Opinion When we give up hope for our children
The logic that whatever the AQI the show must go on, business must be uninterrupted is revealing. Our idea of progress and prosperity is playing havoc with children’s minds and bodies.
A childhood at risk is an anticipation of humanity at risk. On World Children’s Day, celebrated annually on November 20, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi-NCR showed shocking levels of particulate matter. On this occasion, a question should have haunted us all: How can we violate our children’s right to health and well-being? Unfortunately, there is a fatalistic and grudging acceptance of air pollution as part of everyday living. The logic that the show must go on and business must remain uninterrupted is revealing. Our idea of what constitutes progress and prosperity is playing havoc with children’s minds and bodies.
Every year, from Delhi in India to Lahore in Pakistan, the situation worsens in winter. Children are forced to endure particulate matter-laden smog in order to get to school. The Commission for Air Quality Management issues advisories and directs the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi amidst the annual blame game. Warnings about how worsening AQI increases the respiratory vulnerability of children and the elderly come like clockwork, but everything seems to be mere lip service.
According to a World Health Organisation report, billions of children in low- and middle-income countries are adversely impacted by PM 2.5 and PM10. Nitrogen oxide and other pollutants also contribute to worsening air quality. It’s not just stubble and waste burning or construction dust — vehicular pollution is also a significant contributing factor to bad air. Exposure to ambient and household air pollution leads to the death of one in 10 children worldwide, and various illnesses have been linked to it. Studies have also revealed that long-term exposure to polluted air impairs the cognitive abilities in children.
In their prescriptions for children affected by bad air, pulmonologists and pediatricians have started writing, “leave the city” or “use an air purifier” or “stay home”. Schools conduct classes in hybrid mode and a claim of compliance with the pollution advisory is officially made.
Citizens’ protests and judicial interventions have so far yielded little beyond palliatives from the state. Meanwhile, the adult imagination continues to calculate prosperity in terms of conspicuous consumption. In addition to reminding ourselves of the rights of children as part of an annual ritual, we must ask ourselves: How are adult ideas and practices responsible for diminished and damaged childhoods? A childhood at risk is an anticipation of humanity at risk.
The writer is associate dean, Faculty of Social Sciences & Centre for Inspiring Rights of Children for Learning and Empowerment, South Asian University
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