00:00 India as a nation needs to identify this issue, which is the pollution part in this part of
00:07 the year and also the bigger picture of the climate issue.
00:10 Was not able to convince the school that the children will not be able to practice at 5
00:14 o'clock in the morning.
00:15 Cricket players have complained, you know, in the white playing in India.
00:20 Air pollution is a different sense of problem, but they are almost connected in a certain
00:24 way as well.
00:25 Hello and welcome.
00:26 You're watching One India News.
00:27 My name is Pankaj Mishra.
00:28 The wise at the house once again raises a pertinent question that how, how, how is it
00:34 possible to survive in a climate when the air becomes poisonous when we have a World
00:41 Cup going on and the players are also this time not feeling the heat, but feeling the
00:46 air.
00:47 Obviously, matches in Delhi are happening and also in other parts of the country.
00:51 But the bigger picture here in Delhi and Sierra remains very grim and the air remains in hazardous
00:57 or severe conditions.
00:58 We'll discuss the matters further and also to find a way out and how air pollution impacts
01:04 the performance of the sports person.
01:06 We are going to discuss this very special phenomena with Bhavneet Kandahari, a noted
01:12 environmentalist and editor of My Cave, One India's sports division, Abhinash Sharma.
01:18 Thank you so much for speaking to us.
01:21 Bhavneet ma'am, to begin with, obviously, I can see and our viewers would also know
01:25 that this is the time when people return from work.
01:28 What is the situation?
01:29 How different it is as of now for you to travel from work to home at this time in this part
01:34 of the year as compared to other times?
01:37 Yes, Pankaj, of course, as you see, we are in this crazy toxic chamber.
01:44 Since morning, it was absolutely, you know, you could see the air was visibly, you know,
01:50 poisonous.
01:51 But we have to kind of remember that this is, you know, the time, the brief time because
01:59 of course, some of the geographical and the metrological conditions that the air is visible.
02:05 But the rest of the year as well, we have not been in any kind of air that could be
02:10 satisfactory or even moderate.
02:12 So, there were very, very, you know, negligible, almost negligible number of good days and
02:17 a few moderate days that we have seen.
02:19 So, when we look at the sky and it's a bit clear or, you know, it's the day is looking
02:25 a little better, you tend to think that the air is clean and it's not.
02:29 Absolutely, absolutely.
02:30 You know, the more said, I would say only goes on to prove that yes, the situation is
02:36 pretty dire.
02:37 Avinash, obviously, as Bhavin ma'am says that even if we consider the air to be good
02:43 in different parts of, you know, the year, still it is not up to the standards.
02:48 What is the impression there and how is Kolkata racing with the air pollution part of the
02:55 thing?
02:56 The C factor, does it work in?
02:57 Does it help?
02:58 Yes, Pankaj, up to an extent, the C factor does work.
03:02 It was quite humid here in the day when we arrived, when South African team was practicing
03:08 at the venue at Eden Gardens.
03:11 Compared to the climate and the air quality, if we talk about, as compared to Delhi, where
03:18 actually we are inhaling the toxic air, it is a respite of a sort for me, at least in
03:25 Kolkata.
03:26 If you talk about the entire environment here.
03:29 Right, absolutely, absolutely.
03:31 Bhavin ma'am, in Kolkata, it's a different ballgame altogether.
03:35 Sportsmanship is there.
03:37 That's Team India.
03:39 But in Delhi, Team Kejriwal is facing a lot of heat.
03:42 So, could you please, you know, here at One India, we try to, you know, find the solutions.
03:47 Is it just a political will that is required to clean up the air?
03:52 Is it too late?
03:53 Or is it something special about Delhi's topography that makes it so, you know, toxic at this
03:59 time of the year?
04:00 Pankaj ji, the, of course, topography or the geography, meteorological conditions, they
04:06 are obviously, they are there and they exist and they've always existed.
04:10 But if you remember, I mean, of course, you're much younger, but coming from my childhood
04:16 days, we never had that challenge.
04:18 I mean, this festive season was always a very exciting time for most of us.
04:23 And we've, you know, done everything and even bursting crackers and all that.
04:27 But, but it eventually, like it slowly deteriorated and it got worse over the years.
04:33 So, we have to realize that there is obviously the emissions have increased and it is the
04:39 sources of pollution that what, that's what the government, not the government, the governments
04:45 have to get together.
04:46 All the governments, there is nothing, you know, that it's a, it's a national emergency.
04:52 It's a public health emergency.
04:54 The center and the state all are answerable to every citizen's health.
05:00 You know, if my children are, if anybody's coming in the way of clean air, they are absolutely
05:06 liable for criminal prosecution.
05:08 It's not acceptable.
05:09 So, when it comes to sports, because we're considering, we're speaking about that.
