Advertisement
New Delhi’s pollution crisis is a lesson to the world: politicians blowing hot air are not the solution to climate change
- Elected leaders have preferred to play the blame game over severe pollution in India’s cities, especially the capital
- This should show the world that political sloganeering is not the answer to an increasingly inhospitable climate
3-MIN READ3-MIN
Akanksha Singh is a writer and culture journalist based in Mumbai, India.
The Indian capital of New Delhi was recently crowned the most polluted city in the world. Pollution was so severe in November that people were advised to stay home and schools were closed.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said in October that the city was choking because farmers in neighbouring states had been burning straw left over after the harvest. In response, the government of the state of Punjab acted against nearly 3,000 farmers, but chief minister Amarinder Singh also said that Kejriwal was “playing political games” instead of addressing the problem.
After Delhi’s air quality dipped further, the AAP temporarily reinstated its “odd-even” scheme, under which cars with licence plates ending in an odd number were only allowed on the streets on odd-numbered dates of the month while cars with even-numbered licence plates could only run on even dates, with some exceptions. The scheme has run several times since 2016, proving ineffective or, at best, a short-term fix.
The party also announced that women could use the city’s public transport for free to encourage more women to use the public transport system instead of private cars, which would also improve their safety.
Select Voice
Select Speed
1x
AI-generated voice