I am a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s capital city Lucknow. There was a time when the city was famous only for its delicious food and nawabi andaz but now a third party has joined the list and that is Lucknow’s air pollution. Perhaps the poorest in the country, along with national capital Delhi.
It really makes my heart ache. It makes me really angry when I think about the whole scenario – not only of Lucknow or Delhi but our planet as a whole. What are we doing and where are we heading?! We called ourselves the most intelligent creature to live on Earth. Really? We don’t care about the water we drink, the air we breathe or the food we eat.
The recently concluded Lok Sabha elections are proof. All political parties banked on nationalistic ideals, caste distinctions, education policies, jobs, the Rafale deal, demonetisation, the GST, etc. But the most important issue of them all, without which we cannot live for three minutes – the air which we breathe – was completely ignored not only by our politicians but by us voters also.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Jobs and national security are very important issues and need to be dealt with in all seriousness. But, they are not bigger than clean air and water. What will your landing a government job do when you can’t breathe! You will not be around to pick the ripe fruits from the job.
Have we ever thought of what kind of complications a pregnant woman may suffer while living in this kind of environment? What kind of effect will it have on newborn children?
The problem with us is that we just don’t know the real complications and problems we face by breathing in this kind of air. When we hear about air pollution all we think of is coughing and sneezing. No, my dear friend, its a lot more than that.
We need to educate ourselves to get a better understanding of what is at stake. Once we start educating ourselves, we will realise that no issue in the world can be bigger than this. We can already see what we have do done to our planet. Look at the global warming and the scorching heat which India is facing at moment. Some cities have already crossed 50° Celsius. Major rivers, which are our main water source, are polluted. The country’s tech capital Bengaluru is about to run out of ground water by 2021. If this is not an eye-opener for us, then we are writing our own doom.
We need to take serious steps to counter this tragedy looming upon us. We need to get on the road required and ask our government and every politician, for that matter, about what they are doing to curb air pollution. This is not about Modi, Rahul or Kejriwal. This is about us fighting to survive on this planet. Even if one of you reading this post can wake up and do their little bit, it will be a step towards a better world.