Call it the Gurugram model of urban development. In this familiar pattern, the conurbation grows fast, government action on public goods lags, and citizens fend for themselves. If residents were once used to arranging their own power backup, security and even roads, the degraded common resource most metro dwellers are now trying to clean or avoid is the most plentiful of all—air. It is no longer only about masks and indoor purifiers. Portable purifiers and lotions claiming an ‘anti-pollution factor’ are flying off the shelves—never mind expert advice that these methods are unproven. Even hyperbaric chambers, meant to raise blood oxygen levels for medical purposes, are now marketed as anti-pollution services. None of these innovations make a dent in the public problem.
The angst reached such a level this Sunday that when the Delhi Police tried to remove young protestors demanding cleaner air—the second such remonstrance this month— some protestors allegedly used pepper spray on the policemen. Twenty-two of them were taken into judicial custody and charged with obstructing police work and making ‘assertions prejudicial to national integration’, as some also raised slogans for the killed Maoist leader Madvi Hidma. Even if causes got confusingly coupled in Delhi, the greyness over Bengaluru and Mumbai held steady. In recent weeks, the IT capital—especially the densely populated East Bengaluru—has seen unprecedented air-quality index levels of 150–170. The commercial capital’s air has also stayed far above safe limits. It is no longer just a ‘Delhi problem’.
The critical question is: how many Indians can afford these ad hoc personal solutions? And what about the public health burden? The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air recently highlighted that young children are the most vulnerable, as they breathe faster and absorb more pollutants. For a fair public discourse, we must first remove the artificial cap of 500 on official AQI counts, as independent monitors often notch far higher. The biggest culprits remain traffic congestion, unclean construction, and open waste or fuel burning. Clearly, mandated measures are falling well short. If governance is about doing the greatest good for the greatest number, the most abundant public good has to be urgently cleaned up in the world’s most populous nation.