Great smog of India
- Gurgaon Penguin Random House India 2018
- xiv, 262p.
Include Bibliography
Air pollution kills over a million Indians every year, albeit silently. Families are thrown into a spiralling cycle of hospital visits, critically poor health and financial trouble impacting their productivity and ability to participate in the economy. Children born in regions of high air pollution are shown to have irreversibly reduced lung function and cognitive abilities that affect their incomes for years to come. They all suffer, silently. The issue is exacerbated every winter when the Great Smog of India descends and envelops much of northern India. In this period, the health impact of mere breathing is akin to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. He places the air pollution crisis in the context of India's meteorological conditions and also climate change. Above all, and most alarmingly, he makes clear what the repercussions will be if we remain apathetic.