Apoorva Shekher
Diwali – the festival of lights- has proved to be gravely dark for many of us this year, especially in the national capital. Pollution, which always seemed a distant reality, has now knocked on our doors; taking us completely by surprise, rather shock. I remember my school days when we would, almost feverishly, write essays on greenhouse gases, global warming, ozone layer depletion, pollution, deforestation and so on. Many of us used to conclude such essays by pointing out the gravity of the situation and warning the reader to immediately take action “for the benefit of posterity”. To me, this never seemed more than an essay writing exercise which fetched me good marks. However, now that I am aware of the deteriorating surroundings enveloping the nation and the world, I see this article not as just another essay but a seriously reflective piece on the impending deaths, as if I can hear the knell beside me.
It is true that an individual will never understand the magnitude of a disaster like situation until he/she is directly affected by one. The same holds true for the people of India who were so engrossed in revelry that they overlooked the imminent danger dancing over their heads in the form of ozone layer holes. Each of us thought that one cracker will not make much difference to the state of pollution, and the cumulative effect was seen on the morning of 31st October. For all of us, this was just another day after Diwali; many of us were enjoying our holiday moods and this Monday did not really seem like all other Mondays. I was getting ready to attend a lecture at 9:30 and as soon as I stepped out of my room (which is not bigger than a claustrophobic cupboard), I was aghast to see a cloud of smoke hanging over the entire city. It seemed as if the previous night had been witness to a deadly, apocalyptic tornado. At first, I thought, like all others, that it is the mandatory post-Diwali fog which, for Delhiites, is a sign of the beginning of winters. The weather was moderately cool, definitely not one that would invite fog and frostbite. It is only later that I realized the amount of dust in this ‘fog’. And then newspapers were flooded with headlines like “Delhi air so dirty that you can taste and smell it”, “Delhi resembles a gas chamber”, “Delhi pollution is an emergency situation” and so on. It was inconceivable that the ‘privilege’ of living in the national capital (which fortunately or unfortunately was not given to all) had now become a curse.
It cannot be denied that the agricultural conflagrations in Punjab and Haryana have worsened the situation; but are we not to be blamed? We have a tendency to live in the present and forget about the future. Although carpe diem is not such a bad word, we have to prepare ourselves for crises like these. This may have been expected by the meteorological department, but have we not augmented it? Are we not still very indifferent to using public transport or carpooling? The social prestige attached with having an Accord or a Honda City is unimaginable. The same goes for bursting crackers on Diwali. What are we trying to prove by purchasing crackers worth 10k or 20k? Who are we trying to impress? God? Certainly not; we are not such dimwits to assume that God can be impressed by bursting crackers. In fact, all the smoke we release in the firmament on Diwali may even upset Him! Neighbours? Come on, we all are aware of the curses pronounced on us when we do not let them sleep because of the noise or the smoke. Who is being benefited by this? Have we at least once given a thought to the little children employed in the cracker manufacturing industries? They are daily exposed to even graver risks than we are facing now-a-days. Perhaps this is the punishment for snatching somebody’s childhood away.
Apart from bursting crackers on Diwali, stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab has further aggravated the situation. Stubble burning is a common, age old practice by farmers post-harvest to create land for the sowing of winter crops. This leads to an increase in particulate matter in the air. However, farmers will continue burning the leftover straw if they are not given incentives for recycling. The machinery used for recycling of paddy straw (like Happy Seeder) is mostly unaffordable for them. Though there are no laws in Punjab that would put a ban on such practices, Government has some provisions to prohibit them under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Act and in Haryana, there is a very poor implementation of the Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1981 which forbade such burnings in open. However, criminalizing someone who is only trying to earn a livelihood is not a solution. Farmers must be given due financial help in a country that is dominated by agriculture. We always have to be pushed to the extent of a catastrophe, an “emergency like” situation for better implementation of laws. Now that the government and the Parliament are as affected as the common man, can we expect a speedy recovery?
Pollution is no longer an issue of the Government; we as citizens are equally complicit in it. A survey was conducted some years ago which stated that given the present state of air quality, India’s population would reduce by fifty percent in 2050. The government’s efforts at ameliorating the situation will never reach fruition if each individual does not take responsibility and act wisely. This may seem redundant because all of us know these things but I feel the need to reiterate them in today’s times. Make maximum use of public transport or carpooling which means a single Honda City should ferry five persons of a locality, irrespective of whether one is a bureaucrat, a high profile doctor, a rich business person or a reputed professor. DO NOT burst crackers at any cost, be it Diwali, Holi or a cricket match. Let us not create a situation where we have to hide ourselves behind masks and scarves. Let us take responsibility for our actions and stop playing a blame game. Let us not give the generations ahead a chance to say R.I.P. Diwali Victims 2016.
(The author is an English Literature student at University of Delhi.)
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