Whose responsibility is it?

It's that time of the year again when noxious air chokes one of our cities worse than ever before. Air pollution in Delhi NCR has spiralled out of control as the capital and its neighbours struggle to breathe. Air pollution and how one grapples with it is at the top of all residents inhabiting National Capital Region. Schools are shut down, business meetings are being cancelled, and people have been forced to remain indoors, dependent on air purifiers that have assumed the status of life support devices.

As I read, watch, and listen to friends and acquaintances complain of ill-health, it transports me back to my own experience of Delhi pollution a couple of years ago. Scratchy throats, grey phlegm while coughing, burning dry eyes, day-long excruciating headaches that start from the eyes and extend till the shoulders…the list went on. And, of course, there was always a feeling of hopelessness and foreboding aided by the overcast skies and thick smog. Till one day, I just couldn't take it anymore. Why must I fight a daily battle with pollution every day? How many days could I afford to escape into the Hills of north India? How much physical pain could I tolerate? I decided, nothing was worth my health and luckily for me, I could plan work across two cities. So, while Delhi remained integral to my work life, I could escape from the pollution as often as I wanted. But how many have this luxury? Most have homes, ageing parents, school-going children, businesses, and jobs that don't allow them to just leave a city.

Obviously, the vast majority of the residents of the National Capital Region can't even consider leaving as an option. They live, work, and struggle to take in clean air. Their health deteriorating with each passing day even as apathetic MPs and bureaucrats skip high-level meetings called to discuss, what is clearly, a health emergency. Who takes the responsibility of providing breathable air to the citizens? We are not yet living in a dystopian world but why then has clean air becoming a privilege?

How is it that between the Ram Temple, Babri Masjid, Rafale, etc., our political class is completely negligent of the most basic Indian right — the right to life? Something which is impossible without clean air. This problem is not Delhi's alone and can't be solved just by the national capital. Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi need to sit across a table and come up with urgent solutions. And, only the central government can broker a mutually acceptable understanding between all parties.

India boasts of ranking third in the global startup ecosystem; so why haven't we asked our brilliant startups to come up with a lasting solution. Are we speaking enough to scientists and innovators to look for answers? Are we speaking to farmers of Punjab and Haryana and finding out why they continue to burn stubble? The use of combine harvesters that leaves crop residues behind makes farmers choose the cheaper option of burning the stubble rather than spending money on ploughing it back into the soil. Since these alternate options offered to them are too expensive, they become unviable. Have we thought of ways to subsidise the cost to help them? More attention also needs to be drawn to agrarian policies. For example, farmers opt for water-intensive rice crops because the government offers guaranteed prices for rice, that is, in turn, exported out of the country, making India the world's biggest exporter of rice.

When the Notre-Dame de Paris caught fire earlier this year, in less than 24 hours 850 million euros had been pledged by a clutch of billionaires towards its restoration. India has some of the richest men in the world, why are they not philanthropic enough to make counter-pollution measures their passion project? Even the rest of us who are away from the toxic fumes must also demand action from the state and central governments, instead of quietly gloating at our luck! I exhort this because no one seems to be taking responsibility for this health crisis but we can clearly see the victims — the common man.

Shutapa Paul is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are strictly personal