I begin with what Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on 24 December: “…Look at our situation. I stay in Delhi for two days and develop a throat infection. Delhi is troubled by pollution. I am the Road Transport Minister, and around 40 per cent of pollution is linked to our sector."

Earlier, on 18 December, the Minister of State for Environment and Climate Change, Kirti Vardhan Singh, told the Rajya Sabha the following: “There is no direct correlation between higher Air Quality Index (AQI) levels and lung diseases, with no ‘conclusive data’ to establish such a link."

Also, on 9 December, Union Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav said in a written reply to Parliament: “There is no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death or disease exclusively due to air pollution. Air pollution is just one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments and associated diseases."

Plain Lies

I say with all the humility at my command that what Mr Gadkari said reflected the true and fair picture of the consequences of Delhi’s killer air pollution. I also state with conviction that the two statements given by the Ministers of State for Environment and Health to Parliament are plain lies, not even half-truths.

This flip-flop by ministers reminds me of what John Lubbock, the leading mathematician, scientist and author, once famously said: “What we see depends mainly on what we are looking for." Period.

The Fundamental Right

The right to a clean environment, including clean air, is not explicitly enshrined in the Constitution of India. But the Supreme Court, through landmark judgments, has expanded the reach of Article 21 to include the right to clean air. Here are the key judgments:

Believe It Or Not

Air pollution directly accounts for many severe and chronic illnesses. Fine particulate matter — PM2.5 and PM10 — penetrates deep into the lungs and then enters the bloodstream, affecting all major organs. Exposure to dangerous particulate matter damages both the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, leading to strokes, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). I humbly submit that my COPD Stage II is a direct gift of Delhi’s air pollution. And this is not all.

Recent research has directly linked prenatal exposure to elevated levels of air pollution with developmental delay at age three, as well as psychological and behavioural problems, including symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression.

Pollution Kills, And Kills Violently

Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat, causing serious health issues and consequential deaths among Bharatiyas. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), seven million premature deaths occur every year globally due to the combined effects of outdoor and household air pollution.

So what? As the Union Ministers say, there is no direct evidence of air pollution causing deaths and diseases in Bharat.

The contrary is the truth. I posit: put mildly, pollution annually kills Bharatiyas in droves.

It was estimated way back in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, published in the reputed medical journal The Lancet in December 2012, that 1.5 million Bharatiyas died annually — one-sixth of all deaths — due to the combined effect of ambient and indoor air pollution.

Fast forward to 2015. The World Health........

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