states in the country.
Shockingly, over one million people die annually in India owing to this catastrophe in the making. This is against seven million pollution-related deaths in the entire world. Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, is the seventh most-polluted city in the world. No wonder then that the famous monument to love is turning yellow and green.
India will need to take the report with the seriousness and alarm it deserves. An ‘environmental emergency’ may have to be immediately declared in India to deal with the issue on a war footing. The Modi government will have to devise alternatives to counter domestic, agricultural and industrial causes leading to pollution. One such move was to try and provide cooking gas to over four crore families. But more families must be covered under the programme. Similarly, vehicular pollution needs to be brought down. This would involve switching to environment-friendly fuel for two-wheel and four-wheel transport quickly. While moving to electric vehicles is an option, vehicle pooling, frequent use of public transport systems like metro, odd–even vehicular movement on alternative days should be part of the solution.
The evolution of technologies that lead to energy efficiency is a continuous process and India may have to flag it in policy-making process. New and renewable energy resources will have to be tapped to improve air quality. This will also help conserve fossil fuels and reduce dependency on crude imports. The WHO report is a grim reminder that India is slipping in the battle against pollution and there is little time to lose.