(BCCL/ Ranjit Kumar)

Civil society has to raise its voice: Dr.

Naresh Trehan

Delhi is unfit for habitation: Dr Arvind Kumar

We will see the damage the air is causing in the years to come: Dr Anupam Sibal

Start taking small steps inside the house:

Dr Nitin Verma

Girls exposed to this have a higher chance of breast cancer:

Dr Sidharth Sahni

You shouldn't step out if AQI is above 400:

Dr Vivek Nangia

Keeping multiple cars has become a fashion in Delhi:

Dr Sunil Dubey

You cannot escape this problem by leaving the city: Dr

Nitish Dogra

We are not educating people enough: Dr

Alok Chopra

Immediate action required to stop a catastrophe:

Dr

Navin Dang

This is a national emergency: Dr Ashwani Chopra

"Please help us save our children" – that's the motive of a movement being spearheaded by a group of mothers and some of the biggest names from the capital’s medical fraternity. They want the issue of Delhi's air pollution to go beyond just headlines, and into immediate action which not just the government, but every citizen as well, can undertake. Which is why, to drive home the point about just how hazardous our air pollution levels are, a dozen of the country’s top doctors gathered near Rashtrapati Bhavan at 6.30am, to be photographed in the smog whose AQI (Air Quality Index) hovered around 815. No one should be breathing this air, they said. It will make you sick.(BCCL/ Ranjit Kumar)As the debate around Delhi’s air risks turning into rhetoric, these mothers and doctors want to initiate action today, so that a toxic blanket is not all our future generations have left to breathe. "#MyRightToBreathe is a citizens' movement trying to create mass-level awareness regarding pollution, and at the same time trying to find solutions collectively to help solve this problem. This movement is being spearheaded by the doctors and mothers of our city backed by data from the best research specialists of the country. The mothers of this country are appealing to our prime minister to please address this issue which has been declared to be a national health emergency," says the group, some of whose members include Kalyani Saha Chawla, Radhika Kapur, Ravina Raj Kohli, Arjun Sharma, Barun Aggarwal, Bharti Chaturvedi, Gopal Shankarnaryanan, Jai Dhar, Namrata Datt, Parul Sharma, Ritika Jhanji, Shibani Thukral, Shifali Verma, Shubhani Talwar, Sunali Amla and Sunil Duggal.The medical fraternity is in complete agreement – our air is a national health emergency. It is "not fit for human habitation". It needs life support, and fast.People are alarmed, but they don’t know what to do. They are looking towards the government for a solution. We know that solutions are there, but they require a lot of determination, hard work and a collaborative effort by civil society. These are things that we need to be serious about throughout the year, not only when the crisis hits. The health of this country is a matter of concern for both the central and the state government. They have to take it seriously, else, a lot of people are at risk. Today, 60-70% of the smog is coming from crop burning. For the sake of our children and all those who are suffering, we must raise our voice.I would not call the present situation just alarming, it is unfit for human habitation. Ideally, if you are a health-conscious person, none of us should be living in this city. If this continues, we are going to see a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and lung cancer epidemic. There should be a ban on crackers across India. Farmers should be provided with alternatives to crop burning. The use of brooms should be stopped immediately. Dirt on the road is better than dirt blown into the air and going in our lungs.When the Air Quality Index (AQI) hits 300 or 400, the air is bad not just for the vulnerable, like children or those with respiratory illness, heart conditions or the elderly. When the AQI deteriorates to the extent that it has, the air is bad for everyone. We see the consequence of breathing this air in those who have respiratory problems, but there is a lot of damage happening in the rest of the population as well. We will not be able to see it today, but we will see it in the years to come. There needs to be a collective effort, everyone needs to come together, because this is something that affects everyone.It is a matter of shame that individuals and doctors are coming forward, but the people who should be here, the stakeholders, the government, are either sleeping or have decided not to do anything about the problem. You can’t have a calamity like this happening every year. Being a paediatrician, I would like to talk about children – the future of tomorrow. We need food, shelter and air to survive, and look at the quality of the air. What are we creating for our children? Within the house, people can take small steps, like wet mopping and use vacuum cleaners if they can afford them.The situation is catastrophic, and it has been for the last five years. The biggest reason behind this is crop burning. It has now become a biannual thing – it has started happening in the spring as well as at the onset of winter. If a girl in her 20s is exposed to this environment, at 40, her chances of getting breast cancer are six times higher. It is a problem which is affecting everyone. Farmers need to be given an alternative to stubble burning.With time, people have become insensitive to the level of pollution around us. The approved AQI standard by WHO is 60, and the government has already stretched it to 100. Now, they don’t even react until it is 400. For healthy people, it is recommended that if the level is above 400, they should stop going out. The AQI is 800 today, and we are still not reacting. It is an emergency situation and if we don’t react now, it will be too late.There is a six-fold increase in the number of patients coming in with respiratory problems. Earlier, in a month, we would get 10-12 patients, now that hasincreased by six times. We need to work on our lifestyle as well. Keeping multiple cars has become a fashion in Delhi. That attitude needs to change.At this point, crop burning is the primary problem. Another thing that happens throughout the year which people don’t pay attention to is the use of the traditional chulha in rural areas. There are certain areas in the city that have the worst air quality – like Anand Vihar, Punjabi Bagh and RK Puram – they have most of the construction sites. You cannot escape this problem by leaving the city. In fact, people should not step out at this time because the AQI is not suitable for any of us.Every day, I am pained to see my patients suffering – especially the elderly, who have worked really hard to recover. We are not educating people enough, it needs education at all levels. We have to make people understand. Everybody is self-centred, we need to see the world as our society.We were talking about pollution 20 years back, but now, it has become a reality. We are sitting on a volcano of lung issues and respiratory problems, and immediate action should be taken to stop a catastrophe.It is truly a national emergency and each one of us has to take responsibility for it. We must mobilize people to make them aware and approach authorities to stop all sources of pollution. We are practising doctors, we see how people are suffering, especially elderly people. We must take this seriously.