It indeed pains me to pen this article during Christmas and
new year cheer. However, since the matter is quite concerning, I just could not
stop writing.
Every year, sometime in November, large parts of North India,
with the media focus especially on NCR Delhi, wakes up to pollution as if it
were an unexpected guest. Emergency meetings follow, masks reappear, air
purifiers sell out, and everyone promises to “fix this permanently.” By
February, the air improves slightly, attention shifts, and pollution goes back into
hibernation until next winter.
There are the usual suspects, the farm fire, vehicular
pollution, construction as also industrial pollution. The political class keep
blaming each other, the party in power comes up with a few short-term measures
with minimal impact but the public suffers, the daily wage earners lose their livelihood,
and the TV studios have the usual blame game discussions.
This year feels closer to a tipping point. Foreign embassies
have issued travel advisories, winter tourists are quietly choosing other
destinations, and NRIs are reconsidering visits. Discussions amongst friends
and families about moving out of NCR Delhi to other parts of India including
Goa and Kerala. Dubai which is already attracting Indians may become attractive
for this soul reason. I have also been hearing discussion amongst retired
personnel to move to Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand. Ironically,
this is happening in a country that can land on the Moon, manufacture vaccines
at scale, and build advanced defense systems and yet struggles to ensure
breathable air for its cities. The issue is not a lack of capability; it is a
lack of coordination, urgency, and long-term thinking. We may be in danger of
losing the demographic dividend due to adverse health issues, which have
already bogged down with high incidence of diabetes and obesity.
In the immediate and short term, we need to treat pollution
like the emergency it is.
India already has laws, agencies, and action plans. What is
missing is seriousness in execution. Pollution must be treated as a public
health emergency, with empowered city- and state-level commanders reporting
directly to the CM or PMO. Existing regulations on construction dust, vehicular
emissions, waste burning, and industrial discharge must be enforced without
exemptions or “temporary relaxations.”
Real-time public disclosure of air, water, and waste data
should be mandatory, because transparency creates pressure. Pollution
thresholds should automatically trigger school closures, construction bans, and
traffic restrictions, rather than ad-hoc decisions. Alongside this, low-cost
traditional solutions such as reviving waterbodies, decentralized waste
segregation, composting, and encouraging walking, cycling, and public transport
through tactical urban design can deliver immediate gains. Our ancestors practiced
sustainability without calling it a pilot project.
In the long term we need to fix the system, not just the symptoms.
The real battle against pollution is structural. India’s
cities are choking not only because of emissions, but because of unchecked
densification packaged as “smart cities.” High-density construction, glass
towers, and multi-lane roads embedded with sensors may look modern, but without
decongestion, mass transit, green buffers, and mixed-use planning, they merely concentrate
on pollution more efficiently. A city cannot designated smart if it cannot
breathe. We need to return to first principles of urban planning.
Promoting walking and cycling must be central to this reset.
Short trips account for a large share of urban travel in Indian cities, yet an
overwhelming proportion of road space is allocated to private vehicles that
carry few people while occupying most of the infrastructure. Prioritizing
pedestrians and cyclists would immediately improve mobility for the same road
capacity, reduce emissions, and solve the last-mile problem for buses and metro
systems. Once cities provide continuous, encroachment-free footpaths, protected
cycle tracks, and safe crossings, travel behavior will change far more than
through enforcement alone.
Long-term success also requires integrating pollution
control into urban planning, transport, housing, energy, and industrial
policy—ending siloed decision-making. Cities must be redesigned to shorten
travel distances, decentralize economic activity, and shift decisively toward
mass transit. Decongesting megacities by genuinely strengthening Tier-2 and
Tier-3 cities is no longer optional; it is essential. Decentralization,
however, must be rather than cosmetic. A telling example is the private banking
licenses issued in 1994, where cities like Baroda, Ahmedabad, and Pune were
designated as alternative banking hubs yet most banks quietly located their
headquarters in Mumbai and keeping the registered offices in the respective
locations, complying in form but not in spirit.
Traditional wisdom has an important role in this
transformation. Rainwater harvesting, urban wetlands, groundwater recharge,
reuse-and-repair models, and respect for ecological limits must be scaled
systematically, not merely romanticized. Environmental accountability needs to
be embedded in political, bureaucratic, and corporate governance, insulated
from short-term electoral cycles. Clean energy, green manufacturing, and
environmental literacy rooted in local contexts must form the backbone of
development and be treated as core economic infrastructure, not an
afterthought.
Why This Is Possible: Lessons from China and Others
There is reason for optimism. China, once infamous for
smog-filled cities, has dramatically reduced PM2.5 levels over the last decade
through strict enforcement, industrial relocation, cleaner energy, massive
public transport investments, and real accountability for local officials. The
key lesson: when pollution control becomes a political and administrative
priority, results follow.
Cities like London used congestion pricing to reduce traffic
and emissions. Tokyo enforced strict vehicle and fuel standards while building
one of the world’s most efficient public transport systems. Singapore combined
urban planning, green spaces, and tough regulation to keep pollution in check
despite high density. None of these successes relied on technology alone, they
relied on governance, discipline, and long-term vision.
To conclude
India does not lack solutions. It lacks conviction, speed,
coordination, and courage. When pollution is addressed as an emergency in the
short term, and as a structural governance and planning issue in the long term while
learning from global success stories. India can move from seasonal firefighting
to sustainable clean air.
Clean air should not depend on the wind direction or the
calendar. It should be a basic feature of a truly “smart” India.
Dreaming of a time when breathing in November, December and January doesn’t feel like an
extreme sport.
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