Dr Javed Jamil
IT has become an annual phenomenon: Come October, and politicians and media start “celebrating” the arrival of smoke in Ghalib’s Delhi and Lutyens’ New Delhi with all busy revelling in blaming their political rivals for the happening. All kinds of reasons are discussed, none pointing to the root causes of the problem.
Everyone can be blamed but not the economic forces, which are ultimately responsible for whatever bad is happening to the climate of the world. None will offer solutions which can damage their short-term or long-term prospects. Solutions must be found which again help them in a big way.
See the following facts:
The population of Delhi has grown from 1.569 crore in the year 2000 to 3.206 crore in 2022. It means it has more than doubled in slightly over two decades. This also means that the air which was available for breathing to around 1.5 crore people 25 years back is now available to 3.2 crore people. This population has not increased due to any extraordinary fertility rate of Delhiites but because, on account of the faulty policies (enjoyed by the market), the population is migrating swiftly from smaller towns to bigger cities.
Now see another fact. In the year 2000, there were 34.565 lakh registered motor vehicles in Delhi. the economic forces whatever the cost. Now, according to a Times of India report (25 July, 2025), “at more than 1.5 crore, the number of registered vehicles in Delhi matches the combined total of registered vehicles in three metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, road transport ministry data has revealed, highlighting the immense pressure on Delhi’s roads”.
It again means that pollution due to vehicles might have grown more than three times in just 20 years (even more than the population growth). Again, nothing will be done to reduce their population. Human population in the country should stabilise even if children in the wombs of mothers are to be killed in big numbers. But nothing should be done to curb the population of vehicles. This will be totally unacceptable to the corporate.
Multi-storey Buildings
Another fact: Multi-storey buildings are ever on the rise to accommodate the increasing population. It means that, in case there is a 15-storey building, if previously an average of five people were occupying an area of around 150 sq metres, now 75 people are availing the same area and space above. All houses use gases, air-conditioners and vehicles and all are breathing in the space above the same land. They all inhale oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. Currently there are more than 5,200 high-rise buildings in the Delhi NCR area with thousands more under construction. But again, none should talk of the destructive “developmental” plans.
Such is the control of the market forces on the functioning of the governments all over the world that even political leaders claiming to be people-friendly succumb, knowingly or unknowingly, to the interests of the market.
Be it Odd-Even Formula, or introduction of thousands of new buses to the capital or exemption of CNG-driven vehicles, every single step is going to give a new boost to the already growing automobile market in India.
According to a report, 37 million vehicles were sold in FY 2014-15, following a growth of 8.68 per cent over the last year. With more than three crore vehicles flooding the market every year, it is not hard to imagine the havoc the automobiles are going to cause in India in coming decades. But thanks to the domination of the forces of economics and their growing “Economic Fundamentalism”, the forces of governance are more concerned for the growing human population than the growing vehicular population.
Restrictions on Vehicles
If the pollution is to be drastically controlled, the most ideal way will be to substantially reduce the production of vehicles in the country. And the easiest way to achieve this is to either totally ban or put substantial restrictions on the purchase of vehicles through Financing.
According to a The Economic Times report (21 September 2024), “about 79.1% of car purchases in India are financed through bank loans or non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)”
If more than three fourth of the vehicles are purchased through financing, it is not difficult to infer how beneficial restrictions on financing can be for the country and its people.
If pollution is to be kept in control, measures to reverse the migration to bigger cities will have to be taken. New smaller cities should be built. Some institutions from capital cities will have to be shifted to new cities. Moreover, there should be a serious debate on the role of multi-storey buildings in enhancing pollution and many other problems. Rural development will have to be expedited.
But who will take note of my advice? Most probably none and these will be dismissed as nothing but barbaric.
As for the current situation in Delhi, urgent measures require declaration of holidays for at least oner week in schools and work-from-home for offices.
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Dr Javed Jamil is an Islamic scholar and author. He has over two dozen books to his credit. The views expressed here are the writer’s own and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them.
