- 20 hours ago
Delhi is choking but how do the city’s youngest generation feel about living in such toxic air? We hit the streets to ask Gen Z what they think about the pollution crisis, how it’s affecting their health, and what they believe the government and citizens must do next. Hear college-goers' unfiltered opinions on one of India’s biggest environmental failures.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00one of the many issues in Delhi NCR is the rising levels of pollution every winter it is the same
00:15story and we all know what are the causes of it stubble burning fireworks traffic congestion and
00:21so much more but do you really know what Zenzi's think about it because let's face it they are the
00:27future of our country and it's very important for us to understand what are their opinions and
00:31what are their thoughts regarding this big issue so come with me and find out what Zenzi's think
00:36about the rising levels of pollution in Delhi NCR I'm here to talk about how can and what can the
00:50government do to ensure that these pollution levels can be controlled first of all what's your name
00:55Rudra what do you think every winter is the same situation for us in Delhi we are breathing toxic
01:00air which is absolutely suffocating what can we do to bring about a long-term change I mean I live in
01:07an area where I can see a lot of factories specifically those factories which put out a lot of pollution
01:13which is I don't think it is monitored so there should be some kind of a monitoring going on
01:18the amount of pollution which is released by these factories on daily basis
01:22and then I feel like firecrackers are not that necessary I mean even though in it's a diwali time
01:29only during which firecrackers are mostly used but then I think it's throughout the winters because
01:35of all the shardis and all happening that we get to you when we get to see the firecrackers taking place
01:39and I believe that even though people may debate that only one singular shardis happening for one time
01:45but then many of those shardis are happening on a single day so that sums up into a you know huge
01:51pollution levels so enforcement is another side of it supreme court said that you cannot burst fire
01:56crackers after 10 pm but we saw that happening everywhere post 10 pm as well so civic sense also
02:02needs to be there civic sense does need does play a role because you can see right Delhi metro is nice
02:08because of how how the government is making sure that people are following the rules and it's very simple
02:13to understand and you have to pay a fine if you don't follow in Delhi metro similarly I feel like
02:18same goes with firecrackers and all other rules that if you if the government and the local policemen
02:23make sure that the civilians follow their rules in a very nice way efficient way then I think
02:30civilians will follow Delhi metro infrastructure also needs to expand to ensure that there is last mile
02:36connectivity because a lot of metros don't go to proper places and people then have to take
02:40autos and you know other means of transportation to get to their where they want to be I believe
02:45there's always scope for betterment but then I'm not I don't have a problem with the current scenario
02:50given Delhi metro is one of the best things about Delhi at the moment so I wouldn't say anything bad
02:55about it what do you have to say would you prefer using private vehicles four wheelers or would you
03:00prefer using public transport honestly it depends what kind of public transport most probably Delhi metro it's
03:06clean and it's safe to use actually safer than other public transports and again with the growing
03:13pollution the rising pollution I think one should always look to use public transports more than
03:18private transports the odd even rule right I think that should be implemented you think it worked
03:24I mean to an extent but I think there was a lack of implementation and also the fact the firecrackers
03:30you know there are police so they're surveilling and again there are crackers after 10 pm and that is
03:37obviously increasing the pollution I would also you know create awareness about the crop the pollution
03:44that comes because of the crop burning stubble burning so that's about it yeah how can we tackle
03:49that issue stubble burning one thing is we need to give monetary help to the farmers but apart from that
03:55what can we do because it's a very big issue actually yeah I mean again monetary you know this
04:01thing incentives and also we need to create awareness among the farmers that there is a season when
04:06they are supposed to actually burn those crops when the wind is not coming towards Delhi that is something
04:12the farmers are not aware aware of so this is something farmers should be made aware of and the
04:18consequences of the of their actions do you think cloud seeding is also one thing which we can make use of
04:24I mean again it really depends on the how you implement it because there are a lot of ideas
04:30a lot of ways but there is lack of implementation that's why a lot of pollution thank you thank you so
04:35much what do you think we can do as citizens and the government also to ensure that these pollution
04:40levels can be curbed first of all I genuinely believe that as a citizens we should all plant more
04:47trees and wear masks especially because pollution is a big thing and it can cause like very
04:54breathing diseases and all and and for government I should definitely say that they should stop like
