Why national pride has not helped clean up Delhi's air

A sense of shame was expected to get it done. That hasn't worked. Do we lack the will and talent?

- MANU JOSEPH

When India saves a life, it's a great spectacle. An image I can never shake off is how India once moved a beating heart in an icebox from Chennai to Bangalore within two hours. First, a part of Chennai was brought to a halt as an ambulance sped to the airport; then Bangalore halted as another ambulance raced to a hospital. It was as if India dearly wishes Indians to live. I got the same warm feeling during the pandemic too. That great lockdown, and cops threatening to beat us up for stepping out of the house, and India coming up with its own vaccine. Some days, I do think India wants to take care of us. Then the winter arrives in Delhi. It comes every year and takes the country by surprise.

In many regions of north India, the air quality is not fit for life. Some schools are shut in the national capital region. People feel choked. It probably kills hundreds of thousands of Indians every year. And many ask the annual north Indian question: Why can't we solve this problem?

The winter air is a subject of one of the worst arguments I have made as a columnist. Eight winters ago, when the air was poisonous, as it is today, I argued in the Hindustan Times that we have hope. That nationalism will clean the air. Now, I must withdraw that opinion. If you want to be right about India, you have to say something bad. Being hopeful is perilous for a columnist.