Social movements need to lead India's fight against air pollution

We must generate the social capital required for people to act collectively towards a common cause

- NITIN PAI

Public attention is like the smog itself. It materializes as winter sets in, envelops the discourse for a few months and begins to dissipate early in the new year. Once out of sight, it is out of mind. At times like this, when the pollution in New Delhi and its surrounding region is at its most intense, there is a clamour for judicial diktats, draconian regulations and strong enforcement. By the end of January, most people move on to other issues. A relatively small number of environmental activists fight on, but the rest of society is no longer too concerned. Until Diwali, when a debate over banning firecrackers triggers the next Sisyphean cycle.

It's not just Delhi. Every Indian city has its own big bad pollution story that follows a similar pattern. I do not think we ask ourselves why we are unable to arrest the deterioration in our living environment. It does not help that ideologues point fingers at things like neoliberal capitalism, development models or this-or-that political party and its corruption. Holding these 'usual suspects' responsible gives us the mental comfort of having found the bad guys so that we can punish them, and more importantly, rest the investigation. But if we pursue the case to its end, we will find that both the pollution and our failure to control it is due to a lack of social capital. As I have repeatedly pointed out in these columns, 'we' do not have a sense of 'us'. In fact, it is debatable if the 'we' that I refer to in the lines above exists at all.