Opinion Welcome to Delhi, where denial mixes with smog
The elite, the bureaucrats, the rich businessmen, the politicians, the judges, even if they are aware of the damage of air pollution, are not bothered. I ask myself why? Then I realise they all have a device called the ‘air purifier’
Morning AQIs regularly range between 600 and 1100 but the system only releases the lowest reading of the day. 
As a senior resident of Delhi, I have watched with dismay how, over the last 11 years, the pollution level in the city has only moved one way. In 2015, an Air Quality Index (AQI) level of 400 was considered hazardous, unsafe. Stubble burning, dust bowl, firecrackers, and low-quality diesel were terms we learnt. The Supreme Court sprang to life and issued bans. A new government in the state announced radical policies, including “odd-even” traffic management — a policy it never really had the guts to implement properly. Non-government agencies threw their hats in the ring and asked to be put on committees, which would help the state resolve issues. It seemed that for once, the world was in sync, and this poison in our lungs would be sent packing soon.
Cut to 2025. A newly elected state government runs to the Supreme Court and asks for the ban on green firecrackers to be lifted. The court passes an order it knows it cannot implement — to limit the firecrackers to two nights and two hours each night. I recorded non-stop firecrackers until 3.30 am on Diwali night. Then I gave up. The next morning, we were told the AQI was 1100 plus. Oh well, that must be the new normal then. The Chief Minister then decided to “seed clouds”. The clouds turned down the seeding. Suddenly, there was a break in pollution levels – very temporary because the monsoon had delayed stubble burning and also acted as a calming effect on the roaring AQI. But look out for November, we were told. That was when the dust bowl, the overwhelming number of motorised vehicles and the stubble burning would join hands in their coordinated attack.
Morning AQIs regularly range between 600 and 1100 but the system only releases the lowest reading of the day. Politicians are busy fudging statistics. Sprinklers come up near pollution gauges so that readings seem more moderate. And, we the people are unaware of the damage it is doing to our lungs. The Prime Minister has not spoken in a convincing manner about the pollution he lives in every day. Nor has the central government made it an issue to take up with any seriousness. Lest it seem that this is a Delhi-centric problem, take a look around. Half the country’s going down the poisonous air hole.
The elite, the bureaucrats, the rich businessmen, the politicians, the judges, even if they are aware of the damage of air pollution, are not bothered. I ask myself why? Then I realise they all have a device called an “air purifier”. Posh buildings have air purifiers. I have two small purifiers in my house. But if you remove even 50,000 air purifiers from the city, which presumably provide relief to two lakh people, what about the remaining 22 million who have to make do without any such relief? There’s a cynicism at work here. The poor have no life, anyway. If pollution does not kill them, hunger will. The lower middle classes live with kerosene, diesel and garbage. They never mind. So how many are we left with? The few thousand who are aware of what this criminal neglect is doing to their babies, the young, unaware of how their parents are sacrificing them to the greed or ignorance, or even helplessness of today? The feeble old, who have little time left anyway? Human beings have a great capacity to rationalise away what they do not want to deal with. It’s called living in denial. Welcome to the brave new world.
The writer is a Delhi-based filmmaker
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