05:14 There was a time that my twin daughters who were playing basketball in school, those years,
05:19 the awareness wasn't there.
05:21 And even for someone like me, who was, you know, working on clean air, was not able to
05:27 convince the school that the children will not be able to practice at five o'clock in
05:31 the morning.
05:32 They should not be doing that because the AQI was over 300.
05:35 And, well, but the change has happened.
05:38 And now the same schools are, you know, keeping pollution weeks and, you know, a week off
05:42 and they are taking that out of the summer holidays, stuff like that.
05:46 So, similarly, now, if we love our sports and we love our sports person, I refuse to
05:51 understand how can we risk such precious sports persons, our cricket team, you know,
05:58 that's, you know, whichever country they belong to, they are the national pride and we are
06:03 going to risk their lives and their lungs because this is irreversible damage.
06:07 And before we host anything ever in this country, we have to clean the air and there is no doubt
06:14 about it.
06:15 So, for that, I will tell you, we did a little survey out of the Feroz Shah Kotla here, as
06:20 well as in Mumbai, where the Wankhade Stadium, where the matches will be now will be played.
06:28 And it was 419, which was severe in Delhi.
06:32 And we expect our favorite, loved cricketers to be playing matches there.
06:38 So, this is absolutely, then we kind of really don't care about our sports persons and our
06:43 children, our students, you know, our youth like Avinash.
06:48 So, this is something that I think that is the reason, in fact, we've been asking that
06:52 every stadium must have an AQI display monitor, every bus stop must have, every government
06:57 hospital, every school.
06:58 So, we kind of understand that this has become a part of our life.
07:02 We need to like in, you know, in the countries where we, you know, see and check the weather
07:06 and then we carry our raincoats or, you know, this is the way that your day is dependent
07:13 on how the AQI is.
07:15 And there are schools like the British School in Delhi, but unfortunately, it's a British
07:18 school.
07:19 But, you know, the rest don't care.
07:21 And they have for many years, they have an AQI display monitor and the activities are
07:27 decided according to that.
07:28 There's a red flag.
07:29 So, if the AQI is above 80, the children know automatically there'll be no sports activity
07:35 today in school.
07:36 And there'll be only indoor activities.
07:38 So, things like that, you know, that we need to.
07:40 Yes.
07:41 Avinash.
07:42 Thanks.
07:43 Avinash, you know, we have seen it in the past also.
07:47 Cricket players have come through, you know, in white playing in India.
07:52 I mean, I remember a few incidents.
07:54 Could you please take us through them?
07:56 Sri Lanka, it was, which was not very happy to play in New Delhi earlier last year.
08:00 And this is fast becoming a norm.
08:03 As the AQI there has also deteriorated because of the known reasons happening in the northern
08:10 part of the country.
08:11 So, and yes, as you rightly mentioned, the Sri Lankan team played a test match there
08:16 in Delhi, where, I mean, they at times had fallen on the ground, complaining about the
08:23 AQI and the toxic air they were inhaling.
08:27 So, yes, it does take a lot of toll while playing cricket or a game of sports because
08:33 you're not getting the fresh air to breathe.
08:36 Obviously, as Bhavani has suggested, there could be measures where the players have their
08:44 say.
08:45 In fact, as of now, there's no official confirmation from the DCCI or the ICC whether the match
08:51 on Monday at the Pirosha Kotla, which is now renamed as Arun Jaitley Stadium, is happening
08:56 or not because Bangladesh cricket team has refused to practice today at the venue.
09:01 Oh, see, the ripples have already started to show.
09:05 Absolutely.
09:06 Yes.
09:07 Bhavani ma'am, I mean, is that published?
09:09 I mean, is it said somewhere?
09:11 Yeah, it's published.
09:12 It's in the public domain.
09:13 I'll check it out.
09:14 See, this is what it is.
09:15 And if you're pitching for the Olympics, I mean, that's what we heard Mr. Modi and Mr.
09:21 Kejriwal saying that, well, until you don't clean your air, I can tell you that nobody's
09:26 want to come and play sports in our country.
09:29 I don't think, you know, I don't think it's the responsibility, could be the responsibility
09:34 only of the government, be it the state or the center.
09:36 The people are also involved.
09:38 Looking at the bigger picture, Bhavani ma'am, I have seen many of your interviews of late
09:44 in the recent past also on several, you know, broadcast medium.
09:49 And one thing that came out very eloquently is the fact that India as a nation needs to
09:56 identify this issue, which is the pollution part in this part of the year and also the
10:01 bigger picture of the climate issue.
10:03 We have had disasters in, you know, in Uttarakhand, in Shimla, we saw the kind of the wave, houses
10:11 are falling like a pack of cards, the incessant rain that is happening, floods down south,
10:16 even in the western part of the country, like states like Rajasthan.
