New Delhi: Barely 20 people gathered at Jantar Mantar Thursday evening to protest the poor air quality that is choking residents of Delhi-NCR and many other parts of north India
Air quality in Delhi and NCR had slipped into the ‘severe’ category, with AQI in Delhi touching 600 in the early hours of Thursday.
Organised by a host of youth-led organisations including Scientists for Society, Campaign for Right to Public Health and Disha Students’ Organisation, protestors held placards with messages like “If air is free, why is breathing a privilege” and “Smash capitalism, save environment”.
“A report from 2023 said that deaths from pollution will reach 17,188 in just Delhi,” said Priyamvada from the Campaign for Right to Public Health, to a group of media professionals. “The number of people dying from other ailments like high blood pressure and sugar isn’t even that much.”
Protestors claimed that the Delhi Police had asked for 10 to 15 days of notice and refused to give them permission for the protest. “Since when has it become the law to give 15 days of notice,” said one protestor.
In the background, slogans of “AQI 400 paar, ab kahan hai Modi sarkar (AQI has crossed the 400 mark, where is the Modi government?)” were raised. Protestors spoke to the media about issues ranging from factories flouting environmental norms to the Delhi government’s alleged manipulation of Air Quality Data.
“To hide the current situation [of poor air quality], our Chief Minister is telling us everything is fine and if you compare it to last year, nothing much has changed,” said Priyamvada. “But at the same time, she is buying Rs. 5.5 lakh air purifiers.”
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A question of life and death
As members from the different organisations gave speeches in front of the media, a group of protestors also wrote their slogans down on the street with coloured chalk. But apart from the organising group, not many other Delhi residents turned up for the protest.
“We are not just stopping at this protest,” said Suraj, the press officer at Scientists for Society, a student forum of PhD scholars, researchers and students from several colleges. “We will also be organising more such protests across the city and even at different factory sites.”
Disha Students’ Organisation—an independent organisation with students from colleges across the country—also had members at the protest. Keshav, one of the members, explained that the organisation advocates on behalf of students’ problems both within campuses and outside.
“If students aren’t even alive, how will their demands be fulfilled,” he said, adding that the question has come down to life or death. He invoked other young climate activists like Greta Thunberg, who have taken on global environmental issues. “Our capitalist system only cares about profit, and this is damaging the environment.”
Capitalism was front and center of the agitation. While some protestors rotated amongst themselves to speak in front of the media, others wrote “smash capitalism, save environment” in multi-coloured chalk on the streets.
One after another, protestors spoke about unchecked development, the reckless exploitation of natural resources, and the greed of industrialists that capitalism inevitably fuels.
When a member from the media asked a protester about ongoing initiatives to tackle pollution, including cloud seeding, he first began by criticising the failed attempts of past governments—including Arvind Kejriwal’s term as Delhi Chief Minister.
“For cloud seeding to be successful, there need to be enough clouds in the sky,” he said, adding that there aren’t enough clouds in the sky during winter for the particles to latch onto clouds. “They need to tackle the source of the pollution. If they wake up today and do these kinds of initiatives, nothing will work.”
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)