05:01those false measures of you know sparkling water everywhere to stop like AQI meter and definitely
05:09should work more upon the problem that's it I guess so do you think that the sprinkling water
05:16on the streets it doesn't help much it does pollution can be curbed because of that yeah pollution can be
05:23curbed but the thing is that the government is only uh sprinkling water and you know uh the into the area
05:30where uh you know mostly AQI meters are there not in like a genuinely places where the Delhi chief minister
05:36is saying that these are the hot spots and that is the reason why we are sprinkling water there ah
05:40that's why I genuinely believe that's wrong on her part of saying such a lie as we all can see she's
05:48only sprinkling water where AQI meters are present and not in like she should spray in front of colleges
05:54and all not in front of the AQI meters generally what do you think if not sprinkling water what can
05:58be the long-term solution to ensure that you breathe fresh clean air definitely stopping like uh as a
06:05citizens we should uh also have like a responsibility like uh not using vehicles that much as uh all of us
06:11are using our personal vehicles and should uh depend more upon like public sector's vehicles and second of
06:17all definitely planting more trees and cutting off like as we can see in noida more industries are
06:24bringing up and which is causing more pollution I believe on a personal level do you prefer using
06:29public transport over private vehicles as I'm a student who is from Bhopal and I'm living currently in
06:34Delhi so I generally don't have any personal vehicle on me so I'm only using uh public vehicle and generally
06:41I use uh road and like walking more thank you so much for talking to us thank you what do you think
06:48the government should do is it doing enough from the past few years we are seeing that the government
06:52is doing nothing as the AQI is raising far enough in Delhi we all are living from past three to four
06:59years and we are seeing the pollution is increasing day by day and nothing is going serious government is
07:04not taking any serious actions so that they can clean air they are just like the things are going
07:11in that way and nothing is doing give me two three long-term solutions that the government can
07:17implement and work upon to ensure that next winters we don't have the same situation in place
07:21that we have this winter they should see the policies of the cities like indoor indoor is one of
07:27the cleanest city I have also visited there is the AQI is below 100 in the normal normally even after
07:34the Diwali the AQI is not more than 200 so they should adopt the policies so the indoor government
07:40has took up it's totally up to government we as a public also ensure that things go smoothly so
07:46it's totally on government and the public so as we coordinate with each other it will balance the
07:51things do you think that next year government will be able to tackle this I guess it's very difficult as
07:57from the past few years everything is like same next year we will improve next year we will improve
08:02but accordingly the things are not been improving it's I guess a leader which is not biased can take the
08:10steps quickly and remove these things it is basically on the mindset of a government and the public
08:15so the intent intent needs to be there yeah obviously thank you so much I think it's about
08:20finding the root cause of it right if you spray water and etc that's just control measures to reduce
08:26it but the idea is to stop it at its roots so you probably look at farmers in Haryana and other
08:31surrounding states or you look at industries that exist in Delhi or vehicular pollution that comes and you
08:36try to deal with that rather than spraying water or other control measures that the government's now
08:41taking what do you think the government can do to ensure that stubble burning can be stopped rather
08:46than compensation I think it's also more about awareness as well it's a mix of a bunch of free
08:49form ideas that you then get that you probably have to give them some sort of a monetary compensation
08:54monetary incentive to make them to incentivize them to reduce stubble burning but at the same time it's
08:59also an awareness civil civic sense thing that you also have to imbibe within farmers as well
09:05talking about civic sense we see that a lot of streets in Delhi NCR especially Gurgaon we have
09:09seen a lot of people talking about it that the streets are really dirty and this is also part
09:14of pollution I think I think the very big reason that people are very careless with civic sense is
09:18that they see that it's already dirty and a lot of people other people don't care so it's more of
09:22if no one else cares why should I be the one that goes and takes that step so it's got to come from
09:26the government itself first they've got to initiate cleaning measures to clean up the city and to emphasize
09:31that there is a very important priority within the city which is which will then be reflected
09:36within people and they'll be more careful with civic sense and littering etc did you face any sort of
09:40health issues yourself personally or any of your family members because of pollution um sore throat in
09:46the winter cold i think it's a very common thing that you face in Delhi yeah thank you thank you for
09:51talking to you have you ever thought about leaving Delhi altogether because of pollution levels here
09:56yes had that face because it was very pathetic at that point of time it has gotten better recently
