Create a world where clean air is not a privilege but a Civil Right!!

By Dr AP Maheshwari

Life is all about awareness! An awareness till it becomes a conviction that comes to govern our choices in life. We have now almost reached a stage of a ‘DO or DIE’ in so far as the threats of climate change are concerned. It is not only changing the bio-conglomerations that sustain a healthy human life but is also destroying the very core elemental base that is so essential for our survival. All the developed countries in this world have undergone this ordeal in some form or the other over different timelines. Now the developing countries while on their path to higher strata of development are also encountering their own set of challenges. The cumulative effect has been drastic. It has resulted in upwardly moving the temperature level by a minimum of 1.5 degree Celsius. Climate change has pushed us towards so many uncertainties and imbalances such that the very agro-patterns and the bio-life around us have received an irretrievable setback.

The experts are constantly bringing out their reports. It is now no longer just a matter of it being a conflict between the developed and developing countries. Even within the nation’s internal scheme of things, their political parties in their urgency to prove their worthiness are frantically vying to prove their concern for development, without first carefully ascertaining what would actually be the correct formats.

Consequently, the side effects of such sub-optimal moves soon bring home their redundancy. Surprisingly, someone even commented, “one generation will have to suffer, if real development has to happen during our regime”. The present era now needs to redefine the new vectors for a desired eco-friendly development. Amidst oscillating poverty lines and income disparities, the choices available could be mutually dichotomous in themselves if the vision remains limited to gaining success in the short run.

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Can we afford to on the other hand, forget that out of the 7 million deaths in the world that happened owing to severe air pollution, 2.5 million actually took place in India alone which amounts to 30% of these total unnatural deaths. The same proportionate impact is observed when we consider varied health issues.

Experts even go to the extent of clearly pointing out the reduction of 6-12 years of life expectancy only due to this air pollution. 140 million people in the world breathe 10 times more polluted air when compared to the WHO standards. So, the states like UP breathe 13 times more polluted air. In NCAP they have fixed a target of 30% reduction per annum, against the existing 22% yearly enhancement of the particulate pollution in the country. The reduction is yet to be fully observed at the ground level.

While on the international front countries are often bringing up this issue as climate change is not constrained by our political boundaries, the global diplomatic network of right-thinking nations needs to further sensitize to this burning issue. They need to come on to the same page. Deflections may keep emerging, yet the right-thinking heads need to keep open viable options for re-alignment. Similarly, within the country, there is now an urgent need for it to become a part of the political manifesto such that it gets its due attention. This is essential as people need to be sensitized repeatedly about this hovering threat in their lives. During the recent calamitous situation, where it had become a matter of life & death, we gave it its due diligence wholeheartedly following the Covid appropriate protocols. So, the question ’WHY’ needs to be addressed first. Rest will automatically follow suit.

Amidst the developmental trade-offs, the issues of cogent lifestyle changes become imperative, as only........

© The Financial Express

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