If you are in Delhi-NCR, let’s get this straight from the very first breath you take while reading this: clean air is not a luxury, not a privilege, not a tech upgrade. It is a constitutional, legal, basic survival right. Yet here we are, in a city where people are buying air purifiers the way they buy bottled water, as if breathing freely now requires a subscription plan. Something is fundamentally, legally wrong with that picture. And here, we are focusing upon all that is wrong to claim our right to clean air… *coughs*
Air Pollution is An Emergency – Legally!
Air pollution is not just an environmental issue. It is a public health crisis and a violation of human rights, wrapped in a cloud of bureaucratic negligence. Courts across jurisdictions have been loud and clear:
- In India, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that clean air forms part of the Right to Life under Article 21.
- Internationally, the UN declared access to a clean, healthy environment a universal human right in 2022.
So when an entire city is forced into buying air-cleaning gadgets, masking up indoors, and monitoring AQI like it’s a stock market index, we must confront the legal absurdity: Why are citizens paying for compensatory gadgets when the State is obliged to guarantee breathable air in the first place?
Right to Clean Air – Whose Duty?
This part may sound harsh, but it needs to.
Where are the environment ministries, pollution control boards, municipal corporations, and enforcement agencies? Their sole job, literally their whole job, is to regulate air quality, control emissions, curb industrial violations, and enforce environmental norms. On the contrary, what we see is rapid approvals for construction, increasing vehicular emissions, lax industrial oversight, open waste burning, and seasonal crises year after year. Then, we watch the same authorities hold press conferences telling citizens to “stay indoors”. Is air pollution a weather event?
The law requires the State to protect life and health. However, the State responds with advisories instead of enforcement. Can we call it good governance?
Why Air Purifiers are NOT the Solution?
Growing up, did any of us see air purifiers? Not even in Delhi! Air purifiers are gadgets that flooded the markets simultaneously as pollutants settled in the air raising the air quality index. In this alarming situation, air purifiers for clean air is not the solution, but a temporary bandage on a haemorrhoid. Let us explore why:
Air purifiers can:
- Clean a room, not a city.
- Target particulates, not toxic gases.
- Are affordable to a few, not accessible to all.
- Do nothing for anyone outdoors, be it workers, children in schools, or people traveling for work.
Citizens can “protect themselves” with a product is a clever marketing escape route. This in no way is a public health solution. The idea of air purifiers in Delhi-NCR shifts the responsibility away from regulators and onto individuals. This is both unethical and legally dubious.
Silencing the Protests for Clean Air – But Why?
In recent protests at India Gate, dozens of citizens including students, parents, retirees stepped out to demand their right to breathe. As per reports, instead of being heard, many were detained, with police claiming that the protesters blocked ambulances and traffic. Some reports hint at naxal links, which should not be the case. If it is a mere protest against the toxic air, citizens are risking their health, to stand up against toxic air, and should not be shunned. However, if it is glorification of naxalite ideology under the garb of a protest for clean air, then the matter should be investigated thoroughly.
Why is it a matter of Concern?
The air in Delhi has got all of us coughing and choking. If a few of us summon the courage to bring their voice to the authorities, this should not be silenced. This is not law, because:
- We have Right to Protest: The Constitution of India guarantees the right to peaceful assembly under Article 19. When people in Delhi rallied to demand clean air, which is a reflection of the right to life, suppressing them with force is a direct question mark upon constitutional freedoms.
- We have Right to Life: Clean air is already recognized by the Supreme Court of India as part of the Right to Life under Article 21. So, when authorities arrest air-pollution protesters, they’re not just policing dissent but undermining the very right that people are fighting for.
- There is State Accountability: Protests against toxic air has to be a serious call for state accountability. Legally, the State should be held accountable for Why there are no systemic changes to curb the air emergency in Delhi-NCR? Why are cosmetic measures being preferred over real policy? Are only the rich meant to survive? While the rest choke in the capital.
- This is Human Rights Violation: Allegations of custodial abuse, especially groping, are serious. These could attract not just criminal liability but a wider human rights backlash. Courts, human-rights commissions, and civil society must treat these claims with utmost gravity.
What do we need?
As per the Constitution of India, the State must guarantee clean air under constitutional and environmental law. If this is the picture, then normalizing air purifiers as a “solution” is essentially an admission of failure. The proposal itself creates an economic divide in survival itself. The wealthy can afford to breathe cleaner, while the poor breathe poison. This is not only immoral but unconstitutional as well. Citizens, NGOs, and legal practitioners should not hesitate to question policy paralysis when the right to breathe is literally at stake.
Courts have the power to demand accountability:
- Court-monitored pollution control strategies
- Mandatory industrial compliance audits
- Enforceable emissions caps
- Actions against municipal lapses
- Emergency response plans backed by law, not just advisories
During COVID-19 lockdown, Delhi-NCR’s air was so good that the AQI came down to 10. Everything was halted, yes! And that is not a permanent solution – true! But efforts should be made – one step at a time, to understand what works best to improve Delhi’s air, because right now it is breathtaking – literally!
Final Word: Clean Air For All
If you can’t breathe, nothing matters!
Clean air is not a commodity. It cannot be bought, filtered, or installed. It is a right, and the only real solution is systemic, enforced, government-led air quality management grounded in law and accountability. Until authorities take aggressive, legally binding action, not against people but air pollution, air purifiers will remain what they are: a desperate patch on a problem that needs a bulldozer of political will and public pressure.
On the other hand, we cannot pretend that brutalizing people who demand clean air is just “law and order.” This is state violence against environmental defenders. This is criminalizing survival.
Yes, people should protest responsibly. But more importantly: governments should stop acting like protest is the problem. The problem is the air, not the people who are fighting to make it breathable.
And we, the public, must demand clean air for our survival —- louder.
