The Lost Bliss of Morning Walks: A Plea Against Toxic Air in Aanchal Vihar and the Wider Indian Crisis
The Lost Bliss of Morning Walks: A Plea Against Toxic Air in Aanchal Vihar and the Wider Indian Crisis
The Promise of Tranquility, Now Lost
Fourteen years ago, I chose to make Aanchal Vihar, Pinjore, my home. I was drawn by its promise of tranquility, nestled near a forest area, lush with greenery. I envisioned morning and evening walks filled with the bliss of fresh, clean air.
Tragically, that vision has been replaced by a distressing reality. The very air we breathe during these walks is now polluted with toxic fumes. What was once a sanctuary has become a health hazard, where the simple act of breathing deeply during a morning walk feels like a dangerous undertaking.
Here is what has become a daily ritual in our colony: residents burning garbage, including toxic plastic, in the evenings; local shopkeepers following the same harmful practice, burning their waste after closing their shops for the day. The result is a health hazard that envelopes our community.
The Morning Walk has become an exercise in breathing harmful residual pollutants from the previous night's fires. The Evening Walk means walking directly through the thick, acrid smoke of ongoing garbage burning. The most frustrating irony is that this burning does not make the garbage vanish; it only transforms solid waste into an invisible, airborne poison that we all are forced to ingest.
My experience in Aanchal Vihar is not an isolated incident. It is a microcosm of a national public health emergency playing out across urban and rural India alike. From the major metropolises to smaller towns and villages, the right to breathe clean air is being systematically compromised.
This article explores both the devastating scale of India's air pollution crisis and the sustainable solutions that can help us reclaim our fundamental right to clean air.
The National Crisis: A Statistical Nightmare
The air quality crisis extends far beyond our neighborhood in Pinjore. According to real-time air quality data, Indian cities consistently dominate global rankings of the world's most polluted cities.
On November 6, 2025, Indian cities including Rudrapur, Daryapur, Rampur, Hapur, and Pilibhit held seven of the top ten spots for worst air quality globally .
The situation in major urban centers is equally alarming:
Delhi's perpetual emergency: On September 14, 2025, Delhi ranked among the top three most polluted major cities globally, with its air quality classified as "unhealthy for sensitive groups" with an AQI exceeding 140. Some neighborhoods reported even higher levels, posing serious risks to children, the elderly, and those with respiratory conditions . The city's PM2.5 levels exceed World Health Organization (WHO) safety standards by nearly 22 times .
Regional spread: The problem is not confined to Delhi alone. Metropolitan areas like Mumbai, Gurugram, and Noida also regularly experience severe pollution levels, particularly during winter months .
Kerala's concerning levels: Even in Anchal, Kerala—presumably a region with cleaner air—the current air quality index stands at a "poor" 67.0 AQI for PM2.5, exceeding the WHO's maximum limit for 24-hour exposure . This indicates the pervasive nature of the problem, affecting regions across the length and breadth of the country.
The human cost of this crisis is staggering. A 2019 study published in The Lancet medical journal attributed 1.67 million premature deaths in India to air pollution . Another study found that air pollution reduces the average Indian's life expectancy by several years, with reductions estimated between 3.4 to over 6 years in severely affected northern regions .
Unmasking the Sources: Why Our Air is Poisoned
The toxic air choking our communities stems from a complex interplay of sources that compound each other's effects.
Garbage Burning: The Neighborhood Poison
The practice I witness daily in Aanchal Vihar—open burning of garbage, including plastic—is unfortunately commonplace across India.
This method of "waste disposal" releases a cocktail of dangerous chemicals and particulate matter directly into the air we breathe. When plastics are burned, they release especially toxic compounds including dioxins and furans that can cause cancer and disrupt hormonal systems. This neighborhood-level pollution source significantly contributes to the overall toxic burden, particularly in residential areas.
Transportation: Vehicular Emissions and Fuel Adulteration
India's transportation sector is a major contributor to the nation's air quality problems. The country's roads are congested with vehicles, many operating on adulterated fuel. To cut costs, some commercial vehicle operators mix gasoline and diesel with cheaper alternatives like kerosene or industrial solvents.
This adulteration increases emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter . Additionally, chronic traffic congestion exacerbates the problem—vehicles moving at speeds below 20 km/hour emit 4-8 times more pollution than those traveling at 55-70 km/hour .
Agricultural Burning: The Regional Factor
In northern India, particularly during October and November, the practice of crop residue burning in neighboring states like Punjab and Haryana creates a regional smoke haze that dramatically worsens air quality across the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain . This agricultural practice, though cheaper than mechanical solutions, contributes significantly to the toxic smog that blankets the region each winter.
