At times like this, when the pollution in New Delhi and its surrounding region is at its most intense, there is a clamour for judicial diktats, draconian regulations and strong enforcement. By the end of January, most people move on to other issues.
A relatively small number of environmental activists fight on, but the rest of society is no longer too concerned. Until Diwali, when a debate over banning firecrackers triggers the next Sisyphean cycle.
It’s not just Delhi. Every Indian city has its own big bad pollution story that follows a similar pattern. I do not think we ask ourselves why we are unable to arrest the deterioration in our living environment. It does not help that ideologues point fingers at things like neoliberal capitalism, development models or this-or-that political party and its corruption.
Holding these ‘usual suspects’ responsible gives us the mental comfort of having found the bad guys so that we can punish them, and more importantly rest the investigation.
But if we pursue the case to its end, we will find that both the pollution and our failure to control it is due to a lack of social capital. As I have repeatedly pointed out in these columns, ‘we’ do not have a sense of ‘us.’ In fact, it is debatable if the ‘we’ that I refer to in the lines above exists at all.
Pollution is what economists call a negative externality. Its extent is an indication of how much self-interest is overriding the common interest. To tackle the smog, it is necessary to arrive at a new balance between selfishness and public-mindedness.
Tackling negative externalities is a cooperation problem. Enough numbers of people have to work together to prioritize the problem, identify solutions and—this is the most important bit—accept the inevitable trade-offs that ensue.
Solving the cooperation problem gets harder as the city gets more populous. It also becomes more complex when the population is more diverse. The scale, structure and dynamics of society make India’s cooperation problems hard and unprecedented, if not unique.
Unfortunately, we do not have functioning social mechanisms to engender greater cooperation. That’s because building such mechanisms itself is a cooperation problem. This is the place we must start. We need to build social capital around our civic communities.
People must trust each other across community boundaries. Without such generalised trust, it is impossible to get the minimum cooperation necessary to combat problems like the smog.
Democratic politics is destroying social capital. Its dominant logic is one of differentiation. It thrives on othering. One party divides on religion, another on caste and yet another on class. It is unrealistic to expect them to try and bridge the very divides that they rely on for their success.
Yet, unless these divides are bridged, the smog will get worse. The judiciary or executive are cut of the same cloth as the population and cannot just wave a wand if society does not believe in its magic.
The answer lies in social movements that bond people into communities. Climate is a superordinate threat that affects everyone. It can be the stimulus for us to focus on rebuilding Indian society around pluralism, tolerance and a common national identity.
History tells us that India achieved its greatest triumphs on the back of social movements. Environmental activism must move away from its technocratic preoccupation with big forums like CoP-29 and global climate goals, and instead think about how Indians can be made to think as Indians.
Translating global commitments needs society to make painful adjustments: some industries must shut down, some occupations will have to disappear, some people must move, some people must pay and so on.
If we cannot do this for an immediate, palpable and deadly hazard like the smog, what chance do we have of meeting our net-zero commitment? Where is the social capital for it? Therefore, the message is ‘if you care about environmental goals, participate in a social movement that builds community.’
Obviously, it is not going to be easy. It will take years and decades. So will many global climate goals. Donors, social entrepreneurs and activists are prepared to invest patient capital to pursue technocratic approaches. Where they do consider social approaches, they are narrowly focused on specific climate goal-related outcomes.
It is unlikely that any climate policy or solution will succeed unless there is a parallel initiative to create broad-based social capital. Like what they say about trees, the best time to start a movement to build social capital was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
There are a number of things the state can do about the smog. Closing factories, preventing stubble burning, controlling vehicular traffic and regulating construction debris are sensible practical measures that can work. They will be effective and sustainable only if there is adequate social capital.
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