Air pollution kills! That IS a fact…and there is no one debating that…Moreover, Delhi was ranked by the WHO as the second most polluted city in the world in 2016. [Of course, it is still better than the No. 1 position it held in 2014…oh, forget it…who are we kidding!]
Having put that disclaimer in place, let’s first define air pollution so that there is no ambiguity whatsoever. You see, air gets polluted anytime gases, games, dust particles or smoke are released into the atmosphere. The polluted air in turn causes diseases in both humans, animals…and even food crops. A simple reading of the definition, therefore, would mean that burning firecrackers cause smoke to release into the air, which in turn causes air pollution. There…now that too is not open to debate.
Let us, however, look at a few things a little more in depth before we argue the validity of the Supreme Court’s decision.
In 2016, the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal decided to become the crusader for the Common Man in his quest to breathe clean air. His solution was deviously simple: Odd-Even! [Note: I bet, kids finally understood the practical application of mathematical knowledge.]
Of course, the joys of the IIT Kharagpur alum was shot down by another IIT…this time, Kanpur, which released a report pointing out that (a) vehicular pollution only accounted for 9% of Delhi’s PM10 emissions (with only 20% in the case of PM2.5) and (b) four-wheelers accounted for merely a tenth of this. Which means, mathematically speaking…that four-wheelers accounts for only .009 of PM10 emissions. Do you now wonder why the Odd-Even, no matter how gimmicky…was always destined to fail…no matter, how good or noble the intentions of the Common Man’s CM.
As per the IIT Kanpur study, the biggest and the largest contributor to Delhi’s air pollution are industries and power-plants, which accounts for over 90% of the air-pollution in Delhi. In fact, they account for 98% of the SO2 and 60% of NOx emissions in Delhi. Now, tell me…how does anyone hope to deal with the Delhi air pollution if nothing is done about the industries and power plants.
Any other attempts…be it the Chief Minister’s or the Supreme Court’s (for that matter)…may sound nice on paper because it promises to bring about big changes in the air quality. But the reality is…it won’t change a thing. In fact, it’s like this…
Imagine you have left the water running in your apartment (and not just one tap…all the taps) and water is quickly filling your apartment. What would you do? Well, the logical thing to do would be to first turn off all the taps and then do something about ejecting the water from the apartment. Right? But what the Supreme Court is doing is akin to getting rid of the water-logging in the apartment by placing a muslin cloth over one of the tap openings. It won’t solve the problem…period!
Thus, while the Supreme Court considers it fit to trample on the religious rights of Hindus in light of the bigger ‘right to life’ of Delhites, the reality is…if the legislature and the judiciary truly want to give people their basic human right (a ‘right to life’ and a ‘right to breathe clean air’), they need to address the root cause…snipping a few leaves here and there won’t get rid of the troublesome tree. It’s like trying to kill a demon by hurling a pebble at him! In the meantime, it’s better to forget all your rights…human, religious…or otherwise!
