Are relations among different state governments in India failing? We’re behaving as if we are a territorial union, not a country where every citizen matters. State governments are not treating air pollution as India’s top enemy. We haven’t heard from West Bengal, or Bihar and Delhi can’t find common ground with Punjab and Haryana. As a consequence, India’s economy will suffer even more.
We know Covid-19 is worsened on account of air pollution. I was reading a piece where an Assistant Professor at the Georgia State University is quoted as saying if air pollution was low, then it’s possible to re-open and help the economy recover. But in places like Delhi, we can’t imagine this. The pollution might have contributed to a spike in Covid-19 cases. Meanwhile, using 17 years’ data, Harvard and other medical schools found a link between air pollution and dementia. Are people from the Indo-Gangetic plain-the world’s most polluted region- in danger of Alzheimer’s? Finally, the State of the Air 2020 report says strokes can be triggered by exposure to PM 2.5.
Commissions aside, policy makers must put into place tougher policies. From private vehicles to public transport, to improved standards for coal-based thermal power plants, to construction and waste-the possible solutions are on the table. India’s GDP has shrunk after Covid-19. We can’t afford to lose our human resources next. But we don’t have much time --even the best policies will take time to bear results. India can’t afford a brain drain but not acting on air pollution is going to do just that.