10:02but yes it was very pathetic back then so what do you do on a personal level to ensure that you are
10:07not affected by it yeah like the first thing which we did was like i and my roommate we got an air purifier
10:12for our room that was the first wasn't it so expensive we had to look like dig into our savings
10:17so it was it was a decision which we made it was necessary at that point of time was it so bad
10:22it was it was pathetic he was having difficulty in breathing breathing health issues also you
10:27were facing what kind of health issues he had some problem with his lungs like since childhood and
10:31it just exaggerated due to like pollution so that's what it was so this is something that the doctor
10:37also recommended that you need to get yeah yes that's right it was okay what do you think that
10:43the center can do to ensure that the pollution levels can be cobb i think the first thing that
10:48they should look out for is take responsibility for what is happening because that is something that
10:53has been lacking other than that obviously you know there have been a lot of measures which have
10:58been successful in the past so maybe you know adopt them and but at the end of the day with the
11:03population of delhi and the culture that delhi brings it is very tough to curb pollution altogether
11:10but you know let's just see that the government does some things to minimize it as much as we've
11:14seen a short term uh you know resolutions for this like so you know government ensuring the
11:19tractors are sprinkling water at some of the hot spots but what can the government do to ensure that
11:23long-term change can be seen long-term change they need to change things which are like causing it on a
11:29larger scale they need to bring fundamental changes uh even like uh if we were looking for an example
11:36china was also i had an aq around 700 or so but they brought it down to less than 100 so it is very
11:42possible and it is it is about the government what they do and how they cater to it yes the onus is as
11:48well on the people because we have to like do things on our part as well we have to bring some smaller
11:54changes so that it ultimately leads to a bigger change so yes the onus is on the people as well
12:00but it is on the government as well they have to accept that this is the wrong thing and they need
12:04to bring changes do you think that certain kind of campaigns uh around pollution have not been done
12:10by the government campaigns we've seen a lot of good campaigns by the government like such bharat campaign
12:16was one of it do you think that pollution can be converted into a campaign such as this you can use
12:22campaigns obviously you can use campaigns but at the end of the day the issue lies uh as you were
12:27asking him about the people uh it's not that people are not aware and campaigns generally bring
12:32bring awareness they don't really bring responsibility people need to own up to their
12:37issues and own up to the fact it is very inconvenient to use public transport we have to use public transport
12:43because we don't have any means of a killer vehicles here but other than that why would we do it
12:48because delhi is a warm city it is very uncomfortable the pollution itself causes that because nobody would
12:54want to walk for a kilometer to get to a metro station because at the end of the day they'll have to walk
12:59through pollution it is just that the public infrastructure of the public transport can be
13:03improved ultimately so that it becomes feasible for people to opt for it that's what can be done
13:08right thank you so much guys for speaking with us i think government basically kush kari ni riya to
13:12joe be like literally joe bhi step osakta hunh wahi lena chahiye because wo polition ko thik
13:18karne ke naam pe straight ox ko evacuate karre sara hata raya and uske liye bhi koi
13:22chiz diya and air pollution kule ke to i think wo waisi kuch ni karre unse better i think
13:27aj kal influencers karre like they're talking about it like they're talking about it logo ko aware karna i think
13:31government ko bhi sab chis se karni chahi ki ki bhot chare volunteers achi hain i think more campaigns
13:36like things should be raised or like asa kuch hona chahiye ki jussse or awareness so like
13:41aj kal social media sabse badi chiz hata i think social media pari or achse se chiz pa baad honi chahiye
13:45and yes collaboration jesse minika ngos vagyare ke saath to achse what do you think initiative
13:51achse se lelni chahi haa and sensitization achse se honi chahi
13:54sensitization of the issue must be there there were several protests happening around this area were you part of
14:00of it no no no do you think that these kind of protests help yeah i think they help
14:06they help how i think asa agar protest honge to yeh ki like government joe thoda or
14:11unheh yeh toh lagega ki haa people are also concerned about these kind of situations like aisa
14:16niya ki wo logis chiz ko ignore karre unheh bhi concern as chiz ko leke to haa unheh yeh ek chiz
14:20pata lagehi ki haa hume bhi yeh sab changes chahiye humare liye ki haa hume bhi yeh sab changes chahiye
14:23humare liye ki haa hume yeh toxic air breathe karre haa hume bhi bhi pata toh
14:27us chiz ke liye ab hum aapna joa voice race karre haa hume do bhi haa hume
14:31initiatives chahiye joste yeh sab tizea khinko
14:34what do you think which government was able to fulfill at least some of its responsibilities
14:39to curb pollution do you think it was armadmi party or bjp or is it too political a question for you
