Odd-Even Scheme Has Miraculously Solved Delhi’s Air-Pollution Problem

It’s a lie.
It’s a lie like many other lies being shared on social media, spokespersons of larger national political parties, and a multitude of websites.
The truth is that the citizens of Delhi are scared. On Saturday 2nd November, at around 5:00 PM a wind blew across the town. In a matter of minutes, it was impossible to see the building 200 meters away. It was scary!
The truth is that 41% of Delhiites are suffering from cancer-causing metal toxicity. According to a recent survey, 40% of Delhi’s residents want to leave the city because of pollution.
Amid this massive crisis, the debate has suddenly shifted to blaming or praising the Delhi government on the odd-even scheme. We have a member of parliament and a person of repute (or lost reputation perhaps) trying to not follow the scheme despite citizens following it. They call it their non-cooperation movement. I’m surprised that these very leaders expect us the citizens to follow the rules. It’s a shame. Delhiites despite all the inconveniences have co-operated with the government and its policies and adhered to the rule in spirit and law.
The cause of air pollution has little to do with Delhi. It’s now a fairly well-established fact that toxicity in the air is to do mostly with the stubble burning happening in Punjab. Jind, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Hapur, and Lucknow were the top most polluted cities in India. Delhi was the 10th on that list. In 2019, the share of stubble burning from the neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana in Delhi’s pollution rose to 46%.

The truth is that in high likelihood the odd-even scheme may not even contribute to reducing the pollution significantly. It might just reduce the pollution levels in Delhi marginally. The citizens of Delhi are trying their best to cope up with this hazard and are contributing in whatever manner possible despite the inconveniences. There might be little more they can do.
The truth is that the weasels holding office and indulging in perhaps only propaganda have done little. The saddest part is that it took the supreme court’s intervention. It rightly said, “Stubble burning must stop. Both the Centre and the state must do this. People are dying. The sad thing is everyone in this country is interested in gimmicks”
“The Centre should do… Delhi must do. It can’t go on like this… The time has come to fix responsibility for the situation that is destroying the Right to Life of citizens in gross violation of Article 21… Everybody has to be answerable — from the state to gram panchayats”
The truth is that the citizens of India have been cheated collectively by its leaders. The truth is that farmers too have been cheated.
These leaders should be held accountable for their inaction, lack of foresight and sheer incompetence.
Do you think that important decisions affecting the climate, farmer’s livelihoods be outside the control of politicians? Given their seemingly lack of understanding of the criticality of the situation, and a lack of competence, perhaps a separate autonomous body can make better decisions.
