Making a mockery.....

Air quality index in India???!!!

That’s the incredulous reaction one and all give as soon as they even hear about this new concept. Given the way in which our weather bureau itself functions, once could not help but first laugh at this. But then, every idea needs to be given time to mature and lets live in a fool’s paradise and hope that things might actually work!!!

Well, this is not merely a concept, this is already a reality. Our PM launched this National Air Quality Index today to monitor levels of air pollution in 10 cities. This is a good thing to happen but then saying that the launch of this index  will change India’s image of being insensitive to climate change and global warming is indeed very wrong. How can the mere launch of an index help change this perception? We also have an environmental ministry but despite that our country scores zilch on environmental concerns, isn’t it?

What is ironical is that on one hand, there is the launch of such indices, which seem mere tokenism when on the other hand, there is rampant ravage of the entire country on the name of development. The current Development Plan mooted by the city of Mumbai is exactly that! The city is already screaming for survival under the pressure of people, issues of sewage, lack of infrastructure and even water is a scarcity. Air pollution along with noise pollution are omnipresent. Thus in this context, putting forth an Air Quality index is a big joke.