14:44too political question okay bye koi be kare but this issue needs to be fixed have you ever personally
14:50faced any kind of health issues or one of your family members who would have faced any asthma or any kind
14:55of issues uh because of pollution like you can't take deep breaths abhi philal where are you from
15:04delhi delhi and you are also from delhi so i think you guys have already accustomed yourself
15:09yeah we can say that whenever you go out to any other place where the pollution levels are not high
15:13do you feel any kind of uh relief happy happiness is there always like
15:18is it always been like this or uh for a couple of years back you were actually fine with the
15:31you were breathing i think i think before like a corona time so i think it's not that
15:37and then at the time of the corona it was completely finished i think after that it was more
15:41more than that and this year i guess cracker's peh bhi thodi si chute mil gai thi to us
15:45ki wazze se government ke initiatives ka saas ta civic sense bhi bhot zaluri hai jo ki logon
15:49main nahi hai hai
15:50tunay ji tab toh karayenge wana ab tum toh bol do bas toh thuna uswazt hai
15:55thank you guys thank you for talking to me thank you she is actually from haryana what do you have to
15:59see on the pollution levels here uh so i am from haryana and the we see is trouble burning which is the main
16:06cause of pollution in delhi nowadays so i want government to focus on this and uh ensure that
16:14the people in delhi and haryana are safe and breathing the safe and non-polluted air so it's
16:21a double whammy for you because when you are in haryana you are breathing toxic air and now in delhi
16:25also you have this problem so which chief minister would you want to request to uh i want to request to
16:32the government uh in haryana and delhi both there is uh bjp i guess so i think uh it's more about
16:38joint ventures where both the governments can come together and bring about a solution right
16:42yeah so what do you do to ensure that you're safeguarded against pollution okay see so first
16:47of all we don't get out much we are also having a preparatory leaves around these days so we just stay
16:52indoors so while staying indoors i just try to keep my windows and my doors closed so that you know the
16:57air in the house and the air out of the house and remain different i think so in the month of
17:03october did you feel like really feeling it in your lungs that it was really toxic not october i think
17:09i started feeling it in november or somewhere that it was little but i guess you get uh acquaint you
17:14know accustomed to it so that's not so if you go outside of delhi do you think that oh i've come to
17:19a completely different place because here here is really good and when you come back to delhi
17:23it's toxic it's suffocating i maybe i just came back from my like you know city so i came back
17:29from bhopal i did not feel anything a lot of difference maybe i'm acquainted to it as i said
17:33do you go out for jogging or anything like that and you that would be a very uh dumb thing to do
17:37actually because you know you are doing more harm than good so no being the citizens of delhi we can
17:42just make sure that we follow those basic uh measures like wearing masks and something like that
17:49so do you think that uh 400 plus aqi levels wearing mask will help you out well to an extent yes if
17:56something that we can do about us we can wear masks and make sure that we are safe we have seen a lot
18:02of protests happening around this area uh because of pollution were you part of those protests also
18:09uh no i wasn't i wasn't part of any of the protests that were happening so yeah uh do you support these
18:14kind of protests peaceful protests happening because this is a very a very important issue that people
18:20need to race and uh you know raise awareness of because a lot of people you know they just
18:25sit inside their homes they don't bother about this people who are going actually out to attend offices
18:29schools they are the ones who are actually on the suffering side of it uh so i do support uh like
18:35peaceful protests until it turns violent so that's okay uh because the ones who are going out are
18:40actually in trouble rather than the ones who are sitting in the places so yeah i do support them
18:45thank you for talking to us at the pollution level here in the national capital i think there
18:48need should be some preventive majors as well you know as we have already seen the stable burning
18:53it is a big issue in the nation itself especially in the national capital uh the preventive majors
18:58should have been implemented way earlier and people should keep their houses closed door at the same
19:04time uh on the flip side you look at the students as well where they have the hybrid model where
19:09students will do work from home they will have the hybrid classes but this major should have been
19:15like precaution is better than cure and these things could have been done way earlier as well
19:20so the government needs to implement rather than just put up the provisions on paper but as things
19:27stand you know the air quality has been a real issue in the national capital so i think the government could
19:33add more incentives to the real cause at this moment and if these things are achieved i am definitely
19:40sure that the air pollution level in the nation and especially in the national capital can be controlled
19:50so
19:54so
19:56you
19:58you
Be the first to comment