5 steps for clean air in India

Shah Rukh Khan: Something goes wrong
with the air that we take for granted.

The ill effects are suffered by all,

rich and poor, city people
and village folks,

those inland and those on the coast.

Nobody is exempt.

So how do we give our children
the chance to grow up in a world

where the air is clean?

Our next speaker
addresses this vital question.

So join me in giving
a wholehearted welcome

to the public policy expert and author,

the multifaceted Dr. Arunabha Ghosh.

(Music)

Arunabha Ghosh: Let me tell you
a story from China.

In 2014, China declared war on pollution.

In November that year,

there was an international summit there.

Presidents and prime ministers
from many countries arrived.

So industries around Beijing
were shut down,

half the cars were taken off the road.

That week, I took a photograph
of the unusually blue sky in Beijing.

A few days later,
when the summit had ended,

the factories were humming again,

the sky had again turned light grey.

So newspapers started
urging the government

to make the blue skies permanent.

Then in early 2015, a private citizen
produced a documentary on air pollution

called "Under the Dome."

Just within four days,
it was viewed 300 million times,

and millions more continued
discussing it on social media.

Eventually, the government acted,

and by 2018,

the bulk of the Chinese population

had witnessed a decline in air pollution

by 32 percent on average.

When will we demand clean air in India?

I have a six-year-old daughter.

Every morning, when I drop her
to the school bus stop,

I have to remind her
not to take off her mask.

That's the kind of world we live in.

One day she pointed me to an advertisement

for a face wash,

which claimed that the polluting particles
lodged deeply in our skin

could be miraculously washed off.

But what of the particles
lodged in our lungs?

When it's difficult
to make out the difference

between the lung of a smoker
and the lung of a nonsmoker,

we have a real problem,

because I can run an air purifier at home,

but can I lock up my daughter at home?

Air pollution is the great leveler.

It affects us all,

rich and poor,

city dweller or village folk,

those living inland
or those living on the coast,

and it's affecting our health,

our economic growth, our quality of life.

In 2017, more than
1.2 million deaths in India

were attributable to air pollution.

That's more than those deaths
caused by HIV/AIDS,

tuberculosis, malaria or diarrhea.

At the Council on Energy,
Environment and Water,

my colleagues find that today,
one in two Indians is breathing air

that does not meet
our air quality standards.

And the economic impact
of this public health crisis

is more than 80 billion
dollars every year.

At CEEW, my colleagues find

that 80 percent of Indians
can breathe clean air

if we adopted stringent
pollution controls.

So here is my vision for India.

In 2027,

when we are celebrating
our 80th year of independence,

can we ensure that, by then,

80 cities in India have reduced
air pollution by 80 percent?

Let's called this Mission 80-80-80,

and this is possible,

but the role of citizens
is going to be critical.

To combat air pollution,

we have to create a democratic demand

for clean air.

We can make this happen.

First, we have to educate ourselves.

Low-cost sensors give us real-time
information about the air quality,

but we still need information

about how to interpret it and how to act.

So we need to target information
to schools and children,

to resident welfare associations,

to the elderly, who are more at risk.

You know, when the temperature outside
is 30 degrees versus 40 degrees,

we know how to dress,

we know what to do, what not to do.

We need, similarly, information
on what precautions to take

when the air quality outside is poor,

very poor, severe or hazardous.

Second, we need to become active monitors.

Today, most Indian cities
and much of rural India

have no air quality monitoring at all.

So we need to demand
that air quality sensors

are installed in every constituency.

Today, in Parliament,
who is going to stand up for us

as the air quality warrior?

When enforcement agencies
land up at polluting sites

or dust-spewing construction sites,

their whack-a-mole approach
doesn't always work,

because as soon as their attention
turns somewhere else,

the offenders go back
to business as usual.

We citizens have to become
the fire alarms.

We have to demand
emergency call-in numbers

and specialized task forces

that can respond in real time
to pollution sites.

So we need not just the authority
but the enforcement strength

to crack down.

Third,

we have to be prepared to pay a price,

whether it's for cars using BS6 fuel

or for more expensive electricity
from cleaner power plants.

Last year, just before Diwali,

I took a surprise inspection
of polluting industries

in an unauthorized industrial area
just outside of Delhi,

and I found polluting
firecrackers were being sold.

The Supreme Court had mandated
only green firecrackers could be sold,

but those were nowhere to be found.

But the polluting ones were available.

Why?

Because we were ready to buy.

As citizens, we have to reduce
the demand for these polluting products

or be prepared to pay more
for cleaner products.

Fourth step: let's build some empathy
for our fellow citizens.

How much does it take
to keep a night guard warm

rather than force them to burn rubbish
to stay warm in winter?

Or, let's take farmers.

You know, it's very easy to blame them
for burning the stubble

of the rice paddy crop every winter,
which causes air pollution.

It's much harder to understand

that it's the combination
of our agricultural policy

and our groundwater crisis

that often leaves the farmer
with no option but to burn the stubble.

So we need to draw in
the urban poor laborer

or the rural poor farmer

into our collective call for clean air.

Farmers come and tell us that they
want to adopt sustainable agriculture,

but they need some help.

And fifth, we have to
change our lifestyles.

Yes, public transport
is often not available,

but the choice to buy a cleaner,
less polluting private vehicle is ours.

The choice to segregate
and recycle household waste is ours.

You know, in Surat after the 1994 plague,

citizens there take pride
in keeping their city

one of the cleanest in the country.

Down south in Mysore,

public-private partnerships
and citizen-led eco clubs

are coming together to reduce,
segregate and recycle waste in a manner

that landfills can be
eliminated altogether.

Now I'm not saying that officials
have no responsibility here,

but it is our collective apathy

that takes the pressure
off of our parliamentarians,

the bureaucrats

or the enforcement agencies.

Mission 80-80-80 will only begin

when we demand it.

We have to create
a democratic demand for clean air,

because citizens, you and me,

can decide what kind of air we breathe.

Thank you.

(Applause)

SRK: Thank you so much.

Tell me something: India, our country,

do we have any advantages?

Have we become aware of it earlier

because of all the inputs
from people like you?

AG: Our biggest strength:

our people and our ability to make change

without always necessarily
relying only on the government.

And that strength of civil society
and civil demand

for a civilized living condition

is, I think, our biggest asset.

Then, all of those and more will happen.

(Applause)

SRK: Thank you, Dr. Ghosh.
Bless you for coming here.

And it's very enlightening.

Thank you very much,
and all the best with 80-80-80.

Dr. Ghosh, everyone.
AG: Thank you.

(Applause)