5 min readNew DelhiDec 23, 2025 04:09 PM IST
First published on: Dec 21, 2025 at 05:07 PM IST
“Sujalam suphalam malayaja sheetalam/ Shasya shyamalam mataram/Shubhra jyotsna pulakita yaminim/Phulla kusumita drumadala shobhinim/Suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim/Sukhadam varadam mataram”. Gushing streams, cool winds, lush fields — the national song, Vande Mataram, evokes nature as a life-giving force. It’s terribly ironic, however, that when the song, rich in environmental imagery, was being passionately debated in Parliament – and in the weeks preceding and following it – the air in Delhi and its surrounding areas was blanketed in thick layers of soot.
The debate, and especially the proceedings in Parliament in the days following it, could have been an occasion to introspect – initiate a conversation on ways to confront a scourge that has been playing havoc with the health of people, not just in Delhi but in large parts of the country. The ruling BJP framed the proceeding as an exercise in historical clarification. Large sections of the Opposition, led by the Congress, questioned the need for parliamentary time being allotted to the exercise. Air pollution was mentioned a few times during the Winter Session. But even as Parliament commemorated the 150th anniversary of the national song, it failed to take the right inspiration from its verses. The references to unclean air in the just-concluded session were desultory, they did not lead to meaningful discussions.
Countries are known to revisit their history during periods of national reckoning. Demands of geopolitics, economic imperatives, and even cultural quests require nations to engage with the past to find new ways forward. Similarly, the questions asked by nature today, climate change and pollution, require fresh perspectives, new ways of joining the dots between ecology and economy. In a rightful hurry to catch the developmental bus – create more jobs, build better infrastructure, eradicate poverty — India must also take a route that doesn’t injure its forests and mountains or pollute its air and waters. That’s not an easy task, something that can be undertaken in a few weeks or even months. A single session of Parliament isn’t enough for the purpose. Yet, it’s precisely the complexity of this environmental reckoning which demands that the endeavour to address it be owned and led by those chosen by citizens to represent them in the country’s highest decision-making portal.
Instead of being an exercise in cultural posturing that, at times, tended to flatten historical complexities, the commemoration of a song that describes the country as a thriving ecosystem could have been an occasion to renew India’s tryst with ecology. At a time when people in Delhi had taken to the streets to demand clean air, parliamentarians could have sent a message for much-needed accountability in environmental governance. They could have done so by asking the most obvious questions: Why are the pollution control boards in several parts of the country short-staffed? Why aren’t air quality monitoring gadgets positioned at the right places, even in the national capital? Why do a large number of thermal power stations in Delhi, as pointed out by this newspaper, operate without systems that are critical to reducing sulphur dioxide emissions? What would it require to give meaningful effect to the policy on electric vehicles?
Postponing answers to such questions will not just mean intensifying the health risks of the present generation but also severely imperil the right of the future generations to live in a clean environment – a right recognised by the Supreme Court, in umpteen verdicts, as integral to the Right to Life. Study after study has pointed out how poor air affects the quality of people’s lives in the country. Last year, a report in The Lancet concluded that no one in India lives in an area where the yearly average pollution levels are below the WHO norms. A growing body of scholarship has also shown that officials in India’s municipalities do not recognise the seriousness of the country’s air crisis. But the failure of Parliament to have a meaningful discussion on pollution, even when particulate matter was running amok in the national capital – and other parts of the country – invites even more worrying questions: Is the gravity of the situation eluding parliamentarians as well? Has the government registered the sobering message underlined in several studies – Viksit Bharat cannot be built by a population choking on poor air?
Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav has reportedly issued an AQI-improvement ultimatum to Delhi’s environmental authorities. The haze might lift somewhat in about a week. However, if there’s one thing that the capital’s long-suffering citizens know, it’s this: Fiats and emergency responses, at best, provide temporary relief. The anti-pollution protests of the past few weeks have pointed this out. A few hundred kms away, ecological well-being is also at the core of agitations to protect the Aravallis. When it convenes in the new year, Parliament should course-correct — find ways to give expression to such voices.
Till next week,
Kaushik Das Gupta
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At a time when people in Delhi had taken to the streets to demand clean air, parliamentarians could have sent a message for much-needed accountability in environmental governance. (Credit: sansad.in, enhanced using Google Gemini)
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