Environmentalists Ask: Is Indias Government Making Bad Air Worse?
As northern India is swallowed by an epic smog cloud,
critics say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
business-friendly policies are exacerbating the problem.
NEW DELHI — As millions of Indians watched a televised cricket match this week between the national teams of India and Sri Lanka, the game suddenly stopped.
The pollution in New Delhi is especially bad right now, and one of the Sri Lankan players could barely breathe. He leaned over, put his hands on his knees and started throwing up on live television.
The Sri Lankan cricketers were clearly not ready for New Delhi’s foul air, which this week contained 22 times the level of hazardous particles that the World Health Organization considers acceptable. It was an embarrassing moment for India, and the National Green Tribunal, India’s environmental court, chastised the local government for even holding the match.
“Every newspaper has been carrying headlines that the air pollution was going to be higher this week. Still you took no action. Even the players were playing the match wearing masks,” the court said. “Are the people of Delhi supposed to bear this?”
The bigger question might be: Why can’t India, which has made enormous strides fighting poverty and aspires to be a superpower, get a handle on its pollution?'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/world/asia/india-pollution-modi.html?