Pollution Collusion

Hidden culprits are silently stoking pollution and SPM levels. Among them are industrial emissions, shipping zones, power plants... And you, cooking at home

- RAJEEV NARAYAN

"We're the first generation to feel the full effects of Climate Change. And the last generation that can do something about it." -Barack Obama

Blaming my brand-new car and the country's bewildered farmers for increasing pollution and SPM (suspended particulate matter) levels may give you a vicarious thrill; it might make you feel absolved and vindicated. It will make you insanely wrong too, because it means you have failed to recognize the systemic nature of the problem—that there are bigger hunters at work here. And unless they are tamed and kicked into line, there will be no absolution. Studies conducted by leading organizations, Indian and international, insist there are many hidden culprits defiling the air you and I breathe; among them industrial emissions, shipping zones, power plants. And you too, merrily cooking at home.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's website is as ticklish on this issue as it is telling: "There's so much pollution in the air that if it weren't for our lungs, there'd be no place to put it all. Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the Earth..." It is surprising to see a state-backed online channel getting quirky about a serious problem, but it is refreshing too—it underscores the fact that even the otherwise-occupied are now seized of the life-threatening plight we find ourselves in.

As former United States President Barack Obama says in his quote above, the world needs to act now, more so if it wants a tomorrow for the generations to follow. On the pollution and SPM scale of things, things have reached crisis level worldwide. For a moment, let's speak India. And in this context, we simply have to speak Delhi, our National Capital which is registering alarming pollution levels, earning it the kick-in-the-nuts award for having the worst air quality in the world.

Insouciant Blame Game