10:19 Ma'am, in your learned opinion, what is your message and what are the immediate concerns
10:24 that we must address?
10:25 So, of course, I mean, you know, we tend to kind of mix up the climate change and the
10:30 environmental changes.
10:32 They are different.
10:33 I mean, air pollution is a different sense of problem, but they are almost connected
10:37 in a certain way as well.
10:39 And what has happened in Uttarakhand and other places is also kind of a man-made disaster
10:47 because, you know, we have obviously overstepped on the development mode and done, you know,
10:54 we are obviously seeing that for many years now.
10:57 And even now in our policy that we are kind of favoring deforestation and many such activities
11:05 are going and interfering with the nature when you are actually cutting through hills
11:11 and making tunnels out of them.
11:13 So this is a repercussion.
11:15 And the climate change will obviously is happening.
11:18 We know that that is there.
11:19 The temperatures are going above the 1.5 degree and that is inevitable.
11:24 But how soon can the world globally come together and stop this is going to be totally dependent
11:31 on how religiously we are going to give up the fossil fuels and bring clean energy, which
11:37 is the renewable energy.
11:39 And that should be our most important, you know, ask and something that and something
11:48 that's being done.
11:49 It's not like we are not going to it, but it's slow.
11:52 And this El Nino effect, which was even supposed to come a couple of years later, that came
11:57 and this year, it's not only about India, the whole global, in the global sense, everything
12:02 was a disaster.
12:03 Flash floods, heat waves and all that we've seen.
12:05 And this is going to be the best year, actually, in the further years when we look back, if
12:10 you and I speak in the next few years, we're going to say, oh, wow, 2023 was the best year.
12:15 So so it's scary and we need to kind of everyone.
12:18 But this is the leads will have to come from the government.
12:20 The lead will have to come from the leaders.
12:23 And only when policies are good and they are implemented, will the citizens join in.
12:29 You cannot ask people to give up cars.
12:31 They won't.
12:32 You will have to snatch it out of them.
12:33 So that's exactly how we met.
12:35 Yeah.
12:36 Now, before I take, you know, one final question from Avinash, I just wanted to ask you, he
12:40 is in city of joy.
12:41 He's in Kolkata.
12:42 And you know, once again, if you talk in terms of population, Kolkata has known to have a
12:48 lot of football and population there being a metropolitan city in the east.
12:53 Now, in Delhi, what is this curious is, is there any specific link to the population
12:59 load also on Delhi to this air pollution?
13:03 No, I that's the that's the whole thing that, you know, of course, population is always,
13:08 you know, difficult to kind of, you know, kind of manage, but it is not the masses who
13:18 are responsible for the pollution.
13:20 If you see the masses, they never drive a car.
13:23 They never ever even probably they'll never get a car.
13:26 They'll never get to sit in a car.
13:28 They will never be able to, you know, if you go to the most lesser privileged areas, the
13:32 plastic waste is negligible.
13:34 I'm just saying this.
13:35 And, you know, of course, all the waste, all the waste that we are mostly reaching the
13:41 landfills is all coming from the bigger industries and people and residential areas where the
13:47 richer people live.
13:48 So, I mean, in everything that you'll see, it's not those the masses who are responsible
13:52 for this.
13:53 So we cannot say that the air pollution or climate crisis is because of them.
13:56 They are the victims of air pollution.
13:59 In fact, those children who live under the flyover or the slums or various other places,
14:04 they'll probably never sit in a car.
14:06 But look what our cars are doing to them.
14:08 What is the emissions doing to them?
14:10 The construction waste that's the CND, the PM10, you know, what, how it's harming them
14:16 because they're actually on the streets outside.
14:18 So, so we are a very small percentage of people who are responsible for this air pollution.
14:24 Absolutely.
14:25 Absolutely.
14:26 Abhinash, thank you so much.
14:27 Bhavna ma'am, Bhavna Kandari, noted in one of the lists.
14:29 Thank you so much.
14:30 One thing is pretty clear.
14:31 One thing is pretty clear, ma'am, that as you put up that 2023 could be the best year
14:37 that we would look back in the future.
14:40 Let's try and get to the better years, obviously.
14:43 And obviously, to host Olympics, we really need to do something about the air.
14:47 And it's not just a simple one government or two governments responsibility.
14:50 You and I and everyone, our viewers also could play a very significant role in it.
14:55 Thank you so much.
14:56 Thank you so much, Bankar.
14:57 And thank you for taking up this responsible sports.
14:59 Very important.
15:00 Nobody's talking about it.
15:01 I appreciate it.
15:02 Very appreciated.
15:03 Thank you.
15:04 Thank you, ma'am.
15:05 Thank you.
15:06 Thank you so much.
15:07 Bye-bye.
15:08 Subscribe to One India channel and never miss an update.
15:09 update.
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