Industrial and Other Sources
Industrial emissions account for approximately 51% of India's air pollution, while vehicle emissions contribute 27% . Other significant sources include:
Table: Major Sources of Air Pollution in India and Their Contributions
| Pollution Source | Contribution to Overall Pollution | Primary Pollutants Released |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial Emissions | 51% | PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NOx |
| Vehicle Emissions | 27% | PM2.5, NOx, CO, HC |
| Agricultural Burning | 17% | PM2.5, PM10, Black Carbon |
| Other Sources | 5% | Varies |
| Household Biomass Burning | Significant (indoor & outdoor) | PM2.5, CO, Carcinogens |
The Health Impacts: A Nation Struggling to Breathe
The consequences of prolonged exposure to polluted air are severe and wide-ranging. Medical experts have documented extensive health impacts affecting millions of Indians.
Respiratory Damage: Long-term exposure to particulate matter leads to asthma, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer . A 2013 study revealed that Indians have 30% weaker lung function compared to Europeans, even among non-smokers .
Cardiovascular harm: Air pollution doesn't just affect the lungs—it causes and exacerbates heart disease, strokes, and high blood pressure . The fine particles enter the bloodstream through the lungs, causing inflammation and damage throughout the circulatory system.
Disproportionate impact on children: Children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution because their respiratory systems are still developing, they breathe more air relative to their body weight, and they tend to be more physically active outdoors. The crisis has reached a point where 50% of children in cities like Bangalore suffer from asthma, with air pollution identified as a major contributing factor .
The psychological toll of the pollution crisis is also significant. Many urban residents feel like prisoners in their own homes, especially during peak pollution periods. As one former Delhi resident turned climate migrant expressed, "Breathing fresh air really should be considered a basic human right" .
Pathways to Solutions: Reclaiming Our Right to Breathe
Addressing India's air pollution crisis requires coordinated action at individual, community, and policy levels. The situation is dire, but not hopeless—meaningful solutions exist.
Individual and Community Action
The change can begin right in our neighborhoods:
Stop garbage burning immediately: As residents and shopkeepers in communities like Aanchal Vihar, we must find sustainable alternatives to open burning of waste. This single action would dramatically improve local air quality.
Adopt protective measures: On high pollution days, residents should:
Advocate for community-level solutions: Push for proper waste segregation systems, community composting of organic waste, and organized collection of recyclables. Decentralized solutions like small-scale biogas plants can effectively process organic waste while generating useful energy.
Policy and Systemic Solutions
Lasting improvement requires systemic change:
Strengthen enforcement: India has the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981, but enforcement has been inadequate . Strengthening implementation and accountability mechanisms is crucial.
Expand clean air initiatives: The Indian government launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) with a tentative goal of reducing PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 20%-30% by 2024 compared to 2017 levels . Such programs need enhanced support and expansion.
Invest in green infrastructure: Ambitious projects like the proposed "Aravalli Green Wall"—a 1,600 km long, 5 km wide green ecological corridor along the Aravalli Range from Gujarat to Delhi—could help combat pollution through natural air filtration .
Promote cleaner transportation: Accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, improving public transportation, and enforcing stricter vehicle emission standards like Bharat Stage VI can significantly reduce transportation-related pollution.
Tackle agricultural burning: Provide farmers with affordable alternatives to stubble burning and machinery for sustainable crop residue management.
A Collective Responsibility
The toxic air choking Aanchal Vihar is the same poison filling lungs across India. It respects no boundary between urban and rural, rich and poor, young and old. The loss of my morning walks' blissful tranquility is a microcosm of what millions of Indians are experiencing—the gradual erosion of quality of life and health due to entirely preventable pollution.
Reclaiming our right to breathe clean air will require sustained effort, political will, and community engagement.
It demands that we rethink waste management, transportation systems, agricultural practices, and industrial regulations. Most importantly, it requires that each of us—as residents, community members, and citizens—become part of the solution.
The vision of Aanchal Vihar as a tranquil, green haven is not lost forever. With collective action and determination, we can transform our neighborhoods back into places where morning walks are once again a source of joy and health, rather than anxiety and risk. The time to act is now, before more mornings are lost to the haze of pollution, and more lives are cut short by the very air we must breathe to live.
Our children deserve to know the simple pleasure of breathing deeply on their morning walk. That future is still within our grasp if we have the courage to demand and create it.
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